Golf-American Dufner may take out European Tour membership

By Tony Jimenez

ABU DHABI | Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:19pm IST

ABU DHABI Jan 16 (Reuters) - Jason Dufner is considering widening his horizons by competing more in Europe and could decide to become a member of the tour in future, the United States Ryder Cup player said on Wednesday.

Dufner is 11th in the world rankings after winning twice on the U.S. PGA Tour last season and making his debut appearance in the Ryder Cup.

He was also runner-up to compatriot Bo Van Pelt at the European Tour's Perth International event in Australia in October and is looking forward to competing in this week's Abu Dhabi Championship and the Qatar Masters tournament that follows.

"I've had the opportunity the last couple of years with my play in the U.S. to... come over and play these events," he told reporters on Wednesday. "I think it's a good thing to compete around the world and see where you stack up.

"We are pretty spoiled in the U.S. We just kind of play in one area and people are pretty focused on the PGA Tour but there are a lot of other tours and a lot of other great events around the world.

"I've discussed taking up membership of the European Tour, I thought about possibly doing it this year," said Dufner.

"With the four majors and the World Golf Championships counting as events and throw in three or four more that would also count, it may be a possibility in the future."

Dufner, 35, said it could only improve his game to mix up his playing schedule.

"I think it makes you a little bit of a better player to come over here and experience golf in different places against different golfers," he added.

"It's up to the individual and I can see both sides of the argument. Guys in the U.S. get comfortable and they want to stay close to their families and obviously travelling over here can be difficult for some."

Dufner is normally calm and reserved on the course but he provided the occasional excitable fist-pump at the Ryder Cup where he was one of his team's standout performers, winning three points out of a possible four.

"Usually when I'm out playing there are maybe 25 or 30 people watching me," he said. "At the Ryder Cup the holes are just packed with people - the atmosphere is unbelievable and I'd never experienced anything like that.

"It takes over and the moment kind of gets inside your body I guess. A couple of fist-pumps here and there were probably much needed." (Editing by Alison Wildey)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/INgolf/~3/Hz3A4d-pGRU/golf-european-dufner-idINL4N0AL7P020130116

Romnesia eminem eminem yankees Tagg Romney Bosses Day Cabin Fever 2

Military suicides on the rise

A scary trend for our troops in Afghanistan, as more troops committed suicide than were killed in combat.

Not only that, but more troops killed themselves last year than the Pentagon had expected.

In 2012, there were 349 suicides among active-duty troops, 325 is what the pentagon had projected.

?

Here?s how the suicides breakdown by branch:

The Army had the majority of suicides with 182.

The Navy had 60.

The Air Force had 59.

The Marine Corps had? 48.

?

The Department of Defense told NewsChannel 3 it is quote: ?deeply concerned about suicide in the military ? which is one of the most urgent problems it?s facing.

By next year, it hopes to have results from the largest mental health risk study every conducted in the military.

It?s hoping to use that data to shed light on the issue ?and come up with intervention plans.

If you or a loved one are in need, the Military Crisis number is 1-800-273-8255.

You can also chat confidentially online at veteranscrisisline.net.

Source: http://wtkr.com/2013/01/14/military-suicides-on-the-rise/

Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson santa tracker happy holidays Stores Open On Christmas Day Santa Claus Feliz Navidad

UK Government Rejects Lawmakers' Calls to Halt Arctic Oil Drilling

LONDON - The U.K. government has rejected lawmakers' calls for a halt to Arctic oil and gas drilling, despite renewed safety concerns following the recent grounding of Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Kulluk rig off Alaska, saying that securing global energy supplies was paramount.

The U.K. government's comments, published Tuesday, come as Shell Monday said it had safely towed the Kulluk rig to safe harbor on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. The rig ran aground in stormy weather Dec. 31 while under tow, further highlighting fears about the environmental risks of oil extraction in the Arctic.

The government said that while it recognized the risks of drilling for hydrocarbons in the sensitive Arctic region, high environmental and drilling standards, efforts to enhance oil spill prevention and response mechanisms would be more effective than a ban.

"We believe these measures--combined with effective and ambitious global action to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions--are more likely to be effective in protecting the Arctic environment than pressing for a complete moratorium on all drilling in the Arctic region," the government said.

The government was responding to a report from the U.K. parliament's Environmental Audit Committee in September last year, which recommended an immediate moratorium on Arctic drilling until safety is improved.

The lawmakers want to see a pan-Arctic oil spill response plan, research showing that response techniques will work in extreme conditions and the introduction of stricter financial liability rules for oil and gas companies operating in the area.

However, the U.K. government said the International Energy Agency's recent global oil demand and supply forecasts implied a need to source substantial new production capacity between now and 2035. New oil supplies are vital for the U.K., which is becoming increasingly dependent on oil imports as its domestic hydrocarbon production declines.

"It is against this background that we need to ensure we have continued access to a well supplied and competitive world oil market, whilst reducing our exposure to volatile oil and gas prices," the government said.

The U.K. has no power over the Arctic, but it does have observer status on the Arctic Council, a grouping of eight Arctic states that discusses Arctic issues.

Joan Walley, the chair of the Environmental Audit Committee said the grounding of the Kulluk rig raised serious questions about the safety of Shell's operations in the Arctic and the committee would be calling them back to parliament to give further evidence.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

Related Companies

Source: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/123441/UK_Government_Rejects_Lawmakers_Calls_to_Halt_Arctic_Oil_Drilling?rss=true

target target walmart best buy sears abercrombie abercrombie

French to double troops in Mali

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? A spokesperson for the French military operation in Mali confirmed that France is going to double the number of troops deployed in coming days. There are currently 800 soldiers, including elite special forces, stationed in Mali, waiting for the start of a land offensive to take back northern Mali from the al-Qaida-linked extremists occupying it.

The spokesperson, who could not be named in keeping with French military protocol, said the number of troops will double to around 1,500. Every few hours, enormous transport planes are landing at Bamako's airport, loaded with supplies and more soldiers. Overnight, a regiment of 150 French soldiers drove overland from neighboring Ivory Coast, bringing in a convoy of 40 armored vehicles, including the ERC-90, a tank-like car, mounted with a 90 mm cannon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-double-troops-mali-150649236.html

helicon zac efron and taylor swift real housewives of orange county bloom energy franklin graham jambalaya taylor swift and zac efron

Kids row: Norwegian envoy hopes India concerned about children

Kolkata: In the wake of a bitter legal battle over the custody of two siblings - brought home from Norway after a legal and diplomatic fight last year, the Norwegian envoy Sunday hoped the Indian authorities were compassionate towards the welfare of the children.

"The matter being sub-judice, I cannot comment, but hope the Indian authorities are as compassionate towards the welfare of the children as we are," Norwegian Ambassador to India Eivind S Homme said here.

Homme, on his first visit to the city, also inaugurated a week-long art exhibition on "Hunger" by renowned Indian sculptor and printmaker Somnath Hore. A series of films from across the world on the theme will also be screened.

The Calcutta High Court Jan 10 had granted the custody of two siblings to their mother till the final disposal of the case.

The decision came two days after Abhigyan and Aishwarya were handed over to their mother Sagarika Bhattacharya following a directive from the Burdwan District Child Welfare Committee.

The toddlers were taken under emergency foster care in May 2011 by the Norwegian child welfare agency, on grounds of alleged negligence by their parents - then residing in the Scandinavian nation.

The issue led to a furore in India, and sensing the public mood, the Indian government activated the diplomatic channels.

After the Indian government's intervention, a Norway court ordered that the children be placed in the custody of their uncle following which they were brought to their home in West Bengal's Burdwan district in April last year.

Sagarika, who now has an estranged relationship with her husband Anurup, then moved the CWC which November last year gave custody of the children to their mother.

The child panel, responding to the petition, said the interests of the children would be well preserved with their mother, who had also undergone medical tests in Mumbai to prove that she was mentally sound.

IANS

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/kids-row-norwegian-envoy-hopes-india-concerned-about-children_822746.html

Snoop Lion London 2012 Table Tennis badminton Dominique Dawes Gabby Olympic Gymnast Robyn Lawley Gore Vidal

The Chemistry Of A Solar Airplane - Chemical & Engineering News ...

Watch the Solar Impulse plane in action and learn more about the innovative materials that make it possible.

Credit: Bayer MaterialScience/Solvay/Solar Impulse/C&EN

Sitting in a vast hangar in Payerne, Switzerland, nestled between the Alps and Lake Neuch?tel, is Solar Impulse HB-SIA, its four motors powered only by lithium-ion-polymer batteries charged by solar cells. The airplane?s 63-meter wingspan rivals that of a Boeing 747. But unlike a 747, the upper surfaces of its wings are coated entirely in solar cells. Built with lightweight materials and an innovative design, it weighs about the same as a family car.

Solar Impulse?s Swiss founders and pilots are Bertrand Piccard, 54, a psychiatrist and explorer, and Andr? Borschberg, 60, a former fighter pilot, engineer, and founder of semiconductor technology start-ups. They came up with the notion to build a solar-powered plane in 2003 and since then have convinced corporate sponsors and partners to provide the project with $130 million, including materials and manpower.

In the process of developing and testing the plane, they have inspired many, including the research teams of their chemical company partners, Solvay and Bayer Material?Science, to think more creatively. Bayer and Solvay have reaped a significant public relations benefit from involvement with the project. But more important, company executives say, is the chance to apply what they have learned in other areas, including projects with car companies.

[+]Enlarge

?

HIGHER PLANE

Solar Impulse has successfully completed flights across Europe and from Switzerland to Morocco.

Credit: Jean Revillard/Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse isn?t an aircraft that you will be able to fly on anytime soon. ?It?s not designed to carry people or even freight but as a message that sustainable energy is a viable option for mankind,? Borschberg says.

Flying at an average speed of 44 mph, it has already completed a series of flights across Europe, including one from Payerne to Morocco, and has even flown overnight.

In May the Solar Impulse team plans to freight the one-seat plane to the West Coast of the U.S. and fly it, in three or four legs, to the East Coast. The team also is building Solar Impulse HB-SIB, a stronger version of the plane, in which ?everything is upgraded? so that in 2015 it will be capable of flying around the world, Borschberg tells C&EN.

It was a motivational lecture by Piccard that in 2003 led Solvay to join the project as its founding partner. ?This type of project is unique in the history of Solvay. It?s a project with an idea to make a better world,? says Claude Michel, who heads up Solvay?s Solar Impulse team of about 10 staffers. ?We recognized the value Piccard has in innovation, his pioneering spirit and respect for people and the planet, and we found we had the same set of values.?

Solvay?s contribution to the construction of the plane includes 11 materials used in 25 different applications and more than 6,000 parts. Among its activities, the firm has provided lightweight plastics to replace metals, techniques for improving lithium ion-polymer batteries, and a broad body of materials research and know-how.

Solvay?s Halar brand fluorine copolymer, for example, is being used to encapsulate the plane?s thin photo?voltaic cells. Halar is resistant to ultraviolet radiation, is waterproof, and forms a lightweight film less than 20 ?m thick. Before the Solar Impulse project, Solvay used Halar only for coating materials such as metals, but the firm is now looking at using it across a range of applications, Michel says.

Solvay will have invested $16 million in the project, including a cash contribution and the value of its time and parts, by the time Solar Impulse HB-SIB makes its global flight in 2015. ?It?s a good investment,? Michel says without hesitation.

The benefits to Solvay, he explains, have been multiple: Participation has driven the development of specialty plastics and chemicals across the company, enhanced the image of the firm as a solutions provider, and proven to be a powerful tool to motivate staff. R&D staffers typically don?t see a real-world outcome from their labors. With Solar Impulse, though, they quickly appreciate their role in preparing Solvay materials for the plane, Michel says.

Solar Impulse has had other influences on Solvay?s scientists, not least that they have adapted to the project?s tough time and performance requirements.

[+]Enlarge

?

SHAPING UP

Staffers test a new casing for the cockpit.

Credit: St?phane Gros/Solar Impulse

Meanwhile, working on Solar Impulse has led researchers at Bayer to be more creative in their approach to projects, says Martin Kreuter, a senior marketing manager in the firm?s materials science division.

?The removal of the expectation for commercial success has allowed people to work differently and to get into an open innovation mind-set,? Kreuter says. ?Working with Piccard and his team is inspirational.? About 30 staffers from a range of Bayer departments have contributed to the Solar Impulse project.

Bayer joined Solar Impulse as a financial sponsor and materials partner in 2010. The German company?s contributions include polyurethane foam for the wingtips, motor casings, and cockpit; polycarbonate film for the cockpit window; and adhesive and coating materials used in the cabin and wings.

Bayer has used carbon nanotubes in combination with epoxy to make the spars?the backbones of the wings?and other structural components lighter and stronger.

For the project, Bayer has drawn on its experience in the automotive sector, where weight and performance are also key parameters, explains Kreuter, whose role at the firm involves partnering with car companies. And the materials and techniques Bayer has developed for Solar Impulse, such as lightweight and rigid insulating foam, could be used in cars.

?There are many things that we are developing with Solar Impulse that you might see in an electric vehicle 20 years from now,? says Kreuter, whose office in Leverkusen, Germany, has one wall covered in pictures of futuristic-looking cars. ?Everything we are doing with Solar Impulse has high relevance to our most important sectors including automotive, electronics, and construction.?

In addition to helping reduce the weight of the solar plane, Solvay and Bayer are providing materials that can buffer the extreme temperatures of flight, which without safeguards could range from ?40 to 30 ?C .

To insulate the cockpit and other temperature-sensitive components of the plane, the chemical companies have codeveloped a strong and lightweight insulating foam based on Bayer?s Baytherm Microcell polyurethane and Solvay?s 365mfc fluorinated blowing agent. Owing to pores that are smaller than those in standard foam, the new product provides rigidity and structural strength but remains lightweight. The foam is designed to ensure that the temperature does not drop below 15 ?C for the batteries and below freezing in the cockpit, Michel says.

Still, the conditions pilots experience in the Solar Impulse are extreme enough that they have had to resort to meditation and even self-hypnosis during flights. ?It?s a case of knowing ourselves,? Borschberg says.

To try to make the pilots more comfortable, Solvay has provided a nylon 6,6 fiber for their undergarments. The material incorporates a special filler that helps keep the pilots cool in the heat and warm when it gets cold. The nylon recycles infrared heat back to the surface of the skin when it is cold but also prevents sweating during periods of intense heat. ?We have had to be very clever, open, and curious,? Michel says.

[+]Enlarge

?

PARTNERS

Piccard (left) congratulates Borschberg after a successful test flight.

Credit: Laurent Kaeser/Solar Impulse

The Solar Impulse team of about 80 staffers, excluding headcount from partners and sponsors, has engineering expertise from backgrounds as diverse as Formula 1 racing cars and aeronautics, but it had little experience building airplanes. ?So we were extremely open and entrepreneurial and flexible in our thinking,? Borschberg says. This also meant that the staffers developed an approach that was unrestrained by protocol. Solar Impulse?s designers and engineers cross-fertilized their ideas with those of materials scientists and chemists from Solvay and Bayer, he adds.

Borschberg has been ?extremely impressed? by the way researchers from Solvay and Bayer have engaged in the project, the way they have made resources available, and their culture of supporting the project?s goals. ?The motivation of our partners and the public has helped us keep our energy levels high,? he says.

The project has hit pockets of turbulence, however. In the summer of 2012 development of Solar Impulse HB-SIB was set back when the main spar of the wing failed a load test. ?We had pushed a little bit too hard to reduce weight. We were just on the other side of the limit,? Borschberg says. The Solar Impulse team has since modified the design, but the glitch set back the attempt to circumnavigate the world by more than a year.

Although someone with Piccard?s background in psychiatry and exploring may be an unusual partner for a chemical company, it is not the first time that the Piccard family and Solvay have worked together.

In 1911 Solvay founded the Conseil de Physique Solvay, a regular gathering of Europe?s finest scientific minds to develop solutions to the scientific problems of the day. A regular attendee was Auguste Piccard, Bertrand?s grandfather, a professor of physics at the Free University of Brussels and a balloonist who became the first man to view the curvature of Earth. Other participants included Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

The goal of the Conseil de Physique was to advance the scientific thinking of the day. And the Solar Impulse project has already influenced Solvay and Bayer to think differently. Piccard and Borschberg hope to have shared their message about the possibilities for innovation and renewable energy with an even wider audience by the time they circumnavigate the world in 2015.

Source: http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i2/Chemistry-Solar-Airplane.html

glock earthquake abc news msnbc meteor shower 121212 Concert Columbine shooting

How to Attract More Clients For Your Web Design Service - Mediaups

More than ever, technology today enables freelance web designers the ability to highlight their work to attract new clients. However, what most of them fail to do is to incorporate effective marketing strategies with their existing business models to increase their profitability. Usually, some web designers stop marketing their services after they have created an online portfolio. What most of these designers don?t know is, there are clients actively looking for their services but can?t find them. Below are some tips to address this issue.

Online Marketing Matters

Although most web designers find their clients offline, the internet remains the fastest way to communicate and find new clients. With millions of searches being made daily for web design services, one can?t go wrong in marketing his services online. This is very relevant for those who wants to fully expand his web design business. These potential clients are mainly small businesses who outsource their web marketing and design needs.

Local Market, Your Invaluable Resource

Although online marketing has gone big in the past few years, some local markets were behind. This means, there are potential small businesses out there who lack online presence. This market segment is an invaluable resource for a web designer trying to source new clients. With this said, communication with these small business owners is highly profitable. Education is the key in convincing small business owners to market their products and services online. Effectively pointing out the importance of online marketing and its principles can greatly increase the probability to sign up these offline business to acquire web design contracts.

Think Big, but Don?t bite More Than You can Chew

It?s always good for any web developer to think outside of the box for his or her clients. The only thing to consider about doing so, is the creative control a client has set. A developer must never fail to ensure quality and customer satisfaction before anything else. Remember word of mouth is the most powerful advertisement, and leveraging positive testimonials and referral from them is very profitable in any sense.

Source: http://www.mediaups.com/how-to-attract-more-clients-for-your-web-design-service/

Lupe Ontiveros London 2012 China muhammad ali Opening ceremony London 2012 Google Fiber Olympics Schedule 2012 Olympic Medal Count 2012