As anyone who is a regular reader of this blog should know, I am a prepper, and have been for about eight years. It was being without power and fuel for ten days after Hurricane Charley (August 2004) first opened my eyes. Being a prepper doesn't mean that we are sitting around preparing for the end of the world, although if you are truly ready for that, you are ready for anything less than that.
One of the lessons that I learned during Hurricane Charley was the need for communications. Cell service was out for weeks. With no way to reach the outside world or communicate with family members was a severe handicap. So I added getting a HAM license as a step in my preparedness campaign. It was a simple test, and a $10 fee for the license, and you don't even need to know Morse code. In exchange, I got a license that allows me to operate radios that have enough reach for most disaster communications.
The radios I am using are mobile and portable FM units in the 2 meter and 70 cm band. These are useful for communications for a large area.? I have used the FT 7900 that I is mounted in my truck to talk to repeaters that are up to 50 miles away. I can routinely reach a repeater that is over 30 miles from my house. This allows me to talk to a person in Melbourne while I am sitting in my vehicle in Lakeland, over 60 miles away. If the repeater is out of the disaster area and has an active internet connection, I can use Echolink to talk to any radio operator in the world. Telephone patches are also available.
When talking directly to other radios without the use of a repeater, I regularly communicate with friends who are 8 or ten miles away with the vehicle mounted set. I'm sure I can reach farther, but we usually use repeaters for that.
I can here you now: "So what? Those cheap radios at WalMart claim that they are able to reach 30 miles or more." To that, I say BULLSHIT. You are lucky to reach a mile with those things.
HAM radio is the way to go, if you are serious about disaster communications and about prepping. Give it a look, it is well worth it. A 2 meter mobile radio can be had for about $200 new, and the ability to reach the outside world and call for help can be priceless.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) ? Residents surveying damage from two powerful earthquakes that reignited memories of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami said Thursday they could hardly believe their luck.
Five people died from heart attacks, and a few others were injured as mobs used cars and motorcycles to flee to high ground in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh ? closest to the epicenters.
But aside from cracks in the walls of houses and structural damage to one bridge, you would hardly know anything happened, said Usman Basyah, smiling as he handed change to customers at his small street stall.
"I really feel my prayers were answered this time," said Basyah, who lost one of his sons in the disaster eight years ago. "I'm so grateful. We've gone through enough trauma already."
Another man, who spent the night in a mosque sheltering hundreds of others who were worried about the regular aftershocks, agreed.
"Of course, I was scared," said Nasir Djamil. "We all were. But were much better prepared this time. I think we learned from the last nightmare. We knew what we had to do.
That was the sentiment across much of the globe.
The first quake, measuring 8.6, triggered a tsunami watch around the Indian Ocean, from Australia and India to as far off as Africa. Hours later, a powerful 8.2-magnitude aftershock hit.
Warning buoys ? put in place after the 2004 disaster that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations, three quarters of them in Aceh ? accurately predicted that the tsunami would not be big.
Sirens sounded along coasts and warnings spread like wildfire by mobile phone text messaging. And, for the most part, evacuations appeared to go smoothly.
Still, traffic-clogged streets in Aceh pointed to the need for better organization.
Twenty minutes after the quake hit, cars and motorcycles were at a standstill in areas that, in 2004, were inundated with water, sweeping tens of thousands to their deaths.
"It wouldn't have been as bad," said Iskandar, a local disaster management official. "But I dare to say, if there had a been a repeat, there would have been deaths."
The real luck came with the type of quake that hit.
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million people, straddles a series of fault lines that makes it one of the most seismically active places on the planet.
Aceh, which sits off a subduction zone fault, were one tectonic plate of the Earth's crust dives under another, has experienced numerous "mega thrust" quakes over time.
It's these temblors that cause the seabed to rise or drop vertically, displacing massive amounts of water that race across the ocean at jetliner speeds.
But experts say Wednesday's twin tremors occurred on what is known as a "strike-slip" fault. The sea floor shifted horizontally, creating more of a vibration in the water.
As result, the only wave generated was less than 80 centimeters (30 inches) high. It washed ashore on deserted beaches nearest the epicenter.
Like so many people, Rahmi Novianti, a 25-year-old housewife, had been fearing the worst.
"I was running out of my house, I could see the tsunami coming in my mind, the entire village again being destroyed," she said. "That it didn't happen really feels like a blessing."
Though the shaking on land was fierce, lasting nearly four minutes and triggering mass panic, only five people died, Asmadi Syam, head of Aceh's disaster management agency, told MetroTV.
He said all were from heart attacks, presumably triggered by the panic.
US-based Hiball Energy's line of energy drinks will now come in 16oz. sustainable cans having thermochromic ink packaging from Chromatic Technologies (CTI), enabling temperature-based color display.
The new cans unveiled in March feature a number of white bubbles that turn blue on attaining a refreshing temperature of 45? F.
Ball Corporation provided the new cans, and the new visual display technology is based on the principle of cold temperatures affecting certain portions of beverage bottle labels and cans which turns them into blue.
CTI claims the cans come to life with such colorful display that is not only used as a temperature indicator, but also to provide some fun.
Hiball Energy said the shift to the new cans was the outcome of consumers' demand for a more portable package with a larger size.
"Hiball's customers ultimately win by getting 60 percent more volume, 30 percent lower cost per ounce and 100 percent more energy fueled by premium organic and fair trade ingredients - all packaged in lighter, more portable and 100-percent-recyclable aluminum cans," said Hiball founder and president Todd Berardi.
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In this March 29, 2012, photo, Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore puts on his makeup before a visit with children at a circus in Billings, Mont. Guinness World Records has anointed the world's oldest performing clown, and it's none other than Creekmore, a former Montana rancher who's been donning the big nose and bright makeup for almost eight decades. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
In this March 29, 2012, photo, Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore puts on his makeup before a visit with children at a circus in Billings, Mont. Guinness World Records has anointed the world's oldest performing clown, and it's none other than Creekmore, a former Montana rancher who's been donning the big nose and bright makeup for almost eight decades. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
In this March 29, 2012, photo, Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore puts on his makeup before a performance in Billings, Mont. Guinness World Records has anointed the world's oldest performing clown, and it's none other than Creekmore, a former Montana rancher who's been donning the big nose and bright makeup for almost eight decades. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
In this March 29, 2012, photo, Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore ties his oversized shoes while getting dressed before a visit with children at a circus in Billings, Mont. Guinness World Records has anointed the world's oldest performing clown, and it's none other than Creekmore, a former Montana rancher who's been donning the big nose and bright makeup for almost eight decades. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
In this March 29, 2012, photo, Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore puts on his nose while getting dressed before a visit with children at a circus in Billings, Mont. Guinness World Records has anointed the world's oldest performing clown, and it's none other than Creekmore, a former Montana rancher who's been donning the big nose and bright makeup for almost eight decades. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
In this March 29, 2012, photo, Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore poses for a photo after a visit with children at a circus in Billings, Mont. Guinness World Records has anointed the world's oldest performing clown, and it's none other than Creekmore, a former Montana rancher who's been donning the big nose and bright makeup for almost eight decades. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ? Floyd "Creeky" Creekmore is one of the quieter acts in the circus, his larger-than-life clown shoes shuffling methodically as he works the crowd, igniting surprised giggles and slack-jawed wonder from children that look up to encounter Creekmore's wrinkled eyes smiling through thick makeup.
At 95 years old, the former Montana rancher recently dubbed the oldest performing clown in the world has fewer magic tricks up his oversized sleeves than he once did. He gave up juggling several years ago after a stroke, and has long since parked the home-made bicycle he once incorporated into his acts.
But when the Shrine Circus comes through Billings, where Creekmore lives with his 96-year-old wife, Betty, Creeky the Clown returns to life.
At home in his kitchen, while Betty dozes in the living room, Creekmore pulls on a multi-colored, striped jacket and dons a bright orange wig topped by a yellow hat. He glues on a rubber nose, carefully ties his shoes.
When his shaky right hand sends a line of make-up askew on one side of his face, Creekmore just makes the other side a little crooked, too.
"I'll stay back from the crowd so they don't notice," he says.
Others have laid claim to the title of world's oldest clown, including an 81-year-old member of the Moscow Circus, Oleg "The Sun Clown" Popov and Andy "Bumbo" Beyer of Santa Ana, Calif., who was widely publicized as the oldest until his retirement three years ago at the age of 91.
But turns it out that Creekmore had a 20-month advantage all along, clowning away in his low-key style in eastern Montana. He now carries the imprimatur of Guinness World Records, which declared him world's oldest performing clown in February after friends applied on his behalf.
Fellow performers and family members says Creekmore has started to slow down, yet gives no sign of ending his periodic performances.
"Even if his body is telling him no, his mind won't stop," said grandson Tom McCraw.
Back in his kitchen, Creeky is almost ready to go. He picks out a disappearing handkerchief and a gag-rope as props, offers a goodbye to Betty ? "Doesn't he look good?" she remarks from the dining room table ? and eases into his son's Volkswagen Beetle. A few minutes later he's mounting the steps into the crowded Shrine Auditorium.
Just inside the entrance, he's approached by gaggles of glow-stick waving, popcorn-spilling children. Creeky shakes hands, tries out his rope trick, throws out grins.
"Don't pinch the nose," he warns an over-eager boy sporting a Mohawk haircut.
Creeky stays on his floppy feet through the flashing lights of the tiger tamer's act, endures the roar of a daredevil motorcycle act accompanied by hard-thumping rock and roll.
When some jugglers take the stage Creeky ducks out to the lobby for a quick rest, then is back at his post in time to see a favorite performance, a dog act that includes a pair of long-jumping Afghans and a massive St. Bernard in a tight red dress.
During intermission Creeky is competing for the crowd's attention with elephant rides and a 7-foot-tall Chuck E. Cheese. His voice barely audible amid the din, Creeky manages to spark laughter with each brief interaction.
It's a routine Creekmore nailed down over eight decades, since his introduction to clowning in the 1930s.
When the Barnum and Bailey Circus passed through the Montana city of Great Falls and other youths sought odd jobs in exchange for tickets to the show, Creekmore says he sought out the clowns, looking for insights.
At 15, Creekmore had moved out of his family's house to work on a string of central Montana ranches while he put himself through high school.
His interest in clowning was known in his hometown of Coffee Creek. So when he was invited to perform in a local parade he pulled together a costume from old clothes and lipstick ? and found himself hooked on the laughter he drew.
After retiring from a lifetime of ranch work and homebuilding in 1981, he joined the Shriners, a spinoff of the Freemasons that holds circus performances to raise money for the group's hospitals. He's since been a mainstay of the Shrine circus. A wall in his house is covered with awards from clowning competitions across the country.
In Creekmore's family only grandson McCraw has followed in his footsteps. McCraw, 39, started clowning in 1982 at the invitation of his grandfather when he was 10 years old, after his older cousins balked at the offer. Creekmore and McCraw later would pair up to visit children in Shriners hospitals, the importance of which McCraw said became clear when he had a child with muscular dystrophy.
"Creeky understands that to make a child laugh, to make a child smile, that's what life's about," McCraw said.
As the performance at the Shrine auditorium nears an end, another clown escorts Creeky down a back stairway to avoid the exodus. When a woman holding a baby seeks his attention, Creeky slowly turns and heads back up the stairs to pose for one last photo.
He's clearly starting to tire and, citing weariness, later cancels his planned performance the next day.
But as he reaches the curb where his son will pick him up, Creeky smiles as he reflects on his decades as a clown.
"It's been a real good ride," he says. "I get along alright so I might as well keep it up."
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A Navy F-18 fighter just went down smack in the middle of a Virginia Beach apartment complex, demolishing buildings and leaving others ablaze—the jet itself is an enormous flaming heap of jet wreckage. More »
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(Computer News Middle East Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) In IT, failure is not an option. Not surprisingly, organisations have made it a high priority to develop and implement reliable business continuity plans to ensure that IT services are always available to internal users and outside customers.
But recent technology developments and trends, most notably server and desktop virtualisation, cloud computing, the emergence of mobile devices in the workforce and social networks, are having an impact on how enterprises handle IT business continuity planning and testing. Much of the impact is for the better, experts say, but these trends can also create new challenges for IT, information security and risk management executives.
Here?s a look at how these tech megatrends are affecting IT business continuity specifically.
Use these quicklinks to navigate to a specific technology:
Virtualisation
Virtualisation is making business continuity planning easier for IT executives and their organisations, if for no other reason than it?s helping to reduce the number of IT assets, says George Muller, vice president, sales planning, supply chain & IT at Imperial Sugar Co, Sugar Land, Texas, one of the nation?s largest processors and marketers of refined sugar.
?For those of us who have been in the IT world for a few years, we?ve seen the transition from the old large mainframes to client server to Web-based applications to cloud based computing. During that time the proliferation of PCs and servers has been wild,? Muller says.
With so many devices to maintain and keep running, particularly physical servers in the data centre, ensuring systems uptime had become a much greater challenge, Muller says. ?With virtualisation, we?ve now been able to reduce that footprint [of servers], which means when we are planning for business continuity now we?ve got fewer devices to worry about.?
Server virtualisation has allowed communications and compliance technology services provider Walz Group in Temecula Calif., to greatly reduce its planned outages, and largely eliminate unplanned downtime, says Bart Falzarano, CISO.
Using server virtualisation, the company can manage, support and secure its applications more effectively, Falzarano says. Walz has been able to achieve higher virtualisation efficiencies (a higher number of virtual machines to hypervisor host) using newer infrastructure technology.
The company is then able to leverage workload mobility capabilities locally that allow it to quickly switch virtual machines and applications between different physical resource pools of compute, memory and storage.
?For maintenances, upgrades, firmware updates, critical patches, etc., Walz simply moves the applications away from the area being impacted by the maintenance activity,? Falzarano says. ?Once the maintenance activity, testing and quality control checks are complete, [we] may move the application back to that region or area.?
Virtualisation has actually had a bigger impact on disaster recovery than on business continuity, says John Morency, research vice president at research firm Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., although one area where there?s been an effect on continuity is work area recovery.
Many companies have relied on providers of work area recovery sites for business continuity, which can cost from $15 to $25 per seat, Morency says.
?But what more organisations are doing now is having people work at home or at Starbucks or the library or wherever,? he says. ?The use of Citrix, DVI and other desktop virtualisation technologies, in conjunction with secure tunneling, is enabling organisations to implement broader and more distributed work area recovery.?
Some businesses and functions, such a branch banks and?customer service call centres, continue to use work area recovery services, Morency says. But a growing number of Gartner clients are leveraging virtualisation to enable people to work offsite when needed, as an alternative to work area recovery.
Rachel Dines, senior analyst, Infrastructure & Operations, at Forrester Research in Cambridge Mass., says desktop, or client, virtualisation is having a bigger impact on business continuity than server virtualisation.
?Client virtualisation is making workforce recovery [possible] for many companies that cannot rely on employees working from home with laptops,? Dines says.
For example, at companies with highly sensitive information?such as financial services and insurance firms or government agencies?where employees are not issued laptops to prevent data leaks, client virtualisation enables the rapid deployment of client images to disparate hardware at workforce recovery sites, Dines says.
In addition, organisations can deploy client virtual machines over the Internet and allow employees to access them via personal computers at home. ?Either way, users are able to use the same environment that they are accustomed to on a daily basis, which means they will be more productive during the outage,? Dines says.
Cloud Computing
Many of Gartner?s clients increasingly are using software-as-a-service (SaaS) to support business processes, Morency says.
?With the use of SaaS for client-facing applications and even internal customer support applications there?s a much improved means of continued availability, even in the presence of minor or major disruptions,? Morency says. ?You have a set of applications delivered from the cloud.
But this also imposes additional responsibilities on IT as far as being able to broker those services or provide additional problem management triage when necessary, Morency adds.
Walz Group operates a private cloud and uses cloud management tools that Falzarano says are a key to the company?s business continuity initiatives. One such product the company is using is FlexPod, a data centre management platform from Cisco Systems and NetApp that provides a design architecture with combined networking, computing and storage infrastructure.
Every Walz application that?s running on FlexPod has a template associated with it, Falzarano says. These templates are checked into an ?environments catalog?, and are centrally managed by cloud management software. Using the software and the templates within an environment catalog, the IT team at Walz can maintain business continuity effectively, Falzarano says.
The consumption of resources (for example, CPU, memory, storage, bandwidth) for these environments are displayed via dashboard, alerting and reporting metrics, and detailed trending such as daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly consumption helps with planning, determining and provisioning the capacity needed for business continuity and disaster recovery purposes.
Using the cloud management tool Walz can set up defined policies for scaling out additional applications, and this allows it to maintain business continuity through a more automated, on-demand type of provisioning, Falzarano says.
The software also allows Walz to provision to its private cloud or to a service provider?s private cloud. For example, if Walz is using 80% of the internal private cloud and suddenly sees a demand for a new application and wants to rapidly spin up development systems, it might choose to provision these development systems to a service provider?s private cloud instead of provisioning systems to the remaining 20% on its private cloud, so that it can maintain some growth reservation. The same type of model can also be used for business continuity, Falzarano says.
Imperial Sugar operates a?hybrid cloud environment, with about 95% of its applications running on a private cloud in its data centre and the remainder accessed via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. The private cloud is provided by a network service provider and the SaaS software is delivered by software vendors on a hosted basis, Muller says.
Because the cloud environment is maintained by service providers and software vendors, the onus falls on them to ensure continuity, and that can be a benefit as well as a risk, Muller says.
?When I have a third party hosting the environment for me I look to them as part of the service-level agreement to have the resources?the people and hardware and infrastructure in place?so that they can guarantee me if the hardware has a problem at one location they?ve got another location that will bring up my apps in a manner that is seamless to our internal users,? Muller says. ?That?s sort of their problem, as long as I?ve got a strong service-level agreement in place with them.?
On the other hand, even with a service-level agreement holding the service provider responsible there are no guarantees that service will not at some point be interrupted, Muller says.
Not everyone sees cloud computing as influencing business continuity. ?As of today, I don?t see a huge impact,? Dines says. ?However, I do expect this to become a significant complicating factor in the future. As more organisations outsource more services to the cloud, it will become the job of the business continuity manager to audit the recovery plans of many different suppliers.?
In addition, Dines says, during a failure or testing, recovery will need to be coordinated across many different sites run by different vendors. ?Longer-term, cloud will make business continuity much more complicated,? she says.
Mobile Devices in the Workforce
The proliferation of mobile devices in the workforce is a benefit for business continuity strategies because it gives more flexibility for workforce recovery options, Dines says.
?As compared to the days when employees only had desktops and laptops, the ability to remain productive without access to a computer via tablets and smartphones is a significant advantage,? she says. ?Additionally, it means that employees should be easier to communicate with during a disaster.?
Business continuity planning software vendors are putting more emphasis on ensuring that the software and information needed for business continuity can be accessible via mobile devices, Morency says. This includes information such as the current status of recovery, the locations to which employees should be going, what applications and services they can access and where they connect to get the latest emergency updates.
?This is not only for telecommuters but for the workforce in general and the mobile sales folks who need ways to access the information that is most relevant to them, and be able to access this through the device of their choice,? Morency says.
Enterprises ?cannot depend on corporate headquarters or the data centre always being available following a disruptive event,? Morency says. ?They have to ensure that critical plan content is always available [including to mobile users] regardless of what happened.?
Many Imperial Sugar employees use smartphones, tablets and other devices for work, Muller says, and these devices would likely prove useful from a business continuity perspective because workers would be able to use them to conduct business transactions and communicate with co-workers and customers from multiple remote locations.
The key issue is ensuring that these devices continue to have access to the software and services that allow them to function optimally for applications such as messaging and collaboration. ?If I?ve got a Blackberry Enterprise Server I just need to make sure that it?s something I can bring up at a remote business continuity or disaster recovery site? if needed, Muller says.
The proliferation of mobile devices makes it easier for people to stay connected, ?and certainly makes it easier to connect in a business recovery situation,? Muller says. ?A wireless PC can do the same thing, but a mobile device is smaller and easier to carry around and it costs less. You can do just about anything on a mobile device that you can do on a PC.?
Social Networks
A Forrester report published in July 2011, entitled ?It?s Time to Include Social Technology in Your Crisis Communication Strategy,? notes that while many risk professionals subscribe to automated communication services for reliable mass notification, ?the widespread adoption of mobile devices and easy Internet access support the case for using social technologies like Twitter, Facebook, and Skype as critical components of your response plan.?
As companies look for rapid, effective communication approaches with key stakeholders in?crisis communications, they should strongly consider leveraging social technologies, the report says.
Another report, ?The Do?s and Don?ts of Using Social Media in Business Continuity Management,? released by Gartner in January 2012, notes that social media ?holds the promise of transforming enterprise business continuity management, especially crisis/incident management and communications practices.?
Social media is used by more than 80% of the world?s population, Gartner says, and enterprises can?t afford to ignore it as a crisis communications tool. But effective use of a new communications channel requires planning and practice, and attempting to leverage social media for the first time during a crisis can cause more harm than good, the firm says.
Among the key recommended steps are to determine which social platforms are already used by employees, customers and other stakeholders and use those platforms in crisis/incident management efforts; and use social media not only to communicate during a disaster, but to gather information and gain the support of outside resources that can help ensure ongoing business resilience. Business continuity management professionals should immediately begin assessing social media?s opportunities?and risks, the Gartner reports says.
?Social networks are both a blessing and a curse? for business continuity, Dines says. ?They have the benefit of being an additional communication channel to get in touch with employees during a [business disruption]. However, they can be a headache for crisis communications and PR as they try to control potential damages to reputation and the propagation of rumors.?
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Teen couple has a low-key date in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. By Christina Garibaldi
<P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a> continues to prove he is the best "Boyfriend" around. The pop star treated his girlfriend of over a year, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/gomez__selena/artist.jhtml">Selena Gomez</a>, to a romantic picnic in the park. </P><P> </P><P>The teen superstars decided to go for a low-key date, picking up Subway sandwiches and cuddling on a secluded hill in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. </P><P> </P><P>This isn't the first time the teen super stars' dates have made headlines. Last year, <a href="/news/articles/1671462/justin-bieber-selena-gomez-staples-center.jhtml">Bieber rented out Staples Center</a> for a private viewing of "Titanic." Recently, <a href="/news/articles/1681893/justin-bieber-boyfriend-secrets.jhtml">Bieber revealed his secrets</a> to a successful relationship. </P><P> </P><P>"To be a great boyfriend, you just have to have patience," Bieber told E! News. "You're always wrong when it comes to girls, you're always wrong, so just say sorry when things are rough." </P><P> </P><P>Last week, the pair appeared at the <a href="/news/articles/1682191/kids-choice-awards-2012-justin-bieber-slimed.jhtml">Kids' Choice Awards</a>, where Bieber got slimed after winning the Favorite Male Singer award. Yet, Bieber and Gomez haven't been able to spend too much time together lately, due to their hectic schedules. </P><P> </P><P>Gomez recently returned from St. Petersburg, Florida, where she was busy filming her latest flick, <a href="http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2012/03/28/selena-gomez-spring-breakers-james-franco/">"Spring Breakers,"</a> starring James Franco and Vanessa Hudgens. As for Bieber, he has been hard at work on his next album, <i>Believe,</i> and is enjoying the success of his latest single, "Boyfriend," which sold an impressive 520,000 downloads in its first week, making it the #2 most-downloaded first-week single. </P><P> </P><P>On Tuesday, <a href="/news/articles/1682400/justin-bieber-boyfriend-video-tease.jhtml">Bieber treated his fans</a> to another brief teaser of the "Boyfriend" video. In the clip, fans can see Bieber floating underwater and standing in front of a burning tire swing. </P><P> </P><P>On Wednesday, Bieber reached out to his fans again, thanking them for their continued support of his new song. "U have all been working so hard 4 the #1 spot on BILLBOARD and so have I," Bieber <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/justinbieber/status/187595303912865792" target="_blank">tweeted</a>. "We will get it! #BELIEVE - in the meantime THANK YOU! U R AMAZING." </P><P> </P><P><i>What do you think of Justin and Selena's picnic date? Let us know in the comments!</i> </P><P> </P><P><center><a href="http://www.mtv.com/photos/?fid=1617615"><img src="http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/s/spotted/banner/spotted.jpg"></a></center></p>
Warmer times is originating when you are searching for leasing some car for the purpose of escape, you will be expecting more common problem ? ?Must I purchase the particular car insurance through the rental company?Ins The reply is ? It really is influenced by. If you choose your quest before getting towards the rental countertop you will save yourself hundreds of dollar. It truly will not just take plenty of given that as you are buying ton in the rentals it?s also possible to be looking at all of the insurance issue.
Truly the first of all marketplace demand hiring an important car probably will not at the accommodation company expressly the insurance organization. You will have to obtain how much the particular degree within the auto insurance coverage can be. A good number of motor vehicle insurance recommendations may give towards car vacation rentals yet insurance analysts endorse looking around with regards to a couple of things ? smashup problems waiver as well as liability. So if you?re informing she or he carry out a some of the operating out of your hire car, ask an individual?s adviser additionally, the accommodation firm with regards to insurance.
Collision coverage deterioration waiver, or maybe CDW (since the device regularly appears upon leasing plans) covers just about any injury to typically the car you?re generating and also liability protects destroy you choose to do to another location human being. You?ll have to ask for your personal g?nstige KFZ Versicherung adviser if perhaps there?s a simple downfall inside of your collision insurance. When you continually get an old car however , mortgage payments a whole unique comfort car (try to remember quite often in case your car is offered you possibly can improved to at least of quick different cars and trucks free of cost), be certain your own personal insurance strategy addresses the full price regarding evolving greater very expensive car and motorbike. In the event your protection plan won?t handle option expenditure together with your car is going to be $2,1000 and you comprehensive motels value $20,1000, you are well on your connect them meant for $18,000.
Frequently, buyers who actually generate older passenger cars usually do not bring wreck whatsoever. If this describes your needs, you?ll want to acquire a protection plan inside the rent resist and also possess a credit card that delivers you actually using this insurance policy. Purchaser supporters recommend must you rent out autos on a regular basis you will find an attempt from your realtor to the strategy to afford you?ll as it could be inexpensive.
Today regarding this credit card?. Various primary plastic card corporations point out they can can provide insurance insurance plan if you utilize your credit card to help you lease any car. Surf the Small Print they do not at all times offer you whole dental practice insurance plan packages. Certain bank cards sole handle it is best to you rent of your positive institution, various constrain insurance policy coverage to a particular somewhat vehicles, many you should sign up for a good course to help get the protection, a lot of could possibly spend the money for allowable you would need to pay back within your normal automated insurance and certain might possibly provide you with collision and comprehensive and then leave an individual suspended with regard to personal wounds and / or property damage towards other people. Investigate the Small type as well as phone and the charge card supplier. Special information these ? are written exactly what your personal bank card covers.
Ab muscles and shoulders the insurance all the rentals car supplier features? Ever again, you will have to locate specifically what they can pay for. Various accommodation car companies present impact, liability, subject matter and even life insurance among others provide you with quite a few version regarding crash. Its collision coverage could protect everything or maybe may exclude these kinds of variable like automobile, trolley wheels and decanter or glass. Find out before, and so you might not be waiting for the hire get around emotion pushed and also attempting to make most of these alternatives. Should you be wary of junk acquire swiped any car ? research your home owner?s approach to find out if that you?re taken care of.
Eventually, a lot of people think that if they use the rental corporation insurance and they?ve an injury, they?re protected against mortgage increase applying their insurance business. You just aren?t secure. As per quite a few large insurance firms, in case you are the culprit, regardless of who pays, an individual?s home insurance small business could certainly increase your costs.
Have you ever marvelled at those strange and unconventional horse names you notice at the beginning of a race on a lazy Saturday afternoon? You could think that they are indeed weird and wonderful and speculate how folks think of those specific titles. Does there happen to be a system in place to manage or restrict the names of horses in this way? In fact, the American Quarter Horse Association, which is supposedly the most significant breed association on the planet, is one of those registrars of horse names. They have more than 5 million within their books, which is a number that's gradually been growing since the Association was set up in the early 1940's.
There are hardly any "rules" as it were for naming quarter horses, even though you must be sure that the name is not any longer than 20 characters. The name on its own must be unique although it is unquestionably feasible to reuse names when the horse involved has not been particularly successful in his career, does not seem to have any offspring who are prosperous in the racing arena, or could be deceased.
Therefore, if you have been trying to find horses for sale and now have discovered a prize, brand new possession you might need to be rather innovative if you wish to register through this particular Association. You can alter the spelling of recognisable names, or may choose to leave the spaces out between certain words so it all flows into one. It is this creativity as well as the requirement to create a name that really stands out that makes for such entertaining and interesting reading while you review the horses in the upcoming race.
Now that you fully understand where you should turn to in order to register a name with a particular Association, you should get down to the "nitty gritty" of actually managing and taking care of your horse. You'll need solid and trustworthy transportation to be able to take it back and forth from those races so your very next stop should be at horse trailer sales. You want to look for horseboxes for sale if you want to travel in between all those prosperous races in your foreseeable future.
Spring brings a bounty of colorful fruits and vegetables, rich in essential phytonutrients. Phytonutrients boost the immune system, help prevent disease and cancer, and are classified by their pigment or color. To load up on the full spectrum of phytonutrients, click through to see some of our favorite rainbow-bright salad recipes. Photos by: Camilla Salem View Slideshow ?
We've had the opportunity to spend time with an early version of the Dropcam HD WiFi monitoring camera prior to its CES unveiling, and now the company is finally ready to get the product out to the masses. Starting today, the bantam security camera is shipping from the outfit's site for $149, with that tally netting you a USB-powered camera with automatic night vision, HD-quality video, two-way audio support, optional DVR-style recording ($9.95+ per month) and always-on access. As stated in our review, users can access a live stream of what it's watching (or they're watching, if using multiple cams) from any web browser, iPhone or Android-based device, and privacy advocates should know that all streams are "encrypted with bank-level security, and streamed through the cloud, not your computer, so it's safe in case of any computer trouble or theft." Head on past the break for the full spiel, or hit the source link to get your order in.
Coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, center, is accompanied by Burkina Faso Foreign Affairs Minister Djibril Bassole, left, as he addresses the media at junta headquarters in Kati, outside Bamako, Mali, on Sunday, April 1, 2012. The leader of Mali's recent coup says he is reinstating the nation's previous constitution amid international pressure to restore constitutional order. Sanogo said a national convention would be held to organize elections, but he did not announce a timeline for the elections. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, center, is accompanied by Burkina Faso Foreign Affairs Minister Djibril Bassole, left, as he addresses the media at junta headquarters in Kati, outside Bamako, Mali, on Sunday, April 1, 2012. The leader of Mali's recent coup says he is reinstating the nation's previous constitution amid international pressure to restore constitutional order. Sanogo said a national convention would be held to organize elections, but he did not announce a timeline for the elections. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A soldier wears a button bearing the image of coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo with the words 'President, CNRDRE,' the French acronym by which the ruling junta is known, as he stands guard at junta headquarters in Kati, outside Bamako, Mali Sunday, April 1, 2012. The leader of Mali's recent coup says he is reinstating the nation's previous constitution amid international pressure to restore constitutional order.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? Malians lined up outside gas stations holding jerrycans, water bottles and plastic jugs, as the landlocked West African nation braced itself Tuesday for sanctions imposed overnight as a consequence of a coup last month.
In an effort to force out the soldiers that seized control of Mali on March 21, Mali's neighbors decided at an emergency summit Monday to impose an embargo, shutting their borders with Mali and freezing its account at the regional central bank. The nation roughly twice the size of France imports all its fuel, which is trucked in overland from neighboring Ivory Coast and Senegal, both of which are located on Africa's Atlantic Coast.
The country's electricity grid is also expected to falter in coming weeks, or days. April is one of the hottest months of the year in Mali and the country's hydropower system is unable to carry the load because of low water levels. Fuel is used in the hot months to run diesel generators.
Mali's president was sent into hiding when a group of disgruntled soldiers started a mutiny at a military base located around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the presidential palace. From the base, they decided to march on the palace. In a matter of hours, they succeeded in reversing more than two decades of democracy.
The Economic Community of West African States, representing 15 nations in the region, has been uncharacteristically harsh in their condemnation of the coup. They gave the putschists a 72-hour deadline to restore civilian rule, which expired Monday. When the junta failed to do so, they announced that sanctions would go into effect immediately.
Bathily Seye, the owner of a local chain of gas stations called Afrique Oil, said that if no new shipments are allowed in, his 15 pumps will run dry in days.
"We don't have our own gas. It's all imported," he said. "There is absolutely nothing here. We don't have any refining capacity. ... I don't have the stock. In two days, my pumps will run out of gas."
At a Total station at 9 p.m. Monday, the day the embargo was announced, a young engineer came to fill up his Renault Megane. After the car was full, he asked the attendant to also fill up a jerrycan and a flat, plastic container that looked like it was once used for paint thinner.
"I am trying to create a reserve," said Mohamed Lamine Dembele. "If they keep the border closed, it will be very hard for us to refuel. We risk running out of gasoline in the entire country."
The soldiers who grabbed power said they did so because of the former president's mishandling of an insurgency in the north by Tuareg rebels. Since the coup, however, the rebels have effectively seized control of the entire northern half of the nation, taking the three major towns of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu over the weekend.
A former minister, Mohamed Ag Erlaf, identified himself as the chief negotiator for Mali's junta and said the main rebel group that seized the north is willing to hold talks on the future of the country. Reached by telephone, Erlaf said Tuesday that the rebel National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad is open to discussions.
However, an NMLA spokesman in Paris told France 24 TV late Monday that the rebels have had no direct contact with the junta which toppled Mali's government. Moussa Ag Attaher said they do not recognize coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo.
He said: "Neither the international community nor the population of Mali recognize him. If we are to negotiate, it needs to be with someone that is recognized."
___
Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul contributed to this report from Niamey, Niger.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - April 2, 2012 (Investorideas.com renewable energy/green newswire) Clean Wind Energy Tower, Inc. (OTCBB:CWET) (the "Company") announced today that on March 29th, 2012 a Public Information Hearing for the City of San Luis, Arizona was held to discuss the construction of Clean Wind Energy's innovative green renewable energy Downdraft Tower Facility within the San Luis City limits. The Downdraft Tower project received a favorable response at the Public Information Hearing and the City of San Luis, has scheduled a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing to be held on April 10, 2012. The San Luis location incorporates plans for two (2) Downdraft Towers and a component parts Assembly Plant. As designed, the Company anticipates that each Downdraft Tower could generate enough electricity to power up to 1,600,000 homes using the guidelines set forth in the California Statewide Residential Appliance Saturation Study, 2004. As an independent power producer of clean renewable energy, the Company will not be selling power directly to consumers but rather to the grid. Ronald W. Pickett, President and Chief Executive Officer previously stated, "San Luis is an ideal location for Clean Wind Energy to build our first alternative energy facility because this region of the southwest United States provides the proper weather profiles, proximity to the power grid, and other ingredients beneficial to the operation of a Downdraft Tower, and has been previously targeted as a prime region for alternative energy projects. I am enthusiastic about locating our Downdraft Tower in the United States because not only is this a breakthrough source of clean alternative energy, it will bring significant employment opportunities and economic stimulus to San Luis and a number of U.S. industries. We anticipate that during the Downdraft Tower's construction phase, 2,500 construction and transportation jobs and 1,000 manufacturing jobs will be created. Once placed in service, each Tower should generate 1,000 permanent jobs." About Clean Wind Energy, Inc. Clean Wind Energy, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Clean Wind Energy Tower, Inc., has designed and is preparing to develop, and construct large "Downdraft Towers" that use benevolent, non-toxic natural elements to generate electricity and clean water economically by integrating and synthesizing numerous proven as well as emerging technologies. The Company's core objective and focus is to become a provider of clean efficient green energy to the world communities at a reasonable cost without the destructive residuals of fossil fuel, and to help broker the chasm between both, while continuing to generate innovative technological solutions for today and tomorrow's electrical power needs. In addition to constructing Downdraft Towers in the United States and abroad, the Company intends to establish partnerships at home and abroad to propagate these systems and meet increasing global demand for clean water and electricity. Clean Wind has assembled a team of experienced business professionals, engineers and scientists with access to the breakthrough energy research upon which this technology is founded and the proven ability to bring the idea to market. Clean Wind Energy, Inc. has filed several patents that the Company believes will further enhance this potentially revolutionary technology. Clean Wind Energy, Inc. is based in Annapolis MD, and is traded on the OTCBB under the symbol 'CWET'. For more information visit www.cleanwindenergytower.com Contact: Clean Wind Energy, Inc. 1997 Annapolis Exchange Parkway Suite 300 Annapolis, Maryland 21401 Phone: 410-972-4713 E-mail: Info@cwetower.com www.cleanwindenergytower.com Investor Relations Contact: Jody Janson Phone: (855) 848-6937 Email: ir@cwetower.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Statements included in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties such as competitive factors, technological development, market demand and the Company's ability to obtain new contracts and accurately estimate net revenues due to variability in size, scope and duration of projects, and internal issues in the sponsoring client. Further information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results, can be found in the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). About Investorideas.com and our Green Investor content: Investorideas.com was on the of the first investor sites covering investing in water and renewable energy stocks and has become a global go-to destination for investors researching the cleantech sector, with stock directories, company news, commentary from experts, research reports and industry resources and links. Investors can follow solar stocks commentary on our site with solar expert, J. Peter Lynch. Disclaimer/ Disclosure: The following news is part of the Clean Wind Energy Tower, Inc. (OTCBB: CWET) publishing program with Investorideas.com. Clean Wind Energy, Inc. compensates investorideas.com (one thousand per month to publish news and updates on the company on Investorideas.com newswire and blogs . Investorideas.com owns 150,000 shares of 144 stock .Our sites do not make recommendations. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. We attempt to research thoroughly, but we offer no guarantees as to the accuracy of information presented. All Information relating to featured companies is sourced from public documents and/ or the company and its management and is not the opinion of Investorideas.com. Learn more: www.InvestorIdeas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp For more information about Investorideas.com contact: 800.665.0411, Email: dvanzant@investorideas.com or cvanzant@investorideas.com
How black holes growPublic release date: 1-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lee Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
New study indicates they eat binary star partners
SALT LAKE CITY -- A study led by a University of Utah astrophysicist found a new explanation for the growth of supermassive black holes in the center of most galaxies: they repeatedly capture and swallow single stars from pairs of stars that wander too close.
Using new calculations and previous observations of our own Milky Way and other galaxies, "we found black holes grow enormously as a result of sucking in captured binary star partners," says physics and astronomy Professor Ben Bromley, lead author of the study, which is set for online publication April 2 in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"I believe this has got to be the dominant method for growing supermassive black holes," he adds. "There are two ways to grow a supermassive black hole: with gas clouds and with stars. Sometimes there's gas and sometimes there is not. We know that from observations of other galaxies. But there are always stars."
"Our mechanism is an efficient way to bring a star to a black hole," Bromley says. "It's really hard to target a single star at a black hole. It's a lot easier to throw a binary at it," just as it's more difficult to hit a target using a slingshot, which hurls a single stone, than with a bola, which hurls two weights connected by a cord.
A binary pair of stars orbiting each other "is essentially a single object much bigger than the size of the individual stars, so it is going to interact with the black hole more efficiently," he explains. "The binary doesn't have to get nearly as close for one of the stars to get ripped away and captured."
But to prove the theory will require more powerful telescopes to find three key signs: large numbers of small stars captured near supermassive black holes, more observations of stars being "shredded" by gravity from black holes, and large numbers of "hypervelocity stars" that are flung from galaxies at more than 1 million mph when their binary partners are captured.
Bromley, a University of Utah astrophysicist, did the study with astronomers Scott Kenyon, Margaret Geller and Warren Brown, all of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. The study was funded by both institutions.
What Does a Supermassive Black Hole Eat: Gas or Stars?
Black holes are objects in space so dense that not even light can escape their gravity, although powerful jets of light and energy can be emitted from a black hole's vicinity as gas and stars are sucked into it.
Small black holes result from the collapse of individual stars. But the centers of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are occupied by what are popularly known as "supermassive" black holes that contain mass ranging from 1 million to 10 billion stars the size of our sun.
Astrophysicists long have debated how supermassive black holes grew during the 14 billion years since the universe began in a great expansion of matter and energy named the Big Bang. One side believes black holes grow larger mainly by sucking in vast amounts of gas; the other side says they grow primarily by capturing and sucking in stars.
Just last month, other researchers published a theory that a black hole sucks in "food" by tipping its "plates" two tilted gas disks colliding as they orbit the black hole in a way that makes the speeding gas slow down so the black hole can swallow it.
Bromley says that theory overcomes a key problem: gas flows into black holes inefficiently. "But are misaligned gas disks common enough to be important for black hole growth?" he asks. "It's fair to say that gas contributes to the growth of black holes, but it is still uncertain how."
The new theory about binary stars a pair of stars that orbit each other arose from Bromley's earlier research to explain hypervelocity stars, which have been observed leaving our Milky Way galaxy at speeds ranging from 1.1 million to 1.8 million mph, compared with the roughly 350,000 mph speed of most stars.
Munching Binaries: One is Captured, One Speeds Away
"The hypervelocity stars we see come from binary stars that stray close to the galaxy's massive black hole," he says. "The hole peels off one binary partner, while the other partner the hypervelocity star gets flung out in a gravitational slingshot."
"We put the numbers together for observed hypervelocity stars and other evidence, and found that the rate of binary encounters [with our galaxy's supermassive black hole] would mean most of the mass of the galaxy's black hole came from binary stars," Bromley says. "We estimated these interactions for supermassive black holes in other galaxies and found that they too can grow to billions of solar masses in this way."
As many as half of all stars are in binary pairs, so they are plentiful in the Milky Way and other galaxies, he adds. But the study assumed conservatively that only 10 percent of stars exist in binary pairs.
The new study looked at each step in the process of a supermassive black hole eating binary stars, and calculated what would be required for the process to work in terms of the rates at which hypervelocity stars are produced, binary partners are captured, the captured stars are bound to the black hole in elongated orbits and then sucked into it.
The scientists then compared the results with actual observations of supermassive black holes, stars clustering near them and "tidal disruption events" in which black holes in other galaxies are seen to shred stars while pulling them into the hole.
"It fits together, and it works," Bromley says. "When we look at observations of how stars are accumulating in our galactic center, it's clear that much of the mass of the black hole likely came from binary stars that were torn apart."
He refers to the process of a supermassive black hole capturing stars from binary pairs as "filling the bathtub." Once the tub the area near the black hole is occupied by a cluster of captured stars, they go "down the drain" into the black hole over millions of years. His study shows the "tub" fills at about the same rate it drains, meaning stars captured by a supermassive black hole eventually are swallowed.
The study's key conclusions:
-- The theory accurately predicts the rate (one every 1,000 to 100,000 years) at which hypervelocity stars are observed leaving our galaxy and at which stars are captured into the star cluster seen near our galaxy's supermassive black hole.
-- The rate of "tidal disruption events," which are stars being shredded and pulled into supermassive black holes in other galaxies, also matches what the theory predicts, based on the limited number seen since they first were observed in the early 2000s. That rate also is one every 1,000 to 100,000 years.
-- The calculations show how the theory's rate of binary capture and consumption can explain how the Milky Way's supermassive black hole has at least doubled to quadrupled in mass during the past 5 billion to 10 billion years.
When the researchers considered the number of stars near the Milky Way's center, their speed and the odds they will encounter the supermassive black hole, they estimated that one binary star will be torn apart every 1,000 years by the hole's gravity.
During the last 10 billion years, that would mean the Milky Way's supermassive black hole ate 10 million solar masses more than enough to account for the hole's actual size of 4 million solar masses.
"We found a wide range of black hole masses can be explained by this process," Bromley says.
Confirmation of the theory must await more powerful orbiting and ground-based telescopes. To confirm the theory, such telescopes should find many more stars in the cluster near the Milky Way's supermassive black hole (we now see only the brightest ones), a certain rate of hypervelocity stars in southern skies, and more observations of stars being shredded in other galaxies.
###
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How black holes growPublic release date: 1-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lee Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
New study indicates they eat binary star partners
SALT LAKE CITY -- A study led by a University of Utah astrophysicist found a new explanation for the growth of supermassive black holes in the center of most galaxies: they repeatedly capture and swallow single stars from pairs of stars that wander too close.
Using new calculations and previous observations of our own Milky Way and other galaxies, "we found black holes grow enormously as a result of sucking in captured binary star partners," says physics and astronomy Professor Ben Bromley, lead author of the study, which is set for online publication April 2 in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"I believe this has got to be the dominant method for growing supermassive black holes," he adds. "There are two ways to grow a supermassive black hole: with gas clouds and with stars. Sometimes there's gas and sometimes there is not. We know that from observations of other galaxies. But there are always stars."
"Our mechanism is an efficient way to bring a star to a black hole," Bromley says. "It's really hard to target a single star at a black hole. It's a lot easier to throw a binary at it," just as it's more difficult to hit a target using a slingshot, which hurls a single stone, than with a bola, which hurls two weights connected by a cord.
A binary pair of stars orbiting each other "is essentially a single object much bigger than the size of the individual stars, so it is going to interact with the black hole more efficiently," he explains. "The binary doesn't have to get nearly as close for one of the stars to get ripped away and captured."
But to prove the theory will require more powerful telescopes to find three key signs: large numbers of small stars captured near supermassive black holes, more observations of stars being "shredded" by gravity from black holes, and large numbers of "hypervelocity stars" that are flung from galaxies at more than 1 million mph when their binary partners are captured.
Bromley, a University of Utah astrophysicist, did the study with astronomers Scott Kenyon, Margaret Geller and Warren Brown, all of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. The study was funded by both institutions.
What Does a Supermassive Black Hole Eat: Gas or Stars?
Black holes are objects in space so dense that not even light can escape their gravity, although powerful jets of light and energy can be emitted from a black hole's vicinity as gas and stars are sucked into it.
Small black holes result from the collapse of individual stars. But the centers of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are occupied by what are popularly known as "supermassive" black holes that contain mass ranging from 1 million to 10 billion stars the size of our sun.
Astrophysicists long have debated how supermassive black holes grew during the 14 billion years since the universe began in a great expansion of matter and energy named the Big Bang. One side believes black holes grow larger mainly by sucking in vast amounts of gas; the other side says they grow primarily by capturing and sucking in stars.
Just last month, other researchers published a theory that a black hole sucks in "food" by tipping its "plates" two tilted gas disks colliding as they orbit the black hole in a way that makes the speeding gas slow down so the black hole can swallow it.
Bromley says that theory overcomes a key problem: gas flows into black holes inefficiently. "But are misaligned gas disks common enough to be important for black hole growth?" he asks. "It's fair to say that gas contributes to the growth of black holes, but it is still uncertain how."
The new theory about binary stars a pair of stars that orbit each other arose from Bromley's earlier research to explain hypervelocity stars, which have been observed leaving our Milky Way galaxy at speeds ranging from 1.1 million to 1.8 million mph, compared with the roughly 350,000 mph speed of most stars.
Munching Binaries: One is Captured, One Speeds Away
"The hypervelocity stars we see come from binary stars that stray close to the galaxy's massive black hole," he says. "The hole peels off one binary partner, while the other partner the hypervelocity star gets flung out in a gravitational slingshot."
"We put the numbers together for observed hypervelocity stars and other evidence, and found that the rate of binary encounters [with our galaxy's supermassive black hole] would mean most of the mass of the galaxy's black hole came from binary stars," Bromley says. "We estimated these interactions for supermassive black holes in other galaxies and found that they too can grow to billions of solar masses in this way."
As many as half of all stars are in binary pairs, so they are plentiful in the Milky Way and other galaxies, he adds. But the study assumed conservatively that only 10 percent of stars exist in binary pairs.
The new study looked at each step in the process of a supermassive black hole eating binary stars, and calculated what would be required for the process to work in terms of the rates at which hypervelocity stars are produced, binary partners are captured, the captured stars are bound to the black hole in elongated orbits and then sucked into it.
The scientists then compared the results with actual observations of supermassive black holes, stars clustering near them and "tidal disruption events" in which black holes in other galaxies are seen to shred stars while pulling them into the hole.
"It fits together, and it works," Bromley says. "When we look at observations of how stars are accumulating in our galactic center, it's clear that much of the mass of the black hole likely came from binary stars that were torn apart."
He refers to the process of a supermassive black hole capturing stars from binary pairs as "filling the bathtub." Once the tub the area near the black hole is occupied by a cluster of captured stars, they go "down the drain" into the black hole over millions of years. His study shows the "tub" fills at about the same rate it drains, meaning stars captured by a supermassive black hole eventually are swallowed.
The study's key conclusions:
-- The theory accurately predicts the rate (one every 1,000 to 100,000 years) at which hypervelocity stars are observed leaving our galaxy and at which stars are captured into the star cluster seen near our galaxy's supermassive black hole.
-- The rate of "tidal disruption events," which are stars being shredded and pulled into supermassive black holes in other galaxies, also matches what the theory predicts, based on the limited number seen since they first were observed in the early 2000s. That rate also is one every 1,000 to 100,000 years.
-- The calculations show how the theory's rate of binary capture and consumption can explain how the Milky Way's supermassive black hole has at least doubled to quadrupled in mass during the past 5 billion to 10 billion years.
When the researchers considered the number of stars near the Milky Way's center, their speed and the odds they will encounter the supermassive black hole, they estimated that one binary star will be torn apart every 1,000 years by the hole's gravity.
During the last 10 billion years, that would mean the Milky Way's supermassive black hole ate 10 million solar masses more than enough to account for the hole's actual size of 4 million solar masses.
"We found a wide range of black hole masses can be explained by this process," Bromley says.
Confirmation of the theory must await more powerful orbiting and ground-based telescopes. To confirm the theory, such telescopes should find many more stars in the cluster near the Milky Way's supermassive black hole (we now see only the brightest ones), a certain rate of hypervelocity stars in southern skies, and more observations of stars being shredded in other galaxies.
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Public release date: 1-Apr-2012
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