Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Means Scorching US Summers

Thirty years of shrinking Arctic sea ice has boosted extreme summer weather, including heat waves and drought, in the United States and elsewhere, according to a study published on December 8thThe new study — based on satellite tracking of sea ice, snow cover and weather trends since 1979 links the Arctic's warming climate to shifting weather patterns in the Northern Hemisp"The results of our new study provide further support and evidence for rapid Arctic warming contributing to the observed increased frequency and intensity of heat waves," said study co-author Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University.


Scientific opinion is still divided on whether the rollicking jet stream is truly linked to climate change or may simply be the result of natural variability, according to a commentary also published today in Nature Climate Change by James Overland, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. Part of the problem comes from the paucity of data, because scientists have only 30 years of Arctic observations to use in their analysis.
"Skeptics remain unconvinced that Arctic/midlatitude linkages are proven, and this work will do little to change their viewpoint," Overland wrote. "There is insufficient data to formally resolve the debate on whether these events are purely random or if their occurrence is enhanced by Arctic changes."

However, "the potential for an Arctic influence remains high, given the outlook for further declines in summer sea ice and snow cover over the next few decades, and Arctic amplification of global temperatures," Overland added. "Expected responses from Arctic impacts may be emerging."

Honduras Votes for President

Hondurans choose a new president and congress today as the world's highest rate of violent crimes hurts the economic growth due to the former president, Manuel Zelaya. Polls show the race in a statistical tie between the ruling National Party’s Juan Orlando Hernandez, 45, and Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro Both candidates vowed that they would improve the safety of their citizens after an increase in murders due to drug gangs linked to Mexican cartels.

Castro, 54, is seeking to break a century-long grip on the presidential palace by the country’s two traditional parties. She has tapped into frustration from the coup, during which she led protests to have her husband returned from bannishment. Hernandez led the national assembly when Zelaya was driven out for backing a vote to change the constitution.

“It’s going to be difficult for whoever wins to govern,” said Geoff Thale, director of the Washington Office on Latin America.

 Economic growth in the $19 billion economy has slowed to an average 3.2 percent per year since the 2009 coup, compared with a 5.7 percent average in the four years before, according to the International Monetary Fund. The final opinion poll showed a tie between Hernandez, with 28 percent support, and Castro with 27 percent.
Investors wary of Zelaya’s former alliance with late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have fueled a rally in Honduran bonds since September as polls showed Hernandez gaining on Castro, who led earlier this year.

Honduras dollar bonds have returned 2.5 percent this month, compared with a 2.9 percent decline in Latin American debt over the same period.

5 Jobs inching towards extinction, and who will their replacement be?

It is a fact of life, not everything will last, from food to jobs. Some figure this out the hard way by losing what they know best, their jobs. There are many jobs inching towards extinction, but these five are the most known ones. It is effecting people all over the world today, but mostly the United States. Starting with number 1, Desktop publishing. One of the places using it are brick-and-mortar bookstores who are almost as rare as aliens. Newspapers are closing down or laying off entire departments. And desktop publishers are the ones who design the layouts for these dying industries. Many of the employees of different bookstores are saying that it is no surprise, the need for desktop publishers is one in a million and software is now more powerful than ever making it easier for regular everyday people to utilize desktop publishing. The next best job to take its place is graphic designing. At first glance, the two are similar except for one is graphic designing and the other is desktop publishing.

The second job nearing towards extinction are reporter and correspondent. Getting the Sunday paper is now very uncommon and the reporters and correspondents who inform us of the daily news are beginning to lose their jobs. Many people of this profession say it is mostly because of the internet, many blogs and social cites are a source to the world now because technology is the next big thing. The latest and greatest job taking over this profession is public relationships specialist. Just as the reporters, the specialists deal with the public, yet mostly work with Organizations to maintain there public image.

The third job is Computer Repairing, computer repairers fix computer systems and hardware, but unfortunately, as technology advances, these professionals are getting left behind.
"When people owned their computers for 6 or 7 years, then the repairman was necessary," Galdwin, a computer programmer says. "Today, with the majority of computers sold costing less than $500, and most of them laptops that offer little or no upgradability, most people simply buy a new one every few years instead of repairing them." If people were to actually call someone, nowadays they would call a computer programmer.

The fourth job is floral designer. They are the creative master minds behind the making of flower arrangements. Though they do beautiful work these places are a lot more inconvenient than walking over to a grocery store where flower arrangements are also sold. Convenience is now the most important thing in Americans, we are lazy and cheap. The newest job pertaining to this type of profession would be an event planner. There job includes floral designing if the event calls for it, but they are detailed and focused enough to do it themselves without hiring a separate person.

The fifth and final job is a file clerk. Paper trails - every company has one. File clerks are used to managing companies' mountains of documents. Again, technology is beating them up, so many records are now held electronically and are easier to manage. Technology strikes again! Most of the jobs relating to file clerks are Medical Records and Health information technicians. They use a lot of technology to file in different medical files and organize them for specific patients with specific diseases.

These jobs may not be gone, but they are on the fence. They are working hard to stay a float but what they don't realize is that other business are beating them on the charts. Hopefully they update their jobs to better ours.

"Now I can move on." Said as a demolition crew picked up what was left of his home. One 

year after Hurricane Sandy Staten Island waterfront neighborhood know as Ocean Breeze, 

residents begin to pick up their lives and put them back together- with the help of an angel. 

CNN's Evelio Contreras first met Carol Mittelsdorf shortly after the storm and chronicles her 

story. CNN interviewed many different stories of how they survived. On woman, Diane 

EFfler, has lived in Ocean Breeze all her life. They took bungalos and made them as homes 

to survive. She says "I don't have any relatives left here anymore. I'm going to take the 

buyout. I'm 70 years old. I have two houses still standing and the one house, which is totally 

gone. I'm starting over again. It's like the storm wiped out my entire previous history and it's 

like being reborn." They are unknown on the timing of rebuilding the area. Not many people 

live their now, a woman rented a place next to her destroyed home, one man lives in a 

trailer. Other families live in taller, rebuilt homes. The rest of the buildings have either been 

demolished or are completely empty. Most families are trying to do the most for their 

communities by helping out neighbors, friends, and families. They say that building the 

home is easy compared to losing all the amazing memories that were destroyed. People are 

saying that they won't rebuild in a different location but that they will stay and show that they 

aren't leaving until someone begins to care and help. Many families feel as though no one is 

caring enough. Jean Laurie says "We need attention. We need to get everybody around 

here to see what's really going on. This is true life. This is real stuff that's going on. They p


have to walk a mile in our shoes. They're not." The residents are feeling ignored, 

unappreciated, and forgotten. In this situation people just need someone to be there for 

them and help them through their time of loss. 

Ocean breeze needs an angel

                "Now I can move on." Said as a demolition crew picked up what was left of his home. One year after Hurricane Sandy Staten Island waterfront neighborhood know as Ocean Breeze, residents begin to pick up their lives and put them back together- with the help of an angel.  CNN's Evelio Contreras first met Carol Mittelsdorf shortly after the storm and chronicles her story. CNN interviewed many different stories of how they survived.
        One woman, Diane EFfler, has lived in Ocean Breeze all her life. They took bungalos and made them as homes to survive. She says "I don't have any relatives left here anymore. I'm going to take the buyout. I'm 70 years old. I have two houses still standing and the one house, which is totally gone. I'm starting over again. It's like the storm wiped out my entire previous history and it's like being reborn." They are unknown on the timing of rebuilding the area. Not many people live their now, a woman rented a place next to her destroyed home, one man lives in a trailer. Other families live in taller, rebuilt homes. The rest of the buildings have either been demolished or are completely empty. Most families are trying to do the most for their communities by helping out neighbors, friends, and families. They say that building the home is easy compared to losing all the amazing memories that were destroyed. People are saying that they won't rebuild in a different location but that they will stay and show that they aren't leaving until someone begins to care and help. Many families feel as though no one is caring enough. Jean Laurie says  "We need attention. We need to get everybody around here to see what's really going on. This is true life. This is real stuff that's going on. They have to walk a mile in our shoes. They're not." The residents are feeling ignored,  unappreciated, and forgotten. In this situation people just need someone to be there for them and help them through their time of loss.

Government insane shutdown fund

The economy may have gotten away with the economic catastrophe by raising debt and opening the government, but it didn’t hide the political debacle. The main question of the situation is how much the government shutdown will cost the economy?

According to an estimate from Standard & Poor’s, it will cost about $24 billion dollars. The financial services company said the shutdown, which ended with a deal late Wednesday night after 16 days, took $24 billion out of the U.S. economy, and reduced projected fourth-quarter GDP growth from 3 percent to 2.4 percent. The following are some of the economic costs:

About $3.1 billion in lost government services, according to the research firm HIS, $152 million per day in lost travel spending, according to the U.S. Travel Association, $76 million per day lost because of National Parks being shut down, according to the National Park Service, $217 million per day in lost federal and contractor wages in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area alone. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers bore the economic brunt of the shutdown. Federal workers will receive back-pay under the deal, but contractors will probably not get their lost wages. The stall in cash-flow could affect spending during the holiday shopping season. But small businesses also suffered from frozen government contracts and stalled business loans. Tourism suffered from closed national parks, and military families had to cope without childcare and other services.

Luckily, the government is beginning to figure this entire thing out. Across the country, the work and play of daily life, stalled for more than two weeks, resumed at federal offices, public parks, research projects and community programs. Museums opened their doors. Federal money for preschool programs started flowing again. Scientists at the South Pole began ramping up their work.

The government is now trying out how to solve the tragedy across America, for now they are enjoying the fact that businesses are able to make money again, “We had a lot of vandalism of infrastructure,” Bonnie Clarfield, a supervisory park ranger says. “People were frustrated, and they were taking it out on the rangers. We were doing our jobs, and they were taking it out on the messengers. I feel great today. No one’s been mad at me.”

            Argentine Vice President Amado Boudou has taken over the presidential duties while President Fernandez, 60, recovers from surgery. President Fernandez was diagnosed with a brain hematoma after hitting her head back in August. Fernandez was released from the hospital on Sunday, October 13, just five days after the surgery, but is on strict rest for thirty days. She will be monitored closely during her recovery at the Olivos presidential house. The surgery comes at an important time with the midterm election on October 27^th being so close and the court battle with Argentina’s holdout creditors. President Fernandez was campaigning when she became ill. The midterm election will determine whether her alliance will keep control of Congress during her last two years in power.  Argentine spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro says the president” is in an excellent mood. ”A subdural hematoma is a blood clot on the brain’s surface located beneath its outer covering of the dura. In people over 60, a brain injury can cause blood vessels to tear and blood to clot. Fernandez had her thyroid glands removed last year after being diagnosed with cancer.

Homeless, but not Hopeless

Larry Mainor, veteran in Atlanta, left the armed forces and spent years on the streets. He had no home, food, or money, but one thing he did have was drugs. He is not the only one though, Minor is one of hundreds of homeless veterans and other homeless people in Atlanta. No need to worry though, they are now being helped by an Atlanta initiative aimed towards getting people off the streets and in their own homes. The city has already found homes for over 700 people including Mainor. He says, “I just got sick and tired of living a life of drugs and alcohol.”

               According to a point- in- time count in January, there are 6,000 hopeless people live in metro Atlanta. Atlanta’s “Unsheltered No More” initiative is focused first and foremost on getting the homeless off the streets and then providing them with any services and other help they may need. Last year, the city partnered with the 100,000 Homes Campaign to try to house 100 people in 100 days, their goal was beaten with 131 homeless people sheltered. Many of the people housed though the city’s recent initiatives were found through a volunteer- driven homeless registry created in January. The registry serves to identify and prioritize the city’s most vulnerable citizens for housing.

               As for Mainor, he’s overcome his alcohol and drug addictions. He says "Instead of me trying to find some drugs and alcohol when I wake up in the morning-time, now when I wake up in the morning-time, I can think about the positive things in life.  It tells me that Larry is somebody now. It tells me that the last four years of trying to live a normal life is paying off." He is building off skills to be a cook in the military, Mainor recently graduated from Atlanta Technical College’s culinary arts program, where he also me his fiancée. The two are now making pkans to open a bakery and catering business.

                                              Tropical Disaster: Hurricane Ingrid

                                                              Tea Devereaux- 9/19/13

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24098184

                Fourteen confirmed deaths, 1,000 homes destroyed, twenty highways damaged, and much more, all from one storm. Hurricane Ingrid made landfall near the town of La Pesca in Tamaulipas on Monday. The boisterous winds and storm reaching a maximum of 55 km/h is said to dump as much as 38 centimeters (15 inches) of rain over parts of Eastern Mexico. Ingrid arrived one day after tropical storm Manuel hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Manuel was expected to dump up to 10 to 15 inches of rain over parts of Guerrero and Michoacan states, with maximums of 25 inches possible in some isolated areas. Rains of 5 to 10 inches were possible in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit. Authorities said the rains presented a dangerous threat in mountains, where flash floods and mudslides were possible.

 

The results of this calamity were disastrous. State oil company Pemex said it had evacuated three platforms off the coast of Tamaulipas and closed two dozen wells in the area. Cars have been drug away in fast- flowing floodwaters, airports have been closed, and more than 20,000 homes have lost power. Eleven people were confirmed to have died there and three more people were found dead in landlines in surrounding Guerrero state, even a truck crash on a slippery mountain highway drenched in rain. Government ministers have been dispatched to the most affected regions.  This baleful storm has affected many and is said to drop by Tuesday, lets hope that doesn't change.