Cuba prisoner: US should ink no-aggression pact

American contractor Alan Gross has been imprisoned for three years in Cuba for smuggling satellite equipment to the country's Jewish community. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.

By Michael IsikoffNBC News

HAVANA, Cuba ? Three years after he was arrested in Havana, jailed American contractor Alan Gross is asking the U.S. government to sign a "non-belligerency pact" with Cuba as a first step toward negotiating his release, according to a Cuba policy analyst who just visited him.

Peter Kornbluh , right, stands with Alan Gross, in a picture taken on Kornbluh's iPhone by a guard during his visit to the Havana prison where Gross is being held.

Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba specialist at the National Security Archives, a nonprofit research center in Washington, met with Gross for four hours?on Wednesday at the military hospital in Havana where the contractor is being held. He said Gross appeared "extremely thin" ? he has lost over 100 pounds since his arrest ?and dispirited.

"He?s angry, he?s frustrated, he?s dejected ? and he wants his own government to step up" and negotiate, said Kornbluh. "His message is that the United States and Cuba have to sit down and have a dialogue without preconditions. ? He told me that the first meeting should result in a non-belligerency pact being signed between the United States and Cuba."

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Gross' comments appear to represent a new tack in an aggressive public relations campaign to win his freedom. His supporters have planned a candlelight vigil outside the Cuban interests section in Washington D.C., on Sunday and the U.S. Senate is poised to take up a resolution Monday demanding his release, Gross? wife, Judy, has also become increasingly critical of the U.S. government for not doing more to demand that her 63-year-old husband be allowed to return home.

Jose Luis Magana / AP

Judy Gross at her home in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 29.

"He feels like a soldier in the field left to die," she said at a press conference in Washington last week.

Gross, who worked for an Agency for International Development contractor, was arrested by the Cubans on Dec. 3, 2009, and accused of smuggling sophisticated satellite and other telecommunications equipment into? the country to give to the island?s tiny Jewish community. Gross has said he was only trying to increase Internet access? in Cuba. But he was convicted by a Cuban court in March of last year for crimes "against the independence and territorial integrity of the state" and sentenced to 15 years.

Related coverage

Cuba pushes swap: its spies jailed in US for American contractor held in Havana

Slideshow: Castro through the years

Last month, Gross and his wife filed a $60 million lawsuit against the U.S. government and the contractor he was working for, Development Alternatives, charging he was used as a "pawn" in a U.S. government program to change the Castro regime and never advised about the dangers he faced bringing high tech satellite transmission equipment into Cuba. (The State Department, of which AID is a part and which has repeatedly called for Gross? release, declined comment. Development Alternatives has released a statement saying it has "no higher priority" than bringing Gross home.)?

Kornbluh, who has advocated closer U.S.-Cuba dialogue, was in Havana last week to attend a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. He was granted permission to visit Gross by Cuban officials. (The Cubans so far have denied all news media requests to meet with him.) He said Gross was most upset about being unable to return home to see members of his family who are ill, especially his 90-year-old mother in Texas who has cancer.

Keystone / Getty Images

Ever since U.S.-backed Cuban President Fulgencio Batista was forced from power by rebels led by Fidel Castro in 1958, the relationship between the two nations has been fraught with difficulties.

"He really wants to see his mother, who is quite old and infirm,? said Kornbluh. When Kornbluh had his photo taken with Gross, the contractor held up a photo that read: ?Hi Mom.? When he asked Gross what he wanted to get out of the lawsuit, the contractor replied: ?I want to see my wife and I want to see my mother."

To accomplish that, Gross is seeking to nudge the Obama administration, according to Kornbluh. Gross knows that his freedom "is going to depend on his government negotiating in good faith with the Cubans," said Kornbluh. "His message to Barack Obama is: I?m fired up and ready to go. Where are you at this moment?"

Michael Isikoff is NBC News' national investigative correspondent; NBC News producer Mary Murray also contributed to this report.

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Source: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/02/15620342-american-jailed-in-cuba-wants-us-to-sign-non-belligerency-pact-to-speed-release?lite

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Hagfish Slime Makes Silken Threads

Natural fibers come from silkworms and spiders, and now we can add the gross?looking hagfish to the list.

Researchers have turned hagfish slime into a base for a protein-based fiber that can? also be made into sheets. Along with other natural fibers such as spider and silkworm silk, hagfish fibers could serve as a greener alternative to polymers such as rayon, nylon or polyester ? all of which have to be made with petroleum, scientists say.

A paper outlining the researchers' work at Canada's University of Guelph appears in the current issue of the journal Biomacromolecules.

Hagfish ? which aren?t true fish and resemble eels ? make a slime that contains thousands of fibers when bothered or threatened. Glands on their skin quickly release a mucous-like substance that expands as it mixes with seawater. The result is a kind of slimy, viscous region around the hagfish that some marine biologists think serves as a defensive mechanism by clogging gills. ?Certainly predators, such as sharks, that try to bite or swallow the hagfish are quickly convinced to back off.

The fibers hagfish make are about 70 percent the strength of spider silk. Unlike spider silk, however, hagfish fiber might be amenable to mass production, said Douglas Fudge, associate professor of integrative biology who leads the lab where the research was done. "There's been this huge amount of research into [mass]-producing spider silk," he said, "but there isn't a lot to show for it."

It?s probably not possible to farm hagfish, as little is known of the animal's reproductive habits, for one thing. But it might be possible to synthesize the fibers once their chemistry is better understood, the team says.

To make the fibers, the researchers anesthetized an Atlantic hagfish (Myxine glutinosa) and stimulated it to make the slime. When outside of seawater, hagfish only secrete the slime in small amounts, on the scale of milliliters, and the form is called mucin. The fibers are made by single cells inside the slime gland, but they aren't long strings at that point ? they are more like coiled-up balls of yarn contained in the mucin.

To get the fibers, the team put the mucin into a solution of sodium citrate, which separates the fibers from the mucin. The threads are then freeze-dried in a vacuum at minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 Fahrenheit). Once dried, the threads are dissolved in formic acid. When the dissolved threads are dropped into a salt solution, the proteins that make up the fibers would form a film on top of it ? and that film can be extruded into threads. The film can also be made into a coating.

"That was another interesting phenomenon," said Atsuko Negishi, a postdoctorate researcher who was lead author of the paper. "You could make these thin films. One question we had was if we can do something interesting with those."

The next steps will involve digging into the chemistry of the threads, and looking for ways to make them without the hagfish. Fudge noted that cell biologists have a number of ways to make cells produce specific proteins, but this particular study didn't touch on that.

"We're trying to create something more sustainable and renewable," Negishi said. "Ultimately, we don't want to depend on the hagfish."

This story was provided by?TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hagfish-slime-makes-silken-threads-203646828.html

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PETS: Velvetine, Neveah, Dilly - Havre de Grace, MD Patch

From the?Humane Society of Harford County:
???

Dog of the Week: Velvetine
Age: 8 years
Color: Beige
Breed: American Cocker Spaniel Mix
Gender: Female
Adoption Fee: $95
Do you know what I want for Christmas?? A home that?s mine, all mine.? I?m Velvetine and I was found as a stray in the area.? Luck has not been on my side, but I think maybe better days are ahead.? I am a real sweetie pie who gets along with kids and other dogs (maybe cats too, but I?ve never been around them).? I am a real happy-go-lucky girl who is going to make a wonderful companion for some lucky family.

Cat of the Week: Neveah
Age: 3 years
Color: Cream & White
Breed: Siamese Mix
Gender: Male
Adoption Fee: $95
Neveah means ?unique?, and that fits me to a tee! Meow, I am a very handsome guy who would like nothing better than to have a home. I'm kinda' shy at first, but I'm very calm when you hold me. I'm hoping to find a nice home that will show me that people really are good. Won't you please find it in your heart to come and see me?

Small Critter of the Week: Dilly
Age: 3 months
Color: Brown & White
Breed: Guinea Pig
Gender: Male
Adoption Fee: $25
My name?s Dilly and I have a little riddle for you: do you know what?s brown and white and runs all over?? ME, that?s who!? I?m a 3-month-old bundle of guinea pig energy who?s looking to make his permanent home with a nice person or family like you.? Stop into the Critter Cottage soon to meet fuzzy, adorable ole me!

???

Find the Humane Society of Harford County on Facebook.

Source: http://havredegrace.patch.com/articles/pets-velvetine-neveah-dilly

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Demi Lovato to Press: Give Lindsay Lohan a Break!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/11/demi-lovato-to-press-give-lindsay-lohan-a-break/

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See Mercury at Dawn and Jupiter All Night Long

This is a great week for planetary observers. Mercury is in its best position as a "morning star" for observers in the Northern Hemisphere while Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest for nighttime observers all over the world.

First let's take a look at Mercury's dawn sky performance. Because Mercury never strays far from the sun, it is usually a challenging object to observe.

Only rarely does Mercury reach maximum elongation when the ecliptic is at a steep angle to the horizon, so that it can be spotted against a fairly dark sky. Each year this happens once in the evening and once in the morning, and this is the week to look for Mercury in the morning sky for northern observers. As a bonus, the brighter planets Saturn and Venus point the way to find Mercury's tiny disk against the glow of dawn.

Even when well placed, Mercury can be a challenge unless you have a clear sky on your eastern horizon. Sweeping with binoculars will often help to first locate Mercury. Once located in binoculars, it is usually quite easy to see with the unaided eye. A telescope will show it as a tiny "half-moon." [Amazing Night Sky Photos by Stargazers]

Jupiter in the night sky

Jupiter, on the other hand, dominates the sky all night. It reaches opposition, a point exactly opposite the sun in our sky, on Dec. 2, and moves from the morning sky to the night sky.

On the nights around opposition, it is in the sky all night long, rising in the east as the sun sets in the west, and setting in the west as the sun rises in the east. When opposition happens this close to the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, Jupiter is above the horizon for a full 15 hours.

If you have a telescope good enough to show you the details of Jupiter?s cloud belts, you can watch a full rotation of the planet, which takes a little under 10 hours. You should be able to see the Great Red Spot at some point during any night, and might even see it twice in one night.

Jupiter?s Great Red Spot is the longest-lived atmospheric feature in the entire solar system. Its position has been tracked by astronomers since 1894, and there are observations of it going back more than a century earlier than that. At times the Great Red Spot has been a large brick-red object, three times lager than the entire planet Earth. Currently it is a pale remnant of its former self, so that observing it can be a challenge.

Jupiter's big (red) spot explained

What do you need to spot Jupiter's Great Red Spot?

First of all, a good quality telescope with at least 6 inches (150 mm) aperture. Secondly, a night with very stable atmospheric conditions on Earth. Finally, your timing needs to be right, because the planet Jupiter rotates faster than any other planet.

Half the time, the Red Spot is on the side of the planet you can?t see. Even when it?s on the side facing Earth, it?s often lost in the haze on Jupiter?s limb. It is really only at its best within an hour on either side of its time of central meridian transit.

As already mentioned, the Red Spot?s position has been tracked for over a century. The problem is that it is not an object fixed to the planet itself, but is a huge storm system, mostly confined to a constant latitude, but drifting over time in longitude.

If you have a computer program which shows the position of Jupiter?s Red Spot, it is probably wrong. That?s because, unlike most things depicted in planetarium software, the Red Spot does not move in a uniform predictable manner. You have to tell your software the current position of the Great Red Spot.

Consult the manual for your software to find out how to set the longitude of the Red Spot. Its current longitude, as of late November, is 188? in Jupiter?s System 2 longitude system. To get the Red Spot?s most up-to-date position, visit: http://jupos.privat.t-online.de/rGrs.htm

The red dots mark the actual raw measured positions of the Great Red Spot in longitude (across the chart) against the date (down the chart).

There is also this simple calculator via Sky & Telescope magazine, which will give you the approximate times the Red Spot transits Jupiter?s central meridian for any date.

Choose a time within an hour of one of these transit times.

Jupiter's Great Pink Spot?

The last thing you need to know when looking for the Red Spot is that it is no longer red. Its current color is best described as a very pale salmon pink. Most of the time the Red Spot is not visible by where it is, but rather where it isn?t. Because it is lighter in tone than the South Equatorial Belt in which it resides, it is most often seen as a hollow in the south side of that belt, sometimes called the Red Spot Hollow.

Be forewarned that most photos of Jupiter have been processed to exaggerate the contrast and colors of Jupiter?s atmospheric features. The real planet has much fainter markings than you see in pictures.

Also be prepared to use averted vision to detect the faint markings: Look slightly off to one side of the planet. Finally, be patient. Planetary features only pop into view now and then when we get a steadier moment in our atmosphere.

This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/see-mercury-dawn-jupiter-night-long-124002529.html

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Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Funding Restored in ...

In January, May's copayments will return to $20 each, the same copay he was charged in 2011.

After cutting the EPIC budget by about $12 million to help erase a $10 billion state budget shortfall, the legislature earlier this year restored EPIC funding for Jan. 1 to March 31. What will happen when the 2013-14 fiscal year begins April 1 depends on Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the state legislature.

Before the cuts, roughly 190,000 low- and middle-income New Yorkers 65 and older relied on the program to supplement their Medicare Part D and any prescription insurance coverage they had.

Cut was "devastating"

Under the scaled-back program for 2012, EPIC was free but was limited to low-income people and did not contribute toward copays until a Medicare enrollee and his or her insurer had spent $2,930 on prescriptions, the point where the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole" begins.

The changes were "absolutely devastating to many seniors, especially those with serious or chronic illnesses," said Cathy Roberts, who works on health care access issues at the Empire Justice Center in Albany.

For instance, Muriel Kenitz, of Galway, stopped taking one of her prescriptions, a hormone medication to help sharpen her memory, relieve severe headaches, prevent osteoporosis and lower cholesterol.

The news of the EPIC restoration is a "major relief," said Kenitz, who turns 74 this month. "But all that money I lost [paying for other medications] I won't recoup."

Kristin Legere, AARP New York communications director, said people reported being shocked when they went to a drugstore to pick up a prescription and found the price had skyrocketed, sometimes by hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Most EPIC enrollees paid about $875 in additional out-of-pocket costs for their medications in 2012, an AARP New York analysis found.

May, a retired rabbi in Rockaway, Queens, said he had heard about the cuts but didn't realize the full significance. After his shock at the pharmacy counter in January, May got angry. Then he got busy.

He participated in an AARP New York tele-town hall meeting in which the EPIC cuts were discussed. He also called his legislators to express dismay over the cuts, spoke at community organization meetings and talked to friends.

Next page: The cuts triggered a rigorous lobbying effort. ?

Source: http://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-12-2012/funding-for-epic-returns-briefly-ny.html

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Transit draft seeks $20 billion from new Minnesota taxes (Star Tribune)

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