The Physics of the First-Ever Supersonic Skydive

An Austrian daredevil is gearing up to make the world's highest skydive on Monday (Oct. 8), a high-flying leap from 23 miles above Earth that promises to break more than one record if all goes according to plan.

Veteran skydiver Felix Baumgartner, 43, will make the jump, thereby becoming the first person ever to freefall faster than the speed of sound. His skydive will also be the highest ever, superceding a record set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger by more than 3 miles (5 kilometers).

But what's the physics of this situation?

A helium-filled balloon will lift Baumgartner, sitting inside a custom-built capsule, to an altitude of 120,000 feet (36,576 meters). At that altitude, which registers in the upper echelons of the stratosphere, the atmosphere is a mere inkling of its sea-level self, exerting a pressure less than 0.5 percent of its value near the ground. Even if gradually acclimated, humans cannot survive long above 26,000 feet without an oxygen tank, so a much loftier Baumgartner will definitely require supplemental oxygen.

When the skydiver steps out of his capsule and plunges into the void, he'll accelerate for approximately 30 seconds before reaching his peak speed, explained Michael Weissman, a physicist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Weissman estimates that Baumgartner's speed will max out just above the sea-level speed of sound, which is about 760 miles per hour (1,225 kilometers per hour).

Baumgartner stops accelerating because of collisions with air molecules. Called a "drag force," air resistance opposes a falling body's downward motion, counteracting the downward force of gravity by pushing the body upward. The faster the body falls, the greater the air resistance it experiences, and so at a certain maximum velocity, called the terminal velocity, the drag force becomes equal and opposite to the gravitational force. With the two forces balanced, the body no longer accelerates.

Under normal circumstances, reaching terminal velocity means one's speed subsequently stays constant, but that's only true when external forces remain constant. In the case of this skydive, explains the physicist Louis Bloomfield of the University of Virginia, the surrounding atmosphere thickens dramatically as Baumgartner falls, so the upward drag force exerted on him by the air steadily increases. Consequently, the local terminal velocity drops as his altitude drops.?[Infographic: Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom]

"As he descends, the local terminal velocity will decrease and so he will slow down gradually until he reaches the 100-200 mph of near-sea level skydiving," Bloomfield told Life's Little Mysteries.

At that point, Baumgartner enters safe waters: The fall turns into an ordinary skydive. But what will happen to his body before that point, as he plunges through the stratosphere at the speed of sound?

For one thing, according to Bloomfield, a shock wave, also known as a sonic boom, will envelop his body. "He'll be colliding with the gas so fast that it can't flow out of his way because it effectively doesn't know that he's coming," he said. [Can You See a Sonic Boom?]

Secondly, those high-speed collisions with the air will generate a huge amount of heat.

"When he's near the maximum speed, almost all the gravitational potential energy he loses [from] falling gets converted to heat," Weissman said. If he and his suit together weigh in the neighborhood of 220 pounds (110 kilograms), he'll produce around 300 kilowatts of heat when falling at sonic speeds.

"If that heat was simply dumped into the skydiver, he'd heat almost 1 degree Celsius [1.8 degrees Fahrenheit] per second, which would be rapidly fatal," he said. "Of course most of that heat goes into the atmosphere, but it doesn't sound like a good idea to be around the equivalent of 200 high-power hairdryers for very long without some protection."

Assuming Baumgartner's suit offers the protection he needs, he should survive the fall. But Weissman pointed out that the very act of making that assumption suggests this stunt is dangerous. "As a general rule I'd say that anything extreme and unprecedented has special dangers," he said. "In this case the long period reliant on oxygen and heat protection from the suit raises issues not faced by an ordinary skydiver. In other words, there's more 'assuming' required here."

If Baumgartner is worried at all, he's not showing it. "I feel like a tiger in a cage waiting to get out," he said in a statement.

Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover?or Life's Little?Mysteries @llmysteries. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

Copyright 2012 Lifes Little Mysteries, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/physics-first-ever-supersonic-skydive-224100098.html

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U.S. jobless rate tumbles to near four-year low

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 7.8 percent in September and reached its lowest level since President Barack Obama took office, providing a boost to his re-election bid.

The Labor Department said on Friday that employers added 114,000 workers to their payrolls last month, a moderate number, but it said a combined 86,000 more jobs were created in the prior two months than it had previously thought.

Other aspects of the report also were strong. In particular, a separate survey of households found a big surge in hiring. That pushed the jobless rate down by 0.3 percentage point to its lowest level since January 2009.

"It's a good report. The picture is still not a great one, but it's not so bad given the unusual headwinds that we have been faced with," said Ray Stone, an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, New Jersey.

Obama said the report showed the economy was making progress while his Republican challenger Mitt Romney said the labor market was not healing fast enough.

Businesses have been hesitant to hire out of concern the U.S. recovery could take a hit from a sharp tightening of the federal budget next year, any worsening of the debt crisis in Europe and a slowdown in the global economy.

So far this year, job gains have averaged 146,000 per month, compared with 153,000 per month in 2011.

Economists had expected the unemployment rate to rise to 8.2 percent in September. The drop last month came even as Americans returned to the labor force to resume the hunt for work. The workforce had shrunk in the prior two months.

The household survey, which can be very volatile month-to-month, showed employment increased 873,000 -- the first rise in three months and the biggest since June 1983. But two-thirds of those were Americans who took a part time job even though they wanted full-time work, a fact that took a bit of the shine off the report.

Economists generally pay the most attention to the job growth figures from the much larger survey of employers. Over time, the surveys track each other, although many economists say the household survey sometimes takes the lead when trends shift.

Taken together, economists said the report broadly signaled a healthier labor market. The employment-to-population ratio, or the proportion of the working-age population with a job, increased to its highest level since May 2010.

Stocks on Wall Street initially rose, with the Dow Jones industrial average touching its highest point in almost five years, but they later retreated to close little changed as investors took profits. The dollar hit a two-week high against the yen, while U.S. Treasury debt prices fell.

U.S. interest rate futures also slipped as traders bet an improving jobs market could lead the Federal Reserve to back off its monetary stimulus earlier than had been expected.

A Reuters poll of top bond dealers, however, showed expectations holding firm that the Fed would end up buying $600 billion under a new stimulus program announced last month.

SPIN DOCTORS

There now remains only one more employment report before the November 6 election, and that comes just four days before voters go to the polls.

"We are moving forward," Obama said as he plead his case during a campaign rally in a Washington suburb. "After losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past 2-1/2 years."

"This country has come too far to turn back now."

Despite the progress, the economy is still about 4.5 million jobs short of where it stood when the 2007-09 recession started and Romney sought to remind voters that the labor market was still far from healthy.

"There were fewer new jobs created this month than last month and the unemployment rate, you know, this year has come down very, very slowly," Romney told a large crowd of supporters in Abingdon, Virginia. "The reason it has come down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work."

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday showed Romney narrowing the gap with Obama to only two points since Wednesday's presidential debate, but analysts said Obama was due to get a lift from the jobs numbers.

"Good economic news is good political news. President Obama needed that after the debate and it gives him numerical evidence that his policies are working," said Julian Zelizer of Princeton University.

The surprise drop in the jobless rate led former General Electric CEO Jack Welch to suggest in a tweet that the numbers had somehow been doctored. "These Chicago guys will do anything," he said in a reference to Obama's campaign operation. Welch is a Reuters columnist.

Alan Krueger, a top economic adviser to Obama, said it was irresponsible to question the credibility of the numbers. "That's a ludicrous comment. No serious person believes that the Bureau of Labor Statistics manipulates its statistics," he told Reuters Insider television.

Economists and the BLS also dismissed the conspiracy theory.

FED LIKELY TO KEEP FOOT ON THE GAS

Persistently poor labor market conditions led the Fed in September to announce a plan to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities each month until it sees a sustained turnaround in employment.

Despite the brighter signs on the jobs market, analysts said the central bank is unlikely to back off its stimulus anytime soon. After its last meeting, it said it planned to keep policy easy for "a considerable time" even after the recovery strengthened.

"This will be welcome news for the Fed, but given that the unemployment rate remains well above levels deemed consistent with full employment, their policy stance is unlikely to change," said Millan Mulraine, a senior economist at TD Securities in New York.

The Fed's ultra-easy stance has started to free up credit. A report from the Fed showed consumer credit rebounded strongly in August after posting its first decline in nearly a year in July.

Easier credit is supporting retail sales and home construction. Retail employment rose by 9,400, while construction added 5,000 jobs.

There we also gains in transportation and warehousing jobs, which increased 17,100. Financial services employment increased 13,000, and education and health payrolls surged 49,000.

Government payrolls rose 10,000 after increasing 45,000 in August. The gains last month largely reflected state and local government teaching jobs.

However, temporary help jobs, which are often seen as a harbinger of permanent hiring, fell 2,000, and manufacturing payrolls dropped 16,000, a second straight monthly decline. Job losses in the computer and electronics and the transportation sectors led the manufacturing decline.

Average hourly earnings rose 7 cents last month, the largest increase since June, which could support consumer spending, and the length of the average work week also increased slightly, another sign of strength.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Andy Sullivan in Washington, Mark Felsenthal in Fairfax, Virginia and Steve Holland in Abingdon, Virginia; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Andrea Ricci and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-jobless-rate-tumbles-near-four-low-000210259--business.html

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Skater Cho says tampering was 'biggest mistake'

Simon Cho speaks at a news conference on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, in Salt Lake City. Cho said Friday he agreed to a coach's demand to tamper with a Canadian rival's skates last year after the command was made a third time and in Korean by Jae Su Chun. Cho's comments confirmed several allegations made in the arbitration demand that seeks to permanently remove U.S. coach Chun. Chun has denied any wrongdoing but is suspended. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Tom Smart)

Simon Cho speaks at a news conference on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, in Salt Lake City. Cho said Friday he agreed to a coach's demand to tamper with a Canadian rival's skates last year after the command was made a third time and in Korean by Jae Su Chun. Cho's comments confirmed several allegations made in the arbitration demand that seeks to permanently remove U.S. coach Chun. Chun has denied any wrongdoing but is suspended. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Tom Smart)

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2012, file photo, the United States Simon Cho takes adjusting his skates after racing in a 500 meter semifinal at the U.S. Single Distance Short Track Speedskating Championship in Kearns, Utah. Cho said Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, he agreed to a coach's demand to tamper with a Canadian rival's skates last year after the command was made a third time and in Korean by Jae Su Chun. Chun has denied any wrongdoing but is suspended. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

(AP) ? Olympian short-track speedskater Simon Cho said Friday he agreed to a coach's demand to tamper with a Canadian rival's skates last year after the command was made a third time and in Korean by Jae Su Chun.

"When he spoke in Korean, I knew he was serious," Cho, a fellow South Korean, said Friday at a news conference at his attorney's Salt Lake City office.

"The repetitiveness and aggressiveness of how he came at me was very intimidating. ... I knew he wasn't going to take no for an answer."

Cho said fellow skater Jeff Simon witnessed the first request in English.

Cho also said he would not skate again for Chun, whom he said he personally witnessed douse a skater with water and hit with a notebook.

Cho's comments confirmed several allegations made in the arbitration demand that seeks to permanently remove U.S. coach Chun. Chun has denied any wrongdoing but is suspended.

U.S. Speedskating has scheduled a press conference later Friday to discuss the findings of an independent investigation of Chun.

"The conduct at issue is repugnant and antithetical to the values of the Olympic Movement and inconsistent with Team USA's commitment to fair play," Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Friday morning.

"We regret that an American athlete was involved, and intend to actively engage with US Speedskating to ensure that appropriate action is taken."

Cho said he was embarrassed by his actions and called his decision to comply the "biggest mistake of my life" and one he regrets.

He also said he apologized to Olivier Jean, whose skates he sabotaged at the 2011 World Team Championship in Poland, in a phone conversation Thursday night.

"He sounded personally understanding," Cho said of his conversation. Cho said the tampering occurred after the U.S. team had already been eliminated from competition.

He maintained Chun was angry at the Canadians and convinced they had aided another team to ensure the U.S. had been eliminated. Cho said the tampering took just a few seconds, and was done with a blade bender normally used to ensure a skater's blade follows the proper radius in short track.

"I always knew it was wrong that day," Cho said. "I was very scared. I was frightened. And I was intimidated."

He said Chun at the time said he would take full responsibility if the tampering were ever discovered. But when Cho spoke with him about it a month ago, he said Chun denied any involvement.

The allegations are part a scandal involving Chun, also accused by a dozen national team members of "unchecked" verbal, psychological and physical abuse.

Cho has not signed onto the complaint and continues to skate with the National Racing Program under interim coach Jun Hyung Yeo. But said he would not skate for Chun.

Cho, who turns 21 in a few days, couldn't say what would happen with Chun or the other coaches but said he has been "honest and forthright" with all investigations.

"I hope that I can make up for my mistake and continue to skate in the future," said Cho, a 2010 Olympic relay bronze medalist and 2011 individual world champion.

On Sunday, after failing to qualify for the U.S. fall World Cup team, Cho said he expected to be banned or suspended because of the charges.

Chun's attorney, Russell Fericks, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday.

But on Thursday he said it was his personal opinion that Cho is "young and impressionable."

"It is sad that he feels compelled to support the irresponsible canard that Coach Chun instructed him to tamper with another skater's skate," Fericks said.

Cho's attorney reiterated Friday that his client acted under great pressure.

"He had nothing personally to gain from doing it, and it was an isolated incident completely inconsistent with who Simon is as a person. Simon is admitting his mistake, apologizing to those affected by his actions, and taking responsibility for what he did," attorney John Wunderli said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-05-Coach%20Abuse/id-185164061a7144a6b104e532c28fdcc7

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Seabourn and Swiss Brand Hublot Announce Partnership

Seattle, September 3, 2012? ??Hublot, the?luxury Swiss brand?which brings the ?Art of Fusion? to watchmaking,?has been named the Official Timekeeper of the award-winning ultra luxury cruise line?Seabourn.???Guests enjoying voyages on any of Seabourn?s six intimate, all-suite ships will now be kept abreast of the current ship?s time by means of handsome Hublot wall clocks, designed and finished with the same flair and elegance that have made Hublot?s wristwatches multi-faceted icons of?a constantly evolving Swiss watchmaking tradition, which pay tribute to it by connecting it with the future.?The clocks are a perfect complement to the stunning beauty of the ships themselves, adding a luxurious accent and an eye-catching cachet to various locations throughout each vessel.

?

?Hublot?s distinctive porthole-styled timepieces are crafted with a commitment to innovation grounded in respect for tradition,??noted Seabourn?s president Richard D. Meadows. ?They display a dedication to excellence and an attention to detail that resonates with Seabourn?s mission. Our companies share a common goal ? to be the very best at what we do.?

?

?This partnership is a story of friendship, a human story. It is about mutual great respect based on a shared passion for the sea, a love of sport and the quest for performance and excellence,? added Hublot?s Chairman of the Board Jean-Claude Biver.??Hublot and Seabourn share many core values. Hublot has always been close to the sea world, through its very name of course, which is the French word for a porthole, but also through prestigious partnerships such as with the Yacht Club of Monaco, the Monaco Oceanographic Museum and the Real Club Nautico de Palma to name just a few of them.Today, teaming up with Seabourn is an honor and forms a perfect extension.? ?? ?? ?


In addition to the ship?s clocks, Hublot will represent a stylish presence on Seabourn?s website and in other marketing materials, and the ships will host select trunk shows of Hublot timepieces to guests on selected cruises.

?

Seabourn and Hublot share a reputation for excellence that has earned both companies recognition and awards from authoritative critics and loyal support from a discerning clientele.


Hublot??A different way to progress,? say those who know this unique Swiss watch company, where each and every moment moves forward to create the future at breathtaking speed. A dream, initiated and developed by Hublot?s Chairman Jean-Claude Biver with CEO, Ricardo Guadalupe, these two men are responsible for turning the Hublot brand into a genuine success story in which the Big Bang, King Power, Classic Fusion and Masterpieces represent the symbols of a constantly evolving?tradition. From watch complications and revolutionary materials to world class?collaborations such as FIFA World Cup?, Formula One?, Ferrari and Manchester United, Hublot characterizes itself through the ?Art of Fusion? philosophy, bringing tradition into?the?future.?For more information about Hublot, visit?www.hublot.com.?Seabourn?s intimate ships and genuine, intuitive style of personalized service have consistently placed it at the top of readers? polls and rankings by knowledgeable cruise experts. The company was recently awarded the title of World?s Best Small-Ship Cruise Line for the fourth consecutive year in the annual?Travel + Leisure??World?s Best? readers? survey. Seabourn was also named the best small-ship cruise line in the?Cond? Nast Traveler?Readers? Choice Awards for 2008, 2010 and 2011, and has been on that magazine?s elite Gold List of luxury travel options every year since the list was created. Five of Seabourn?s six ships are among the top seven ships in the world, according to theBerlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships?(Seabourn Quest, launched in June 0f 2011, was too late to be reviewed.) In addition, the line has been honored with the Six Star Diamond Award by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.?For more information on Seabourn, consult a professional travel agent or visitwww.Seabourn.com.?

Editor?s Note: Images are available upon request.

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Source: http://www.theepicureanexplorer.com/2012/10/seabourn-and-swiss-brand-hublot-announce-partnership.html

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Terminally ill woman who fought for right to die has change of heart

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Bellingham Washington Real Estate Statistics | The Bellingham Real ...

Below is an article courtesy of? The Northwest MLS:

Housing market rebound continues,
with ?slow, unprepared buyers? settling for ?2nd choice? homes

KIRKLAND, WA, October 4, 2012 ? Home sales around western Washington continue to outpace activity of a year ago while inventory remains thin, according to new figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.? Brokers say that combination is resulting in disappointment for buyers who are slow to accept the reality of a recovering housing market.?

Commenting on September data from Northwest Multiple Listing Service that shows upticks in sales and prices, broker Frank Wilson said buyers who make unrealistic offers and requests are ?back on the street looking at their second choice home.?? Meanwhile, some sellers with well-priced, well-prepared homes are receiving multiple offers according to Wilson, a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors and the managing broker of John L. Scott Real Estate in Poulsbo.

Northwest MLS figures for September show the pace of sales slowed from the past six months, but still outgained activity of a year ago.? Members reported 5,535 closed sales, which compares to the year ago total of 4,988 for an increase of nearly 11 percent. Thirteen of the 21 counties served by the MLS reported double-digit gains in the number of completed transactions.

Through three quarters of 2012, closed sales are up 14.6 percent from a year ago (48,022 versus 41,906).?

Prices on last month?s closed sales rose 9.2 percent from twelve months ago.? The area-wide median price on single family homes and condominiums that sold last month was $255,500.?

Prices on single family homes (excluding condominiums) increased more than 12 percent, rising from $240,000 to $269,000.? The most expensive homes sold in San Juan County, which reported a median sales price of $380,000, and in King County, where the median selling price was $375,000.?

Brokers added 7,300 new listings to inventory last month, the fewest number since January.? With those additions, there were 25,476 active listings in the MLS system at the end of September. That total is down 27.7 percent from the year-ago selection that encompassed 35,254 listings.

The sharpest drop in active listings occurred in Snohomish County, which has about half the inventory of a year ago (2,187 currently versus 4,308 active listings at end of September 2011).? Northwest MLS figures show year-over-year prices there jumped 14.6 percent.

The imbalance between supply and demand is ?wreaking havoc? with some buyers and sellers, said Northwest MLS director George Moorhead, branch manager at Bentley Properties in Bothell.? Some sellers are lamenting ?missed opportunities,? but he believes positive momentum will continue with the combination of below-normal inventory, record-low interest rates and changing views on home ownership. ?We are seeing clients? views change from a home being a short-term investment vehicle to being a place where we raise and teach our families,? Moorhead remarked.

MLS members tallied nearly 600 more pending sales last month than a year ago. Brokers reported 7,494 mutually accepted offers for an increase of 8.7 percent from the year-ago total of 6,897 pending transactions. Sales results were mixed across the MLS market area, with 12 counties reporting increases, eight reporting declines and one unchanged.

The rapid pace of sales in some areas coupled with dwindling inventory means below-average months of supply in some counties. Area-wide there is about 3.4 months of supply, with five-to-six months considered to be average.? King, Pierce and Snohomish counties all report levels below three months.

All cash buyers are returning to the entire market, observed MLS director Darin Stenvers. ?Cash offers are being made across the price spectrum, including the million dollars-plus ranges,? he added.

Stenvers, the office managing broker at John L. Scott, Inc., in Bellingham, said the ingredients are in place for ?a perfect buying season,? citing rapid absorption of inventory and well-priced homes as two factors. How long such conditions will last is ?the $64,000 question,? he stated, noting pent-up demand in some areas has buyers feeling the pressure to move quickly to get their offers accepted.

New home construction will continue making a rebound, Stenvers believes. He said builders are moving cautiously in most markets, being careful to build only the sizes and quality of homes that are likely to sell before completion, and not starting too many foundations at one time.

Despite brisk activity, Stenvers noted foreclosures and owners who are delinquent on mortgage payments remain a concern. The number of owners nationwide who are 90 days or more late in making payments is again on the rise, a situation that will continue to affect foreclosure rates, he explained.

?The lack of foreclosed homes not coming on the market has successfully stabilized prices but also created a lack of homes for buyers to buy,? Stenvers stated.

Buyers are also weighing the pros and cons of renting or buying.? ?The rent versus buy conundrum is still the biggest obstacle facing buyers today,? Stenvers reported.?

Referring to new reports on recent and planned rent increases and low availability of good rentals in some areas, Stenvers said home ownership is ?a better investment in many areas even if buyers are thinking of holding the home for a relativity short time frame.?? It is hard for someone to move into an apartment after having the freedom of a larger home, so displaced home owners are looking to rent homes first, he reported, adding, ?This alone is driving investors back into the housing market,? he stated. ?

MLS director Wilson said while the story of a few years ago has flipped, the path to ownership remains constant. ?We used to say the seller who priced and staged their home the best would get buyers. Today we?re saying buyers who are most realistic with their offers and pre-approved with a lender, and who are the most aggressive might get the house they want.?

?This is what a normal market looks like ? buyers and sellers negotiating fairly with each other and each feeling they may have left a little on the table,? Wilson remarked. One of the benefits of a ?normal? market is that it is not all about sale price, he explained, noting closing costs, type of loan, closing date, possession date and work orders are all things that balance out a normal transaction.

Setting up buyers for success remains the paramount goal, according to Wilson. A buyer?s path for success includes pre-approval with a lender, sufficient funds to pay their own closing costs, and the patience to wait through the closing process, especially if they are buying a short sale or bank owned home, he explained.

George Moorhead, another MLS director, echoed that advice, saying ?Smart recovery is what everyone should be considering as we heal from the neglected financial actions of the past.?

Current buyers are cautiously optimistic, Moorhead reported.? Clients in general are united in debt reduction, building up savings and reserves, spending more wisely than they ever have, and have an optimistic outlook of the economy as a whole.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 21,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

Statistical Summary by Counties: Market Activity Summary ? September 2012

Single
Family
Homes
+ Condos
LISTINGS PENDING
SALES
CLOSED SALES

New
Listings

Total
Active

# Pending
Sales

#
Closings

Avg.
Price

Median
Price

King 3,009 6,312 3,072 2,312 $424,085 $335,000
Snohomish 987 2,187 1,206 880 $284,833 $261,658
Pierce 1,128 3,731 1,247 773 $231,335 $200,500
Kitsap 379 1,552 346 238 $282,866 $240,250
Mason 102 791 75 68 $202,012 $180,000
Skagit 156 904 146 121 $267,587 $230,000
Grays Harbor 100 858 93 59 $142,108 $130,000
Lewis 107 717 64 68 $159,612 $155,000
Cowlitz 137 526 102 78 $141,492 $127,450
Grant 70 571 52 57 $147,326 $137,000
Thurston 323 1,283 317 289 $223,461 $211,000
San Juan 18 408 35 29 $736,017 $375,000
Island 114 848 132 90 $311,867 $270,900
Kittitas 67 506 55 38 $259,489 $196,500
Jefferson 47 515 52 39 $239,002 $225,500
Okanogan 35 438 18 22 $206,500 $192,150
Whatcom 272 1,529 271 216 $277,558 $239,944
Clark 45 229 37 30 $194,755 $175,450
Pacific 34 414 34 23 $138,635 $119,000
Ferry 8 82 1 0 0 $0
Clallam 49 422 39 37 $223,025 $220,000
Others 113 653 100 68 $219,385 $214,750
MLS TOTAL 7,300 25,476 7,494 5,535 $323,747 $255,500

4-County Puget Sound Region Pending Sales (SFH + Condo combined)
(Totals include King, Snohomish, Pierce & Kitsap counties)

? Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2000 3706 4778 5903 5116 5490 5079 4928 5432 4569 4675 4126 3166
2001 4334 5056 5722 5399 5631 5568 5434 5544 4040 4387 4155 3430
2002 4293 4735 5569 5436 6131 5212 5525 6215 5394 5777 4966 4153
2003 4746 5290 6889 6837 7148 7202 7673 7135 6698 6552 4904 4454
2004 4521 6284 8073 7910 7888 8186 7583 7464 6984 6761 6228 5195
2005 5426 6833 8801 8420 8610 8896 8207 8784 7561 7157 6188 4837
2006 5275 6032 8174 7651 8411 8094 7121 7692 6216 6403 5292 4346
2007 4869 6239 7192 6974 7311 6876 6371 5580 4153 4447 3896 2975
2008 3291 4167 4520 4624 4526 4765 4580 4584 4445 3346 2841 2432
2009 3250 3407 4262 5372 5498 5963 5551 5764 5825 5702 3829 3440
2010 4381 5211 6821 7368 4058 4239 4306 4520 4350 4376 3938 3474
2011 4272 4767 6049 5732 5963 5868 5657 5944 5299 5384 4814 4197
2012 4921 6069 7386 7015 7295 6733 6489 6341 5871 ? ? ?

For more information on Bellingham Real Estate or to search for homes in the Bellingham and Whatcom County area visit www.JohnsonTeamRealEstate.com, your one stop Bellingham real estate and community information resource!

Source: http://www.johnsonteamrealestate.com/blog/index.php/2012/10/05/housing-market-rebound-continues/

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South Africa's Amplats fires 12,000 strikers, union leader shot

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Amplats fired 12,000 wildcat strikers on Friday, a high-stakes attempt by the world's biggest platinum producer to push back at a wave of illegal stoppages sweeping through the country's mining sector and beyond.

Later on, a trade union leader was shot dead near a mine run by platinum producer Lonmin in a potentially explosive escalation of the two-month-old violent labor unrest that took the death toll to 49.

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said the NUM branch leader had been killed "execution style" in the evening but gave no further details.

A six-week stoppage at Lonmin in August and September erupted out of a turf war between the NUM and the more militant Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which accuses the NUM of acting for its government allies rather than its members.

The hefty hikes won by workers from that saga has been a red rag to others while anger has been stoked by the killing of 34 miners in a hail of police bullets outside Lonmin's Marikana mine in an incident that evoked apartheid-era shootings.

The sackings at Amplats (Anglo American Platinum) on Friday triggered a sharp fall in South Africa's rand as investors dumped the country's assets.

The rand fell as much as 4 percent to 3-1/2 year lows after Johannesburg markets closed, adding to the mounting toll inflicted on Africa's biggest economy.

Strikes have spread beyond the mining sector, with Shell saying on Friday it would not be able to honor contracts to deliver fuel near Johannesburg because of a trucking strike.

The unrest is causing political trouble for President Jacob Zuma and his ruling African National Congress (ANC), the veteran liberation movement with long-standing ties to labor unions.

"You fire 12,000 people, and it's like 'Oh my god, what happens now?'" one Johannesburg-based currency strategist said.

When rival Impala Platinum fired 17,000 workers on an illegal strike rooted in the NUM/AMCU struggle, it led to a violent six week stoppage in which the company lost 80,000 ounces in output and platinum prices jumped 21 percent.

The wage deal that followed the killings at the Marikana mine in August triggered copycat demands in gold and iron ore.

"Amplats had been giving signals that it was going to hold the line after Lonmin had folded - but it's a huge gamble," said Nic Borain, an independent political analyst.

"Someone had to take it on the chin or this would have kept on unraveling and spread through the economy. It's difficult to know whether this causes the unrest to spread or whether it takes some of the sting out of it. It could go either way."

Speaking to South Africa's e-News television channel, one dismissed worker said Amplats was "starting a war".

ZUMA UNDER PRESSURE

The ANC Youth League, a fierce critic of Zuma, lashed out at Amplats, which it said "has made astronomical profits on the blood, sweat and tears of the very same workers that today the company can just fire with impunity".

"Amplats is a disgrace and a disappointment to the country at large, a representation of white monopoly capital out of touch and uncaring of the plight of the poor," it said.

Zuma tried to put a positive spin on the situation in a speech to business leaders late on Thursday, stressing that since the end of white-minority rule South Africans have shown "the capacity to overcome difficulties when we work together".

"We should not seek to portray ourselves as a nation that is perpetually fighting," he said.

However, with an ANC leadership run-off looming in December, Nelson Mandela's 100-year-old liberation movement is preoccupied with its own divisions. Zuma is seen as unlikely to take any action that could upset his political allies in the unions.

"In the build-up to the election, the government is unlikely to come out with any clear policy directives," said Simon Freemantle, an analyst at Standard Bank in Johannesburg.

Reflecting such concerns, Moody's cut South Africa's credit rating last week. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has already said he will have to cut his 2.7 percent growth forecast for 2012 when he delivers an interim budget on October 24.

MINER SHOT

More than 75,000 miners, or 15 percent of the workforce in a sector that accounts for 6 percent of output, have been out on unofficial strikes, and tensions with security forces and mining bosses were running high even before the mass Amplats sackings.

Near the "platinum belt" city of Rustenburg, 120 km (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, workers said a miner was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police on Thursday night.

Police would not confirm the cause of the death, although the ground nearby was strewn with spent rubber-bullet shell casings and teargas canisters after clashes the previous night.

On Friday, protesters in a shanty town near the Amplats mine barricaded streets with rocks and burning tyres as more than 30 riot police backed by armored vehicles stood nearby.

AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa's biggest bullion producer, has lost virtually all local production due to wildcat strikes, while rivals Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have also taken a hit. Around 300 strikers at Kumba Iron Ore have also blockaded the company's giant Sishen mine in the remote Northern Cape province.

Apart from the mining sector, a strike with more potential to damage the wider economy is brewing in transport, with 20,000 truckers on a two-week authorized stoppage to demand higher pay.

Shell said on Friday it could not honor fuel delivery contracts around Johannesburg, declaring "force majeure" to free itself and customers from existing obligations.

"There is fuel available across the country, so the issue is not fuel supply, but the challenge is delivering it safely to our retail sites," the oil major said. Other petrol companies are holding their breath, especially around the commercial hub Johannesburg, but have not yet followed Shell's move.

Raising the stakes, transport union SATAWU said it wanted workers at railways and ports to strike next week, a development that would affect coal and other mineral shipments.

(Additional reporting by David Dolan, Wendell Roelf, Stella Mapenzauswa and Ed Stoddard; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Peter Graff and Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-strikes-deepen-shell-declares-force-majeure-091544662--finance.html

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Mars Curiosity about to really shake things up

This handout image provided by NASA, taken Sept. 28, 2012, is a mosaic of images taken by the telephoto right-eye camera of the Mast Camera before the rover arrived at Rocknest. Mars Curiosity is about to sip its initial taste of the red planet's sand. But first, NASA's rover has to play bartender to make sure the dry dust is shaken, not stirred.The rover's scoop will dig into the sand Saturday. Then the action starts. Mission sampling chief Daniel Limonadi said the end of the rover's arm will shake vigorously and noisily for eight hours, like a Martian martini mixer gone mad. That will vibrate the fine dust grains through the rover chemical testing system to cleanse it of unwanted residual Earth grease. (AP Photo/NASA)

This handout image provided by NASA, taken Sept. 28, 2012, is a mosaic of images taken by the telephoto right-eye camera of the Mast Camera before the rover arrived at Rocknest. Mars Curiosity is about to sip its initial taste of the red planet's sand. But first, NASA's rover has to play bartender to make sure the dry dust is shaken, not stirred.The rover's scoop will dig into the sand Saturday. Then the action starts. Mission sampling chief Daniel Limonadi said the end of the rover's arm will shake vigorously and noisily for eight hours, like a Martian martini mixer gone mad. That will vibrate the fine dust grains through the rover chemical testing system to cleanse it of unwanted residual Earth grease. (AP Photo/NASA)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mars Curiosity is about to take its first sip of the red planet's sand. But only after NASA's rover plays bartender to make sure the dry dust is shaken, not stirred.

The rover's scoop will dig into the sand Saturday. Then the action starts. The end of the rover's 220-pound arm will shake "at a nice tooth-rattling vibration level" for eight hours, like a Martian martini mixer gone mad, said mission sampling chief Daniel Limonadi said.

"It kind of looks and feels like if you open the hood of your car with the engine running," Limonadi said, making engine noises in a Thursday NASA telephone press conference.

That heavy shaking will vibrate the fine dust grains through the rover chemical testing system to cleanse it of unwanted residual Earth grease. That's important for the sensitive scientific instruments that are the keystone to the $2.5 billion mission that launched last year.

The rover landed in August and has traveled three-tenths of a mile, taking pictures and analyzing the Martian air.

For the next week or two, Curiosity will scoop, shake and dump sand out three times, like a robotic version of cleaning its mouth out with mouthwash, Limonadi said. The fourth time, the rover will slowly pour "a half a baby aspirin pill of material" into the mobile lab to start a complex chemical analysis, he said.

There's nothing that seems special about the sand that will be tested and that's why NASA picked it out. It's good to start with "boring safe Martian sand dune," Limonadi said.

The car-sized rover has a complex chemical lab, a scoop and a drill to look for the basic ingredients of life, including carbon-based compounds, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and oxygen. This will be the first time the chemistry lab will be used. In about a month, after going to a newer more interesting location, the rover will start drilling into the ground for samples.

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Online:

Mission page: http://www.nasa.gov/msl

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Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-10-04-Mars%20Curiosity/id-1859e4208ca3413f94b51e414c117185

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Cuban blogger arrested ahead of Spanish activist's trial

BAYAMO, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuba arrested a dissident blogger and other activists one day before the start of a Spanish activist's high-profile manslaughter trial, a rights advocate said on Friday, in a move the U.S. State Department said is aimed at silencing critics.

Blogger Yoani Sanchez, her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, and their driver were taken into custody along with a half dozen other local dissidents on Thursday, said Elizardo Sanchez of the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights.

Government-linked blogger Yohandry Fontana said authorities were driving Sanchez and Escobar from Bayamo to Havana on Friday afternoon. Their car was being towed back because of its "dreadful mechanical condition," he said.

Government officials had no comment on the arrests. But Fontana said Sanchez was detained because she had gone to Bayamo, 415 miles southeast of Havana, intent on creating a "provocation and media show" at the trial of Spaniard Angel Carromero.

Carromero, who was at the wheel in the July 22 car wreck that killed dissidents Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero, went on trial on Friday on manslaughter charges.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner condemned the arrests in a Washington press briefing.

"We are very deeply disturbed by the Cuban government's repeated use of arbitrary detention to silence critics, disrupt peaceful assembly and certainly to impede independent journalism," he said.

"It's very clear that human rights conditions in Cuba remain poor. The Cuban government continues to limit fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, including for members of the press," Toner told reporters.

Sanchez, 37, could not be reached by telephone, but she apparently had traveled to Bayamo to write about Carromero's trial.

The newspaper El Pais in Madrid said on its website she was its freelance correspondent.

Sanchez, best known for her blog "Generation Y," has won numerous awards overseas but is never allowed out of Cuba to collect them.

She was reported last week to have filed a complaint against Cuba with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission for repeatedly refusing to grant her a travel visa.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for her immediate release, saying in a statement on Friday that "Cuba continues to be the most repressive country for the press in the hemisphere and is one of the world's most censored countries."

'I AM SORRY'

Elizardo Sanchez said he expected Sanchez and the others to be released in a matter of hours, because the government now favors short detentions for dissidents.

It views them as mercenaries for the United States and others, and has used the Carromero case to spotlight European involvement with its opposition.

Carromero, leader of the youth wing of Spain's ruling People's Party, said in testimony on Friday he was driving normally and not speeding, as prosecutors have charged, when he ran over a patch of road under repair and lost control of his rental car.

The car slid into a tree, killing Paya, 60, and Cepero, 31.

"Truly, I was not driving too fast," he told a panel of judges, offering his "profound feeling of sorrow for the unfortunate accident."

"I have lost many things in these two months ... . I am sorry," said Carromero, who wore casual clothes and had his head shaved.

News reports have said the 26-year-old Spaniard, who has been jailed since the accident, faces seven years in prison.

Paya was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament in 2002 for his Varela Project to bring democratic reform to Cuba's one-party system.

His family has accused the government of having a hand in his death.

Along with Carromero on the ill-fated trip with Paya was Jens Aron Modig, a young activist from Sweden's conservative Christian Democratic Party who said he had given Paya a donation of 4,000 euros ($4,900).

Modig, who was in the front seat and like Carromero received only minor injuries, said the four were on the way to meet Paya's supporters.

He apologized for his part in "illicit activities" and returned to Sweden, where he has kept a low profile.

(Reporting by Jeff Franks,Nelson Acosta and Rosa Tania Valdes in Cuba; Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by David Adams and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cuban-blogger-arrested-ahead-spanish-activists-trial-210039400.html

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Five terrorism suspects extradited from U.K. to U.S.

NEW YORK (AP) ? An ailing extremist Egyptian-born preacher and four other terrorism suspects arrived in the United States early Saturday under tight security to face trial after losing their lengthy extradition fight in England, authorities said.

The preacher, Abu Hamza al-Masri, was taken to a lockup next to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to face charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and that he helped abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998.

The one-time nightclub bouncer will be housed there along with Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, who will face trial on charges that they participated in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

It was not immediately clear when al-Masri, al-Fawwaz and Bary would appear in court.

In the 1990s, al-Masri turned London's Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, attracting men including Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Two other defendants, Syed Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad, pleaded not guilty in federal court in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday morning. They were jailed until trial, and their lawyers declined to comment after the arraignment.

Ahmad and Ahsan face charges that they ran websites that sought to raise cash, recruit fighters and seek equipment for terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Authorities say the websites included Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al-Qaida network, Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels.

They will be tried in Connecticut, where an Internet service provider was allegedly used to run the websites.

Al-Masri is not the first ailing Egyptian-born preacher to be brought to Manhattan for trial. A blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 1995 in a plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and of plotting to blow up New York landmarks, including the United Nations and two tunnels and a bridge linking New Jersey to Manhattan. Abdel-Rahman has numerous health issues, including heart trouble.

In England, lawyers for the 54-year-old al-Masri, who has one eye and hooks in place of hands he claims to have lost fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, said he suffers from depression, chronic sleep deprivation, diabetes and other ailments.

The overnight trip to the United States came after a multi-year extradition fight that ended Friday, when Britain's High Court ruled that the men had no more grounds for appeal and could be sent to the U.S. immediately. The men have been battling extradition for between eight and 14 years.

"I'm absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. "Like the rest of the public I'm sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can't get rid of them."

"I'm delighted on this occasion we've managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice," he added.

Al-Masri has been in a British jail since 2004 on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Muslims.

While al-Masri has been portrayed in the British media as one of the most dangerous men in the country, the case against Ahmad in Connecticut has raised concerns among legal experts and human rights advocates.

Some lawyers and lawmakers have expressed concerns because Britain agreed to extradite him even though his alleged crimes were committed in Britain and British courts declined to prosecute him for lack of evidence.

In prison since 2004, Ahmad, a London computer expert, has been held without charge for the longest period of any British citizen detained since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In a statement read on his behalf outside court in London Friday, Ahmad said his case had exposed flaws in U.S.-U.K. extradition arrangements. "I leave with my head held high, having won the moral victory," he said.

His father, Ashfaq Ahmad, said he would continue to fight for his son.

"It's not just one Babar Ahmad. Tomorrow there will be another Babar Ahmad and another one," he said.

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Christoffersen reported from New Haven, Conn. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-terrorism-suspects-extradited-uk-us-113010130.html

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