Why Aren't All Fireworks As Awesome As This One? [Video]

Check out this amazingly fun firework. It's actually a flying vehicle powered by fireworks that propel it up in a spiral of fire. It apparently uses different stages, until the final one explodes in a ball of light. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yQcG0YJ38k0/why-arent-all-fireworks-as-awesome-as-this-one

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Anthony Russo Talks Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel turned a few heads when they selected?Joe and?Anthony Russo to direct?Captain America: Winter Soldier. ?The Russo brothers spend most of their time directing and producing TV comedies like?Community and?Happy Endings, and their last feature was?You, Me and Dupree?that is not the typical path to helming a superhero tentpole. ?As producer on the upcoming NBC sitcom?Animal Practice, Russo was on hand at the TCA Press Tour to explain why the jump from?Community to?Captain America 2 is not as far out as you might think: ?Well, I think if you look at some of the big genre episodes?the paintball episodes, etc.?there?s a cinematic sensibility being explored there that is in the language of [various kinds of] films.?

Marvel trained Russo to dodge most of the questions regarding plot and story details, but the press followed up with enough questions to obtain a few interesting tidbits. ?See what Russo had to say after the jump. ?Starring?Chris Evans,?Anthony Mackie, and?Sebastian Stan,?Captain America: The Winter Soldier is scheduled for release on April 4, 2014.

Since Evans is a funny guy and comedy is the Russos? specialty, The Huffington Post asked how comedic the script is. ?Russo answered:

I mean, we?re trying to grow him as a character, and certainly he?s come a long way, from where he started in pre-World War 2 to where he is in modern-day America. So the character has room for growth because of that huge journey that he?s been on, Number 1. Number 2, part of the appeal of these movies is the ensemble. Captain America isn?t the only character in the film, there are other characters that are perhaps lighter in nature.

Russo pointed to Bucky Barnes as one of the lighter characters.

The ?Winter Soldier? subtitle comes from a storyline by Ed Brubaker?that the brothers responded to:

I can say in general that there?s sort of a darker, edgier sensibility at work there that we found appealing, and that is going find its way into Captain [America] in the modern day.

Brubaker?s?Winter Soldier does bring Captain America into the modern day, which is probably necessary since the end of the first?Captain America brought our hero into the present so he could team up to save the world in?The Avengers. ?But the first movie set itself apart amid the comic book fare by having so much fun with the WWII era. ?Russo was asked if there might be flashbacks to the 1940s, and responded:

?Certainly Cap has this complicated history. We?re making the movie for first-time viewers, not just for fans, so, because Cap does have this complicated history ? he was this skinny guy who became a super-soldier, he was born back then and he?s living [now] ? in the storytelling, you need to convey that to an audience who doesn?t know Cap?s story.?

Regarding the first movie?s reverence for classic war films, Russo elaborated:

?[Captain America] is in a very different time and place. For as well as that style worked for his World War 2 experience and the origin of Cap?part of the fun of picking a guy out of one time period and plopping him down in another is that all bets are off. The whole world is different, and that?s part of the struggle of the character and the challenge the character faces.?

I suppose we don?t need another 2-hour period piece, but I like to hear that we will revisit that part of Rogers? life. ?I hope it is new scenes that tie into the present day rather than a recap edited from past footage.

To give you an idea of what kind of secrecy Russo is up against, these are his responses to the last four questions.

?That?s the something that Marvel would shoot me if I answered.?

?I can?t talk about any of that at all, sorry.?

?I?m very interested in that, but yeah, I can?t really say more.?

?I can?t say, but it?s part of that same mosaic.?

The Russo brothers have done some great work on television, so even if they can?t really let you and I in on the process, I am excited to see what they come up with.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1925603/news/1925603/

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New method to encourage virtual power plants for efficient renewable energy production

Public release date: 25-Jul-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton

Researchers from the University of Southampton have devised a novel method for forming virtual power plants to provide renewable energy production in the UK.

In the last decade, small and distributed energy resources (DERs), like wind farms and solar panels, have begun to appear in greater numbers in the electricity supply network (Grid).

To ensure that energy demand is met without interruptions, the Grid requires power suppliers to provide an estimate of their production and the confidence in meeting that estimate. Depending on the confidence placed on the estimates, the Grid is able to choose the appropriate number of conventional generators needed to produce and supply energy whenever it is needed - the more accurate the provided estimates, and the higher the confidence placed in those estimates, the better for the Grid scheduling activities.

Although the deployment of DERs could reduce reliance on conventional power plants, their integration into the Grid is problematic since the DERs, given their small size, are largely 'invisible' to the Grid. Even if visible, the uncertainty and uncontrollability of renewable energy sources prevents individual DERs from profitably dealing with the Grid directly, or participating in the wholesale electricity market because they are often unable to meet the set generation targets.

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are fast emerging as a suitable means of integrating DERs into the Grid. They are formed via the aggregation of a large number of such DERs, enabling them to reach similar size and supply reliability as conventional power plants.

In a new study, University of Southampton researchers promote the formation of such 'cooperative' VPPs (CVPPs) using intelligent and multi-agent software systems. In particular, they designed a payment mechanism that encourages DERs to join CVPPs with large overall production.

Dr Valentin Robu, from the University's Agents, Interaction and Complexity Research Group, who worked on the study says: "There is considerable talk about how to integrate a large number of small, renewable sources into the grid in a more efficient and cost effective way, as current feed in tariffs, that simply reward production are expensive and ineffective.

"CVPPs that together have a higher total production and, crucially, can average out prediction errors is a promising solution, which does not require expensive additional infrastructure, just intelligent incentives."

By using a mathematical technique called proper scoring rules (a scoring rule, is a measure of the performance of an entity, be it person or machine, which repeatedly makes decisions under uncertainty), intelligent software agents, representing the individual DERs, are incentivised to report accurate estimates of their electricity production.

The researchers devised a scoring rules-based payment mechanism that incentivises the provision of accurate predictions from the CVPPs - and in turn, the member DERs - which aids in the planning of the supply schedule at the Grid. The mechanism guarantees that DERs are rewarded for providing estimates that are both accurate and have a high confidence, ensuring that software agents are given credit for high probability estimates that are close to the realised ones.

Valentin adds: "Scoring rules with specific incentive properties have long been used to design payment mechanisms that incentivise agents to report private probabilistic predictions truthfully and to the best of their forecasting abilities. "We show that our mechanism incentivises real DERs to form CVPPs, and outperforms the current state of the art payment mechanism developed for this problem."

The researchers collected half-hourly wind-speed data for a 10-week period from 16 commercial wind farms in the UK in order to validate their approach. They will be presenting their paper at the AAAI conference (22-26 July), in Toronto, Canada this week.

###

The Southampton researchers have been exploring these ideas for some time through the iDEaS project, an industrially-funded project, which aims to explore the issues associated with the decentralised control, operation and management of future generation electricity networks. The other members of the research team are Dr Ramachandra Kota and Dr Georgios Chalkiadakis. The project is led by Dr Alex Rogers and Professor Nick Jennings from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. http://www.ideasproject.info/

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Jul-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton

Researchers from the University of Southampton have devised a novel method for forming virtual power plants to provide renewable energy production in the UK.

In the last decade, small and distributed energy resources (DERs), like wind farms and solar panels, have begun to appear in greater numbers in the electricity supply network (Grid).

To ensure that energy demand is met without interruptions, the Grid requires power suppliers to provide an estimate of their production and the confidence in meeting that estimate. Depending on the confidence placed on the estimates, the Grid is able to choose the appropriate number of conventional generators needed to produce and supply energy whenever it is needed - the more accurate the provided estimates, and the higher the confidence placed in those estimates, the better for the Grid scheduling activities.

Although the deployment of DERs could reduce reliance on conventional power plants, their integration into the Grid is problematic since the DERs, given their small size, are largely 'invisible' to the Grid. Even if visible, the uncertainty and uncontrollability of renewable energy sources prevents individual DERs from profitably dealing with the Grid directly, or participating in the wholesale electricity market because they are often unable to meet the set generation targets.

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are fast emerging as a suitable means of integrating DERs into the Grid. They are formed via the aggregation of a large number of such DERs, enabling them to reach similar size and supply reliability as conventional power plants.

In a new study, University of Southampton researchers promote the formation of such 'cooperative' VPPs (CVPPs) using intelligent and multi-agent software systems. In particular, they designed a payment mechanism that encourages DERs to join CVPPs with large overall production.

Dr Valentin Robu, from the University's Agents, Interaction and Complexity Research Group, who worked on the study says: "There is considerable talk about how to integrate a large number of small, renewable sources into the grid in a more efficient and cost effective way, as current feed in tariffs, that simply reward production are expensive and ineffective.

"CVPPs that together have a higher total production and, crucially, can average out prediction errors is a promising solution, which does not require expensive additional infrastructure, just intelligent incentives."

By using a mathematical technique called proper scoring rules (a scoring rule, is a measure of the performance of an entity, be it person or machine, which repeatedly makes decisions under uncertainty), intelligent software agents, representing the individual DERs, are incentivised to report accurate estimates of their electricity production.

The researchers devised a scoring rules-based payment mechanism that incentivises the provision of accurate predictions from the CVPPs - and in turn, the member DERs - which aids in the planning of the supply schedule at the Grid. The mechanism guarantees that DERs are rewarded for providing estimates that are both accurate and have a high confidence, ensuring that software agents are given credit for high probability estimates that are close to the realised ones.

Valentin adds: "Scoring rules with specific incentive properties have long been used to design payment mechanisms that incentivise agents to report private probabilistic predictions truthfully and to the best of their forecasting abilities. "We show that our mechanism incentivises real DERs to form CVPPs, and outperforms the current state of the art payment mechanism developed for this problem."

The researchers collected half-hourly wind-speed data for a 10-week period from 16 commercial wind farms in the UK in order to validate their approach. They will be presenting their paper at the AAAI conference (22-26 July), in Toronto, Canada this week.

###

The Southampton researchers have been exploring these ideas for some time through the iDEaS project, an industrially-funded project, which aims to explore the issues associated with the decentralised control, operation and management of future generation electricity networks. The other members of the research team are Dr Ramachandra Kota and Dr Georgios Chalkiadakis. The project is led by Dr Alex Rogers and Professor Nick Jennings from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. http://www.ideasproject.info/

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/uos-nmt072512.php

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Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video)

It's taken a year to get the sinister ticks and motions of Osaka University's Affetto baby head out of our nightmares -- and now it's grown a torso. Walking that still-precarious line between robots and humans, the animated robot baby now has a pair of arms to call its own. The prototype upper body has a babyish looseness to it -- accidentally hitting itself in the face during the demo video -- with around 20 pneumatic actuators providing the movement. The face remains curiously paused, although we'd assume that the body prototype hasn't been paired with facial motions just yet, which just about puts it the right side of adorable. However, the demonstration does include some sinister faceless dance motions. It's right after the break -- you've been warned.

Continue reading Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video)

Filed under: Robots

Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  Project Affetto (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/26/baby-robot-affetto-gets-body/

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Obama pledges to tackle gun violence after Colorado killing

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with leaders of all political stripes to "arrive at a consensus" on how to reduce gun violence across the United States after the Colorado shootings highlighted the issue in an election year.

Closing out a multiday trip that began in Aurora, Colorado, where he met with families and victims of the movie theater massacre there, Obama told a mostly African-American audience that such tragedies are replayed on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country on a daily basis.

"Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theater," Obama said in remarks to the National Urban League, a group that works to promote civil rights and economic improvement for African-Americans.

"I'm going to continue to work with members of both parties and with religious groups and with civic organizations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction."

Discussing or even touching on the issue of gun control during an election year is risky, and Obama has been careful to avoid making proposals that could offend gun owners and rally his Republican opponents.

The president made a point of emphasizing his support for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which covers the right to bear arms.

"We recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage," Obama said.

"But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."

Obama did not make any new proposals on gun control in his remarks, though he said background checks for people seeking to buy firearms were more thorough since he took office.

Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's opponent in the November 6 election, said earlier this week that additional laws would not have stopped the massacre in Colorado. The former governor of Massachusetts has backed gun control measures in the past.

POLITICAL APPETITE

Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded after a shooter opened fire at a screening of the latest Batman movie in the Denver suburb of Aurora last week.

That was not the first major massacre to happen while Obama was in office, nor was it the first event to prompt a discussion about the issue of guns in America. The assassination attempt on then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011, in which six people were killed and 14 wounded, also sparked a debate over how to reduce violence.

Obama noted that the political appetite to tackle the issue was low and that initiatives to address it were often stymied.

"Too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere," he said.

"Other steps to reduce violence have been met with opposition in Congress. This has been true for some time, particularly when it touches on the issue of guns."

The president has little political incentive to take on the issue of guns more directly. He is trying to shore up support among white, working-class men in political battleground states such as Virginia, where a robust message on gun control would not be likely to help him politically.

His message was well received by the mostly African-American audience in New Orleans, however, and Obama's visit was meant to court that group ahead of the election, too.

The National Urban League released a report recently that said although blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008, if the number of African-American voters drops even 5 percentage points this year, it could tip the outcome in some vital states.

Coinciding with his speech, the White House said Obama will sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at helping prepare African-Americans better for high school graduation and college.

The executive order will create a presidential advisory committee and a federal inter-agency working group to help the initiative succeed, the White House said.

(Writing by Jeff Mason; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-pledges-tackle-gun-violence-colorado-killing-014346334.html

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Jeb Bush wants Romney to choose Rubio for VP (The Arizona Republic)

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Beijing mayor set for promotion amid flood scandal

BEIJING (AP) ? Beijing's mayor is apparently still on track to be promoted to China's powerful decision-making body despite public questioning of the city government's handling of floods that left at least 37 dead.

Mayor Guo Jinlong and one of his vice mayors resigned, state media reported Wednesday, in what is likely a routine reshuffling. The announcement came as more rain was forecast to hit Beijing and amid signs that the death toll from last weekend's storms could jump higher.

Saturday's massive flooding was a major embarrassment for China's capital, which spent billions of dollars modernizing the city while apparently neglecting its drainage systems.

State media, analysts and China's online community have piled on criticism of the city's handling of the crisis and its lack of preparedness.

Saturday's heavy rain was unusual in normally dry Beijing. On Wednesday evening, more heavy rain fell on the capital as forecast by the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, which warned of possible flash flooding and mudslides in the capital's mountainous outskirts, including already hard-hit Fangshan.

Beijing traffic police issued a notice on its website advising residents to avoid traveling far and to try to use public transport as much as possible, to reduce congestion. The Beijing water authority posted on its microblog a map of the city with flood-prone areas marked out and suggested traffic routes to avoid them.

Concerned about the potential havoc that might be caused by the heavy rain, some people left work earlier than usual. There were no immediate reports of flooding.

Outgoing Mayor Guo had already been tapped for a promotion to the city's top position as Communist Party secretary, so his resignation was not unexpected.

Though his promotion appears to be moving forward, the storm and its fallout are a taint on him and his mentor and ally President Hu Jintao. As Beijing's party secretary, Guo is almost certain to be named to the powerful 25-member Politburo at a party congress later this year.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Wang Anshun, a Beijing city official since 2007, was appointed acting mayor.

One of Guo's vice mayors, Ji Lin, also resigned. State media reported earlier that Ji had taken up a position as head of the city's Political and Legal Committee.

On Wednesday, China Central Television showed new amateur video of the deadly flash flood that hit the rural community of Fangshan on Saturday, with pictures of a high river of brown water roiling through the small town's streets with enough force to push cars along.

Xinhua quoted the top official in the hardest-flood-hit district as saying their fatality and injury figures were still preliminary.

"Fangshan has suffered major losses, and the numbers are still in the process of being compiled," district head Qi Hong told reporters Tuesday, according to Xinhua. The district's fatality figures were never separately released but incorporated in the overall city toll.

The Beijing News reported online that Li Shixiang, head of the Beijing government committee set up to deal with the disaster's aftermath, told members at their first meeting Wednesday that updated information about the missing and dead would be released "in due time."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beijing-mayor-set-promotion-amid-flood-scandal-085434492.html

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