KATMANDU, Nepal?? More than 1,000 foreign trekkers are stranded in the foothills of Mount Everest because bad weather has not allowed planes to take off or land at the area's only airport.
Police official Ramesh Khakda says about 1,200 foreign trekkers are stranded at and around Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal. There are several Nepalese guides and porters with the foreigners.
Small helicopters ferried some of the trekkers Friday, but bad weather was hampering the efforts. Thick fog has canceled flights at the airport, which sits at an altitude of 9,200 feet (2,800 meters), for the past four days. The stranded trekkers have been sleeping at the airport and in tents and dining halls at Lukla hotels.
Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, peaks at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters).
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BILLINGS, Mont. ? Exxon Mobil Corp. said Friday it expects to incur costs of about $135 million from an oil pipeline break beneath Montana's Yellowstone River that triggered a massive effort to limit damage to the scenic waterway.
The cost figure was released in response to a request from The Associated Press and is more than triple an earlier estimate. It includes for the first time the expense of replacing the section of broken pipeline with a new one buried more deeply beneath the river.
The company's 20-year-old Silvertip crude oil pipeline broke July 1 during severe flooding.
In the 56 minutes it took Exxon Mobil to seal off the 12-inch line, an estimated 1,000 barrels of oil, or 42,000 gallons, poured into the river near Laurel. That fouled dozens of miles of riverbank, numerous islands and swaths of low-lying cropland with crude.
More than 1,000 workers were involved in the cleanup effort at its peak. Work to remove the damaged pipeline began Monday and is expected to take several weeks.
An Exxon Mobil spokeswoman declined to release a breakdown of the company's costs, providing only a broad overview of expenses.
"This estimate includes costs for overall emergency response and cleanup efforts including personnel, equipment, landowner claims and projects associated with the restart of the pipeline such as the horizontal directional drill," company spokeswoman Claire Hassett said.
"Horizontal directional drill" refers to the process the company used to bore a new route for the pipeline dozens of feet beneath the riverbed. That move was mandated by federal pipeline regulators.
The original pipeline was buried only a few feet beneath the river. State and federal officials have speculated that summer flooding scoured the riverbed and left the pipe exposed to damaging debris and the force of the rushing river.
An investigation into the cause remains pending.
State officials said they hope to learn more when the first pieces of the damaged section of pipeline are pulled from the river, possibly this weekend. Those will be sent to an independent laboratory for analysis, according to state and federal officials and the company.
An inspector from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will be on site throughout the removal process. The agency wants to make sure all evidence is preserved as part of the accident investigation, spokesman Damon Hill said.
Several property owners along the river have sued Exxon Mobil in federal court, accusing the company of damaging their land and conducting a "haphazard, sloppy" cleanup.
The landowners also claim the company failed to heed warnings from local officials who raised concerns about Silvertip months before the accident.
The lawsuit was originally filed in state court but was transferred last week to U.S. District Court in Billings. The case was assigned to Judge Richard Cebull.
In a response filed Thursday, Exxon Mobil attorneys rejected many of the lawsuit's assertions and suggested some of the injuries suffered by the plaintiffs were caused by their own negligence.
Exxon Mobil's Hassett said the company has reached settlements with 95 percent of affected property owners.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversaw the most intensive parts of the cleanup before turning over authority to the state Department of Environmental Quality in September.
At the time, EPA representatives said they were pleased with the cooperation they had received from the company.
Although Gov. Brian Schweitzer clashed with Exxon Mobil over its initial response, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality said Friday that the state has no major complaints as the first phase of the cleanup nears an end and long-term monitoring begins.
"We're not thrilled we had to do it in the first place," DEQ spokeswoman Mary Ann Dunwell said. "We can scientifically clean up something appropriately and have no problem with it. But there's also the inconvenience, the lifestyle changes that many people were forced to endure this last summer and fall. I don't know if you can put a price on that."
State agencies through October spent about $900,000 on the spill and cleanup, said DEQ deputy director Tom Livers.
Livers said the state expects to be fully reimbursed by Exxon Mobil and through an oil industry fund set up to pay for emergency spill response costs.
There?s a small minority of league insiders who believe that Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck isn?t the franchise savior that most are making him out to be.? Former NFL quarterback and current CBS/Showtime analyst Phil Simms appears to be a member of said minority.
?I think the hype is a little too much,? Simms told Adam Schein and Rich Gannon of SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday.? ?I feel bad for him in that respect.?? I mean, what?s he going to do to match what they say he can do?
?There?s a lot to him.? I think his best quality, by far, is he?s big and strong and he?s going to be able to move and run in the NFL.? There?s no question.? I mean, this guy is strong.? The throwing?? He manages a game.? I see all that.
?But the one thing I don?t see, I just don?t see big time NFL throws.? I don?t care what anybody says.? I?ve watched a lot of him.? He never takes it and rips it in there.? And you can say what you want but, man, you?ve got to be able to crease that ball every once in a while.? We see it every week in these games.? Hey, he can develop it but even in the USC game, you know, he?s very careful with it, guides it a lot, Rich.? That?s what I see.? There?s not a lot of rotation on the ball and there?s not a tremendous amount of power.? Not that you need to have that power arm.? I?m not saying you?ve got to have that exclusively but, man, it sure helps when you can do that because there?s four or five plays a game it is about arm strength.? And sometimes quarterbacks who don?t have it, they pass those plays up.? Why?? Well, they go, ?I don?t know if I can make that throw,? so they throw it short.? That?s why I?m a little more reserved in my judgment than everybody else.?
Even though Simms recently has seemed to be intent on projecting contrarian opinions (even when those opinions stray into the realm of the goofy), he possibly is onto something here.? The truth lies in the ?all-22? film, which will show whether Luck has downfield opportunities when opting to throw short.? And the folks who are paid to assess college players will study that film.? If Simms is onto something, the tape will bear it out.
Still, the expectations remain way too high for Luck, and there?s a chance he?s being set up to fail.? Given that he?s being viewed as the greatest prospect since Peyton Manning or John Elway, anything less than a bronze bust and a right hand riddled with rings will be viewed as an F.
An insurance industry trade group has given top safety ratings to five minivans but said two others were not as good.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded the 2012 Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Grand Caravan and Volkswagen Routan ? which all share a common structure ? and the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna vans its ?Top Safety Pick? ranking following evaluations for rollover protection.
To win the ranking, the vehicles go through tests and must have the highest rating of good for frontal, side, rollover and rear crash protection.
The trade group said that two other minivans, the Kia Sedona and the Nissan Quest, ?fall short on rollover protection, with the Sedona receiving the lowest rating of poor and the Quest ranking as acceptable."
"Safety-conscious parents shopping for a family hauler should be pleased with today's minivan choices," says David Zuby, the institute's chief research officer. "At the same time, the ratings show that major differences remain in this segment when it comes to protection in a rollover crash."
In 2009, more than 8,000 people were killed in rollover crashes in the United States, according to the insurance group.? That number has fallen as more vehicles have come equipped with electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollovers.? As of the 2012 model year, all new vehicles must be equipped with electronic stability control and anti-lock brake systems.
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GAINESVILLE, Ga. ? Four men in Georgia intended to use an online novel as a script for a real-life wave of terror and assassination using explosives and the lethal toxin ricin, according to court documents.
Federal agents raided their north Georgia homes Tuesday and arrested them on charges of conspiring to plan the attacks.
Frederick Thomas, 73; Dan Roberts, 67; Ray Adams, 65; and Samuel Crump, 68, appeared in court Wednesday but indicated they needed more time to prepare for a bail hearing, which was scheduled for next week.
The men wore glasses and had graying or white hair, and had trouble hearing a judge during the proceedings, even though she was using a microphone.
Relatives of two of the men said the charges were baseless. Their public defender declined to comment at the hearing.
Court documents accused the men of trying to obtain an explosive device and a silencer to carry out targeted attacks on government buildings and employees. Two of the men are also accused of trying to seek out a formula to produce ricin, a biological toxin that can be lethal in small doses.
Thomas' wife, Charlotte, told The Associated Press that the charges were "baloney."
"He spent 30 years in the U.S. Navy. He would not do anything against his country," she said. "He loves his country."
Thomas, who is portrayed as the ringleader, talked of modeling the actions on the online novel "Absolved," which involves small groups of citizens attacking U.S. officials, according to court documents. It was written by former Alabama militia leader Mike Vanderboegh, who wrote on his blog Wednesday that his book was fiction and said he was skeptical a "pretty geriatric" militia could carry out the attacks the men were accused of planning.
Vanderboegh told AP his novel was a "useful dire warning" about what could happen if the federal government encroaches too far on the rights of armed citizens. Vanderboegh said he is trying to warn the federal government to back off before violence occurs, yet he also believes a civil war is possible.
"My reason for everything I write is that there are a number of people in this country who have been pushed back and will not be pushed anymore," he said.
Investigators said the four men took several concrete steps to carry out their plans. Thomas is accused of driving to Atlanta with a confidential informant to scope out federal buildings that house the IRS and other agencies.
During the trip, Thomas at one point said to the informant: "There's two schools of thought on this: go for the feds or go for the locals. And I'm inclined to consider both. We'd have to blow the whole building like Timothy McVeigh," according to court documents.
He and Adams also arranged to buy what they thought was an explosive device and a silencer from an undercover agent. The men were arrested days after a lab test confirmed they had trace amounts of ricin in their possession, authorities said.
"While many are focused on the threat posed by international violent extremists, this case demonstrates that we must also remain vigilant in protecting our country from citizens within our own borders who threaten our safety and security," said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
Federal investigators have monitored the group since at least March 17, when a confidential source recorded a meeting of the fringe group at Thomas' two-story house in Cleveland, a small town in the mountains of north Georgia. Thomas boasted of making a "bucket list" of government employees, politicians, businessman and media members that he felt needed to be "taken out."
At the meeting, Thomas said: "There is no way for us, as militiamen, to save this country, to save Georgia, without doing something that's highly, highly illegal: Murder," according to the court records.
Roberts, who attended several meetings, mentioned in May that he knew a former U.S. Army soldier who was a "loose cannon" who may be able to help them make ricin that the group could disperse in major U.S. cities. Crump and Adams were assigned to try to obtain or make the lethal toxin, and Crump was recorded in September saying he would like to make 10 pounds of the substance.
It's not clear from the court documents exactly how the men obtained the trace amounts of ricin.
An informant who met Adams' at his home in October saw lab equipment and a glass beaker, and a bean obtained by the informant was later tested by state officials as positive for ricin.
Court documents also accused Crump of suggesting the ricin could be blown out of a car speeding down an interstate highway to attack people in Washington; Newark, N.J.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Atlanta and New Orleans.
Prosecutors pointed out in court records that the four men had useful backgrounds. Adams used to work as a lab technician for a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency, and showed off his certifications to visitors. Crump once worked for a contractor that did maintenance at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the records said.
The court records did not say whether they used their connections to obtain ricin.
Thomas' wife said her husband was a Navy veteran, while Roberts' wife Margaret said her husband retired from the sign business and lives on pensions. She said FBI agents showed up Tuesday with a search warrant and went through her home, handcuffing her and taking a computer and other items.
"He's never been in trouble with the law. He's not anti-government," she said. "He would never hurt anybody."
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Associated Press writers Dorie Turner, Jeff Martin and Leonard Pallats contributed to this story.
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Follow Bluestein on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bluestein.
___
Associated Press writer Jay Reeves contributed to this report from Alabaster.
Current training programs may not prepare firefighters to combat stressPublic release date: 2-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lois Smith lois@hfes.org 310-394-1811 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Current training programs may not effectively prepare firefighters for the range of scenarios they are likely to encounter, according to human factors/ergonomics researchers
Current training programs may not effectively prepare firefighters for the range of scenarios they are likely to encounter, according to human factors/ergonomics researchers Michael R. Baumann, Carol L. Gohm, and Bryan L. Bonner. In their October 2011 Human Factors article, "Phased Training for High-Reliability Occupations: Live-Fire Exercises for Civilian Firefighters," the authors assess the value of current scenario-based training programs.
Firefighters must make complex decisions and predictions and must perform extreme tasks at a moment's notice. Failure to keep a level head in the face of a dangerous situation may result in disastrous consequences. An effective training program that prepares firefighters to handle unanticipated changes may be the key to maintaining low stress levels and preventing stress-related health issues.
The most common form of training exposes firefighters to one or a very small set of live-fire scenarios designed to reduce stress and encourage calm decision-making skills. But repeated exposure to the same scenario may fail to adequately prepare firefighters for changing situations, as lessons learned in that scenario may not transfer to a different scenario.
In the Baumann et al. study, firefighter trainees performed a variety of drills, first repeating a drill in one type of building (six stories, one room on each floor) and then, in a subsequent training, performing drills in a different type of building (two stories, multiple rooms on each floor). As expected, trainees reported reduced stress and fewer performance problems in subsequent repetitions of one scenario but a reversion to pretraining levels of stress with the new scenario.
"If you learn the scenario, you can predict what will happen in that one scenario, but you can't predict what will happen in situations that look a little different," said Baumann. "If you learn general principles, then you can predict what is going to happen in a wide range of situations."
The authors suggest that trainers should increase the range of scenarios to which firefighters are exposed. Desktop-based simulators are available to supplement live-fire training with a variety of scenarios to enable trainees to learn basic principles, even though such simulators cannot replicate a live-fire environment.
"Repeated high levels of stress are associated with a host of health problems," Baumann said. "In firefighters specifically, the stress has been linked to increased risk of alcohol abuse, cardiovascular disease, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Finding a way to reduce the stress levels is a worthy goal."
###
For a full copy of this article, visit http://hfs.sagepub.com/content/53/5/548.full.pdf+html or contact HFES Communications Director Lois Smith (lois@hfes.org; 310/394-1811).
The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is the world's largest nonprofit individual-member, multidisciplinary scientific association for human factors/ergonomics professionals, with more than 4,600 members globally. HFES members include psychologists and other scientists, designers, and engineers, all of whom have a common interest in designing systems and equipment to be safe and effective for the people who operate and maintain them. Watch science news stories about other HF/E topics at the HFES Web site. "Human Factors and Ergonomics: People-Friendly Design Through Science and Engineering"
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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.
Current training programs may not prepare firefighters to combat stressPublic release date: 2-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lois Smith lois@hfes.org 310-394-1811 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Current training programs may not effectively prepare firefighters for the range of scenarios they are likely to encounter, according to human factors/ergonomics researchers
Current training programs may not effectively prepare firefighters for the range of scenarios they are likely to encounter, according to human factors/ergonomics researchers Michael R. Baumann, Carol L. Gohm, and Bryan L. Bonner. In their October 2011 Human Factors article, "Phased Training for High-Reliability Occupations: Live-Fire Exercises for Civilian Firefighters," the authors assess the value of current scenario-based training programs.
Firefighters must make complex decisions and predictions and must perform extreme tasks at a moment's notice. Failure to keep a level head in the face of a dangerous situation may result in disastrous consequences. An effective training program that prepares firefighters to handle unanticipated changes may be the key to maintaining low stress levels and preventing stress-related health issues.
The most common form of training exposes firefighters to one or a very small set of live-fire scenarios designed to reduce stress and encourage calm decision-making skills. But repeated exposure to the same scenario may fail to adequately prepare firefighters for changing situations, as lessons learned in that scenario may not transfer to a different scenario.
In the Baumann et al. study, firefighter trainees performed a variety of drills, first repeating a drill in one type of building (six stories, one room on each floor) and then, in a subsequent training, performing drills in a different type of building (two stories, multiple rooms on each floor). As expected, trainees reported reduced stress and fewer performance problems in subsequent repetitions of one scenario but a reversion to pretraining levels of stress with the new scenario.
"If you learn the scenario, you can predict what will happen in that one scenario, but you can't predict what will happen in situations that look a little different," said Baumann. "If you learn general principles, then you can predict what is going to happen in a wide range of situations."
The authors suggest that trainers should increase the range of scenarios to which firefighters are exposed. Desktop-based simulators are available to supplement live-fire training with a variety of scenarios to enable trainees to learn basic principles, even though such simulators cannot replicate a live-fire environment.
"Repeated high levels of stress are associated with a host of health problems," Baumann said. "In firefighters specifically, the stress has been linked to increased risk of alcohol abuse, cardiovascular disease, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Finding a way to reduce the stress levels is a worthy goal."
###
For a full copy of this article, visit http://hfs.sagepub.com/content/53/5/548.full.pdf+html or contact HFES Communications Director Lois Smith (lois@hfes.org; 310/394-1811).
The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is the world's largest nonprofit individual-member, multidisciplinary scientific association for human factors/ergonomics professionals, with more than 4,600 members globally. HFES members include psychologists and other scientists, designers, and engineers, all of whom have a common interest in designing systems and equipment to be safe and effective for the people who operate and maintain them. Watch science news stories about other HF/E topics at the HFES Web site. "Human Factors and Ergonomics: People-Friendly Design Through Science and Engineering"
[ | 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.
PARIS (Reuters) ? The United Nations' cultural agency decided on Monday to give the Palestinians full membership of the body, a vote that will boost their bid for recognition as a state at the United Nations.
UNESCO is the first U.N. agency the Palestinians have sought to join as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on September 23.
The United States, Canada and Germany voted against Palestinian membership. Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and France voted in favor. Britain abstained.
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Public release date: 2-Nov-2011
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