In the light of a seemingly endless series of revelations about the NSA's multi-faceted infiltrations of just about every network there is, including the private fiber used by Google and Yahoo, more and more folks are stepping up to offer possible solutions.
But because both the Internet and encryption aren't as singular or straightforward as they could be, it isn't likely to be something that can be delivered as a single product anytime soon.
The most common analogy used about email security is that it's no better than a postcard written in pencil and sent via conventional mail. To do something about it, two big names in security, Lavabit and Silent Circle, are joining forces to create a project they call the Dark Mail Alliance.
Silent Circle, a provider of both encrypted email and phone solutions, and Lavabit, a secure email provider, both made headlines earlier this year when they voluntarily shut down their email services in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks about NSA actions against ISPs, rather than be a party to such spying. Their plan is to help create a new email system that is as resistant as technologically possible to spying.
The idea isn't to offer a product per se, but rather to create an open standard that could be freely implemented by themselves or by third parties. "1,000 Lavabits all around the world," was how Jon Callas, CTO and founder of Silent Circle, described it in a discussion with Infoworld.
This decentralized plan is both the best and worst thing about the project: Best in the sense that no one person has explicit control over it, but worst in the sense that it's also not possible to guarantee how consistently it can be delivered if it's an open project.
The technical details of Dark Mail involve taking existing email clients -- Outlook and Exchange were cited as possible targets -- and outfitting them with add-ons that would use the XMPP Web messaging protocol in conjunction with another encryption protocol developed by Silent Circle, named, appropriately enough, SCIMP, or Silent Circle Instant Message Protocol. Encryption keys are held on the end user's system and not managed by the email providers themselves, so a court order against the ISP will yield nothing. Both the message's contents and metadata (e.g., to/from headers) are encrypted.
The thing is, the technical details of encrypted email aren't themselves the real obstacle. The difficulties tend to be social -- that is, getting people to use the existing standards and projects in the first place. Many existing packages, such as Enigmail, already allow you to equip email clients with encryption without too much difficulty. But few non-technical users bother with them, in big part because in order to send someone else an encrypted message, they have to be running the same software. The lack of a common implementation, as common as a web browser, is a big stumbling block, but end user indifference is ultimately the biggest reason why most email isn't encrypted.
The other issue is something Silent Circle and Lavabit are at least attempting to tackle: Participation from common email providers. If Gmail supported the Dark Mail standard, for instance, that would provide a great many existing email users with a near-seamless way to make use of it, but so far, no third-party mail providers have piped up. That might well be a defensive measure: If they announced early on they were working on such a thing, it would give attackers all the more time to try and plan a way to subvert it.
The Snowden papers have also showed how even those who do take the pains to encrypt can have their privacy subverted by attackers who simply perform an end-run around the encryption and intercept information either before or after it's ever encrypted. Unfortunately, the only way to prevent such a thing is via such extreme measures as an air-gapped system.
So what can we expect from Dark Mail? If it's ever implemented as its creators intend, it ought to serve two functions: Give end users a way to casually encrypt email without going through a whole hassle, and make them that much more conscious of how, on the current Internet, there may not be any safe places at all.
It’s one of the most beloved holidays of the year, and Halloween brought out some wild and crazy creativity in our favorite stars.
And while there was a surplus of sexy and scary costumes this year, GossipCenter has identified ten of the most memorable disguises.
1. Ellen DeGeneres as Nicki Minaj- Not usually one to push the envelope with racy attire, Ellen DeGeneres got all gussied up as Nicki Minaj, based on an outfit the “Pink Friday” rapper wore during a recent appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Ellen explained, “I’ve got the whole look down. I even have the same shoes on. I think I do. I can’t see my feet, but I assume I do. I don’t normally wear things that are this sexy. But when you’re dressed as Nicki Minaj I guess you have to. So here are my boom booms and back here is my Super Bass.”
2. Julianne Hough as Crazy Eyes- She’s not usually one to offend, but Julianne Hough definitely ruffled some feathers with her Halloween costume. The “Rock of Ages” actress painted her face black and dressed as Crazy Eyes from “Orange is the New Black,” and shortly thereafter she received all kinds of negative feedback.
As a result, Hough tweeted, "I am a huge fan of the show 'Orange is the New Black,' actress Uzo Aduba, and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people and I truly apologize."
3. Miley Cyrus as Lil Kim- She loves to shake things up by showing off her lady parts, and Miley Cyrus dressed up as Lil Kim from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The “Wrecking Ball” babe tweeted a photo of herself sporting the purple dress and boob-cover along with the caption, “Happy Halloween @LilKim.” And it seems the sexy rapper appreciated the shout out, as she tweeted back, “yasssssss my baby!!!!”
5. Gisele Bundchen & Tom Brady as Dorothy & The Cowardly Lion- They’re one of the most attractive (and wealthiest) twosomes around, and Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady showed off their youthful side with their “Wizard of Oz” outfits. The Brazilian supermodel dressed as Dorothy while Tom went for the Cowardly Lion vibe. Bundchen tweeted, "Having fun with my Lion last night! #thewizardofoz #Dorothy #2013 #halloween #fun #love."
6. “Today” Show Goes Retro TV- Taking a look back over the decades, the anchors over at NBC’s morning broadcast depicted notable characters from the boob tube. Matt Lauer did his best Pamela Anderson impression while Willie Geist dressed up as David Hasselhoff and posed with Carmen Electra for a “Baywatch” tribute. Additionally, Al Roker donned a Mr. T ensemble, Carson Daly rode around with Erik Estrada for a “Chips” moment, and Savannah Guthrie and Natalie Morales harkened back to “Laverne & Shirley.”
7. Alessandra Ambrosio as The Queen of Hearts- “Alice in Wonderland” is one of the greatest stories of all time, and Alessandra Ambrosio channeled her dark side and dressed up as the evil Queen of Hearts for the Casamigos Halloween Party. Ambrosio posted a photo to Instagram along with the caption, “Where’s Alice?”
8. Paris Hilton as Miley Cyrus- She’s never afraid to flash some flesh, and Paris Hilton sported a sexy Miley Cyrus VMA costume to the Annual Playboy Halloween Bash. Her motto for the night? “Twerk or Treat!”
9. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jionni LaValle & Lorenzo as “The Wizard of Oz” Cast- Taking a more family-friendly approach than she’s known for, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi got all dressed up as Dorothy and joined her fiancé Jionni (The Scarecrow) and son Lorenzo (The Cowardly Lion) for a “Wizard of Oz” themed ensemble. Of course, Snooki still managed to show off her ample bosom and lovely legs, proving she’s quite the hot mama!
10. Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan as Miley Cyrus & Robin Thicke- Despite the fact that the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards happened months ago, everyone’s still talking about Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” performance. As a result, Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan had a blast dressing up as the controversial duo.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden and senior Obama administration officials convinced a number of senators on Thursday to hold off on another round of Iran sanctions as Western powers test Tehran's willingness to scale back its nuclear aims.
The full-court press didn't sway every senator who participated in the hours-long, closed-door briefing, but the chances that the Senate Banking Committee would draft new, punitive measures next week just as negotiations occurred in Geneva diminished significantly.
"As one member of the committee, my attitude is if something is going on that may lead to a positive result, let's see where that ends up," said Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., as he emerged from the session. "We can always pass a sanctions bill."
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said the administration was "making a good case" for delaying another round of penalties although he said he had not made a decision.
Joining Biden in the discussions with Democratic leadership and committee members were Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a lineup that underscored the administration's strong desire to get Congress to wait on a new package of penalties. Although the White House insists that tough sanctions have forced Iran to negotiate, it wants Congress to pause to give negotiators flexibility in talks with Iran.
"I like John Kerry, I got a lot of trust in John Kerry," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who explained that it might make sense for the committee to wait, finalize any legislation "and let them (the administration and Western powers) do their negotiations."
Unnerving for the administration is the prospect that a Senate panel would be crafting new sanctions at the same time as Iran and six world powers meet in Geneva next week for another round of negotiations.
The chairman of the Banking committee, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said he was undecided on whether the panel would craft the bill next week. Republican and Democratic congressional aides indicated that it was unlikely on the same days as the international talks.
Western powers have been trying to determine Iran's seriousness in complying with demands it prove its nuclear program is peaceful since reformist President Hassan Rouhani took office in August. Both sides described their last round of negotiations as positive, with Tehran ready to discuss some curbs on programs that can create both atomic energy and the fissile core of nuclear arms.
Several lawmakers emerging from the session argued that this is no time to let up on Tehran.
"I have to hear something far more substantive to dissuade me from being an advocate for pursuing a new round of sanctions," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who has repeatedly sponsored tough sanctions legislation.
Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who has often partnered with Menendez, said his response to the administration's intense lobbying was to keep pushing for sanctions, dismissing the latest talks with Tehran as "a long rope a dope."
"I think we need to keep rolling with the pressure," Kirk said. "Without sanctions, you have war. Sanctions are the only way to prevent a war. I don't want to condemn our allies and Israel to a war."
The Banking Committee is weighing a bill that would blacklist Iran's mining and construction sectors. It largely mirrors a House measure that passed overwhelmingly by a 400-20 vote in July. That bill also called for all Iranian oil sales to end by 2015.
The Senate bill may narrow that time frame, block international investment in more economic sectors, try to close off Iran's foreign accounts and tighten President Barack Obama's ability to waive requirements for allies and key trading partners who continue to do business with Iran.
The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has considerable sway in Congress, favors more sanctions to stop Iran.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama is not seeking an open-ended delay to new sanctions and believes there may come a point where additional economic penalties against Iran are necessary. Kerry told senators that the president wants to keep the current sanctions regime in place while negotiating with Iran.
Even if the administration succeeds in convincing Democratic leaders and Johnson to delay a vote, Kirk said he would try to attach new sanctions to the annual defense policy bill that the Senate could consider as early as the week of Nov. 12.
"I would look for every opportunity as a senator," he said.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday issued a ruling reinstating most of Texas' tough new abortion restrictions.
A panel of judges at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling a day after District Judge Lee Yeakel said one provision serves no medical purpose.
The panel says the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital can take effect while a lawsuit moves forward. The restrictions could take effect Friday.
The panel left in place a portion of Yeakel's order that prevents the state from enforcing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration protocol for abortion-inducing drugs in cases where the woman is between 50 and 63 days into her pregnancy. Doctors testifying before the court had said such women would be harmed if the protocol were enforced.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott had made an emergency appeal to the conservative 5th Circuit, arguing that the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges is a constitutional use of the Legislature's authority.
Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers had argued that the regulations did not protect women and would shut down a third of the abortion clinics in Texas.
The court's order is temporary until it can hold a complete hearing, likely in January. The restrictions are among the toughest in the nation and gained notoriety when Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis launched a nearly 13-hour filibuster against them in June. The law also bans abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy and beginning in October 2014 requires doctors to perform all abortions in surgical facilities.
During the trial, officials for one chain of abortion clinics testified that they've tried to obtain admitting privileges for their doctors at 32 hospitals, but so far only 15 accepted applications and none have announced a decision. Many hospitals with religious affiliations will not allow abortion doctors to work there, while others fear protests if they provide privileges. Many have requirements that doctors live within a certain radius of the facility, or perform a minimum number of surgeries a year that must be performed in a hospital.
Contact: Kim Martineau kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu 646-717-0134 The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Parts of pacific warming 15 times faster than in past 10,000 years
A recent slowdown in global warming has led some skeptics to renew their claims that industrial carbon emissions are not causing a century-long rise in Earth's surface temperatures. But rather than letting humans off the hook, a new study in the leading journal Science adds support to the idea that the oceans are taking up some of the excess heat, at least for the moment. In a reconstruction of Pacific Ocean temperatures in the last 10,000 years, researchers have found that its middle depths have warmed 15 times faster in the last 60 years than they did during apparent natural warming cycles in the previous 10,000.
"We're experimenting by putting all this heat in the ocean without quite knowing how it's going to come back out and affect climate," said study coauthor Braddock Linsley, a climate scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "It's not so much the magnitude of the change, but the rate of change."
In its latest report, released in September, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted the recent slowdown in the rate of global warming. While global temperatures rose by about one-fifth of a degree Fahrenheit per decade from the 1950s through 1990s, warming slowed to just half that rate after the record hot year of 1998. The IPCC has attributed the pause to natural climate fluctuations caused by volcanic eruptions, changes in solar intensity, and the movement of heat through the ocean. Many scientists note that 1998 was an exceptionally hot year even by modern standards, and so any average rise using it as a starting point would downplay the longer-term warming trend.
The IPCC scientists agree that much of the heat that humans have put into the atmosphere since the 1970s through greenhouse gas emissions probably has been absorbed by the ocean. However, the findings in Science put this idea into a long-term context, and suggest that the oceans may be storing even more of the effects of human emissions than scientists have so far realized. "We may have underestimated the efficiency of the oceans as a storehouse for heat and energy," said study lead author, Yair Rosenthal, a climate scientist at Rutgers University. "It may buy us some time how much time, I don't really know. But it's not going to stop climate change."
Ocean heat is typically measured from buoys dispersed throughout the ocean, and with instruments lowered from ships, with reliable records at least in some places going back to the 1960s. To look back farther in time, scientists have developed ways to analyze the chemistry of ancient marine life to reconstruct the climates in which they lived. In a 2003 expedition to Indonesia, the researchers collected cores of sediment from the seas where water from the Pacific flows into the Indian Ocean. By measuring the levels of magnesium to calcium in the shells of Hyalinea balthica, a one-celled organism buried in those sediments, the researchers estimated the temperature of the middle-depth waters where H. Balthica lived, from about 1,500 to 3,000 feet down. The temperature record there reflects middle-depth temperatures throughout the western Pacific, the researchers say, since the waters around Indonesia originate from the mid-depths of the North and South Pacific.
Though the climate of the last 10,000 years has been thought to be relatively stable, the researchers found that the Pacific intermediate depths have generally been cooling during that time, though with various ups and downs. From about 7,000 years ago until the start of the Medieval Warm Period in northern Europe, at about 1100, the water cooled gradually, by almost 1 degree C, or almost 2 degrees F. The rate of cooling then picked up during the so-called Little Ice Age that followed, dropping another 1 degree C, or 2 degrees F, until about 1600. The authors attribute the cooling from 7,000 years ago until the Medieval Warm Period to changes in Earth's orientation toward the sun, which affected how much sunlight fell on both poles. In 1600 or so, temperatures started gradually going back up. Then, over the last 60 years, water column temperatures, averaged from the surface to 2,200 feet, increased 0.18 degrees C, or .32 degrees F. That might seem small in the scheme of things, but it's a rate of warming 15 times faster than at any period in the last 10,000 years, said Linsley.
One explanation for the recent slowdown in global warming is that a prolonged La Nia-like cooling of eastern Pacific surface waters has helped to offset the global rise in temperatures from greenhouse gases. In a study in the journal Nature in August, climate modelers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed that La Nia cooling in the Pacific seemed to suppress global average temperatures during northern hemisphere winters but allowed temperatures to rise during northern hemisphere summers, explaining last year's record U.S. heat wave and the ongoing loss of Arctic sea ice.
When the La Nia cycle switches, and the Pacific reverts to a warmer than usual El Nio phase, global temperatures may likely shoot up again, along with the rate of warming. "With global warming you don't see a gradual warming from one year to the next," said Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., who was not involved in the research. "It's more like a staircase. You trot along with nothing much happening for 10 years and then suddenly you have a jump and things never go back to the previous level again."
The study's long-term perspective suggests that the recent pause in global warming may just reflect random variations in heat going between atmosphere and ocean, with little long-term importance, says Drew Shindell, a climate scientist with joint appointments at Columbia's Earth Institute and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and a lead author on the latest IPCC report. "Surface temperature is only one indicator of climate change," he said. "Looking at the total energy stored by the climate system or multiple indicators--glacier melting, water vapor in the atmosphere, snow cover, and so onmay be more useful than looking at surface temperature alone."
The study's third author, Delia Oppo, is a climate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
###
The study, "Pacific Ocean Heat Content During the Past 10,000 Years," is available from the authors, or Science, scipak@aaas.org.
Kim Martineau Science Writer Lamont-Doherty kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu 646-717-0134
[
| 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.
Is global heating hiding out in the oceans?
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Kim Martineau kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu 646-717-0134 The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Parts of pacific warming 15 times faster than in past 10,000 years
A recent slowdown in global warming has led some skeptics to renew their claims that industrial carbon emissions are not causing a century-long rise in Earth's surface temperatures. But rather than letting humans off the hook, a new study in the leading journal Science adds support to the idea that the oceans are taking up some of the excess heat, at least for the moment. In a reconstruction of Pacific Ocean temperatures in the last 10,000 years, researchers have found that its middle depths have warmed 15 times faster in the last 60 years than they did during apparent natural warming cycles in the previous 10,000.
"We're experimenting by putting all this heat in the ocean without quite knowing how it's going to come back out and affect climate," said study coauthor Braddock Linsley, a climate scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "It's not so much the magnitude of the change, but the rate of change."
In its latest report, released in September, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted the recent slowdown in the rate of global warming. While global temperatures rose by about one-fifth of a degree Fahrenheit per decade from the 1950s through 1990s, warming slowed to just half that rate after the record hot year of 1998. The IPCC has attributed the pause to natural climate fluctuations caused by volcanic eruptions, changes in solar intensity, and the movement of heat through the ocean. Many scientists note that 1998 was an exceptionally hot year even by modern standards, and so any average rise using it as a starting point would downplay the longer-term warming trend.
The IPCC scientists agree that much of the heat that humans have put into the atmosphere since the 1970s through greenhouse gas emissions probably has been absorbed by the ocean. However, the findings in Science put this idea into a long-term context, and suggest that the oceans may be storing even more of the effects of human emissions than scientists have so far realized. "We may have underestimated the efficiency of the oceans as a storehouse for heat and energy," said study lead author, Yair Rosenthal, a climate scientist at Rutgers University. "It may buy us some time how much time, I don't really know. But it's not going to stop climate change."
Ocean heat is typically measured from buoys dispersed throughout the ocean, and with instruments lowered from ships, with reliable records at least in some places going back to the 1960s. To look back farther in time, scientists have developed ways to analyze the chemistry of ancient marine life to reconstruct the climates in which they lived. In a 2003 expedition to Indonesia, the researchers collected cores of sediment from the seas where water from the Pacific flows into the Indian Ocean. By measuring the levels of magnesium to calcium in the shells of Hyalinea balthica, a one-celled organism buried in those sediments, the researchers estimated the temperature of the middle-depth waters where H. Balthica lived, from about 1,500 to 3,000 feet down. The temperature record there reflects middle-depth temperatures throughout the western Pacific, the researchers say, since the waters around Indonesia originate from the mid-depths of the North and South Pacific.
Though the climate of the last 10,000 years has been thought to be relatively stable, the researchers found that the Pacific intermediate depths have generally been cooling during that time, though with various ups and downs. From about 7,000 years ago until the start of the Medieval Warm Period in northern Europe, at about 1100, the water cooled gradually, by almost 1 degree C, or almost 2 degrees F. The rate of cooling then picked up during the so-called Little Ice Age that followed, dropping another 1 degree C, or 2 degrees F, until about 1600. The authors attribute the cooling from 7,000 years ago until the Medieval Warm Period to changes in Earth's orientation toward the sun, which affected how much sunlight fell on both poles. In 1600 or so, temperatures started gradually going back up. Then, over the last 60 years, water column temperatures, averaged from the surface to 2,200 feet, increased 0.18 degrees C, or .32 degrees F. That might seem small in the scheme of things, but it's a rate of warming 15 times faster than at any period in the last 10,000 years, said Linsley.
One explanation for the recent slowdown in global warming is that a prolonged La Nia-like cooling of eastern Pacific surface waters has helped to offset the global rise in temperatures from greenhouse gases. In a study in the journal Nature in August, climate modelers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed that La Nia cooling in the Pacific seemed to suppress global average temperatures during northern hemisphere winters but allowed temperatures to rise during northern hemisphere summers, explaining last year's record U.S. heat wave and the ongoing loss of Arctic sea ice.
When the La Nia cycle switches, and the Pacific reverts to a warmer than usual El Nio phase, global temperatures may likely shoot up again, along with the rate of warming. "With global warming you don't see a gradual warming from one year to the next," said Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., who was not involved in the research. "It's more like a staircase. You trot along with nothing much happening for 10 years and then suddenly you have a jump and things never go back to the previous level again."
The study's long-term perspective suggests that the recent pause in global warming may just reflect random variations in heat going between atmosphere and ocean, with little long-term importance, says Drew Shindell, a climate scientist with joint appointments at Columbia's Earth Institute and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and a lead author on the latest IPCC report. "Surface temperature is only one indicator of climate change," he said. "Looking at the total energy stored by the climate system or multiple indicators--glacier melting, water vapor in the atmosphere, snow cover, and so onmay be more useful than looking at surface temperature alone."
The study's third author, Delia Oppo, is a climate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
###
The study, "Pacific Ocean Heat Content During the Past 10,000 Years," is available from the authors, or Science, scipak@aaas.org.
Kim Martineau Science Writer Lamont-Doherty kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu 646-717-0134
[
| 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.
MACON, Ga. (AP) — A federal prosecutor said Thursday that he is conducting a formal review of facts and evidence in the death of a teenager whose body was found inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in his high school gym.
U.S. Attorney Michael Moore said that if he uncovers sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal or civil rights investigation into the death of Kendrick Johnson he will ask the FBI to conduct it.
"I will follow the facts wherever they lead. My objective is to discover the truth," Moore said.
Moore said he's reviewing a previous investigation by the sheriff's office and two autopsies done on Johnson, along with photos, videos and other evidence and information. He said he's met with investigators and the attorneys for Johnson's family to investigate the case.
"I am committed to do everything in my power to answer the questions that exist in this case, or as many of them as we can," Moore said.
The 17-year-old's body was found Jan. 11 stuck in an upright mat in the school gym after his parents reported him missing the night before. Lowndes County sheriff's investigators concluded Johnson died in a freak accident, but his family insists that someone must have killed him.
A southern Georgia judge on Wednesday ordered authorities to release all surveillance video that investigators reviewed. Johnson's father said after that ruling that he hoped the footage would contain clues to how he died.
Sheriff Chris Prine had previously released surveillance footage that showed Johnson entering the school gym the afternoon before his body was found. No one appeared to follow him inside.
Johnson's parents wanted to see video from the gym from the hours before their son entered until his body was discovered the next day. The sheriff had declined to release the footage without a court order because it shows other minor students who could be identified.
Johnson's body was stuck upside down in the middle of a wrestling mat that had been rolled up and propped upright behind bleachers.
The sheriff has said he suspects Johnson became trapped trying to retrieve a shoe that fell into the center of the large, rolled mat. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner concluded that he died from positional asphyxia, meaning his body got stuck in a position in which he couldn't breathe.
Johnson's family had his body exhumed over the summer so they could get a second opinion from a private pathologist. Dr. William R. Anderson issued a report in August saying he detected hemorrhaging on the right side of Johnson's neck. He concluded the teenager died from blunt force trauma near his carotid artery and that the fatal blow appeared to be non-accidental. A lawyer for Johnson's parents filed court papers last week requesting a judge to order Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson to hold a coroner's inquest after Watson declined the family's request to do so.
An attorney for Johnson's parents said in September that the autopsy's findings had been sent to local authorities and to Moore, as well as to the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said it stands by the findings of the initial autopsy. The Justice Department said at the time that it had reviewed the state investigation file and didn't see "sufficient indication of a civil rights violation to authorize a civil rights investigation." But the Justice Department did say it was working with Moore and that his office was monitoring and evaluating the situation.
___
Associated Press writer Ray Henry in Atlanta contributed to this report.
President Obama speaks on health care at Faneuil Hall in Boston on Oct. 30, 2013.
Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Obamacare is under attack. Its website is glitchy, its prices are uneven, and insurance policies that don’t meet its standards are being withdrawn. But President Obama is sticking with it, scolding its Republican critics, and betting that in the long run, he’ll win. He may be right.
Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right. Follow him on Twitter.
Obama’s bet, on a message level, is that the public likes the idea of the Affordable Care Act, even if they’re unhappy with its implementation or some of its features. He’s for something that addresses our health care needs. Republicans, lacking a plausible alternative, offer nothing but obstruction. The law is being implemented. The GOP can’t fight it without, in effect, rolling back coverage and benefits. Changing the law’s details is a popular position. Repealing it isn’t.
Look at the polls. In a CBS News survey taken Oct. 1–2, a majority of Americans—51 to 43 percent—disapproved of the Affordable Care Act. Only 43 percent, however, said the law went “too far in changing the U.S. health care system.” Thirty percent said the law was about right, and 20 percent said it didn’t go far enough. The plurality supported the law or an extension of it. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll taken Oct. 7–9, 43 percent of respondents said the law was a bad idea. Only 38 percent called it a good idea. But 50 percent opposed “totally eliminating federal funding” for it, compared with 39 percent who favored cutting off funds.
Twenty-one percent of Americans in a Gallup poll conducted Oct. 12–13 said they’d like major changes to the law. Ninteen percent said they’d like minor changes. But only 29 percent said they’d like the law to be repealed entirely—less than the 32 percent who took that position three years ago, and not much more than the 24 percent who said they’d like to keep the law as it is. When Gallup pressed further, asking respondents whether the changes they had in mind would scale the law back or expand it, 40 percent of those who wanted changes (and who answered the question either way) said they preferred to expand the law.
A CNN/ORC survey taken Oct. 18–20 found that respondents opposed the law, 56 to 41 percent. But when pressed further, 12 percent—nearly a quarter of those who opposed the law—said it wasn’t liberal enough. Only 38 percent of the entire sample—less than the number who favored the law—said it was too liberal. In a CBS News poll taken Oct. 18–21, a majority disapproved of the law, 51 to 43 percent. But when pressed as to why, the numbers turned upside-down. The percentage who said the law went too far dropped to 43. Twenty-nine percent said the law was about right, and 22 percent—nearly all of them Democrats and independents—said it didn’t go far enough.
Now comes a second NBC/Journal poll, conducted Oct. 25–28. The numbers look grim: Forty-seven percent say Obamacare is a bad idea, up from 43 percent in early October. When they’re asked whether the law “is working well the way it is,” “needs minor modifications to improve it,” “needs a major overhaul,” or “should be totally eliminated,” only 6 percent say it’s working well as is. But among the remaining options, 38 percent of respondents say the law needs minor modifications, 28 percent say it needs a major overhaul, and only 24 percent say it should be completely eliminated. The poll doesn’t ask those who favor a major overhaul whether the law should go further or be scaled back, so we don’t know whether, as in the other surveys, what looks like a majority for repeal or major rollback is really a minority. But the poll does ask whether Obamacare’s website problems “are short-term technical issues that happen in large projects like this and can be corrected” or “point to longer-term issues with the new health care law and its overall design that cannot be corrected.” On that question, 31 percent say the law’s faults can’t be corrected. Thirty-seven percent say they can, and 30 percent say it’s too soon to tell. There’s a majority for fixing or revising the program, but not for purging it.
This puts Republicans in a difficult spot. Their mantra, repeated over and over and over, is that the law must be “entirely repealed and replaced.” “One thing that all Republicans agreed on back in 2009 is that we thought Obamacare was a terrible mistake,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reminded the public on Oct. 20. “We still think that, and we're going to do everything we can in the future to try to repeal it.” At an Oct. 29 press conference, House Speaker John Boehner agreed: “We want to repeal Obamacare and replace it with patient-centered health care.” When a reporter asked whether “Republicans would like to join in with some Democrats to change the law,” Boehner scoffed, “There is no way to fix this monstrosity.”
The polls don’t support that view. There’s a big gap between the public’s dissatisfaction and the GOP’s full-throated antagonism. Obama is filling that gap. He’s incorporating the dissatisfaction into his message of fixing, changing, and improving the law. That’s why he went to Boston yesterday to tout the Massachusetts law on which the Affordable Care Act was modeled. Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick recalled the early flaws in the Massachusetts program and how they were ironed out. Obama also told the story of President Bush’s prescription drug program: “Once it was the law, everybody pitched in to try to make it work.” He conceded Obamacare’s troubles and promised, “We are going to keep working to improve the law.”
The alternative, he argued, was callous spite. “If Republicans in Congress were as eager to help Americans get covered as some Republican governors have shown themselves to be, we'd make a lot of progress,” said Obama. Other governors, he warned, were “so locked in to the politics of this thing that they won't lift a finger to help their own people, and that’s leaving millions of Americans uninsured unnecessarily. That’s a shame. Because if they put as much energy into making this law work as they do in attacking the law, Americans would be better off.”
Obamacare’s problems could worsen. The public could turn against it. It could be repealed. But if its basic concept is as sound as the Massachusetts program—if it’s addressing a widespread problem and can be cleaned up with technical repairs and policy revisions—then the public will stick with it. And the GOP, eventually, will become the party of reform, not repeal.
It's official! Kendra Wilkinson has confirmed that she and her husband Hank Baskett are expecting their second child together. The former Playboy model announced the baby news via Twitter on Thursday, Oct. 31.
"Round two. Here we go!!" the 28-year-old wrote to her over 2 million followers. Alongside the caption, the blonde beauty shared a picture of herself makeup-free holding up her pregnancy test marked "pregnant," with a big smile on her face.
Wilkinson also confirmed the news during a TODAY show appearance with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb the same day. "Kendra on Top, naughty, naughty, that's what got me pregnant with baby number two," she teased. "We planned this to be right after the season, so I'll have time to puke. You know, be in a cave." She added: "I'm really at a great stage. Not physically. I'm in the bathroom every 10 minutes," she said of her morning sickness.
Us Weekly exclusively broke news earlier this month that the reality star and 31-year-old former NFL player -- married since June 2009 — were expecting again. "She and Hank have been planning a second baby for a while," an insider revealed to Us, "and they are very excited."
Wilkinson previously told Us in August they were ready to also give their son Hank Baskett IV, almost 4, a younger sibling. "We are trying, we are going to start now," she said at the Hollywood premiere of Disney's Planes on Aug. 5. "This is my first official announcement! We are very excited about making the decision to try!"
(As UFC turns 20, we revisit each year from 2013 to 1993 with 20 articles in 20 days)
Since the advent of mustached strongmen, the circus has traveled around on the rails and pitched multicolored tents. Part of the attraction was that the attraction came to you. And part of the UFC’s model is similar -- the idea is to travel around to whatever sector of the globe is ready to embrace it. Instead of a tent, they pitch an Octagon. And unless you live in the Falklands or in upstate New York, chances are the UFC will end up in your general area sooner or later.
When the UFC decided to go to Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi in April of 2010, this felt by far like the craziest thing the promotion had attempted. It wasn’t that they sold off a minority portion of the company to Sheikh Tahnoon, or that it was headed to the Middle East, or that the event would be held alfresco under the wheeling constellations just like Tunney-Dempsey back in 1927 at Soldier Field…it was that there wasn’t a freaking venue in place.
It was that they were going to build a temporary arena to house UFC 112, and then tear it down a week later.
Therefore, "Concert Arena" was erected as nothing more than ephemera, just a glamorized squat house for the UFC’s visit. If that weren’t enough, it was built within something called "Ferrari World." You could practically see the Sheikh using $100 bills as kindling for his fireplace while swirling a glass of Henry IV cognac. Laughing. Laughing. (With the flames dancing in his eyes.)
The event in Abu Dhabi was a catalyst for a lot of things. It told everyone that the UFC meant business in taking the Octagon all over the world, not just ports in Europe and Canada. That night on April 10, 2010, the UFC rolled out two title fights like a lush red carpet, and yet neither of them came off even remotely close to what might be considered "reasonable expectation."
Frankie Edgar fought B.J. Penn in the co-main event, and Anderson Silva -- who was originally supposed to fight Vitor Belfort -- took on Demian Maia for the middleweight crown. Maia and Edgar were of course the sacrifices. I remember beforehand a very well known MMA journalist telling me, while emboldened by his Guinness, "Edgar might be the first fatality in the cage." He was of course exaggerating, but the sentiment was there; Edgar didn’t stand a chance.
Turns out Edgar did stand a chance, and in fact fairly dominated the scorecards en-route to taking Penn’s belt. That was the first "say what?" moment in a night full of eye rubbing. The Silva-Maia nightcap was one of the most bizarre main events to ever have pay-per-view customers screaming for rebates. In it Anderson Silva sort of flew off the handle. He mocked and preened and went into theatrics for much of the five rounds he wasn’t even supposed to need in putting Maia away. The performance was so remarkable for all the wrong reasons that Dana White put out a piece of caution on the Jim Rome Show afterwards that said this: He’d cut Anderson Silva if it happened again. Even the greatest living mixed martial artist in the world wouldn’t be suffered such shenanigans.
(This was the context for Silva and his rivalry with Chael Sonnen, who came along at just the right moment right after. Sonnen breathed life back into Silva, just like Silva became a sort of world stage for Sonnen to reinvent himself).
Zuffa owned the WEC, but at this point had kept the two organizations separate. The WEC had the smaller weight classes. The UFC had everything else. By October of 2010, with the UFC growing and holding more events and needing more star power to carry them, Dana White announced that the promotions would be merging. This was significant for two reasons. One, it meant existing undersized UFC lightweights could fight at 145 pounds without leaving the UFC. And two, it meant people like Cruz, Pettis, Demetrious Johnson, Benson Henderson, Benavidez, Mendes, Lamas and poster boy Urijah Faber would finally showcase their wares for those who avoided eye contact with the WEC’s blue cage.
The WEC would bring over a world of talent to the UFC.
"That was the goal -- it was always to find the best fighters," says Reed Harris, who was the general manager and face of the WEC. "We worked very hard at that. When I came into the office, I never would hear people say, ‘hey the lighting on that show was fantastic.’ Inherently I knew it was all about the fights, and that it’s all about the fighters. So we spent a lot of time looking at them, and went down to Brazil to find Jose Aldo. We did a lot of things that a lot of people didn’t do in trying to find the best people."
Jose Aldo. The man who made Americans figure out the correct order of the vowels in Nova Uniao.
"The first time I saw Jose, he jumped out of the cage, and I took him in back with his manager Andre Pederneiras -- and I’m a guy who rarely raises his voice, because that’s just not who I am -- but I was yelling at him," Harris says. "I read him the Riot Act. Little did I know he didn’t have any idea what I was saying, but he knew I was mad.
"The next show, I was in the cage after he won, and he looked at me, ran towards the door, stopped and then sat down," Harris says. "He looked up at me and smiled, kind of like a f--- you, and ever since then I’ve liked him. Now we’re very close. We spent a lot of time together."
Harris is now the Vice President of Community Relations with the UFC. Aldo is the long-tenured featherweight champion who is hovering the top three space of most pound-for-pound lists. At UFC 142, after Aldo knocked out Chad Mendes, Aldo disappeared into a sea of his countrymen once again. And once again, Harris was right there tapping his foot with his arms crossed.
"I yelled at him to get back in the cage," he says. "That’s his place, right? I wasn’t mad at him for doing it. It was crazy. I actually got punched in the crowd. Not on purpose. The guy who punched me looked at me like he was in shock because he was trying to grab Jose. It was just very chaotic, and I yelled at him to get back in for safety reasons."
That Harris is now scolding Aldo outside of the UFC Octagon instead of outside the WEC blue cage marks the evolution of the times. At some point along the way, Harris knew that the bantamweights and featherweights he’d helped along, not to mention his crop of high-powered lightweights, would all be migrating to the UFC. The thing was inevitable.
"I think at some point it was just decided, look, the UFC is going to be the dominant brand in this sport forever," he says. "Especially when all of us were watching these lighter-weight fights including Dana and Lorenzo and Frank [Fertitta], and they were seeing that they were entertaining and that people were interested. So why not add to the brand? Why not make the brand even stronger?"
On Feb. 1, 2014, at UFC 169 in Newark during Super Bowl weekend, the WEC’s elite will be on display. Renan Barao and Dominick Cruz will unify the bantamweight belts, and Aldo will defend his title against Ricardo Lamas.
Open source technology provider Red Hat today announced a new initiative designed to boost the adoption of its OpenStack cloud framework in enterprise data centers.
The Red Hat initiative, dubbed On-Ramp to Enterprise OpenStack and developed with Intel, aims to educate customers about the benefits and capabilities of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform running on Intel servers.
OpenStack -- which launched last September and was recently updated with its eighth release, called Havana -- is a framework for building and managing private, public and hybrid Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds.
Red Hat's efforts to drive OpenStack adoption in the enterprise include a demonstration platform, where users can test Red Hat's OpenStack build, and a series of workshops that will be available to IT staff in North America and Europe from the start of next year.
Specifically, Red Hat's On-Ramp program includes TestFlight, a hosted multi-tenant test environment where potential users can evaluate Red Hat's Enterprise Linux OpenStack running on Intel Xeon servers, in addition to the On-Ramp to Enterprise OpenStack Road Tour.
Red Hat virtualization general manager Radhesh Balakrishnan said: "On-Ramp to Enterprise OpenStack represents the next level of our collaboration with Intel, and I am excited about the opportunity we mutually face to help demystify OpenStack and show enterprise organizations its true potential."
The move suggests that Red Hat is increasingly looking to compete with VMware in the enterprise data center space.
However, in an interview with Network World earlier this year, VMWare CEO Pat Gelsinger dismissed OpenStack as a viable enterprise cloud platform, claiming that it's more of a platform for service providers to build public clouds.
"We don't see it having great success coming into the enterprise because it's a framework for constructing clouds," he said. "People have largely adopted and have extremely large deployments of VMware and the switching costs and so on of that are not particularly effective.
"Where we see it being effective though are very much in cloud providers, service providers, an area where VMware hasn't had a lot of business in the past and thus, our strategy, we believe, opens a whole new market for us to go pursue."
Prime Instant Video Greenlights First-Ever Drama Pilots
ollowing Amazon Studios' pilot announcement earlier this month, Amazon today announced it has given the green light for the production of its first two hour-long drama pilots: Bosch, based on Michael Connelly's best-selling Harry Bosch book series and written by Emmy-nominated Eric Overmyer (The Wire, Treme) and Michael Connelly, and The After, written and directed by Emmy-nominee Chris Carter (The X-Files).
Customers will be invited to watch the pilots on Amazon Instant Video at no cost and can provide feedback that will help determine which pilots should be produced as series to air exclusively on Prime Instant Video and Amazon's LOVEFiLM in the UK in early 2014.
"We are very excited to be working with creators like Michael Connelly and Chris Carter, both epic storytellers in their own right," said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. "For the first time we are bringing Amazon customers hour-long programming and we can't wait to hear what they think of these new stories."
Bosch
Based on Michael Connelly's best-selling Harry Bosch series and written by Eric Overmyer and Michael Connelly, Bosch follows a relentless LAPD homicide detective as he pursues the killer of a 13-year-old boy while standing trial in federal court on accusations that he murdered a suspected serial killer in cold blood. Bosch will be played by Titus Welliver (Argo, The Good Wife) and the pilot will also star Annie Wersching, Amy Price-Francis and Jamie Hector. Henrik Bastin of Fabrik Entertainment (The Killing) is producing and Jim McKay will direct.
"Sharing this story with television audiences is very exciting, something that's been twenty years in the making," said author Michael Connelly. "It is amazing to have it come together with the synergy of Amazon-the world's largest bookstore-along with accomplished creator and showrunner, Eric Overmyer, and Fabrik, a production company dedicated to loyalty to the books. Harry Bosch can be in no better hands."
The After
Written and directed by Emmy-nominee Chris Carter (The X-Files) executive produced by Marc Rosen of Georgeville Television and produced by Gabe Rotter, The After follows eight strangers who are thrown together by mysterious forces and must help each other survive in a violent world that defies explanation. Sharon Lawrence, Jamie Kennedy, Aldis Hodge, Andrew Howard, Arielle Kebbel, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Adrian Pasdar, and Louise Monot will star.
"I'm very superstitious about talking about what I'm working on before it's finished, and it's more fun if it's kept a mystery! So let me just say that this is a show that explores human frailty, possibility, terror, and the triumph of the human spirit," said Chris Carter, creator of The After. "I'm so excited to be telling this story with Amazon in this new frontier of television."
Notre Dame research finding may help accelerate diabetic wound healing
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
30-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Mayland Chang mchang@nd.edu 574-631-2965 University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame researchers have, for the first time, identified the enzymes that are detrimental to diabetic wound healing and those that are beneficial to repair the wound.
There are currently no therapeutics for diabetic wound healing. The current standard of care is palliative to keep the wound clean and free of infection. In the United States, 66,000 diabetic individuals each year undergo lower-limb amputations due to wounds that failed to heal.
A team of researchers from Notre Dame's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, led by Mark Suckow, Shahriar Mobashery and Mayland Chang, searched for metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the wounds of healthy and diabetic mice.
Gelatinases, a class of enzymes, have been implicated in a host of human diseases from cancer to cardiovascular conditions. Chang has been researching activation of MMPs, particularly gelatinase B or MMP-9.
The MMPs remodel the extracellular matrix in tissue during wound healing.
"We show that MMP-9 is detrimental to wound healing, while MMP-8 is beneficial," Chang said. "Our studies provide a strategy for diabetic wound healing by using selective MMP-9 inhibitors."
The team treated diabetic mice with an inhibitor of MMP-9 and discovered that wounds were healed 92 percent after 14 days, as compared to 74 percent healing in untreated mice.
The identification of the enzyme that interferes with diabetic wound healing and that which repairs the wound opens the door to new, novel treatment strategies.
"Currently, advanced wound dressings containing collagen are used for diabetic wound healing," Chang said. "The collagen provides a substrate so that the unregulated MMP-9 chews on the collagen in the dressing, rather than on the wound. It would be better to treat the diabetic wounds with a selective MMP-9 inhibitor to inhibit the culprit enzyme that is impeding wound healing while leaving the beneficial MMP-8 uninhibited to help repair the wound."
The study appeared in the American Chemical Society's journal ACS Chemical Biology.
###
[
| 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.
Notre Dame research finding may help accelerate diabetic wound healing
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
30-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Mayland Chang mchang@nd.edu 574-631-2965 University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame researchers have, for the first time, identified the enzymes that are detrimental to diabetic wound healing and those that are beneficial to repair the wound.
There are currently no therapeutics for diabetic wound healing. The current standard of care is palliative to keep the wound clean and free of infection. In the United States, 66,000 diabetic individuals each year undergo lower-limb amputations due to wounds that failed to heal.
A team of researchers from Notre Dame's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, led by Mark Suckow, Shahriar Mobashery and Mayland Chang, searched for metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the wounds of healthy and diabetic mice.
Gelatinases, a class of enzymes, have been implicated in a host of human diseases from cancer to cardiovascular conditions. Chang has been researching activation of MMPs, particularly gelatinase B or MMP-9.
The MMPs remodel the extracellular matrix in tissue during wound healing.
"We show that MMP-9 is detrimental to wound healing, while MMP-8 is beneficial," Chang said. "Our studies provide a strategy for diabetic wound healing by using selective MMP-9 inhibitors."
The team treated diabetic mice with an inhibitor of MMP-9 and discovered that wounds were healed 92 percent after 14 days, as compared to 74 percent healing in untreated mice.
The identification of the enzyme that interferes with diabetic wound healing and that which repairs the wound opens the door to new, novel treatment strategies.
"Currently, advanced wound dressings containing collagen are used for diabetic wound healing," Chang said. "The collagen provides a substrate so that the unregulated MMP-9 chews on the collagen in the dressing, rather than on the wound. It would be better to treat the diabetic wounds with a selective MMP-9 inhibitor to inhibit the culprit enzyme that is impeding wound healing while leaving the beneficial MMP-8 uninhibited to help repair the wound."
The study appeared in the American Chemical Society's journal ACS Chemical Biology.
###
[
| 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.
Fitwall Is A Gym That Knows If You’re Working Out Too Hard, Or Not Hard Enough
Many earnest novice gym-goers have a commitment that won’t outlast a green banana. One problem is that newbies exert themselves too much and drop their membership before their overly worked muscles have time to recover. On the other end of the six-pack spectrum, Brad Pitt-looking characters may skate by without breaking a sweat, and drop dead prematurely because they never knew they could work out harder. Fitwall, a new quantified gym in sunny San Diego, wants to ensure everyone is working out exactly hard as they should be.
All members are strapped with heart monitors that display their target heart rate in brightly-lit iPads that hang over them as they perform gravity-based exercises. In the video above, I test it out on their mobile fitwall outside of TechCrunch’s San Francisco headquarters.
“We ensure that you’re monitored, in real time,” says Josh Weinstein, CEO of Fit, who first caught up with me at the Summit Series Outside conference in Eden, Utah. FitWall’s head coach Clifton Harski says that newbies go “too hard, too often,” which leads to quitting. “We want to train hard, but we don’t want to train hard until we’re ready for it.” Check out my sweaty workout above.
Jeffrey Zients testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on April 11, 2013, in Washington.
Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images
Jeff Zients, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and current leader of the “tech surge” team to fix healthcare.gov, has drawn a line in the sand: Nov. 30. That is the date by which “healthcare.gov will be smooth for a vast majority of users,” he said on a press call last week.
I don’t think Zients set that date. Here’s why. Dec. 15 is the deadline for people to sign up in order to have insurance by Jan. 1, which is when marketplace coverage begins. Obviously the earlier more people sign up, the better. But past Jan. 1, you then have three months—until March 31—to get insurance before you’re penalized under the mandate.
The administration does not want to change these dates any further, and they definitely want coverage to start on Jan. 1. Insurers are already warning of premium sticker shock if open enrollment goes beyond March 31—whether their warnings are legitimate or not, I don’t think the administration wants to find out. So for all of Zients’ prestige and authority, I’m assuming the administration’s response to any request for time beyond Nov. 30 was: “But it’ll work on Dec. 1, right?”
On his Friday call, Zients differentiated between healthcare.gov’s “scale” issues and its “functionality” issues. I believe this marks the first time that the administration has admitted that healthcare.gov’s problems went far beyond the site being overloaded. Zients said that account creation had now been fixed, with more than 90 percent of users now able to create accounts. But only 30 percent have been able to complete an actual insurance application. And that’s not even to say that the application is correct, owing to reports of children getting listed as multiple spouses and the like.
If only 30 percent of people can actually complete an application on a website, why on earth is the website still up? So people can play insurance-application roulette with 7–3 odds against them? Why not take the site down until it works?
Well, remember how there was very little testing done on the system? It seems that not only was very little testing done, but testing frameworks weren’t set up. That means the team fixing healthcare.gov not only has a lot of bugs to fix, but they don’t have infrastructure in place to identify and reproduce the bugs, which are the first step to fixing them. Under a tight deadline, any such infrastructure will be ad hoc and inadequate. So it’s important that healthcare.gov stays open simply so that potential applicants can run into bugs and report them.
In effect, the uninsured are now serving as alpha testers—i.e., guinea pigs—of a mostly untested system. As they are now serving as de facto government workers, I think they deserve a discount on their premiums, preferably taken out of the contractors’ fat paychecks.
Nonetheless, Zients’ stats and admissions of reality were refreshing and bode well. I am more ambivalent about the promotion of data-hub contractor QSSI, owned by insurer UnitedHealth Group, to the role of “overseeing the entire operation.” QSSI is one of those contractors that "have not met expectations," to borrow a line from Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who testifies on healthcare.gov before the House on Wednesday. As we saw, QSSI admitted that their $85 million component broke down on Day One. QSSI also screwed up Housing and Urban Development’s reverse-mortgage HERMIT system in 2009–2011, for which they were paid a cool $32 million.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Share
