Lodeiro, Seedorf secure Botafogo victory

Rio de Janeiro, April 15 (IANS) Uruguay international midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro scored twice as Botafogo won their eighth consecutive match with a 4-1 victory over Nova Iguacu in Brazil's Campeonato Carioca.
Former AC Milan star Clarence Seedorf opened the scoring for Botafogo with a 19th minute header before Lodeiro gave his team a 3-0 lead by netting twice in 12 minutes early in the second half Sunday, reports Xinhua.
Dieguinho reduced the deficit for Nova Iguacu four minutes from time before 19-year-old striker Vitinho made it 4-1 with an 89th-minute finish.
Lodeiro now has seven goals in 2013 and Seedorf six.
"It was a great team effort," Seedorf said after the match. "It's a long year with a lot of matches so it's important we maintain this level."
Botafogo are now assured a berth in the semifinals of the Rio Cup, the second phase of the Campeonato Carioca.
Meanwhile Flamengo defeated rivals Fluminense in Sunday's only other match.

TIM MAIA - One of the best brazilian singers of all time

Tim Maia (September 28, 1942 – March 15, 1998), born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia in Rio de Janeiro, was a worldwide famous Brazilian musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. He was ranked by Rolling Stone as the greatest Brazilian singer of all time, and by the same magazine, the 9th largest Brazilian music artist of all time. He was also known for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs.

Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs such as his hit "Me Dê Motivo". He performed soul, funk, bossa nova, disco, romantic songs, American pop, rock, jazz, baião and MPB. He frequently recorded albums and made tours alongside Banda Vitória Régia.

Early career

Maia was born in the Tijuca neighbourhood, in the southern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. He began writing melodies while still a child, the second youngest of nineteen children.

Maia, then known as "Tião Maia", wrote his earliest songs at age eight. At 14, as a drummer, he formed the group Os Tijucanos do Ritmo, which lasted one year. He then took guitar classes and was soon teaching children in the neighborhood of Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, including the Matoso Gang (Maia, Jorge Ben, Erasmo Esteves, later Erasmo Carlos, and several others), named after the street where they used to hang out. Maia and his gang liked to hear the earliest styles of rock and roll, with both Maia and Ben being nicknamed "Babulina", after their pronunciation of Ronnie Self's song "Bop-A-Lena". In that period, Maia was the guitar teacher of Esteves and when Roberto Carlos joined the gang in 1958, he also took classes with him.

In 1957, Maia, Carlos, Arlênio Silva, Edson Trindade e Wellington started the vocal group The Sputniks. After a televised appearance on Carlos Imperial's Clube do Rock on TV Tupi, Imperial arranged with Carlos for a solo appearance the following week. Maia got annoyed at this, leading him to insult Carlos in the following rehearsals until his bandmate left the group. After watching Carlos' concert the following week, Maia left The Sputniks, and went after Imperial for a solo appearance. Imperial eventually suggested another artistic name, Tim, which Maia accepted with reservations.

In 1959, Maia went to study in the United States, where he lived for four years. There he first soul music and started as a vocalist, having joined vocal group The Ideals. In 1963, he was arrested for possession of marijuana, and after six months in jail deported back to Brazil.

After returning, Maia had a few unsuccessful jobs and arrests in Rio. Eventually he decided to move to São Paulo to try and get help to kickstart his musical career from Carlos, who was beginning to enjoy the massive success of Jovem Guarda with Esteves. Carlos was inaccessible, but Maia started to perform in São Paulo's nightlife and in Wilson Simonal's radio program, and also had a televised appearance at TV Bandeirantes with Os Mutantes. Eventually at the end of 1967 Maia managed to send a homemade recording to Carlos, who got Maia a deal for a single at CBS and an appearance at the Jovem Guarda TV program. His first single in 1968 with his compositions "Meu País" and "Sentimento", went unnoticed, like was another single in English for RGE Discos, "These Are the Songs"/"What Do You Want to Bet?". Maia also wrote one of Carlos' hits, "Não Vou Ficar". He became more visible after 1969 when he launched his "These Are the Songs," which was re-recorded by Elis Regina in the next year in a duo with Maia. Maia managed a deal with Polydor/Philips and recorded the successful single "Primavera".

1970s

In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American soul and Brazilian music with elements of samba and baião. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.

In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled. Next year's Tim Maia had other hits including "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" and "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só". His fourth album, released in 1973, included "Réu Confesso" and "Gostava Tanto de Você". Angry at how the music publisher distributed the royalties, Maia opened his own, Seroma (named after the first syllable of his name and surnames), to make sure he had a bigger cut of the profits.[5]

After his fourth album, Maia left Polydor for RCA Victor, who offered him a chance to record a double album. The instrumental parts were all ready when Maia went to his composing friend Tibério Gaspar for help with the lyrics. In his house Maia found the book Universo em Desencanto (Universe in Disenchantment), revolving around the knowledge of Third Millennium Rational Culture. Maia converted to the movement, abandoned the drugs and red meat, and decided to write the lyrics for the songs about the knowledge contained in the book. RCA rejected the albums Tim Maia Racional, Vols. 1 & 2 for the newly found spiritual content, but Maia bought the master tapes from them and released the albums independently through label Seroma Discos, which would split its profits with the Rational Knowledges. While lead single "Que Beleza (Imunização Racional)" had some airplay, at the time these records were not well received, due to inadequate distribution, and the spiritual content alienating both the radios and Maia's fans. Eventually the artist could only perform at events promoted by the Rational Culture. Eventually in 1975 Maia got fed up with the movement, destroyed the unsold records and went back to his carefree life. The Racional albums are now regarded as classics and saw re-release in 2005.

For his return in 1976, Maia signed with Polygram and recorded an album also titled Tim Maia, which included the hit "Rodésia" (inspired by the Rhodesian Bush War), and also did a self-published album in English. In 1977 Maia signed with Som Livre, where he recorded the album Verão Carioca. In 1978 Maia signed with Warner Bros Records and incorporated the disco sound of the period in the album Tim Maia Disco Club, which spawned the hits "Sossego" and "Acenda o Farol". In 1979 Maia recorded Reencontro for EMI-Odeon, but revolted at the label's estimated promotion costs which were the same as the money spent recording, Maia fought with the marketing executive, and in response EMI president fired Maia, releasing the album with no publicity to low sales.

1980s and 1990s

In 1980, Maia recorded another self-titled album for Polygram. The following year, with turbulent passages through all the major labels in Brazil, Maia released again through Seroma the album Nuvens, which flopped due to inefficient distribution. To earn cash for his future albums, Maia was a guest in songs by Fevers, Edu Lobo and Chico Buarque, Ivan Lins and Sandra de Sá. His collaboration with Sá, "Vale Tudo", later became a solo hit for Maia. In 1983 he had hits with "O Descobridor dos Sete Mares" and "Me Dê Motivo", included on O Descobridor dos Sete Mares (Polygram). Another milestone of his career in the 1980s was Tim Maia (1986), which had the hit "Do Leme ao Pontal (Tomo Guaraná, Suco de Caju, Goiabada Para Sobremesa)".

In 1990, Maia saw Caetano Veloso's songbook and asked editor Almir Chediak to do one for his own work. Chediak was working on such an album with bossa nova classics, and Maia requested a copy, which eventually inspired him to do a self-released album of bossa nova covers, Tim Maia Interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova. After a period of poor presence in the media, he was again on top after being mentioned by Jorge Ben Jor's "W/Brasil" in 1991. In the same period, Maia had another hit with his re-recording of Lulu Santos' "Como uma Onda" for a television advertisement - Santos in return recorded Maia's "Descobridor dos Sete Mares.

At the same time, he withdrew from majors, recording his next albums through Vitória Régia, including What a Wonderful World (1997), where he recorded American pop/soul classics, and Amigos do Rei/Tim Maia e Os Cariocas, with the famous vocal group. Obese and in bad health, in March 1998 he was performing at the Municipal Theater of Niterói when he became ill. He was hospitalized and died few a days later.
 
Personal life

Tim Maia had two sons: Carmelo Maia (also known as Telmo, b. 1975) with Geisa Gomes da Silva, and José Carlos da Silva Nogueira (1966-2002). He was also the surrogate father of Geisa's other son, Marcio Leonardo "Léo" Maia (b. 1974).[17] Léo was registered by Tim as his son, although he knew that Léo was not his child, since he met his wife Geisa when she was already pregnant. She had been separated from her boyfriend, who refused to recognize Léo as his child. Tim and Geisa started living together but they broke up after a few arguments. When they made up, she was pregnant with Carmelo. Tim registered Carmelo and married her. When Léo Maia was 12, Tim Maia and Geisa divorced.

Maia lived in the United States of America from 1959 to 1963. He first resided Tarrytown, New York, with the family of an acquaintance of Maia's father's costumer. There he learned English and did not speak much Portuguese because so few Brazilians were living in the USA at the time. In 1961 Maia moved to New York City, and in 1963 with a group of three friends decided to travel to Southern United States. With a stolen car and performing small thefts to finance the journey, which rended him five prisons, Maia and friends travelled through nine states before arriving in Florida. In Daytona Beach, Maia had his final imprisonment for marijuana possession, which earned him the deportation back to Brazil.

Tim Maia became a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Brasileiro - PSB) in October 1997. He was rumoured to have joined the party in order to run for a seat in the Federal Senate for Rio de Janeiro State. in the 1998 general elections, but died before that. When asked by a reporter why he chose to join the then small PSB, he replied: "Brazil is the only country where – in addition to whores cumming, pimps being jealous and drug dealers being addicted – poor people vote for the right-wing". His phrase would become a famous aphorism on the way Brazilians face politics.

Maia had a tradition of arriving late at concerts, or at times missing them altogether. He also frequently complained about the sound quality in them. Many of his missed concerts were due to what he called "triathlon", consuming whiskey, cocaine and marijuana before the gig. In the end of his life, Maia suffered from many health problems which includes diabetes, acute hypertension, obesity and pulmonary embolism. In 1996, he had a Fournier gangrene solved through an emergency operation.

Legacy and homages

In 1999 he was paid tribute in a show by several Música Popular Brasileira artists. The show was launched on CD and DVD. In 2000 he had another tribute, also released in CD. In 2004, Som Livre released an album of posthumous duets entitled Soul Tim: Duetos.

In January 2001, Guns N' Roses guitarist Robin Finck sang "Sossego" during the Rock In Rio III festival.

In 2007, TV Globo recorded a special program about Maia, Por Toda a Minha Vida, and Maia's personal friend Nelson Motta, a noted journalist and musical producer, released a biography, Vale Tudo - O Som e a Fúria de Tim Maia. Motta later worked with João Fonseca on a stage musical based on his book. A film adaptation of the book is expected for 2014.

In 2009, Globo had an episode of its show Som Brasil with Maia's songs, performed by among other artists his son Léo and Seu Jorge.

Maia's entire discography, including the never before seen third volume of Tim Maia Racional, was reissued by Editora Abril in 2011.

(Based on Wikipedia text).

Products of Rational Culture become rarities and inflate the art market in Brazil

From Blog do Kzar (http://blogdokzar.blogspot.com.br/2011/10/produtos-da-cultura-racional-viram.html).
                 
                The demanding art market in Brazil has been shaken lately by products considered rare, unusual and even exotic.Following the motto that "all that is rare is expensive", these products have become objects of desire for many people who invest in the art market, hoping to become more valuable in the near future. We are talking about the objects produced by Rational Culture of the Third Millennium, with its millions of readers and students in Brazil and the world, but however, bypasses the media, being discriminated against and wrongly classified as a sect, exotic doctrine or a new religion.
Apart from these details, avid collectors struggle to get the off market products of Rational Culture. Often sold in stores of used books and Internet, these objects have gained status of rarities, collector's pieces and the fame of some of them even extends to overcome outside Brazil.. The first of these objects were two old Vinyl discs recorded by singer-songwriter Tim Maia, both entitled “Tim Maia Rational Volumes 1 and 2”. The lyrics and the songs of these two rare LPs that were scorned at that time of its launch in mid-70s, but today became cult objects among collectors, reaching values of hundreds of dollars on the parallel market of Brazilian used bookstores until they were finally released on CD.
Full of musicality and totally different arrangements of hits from Tim Maia, the compositions, despite the letters "strange" to most people because disclose Rational Immunisation, contained in the Universe in Disenchantment books, fell in the popular taste. The critique of showbusines was lately surprised by the swing and swagger of songs and began to praise both albums.
Across brazilian borders and the Atlantic Ocean, the discs bringing two compositions sung in English became most requested hits on the dance floors of the United Kingdom, where attracted the attention of Scotsman Paul Stewart, son of former Formula 1 driver, Jack Stewart. In ecstasy, Paul instructed the Brazilian racer Luciano Burti, a member of Jack's team, to fly to Brazil and acquire, "at any price," the two volumes of Tim Maia Rational , under the penalty of losing his job at Stewart Racing. Until today, Tim Maria Rational discs are still sold in bookstores and on the Internet, costing from $ 100 to $ 700 each.
                Lately, the Internet bring us a book with the title "Universe in Disenchantment", named for his readers as "Amarelão" (The Big Yellow), which would have been printed in the middle of last century, being considered a "very rare book" that was being sold at the site Market Free for not less than $ 7000! However, some readers of that book report that a brand new copy of it, now printed by “on demand system”, can be purchased for only $ 10 (what a difference!). 
Now comes on the same Free Market another masterpieces of Rational Culture, a true ra-ri-ty! A painted bronze picture with cover of the book Universe in Disenchantment , which is being sold by the sum of almost US$ 5,999! Check out that rarity on the link below. Throughout this price, can be a rare opportunity for an excellent investment.

Hojo Motor is a Scam!

The Hojo Motor is a scam.  If you purchased the Hojo Motor plans before reading this post, I'm sorry, you got scammed.  If you purchase the Hojo Motor plans after reading this post, you are dumb.  Plain and simple.  I'm sorry to use harsh words here, but sometimes it's necessary to be blunt in order to get your point across.

We've been down this path before, with the Magniwork scam.  In fact, Magniwork has been our most popular post, and has led us to post Renewable Energy Scams.  As you can see from that post, there is no shortage of scams out there trying to take advantage of the energy ignorant.

I don't care that on the web page for the Hojo plan they show some patents (see the bottom of this post for information regarding said patents) for a some kind of magnetic perpetual motion machine.  I'm not even going to get into the discussion on the laws of thermodynamics.  What I will tell you is if some kind of free energy generator was real, I would be the first person to have it.  You wouldn't hear about some free energy generator from some Google ad, you would hear about it because the President is talking about it on the world stage.  It would be the biggest breakthrough in the 21st century.  And you think you are going to buy some plans for $49.97?  (side note: ClickBank sells these plans along with many other scams, and they should be fined by the Federal Trade Commission)

Hank Mills wrote a great "Letter to Hojo Motor Plan Scammers" in which he stated:

Don't think we know what we're talking about?  Fine, buy the plans and make a fool of yourself.  For everyone else out there, focus your time on conserving energy ,  producing real clean energy, and living more sustainably.

Regarding the Patent Claims, below is what I received from a friend who is a patent attorney:

First, if he got a patent on this "secret" invention that was just released, then it couldn't have been secret, since getting a patent means publicly disclosing the invention.  Patents don't certify that free energy works, the patents simple certify that his magnetic motor works as a magnetic motor.

Regarding the patents: I"ve pasted the first independent claim of each of the patents so you can start learning what patents really cover.  The claims are the legal bounds of the patent and define what the inventor is actually protecting.  As you will so, there is no language in any of these claims that says free energy, pertetual motion, etc.

4,151,431 patent expired in 1999.
It Claims: A permanent magnet motor comprising, in combination, a stator track defining a track direction and having first and second sides and composed of a plurality of track permanent magnets each having first and second poles of opposite polarity, said magnets being disposed in side-by-side relationship having a spacing between adjacent magnets and like poles defining said track sides, an elongated armature permanent magnet located on one of said track sides for relative movement thereto and in spaced relationship to said track side wherein an air gap exists between said armature magnet and said track magnets, said armature magnet having first and second poles of opposite polarity located at the opposite ends of said armature magnet defining the length thereof, the length of said armature magnet being disposed in a direction in general alignment with the direction of said track, the spacing of said armature magnet poles from said track associated side and the length of said armature magnet as related to the width and spacing of said track magnets in the direction of said track being such as to impose a continuous force on said armature magnet in said general direction of said track.

(THIS IS NOT CLAIMING A FREE ENERGY DEVICE, just a specific, very narrowly claimed type of motor)

4,877,983 Patent - expired in 2009
It Claims:
In combination with a movable armature, means for guiding movement of the armature along a predetermined path and a permanent armature magnet having magnetic poles of opposite polarity spaced from each other along said path to establish a magnetic field of limited extent movable with the armature and magnetic stator means for establishing a stationary magnetic flux zone along said path, the improvement comprising flux emitting surfaces of one polarity mounted on the stator means on opposite sides of said path for limiting said flux zone through which said path extends and means mounting the permanent armature magnet on the armature with the poles thereof orientated relative to said flux emitting surfaces on the stator means for unidirectionally propelling the armature along said path through the limited zone in response to magnetic interaction between the movable magnetic field and the limited flux zone, said magnetic stator means including a plurality of magnetic gate assemblies fixedly spaced from each other along said path and respectively establishing stationary magnetic fields, each of said gate assemblies including a plurality of interconnected bar magnets substantially bordering said limited flux zone exposing pole faces of opposite polarity in parallel spaced planes intersected by said path, and magnetic means connected to said interconnected bar magnets exposing one of the flux emitting surfaces of said one polarity perpendicular to said parallel planes for magnetic interaction of the stationary magnetic fields.

(AGAIN, NOT CLAIMING PERPETUAL MOTION, just a different motor configuration)

5,402,021 will expire 2015
It Claims:
A magnetic propulsion system comprising:

a vehicle having a rigidly attached magnetic armature, said magnetic armature including a first series of magnets positioned across said vehicle and extending generally from one lateral side of the vehicle to another lateral side of the vehicle, all of the magnets in said first series of magnets being generally parallel to one another;

a first magnetic wall disposed laterally adjacent said vehicle and extending longitudinally along a desired direction of vehicle travel, said first magnetic wall comprising a second series of magnets, each of the magnets in said second series having a particular size and a North-to-South axis pointing in the same direction as the desired direction of vehicle travel, each of said permanent magnets of said particular size in said second series being separated from the next successive permanent magnet in said second series by a thinner magnet, each of said thinner magnets having a pole-to-pole length which is shorter than the lateral width of said magnets of a particular size in said second series, said thinner magnets further having a North-to-South axis pointing perpendicular to the North-to-South axis of said magnets of a particular size in said second series and pointing generally toward a vehicle side of the first magnetic wall; and

a second magnetic wall disposed generally parallel to said first magnetic wall and laterally adjacent to said vehicle but opposite from said first magnetic wall, said second magnetic wall comprising a third series of magnets, each of said magnets in said third series having said particular size and a North-to-South axis pointing in an opposite direction from the desired direction of vehicle travel, each of the permanent magnets in said third series being separated from the next successive permanent magnet of said particular size in said third series by a thinner magnet, each of said thinner magnets in the second magnetic wall having a pole-to-pole length which is shorter than the lateral width of said magnets of a particular size in said third series, said thinner magnets in the second magnetic wall further having a North-to-South axis pointing in the same general direction as the North-to-South axis of the thinner magnets in the first magnetic wall;

wherein said first and second magnetic walls create magnetic fields which exert propelling forces on said armature and thereby cause the vehicle to accelerate in the desired direction of vehicle travel.

(claim and EXTREMELY narrow vehicle with some sort of magnetic propulsion motor, nothing more)

It is annoying how many people get up in arms about patents when they just take for granted what someone who is clearly also not a patent person tells them.  Always always always read the claims of the patent before making any comments about what the patent supposedly covers.

Brazilian students create driverless car

Vehicle was adapted to stop at red light, follow routes and observe speed limits

By Camila Botacin

Imagine leaving home to go anywhere without having to get behind the wheel. And when you want to go back, leave a message for the car - that's right, for the vehicle - and its go alone get you. It seems incredible, but students of the Laboratory of High Performance Computing (LCAD, in brazilian initials) of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (also called Ufes in Brazil) already invented and tested the car walking without a driver. And it works!

The car, which is on display at the 9th Week of Science and Technology, the Pope Square, moves without any human control. To make this possible, students multiple cameras installed on the vehicle. The idea is that the cameras mimic human eyes and can see everything that is around the car. "These cameras are connected to computer programs that we have developed.'s As if the car could see just as a person," said a member of the student project, Mariela Berger.

The goal of the project goes beyond eliminating the need for a driver: the car can benefit visually impaired, disabled and elderly. The vehicle can know everything that's around you. If the light turns red, it stops. "It's totally safe, because you do not need the reflexes that we need to be in transit. He respects the speed limits of the roads and knows when something is in front," said Mariela.

The vehicle has GPS, cameras and sensors, so you can see and do maneuvers. It was also equipped with lasers that do a scan of where is going. The computers attached to the machine reads the data and make a decision. The prototype cost $ 500,000, but the idea is to cheapen the product and become a reality in everyday life. "If we can get the product to market, will help many people who need to get around, but can not do
this alone, "said Mariela.

Learn more about the car than walking alone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6leYbICt9VY&feature=plcp

Two killed in fan violence before test event at World Cup stadium in northeastern Brazil

By Associated Press, Monday, April 15, 12:20 AM

SAO PAULO — Authorities say two fans were shot to death on their way to a test event at a World Cup stadium in northeastern Brazil.

The fans were killed about 3 miles from the Arena Castelao in the city of Fortaleza, one of the six venues hosting matches in the Confederations Cup in June.

Local World Cup organizers lamented the deaths but denied they were connected to the test event — a match between local rivals Ceara and Fortaleza.

Police say the men, wearing Ceara jerseys, were shot in the head after being confronted by Fortaleza supporters at a plaza.

Authorities later detained a man suspected of being involved in the shooting.

Police say more than 180 people were detained for vandalism and disorderly conduct before Sunday’s match.

Two explosions rock Boston marathon finish; injuries reported

Explosions On Boylston Street Near
Boston Marathon Viewing Stands

By Michael Muskal and Matt Pearce (L. A. Times)

Hotels in downtown Boston were immediately locked down and police were seen in video feeds from the scene sweeping the area looking for explosions. Restaurants and bars at the finish line were shut. The area is now considered a crime scene.

An unknown number of injured have been taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, and all hotels in the area have been shut down.

"Right now we have four patients and that’s all I can tell you," hospital spokeswoman Heather Clucas said. "I don’t have conditions or anything."

There was no immediate explanation of the cause of the explosions.

Bloody spectators were seen being carried to a medical tent that had been set up for runners finishing the annual 26.2-mile race.

The explosion took place about three hours after the winners crossed the line.

According to video, runners were heading to the end of the grueling race when a small explosion went off on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the bridge that marks the finish line. Automatic cameras on the bridge capture the runners as they finish.

Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa took the title in the 117th edition of the world's oldest marathon, winning a three-way sprint down Boylston to finish in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 22 seconds and snap a string of three consecutive Kenyan victories.

Moving an Asteroid, Mapping the Brain and More

An illustration of a spacecraft for  retrieving
a 500-ton asteroid.

By JENNIFER A. KINGSON (New York Times)

“Moving an asteroid is a huge idea,” according to scientists at the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology, who should know. “Never has a celestial object been moved by humans.”

Yet these rocket scientists think it would be possible to send a robotic spacecraft to capture a small asteroid, perhaps 22 to 32 feet in diameter and about 500 tons, and move it somewhere near the Moon, where astronauts could fly out and study it, maybe by 2021. The idea was formalized in a report in 2012, and NASA appears ready to move forward; Aviation Week was the first to report that the agency’s 2014 budget request included $100 million for a new mission to go get that rock.

President Obama has already said that he’d like astronauts to go out and visit a local asteroid (a type of “near-Earth object,” in NASA parlance) by 2025.

The 2012 report, called the Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, said that grabbing such a rock and tugging it closer to home would give astronauts a “unique, meaningful and affordable” destination, as Senator Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who is himself a former astronaut, pointed out in a news release on Friday. Mr. Nelson called the plan “part of what will be a much broader program,” combining “the science of mining an asteroid, along with developing ways to deflect one, along with providing a place to develop ways we can go to Mars.”

A government briefing on the mission refers to the asteroid, charmingly, as a “noncooperative space object” and adds: “The prospect of capturing, transporting and then visiting an asteroid — robotically and with human interaction — has an intrinsic appeal for much of the public.” No mention of what the asteroid’s Twitter hashtag might be.

Public Health - New Avian Flu Threat

How serious is the bird flu that is circulating in China? Nobody knows for sure, but at least seven people have died and more have been sickened. So far the virus does not appear to have spread from human to human, just from birds to people. In China, 20,000 birds were slaughtered at a wholesale market in Shanghai where a pigeon was found to have the virus, called H7N9. And at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, work is under way on a seed vaccine for this strand of flu, but “only as a precaution,” a spokesman said.

Physics - A Glimpse of Dark Matter

Dark matter is thought to exist copiously throughout the universe, serving as the gravitational glue that holds galaxies and other heavenly things together. But so far it has existed only in theory: no one has actually seen it. Last week some physicists claimed they were getting close. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a spectacular machine on the International Space Station that was lovingly crafted by the Nobel laureate Samuel Ting of M.I.T., confirmed earlier reports of excessive numbers of antimatter particles that could be coming from collisions of dark matter or other “new physical phenomena.” Dr. Ting said more data was needed to tell whether the antimatter was being produced by dark matter or by unknown astrophysical objects like pulsars.

Neuroscience - A Map of the Brain

It’s always exciting when new federal dollars go into science research, but reaction to the Obama administration’s announcement of a new initiative, Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (or Brain, for short), was decidedly mixed. Some neuroscientists were scratching their heads over how the $100 million allocated to the project for 2014 would make a difference compared with the more than $5 billion that the National Institutes of Health alone spends yearly on existing brain research. But Eric Kandel, the Nobel-winning neuroscientist at Columbia University, said that while it was true that “if we stick with $100 million, we won’t accomplish very much,” this figure was only a start. “I think the president’s initiative is outstanding,” he said.   

Environment - Vanishing Glacial Ice

Worrisome news from the Andes: At the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru, the world’s largest tropical ice sheet, a segment of ice near the edge that took 1,600 years to form has melted in a mere 25 years. The melting, which appears to be a manifestation of global warming, has exposed plants that were buried by the ice when the glacier overran them about 6,300 years ago. “If any time in the last 6,000 years these plants had been exposed for any five-year period, they would have decayed,” said the lead glaciologist, Lonnie G. Thompson of Ohio State University. Glaciers are melting rapidly throughout the Andes, posing long-term challenges for water supply in the region.

Coming Up

Space Travel - Cosmic Collectibles

Would you like a space shuttle tile of your very own? They come in three decorator colors (black, white and blank). If you are a museum or school, now is your chance: through May 6, NASA is inviting educational groups to put in requests for various space artifacts. The thermal protection tiles — only one per customer — helped the shuttles and their occupants survive the extreme heat of re-entering the atmosphere. Also available are space food kits, with three packets of dehydrated grub, as well as used space shuttle tires, one of which NASA will lend you for three years (with an option to renew). “We currently have an inventory of approximately 50 flown space shuttle main landing gear tires for this opportunity,” NASA says on its Web site. The items are free, but the recipient must pay the shipping.

Intel Tries to Secure Its Footing Beyond PCs

Intel is still looking for a chief to succeed Paul
Otellini, who announced his resignation this fall.

By QUENTIN HARDY (New York Times)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the last several months, Andy Bryant, the chairman of Intel, has been trying to put steel in the backs of the company’s employees. At meetings, he tells them that Intel must fundamentally change even though the computer chip maker still has what it takes to succeed in engineering and manufacturing.

It is an extraordinary message at a company with the fiercely confident unofficial motto, “Only the paranoid survive.” Intel now finds itself faced with a fundamental question: Can the paranoid also evolve?

Intel became the world’s largest semiconductor maker through a partnership with Microsoft that dominated the personal computer business for a quarter-century.

PC sales are now collapsing, as users are relying more on mobile phones and tablets that rarely contain Intel chips.

Intel’s other mainstay business, chips for computer servers, is also changing. Cloud computing is creating huge demand for basic servers, but its simpler and cheaper designs may drive down prices and profit margins and offer openings to new competitors.

Amid all this turmoil in the industry, Intel is also scrambling to find a new leader. In November, Paul Otellini, who had been chief executive since 2005, unexpectedly announced his resignation. “It’s time to move on and transfer Intel’s helm to a new generation of leadership,” he said at the time, declining to elaborate on why he was leaving three years before reaching the company’s retirement age of 65.

His decision left the company in limbo. “It looks like there was no succession plan in place, and that is troubling,” said Hans Mosesmann, an analyst at Raymond James. “They are probably a month away from Otellini leaving, and nothing is settled.”

While the board has been looking at external candidates, the new chief will almost certainly come from within. In contrast to Silicon Valley’s culture of job-hopping, at Intel someone with 15 years’ experience can be called a newcomer. The company’s leaders believe that it is critical for the chief executive to be steeped in the company culture.

“The job of the board is to pick the candidate who can best grow into the job,” said a person with knowledge of the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Intel has to define its next act.”

In the meantime, Mr. Bryant, who has been at Intel for 32 years and served as its longtime chief financial officer, has been trying to prepare employees for a new era.

“He says that the customers have changed, and we have to as well,” said a person attending one of Mr. Bryant’s meetings, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “Where the revenue is now is not where the revenue is coming from in the future.”

Intel declined to make Mr. Otellini, Mr. Bryant or any other officials available for an interview, citing the quiet period before its first-quarter earnings report, due out on Tuesday. Those earnings, which will most likely reflect the collapsing demand for PCs, will follow the drops in revenue, operating margins and net income of 2012.

Analysts say the two top contenders to be Intel’s next C.E.O. are Brian Krzanich and David Perlmutter, who are close to Intel’s core business. Mr. Krzanich, Intel’s chief operating officer, oversees its fabrication facilities. Mr. Perlmutter, the chief product officer, oversees chip design.

Renee James, the head of Intel’s software group, is considered a more remote chance to run what has long been a hardware company. And Stacy Smith, Intel’s chief financial officer, is well liked inside and outside the company, but like Mr. Otellini, lacks an engineering background, which diminishes his prospects.

Revealing just how hard it would be for an outsider to step into the top job at Intel, the newcomer of these four joined Intel in 1988. But close watchers of the company wonder whether its insular culture is up to the challenge of expanding to different kinds of customers and devices.

“In this new world, with smartphones and tablets, and cloud computing, things are moving around fast,” said Hector Ruiz, the former chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices, Intel’s top competitor in making PC chips. “Intel has the talent, engineering, and resources, but they are their own worst enemy.”

Venezuela Gives Chávez Protégé Narrow Victory

President-elect Nicolás Maduro celebrated
with his wife, Cilia Flores.

Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

CARACAS, Venezuela — In an unexpectedly close race, Venezuelans narrowly voted to continue Hugo Chávez’s revolution, electing his handpicked political heir, Nicolás Maduro, to serve the remainder of his six-year term as president, officials said late Sunday.

Nicolás Maduro greeting supporters in Caracas after it was announced that he won a vote to succeed President Hugo Chávez.
But the thin margin of victory could complicate the task of governing for Mr. Maduro, emboldening the political opposition and possibly undermining Mr. Maduro’s stature within Mr. Chávez’s movement.

His opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski, refused to recognize the results, citing irregularities in the voting and calling for a recount.

Mr. Maduro, the acting president, narrowly defeated Mr. Capriles, a state governor who ran strongly against Mr. Chávez in October. Election authorities said that with more than 99 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Maduro had 50.6 percent to Mr. Capriles’s 49.1 percent. More than 78 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

“These are the irreversible results that the Venezuelan people have decided with this electoral process,” Tibisay Lucena, the head of the electoral council, said as she read the result on national television late Sunday.

Mr. Maduro gave a defiant speech that suggested little willingness to make concessions. “We have a just, legal, constitutional and popular electoral victory,” he said.

Mr. Capriles was equally defiant. “We are not going to recognize the result until every vote is counted, one by one,”  Mr. Capriles said. “The big loser today is you, you and what you represent,” he said, referring to Mr. Maduro.

Meanwhile, there were also signs that the strident, Chávez-style anti-American message that Mr. Maduro used during the campaign would now be set aside to improve Venezuela’s strained relations with the United States.

Venezuela is a major oil supplier to the United States with immense reserves, and under Mr. Chávez it has also been a major thorn in Washington’s side, wielding its oil and its diplomatic muscle to oppose American policy everywhere from Cuba to Syria. Mr. Chávez, who succumbed to cancer on March 5, built his political career on flaying the United States and its traditional allies in the Venezuelan establishment, and Mr. Maduro followed his mentor’s script throughout the campaign with an acolyte’s zeal.

He accused former American diplomats of plotting to kill him, suggested that the United States had caused Mr. Chávez’s illness, and had his foreign minister shut the door on informal talks with the United States that began late last year. A senior State Department official in Washington said the harsh rhetoric had made the possibility of improved relations more difficult.

But over the weekend, with his election victory looking likely, Mr. Maduro sent a private signal to Washington that he was ready to turn the page. Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico, who was in Caracas as a representative of the Organization of American States, said in an interview that Mr. Maduro called him aside after a meeting of election observers on Saturday and asked him to carry a message.

“He said, ‘We want to improve the relationship with the U.S., regularize the relationship,’ ” Mr. Richardson said.

The foreign minister, Elías Jaua, met with Mr. Richardson on Sunday, and said Venezuela was ready to resume the talks that it had cut off, Mr. Richardson said.

Though Mr. Chávez’s death raised the possibility of a realignment in the hemisphere, Mr. Maduro’s victory would seem to extend the life of the leftist coalition of countries that coalesced around Mr. Chávez. Mr. Maduro seems certain to continue the lifeline of oil sales on preferential terms that Venezuela provides to Cuba, whose leaders were close allies of Mr. Chávez.

Yet even his supporters say that Mr. Maduro lacks his predecessor’s sharp political instincts and magnetism, and many questions remain about how effectively he will lead at home and abroad.

María Eugenia Díaz and Paula Ramón contributed reporting.