Pearls across the Zooniverse: When Crowdsourcing Becomes Citizen Science

Recently, Adam Stevens looked at where crowdsourcing ends and citizen science begins and raised his doubt that the projects in the Zooniverse qualify as citizen science. According to Stevens, categorizing images (?data crunching, plain and simple?) is what happens before science really starts. When I run a race, it appears to start with the bang of a cap gun, but it really begins months earlier when I start training. A new era of space exploration didn?t start when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon; it began with a lot of data crunching at mission control. Similarly, in citizen science, there are many ways to draw boundaries to parse these types of collaborative efforts, but I?m not sure what purpose is served by narrow ones.

Others have already responded to explain why the Zooniverse projects count as citizen science, such as here, here, and here. Citizen science broadly encompasses public involvement in science, and, until I saw Karen James?s response to Stevens, I didn?t realize people were discussing the nuances of what does or does not qualify as citizen science.

Stevens? view of clicking and tagging in the Zooniverse reminds me of the scientific hierarchy defined by William Whewell. He used the term ?subordinate laborers? to describe citizen science participants in his Great Tide Experiment of 1835. To paraphrase, Whewell wrote that lay people are capable of collecting information, like gathering pearls, while professional scientists have the ability to make meaning of the information, like stringing the pearls into a necklace. A stereotypical portrait of science focuses on a lone, unkempt individual working long hours to progress slowly and iteratively through the steps of the scientific method.

To understand Zooniverse-style citizen science, instead imagine science based on massively collaborative efforts where tasks are divvied up. Citizen science can look like a hobby, a game, a puzzle, brainstorming, or even like mind-numbing drudgery. Citizen science projects vary in how much they open the door for people to have access to creating knowledge. Sometimes a project has to entice people in, and in other cases people are banging down the door. If Stevens defines citizen science participation as narrowly as stringing pearls, that model is never going to open the doors of science very wide, let alone bring in hundreds of thousands of people like the Zooniverse has done.

So far the discussion has focused on defining citizen science based on the perspective of individual participants, their activities, and whether they truly experienced or learned about the scientific process, as though these features were the basis for determining what is and isn?t citizen science. The common denominator for all citizen science is collaborative research that includes members of the public in any one of a variety of ways; some projects have no explicit public education goals. I am in awe of the science learning and social outcomes of citizen science, BUT I don?t see the need to use the presence or quality of science learning and social outcomes as criteria for determining what qualifies as citizen science. Citizen science, like other types of science, happens when it produces reliable, new knowledge. Participants in the Zooniverse have done science because they?ve helped in the long process to produce reliable, new knowledge.

As I?ve said elsewhere, the word ?citizen? in relation to governance confers rights and responsibilities to a participating member of a country. In the context of citizen science, ?citizen? conveys the idea that anybody can assume rights and responsibilities to participate in the enterprise of science. In both cases, a citizen participates in a much bigger, collective process. Citizen science doesn?t mean participants necessarily become scientists and do everything. If the goal of a citizen science project was to have participants carry out all phases of science independently, well?.that?s the same goal of PhD programs.

Images: MASAYUKI KATO; Abraham Pisarek, and German Federal Archives.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=749f79afeb6a93dcab5f11cb2964220e

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Will Nicki Minaj Break Up With 'Idol' For New Album?

Nicki tells MTV News about juggling her judge and musician jobs.
By Nadeska Alexis, with reporting by Sierra Lindsey

Nicki Minaj
Photo: Mike Coppola/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702823/nicki-minaj-american-idol-new-album.jhtml

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House to take up Senate's anti-violence act

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress appeared on a course to renew the expired Violence Against Women Act after House Republican leaders on Tuesday agreed to take up a version of the 1994 anti-domestic violence law that passed the Senate two weeks ago by a wide, bipartisan margin.

The decision to allow a vote on the Senate bill, rather than insist on the House GOP's more limited version, could help avoid a bitter partisan fight over an issue important to women at a time that Congress is already embroiled in an unbecoming political standoff over budgetary issues.

The House Rules Committee decided that the House on Wednesday will take up the Senate bill. The House alternative will be offered as an amendment and, if that is defeated, the House will then vote to pass the Senate measure, sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Senate bill expands the law, which expired in 2011, to better protect lesbians and gays, immigrants and Native American women. House Republicans introduced a more limited bill this week, setting off cries of protest from Democrats, the White House, women's advocacy groups and some Republicans who said it was inadequate to meet the needs of anti-domestic abuse programs.

House Democrats said Tuesday that no one in their caucus would support the Republican bill, meaning that the opposition of a small number of Republicans could spell its defeat.

A similar scenario played out last year when the Senate passed a more ambitious bill by a wide, bipartisan margin and the House took a different course with a largely partisan bill. The year ended without a compromise and with Democrats making election-year claims that GOP actions on the bill exposed the party's lack of commitment to women's issues.

The Violence Against Women Act is regarded as the foundation of efforts over the past two decades to make the country more aware of the serious nature of domestic violence and to take steps to both prevent violence and better prosecute those who assault their domestic partners. The law provides grants to states and local governments for transitional housing, hotlines, law enforcement training and legal assistance.

The Senate bill explicitly extends more protections to lesbians and gays and immigrants and gives tribal authorities more power to prosecute non-Indians who assault Indians on reservations. It also has provisions regarding college campus safety and reducing the backlog of rape kit analyses and reauthorizes legislation dealing with human trafficking.

A major point of dispute was over the Indian courts. Native American women are assaulted at rates far higher than national averages, and more than half of cases involving non-Indians go unprosecuted because Indian courts do not have jurisdiction and federal prosecutors often do not have the resources to try cases on isolated reservations.

Some Republicans contended that subjecting non-Indians to Indian courts was unconstitutional.

The bill passed the Senate two weeks ago on a 78-22 vote, with every Democrat, every woman senator and 23 out of 45 Republicans voting for it.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-senates-anti-violence-act-020138128.html

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Hurricane Isaac Flood Claims have a new deadline. | Insurance ...

February 26, 2013 by scott

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has granted policy holders in Louisiana, with flood claims an extension until April 22, 2013 to file their proof of losses from that storm.

This is very important, because failure to file a proof of loss, will almost guarantee that that you will not have a covered claim(s).? This detail is not a detail, Proof of Loss, is serious business, they are required and they must be filled on time!

We always provide a 100% free review of your claim, and if you decide to hire our firm to represent you, you can rest assured that if we don?t recover for you, we work for free, no recovery, no fee, its that simple.

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Source: http://insurancejusticelawyer.com/hurricane-isaac-flood-claims-have-a-new-deadline/

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Trauma Can Up Risk of Mental Disorders in First Responders ...

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on February 27, 2013

A new study suggests repeated exposure to traumatic events increase the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder among protective service workers, especially for those early in their careers.

Overall, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that protective services workers do not appear to have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than workers in other occupations.

The critical factor appears to be exposure to trauma, as only those with repeated contact to violence or suffering have an increased likelihood of developing psychiatric problems. A hardening effect also appears to occur as contact with trauma among well-experienced protective services worker is less harmful.

?Our findings suggest that exposure to diverse types of traumatic events among protective services workers is a risk factor for new onset of psychopathology and alcohol use disorders,? said Christopher N. Kaufmann, M.H.S., lead author of the study.

?When we examined the relationship of exposure to common traumas with the development of mood, anxiety and alcohol use disorders among protective services workers, we found that these workers were at greater risk for developing a mood or alcohol use disorder.

?Interestingly, this relationship was not seen in those who had been in these jobs for a longer period, but was strong and statistically significant in workers who recently joined the profession. Developing curricula in coping skills and providing timely interventions for early career protective services workers may help reduce future psychiatric morbidity in these workers.?

Using data from the U.S National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions researchers compared the prevalence of mental disorders of protective services workers to that of adults in other occupations.

In addition, they examined the association of exposure to common traumatic experiences with the development of new mood, anxiety and alcohol use disorders among protective services workers who recently joined the workforce and those who had been in these jobs for a longer period.

Lifetime and recent trauma events most commonly reported by protective services workers included: seeing someone badly injured or killed; unexpectedly seeing a dead body; having someone close die unexpectedly and having someone close experience a serious or life-threatening illness, accident or injury.

?The association between the number of different traumatic event types and incident mood and alcohol-use disorders, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, was virtually confined to the group of early career protective services workers,? said Ramin Mojtabai, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., senior author of the study.

?Future research should examine the coping skills of protective services workers who have been in these jobs for many years, which might make them less likely to develop psychiatric complications in the face of various potentially traumatic experiences, ? said Mojtabai.

The authors note, ?Special support programs and services for these early career workers can potentially help to prevent development of chronic psychopathology and attrition from these critical jobs.?

Source: Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

APA Reference
Nauert PhD, R. (2013). Trauma Can Up Risk of Mental Disorders in First Responders. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 28, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/02/27/trauma-can-up-risk-of-mental-disorders-in-first-responders/51995.html

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/02/27/trauma-can-up-risk-of-mental-disorders-in-first-responders/51995.html

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Qualicum Sports | Recreation | Boating Basics Course

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Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
April 2, 9, 16 & 23 2013 Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

This is a four day course to obtain a Pleasure Craft Operators Card (PCOC).
Books may be picked up early from Bob Lineham at b_lineham@shaw.ca , or phone
250-757-8332.

You will also receive a one year Associate Membership in the Ballenas Squadron.

This course is open to the public and is geared for all ages.

Source: http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/boating-basics-course/2013-04-02/

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Angie Elaine Stuart On The Five Things You Should ... - Realtor.com

We couldn't locate ??

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Check the spelling and formatting:

Please check your spelling and use the common location formats listed below.

We cannot find listings using informal location names such as "Maui" or "Bay Area".

By City	By Zip Code	By Neighborhood	By MLS ID
Columbus, OH	43224	Wall Street, New York, NY	#999999

Source: http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2013/02/26/angie-elaine-stuart-on-the-five-things-you-should-look-for-in-a-realtor/

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Wasp transcriptome creates a buzz

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

New research delivers a sting in the tail for queen wasps. Scientists have sequenced the active parts of the genome ? or transcriptome ? of primitively eusocial wasps to identify the part of the genome that makes you a queen or a worker. Their work, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology, shows that workers have a more active transcriptome than queens. This suggests that in these simple societies, workers may be the 'jack-of-all-trades' in the colony - transcriptionally speaking - leaving the queen with a somewhat restricted repertoire.

Studying primitively eusocial species - like these wasps - can tell us about how sociality evolves. Seirian Sumner and colleagues sequenced transcriptomes from the eusocial tropical paper wasps ? Polistes canadensis. All social species ultimately evolved from a solitary ancestor ? in this case a solitary wasp, who lays the eggs and feeds the brood. But how does this ancestral solitary phenotype split to produce specialised reproducers (queens) and brood carers (workers) when a species becomes social?

This paper gives a first insight into the secret lives of social insects. It shows that workers retain a highly active transcriptome, possibly expressing many of the ancestral genes that are required for our solitary wasp to be successful on her own. Conversely, queens appear to shut down a lot of their genes, presumably in order to be really good reproducers.

Long-standing analyses based on the fossil record holds ants and wasps in a clade known as Vespoidea, with bees as a sister group. The team reassess the relationships between the subfamilies of bees, wasps and ants and suggest that wasps are part of a separate clade from ants and bees, though further genome sequences and comparative data will help to resolve this controversy.

The dataset offers a first chance to analyse subfamily relationships across large numbers of genes, though further work is required before the term Vespoidia could be dropped, or reclassified. Sumner says: 'This finding would have important general implications for our understanding of eusociality as it would suggest that bees and ants shared an aculeate wasp-like ancestor, that ants are wingless wasps, and that bees are wasps that lost predacious behaviours.'

Their work suggests that novel genes play a much more important role in social behaviour than we previously thought.

###

BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com

Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 29 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127021/Wasp_transcriptome_creates_a_buzz

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GEICO Accused of Promoting Bestiality By Moms Group

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/geico-accused-of-promoting-bestiality-by-moms-group/

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Nike launches its first 3D-printed football cleat, Ryan Fitzpatrick will be pleased

While we're still giddy at the idea of printing our own phone case, Nike's gone more than a few steps further with its latest innovation. The Swoosh has managed to 3D print the base plate of its latest football cleat, the Vapor Laser Talon. The boot was created using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which uses high-powered lasers to fuse pieces of plastic together, rather than the more basic methods we've seen in the Makerbot. Not only did SLS enable the company to produce a shoe that would otherwise be impossible with traditional manufacturing techniques, but it was also hammered-out in a fraction of the time. There's no line on when we'll be able to pick one up (or how much it'll cost you), but we imagine you'll pay a premium for that extra bit of speed.

Filed under: Wearables

Comments

Source: Nike

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/NhwI5oMk6GA/

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Jennifer Hudson Oscars: Singer Wows With 'Dreamgirls' Academy Award Performance (VIDEO)

Jennifer Hudson might not have been nominated for an Academy Award in 2013, but her "Dreamgirls" performance was one of the most memorable moments of the night.

Hudson took to the stage to sing the "Dreamgirls" hit, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," as part of a tribute to Broadway musicals on Sunday night.

The Academy confirmed the Broadway tribute in a statement on Feb. 20, saying: "We are pleased to have been able to amass so much talent to create the celebration of musicals of the last decade that we envisioned. We are thrilled that so many talented actors have agreed to bring our vision to life."

The tribute included performances by Catherine Zeta Jones for "Chicago" and the cast of "Les Miserables."

The "Dreamgirls" actress -- who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for the role of Effie White -- brought down the house with her powerful vocals on Sunday night.

Back in 2007, Hudson was shocked to be on the Oscars stage for the very first time. "I have to just take this moment," the former "American Idol" contestant said while accepting her first Oscar. "I cannot believe this. Look at what God can do. I didn't think I was going to win."

Now a seasoned performer, Hudson had some advice for first-time Oscar nominee, 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, who she stopped on the red carpet.

?There are not many in her position,? Hudson told MTV News about the youngest nominee. ?All I can say is just stay humble, and live in every bit of this moment, and get used to having Academy Award winner ahead of your name.?

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/jennifer-hudson-oscars-dreamgirls-academy-awards-performance_n_2756528.html

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Kim Kardashian vs. Kourtney Kardashian: Who Wore It Better?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/kim-kardashian-vs-kourtney-kardashian-who-wore-it-better/

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Obama urges GOP to act on spending cuts

In another plea for congressional action, President Barack Obama on Saturday warned of the pitfalls should a series of automatic, across-the-board spending cuts go into effect late next week.

The president faulted Republicans for not acting and urged lawmakers to avert the crisis by drawing up a deficit-reduction plan that has both spending cuts and revenue.

FULL STORY

Source: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/23/obama-urges-gop-to-act-on-spending-cuts/

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Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' Wins Writing Oscar

Controversial filmmaker thanks the 'Django' cast for bringing his characters to life.
By Josh Wigler

Quentin Tarantino at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702520/django-unchained-quentin-tarantino-oscar.jhtml

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Firearms-makers to politicians on gun rights: You balk, we walk

Firearms companies ranging from gun shops to machinists are joining forces to oppose new gun control laws. Some are threatening to move away from states that crack down on guns, others are refusing to sell gear to police that can't be sold to citizens.

By Patrik Jonsson,?Staff writer / February 23, 2013

Germantown Police Officer Jeffrey Gonzalez loads a revolver for students to practice unloading it during the Concealed and Carry class at the Germantown Police Department in Germantown, Wis. Saturday.

John Ehlke/West Bend Daily News/AP

Enlarge

A growing number of firearm firms in the US are vowing to reverse-boycott local and state governments that enact any new infringements on the Second Amendment.

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Vowing to close what they're calling "the police loophole," at least 50 US companies, ranging from gun machinists to gun shops, are now saying publicly they'll refuse to sell weapons and gear to police in places where governments have banned the use of the same gear by civilians.

Quality Arms, located in Rigby, Idaho, writes on its website that it "will not supply any firearm or product manufactured by us or any other company, nor will we warranty, repair, alter or modify a firearm owned by any state, county or municipality that infringes on the right of its citizens to bear arms under the 2nd Amendment."

How much do you know about the Second Amendment? A quiz.

The move comes as Congress and some state houses are considering new gun controls in the wake of the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The most direct target of the "police loophole" movement seems to be New York State, which put into law a raft of new gun control regulations, including limiting the size of magazines, last month.

"Based on the recent legislation in New York, we are prohibited from selling rifles and receivers to residents of New York [so] we have chosen to extend that prohibition to all governmental agencies associated with or located within New York," York Arms of Buxton, Maine, writes on its website.

So far, none of the major gun manufacturers have joined the list, and it's an open question whether the smaller companies are bluffing or would even have occasion to sell directly to governments in New York State, for example.

"Unless S&W, Springfield Armory, Ruger, Remington, etc. get on board, these boycotts are practically useless," writes an anonymous poster on the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog.

Meanwhile, the push for more gun control continues across the country, led by President Obama.

On Friday, Obama's political advocacy group, Organizing for Action, held over 100 events across the country, including letter-writing parties, rallies with police chiefs and mayors, and candlelight vigils, to push for Obama's federal gun control plan, which includes beefing up background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/gIoTCgvdjOA/Firearms-makers-to-politicians-on-gun-rights-You-balk-we-walk

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Video: New study explains why women talk more than men

>> take it from here, david. the women talk too much. we have a possible reason why. i don't know what this is about. go ahead, andrea, tell us.

>> i don't know this applies to david. you guys were giving him quite the beating during the break. he talks a lot, right?

>> he does. he's a chatty kathy .

>> research shows women talk almost three times as much as men.

>> what?

>> i like to think we're better communicators, there may be a biological reason as well.

>> women like to talk a lot.

>> yes, i know.

>> reporter: we've come a long way but women just can't seem to escape the old stigma.

>> wow, she just never shuts up, does she?

>> reporter: we talk too much. is it true? do we talk too much?

>> yes, we do. we talk. women want to be heard. men don't listen so we have to keep repeating ourselves over and over to make sure we're heard.

>> reporter: you like to do all the work and listen. and just say yes now and then?

>> yes? and uh-huh.

>> reporter: the average woman speaks up to 20,000 words a day, that's 13,000 more than the average man. new research says there may be a reason women are better communicators, a biological explanation for all those chatty kathies out there. scientists from the university of maryland school of medicine discovered there are higher levels of a language protein called fox p 2 in female brains. we discovered this protein, fox p2 is involved in vocalizations.

>> reporter: they studied a small group of young children and found 30% more of the protein in the brains of the girls.

>> we can't say this is the end all be all reasoning, but it is one of the first avenues with which we can start to explore why women tend to be more verbal than men.

>> reporter: what's your breaking point?

>> breaking point where you just want to say shut-up. that's my breaking point.

>> okay.

>> women generally speak more quickly and devote more brainpower to language.

>> i take away that women have a gift for communication and expression.

>> absolutely. as i said, more highly evolved. we'll talk more about that.

>> i have to admit i bump that story yo type. i was talking in college and a young woman was listening to me and she goes like this and i said, what is it? she said, you are talking a hole in my head. there's more to the story.

>> see, there he goes.

>> you were saying your wife is a big chatter. she talks all the time.

>> i did not say that.

>> can she really get a word in?

>> let's ask her because beth wilkinson is on the phone right now.

>> oh, no. good morning to you.

>> hi, honey, how are you?

>> sweetheart, how are you?

>> nice of you, savannah to let me actually officially get a word in edge-wise. i appreciate you.

>> is he like this at home, beth?

>> so i can actually speak to my husband and have him listen to me.

>> the floor is yours.

>> that story about the hole in the head is true, i think i have an indentation myself.

>> so he's really the chatterer in the family?

>> he is quite chatty. whereas with me at dinners, mornings, noon, night, he's pretty chatty.

>> we've noticed.

>> beth often tells me that, you know, stop talking about yourse yourself. be a better listener. when we first met she would be reading the paper, don't you want to talk?

>> ah.

>> when talking, does he talk a lot about his man bags?

>> that's a very unfortunate topic, al and i wish you hadn't brought that up.

>> wise that unfortunate?

>> she's a woman of 2350u worfew words herself. beth wilkinson , thank you so much for getting on the phone. just say yes all the way, you're always right.

>> thanks so much and thanks for keeping our house quiet this week.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50886108/

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US, NATO, mull Afghan troop strength after combat

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, right, and Britain's Secretary of State for Defense Philip Hammond attend the two-day NATO defense ministers meeting to discuss Syria and Afghanistan, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The head of NATO urged member countries Thursday to stop cutting their defense budgets in response to tough economic times, saying continued reductions will compromise the safety of all of the military alliance?s 28 members. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, right, and Britain's Secretary of State for Defense Philip Hammond attend the two-day NATO defense ministers meeting to discuss Syria and Afghanistan, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The head of NATO urged member countries Thursday to stop cutting their defense budgets in response to tough economic times, saying continued reductions will compromise the safety of all of the military alliance?s 28 members. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his NATO counterparts are considering leaving 8,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but a dispute arose Friday between the U.S. and German defense officials over whether that contingent would be an international force or an American one.

The conflicting accounts came as NATO defense ministers gathered here to discuss the endgame of the 11-year-old war in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama has said that the last combat troops will leave Afghanistan on Dec. 31, 2014, leaving the bulk of the country's security in the hands of the Afghans.

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters Panetta had informed him at the Brussels meeting that the United States would leave between 8,000 and 10,000 troops in the war-torn country at the end of 2014.

But Panetta, speaking to reporters later, called de Maiziere's comments inaccurate.

Panetta, who will leave Obama's Cabinet when his successor is confirmed, told reporters that he and the NATO partners instead talked about ranges of options for the post-2014 troop force. And he said the figures reflected contributions that other nations would make, in addition to the United States.

"There's no question in the current budget environment, with deep cuts in European defense spending and the kind of political gridlock that we see in the United States now with regards to our own budget, is putting at risk our ability to effectively act together," he said. "As I prepare to step down as secretary of defense, I do fear that the alliance will soon be, if it is not already, stretched too thin."

His spokesman, George Little, told reporters that the range for an international force was 8,000 to 12,000.

"The reports that the U.S. told allies that we are considering 8,000 to 12,000 U.S. troops after 2014 are not correct," Little said. "A range of 8,000 to 12,000 troops was discussed as the possible size of the overall NATO mission, not the U.S. contribution."

Little said Obama had not yet decided on the size of the post-2014 force in Afghanistan.

"We will continue to discuss with allies and the Afghans how we can best carry out two basic missions: targeting the remnants of al-Qaida and its affiliates, and training and equipping Afghan forces," he said.

Panetta said officials are planning to leave troops in all sectors of the country as well as in Kabul. Pentagon officials have said the military has mapped out plans to carry on its mission of training and advising the Afghan forces and also leave a small counterterrorism force to battle insurgents.

When asked about troop numbers, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters that no decision had yet been made.

The Obama administration is considering a plan to maintain 352,000 Afghan troops for the next five years as part of an effort to maintain security and help convince Afghanistan that America and its allies will not abandon it once combat troops leave in 2014, senior alliance officials said Thursday. NATO officials are also widely considering that option.

Such a change, if NATO endorses it, could increase the costs to the U.S. and allies by more than $2 billion a year, at a time when most are struggling with budget cuts and fiscal woes. Last May, NATO agreed to underwrite an Afghan force of about 230,000, at a cost of about $4.1 billion a year after 2014. It costs about $6.5 billion this year to fund the current Afghan force of 352,000, and the U.S. is providing about $5.7 billion of that.

Panetta said Friday that he can defend that spending to Congress because it would give the U.S. more flexibility and savings as it withdraws troops from Afghanistan.

Maintaining the larger troop strength could bolster the confidence of the Afghan forces and make it clear that NATO is committed to an enduring relationship with Afghanistan, a senior NATO official said.

In private meetings with other defense ministers, Panetta warned allies that Washington's fiscal impasse will have repercussions abroad, as impending budget cuts force the military to scale back its training and presence overseas.

Many of his meetings, however, centered on the plans to wind down the war in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal of 34,000 U.S. troops over the next year and the transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.

According to an Obama administration official, the Pentagon plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to about 60,500 by the end of May; then to 52,500 by November, keeping a relatively stable number of troops there during the peak fighting season. The sharpest cuts in U.S. troop strength will come over the winter months as the remaining 20,500 leave after the main fighting season. There currently are about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Panetta acknowledged those ranges of numbers on Friday, but also added that the U.S. would maintain the 34,000 through the Afghan elections, then withdraw the final combat troops toward the end of 2014.

The administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the numbers publicly.

This is Panetta's fifth visit to Brussels for a NATO meeting ? a trip he never intended to take. Expectations were that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, would be confirmed by the Senate last week and he would travel to the meeting.

Hagel's nomination stalled, however, as it got caught up in senators' complaints about the attack in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead, including the ambassador. There are indications now that Hagel has support from enough senators to be confirmed next week.

___

Associated Press writers Don Melvin and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

___

Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lbaldor

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-22-NATO-Afghanistan/id-8cf2d78489944788a809006ad66a9c21

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Stressed? Here's A 5-Minute Fix

By JC Peters for Spirituality & Health Magazine

Increasingly over the past couple of years, I?ve been having outbreaks of hives and itchy skin. I finally sat down with an allergist, who gave it to me straight. I am allergic to pineapples, apples, and -- get this -- anything that touches my skin. Anything that rubs, scratches or irritates my skin will create the itchy, irritating hives. He said, ?Your problem isn?t actually the allergies. It?s stress and anxiety, so I would get that under control if you can.?

Funny. I?ve been trying to get my stress and anxiety under control since I collapsed into a heap of wracking sobs in front of my math teacher in high school because I was in school full time, socializing full time and working eight-hour days on the weekends, so couldn?t complete my math homework. Ironic, perhaps, that a yoga teacher would struggle so much with stress, but ask any one of us and we will probably tell you that?s how we got into this field in the first place.

It?s not that we are ?Type-A? personalities or workaholics. Our culture has been mainlining stress, and we are accidental junkies. We think relaxation is something you do on a vacation that you worked 80-hour weeks for years to ?deserve,? and when we see it in everyday life, we recoil in fear and disgust and label it ?laziness.?

Yesterday, I noticed a billboard for a coffee shop advertising an even faster way to pay. The image was a coffee mug and a doughnut moving so quickly the doughnut?s sprinkles were flying off. Sitting down for a coffee and a doughnut used to mean a pause from a stressful day, a quiet moment before having to rush off again. Now a ?coffee break? is another cog in our Faster Machine.

What appears to be happening is a slow but certain takeover of our sympathetic nervous system (SNS), sometimes called the ?stress state,? from the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which governs healing and rest. Both systems are always present in the body, but one is usually functioning more than the other. Calling the SNS the ?stress state? gives it a bit of a negative connotation, which isn?t quite right. We need stress to survive, and having appropriate periods of stress gets us out of the house in the morning, helps us follow our dreams, and yes, if necessary, helps us run away from a bear.

The problem is that our SNS easily gets stuck in the ?on? position. Even when we appear to be relaxed, the SNS is still highly functioning, preventing the PNS from taking over and allowing us to rest, digest, process emotion, and stimulate the immune system. Nightmares and clenched jaws indicate that we can even sleep in a stress state. If you?re like me, being at a low buzz of stress feels so normal that deep relaxation and stillness is so unfamiliar it?s almost uncomfortable. Our stress habits are so strong that, ironically, being comfortable is beyond our comfort zone.

The good news is that even though the SNS is very easily triggered, there are triggers for the PNS as well that we can practice more often to rehabilitate our stress addictions.

The most important tool we can use to retrain ourselves is awareness. What does it feel like to be in a relaxed state? What triggers me back into a state of stress? What are the signs?

In order to see these signs, you must first know what it feels like to be relaxed. Actually relaxed.

Viparita Karani, or Legs Up the Wall, is a yoga pose that strongly stimulates the PNS, and all you need is a floor and a wall or even a bed or couch. If you can get out to a restorative yoga class, even better, but this is one you can do everyday. Always check with your doctor first if you are pregnant or have any health concerns.

Sit with one hip touching the wall. Roll down onto your forearms as you swing your legs up the wall, and shimmy as close to the wall as you feel comfortable. No need to touch the wall with your bum.

Lie on your back, hands on your belly, out to the sides or up overhead, whichever one feels most comfortable to you. Lifting your legs off the floor tells your body in no uncertain terms that you are not ?on the go? right now. Your sprinkles are going to stay firmly on your doughnut here.

If you have a bolster or pillow, slide it under your hips and adjust it for comfort. If you have a blanket, drape it over your legs for warmth and support. If you have an eye pillow or a scarf, place it over your eyes. Warmth, comfort, quiet, and darkness are a few excellent PNS triggers.

You can stay here for up to 20 minutes if you are comfortable, but five minutes is enough. When you are ready to come out, do so slowly, bending your knees and rolling onto your right side before you come all the way up. Take your time and remember this feeling of relaxation as you notice what triggers you back into your SNS.

Now we have a program for stress rehab. Good luck, and godspeed you keep your sprinkles on.

For more on yoga, click here.

For more on less stress, more living, click here.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/stress-tips-yoga-poses_n_2736129.html

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New injectable hydrogel encourages regeneration and improves functionality after a heart attack

Feb. 20, 2013 ? University of California, San Diego bioengineers have demonstrated in a study in pigs that a new injectable hydrogel can repair damage from heart attacks, help the heart grow new tissue and blood vessels, and get the heart moving closer to how a healthy heart should. The results of the study were published Feb. 20 in Science Translational Medicine and clear the way for clinical trials to begin this year in Europe. The gel is injected through a catheter without requiring surgery or general anesthesia -- a less invasive procedure for patients.?

There are an estimated 785,000 new heart attack cases in the United States each year, with no established treatment for repairing the resulting damage to cardiac tissue. Lead researcher Karen Christman, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, said the gel forms a scaffold in damaged areas of the heart, encouraging new cell growth and repair. Because the gel is made from heart tissue taken from pigs, the damaged heart responds positively, creating a harmonious environment for rebuilding, rather than setting off a chain of adverse immune system defenses.

"While more people today are initially surviving heart attacks, many will eventually go into heart failure," said Christman. "Our data show that this hydrogel can increase cardiac muscle and reduce scar tissue in the region damaged by the heart attack, which prevents heart failure. These results suggest this may be a novel minimally invasive therapy to prevent heart failure after a heart attack in humans."

The hydrogel is made from cardiac connective tissue that is stripped of heart muscle cells through a cleansing process, freeze-dried and milled into powder form, and then liquefied into a fluid that can be easily injected into the heart. Once it hits body temperature, the liquid turns into a semi-solid, porous gel that encourages cells to repopulate areas of damaged cardiac tissue and to improve heart function, according to Christman. The material is also biocompatible; animals treated with the hydrogel suffered no adverse affects such as inflammation, lesions or arrhythmic heart beating, according to safety experiments conducted as part of the study. Further tests with human blood samples showed that the gel had no affect on the blood's clotting ability, which underscores the biocompatibility of the treatment for use in humans.

San Diego-based startup, Ventrix, Inc., which Christman co-founded, has licensed the technology for development and commercialization. Christman also serves on the company's board. "We are excited and encouraged by the results of the study leading to a novel regenerative medicine solution for cardiac repair. The technology offers the potential for a longer and better quality of life for millions of heart attack sufferers," said Adam Kinsey, the CEO of Ventrix.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - San Diego.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. S. B. Seif-Naraghi, J. M. Singelyn, M. A. Salvatore, K. G. Osborn, J. J. Wang, U. Sampat, O. L. Kwan, G. M. Strachan, J. Wong, P. J. Schup-Magoffin, R. L. Braden, K. Bartels, J. A. DeQuach, M. Preul, A. M. Kinsey, A. N. DeMaria, N. Dib, K. L. Christman. Safety and Efficacy of an Injectable Extracellular Matrix Hydrogel for Treating Myocardial Infarction. Science Translational Medicine, 2013; 5 (173): 173ra25 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3005503

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/DRu8rtKe_yc/130220153705.htm

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Dragon Quest X Hits Wii U on March 30 in Japan

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Square-Enix has finally announced the launch date for the Wii U version of Dragon Quest X, its latest foray into the world of MMORPGs. The game will hit stores in Japan starting on March 30, with a price tag of 6,980 yen (about $75). Beta tests open a couple weeks ahead of the official release date, kicking off on March 6. Current Deluxe Set owners have received beta test invitations in lieu of a Nintendo Land pack-in. The game?s release will come alongside a new Deluxe Set featuring the game, plus a black Wii U Pro Controller, pre-paid 1,000 yen eShop card, and five health orbs at a price of 42,000 yen (about $450).

http://gengame.net/2013/02/dragon-qu...h-30-in-japan/

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Source: http://slumz.boxden.com/f13/dragon-quest-x-hits-wii-u-march-30-japan-1886862/

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At Least 4 Dead in California Shootings

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Tuesday, February 19, 2013
A gunman killed three people and wounded at least three others before killing himself, the authorities said. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/us/shooting-spree-in-california.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Russia asks: How do you stop space objects hitting Earth?

MOSCOW/VIENNA (Reuters) - What can man do to prevent Earth being hit by meteorites and asteroids?

Russia has found, to its cost, that it has no answers. But U.S. and European experts may be able to help with a few ideas that at first glance seem straight out of science fiction, including smashing spacecraft into asteroids, using the sun's rays to vaporize them, or blasting them with nuclear bombs.

That should come as some relief to the many worried Russians who want something done immediately, even though scientists say the explosion of a meteor over central Russia on Friday was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

"We must create a system to detect objects that threaten Earth and neutralize them," Dmitry Rogozin, a first deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry, wrote on Twitter.

For all their nuclear missiles, he said that neither the United States nor Russia could shoot down such meteors. Even President Vladimir Putin held up his hands, saying no country was able to protect against such events.

But there is hope for Russia as it looks for a solution. Last week's near miss from an asteroid half the size of a football field, the same day as the meteor explosion, has heightened awareness of the dangers Earth faces.

At a conference in Vienna on Monday, scientists said it was time for man to do more to spot objects hurtling towards the planet and to counter their threat.

LASER BEAMS AND GRAVITY TRACTORS

The European Union-funded NEO Shield consortium, whose aim is to investigate the best ways to deal with an object hurtling towards Earth, outlined some of its ideas in Vienna.

These included creating a "kinetic impactor" to fire a huge spacecraft into an asteroid to alter its path; another was making a "gravity tractor" by parking a big spacecraft near an object and using thrusters to lead it away by using the weak gravitational force as a cosmic tow-rope.

Exploding a nuclear device on or near an asteroid would be a method of last resort, it said.

A U.N. "action team" for dealing with near-Earth objects (NEOs) proposed setting up an International Asteroid Warning Network, plus advisory groups on mounting space missions to handle threats and planning for an impact disaster.

Timothy Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory which collects asteroid data, called for "rapid all-sky search capacity" using a space-based infrared survey to detect objects much faster than now.

The U.S. and European space agencies, NASA and ESA, warned that man should also prepare for impacts that are unavoidable - such as having procedures in place for wide-scale evacuations.

Detlef Koschny, responsible for near-earth object activity at the ESA's Space Situational Awareness program, said separately that it was now possible to determine possible impact zones with just a few hours' notice.

He cited the example of an object that hit the Sudan desert in 2008. It was spotted only 20 hours before it hit and the initial estimated impact zone of 2,000 km was narrowed down to an area of the desert within a few hours.

"In a similar case in the future, civil authorities would be able to tell the population in the narrowed-down area to stay away from windows, glass or other structures and stay indoors," he said in emailed comments to Reuters.

ESA experts in Darmstadt, Germany, plan to set up a survey to monitor the night sky using automated telescopes capable of spotting objects before they enter the atmosphere, he added.

"NOT OUT OF STAR TREK"

In California, scientists are working on a system to harness the power of the sun and convert it into laser beams that can destroy, evaporate or change the course of asteroids.

"This system is not some far-out idea from Star Trek," said Gary B. Hughes, a researcher and professor from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

"All the components of this system pretty much exist today. Maybe not quite at the scale that we'd need - scaling up would be the challenge - but the basic elements are all there and ready to go."

A University of Hawaii team of astronomers is also developing a system with small telescopes called ATLAS that would identify dangerous asteroids before their final plunge to Earth.

The team predicts the system will offer a one-week warning for a 50-yard (45-metre) diameter asteroid known as a "city killer" and three weeks for a 150 yard (137 meter)-diameter "county killer."

"That's enough time to evacuate the area of people, take measures to protect buildings and other infrastructure, and be alert to a tsunami danger generated by ocean impacts," said astronomer John Tonry.

Russian experts said, however, that constructing an early warning system would hardly be worth the money as such events are so rare - the last known meteorite strike on such a scale in Russia was reported in 1908.

One Russian expert estimated the cost of such a system would be $2 billion. Others put it higher.

"Also, spotting is one thing, but preventing impact is yet another thing," Igor Marinin, editor of a space journal published by Russian space agency Roscosmos, told Reuters.

Referring to the injury toll of almost 1,200 after Friday's meteor explosion, most of them cut by glass, he said: "Compared to the number of victims of car accidents or cancer every year, this affected relatively few people."

Back in Russia, some people are simply trusting in fate.

Konstantin Tsybko, a legislator from the city of Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountain region, said on Monday: "Chelyabinsk residents may feel safe because nothing like this will happen in the next few hundred years."

"This is the first town in the history of our civilization to come under a space attack, survive this attack, and survive it successfully," he said.

(Additional reporting by Victoria Bryan in Frankfurt, Irene Klotz in Miami and Sonia Elks in Moscow; Writing by Michael Shields and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-asks-stop-space-objects-hitting-earth-213327578.html

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Rapper 2 Chainz arrested in Md. on drug charge

FILE - This Feb. 10, 2013 file photo shows rap artist 2 Chainz at the 55th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Maryland State Police spokesman Sgt. Marc Black says troopers stopped a van Thursday, Feb. 14, for speeding and smelled marijuana. A backpack in the van was found to have a marijuana grinder and trace amounts of marijuana. 2 Chainz, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, claimed possession of the backpack and was arrested. Black says Epps was cited for having drug paraphernalia and marijuana and was released. The citation carries up to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, file)

FILE - This Feb. 10, 2013 file photo shows rap artist 2 Chainz at the 55th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Maryland State Police spokesman Sgt. Marc Black says troopers stopped a van Thursday, Feb. 14, for speeding and smelled marijuana. A backpack in the van was found to have a marijuana grinder and trace amounts of marijuana. 2 Chainz, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, claimed possession of the backpack and was arrested. Black says Epps was cited for having drug paraphernalia and marijuana and was released. The citation carries up to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, file)

FILE - This Feb. 10, 2013 file photo shows rap artist 2 Chainz at the 55th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Maryland State Police spokesman Sgt. Marc Black says troopers stopped a van Thursday, Feb. 14, for speeding and smelled marijuana. A backpack in the van was found to have a marijuana grinder and trace amounts of marijuana. 2 Chainz, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, claimed possession of the backpack and was arrested. Black says Epps was cited for having drug paraphernalia and marijuana and was released. The citation carries up to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, file)

EASTON, Md. (AP) ? Rapper 2 Chainz has been arrested on drug charges in Maryland where he was performing at a college homecoming event.

Maryland State Police spokesman Sgt. Marc Black said troopers stopped a van Thursday night about 9:15 p.m. for speeding near Easton, Md., and smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana in the van. A backpack in the van had a marijuana grinder and trace amounts of marijuana, police said.

The rapper, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, claimed possession of the backpack and was arrested, police said. Epps was cited for having drug paraphernalia and marijuana and was released. The citation carries up to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.

Agents representing Epps did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year, 2 Chainz released his solo debut, "Based on a T.R.U. Story," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Charts and has achieved gold status. He also has several Top 10 hits on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts as both a lead and featured artist.

After the arrest, 2 Chainz' website tweeted a photograph that appears to show him posing with two police officers. Black said the Maryland State Police could not confirm the authenticity of the photograph but is investigating.

"Locked me up and then Wanted pictures smh," read one tweet, using the abbreviation for shaking my head.

Epps was scheduled to perform Thursday evening at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. His website later tweeted a photo from the stage and wrote the "show must go on."

His manager declined to comment or confirm the tweets were from 2 Chainz himself.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-15-People-Rapper%202%20Chainz%20Arrested/id-32f8eb61dac940c487d63ca97a79bf8d

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"Boomerang Foreclosures" Are Back As Bernanke's Second ...

Something curious happened in California in January: the foreclosure process virtually ground to a halt. Specifically, as RealtyTrac describes it, "the downward foreclosure trend in California accelerated into hyper speed in January, decisively shifting the balance of power when it comes to the nation?s foreclosure activity", shifting it in favor of homeowners and effectively preventing banks from sending out Notices of Default (NOD) repossessing homes whose owners no longer pay their mortgages. This was the result of the Homeowners Bill of Rights, or legislation which "extends many of the principles in the national mortgage settlement ? including a prohibition on so-called dual tracking and requiring a single point of contact for borrowers facing foreclosure ? to all mortgage servicers operating in California. In addition the new law imposes fines of up to $7,500 per loan for filing of multiple unverified foreclosure documents." The outcome of this law as it propagates through the market can be seen in the chart below: in January 2013, California foreclosure starts are now down to levels not seen since 2005!

And for the first time since 2006, Florida properties with foreclosure filings surpassed those in California.

As a result of this latest artificial intervention (the first one of course being the Robosigning fiasco which hit in November 2010 and which resulted in the wristslap mortgage settlement whose sole purpose was, again, to give a legitimate reason to boost shadow inventory) preventing underwater properties in the state with the most impaired mortgages and the most "underwater" housing, from hitting the market, the outcome is simple: a direct, explicit subsidy by US banks to prop up the housing market.

As we explained before when we clarified the concept of "foreclosure stuffing", as a result of clogging up the foreclosure pipeline, where millions in homes will not clear the market for years, as even less inventory will enter and exit the foreclosure process, the inventory of available homes declines even more, pushing prices even higher, but not due to a rise in demand, but simply due to a subsidized contraction in supply.

What else happened in January as a result of this latest intervention in the California housing market:

• U.S. foreclosure starts were down 11 percent from the previous month and down 28 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since June 2006 ? a 79-month low.
• U.S. bank repossessions (REO) decreased 5 percent from the previous month and were down 24 percent from January 2012 to the lowest level since February 2008.

This is all shown dramatically in the next chart, which demonstrates that as a result of the latest crunch in California foreclosure activity, foreclosures at the national level, both starts and completions, in January plunged some 30% below year ago levels.

Note in the chart above the dramatic contraction in all foreclosure activity starting in November 2010 - the month when the "Linda Green" robosigning scandal so conveniently broke out. Because while the punishment to the banks as a result of the "mortgage (robo)settlement" was laughable, what it did do was provide a perfectly legal cover to reset the foreclosure activity to a new baseline: from 330K per month on average to just 210K currently, and in the process keep some 3.2 million additional properties (using a simple back of the envelope analysis) in the shadow backlog, and thus out of the market supply, resulting in what some still erroneously dub a "housing recovery."

Two other charts that show how exogenous intervention reduces the supply of housing availability for sale, are the charts of foreclosure starts, and completions, both of which have plunged to multi-year lows.

Yet while informative, none of the above, which frequent readers are well aware of, is the focus of this story.

What is, is that as always happens when central planning is involved, when one tries to stop a leak here, two new leaks appear elsewhere. Because while the Homeowners Bill of Rights managed to grind foreclosure activity to a halt in California, what is happening elsewhere is the dreaded Boomerang Foreclosure phenomenon, or, said simply, redefaults.

In other words, those homeowners who tried to take advantage of the most recent housing bubble mania created over the past year by the unholy trinity of the Fed (open-ended liquidity, REO-to-Rent programs, and $40 billion in monthly purchases of MBS), foreign buyers (who launder illicit money courtesy of the NAR's anti-money laundering exemption and park it in ultra luxury US real estate, usually sight-unseen) and of course, the banks, who with the aid of the robosigning fiasco and the Homeowner Bill of Rights, have over the past year subsidized the housing market by keeping non-cash flow generating mortgages on their books in exchange for a wholesale subsidizied rise in housing prices, ran out of cash before they could flip the "hot potato" that is the house they just bought, to a greater fool, and since they had no actual cash to pay the mortgage with, and with no fear of retribution, handed it right back to the bank.

As the chart below shows, while California foreclosure activity is collapsing, things in other places are starting to indicate that the second housing bubble blown by Bernanke in 5 years, is finally starting to crack:

RealtyTrac has more:

• Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased? from the previous month in 26 states and the District of Columbia, hitting 12-month or more highs in several key judicial foreclosure states, including Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey,

In other words, ignore the sad and very much artificial reality of California where the real estate market is no longer indicative of what happens in a free market, and instead keep a close eye on those states where all artificial attempts to crush foreclosure starts and completions have been used up, and where reality is about to come back with a bang.

Because for all the propaganda, and all the artificial attempts to juice the market, the sad reality is that the US consumer has less and less disposable cash flow, and when one adds such $1 trillion + debt items as student debt (now greater than all credit card debt combined), has a soaring debt load to add.

The only question is how long until the funding to prop up this latest artificial housing market subsidy runs out, and banks realize that the time to dump all those millions of underwater homes on their books into the market is now.

Because, like with everything else, those who sell first, sell best.

Source: RealtyTrac

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Your rating: None Average: 4.8 (36 votes)

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-14/boomerang-foreclosures-are-back-bernankes-second-housing-bubble-begins-pop

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