Sunspot unleashes powerful parting shot

NASA via SpaceWeather.com

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captures a picture of sunspot 1402 unleashing an X2-class solar flare on Friday, seen in ultraviolet wavelengths.

By Alan Boyle

The sunspot responsible for setting off a colorful round of northern lights over the past week got off a doozy of a parting shot today, just as it was about to pass around the edge of the sun's disk.

Sunspot 1402 let loose with an X-class flare, the most powerful class of solar outburst, at 1:37 p.m. ET today, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a sequence of ultraviolet images as the blast went out. Fortunately, this one was not directed right at Earth.

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SpaceWeather.com says NASA's Goddard Space Weather Laboratory detected a "spectacular" coronal mass ejection blasting away from the sun at 5.6 million mph (2,500 kilometers per second). CMEs send out electrically charged particles that can eventually interact with Earth's magnetic field ? but here again, this particular ejection is not heading directly for Earth. There's a chance that it might strike a glancing blow on Monday or so, sparking another bout of auroral displays.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center reports that the flare created R3-level radio blackouts at about 1:30 p.m. ET today. That level can result in wide-area loss of high-frequency radio comunication, as well as a temporary degradation of low-frequency GPS signals, but no significant problems came to light immediately. Solar radiation levels are elevated ? which may lead to the rerouting of some airline flights. NOAA's guide to space weather scales explains what's what.

Active regions move across the sun's disk from left to right, as seen from earth, so sunspot 1402 is just about to go around to the far side of the sun. There's a chance that the sunspot will come around again as the sun goes through its 27-day rotational cycle, and there are certain to be more (and stronger?) outbursts as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year activity cycle in 2013 or so.

Keep a watch on SpaceWeather.com, NOAA's space weather website and the prediction center's Facebook page for updates during the weekend. And if you're living the high-latitude life, keep a watch for better-than-usual auroras as well.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured this video of today's CME. Credit: SOHO / ESA / NASA

Update for 4:05 p.m. ET: Sunday's solar storm not only blasted past Earth; it also sent solar particles streaming by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, which is on its way to the Red Planet. Today, the Southwest Research Institute reported that one of the instruments on the spacecraft, the Radiation Assessment Detector, measured the effects of the solar storm.

"We only have a few hours of data downloaded from the RAD so far, but we clearly see the event," RAD principal investigator Don Hassler, science program director in SwRI's Space Studies Department, said in a news release. "It will be very interesting to compare the RAD data, collected from inside the capsule, with the data from other spacecraft."

Once Mars Science Laboratory gets to its destination, it will measure radiation levels on the Martian surface to determine what the effect might have been on past life ... as well as the radiation effects that astronauts can expect to experience during future interplanetary missions.

Update for 10:30 p.m. ET: In a Facebook update, the Space Weather Prediction Center says its "forecasters and scientist believe there will be very little effects of the CME observed here at Earth." The update also provides a killer video of the eruption, as seen in ultraviolet imagery from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. SpaceWeather.com, meanwhile, quotes experts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab as saying the CME "will just miss Earth when its edge passes by our planet on Jan. 30-31."

On tonight's "Nightly News," NBC's Brian Williams talked about a time-lapse video showing the aurora over Norway earlier this week. We included this video in Wednesday's northern lights roundup, but it's nice to hear Brian?marvel over it again:

The solar flare created a beautiful aurora borealis in Norway. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

?More auroral glories:

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Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10252990-sunspot-unleashes-a-parting-shot

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Gingrich, Romney play for cheers in Florida debate (reuters)

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Prem Watsa brings hope to RIM's restless shareholders (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? The arrival of the man known as "the Warren Buffett of North" on Research In Motion's board this week offers a ray of hope to the BlackBerry maker's impatient shareholders after their disappointment that an insider was named new chief executive.

That's not to say the reclusive Watsa - who heads Fairfax Financial, now RIM's fourth-largest shareholder - has a reputation as a turnaround artist who will agitate for radical change at the struggling company.

But his 2.25 percent shareholding and new role as director suggest Watsa sees real value in the withered share price, even though some say the company has fallen hopelessly behind its rivals in the hyper-competitive smartphone and tablet markets.

Based from the Indian-born Canadian's track record, fellow shareholders have good reason to be optimistic.

"Prem is attracted to companies that are out of favor and unpopular with the market," said Todd Johnson, a portfolio manager at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, which holds Fairfax bonds. "He likely believes RIM is salvageable and that the market is unfairly punishing the stock now.

His investing acumen has helped shares of Fairfax Financial, technically an insurer but also his investment vehicle, rise more than 100-fold in just over 25 years. Watsa is chairman and CEO of Fairfax and controls its voting shares.

Watsa's appointment to RIM's board was part of a head office shuffle in which Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie gave up their shared chief executive role to Thorsten Heins, a company insider.

RIM investors, who have watched their stock drop 84 percent in the last three years, sent the shares down sharply after the change in leadership was announced.

They're concerned that Heins, with his close association with the pair who presided over RIM's swoon, may not have what it will take to reverse the decline. Heins reinforced that impression when he said he saw no need for a seismic shift at the BlackBerry maker, even though its market share has tumbled.

BUFFETT OF THE NORTH

Watsa started receiving comparisons to Buffett - the best-known proponent of investing on the basis of a company's value - back in the 1990s. He'd already shown his investment chops by selling stock ahead of the 1987 stock market crash and buying Japanese puts - or rights to sell stocks at guaranteed prices - ahead of the Tokyo market's collapse in 1990.

But it was his call on the U.S. mortgage crisis that cemented his reputation as a savvy investor. Watsa began raising alarms on the U.S. mortgage industry in 2003, and Fairfax began selling or hedging its equity holdings, and buying credit default swaps that it later sold when the market began to collapse. A CDS enables the holder to be compensated in the event of a loan default.

The move initially didn't pay off, as stock markets churned higher in the mid-2000s. But when the market crashed in 2008, Fairfax notched a profit of $1.5 billion on the back of a $2.7 billion investment gain.

In late 2008, with markets still reeling and other investors licking their wounds, he started to plow money back into equities, notching another strong year in 2009.

Since then Watsa has changed gears again, hedging the company's equity portfolio in 2010, and making more contrarian investments such as buying a 9 percent stake in troubled Bank of Ireland last year.

"He's gotten very very strong investment returns, I don't think you can argue with that," said one portfolio manager who holds RIM shares.

"Whether he's being brought on the board to support his existing equity positions or maybe ascertain whether value is there for a potential takeover and what that level would be at, I think there's a lot that can be taken from his being added to the board," said the manager, who requested anonymity because of his firm's policy on speaking on the record.

To be sure, not all of Watsa's moves have been golden. Fairfax was forced to write off most its investment in Winnipeg-based media company Canwest in 2009 as the company filed for bankruptcy protections.

It also wrote down a significant investment in publisher Torstar in 2008-09 and took losses on its holding of forestry company Abitibi Bowater.

LOW PROFILE

Born in 1950 in Hyderabad, India, and trained as a chemical engineer, Watsa has maintained a public profile that has at times bordered on the reclusive since he took over Fairfax in 1985. For his first 15 years at the company, he barely spoke to a reporter, and only started holding investor conference calls in 2001.

Fairfax has generally not been known as an activist investor, but Watsa has hardly shied away from a fight, launching a $6 billion lawsuit against a group of hedge funds in 2006, accusing them of conspiring to the drive the company's shares down so they could be shorted. A short position enables an investor to profit when a stock drops.

With a board seat, Watsa will have a prime position to make sure his RIM investment is a winner.

"He sees the value in this company, he sees where sentiment is, he sees where the asset value is and the cash value is and he sees the strategy. By joining the board he's giving a vote of confidence and perhaps can have more hand in overseeing this transition," said Matthew Thornton, analyst at Avian Securities in Boston.

"That doesn't mean it's going to work."

($1 = 1.0121 Canadian dollars)

(Editing by Frank McGurty)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/tc_nm/us_hold_rim_watsa

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Sam Worthington Talks Man on a Ledge, Wrath of the Titans, and More

With director Asger Leth?s (Ghosts of Cit? Soleil) Man on a Ledge opening this weekend, I recently got to speak with most of the cast about making the movie.? The film centers on an ex-cop (Sam Worthington) convicted of a crime he didn?t commit who stands on the ledge of a Manhattan building, threatening to kill himself.? However, what appears to be a suicide attempt is something else altogether.? The film also stars Jamie Bell, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Banks, Ed Burns, Titus Welliver, Genesis Rodriguez, Kyra Sedgwick, and Ed Harris.

During my interview with Worthington we talked about how he got involved in Man on a Ledge, what was it like to really stand on the ledge, how many takes he likes to do, and if he was ever nervous.? In addition, we talked about video games, how he got cast in the Call of Duty commercial with Jonah Hill, how Wrath of the Titans is going to be different from the first film, and an upcoming project called Thunder Run that sounds very cool.? Hit the jump to watch.

Finally, here?s my video interviews with Edward Burns and Anthony Mackie if you missed them.

Sam Worthington

• We talk about my Legendary t-shirt. They produce some big movies
• How did he get involved in that Call of Duty commercial
• What?s the last video game he?s played
• How did he get involved in Man on a Ledge
• How long was he actually on the ledge of the building
• How many takes does he like to do
• Was there a take on the ledge that he couldn?t wait to get done
• Reveals he?s seen Wrath of the Titans and talks about how it?d different from the first film
• Talks about how Wrath of the Titans is going to be more realistic
• Talks about Thunder Run

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924386/news/1924386/

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Apple's Packaging Is So Good Because It Employs a Dedicated Box Opener [Apple]

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/zV4piXmvap0/apple-packing-is-so-good-because-they-employ-a-dedicated-box-opener

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Video: Newly released JFK tapes reveal conflicting reports about Vietnam

Mystery disease Morgellons: No clear cause

A strange disease in which sufferers say they find fibers, fuzz and other debris sprouting from sores on their skin is not contagious and has no clear cause, the largest-ever study of the condition called Morgellons has found.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46138818#46138818

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Romney reports tax bill of $6.2 million for 2010-11 (Reuters)

TAMPA, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney bowed to political pressure and cracked the books on his personal finances on Tuesday, releasing tax returns showing he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on $42.5 million in combined 2010 and 2011 income.

Unlike most Americans who earn a paycheck, Romney gets the majority of his income from investment profits, dividends and interest. One of the wealthiest men ever to run for the White House, he made his fortune buying and selling companies as a private equity financier with Bain Capital.

Romney and his wife Ann paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010 and expect to pay a 15.4 percent effective tax rate when they file their returns for 2011.

Those rates are roughly in line with the effective tax rates paid by most Americans, but they are far below the top income tax rate levied against wages, which is 35 percent, because the U.S. tax code favors investment income over wage income.

Romney released the tax returns after a week when his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, questioned whether Romney was hiding information about his finances and cast him as out of touch with most Americans.

Romney's estimated net worth is $190 million to $250 million.

The candidates are engaged in the state-by-state battle for their party's nomination to face President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the November 6 election. The next contest is the Florida primary on January 31.

Gingrich's attacks helped him upset the former Massachusetts governor in the South Carolina primary on Saturday. Since then, Romney has fired back with attacks questioning Gingrich's character, judgment and lucrative work as a consultant.

Romney's release of his tax returns is meant to try to blunt Gingrich's criticisms on that front, but the returns could further fuel a national debate about the fairness of the tax code and rising U.S. income inequality.

Romney campaign officials said his tax rate is based mostly on blind trust investment income. They said he makes no decisions on how his money is invested. They said his holdings include amounts in funds based in the Cayman Islands and other overseas entities.

The Caymans holdings and holdings in a Swiss bank account - which was closed in 2010 after an adviser decided it could be politically embarrassing to Romney - were reported on tax returns and were not vehicles to avoid taxes, the advisers said.

Regardless, the emerging picture was of a man of great means who contributes mightily to charity. The tax returns showed he and his wife contributed $7 million in charity over the two years, much of it going to the Mormon church. That represents more than 15 percent of the Romneys' income for those years.

Romney had total capital gains income of $12.5 million for 2010 and an estimated $10.7 million for 2011.

'FULSOME RELEASE'

Top campaign officials and the director of Romney's blind trust, Brad Malt, briefed Reuters on the details ahead of a more general release of the information on Tuesday morning.

Campaign counsel Ben Ginsberg, asked why Romney was not releasing tax records for the years in the 1980s and 1990s in which Romney made his fortune at private equity firm Bain Capital, said the two years covered by the tax returns should give a broad picture of Romney's financial situation.

"We're not going to get into the game of once you give them something, they demand more," Ginsberg said. "This is a fulsome release and we're proud of it."

The tax issue may have been a factor in Romney's loss to Gingrich in the South Carolina primary last Saturday. It became a distraction to Romney's campaign, and Romney's fuzzy answers on when and if he would release his records aggravated the problem.

First he said he might release them, or might not. When the questions kept coming, he said he would put them out in April, after his 2011 forms were completed. Only after he was defeated in South Carolina did his aides say he would release them this week. Gingrich has released his returns for 2010, but has not released an estimate for last year, as Romney did.

Long considered the front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Romney was staggered by Gingrich's lopsided win in South Carolina, and is looking to regain enough momentum to defeat Gingrich in Florida.

(Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign_romney_taxes

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