NZ Oil and Gas buys interests in three Taranaki permits from Octanex

New Zealand Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire interests in three offshore Taranaki permits from ASX-listed Octanex for US$12.5 million plus a share of seismic costs.

The company will pay US$12.5 million for a 12.5 percent interest in PE51906 which holds the Makatu prospect and is expected to be drilled in the second half of next year. Octanex will retain 22.5 percent and operator OMV holds 65 percent, NZ Oil & Gas said in a statement.

PEP 51906 covers 1,613 square kilometres adjacent and west of the Maui field. OMV has estimated mean recoverable resource for the Matuku prospect at around 65 million barrels.

OMV is currently seeking a semi-submersible rig to drill an exploration well in the Matuku prospect before the end of 2013. If the exploration is successful and an appraisal well is drilled at Matuku, NZ Oil & Gas or Octanex can exercise an option to increase NZ Oil and Gas's interest by a further 5 percent to 17.5 percent. In Return it would pay Octanex's share of the appraisal well.

NZOG is also acquiring a 50 percent interest in PEP 53473 that covers 853 square kilometres north of Tui, paying for the interest by funding 75 percent of the seismic programme costs. The seismic evaluation has to be completed by March 2014.

It will also take 50 percent of PEP 52593, which covers 3,509 square kilometres in offshore Taranaki by meeting 60 percent of the seismic costs. The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals.

"These new acquisitions sit well within NZOG's New Zealand exploration portfolio, as they build on the knowledge base developed from NZOG's Taranaki history and provide exposure to the developing western fairway," chief executive Andrew Knight said in the statement.

Shares of NZ Oil & Gas rose 0.6 percent to 87.5 cents on the NZX and have gained 23 percent this year. The shares are rated 'outperform' based on the consensus of six recommendations compiled by Reuters.

Octanex last traded at 18.5 Australian cents on the ASX and has fallen 12 percent in the past 12 months.

Source: http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/bbff6a02/nz-oil-and-gas-buys-interests-in-three-taranaki-permits-from-octanex.html

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Military's dogs of war also suffer post-traumatic stress disorder

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas ? Not long after a Belgian Malinois named Cora went off to war, she earned a reputation for sniffing out the buried bombs that were the enemy's weapon of choice to kill or maim U.S. troops.

Cora could roam a hundred yards or more off her leash, detect an explosive and then lie down gently to signal danger. All she asked in return was a kind word or a biscuit, maybe a play session with a chew toy once the squad made it back to base.

"Cora always thought everything was a big game," said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Garry Laub, who trained Cora before she deployed. "She knew her job. She was a very squared-away dog."

PHOTOS: Military dogs

But after months in Iraq and dozens of combat patrols, Cora changed. The transformation was not the result of one traumatic moment, but possibly the accumulation of stress and uncertainty brought on by the sharp sounds, high emotion and ever-present death in a war zone.

Cora ? deemed a "push-button" dog, one without much need for supervision ? became reluctant to leave her handler's side. Loud noises startled her. The once amiable Cora growled frequently and picked fights with other military working dogs.

When Cora returned to the U.S. two years ago, there was not a term for the condition that had undercut her combat effectiveness and shattered her nerves. Now there is: canine post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Dogs experience combat just like humans," said Marine Staff Sgt. Thomas Gehring, a dog handler assigned to the canine training facility at Lackland Air Force Base, who works with Cora daily.

Veterinarians and senior dog handlers at Lackland have concluded that dogs, like humans, can require treatment for PTSD, including conditioning, retraining and possibly medication such as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. Some dogs, like 5-year-old Cora, just need to be treated as honored combat veterans and allowed to lead less-stressful lives.

Walter Burghardt Jr., chief of behavioral medicine and military working-dog studies at Lackland, estimates that at least 10% of the hundreds of dogs sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to protect U.S. troops have developed canine PTSD.

Cora appears to have a mild case. Other dogs come home traumatized.

"They're essentially broken and can't work," Burghardt said.

There are no official statistics, but Burghardt estimates that half of the dogs that return with PTSD or other behavioral hitches can be retrained for "useful employment" with the military or law enforcement, such as police departments, the Border Patrol or the Homeland Security Department.

The others dogs are retired and made eligible for adoption as family pets.

The decision to officially label the dogs' condition as PTSD was made by a working group of dog trainers and other specialists at Lackland. In most cases, such labeling of animal behavior would be subjected to peer review and scrutiny in veterinary medical journals.

But Burghardt and others in the group decided that they could not wait for that kind of lengthy professional vetting ? that a delay could endanger those who depend on the dogs.

Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, the military has added hundreds of canines and now has about 2,500 ? Dutch and German shepherds, Belgian Malinois and Labrador retrievers ? trained in bomb detection, guard duty or "controlled aggression" for patrolling.

Lackland trains dogs and dog handlers for all branches of the military. The huge base, located in San Antonio, has a $15-million veterinary hospital devoted to treating dogs working for the military or law enforcement, like a Border Patrol dog who lost a leg during a firefight between agents and a suspected drug smuggler.

"He's doing fine, much better," the handler yelled out when asked about the dog's condition.

Cora received her initial training here and then additional training with Laub at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. Before they could deploy, however, Laub was transferred to Arkansas, and Cora shipped off to Iraq with a different handler, much to Laub's regret.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/3n6zlCOh3i0/la-na-military-dogs-20121126,0,7609127.story

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Does human transformation of land threaten future sustainability?

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2012) ? Social and physical scientists have long been concerned about the effects of humans on Earth's surface -- in part through deforestation, encroachment of urban areas onto traditionally agricultural lands, and erosion of soils -- and the implications these changes have on Earth's ability to provide for an ever-growing population. The December 2012 GSA Today science article presents examples of land transformation by humans and documents some of the effects of these changes.

Researchers Roger Hooke of the University of Maine, USA, and Jos? F. Mart?n-Duque and Javier Pedraza of Complutense University, Spain, examine factors such as available agricultural land area and discuss some of the implications of their findings in light of human population growth and its relationship to planetary resources.

Overall, they find that just over 50% of Earth's total land surface has been modified by human activity. Because many of these modifications also result in reduction of land available for agriculture -- either by degradation of land quality by processes such as soil erosion, or by transforming agriculture lands to urban uses -- Hooke and colleagues argue that these changes to our planet's land surface also influence the ability of these same lands to sustain local, regional, and, ultimately, global population.

Comparing projections of future changes in land-use with projections of population growth leads them to also suggest that human population may be entering, or already in, a state of "overshoot" -- where the needs of the present population exceed the long-term carrying capacity of a region. Solutions may not be easy to arrive at, but would need to involve a combination of efforts aimed to reduce demand for resources, develop new technical solutions to resource limitations, and to reduce the rate of growth of population.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Geological Society of America.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Roger LeB et al. Land transformation by humans: A review. GSA Today, 2012 DOI: 10.1130/GSATG151A.1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/LQkCUiVLfRw/121127154209.htm

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The Travel and Expense News Source ? BTC to petition White ...

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Source: http://www.berteloot.com/2012/11/27/btc-to-petition-white-house-over-airline-pricing-2/

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Is It Wise to Choose a Foundation Repair Contractor Based on Their ...

Using the web to find a contractor you can trust with your money? and your home

The title of this article raises an interesting and relevant question. In a world dominated by the internet, it?s important to know how much we can trust what we find online. The web can be a tool for finding extremely useful information and services. But when you flip that coin over, you can also find yourself falling into money-pit type traps that will leave you wishing you had thrown your laptop in the garbage and looked in the phonebook instead.

So let?s address the question head-on: is it wise to choose a contractor based on their website? Here?s the short answer: no. However, the complete answer is more in-depth than that. There are a lot of factors at play here.

A company website can certainly be used to decide NOT to hire someone.?You see, anyone can put up a website that looks nice. But there are some tell tale signs of a company that can?t be trusted. For example, if there are no customer reviews, you need to run and run quick. It either means the company doesn?t value customer input, or no positive reviews exists that they can flaunt. Also, if the website is too much hype, leave. You don?t need them to beat you over the head with their sales message. A useful site seeks to offer useful information first. The sales message should take a back seat. Otherwise you can bet they will be pushy. And by pushy, we mean they are going to try to dig deep into your wallet fast.

Now then you have the classic signs of a sketchy site. Pop up ads, keyword stuffing, and bad links. If you find any of this, run.

If it?s a trustworthy contractor, what you should find is plenty of good information on how to repair foundations, how to spot foundation issues, and things like that.

Web 2.0 is where it?s at in 2012.?Finding a worthwhile contractor online involves much more than simply Googling a company website and making a phone call or shooting an email. In this day and age of social media, multiple internet avenues exist for you to check out a company. For example, what is being said on Twitter about the?foundation repair?company? How many people are following their account? This could be a good picture into how helpful they really are. The same goes for their number of Facebook likes. And did you check them out on a site like Yelp to make sure people give them positive reviews?

Look at the BBB site.?What is their customer rating? Has anyone filed a formal complaint against them? And if so, how did they respond? Did they break their backs to try and make a satisfied customer? Or did they respond harshly and pompously?

The web is a fantastic place to find help from basement contractors. Just make sure you don?t get enamored by a decent looking website without really checking out the company.

Find more about Foundation Repair, Basement Contractors and Crawl Space Repair athttp://www.staydrywaterproofing.com/.

Source: http://www.sacredgrovecommunity.com/is-it-wise-to-choose-a-foundation-repair-contractor-based-on-their-website/

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End of an era: Myanmar's buses head for scrap

This once-isolated country is replacing its fleet of buses cobbled together from the shells of World War II-era Chevy trucks. ?NBC News' Ian Williams reports on this antique roadshow on wheels that is being swept away by rapid change.

By Ian Williams, NBC News

YANGON, Myanmar -- U Ming Kyi affectionately tapped the hood of his dilapidated bus.??Of course I?ll be sad to see it go. They are really reliable. The brakes are great,? he said.

But on this particular morning, bus No. 61 from North Dagon to San Pya market was not cooperating.?The engine screeched and smoked as U Ming sat behind the wheel, turning the key and willing it to life.

He gave up and glanced back at the passengers. As if on cue - and clearly well practiced - several jumped from the bus and began pushing until it spluttered, gasped, then finally roared to life.

Bus no 61 was on its way across the north of Yangon, as it has been for decades.

U Ming smiled gingerly. He?s been driving these buses for thirty five years, and keeping on the road what are possibly the oldest buses in the world still operating needs constant improvisation.

Ian Williams/NBC News

Driver U Ming Kyi at the wheel of bus number 61. He's been driving the Big Belly Chevy for 35 years.

In Myanmar they are called ?big belly? buses and the chassis of no 61 was registered in 1939.?Back then it was a military truck - a Canada-built Chevy C-15. These were used by the United States, Britain and western allies during the ?Burma Campaign? ? the south-east Asia theater of the Second World War.

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After the conflict, Myanmar?s military regime converted them into buses. The makeshift vehicles quickly became the mainstay of a transport system that resembled until recently an antiques show on wheels.

But in a sign of the rapid wider changes sweeping this country, they have been banned from the increasingly traffic-clogged center of Yangon, Myanmar?s main city, and are being phased out to be replaced by shiny new Japanese models.

Ian Williams/NBC News

Passengers packed on board bus number 61. Big Belly Bus.

The price of an old ?big belly? has suddenly gone through the roof - not because of the vehicle, which is off to the junk yard, but because of the valuable operating license that goes with it.

If he had the money, U Ming would buy one himself. ?The new ones just won?t be the same,? he said. He can read every crunch, bang and hiss - of which there are many on a bumpy, shaky ride across the city.

Like most vehicles here, the ?big belly? is right hand drive, a legacy of British rule when traffic drove on the left. Yet the traffic in Myanmar now drives on the right, as in the US, which means drivers like U Ming spend a good deal of their time staining to see what?s coming at them.

Former dictator Ne Win made the switch after seizing power in 1962. Some say it was an anti-colonial gesture. Others put it down to his notorious superstition: The U.K.?s Daily Telegraph said he took the decision after consulting a wizard.

Ian Williams/NBC News

The interior of a Big Belly Bus.

That these buses operated for so long, patched together with whatever parts were available during years of isolation and sanctions, is testament to the ingenuity of men like U Ming.

All is not lost, though. Long time Italian resident Alberto Peyre has bought three and given them a luxurious face lift to serve the country's tourism boom.

?They are a piece of history, a piece of history,? he said, as immaculately dressed attendants handed us cold towels as we sat in expensively upholstered seats for a mini-tour of the city.

?I love these buses. I just love them,? he said.

Peyre?s company, Elephant Coach, is marketing tours as ?the ultimate luxury in overland travel.? It?s a long way from the U Ming?s no 61, but will ensure that these remarkable old machines will not entirely disappear from the streets of Myanmar.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/26/15447661-end-of-an-era-myanmars-big-belly-chevy-buses-from-wwii-face-scrap?lite

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Garage Wish List | 'Bout Home

The holiday season has begun, and thoughts will soon turn towards gift buying.? Instead of another sweater or robe for your significant other, opt instead to purchase items to make the garage a place of order and refuge.? It doesn?t matter if the recipient is male or female, as both sexes can appreciate gifts that either make life easier or more beautiful. From garage door openers to storage units, these gifts will be sure to please any homeowner.

An electric garage door opener is a necessity in cold climates.? Instead of getting out of a warm car on a dark night to open the garage door, these gadgets keep a person comfortable.? It?s 100% better to be able to automatically open and close a garage door than to have to do it manually; therefore, giving one as a gift will bring a huge smile to the face of the recipient.

Similarly, if a home has a dilapidated garage door, a new door would be a welcome gift.? Not only will a new door look better, it will help insulate the home more effectively.? Although a new garage door (and installation) may not be the perfect gift for everyone, I am sure a young couple who bought a fixer-upper would appreciate mom and dad paying for one.

The gift of safety speaks volumes.? Purchase a motion activated spotlight for above the garage door to thwart any would-be burglars.? These lights also work great for families who have children who need to use the garage keypad for entrance into the home at night.

Middle-priced items for the garage, such as storage units, also make wonderful gifts.? What homeowner doesn?t want to get a handle on all the the tall tools from rakes to shovels to garden hoes?? Or paint supplies?? Or garden supplies? There are storage units in all sizes and shapes to fit every need.

Also middle-priced are small refrigerators.? This gift item would be appreciated by a person who tends to spend a lot of time outside, and who would like the convenience of a cold drink without having to go all the way into the home.

Less expensive items for the garage could be used as stocking stuffers.? For instance, metal hooks for hanging bicycles from the ceiling will be appreciated, as will a new flashlight.? Another great idea ? a gift card to a home improvement store!

Of course there are many more gift ideas for the garage.? I know my husband?s favorite gift from me one year was the new riding lawn mower that is stored in the garage!? And he also liked the leaf blower and snow blower from previous years.

For homeowners, gifts that improve the look of the garage (new door), or the ease of use (garage door opener) can be most welcome.? Instead of buying another box of cologne or perfume, choose an item that will be used instead.

Source: http://www.bouthome.com/garage-wish-list/

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