Wednesday, October 26, 2011

easy ideas FOR costumes OR costume men-WOMENfancy funny dress ,spirit,fantasias OR festa,imagens-fotos,activities,SONG,food recipes, games,shoes,homemade halloween parties TIPS, AND GETS coupons INFO stores halloween

See our hand-picked assortment of the hottest costumes and accessories for 2011. You can find everything you need to make this year’s Halloween one toremember 

easyideas FOR costumes OR costume men-WOMENfancy funny dress ,spirit,fantasias OR festa,imagens-fotos,activities,SONG,food  recipes, games,shoes,homemade halloween parties TIPS, AND GETS coupons INFO  stores  halloween ..READ MORE DETAILS.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Training begins with socialization when the rats

The cost to train a rat is 6,000 euros ($7,700), roughly a third of what it costs to train a dog. Where dogs need expansive kennel facilities and regular veterinary care because of African climates, APOPO's kennel facilities at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania, can house up to 300 rats. The rats see a single vet once a week and are much easier to transport than dogs, Weetjens said.

Training begins with socialization when the rats are 4 weeks old because "it's really important they learn man are friends," Weetjens said.

A system of Pavlovian conditioning follows. Trainers teach the rodents to associate a clicking noise with something tasty: a banana or peanuts. The same treats are used to teach them how to signal when they find a mine and how to detect the scent of TNT in tea balls.

The final phase before they're shipped to Mozambique for accreditation includes several trial runs in APOPO's training minefields, some of which contain tea balls, others live mines.

Nailing down the regimen was tricky. At one point in APOPO's early days, the rats performed perfectly in trials, making Weetjens suspicious. It turned out the rats were outsmarting the humans.

"They knew which samples had been touched by the trainers," he said. "We have to remain extremely vigilant not to bring in additional cues that help the animal find out what the rewarding samples are."

It hasn't been easy convincing the international community that mine-sniffing rats are viable, but donors are coming around. A partners list once consisting solely of Antwerp University and the Belgian government now includes about 30 groups, including the U.N. Development Program, World Bank Development Marketplace and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Unexploded ordnance renders roads, highways and enormous

Unexploded ordnance renders roads, highways and enormous swaths of land useless, Bach said. Fear lingers for years after a single accident, holding back growth, movement, development and opportunities for commerce and aid.

"One mine in an area is enough to prevent an entire population from making use of it," he said.

In a land where resources are scarce, Weetjens felt rats were suited to the task -- but he had to get past people laughing at his plan. Bach said he kept an open mind.

"I just thought it was a strange idea," Bach said. "You come across a lot of silly ideas that never result in anything when you work in this industry."

Their olfactory senses are superb. They're native to Africa, so tropical disease is no problem, and they rarely weigh more than the 3 to 10 kilograms required to trip a mine, Bach said. It also helps that the mine-sniffing rats are not bonded to individual trainers or prone to ennui, as dogs are, he said.

"If you compare them to canine mine detectors, it's pretty much the same in terms of sensitivity and capability," Bach said, noting that dogs are better equipped to work in brush or high grass that might conceal a rat.

"Rats are not going to oust dogs in this industry, but it's a very positive complement," he added. "You could say they work for peanuts."

Indeed, said Weetjens, cost is especially an advantage in Africa. It takes limited skill and only six to eight months to train a rat -- or a year for the "slow" rats because "some rats are smarter than others," said trainer Mushi, who oversees 14 rats.

Several of Weetjens' family members had worked in Africa

Several of Weetjens' family members had worked in Africa, and Weetjens harbored a commitment to the continent. In the spring of 1995, he was analyzing the world's land mine epidemic -- a cause made vogue at the time by Britain's Princess Diana -- when he came across research that spoke to his childhood proclivity.

Scientists were studying the use of gerbils in land mine detection, but they were using a system involving brain electrodes that Weetjens found unsustainable. He wanted a locally based solution that might empower communities.

"Yes, rats can do that," he thought. "I knew I was right, even if it was very hard to defend."

See APOPO videos of the rodents at work

It's difficult to quantify the scourge of land mines in Africa. Experts are reluctant to give statistics, but it's safe to say there are single countries hosting millions of them.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines says land mines and related devices were responsible for 73,576 casualties worldwide from 1999 to 2009. Campaign data from 2007 say there were 5,426 recorded casualties, with almost a fifth of them in 24 African countries.

Death and injury, however, are only two ramifications of the buried terrors, said land mine expert Havard Bach, formerly of the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining.

Bart Weetjens is the brain and Buddhist monk behind APOPO

Bart Weetjens is the brain and Buddhist monk behind APOPO (a Dutch acronym meaning Anti-Personnel Land Mines Detection Product Development), which trains HeroRats. He said Mushi's initial repulsion is common.

Prejudice against rats is "deep in our psyche" and has roots in the Middle Ages when the rodents were blamed for the plague, Weetjens said. He quickly cited Black Death's rightful culprit: fleas.

The Belgian-born Weetjens, 43, is an apt candidate to change rats' unsavory image. A self-professed rodent lover, he was given his first hamster, Goldy, for his ninth birthday.

"Fascinated as I was by it, I wanted to have a female hamster. Soon, I had a nest of hamsters," he said. "Mother didn't like that too much, so I took them to the pet shop and they gave me money for those hamsters."

He soon found out pet shops paid even more for rats, and more still for gerbils and squirrels. It wasn't long before Weetjens had a "kind of breeding arrangement in my room" and was selling various rodents for walking-around money.

At 14, he gave up his enterprise when he was sent to boarding school, but he maintained his love for rodents.

Before he started working with rats

Niko Mushi hated rats, as did most people in his village near Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro -- until he learned the critters had a nose for land mines.

Mushi, 32, has been working with giant African pouched rats for almost seven years. He now enjoys their company -- "They're just like my friend," he says -- but he concedes he was skeptical when the man who conceived the idea for HeroRats first told him they could sniff out live ordnance.

"I thought maybe he was making some jokes," Mushi said. "I was amazed that rats could do such a thing."

Before he started working with rats, Mushi had a comfortable job teaching the Kiswahili language at a Lutheran seminary. He was terrified when he first took one of his long-tailed protégés into a Mozambican minefield.

He'd heard stories of accidents involving the mines, mostly leftovers from Mozambique's civil war, which ended in 1992. He was not emboldened by the skeletons of soldiers and others who'd taken unfortunate steps before him.

Kingdom for The Wimbledon News

Morgan, 45, began his journalism career as a newspaper reporter in the United Kingdom for The Wimbledon News. In 1994, when he was 28, Morgan became the youngest editor ever at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. He moved to the Daily Mirror as editor-in-chief in 1995, a post he held for nine years.

He left the Mirror under a cloud of controversy in 2004, after the publication of photos purported to be of abused Iraqi prisoners. The newspaper later acknowledged the images were faked, saying it was the victim of a hoax.

Morgan went on to become a television personality, hosting interview programs on the BBC and ITV. Simon Cowell hired Morgan as on a judge on the top-rated "Britain's Got Talent."

His print journalism career continued beyond the Mirror, including a monthly interview column for GQ magazine.

Morgan also writes two regular columns for the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which he will continue. In addition, he will provide regular columns to CNN.com, the network said.

British TV host Piers Morgan will take over

British TV host Piers Morgan will take over Larry King's prime-time hour with "a candid, in-depth newsmaker interview program" starting in January, CNN announced Wednesday.

Morgan, best known to American viewers as a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent," has most recently hosted "Piers Morgan's Life Stories" on television in the United Kingdom.

"Piers has made his name posing tough questions to public figures, holding them accountable for their words and deeds," said CNN-US President Jon Klein. "He is able to look at all aspects of the news with style and humor with an occasional good laugh in the process."

Morgan's show, which was not named in the CNN news release, will air live on CNN-US at 9 p.m. ET and will air worldwide on CNN-International in more than 200 countries, the network said. Morgan will be based in New York, but also will work from Los Angeles and London, CNN said.

King announced this summer that he was stepping aside from CNN's "Larry King Live," a show he began hosting in 1985.

"I have watched 'Larry King Live' for much of the last 25 years, and dreamed of one day filling the legendary suspenders of the man I consider to be the greatest TV interviewer of them all," Morgan said.

Two missiles were fired on a hideout of suspected

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed six people in Pakistan's tribal region on Thursday morning, intelligence officials said.

Two missiles were fired on a hideout of suspected militants in an area in North Waziristan, one of seven districts in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media. This is the fourth suspected U.S. drone strike in two days.

On Wednesday, three drone attacks killed 18 suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal region.

While the United States is the only country in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones -- which are controlled remotely -- U.S. officials normally do not comment on suspected drone strikes.

The attack happened in broad daylight

The attack happened in broad daylight, at about 1:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET), and was brazen even by the standards of Mexico's violent drug cartel wars.

At least seven mayors in various Mexican states have been assassinated in 2010.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned the "criminal and cowardly" killing of the mayor.

"The federal government reiterates that it will continue working for the security of the citizens, with all the available resources of the state," Calderon said.

Alexander Lopez Garcia assumed office in October of last year as a candidate for an alliance between the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), and the Ecologist Green Party.

The mayor of El Naranjo, Mexico

The mayor of El Naranjo, Mexico, in the central state of San Luis Potosi was gunned down and killed inside his office Wednesday, officials said.

Witnesses say that four armed and hooded men stepped out of a white truck at city hall, the San Luis Potosi government said in a statement. Two of the men posted themselves outside, and two went inside and to the top floor of the building, where they entered the mayor's office and shot him, the statement said.

The attack happened in broad daylight, at about 1:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET), and was brazen even by the standards of Mexico's violent drug cartel wars.

FSA opened its investigation into Goldman in April

The FSA opened its investigation into Goldman in April after the SEC filed its charges. The SEC claimed that Goldman had failed to disclose that a hedge fund that was betting against the security had selected some of the mortgage loans included in the portfolio, costing investors as much as $1bn.

Goldman, the world's best-known investment bank, has seen its reputation tarnished in recent months as questions continue to swirl over whether it favoured the interests of some clients at the expense of others during the financial crisis.

The bank's business model is also under pressure amid volatile markets and regulatory reforms that have forced it to shut some of its highly profitable "proprietary" trading operations.

On Wednesday it emerged that KKR, the private equity firm, is in early talks with individuals in Goldman Sachs' proprietary trading group that could lead to the hiring of a number of Goldman's key people.

Margaret Cole, the FSA's managing director

Margaret Cole, the FSA's managing director of enforcement and financial crime, said: "We have repeatedly stressed the importance of firms self-reporting regulatory issues to the FSA in a timely way. GSI did not set out to hide anything, but its defective systems and controls meant that the level and quality of its communications with the FSA fell far below what we expect of an authorised firm.

"This penalty should send a message -- particularly to the senior management of large institutions -- of the need to have their firm's UK reporting obligations at the forefront of their minds," she said.

Fiona Laffan, Goldman spokeswoman, said, "We are pleased the matter is resolved." Goldman received a discount for settling the case at an early stage. Without it, the fine would have been £25m.

Mr Tourre's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

The fine is the third largest in FSA history. JP Morgan set the record in June when it paid £33.3m ($51m) for failing to keep client money in separate accounts.

The FSA opened its investigation into Goldman in April after the SEC filed its charges. The SEC claimed that Goldman had failed to disclose that a hedge fund that was betting against the security had selected some of the mortgage loans included in the portfolio, costing investors as much as $1bn.

Goldman Sachs has been fined £17.5m

Goldman Sachs has been fined £17.5m ($30m) for regulatory control failings that led the giant investment bank to neglect to tell the UK financial regulator that it was under investigation by US authorities.

The Financial Services Authority said on Thursday that Goldman's US arm failed to share critical information about a US investigation of subprime mortgage products with the bank's compliance department in London for more than 18 months.

That omission meant Goldman failed to notify the FSA that it and trader Fabrice Tourre had been warned in September 2009 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that they were facing likely civil fraud charges. At the time, Mr Tourre was working in London in a function that required FSA approval.

The SEC filed charges in April 2010 and settled with Goldman for $550m in July. Mr Tourre is still fighting allegations that he misled investors in a complex mortgage-backed security known as Abacus.

The FSA said that Goldman officials could have considered notifying them about the probe as early as February 2009 and "at the latest" when the bank received the so-called Wells notice warning of potential charges.