Perfect Storm: Blizzard, Shutdown Pummel South Dakota Ranchers

On the same week that a federal budget standoff shut down vast swaths of the U.S. government, a freak blizzard shut down vast swaths of South Dakota. And both disasters have combined to devastate one of the state's biggest industries.

The early autumn blizzard struck the state with unexpected fury, dumping a record-breaking 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow on Rapid City on Friday, Oct. 4. Other parts of the state got more, with some regions reporting snowdrifts almost 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep.

As troubling as this storm was for people, the blizzard was devastating for the region's cattle. Some ranchers are reporting losses of more than 90 percent of their herds. And help, unfortunately, is not on its way to South Dakota's $7-billion cattle industry, due to the shutdown at federal agencies — a shutdown that some claim the state's congressional representatives helped to create. [The 19 Weirdest Effects of the Government Shutdown]

As the snow melted, the losses mounted for the state's ranchers, who now face the grisly task of documenting the number of dead, rotting cattle carcasses littering their land. "There are no words to describe the devastation and loss," Joan Wink of Wink Cattle Company told Modern Farmer. "I'm not going to take photos. These deaths are too gruesome. Nobody wants to see this."

No assistance available

Many of the cattle died of hypothermia — winds in the blizzard reached 70 mph (113 km/h) — or were suffocated under deep snowdrifts. The week prior to the blizzard, temperatures were above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), and cattle did not yet have the protection of thick winter coats of hair.

Normally, the state's cattle ranchers would apply for assistance from the Farm Service Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But with that office shuttered by the federal government shutdown — now in its third week — that agency is closed.

South Dakota's representative in Congress is Kristi Noem, who, along with her fellow House Republicans, voted against funding the federal government in an effort to prevent implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). She also voted against providing federal disaster assistance to the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

"Nevertheless, she's at the front of the line asking the federal government for money to help victims of South Dakota's early-October blizzard," said former U.S. Treasury economist Joann Weiner in a Washington Post blog post. "It appears that Noem is against federal spending until she's for it."

South Dakota's Sen. John Thune (R) also voted to defund the ACA, and voted against proceeding with a decision to prevent a government default. "It's time to give families and the economy a break from Obamacare [ACA] by permanently delaying the law for all Americans," Thune said in a statement.

'Kids fighting over a toy'

But the state's other senator, Tim Johnson (D), insists that providing assistance to South Dakota's embattled ranchers underscores the need to fund government operations. "Like the snowstorm, the government shutdown is causing major disruptions in people's lives and everyday business," Johnson said in a statement.

South Dakota's ranchers aren't mincing words when it comes to venting their frustration with government leaders during the shutdown. "They're acting like a bunch of kids fighting over a toy," rancher Matt Kammerer told The New York Times. "They're getting paid; they ain't feeling any hardship."

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/perfect-storm-blizzard-shutdown-pummel-south-dakota-ranchers-210212629.html
Related Topics: tesla model s   The Butler   Moto X   Carlos Hyde   Conjuring  

Zimbabwe man jailed for 15 years for poisoning elephants

Harare (AFP) - A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday sentenced a poacher to more than 15 years in prison for poisoning and killing elephants with cyanide, the fourth such conviction in the country in a month.

The court in the western town of Hwange also found Akim Masuku, 26, guilty of illegal possession of ivory, handing down a total jail term of 15-and-a-half years, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority said in a statement.

The accused still faces separate charges for cyanide possession and for contravening environmental laws, wildlife officials said.

The case comes a day after the Parks and Wildlife Authority said 100 elephants had been killed by cyanide for their ivory in a single national park in just over a month.

"One hundred elephants have died in Hwange National Park due to cyanide poisoning and 12 people have since been arrested and four have been convicted and sentenced," it said.

Masuku's co-accused Norma Ncube, 18, is set to appear in court on October 30.

Three other poachers were in September sentenced to a minimum of 15 years each for poisoning 81 elephants.

They were also ordered to pay $600,000 (440,000 euro) to the wildlife authority for killing the animals.

Officials have given villagers living around the park until the end of October to hand over any cyanide they might have or risk arrest.

There are more than 120,000 elephants roaming Zimbabwe's poorly policed national parks.

Elephant tusks and other body parts are highly prized in Asia and the Middle East for ornaments, as talismans and for use in traditional medicine.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-man-jailed-15-years-poisoning-elephants-192707362.html
Tags: Tomas Hertl   furlough   sofia vergara   jennette mccurdy   serena williams  

This Huge Solar Thermal Plant Makes Electricity Even in the Dark

The primary complaint against solar power—that it, you know, requires the sun—is perfectly valid. But Arizona's new Solana Generating Station, the largest capacity solar thermal plant on the face of the Earth, has just provided a $1.4 billion counterpoint. Thanks to its massive molten salt reserves, this plant keeps producing power even after lights out.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eYZ9atJ0gQ0/this-huge-solar-thermal-plant-makes-electricity-even-in-1443930592
Category: Marquez vs Bradley   Lake Natron   dexter   big brother spoilers   BBC  

Sodomy and the Prison of Multiplayer Gaming | PopMatters

Competitive gaming is about power, hierarchy, leader boards, and all the ways of establishing a pecking order among players. Owning someone is the goal in online gaming. It's about making someone your bitch.

This is a bit embarrassing, perhaps, to admit, but I’m very taken by the implications of a scene about virtual sodomy early on in Grand Theft Auto V. In fact, I found it kind of enlightening.
  
In the sequence, one of GTA V‘s protagonist’s Franklin, is given the assignment of repossessing a vehicle for his boss from the home of another GTA V protagonist, the very wealthy, retired bank robber, Michael. During the scene the player, as Franklin, finds that he has to creep through Michael’s home in order to reach the garage that the vehicle is housed in. More specifically, he has to creep past the room of Michael’s son, Jimmy.

Jimmy is distracted. He is playing a bit of online multiplyer, some kind of knock off of Call of Duty. He is fragging players left and right, and on mic, all that he can talk about is rape, rape, and more rape. He thereatens rape, he claims that he isn’t gay, he declares himself a rapist, and he rapes, rapes, rapes. If you stop long enough to listen to his diatribe and peek in the doorway, the game goes so far as to show a sequence on Jimmy’s television of one soldier sodomizing the other. In other words, this all too common expression of aggression and accomplishment in online gaming, “I raped your ass,” is embedded in the faux game itself. It is a satire, of course, of the caustic and over-the-top tone of competitive multiplayer play. But is also rather chillingly links the attitude of Jimmy and players like him to the medium itself.

It’s hard to say if GTA V is suggesting that “rape talk” is encouraged by these games or if these games have come to conform to the tones and attitudes of such players, but it got me thinking about a question that I have often asked myself while playing games like League of Legends, “Why is the current crop of gamers so fascinated by sodomy?”

For some reason the way that GTA V presented an image to match the attitude alongside all of the talk made me feel like, perhaps, I finally understood the connection. Multiplayer online playgrounds often mimic the social structure of prison.

“Pwned.” That’s what it’s all about, right? Owning someone (as “pwned” is a corrupt spelling of “owned”) is the goal in online gaming. Competitive gaming is about power, hierarchy, leader boards, and all the ways of establishing a pecking order among players. In the most reductivist terms possible, online gaming is, for many it would seem, a means of makig someone your bitch.

There is something primal in the attitude and its expression. This is alpha male bullshit played out virtually with boys proving their mad skillz by a show of virtual strength that precedes “ownership.” That which you can beat down and hummiliate is yours to do with as you will. Or at least that’s the feeling it provokes or maybe provides.

Sure, all sports, virtual ones and otherwise, are some kind of expression of us vs. them, showing the strength of your school, your state, your nation through a bit of physical conflict bounded by rules. Somehow, though, in the gaming world, the sense of belonging to a team, being sportsmanlike, that drawing a boundary between us and them erodes into an expression only of individual identity and prowess for many players, me vs. them. This is a space in which they feel threatened by everyone around them (note the legendarily caustic and toxic tone within randomly assigned teams in games like League of Legends and DoTA—these guys go off on their own teammates probably more often than they do the other team),, and, thus, they somehow feel a need to express their dominance and unassability to everyone “on the field.” They want to rape everyone’s asses before they get theirs raped.

At various points, I have wondered about the connection between geeks and gaming and this defensive (and then very aggressive) attitude. Geeks often are the outsiders, often are the ones that feel like it is me vs. them. They don’t go out for the team. After all, they were usually the ones that were picked last. Honestly, that’s me in a nutshell.

I’ve even said to some of my fellow League of Legends players that I think that, perhaps, some of these guys needed to “go out for the team” at some point (which despite being picked last for the team myself, I still was forced into doing by my father), that that is what they are lacking, that is why they lack sportsmanship. They have never existed in a space in which physical conflict was bounded by rules and thus they don’t know how to act in such a world.

However, League of Legends has over 3.5 million registered accounts (at least the last time I checked – it’s probably higher now). They can’t all be freaks and geeks, right? Of course, spaces in which the rules of decorum are allowed to erode or by necessity erode (like prison) do tend to get polluted by any who adopt a might-makes-right attitude. Cultures breed the values of the loud, the garroulous, the seemingly unafraid, and adopt their attitudes if that’s what it takes to survive in those spaces.

I don’t really have a solution. Really, I just have more troubled thoughts about power plays, and I feel pity for both victims and perpetrators. No one can ever feel safe in a world, again, virtual or otherwise, where they constantly feel threatened, constantly feel the need to flinch or to attack.

I don’t want to be owned, but I don’t want to own you either. There has to be a space to just play.

Source: http://www.popmatters.com/post/175834-sodomy-and-the-prison-of-multiplayer-gaming/
Similar Articles: powerball   Nfl Fantasy   Julie Harris   Garrett Clayton   Liz Cheney  

Britney Spears: Fan Favorite in London

Gearing up for the release of her new album Britney Jean, Britney Spears hit up the Kiss FM Studios in London, England on Wednesday morning (October 16).

The “Hold It Against Me” singer hammed it up with Rickie, Melvin, and Charlie from “In The Morning,” sporting a beige top and sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Britney sang Miley Cyrus’ praises during an interview earlier this week- "My mom and her mom know each other. She's a girl's girl and she gets the whole Southern thing."

As for their duet on “Bangerz (SMS)”, Spears noted, "It's just really worked out. I'm a huge fan of hers. I think she's brilliant right now. She has so much energy and she's on fire, so for her to even say anything about me is just really cool.”

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/britney-spears/britney-spears-fan-favorite-london-943639
Category: pittsburgh pirates   Ray Rice   george zimmerman   Sarin gas   gold cup  

Ed Westwick Talks Life & Acting After Gossip Girl!

We'll always have seksi Chuck Bass memz…

Ed Westwick has moved on from his villainous Upper East Side Gossip Girl days, and made a smooth transition into star-crossed murderous Shakespeare!

You heard that right!

From high school cocaine habits to sword fighting — this Brit does it all!

Ed took on the iconic role of Tybalt, Juliet's cousin and Romeo's enemy, in the latest adaption of Romeo and Juliet, and he gives a stellar performance!

In a new interview, the 26-year-old star reveals what life's been like after GG and how he's excited to take on different characters:

“At the moment, you know I did six years on Gossip Girl and it was an amazing experience. It was my first time working on an American TV show. And, right now, I’m enjoying the idea of exploring film and going from character to character."

And after acting on the hit CW show for so long, it was a natural transition to move out of his chic NYC digs, for a sunny new home in Los Angeles:

“I decided to leave New York after Gossip Girl, and I had such a specific experience of it for the time we were there. I have a place there and I look forward to going back at some point. I have wonderful friends there, and New York is an amazing place and did so much for me, and it was an incredible experience, but what I’d like to do, is, at some point, is go back and experience it in a different way.”

Did we mention his on-again off-again girlfriend Jessica Szohr resides in EL Lay?! Motivation to stay, perhaps???

We're sure they'd love to have Mr. Bass him back to cause rich kid mischief in the Big Apple, but we have a feeling he's going to be on the west coast for a while!

[Image via Nikki Nelson/WENN.]

Tags: acting, chuck bass, ed westwick, gossip girl, juliet, los angeles, new york, romeo, tv show, tybalt

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-10-15-ed-westwick-life-after-gossip-girl
Tags: Dancing With the Stars 2013   Miley Cyrus Pregnant   FedEx Cup standings   American flag   Christopher Lane  

Supreme Court To Weigh EPA Permits For Power Plant Emissions

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.

Susan Walsh/AP

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.

Susan Walsh/AP

The Supreme Court has agreed to review an Obama administration policy that requires new power plants and other big polluting facilities to apply for permits to emit greenhouse gases.

To get these permits, which have been required since 2011, companies may have to use pollution controls or otherwise reduce greenhouse gases from their operations — although industries report that so far they haven't had to install special pollution control equipment to qualify for the permits.

The rule is part of a larger effort by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases.

The EPA started with automobiles. It determined that once it did that, it was "compelled" by the Clean Air Act to also require greenhouse gas permits when companies want to construct big new facilities. The statute requires permits for all facilities that are major polluters of "any air pollutant." And the EPA has long interpreted this to mean any pollutant that is regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The utilities, manufacturers and chemical companies that petitioned the Supreme Court challenge EPA's decision. They argue that the EPA should have interpreted "any air pollutant" to mean only pollutants that have health-based ambient air quality standards, such as ground-level ozone, according to Jeffrey Holmstead, an industry lawyer who headed EPA's air pollution program under the Bush administration.

Furthermore, industry groups argue that getting these permits causes delays in big projects that could help revive the economy.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided in 2012 that the EPA got it right.

In its decision, the appeals court cited a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which affirmed the EPA's determination that greenhouse gases are a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

That Supreme Court ruling also upheld the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and the Obama administration's authority to regulate greenhouse gases from automobiles.

The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.

These greenhouse gas permits are not the same as the greenhouse gas regulations that the Obama administration has been drafting over the past couple of years.

The EPA last month released a second proposal regarding how it wants to set limits on how much greenhouse gases new power plants can release. President Obama says he also intends to regulate greenhouse gases from existing power plants, but has yet to release a proposal.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/15/234731532/supreme-court-to-weigh-epa-permits-for-power-plant-emissions?ft=1&f=1001
Category: Government Shutdown 2013   First Day Of Fall 2013   futurama   diana nyad   us open