Supposed Smart kidnapper finally faces justice

A federal court will try Brian David Mitchell, the alleged kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart, after years of delays. Jury selection began Monday for Mitchell’s court, more than eight years after Smart, who was 14 years old in 2002, disappeared from her family’s Salt Lake City home. Mitchell’s wife had been convicted this past year within the Smart case and might testify against him as his lawyers seek to portray the man as crazy.

What happened when Smart was kidnapped

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped in 2020. This was on June 5. The media had been consumed with the teenager's abduction as her parents were always pleading for her return on the news. The drifter who had worked at the Smart residence at one point, Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Ileen Barzee, were found with her nine months later just 18 miles from her home. Mitchell, who believed he had been a prophet named “Emmanuel,” had been charged along with his wife with kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary. The Utah district court ruled in July 2005 on the couple. They were said to be incompetent to stand trial by the court.

The Elizabeth Smart case

Legal action started again after Mitchell and Barzee were ruled competent to face trial in 2008 after a TV movie came out about Elizabeth Smart. The kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor had been what Barzee pleaded guilty to in November 2009. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Barzee said she'd cooperate in state and federal cases against Mitchell in a plea agreement. A nurse watching Mitchell in a psychiatric ward said in Dec 2009 that he had been trying to avoid prosecution by faking insanity. Mitchell was called a "misleading psychopath" by United States District Judge Dale Kimball who said he will stand trial in March 2010.

The Mitchell trial

22 year old Elizabeth Smart testified. This took place at a Mitchell competency hearing they had. She testified to having been taken from her room and abused sexually. This happened many times when being held captive by Mitchell. The next thing Mitchell's attorney's did had been say that there would not be any impartial jurors to do the circumstance since there was so much media coverage of the account in 2002. Mitchell entered the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City Monday in an orange prison jumpsuit rather than a hospital gown, followed by 35 of his potential jurors.

Articles cited

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102202949.html

CNN

cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/31/utah.elizabeth.smart.trial/index.html?npt=NP1

Salt Lake Tribune

sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50581578-76/mitchell-juror-jury-case.html.csp

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Smart_kidnapping

New study projects electric and hybrid car sales to be lousy

Hybrid and electric cars are a minority among car sales. A new study by J.D. Power and Associates purports that sales will stay slow for at least a decade. Current sales of electric and hybrid models within the U.S., and abroad, are a small percentage overall. The study is estimating that just over 7 percent of total car sales by 2020 will be electric or hybrid cars.

Growth in electric car sales is very slow

One of the foremost authorities in the car industry, J.D. Power and Associates, most recently released a record on projected electric car sales for the next decade. The report with current estimated sales of hybrid cars and electric cars, as outlined by USA Today, as a jumping off point. Hybrid and electric cars aren't bought by lots of people within the world. Only 2.2 percent of global car sales contain them. With combined sales of electric and hybrid car models, there will only be an increase to 7.3 percent in globally sales. The study also points out that too many potential car buyers are concerned about the drawbacks in hybrid and electric cars, like range and also cost difference.

A reason to buy them is what is needed

CNN reports that you will find things that need to happen before electric cars and hybrid cars will start being sold. Worldwide fuel prices will have to rise. There are also concerns that electric cars lack sufficient range to replace gasoline engines. There is also a greater cost buying a Toyota Prius instead of a Toyota Corolla. Also, car buyers don't like the lack of a track record and charging time.

What you pay correlates with the size

It costs an extra $5,000 for a liability with less power. You'll have to replace the battery at some point. Many think they are paying too much for the car. It isn't worth it to them to conserve on fuel consumption and gas like that.

Articles cited

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/10/study-electric-car-sales-will-be-weak-through-2020/1

CNN

money.cnn.com/2010/10/27/autos/jdpa_hybrid_electric_study/index.htm

3G service on Mt. Everest allows climbers to surf from the summit

Mount Everest is now the earth’s highest hotspot after a Swedish telecommunications company announced the launch of 3G service in Nepal. The chief executive of Ncell, a subsidiary of TeliaSonera, said the highest video call ever had been made from the Mount Everest base camp Friday. Since Nepal has the beginnings of a 3G network, climbers can go online at the summit of the world’s highest peak and one of the most backward countries on Earth will get a taste of modern technology.

A 3G base station way too high

Satellite phones were used by climbers to communicate with the rest of the world before the 3G at Mount Everest. Ncell is setting up a ton of base stations. In fact, eight 3G stations will be set up. It built the highest one at 17,000 feet near Mount Everest in a village called Gorakshep. Everest 3G will mostly be used for emergency communications and real time weather reports. The locals all have to pay to do anything with calling or the internet to use satellite phones. Now, Ncell has made a way for locals to surf the web, send e-mails and make calls more easily.

Communicating when on Everest

3,000 people have made the trip to Mt. Everest and climbed it. This has all been since 1953 when Sir Edmund Hilary first climbed the mountain. Back then climbers used runners to relay messages from their expeditions to the nearest telegraph office. Carrying the equipment for a satellite phone weighed you down 220 pounds. This had been how much it weighed when the climber living in Nepal, Veikka Gustafsson, first came to the Humalayas, reports TeliaSonera. The China-facing slope of Mount Everest has had partial service provided by China Mobile since 2007, but coverage was voice only.

3G affects Nepal

Telecommunication services is something less than one-third of the people in Nepal have access to. The jagged mountain terrain makes it difficult to build cellular networks and nearly difficult to build land-based networks. Gusaffson said, in reference to the 3G network:

“It’s hard for people in the Western world to even imagine what it means for people living in distant villages in valleys separated by high mountains when they now make their first phone call to relatives or are able to contact a doctor over the phone.”

Right now in Nepal, you will find 3.7 million that work with Ncell, although the 3G service will make that rise. By the end of 2011, TeliaSonera plans on having 90 percent of the population in Nepal covered by investing $100 million.

Further reading

BBC News

bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11651509

Daily Tech

dailytech.com/Worlds Highest AboveWater Peak Everest Gets Internet Access/article20026.htm

PC Magazine

pcmag.com/article2/,2817,2371750,00.asp

Proposition 19 means big quarrels about cannabis

California’s Prop 19 has a little bit of every little thing that has made the 2010 election season interesting. There is a big debate over the prop and its effects. Specifically, the “Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act. Here is an overview of the arguments about California’s Prop 19.

Facts about Proposition 19

Weed for recreational purposes would be legal in CA with Prop 19. Those 21 or older would be able to “possess, cultivate or transport cannabis for personal use," if the initiative passed. Any local government would be given the right to regulate and tax any part of the marijuana industry. It would also be illegal to smoke in public while everyone younger than 21 was present, and driving while under the influence would be illegal.

Taxes with prop 19

CA would have a great tax revenue with Proposition 19 passing. About $1 billion in enforcing marijuana laws right now would be gone while $1.3 billion in tax revenue would be there with Proposition 19. In a state that has cut paydays to minimum wage to pay bills, that amount of cash could help the state keep paying its employees.

Prop 19 relies heavily on states' rights

Many conservative groups are supporting California’s Prop 19, not specifically for the legalization of weed, but for states’ rights. Conservative groups say that the United States federal govt has no place regulating intoxicants. There are Tea Party groups saying that state and individual rights are the concern. That is what Proposition 19 is about.

Stating no to Proposition 19 is a strange group

There are weird groups that are actually in opposition to California's Proposition 19. Some producers and sellers of medical weed have spoken out in opposition to passing Proposition 19 in California. They believe the medical industry will change too much with cannabis being legal for recreation. Not only could the price of cannabis drop, but their business could face high taxes for a medical product.

You can read more about California’s Prop 19 in this two-part series on the initiative. In the end, Proposition 19 brings up lots of tough issues for California residents. How do you plan to vote?

Memberships to Comic-Con 2011 are facing postponed sales

Comic-Con 2010 is barely over, however Comic-Con 2011 is already on the brain. Nov 1 was the first day four-day passes were supposed to go on sale. Technical difficulties with sales shut down sales. The new sales date can be announced in one week.

Getting passes for Comic-Con 2011

Comic-Con 2011 was scheduled to start selling four-day passes today. When registration opened, nevertheless, the Comic-Con site overloaded. The website came back up quickly, but the registration company’s website had been not processing registrations properly. After just a little bit of time, Comic-Con shut down registration entirely. Registration partners shut down also. Pre-sales to special customers were practically the only ones that were able to get their badges, which was about 13 percent of all badges.

Comic-Con 2011 badges re-open

There aren't that many 2011 Comic-Con 2011 badges available to be marketed. The number of memberships for the convention are always limited, and scalped Comic-Con badges are always of concern. A handful of the Comic-Con 2011 badges were sold throughout the initial registration today, however it was just a couple. In seven days followers will know when the re-opening of the registration will be, giving them additional time to plan their trips to CA.

Every person generating Comic-Con 2011 plans already

The 2011 Comic-Con is slated for July 20 via July 24 in San Diego. This is the 41st year for Comic-Con. Not it is considered the largest science fiction/fantasy/film/television conventions within the world. The San Diego Convention Center can hold 125,000 attendees, and it has been filled to capacity for numerous years in a row. There have been concerns about overcrowding, but the San Diego Convention Center has a contract with Comic-Con until 2012. Given the problems with marketing memberships to the convention and overcrowding, the importance of early preparing for attendance to Comic-Con 2011 is going to be incredibly important. Since a regular membership does not mean you'll get to attend a presentation, they’re over-sold too.

Info from

Comic Book Resources

comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=29188

Control increasing medical costs by shopping for bargains

If there’s one thing to count on, it's that health care costs will continue to rise. A better price on just about anything could be found. All it takes is the time required for a little research. As insurance companies pull back on benefits and increase co-payments, adopting a horse-trading philosophy for selecting doctors and hospitals can result in significant savings. Post resource – Reduce health care costs by shopping around for the best price by Personal Money Store.

Don't take high health care costs

Generally you don't talk about how much health care costs when at a doctor. This is anytime you are being treated really. As outlined by the new York Times, that isn't the case anymore. It has changed. According to the Center for Studying Health System Change, 15 percent of people younger than 65 are spending more than 5 percent of their annual income on health care costs. As they pay more out-of-pocket, more people aren’t obediently accepting what appear to be outrageous medical costs and are looking for a better price.

Health care costs are confusing at times

When it comes to health care costs, Michael Schroeder at Angie’s List said even experts get confused. Health care providers and insurance companies are in a battle in which doctors and hospitals make an effort to mark prices up and insurers try to mark prices down. The Medicare reimbursement standards are what insurance companies will rely on. One health care provider admit to billing higher than Medicare in order to get a higher profit. This is what Schroeder reports. The support given to those uninsured is little. The insurance companies take down the cost and it hurts them.

How to negotiate a better price

Online tools typically are helpful when trying to discover doctors and hospitals that fit your needs. A search engine will help you probably the most, the Los Angeles Times explains. "Cost of a colonoscopy" had been what Kathy Kristof of the Times typed into Google. About 200,000 matches came up. Sites that showed up included PriceDoc.com, MyMedicalCosts.com and HealthCareBlueBook.com. Having this info is really helpful when it comes to trying to negotiate. You can get a better deal if you know the facts about your procedure and its costs.

Articles cited

New York Times

nytimes.com/2009/11/28/health/28patient.html?_r=1&ref=health

Angie’s List

angieslist.com/angieslist/visitor/recentbuzz.aspx

Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/health/healthcare/la-fi-perfin-20101024,0,4751926.column

National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency join for 100 Year Starship project

The new project between NASA and DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is creating a sensation. The premise is simple. Come up with a spacecraft that can lift astronauts and cargo successfully to Mars. It's called the Hundred Year Starship, but the journey would be a bit different from the moon landings. Astronauts on this mission won’t return to Earth.

Going to see DARPA and NASA on Mars

At the Long Conversation conference in San Francisco, Pete Worden of the NASA Ames Research Center announced a new project between National Aeronautics and Space Administration and DARPA. The project, according to The Telegraph, is so far called the 100 Year Starship program, and also the 2 government agencies are looking to enlist help. The world’s billionaires are being solicited for donations, including Larry Page, co-founder of Google. An original design could be accessible next year. This project is far more ambitious than the DARPA Challenge, an endurance race for self-driving automobiles. The intent of the project is to build an amazing spacecraft. The point would be that it could get cargo and astronauts to Mars safely. The astronauts would not be coming back though, which is unlike Apollo 11 and also the International Space Station.

Going 1 way only

There is a huge distance between Earth and other planets. This makes it hard to just create a ferry between planets. Journeying to Mars takes months. Nine months are needed for it. Anyone who lands there can have to be self sufficient. NASA has $1 million to spend, but it’s envisioned the project would cost at least $10 billion to pull off. Based on Fox News, there’s a lot of fuel to move equipment into space. Four pounds of fuel per 1 pound of equipment is needed. Getting to Mars in the first place is difficult enough, and a return journey that much closer to extremely hard.

Mars being colonized then

Colonizing planets is what the plan is with the first space exploration plan with Mars. A permanent colony on Mars with many astronauts would be the plan. There would have to be some way to adjust to the lifestyle on Mars. Our planet may die 1 day. It is most likely going to happen. Mankind, if it is to survive, must find a way to live someplace else.

Details from

The Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8091965/Nasa-unveils-bold-plans-to-send-humans-one-way-to-Mars-to-colonise-planet.html

Fox News

foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/29/nasa-cover-up-hundred-year-starship/print