Natural Gas Vehicles Are Getting International Attention The idea of natural gas vehicles has been kicked around for years in the United States. With the recent surge in domestic natural gas production, though, natural gas cars are becoming an even more possible scenario. The idea is gathering enough steam that the International Energy Agency believes that natural gas vehicles will almost double their market share within the next five years. Granted, a doubling of a 1.4% market share isn't much, but for companies in the business of natural gas transportation, it's a big jump. Considering the effort required to build out a fueling infrastructure for natural gas vehicles, a five-year time horizon is pretty short, and not much should be expected during that time. Also, as fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe describes in this video, not all vehicles are created equal. Tyler explains how natural gas is pursuing a certain segment of the vehicle industry and talks about what it will take to bring natural gas vehicles to the mainstream. ........................... Continued At

.How to Protect Yourself at the ATM By Identity Theft 911 | Credit.com – 6 hours ago. What would life be without the 2.2 million automated teller machines (ATMs) that give millions of Americans ready access to their bank accounts every day? ATMs are convenient for anyone who needs fast access to cash — including, unfortunately, identity thieves. While you may worry about identity thieves targeting you while you shop online or that your personal information may be caught up in a data breach at the hospital where you had surgery last year, the truth is the majority of identity theft occurs in ways that are much lower-tech. It’s much more likely that a criminal might target your ATM use than pilfer your information online. Fortunately, you have a lot of control over how secure you are at the ATM. Here are some tips on how to protect yourself from identity theft when you use an ATM: • Choose your ATM wisely. Look for machines located in secure areas, such as in the lobby of a bank that can only be accessed with a bank card, or one in a high-traffic public location. It will be harder for identity thieves to ply their tricks on a securely located ATM. • Be aware of who is around you when you use a walk-up ATM. Shoulder surfing — peering over someone’s shoulder while they type a PIN — is a leading way crooks swipe PIN and account numbers. If someone is standing too close and making you uncomfortable, don’t use the ATM. Walk away and find another one. • Examine an ATM for signs of tampering before you use it. Identity thieves have been known to attach devices to the machines that steal information when you insert your card. Loose, damaged or odd-looking parts such as the card slot or the keypad may indicate the ATM has been corrupted. • Keep an eye on your bank account and your credit report. Often, those are the first places where evidence of identity theft or fraud will show up. More from Credit.com. Links at the site. •3 Times It's Crucial to Monitor Your Credit •Can an Online Alias Protect You From Identity Theft? •5 Ways to Protect Your Mail From Identity Thieves

.NASA telescope's planet-hunting days may be over By Irene Klotz | Reuters – Wed, May 15, 2013. CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's first telescope dispatched to hunt for Earth-like planets that may support life elsewhere in the universe has lost use of its positioning system, threatening its mission, officials said on Wednesday. Launched in 2009, the Kepler space telescope revolutionized the study of so-called exoplanets, with discovery of 130 worlds orbiting distant stars and 2,700 potential planets still awaiting confirmation. The telescope was designed to gaze at about 100,000 distant sun-like stars, searching for planets passing by, or transiting, relative to its line of sight. Detecting slight dips in the amount of light from a planet crossing the face of its parent star requires extremely precise pointing. The telescope, the cornerstone of a $650 million mission, lost that ability on Tuesday when a second steadying spinning wheel stopped working. The telescope needs at least three of its four wheels operating to hunt for planets. It lost use of its first wheel last year. "It certainly is not good news for the mission, which has been performing so well and had so much promise for doing even better," deputy project manager Charles Sobeck, with NASA's Ames Research Center, told reporters during a hastily arranged conference call on Wednesday. The telescope is orbiting about 40 million miles (64 million km) from Earth, too far for a robotic or astronaut-led repair mission, added John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science. ..................... Continued At

-Bill Moyers

Vinyl chloride is a toxic chemical compound that is used to manufacture PVC plastic. The companies who produce it knew for decades that being exposed even to small amounts of vinyl chloride could be extremely damaging to a person’s health, but documents show they conspired to keep that fact from their workers, who were exposed daily. In many cases, employees died of rare forms of cancer after years of working in factories that manufactured the compound.

.Pope warns Church against closing in on itself By Catherine Hornby | Reuters – 4 hrs ago. VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis warned the Catholic Church to not close in on itself at a Mass to mark Pentecost Sunday attended by more than 200,000 people, urging the faithful to be open and present in a new and changing world. The Church should ask itself daily whether it is resisting new challenges and remaining "barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new," he said. "Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control," Francis said in his homily in front of a packed St. Peter's Square, adding that change can bring fulfillment. The Pentecost Mass marks the day the Church says the Holy Spirit descended on Christ's apostles, or disciples, and is regarded as the birthday of the Church. Francis warned of the threat of an institution which is "self-referential, closed in on herself," and spoke of the courage to "take to the streets of the world" and reach "the very outskirts of existence". Later he toured the square in an open-top white vehicle, greeting cheering crowds and kissing young children. Since his election in March as the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Francis has been urging Church leaders to go out into their communities and help the poor and suffering, rather than focusing on internal politics. Morale among the faithful has been hit by a widespread child sex abuse scandal involving Catholic priests and in-fighting and careerism in the Church government or curia. The 76-year-old former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires has given clear signs he will bring a new broom to the papacy, favoring humility and simplicity over pomp and grandeur. He has set up an advisory board of cardinals from around the world to help him reform a Vatican administration which has been held responsible for some of the mishaps and scandals that plagued the eight-year reign of his predecessor Benedict. At a vigil on Saturday evening, Francis said Catholics must become courageous and seek out the people who need help the most rather than sitting around, dissecting theology. (Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Jon Hemming)

A Florida family says their 18-year-old daughter was charged with a felony and expelled from high school as a result of a consensual, same-sex relationship with another student. Kaitlyn Hunt started dating a female classmate at the beginning of the school year when she was 17 and the girl she was about three years younger. According to an account posted to Facebook by Kaitlyn’s mother, in February, shortly after Kaitlyn turned 18, she was arrested on felony charges at the behest of her girlfriend’s parents. The specific crime was “sexual battery on a person 12-16 years old.”

But Kaitlyn’s problems did not end there. Her girlfriends’s parents appealed to the school board and had her expelled from Sebastian River High School. Kaitlyn’s mom reports that the State Attorney, Brian Workman, has offered Kaitlyn a plea deal of “of two years house arrest and one year probation.” Kaitlyn has until next Friday to accept the plea deal or face a trial.

A photographer has commemorated her daughter's fifth birthday by dressing her up as five different influential women from history - Amelia Earhart, Coco Chanel, Susan B Anthony, Helen Keller and Jane Goodall - and capturing the images for a photo series.

Jaime Moore from Austin, Texas, wrote on her website JaimeMoorePhotography.com that instead of dressing Emma up as a Disney princess - which is 'an unrealistic fantasy for most girls' - she decided to take photos of her emulating real women worth admiring. 'My daughter wasn't born into royalty,' the mother-of-two explained. 'But she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that's what REALLY matters.'

At the end of the photo series, the photographer has written: 'Let's set aside the Barbie Dolls and the Disney Princesses for just a moment, and let's show our girls the REAL women they can be.' Ms Moore's final pictures show Emma as herself, donning a pin on her shirt that says: 'Emma for president 2044', a testament to her overriding message that her daughter should dream big.

Madeleine McCann: British Police Identify New Leads in Case of Missing British Girl By ALYSSA NEWCOMB | Good Morning America – 17 hours ago Police in Great Britain said they have identified new leads in the case of Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing in Portugal six years ago at the age of three. Several persons of interest, as well as "both investigative and forensic opportunities" in the case, have been identified by Scotland Yard, authorities said. Metropolitan Police said they were working with Portuguese police to determine the next steps, even though the missing girl's case is closed in the country. "Our investigative review is ongoing and we are encouraged by the progress we are making," Metropolitan Police said in a statement, according to the BBC. "We are reviewing a significant number of documents and continue to identify potential lines of inquiry." McCann was 3 years old when she vanished on vacation with her parents Kate and Gerry McCann and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal. The girl's parents say they found Madeleine missing after having left the children in the home unsupervised while having dinner less than 500 feet away. The review into the McCann case was opened last year after Prime Minister David Cameron responded to a plea from the girl's parents. Kate and Gerry McCann have maintained a website and a 24-hour tipline to keep their daughter's case in the public eye. On May 3, 2013, six years after Madeleine went missing, Kate McCann posted on the "Find Madeleine" website that the family was there "for the long haul." "We still worry about her, we miss her as much as we ever did," McCann wrote. "We remain as determined as ever to find her and to know what has happened."

The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with… oh, the heck with it. We now take you to the Lone Star State. Quote: The victim of an armed home invasion in Houston has turned the tables on the brazen intruders after they stuffed him into a closet that turned out to be the place where he stores his gun. Police say it all started at around 2pm Tuesday when three men broke into a home in the 8200 block of Braeburn Valley Drive and assaulted the resident. After a brief scuffle, the hapless perpetrators shoved the man into a closet, not knowing that there was a gun in there. For the benefit of the usual list of detractors, yes… there’s a definite advantage when the criminals turn out to be complete idiots. Or at least really poor planners. But in defense of the system here, it was still three against one and they were armed also. We now return you to our story, already in progress. Quote: When the homeowner thought the burglars had left, he went downstairs, carrying his gun in case the suspects were still around, the Houston Chronicle reported. On the first floor, the man confronted one of his assailant and the two exchanged gunfire, according to police. The resident, who shares the house with his parents, escaped unharmed, but the armed suspect was much the worse for wear after being struck in the shoulder and leg. He fled on foot down the street, but did not get far before he collapsed. His two suspected accomplices took off from the scene in a Chevrolet Tahoe. The article finishes by going into a brief discussion of the “castle doctrine” in Texas, related to various “stand your ground” laws. I’m not entirely sure why that even needed to come into the coverage, beyond their pointing out that the homeowner will face no charges for shooting the suspect. Even if you wanted to fire up a debate about when and where it’s justified for a law abiding gun owner to open fire on a bad guy, surely the moment you find yourself locked in a closet in your own home by armed intruders is one where any conceivable line has been crossed.

My spirituality and why I can never TRULY be a "hardcore" atheist - YouTube

Silvio Berlusconi’s private disco featured aspiring show girls not only performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but also dressed as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal. Karima El Mahroug’s testimony Friday at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other woman for prostitution confirms a sexually charged atmosphere at the parties of the then-sitting premier. They deny the charges. The trial is separate from the one in which Berlusconi is charged with paying for sex with a minor — El Mahroug when she was 17 — and trying to cover it up.