Ozone threat to India

The closing down of Antarctic ozone hole in the second half of this century will spell trouble for the rest of the globe, a recent study led by scientists from Columbia University has hinted. Countries like India could be especially vulnerable.
According to the study, published in the June 13 issue of Science, the closing of the hole will intensify climate change near the equator. The finding is in contrast to the observations made by the report of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Earth’s ozone layer is in the lower stratosphere, which is just above the troposphere (from the planet’s surface to a height of about 12 km). It absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.
Widespread use of household and commercial aerosols, containing mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), till the late 1990s, led to significant ozone depletion, putting the public health at risk. The production of CFC was phased out across the world in accordance with the Montreal Protocol, signed by 191 countries.
Studies in the past few years found that ozone depletion has largely halted and is expected to completely reverse. As a consequence, the climate in the southern hemisphere may change, affecting climate elsewhere.
“We were surprised to find that the closing of the ozone hole, expected to occur in the next 50 years or so, shows significant effects on the global climate,” says Lorenzo M. Polvani, one of the two principle investigators involved in the study and a professor of applied physics and applied mathematics.
In the past few decades, the tropospheric winds in the southern hemisphere have been accelerating closer to the planet’s pole as a result of increasing greenhouse gases and decreasing ozone with a broad range of effects on the Earth’s climate.
The IPCC models predict that this effect will continue, albeit at a slower pace. In contrast, the latest study predicts that, as a consequence of ozone recovery — a factor largely ignored by the IPCC models — the tropospheric winds in the southern hemisphere may actually decelerate in the high latitudes and move toward the equator, potentially reversing the direction of climate change in that hemisphere. The effects will be felt the most by countries close to the equator. India, naturally, could be affected.
“Our results suggest that stratospheric ozone is important for the Southern Hemisphere climate change, and ought to be more carefully considered in the next set of IPCC model integrations,” said Seok-Woo Son, lead-author of the study.

New Google Mobile Phone Search Patent Applications

Is there a Google Phone waiting to be released, or just mobile software that makes it easier for people to use Google to search with? How serious is Google about mobile search? How would such a system work?
I ran into a patent application on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) pages from Google that describes a phone system that makes searching on a mobile phone much faster than it is now, but which would require that data be carried over more than one session connecting to the search engine during a single search. I haven't seen this published at the US Patent and Trademark web site yet, so the link below is the the WIPO version.
Added: another patent application from Google published this morning, focuses upon a nonbrowser software application that people can use on their phones to search with Google and read emails....
click below to read more . . .
http://searchengineland.com/070322-012742.php

Sale or Buy $$$

Buy and sell electronics, cars, clothing, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods, digital cameras, and everything else on eBay, the world's online ... All under one place.

www.ebay.com
http://www.toponlineshopping.com/
http://www.overstock.com/
http://www.makaan.com/
http://www.bizrate.com/electronics/

. . . . . and many more . . .

Track Down Your Car, With Help From an Electronic Sidekick

In plenty of cinematic thrillers there is a scene where the villain attaches a tiny bug to the hero’s car and tracks it through the city.
The GPS Snitch by BlackLine GPS lets you pull off a similar tracking feat over the Internet — showing, for example, where that villain who stole your car is headed.

more . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/technology/personaltech/05snitch.html?ref=personaltech

Preparing For The Bankruptcy "Wave": Using Legal Process Outsourcing Before, During And After Chapter 11

The Bankruptcy Landscape
As the economy and financial markets continue on their downward slide and consumer pessimism grows, experts are in agreement that a deluge in U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings (as well as out-of-court workouts) is looming on the horizon. For example, as early as last September Moody's forecasted that the rate of bankruptcies of highly leveraged companies would more than double over the following 12 months. Through the first four months of 2008, 2,700 companies have filed for Chapter 11 protection - approximately 6,200 petitions were filed in all of 2007. Also quite telling is the fact that 27 companies have defaulted on their debt so far this year, already exceeding 2007's total of 16.

http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=view&artMonth=June&artYear=2008&EntryNo=8337

Preparing For The Bankruptcy "Wave": Using Legal Process Outsourcing Before, During And After Chapter 11

The Bankruptcy Landscape
As the economy and financial markets continue on their downward slide and consumer pessimism grows, experts are in agreement that a deluge in U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings (as well as out-of-court workouts) is looming on the horizon. For example, as early as last September Moody's forecasted that the rate of bankruptcies of highly leveraged companies would more than double over the following 12 months. Through the first four months of 2008, 2,700 companies have filed for Chapter 11 protection - approximately 6,200 petitions were filed in all of 2007. Also quite telling is the fact that 27 companies have defaulted on their debt so far this year, already exceeding 2007's total of 16.

http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=view&artMonth=June&artYear=2008&EntryNo=8337

The Scientific Business of Thomson Reuters Publishes Pharma Matters - a Series of Reviews Covering Various Aspects of the Pharmaceutical Pipeline

Quarterly Reports Utilize Strategic Intelligence and Competitive Analysis from Thomson Reuters to Analyze Promising Drugs Changing Clinical Phase, Leading Sources of Information on Medical Research and the U.S. Generics Market.
To knowmore...click below
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-04-2008/0004826007&EDATE=