Surface Tension

Image: Illustration by Matt Collins

It’s a beautiful afternoon at the ballpark, at which you have plunked down good money to be a spectator. Then it starts heading your way. From off in the distance, other members of the crowd inexplicably sacrifice their individuality and join together to get up sequentially and then briefly raise their arms to the heavens before returning to their seats. The move rolls across sections of the stands. It draws closer and closer. And then you’re engulfed. Whether you took part or just sat there waiting for it to pass, you’ve been subsumed. You have drowned in the Wave.

But now—for the second time in one summer!—a reasonable idea has emerged from Texas. The public address announcer of the defending (as I write this in August, anyway)

Bolivian will resume month-long protests against a road in the Amazon

A real test for a former protestors’ march leader and now president Zoom Image

The march by poor Indians who live in the path of the planned 420 million dollars road has become a problem for Morales, who is Bolivia's first leader of indigenous descent and led many anti-government protests in his days as leader of the coca farmers.

Two of Morales' cabinet ministers have resigned this week after police broke up the protest over the weekend,

Thieves target Bromsgrove garden centres

Fresh@Burcot Garden Centre and Little Heath Garden Centre broken into over the weekend, with offenders escaping with a substantial amount of cash, says police.

Fresh@Burcot, owned by Gima director Neil Gow, was broken into sometime between 6.15pm on Sunday, September 25 and 8.30am on Monday, September 26. Thieves stole a large amount of cash from the safe before fleeing the centre in Alcester Road, Burcot.

The same night Little Heath Garden Centre in Lickey End was broken into, where offenders again escaped with a substantial amount of cash, as well as a number of furniture itms, including tables, chairs and

Dialogue leads to potential breakthrough in Kosovo property rights cases

Ongoing dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade has resulted in a new agreement aimed at resolving the huge backlog of property claims.

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 27/09/11

Claims and counter claims about ownership of land and homes have dragged on for more than a decade. [Reuters]

It's an essential economic issue, a legacy of the 1998-1999 war: the effort to reclaim homes and land abandoned during and after the conflict by thousands of people who ran for their lives. Albanians returned almost immediately, but most of displaced Serbs did not. Most of them have spent years nearly 11 years trying to

Vettel: I wasn't thinking of title

Sebastian Vettel is now finally aware of the mathematics required for him to cement his place in the Formula One record books.

Vettel produced arguably his best drive of the year, leading all of the 61 laps of the Singapore Grand Prix to leave him one point shy of becoming the youngest back-to-back and double world champion.

Vettel leads McLaren's Jenson Button by 124 points after the Briton finished a commendable second, just 1.7 seconds adrift at the flag, but with the 24-year-old German insisting he was "in control".

There are now just 125 points available from the final five races,

Best-kept denim secret? The hottest brands are Canadian

In the breathless style of fashion publicity, a typical press release might read, “Cameron Diaz spotted wearing her Fidelity jeans on Melrose!”

Except that Fidelity isn’t your average denim brand. While it’s true that Diaz wears them (so do Megan Fox, Rachel Weisz and Rihanna), the bigger story for style-watchers is that the brand is one in a handful of the hottest denim labels right now – and all of them are Canadian.

There are varying degrees of Canadian- ness, of course. The hang tag of Vancouver-based Fidelity Denim reads, “Designed in Canada, made in the USA,” while Naked & Famous, the three-year-old Montreal upstart helmed by 28-year-old Brandon Svarc, cuts its jeans out of Japanese selvedge denim but manufactures them in Montreal. Meanwhile, veteran labels Silver and Parasuco run their businesses out of Winnipeg and Montreal, respectively, and produce their garments offshore. Regardless, they’re all Canadian-founded, and Canadian-based, success stories.

Joel Carman, owner of the Toronto jean destination

A Graphic Look at Obesity--Inside and Out

Figures don't lie: Some of the latest research has enabled doctors and individuals to visualize what is happening inside their bodies when their outsides get too large. Image: iStockphoto/Eraxion

Global girths are on the rise—with some 1.5 billion adults now overweight and more than one in 10 adults obese worldwide. U.S. figures are even starker: more than half of the population weighs too much and more than one third are obese.

The causes of these conditions have turned out to be much more diverse than too much junk food and couch time. Research has now implicated factors as far-ranging as stress

A Greek Default Would Spread Debt Contagion

European leaders insist they will take all necessary measures to ensure Greece does not default on its debt. A default would throw Greece's economy — and the European banking system — into deeper crisis. But many financial experts are advocating an orderly default. They argue it will be painful but preferable to round-after-round of painful austerity measures and more uncertainty.

Source: NPR : National Public Radio

The Fed's Latest Moves May Fall Flat, Experts Say

Enlarge Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Despite the availability of cheap loans, in some places, people are cautious when it comes to buying new cars. Here, workers display a car at a California Hyundai dealership earlier this year.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Despite the availability of cheap loans, in some places, people are cautious when it comes to buying new cars. Here, workers display a car at a California Hyundai dealership earlier this year.

With the White House and Congress at loggerheads over how best to help the U.S. economy, some have pinned their hopes on the Federal Reserve to help fill the void.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank still has a range of tools it can use to prop up the economy. But Greg McBride of the financial website Bankrate.com is not holding his breath.

"The Fed can only do so much," he said. "Their most effective tools are things that they have used up already. At this point, they've got a few options left, but none of them is a surefire way to either jump-start the economy or get people to borrow or get banks to lend. There's still a demand problem. And that is not something that the Fed alone can fix."

The stock market seemed unimpressed Wednesday by the Fed's latest efforts. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 280 points after the Fed announced an effort to push long-term interest rates even lower.

When you lower interest rates, that creates an incentive. But there's no guarantee that a firm is going to act on the incentive.

- University of Oregon economist Mark Thoma

The agency used its primary tool long ago: pushing short-term interest rates about as low as they can go. That's why you can find a car loan for less than 3 percent, for example, at lenders like the Oshkosh Community Credit Union in Wisconsin.

Loan officer Kathy Steiner says that even with all the cheap money available, people are still cautious when it comes to borrowing for a new car.

"They are not out there just buying a vehicle because they think it's pretty," she says. "They think it through: 'Do I really need this new car, or should we just get the other one fixed?' And a lot of them borrow money to get the other one fixed. If you can get a couple more years out of it for $500, you'll do it."

That same kind of caution may limit any positive impact from the Fed's latest effort to lower long-term interest rates. University of Oregon economist Mark Thoma says cheap business loans don't help much if companies are too nervous to take on additional debt.

"You can lead the firm to water, but you can't make

‘No short cut’ to Mideast peace, Obama says on Palestinian bid for statehood

U.S. President Barack Obama told the United Nations on Wednesday that the Palestinians deserved a state of their own, but that this would only be achieved through talks with Israel.

“I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN,” Mr. Obama said in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

“Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians -- not us -- who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem,” the text of his speech said.

Mr. Abbas was expected to deliver a formal request for statehood recognition on Friday when he speaks to the General

With Repeal Of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' An Era Ends

Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

A gay member of the U.S. Air Force who wishes not to be identified reads a copy of the new magazine OutServe intended for actively serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender U.S. military members earlier this month.

The law that for almost 18 years has banned openly gay Americans from serving in the armed forces will be officially repealed Tuesday, nine months after Congress voted to end the Clinton-era edict.

President Obama signed the repeal into law last December, but its provisions required time for the Pentagon to prepare for the policy change, and for top military officials to "certify" the law's end.

Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed off on the change in July, and set Tuesday as the end of the law that has long been known as "don't ask, don't tell," or DADT.

Repeal means that for the first time in America's military history, service members will be allowed to publicly reveal their sexual orientation without fear of reprisal.

Though a national Gallup poll taken after Congress repealed DADT showed that 67 percent of those surveyed supported repeal, resistance to the change still exists, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

Not Everyone Supports Repeal

Though polls show that a majority of Americans support ending the controversial gays-in-the-military policy, a number of Republican presidential hopefuls have advocated keeping DADT in place. When the issue came up in a June 13 primary debate in Manchester, N.H., former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he believed the policy should have been kept in place "until conflict was over." (In 1994, Romney wrote a letter advocating that gays serve "openly and honestly" in the military.) Other candidates also weighed in during one exchange at the June debate:

Q: Now gays are allowed to serve openly in the military; would you leave that policy in place or would you try to change it back to "don't ask, don't tell"?

MICHELE BACHMANN: I would keep the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

HERMAN CAIN: Now that they have changed it, I wouldn't create a distraction trying to turn it over as president.

RON PAUL: I would not work to overthrow it. We have to remember, rights don't come in groups. We shouldn't have gay rights. Rights come as individuals. If we have this major debate going on, it would be behavior that would count, not the person who belongs to which group.

RICK SANTORUM: The job of the United States military is to protect and defend the people of this country. It is not for social experimentation. It should be repealed. And the commanders should have a system of discipline in place, as Ron Paul said, that punishes — that punishes bad behavior.

Rep. Buck McKeon, the California Republican who leads the House Armed Services Committee, and committee member Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, sent a letter to the White House last week seeking to delay the repeal. They argued that the committee has not been adequately briefed about the new policy.

Pentagon press secretary George Little on Monday had a different message, however.

"No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal," Little said. "The force is well aware that this is coming. They've had the training. It's been in the press for months. The September 20th day is not a mystery."

We spoke with two men who have been immersed in efforts to repeal the controversial measure.

Aaron Belkin is a political science professor who is director of the 5-year-old Palm Center at the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. He helped lead research and analysis of gay Americans in the military and of the effect of DADT on military capabilities.

His e-book, How We Won: Progressive Lessons from the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, published Tuesday, details the Center's research, how it communicated with the military "from the

Flights to Bariloche in Argentine Patagonia back to normal after 4 months of ashes

The Puyehue volcano in Chile covered the area with ashes and dust Zoom Image

The Bariloche airport hadn’t received domestic flights since June 4. Throughout the past four months, nearly all airlines cancelled their flights toward the area due to strict security precautions in place because of the volcanic ash clouds that threatened visibility and the aircraft turbines.

The first flight was an Aerolineas Argentinas flight carrying 140 passengers that touched down Saturday morning, 10:30, said a

Juventus notches second straight win

Juventus won 1-0 at Siena on Sunday to extend its perfect start and reclaim the Serie A lead.

Alessandro Matri scored in the 54th minute to finish off a swift counterattack for the Turin powerhouse, which was completely remodelled after finishing seventh last season and missing out on Europe.

New Juventus coach Antonio Conte led Siena back into the top division last season, and Juve took advantage of its only significant scoring chance against his former club.

Udinese also remained perfect after a 2-0 win over Fiorentina with goals from Antonio Di Natale and Mauricio Isla, while Fiorentina lost forward

City Riots: Police Chief denies they failed to protect residents

WEST Midlands Police chief constable Chris Sims has hit out at claims police failed to protect residents on nights of rioting in Birmingham in which three men were killed.

Giving evidence to a Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr Sims denied his officers were ‘watching’ rather than responding to disturbances in areas where shopkeepers were left defending their businesses.

Three men – Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, died in the early hours of August 10 after they were struck by a car during riots in the Winson Green area of the city whilst protecting businesses from potential looters.

Five men have been charged with their murder.

Mr Sims reacted to earlier evidence given by MP’s Khalid Mahmood and Shabana Mahmood, and Handsworth resident

Golden opportunity at Solus show

Solus is opening up its extensive Droitwich showroom for a pre-season trade event from October 3-14.

With an Olympics-themed title, the 'Go for Gold in 2012' show gives customers an opportunity to see the company's entire offer under one roof, including Solus brands Yeoman, Joseph Bentley, ChapelWood, Botanico, Bermuda, Solus Leisure and Adorn.

Commenting on the upcoming event, Solus national sales manager Andy Roe said: "We seem to have found a winning formula as we see visitor numbers increase year after year. It's a unique combination of great product, show-only deals, prize draws and the opportunity to buy some end

Suicide bomber kills 25 at Pakistan funeral

A suicide bomber attacked the funeral service on Thursday of a Pakistani tribesman opposed to the Taliban, killing 25 people, police said, two days after Taliban gunmen killed four children from another district in conflict with the militant network.

The blast during Thursday's ceremony in the Lower Dir region, 25 kilometers west of the Afghan border, also wounded 60 people.

The bomber struck as around 200 mourners were attending the funeral in the Shina Samar Bagh village, police officer Sher Hassan Khan said.

Another police officer, Salim Marwat, said the attacker hid in a nearby field and then ran toward

Sion demand UEFA compensation

Sion were planning to launch a compensation claim against UEFA today following their expulsion from the Europa League.

The Swiss club say they will make an initial claim of more than €4million (£3.47million), with reports in the Swiss press suggesting the final demand could be for tens of millions of Swiss francs.

Sion have also threatened to make a criminal complaint against UEFA after claiming a Swiss court backed their fight to be reinstated in the competition.

They were expelled from the tournament on September 2 for fielding ineligible players and saw their appeal against the decision rejected by UEFA's

Brit Asian rapper in Tupac tribute track

BRIT Asian rapper Shizzio has joined forces with the older brother of Hip-Hop legend Tupac Shakur to record a tribute track on the 15th anniversary of the rappers death.

The East London star features on ‘Rainbow Tears’ – a track created by Tupac’s older brother Mopreme Shakur.

Tupac – regarded by millions as one of the greatest rappers of our generation – was shot and killed in September 1996. Fifteen years on his murder still remains an unsolved mystery.

Speaking about his involvement on the tribute track, Shizzio says: “There is no doubt that Tupac has influenced thousands of people – whether they have become global stars or whether they just love to listen.

“His music and more importantly his lyrics have been such a powerful force in my

Villas-Boas makes step up to Champions League with Chelsea

After winning the Europa League with Porto last season, Andre Villas-Boas makes the step up to the continent's biggest stage when his new team Chelsea launches its Champions League campaign against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.

In taking the job at Stamford Bridge this summer, Villas-Boas acknowledged that bringing European success to Chelsea was high up on billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich's wishlist.

The closest Chelsea has come to lifting the Champions League for the first time was in 2008, when the team lost to Manchester United on penalties in the final in Moscow, but the English club is again likely to be among the challengers to Barcelona's

Wolfsburg beats Schalke in Bundesliga

Mario Mandzukic scored twice as Wolfsburg came from behind to beat Schalke in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Mandzukic cancelled out Raul Gonzalez's 13th minute opener with a header in the 33rd and the Croatian secured Wolfsburg's first win after three losses when he scored again in the 82nd.

“We invested more than Schalke did and fully deserved to win,” said Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath.

Earlier, Timmy Simons scored two penalties in four minutes to give 10-man Nuremberg a 2-1 win at Cologne.

Simons scored in the 31st and 35th minutes, after Cologne captain Geromel conceded both spot kicks.

Brazilian defender

UK vacancy rate stabilises in H1 but only prime retail destinations see the benefits

Retailers are cutting their losses and closing older and poor performing outlets in secondary locations, in a bid to boost sales and footfall in a continuing tough climate.

The Local Data Company (LDC) explains that, as retailers relocate to new stores in bigger and better centres and high streets, poor, secondary town centres risk becoming unsustainable as retail destinations.

According to LDC, the big, retail-owning property companies have seen solid rental growth, footfall and occupancy levels that demonstrate that prime properties are taking market share away from other locations.

The LDC believes that the more retailers come under pressure in

Readers Respond to "The Growing Menace from Superweeds" and Other Articles

May 2011 Image:

CAUGHT TOO EARLY
In discussing the search for better detection of breast cancer in “Beyond Mammograms,” Nancy Shute misses one key problem: when tests become too “perfect.” As we have learned from our experience in detecting prostate cancer by testing for high levels of the prostate-specific antigen protein, finding cancers at extraordinarily early stages raises new issues. Are we now left to treat cancers that have no clinical relevance? We already often diagnose breast cancers at one to three millimeters in size. Do women with such cancers need radiation and hormone therapy for five years after a lumpectomy? Is performing a mastectomy too radical in such cases? I believe the

Fight the Frazzled Mind: Proactive Steps Manage Stress (preview)

Image: GUENTER STANDL Redux Pictures

In Brief

Stress Test

Few people receive formal training on how to manage stress, which may explain why many of us turn to destructive ways of coping.

Although commonly practiced relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation help, they may not be as effective as learning to sidestep potential stressors before they happen.

Receiving training in stress management will make us better at handling the ups and downs of daily life.

Supplemental Material Overview Stress Less Overview Special Report: Stress
Fight the Frazzled Mind

“Desserts” spelled backward is “stressed.”Isn’t life like that? Even the good things in

Obama job-creating speech will announce a 300 billion dollars plan, says US media

The US President must get unemployment down from 9% if he wants a second chance at the White House Zoom Image

The proposed new spending, to be announced by Mr Obama in a nationally televised speech to Congress, would be offset by budget cuts, CNN said, signaling that the Democratic president hopes to mollify the concerns of Republican fiscal hawks resistant to his jobs ideas.

Bloomberg News said the plan would inject more than 300 billion dollars into

Minority foundations to receive compensation for property

The Turkish government has published a decree opening the way to return hundreds of properties confiscated from religious minorities since 1936.

By Menekse Tokyay for Southeast European Times in Istanbul -- 06/09/11

Of nearly 74 million people in Turkey, less than 1% belong to religious minorities. [Reuters]

According to the decree, published in the Official Gazette on August 27th, minority foundations can reclaim property -- including cemeteries, fountains, schools, hospitals and orphanages -- that they have declared since 1936. Real estate that has been re-sold to third parties will also be paid for after the current value is determined by the Ministry of Finance.

"Like everyone else, we also know about the injustices that different religious groups have been subjected to because of their differences," said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Owners of Gold haul sought by police

POLICE in Birmingham are hoping to reunite expensive gold jewellery with its rightful owner following a recent incident in the Jewellery Quarter.
On 23 June, police officers were patrolling in the Jewellery Quarter when they came across two men acting suspiciously outside a jewellery store.
Upon seeing the officer’s approach, both men began running from the scene down Warstone Lane. They were arrested moments later following a brief foot chase.
During the foot chase, the two men were seen to throw a plastic bag onto the roof of a nearby property.
Upon retrieving the bag a short while later, a large quantity of gold jewellery was discovered.
The jewellery, consisting of 19 individual items, includes gold chains, rings and numerous

Deaths, Arrests Reported As Red Cross Visits Syria

Syria saw a wave of violence and arrests Sunday as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Damascus to address issues including caring for the wounded and access to detainees during the government's crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising.

Activists reported military operations and sweeping arrests in flash-point areas including Idlib near the Turkish border and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. There were reports of deaths, but numbers were unclear.

The state-run news agency reported that nine people were killed in central Syria in an ambush by armed groups in central Syria. The report, which could not be confirmed, said the victims were six soldiers and three civilians.

Syria has banned foreign journalists and

Fall's top fashion trends

Giddyup, fashion fans: The western look is galloping into stores near you, as are tartans and plaids, layers of pailletes and the seventies by way of the forties. While some of this season’s trends might be intimidating, have no fear. If there’s a theme for autumn 2011, it’s the premise – and promise – that anything goes.

Forever plaid

Tartans, plaids and checks are perennial cool-weather favourites and this season is no exception. Marc by Marc Jacobs, for instance, is proffering chic tartan trousers, while Jean Paul Gaultier has a pencil plaid in his line. There is also a swell of plaid-on-plaid, made possible by different fabric weights. “This isn’t your typical Ralph Lauren plaid,” says Khajak Keledjian, co-founder of the popular U.S.

Readers Respond to "The Unleashed Mind"-- and More

Image:

CREATIVE ECCENTRICS
Thank you for the excellent article “The Unleashed Mind,” by Shelley Carson. It’s very refreshing to read that people with eccentric, novel and even schizophrenic ways of thinking are often very high functioning, talented, intelligent individuals who can use their strange perceptual experiences to access beauty, originality and creativity.
Greg Westlake
Norfolk, England

When I telephoned my partner, a highly creative person, and read her the paragraph in Carson’s article in which the question is posed, “Do you often feel like a square peg in a round hole?” her prompt response was “My peg isn’t even on the same plane as the hole.” Another startling affirmation of the complexity of artists’ daily

Food prices inflation in Latin America increases sustainedly says FAO

Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay reported annual food inflation above 10% Zoom Image

In its monthly food prices report FAO points out that food prices inflation in the region is two points higher than overall inflation which last month rose 6.8%.

“Faced with this situation the governments must strengthen their social protection net work and increase the support for the production of food from family gardens thus helping to moderate the impacts originated in the food prices’ increase”, said Fernando