SINGAPORE: February's Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) second open bidding exercise opens on Monday at noon.
The tender closes on Wednesday at 4pm.
The total quota available for this tender exercise is 1,608.
Non-transferable categories:
Category A : Cars (1,600cc and below) - 333
Category B : Cars (1,601cc and above) - 303
Category D : Motorcycles 506
Transferable categories:
Category C : Goods Vehicles and Buses - 225
Category E : Open Category - 241
- CNA/ck
As a graduate of the Pratt Institute with experience working for big names in the apparel and accessory industries, Matthew Bennett was ready to work independently to create his own watch label. While he might have had great ideas and a fabulous sense of design, he just couldn't seem to tackle the logistics of running such an operation. He found a manufacturer in Hong Kong that could produce his designs, but it wasn't always seamless. After OKing one production sample, Bennett later received a shipment of 1,000 pieces of defective goods -- goods he couldn't sell or return to the factory. "Manufacturing overseas is such a gamble," says Bennett. "I figured getting a sample would be something that would give me some sort of security to sleep well at night, but I had no way of holding anyone responsible for that as a small business."
After that experience, Bennett knew he had to try to manufacture his watches stateside. But finding an American factory proved to be much more difficult than performing a simple Google search. And if he was having this problem for his watch business, surely designers around the country were struggling with similar issues? "As of right now, it's much easier to find manufacturers on the other side of the globe than it is to find them in your own backyard," he says.
Soon after, Bennett teamed up with Tanya Menendez, and the two started flushing out the idea for Maker's Row, a Web site that would serve as an online portal or directory to connect American designers with American factories. "You don't want to divorce the creatives from the creators. The designers -- they want to see this whole manufacturing process, because that's where the innovation comes from. For us to be the catalyst for that is an amazing opportunity," Bennett says.
Two years after the original idea was hatched and eight months after going live, the site has already partnered with more than 1,400 American factories and made tens of thousands of connections between them and designers. Right now it's free for both parties to use the site, but the Maker's Row team has plans to make money from its service in the near future.
Setting Maker's Row apart from an ordinary directory is the education and guidance the site provides entrepreneurial designers. It breaks down the steps to get into production and can steer someone toward the right type of facilities to help with different stages of the manufacturing process. As someone who recently tried to navigate all the twists and turns of a supply chain, Bennett wants to be as transparent as possible to the designers who come after him: "We're concerned about the next generation of small businesses. So reaching out to the designers who are in design school is paramount to us. We want them to become accustomed to our site, using our site as a resource, and we're telling them exactly how to create their own goods."
You have to get to a bus stop to catch the once-an-hour express ... or to a restaurant to meet a friend ... or to a doctor's office. You've got maybe a half a mile to cover and you're worried you'll be late. You run, then you stop and walk, then run some more.
But wait. Wouldn't it be better to run the whole way?
Not necessarily.
A new study by an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State University tests the theory that people subconsciously mix walking and running so they get where they need to. The idea is that "people move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption," said the professor, Manoj Srinivasan.
Srinivasan asked 36 subjects to cover 400 feet (122 meters), a bit more than the length of a football field. He gave them a time to arrive at the finish line and a stopwatch. If the deadline was supertight, they ran. If they had two minutes, they walked. And if the deadline was neither too short nor too far off, they toggled between walking and running.
The takeaway: Humans successfully make the walk-run adjustment as they go along, based on their sense of how far they have to go. "It's not like they decide beforehand," Srinivasan said. (Get tips, gear recommendations, and more in our Running Guide.)
The Best Technique for "the Twilight Zone"
"The mixture of walking and running is good when you have an intermediate amount of time," he explained. "I like to call it 'the Twilight Zone,' where you have neither infinite time nor do you have to be there now."
That ability to shift modes served ancient humans well. "It's basically an evolutionary argument," Srinivasan said. A prehistoric human seeking food would want to move in a way that conserves some energy so that if food is hard to find, the hunter won't run out of gas—and will still be able to rev it up to escape predators.
The study, published on January 30 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, doesn't answer that question of how we make such adjustments.
Runners: Take a Break if You Need It
The mix of walking and running is also something that nonelite marathoners are familiar with. Covering 26.2 miles might take less of a toll if the runner stops running from time to time, walks a bit, then resumes a jogging pace. "You use less energy overall and also give yourself a bit of a break," Srinivasan noted. (Watch: An elite marathoner on her passion for running.)
One take-home lesson is: Runners, don't push it all the time. A walk-run mix will minimize the energy you expend.
Lesson two: If you're a parent walking with your kid, and the kid lags behind, then runs to catch up, then lags again, the child isn't necessarily trying to annoy you. Rather, the child is perhaps exhibiting an innate ability to do the walk-run transition.
Potential lesson three: The knowledge that humans naturally move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption might be helpful in designing artificial limbs that feel more natural and will help the user reduce energy consumption.
The big question for Manoj Srinivasan: Now that he has his walk-run theory, does he consciously switch between running and walking when he's trying to get somewhere? "I must admit, no," he said. "When I want to get somewhere, I just let the body do its thing." But if he's in a rush, he'll make a mad dash.
"Talk to you tomorrow," he signed off in an email to National Geographic News. "Running to get to teaching now!"
Christopher Dorner, the ex-Los Angeles police officer who declared himself on a killing spree against his former law enforcement colleagues, is dead.
Authorities this evening confirmed that remains found after a fiery standoff at a California mountain cabin Tuesday were, in fact, Dorner's.
"The charred human remains located in the burned out cabin in Seven Oaks have been positively identified to be that of Christopher Dorner," the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner's Office said in a written statement. "During the autopsy, positive identification was made through dental examination."
FULL COVERAGE: Christopher Dorner Manhunt
PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings
In a 6,000-word "manifesto," Dorner outlined his anger at the Los Angeles Police Department for firing him, and made threats against individuals he believed were responsible for ending his career with the police force five years ago. Dorner was fired after filing what the LAPD determined to be a false report accusing other cops of brutality.
Dorner is suspected of killing four people, including Monica Quan and her fiance, who were found shot to death Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who was mentioned as a target of Dorner's fury in the manifesto.
Dorner is also suspected in the shooting death of Riverside, Calif., Police Officer Michael Crain, whose funeral was Wednesday.
San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy Jeremiah MacKay, 35, a 15-year veteran and the father of two children, was killed in Tuesday's shootout at the cabin.
A second San Bernardino County sheriff's officer had to undergo multiple surgeries after he was wounded in the cabin shootout, and other officers also were wounded in earlier alleged encounters with Dorner.
After Crain's death, police tracked Dorner to the Big Bear Lake area of Southern California, where his burning truck was found in the mountains late last week.
A couple with a cabin in the area were some of the last people to see Dorner before his final encounter with police. Their 911 call to police triggered a chase that concluded with the fiery standoff at the nearby cabin.
The couple, Karen and Jim Reynolds, said at a news conference Wednesday that their ordeal lasted a few minutes but seemed like hours.
The Reynolds believe Dorner, 33, was holed up starting Friday in their unoccupied cabin in Big Bear, Calif., only steps from where police had set up a command center.
"He said four or five times that he didn't have a problem with us, he just wanted to clear his name," Jim Reynolds said. "He said, 'I don't have a problem with you, so I'm not going to hurt you.'"
Dorner tied their arms and put pillowcases over their heads before fleeing in their purple Nissan, the couple said.
Before he fled, the couple said Dorner told them that he had been watching them before he took over their cabin. Dorner told the couple he could tell they were "hard working, good people."
"He had been watching us and saw me shoveling the snow Friday," Jim Reynolds said.
They say they may have left the cabin door unlocked and that could have been the reason Dorner was able to enter undetected.
Dorner remained "calm and meticulous" throughout the harrowing ordeal, the couple said.
The Reynolds walked into their cabin around noon Tuesday when they came face-to-face with Dorner. There was no question in their minds who he was -- the suspected cop killer at the center of one of the largest manhunts in recent memory.
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LONDON: London's Olympic Stadium will stage three days of athletics in July, including one devoted solely to Paralympic competition, British Athletics has announced.
The London Anniversary Games, which will take place from July 26-28 and in the process mark a year since the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, will incorporate the annual two-day Diamond League meeting on the Friday and Saturday, but also, for the first time, a day of purely Paralympic competition on the Sunday.
Sebastian Coe, who chaired the London 2012 Organising Committee and is now chairman of the British Olympic Association, said it was terrific news.
"I am delighted that the London Anniversary Games has been confirmed as three days of international athletics this July.
"London 2012 was an amazing year for British sport and what a way to celebrate its success by welcoming the world back to London once more to watch the biggest names in athletics."
British middle distance great Coe, the Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist at both the 1980 and 1984 Games in Moscow and Los Angeles respectively, added he hoped this July's event would build on the success of London 2012.
"It is an important part of the London 2012 legacy that as many people as possible experience world class sport in the world class facilities at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and I'm sure the London Anniversary Games will go a long way to inspiring the next generation of track and field fans."
Former Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, who grew up in Stratford, added: "The London Diamond League has always been one of my favourite meets so it's fantastic that it's retaining its two day format.
"The atmosphere in the stadium was phenomenal last year and I'll never forget it -- it was very special for me as a local girl."
Officials had already announced the London Diamond League meeting would move to the Olympic venue in the eastern district of Stratford from Crystal Palace in south London.
But on Wednesday they said in addition to the usual track and field meeting on the first two days, the weekend would be topped off by a day of Paralympic competition in the Olympic Stadium, that will come soon after the International Paralympic Committee World Championships in Lyon, eastern France.
Earlier in July, two rock music concerts will see the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium used for the first time since the Paralympics closing ceremony in September.
Although the Olympic Stadium is due to stage the 2017 World Athletics Championships, doubt remains over its long-term future.
English Premier League football club West Ham have been named as the preferred bidder for the tenancy and a final decision on their bid is expected before April.
The £292 million ($463 million, 348 million euro) complete transformation of the Olympic Park, which began when the London 2012 Games ended, is set to take 18 months.
-AFP/gn
Things may be looking up for Facebook in the dozens of lawsuits it's facing from peeved shareholders over its botched initial public offering.
U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet ruled in favor of Facebook today and dismissed a group of these cases, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The social network became embroiled in this extensive legal battle shortly after its $16 billion IPO last May. The company's stock opened on the Nasdaq priced at $38 a share and, aside from a slight uptick right at the start, proceeded to plummet in the days and weeks following. Defendants in the lawsuits, many of whom are investors, claim Facebook failed to disclose in the critical days leading up to the IPO that there was "a severe and pronounced reduction" in forecasts for Facebook's revenue growth.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Judge Sweet ruled today that Facebook had no obligation to release its revenue growth forecasts in four of the shareholder lawsuits. The company had already "made express and extensive warnings" regarding obstacles to its mobile business, the judge said.
Originally, Sweet was assigned 42 cases filed against the social network, but he consolidated them in October. In December, he picked a handful of plaintiffs to head the class action suits, which include several state pension funds.The majority of these lawsuits rely on the argument that Facebook failed to disclose its revenue growth forecasts in the days before its IPO. However, it's unclear if Sweet will rule the same for all of these cases. Throughout the process, Facebook has maintained that it's innocent of any wrongdoing.
When contacted by CNET, a Facebook representative said, "We are pleased with the court's ruling."
Update, 5:40 p.m. PT:
Adds comment from Facebook representative.
A single honeybee visits hundreds, sometimes thousands, of flowers a day in search of nectar and pollen. Then it must find its way back to the hive, navigating distances up to five miles (eight kilometers), and perform a "waggle dance" to tell the other bees where the flowers are.
A new study shows that long-term exposure to a combination of certain pesticides might impair the bee's ability to carry out its pollen mission.
"Any impairment in their ability to do this could have a strong effect on their survival," said Geraldine Wright, a neuroscientist at Newcastle University in England and co-author of a new study posted online February 7, 2013, in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Wright's study adds to the growing body of research that shows that the honeybee's ability to thrive is being threatened. Scientists are still researching how pesticides may be contributing to colony collapse disorder (CCD), a rapid die-off seen in millions of honeybees throughout the world since 2006.
"Pesticides are very likely to be involved in CCD and also in the loss of other types of pollinators," Wright said. (See the diversity of pollinating creatures in a photo gallery from National Geographic magazine.)
Bees depend on what's called "scent memory" to find flowers teeming with nectar and pollen. Their ability to rapidly learn, remember, and communicate with each other has made them highly efficient foragers, using the waggle dance to educate others about the site of the food source.
Watch as National Geographic explains the waggle dance.
Their pollination of plants is responsible for the existence of nearly a third of the food we eat and has a similar impact on wildlife food supplies.
Previous studies have shown certain types of pesticides affect a bee's learning and memory. Wright's team wanted to investigate if the combination of different pesticides had an even greater effect on the learning and memory of honeybees.
"Honeybees learn to associate floral colors and scents with the quality of food rewards," Wright explained. "The pesticides affect the neurons involved in these behaviors. These [affected] bees are likely to have difficulty communicating with other members of the colony."
The experiment used a classic procedure with a daunting name: olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex. In layman's terms, the bee sticks out its tongue in response to odor and food rewards.
For the experiment, bees were collected from the colony entrance, placed in glass vials, and then transferred into plastic sandwich boxes. For three days the bees were fed a sucrose solution laced with sublethal doses of pesticides. The team measured short-term and long-term memory at 10-minute and 24-hour intervals respectively. (Watch of a video of a similar type of bee experiment.)
This study is the first to show that when pesticides are combined, the impact on bees is far worse than exposure to just one pesticide. "This is particularly important because one of the pesticides we used, coumaphos, is a 'medicine' used to treat Varroa mites [pests that have been implicated in CCD] in honeybee colonies throughout the world," Wright said.
The pesticide, in addition to killing the mites, might also be making honeybees more vulnerable to poisoning and effects from other pesticides.
Stephen Buchmann of the Pollinator Partnership, who was not part of Wright's study, underscored how critical pollinators are for the world. "The main threat to pollinators is habitat destruction and alteration. We're rapidly losing pollinator habitats, natural areas, and food—producing agricultural lands that are essential for our survival and well being. Along with habitat destruction, insecticides weaken pollinators and other beneficial insects."
A Texas couple's fantasy wedding quickly turned into a nightmare honeymoon when the fire-damaged Carnival Cruise ship carrying them became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rob Mowlam, 37, and Stephanie Stevenson, 27, of Nederland, Texas, got married on the Carnival Triumph on Saturday. The four-day cruise was meant to be back to shore on Monday, but was left disabled by an engine fire on Sunday.
The ship is being slowly towed to shore and is expected to dock in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday if weather permits. The vessel is without air conditioning, many working toilets and some restaurant service. Passengers, many who are sleeping in tents on deck, have told ABC News the smell on the ship is foul.
That is the honeymoon setting for Mowlam and Stevenson.
"[Rob Mowlam] had been with his girlfriend, or fiance, for a long period of time and they just took the next step," Mowlam's brother James Mowlam III told ABCNews.com. "The captain is the king of the world when they're on the boat and he hitched them up."
James Mowlam said he was shocked when he heard about the stranded boat and the increasingly dire conditions on the ship.
"It is an atrocious scene to be subjected to," he said.
Mowlam said he has not been able to communicate with his brother, but that his father has had sporadic communication with him.
"It would be my guess that this would probably not be on anyone's great list of memorable wedding experiences," Mowlam said with a laugh. "Although, my mom told him that she was hoping they had a memorable wedding and I think this would classify as a memorable wedding experience."
Lt. Cmdr. Paul McConnell/U.S. Coast Guard/AP Photo
The bride's brother, Justin Davis, told ABCNews.com that his sister works for a doctor's office and the cruise was a gift from the doctor to the staff.
Davis has not been able to speak to Stevenson but said that her two young sons are being cared for by her mother. He said his sister is tough and he guesses she's probably not scared.
"She might be a little aggravated at the situation, but I'd say she's [probably] handling it really well," he said.
Others on the ship do not seem to be handling the situation so well.
Elderly and disabled passengers aboard the ship are struggling to cope with the worsening conditions, according to at least one passenger.
"Elderly and handicap are struggling, the smell is gross," passenger Ann Barlow text-messaged ABC News overnight. "Our room is leaking sewage."
The head of Carnival Cruise Lines said the British-U.S.-owned company was working hard to ensure the thousands of passengers stranded on the disabled ship were as comfortable as possible while the vessel was being towed to a port in Alabama.
"I need to apologize to our guests and to our families that have been affected by a very difficult situation," Carnival Cruise Lines president and CEO Gerry Cahill said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
It was the first time since a fire erupted in Triumph's engine room Sunday, knocking out its four engines, that a company representative had spoken publicly. The Triumph, with roughly 4,200 people on board, was left bobbing like a 100,000-ton cork for more than 24 hours. Giant sea-faring tugboats then hooked up to the ship and began towing the nearly 900-foot-long ship to land.
Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva told The Associated Press Tuesday that a passenger with a pre-existing medical condition was taken off the ship as a precaution. Everyone else will likely have to weather conditions such as scarce running water, no air conditioning and long lines for food.
Back on land, passenger Barlow's 11-year-old twins told ABC News Tuesday they are worried as more passengers continue to talk about living with limited power and sanitation.
It is not just humans that like a natter with their nearest and dearest – plants pay most attention to their closest relatives.
When an insect bites a leaf, many plants release volatile chemicals to prime their neighbours for attack. The defences this triggers vary – some plants respond by attracting predatory insects that eat the herbivores, others make themselves less tasty.
Now Richard Karban of the University of California, Davis, has shown that for the sagebrush, responses to these warning signals can vary with relatedness.
At the start of three growing seasons, Karban's team exposed different branches of the same plants to volatile chemicals. The substances came from relatives of the same species whose leaves had been clipped to trigger chemical release.
By the end of the seasons, herbivores had done less damage to the branches exposed to chemicals from close relatives than to those receiving signals from more distant relatives – the warning probably prompting the plants to release herbivore-deterring chemicals, says Karban.
He has previously shown that the blend of volatiles varies enormously between individuals – "so much so that big peaks in some individuals are undetectable in others", he says.
However, there is some similarity between family members. Karban thinks this variability is being exploited by the plants as a kind of family-specific signature, to prevent eavesdroppers from listening in and to give those that share the same genes a greater chance of survival.
Some plants are genetically more resistant to being eaten than others, so it makes sense that plants should care more about their kin's fate than that of the general population.
"It is very elegant work," says Susan Dudley from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, who has shown that plants competing for space in a small pot are less aggressive if they are related to their neighbours.
She thinks this kind of kin-recognition is probably common among many plants.
Journal Reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.3062
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