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Friday, January 20, 2006

US stocks suffered their biggest declines in more than two years on concerns about oil supplies from Iran and Nigeria. Crude oil prices jumped to more than $68 a barrel, levels not seen since September last year. Gold hit a 25 year peak and last traded at $553.50 an ounce.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) slumped 213+ points today amid fears of Iran and terrorism. The index has now given up all its gains since the beginning of the year. Among its 30 components, only McDonalds ended the day in positive territory. Disappointing earnings dragged down shares of General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.

Since the start of the Q4 earnings season, many analysts have been reducing their earnings expectations. S&P 500 companies are now expected to report a profit growth of 12.7 percent, compared with earlier expectations of 15.5 percent. This analysis was done by Bloomberg using data from Thomson. Earnings growth is expected to slow down to 9.9 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Shares of GE gave up $1.35 to end at $33.33 after the firm reported its smallest earnings gain since 2004. GE is the world’s second largest firm by market value. Q4 earnings rose to 55 cents a share from 54 cents while revenue rose 2.6 percent to $40.7 billion, below analysts’ estimates.

The DJIA was dragged down by Citigroup, largest bank in US. Its stock fell $1.98 to $45.96. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $4.97 billion, or 98 cents a share. The earnings were below consensus estimates of $1.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

This week, Wikinews interviewed Spanish Paralympic sport shooter Paulo Fontán Torreiro. Late last month, Galician Fontán competed at the Alicante hosted 2013 IPC European Shooting Championship, where he finished twenty-third in the R4 10-meter air rifle standing event, and fortieth in the R5 10-meter air rifle prone event.

((Wikinews)) : So you competed at the IPC European Shooting Championships last month? How did you do? Are you happy with the result? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Compitió en el pasado Campeonato de Europa de Tiro? ¿Qué tal le fue? ¿Satisfecho por el resultado?}

Paulo Fontán Torreiro: Yes, I competed in the European Championship in Alicante. It was my first important event and I felt very nervous, I wanted to perform well. Despite improving my previous scores and achieving the minimum qualifying score for next year’s World Championship, I think I could have done better. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Si he competido en el cto de Europa de Alicante. Era mi primer campeonato de tanta importancia y me noté bastante nervioso, con ganas de hacerlo bien. Aunque he mejorado mis marcas anteriores y he conseguido las marcas mínimas para tener la posibilidad de participar en el campeonato del mundo del año que viene, si es cierto que considero que lo debí haber hecho algo mejor.}

((WN)) : What do you think you need to improve to possibly compete at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and get a medal? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Qué cree que necesita mejorar para poder competir en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Rio en 2016 y ganar una medalla?}

Paulo Fontán: Basically I would need to be able to train more constantly, obtain financial resources to participate in international events, and have a bit of luck on the day of the competition. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Fundamentalmente necesitaría poder entrenar con más constancia, conseguir recursos económicos para poder participar en competiciones internacionales y despues tener algo de suerte el día de la competición.}

((WN)) : What are the biggest challenges you face on the road to the Rio Games? Money? Good competition? The support network to travel and compete at the highest level? Disability access at training venues? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Cuáles son los mayores desafíos a los que se enfrenta en el camino a los Juegos de Rio? ¿Presupuesto? ¿Buenos rivales para aumentar su nivel? ¿Una red de apoyo para viajar y competir al máximo nivel? ¿Acceso para discapacitados en lugares de entrenamiento?}

Paulo Fontán: All that are included in the questions. In order to train effectively, you need adequate facilities, and that’s not the norm here. And to increase my level, I would need to compete against good rivals, basically at international events. For that, I require money and support, something that’s not too available. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Pues todos los que aparecen en las preguntas. Para entrenar con garantías hace falta contar con instalaciones adecuadas, y no es lo habitual. Y para mejorar mi nivel necesitaría competir con buenos rivales (basicamente en competiciones internacionales) y para ello hace falta dinero y apoyos, algo que escasea.}

((WN)) : Why did you chose to compete in shooting? Why not compete in another sport? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Por qué eligió competir en tiro? ¿Por qué no otro deporte?}

Paulo Fontán: I first tried other sports but finally focused on shooting because it fits my capabilities better, I’m not bad at it, and there is a very agreeable atmosphere at the competitions. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Probé primero otros deportes pero finalmente me he centrado en el tiro porque se ajusta mejor a mis capacidades, no se me da mal y he respirado un ambiente muy agradable en las competiciones.}

((WN)) : Who are your role models in shooting? Are there any shooters you particularly admire? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Quién es su modelo a seguir en tiro? ¿Existen tiradores/as a los que particularmente admire?}

Paulo Fontán: I must thank the support Juan Saavedra has given me since I started, and which he keeps giving me when I need it. I would like to mention Marciano Vázquez, the Spanish national team coach, too for his advice and trust in me when he called me up for the European Championship: I hope to return his trust with some future triumph. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Tengo que agradecer el apoyo que siempre me ha brindado Juan Saavedra desde que empecé, y que me sigue brindando cuando lo necesito. Citar también a Marciano Vázquez, seleccionador nacional de Tiro Olímpico, por sus consejos y por su confianza en mi persona a la hora de convocarme para el cto de Europa; espero poder devolverle la confianza con algún éxito futuro.}

((WN)) : What is the sport shooting culture like in Spain? Are people generally supportive when you tell them what sport you compete in? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Cómo es recibido este deporte culturalmente en España? ¿La gente le apoya cuando dice que es tirador?}

Paulo Fontán: I don’t think it’s very well known, and there could be some rejection because of the “pegar tiros” part, but that’s out of ignorance since it is mainly a mental sport, a sport requiring focus. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Creo que no es muy conocido y quizá pueda haber cierto rechazo por eso de “pegar tiros” pero es fruto del desconocimiento ya que fundamentaolmente es un deporte mental, de concentración.}

((WN)) : Do you think the classification system in shooting is fair? Do you think it should be changed? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Piensa que el sistema de clasificación en tiro es justo? ¿Piensa que se debería cambiar?}

Paulo Fontán: I’ve only been doing this for three years and haven’t had time to analyze it deeply so as to have an opinion about it. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Llevo sólo tres años y no he tenido tiempo de analizarlo en profundidad como para tener una opinión al respecto.}

((WN)) : Would you recommend the sport to other people with disabilities? What are reasons they should or should not take up the sport? ^{((es))Spanish language: ?¿Recomendaría este deporte a otras personas con discapacidad? ¿Cuáles son las razones por las que deberían -o no deberían- practicar este deporte?}

Paulo Fontán: Yes, I would recommend it, and I would because it is a sport which can be practiced by a wide array of different disabilities, and for a long time. The biggest problem is the high initial investment, the lack of adequate facilities or the cost of travelling to competitions since there are not many places that allow people with disabilities to participate. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Si lo recomendaría, y lo recomiendo porque es un deporte que se pude practicas por una gran diversidad de discapacidades diferentes, y durante mucho tiempo. El mayor problema es la elevada inversión inical, la ausencia de infraestructuras adecuadas o el coste de los desplazamientos a las competiciones (ya que no hay muchas en las que permitan participar a personas con discapacidad).}

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Investigators say that flaws in the design of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota may have caused it to collapse and that the design flaw is not “unique” to the Minneapolis bridge.

According to an ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the flaw was found in the steel plates connected to girders, which are large support beams used in construction and connect the plates together. It is reported that extra stress from construction equipment might have caused the plates to separate, causing the bridge to collapse.

The flaw has not yet been confirmed to be the source of the disaster, and the NTSB says that the investigation could take several months to fully be completed.

At least six people were killed and at least eight are missing, whilst over 100 are injured after the bridge collapsed on August 1.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.

Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.

Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.

In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician who works for HP Labs, claims to have proven that P is not equal to NP. The problem is the greatest unsolved problem in theoretical computer science and is one of seven problems in which the Clay Mathematics Institute has offered million dollar prizes to the solutions.

The question of whether P equals NP essentially asks whether there exist problems which take a long time to solve but whose solutions can be checked quickly. More formally, a problem is said to be in P if there is a program for a Turing machine, an ideal theoretical computer with unbounded amounts of memory, such that running instances of the problem through the program will always answer the question in polynomial time — time always bounded by some fixed polynomial power of the length of the input. A problem is said to be in NP, if the problem can be solved in polynomial time when instead of being run on a Turing machine, it is run on a non-deterministic Turing machine, which is like a Turing machine but is able to make copies of itself to try different approaches to the problem simultaneously.

Mathematicians have long believed that P does not equal NP, and the question has many practical implications. Much of modern cryptography, such as the RSA algorithm and the Diffie-Hellman algorithm, rests on certain problems, such as factoring integers, being in NP and not in P. If it turned out that P=NP, these methods would not work but many now difficult problems would likely be easy to solve. If P does not equal NP then many natural, practical problems such as the traveling salesman problem are intrinsically difficult.

In 2000, the Clay Foundation listed the “Clay Millenium Problems,” seven mathematical problems each of which they would offer a million dollars for a correct solution. One of these problems was whether P equaled NP. Another of theseseven, the Poincaré conjecture, was solved in 2002 by Grigori Perelman who first made headlines for solving the problem and then made them again months later for refusing to take the prize money.

On August 7, mathematician Greg Baker noted on his blog that he had seen a draft of a claimed proof by Deolalikar although among experts a draft had apparently been circulating for a few days. Deolalikar’s proof works by connecting certain ideas in computer science and finite model theory to ideas in statistical mechanics. The proof works by showing that if certain problems known to be in NP were also in P then those problems would have impossible statistical properties. Computer scientists and mathematicians have expressed a variety of opinions about Deolalikar’s proof, ranging from guarded optimism to near certainty that the proof is incorrect. Scott Aaronson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has expressed his pessimism by stating that he will give $200,000 of his own money to Deolalikar if the proof turns out to be valid. Others have raised specific technical issues with the proof but noted that the proof attempt presented interesting new techniques that might be relevant to computer science whether or not the proof turns out to be correct. Richard Lipton, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, has said that “the author certainly shows awareness of the relevant obstacles and command of literature supporting his arguments.” Lipton has listed four central objections to the proof, none of which are necessarily fatal but may require more work to address. On August 11, 2010, Lipton reported that consensus of the reviewers was best summarized by mathematician Terence Tao, who expressed the view that Deolalikar’s paper probably did not give a proof that P!=NP even after major changes, unless substantial new ideas are added.

Friday, November 3, 2006

On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Don Valley West (Ward 26). Four candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Muhammad Alam, Bahar Aminvaziri, Orhan Aybars, Michele Carroll-Smith, Mohamed Dhanani, Abdul Ingar, Geoff Kettel, Debbie Lechter, Natalie Maniates, John Masterson, John Parker, David Thomas, Csaba Vegh, and Fred Williams.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

A 21-year-old New Zealander, who has not been named, was sexually assaulted by another man early yesterday morning (NZDT) in Wellington, New Zealand. The New Zealand police have described the sexual attack as “prolonged and terrifying”.

The man was first threatened with a weapon at a shopping center located in Riddiford Street, Newtown, Wellington and was then forced into a dark and isolated carpark where the sexual attack occurred.

Detective Sergeant Zane Smith, said that they have been given a very good description of the attacker and with that description have released an identikit picture. The attacker is a male M?ori aged between mid-20s and early 30s, measures around 1.8 metres and has a solid build. The most identifiable feature is a M?ori tattoo located on his chin. The attacker was also wearing a ‘50 Cent‘ green hooded top, faded black baggy jeans and was wearing sneakers coloured red and white.

The attacker has still not been found and police are asking for anyone who may have been in the Riddiford Street shopping centre between 2:00 a.m. and 3:30 a.m.

CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras are being examined.