Friday, April 8, 2011
Palace running out of time for ARMM polls postponement
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives—study
WASHINGTON—Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently.
Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.
"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala," the study said.
Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions.
"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place.
"Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."
The study was based on 90 "healthy young adults" who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned.
People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said.
Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts," it said.
"Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views."
It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them.
But the central issue in determining political views appears to revolve around fear and how it affects a person.
"Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political orientation is associated with psychological processes for managing fear and uncertainty," the study said. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.
"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala," the study said.
Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions.
"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place.
"Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."
The study was based on 90 "healthy young adults" who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned.
People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said.
Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts," it said.
"Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views."
It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them.
But the central issue in determining political views appears to revolve around fear and how it affects a person.
"Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political orientation is associated with psychological processes for managing fear and uncertainty," the study said. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Facebook makes data centers greener and cheaper
PALO ALTO—Facebook on Thursday presented an Internet-obsessed world with a gift – greener, cheaper data centers to more efficiently power online services.
The social networking star custom-designed hardware, power supply, and architecture of a new US data center that is 38 percent more power efficient and costs 24 percent less than the industry average.
Schematics and designs for Facebook's revolutionary data center in the Oregon city of Prineville were made available to the world as part of an Open Compute Project announced by founder Mark Zuckerberg.
"We found a lot of stuff mass manufacturers were putting out wasn't what we needed, so we customized it to better fit social applications," Zuckerberg said during a press conference at Facebook's campus in Palo Alto, California.
"We are trying to foster this ecosystem where developers can easily build startups."
A shift to hosting software applications as services in the Internet "cloud" is driving enormous growth of data centers globally, according to Graham Weston, chairman and founder of US computer network hosting giant Rackspace.
Cheaper data centers should translate into lower costs for Internet startups that typically rent computing capacity, providing a "turbo-charge" for innovation, according to Dell computer vice president of server platforms Forrest Norrod.
"Facebook's design is really a leap forward, because it is much simpler, cheaper and greener," Weston said. "I think it's the biggest reduction in server infrastructure cost in a decade."
San Francisco-based social game sensation Zynga is looking to use Facebook's technology in its data centers, which host popular online games such as "FarmVille" and "Zynga Poker."
"We think it is going to make a big difference in how we bring play to the Internet," Zynga chief technology officer Allen Leinwand said while taking part in the Facebook press conference.
"It should be fun for people to play on the Internet, but you need a lot of infrastructure behind that," he said. "We are really intrigued by what is going on here."
The power efficiency gains of the Open Compute Project design promises to shave millions of dollars off the electricity bill of a typical large data center, according to Weston.
If a quarter of the data centers in the United States switched to the new model it would save enough energy to power more than 160,000 homes, Facebook estimated.
"It's time to stop treating data centers like 'Fight Club' and demystify what is going on in there," Facebook vice president of technical operations Jonathan Heilinger said in a playful reference to a film based on secret gatherings for bare-knuckle matches.
Other Internet firms such as Google build their own data centers, but haven't made designs freely available as Facebook has at the website opencompute.org.
Developing countries where outdated and inefficient data centers are common could be prime beneficiaries of the free Facebook technology.
India, China and other countries are racing into an Internet Age that demands data centers, Dell's Norrod noted.
"There will be the opportunity for Internet companies in the developing world to take a leap forward, jumping over the past 15 years of learning," Norrod said. "That's going to happen."
Computer makers Dell and Hewlett-Packard along with chip companies Intel and Advanced Micro Devices worked with Facebook to develop the data center technology.
Facebook engineers hoped to get feedback and ideas to improve the designs.
"It is like the launch of the (Toyota) Prius, only you gave people the plans on how to make the Prius," said Intel data center group general manager Jason Waxman. "There are a lot of places around the world that could benefit from this kind of information." (report from Glenn Chapman/Agence France-Presse)
The social networking star custom-designed hardware, power supply, and architecture of a new US data center that is 38 percent more power efficient and costs 24 percent less than the industry average.
Schematics and designs for Facebook's revolutionary data center in the Oregon city of Prineville were made available to the world as part of an Open Compute Project announced by founder Mark Zuckerberg.
"We found a lot of stuff mass manufacturers were putting out wasn't what we needed, so we customized it to better fit social applications," Zuckerberg said during a press conference at Facebook's campus in Palo Alto, California.
"We are trying to foster this ecosystem where developers can easily build startups."
A shift to hosting software applications as services in the Internet "cloud" is driving enormous growth of data centers globally, according to Graham Weston, chairman and founder of US computer network hosting giant Rackspace.
Cheaper data centers should translate into lower costs for Internet startups that typically rent computing capacity, providing a "turbo-charge" for innovation, according to Dell computer vice president of server platforms Forrest Norrod.
"Facebook's design is really a leap forward, because it is much simpler, cheaper and greener," Weston said. "I think it's the biggest reduction in server infrastructure cost in a decade."
San Francisco-based social game sensation Zynga is looking to use Facebook's technology in its data centers, which host popular online games such as "FarmVille" and "Zynga Poker."
"We think it is going to make a big difference in how we bring play to the Internet," Zynga chief technology officer Allen Leinwand said while taking part in the Facebook press conference.
"It should be fun for people to play on the Internet, but you need a lot of infrastructure behind that," he said. "We are really intrigued by what is going on here."
The power efficiency gains of the Open Compute Project design promises to shave millions of dollars off the electricity bill of a typical large data center, according to Weston.
If a quarter of the data centers in the United States switched to the new model it would save enough energy to power more than 160,000 homes, Facebook estimated.
"It's time to stop treating data centers like 'Fight Club' and demystify what is going on in there," Facebook vice president of technical operations Jonathan Heilinger said in a playful reference to a film based on secret gatherings for bare-knuckle matches.
Other Internet firms such as Google build their own data centers, but haven't made designs freely available as Facebook has at the website opencompute.org.
Developing countries where outdated and inefficient data centers are common could be prime beneficiaries of the free Facebook technology.
India, China and other countries are racing into an Internet Age that demands data centers, Dell's Norrod noted.
"There will be the opportunity for Internet companies in the developing world to take a leap forward, jumping over the past 15 years of learning," Norrod said. "That's going to happen."
Computer makers Dell and Hewlett-Packard along with chip companies Intel and Advanced Micro Devices worked with Facebook to develop the data center technology.
Facebook engineers hoped to get feedback and ideas to improve the designs.
"It is like the launch of the (Toyota) Prius, only you gave people the plans on how to make the Prius," said Intel data center group general manager Jason Waxman. "There are a lot of places around the world that could benefit from this kind of information." (report from Glenn Chapman/Agence France-Presse)
Gov’t shutdown looms as Obama budget talks fail
WASHINGTON—The United States slipped closer to a government shutdown as President Barack Obama's latest summit with the top Republican leader failed to cut a deal on spending ahead of a Friday deadline.
A stern-faced Republican House of Representatives speaker John Boehner said there was "no agreement on a number, no agreement on the policy issues," after 90 minutes in the Oval Office with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
"We are not there yet," Boehner said, though adding that he believed an agreement was possible before a midnight Friday deadline at which government funding runs out and vast swathes of the bureaucracy will go dark.
The top Senate Democrat Harry Reid, who was also in the talks, said the four political heavy hitters would get together again at 7:00 p.m. (2300 GMT) Thursday to try and thrash out a deal to avoid temporary layoffs of 800,000 government workers.
The showdown on the scope and nature of huge spending cuts in last year's budget, through to October 1, is the first big clash between Obama and the new Republican House elected in November, and has huge political ramifications.
As the maneuvering intensified ahead of Friday's deadline, House Republicans voted through a stop gap spending bill including $12 billion in cuts that would avert a shutdown and take negotiations into another week.
But Obama threatened to veto the measure, should it reach his desk, arguing that it was a purely diversionary tactic to divert attention from the main focus of the high-stakes Oval Office talks.
"This bill is a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise," his budget office said in a statement that warned a shutdown "would put the nation's economic recovery in jeopardy."
The measure, which would fund the US military until October 1 and which Reid has already said has no chance in the Senate, passed in a 247-181 vote.
As well as shutting out government workers, the partial closure of the government would delay pay to soldiers including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hurt some Americans counting on annual tax refunds.
Large areas of the government would shut down, federal workers would be ordered to turn off their Blackberries and would be barred by law from volunteering to go to the office unpaid.
With time to reach a deal ticking down, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor notified lawmakers that they would need to report to work on Friday and "keep their schedules for this weekend as flexible as possible."
"We will not leave town until we have fulfilled our obligation to cut spending, to begin getting our fiscal house in order," Cantor announced to his colleagues. Any deal reached by Democratic and Republican leaders would need to be endorsed by Congress.
Republicans disputed Democratic claims that both sides had settled on $34.5 billion in cuts and that the White House's foes had stalled the talks by insisting that curbs on abortion and a roll-back of environmental rules be part of the final legislation.
"If this government shuts down – and it looks like it's headed in that direction," Republicans will be to blame for insisting on "matters that have nothing to do" with spending, charged Reid.
"The numbers are basically there," Reid said, both sides are "extremely close" after aides worked throughout the night following talks at the White House late Wednesday.
But "I am not nearly as optimistic – and that's an understatement – as I was 11 hours ago," because of the rifts over Republican-crafted measures to restrict access to abortion and roll back environment rules, the senator warned.
Both items were included in a House-passed measure to fund the US government to the end of the 2011 fiscal year, September 30, while cutting some $61 billion in government spending.
"We made progress last night at least I thought we did. But when I see what the White House has to offer today, it's really just more of the same," Boehner told reporters.
"I think we were closer to a number last night that we were this morning. There are a number of issues that are on the table and any attempt to try to narrow this down to one or two, just would not be accurate," he said.
The speaker has come under heavy pressure from the archconservative "Tea Party" movement who helped power Republicans to recapture the House and erode the Democratic Senate majority in November elections.
Tea Party members and lawmakers closely aligned with the movement have heaped pressure on Boehner not to compromise with Democrats and said they would rather see the government shutdown than make major concessions. (report from Stephen Collinson/Agence France-Presse)
A stern-faced Republican House of Representatives speaker John Boehner said there was "no agreement on a number, no agreement on the policy issues," after 90 minutes in the Oval Office with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
"We are not there yet," Boehner said, though adding that he believed an agreement was possible before a midnight Friday deadline at which government funding runs out and vast swathes of the bureaucracy will go dark.
The top Senate Democrat Harry Reid, who was also in the talks, said the four political heavy hitters would get together again at 7:00 p.m. (2300 GMT) Thursday to try and thrash out a deal to avoid temporary layoffs of 800,000 government workers.
The showdown on the scope and nature of huge spending cuts in last year's budget, through to October 1, is the first big clash between Obama and the new Republican House elected in November, and has huge political ramifications.
As the maneuvering intensified ahead of Friday's deadline, House Republicans voted through a stop gap spending bill including $12 billion in cuts that would avert a shutdown and take negotiations into another week.
But Obama threatened to veto the measure, should it reach his desk, arguing that it was a purely diversionary tactic to divert attention from the main focus of the high-stakes Oval Office talks.
"This bill is a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise," his budget office said in a statement that warned a shutdown "would put the nation's economic recovery in jeopardy."
The measure, which would fund the US military until October 1 and which Reid has already said has no chance in the Senate, passed in a 247-181 vote.
As well as shutting out government workers, the partial closure of the government would delay pay to soldiers including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hurt some Americans counting on annual tax refunds.
Large areas of the government would shut down, federal workers would be ordered to turn off their Blackberries and would be barred by law from volunteering to go to the office unpaid.
With time to reach a deal ticking down, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor notified lawmakers that they would need to report to work on Friday and "keep their schedules for this weekend as flexible as possible."
"We will not leave town until we have fulfilled our obligation to cut spending, to begin getting our fiscal house in order," Cantor announced to his colleagues. Any deal reached by Democratic and Republican leaders would need to be endorsed by Congress.
Republicans disputed Democratic claims that both sides had settled on $34.5 billion in cuts and that the White House's foes had stalled the talks by insisting that curbs on abortion and a roll-back of environmental rules be part of the final legislation.
"If this government shuts down – and it looks like it's headed in that direction," Republicans will be to blame for insisting on "matters that have nothing to do" with spending, charged Reid.
"The numbers are basically there," Reid said, both sides are "extremely close" after aides worked throughout the night following talks at the White House late Wednesday.
But "I am not nearly as optimistic – and that's an understatement – as I was 11 hours ago," because of the rifts over Republican-crafted measures to restrict access to abortion and roll back environment rules, the senator warned.
Both items were included in a House-passed measure to fund the US government to the end of the 2011 fiscal year, September 30, while cutting some $61 billion in government spending.
"We made progress last night at least I thought we did. But when I see what the White House has to offer today, it's really just more of the same," Boehner told reporters.
"I think we were closer to a number last night that we were this morning. There are a number of issues that are on the table and any attempt to try to narrow this down to one or two, just would not be accurate," he said.
The speaker has come under heavy pressure from the archconservative "Tea Party" movement who helped power Republicans to recapture the House and erode the Democratic Senate majority in November elections.
Tea Party members and lawmakers closely aligned with the movement have heaped pressure on Boehner not to compromise with Democrats and said they would rather see the government shutdown than make major concessions. (report from Stephen Collinson/Agence France-Presse)
House pushes for lower tax rate
MANILA, Philippines—A key leader of the House of Representatives on Thursday urged President Benigno Aquino III to consider a proposal to reduce the expanded value-added tax (VAT) rate of 12 percent to the lower value simplified tax (VAST) rate of six percent.
Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, chair of the committee on ways and means, said the VAST bill was the legislature’s contribution to the government effort to lower the budget deficit which runs to over P300 billion annually.
Mandanas batted for VAST following reports that President Aquino was against removing or reducing the VAT as it would not only lead to higher fuel consumption but would cut government revenues to fund vital programs.
With VAST, Mandanas said, “not only will the direct tax payments of Filipinos be reduced, but the revenues of the government will be increased by no less than P50 billion, and corruption will be drastically reduced with the repeal of the input tax credit deductions in the VAT system.”
On Jan. 17, Mandanas wrote President Aquino asking that he certify as urgent House Bill No. 3850, which would impose the VAST in lieu of the VAT.
In the letter, Mandanas said VAST would encourage the “bayanihan” spirit of sharing and engender an equitable distribution of the tax burden between the private sector and the public consumer.
“With VAST, we believe your administration will be true to its word, ‘kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.’ Through your leadership, we in the House of Representatives are able to best serve the Filipino nation,” Mandanas wrote Mr. Aquino.
“The VAST measure also sends a clear and concrete message that the Aquino administration is sensitive to the needs of the ordinary Filipino taxpayer by reducing their direct tax burden,” he said.
VAST calls for the removal of the input tax credit system, which is multi-layered and provides occasions for graft and corruption, thereby affecting revenue collection.
Mandanas said VAST would increase government revenues by at least P50 billion with both the private sector and the end-consumer sharing the tax burden. (report from Cynthia Balana/Cebu Daily News)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)