Scotland's internationally important seabird colonies are continuing to have poor breeding seasons, RSPB Scotland has warned.
The biggest population declines were in the northern isles.
Reserves in Orkney showed "significant" drops in populations of sensitive species such as Arctic terns and kittiwakes.
The RSPB called for areas where birds forage for food to be included in proposed marine protected areas.
The organisation said a full colony count at Marwick Head reserve on Orkney showed a "staggering" 53% decline in numbers since the last full census of the UK's seabird populations in 2000, and a 22% decline since the last colony count in 2006.
Continue reading the main story
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The terrible season for critical colonies in the far north warns us that seabird populations in the UK remain in real danger?
End QuoteDoug GilbertRSPB ScotlandNumbers low
Guillemots and kittiwakes failed to produce a single chick at Noup Head on Orkney, while on the North Hill reserve breeding pairs of Arctic skuas were down by nearly half.
The single remaining pair of kittiwakes failed to raise any young at a colony which once had more than 150 pairs.
In the Western Isles and Inner Hebrides numbers were low, with nesting also hampered by gale force winds in May, which particularly affected terns.
On Shetland there was some success with 15 occupied burrows of Leach's storm petrel, the only RSPB site where the birds are found, but the picture was "bleak" elsewhere on the islands.
The east coast generally showed an improvement from the previous year, but overall numbers of guillemots and kittiwakes fell significantly over a 10-year period.
Troup Head on the Moray coast reported the biggest drop in guillemot numbers, experiencing a massive 66% decline at the reserve since 2001.
The RSPB called on the UK government and devolved administrations to carry out a census of seabird colonies to allow scientists to accurately monitor long-term trends.
Doug Gilbert, head of reserves ecology for RSPB Scotland, said: "The terrible season for critical colonies in the far north warns us that seabird populations in the UK remain in real danger.
"This is against the backdrop of long-term decline for many species. Carrying out another full census is vital.
"By knowing how different species are faring, conservationists can then attempt to determine causes of decline and the means of protecting these species."
SEOUL, South Korea ? South Korea's coast guard says it has located the dead bodies of two people believed to be pilots of an Asiana Airlines cargo plane that crashed three months ago.
It said Sunday that rescuers found the plane's cockpit parts with the corpses off the southern resort island of Jeju on Saturday.
The discovery comes amid media speculation the plane's chief pilot may have intentionally crashed the aircraft to let his family get insurance money to pay back about $1.4 million in debts.
His family has denied it has such a big household debt. The pilot reportedly obtained seven insurance polices in the weeks ahead of the crash.
The coast guard says it still needs to find the plane's black box flight recorder to help look into details about the crash.
BIRMNGHAM, Ala. ? Presidential candidate Herman Cain is full of confidence about his 2012 prospects.
It's been weeks since he's set foot in first-voting Iowa or New Hampshire, yet he said Saturday he said expects to finish first or second in each state.
He's also predicting victory in South Carolina, which will hold the South's first presidential contest in 2012.
"And then, look out," Cain said Saturday before plunging into a crowd of football tailgaters at Samford University, a Baptist-affiliated school in Alabama.
That win, he says, will set the stage for him to capture the GOP nomination.
Cain, however, said he plans to "dial back" his campaign and media appearances in order to avoid missteps. Since climbing in the polls, he has had a series of fumbles, forcing him to clarify comments on abortion, immigration and terrorism suspects.
Cain has chalked up the mistakes to a grueling campaign schedule jammed with media interviews. Such itineraries are standard fare on the presidential campaign trail and it is unclear how aggressively he will restrict his schedule.
A former pizza magnate who has never held elected office, Cain is adapting from a longshot candidate hustling for any media attention to a front-runner who must be more selective with his time and disciplined in his message.
"When you're too tired you're not on your `A game,'" the 65-year-old Georgia businessman told a throng of reporters who greeted the arrival of his bus on the Samford campus.
He said it was a mistake to schedule interviews immediately following debates. Cain maintained he did not flip-flop on issues, but simply did not hear questions properly.
The blunt-spoken Cain has been more cautious lately. At a campaign stop at the Alabama Republican Party headquarters on Friday, Cain paused then asked a reporter to repeat a complicated two-part question on immigration.
"I don't want to have to clarify," he said with a laugh.
Not everyone thinks walking back a misstatement is a sign of weakness.
"I like that if he says something, he's not afraid to turn around and admit he's wrong," said Phil Andrews, of Birmingham, who tried without success to reach the candidate and have him sign his Cain t-shirt.
"He's human and that's just fine."
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Follow Shannon McCaffrey at http://www.twitter.com(backslash)smccaffrey13
BERLIN (Reuters) ? European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was quoted by a German newspaper as saying inflation in the euro zone would be "very low" over the next 10 years, with expectations currently for around 1.8 percent.
"In the coming 10 years, the inflation rate will most probably stay very low; current expectations are for around 1.8 percent," he told the mass-selling Bild am Sonntag newspaper, in one of the final interviews of his term heading the ECB.
"This means: in the euro zone we have price stability. This is something we are very proud of, and rightly so, because we have achieved what is expected of us."
Trichet said European governments had made serious mistakes by not sticking to the Stability and Growth pact.
"They did this although the ECB emphatically warned them to follow the criteria."
Trichet, who said he would "certainly remain active" after stepping down as ECB president, called for a change of values in financial markets.
"We should be very aware of the fact that some ways of behavior on markets caused considerable irritation. One such thing is the level of some bonus payments," Trichet said.
"Banks must raise their level of resistance and avoid behavior that is not in cohesion with the values of our society -- including excessive bonus payments."
He said regulatory bodies should ensure financial market innovations served the real economy and did not damage it.
"At the moment we are working on correcting this," he said.
"There is an agreement among all authorities worldwide that we have to discipline the markets and in general the financial system, and we have to make sure that they are considerably more resistant under all circumstances in the future."
But the central banker warned against restricting banks too much, given that this would have negative impact on the real economy they financed.
Trichet said Europe needed to strengthen its political structures, which would require changes of the constitution.
He called for stronger European governance, making it possible to implement the necessary measures in those countries that continuously contravene the stability criteria and endanger the financial stability of the euro zone.
"In the long run, we will have to go further down the path toward political union," he said.
(Reporting By Sarah Marsh; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
You're the patient? Excellent, please lie down on this table. I'll be your doctor today but will be working from the next room, remotely controlling the needle-wielding robot above you—I'll try not to sneeze! Just kidding. So, who's ready for some eye surgery? More »
Nick Diaz has burned some in the media in the past, so when several media folks had the chance to grill him a bit they did it during today's final prefight press conference in Las Vegas.
A local television sports anchor went after Diaz particularly hard, but the highly volatile Diaz kept his cool. Watch the exchange on the full archive of the presser (25:50 mark).
Using highly potent antibodies isolated from HIV-positive people, researchers have recently begun to identify ways to broadly neutralize the many possible subtypes of HIV. Now, a team led by biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has built upon one of these naturally occurring antibodies to create a stronger version they believe is a better candidate for clinical applications.
Current advances in isolating antibodies from HIV-infected individuals have allowed for the discovery of a large number of new, broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies directed against the host receptor (CD4) binding site?a functional site on the surface of the virus that allows for cell entry and infection. Using a technique known as structure-based rational design, the team modified one already-known and particularly potent antibody?NIH45-46?so that it can target the binding site in a different and more powerful way. A study outlining their process was published in the October 27 issue of Science Express.
"NIH45-46 was already one of the most broad and potent of the known anti-HIV antibodies," says Pamela Bjorkman, Max Delbr?ck Professor of Biology at Caltech and senior author on the study. "Our new antibody is now arguably the best of the currently available, broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies."
By conducting structural studies, the researchers were able to identify how NIH45-46 interacted with gp120?a protein on the surface of the virus that's required for the successful entry of HIV into cells?to neutralize the virus. Using this information, they were able to create a new antibody (dubbed NIH45-46G54W) that is better able to grab onto and interfere with gp120. This improves the antibody's breadth?or extent to which it effectively targets many subtypes of HIV?and potency by an order of magnitude, according to Ron Diskin, a postdoctoral scholar in Bjorkman's lab at Caltech and the paper's lead author.
"Not only did we design an improved version of NIH45-46, our structural data are calling into question previous assumptions about how to make a vaccine in order to elicit such antibodies," says Diskin. "We hope that these observations will help to guide and improve future immunogen design."
By improving the efficacy of antibodies that can neutralize HIV, the researchers point to the possibility of clinical testing for NIH45-46G54W and other antibodies as therapeutic agents. It's also plausible that understanding effective neutralization by powerful antibodies may be useful in vaccine development.
"The results uncover the structural underpinnings of anti-HIV antibody breadth and potency, offer a new view of neutralization by CD4-binding site anti-HIV antibodies, and establish principles that may enable the creation of a new group of HIV therapeutics," says Bjorkman, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
###
California Institute of Technology: http://www.caltech.edu
Thanks to California Institute of Technology for this article.
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CANCUN, Mexico?? Rina weakened to a tropical depression on Friday after knocking out power and downing trees in some areas of Mexico's Caribbean coast, but sparing the resort-studded region the major hurricane that many had feared.
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Thousands of tourists had left Cancun and the Mayan Riviera ahead of the storm's late Thursday arrival, worried by early forecasts that Rina could arrive as a Category 3 hurricane. But it weakened before nearing land and its maximum sustained winds were down to about 35 mph? Friday. They had hit 110 mph at Rina's peak.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, but most businesses remained closed and officials warned people to be cautious. Police said at least one convenience store was looted of liquor overnight in Cancun, where authorities had banned the sale of alcohol during the emergency.
Playa de Carmen, a resort town across from the island of Cozumel, was left without electricity and streets were largely empty as Rina swept along the coast.
The Mexican Navy sent boats to Holbox island, off the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, to forcibly remove about 80 people who had balked at leaving the island during an earlier evacuation of about 2,300 people.
Lines snaked from ticket counters in Cancun's crowded airport as airliners heading to Canada and Europe waited in pouring rain. State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez estimated 10,000 tourists had left by Wednesday night, though thousands of others remained.
NASA cut short an undersea laboratory mission near Key Largo, Florida, bringing the crew back to land, and schools were closed in communities along the coast, as were ports.
But some decided to ride out the weakened storm.
"We would prefer to lie on the beach and get in the ocean, but right now all we can do is walk around and go shopping," said Vera Kohler, a 27-year-old tourist from Frankfurt, Germany, who arrived Wednesday and planned to stay in the area until Sunday.
Domenico Cianni, a retired restaurateur from Vancouver, Canada, said he also prepared for a hurricane by buying extra food and beer and putting shutters on the windows of his rental home. But after hearing Rina had been downgraded to a tropical storm he decided to join tourists at Playa del Carmen's pier.
"We were curious about what's happening. We wanted to be part of the action," Cianni said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was likely to keep bringing rains across the region for days. It was centered about 20 miles north of Cancun and was moving to the north-northeast at 4 mph Friday morning, but was expected to double back to the south and move along the coast toward Central America while weakening further.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ROME (Reuters) ? Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi goes to the European Union on Wednesday with an offer of economic reforms after bickering coalition parties hammered out a last-minute deal.
Berlusconi is bringing with him a "letter of intent" outlining Italy's plan for reforms demanded by its EU partners as a condition for buying its bonds, though questions loom over whether they will be enough to restore market confidence.
The euro zone's number three economy is at the center of the debt crisis as investors fret about its sluggish growth and political instability. It needs to issue some 600 billion euros in bonds in the next three years to refinance maturing debt.
Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, whose support is vital to Berlusconi, said the coalition had reached agreement on reforms but that it was up to the EU to decide if they were enough. "In the end we have found a way. Now we will see what the EU says," Bossi told reporters late on Tuesday.
A key sticking point between the allies -- the retirement age for women -- was resolved after Bossi removed his opposition to raising it to 67 from 65 years.
But Bossi said he was still pessimistic about the survival of the coalition government and that his party would not budge on other provisions that allow for early retirement. He had earlier said the disagreement on pensions could bring down the government and force early elections.
EU nations say the retirement age must rise in Italy, which has a public debt of 1.8 trillion euros, equal to 120 percent of GDP.
The opposition said Berlusconi was bringing about "the Italian disaster" and repeated calls for him to step down.
GROWING PRESSURE
Newspapers have been awash with speculation in recent weeks that Berlusconi -- distracted by sex scandals and legal troubles -- will not survive much longer as the pressure from coalition allies and European partners mounts.
The La Repubblica and La Stampa dailies in unsourced reports on Wednesday said the premier had struck a secret deal with Bossi on early elections in March in return for the League's backing on pension reform.
EU leaders, particularly German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have demanded that Italy present firm plans to promote economic growth and reduce Rome's massive debt.
The possibility that Italy could lose control over its debt pile and put the entire euro zone at risk has spooked financial markets. The three main credit ratings agencies have all downgraded Italy.
Italy relies on intervention by the European Central Bank to keep its borrowing costs at manageable levels. It has passed a series of reforms, but has failed to convince markets worried that the divisions in the government will stymie painful measures aimed at cutting the debt and boosting the stagnant economy.
Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti has promised a package of reforms that would open up closed professions, cut red tape and raise revenue through steps such as privatizations and a new wealth tax, but the measures have been repeatedly delayed.
Berlusconi has reacted angrily to pressure from Germany and France to enact reforms. He issued a statement on Monday declaring that no EU country was in a position to give lessons to its partners.
FAIRFAX, Va. ? A day after he refused to endorse an Ohio ballot measure that limits public employee union rights, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he is "110 percent" behind the effort.
While he was in Ohio on Tuesday, Romney seemed to distance himself from anti-union measures that have lost popularity in recent months. Campaigning a day later, the former Massachusetts governor told reporters that he supports a ballot measure known as Issue Two aimed at restricting collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public workers such as teachers, firefighters and police officers.
"I'm sorry if I created any confusion in that regard. I fully support Gov. (John) Kasich's ? I think it's called Question Two in Ohio. Fully support that," Romney said, referring to the Issue Two ballot initiative, after visiting a local GOP office in the Washington suburbs. "Actually, on my website, I think back as early as April, I laid out that I support Question Two and Gov. Kasich's effort to restrict collective bargaining in Ohio."
In June, Romney praised Kasich's efforts to "limit the power of union bosses and keep taxes low."
"I stand with John R. Kasich and Ohio's leaders as they take on this important fight to get control of government spending," Romney wrote on his Facebook account then.
Romney waffled this week though; his rivals criticized him for not supporting the measure, which has seen its popularity falter.
"As a true conservative, I stand with Gov. Kasich in promoting S.B.5 for fiscal responsibility and job creation in Ohio," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement. "Gov. Kasich and the Republican leadership of Ohio are to be commended for their efforts." Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman told ABC News that Romney failed to show leadership.
"This is a time when if you are going to be president of the United States, you show a little presidential leadership. That's by taking a position and leading out ? sometimes there is a risk associated with taking a position, but that's all part of leadership," he said.
On Wednesday, Romney tried to answer the criticism.
"I know there are other ballot questions in Ohio. I wasn't taking a position on those," Romney said after meeting with volunteers. "I am 110 percent behind Gov. Kasich and in support of that question."
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern called it "an epic re-reversal."
"Such lack of character is a slap in the face to Ohioans and says everything you need to know about the serial flip-flopper Mitt Romney," Redfern said.
A Quinnipiac University poll this week showed the anti-union law is unpopular with voters; 57 percent oppose it in that poll.
Romney's arm's-length stance seemed to reflect that on Tuesday.
"I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney said during an appearance near Cincinnati. "Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to rein in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party's efforts here."
And on Wednesday, he still sidestepped questions about a separate ballot measure that would exempt Ohioans from President Barack Obama requirement that individuals have health insurance.
"I've said that should be up to individual states. I, of course, took my state in one direction. They may want to go in a different direction," Romney said. "I don't want to tell them what I think they ought to do in that regard."
SAN FRANCISCO ? IBM Corp. ushered in the first female CEO in the company's 100-year history on Tuesday.
Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, a veteran at the technology giant famous for its conservative corporate culture, will take over as CEO from Sam Palmisano, IBM announced.
Palmisano has been CEO for nearly a decade and turned 60 this year. He will stay on as chairman.
Rometty, 54, takes over on Jan. 1. She is currently in charge of sales and marketing at the company based in Armonk, N.Y.
After she takes over the helm at IBM, women will be in charge of two of the world's largest technology companies. Last month, Meg Whitman was named CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Whitman had previously joined eBay Inc. when it was a fledgling startup during the dot-com boom and guided it to become an Internet auction powerhouse. She also ran unsuccessfully for California governor last year.
While Whitman's HP is a sprawling company in disarray, Rometty will inherit a finely tuned IBM whose focus on the high-margin businesses of technology services and software has helped it thrive.
Their appointments are "setting a fabulous example" in the promotion of female executives, said Jean Bozman, an analyst with IDC who has followed both companies closely for years.
"It is a good sign," Bozman said. "It does create an environment in which more of these high-ranking women executives can see that's within reach. The more that happens, the more normal that will be. I think this might be a great sign that we've turned a corner. Certainly the Baby Boomers have wanted this for a long time."
HP, of course, had another female CEO, Carly Fiorina, but her tenure ended in acrimony when she was forced out in 2005 over disappointing financials and the fallout from her hard-fought battle to buy Compaq Computer.
IBM's move was unexpected. Palmisano had tamped down earlier talk of his retirement, insisting that he wanted to stay on as chief. In rare public comments, he said last year that he was "not going anywhere" and that there's no formal policy at IBM dictating when a CEO should retire.
Palmisano in a statement said that Rometty has led some of IBM's most important businesses, and was instrumental in the formation of IBM's business services division. She oversaw IBM's $3.5 billion purchase of PricewaterhouseCoopers' consulting business in 2002, which is a key element of a strategy that has made IBM a widely copied company. She is "more than a superb operational executive," Palmisano said.
"She brings to the role of CEO a unique combination of vision, client focus, unrelenting drive, and passion for IBMers and the company's future," Palmisano said. "I know the board agrees with me that Ginni is the ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century."
Bobby Cameron, an analyst with Forrester Research who has worked with IBM in various roles over the years, said that in meetings with Rometty is "engaging" and inquisitive. Her interest in emerging technologies, not just the established sales leaders, is an important characteristic. Cameron thinks she's an ideal choice to continue Palmisano's work.
"I think she's smart. She asks questions; she doesn't just come in with an agenda, and she's interested in the leading edge, not just what's driving volume ? all those things are important for a CEO to have," Cameron said.
Palmisano has the same characteristics, Cameron said.
"I think it will be more of the same, and I think that's a good thing," he said.
IBM shares fell $1.16, or 0.6 percent, to $179.20 in extended trading, after the change was announced.
With the latest addition of Kerry Washington, the already impressive cast of Quentin Tarantino's next movie, "Django Unchained," just got a little more impressive. Throw in his other recent hire -- Don Johnson -- and it's clear that the auteur is up to his usual quirky casting tricks. Tarantino has always been known for his, [...]
Let's face it ? some things, like Corvette speedboats and Tesla Roadsters are sexy. Thermostats, in general, are not. While we all know that programmable thermostats are a great way to save money and the environment, they're not terribly intuitive to use, and just not that interesting. Until now, anyway.
Two of the people responsible for creating Apple's iconic iPod, longtime senior vice president Tony Fadell and lead engineer Matt Rogers, teamed up to found Nest Labs. Together they took the sleek, user-friendly genius of the iPod and incorporated it into a programmable thermostat that even technophobes will love.
In addition to the stylish design (the metal of the outer case blends in with the surrounding colors, making it a match for any d?cor, and the dial glows blue when it's cooling and red when it's heating), this is one smart piece of technology. It's called the Nest Learning Thermostat, because after about a week of using it, it will learn your typical schedule, and create a program to meet your energy needs. If you tend to leave the house around 8 a.m., and return around 6, the Nest learns this and adjusts accordingly.
And the Nest doesn't just keep track of the temperature you set with the dial; it also measures ambient light, humidity, and motion, and uses all that data to fine-tune its program. That way even on a day you're usually home, like Saturday, if it doesn't detect any motion in the house for a long time, it will adjust the temperature to save you money. If you have multiple Nest units installed in your home, they will communicate via wifi to coordinate schedules for different parts of the house. You can also adjust its settings online or via an iOS device.
Who says saving energy can't be sexy? The Nest Learning Thermostat goes on sale for $249 next month at Best Buy and other retailers. Watch the video below to see what the Nest can do!
Nest via Engadget
This article was written by Katherine Gray and originally appeared on Tecca
UFC Hall-of-Famer Chuck Liddell continues his retirement that does not involve starting a vineyard tonight on CBS. He'll play the difficult role of "mixed martial artist" on the episode that airs at 10 p.m. ET. Pro Elite provided both the cage for the episode and this behind-the-scenes shot.
As you can see, this role will truly stretch his acting chops. Tonight's episode will be a about "a wealthy restaurant owner is murdered and the investigation leads McGarrett to take part in a charity mixed martial arts fight."
According to IMDB, Liddell has several acting credits to his name, including spots on "Criminal Minds," "Blade: The Series," and "How High," where he played a tough guy. Apparently, he also served as a transportation coordinator for "Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina" in 2003.
TOKYO ? Olympus Corp. said Wednesday thta Chairman and President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa is stepping down amid widening scrutiny into past acquisitions after the company's British ex-CEO presented allegations of potential financial wrongdoing.
The Japanese camera and medical device maker recently fired Chief Executive Michael Woodford after he questioned a $687 million payment to financial advisers as part of Olympus' purchase of the U.K.'s Gyrus Group Plc.
The payment represented more than a third of the $2 billion purchase. Fees for advisers are normally 1 to 2 percent of the deal value.
Olympus said it will elaborate on the reasons for Kikukawa's resignation at a 5:30 p.m. press conference at a Tokyo hotel.
Shuichi Takayama will become the company's president, the company said in a release.
Last week, the company said it would establish an independent task force to review past acquisitions, seeking to ease mounting shareholder pressure.
Shares in Olympus have lost half their value since Woodford was dismissed on Oct. 14.
A quote from the?Steve Jobs?biography has the Apple TV rumor mill up and running again.?"I'd like to create an integrated television set," Jobs told Walter Isaacson, notes CNN's Philip Elmer-DeWitt, along with a bunch of other excited bloggers. "It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud... It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it." Apple's had a rumored game changing TV for some time now. We've discussed Apple's TV moves on these very pages. But the fresh Jobs remarks have interested bloggers digging: What exactly has Jobs "cracked?"?
Related: Apple's Getting Serious About TV
The prettiest TV in the land? If the TV has any Apple DNA, it will look nice. Perhaps Jobs was referring to the look of the Cupertino company's offering? It might look something like the Bose VideoWave TV, but better Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry theorized, points out AllThingsD's John Paczkowski. "Apple HDTV is directionally similar to Bose VideoWave TV, in terms of simplicity, reducing clutter, image quality and sound quality," wrote Chowdhry in a research note, predicting it will have an even simpler, thinner design, less cables, more speakers, and three price points. Apple may even already have a prototype TV in the works, says Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Cos.,?reports Bloomberg's Adam Satariano. The prototype will apparently work in Apple's latest darlings: Siri and the Cloud.
Related: iTunes Match Is Looking Pretty Good
A fully functional TV; not just a streaming box. There are plenty of streaming boxes on the market, including Apple's own offering. But they aren't TV's; they're an awkward addition to the already cluttered living room. Steve Jobs may have cracked the difficult code that would allow for a TV that allows streaming content sans cable subscriptions. None of the current options does, and this would change the way people watch and subscribe to programming.?
Related: Apple Makes Moves on TV: No More iTunes Rentals
Apple is at least headed in that direction, with the creator of iPod and iTunes, Jeff Robin, heading up the project, according to Satariano. iTunes did for music what someone should do for TV. Get content providers on board with the new medium. If anyone could crack that code, it was Jobs. Dewitt also points to the most recent Apple patent, which indicates the company is trying to build a TV watching device that runs fully on the cloud, sans cable subscription.
Related: Apple's New OS X Lion Will Make Macs Look Like iPads
Related: iCloud May Kill Spotify's American Dream
?
No matter how shiny and thin and Apple-y the device looks, it won't have much value sans great content. If Jobs really did crack that code, then we have something to look forward to.?
PHILADELPHIA ? A high school honors student pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he helped the American terrorist dubbed "Jihad Jane" raise money and recruits for a Muslim holy war.
Mohammad Hassan Khalid, 18, of Ellicott City, Md., a Baltimore suburb, entered the plea at his first public court appearance since his July 6 arrest.
The reed-thin, serious-looking young man appeared older than his years. He had no family or friends in the Philadelphia courtroom. His parents, legal U.S. residents from Pakistan who had pushed their four children to excel in school, were working, a defense lawyer said.
Federal prosecutors allege that Khalid tried to recruit men to wage a holy war in Europe and South Asia, and women with passports who could travel there. He had met a middle-aged Pennsylvania woman, Colleen LaRose, in online chat rooms when he was about 15, according to last week's indictment. LaRose was being watched by the FBI after posting YouTube videos in which she dubbed herself "Jihad Jane" and vowed to kill or die for the jihadist cause.
LaRose, 46, has pleaded guilty to plotting to kill a Swedish artist who had offended Muslims, and faces a possible life sentence. Khalid's defense lawyer, Jeffrey M. Lindy, believes she helped the FBI build its case against the teenager.
"I absolutely think she rolled over in a heartbeat (against him)," Lindy said after the arraignment.
Khalid faces a 15-year prison term and deportation to his native Pakistan if convicted.
Lindy questioned the government's interpretation of Khalid's posts.
"I think they assume a much more nefarious and sinister connotation than what's really there," he said Monday.
U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams declined to comment after the brief hearing. A judge set a Dec. 13 trial date, but that is almost certain to be continued given the complexity of the case.
Khalid is charged in the indictment along with an Algerian man, 46-year-old Ali Charaf Damache, who remains jailed in Ireland.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? When California lawmakers reached a deal to close a $10 billion budget gap in June, critics warned the agreement relied too heavily on $4 billion in additional tax revenue projected to materialize with a rapidly rebounding economy.
Now, with the state's recovery stalling, the new revenue is not coming in -- setting the stage for automatic budget cuts that could threaten the solvency of some state's largest school districts.
According to the state controller's office, revenue since the start of fiscal year has fallen $705 million short of projections. That signals big new cuts to school spending, said political scientist Larry Gerston of San Jose State University.
"There is nothing out there that indicates that $4 billion will appear," Gerston said.
School districts are in an especially bad spot because teacher payrolls, by far their largest expense, are off limits; the 325,000-member California Teachers Association won a guarantee against teacher layoffs as part of the budget negotiations.
That deal was critical in getting a budget passed on-time -- a rarity in California -- but was denounced by school district administrators.
"We were appalled," said Rick Pratt of the California School Boards Association. "It was the kind of thing that got slipped into legislation, literally, at the last minute."
EATING SEED CORN
School districts will have few options in managing cuts, which would come on top of several years of belt-tightening.
They can shorten the school year, but that would require difficult negotiations with all their employees, and talks could stretch out for many months.
Non-teaching staff could be sacked, schools could be closed and after-school programs could be scrapped -- but not without resistance from employees and parents.
Another option is to "eat some of your seed corn," said Kevin Shelley, superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District, noting that districts may have no other choice but to dig into their reserves.
That's not what credit rating agencies want to see.
"If you're at the minimum, you have that much less flexibility," said Karen Ribble of Fitch Ratings.
'FISCAL EMERGENCY' FOR SCHOOLS
Prudent school districts have been preparing for lean times by fattening reserves in recent years, said Bob Blattner of education consulting firm Blattner & Associates.
"The school of hard knocks has taught them to be cautious," Blattner said.
Some districts, however, may not be able to withstand the loss of money from the state. The San Diego Unified School District, for instance, faces a challenge in balancing its books and maintaining its solvency if state funding is cut, according to its superintendent.
Meanwhile, California's education department says 13 districts will not meet their financial obligations this fiscal year, while another 130 districts, including the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District, may not meet their financial obligations this year and next.
Credit ratings of districts caught flat-footed by triggered spending cuts could suffer.
"They will stay under pressure," said Moody's Investors Service's Eric Hoffmann.
The school boards association and other education groups see a gloomy scenario if cuts come about -- a "fiscal emergency" for public schools, according to a letter they sent last month to Brown and top lawmakers.
"Accordingly (and regretfully) we urgently ask that you and the Legislature enact legislation giving districts emergency authority to take steps necessary to avoid insolvency, including the one-time ability to either lay off teachers and increase class sizes or impose mandatory furloughs if the budget trigger is pulled," the letter said.
LAS VEGAS ? A year before the 2012 presidential election, Hispanic voters are facing a choice. They can continue to support President Barack Obama despite being hurt disproportionately by the economic downturn or turn to Republicans at a time when many GOP presidential hopefuls have taken a hard line on immigration.
Obama kicks off a three-day trip to Western states trip with a stop Monday in Las Vegas, where he wants to rally support for his jobs agenda in Congress. Nevada has the nation's highest unemployment rate, 13.4 percent.
The trip comes as Republican candidates have taken a more strident tone on immigration.
Businessman Herman Cain recently suggested electrifying a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico to kill illegal immigrants; he later called the remark a joke and apologized. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has raised the issue of "anchor babies," or U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants; it's a term that some people find offensive.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been criticized by opponents for signing a law allowing some illegal immigrants to get in-state college tuition. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said most of the jobs created under Perry's watch went to illegal immigrants. Perry lashed into Romney during last week's GOP debate in Las Vegas for hiring a lawn care company that employed illegal immigrants.
Obama won 67 percent of Hispanic voters in 2008 but many of those voters have become disillusioned during the past three years. Unemployment among Hispanics tops 11 percent and many Latinos are losing their homes. Others criticize the number of deportations under Obama's presidency and the lack of progress on a comprehensive immigration plan.
"I am willing to support him, but I would like him to keep his word on all the promises he made," said Marcos Mata, 17, a Las Vegas high school senior who will vote for the first time next year. "Not just on immigration. But I don't know if I see any improvement. The jobs act, it's a good idea but he should have been doing that a long time ago."
Recent Gallup polling showed Obama with a 49 percent job approval rating among Hispanics, compared with about 60 percent in the beginning of 2011. Hispanic voters could prove pivotal next year, especially in fast-growing and contested states such as Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.
Obama has said his jobs agenda would help Hispanics in the construction industry and provide tax breaks for small businesses. On immigration, he has targeted violent criminals for deportation and urged Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Obama also has sought support for legislation that would provide a route to legal status for college students and members of the military brought to the country as children.
Republicans sense an opening and have courted Hispanic voters through Spanish-language radio and television ads, criticizing Obama's handling of the economy.
Crossroads GPS, a Republican political organization tied to strategist Karl Rove, ran a Spanish-language ad in five states last summer called "Despertarse," or "Wake up," depicting a young mother pacing her home early in the morning, worried about the economy and her children.
President George W. Bush was supported by 44 percent of Hispanic voters in 2004 but that level slipped for the 2008 GOP nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain. Party officials promote the success of prominent Hispanic Republicans, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, but some worry that a harsh tone on immigration could undermine their efforts.
"The fundamental question will be whether the economic concerns of the Latino community are so severe that they are less critical of anti-immigrant positioning by the Republican party," said Adam Mendelsohn, a Republican strategist and former adviser to ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.
Mendelsohn warned that Romney could damage his general election prospects if he makes immigration a focal point during the primary. "If the conventional wisdom is that Romney won the nomination because he beat up Perry on immigration, that's a narrative that will alienate Latinos."
Voters like Jose Hernandez, a Republican, are watching closely. Hernandez said his Las Vegas real estate business has faltered with the housing market. Most of his neighbors and clients are more concerned about the economy than immigration but he has found the tone of the GOP debate offensive, including comments about illegal immigrants stealing jobs.
"That's just ignorance," Hernandez said. "The Republicans need to talk about making it easier for people to come here."
Democrats say the immigration rhetoric in the GOP debates could have a similar impact that tough anti-immigration laws had in California during the 1990s under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. Democratic presidential nominees have not lost California since 1988.
Obama's campaign is aggressively courting Latino voters.
In Fort Collins, Colo., on Saturday, about a dozen volunteers walked door to door to register voters and hand out pamphlets. "If we turn out 15,000 to 20,000 votes, that's going to make a big difference," said Joe Perez, 67, of Greeley, Colo.
Turnout will be key. Many Hispanic Democrats say the Republican debate on immigration has turned off Latino voters but worry that a weak economy could make it more difficult to encourage Hispanics to support Obama.
"Building the excitement and the enthusiasm to go to the polls, that's something we're going to have to figure out how to do," said Maria Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. "They just feel down. The economy is terrible so our challenge is still going to be getting them to the polls. I think we can do it."
COMMENTARY | Political spin is a creature of perspective. Depending upon one's views, spin can read as reasonable and thought-provoking or misleading and disingenuous. Although Rep. Michele Bachmann, a 2012 Republican presidential hopeful, uses spin often, she is not particularly adept at it and her recent appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" proved a case in point when she attempted to characterize President Barack Obama's announcement that American troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by year's end -- effectively ending major U. S. military involvement in Iraq -- as a failure of his foreign policy and describing the withdrawal as the U. S. being "kicked out" by liberated Iraqi ingrates.
Bachmann said the withdrawal from Iraq was just leaving neighboring Iran "waiting in the wings" to move in and dominate Iraq. "That's not good for anyone," she said. "The United States has expended 4,400 lives, over $800 billion in toil and blood and treasure. While we're on the way out, we're being kicked out by the very people that we liberated."
"Kicked out" is misleading in that Bachmann ignored the fact the U. S. is leaving by mutual agreement with the constitutionally and democratically elected government of Iraq. One isn't normally "kicked out" unless one is forcefully removed, which is not occurring. The agreement, negotiated and put into place by the Bush administration in 2007, called for an American withdrawal by December 2011 once Iraq had established a government and military force with the ability to maintain governance in the country.
In renegotiating the agreement for a continuation of America's military presence, talks concluded when the civil government refused to grant U.S. military personnel immunity from Iraqi law past the end of the year, something the U.S. insisted on as a requirement for their presence.
Bachmann also noted the U. S. was "being kicked out by the very people that we liberated," which suggests the Iraqi people should in some way be grateful for an invasion and occupation that, while ridding the world of a brutal dictator, was done not at the behest of the Iraqi people or even a rebel movement but as a unilateral policy decision by the U.S. government.
Although Iraqis might feel gratitude toward the deposing of Saddam Hussein's regime and its replacement with a representative government, America's interference in Iraq's affairs has cost the nation an untold amount of treasure, hundreds of thousands of war casualties and a near decade-long disruption of their lives.
"The problem is, we've put a lot of deposit into this situation with Iraq," Bachmann argued. "To think that we are so disrespected and they have so little fear of the United States that there would be nothing that we would gain from this? That's why I've called on President Obama to return to the negotiating table."
Bachmann wants the U.S. to negotiate repayment for the war. Again, it is a war that was brought on by the insistence of the Bush administration, not at the behest of the people of Iraq. Bachmann speaks of disrespect for the U.S. but completely ignored the fact the Bush administration ignored Iraq's sovereignty by invading.
It is spin, pure and simple, given with the added usual Bachmann flare for ignoring the facts as they exist, supplanting reality with wishful thinking, unrealistic expectations and ideological blindness. Although it can be argued there are many good reasons to remain in Iraq, Bachmann presents none of those reasons -- save for the potential influence, infiltration and/or takeover of Iraq by its rogue neighbor, Iran.
Despite security fears, Iraq's government itself maintains that Iraq can handle its own security. Besides, an American withdrawal of its troops (some 45,000 at present) by December will not mean a full American disengagement. With 65,000 defense contractors in Iraq, many of whom will remain to help train Iraqi military and police and provide diplomatic security, a presence will be maintained.
"The security situation has nothing to do with the withdrawal of U.S. forces," Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters after President Obama's announcement, according to Sky News Australia. "The withdrawal will remove all justification on which al-Qaida and armed groups base their attacks."
Although simplistically optimistic and dismissive of the idea of political insurrectionists attacking the nascent government, al-Maliki addressed a limited continued American presence in his country. "The training issue will be added to contracts of purchasing weapons," he said.
The prime minister continued: "The withdrawal is a historic occasion for the Iraqi people and the armed forces because it is a commitment to withdraw all U.S. forces. Our forces have become able to control the security situation. With the withdrawal, (Iraq and the U.S.) will turn a page that was dominated by military (relations), and start a new stage built on diplomatic cooperation."
Political spin being what it is, "a commitment to withdraw all U.S. forces" became getting "kicked out" by ungrateful Iraqis who, due to such ingratitude, should subsequently have to pay for the unwanted and unsolicited invasion and occupation of the country.
Bachmann did say that given the demands of the Iraqi government, the U.S. should not have agreed to stay. Even conceding that, the congresswoman maintained the president was not respected and his foreign policy was a failure.
Still, even though Bachmann's views are somewhat unfounded in the realities of the situation, her statements aren't as bad as one comment offered on the same program by another presidential hopeful, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who put a completely unrealistic spin on America's withdrawal from Iraq. He said the pulling out the troops in Iraq meant Obama had just "lost" the Iraq War.
Oddly enough, as pointed out by Raw Story, he contradicted a senator from Pennsylvania who said in 2005 that as a democracy, Iraq could survive without an American military presence.
With its Blu-ray optical drive and Core i7 CPU, the Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 ($849.99 at Best Buy) is well equipped to handle most of your entertainment and home productivity needs. It also offers the latest in wireless and USB 3.0 connectivity, but its lack of a 1080p screen and mediocre graphics capabilities prevent it from being a killer multimedia laptop.
Design
The P775-S7320 has the same Fusion X2 Platinum finish as its predecessor, the Toshiba Satellite P775-S7215. It has a textured lid and wrist rest that are relatively smudge resistant and sports a bold, shiny silver Toshiba logo in the center of the lid. At 6.6 pounds it's lighter than most 17-inch laptops, including the 7.15-pound Dell Inspiron 17R-3530DBK and 7-pound HP Pavilion dv7-6143cl ($999.99 list, 4 stars).
Under the lid sits a 17.3-inch widescreen display with a webcam embedded in the upper bezel. The camera works with the pre-installed Toshiba Face Recognition utility to add an extra layer of security. The display has a reflective glossy coating, but delivers a very bright picture with good color reproduction. Unfortunately, its 1600-by-900 resolution prevents it from displaying HD content in 1080p (full HD), but it does a good job with 720p video. If 1080p is a must, the Sony VAIO VPC-F215FX/BI ($1,799 direct, 4 stars) has it and does 3D as well, but it's more than double the price of the P775-S7320.
The chiclet-style keyboard is firm and comfortable and has a dedicated number pad on the right. Above it are backlit touch sensitive buttons for volume control and mute, play and pause, and Wi-Fi on/off. There's also a button that turns off the button's backlighting, and another that launches Toshiba's eco utility, which allows you to set power saving parameters and view a real-time power usage chart. Below the keyboard is a lightly textured multi-gesture touchpad with a slice of backlit trim at the top and two quiet mouse buttons on the bottom.
Features
Port selection is decent but not great; you get HDMI and VGA video outputs, but only one of the three USB ports is of the speedy 3.0 variety, and there's no eSATA port. The Dell Inspiron 17R (I17RN-3530DBK), on the other hand, has two USB 3.0 ports and an eSATA port. The P775-S7320 doesn't have Bluetooth, like the dv7-6143cl, but it does have WiMAX 4G broadband and WiDi 2.0 (wireless HDMI) capabilities, as well as 802.11n Wi-Fi. Keep in mind that you'll need a Netgear Push2TV receiver ($99) hooked up to your external display or HDTV to use the WiDi 2.0 feature.
The P775-S7320 comes with a 750GB hard drive loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and a big helping of Toshiba software and utilities. In addition to the above mentioned face recognition software and eco utility, you get a webcam app, Blu-ray and DVD video players, a recovery media creator, a couple of diagnostic and health monitoring tools, a hard drive protection utility, and more. If you want to expand upon the one-year manufacturer's warranty covering parts and labor warranty Best Buy offers a two-year plan ($159.99) that covers costs for problems due to normal wear and tear, battery replacement, and power surges. For $289.99 you get all of the above with two years of accidental protection for spills and drops.
Performance
The P775-S7320 is configured with Intel's 2.20GHz Core i7-2670QM processor and 6GB of system memory, a combination that yielded impressive results on most of our benchmark tests. Its PCMark 7 score of 2,400 was a bit higher than the Dell I17RN-3530DBK (2,368) and HP dv7-6143cl (2,302) thanks to a slightly faster CPU. Its Cinebench R11.5 score of 5.28 was higher as well, for the same reason. The P775-S7320 had some trouble with our Photoshop CS5 test, requiring 4 minutes 54 seconds to complete the tasks. The HP dv7-6143cl needed 3:52 seconds, and the Dell I17RN-3530DBK finished in 3:53.
It finished the Handbrake multimedia test in 1:56, behind the dv7-6143cl (1:37) and Inspiron 17R (1:41), but ahead of the Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78 ($1,899.99 list, 3 stars) (2:07) and Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839 ($1,499.99 street, 4 stars) (2:08).
The P775-S7320 uses Intel's integrated HD Graphics 3000 GPU as its graphics engine, which means it can handle light graphics duty, but doesn't have the chops to run complex games. It scored 2,191 on the 3DMark 06 DirectX 9 benchmark test while running at its native (1600-by-900) resolution, while the dv7-6143cl, driven by an AMD Radeon HD 6770M GPU, scored 8,747. The Qosmio (11,903) blew them both away with its Nvidia GeForce GTX560M. On our Lost Planet 2 DirectX 9 gaming benchmark, the P775-S7320 managed just 20.1 fps while running at a low resolution (1024-by-768), which pales in comparison to the HP dv7-6143cl (72.9 fps), and the Toshiba Qosmio (79 fps).
The P775-S7320's 6-cell battery lasted a decent 5 hours 4 minutes on MobileMark 2007, outlasting the Dell I17RN-3530DBK by 24 minutes (4:40). Still, it couldn't match the dv7-6143cl's time of 9:13. The Qosmio came in dead last with a miserable time of 49 minutes.
The Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 is worth considering if you're in the market for a big screen laptop with Core i7 power and a Blu-ray player. Granted, the 17.3-inch display is nice, but it would be even nicer if it could display full-blown HD content at 1080p. Despite its less than stellar Photoshop score it has more than enough power to make short work of your productivity and multimedia workload, and a relatively light chassis makes it a bit more portable than most desktop replacements. That said, the P775-S7320 can't match the gaming prowess of our current Editors' Choice, the HP Pavilion dv7-6143cl, which offers a discrete graphics card and a whopping nine-hour battery life.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:
COMPARISON TABLE Compare the Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 with several other laptops side by side.
More laptop reviews: ??? Toshiba Satellite P755-S5320 ??? Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 ??? Asus U56E-BBL6 ??? Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7340 ??? Dell Inspiron 15R (I15RN-5882DBK) ?? more
My Eldar Howling Banshees behind a barricade I made from Stimudents and popsicle sticks
In the early aughts, I ran a popular and well-regarded tabletop wargame modeling and converting site called 40K Konversions. It was dedicated to all forms of modeling related to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. For those who don?t know, ?conversions? are wargame miniatures that have been altered in some way, from swapping legs or heads to creating whole new figures by parts swapping, sculpting on new features, and so on. Unfortunately, my site is no longer accessible. I went through my articles from the site and have put together some of the best tips and tricks that I published. Some are specific to sci-fi/40K gaming, others can apply to many forms of modeling. Feel free to add your own tips in comments. I?ll be moving this over to Make: Projects at the end of the month and will be folding in your tips and suggestions. -Gareth
Vehicle Parts
Use 1/35th scale military models (for close-enough 28mm game model compatibility).
Buy old kits at eBay auctions. Any sort of kits are fodder: Car model, railroad buildings, and of course, sci-fi and military models if you?re doing sci-fi gaming.
Many thrift and deep-discount stores sell model kits for super-cheap. Star Wars, Star Trek, and military models have great parts that can be used.
LEGO, old Robotix and other building system parts can be had for cheap at yard sales, thrift, and discount stores. Some pieces from these sets (especially Robotix) make great parts for Warhammer vehicles, buildings, and terrain.
Cockpit Controls and Industrial Parts
Old computers and printers can yield an infinite number of tiny parts and wires for detailing vehicle cockpits, comm centers and for use as building materials. Inkjet cartridges are ready-made power transformers. Just flip ?em over, buzz off the raised lettering with a Dremel tool, prime black, and drybrush in metallic colors and add some rust. You;re done! Don?t forget to plug up the ink holes on the tops, or run wires out of them.
Cockpit instruments can be added by creating them in a drawing program and reducing them to size for printing. Base the paper instrument sheet on thin styrene. This method works fine on cockpits that can?t really be scrutinized up close. For even more realistic controls, cover the above paper controls with a piece of clear acetate and cover that with another sheet of styrene with holes drilled out above the instrument displays. You?ll be amazed how convincing this looks. If you don?t have clear acetate, you can paint white glue over the instruments. It will dry clear.
You can also use 1/35th scale WWII instrument decals. From inside your vehicle cockpit, no one is going to be able to read the teeny letters.
Electronics solder makes great wiring.
How to scratch-build vehicle safety belts
Cloth Seat Covers and Safety Belts Cloth first aid strips make very realistic seat covers and safety belts. Just use sizes greater than the coverage you need and cut to size. The cloth material responds to paint surprisingly well too. Masking tape works great, too. A with some fuse wire, tweezers, and lots of patience, you can make buckles, too.
The infamous blue/yellow two-part epoxy putty, aka ?green stuff.? A Games Workshop sculptor once described working in this medium as akin to sculpting in stale bubblegum.
Adding Armor Don?t spend several bucks a plate for extra vehicle armor. You can easily make your own by cutting thin pieces of styrene sheeting to size. Or even card stock. Simulate weld lines around the plating with Green Stuff or auto body filler.
Here?s a nice video build of a looted Ork tank for 40K using a 1/35th scale M3 Grant WWII tank model
Sanding Gun Barrels Don?t sand the seam of a plastic gun barrel with a flat piece of sandpaper, it?ll leave flat spots, or an uneven sand. Make a tube out of sandpaper and twist and turn the barrel inside of it.
Realistic Gun Barrels Always drill out your gun barrels using a pin vise. It adds so much realism. For guns that have side port holes, drill these out first.
Reshaping Hands
It?s not easy to do, but you can reshape plastic model hands by putting them in boiling water and while the plastic is still soft, close the fingers around a weapon (or whatever) gently with needle-nose pliers.
You can also reshape arms, hands and legs by heating them over a candle, holding the part HIGH enough that it softens, but does not melt and then shaping it before it dries. This is not easy to do and takes practice. Cut notches on the opposite side of where you want the arm or leg to move to aid in the process. Fill any remaining gaps with Green Stuff. Practice on models you don?t care about before you try this on models you do.
Creating Fur Apply static grass to your model with white glue. When dry, apply a coat of spray matte vanish. Trim grass if necessary. THEN prime and paint to desired colors.
A very handsome urban base, created with kitty litter, chunks of plastic, and some screen material
Basing Models If you want your models to be truly unique, try basing them with real rocks! We got this tip from Benjamin Durbin of BatReps. He writes: ?I buy slate from a hardware store, at about 3 bucks for a 50 lb bag? I?m sure it?s meant to be used in flower gardens or something. I don?t recall the last time I bought something at the hardware store that wasn?t 40K related. I use vice grips to break down the slate chunks into roughly 40k sized bases.?
Ben is also fond of basing some of his models in plain ol? American sand. He writes: ?It?s irregular (big grains, little grains, light grains, dark grains) so it looks great ?right out of the box.? You don?t have to paint it. You don?t even have to pre-paint the base. Just put glue everywhere and dunk it into sand. And the best part is, sand is available in large quantities, for free, at your local playground. (Please do not approach the children.)?
It?s amazing to us how many people follow the GW party line and base their models in golf course green (a.k.a. Goblin Green). We don?t think it looks natural. Mixing different shades of green flocking (you can get other shades at the hobby store) and a few pieces of railroad ballast will make a much more natural-looking base. For urban basing, you can make bricks and rubble out of Green Stuff, styrofoam, bitz, etc. You can also buy ready-made 1/35th-scale WWII rubble in some hobby stores.
If you?re basing Necromunda models, for Emperor?s sake, don?t use grass! Use an urban motif. Sand glued onto the bases and then glue applied over the sand (to seal it) makes a durable base. Paint black and then drybrush in grays, black and other dark colors to represent the ash-laden, muck and rubble-covered floor of the underhive.
You can even use hobby ballast to represent grass. Mix fine-grain ballast with hobby sand (or fine sand from your yard). Underglue and overglue for durability. Prime black or dark green and then drybrush in different lighter shades of green to represent grass. You end up with a very durable base, which from a distance, looks like grass. For another deathworld look, cover the base with a mixture of model train coal and iron ore (available at hobby stores) and ballast (ditto).
Use a combination of the techniques above (sand basing, hobby ballast, rubble) and combine with some static grass (sold through Games Workshop or hobby stores).
Gluing
For more precise control of glue application, coil a piece of thin wire around a toothpick, with the wire coming off of one end. Put a pile of superglue or white glue on a piece of paper and dip the wire in the glue. As the wire gets crusty, snip off the tip and uncoil a bit more from the rod.
Tape up (w/masking tape) model parts before gluing to check the fit. When satisfactory, apply superglue along the seams. When dry, sand smooth.
Fill small gaps in models with white glue. Apply glue with wire applicator (in small doses so that skin doesn?t form) and then smooth out glue with a moistened cotton swab.
Painting Tips
Take pots of your expensive minitaures/hobby paints to your local paint store. Have them match acrylic house paint to your colors. This is better for large terrain coverage (Chaos Black, Goblin Green, Codex Grey) than for use on figures. Miniature paint is especially formulated for miniature use, so the properties of the paint are slightly different.
Don?t be afraid to experiment with other brands of acrylic modeling and craft paints. One brand, called Plaid, that?s sold in most craft stores and craft areas of department stores has been reported by some modelers to be nearly indistinguishable from Citadel Colours. The paints cost from US$.50 ? $.90 for 2 Oz. (up to four times the amount of Citadel paint) and they?re slightly thicker, so they go even farther when thinned.
Save small clear plastic sauce containers from take-out food. Great for mixing paint, glue and sand mixture, holding basing flock, etc. With lids, paints, etc. can be stored without drying out.
BlueTac (poster putty) can be used to temporarily hold models and bitz to cardboard or other painting surface. BlueTac can be found in most stationary stores. It?s meant to attach posters to walls without (allegedly) marring them. You can also use a tiny ball of BlueTac for keeping doors closed on vehicles that are prone to opening.
Paint stirring sticks (free at paint stores) make great holders of small bits while you paint them. Use BlueTac or two-way tape to hold the items down while you paint. Silly Putty can be used for quick-and-dirty masking/frisket material. Put it on the areas you don?t want painted. It will remove without leaving any residue. Works for both brush and airbrush work.
There are all sorts of ?family recipes? for stripping off old paint. Spic ?n Span in warm water is one of them. It?ll remove acrylic paint from plastic models within a few hours, and take enamels off if left on overnight. Some swear by Easy Off oven cleaner. PineSol is another popular method (for use on metal minis). Experiment with any of these before you subject your minis.
A quick and dirty way to transfer paint from a pot to a palette or mixing cup is to use an old large-bristled brush. Since you don?t have to be fussy about the brush, you can really load it up with paint and then scrape it off on the side of the cup. Just make sure to thoroughly clean the brush before grabbing paint from another pot.
If you have trouble (like we do) keeping track of which Citadel paints you have on hand, print out the Citadel Paint Chart on the Games Workshop site and use the order boxes in front of each color to inventory what you have and need.
Tool Tips
Paper clamps (aka binder clips) make great modeling spring clamps. Make sure to place card or something else between your work and the clamp jaws so that you don?t mare the surface. Clothes pins make great glue clamps too.
Shop the beauty isle of your local drug store! In the manicure section, you?ll find all sorts of sanding supplies. Get yourself a four-way sanding file, which has four grits for sanding and buffing. They even often have small, spongey wet-dry sanding blocks! And manicure scissors make a great modeling tool, too.
A walnut cracker, the kind that has curved jaws, makes an excellent bottle opener for stubborn paint and glue pots.
A large old butcher block makes a great modeling surface. You can cut on it, paint on it, tack things down on it. Once it gets funky, just get out the ol? belt sander and re-surface it!
A fabric cutting wheel (about ten bucks in a fabric store) is a very useful tool for cutting thin card and styrene sheeting. The blade is very sharp and teamed up with a steel ruler, will produce perfect and quick cuts.
The art of the sprue
Sprues
Save your sprues! These can be used for all sorts of modeling bitz.
You can ?re-size? sprue plastic by heating it over a candle and pulling on it. With practice, you can even bend it to form rings, rounded rectangles and other shapes.
Be careful! The fumes are noxious and you don?t want to set the plastic to flame.
You can make a handy glue applicator tool from sprue. Stretch a pencil-length of sprue using the method above, pulling on one end until it?s very narrow. Sand the narrow tip to a point. Now you have a tool for precise glue application. Sand excess glue from the end when needed. As the tip gets gunky, re-heat and re-stretch.
The building to the right was built from the thin styro material that some models came. The base is made from the FedEx box they shipped in. The ?stink pipe? chimney is made from a soda straw. A large impact crater can just be seen behind the building. It was made with blue insulation board (as was the gaming table itself). The street lights are from a scrounged model railroad kit. The top barrels on the barricade are desiccant canisters that come in some medicine bottles.
Buildings You can make nearly every structure imaginable with little more than styrofoam packing material, shipping box cardboard, cereal boxes, and various cans, bottles, and food trays rescued from your garbage. Develop a terrain maker?s eye and you?ll be amazed at what you?ll see in everyday junk. Look at the shapes of styrofoam or paper-based packing pieces used to secure electronics equipment (and other products) in their shipping cartons. Some of these pieces are ready-made buildings, just flip ?em over, paint (with acrylics only), and detail. We?re making a factory complex out of the four styro pieces that secured the speakers for our bookshelf stereo system. You couldn?t find a more perfect futuristic-looking industrial building shape. Some spent ink jet printer cartridges will serve as the power generators for the complex.
Pipes and Wires
Flexible soda straws make perfect pipes complete with curved (elbow) sections. Don?t just use the straw as-is, either. You can cut the straight pieces to any length and use the ?elbow? part by itself to make all sorts of twisting and turning pipe ?runs.?
Paint brush or other clear-plastic tubes (like the one?s used to protect brush tips) can also be used as piping. The one for the Citadel tank brush makes a great drain pipe. Paint it black, drybrush in Boltgun, wash in Chestnut ink for some rust, and you?re all set. Having some nice luminous green goo dripping out of it is a nice touch too.
If you want more flexible tubing, you can use fish tank or other tubing you can get at a hardware store.
To add viscous goo running out of pipes, glue a piece of thin wire to the end of the pipe. Dip it in sticky white glue (that?s been left out for awhile) and let it dry. Dip in white glue again (repeat, like you?re making a dip candle), until you get the desired shape and thickness. When dry, paint with the colors you want your liquid to be.
For water running out of pipes, use clear sprue material. Heat it up and shape it so that it looks like it?s running out of the pipe. Careful you don?t burn yourself! Guitar strings make great conduit-like cable runs.
Solder is also perfect for snaking cables along building walls, inside vehicles, etc. Use very thin plasticard to make the straps that would hold conduit wire onto a wall. Another old wargamers trick is to use the thin metal wrap found around champagne corks to make metal straps.
Water, Gas, Oil, etc. Storage Tanks
All sorts of pill bottles, deodorant applicators, and food containers can be used to simulate industrial storage tanks. Develop an eye for seeing what can become of these things with a little bit of primer, paint, rust detailing and glued-on bitz.
Plastic toilet tank floats make killer large ball-type storage tanks. Some nice feet, a catwalk and a great paint job and you?re in business. Readily available at building demolitions, junkyards or a couple of bucks at a home store.
Gather up some asthma medicine packaging, a deodorant container, some sand, white glue, some tubing and a nice paint job and a few decals you?ve got yourself an alien fuel depot. [Sadly, I don't remember who contributed this to my site.]
Towers, Masts, Gangways, etc.
You can easily make VERY cool looking tower structures (for power lines, flood lights, antenna, etc.). Simply draw the design of each side of the tower to scale on a piece of paper. Use hash lines on your plans to indicate which tower uprights connect to the other sides, so you won?t get confused as to which sides need both uprights built and which don?t. Use plastic or brass rod and cut them to the proper dimension. Use little blobs of BlueTac to hold the parts directly onto the paper plans while you glue. Save time and materials but making tripod-type towers instead of four-sided ones ? and they look cooler too!
Gang railing can be built the same as above. When railing is complete, attach to industrial deck plates as outlined below. If you lazy, you can buy already-made gang rails pretty cheaply from Evergreen or Plastruct.
Industrial Deck Plates Safety deck plating gives everything that essential industrial look, and it couldn?t be easier to make. For the floor/deck base, you can use plasticard, cardboard, balsa, whatever you want. Cut metal screen material (ideally the diamond-shaped kind) to deck size. (We got a pack of sculpture modeling screen for a few bucks in a craft store. It?s perfect.) Spread a film of glue on the base and glue down the screen material. Now, using very thin card stock (thin food packaging and FedEx Letter envelopes work great), cut out a frame that will go around the edges of the deck. Glue this on. When everything is dry, prime in black and drybrush in Boltgun. Voila. Very convincing industrial decking.
The inside of my command bunker, build from styrofoam shipping material. The floor is made from screen mesh. The two command consoles were pieces from the Robotix toy line. They were putty gray. I painted them in suitably 40K metal, rust, with green screen displays.
Corrugated Metal Siding and Roofing Thin corrugated cardboard makes perfect metal siding and roofing when properly painted. You need the cardboard that has the corrugations exposed. You can sometimes get this in shipping material (we got a lifetime supply of it with some furniture we bought), but you can also get it in craft stores. Make sure to get the thin board with the small corrugation for proper scale.
Industrial Garage Doors You can make very convincing roll-up garage doors with corrugated cardboard. Orient the card so that the corrugations are horizontal. Make a U-shaped frame for the two sides and the top with card (or plasticard). Add a handle (made with stretched sprue), drybrush in metallic colors and you?re done.
Metal Fencing and Window Covering We wait each Christmas for clementines to come into season, not only because they?re really good, but because the plastic mesh material that covers the little crates is perfect for making metal 40K fencing. Just prime black, db Boltgun, wash in Chestnut ink, mount onto some plastic H-beam, base, and you have a great looking fence terrain piece. You can also use this material to make metal mesh-covered windows.
Steel-Reinforced Windows Cut rectangular pieces of screening material (either diamond-shaped or square screen look good) so that they completely cover the windows you want to ?reinforce.? Make sure there?s enough around the edges for gluing. Prime the screen black and db with Boltgun Metal. Glue the screening in place inside the building. If you want, you can back the screening with black-painted card (or black construction paper), so that one can?t see inside the building (assuming you won?t be detailing the interior.
Sandbags Very nice sandbags can be made with Green Stuff. Roll out a ?snake? of Green Stuff about the thickness of your pinky finger. Slice off a section about 1/2? long and shape it into a sandbag. Now, use a piece of bandage gauze to lightly press some texture into the bag?s surface. Using a scribing tool or the tip of a hobby knife, scribe a seam around the edges of the bag. You?re done. If you want a sandbag emplacement, gently press the bags into each other into stacks before they dry. For added realism, when they are dry, drill tiny holes into a few bags and white glue some sand running out of the holes and below the bag on the base.
Spent Shell Casings Tooth picks, pot sticks, dowels cut to appropriate length and painted with appropriate color (Burnished Gold, Brazen Brass, etc.) make convincing casings. A small black line can be painted towards one end to simulate the typical grooves found in shell casings. Who cares if Bolters use caseless ammo? Spent shells are just too cool to pass up.
Battle Damage
Spray paint on styro. The solvent will melt parts of the styrofoam. You can control the process somewhat by ?masking? areas you don?t want damaged by covering it in white glue.
Superglue on styro has a similar effect (see above).
Bullet holes can be drilled with a pin vice.
Holes can be nicked in with a hobby knife.
Battle damage can be inflicted with a heated-up nail (held with pliers and an oven mitt and done only with adult supervision, if you?re a kid).
Use radiating lines of black and gray paint from the point of damage to simulate blast heat.
Smoke and fire can be effectively simulated with colorized cotton. The cotton that comes in medicine bottles is near perfect size. Daub the cotton overall in shades of red, yellow and orange to simulate flames, paying more attention to one end. You can do this with a brush, but the most effect method is putting thinned paint into a spray bottle. The hotter you want the fire to appear, the redder you paint. When that?s dry, daub overall in black (and gray) paint, paying more attention to the opposite end from the more red/orange-heavy end. The ?hotter? end is the bottom, the darker end the top. You can even store your cotton damage markers inside of vehicle hatches and pull them out when the vehicles are hit.
Rivets
Barbed Wire
The Games Workshop barbed wire is beautiful (and sharp!), but it?s way too expensive. You can make your own for nearly nothing with square-patterned window screen material. First you need to prime the screen in black, then drybrush with Boltgun and add a little Chestnut ink wash for rust. When dry, cut the screen so that you have one long strip of wire with barbs coming off of each side, like this: +++++++++++ Now, twist your wire around four pencils to get the desired coil shape, and you?re done.
Watch out, this barbed wire is really sharp, too. If you want, you can also touch up the bare metal on the edges of the barbs.
You can easily make tripod posts for your barbed wire too. Cut three equal lengths of thin wooden dowel. Paint to desire wooden post look (you can use brown and black inks like wood stain). Lightly tie the three posts together with thin twine and then spread them out into a tripod shape. Drop some white glue in the crotch of the posts and let dry. Now all you have to do is drape your barbed wire through the tripods and you?re done.
Concrete
Mix water and white glue with fine sand to desired thickness (more sand for a heavier stucco look, less sand for regular concrete). Brush liberally onto styrofoam building elements. Brush with black primer (don?t use spray!) and dry brush with a succession of lighter and lighter grays and finally a light touch of white.
When modeling concrete battlements, bunkers, etc. a lot of people overlook pour seams. Most military emplacements of this nature are quickly constructed and appearance is not a concern. Seams between successive concrete pours are usually visible. You can add this realism by using some Celluclay (mix with a little white glue if you have trouble getting it to stick) or even beads of white glue (applied on a horizontal surface, of course). These pour lines pick up the drybrushing and look great. Make sure not to make the pour lines too consistent.
Marble If you want to create fancy looking stone, you can use the same technique used for faux-marbling in the macro world. Paint your surface in Skull White then use a small crumpled up rag to dab into a light gray (or blue) paint. Dab this onto paper to get most of it off and then dab onto your ?stone,? covering a lot of it, while letting the base color show through. Next, do the same with a much lighter gray (or blue) and less coverage (keep that rag crumpley!). When done, you can even use a small bird feather or detailing brush to add dark gray, dark blue and or black veins. A few white or light blue veins will add some depth. If done right, this creates convincing marble worthy of the Emperor?s Palace.
Here?s a basic how-to on easy, effective blast crater construction
Craters
Try the ?AOL method? of terrain construction: use an AOL CD (or other useless CD or CD-ROM). Cover the center hole with thin card stock. Build up the rim of the crater with bits of styrofoam (or outright carve a crater ring from a single piece of styro). Cover the styro with glue and cover that with sand, kitty litter, or other suitable terrain material. Prime (with black acrylic). Paint, add lichen, etc. to taste.
Very nice looking craters can be made by molding Celluclay to desired shapes, and when dry, covering with a sand/glue/water mixture, and then hobby gravel. Since this process uses a lot of Celluclay, it only makes sense for small blast craters.
A quick and easy way to make craters is to crumple newspaper into tube shapes and masking tape them onto a circular base (AOL disc, cardboard, whatever). Cover much of the paper with the masking tape until you get a nice crater shape. Cover the entire surface with plaster cloth (plaster-impregnated cloth found in medical-supply, drug and hobby stores). When dry, finish as detailed above. You can also use the same basic technique with paper mache.
Make model trees with Steve Delaney
Trees
Cut up plastic X-mas trees. Artificial Christmas trees can be found at yard sales and thift stores for next-to-nothing. The branches can be cut to make excellent-looking gaming trees.
Painted bottlebrushes. When your kitchen bottlebrush isn?t doing much in the way of cleaning bottles anymore, you can cut/shape it to the proper size and then paint and base it.
Real tree twigs or roots with lichen foliage make very convincing trees. Roots look more realistic because they have more branchings. You can leave them their natural color or control their look with painting. Build up the lichen in small bits, don?t just use big wads of it. This will give you more control and make a more realistic-looking tree.
You make a bunch of convincing hardwood trees by twisting equal lengths of wire (I use the type from a flower shop) together. Splay out and shape the wires on the top for branches and the wires on the bottom for roots. Cover the wire with Sculpey, Celluclay, spackle/filler, whatever is handy. Drag a toothpick or sculpting tool through the ?bark? when it?s partially dry to add texture. When dry, paint and then apply model railroad ground foliage foam or lichen. Base as desired. For tropical trees, you can use the same method, but wrap masking tape (or plaster cloth) around the branches and trunk (instead of the clay, etc.) to simulate palm tree-type bark. For palm leaves, you can use paper (colored green), creased down the center and cut along the edges to represent fronds. Another method (that we prefer) is to sandwich the wire of each palm tree branch with wide masking tape. Then you can cut the tape into leaf shapes and then cut along the edges to make fronds. Make sure tape is very well attached with edges sealed together. Paint. The tape makes a nice texture and is more durable than paper.
Ladders
Balsa strips can be cut to make wooden ladder verticals and rungs.
Plastic or balsa strips can be used for the verticals and staples can be used for the rungs.
HO-gauge train tracks make nice ladders, too. Remove the metal tracks and use the remaining plastic part as the ladder.
Hills
Paper mounds taped down to a base with masking tape, covered with plaster-impregnated gauze and then painted and flocked.
Scraps of styrofoam packing material shaped into hills with knife, soldering iron and/or foam cutter.
Rocks, Stone, Gravel
Large rock and slag piles from cut-to-shape styrofoam bits.
Kitty Litter is a great, low-cost alternative to modeling gravel and model train ballast.
Use real stones! Find ones in your yard that will ?scale? properly. You can paint them if their coloring doesn?t work at 40K scale. Prime black and drybrush with successive layers of lighter and lighter gray with a final Skull White very light drybrushing.
Celluclay can also be molded to desired rock shapes and then, when dry, painted as described above.
Mud Spatter You can produce very realistic mud spatter on troops, vehicles and buildings using a mixture of white glue, flour, blown paint and a bit of water (just enough to keep it workable). When you have your mixture, load it onto an old toothbrush and then fan the bristles in the direction of the model (along the bottom of the tracks on a tank, for instance).
Flock Sawdust makes great terrain flock. You don?t need to paint it beforehand. Just get fine sawdust, glue onto terrain piece and then paint in different shades of green (Dark Angels Green, Goblin Green, etc.). It works best if you spray the colors on.
Tall Grass
Unwound twine works great. Make holes in terrain, spot of glue, push folded-in-half length of twine into holes with brush handle (pen tip, tooth pick, whatever). Drybrush to desired colors.
Theatrical crepe hair (found in costume shops). Spread white glue on terrain, glue small clumps of crepe (the fewer at a time, the better). Drybrush desired color.
Tank stowage made from rolled up Kleenex and white glue
Rolled Tarps, Tents, Bed rolls, etc.
Rolled Kleenex works well. Roll it up and then wet it with thinned out white glue. When dry, paint and apply to your model.
Very thinned rolled up Green Stuff. Use tissue on outside for fabric effect. Roll Green Stuff out between pieces of plastic sandwich wrap so it doesn?t stick to rolling pin.
Medical gauze can be used as cammo netting. Wet it in a thinned glue solution, while it?s still wet, apply it to your vehicle, building, etc. Paint.
The post card for my now-deceased (sniff, sniff) 40K modeling site. I used to give this out at cons.
The P775-S7320 is configured with Intel's 2.20GHz Core i7-2670QM processor and 6GB of system memory, a combination that yielded impressive results on most of our benchmark tests. Its PCMark 7 score of 2,400 was a bit higher than the Dell I17RN-3530DBK (2,368) and HP dv7-6143cl (2,302) thanks to a slightly faster CPU. Its Cinebench R11.5 score of 5.28 was higher as well, for the same reason. The P775-S7320 had some trouble with our Photoshop CS5 test, requiring 4 minutes 54 seconds to complete the tasks. The HP dv7-6143cl needed 3:52 seconds, and the Dell I17RN-3530DBK finished in 3:53.
It finished the Handbrake multimedia test in 1:56, behind the dv7-6143cl (1:37) and Inspiron 17R (1:41), but ahead of the Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78 ($1,899.99 list, 3 stars) (2:07) and Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839 ($1,499.99 street, 4 stars) (2:08).
My Eldar Howling Banshees behind a barricade I made from Stimudents and popsicle sticks
How to scratch-build vehicle safety belts
The infamous blue/yellow two-part epoxy putty, aka ?green stuff.? A Games Workshop sculptor once described working in this medium as akin to sculpting in stale bubblegum. 
A very handsome urban base, created with kitty litter, chunks of plastic, and some screen material
The art of the sprue
The building to the right was built from the thin styro material that some models came. The base is made from the FedEx box they shipped in. The ?stink pipe? chimney is made from a soda straw. A large impact crater can just be seen behind the building. It was made with blue insulation board (as was the gaming table itself). The street lights are from a scrounged model railroad kit. The top barrels on the barricade are desiccant canisters that come in some medicine bottles. 
Here?s a basic how-to on easy, effective blast crater construction
Make model trees with Steve Delaney
The post card for my now-deceased (sniff, sniff) 40K modeling site. I used to give this out at cons.