Major U.S. Stock indexes zoom back to record highs:
NE YORK (AP) – Major U.S. stock indexes are back at record highs after a turbulent month.
Stocks rallied in the U.S. and overseas after Japan’s central bank surprised investors with a new round of economic stimulus. Just two weeks ago the U.S. market had its biggest slump in two years.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 194 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at an all-time high of 17,390 Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 reached its own record, climbing 23 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,017.
The Nasdaq rose 64 points, or 1.4 percent, to 4,630.
Japan’s benchmark index soared 5 percent to its highest level since 2007.
In the U.S., GoPro jumped 13 percent after the maker of wearable video cameras posted strong earnings.
Friday, the 31st of October, 2014 is the 304th day in 2014 and in the 44th calendar week.
General Events:
Halloween or All Hallows Eve
October 31, 2014 in the World
Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints, but is today largely a secular celebration. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
According to many scholars, All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.
The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Eve…
CHINA TO INVEST $1 BILLION IN RUSSIAN SOLAR ENERGY
Chinese power giant Amur Sirius plans to invest up to 45 billion rubles ($1 billion) in Russian solar energy starting next year, business daily Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
Russia has blazing summers to match its harsh winters, and despite the country’s wealth of hydrocarbon resources, the government is making moves to encourage the emergence of green energy.
Solar Systems, a subsidiary of Amur Sirius, will start construction of a solar panel factory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Russia’s Tatarstan region next year, the company’s investment and finance chief Olga Bykova told the newspaper. Costing between 6 billion and 9 billion rubles, the plant should be completed by 2016, she said.
Solar Systems this summer also won tenders to build 175-megawatt solar power plants in three Russian regions, which will be commissioned between 2016 and 2018. Amur Sirius plans to continue bidding for new energy projects, and the company’s total investment in Russia could reach 45 billion rubles, Bykova said.
The government offers to subsidize green energy sales to guarantee a return on investment, but to qualify for the scheme, solar plants must use domestically produced equipment — hence the Tatarstan factory, Vedomosti reported.
Solar Systems is also considering new projects in Kazakhstan, Armenia and Eastern Europe, Bykova said.
Chinese power giant Amur Sirius plans to invest up to 45 billion rubles ($1 billion) in Russian solar energy starting next year, business daily Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
Russia has blazing summers to match its harsh winters, and despite the country’s wealth of hydrocarbon resources, the government is making moves to encourage the emergence of green energy.
Solar Systems, a subsidiary of Amur Sirius, will start construction of a solar panel factory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Russia’s Tatarstan region next year, the company’s investment and finance chief Olga Bykova told the newspaper. Costing between 6 billion and 9 billion rubles, the plant should be completed by 2016, she said.
Solar Systems this summer also won tenders to build 175-megawatt solar power plants in three Russian regions, which will be commissioned between 2016 and 2018. Amur Sirius plans to continue bidding for new energy projects, and the company’s total investment in Russia could reach 45 billion rubles, Bykova said.
The government offers to subsidize green energy sales to guarantee a return on investment, but to qualify for the scheme, solar plants must use domestically produced…
This is coming a little late since, well, I’ve eaten all of it, and yesterday I planned and did my shopping for the upcoming week (starting today), but it’s been a crazy week and I wanted to save the most epic meal for last.
This was definitely the best dinner of the lot for weeks 25 & 26. Honestly though, it wasn’t a fair contest. Sea scallops win EVERY TIME. Pretty much by default. That is, unless you overcook them and they get all rubbery. Don’t do that.
The recipe for the scallops came from Annie’s Eats (here’s the original). When I had some surplus budget, I decided I wanted some scallops, did some digging and landed on this recipe. So yummy. Like, melt-in-your-mouth, roll back your eyes yummy.
On scallops: buy them fresh from a serious, legitimate fish market. Here in Richmond my go-to place is Yellow…
Born in France and now based in New York, Curioos started out as a simple Tumblr blog curating digital artists. After amassing hundreds of thousands of followers, the team jumped on the opportunity to let all these artists sell their work.
Several of these images are handouts provided by Bing
This story should make you feel good and give you faith in humanity, but honestly, it makes me sad knowing that at the same time governments are wasting millions of dollars on wars, killing equipment and surveillence. In what kind of world are we living? Please focus on the bright side..! (Originally posted on http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/ )
Via Live Fit Love Chocolate || A Food, Fitness, and Lifestyle Blog:
Pre-travel takeout dinner from Daily Dose Grill: vegetable nicoise salad with salmon. Andrew and I always eat from Daily Dose but it was my first time trying this salad and I think it’s my new favorite! I ordered it without the dressing and made my own. But the salmon was on POINT. If you’re from the Scottsdale, Arizona area and ever eat here, definitely try this. It’s delish.
We also ordered mac and cheese from Daily Dose to share. Healthy eating is all about balance right??
I spent Saturday night in San Francisco for my friend Kelly’s birthday party. We boozed it up college-style and had a little house party. Girls nights are the best!
The ladies 🙂 Here is living proof that I actually party sometimes.
Dinner and drinks at Betelnut in San Francisco with my best friend Nat. Pretty sure it’s my new favorite restaurant. Their cocktails are on POINT.
Betelnut eats: kale salad, Schezuan green beans (one of my favs…pretty sure I single-handedly took down 75% of this plate), and chicken fried rice. All to die for.
BUT definitely the best thing we ordered at Betelnut: the chicken dumplings. O-M-G these things were INSANE.
Sunday morning brunch at The Grove. One of our go-to brunch spots. I ordered the bacon and cheddar scramble with avocado. It was amazing and the best hangover cure. And believe me, I needed a hangover cure. Mama can’t party like she used to.
We walked back after brunch and stopped to take in the views (and pictures, obviously). San Francisco is actually the prettiest city on Earth. I know I always annoyingly gush about San Francisco but when you have this view every day…I MEAN COME ON.
Fall is starting to show it’s colors here in Norcal. It’s been a late start and our Indian summer definitely lasted way longer than expected. But the leaves are finally turning color and it’s making me super happy.
David Kirby has been a professional journalist for 25 years. His third book, Death at Seaworld, was published in 2012. full biofollow me..
Would you be more likely to save a dolphin if you could become one?
Scientists hope to save the marine mammals with an online game that lets players get inside the mind and body of a real-life dolphin.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the National Aquarium in Baltimore hope so. They’ve created a new online game, I Am Dolphin, that lets players get inside the mind of a dolphin and help it swim, leap, forage for prey, and fend off predators. Players using a smartphone or pad can direct cybernetic cetaceans through the sea and watch as the animals respond to commands issued with the flick of a finger.
“It’s very hard to describe in words; you really need to play the game for yourself,” said codeveloper Omar Ahmad, director and chief engineer at Johns Hopkins’ Kata Project, part of the BLAM (Brain, Learning, Animation, and Movement) Lab.
The technology behind the game was initially developed to help stroke patients regain critical motor function by providing a stimulating, fully immersive rehabilitation environment. Currently in clinical trials, the therapy lets patients put an arm in a robotic sling to maneuver a realistic but simulated dolphin on a screen.
Researchers and trainers at the National Aquarium worked with the Johns Hopkins team to develop the technology, which took about five years to complete. The game app was launched two weeks ago and is available for download in the iTunes store.
(Photo: Max and Haley LLC)
“We are not animating; we are simulating something with bones, muscles, and many complicated things,” Ahmad said. “When you play, it’s like you’re playing with a real creature in your machine, reacting to forces and acting on its own, almost. You see the subtle play-out of all the physical forces involved.”
The game allows players to look at dolphins in a completely different way by spending time inside their motor systems, Ahmad said.
Players begin with a dolphin named Bandit, who initially chases and eats fish and later must take on snapping mackerel and deadly bull sharks. Other games include a Commerson’s dolphin and a killer whale, a member of the dolphin family.
Why dolphins?
“I’ve always loved and been fascinated by them,” Ahmad said, adding that everyone on the development team—including a neuroscientist, an artist, engineers, and marine mammal experts affiliated with the National Aquarium—agreed.
“We all think it’s a very beautiful, smooth, and harmonious creature in its movement,” Ahmad said. Dolphins, he added, are also one of the few creatures that seem to be curious about humans.
The idea is to get humans more interested in helping dolphins.
(Photo: Max and Haley LLC)
“We think it’s a very powerful tool for conservation, because the emotional reality of this animal is becoming embedded in the player through this motor connection,” Ahmad said.
Diana Reiss, a marine mammal scientist and a psychology professor at New York’s Hunter College, who consulted on the project, said she hopes the game will get people to empathize with dolphins.
“We hope it will really draw people into the dolphin’s world,” Reiss said. “When you start working with it, you really do get engaged, and you do feel empathy doing these motoric movements, where you sort of become the dolphin. It creates this corresponding feeling. I was amazed.”
Reiss said that type of engagement can inspire support for conservation.
“What’s really important is giving people more than factoids,” she said. “They can read a lot and they’ll learn a lot, but that doesn’t necessarily connect with their hearts and minds. But when you start feeling like you’re this dolphin, that’s a deeper form of engagement.”
Eventually, the technology could be installed at museums and even in marine parks. The developers hope it might one day replace the display of captive dolphins altogether. The National Aquarium recently announced it is considering retiring its dolphins to sea pens.
“I hope it does replace dolphin shows,” Ahmad said. “It was bittersweet to study these dolphins at the aquarium, because it’s heartbreaking to realize how confined they are. Putting them in these small bathtubs, basically, I just think it’s something we need to stop.”
According to Star Magazine MaMa June may be denying that she’s dating a child molester– but that’s not enough to save her family’s reality show! TLC announced Friday that its canceled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
“TLC has canceled the series Here Comes Honey Boo Booand ended all activities around the series, effective immediately,” the network said in a statement. “Supporting the health and welfare of these remarkable children is our only priority. TLC is faithfully committed to the children’s ongoing comfort and well-being.”
Originally, Honey Boo Boo and her family were slated to have a Season 5 of the show, but earlier this week, it was rumored that Mama June had started a romantic relationship with a registered sex offender, and the fate of the program was put in jeopardy. ……………………..
Woman stabbed to death in front of children in dispute over parking space:
LOS ANGELES — Two people have been charged with murder after a woman was stabbed to death in front of her children during a dispute over a parking space, according to KTLA.
Police responded to the attack around 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet.
Elizabeth Yanez, 43, was found on the ground with multiple stab wounds to her neck and back. She was transported to the hospital where she later died.
Her adult children, who witnessed the attack, said their mother had been stabbed by a man and woman over a parking space.
Fingerprints on the victim’s car led to the arrests of Reggie Cervantes, 22, and Brenda Rangel, 19, in South Los Angeles.
Related: COTTAGE HILLS, IL (KTVI) – A missing person’s report has lead to charges against an Illinois man who allegedly dumped a body in St. Louis.
The Madison County Sheriff’s department says Adam J. Sneed was reported missing by his family on October 21. Family members told police Sneed had not been seen since Friday, October 17th.
Police also got a call from St. Louis City detectives on October 21 saying Sneed was found dead in an alley on Saturday. Detectives used his fingerprints to identify him
Investigators say a witness saw a man dump Sneed’s body in the 2200 block of Angelica around noon Saturday. He was driving a silver or gold van.
That’s when authorities questioned Willie M Jenkins, Jr., 34, of the 100 block of West Drive in Cottage Hills, Illinois. Police say he was the last person to be seen with Sneed and he owned a van like the one reportedly seen in St. Louis.
Just Do It.!
Jenkins was arrested and now faces Abuse of a Corpse charges. It is unclear how Sneed died, but police believe his death may have been drug-related.
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C.
1. A “13th year” of public education combines the supportive environment of high school with the first year of community college — and more students are staying enrolled.
By Rebecca Schuman in Slate
2. Imagine drones as solar-powered and mobile cell towers delivering connectivity to underserved areas.
By Adele Peters in Co.Exist
3. Large employers offering employees at-home solar power at a deep discount could help scale and create demand for this critical renewable resource.
By Diane Cardwell in the New York Times
4. If “democracy” is intended to work for everyone, not just the political class in America, it’s clearly failing.
By Clive Crook in Bloomberg View
5. With each success, new community partnerships exercise greater strength, building civic confidence to solve persistent regional problems.
By Monique Miles in the Aspen Journal of Ideas
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C.
zation based in Washington, D.C.
TIME Ideas hosts the world’s leading voices, providing commentary and expertise on the most compelling events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. To submit a piece, email ideas@time.com.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
will not feel insecure around you.
We were born to make and manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
NE YORK (AP) – Major U.S. stock indexes are back at record highs after a turbulent month.
Morning Clouds Moving On, Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains — Images by kenne
