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Firefighters got little help from Mother Nature on Saturday as much-needed rainfall from expected thunderstorms didn’t materialize for a huge wildfire burning in the Southern California mountains near Palm Springs.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
A student team of aspiring engineers will have to wait at least one more day to get a taste of zero gravity after Mother Nature spoiled their attempt to experiment with fire on a NASA microgravity flight today (July 18). …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Space.com
Extreme weather, sea level rise and degraded coastal systems are placing people and property at greater risk along the coast. Natural habitats such as dunes and reefs are critical to protecting millions of U.S. residents and billions of dollars in property from coastal storms, according to a new study by scientists with the Natural Capital Project at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By Matt Fowler
There’s nothing overtly wrong with Dreamworks Animation’s slick (from snail slime) new summer kid-pleaser, but for a movie about a speed-obsessed snail who – just go with it – enters the Indy 500, it sure does sit there. It’s easy, formulaic and light on laughs. But, for those dragged to see it by children, it won’t make you want to rub salt in your eyes. So it’s a faint fail or a faint pass, depending on your resilience.
Ryan Reynolds voices Theo – aka “Turbo” – a snail inexplicably determined to be as fast as a Nascar racer. As if you could hear it coming straight out of a pitch meeting. “Wouldn’t it be funny if a snail wanted to be fast? Because they’re so slow!” Paul Giamatti plays Turbo’s “isn’t the life we have just fine?” brother, Chet, who mostly shouts things like “It’s not natural!” and “That’s not what Mother Nature had in mind!” at Turbo so much that you come to realize, after 10 minutes, that the villain in this film is reality. And after endless bickering between a sourpuss and an contrived dreamer, you begin to resent both sides of the argument.
Hours after the Boston Marathon bombings, President Barack Obama gave the standard presidential line following a tragedy: “On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats — we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.”
And, as usual, Republicans and Democrats alike quickly ignored his don’t-politicize-this plea.
This was inevitable.
Our leaders always play politics after catastrophe, whether made by man or Mother Nature. The Newtown shootings and Superstorm Sandy. The financial crisis and Hurricane Katrina. Our history is filled with moments when something big happens and elected officials maneuver quickly to take advantage of the changing public mindset — or at least the more intense media spotlight — on a specific issue.
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress leveraged public angst over the Depression and a worldwide war in the 1930s to enact the New Deal, overhauling financial systems, funding public works projects and creating Social Security. Some three decades later, Lyndon B. Johnson and his Democrats seized on social unrest to pass the Great Society, anti-poverty and civil rights measures, education and transportation initiatives, Medicare and Medicaid.
During the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and his GOP used the moment of sky-high inflation and a growing Soviet threat to win support for boosting the military, trimming government and cutting taxes. And, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Republican George W. Bush rallied a fearful America behind expanding the government‘s terrorist-tracking powers, streamlining intelligence gathering and toppling Saddam Hussein.
Most recently, when he took office amid the worst economic conditions in a generation, Obama saw an opportunity to advance an audacious agenda that included ending the costly war in Iraq, improving crumbling transportation arteries and overhauling the health care system. As his first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was fond of saying back then: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
A gray area exists in all cases.
To some people, politicians who press for new legislation after a tragedy are seizing the perfect time to make needed changes, using typically fleeting we-are-one moments to reach consensus on an issue that long had been languishing behind more pressing priorities or struggling to get the necessary votes. To other people, these politicians are exploiting a tragedy in a blatant attempt to enact their pet, partisan policies.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
By Sara Bonisteel It’s one of my favorite times of year, when the cherry blossoms peak, and all those delicate flowers gracefully rustle over city sidewalks. And from San Francisco to Brooklyn, blossom lovers are getting ready to take in all those shades of pink. The Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival concludes this weekend with an annual parade through the streets of San Francisco, and the following weekend the Brooklyn Botanic Garden will hold its Sakura Matsuri. The trees at that garden are just starting to bloom. Mother Nature‘s rosy show is the perfect excuse for a spring picnic. Fill a backpack with a bento box, some sake, a blanket, and a camera, and you’re ready to go. Recipes to try: -Cherry Blossom Cocktail -Bento Box Soup -Japanese Beef and Scallion Rolls -Japanese Cold Noodles And on a side note, has anyone tried to make their own cherry-blossom tea? I think I might try picking a few flowers in salt and plum vinegar to see what happens.
From: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/epicurious/epiblog/~3/TBucHwP_Mls/cherry-blossom-picnic.html
Filed under: Travel, Transportation, Aerospace & Defense, Travel Industry
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
NEW YORK — Airlines are struggling this year to get planes to the gate on time.
The government said Thursday that 80.3 percent of flights by U.S. carriers arrived on time in January and February. That’s down from a record 84.9 percent during last year’s storm-free winter.
Mother Nature hasn’t been as cooperative. The percent of flights canceled this February doubled to 2.4 percent from 1.2 percent in the same month in 2012.
Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time rating in February at 91.8 percent. Delta Air Lines (DAL) was best among the nation’s five largest airlines, at 86.2 percent. JetBlue Airways (JBLU) was next to last, at 68.8 percent, as a huge snowstorm hit its hubs in Boston and New York.
As for airports, Phoenix had the best on-time departure and arrival rates in February while Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport had the lowest. A flight is still considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.
The worst day to fly appeared to be Feb. 16 when 34 domestic flights at Charlotte, N.C., were severely delayed. Passengers were left aboard planes on the tarmac during a snowstorm for more than three hours. All of the flights were operated by US Airways or one of its regional carriers.
US Airways (LCC) spokesman Todd Lehmacher said the airline is cooperating fully with the DOT in investigating the delays. It’s also conducting its own internal review. The weather that day was much worse than had been expected. Passengers were issued partial refunds as well as vouchers toward a future flight on US Airways.
The Department of Transportation imposed new restrictions on airlines in April 2010 limiting how long they could keep passengers waiting on the tarmac. Any airline that exceeded the three hour limit could be fined up to $27,500 per passenger — or about $4 million for a typical domestic jet, like the Airbus A320. However, the DOT has yet to levy a fine of that magnitude. There have only been seven fines to date, the largest being $900,000 for an American Eagle flight that was delayed on May 29, 2011.
Airlines also lost more suitcases in February compared to the prior year. Delays and lost luggage are often tied together. There were 3 bags reported mishandled for every 1,000 passengers that flew in February compared to 2.6 last year.
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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott
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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/airlines-on-time-performance-slips/
By Adam McCalvy This may have been the real world equivalent of Crash Davis running the sprinklers overnight when his Durham Bulls needed a rainout. The scuffling Brewers, with a crowded disabled list, a combustible bullpen and a 2-6 record, needed a break. Mother Nature gave them one on Wednesday.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON — Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) took to the Senate floor Tuesday to lament the need for crop insurance, pointing out that extreme weather has battered the nation in recent years. He cited historic drought and floods in the Midwest and Superstorm Sandy in the East.
But Roberts, who receives poor ratings from environmental groups, avoided linking the natural disasters to any kind of human-generated climate change, suggesting Mother Nature simply has it in for America.
“I don’t know what we’ve done to Mother Nature, but she sure hasn’t been very kind to us,” Roberts said.
Read More…
More on Climate Change
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
By Michael Lewis, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Earlier this month, footwear retailer Shoe Carnival lowered its guidance substantially after narrowing it back in January. Luckily, the company trades with little volatility and is about even with its starting stock price in 2013. This week, the company delivered financial results that were all together lackluster, and then went on to deliver disappointing guidance based on unfavorable weather-influenced shopping patterns. Let’s look at earnings to see if there are any signs of long-term strength in the company.
Tough start
In last year’s first quarter, Shoe Carnival achieved record results based on unseasonably warm conditions, which had consumers buying big in the early months of the year as opposed to the usual second-quarter spring shopping spree. This year, that trend was completely reversed, thanks again to Mother Nature.
High-margin sandal and sneaker sales, the second quarter’s typical strong point, were hurt this March as the weather remained cold and wet for many parts of the country. This bodes poorly for Shoe Carnival‘s first-quarter results, for which management guided lower than the Street was expecting. Because of the cold weather, management expects Q1 earnings to come in around $0.36 to $0.44 per share, well below consensus estimates of $0.57.
As for the fourth quarter, the company performed on par — though that par was lowered in the early days of March. Revenues managed to climb 13% to $205.7 million, though the bottom line came in at just $0.16 per share — below the previously guided $0.20-$0.22 per share.
All of this bad news has the company trading close to its 52-week low, and at a valuation that could put the company in either activist or takeover territory.
Value talk
By the look of things, the second quarter should be a return to normal performance for Shoe Carnival, but that may not be enough for investors and analysts to switch from their current downtrodden opinion. The company currently trades at 12 times forward one-year earnings, and with an EV/EBITDA multiple of just 5.46.
DSW Shoes , for comparison, trades at nearly 16 times forward earnings and with an EV/EBITDA of 8.45. This would suggest that Shoe Carnival is available to investors at a discount, though it may just be indicative of the company’s uninteresting near-term prospects.
Shoe Carnival may be appealing as a takeover, or activist target, given that it does generate substantial cash flow and has zero debt on the books. Free cash flow has been limited in recent years, given the company’s expansion efforts. Management expects an additional $28 million to $29 million in capex spending for 2013. A larger company could come in and stabilize this spending, possibly closing underperforming stores and creating a more efficient, cash-rich business with plenty of cash to send to shareholders.
Investors interested in value opportunities may want to keep a closer eye on Shoe Carnival in the coming months. If the stock continues to drop, it may present a very limited downside situation.
More retail news from The …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Spring Your Computer Back To Life
Get That Computer Back Up To Speed with Spring Cleaning Technology Tips From The Experts at Crucial.com
BOISE, Idaho–(BUSINESS WIRE)– It is the time of the year when the weather begins to warm, bears return from hibernation, birds fly north, and dreary winter scenes transform into colorful springtime sights. Of course, while Mother Nature goes through her own annual rejuvenation, the rest of us celebrate spring’s arrival by rejuvenating our floors, walls, windows and reorganizing our closets, garages, and basements. Before declaring the spring-cleaning ritual officially complete, the memory and storage experts at Crucial.com suggest it is also the perfect time to give your computer a seasonal refresh. Here are a few spring-cleaning technology tips that will infuse your computer with new life, and give you one less thing to worry about this year.
Back Up Your Data
A crash or system error will happen when you least expect it, so be prepared for the inevitable by backing up photos, files and important data. Most Mac® and Windows® operating systems have a built-in back-up mode that will automatically sync computer data to an external storage drive or to an online storage service when the function is turned on. It’s an easy process that will save you a lot of stress and aggravation when your computer’s hard drive fails. While you’re at it, you may also want to consider upgrading your current hard drive with a more efficient and reliable solid state drive (SSD). Its durability, faster performance, and light weight, have made SSDs an increasingly popular alternative to traditional hard drives.
Declutter and Update
Make sure both your operating system and applications are all up to date with the most current available versions. Also, make sure to remove unused programs by utilizing the add/remove programs tool located in the control panel of Windows operating systems, or on a Mac computer by dragging the application to the trash.
By Matthew DiLallo, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Winter just doesn’t seem to want to give way to spring this year. Where I live, we’ve been hit with more snow and a continuation of this cold winter. Frustrations with the late spring are beginning to boil over and cabin fever has gotten so bad that our beloved Punxsutawney Phil has been indicted after a botched forecast of an early spring.
Not only has the late spring caused a lot of ire among those ready for winter’s end, it’s also causing natural gas prices to head higher. While that’s a welcome sight for producers, heavy users of natural gas are not as thrilled. While these companies have enjoyed the profits made while using cheap natural gas, if prices keep going higher the situation will reverse. Here are three companies that could feel an impact if natural gas prices keep going higher.
CF Industries
The fertilizer maker is a heavy user of natural gas as a feedstock in fertilizer production. It has benefited handsomely from cheap natural gas, which drove record sales and earnings last year. It’s also betting big that natural gas prices will stay low by investing $3.8 billion to expand its operations.
The company is anticipating a very positive operating environment for the year ahead, highlighted by favorable natural gas costs. However, as of its last earnings report it had only hedged its natural gas needs through April of this year. A steady rise in price could affect its bottom line, and the same can be said for its publicly traded subsidiary Terra Nitrogen . The volatility of natural gas prices is a big risk to its results and has a real effect on the bottom line: The company’s net earnings last year jumped to $560.8 million from $508 million in 2011, with a 23% realized decrease in natural gas prices.
Dow Chemical
Dow also has big plans for cheap natural gas. The company has committed more than $4 billion to expand nat-gas use as a feedstock for the production of chemicals and plastics. Among its planned expenditures is a world-scale ethane cracker plant that comes with a $1.7 billion price tag.
For Dow, it sees the potential for these projects to deliver $2.5 billion in annual EBITDA when everything is up and running in 2017. The key to hitting that target is continued low natural gas prices. While Dow has been vocal in its disapproval of increased liquefied natural gas exports, which would raise gas prices, there’s not much it can do to stop Mother Nature from driving prices higher.
Nucor
Steelmaker Nucor will see a big increase in its use of natural gas when it completes construction of its direct reduced iron, or DRI, facility. The company also uses a lot of gas throughout its U.S. steel manufacturing operations. Low natural gas prices are critical to its success; if they continue to stay low, the company could add to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
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Mother Nature has done her share of damage to cars over the past twelve months. Less than a year after Superstorm Sandy took out 250,000 cars and trucks, tennis ball-sized hail fell from the Mississippi sky this week and pummeled countless unprotected vehicles. Initial estimates say that more than 1,000 cars and trucks were damaged – hundreds at a large dealer mall where new vehicles are sold, and hundreds more near Nissan’s assembly plant in Canton – plus those already registered by private owners.
“I’ve been through hailstorms before, but I’ve never seen one like this,” said Paul Moak, owner of Paul Moak Honda. “It came down for 15 minutes as we stood inside watching.” The damaged Nissan models were waiting for transit in Jackson, while Honda, Chevrolet, Lexus and BMW models were clobbered at the Herrin-Gear Autoplex.
Hail-damaged vehicles are rarely completely destroyed. Instead, damaged vehicles at dealerships are often repaired (new glass, replacement trim and dent removal) and marketed at an advertised discount at dealerships. The Nissan models, still owned by the manufacturer, will also be repaired. Vehicles unable to be returned to new condition end up being sold at auction.
Hail No! More than 1,000 vehicles damaged by weather in MS originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
By Dan Newman, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
After Hurricane Sandy, there were several opinions that the storm would help boost the economy through spending to rebuild destroyed houses, businesses, transit, and other infrastructure. Fool Jeremy Bowman highlighted why these opinions were extremely wrong:
Economic activity for the sake of economic activity does nothing. If disasters like Sandy actually benefited the economy, then we could just go out and destroy houses on our own. There’s no need to wait for Mother Nature.
Now, a few months after the hurricane, we can sift through more data to see just how the storm affected the economy. And as the rational argument predicted, it did not benefit the economy.
Jobs
First, several thousands of workers lost wages. Take a look at the initial unemployment claims from New York and New Jersey following the October storm:
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York writes, “We estimate that roughly 160,000 initial unemployment claims filed in the two states during the month of November were related to Sandy, causing an unprecedented shock to the regional job market.” The sector hit the hardest, in terms of jobs, was leisure and hospitality. Using the less volatile payroll numbers taken from the second week of November, the New York Fed found that 32,000 jobs were lost; the difference between the numbers was attributed to a portion of the 160,000 filers finding new work or being able to return to their old jobs.
While the job levels are evening out over the long term, that short-term joblessness pushed plenty of incomes further into the future than expected. And, as any investor knows, money today is worth more than money tomorrow.
Future labor
In addition to today’s workers, the storm also disrupted tomorrow’s workers. All of New York City’s more than 1,700 public schools were shut down for a week, with more than 80 of the schools forced to wait even longer before admitting students and several others relocated farther away, affecting attendance. A week will probably not have much effect on the actual skills the kids learn, but with youth unemployment already a nagging issue, it doesn’t help.
Real-estate losses
For those who have to rebuild their homes, dealing with insurance claims can be aggravating. But even for those lucky enough to own an undamaged home in affected areas, average prices have declined by 10%. Additionally, new flood maps are requiring buildings to be updated and raised, lest owners face dramatically higher flood-insurance costs in a few years. As the New York Daily News reports, those who don’t comply with new building codes “can expect to pay a steep cost with insurance premiums around $9,500 a year … compared with $1,410 a year for a homeowner whose house is built at the recommended level.” And this means that more money will be paid to cover flood probabilities instead of going to savings, retirement funds, or other goods and services.
Insurance company losses
Even if Hurricane Sandy was a coast away, your insurance …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
A miner died Friday and another was injured after they became trapped in a cave-in at a central Utah coal mine, authorities said.
The cave-in was reported earlier in the day at a mine in Bear Canyon, about 10 miles west of the small mining town of Huntington, the Emery County sheriff’s office said. Rescuers freed one man but were unable to save the other miner, officials said.
A rescue team recovered the body of the second miner. Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon identified him as 28-year-old Elam Jones, whose mother is a Huntington city councilwoman.
The injured miner, who has not been identified, was treated and released from Castleview Hospital in Price.
The mine is part of the Castle Valley Mining Complex. Preliminary information showed that a roof fall occurred on a pillaring section of the mine after a large rock fell, according to federal mine safety officials. The Mine Safety and Health Administration was investigating, said spokesman Jesse Lawder.
Messages left with the mine’s operator, Rhino Resource Partners, were not immediately returned. The Kentucky-based company bought the mining complex, which has 26.1 million tons of coal reserves, in August 2010, according to its website. Federal records show one injury was reported at the mine last year.
Such tragedies are familiar to those who live in the area, which depends largely on mining for its economy. The mine is in the same county where the Crandall Canyon Mine collapsed in 2007, killing nine people. The operator of that mine, Genwal Resources Inc., an affiliate of Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., reached a $949,351 settlement in 2012 with the Mine Safety and Health Administration over safety violations.
Gordon, who was mayor during the Crandall Canyon collapse, told KSL-TV and the Deseret News that the latest mine collapse brought back memories of that disaster.
“Whenever there’s a cave-in at any of the mines, you hold your breath,” she said. “Coal is very powerful, and Mother Nature is very powerful.”
Jones helped in the rescue of miners at Crandall Canyon and later spoke at a vigil for those who died and were injured there, according to the Tribune.
“Everybody who was up there put in 100 percent,” said Jones, 23 at the time. “We did everything we possibly could. But the mountain won’t let us do nothing else.”
Say what you will about KTM’s X-Bow, but it’s certainly an original. Its single-minded purpose has been its calling card ever since the partially exposed carbon-fiber-and-aluminum monocoque chassis saw the light of day at the 2007 Geneva auto show. As a motorcycle manufacturer first and foremost, KTM essentially left climate-control duties to Mother Nature and suggested donning a full-face helmet to avoid being force-fed an insect smorgasbord while behind the wheel (see our video of driving the KTM at Virginia International Raceway). That changes now. Sort of. READ MORE ››
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Earnings season is winding down, with most companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still some companies left to report, and Vail Resorts is about to release its quarterly earnings. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
More than most businesses, Vail Resorts depends on Mother Nature for a big part of its success or failure. Without snow, the company loses big on its seasonal ski resorts. How’s the weather treating the business this year? Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Vail Resorts over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Wednesday.
Stats on Vail Resorts
|
Analyst EPS Estimate |
$1.70 |
|
Change From Year-Ago EPS |
34% |
|
Revenue Estimate |
$414 million |
|
Change From Year-Ago Revenue |
10.9% |
|
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters |
1 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
Will Vail Resorts get snowed in this quarter?
Analysts haven’t been too optimistic about Vail’s prospects in the past few months, having cut their earnings-per-share estimates by $0.13 for the just-ended quarter and by almost $0.30 for the full 2013 fiscal year. The stock has also been muted in its enthusiasm, rising just 1% since early December.
We’ve already gotten some early indications of how the ski season is going for Vail, and the news wasn’t good. In January, the company reported gains of just 4.3% in lift revenue and 2% in skier visits, blaming bad weather conditions early in the ski season as offsetting later gains during a more successful holiday season. As a result, Vail had to reduce its earnings guidance for fiscal 2013 by about $10 million.
More recently, though, snow totals have gained as snowstorms have hit the West, allowing most ski areas in the region to operate near full capacity. With nearly a foot of snow hitting parts of the Denver metro area last week, hopes are running higher that an extended ski season could bode well for the company. The news has sent shares of snowmobile makers Polaris and Arctic Cat higher as well, as both of those companies have also struggled from the unpredictable season thus far.
In Vail’s quarterly report, watch for the latest reaction to the recent favorable weather. If Vail can salvage the last part of the season, it could reverse the cuts to profit projections that the company had to make earlier in the quarter.
The best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool’s free report “3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich” …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Patrick Michaels, Contributor
Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline are taking to the National Mall on Sunday to pressure President Obama into denying (via the State Department) a permit to build it. If completed, it will carry oil from Canada’s Alberta tar sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. The opposition is down to a single issue—climate change. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Is it possible to put a price tag on the natural world? A researcher at The University of Nottingham has been examining the rise of a new concept—ecosystem services—to describe the multitude of resources supplied to us by Mother Nature.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
With 3.5 billion years of research and development under her belt, Mother Nature could be considered the world’s most experienced biological engineer. Sure, her methods may appear haphazard at times, but her track record of developing organisms that are exquisitely adapted to the tasks required of them is nothing short of amazing.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
![KTM X-Bow GT Breaks Cover in Geneva [2013 Geneva Auto Show]](http://bd.summit.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/149211-thumb-320x200.jpg)
