Tis the season to be jolly! Festive decorations, gatherings of family and friends, and sharing of lavish feasts and sweet treats brighten our spirits. Today, some of us celebrate the birth of Jesus in the Little Town of Bethlehem as we sing ?The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.?
Hope is essential to our ability to face the uncertainty of life. A great prophet proclaimed to the chosen tribe of Israel: ?Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.? (Isaiah 40:31)
Hope that is promised within religious scripture is a certain hope, greater than a secular, human hope that Webster defines as ?to expect with confidence.? The difference in the two concepts is spiritually profound for those with religious faith. Those who are not religious might not perceive degrees of hope, so the distinction of religious hope could remain as a mystery for them, much like an unwrapped gift under the Christmas tree.
There is a real difference for me between the perfect hope that is promised in the Old Testament and celebrated in the New Testament, and the hope which we, as attorneys and care coordinators, lend and nourish. Our clients and their care advocates face difficult choices as they anticipate and manage the challenges and opportunities of extended care. Our experience and knowledge is useful, but promising a perfect outcome in the final chapters of life is more hope than we can offer.
Sometimes an individual client has an uncertain medical prognosis, as can occur with a rare disease. Other times, a spouse of a person who has dementia feels such stress from caregiving that his or her own health is deteriorating; yet, a profound commitment to stay together makes a suggestion for voluntary separation seem to be impossible. In such circumstances, it can be hard to know what to hope for.
When it comes to knowing whether a legal document will stand up to scrutiny if challenged in court, it is the responsibility of a lawyer to understand the legislation, regulations and case law which apply to the circumstances at hand. An elder law attorney knows how legal outcomes for older persons might be different than for those of a younger age. Giving our clients a high level of confidence that their wishes as expressed in a legal document will be honored by a court, or encouraging wise planning now so that extended care can be affordable in the future, supports our clients? healthy desire to have a hopeful attitude.
Sometimes, a client comes to us with uncertainty and fear about what will happen after their finances are exhausted. Our services help clients to preserve their assets, obtain government benefits, and avoid financial liability for their children after their assets have been exhausted. To feel a sense of independence and dignity and to fuel a hope that life remains worth living, most clients need to feel that their extended care challenges will not drain their family emotionally or become a financial liability.
Our mission to integrate the legal and caregiving aspects of extended care issues is challenging. Since every case is different, we are like a guide who has walked the trails and fished the waters previously, but cannot guarantee what will be around the next bend or whether the fish will be biting today. Our experience enables us to understand a probability of what might occur, yet for many reasons we cannot know the certainty of what lies ahead. A wise approach to extended care issues can sometimes seem like the Chinese wisdom that one?s best hope to cross a river is to focus on the need to progress from one stone to another, one step at a time.
Sometimes the confusion and stress of extended care can become overwhelming, and it is hard to know what to do next. Just as a hiker who is lost in the woods feels relief to be found by a park ranger, we offer a sense of relief to those who are lost in the extended care maze. The guidance and preparation we give our clients equips them to experience the extended care journey with less confusion and greater probability for financial advantages.
When a caregiver feels lost, his or her sense of hope can seem to be burnt out and in need of rekindling. Often, clients or their caregivers come to our office with an arm full of information and a chest full of stress. We lend our clients and their caregivers the hope which our experience and knowledge with extended care issues has given us an opportunity to discover. We feel it is a hopeful sign when they sigh deeply before leaving our office and express a sense of relief.
If Alzheimer?s or dementia seems to be stealing the personality of someone you love, we understand that you might feel lonely, and even angry or abandoned. In some ways, a caregiver?s pain can be similar to that of grieving a death. Eloise Cole, a bereavement specialist who was also a family caregiver, wrote a poem ?Borrowed Hope? which begins: ?Lend me your hope for a while. I seem to have mislaid mine. Lost and hopeless feelings accompany me daily.? The hope that her poem seeks is the type of hope that we offer as elder law practitioners.
If your family?s humor and laughter as you celebrate Christmas feels a bit awkward at moments because you are also suffering with a loved one through an extended care crisis, that is understandable. But give yourself a break and embrace what joy you can in this time of celebration. Find comfort in this conclusion of Eloise Cole?s poem: ?Lend me your hope for a while. A time will come when I will heal and I will lend my renewed hope to others.?
Merry Christmas!
Dave Nesbit
Attorney
Source: http://www.keystoneelderlaw.com/blog/sentinel-articles/sentinel-borrowing-hope/
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Each year Ukraine becomes more interesting for foreign manufacturers and suppliers and attracts more foreign businesses and investments. Area of intellectual property is also actively growing. Ukraine Patent Law Company Inventa Co, Ltd states that during its practice in the year of 2012 amount of foreign applicants filled applications for trademark registration inUkraine has increased on 20%.
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Artem Kantsypa, IP Agent at the Inventa Co, Ltd says, ?It?s a very positive factor that confirms growth of foreign companies from The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, China, Cyprus, Italy, Japan, and United Stares of America interested in Ukrainemarket development.?
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The Law ofUkraine?On the Protection of Rights to Marks for Goods and Services? is the main law for trademarks registration inUkraine. Foreign applicants should file a trademark application and do all actions for obtaining trademark rights only with registered Ukrainian patent attorney.
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Ukraine Patent Law Company Inventa Co, Ltd actively provides foreign applicants with legal support of trademark application during the processing of the Ukraine Patent Office. The company?s trademark attorneys search for identity and similarity of the trademark to trademarks already registered in Ukraineand those which have just been filed for registration. The trademark attorneys fill and serve the application for trademark registration processing in the Ukraine Patent Office and then notify the applicants when a certificate of trademark registration is received. The certificate is valid for a period of 10 years from the date of filling. The term of certificate may be renewed for further 10 years period.
The intellectual property law company Inventa Co, Ltd was founded in 1991 and today has become one of the leading patent law companies offering foreign applicants trademark registration in Ukraine. The patent law attorneys perform work on intellectual property registration and protection for applicants from Europe, UK, and USA striving to expand services to new countries. The company provides application filing for obtaining a protection document for rights on trademarks, inventions, utility models, and industrial designs inUkraine and worldwide.
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For more information please visit the company website http://www.inventa-ua.com/ or call +380 (57) 343-94-84.
6 viewsSource: http://www.freepressreleases.com/trademark-attorneys-offer-trademark-registration-ukraine/330039
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The Mayans being before my time, I'm too young for their End of the World.
Theirs comes from an ancient calendar that says "the fourteenth baktun" ? a new era ?will commence on Dec. 21, 2012.
Mine's newer. It comes from Mrs. Elkin, my second grade teacher, who told us how to hide during an atomic bomb attack. None of us had much confidence that sitting under our desks would work, which is why my End of the World makes no reference to calendars. Instead, it comes with a mushroom cloud.
For most of my young life, this is how I thought about The End, and with all due respect to the Mayans, there is something grand, even colossal, about an atomic finish, and here's my proof.
Historian Alex Wellerstein once posted an old video, produced, I presume, by the U.S. military, around 1952. It shows an atomic bomb exploding on the Nevada desert.
Like most bomb blast images, you can see it from a respectful distance, a long stem with a mushroom cloud on top ? but this video is different. It includes shots from the ground up, from an ordinary soldier's point of view and on this particular day, there were soldiers there, standing in trenches, watching.
As they look, they get hit by a shock wave...
After which, they are told to leave their trenches and head toward the explosion, which is at that moment rising to the sky directly in front of them. I have never seen ? and Alex says these are very rare ? an atomic bomb with people so exposed and so close.
Here they are even closer. That's the bottom of the mushroom cloud which now towers above them. "I suddenly get a sense for how big the cloud is," Alex writes, "even though it must be many miles away."
In the video there's a tracking shot that takes you from these soldiers up the column of smoke, higher and higher ? it just goes on and on and on ? until we reach the cloud on top. As atomic bombs go, this wasn't a big one. So this is a rare look at the immensity of these weapons.
What you can't see, of course, is the horror they cause, the damage this bomb is doing to these soldiers, the damage it could do to homes, cities, animals, people. But oddly, a sense of scale has been missing from most images of an atomic Armageddon. This video is the closest I can get to imagining the immensity of my End of the World.
I don't know what the Mayans imagined for their finish ? I'm not expecting to find out on Friday ? but this was the nightmare I grew up with. I'm very glad that over the years The End I feared is getting a little less likely ? at least I hope it is. _Are you listening Mr. Obama? Mr. Putin? Mr. Netanyahu? Mr.Mukherjee? M. Hollande? Mr. Kim? Mr. Ashraf? Hmm. The list keeps getting longer...)
Here's the video:
Thanks to Alex Wellerstein, historian at the at the American Institute of Physics, whose cold war tales are regularly posted on his Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog. That's where I go when I'm looking to be (metaphorically only), blown away.
And that's where I found this video and his accompanying essay. He called it "In Search of a Sense of Scale."
Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/12/20/167706713/the-end-of-the-world-my-way?ft=1&f=1007
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BEIJING (AP) ? A Chinese advertising company says it has agreed to be taken private and removed from U.S. stock markets in the biggest transaction of its kind for China.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. said Thursday it will be bought by a group that includes its chairman, private equity firm Carlyle Group and Chinese investors. The transaction values the company at $3.7 billion.
Focus Media announced plans for the change in August and complained U.S. markets were undervaluing its shares. The company was formed in 2003 and operates electronic advertising displays in elevators, grocery stores and other locations.
Source: http://feeds.boston.com/click.phdo?i=ca0992b02c8b334353b1e5d2cedfbc7b
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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller "Zero Dark Thirty" hits theaters Wednesday, and when it comes to the box office, this isn't going to be "Hurt Locker."
That was Bigelow's last film, a gritty Iraq war drama that upset "Avatar" for Oscar's Best Picture in 2009 but took in just $17 million domestically. "Zero Dark Thirty" could well top $100 million, say industry analysts - and if the awards season breaks the right way for the Oscar Best Picture front-runner, it could go higher than that.
"ZDT" and this year's winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "Amour," are making limited debuts Wednesday, while the Barbra Streisand-Seth Rogen comedy "Guilt Trip" and a 3D re-release of "Monsters Inc." go into wide release.
Six more movies will roll out on Friday, including Judd Apatow's "This Is 40" and the Tom Cruise starrer "Jack Reacher," in what Hollywood is hoping will be a very busy pre-holiday week at the box office.
In the course of detailing the killing of Bin Laden, "ZDT" is an examination of the nation's war on terror, its prosecution and its effect on America's collective psyche, and that will help, not hurt, the film at the box office, Exhibitor Relations Senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap.
"This movie is about the biggest American war story since Pearl Harbor," Bock said. "The American people are at a place now where they are ready to look back and really think about what we've been through.
"This movie, particularly if it keeps getting awards buzz, is going to be talked about everywhere, and if you want to have an opinion, you're going to have to see it."
Despite all the newcomers arriving Wednesday and Friday, Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" is expected to continue dominating. It took in about $7 million Monday - on the heels of its $85 million debut weekend - and should cross the $100 million mark Tuesday
Sony Classic is rolling out "Amour," Michael Haneke's dark and unsparing look at old age and death, at two theaters in New York and one in L.A. The French-language film was recently named the best film of 2012 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, giving it an important boost during a season in which its chances outside the Oscar foreign-language category hinge on getting Academy voters to see it.
That honor stopped an awards run by "Zero Dark Thirty," which Sony is rolling out on five screens. The intense tale had won the top award with the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, the Boston Film Critics Society and the New York Film Critics Online.
"ZDT" was produced by Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures for about $45 million.
Sony's plan is to go wide with it release on January 11 after the Academy Award nominations.
Beside the film itself and director Bigelow, her producing partner Mark Boal is a good bet for an Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, as is Jessica Chastain in the Best Actress category. All of those earned Golden Globes nominations in those categories.
The gritty and gripping tale is a critical favorite - it has a 97.7 percent rating at Movie Review Intelligence - but a lightning rod for political criticism, from both the left and right of the political spectrum. Some critics have charged the film is an apology for U.S. interrogation tactics that included waterboarding, while others say it's intended to boost the image of President Obama.
"Our agenda isn't a partisan agenda - it's an agenda of trying to look behind the scenes at what went down," screenwriter Boal told TheWrap earlier. "Hopefully art or cinema can present a point of view that's a little above the political fray, but that doesn't mean the political narrative doesn't try to assert itself and pull you back in."
"Amour" is a co-production between companies in Austria, France and Germany. It is Austria's entry and a favorite in Oscar's Best Foreign Language category, and it has a shot at a Best Picture nomination, too.
Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva star as Anne and George, an elderly couple who are retired music teachers and have a daughter (Isabelle Huppert) living abroad. The story, which Haneke wrote and directed based on a similar experience in his own family, focuses on what happens when Anne suffers a stroke.
It was nominated in six categories at the recent European Film Awards and won four, including Best Film and Best Director. The L.A. Film Critics named the 85-year-old Riva co-Best Actress (with Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"), and she has an outside shot an Oscar nomination in that category.
"Guilt Trip" is Streisand's first film foray since "Little Fockers," which debuted around the same time of year in 2010 for Universal - and her first starring role since 1996's "The Mirror Has Two Faces."
"Little Fockers," a sequel to "Meet the Fockers," opened to $30 million and went on to make $148 million. Distributor Paramount will be happy if the PG13-rated "Guilt Trip," which will be on about 2,300 screens, can match half that debut." The analysts are looking for it to wind up around $12 million.
It's one of three Paramount releases this week; the Tom Cruise thriller "Jack Reacher" and concert film "Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away" debut Friday.
"They all play to distinctly different demographics, Paramount's head of distribution Don Harris told TheWrap, "so other than being really busy, we don't have any problem with these three all in the marketplace."
What could provide some tough competition is Judd Apatow's R-rated comedy "This Is 40," which Universal is rolling out on roughly 2,900 screens Friday.
Disney will have its 3D version of its 2001 animated hit "Monsters Inc." in 2,400 theaters. It will be the third 3D re-release of a Disney film this year. The first two did unspectacular but solid business, particularly when you consider the only cost to the studio is the 3D conversion and marketing.
A 3D version of "Beauty and the Beast" debuted to $17 million in July and went on to make $47 million. In September, a converted "Finding Nemo" took in $16 million in its first week and wound up at $41 million.
Between "The Hobbit," the holdover kids holiday film "Rise of the "Monsters Inc." and a very crowded marketplace, "Monster Inc." will have a tough time matching those numbers.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zero-dark-thirty-wont-hurt-locker-box-office-010150707.html
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The U.S. State Department says it will keep tabs on a Facebook page purportedly created by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that includes both positive and derogatory remarks from followers.
Iranian officials had no immediate comment, but the page's contents and style ? including an informal photo of Khamenei riding in a car ? raise serious questions about its authenticity.
Iranian web monitors block access to Facebook and other Western social media sites, and it's highly unlikely Khamenei would endorse a banned outlet.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Monday that U.S. officials will look into the site, joking that Washington is curious how many "likes" Khamenei receives.
The Net is not unknown territory for Iranian leaders, however.
Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others have official websites.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rumored-facebook-irans-leader-us-watching-105843301.html
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It was a full weekend of fights on FX. The UFC crowned three new winners in "The Ultimate Fighter" franchise, and in 21 bouts by the UFC, 14 ended in a submission or knockout. That makes choosing the stars a more difficult but still really fun proposition.
No. 1 star -- Pat Barry: Barry is no longer the guy who can't defend anything on the ground. He dealt with Shane del Rosario's submission attempts in the first round to come back for a punishing knockout win. It earned him a $40,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.
No. 2 star -- Rustam Khabilov: In his first UFC bout, Khabilov showed that a suplex can be more than just a thrilling way to take down an opponent. Khabilov used it again and again to set Vinc Pinchel up for a knockout.
No. 3 star -- Hector Lombard: The former Bellator champ lost his UFC debut to Tim Boetsch in a way that made Lombard look like he wasn't the heavy-handed star we saw before his UFC days. But the way he stayed out of Rousimar Palhares' leg locks and got the knockout reminded the MMA world that Lombard is pretty good at this MMA game.
Do you agree? Who were your stars from the weekend? Speak up on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fourteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia so far have told the federal government they plan to operate healthcare exchanges under President Barack Obama's reform law, leaving Washington with the daunting task of creating online marketplaces for at least two-thirds of the country.
On the eve of a federal deadline for states to say whether they will run their own exchanges, a top U.S. healthcare policy official told lawmakers that the exchanges will start enrolling eligible families starting on October 1, 2013.
"I am confident that states and the federal government will be ready in ten months, when consumers in all states can begin to apply," Gary Cohen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, told a health oversight panel in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cohen, whose agency is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was among federal officials who testified alongside state health authorities at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.
In written testimony, Cohen said 15 states have told the administration they will operate their own exchanges. He later explained under questioning that the count comprises 14 states and the District of Columbia.
Separately, HHS officials confirmed the count of 14 states but could not immediately explain why Cohen's written testimony contained a higher number.
Some experts say the number of states planning to operate their own exchanges could reach 18 by the time the deadline arrives Friday. Still, the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks healthcare issues, says only two states - Utah and Florida - remain undecided.
That would leave at least 30 states in which the administration would be required to run exchanges, a challenge that is raising questions about how successfully U.S. officials can implement a key provision of the healthcare reform law, known to opponents and advocates alike as "Obamacare".
"I don't envy them for the job that they have," said Dennis Smith, a former federal healthcare official who now heads health services in Wisconsin, a state that has decided not to pursue its own exchange.
"At the end of the day, you're trying to connect a buyer to a seller. And the fundamental things required to do that are not yet in place," he said.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed into law more than 2-1/2 years ago, is expected to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Those who enroll starting in October would be covered by insurance from January 1, 2014.
POLITICAL THEATER
About half of those newly insured individuals would purchase private coverage from online exchanges at federally subsidized rates. Ultimately, the number of people finding coverage through exchanges is expected to reach 26 million, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The remainder would be covered by expanding the Medicaid program for the poor to cover all adults earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $15,000 for individuals and $30,600 for a family of four.
Thursday's hearing provided a political stage for partisan rhetoric about Obama's health reforms, which have survived repeated Republican repeal efforts, a nail-biting consideration by the Supreme Court and the Presidential election campaign.
Republicans and state officials from Republican-led states complained about compliance costs and accused HHS of delaying the release of vital details and rules needed to move forward on the exchanges and on the planned Medicaid expansion.
"The uncertain regulatory environment and the overall lack of response from HHS are not encouraging the states or the health plans to move forward," said Representative Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican.
In response, Congressional Democrats and their state allies stressed the law's benefits for senior citizens, protections for young adults and the sick, and the prospective economic benefits from an expected influx of billions of dollars in federal money.
"The (Republican) move now is to delay implementation under the guise of lack of information," said Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.
"The world in fact is not coming to an end," he added. "The nation will be better because of the Affordable Care Act."
States that don't run their own exchanges would opt for one of two alternatives: a federally facilitated exchange that requires minimal state participation, or a federal partnership exchange in which states help by performing certain duties.
Kaiser Family Foundation expects six states to choose the partnership option and two dozen to opt for federally facilitated exchanges. Cohen said the count so far is four partnerships and seven facilitated exchanges.
States have until February 15 to say whether they intend to seek a federal partnership exchange. Four have done so already, Cohen said.
The administration will have to engineer an information technology system capable of processing operations in a way that meet the needs of healthcare consumers in different states.
Experts say the biggest challenge will likely be providing adequate customer service to handle enrollment, as well as fielding a technology system capable of interfacing seamlessly with the system of each state government.
Cohen told the panel the administration is building a website with interactive capabilities and a call center and has begun testing a data services hub to determine eligibility.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Ros Krasny, Jilian Mincer, Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fifteen-u-states-opt-run-own-health-exchanges-151450661.html
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HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) - CNOOC Ltd's purchase of Canadian energy producer Nexen Inc may prove to be bittersweet if U.S. regulators block the Chinese state-run oil company from taking over Nexen's oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico.
CNOOC won a major coup last week by securing Ottawa's consent for the $15.1 billion deal, China's largest ever overseas acquisition, but the company is still waiting for approval from the U.S. government.
While the Gulf assets are just a fraction of Nexen's reserve base and production, they would give CNOOC a foothold in the world's premier deepwater oil province from which to acquire the technical know-how to drill in the contested South China Sea.
"The Nexen prize is the hi-tech ultra-deepwater drilling tech," said a person familiar with CNOOC's business strategy, adding that the Gulf of Mexico assets were "one of the key reasons that they are buying Nexen".
Approval from Washington is also important to CNOOC as it wants to be endorsed as an acceptable operator in the United States after American politicians blocked its high-profile bid for Unocal in 2005, according to another source.
A rejection would not sink the entire deal -- CNOOC is ready to buy Nexen excluding the U.S. assets, people familiar with the situation told Reuters. But it would be a major blow to CNOOC's deepwater ambitions.
An acquisition of the Gulf of Mexico assets would make CNOOC the operator of deepwater producing assets for the first time, giving it the prized opportunity to grasp the expertise it desperately needs to realize its production target.
China, the world's largest energy user, is already relying on imports for more than half of its oil needs. The country has long hoped to expand deepwater exploration in the South China Sea as onshore production growth sags.
CNOOC, which derives nearly all its domestic output from shallow waters, has vowed to build deepwater capacity of 1 million barrels of oil equivalents per day by 2020, more than doubling the company's total production.
Buying Nexen -- most of whose reserves are oil sands and shale gas in Canada and crude oil in the North Sea -- would mark a "material entry into the Gulf of Mexico" and an "increase in access to deepwater expertise", CNOOC said in a July presentation after it announced its bid for Nexen.
As the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, examines whether the deal presents any threats to national security, a handful of U.S. politicians have voiced concerns. One issue the committee will examine, CFIUS experts say, is whether Nexen's assets are too close to sensitive U.S. military areas.
Senator James Inhofe, soon to be the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters on Tuesday that he hopes CFIUS forces CNOOC to divest the assets.
"It's the same as it would be when I object to their presence in our borders in California, or the Panama canal -- they're not our reliable ally," Inhofe said.
Under U.S. law, CFIUS operates in complete secrecy and it is not known when it may make a decision or which way it is leaning. CNOOC has declined comment on the review and Nexen had no immediate comment.
UNOCAL OVERHANG
CNOOC was forced to abandon its $18.5 billion bid for California-based Unocal in 2005 because of bitter opposition on sovereignty grounds from U.S. lawmakers. The rebuke influenced its bid for Nexen, and it carefully prepared for the review processes it would face.
Some energy analysts and investment bankers not involved in the transaction say they believe the U.S. government would approve the deal, perhaps with some agreements on who operates the rigs, as CNOOC is just buying a relatively small portfolio in the Gulf.
Nexen produced 22,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the region in 2011, less than 2 percent of overall Gulf of Mexico production. The Gulf accounts for around 10 percent of Nexen's production and 5 percent of its proved and probable reserves, according to recent company statements.
Foreign oil and gas companies are very common in the Gulf both as operators and lease owners -- Royal Dutch Shell and BP Plc are the two largest oil producers there. Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras also has a substantial position in the Gulf.
Analysts and bankers also pointed to the approval of recent acquisitions of minority stakes in some U.S. onshore oil and gas assets by CNOOC and China's Sinopec Group, parent of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec Corp.
"I am going to toss the coin and say look, given Canada has approved, it is more likely now the U.S. will approve," said Simon Powell, head of Asian oil and gas research at CLSA in Hong Kong.
But CFIUS standards can often be murky. For instance, a privately owned Chinese company was blocked in September from building wind turbines close to a Navy military site used to test unmanned drones in Oregon.
SOUTH CHINA SEA AMBITION
As China's energy demand soars, CNOOC and other state Chinese oil firms like Sinopec Group have been venturing into deepwater projects in partnership with global oil majors such as Total and Shell in west Africa and offshore Brazil in the last few years.
But the Chinese firms mostly play a minority, passive role in such projects, with limited access to deepwater exploration and production know-how and hence with lack of exposure to the entire operational process.
That leaves an acquisition as the other route to acquiring new technical expertise.
"What they could learn in the Gulf of Mexico could be deployed back into the domestic, South China Sea exploration in terms of best practices in the longer term," said Gordon Kwan, head of energy research at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong.
CNOOC launched its first ultra-deepwater rig earlier this year and it is drilling south of Hong Kong in an area within Beijing's ambit.
Industry watchers expect CNOOC will eventually move the $1 billion rig to explore in deeper and more oil-rich waters further south in the South China Sea, where China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping territorial claims.
The deepwater area of the South China Sea remains untapped, largely because tensions between rival claimants have made oil companies and private rig-builders reluctant to explore contentious acreage well away from sovereign coastlines.
Rich hydrocarbon resources are believed to lie below the center and south of the South China Sea, which is in the disputed zone.
Estimates for proven and undiscovered oil reserves in the entire sea range from 28 billion to as high as 213 billion barrels of oil, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a March 2008 report.
That would be equivalent to more than 60 years of current Chinese demand, under the most optimistic outlook, and surpass every country's proven oil reserves except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the BP Statistical Review.
Chinese state media have called the South China Sea "the second Persian Gulf".
CNOOC also hopes to use the acquisition of Nexen to form a foundation for growth in the Gulf of Mexico, analysts say. Currently, it just owns a minority stake in a deepwater joint venture project with Nexen in the Gulf and some relatively small assets divested by Norway's Statoil in 2009.
Its deepwater capabilities should also benefit from Nexen's projects in the North Sea.
Nexen has 43 percent of the Buzzard oilfield in the North Sea, Britain's largest pumping about 200,000 barrels per day.
They are not deepwater projects but CNOOC can learn how to deal with harsh weather -- expertise also key for CNOOC to expand its deepwater footprint, analysts say.
"You learn how to conduct drilling in extreme weather. It is not deep water but it is harsh weather," said Mirae's Kwan.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington and Bill Powell in Shanghai; Editing by Alex Richardson and Tiffany Wu)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-nexens-u-gulf-oilfields-key-chinas-deepwater-080139133.html
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Posted on: December 13th, 2012 by admin@cpp
A Georgia commercial real estate land parcel is available for purchase from Commercial Property Professionals.
The plot of land, named Floyd Lake Property, is located on Floyd Road in Hampton. It has good topography and is a heavily wooded site. The area is aggressively priced at $4,200 per acre, or approximately $861,000.
There is 450 feet of frontage on Floyd Lake, and it is an ideal investment for a recreational tract, as well as a future residential development site. The property's zoning category is Agricultural/Residential.
The property's location is near Route 20 and the Herman Talmadge Highway. It is also within a short drive from the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Tara Field, a public airport in Hampton is also nearby.
Those interested in learning more information about the property should contact Jason Whitworth at (404) 723-9199, or by email at jwhitworth@cpprofessionals.com. Additionally, Keith Guthrie can be contacted about the property by phone at (404) 790-7271, or by email at kguthrie@cpprofessionals.com. This is one of many land parcels in the state of Georgia offered for sale by Commercial Property Professionals.
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Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/bSxRDs2xJNk/story01.htm
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Dec. 12, 2012 ? Fifty years ago on a mid-December day, NASA's Mariner 2 spacecraft sailed close to the shrouded planet Venus, marking the first time any spacecraft had ever successfully made a close-up study of another planet. The flyby, 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) away from Earth, gave America its first bona fide space "first" after five years in which the Soviet Union led with several space exploration milestones. Designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the successful Mariner 2 spacecraft ushered in a new era of solar system exploration.
"JPL has always attempted to do mighty things on behalf of NASA and our nation," said JPL director Charles Elachi. "Achieving America's first 'first in space' is among the lab's proudest achievements."
In celebration of the anniversary, an interactive presentation highlighting 50 years of planetary exploration is available online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/50years .
The first Mariners were designed and built on an extremely demanding schedule. JPL had to ready three probes -- two to fly to Venus and one spare -- in less than a year, with strict weight limits.
Getting to Venus was no easy feat. The Soviet Union suffered several failures in their attempts to get to Venus in 1961. And the rocket carrying NASA's first attempt, Mariner 1, began to fishtail shortly after launch. The range safety officer pushed the self-destruct button four minutes and 53 seconds into flight.
Mariner 2 was launched Aug. 27, 1962, from Cape Canaveral. Shortly after liftoff, the rocket began to roll, making it unable to respond to guidance commands. In the first of a series of Mariner "miracles," the electrical short causing the issue mysteriously healed itself after about a minute.
En route to Venus, Mariner 2 encountered many problems that nearly ended its mission. Among these were a solar panel that twice stopped working, a balky sensor designed to locate Earth and gyros that mysteriously misbehaved. Most troubling of all, temperatures on the spacecraft climbed to alarming levels as Mariner 2 drew closer to Venus. Mission controllers worried the spacecraft might cook itself before reaching its destination.
But on Dec. 14, 1962, Mariner 2 hit its expected mark, gliding within 21,564 miles (13,399 kilometers) of our closest planetary neighbor. Machines at JPL spit out rolls of paper tape with microwave, infrared, radiation and magnetic fields data.
The encounter produced the first close-up measurements of Venus's scorching surface temperature, helping to confirm scientists' hypotheses of a runaway "greenhouse" effect that trapped heat from the sun under an atmospheric blanket. The spacecraft's precision tracking also enabled navigators to use radio signals to measure the effect of Venus's gravity on the spacecraft and calculate the most precise figure ever of the planet's mass.
The mission also made scientific discoveries beyond Venus. During Mariner 2's cruise phase, it was the first to confirm the existence of the solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing outward from the sun. Its data also enabled scientists to refine the value for an astronomical unit, the average distance between Earth and the sun. Mariner 2 also showed that micrometeorites and the radiation environment were not significant threats in that part of the solar system.
Mariner 2 was a thrilling success during the early, uncertain days of space exploration. As Mariner 2's project manager Jack James of JPL reflected before his death in 2001, "There will be other missions to Venus, but there will never be another first mission to Venus."
Six other successful Mariner missions to Venus, Mars and Mercury followed. And in the ensuing decades, NASA sent spacecraft to all the planets, as well as comets, asteroids and other unfamiliar worlds in our solar system.
For a fuller history of Mariner 2's visit of Venus: visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mariner2/ .
JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/9dR80j4gPwI/121212164632.htm
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FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2012, file photo, software company founder John McAfee listens to a question during an interview at a local restaurant in Guatemala City. McAfee said Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, a live-stream Internet broadcast from the Guatemalan detention center where he is fighting a government order that he be returned to Belize, that he wants to return to the United States and "settle down to whatever normal life" he can. Police in neighboring Belize want to question McAfee in the fatal shooting of a U.S. expatriate who lived near his home on a Belizean island in November. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2012, file photo, software company founder John McAfee listens to a question during an interview at a local restaurant in Guatemala City. McAfee said Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, a live-stream Internet broadcast from the Guatemalan detention center where he is fighting a government order that he be returned to Belize, that he wants to return to the United States and "settle down to whatever normal life" he can. Police in neighboring Belize want to question McAfee in the fatal shooting of a U.S. expatriate who lived near his home on a Belizean island in November. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
Telesforo Guerra, the lawyer of software company founder John McAfee, speaks to journalist outside the detention immigration center where McAfee is being held, in Guatemala City, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. Guerra told reporters that the creator of the McAfee antivirus program is in good health, and his team is filing four separate legal appeals in an effort to prevent his return to Belize. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) ? A lawyer for John McAfee said Tuesday that a judge has ordered the software company founder released from a Guatemalan detention center where he has been fighting being returned to Belize.
Attorney Telesforo Guerra said the judge notified him verbally of the ruling, but added that it might take a day for formal written notification to win McAfee's release, possibly as soon as Wednesday.
Judge Judith Secaida did not immediately return phone calls seeking to confirm the ruling.
Guerra said Secaida ruled that McAfee's detention was illegal, ordered him released, and gave him 10 days to put his immigration situation in order. It was not immediately clear if McAfee could get some kind of temporary or transit visa to allow him to leave Guatemala.
McAfee has said he wants to return to the United States with his 20-year-old Belizean girlfriend. Guerra said that would be his client's best option.
"For me, it's best that McAfee go to the United States, that's definitely the country where he will be safest," Guerra said. "In Guatemala, he runs the risk that anything could happen to him."
McAfee was detained last week for immigration violations after he sneaked into Guatemala from neighboring Belize. He had been on the lam for weeks before that, saying he donned disguises to avoid Belizean police who want to question him in the fatal shooting in November of another U.S. expatriate, Gregory Viant Faull.
The victim lived a couple of houses down from McAfee's compound on Ambergris Caye, an island off Belize's Caribbean coast. McAfee acknowledges that his dogs were bothersome and that Faull had complained about them, but denies killing Faull.
McAfee has said corrupt Belizean authorities are persecuting him, something officials in Belize deny. McAfee says he fears for his safety in Belize because he has sensitive information about official corruption and refused to donate to local politicians.
In a live-stream Internet broadcast Sunday from the Guatemalan detention center where he was put under the government order that he be returned to Belize, the 67-year-old McAfee said he wants to return to the United States and "settle down to whatever normal life" he can.
"I simply would like to live comfortably day by day, fish, swim, enjoy my declining years," he said.
McAfee is an acknowledged practical joker who has dabbled in yoga, ultra-light aircraft and the production of herbal medications. He has led an eccentric life since he sold his stake in the software company named after him in the early 1990s and moved to Belize about three years ago to lower his taxes.
He told The New York Times in 2009 that he had lost all but $4 million of his $100 million fortune in the U.S. financial crisis. However, a story on the Gizmodo website quoted him as describing that claim as "not very accurate at all."
Faull's family has said through a representative that McAfee's skillful courting of the media, including blog posts, email messages clandestine interviews, has obscured the point that McAfee should submit to police questioning.
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Ever wonder how engineers, right out of college or high school, in some cases go on to build huge companies like Apple, Microsoft and Facebook? The answer is ? Tech Venture Capital.
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Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc., receives a cash infusion from a Don Valentine, a tech venture capitalist to start Apple.
Starting a new company needs a strong business plan, good management and initial capital. Starting a technology company is no different. But along with a strong business plan, a tech company needs management that understands both the business and technology aspects. Meeting the technology needs of a fast-paced market while facing competition from other companies that have made technology a leading driving force in global economy is not an easy task. This gave birth to a new career ? A Tech Venture Capitalist.
?
A Tech Venture Capitalist (TVC), as the name suggests, is an investor or group of investors that privately fund a new technology venture. In exchange for their investment, they usually get a say in the company?s policies and decisions, the company shares (preferred stock) and even some control over the company?s operations. A TVC essentially identifies suitable companies for investment, develops a strategic plan, provides networking and manages competition.
?
Any investment would expect a positive return. This makes the most important role of a TVC to estimate the technological trends in the future. With a densely populated technology sector, a product can be irrelevant to the market within days of its release. A TVC projects the future of a product by taking into consideration many factors such as the life of the electrical components used, components of the competitor?s products, the time taken to build a product, market share estimation and needs of the market.
?
This needs a TVC to be knowledgeable in both the business and technology fields. Traditionally electrical, computer and software engineers with an MBA in management would be a match for a TVC?s role. But, recent recessions have proven that innovation and entrepreneurship along with a strong background in quality engineering and technology commercialization can bail out a company from dark periods.
?
Florida Tech now offers a M.S. in innovation and entrepreneurship. This degree program is perfect for engineers who have a strong interest in starting a company or working for a startup. The curriculum includes courses in technology commercialization, project engineering and quality engineering that are required to sustain the market competition. This degree also allows us to commercialize our Northrup Grumman Engineering & Science Student Design Showcase and would produce individuals perfect for a job in the Tech Venture Capital firms.
?
So, the next time you have an innovative idea that can change the world, you know what to do!
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Hey, remember me? It?s The Brooklyn Brawler. For 30 years I?ve been locking up with all the greats in WWE rings, and for 30 years WWE has refused to cross the East River from Manhattan to the greatest city in the world: Brooklyn, N.Y. Finally, after all this time, WWE is bringin? a real-life pay-per-view where the real New Yorkers live, the County of Kings. And if anyone knows a thing or two about bein? a king, it?s me, The Brooklyn Brawler.
(WATCH BRAWLER DEFEAT TRIPLE H | TWITTER:?@BRAWLERREAL)
So let?s get ready for WWE TLC at the sparkly new Barclays Center, right around the corner from the famous Brooklyn Academy of Music. Allow me to guide you through my hometown. We?ve got a lotta history, the best pizza and the toughest fighters. Think you know New York City? Think again. This ain?t Broadway. This is Brooklyn.
(WATCH BRAWLER?S ?BEST??| MORE BROOKLYN BRAWLER)
Source: http://www.wwe.com/classics/brooklyn-brawlers-guide-to-brooklyn
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Spirituality, as a manner of practice, is associated with religions, but spirituality can be discovered and spiritual illumination can be attained outside of religion. Acts of compassion, charity,abercrombie, selfless service, along with the experience of inner peace and joy are all characteristics of spirituality. We can experience spiritual awakening while listening to a beautiful piece of music, while looking at a soulful work of art, or while reading an inspirational book. We can feel spiritual by turning towards Nature, flowing water, walking through the woods, the sky, a towering cliff of mountain, vast ocean, and the rising sun. When we are in tune with Nature, when our mind,abercrombie outlet, body and soul are in harmony with one another, we are being spiritual.
Generally speaking human beings have two goals in life. One is called the worldly prosperity and well-being and the other is called the spiritual illumination. We remain in ignorance as long as we don?t have our spiritual illumination. We cannot desire for the material world alone and ignore the spiritual altogether. This way we lose our balance.
Being spiritual greatly contributes to our Self Improvement and overall joy and happiness,abercrombie france. Our subconscious mind, which is not in our direct control, holds one of the major keys to our growth and self-improvement. By following the path of spirituality we can purify our subconscious mind. By doing so, we can gradually change our old habits, behaviour patterns and attitude towards life, and face the world with a more positive and balanced outlook.
Spiritual practices like meditation, yoga, chanting, affirmations, introspection, mind-control,moncler, improves our health and well-being. It increases our self-confidence and will-power,belstaff outlet. It makes us optimistic, cheerful and full of positive thoughts,abercrombie. It relaxes our mind and body. We learn to enjoy what we are and what we have in all circumstances. We feel God in all beings,moncler outlet. We feel God in Nature.
Spirituality is not just about reading spiritual books, or attending spiritual lectures. Real Spirituality, as a matter of fact, begins with being and becoming spiritual.
And just in case you may think that walking the path of spirituality is full of difficulties, or that it is not meant for everyone. It is not true. Spirituality can be practised by anybody irrespective of age,belstaff, time and place. It is an effortless, natural and spontaneous journey.
By accepting spirituality we do not renounce the material world. Or the other hand,abercrombie, we accept the world more positively; we embrace the world in the true sense of the word. It?s never too late to realise our spiritual self and enjoy the divine benefits it brings to us.
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..I loved TDKR, but it was so full of flaws, and less than exceptional performances, that I think this is a cop-out choice...kinda likke when "Return of the King" won Best Picture...its like they are getting paid off for finishing the trilogy...and, all i have to say, is that "The Cabin in the Woods" had a better rating than 7 of these movies on this list...so , they can all smoke the Cabin's zombie hand...put that in your stove-pipe hat, Lincoln
Dec 10 - 06:08 PM
Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926437/news/1926437/
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Speakers and attendees reflected on the importance of honoring members of the military at Cornell?s annual Veterans Day ceremony in Sage Chapel Friday.
After the presentation of colors and Cassidy Molina?s ?15 performance of the National Anthem, Rev. Rick Bair, a Lutheran Chaplain of Cornell United Religious Works, emphasized the selflessness of servicemen and women.
?We owe a debt of more than gratitude to those who have sacrificed and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, deeming their lives less precious than the lives of strangers in need,? Bair said.
During the 40-minute ceremony ?? which was sponsored by Cornell?s Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality and the University?s ROTC programs ? retired U.S. ?Force Major General Michael Hall ?68 spoke about the military?s role in American society. He said the military should ?project determination? to other nations and emphasized the importance of honorable behavior among its members.?
?What you do in times of peace is just as important as what you do in times of war,? he said.?
Hall, who served in an air campaign in Kuwait during the first Gulf War before retiring in 1995, also stressed the influence that ROTC membership had on his time at Cornell. He advised his 200-person audiencee ?? composed primarily of ROTC members and their families ?? to take advantage of the diverse opportunities offered at Cornell.
But Hall?s tone was somber as he described the hardships faced by members of the military, citing in particular his grandfather?s wounds in World War I from a mustard gas attack.
?Take a moment to look to your left and right, then imagine that all the people you see had been killed,? Hall said.
Cornell IT security liaison David Juers, a Vietnam War veteran who attended Friday?s ceremony, said parts of Hall?s address ?? including his point that military action should be a last resort if peacekeeping efforts are unsuccessful ?? resonated with him.?
?I recognized a couple things, like military action being a result of failure in other areas,? he said.?
Cadet Carrissa Bartlett ?13, who organized the event, said she thought it was a success.
?I think it ran very smoothly,? Bartlett said. ?The speaker was amazing. I liked what he talked about. I thought it was interesting that he linked past conflicts to current engagements.??
In his address, Hall also commented on the impermanence of military solutions. He urged audience members to force their representatives to ?answer the hard questions.??
?Today, our superbly trained military asks less of us than ever before,? he said. ?Are we ready to support the real needs of veterans when they return from wars we can ignore??
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bnetTV speaks with Mark Loman of SurfRight regarding Hitman Pro at the 2012 Broadband World Forum held in Amsterdam and gives us a overview of the company and product.
Hitman Pro was developed in 2004 by Mark Loman from The Netherlands. As system administrator / security specialist he felt the need for an automated tool that would be able to effectively clean computers that were infected by spyware. In those days, spyware was still pretty new and except for a few specialized companies, there were no tools to remove spyware.
The first version of Hitman Pro was a simple script that downloaded and executed a couple of anti spyware programs, such as SpyBot, Ad-Aware, Spy Sweeper, Spyware Doctor, NOD32. Hitman Pro became very popular, especially in The Netherlands with more than 3 million users.
In later versions, the automation of the abovementioned programs became more complex as the vendors expanded the features of their software, making it more complicated to automate the execution of the program. Plus an increase in the number of false positives caused by these programs, resulted in the decision to develop a completely new version from scratch.
Mark Loman founded SurfRight B.V. in The Netherlands in 2006, and hired a few security experts and software developers for the development of new and innovative security products.
The first project in 2006 was a research project to study the common characteristics of malware using behavioural analysis (fuzzy logic). The results of this research would be the foundation for the new anti malware product Hitman Pro 3.
Caretaker Antispam was released in 2007, the first product of SurfRight using their own technology.
Caretaker Antispam's filter is trained centrally, not by the user so when spammers find a new spamming method, the filter is updated automatically by the team of SurfRight experts. This mechanism ensures that Caretaker Antispam continuously filters out more than 99% of all spam messages, while the number of false positives (genuine messages that are classified as spam) is virtually zero.
Hitman Pro 3 was released in 2008. The Hitman Pro 3 client is based completely on SurfRight technology.
Hitman Pro is a second opinion scanner, designed to rescue your computer from malware (viruses, trojans, rootkits, etc.) that have infected your computer despite all the security measures you have taken (such as anti virus software, firewalls, etc.). Hitman Pro is designed to work alongside existing security programs without any conflicts. It scans the computer quickly (less than 5 minutes) and does not slow down the computer (except for the few minutes it is scanning). Hitman Pro 3 does not need to be installed. It can be run straight from a USB flash drive, a CD/DVD, local or network attached hard drive
Source: http://www.bnettv.com/hitmanpro-surfright-mark-loman/
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Another extraordinary place. I did scuba dive there once. I remember slipping backwards into the water and my eyes were like goldfish bowls. I was looking for sharks, serves me right for watching Jaws in the 1980?s, however once I saw no fins coming towards me I relaxed and found myself in an oversized pool taking in a foreign world. It was wonderful to swim up to the reefs, see the fish peering at me like curious dogs, to see the corals like flowers blossoming. I could write poetry on this as I recall the incredible beauty all around me. I remember these huge sunfish, so colourful gently gliding around the reef pecking at the foods sources. I was struck by the incredible beauty of the reef and the delicate balance this ecosystem has. It is in danger of being destroyed by the Crown of Thorn starfish which has multipled exponentially. The cause of this infestation is human nutrients (fertiliser runoff flowing into the ocean) which aids starfish survival. The crown of thorn starfish have been destroying this 20,000 year old reef over the last 30 years. It is estimated that half of it may be gone, including cyclone damage. Hence devastating intrusion through agriculture catalyses another tipping point, crating an imbalance with the coral reef. This is the reality of tipping point.
We really don?t know much about nature, even our finest minds have their expertise, but no-one has a holistic vision which can take in the complex interconnections and sensitive feedbacks which constitute a living ecosystem. It is not just climate change, it is an integrated system and we haven?t even begun to understand human impact on such a delicate system. Narrow minds just see resources or a dumping ground for oil (oil tankers) they have no concept of the beauty and integration of nature with ourselves or even as a reflection of ourselves. Floating with this tank on my back and the sound of my own breathing loudly reminding me I depend on air, enabled me to gain a glimpse into another world that has never left me. My visit enabled myself to remember my connection to nature as it allowed me to swim amongst forests that are 110 million years old. That is the great in Great Barrier Reef. It is the largest coral reef in the world. It is breathtaking, particularly if you don?t wear your tank (bit of humour there).
So without further a do, here is Wikipedias rundown of this indeed Greatest of Barrier Reef?s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Great Barrier Reef is the world?s largest coral reef system[1][2] composed of over 2,900 individual reefs[3] and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600?kilometres (1,600?mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000?sq?mi).[4][5] The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world?s biggest single structure made by living organisms.[6] This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.[7] It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.[1][2]CNN labeled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world.[8] The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland.[9]
A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published on 1 October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985.[10]
The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups? cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating $1?billion per year.[11]
Satellite image of part of the Great Barrier Reef adjacent to the Queensland coastal areas of Airlie Beach and Mackay.
The Great Barrier Reef is a distinct feature of the East Australian Cordillera division. It includes the smaller Murray Islands.[12] It reaches from Torres Strait (between Bramble Cay, its northernmost island, and the south coast of Papua New Guinea) in the north to the unnamed passage between Lady Elliot Island (its southernmost island) and Fraser Island in the south. Lady Elliot Island is located 1,915?km (1,190?mi) southeast of Bramble Cay as the crow flies.[13]
Australia has moved northwards at a rate of 7?cm (2.8?in) per year, starting during the Cainozoic.[14] Eastern Australia experienced a period of tectonic uplift, which moved the drainage divide in Queensland 400?km (250?mi) inland. Also during this time, Queensland experienced volcanic eruptions leading to central and shield volcanoes and basalt flows.[15] Some of these granitic outcrops have become high islands.[16] After the Coral Sea Basin formed, coral reefs began to grow in the Basin, but until about 25 million years ago, northern Queensland was still in temperate waters south of the tropics?too cool to support coral growth.[17] The Great Barrier Reef?s development history is complex; after Queensland drifted into tropical waters, it was largely influenced by reef growth and decline as sea level changed.[18] Reefs can increase in diameter by 1 to 3 centimetres (0.39 to 1.2 in) per year, and grow vertically anywhere from 1 to 25 cm (0.39 to 9.8 in) per year; however, they grow only above a depth of 150 metres (490?ft) due to their need for sunlight, and cannot grow above sea level.[19] When Queensland edged into tropical waters 24 million years ago, some coral grew,[20] but a sedimentation regime quickly developed with erosion of the Great Dividing Range; creating river deltas, oozes and turbidites, unsuitable conditions for coral growth. 10 million years ago, the sea level significantly lowered, which further enabled sedimentation. The reef?s substrate may have needed to build up from the sediment until its edge was too far away for suspended sediments to inhibit coral growth. In addition, approximately 400,000 years ago there was a particularly warm interglacial period with higher sea levels and a 4 ?C (7??F) water temperature change.[21]
The Great Barrier Reef is clearly visible from aircraft flying over it.
Heron Island, a coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef
The land that formed the substrate of the current Great Barrier Reef was a coastal plain formed from the eroded sediments of the Great Dividing Range with some larger hills (some of which were themselves remnants of older reefs[22] or volcanoes[16]).[14] The Reef Research Centre, a Cooperative Research Centre, has found coral ?skeleton? deposits that date back half a million years.[23] The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) considers the earliest evidence of complete reef structures to have been 600,000 years ago.[24] According to the GBRMPA, the current, living reef structure is believed to have begun growing on the older platform about 20,000 years ago.[24] The Australian Institute of Marine Science agrees, placing the beginning of the growth of the current reef at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum. At around that time, sea level was 120 metres (390?ft) lower than it is today.[22]
From 20,000 years ago until 6,000 years ago, sea level rose steadily. As it rose, the corals could then grow higher on the hills of the coastal plain. By around 13,000 years ago the sea level was only 60 metres (200?ft) lower than the present day, and corals began to grow around the hills of the coastal plain, which were, by then, continental islands. As the sea level rose further still, most of the continental islands were submerged. The corals could then overgrow the hills, to form the present cays and reefs. Sea level here has not risen significantly in the last 6,000 years.[22] The CRC Reef Research Centre estimates the age of the present, living reef structure at 6?8,000 years old.[23]
The remains of an ancient barrier reef similar to the Great Barrier Reef can be found in The Kimberley, Western Australia.[25]
The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has been divided into 70 bioregions,[26] of which 30 are reef bioregions.[27][28] In the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef, ribbon reefs and deltaic reefs have formed; these structures are not found in the rest of the reef system.[23] There are no atolls in the system,[29] and reefs attached to the mainland are rare.[14]
Fringing reefs are distributed widely, but are most common towards the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef, attached to high islands, for example, the Whitsunday Islands. Lagoonal reefs are found in the southern Great Barrier Reef, and further north, off the coast of Princess Charlotte Bay. Cresentic reefs are the most common shape of reef in the middle of the system, for example the reefs surrounding Lizard Island. Cresentic reefs are also found in the far north of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and in the Swain Reefs (20?22 degrees south). Planar reefs are found in the northern and southern parts, near Cape York Peninsula, Princess Charlotte Bay, and Cairns. Most of the islands on the reef are found on planar reefs.[30]
A variety of colourful corals on Flynn Reef near Cairns
The Great Barrier Reef supports a diversity of life, including many vulnerable or endangered species, some of which may be endemic to the reef system.[31][32]
Thirty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises have been recorded in the Great Barrier Reef, including the dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and the humpback whale. Large populations of dugongs live there.[32][33][34] More than 1,500 fish species live on the reef, including the clownfish, red bass, red-throat emperor, and several species of snapper and coral trout.[33] Forty-nine species mass spawn, while eighty-four other species spawn elsewhere in their range.[35] Seventeen species of sea snake live on the Great Barrier Reef in warm waters up to 50 metres (160?ft) deep and are more common in the southern than in the northern section. None found in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area are endemic, nor are any endangered.[36]
Six species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed ? the green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, flatback turtle, and the olive ridley. The green sea turtles on the Great Barrier Reef have two genetically distinct populations, one in the northern part of the reef and the other in the southern part.[37] Fifteen species of seagrass in beds attract the dugongs and turtles,[33] and provide fish habitat.[38] The most common genera of seagrasses are Halophila and Halodule.[39]
Saltwater crocodiles live in mangrove and salt marshes on the coast near the reef.[40] Nesting has not been reported, and the salt water crocodile population in the GBRWHA is wide-ranging but low density.[36] Around 125 species of shark, stingray, skates or chimaera live on the reef.[41][42] Close to 5,000 species of mollusc have been recorded on the reef, including the giant clam and various nudibranchs and cone snails.[33] Forty-nine species of pipefish and nine species of seahorse have been recorded.[36] At least seven species of frog inhabit the islands.[43]
215 species of birds (including 22 species of seabirds and 32 species of shorebirds) visit the reef or nest or roost on the islands,[44] including the white-bellied sea eagle and roseate tern.[33] Most nesting sites are on islands in the northern and southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef, with 1.4?1.7?million birds using the sites to breed.[45][46] The islands of the Great Barrier Reef also support 2,195 known plant species; three of these are endemic. The northern islands have 300?350 plant species which tend to be woody, whereas the southern islands have 200 which tend to be herbaceous; the Whitsunday region is the most diverse, supporting 1,141 species. The plants are propagated by birds.[43]
There are at least 330 species of ascidians on the reef system with the diameter of 1?10 cm (0.4?4 in). Between 300?500 species of bryozoans live on the reef.[42] Four hundred coral species, both hard corals and soft corals inhabit the reef.[33] The majority of these spawn gametes, breeding in mass spawning events that are triggered by the rising sea temperatures of spring and summer, the lunar cycle, and the diurnal cycle. Reefs in the inner Great Barrier Reef spawn during the week after the full moon in October, while the outer reefs spawn in November and December.[47] Its common soft corals belong to 36 genera.[48] Five hundred species of marine algae or seaweed live on the reef,[33] including thirteen species of genus Halimeda, which deposit calcareous mounds up to 100 metres (110?yd) wide, creating mini-ecosystems on their surface which have been compared to rainforest cover.[49]
Sea temperature and bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef
Climate change, pollution, crown-of-thorns starfish and fishing are the primary threats to the health of this reef system. Other threats include shipping accidents, oil spills, and tropical cyclones.[50]Skeletal Eroding Band, a disease of bony corals caused by the protozoan Halofolliculina corallasia, affects 31 coral species.[51] According to a 2012 study by the National Academy of Science, since 1985, the Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half of its corals with two-thirds of the lost occurring from 1998 due to the factors listed before.[52]
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority considers the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef to be climate change, causing ocean warming which increases coral bleaching.[53][54][55] Mass coral bleaching events due to elevated ocean temperatures occurred in the summers of 1998, 2002 and 2006,[56] and coral bleaching is expected to become an annual occurrence.[57] As global warming continues due to anthropogenic causes, corals will not be able to keep up with increasing ocean temperatures. Coral bleaching events lead to increased disease susceptibility, which causes detrimental ecological effects for reef communities.[58] Climate change has implications for other forms of reef life?some fish?s preferred temperature range leads them to seek new habitat, thus increasing chick mortality in predatory seabirds. Climate change will also affect the population and sea turtle?s available habitat.[59]
Bleaching events in benthic coral communities (deeper than 20 metres?/ 66 feet) in the Great Barrier reef are not as well documented as those at shallower depths, but recent research has shown that benthic communities are just as negatively impacted in the face of rising ocean temperatures. Five Great Barrier Reef species of large benthic corals were found bleached under elevated temperatures, affirming that benthic corals are vulnerable to thermal stress.[60]
Another key threat faced by the Great Barrier Reef is pollution and declining water quality. The rivers of north eastern Australia pollute the Reef during tropical flood events. Over 90% of this pollution comes from farm runoff.[61] Farm run-off is caused by overgrazing, excessive fertiliser use, and pesticide use.
The runoff problem is exacerbated by the loss of coastal wetlands which act as a natural filter for toxins and help deposit sediment.[62][63][64] It is thought that the poor water quality is due to increased light and oxygen competition from algae.[65]
The crown-of-thorns starfish preys on coral polyps. Large outbreaks of these starfish can devastate reefs. In 2000, an outbreak contributed to a loss of 66% of live coral cover on sampled reefs in a study by the RRC (Reefs Research Centre.)[66] Outbreaks are believed to occur in natural cycles, worsened by poor water quality and overfishing of the starfish?s predators.[66][67]
The unsustainable overfishing of keystone species, such as the Giant Triton, can disrupt food chains vital to reef life. Fishing also impacts the reef through increased water pollution from boats, by-catch of unwanted species (such as dolphins and turtles) and habitat destruction from trawling, anchors and nets.[68] As of the middle of 2004, approximately one-third of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is protected from species removal of any kind, including fishing, without written permission.[69]
The Shen Neng 1 aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 5 April 2010.
Shipping accidents are a pressing concern, as several commercial shipping routes pass through the Great Barrier Reef.[70] Although the route through the Great Barrier Reef is not easy, reef pilots consider it safer than outside the reef in the event of mechanical failure, since a ship can sit safely while being repaired.[71] There have been over 1,600?known shipwrecks in the Great Barrier Reef region.[72] On 3 April 2010, bulk coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Douglas Shoals,[73]spilling up to four tonnes of oil into the water and causing extensive damage to the reef.[74]
The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal Australians have been living in the area for at least 40,000 years,[75] and Torres Strait Islanders since about 10,000 years ago.[76] For these 70 or so clan groups, the reef is also an important cultural feature.[77]
In 1768, Louis de Bougainville found the reef during an exploratory mission, but did not claim the area for the French.[78] On 11 June 1770, the HM Bark Endeavour, captained by explorer James Cook, ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, sustaining considerable damage. Lightening the ship and re-floating it during an incoming tide eventually saved it.[79] One of the most famous wrecks was the HMS Pandora, which sank on 29 August 1791, killing 35 men. The Queensland Museum has led archaeological digs to the Pandora since 1983.[80] Because the reef had no atolls, it was largely unstudied in the 19th century.[29] During this time, some of the reef?s islands were mined for deposits of guano, and lighthouses were built as beacons throughout the system.[81] as in Raine Island, the earliest example.[82] In 1922, the Great Barrier Reef Committee began carrying out much of the early research on the reef.[83]
Starfish on coral. Tourists often photograph the natural beauty of the reef.
Royal Commissions disallowed oil drilling in the Great Barrier Reef, in 1975 the Government of Australia created the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and prohibited various activities.[84] The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park does not include the entire Great Barrier Reef Province.[13] The park is managed, in partnership with the Government of Queensland, through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure that it is used in a sustainable manner. A combination of zoning, management plans, permits, education and incentives (such as eco-tourism certification) are employed in the effort to conserve the reef.[50][85]
In 1999, the Australian Parliament passed the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act which improved the operation of national environmental law by providing guidance about regional biodiversity conservation priorities. The marine bioregional planning process came from the implementation of this law. This process conserves marine biodiversity by considering the whole ecosystem a species is in and how different species interact in the marine environment.
There are two steps to this process. The first step is to identify regional conservation priorities in the five (currently) different marine regions. The second step is to identify marine reserves (protected areas or marine parks) to be added to Australia?s National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. Like protected areas on land, marine reserves are created to protect biodiversity for generations to come. Marine reserves are identified based on criteria written in a document created by Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council entitled ?Guidelines for establishing the national representative system of marine protected areas,? also known as just ?the Guidelines.? These guidelines are nationally recognised and implemented at the local level based on the Australian policy for implementation outlined in the ?Goals and Principles for the Establishment of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas in Commonwealth Waters.? These policies are in place to make sure that a marine reserve is only added to the NRSMPA after careful evaluation of different data.
The priorities for each region are created based on human and environmental threats and the Marine Bioregional Plans are drafted to address these priorities. To assess different region?s priorities, three steps are taken, first, a bioregional profile is created, second, a bioregional plan is drafted and third, the plan is finalised. After the plan is finalized, activity in different bioregions may become limited based on particular threats an activity may pose.[86]
In 2001, the GBRMPA released a report about the declining water quality in the Great Barrier Reef and detailed the importance of this issue. In repose to this report a joint initiative between the governments of Australia and Queensland to improve the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef. In 2003, the Australian and Queensland governments launched a joint initiative to improve the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef. The decline in the quality of water over the past 150 years (due to development) has contributed to coral bleaching, algal blooms and pesticide pollution. These forms of pollution have made the reef less resilient to climate change. When the plan was introduced in October in 2003, it originally contained 65 actions built on previous legislation. Their immediate goal was to halt and reverse the decline in water quality entering the reef by 2013. By 2020, they hope that the quality of the water entering in the reef improves enough so that it doesn?t have a detrimental impact on the health of the Great Barrier Reef. To achieve these goals they decided to reduce pollutants in the water entering the reef and to rehabilitate and conserve areas of the reef that naturally help reduce water pollutants. In order to achieve the objectives described above, this plan focuses on non-point sources of pollution, which cannot be traced to a single source such as a waste outlet.
The plan specifically targets nutrients, pesticides and sediment that make their way into the reef as a result of agricultural activities. Other non-point sources of pollution that are attributed to urban areas are covered under different legislation. In 2009 the plan was updated. The updated version states that to date, none of the efforts undertaken to improve the quality of water entering the reef has been successful. The new plan attempts to address this issue by ?targeting priority outcomes, integrating industry and community initiatives and incorporating new policy and regulatory frameworks (Reef Plan 5).? This updated version has improved the clarity of the previous plan and targets set by that plan, have improved accountability and further improved monitoring and assessment. The 2009 report found that 41 out of the 65 actions met their original goals, however, 18 were not progressing well according to evaluation criteria as well as 6 were rated as having unsatisfactory levels of progress. Some key achievements made since the plan?s initial passing in 2003 were the establishment of the Reef Quality Partnership to set targets, report findings and monitor progress towards targets, improved land condition by landowners was rewarded with extended leases, Water Quality Improvement Plans were created to identify regional targets and identified management changes that needed to be made to reach those targets, Nutrient Management Zones have been created to combat sediment loss in particular areas, education programs have been started to help gather support for sustainable agriculture, changes to land management practices have taken place through the implementation of the Farm Management Systems and codes of practice, the creation of the Queensland Wetland program and other achievements were made to help improve the water quality flowing into the coral reefs.
A taskforce of scientists was also created to assess the impact of different parts of the plan on the quality of water flowing into the coral reefs. They found that many of the goals have yet to be reached but found more evidence that states that improving the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef will improve its resilience to climate change. The Reefocus summit in 2008, which is also detailed in the report, came to similar conclusions. After this, a stakeholder working group was formed that worked between several groups as well as the Australian and Queensland governments to update reef goals and objectives. The updated version of the plan focuses on strategic priority areas and actions to achieve 2013 goals. Also quantitative targets have been made in order to critically assess whether targets are being met. Some examples of the water quality goals outlined by this plan are that by 2013, there will be a 50% reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus loads at the end of catchments and that by 2020, there will be a reduction in sediment load by 20%. The plan also outlines a number of steps that must be taken by landholders to help improve grazing, soil, nutrient and chemical management practices. There are also a number of supporting initiatives to take place outlined in the plan to help create a framework to improve land use practices which will in turn improve water quality.
Through these means the governments of Australia and Queensland hope to improve water quality by 2013. The 2013 outlook report and revised water quality plan will assess what needs to be done in the future to improve water quality and the livelihoods of the wildlife that resides there.[87]
In July 2004, a new zoning plan took effect for the entire Marine Park, and has been widely acclaimed as a new global benchmark for marine ecosystem conservation.[88] The rezoning was based on the application of systematic conservation planning techniques, using MARXAN software.[89] While protection across the Marine Park was improved, the highly protected zones increased from 4.5% to over 33.3%.[90] At the time, it was the largest marine protected area in the world, although in 2006, the new Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument became the largest.[91]
In 2006, a review of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 recommended are that there should be no further zoning plan changes until 2013, and that every five years, a peer-reviewed Outlook Report should be published, examining the reef?s health, management, and environmental pressures.[5][92] In each outlook report, several assessments are required. Each assessment has a set of assessment criteria that allows for better presentation of available evidence. Each assessment is judged by these criteria and given a grade. Every outlook report follows the same judging and grading process so that information can be tracked over time. No new research is done to produce the report. Only readily available information goes into the report so little of what is known about the Reef is actually featured in each outlook report.[93]
Due to its vast biodiversity, warm clear waters and accessibility from the tourist boats called ?live aboards?, the reef is a very popular destination, especially for scuba divers. Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef is concentrated in the Whitsundays and Cairns due to their accessibility. These areas make up 7% of the Park?s area.[50] The Whitsundays and Cairns have their own Plans of Management.[94] Many cities along the Queensland coast offer daily boat trips. Several continental and coral cay islands are now resorts, including the pristine Lady Elliot Island. As of 1996, 27 islands on the Great Barrier Reef supported resorts.[50]
Domestic tourism made up most of the tourism in the region as of 1996, and the most popular visiting times were in the Australian winter. It was estimated that tourists to the Great Barrier Reef contributed A$776?million per annum at this time.[95]
As the largest commercial activity in the region, it was estimated in 2003 that tourism in the Great Barrier Reef generates over A$4?billion annually.[96] (A 2005 estimate puts the figure at A$5.1?billion.[94]) Approximately two million people visit the Great Barrier Reef each year.[97] Although most of these visits are managed in partnership with the marine tourism industry, there is a concern amongst the general public that tourism is harmful to the Great Barrier Reef.[50]
A variety of boat tours and cruises are offered, from single day trips, to longer voyages. Boat sizes range from dinghies to superyachts.[98]Glass-bottomed boats and underwater observatories are also popular, as are helicopter flights.[99][100] By far, the most popular tourist activities on the Great Barrier Reef are snorkelling and diving, for which pontoons are often used, and the area is often enclosed by nets. The outer part of the Great Barrier Reef is favoured for such activities, due to water quality.
Management of tourism in the Great Barrier Reef is geared towards making tourism ecologically sustainable. A daily fee is levied that goes towards research of the Great Barrier Reef.[94] This fee ends up being 20% of the GBRMPA?s income.[101] Policies on cruise ships, bareboat charters, and anchorages limit the traffic on the Great Barrier Reef.[94]
The problems that surround ecotourism in the Great Barrier Reef revolve around permanent tourism platforms. Platforms are large, ship-like vessels that act as a base for tourists while scuba diving and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. Seabirds will land on the platforms and defecate which will eventually be washed into the sea. The feces carry nitrogen, phosphorus and oftentimes DDT and mercury which cause aspergillosis,yellow band disease and black band disease. Areas without tourism platforms have 14 out of 9,468 (1.1%) diseased corals versus areas with tourism platforms that have 172 out of 7,043 (12%) diseased corals.[102] Tourism is a major economic activity for the region. Thus, while non-permanent platforms could be possible in some areas, overall, permanent platforms are likely a necessity. Solutions have been suggested to siphon bird waste into gutters connecting to tanks helping lower runoff that causes coral disease.[103]
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has also placed many permanent anchorage points around the general use areas. These act to reduce damage to the reef due to anchoring destroying soft coral, chipping hard coral and disturbing sediment as it is dragged across the bottom. Tourism operators also must comply with speed limits when traveling to or from tourist destinations, in order to prevent excessive wake from the boats disturbing the reef ecosystem.
The fishing industry in the Great Barrier Reef, controlled by the Queensland Government, is worth A$1?billion annually.[11] It employs approximately 2000 people, and fishing in the Great Barrier Reef is pursued commercially, for recreation, and as a traditional means for feeding one?s family.[77]
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that inhabit the reef have hunted dugongs well before European settlement. The dugong meat was often used in marriage and tombstone unveiling ceremonies, and the skull was used in the coming of age rites. As part of the Indigenous Management practices, the Marine Park Authority has allowed the hunting to continue around several Pacific Islander communities. However, the rapid increase in Dugong deaths has led to a controversy regarding the practices, as outboard motors are being used to kill up to one thousand dugongs a year, over ten times the sustainable level. Refrigeration of the meat now allows multiple carcasses to be kept ready for extended periods. This has led to debate between the Marine Park Authority and the scientific community regarding the merits of Indigenous practices in the reef.
Source: http://wpas.worldpeacefull.com/2012/11/australia-the-great-barrier-reef/
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