Venezuelan police fire tear gas during clash ahead of vote

By Deisy Buitrago and Efrain Otero

CARACAS (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas in downtown Caracas on Thursday as anti-government student protesters clashed with supporters of late President Hugo Chavez in an increasingly volatile atmosphere ahead of next month's election.

Several hundred students were marching to the election board's headquarters to demand a clean vote when they were blocked by government supporters who hurled stones, bottles and eggs at them, a Reuters witness said.

Some of the students threw stones back, other witnesses said.

"We were holding a peaceful march. ... All we want is democracy," said law student Eduardo Vargas, 19, whose eye was injured in the incident. "We're all Venezuelans. We just want a fair vote."

Police fired tear gas towards the 150 or so government supporters and formed a cordon between the two sides.

It was the first outbreak of violence since an election was called on April 14 for the South American OPEC nation following Chavez's death from cancer two weeks ago.

Both candidates, acting President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Henrique Capriles, have been trading personal accusations as they rally supporters for the vote.

One onlooker, Gustavo Malave, a 78-year-old who works for one of the socialist "community councils" set up during Chavez's 14-year rule, blamed the students for starting the trouble.

"The clash began because the opposition started throwing stones," he said. "I support Chavez and Maduro. Chavez set this course, and it's going to continue for 40 or 50 years."

Before the clash, the students had been marching to the election headquarters singing the national anthem and carrying signs including "Free and fair elections" and "Nicolas is a liar."

"The students are saying to the world and to the country that we are in the street. We want transparent and free elections," said one student leader, Victor Fernandez.

Maduro at an evening campaign rally called the students "a small group of recalcitrant right-wing people."

"None of us can ... be provoked by those tiny groups that make a living off hatred," he said.

He said the group had links to two U.S. diplomats expelled on the day of Chavez's death on charges they were attempting to conspire with the Venezuelan military.

"I want you to know that those two men directly gave orders and instructions and money to this same group," he said.

That charge follows a flurry of recent accusations against U.S. authorities including a charge that the State Department is seeking to kill Capriles to spark a coup.

Washington denies the accusation.

With sympathy over Chavez's death galvanizing government supporters, Maduro, 50, a longtime socialist stalwart, is favorite to win next month's vote.

Two polls published this week put the former bus driver ahead of Capriles by more than 14 percentage points.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, accuses Maduro of being a nonentity who is exploiting the emotion around Chavez's death. He wants voters to focus on daily problems confronting Venezuelans ranging from potholes to high crime rates and corruption.

Capriles, a centrist politician who says Brazil's free-market economics with strong welfare policies is his model for Venezuela, lost to Chavez last year by 11 percentage points.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelan-police-fire-tear-gas-during-clash-ahead-003610970.html

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Breakthrough could lead to cheaper, more sustainable chemical production

Mar. 21, 2013 ? A key advance, newly reported by chemists from Brown and Yale Universities, could lead to a cheaper and more sustainable way to make acrylate, an important commodity chemical used to make materials from polyester fabrics to diapers.

Chemical companies churn out billions of tons of acrylate each year, usually by heating propylene, a compound derived from crude oil. "What we're interested in is enhancing both the economics and the sustainability of how acrylate is made," said Wesley Bernskoetter, assistant professor of chemistry at Brown, who led the research. "Right now, everything that goes into making it is from relatively expensive, nonrenewable carbon sources."

Since the 1980s researchers have been looking into the possibility of making acrylate by combining carbon dioxide with a gas called ethylene in the presence of nickel and other metal catalysts. CO₂ is essentially free and something the planet currently has in overabundance. Ethylene is cheaper than propylene and can be made from plant biomass.

There has been a persistent obstacle to the approach, however. Instead of forming the acrylate molecule, CO₂ and ethylene tend to form a precursor molecule with a five-membered ring made of oxygen, nickel, and three carbon atoms. In order to finish the conversion to acrylate, that ring needs to be cracked open to allow the formation of a carbon-carbon double bond, a process called elimination.

That step had proved elusive. But the research by Bernskoetter and his colleagues, published in the journal Organometallics, shows that a class of chemicals called Lewis acids can easily break open that five-membered ring, allowing the molecule to eliminate and form acrylate.

Lewis acids are basically electron acceptors. In this case, the acid steals away electrons that make up the bond between nickel and oxygen in the ring. That weakens the bond and opens the ring.

"We thought that if we could find a way to cut the ring chemically, then we would be able to eliminate very quickly and form acrylate," Bernskoetter said. "And that turns out to be true."

He calls the finding an "enabling technology" that could eventually be incorporated in a full catalytic process for making acrylate on a mass scale. "We can now basically do all the steps required," he said.

From here, the team needs to tweak the strength of the Lewis acid used. To prove the concept, they used the strongest acid that was easily available, one derived from boron. But that acid is too strong to use in a repeatable catalytic process because it bonds too strongly to the acrylate product to allow additional reactions with the nickel catalyst.

"In developing and testing the idea, we hit it with the biggest hammer we could," Bernskoetter said. "So what we have to do now is dial back and find one that makes it more practical."

There's quite a spectrum of Lewis acid strengths, so Bernskoetter is confident that there's one that will work. "We think it's possible," he said. "Organic chemists do this kind of reaction with Lewis acids all the time."

The ongoing research is part of a collaboration between Brown and Yale supported by the National Science Foundation's Centers for Chemical Innovation program. The work is aimed at activating CO₂ for use in making all kinds of commodity chemicals, and acrylate is a good place to start.

"It's around a $2 billion-a-year industry," Bernskoetter said. "If we can find a way to make acrylate more cheaply, we think the industry will be interested."

Other authors on the paper were Dong Jin and Paul Willard of Brown and Nilay Hazari and Timothy Schmeier of Yale.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Dong Jin, Timothy J. Schmeier, Paul G. Williard, Nilay Hazari, Wesley H. Bernskoetter. Lewis Acid Induced ?-Elimination from a Nickelalactone: Efforts toward Acrylate Production from CO₂ and Ethylene. Organometallics, 2013; 130321123314001 DOI: 10.1021/om400025h

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/sqP2FIO4FgM/130321151935.htm

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Gulf War illness linked to physical changes in brain fibers that process pain

Mar. 20, 2013 ? Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have found what they say is evidence that veterans who suffer from "Gulf War Illness" have physical changes in their brains not seen in unaffected individuals. Brain scans of 31 veterans with the illness, compared to 20 control subjects, revealed anomalies in the bundles of nerve fibers that connect brain areas involved in the processing and perception of pain and fatigue.

The discovery, published online March 20 in PLOS ONE, could provide insight into the mysterious medical symptoms reported by more than one-fourth of the 697,000 veterans deployed to the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, the researchers say. These symptoms, termed Gulf War Illness, range from mild to debilitating and can include widespread pain, fatigue, and headache, as well as cognitive and gastrointestinal dysfunctions.

Although these veterans were exposed to nerve agents, pesticides and herbicides, among other toxic chemicals, no one has definitively linked any single exposure or underlying mechanism to Gulf War Illness according to the scientists.

This is the first study to show veterans, compared to unaffected subjects, have significant axonal damage. Bundles of axons, which form the brain white matter, are akin to telephone wires that carry nerve impulses between different parts of the gray matter in the brain. The researchers found that damage to the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus was significantly correlated with the severity of pain, fatigue, and tenderness.

"This tract of axons links cortical gray matter regions involved in fatigue, pain, emotional and reward processing. This bundle also supports activity in the ventral attention network, which searches for unexpected signals in the surrounding environment that may be inappropriately interpreted as causing pain or being dangerous. Altered function in this tract may explain the increased vigilance and distractibility observed in veterans." says lead author Rakib Rayhan, MS, a researcher in the lab of the study's senior investigator, James Baraniuk, MD, a professor of medicine at GUMC.

In this Department of Defense-funded study, the research team used a form of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) called diffusion tensor imaging. This imaging method examines patterns of water diffusion in the brain to look for changes in the integrity of white matter, which is not seen on regular MRI scans. "This provides a completely new perspective on Gulf War Illness," says Baraniuk. "While we can't exactly tell how this tract is affected at the molecular level -- the scans tell us these axons are not working in a normal fashion."

Although preliminary, "the changes appear distinct from multiple sclerosis, major depression, Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases," says Rayhan. "These novel findings are really exciting because they provide validation for many veterans who have long said that no one believes them."

The results must be replicated, say its authors, but for the first time a potential biomarker for Gulf War Illness may be on the horizon as well as a possible target for therapy aimed at regenerating these neurons.

"Pain and fatigue are perceptions, just like other sensory input, and Gulf War Illness could be due to extensive damage to the structures that facilitate them," says Rayhan. "Some of the veterans we studied feel pain when doing something as simple as putting on a shirt. Now we have something to tell them about why their lives have been so greatly affected."

Other study co-authors include Georgetown University Medical Center researchers Benson W. Stevens, Christian R. Timbol, Oluwatoyin Adewuyi, Brian Walitt, MD, and John W. VanMeter, PhD.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgetown University Medical Center.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Rakib U. Rayhan, Benson W. Stevens, Christian R. Timbol, Oluwatoyin Adewuyi, Brian Walitt, John W. VanMeter, James N. Baraniuk. Increased Brain White Matter Axial Diffusivity Associated with Fatigue, Pain and Hyperalgesia in Gulf War Illness. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58493 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058493

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/~3/LRsxK83uwwk/130320212812.htm

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The Latest in the Drug War: Operation Martillo (Poliblogger)

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What You Need to Know About the Mighty Yet Flawed Galaxy S4

Samsung's Galaxy S4 finally made its debut Thursday night, and not a single thing about the phone was surprising. Every feature and every spec shown off was leaked in a rumor leading up to the S4's unveiling. But that doesn't ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/9-kgpjU201E/

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Samsung set to launch new iPhone challenger

NEW YORK (AP) ? Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone has done very well, briefly unseating the iPhone as the best-selling smartphone in the world. On Thursday, the Korean company is launching a phone it hopes can top that, and entrench the company as the main competitor to Apple.

Samsung has rented New York's Radio City Music Hall for an event Thursday evening, and has been hinting that will reveal a fourth-generation Galaxy phone. Judging by the announcement of the S III in last May, this means the new phone will be available in stores in a month or two.

It's not known what the new phone will look like or how it will differ from its predecessor, but there's speculation that Samsung will once again increase the screen size. Every successive generation of the Galaxy line has been bigger than the one before, and the S III sports a screen that measures 4.8 inches on the diagonal, substantially larger than the iPhone 5's 4-inch screen.

In the last two years, Samsung has emerged as Apple's main competitor in the high-end smartphone market. At the same time, it has sold enough inexpensive low-end phones to edge out Nokia Corp. as the world's largest maker of phones.

The Galaxy line has Samsung's chief weapon in the fight, and it has succeeded in making it a recognizable brand while competitors like Taiwan's HTC Corp. and Korean rival LG have stumbled. Samsung has sold 100 million Galaxy S phones since they first came out in 2010. That's still well below the 268 million iPhones Apple has sold in the same period, but Samsung's sales rate is catching up.

Research firm Strategy Analytics said the Galaxy S III overtook Apple's iPhone 4S as the world's best-selling smartphone for the first time in the third quarter of last year, as Apple fans were holding off for the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 took back the crown in the fourth quarter.

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller bashed Samsung and other makers of Android phones in an interview Wednesday, saying they're not as easy to use as the iPhone.

"The difference in use is because iPhone invented the idea for the modern smartphone," Schiller said.

He also said there are too many versions of Android running on phones, causing problems for developers who want to make sure their applications work on a wide array of phones.

Android phones don't get downloadable system updates often or as consistently as iPhones do, and others have pointed out that "fragmentation" is a problem for Android. But it's less of a concern for high-end phones like the Galaxy line, which usually ship with the latest Android versions and have hardware that's powerful enough to accept updates.

Schiller declined to answer questions about whether Apple intended to introduce a less expensive iPhone model or enlarge the iPhone's display screen to counter the threat posed by Samsung's Galaxy phones.

Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg believes it won't matter what the new Samsung phone hardware will do, because consumers have to a large extent stopped judging phones by their screen resolution or processor power. What really matters, he said, are the software and services the phone offers.

"At this point it comes down to going beyond the hardware, into the software," he said. "Increasingly, as consumers are looking at ecosystem, beyond just the device ... how the phone relates to the tablet and relates back to the computer and relates to the television set ? those things become far more important over time. While Samsung has shown a tremendous capability around devices, it remains to be seen how effective their larger ecosystem story is."

Gartenberg also said competition from other Android smartphones is increasing. For instance, HTC just updated its top-line "One" phones. Unless they're enthralled by Samsung-specific services, Galaxy users will find it easy to switch to other Android phones, which offer the same Google services.

___

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this report from San Francisco.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-set-launch-iphone-challenger-190836823--finance.html

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Dot Earth Blog: Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050?

March 13, 12:43 p.m. | Relevant tweets appended |
A group of scientists and energy analysts has laid out a path under which New York State could, in theory, eliminate its use of fossil fuels and nuclear power ? including for transportation ? by 2050. The graph above charts the contributions played by improved efficiency and adoption of renewable electricity sources as well as hydrogen fuel cells (with the hydrogen generated with renewable energy).

The plan, ?Examining the Feasibility of Converting New York State?s All-Purpose Energy Infrastructure to One Using Wind, Water and Sunlight,??is?slated for publication in the?journal?Energy Policy.

The analysis, predicated on the need to swiftly address global warming, essentially does for New York what two of the authors,?Mark Z. Jacobson?of Stanford University and Mark A. Delucchi of the University of California, Davis, did for the world in?an energy roadmap published in Scientific American in 2009.

The paper argues against any role for natural gas, using arguments developed by two of its authors, Anthony Ingraffea?and Robert Howarth of Cornell University. Here?s one taste of what they?re calling for (from a news release):

According to the researchers? calculations, New York?s 2030 power demand for all sectors (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, industry) could be met by:

4,020 onshore 5-megawatt wind turbines
12,770 offshore 5-megawatt wind turbines
387 100-megawatt concentrated solar plants
828 50-megawatt photovoltaic power plants
5 million 5-kilowatt residential rooftop photovoltaic systems
500,000 100-kilowatt commercial/government rooftop photovoltaic systems
36 100-megawatt geothermal plants
1,910 0.75-megawatt wave devices
2,600 1-megawatt tidal turbines
7 1,300-megawatt hydroelectric power plants, of which most exist

To me, the analysis works best as a thought experiment, given the monumental hurdles ? economic, political, regulatory and technical ? that would hinder such a shift.

In gauging the costs and benefits of various energy options, the authors include the costs from illness and death linked to pollution from fossil fuels. I?d love it if such indirect costs were integrated better into how decisions on energy policy were made. Therein lies some of the value of this kind of analysis.

But, like any good thought experiment, the paper raises a host of questions, including about its basic assumptions.

- Does New York State need ? for its own sake or the environment?s ? to be an energy island? A lot of economists, and environmental analysts, would say no.

- Does this team?s justification for such an abrupt shift in a state?s energy system and norms match the level of risk posed by human-driven climate change?

That?s a question that will always ? with or without industry lobbying ? get varied answers depending on competing priorities and differing perceptions of risk across society.

If you presume the answer is yes, that leads to specific questions about how to achieve such a transformation on the time scale they propose. (This is very reminiscent of discussions here of California?s ambitious 2050 targets for greenhouse gases.)

I?m engaged in a fruitful e-mail exchange with the authors. Read on for one of my questions, with the answer from Mark Delucchi of Davis (There?s more, but I have to teach and didn?t want to delay in getting the discussion started here).?

My question:

On the energy end, how does your plan propose to get around the realities of built infrastructure today? Who puts up the money to retrofit buildings when, as New York City wrote in its energy plan, ?Energy use in buildings accounts for 75 percent of New York City?s greenhouse gas emissions, and?80 percent of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already here today.?

Delucchi?s reply:

I think there is nothing to ?get around?. There are several general strategies for dealing with existing infrastructure, broadly defined.

1) Instead of upgrading, maintaining, and replacing deteriorating existing infrastructure, invest in new infrastructure. If we don?t appreciably accelerate retirement, there is no ?extra? (early-retirement) cost to consider.

2) Retrofit and rebuild for maximum efficiency and minimum environmental impact. The correct basis for evaluating this economically is a full social lifetime cost-benefit analysis with a near-zero discount rate. On this basis, I believe that most improvements will be economical.

3) Electrify all sectors as rapidly as possible. In particular, create policies and physical plans that accommodate the electrification of transport. These policies and plans generally will not involve large-scale, rapid replacement of major infrastructure, but rather extensive but decentralized modifications and additions: charging stations; incentives for EV ownership, driving, and parking; mode shifting from heavy trucks to rail; port electrification; transportation and urban planning in support of electric transport, including transit and rail; etc.

4) Rapid expansion of micro WWS [wind, water, sunlight] generation and associated decentralized infrastructure: rooftop solar, micro-wind, V2G, smart grids. These are mainly upgrades and additions to infrastructure, rather than replacement. And again, the correct evaluation basis is full social cost-benefit analysis over the entire physical lifetime, at near-zero discount rate.

As you probably have seen, the Urban Green Council just came out with a report showing how NYC can reduce its carbon footprint 90 percent by 2050. I haven?t read the report carefully, but from what I?ve seen it is reasonable. I have excerpted from the abstract:

?This study focuses primarily on the building sector, the source of 75 percent of New York City?s greenhouse gas emissions. Building simulation modeling using eight basic building types shows that heating and cooling loads can be dramatically reduced through air sealing, heat recovery ventilation, and additional insulation, to a point where all heating, cooling, and hot water can be provided by heat pumps. Analysi?of the city?s building stock shows that the total electric load in 2050, which must?be supplied by carbon-free sources, will be slightly more than today?s electric load. Contributions from rooftop photovoltaic panels will be significant. An initial analysis shows that over the period examined, and on the basis of today?s prices for both fuel and improvements, the savings from energy use reductions will be comparable to the costs of the building improvements. The total amount is affordable and will pay for itself over time if the cost of improvements falls as expected and fuel prices increase.

?In the transportation sector, electrification and expansion of both passenger and freight rail and conversion of on-road vehicles to electric drive, hybrids, and turbo diesels, coupled with the recently enacted CAF? standards, will allow total residual carbon emissions to drop well below 10 percent of today?s levels. Adding electricity generation from biogas derived from waste and sewage treatment provides an additional input of carbon-free power while consuming a potent greenhouse gas.

?Several unused alternatives, such as maintaining the district steam system on waste combustion, are discussed but were not incorporated in the analysis.

?Although not a blueprint or detailed plan for the next 37 years, ?90 by 50? demonstrates that the extreme emission reductions required to minimize climate change are in fact possible using technologies that are known and in almost all cases currently available, and that the cost is within reasonable bounds.?

March 13, 12:43 p.m. |Some relevant tweets |

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/can-wind-water-and-sunlight-power-new-york-by-2050/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Ignite News ? Internet proving a mixed bag for musicians

Home ? Arts & Entertainment

The music industry has undergone dramatic changes under the weight of the online world. With the influx of free downloading and file sharing sites, the money is not rolling in like it used to.
?I think it goes down to what the value of music is. Nowadays it?s pretty much obvious by what the common public accept it as, which is free merchandise,? says local artist Jay Burr.
Mark Furukawa of Hamilton?s legendary Dr. Disc record store agrees.
?I think that the younger audience of this generation feels as if it?s their right to have this music than having to pay for it. A lot of people feel that they?re entitled to it. The whole perception of what music?s worth has gone down.?
Still, music thrives.
Canadian musicians are popping up all over the country, demonstrating explosive talent and receiving instant recognition. This is due to the opportunity that musicians now have courtesy of the Internet.
?Technology has advanced so quickly that you can write, produce and disseminate your music on the Internet for pennies,? says Furukawa.
Bands such as Walk off the Earth and Sorry Ok Yes have hopped aboard the Internet train and proved the ride can be a successful one. Burlington natives Walk Off the Earth catapulted to fame as a result of a homemade YouTube video made from their very own kitchen. Toronto band Sorry Ok Yes attracted thousands by posting an ad for a free download on Pirate Bay, a widely popular file sharing website.
Albums may not sell in the same volume of the past, but there is still money to be made in today?s industry. The key is creativity.
?The sign of a good band is not only their music but how they present it?. the extent of creativity. I don?t think it should just end with the music. Your job is just beginning when you get your album finished,? says Furukawa.
Graham Rockingham, music editor of The Hamilton Spectator, says the real impact of the Internet is its ability to create buzz about a band, making people want to check it out.
?Buzz doesn?t happen. You?ve gotta create it. Once the buzz starts, good things go.?

Source: http://www.satelliteonline.ca/2013/03/13/internet-proving-a-mixed-bag-for-musicians/

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Collision on La. waterway causes explosion, blaze (Providence Journal)

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The choreographed election of a pope in a nutshell

This picture made available Tuesday, March 12, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows the three sizes of the pope's garments and shoe boxes in a room next to the Sistine Chapel, seen through the door at right, at the Vatican. Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect the next pope amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades: There's no front-runner, no indication how long voting will last and no sense that a single man has what it takes to fix the many problems. The three identical white outfits in small, medium and large for the new pontiff's first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica are delivered to the Vatican before the start of the conclave and left in a room next to the Sistine Chapel, where the newly elected pope changes into his new clothes. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

This picture made available Tuesday, March 12, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows the three sizes of the pope's garments and shoe boxes in a room next to the Sistine Chapel, seen through the door at right, at the Vatican. Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect the next pope amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades: There's no front-runner, no indication how long voting will last and no sense that a single man has what it takes to fix the many problems. The three identical white outfits in small, medium and large for the new pontiff's first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica are delivered to the Vatican before the start of the conclave and left in a room next to the Sistine Chapel, where the newly elected pope changes into his new clothes. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

This picture made available Tuesday, March 12, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows the urns where each cardinal will place his folded ballot after voting inside the Sistine Chapel during the conclave at the Vatican. During the voting that ensues, each cardinal writes his choice on a rectangular piece of paper inscribed with the words "Eligo in summen pontificem" ? Latin for "I elect as Supreme Pontiff." Holding the folded ballot up in the air, each approaches the altar and places it on a saucer, before tipping it into an oval urn, as he intones these words: "I call as my witness, Christ the Lord, who will be my judge that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected." Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect the next pope amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades: There's no front-runner, no indication how long voting will last and no sense that a single man has what it takes to fix the many problems. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

This picture made available Tuesday, March 12, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows where the cardinals will be sitting inside the Sistine Chapel during the conclave voting, at the Vatican. Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect the next pope amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades: There's no front-runner, no indication how long voting will last and no sense that a single man has what it takes to fix the many problems. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

This picture made available Tuesday, March 12, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows where the cardinals will be sitting inside the Sistine Chapel during the conclave voting, at the Vatican. Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect the next pope amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades: There's no front-runner, no indication how long voting will last and no sense that a single man has what it takes to fix the many problems. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The election of a pope follows a series of choreographed rules and rituals that have been tweaked over the centuries ever since the term "conclave" or "with a key" was used in the 13th century to describe the process of locking up the cardinals until they have chosen a new pope.

Here are the rules in use to elect the 266th pope:

___

WHO VOTES?

Only cardinals under age 80 are eligible; in this case 115 men fit the bill and will vote. Two cardinals who were eligible stayed home: The emeritus archbishop of Jakarta, Cardinal Julius Darmaatjadja, who is ill, and Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who recused himself after admitting to inappropriate sexual behavior.

___

WHAT IS THE RITUAL?

The conclave's first day begins with the "Pro eligendo Romano Pontificie" Mass for the election of a pope. In the afternoon, cardinals gather in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace and file into the Sistine Chapel chanting the Litany of Saints and the Latin hymn "Veni Creator," imploring saints and the Holy Spirit to help them pick a pope.

Standing under Michelangelo's "Creation" and before his "Last Judgment," each cardinal places his hand on a book of the Gospels and pledges "with the greatest fidelity" never to reveal the details of the conclave. A meditation on the qualities needed for the next pope and the challenges ahead for the church is delivered by Maltese Cardinal Prosper Grech.

The master of liturgical celebrations then cries "Extra omnes," Latin for "all out." Everyone except the cardinals leaves and the voting can begin.

___

HOW DO THEY VOTE?

Each cardinal writes his choice on a paper inscribed with the words "Eligo in summen pontificem," or "I elect as Supreme Pontiff." They approach the altar one by one and say: "I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected."

The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and slid into an oval silver and gold urn. In the past, a single chalice was used to hold the ballots. But conclave changes made by Pope John Paul II in 1996 required three vessels: one for chapel ballots, another for ailing cardinals at the Vatican who can vote from their beds and the third to hold the ballots after counting. No cardinals are expected to require the bedside voting, but all three flying saucer-shaped urns were in the Sistine Chapel regardless.

Once cast, the ballots are opened one by one by three different "scrutineers," who note the names down and read them aloud. Cardinals can keep their own tally on a sheet of paper provided but must turn their notes in to be burned at the end of voting.

The scrutineers then add up the results of each round of balloting and write the results down on a separate sheet of paper which is preserved in the papal archives.

As the scrutineer reads out each name, he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word "Eligo" and binds the ballots with thread and ties a knot. The ballots are then put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce either black or white smoke.

Up to four rounds of voting are allowed each day after the first day, and a two-thirds majority ? 77 votes ? is needed.

If no one is elected after three days ? by Friday afternoon ? voting pauses for up to one day. Voting resumes and if no pope is elected after another seven ballots, there is another pause, and so on until about 12 days of balloting have passed.

Under norms introduced by Benedict XVI just before he resigned, the cardinals then go to a runoff of the top two vote-getters. A two-thirds majority is required; neither of the two top candidates casts a ballot in the runoff.

__

WHAT HAPPENS ONCE THE POPE IS ELECTED?

Once a cardinal has been elected pope, the master of liturgical ceremonies enters the Sistine Chapel and the senior cardinal asks "Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?" Assuming the cardinal says "I accept," the senior cardinal then asks: "By what name do you wish to be called?" The master of liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, then enters the information on a formal document.

At this point, white smoke pours out of the Sistine Chapel chimney and bells of St. Peters toll.

The new pope then changes into his papal white cassock, and one-by-one the cardinals approach him to swear their obedience.

In a change for this conclave, the new pope will stop and pray in the Pauline Chapel for a few minutes before emerging on the loggia of the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. Preceding him to the balcony is French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the protodeacon, who announces "Habemus Papam!" Latin for "We have a pope" and then introduces him to the world in Latin.

The new pope then emerges and delivers his first public words as pope.

___

FAMOUS FIRST WORDS?

Pope John Paul II charmed the crowd of thousands on Oct. 16, 1978 when he first emerged on the loggia, no easy task given his predecessor had only lived as pope for 33 days and Karol Wojtyla was the first non-Italian elected in 455 years.

Noting that he came from a far-away land ? Poland ? he told the crowd that he would speak in their ("our") language.

"If I make a mistake, you will correct me," he said to cheers.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI offered a similarly modest gesture on April 19, 2005, telling the crowd he was but a simple "humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord."

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-12-EU-Vatican-Conclave-Rules-and-Rituals/id-96b63415ee8444bca1be9ee94a0537dc

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Charity: Children shot at, tortured and raped in Syria

Bruno Gallardo / EPA, file

A Syrian teenager is among those surrounded by rubble after a missile attack in Aleppo on Feb. 23. The charity Save the Children has issued a report saying young people are facing horrific abuses during the war, which has claimed more than 70,000 lives so far.

By Oliver Holmes, Reuters

A boy of 12 sees his best friend shot through the heart. Another of 15 is held in a cell with 150 other people and taken out every day to be burned with cigarettes.

Syria's children are perhaps the greatest victims of their country's conflict, suffering "layers and layers of emotional trauma," Save the Children's chief executive?Justin Forsyth?told Reuters.

Syrian children have been shot at, tortured and raped during two years of unrest and civil war, the London-based international charity said in a report released on Wednesday.

Two million children, it said, face malnutrition, disease, early marriage and severe trauma, becoming innocent victims of a conflict that has already claimed 70,000 lives.

"This is a war where women and children are the biggest casualty," Forsyth told Reuters during a visit to Lebanon, where 340,000 Syrians have sought a safe haven.

Forsyth said he met a Syrian refugee boy, 12, who saw his best friend killed outside a bakery. "His friend was shot through the heart. But initially, he thought he was joking because there was no blood. They didn't realize he had been killed until they took his shirt off," he said.

/

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

The report cited new research carried out among refugee children by Bahcesehir University in Turkey, which found that one in three reported having been punched, kicked or shot at.

Children directly targeted
Two-thirds of children surveyed said that they had been separated from members of their families because of the conflict and a third said they had experienced the death of a close friend or family member.

Millions of families have fled their homes for safer ground or neighboring countries. Save the Children says 80,000 people are living in barns, parks and caves, and children struggle to find enough to eat.

Both government forces and rebels have been accused of targeting civilians and committing war crimes. Refugees say Assad's soldiers are directly targeting children.

Forsyth said he met one child who said he was in a prison cell with 150 people, including 50 children. "He was taken out every day and put in a giant wheel and burned with cigarettes. He was 15."

Save the Children says that some young boys are being used by armed groups as porters, runners and human shields, bringing them close to the front line.

Rape is being used to deliberately punish people, Forsyth said, adding that it is underreported because of the sensitivity of the issue, especially in conservative communities.

Fear of sexual violence is repeatedly cited to Save the Children as one of the main reasons for families fleeing their homes, according to the report.

It said that there are also reports of early marriage of young girls by families trying to reduce the numbers of mouths they have to feed, or hoping that a husband will be able to provide greater security from the threat of sexual violence.

Forsyth said that he met a Syrian family in Lebanon who told their 16-year-old daughter to marry an older man. "Her mother said she is beautiful and every time the (Syrian) soldiers came to the house she thought: 'They are going to rape her.'"

"Rape is being used deliberately to punish people," Forsyth said, adding that girls as young as 14 are being married off.

Related:

'Human river' of Syrian refugees hits 1 million

Analysis: Can aid without weapons help resolve Syrian conflict?

US to send rations, medical supplies to Syrian rebels

?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/13/17294280-children-shot-at-tortured-and-raped-in-syria-report-says?lite

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Disney Plans Live-Action Beauty and the Beast

Fresh off the rather large opening weekend for Sam Raimi?s fantasy pic Oz the Great and Powerful, Disney is ready to put a new spin on yet another classic story.? Deadline reports that screenwriter Joe Ahearne, who most recently wrote Danny Boyle?s upcoming psychological thriller Trance, has been tapped to pen the script for a live-action reimagining of Beauty and the Beast called The Beast.? This seemingly sets off yet another Snow White-esque race between two fairy tale-themed pics, as Warner Bros. has long been developing a new take on Beauty and the Beast with Guillermo del Toro directing and Emma Watson set to star.? Hit the jump for more on Disney?s latest move towards world domination.

The development of Oz the Great and Powerful was a direct result of the massive success of Disney?s 2010 reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, which went on to gross over $1 billion worldwide.? Now that Raimi?s Oz seems like it?s enjoying similar success (though its opening weekend wasn?t near as big as Wonderland?s), Disney appears to be confident enough to move forward with yet another live-action revisionist take on a classic fairy tale in addition to the upcoming?Maleficent?and?Cinderella.

Ahearne?s darker-leaning previous work likely means that we?re in for something quite different from Disney?s classic 1991 animated iteration of?Beauty and the Beast, so it?ll be interesting to see how Disney handles the rougher parts of the story. ?Mandeville?s David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will be producing The Beast alongside Disney?s LouAnne Brickhouse.? It remains to be seen if Disney will wait to see how Ahearne?s script turns out before attaching a director or if they?ll start looking for a helmer straight away, but you can bet they won?t be letting this thing linger in development for too long.

What this means for Guillermo del Toro?s Beauty and the Beast is uncertain.? Del Toro has slowly been continuing development on his film while he juggles his hundreds of other projects, and last February Andrew Davies (Bridget Jones? Diary) came on to pen the script.? Del Toro?s schedule is pretty packed in the near future with post-production on Pacific Rim and the pilot for the FX series The Strain, and he?s set to begin filming his next feature film, the haunted house story Crimson Peak, early next year, so his next open window to start filming a new movie would likely be late 2014 or sometime in 2015.

If Warner Bros. wants to pick up the pace on their Beauty and the Beast film as a result of Disney?s announcement, del Toro will likely be replaced as director, unfortunately.? Hopefully they have enough confidence in their project that they stick with del Toro?s vision and give him the time he needs to bring it to fruition.

What do you think, folks?? Do you want to see a new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast from Disney, and if so, who would you like to see direct it?

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927008/news/1927008/

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New Registry Cleaner, PC HealthBoost Saves Computers and Gets ...

Boston, MA (PRWEB) January 14, 2013

Software developers Amit Mehta and Peter Dunbar have released a registry cleaner that has received rave reviews from nearly all of their customers. The duo decided to create PC HealthBoost (http://www.pchealthboost.com) because of what they saw as poor offerings in the market: few registry cleaners really did what they were supposed to.

Those that did, sometimes did the wrong thing and wrecked consumers? Windows operating systemsthen failed to offer adequate support. Mehta and Dunbar built PC HealthBoost to be different.

We developed PC HealthBoost for over 3 years before we felt confident that this is truly as good as it gets, says Dunbar. This is a quality program that will save a lot of people a lot of trouble. We?re proud to have our names attached to it.

PC HealthBoost Software Endorsements

PC HealthBoost is endorsed by software review site TuCows, and carries its 5 Cows award (http://www.tucows.com/preview/1475930), the highest given by TuCows. It has passed the rigors of McAfee and Norton Antivirus testing, and has been certified McAfee Secured (https://www.mcafeesecure.com/RatingVerify?ref=pchealthboost.com) and Norton Secured (http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=pchealthboost.com). This PC optimization software has also undergone the intensive screening from StopTheHacker, which scans and screens the software on a daily basis.

Boost Software is also a Better Business Bureau Accredited Business (http://www.bbb.org/boston/business-reviews/computer-software-publishers-and-developers/boost-software-inc-in-boston-ma-121711/) with an A- rating. According to the Better Business Bureau report on PC HealthBoost, BBB has determined that Boost Software Inc. meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints.

But what exactly does PC HealthBoost do? It is designed to speed up PCs by cleaning and maintaining a vital part of the Windows operating system: the registry. The registry is where all tasks are assigned and delegated, making it the switchboard of the Windows OS.

PC HealthBoost Testimonials

Some customers have also reported that PC HealthBoost has saved them from having to buy a new computer entirely. How does the software do this?

To understand that, it helps to know a little bit about how the Windows registry can be damaged. Programs like viruses, Trojan horses, and adware insinuate their own code into a computer?s registry, while often deleting other important code (especially those related to security and startup functions).

I ran into a problem due to malware [malicious software such as viruses, spyware, or Trojan horses] on my system, said Kathleen Novotny of Wisconson, a PC HealthBoost customer. Your tech, Chris, did everything in his power to get me up and running. Since we were able to get past the errors this PC is faster and better than when it was new. Thank you all.

This means that even when users clear off viruses with the help of antivirus programs, the foundation of Windows still remains damaged. This damage is often left uncorrected by antivirus software.

But a computer doesn?t need to have been damaged by malicious programs in order to suffer from registry errors. Over time, the registry becomes cluttered through regular computer use, slowing the computer down.

This is why PCs and laptops often take longer to start up, and become slower with time. It?s also the reason that Microsoft recommends users uninstall and re-install Windows on a periodic basissomething that nobody really wants to do.

My computer is running faster and I notice that there have not been any freezes or lock-ups where I have to turn the computer off and back on again, said Richard Peterson of OK in an unsolicited testimonial. My computer is running almost like it did when it was new 6 years ago.

PC HealthBoost was created so that users don?t have to re-install Windows or worry about malicious code left by viruses. It works by clearing clutter and malicious code from the registry, while adding and replacing vital entries that may be missing.

The software also gives users more control about what programs begin running when their computer starts up, as well as which programs run in the background.

About Boost Software

Boost Software was founded by Amit Mehta, who took his degree in theoretical physics. Before developing his own software, he worked for MIT Lincoln Lab, which researches advanced technology for national security. He and his partner, programming expert Peter Dunbar, created the software over the course of three years, releasing it in early 2012.

To learn more about PC HealthBoost PC optimization software, visit http://www.PCHealthBoost.com.

Source: http://www.internetguardian.co.uk/new-registry-cleaner-pc-healthboost-saves-computers-and-gets-rave-reviews/

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Fluorescent light revealed as gauge of coral health

Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mario Aguilera or Robert Monroe
scrippsnews@ucsd.edu
858-534-3624
University of California - San Diego

Mysterious glow of light found to correlate with coral stress prior to bleaching

Coral reefs not only provide the world with rich, productive ecosystems and photogenic undersea settings, they also contribute an economic boost valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. But their decline in recent years due to a variety of threatsfrom pollution to climate warminghas lent urgency to the search for new ways to evaluate their health.

A new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego scientists has revealed that fluorescence, the dazzling but poorly understood light produced by corals, can be an effective tool for gauging their health.

As described in the March 12 edition of Scientific Reports (a publication of the Nature Publishing Group), marine biologists Melissa Roth and Dimitri Deheyn describe groundbreaking research using fluorescence to test coral stress prompted from cold and heat exposures.

In experimental studies conducted at Scripps, Roth and Deheyn tested the common Indo-Pacific reef-building branching coral Acropora yongei under various temperatures. Branching corals are susceptible to temperature stress and often one of the first to show signs of distress on a reef. Roth and Deheyn found, at the induction of both cold and heat stress, corals rapidly display a decline in fluorescence levels. If the corals are able to adapt to the new conditions, such as to the cold settings in the experiment, then the fluorescence returns to normal levels upon acclimation.

While the corals recovered from cold stress, the heat-treated corals eventually bleached and remained so until the conclusion of the experiment. Coral bleaching, the loss of tiny symbiotic algae that are critical for coral survival, is a primary threat to coral reefs and has been increasing in severity and scale due to climate change. In this study, the very onset of bleaching caused fluorescence to spike to levels that remained high until the end of the experiment. The researchers noted that the initial spike was caused by the loss of "shading" from the symbiotic algae.

"This is the first study to quantify fluorescence before, during, and after stress," said Deheyn. "Through these results we have demonstrated that changes in coral fluorescence can be a good proxy for coral health."

Deheyn said the new method improves upon current technologies for testing coral health, which include conducting molecular analyses in which coral must be collected from their habitat, as opposed to fluorescence that can be tested non-invasively directly in the field.

Corals are known to produce fluorescence through green fluorescent proteins, but little is known about the emitted light's function or purpose. Scientists believe fluorescence could offer protection from damaging sunlight or be used as a biochemical defense generated during times of stress.

"This study is novel because it follows the dynamics of both fluorescent protein levels and coral fluorescence during temperature stress, and shows how coral fluorescence can be utilized as an early indicator of coral stress" said Roth, a Scripps alumna who is now a postdoctoral scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley.

###

The National Science Foundation (NSF), an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research's Natural Materials, Systems and Extremophiles program supported the research. Birch Aquarium at Scripps provided the corals and technical support for the experiments.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mario Aguilera or Robert Monroe
scrippsnews@ucsd.edu
858-534-3624
University of California - San Diego

Mysterious glow of light found to correlate with coral stress prior to bleaching

Coral reefs not only provide the world with rich, productive ecosystems and photogenic undersea settings, they also contribute an economic boost valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. But their decline in recent years due to a variety of threatsfrom pollution to climate warminghas lent urgency to the search for new ways to evaluate their health.

A new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego scientists has revealed that fluorescence, the dazzling but poorly understood light produced by corals, can be an effective tool for gauging their health.

As described in the March 12 edition of Scientific Reports (a publication of the Nature Publishing Group), marine biologists Melissa Roth and Dimitri Deheyn describe groundbreaking research using fluorescence to test coral stress prompted from cold and heat exposures.

In experimental studies conducted at Scripps, Roth and Deheyn tested the common Indo-Pacific reef-building branching coral Acropora yongei under various temperatures. Branching corals are susceptible to temperature stress and often one of the first to show signs of distress on a reef. Roth and Deheyn found, at the induction of both cold and heat stress, corals rapidly display a decline in fluorescence levels. If the corals are able to adapt to the new conditions, such as to the cold settings in the experiment, then the fluorescence returns to normal levels upon acclimation.

While the corals recovered from cold stress, the heat-treated corals eventually bleached and remained so until the conclusion of the experiment. Coral bleaching, the loss of tiny symbiotic algae that are critical for coral survival, is a primary threat to coral reefs and has been increasing in severity and scale due to climate change. In this study, the very onset of bleaching caused fluorescence to spike to levels that remained high until the end of the experiment. The researchers noted that the initial spike was caused by the loss of "shading" from the symbiotic algae.

"This is the first study to quantify fluorescence before, during, and after stress," said Deheyn. "Through these results we have demonstrated that changes in coral fluorescence can be a good proxy for coral health."

Deheyn said the new method improves upon current technologies for testing coral health, which include conducting molecular analyses in which coral must be collected from their habitat, as opposed to fluorescence that can be tested non-invasively directly in the field.

Corals are known to produce fluorescence through green fluorescent proteins, but little is known about the emitted light's function or purpose. Scientists believe fluorescence could offer protection from damaging sunlight or be used as a biochemical defense generated during times of stress.

"This study is novel because it follows the dynamics of both fluorescent protein levels and coral fluorescence during temperature stress, and shows how coral fluorescence can be utilized as an early indicator of coral stress" said Roth, a Scripps alumna who is now a postdoctoral scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley.

###

The National Science Foundation (NSF), an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research's Natural Materials, Systems and Extremophiles program supported the research. Birch Aquarium at Scripps provided the corals and technical support for the experiments.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoc--flr031113.php

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VEVO Launches A Live Channel To Bring The Next Generation Of ?Music Television' Online

VEVO just rolled out its first new live and programmed music video offering, VEVO TV. The idea behind VEVO TV is to enable viewers to just sit back and have a stream of videos continuously shown to them, introducing them to new artists and allowing them to relive some old music videos that they might have forgotten about.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/NJdsUayr75w/

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When Gay Couples Get Married, Are They Monogamous ...

As I stood in my underwear and a headpiece made from stockings, ?Betty,? a six-foot drag queen with a red bob that matched her thigh-high boots, spent two hours grooming me into the sparkliest Cleopatra-clone possible. And then I got up on stage at Lucky Cheng?s cabaret in New York City, and officiated the marriage of Eduardo Chan and Israel Hornedo.

Chan and Hornedo had contacted me the month prior after reading a story I?d written about wanting to oversee same-sex marriages once they were legal in New York. As soon as I agreed to marry them, the couple began planning their big day.

The event was laced with standard wedding components: emotional toasts, embarrassing stories told by tipsy friends, cake-cutting and first dances. But there were also penis-shaped balloons, transvestite servers and outrageously dirty jokes.

After the last tequila shots had been downed, I wondered whether Chan and Hornedo?s union would mimic their ceremony in all of its unique glory, or whether they would live by traditional doctrines of marriage?namely, monogamy.

Straight people interested in family building are encouraged by society to find love, marry (especially if they?re knocked up already), cohabitate, reproduce, and strive to be faithful for all eternity. But such a relationship blueprint?which, for most straight people, has been ingrained since childhood?does not exist for gays and lesbians.

Now that nine U.S. states have legalized same-sex marriage, President Obama has evolved?into an overt supporter of LGBT rights, and Bill Clinton has renounced the infamous Defense of Marriage Act, matrimony is getting a much-needed overhaul. Still, we?re left with a question: because same-sex marriage has been forbidden for so long, there are no established social norms defining it. So as the institution widely considered the cornerstone of American family life evolves, are same-sex couples adopting monogamy, or are they creating their own rules?

The rules varied from: ?If you bring him home and he?s cute, you have to let me join,? to ?You can fuck whomever you want, but you can?t take him to dinner,? to ?The Sauna Clause: Sex at the gym doesn?t count.?

Though I reached out to equal numbers of lesbian and gay couples, nearly all of those willing to speak to me about their sex lives were men. Of the gay men I interviewed, all of them considered non-monogamy and monogamy equally valid relationship constructs, no matter which one they followed.

Theo Bleckmann,?a 46-year-old New York musician who married his partner of seven years on Valentine?s Day at the Empire State Building (in case you think it couldn?t get any awesomer, Joan Rivers officiated), says that he and his partner are ?of course? monogamous. But while most of the gay couples Bleckmann knows are also sexually exclusive, he thinks that ?gay couples overall figure out the parameters of their sexual boundaries and behavior as they see fit, a lot more so than married straight couples.?

Chan and Hornedo, still happily married, believe monogamy is ?the only healthy channel for a long-lasting, fulfilling relationship.? But they are quick to add that they ?are open-minded? about it.

Lanz Lowan, who has an M.S. in psychology and serves on the faculty at Stanford?s business school, has been in a relationship with Blake Spears, the founder of Insight Healthcare, for 37 years. Both in their 60s, the two have been non-monogamous since six-months into their relationship. Inspired by their experience, Lowan and Spears even conducted a study in 2010: ?Beyond Monogamy: Lessons from Long-term Male Couples in Non-Monogamous Relationships.??The two interviewed 86 couples (roughly half were married) over the course of four years about their sexual exclusivity, and concluded that ?sanctioned outside-sex is a sustainable and satisfying possibility.?

But what does an open gay marriage look like, and how?does it work?

For Lowan and Spears, non-monogamy has taken different shapes over the years. ?Sometimes, we?ve been involved with an outside partner together, sometimes only separately.? And while some of their additional partners have been strangers encountered at bathhouses, they?ve also incorporated friends. No matter what, Lowan and Spears emphasize that they?ve maintained a strong sex life with each other at all times.

Among other couples they interviewed, the rules varied from: ?If you bring him home and he?s cute, you have to let me join,? to ?You can fuck whomever you want, but you can?t take him to dinner,? to ?The Sauna Clause: Sex at the gym doesn?t count.?

Lowan and Spears think that male biology is partly responsible for the success of an open gay marriage. ?Men have a prehistoric proclivity toward procreation with multiple partners,? says Spears. ?So you have two people coming from the same evolutionary path. I believe that men, together, are somewhat better equipped to handle non-monogamy.?

This is consistent with the findings of Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D. and James Witte, Ph.D. who collected data from 100,000 respondents for their book?The Normal Bar: The Surprising Secrets of Happy Couples and What They Reveal About Creating a New Normal in Your Relationship.?They report:

?About half of all gay male couples in America allow infidelity based on the rules the couple negotiates together. While this is incomprehensible to many people in heterosexual and lesbian relationships?many of these couples seem to be able to maintain long-term, highly committed, and happy relationships without being monogamous.?

But while maleness may enable non-monogamous marriage?and facilitate the explosive popularity of the all-male location-based social network/ hook-up forum that is Grindr?it may not be the most defining element of these relationships. The rules governing non-monogamy vary widely, but Lowan and Spears point to two common factors in those that thrive: honesty and communication. ?If a couple is willing to be forthright and to problem-solve as needed, non-monogamy isn?t by nature de-stabilizing.?

Of course, communication means talking ? hashing out the rules, each person?s boundaries, and how to navigate the looming threat of jealousy. For instance, one Beyond Monogamy participant, Mitch, agreed with partner Steven never to say, ?I love you? to anyone else. Whenever Mitch or Steven senses that the other is too infatuated with an outsider, they have a conversation about it. The clearer and more extensive the set of rules (about when and how to approach alternate sex partners, which sex acts are permissible, how threesomes are orchestrated, etc.), the easier it is to protect your relationship.

And as it happens, gays may be better positioned to master the communication skills required for healthy non-monogamy than their straight peers, precisely because they haven?t grown up with hardened social paradigms.

According to gay issues specialist Phil Socci, LCSW,?because most gay people haven?t grown up with ideas of what gay relationship ?should? look like, they?re forced ?to learn from the ground up.? This learning curve means constant questioning, just as the process of coming to terms with being gay tends to. The rewards of reflection can be elevated self-awareness and, by extension, better skills with self-expression. ?There is a different level of comfort in gay relationships in terms of communicating what they want?especially sexually,? says Socci.

For now, maybe the question isn?t whether gay couples are choosing to model their marriages as straights do, but whether the same-sex community stands to lose anything as their way of life is normalized.

?A case could be made that a life that has some kind of a resistance is a life more examined,? he says.

Lisa Sherman, Executive Vice President and General Manager at LOGO?who speaks from her own experience as a lesbian and from her network?s audience?asserts that the lack of rights granted to same-sex couples forces them to approach a relationship more thoughtfully than their straight counterparts. Because everything (finances, healthcare, childrearing, etc.) becomes more complicated for couples with fewer freedoms, ?you have to be so much more thoughtful about how you go about the relationship,? Sherman says. ?As a result, the intention is so much more specific and clear and it is much more intentional.?

For now, maybe the question isn?t whether gay couples are choosing to model their marriages as straights do, but whether the same-sex community stands to lose anything as their way of life is normalized.

Already, we know that growing numbers of same-sex couples are dealing with divorce, just one of the relationship issues that impacts heterosexuals. It could be that gays and lesbians are destined to join the throngs fielding?when-the-hell-are-you-going-to-get-married??jabs from relatives. They might also start to feel pressured into finding love by a certain age, or refraining from cohabitation pre-engagement.

Most importantly, it could be that the mindful communication so many gays and lesbians have come to embrace?a consequence of existing outside the bounds of established norms for so long?evaporates in the face of widespread acceptance. ?That?s something to worry about down the line. But as it stands, straight couples have plenty to learn from gays about what makes a marriage, or any longterm relationship, truly work.

Source: http://www.howaboutwe.com/date-report/when-gay-couples-get-married-are-they-monogamous/

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