Are Beyonce and Jay-Z expecting another baby?

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

1 hour ago

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Beyonce at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit.

It's the hottest not-yet-confirmed story in entertainment at the moment: Are Beyonce and Jay-Z about to announce that baby No. 2 is on the way?

E! Online and other outlets seem positive this is the case, though thus far "sources" are the only place information has come from -- no one's spokesperson has stepped forward to put the official stamp on it.

But perhaps Beyonce herself reportedly did, on a since-deleted post on her Instagram account (see link for screen shot of post). According to several outlets, shortly after the initial rumors began surfacing, the singer apparently posted: "I can?t stop the rumors from starting, and I can?t really change peoples minds who believe them, all I can do is sit back and laugh at these low life people who have nothing better to do than talk about me.?

So since Beyonce won't say "yes" or "no," what's fueling this burning question?

• In April, Beyonce told Shape magazine that they would definitely have more children in the future, saying ?I?ll probably start after this tour.? Her first, Blue Ivy, is 16 months old. She hit the road with her "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour" that month, and will be on the road until September -- but maybe she just couldn't wait.
  
• Her appearance at the Met Gala in early May featured her in a "stomach-concealing Givenchy gown," as E! Online described it, and as the site suggested, concealment could only mean one thing.
• On May 13, the New York Post went into full rumor mode, saying that "music insiders are chattering" about her newly-pregnant status, and noted that photos from her tour seem to reveal a baby bump.
• On May 14, the singer postponed a concert in Belgium, saying in a statement she was "advised by her doctors to rest as a result of dehydration and exhaustion." She posted a note to her Tumblr page later in apology, noting "I've never postponed a show in my life."
• Other celebrities like Russell Simmons are already taking the rumors as fact, and tweeting congrats.
• People are just excited to read about Bey's comings and goings, as indicated by her recent controversial trip to Cuba with Jay-Z and the fact that the announcement of her first pregnancy -- on the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards -- set a Guinness World Record for most tweets per second related to a single event.

Meanwhile, Beyonce is unlikely to ease off of work any time soon, regardless of whatever announcement she may make. Other E! sources are saying the tour won't be affected by the rumored pregnancy.

Beyonce will be heard soon, though -- she's the voice of Queen Tara in the animated film "Epic," which opens in theaters on May 24.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/are-beyonce-jay-z-expecting-another-baby-1C9983170

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'American Idol' Needs To Start From Scratch, Experts Say

'The show needs to reboot in a drastic way,' The Hollywood Reporter's Shirley Halperin tells MTV News.
By Gil Kaufman

Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson on "American Idol"
Photo: Fox

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707589/american-idol-reboot-future.jhtml

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Caribbean talks conservation on Branson's island

NECKER ISLAND, British Virgin Islands (AP) ? Surrounded by a turquoise sea and a menagerie of exotic animals on a billionaire's private island, political and business leaders gathered Friday to back an initiative aimed at expanding protection for the Caribbean's imperiled coasts and waters.

The "Caribbean Challenge" calls for special protected zones along at least 20 percent of the region's coasts by 2020 in hopes of protecting its biodiversity and its crucial tourism market. The region's scattered islands have 10 percent of the world's coral reefs and some 1,400 species of fish and marine mammals.

Richard Branson, the adventuring CEO and founder of the Virgin Group of companies, is co-hosting the two-day meeting at Necker Island, his home in the British Virgin Islands where he has developed an ultra-exclusive eco-resort that showcases renewable energy technology, reintroduced flamingoes, imported lemurs and other creatures.

"It's just so important to get every single Caribbean country 100 percent behind protecting the wonderful sea life and the wonderful reefs and mangroves, and therefore the species that occupy our oceans," Branson said from his 74-acre Caribbean retreat, a haven for entertainment and business A-listers.

British Virgin Islands Premier Orlando Smith and Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell are also co-hosting the gathering of delegations from nine Caribbean countries, chiefs of resort companies and cruise lines, representatives of the World Bank, United Nations and other international bodies, private foundations and environmental groups.

"This is not a situation where we can say: This is a Caribbean thing and it doesn't include anybody else. This is an international issue," Mitchell told reporters gathered for a brief press conference held on Necker's tennis courts, not far from an animated group of lemurs.

On Friday, delegations from the participating governments signed a communique pledging to establish a framework for a regional approach to coastal conservation, including "increasing considerably the number of marine protected areas." They also said they recognized an urgent need to protect sharks and rays, and vowed a "dramatic acceleration in the transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources over the next five years."

One of the key sponsors is the Virginia-based Nature Conservancy, which touts the Caribbean Challenge, begun in 2008, as one of the world's most ambitious conservation initiatives. The conservation group has been providing technical expertise to the participating islands for years.

"The Caribbean is truly paradise under threat, and today's focus is a critical step toward a brighter future," Glenn Prickett, chief external affairs officer with the Nature Conservancy, said in an email.

If the Caribbean, the world's most tourism dependent region, takes strong steps now to protect its natural resources, conservationists say it will be in a far stronger position to protect its small economies and cope with future threats from climate change and ocean acidification due to greenhouse gases.

The challenges are many in the ecologically stressed Caribbean, which covers some 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles). Once brilliant coral reefs have lost their luster due to warming waters and disease. Live coral cover of regional reefs has plummeted to an average of just 8 percent from 50 percent in the 1970s, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says. Many reefs have been degraded by overfishing, runoff pollution and coastal development.

Some of the Caribbean Challenge's participating countries ? Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and the British Virgin Islands ? have already taken steps to reach their conservation targets.

The Dominican Republic has actually exceeded its 20 percent goal by creating more than 30 new protected areas in recent years. The Bahamas established the largest marine protected area in the region by expanding a national park in Andros from 185,000 acres to 1.28 million acres. Heavily overfished Jamaica has set up several "no-take" fishing sanctuaries and fishermen say they are seeing improvements.

The initiative is modeled after similar conservation financing efforts in the Pacific and linked to the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, a sustainable finance mechanism that will generate funding. The initial endowment capitalization target of $40 million has been reached, according to the Nature Conservancy.

But there are questions about how deep the political will really is in a region with heavily indebted governments. Political leaders have long spoken about the need for protecting coasts, developing alternative energy sources and diversifying tourism-dependent economies but little has been accomplished. One country, Antigua & Barbuda, recently dropped out of the initiative for reasons that are not clear.

Grenada's prime minister believes that now is the time for the Caribbean region to come together and tackle shared environmental threats. More countries and territories are being encouraged to join the compact.

"The political divide in our region is very deep but this is one issue where all nations are on the same side," Mitchell said.

___

Smith reported from Necker Island, British Virgin Islands, and McFadden reported from Kingston, Jamaica.

___

David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter/com/dmcfadd

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/caribbean-talks-conservation-bransons-island-070032003.html

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GOP raffling AR-15 ?Sandy Hook?-type rifles as macabre pro-gun stunt (Americablog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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5 amazing moments from 'Office' series finale

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

16 hours ago

It's really over! After nine seasons, "The Office" delivered a jam-packed 75-minute finale farewell on Thursday night. Coincidentally, around that same time, fans of the sitcom collectively got a little something in their eyes. (Sniff!)

OK, sure, those were tears, but who could blame anyone for turning on the waterworks in between all of the laughs? It was a night of relationships, resolutions and amazing moments after all.

NBC

Angela and Dwight tied the knot!

Dwangela dweds
After a season full of "Jam" drama, it was nice to see another couple steal the spotlight for a little while. Dwight finally put a ring on it and made Angela his wife -- and it wasn't just any ring. It was the one "taken from the buttocks of (his) grandmother." The two stood in their very own shallow graves as they swapped vows to, as the officiant explained, remind them "that this is the only way out of what they're about to do."

Bonus? All the wedding presents were cats!

The boss came back
But before Dwight could stand in his grave, he needed a best man (or "bestest mensch") by his side. It was a role he originally gave to prankster Jim, who in turn pulled a last minute switcheroo and passed it off to an old pal.

"Michael, I can't believe you came!" Dwight said in amazement.

The former bossman replied the only way he knew how: "That's what she said!"

Chris Haston/NBC

Pam makes Athleap of faith
Of course, eventually, it had to come back to Jam. The fan-favorite couple took a beating this season, thanks to Jim's big ambitions and Pam's big fears. In the penultimate episode of the season, Jim made a grand gesture, offering up the ultimate clip reel to prove his devotion. In the series ender, Pam returned the favor by selling their home and inviting him to make his mark in Athleap (aka the-business-venture-formerly-known-as-Athlead).

Creedence
There were plenty of character updates to be had on finale night. Ryan and Kelly were back on -- and more selfish than ever. Stanley retired to the Everglades and carved birds. Kevin was fired (via cake), and bought his own bar. But none of those were quite as entertaining as one very special update.

Creed, of The Grass Roots, drug-running and endangered-meat monger fame, popped up throughout the episode. After faking his own death, he snuck into the wedding, hid out in the office and sang his former fellow coworkers a sentimental ditty -- all before police dragged him away.

Colleen Hayes/NBC

Clocking out
But the most amazing moment of it all was the end of it all. Each of the characters shared words of wisdom, but no one summed it up as well as Andy, who said, "I wish there was a way to know you are in the good ol' days before you've left them."

Don't we all?

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/5-most-amazing-moments-office-series-finale-1C9967362

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Storage power plant on the seabed

May 15, 2013 ? Norwegian research scientists will contribute to realising the concept of storing electricity at the bottom of the sea. The energy will be stored with the help of high water pressure.

The idea of an underwater pumped hydroelectric power plant may sound like Jules Verne fiction, but then it was hatched by a German engineer who has spent much of his professional life working in aerospace technology.

"Imagine opening a hatch in a submarine under water. The water will flow into the submarine with enormous force. It is precisely this energy potential we want to utilize," explains Rainer Schramm, inventor and founder of the company Subhydro AS to Gemini.no. "Many people have launched the idea of storing energy by exploiting the pressure at the seabed, but we are the first in the world to apply a specific patent-pending technology to make this possible," he adds. He has joined forces with SINTEF in order to realize the concept.

Turbine converts energy

"SINTEF has experts in the fields of energy generation, materials technology and not least offshore and deep-water technology, which means we have all the expertise we need in one place," says the German inventor. To use the water pressure at the sea bed in practice, the mechanical energy is converted by a reversible pump turbine, as in a normal pumped storage hydroelectric plant. "A pumped storage power plant is a hydroelectric plant which can be "charged" up again by pumping the water back to the upper reservoir once it has passed through a turbine. This type of power plant is used as a "battery," when connected to the power grid," the inventor explains. In this pumped storage power plant turbine will be connected to a tank on the seabed at a depth of 400-800 metres. The turbine is fitted with a valve, and when this is opened, water flows in and starts turning the turbine. The turbine drives a generator to produce electricity. One can connect as many tanks as one wishes. In other words, it is the number of water tanks that decides how long the plant can generate electricity, before the energy storage capacity is exhausted.

High degree of storage efficiency

"When the water tanks are full, the water must be removed from the tanks," Schramm explains. This is achieved by running the turbine in reverse, so that it functions as a pump. The process consumes energy from the power grid, just as when one charges an ordinary battery. Although a bit more energy is used to empty the water tanks than can be recovered from flooding them, the degree of efficiency of this type of power plant is just as high as that of a conventional, onshore plant. According to Schramm, calculations indicate an electric storage efficiency of approximately 80 per cent round-trip.

Another advantage of the system is that equipment can be scaled according to users' requirements, both as regards the turbine size and the number of water tanks. A plant of normal size will produce roughly 300 megawatts for a period of 7-8 hours. This is enough energy to supply just over 200,000 British households with electricity for the same time.

"We envisage that this type of storage plant will function well in conjunction with, for example, wind farms. At strong wind conditions, excess electricity is sent subsea to pump water out of the storage tanks. In periods with little wind, energy can be obtained from this underwater plant instead. The same applies to solar generation: the pumped storage power station can contribute to constant electricity production at night time when there is no sunshine to run a solar power plant," says Rainer Schramm.

The deeper the better In addition to the number of tanks, the sea depth also determines the effectiveness of the plant: the deeper the equipment is located, the greater is the pressure difference between the sea surface and the seabed, and the more energy is stored in a single tank. "This is part of the reason why we want to try out the technology in Norway," says Rainer Schramm. In his native country Germany the sea is too shallow for the system to be profitable, but there are many parts of the world where great water depths are located close inshore, such as the marine areas around Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as North and South America.

Advanced concrete technology

One of the challenges faced by the SINTEF research scientists is to develop a type of concrete which can be used to cast the water tanks which are placed on the seabed. Tor Arne Martius-Hammer at SINTEF Building and Infrastructure is an expert on strong, light concrete types.

"The challenge is to find the optimal balance between strength and cost. If we achieve the goal of creating a concrete which will withstand at least 5 times as high loading as ordinary concrete, we can reduce the wall thickness by 75 per cent. This is a critical factor. We need to reach production and installation costs which make storage of energy economical in relation to the price of electrical energy," Martius-Hammer explains.

One of the solutions SINTEF will work on is reinforcing the concrete with thin steel fibres instead of the normal steel rebar. This will result in a significant simplification of the production process. Concrete is in existence at present which can be used, but our job is to develop a cheaper alternative," says Martius-Hammer.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/GfgSf1p0RYs/130515085343.htm

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ZenWheels Micro Car review

Remote control cars are always fun, but the downside of the classic remote control cars is that they are fairly large and require an even larger area to play on.? Then someone invented those micro RC cars that are pocket-friendly, but those RC cars only go one speed, which is super fast and right off [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/05/15/zenwheels-micro-car-review/

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