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This post has been updated.
All 125 commercial vessels working to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been ordered back to shore temporarily after four workers on three separate vessels became ill, according to a Deepwater Horizon Response press release.
It's unclear whether the crew members were working with chemical oil dispersants, which have been criticized for their toxicity. Our calls to officials in the region have not yet been returned.
The sick workers said they had headaches and chest pain, and were nauseated and dizzy. One was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Marrero, La., another was taken by boat and two were taken in an ambulance, according to the press release.
The current symptoms mirror those of other fishermen who were hired by BP to help clean up the spill, as we pointed out earlier this week. The dispersants BP is using to break up the oil have many health risks of their own. Earlier this month, the EPA told BP to stop using the chemicals and to switch to something else, but BP says there is no better alternative.
Update, 5/27:
According to Captain Meredith Austin, the Coast Guard deputy incident commander, controlled burns were being executed and aerial dispersants were being used in the vicinity of the affected workers, but no dispersants were being sprayed within 50 miles of the workers.
"It's important to keep in mind there are other factors which may potentially cause these symptoms," Austin told reporters on a conference call this evening. She named the smell of petroleum, heat and fatigue as possible causes for the symptoms.
Workers were not given respiratory protection equipment because according to Austin, prior air sampling performed in the area concluded that the level of chemical exposure was permissible.
Source: http://feeds.propublica.org/~r/propublica/energy-environment/~3/yldMx39xN7E/
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The growing mobile landscape is producing a “multi-platform” news consumer no longer content to “read all about it.”
Half of U.S. adults—a dramatic increase over last year--are now connected to the Internet through a tablet computer or smartphone, according to a comprehensive new study conducted by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism in collaboration with The Economist Group. And news is an important part of what these users do on their mobile devices. Almost two-thirds of tablet (64 percent) and smartphone (62 percent) owners say they use the devices for news at least weekly.
This brave new world of news consumption has been hastened by the rapid acceptance of tablet computers, the Pew report finds. Twenty-two percent—double the number from last year—are tablet owners, while another 3 percent of adults regularly use a tablet owned by someone else in their home (another 23 percent, who do not own a tablet, plan to jump on the bandwagon in the next six months).
Almost half (44 percent) of U.S. adults own a smartphone, up from 35 percent in May 2011, the survey found.
This new generation of mobile news consumers is delving beyond checking the headlines on their devices, although nearly all use them to check for news updates, Pew reports. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of respondents said they read in-depth articles at least sometimes, including 19 percent who report doing so daily, Sixty-one percent of smartphone news consumers read longer stories sometimes, while 11 percent do so regularly.
The survey of 9,513 U.S. adults finds that most tablet and smartphone users are content with accessing the news on their browsers (60 percent) instead of news apps (23 percent). There is also resistance to paying for content on mobile devices. Only 24 percent of respondents are considering dropping their print subscriptions for a digital one. These users tend to be younger, who are traditionally more tech-savvy).
How does the “multi-platform” user get their news? Fifty-four percent of tablet news users also get news on a smartphone, while 77 percent get news on a desktop or laptop computer, half get their news in print, and one-quarter get news on all four platforms. Among smartphone users, 47 percent also still get news in print while 75 percent get news on their laptop/desktop and 28 percent get the news on a tablet.
Related Content:
American Voters Think Locally for Their News: Survey
Source: http://www.millionairecorner.com/article/news-going-mobile
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Canadians who head down south for a good part of the winter to enjoy sunnier skies and a milder climate – and the opportunity to golf in January – are known as snowbirds. Although there are other options, the Sunbelt of the U.S. is by far the most popular destination – it’s close by, has [...]
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Source: http://www.boomerandecho.com/snowbirds-what-you-need-to-know/
Unless you've been living in the middle of nowhere, you're probably aware that the United States' federal deficit is quite large, to say the least. The number is so big, in fact, that it's hard to wrap your head around. Once you begin talking about trillions, it almost sounds as if it's made up.
Unfortunately, the situation is quite real. What is also real is the attempt by lawmakers to shrink this number, and the proposals made to go about it. Some of these proposals could affect your retirement. More specifically, a few of them are targeting Social Security payments, both for people who are already retired and those who are approaching retirement. Below, we will look at the proposals that have been made.
The Ironic Cuts
Despite the fact that Social Security payments are low for a great number of people, many retirees rely on the money they receive in order to make ends meet. If their benefits were lowered, they could be financially ruined. The irony here is that a big reason why cuts are being proposed is to to make up for the damage done to the deficit during the housing market crash. But what some people don't even consider is the fact that this housing market crash harmed the same retirees that would be affected by such cuts. For them, it's a double whammy.
Proposal #1: Raise The Retirement Age to 70.
Currently, the normal retirement age stands at 66. Beginning in 2017 and ending in 2022, there will be a two month increase to this age each year. At that time, the normal retirement age will be 67. This new proposal, however, would alter this quite a bit. If successful, the increase would begin in 2013 and end in 2036, at which point the normal retirement age would reach 70.
Impact: The current rules for collecting Social Security state that each month that a person retires early, he or she will receive a cut in benefits. Since you are permitted to retire as soon as you reach 62, this new normal retirement age would increase the number of months that you could retire early, thus increasing your reduction.
Proposal #2: Base The Social Security Formula on progressive price indexation (PPI).
By basing the Social Security formula on progressive price indexation, those who have annual earnings less than $22,300 would see a rise in benefits. This increase would be equal to inflation for those who earn the maximum amount of $106,800.
Impact: The problem with this proposal is that it damages too many people. While its design would help to lower the federal deficit and benefit the lower half of earners, middle-income workers would be negatively affected. And since there are a great number of middle-income workers, this impact could be huge.
Proposal #3: 1% reduction in the cost of living adjustment (COLA).
This proposal isn't anything new. It has been introduced in the past. The reason it has never lost popularity is because many people claim that the consumer price index (CPI) used in this calculation does not accurately provide the needed cost of living adjustment.
Impact: This proposal stands out from the rest because of the group that would be affected. Rather than impacting those who were approaching retirement like the other two proposals, this would affect those who are already retired. Another consideration is the fact that the older a retiree is, the greater he or she would be affected.
Source: http://firstsecurityfinancialshow.com/blog/bid/179278/The-Impact-of-Social-Security-Cuts
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The U.S. solar PV market rose sharply in the second quarter of 2012, compared both to the previous quarter and year-over-year. Total solar PV installations in the U.S. during the second quarter amounted to 741.7 megawatts, up from 512 megawatts in the first quarter and 343.2 megawatts in the same period a year ago.
The data comes from GTM Research's "U.S. Solar Market Insight Report" for the second quarter of 2012. The U.S. and China are the two remaining large growth markets for solar PV as both Germany and Italy have stalled. In the U.S., utility installations have more than doubled while commercial installations have fallen and residential installations have stalled.
The report notes a few trends:
GTM Research thinks 3,200 megawatts of solar PV will be installed in 2012, down 100 megawatts from the firm's earlier estimate. That number represents a 71% increase over total 2011 installations.
The installed system price fell by 22% quarter over quarter, from $4.44 per watt to $3.45 per watt. The year-over-year-decline came to 33%.
Most important for solar PV module manufacturers is component pricing. And here's where things get tough for U.S. makers like First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) and Chinese firms Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK), JA Solar Holding Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), and Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ).
Blended average module pricing fell from $1.56 per watt in the second quarter of 2011 to just $0.87 per watt this year, a decline of 58%. Chinese makers have not shown any significant impact from the anti-dumping tariffs imposed by the U.S. government earlier this year. GTM Research estimates that the tariffs add just $0.08 per watt to the cost of Chinese solar modules shipped through Taiwan under different tolling arrangements.
For 2013, the research firm expects market growth for solar PV to slide from 71% this year to 21%. The firm also thinks expansion in the years through 2016 will be about 25% to 30% - not bad, but far lower than the growth rates of the past few years.
An executive summary of the GTM Research report is available here.
Paul Ausick
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Source: http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/press/ultra-short-pulse-laser-high-efficiency-cell-concepts/
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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/04/larry-lights-tips-on-taming-the-wall-street-beast/