An Antarctic ice shelf has disappeared: scientists

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday.
They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986.
Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey, available at pubs.usgs.gov/imap/2600/B.
"The rapid retreat of glaciers there demonstrates once again the profound effects our planet is already experiencing -- more rapidly than previously known -- as a consequence of climate change," U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.
"This continued and often significant glacier retreat is a wakeup call that change is happening ... and we need to be prepared," USGS glaciologist Jane Ferrigno, who led the Antarctica study, said in a statement.
"Antarctica is of special interest because it holds an estimated 91 percent of the Earth's glacier volume, and change anywhere in the ice sheet poses significant hazards to society," she said.
In another report published in the journal Geophysical Letters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that ice is melting much more rapidly than expected in the Arctic as well, based on new computer analyses and recent ice measurements.
The U.N. Climate Panel projects that world atmospheric temperature will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius because of emissions of greenhouse gases that could bring floods, droughts, heat waves and more powerful storms.
As glaciers and ice sheets melt, they can raise overall ocean levels and swamp low-lying areas.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Xavier Briand)

I.B.M. Reportedly Will Buy Rival Sun for $7 Billion

I.B.M. appears on the verge of acquiring Sun Microsystems, a longtime rival in the computer server and software markets, for nearly $7 billion.
The two companies have been negotiating for weeks, ironing out terms of an agreement that would turn I.B.M. into the dominant supplier of high-profit Unix servers and related technology.
I.B.M. is offering $9.50 a share, down from a bid of $10 a share, said people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly. The new agreement would restrict I.B.M.’s ability to walk away from the deal, these people said.
Even at $9.50 a share, the deal would value Sun, based in Santa Clara, Calif., at close to $7 billion. It is close to a 100 percent premium based on Sun’s value before rumors of an acquisition spread last month.
Representatives of I.B.M. and Sun declined to comment. People familiar with the negotiations say a final agreement could be announced Friday, although it is more likely to be made public next week. I.B.M.’s board has already approved the deal, they said.
I.B.M., based in Armonk, N.Y., has spent weeks poring over Sun’s patents and licensing agreements. Some 100 lawyers have been working in a hotel in Silicon Valley on intellectual property matters.
Although in a slump of nearly a decade, Sun is one of the largest sellers of server computers and is known for systems based on its Sparc chips. It has a vast software portfolio, including the Solaris operating system , the open-source MySQL database and the Java programming language.
“Sun has obviously been a lost child for many years, but they have some great assets,” said Rebecca Runkle, director of technology research at Research Edge, an equities analysis business. She said that Sun and I.B.M.’s cultures would mesh in their commitment to large research and development projects.
Sun’s software assets would fit into I.B.M.’s long-term strategy of chasing higher-profit software and services sales. It could also give I.B.M. more strength in competing against Oracle, which has sold its database software on top of Sun systems for years.
I.B.M.’s acquisition of Sun would disrupt that long partnership with Oracle. I.B.M. could also undercut Oracle by more actively promoting the free MySQL software, which has become the most popular database software with Internet companies.
Hardware inherited from Sun could present antitrust concerns. I.B.M. faces an antitrust complaint from T3 Technologies over its dominance in the mainframe market. By buying Sun, I.B.M. would gain close to total control over robotic tape storage devices used to file data on mainframes.
Sun has a sales and technology partnership with Fujitsu for the sale of Unix servers. If I.B.M. buys Sun, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard will be the combined company’s only major competitors in the Unix market, a possible concern for regulators here and in Europe. Sun faces a patent infringement lawsuit from the storage maker NetApp and has countersued. NetApp has a sales pact with I.B.M.
Silicon Valley executives, including Paul S. Otellini, chief of Intel, have said that Sun has spent months seeking a suitor.
Shares of I.B.M. rose more than 3 percent on Thursday, to $100.82, and Sun’s shares rose more than 2 percent, to $8.21.
Steve Lohr contributed reporting.

A Blooming Tree

My Buddha let us meet in my most beautiful hours.
I have prayed for it for five hundred years.
Buddha made me a tree by the path you may take.
In full blossoms I am waiting in the sun every flower carrying my previous hope.
As you are near, listen carefully the quievring leaves are my waiting zeal.
As you pass by the tree without noticing me.
My friend,upon the growned behind you is not the fallen petals,but my withered heart.

My unforgettable experience

On May 1,2007,our family went to Tianmu Lake and had a bad lunch time there.As that day was a holiday ,so a lot of people went there to enjoy themselves .When it was time for lunch ,my father took me to a restaurant with beautiful looks,which is next to the pretty lake.There are so many people and I really want to change a place.However,we had no options because there was only one restaurant inside the lake zone.After waiting for about half an hour ,we sat down and ordered the meals.However,nobody came to take chopsticks and tea to us,let alone any food we ordered.We were very hunger and asked the waiters to be quick for many times.They told us"okay okay"everytime,which made us more angry was that they did no actions!We watched people come and go for about twenty minutes but still can not see the food we want.Finally we went and ate outside the lake.I think I will not go to that place again.

US Government to Take Bigger Stake in Citigroup

Shares of Citigroup plunged more than 30 percent Friday after the U.S. government reached a deal with company officials to convert up to $25 billion in bailout money into common shares.
The share designation does not guarantee regular dividend payments but typically provides shareholders with the right to vote.
The deal gives the government a larger say in the ailing bank, but it also increases the risk to U.S. taxpayers. A deal struck between Citigroup and the US Treasury Department on Friday marks the government's third rescue attempt for Citigroup in five months.

agreement will give the government a 36 percent equity stake in the company. "What we've really had to date is sort of a slow, de facto nationalization," said Neil Weinberg of Forbes Magazine, "Where the government's ownership stake in Citigroup has over time, gotten greater and greater."Although the stock conversion will give the government greater say in how the company operates, it also exposes taxpayers to greater risks if the bank fails.

White House economic adviser Paul Volcker tried to quell speculation about the government's intentions at a congressional hearing on Thursday. Volcker stated, "I would not call that nationalization, I would call that capital restructuring."Citigroup has already received 45 billion dollars in bailout money from the government. But with the Obama administration proposing another 750 billion dollars to stabilize the financial system, Weinberg says why not take over troubled banks entirely?

Weinberg added, "Citigroup, Bank of America are names that come up prominently. Take them over completely, get rid of the bad assets. Because what you have right now are zombie banks. They're neither dead nor alive, they can't really help the economy by lending aggressively and so you need to clean them up."As part of the deal, dividends for preferred shares were suspended.
The move sent Citigroup shares sharply lower, dragging the Dow Jones index close to an 11 year low.

Yuanmingyuan relics lost the first rat and rabbit statue in Paris was the first price auction

Paris Time 25 evening Grand Palais in Paris, France, "organized by Yves Saint Laurent collections with hot" special auction, Yuanmingyuan relics lost the first rat and rabbit, respectively, the first statue to drop 14 million euros hammer. 2 animals were the first night by telephone to participate in the auction buyer won the bid. Beast in the end the first two were taken a few buyers as well as the buyers identity is unclear.

More than from collectors around the world attended the evening's auction. However, the rat and rabbit the first bronze statue of the first major auction in the auction were several telephone between. After several rounds of the asking price, eventually the first two animals were involved in the night of the auction by phone buyers will be taken. At present, in the end the first two animals were taken a few buyers as well as the buyers identity is unclear.
The first rat and rabbit are the first bronze statue of Yuanmingyuan, "the first 12 Lunar New Year animal" can be identified in the present are still living abroad 2. "Lunar New Year animal first 12" in the second period of the loss of the Opium War, the current has returned to have the five: the first cow, the first monkey, tiger head, the first pig, horse first, while the first five long, snake-head, the first sheep, chicken First, the first dog statue are still unaccounted for.

Was informed that the auction results, to the French court to stop the loss of Yuanmingyuan relics rat rabbit the first bronze statue of the first auction of the European Convention for the Protection petita Chinese Arts Federation President Bernard Gomez said that he was very heartbreaking. He hoped that Chinese buyers are photographed statue in these two animals first, so that objects can be returned to China. Gomez also stressed that his proposed claim, apart from hope to be able to stop the auction house Christie's auction, but also wish to remind the French people concerned about the fate of Chinese cultural objects.
Once published in the French burned the Yuanmingyuan insider expose the works of "1860: Yuanmingyuan great catastrophe," the French historian, veteran journalist Bernardalso the first to know Yuanmingyuan rat and rabbit auction results of the first statue to the Xinhua News Agency reporter Biao Shi , he can understand the feelings of Chinese people. He hoped that whoever bought the capital of these two beasts be able to respect them back to China.
In addition, 25 evening activities in the auction at the same time, some in France and the overseas Chinese students in the Grand Palais in Paris auction to be held in front of the protest activities. Them to passers-issued Yuanmingyuan and the introduction of the auction promotional materials. One student said that the first two animals for the French people are news, but it is the history of Chinese people, I hope be able to help through the protests of the French people understand the history of the Yuanmingyuan, as well as respect of these two beasts bumpy first experience living overseas.

How lovely! I like it!