Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/rss/top_news/top_science.xml
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
ScienceDaily: Top Science News
Cancer risks higher in worst hit Fukushima area: WHO
GENEVA (Reuters) - People in the area worst affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident two years ago have a higher risk of developing certain cancers, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, killed nearly 19,000 people and devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, triggering meltdowns, spewing radiation and forcing about 160,000 people to flee their homes.
"A breakdown of data, based on age, gender and proximity to the plant, does show a higher cancer risk for those located in the most contaminated parts," Dr. Maria Neira, WHO director for public health and environment, said in a statement.
In the most contaminated area, the WHO estimated that there was a 70 percent higher risk of females exposed as infants developing thyroid cancer over their lifetime. The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there and children are deemed especially vulnerable.
The report concluded that for the general population inside Japan, the predicted health risks were low, but that one-third of emergency workers were estimated to have increased risk.
But there was no discernible increase in health risks expected outside Japan, the WHO in a 200-page report, which was based on a comprehensive assessment by international experts.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cancer-risks-higher-worst-hit-fukushima-area-093400519--finance.html
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Free Personal Finance Software: Rylstim Budget Lite || Free Software
Rylstim Budget Lite is a free personal finance software which you can use in order to manage and keep track of your money. Every transaction that you make during each month can be easily planned and any unexpected expenditure recorded inside the monthly budget plan. That way you can both create monthly budgets and keep track of where exactly your money went during the month.
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Similar software: JMoney, Personal Finances, MoneyOnThread.
Interface of this Rylstim Budget Lite can be seen on the image above. Calender with the help of which you?re gonna be creating monthly financial plans can be seen on the right. Accounts, monthly transaction charts and the account status can be seen in the left sidebar. Standard menu under which there?s a quick access toolbar can be seen in the top left corner of the screen. Key features of this free personal money management software are:
- Free with a simple to use interface ? easy to understand work flow
- Monthly budgeting ? create plans and keep track of money transactions
- Add unlimited number of transactions ? there?s no limits
- Expense and income categories ? group transactions according to type
- Expenditure statistics and monthly charts ? transaction reports
- Shopping lists, calculator and search tool for finding transactions
Keeping personal finance in order isn?t an easy thing these days. There always seems to be some kind of unexpected expenses that are lurking behind the corner. Sometimes it?s our fault though, our inability to restrain ourself when we?re out with friends or when various different ?must have? items hit the shelves. Budgeting can somewhat help you manage your money, because you get to see how much you?ve spent, instead of just sliding your credit card and not knowing how much is left in the bank account. Here?s a few pointers to help you get started.
How to manage personal finance and keep track of expenses with Rylstim Budget Lite
Free version of this free personal money management software is limited to one bank account and one cash account, which is more than enough for personal use. First thing that you need to do is add the initial balance status.
Click on the New transaction button from the toolbar, the one with green plus and fill out the New transaction details. Set Type to Income and then category to Startup. Enter the amount, Origin account, where you received the money, and click OK.
Do this for every transactions, right click on calender dates, select New transaction. Write down every expense, for every day of the month and try to stick to the schedule. Write down every new expense that you had, and at the end of the month, select the View all transactions button to see on what you?ve spent you?re money, and where can you cut in order to get out of debt.
Conclusion
Rylstim Budget Lite is one of the best personal finance management utilities that we?ve tested. With the help of the built-in calender you can easily keep track of all the monthly transactions, have everything easily accessible and create helpful budget plans. Give it a try and see how it goes. Free download.
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Video: Hundreds of flights canceled at Chicago O?Hare
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50964279/
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Gates, Zuckerberg champion computer programming in new nonprofit video
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Hadi and Ali Partovi immigrated to America from Iran in 1984, they slept in the same cramped bedroom as their parents, who exhausted their life savings on the teenage boys' education.
Nearly 30 years later, the twin brothers are firmly planted in the tech industry's elite circles, after selling companies to Microsoft and News Corp's MySpace, and tapping the rare connections to invest early on in Facebook, Dropbox and Zappos.
Hadi Partovi says the arc of his own successful rise in the tech world was shaped by an early interest in computers and a formal education in writing software, or coding, which enabled that spark to flourish into a career.
Along the way, the twins made influential friends.
Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey - three people who became billionaire tech industry luminaries thanks to their computer programming abilities - appear in a new video released Tuesday by the Partovi brothers as part of their new computer science-education nonprofit, Code.org.
The goal of the online video campaign is to encourage parents to demand more schools to teach computer programming ? a potentially lucrative skill that "equalizes opportunity" but is only available to a fraction of U.S. high school students, Hadi Partovi said.
"Computer programming, right now, is the best embodiment of the American Dream," Partovi said. "The American Dream is to be the next Mark Zuckerberg."
"The tragedy is the skills it takes are not hard to learn, but only 10 percent of schools offer (computer science) courses, and these are usually the privileged schools."
After graduating with computer science degrees from Harvard in 1994, the Partovi brothers founded LinkExchange and sold it to Microsoft in 1998 for $250 million. Hadi helped co-found Tellme Networks, a telephony company, while Ali went on to found iLike, a music service that became one of the first apps to integrate with Facebook.
The Partovis' campaign comes at a time tech executives warn of a new digital divide emerging between job-seekers who possess programming skills and those who do not. They also point to statistics showing that while coding jobs are among some of the most well-paid, especially in Silicon Valley, there remains a dearth of computer engineers, who are recruited aggressively by companies like Google and Facebook.
But there have also been strong signs recently that government officials are increasingly raising the issue of technical education, beginning at the secondary level.
In his state of the union speech this month, President Obama vowed to redesign U.S. high schools to meet "the demands of a high-tech economy," while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week introduced a new computer programming pilot program for 20 schools.
Hadi Partovi, who financed the video with his brother, lined up endorsements from Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and American Federation of Teachers union leader Randi Weingarten, although they did not appear on camera. The 10-minute video was directed by Lesley Chilcott, the producer behind the documentaries "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Waiting for Superman."
Partovi said he hoped to eventually raise money to fund programming courses in low-income school districts and perhaps even advocate for certain policy reforms that champion computer science education. In California, he noted for example, computer science courses are not counted toward high school graduation requirements.
"We owe our success in business to having learned to code," Hadi Partovi said.
Although the video mostly contains interviews with tech entrepreneurs and has familiar startup scenes ? like shots of young employees skateboarding inside startup offices ? there are some unexpected appearances by pop celebrities, including Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh and Will.i.am, a part-time startup investor himself.
"Great coders are today's rock stars," the music producer, sitting in his recording studio, says into the camera.
But what is considered a truism in Silicon Valley may not be apparent elsewhere, Hadi Partovi said.
"Middle America doesn't realize it's an issue," he said. "We can't solve the problem until we realize it exists."
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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Friday, February 22, 2013
NA passes Bhutto university bill amid uproar
A view of the National Assembly. ? File photo
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday passed the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University Bill, 2013 with majority vote amid vocal opposition by PML-N and MQM.
Since opposition members were not ready to speak on the bill, Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi asked Minister for Capital Administration and Development Nazar Muhammad Gondal to move the bill. The house subsequently passed the bill clause by clause by majority vote.
The members belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) stood up on their seats holding placards and chanted slogans against the bill.
Earlier, proceedings of the lower house of the parliament were suspended for some time due to lack of quorum.
After ten minutes of the session initiation, PML-N?s Hanif Abbasi pointed out the quorum. The deputy speaker ordered ringing of bells and suspended the proceedings till completion of quorum.
The proceedings resumed after a delay of more than an hour when the PML-N lawmakers returned to the house.
With enactment of the bill, medical students of the Islamabad region have been provided opportunities to get higher education.
Under the bill, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has been upgraded to medical university named as Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU). It has been empowered to confer degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic distinctions.
All medical colleges and health institutions located in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) will be affiliated with the SZABMU.
The faculty of medicine Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) will be transferred to the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University and ceases to exist and all students thereafter will be transferred in a six-month time.
It may be mentioned here that the PIMS is providing specialist training in 28 disciplines of medicine, surgery and dentistry. Presently 550 resident doctors are under training at the institute.
It is also providing post graduate training to the nurses and basic nursing education. The institute is also providing structured training to paramedics in various disciplines.
After passing the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University bill, the session was adjourned to meet again on Friday at 11 am.
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Source: http://dawn.com/2013/02/21/na-passes-bhutto-university-bill-amid-uproar/
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Sequester will hit where it hurts: air travel
Ahead of the sequester?across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect March 1 in the absence of a budget deal?the Federal Aviation Administration is planning to reduce expenditures by $600 million, the FAA and Department of Transportation announced on Friday.
LaHood addressed the press at Friday's White House briefing to detail just how badly the department believes that cut would disrupt Americans' travel plans.
"Travelers should expect delays. Flights to major cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and others could experience delays up to 90 minutes during peak hours, because we have fewer controllers on staff. Delays in these major airports will ripple across the country. ... Once airlines see the potential impact of these furloughs, we expect that they will change their schedules and cancel flights," LaHood said.
The Department of Transportation announced on Friday that in an effort to maintain safety standards while making necessary cuts under the sequester, 47,000 FAA employees would be furloughed one day per pay period, select midnight air traffic controller shifts would be eliminated, 100 air traffic towers would be closed, and preventative maintenance and equipment provisioning would be reduced beginning in April. The announcement was made by LaHood and Michael Huerta, administrator of the FAA, in a letter sent on Friday to unions and government entities.
Reporters at Friday's briefing questioned why money couldn't be cut from other parts of the department's budget and why the secretary was announcing such severe changes so close to the sequester deadline.
"Are you just basically throwing out whatever sounds like the most severe consequence in order to ratchet up pressure?" one reporter asked.
LaHood scoffed at that suggestion. "The idea that we're just doing this to create some kind of horrific scare tactic is nonsense," he said.
But LaHood, a Republican former Illinois congressman, conceded that political machinations are very much a part of his role in current negotiations, confirming that he had spoken with about "a half-dozen" Republicans and their staffers about the sequester. "They're hoping that maybe I can influence some of the people in my own party," he said.
He was also aggressive in his description of what politicians might face should the department make good on its plans: "Your phones are going to start ringing off the hook when these people are delayed at airports and when their flights are delayed or their flights are canceled or their air tower is closed."
Among the air towers the government marked on Friday for potential closure was the Southern Wisconsin Regional tower in Janesville, Wis., which is located in House Budget Commitee chairman Paul Ryan's district.
Ryan's office did not immediately return Yahoo News' request for comment.
LaHood called on Republicans to "step up" and offer solutions on how to avoid the sequester. Republicans passed legislation last year in the House to buy down the sequester, and Democrats in the current Congress have introduced bills to buy down the sequester.
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Domenici news stuns New Mexico
Posted at: 02/20/2013 7:36 AM
| Updated at: 02/20/2013 6:49 PM
By: Eddie Garcia, KOB Eyewitness News 4; The Associated Press
Statements from the New Mexico Republican and the son's mother, Michelle Laxalt, of Alexandria, Va. - provided to KOB by a former Domenici spokesman -? identify Domenici as the father of Las Vegas lawyer Adam Paul Laxalt.
Read Domenici's statement here.
Michelle Laxalt's statement says she and Domenici had agreed to keep his fatherhood secret because he and her father, Nevada Republican Paul Laxalt, were senators.
Read Michelle Laxalt's statement here.
Laxalt says they're disclosing Domenici's fatherhood because she believed someone would shop a story to the media to smear Domenici.
In his statement, Domenici says he's sorry that he caused hurt and disappointment for his wife and other family members.
> Reaction to revelation
Domenici served six Senate terms. He didn't run for re-election in 2008.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Source: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s2937686.shtml?cat=500
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Alligators sport always-erect, hidden penises
YouTube
Alligators use bizarre, permanently erect penises that pop out of their bodies and are sucked back in just as quickly.
By Tia Ghose
LiveScience
Unlike many other reptiles and mammals, alligators sport permanently erect penises that hide inside their bodies, new research reveals.
The reptiles sport fully erect penises made of tough, fibrous tissue that shoot out of their bodies and get pulled back in just as quickly, according to the study, which is detailed in the March issue of the journal Anatomical Record.
"It is really interesting and really bizarre, very different from anything we've seen in vertebrates," said study author Diane Kelly, an anatomist at the University of Massachusetts.
Alligator mystery
Very little was known about how alligators mate, Kelly told LiveScience. In 1915, one scientist briefly described the alligator penis in a paper, but "at the end of it he actually says something to the effect of 'I have no idea how this thing works,'" Kelly said. [The Weirdest Animal Penises]
To find out, Kelly procured a few dead American alligators from the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, one of which was more than 13 feet (4 meters) long. She dissected the alligator and was surprised at what she found.
Hidden inside the alligator's waste and reproductive orifice, known as a cloaca (which is Latin for "sewer"), was a nearly 2.75-inch (7-centimeter)-long, pasty white phallus.
When she dissected the penile tissue, she found it was filled with a stiff, fibrous material called collagen. Kelly then filled the penis with saline fluid. In mammals, turtles and birds, inflating the vascular region of a penis with saline enlarges it, allowing anatomists to see how the penis becomes erect.
"I tried it with the alligator and I got no length change, I got no diameter change. I got nothing," Kelly said. "It became very clear to me right then and there that there was something very different."
Kelly surmised that the vascular space inside the alligator penis was so full of collagen that it was simply too stiff to inflate.
To see how it popped in and out of the alligator's body, she tugged on various tendons and muscles in the cloaca region and found one set of muscles that caused the penis to shoot out. Another set of tendons attaches to the base of the penis like rubber bands, she said.
"As soon as those muscles relax, the penis gets whipped back into its original position."
Kelly isn't sure whether the penis comes out only during mating or also at other times, though she thinks it's the former. Since crocodiles and alligators are closely related, crocodile penises probably work the same way, she said, though she and other scientists have never studied the crocodile penis.
As a next step, Kelly is teaming up with researcher Brandon Moore at Louisiana Tech University, who is studying the ejaculatory system of the alligator.
"He was doing the glans end, and I was doing the rectal end, and we figured between the two of us we can do a really good job of getting the whole thing described."
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?and Google+.?
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Younger Americans: No house, no car, less debt
The bust that followed the epic borrowing binge of the late-2000s has apparently had a sobering effect on younger borrowers.
Americans under 35 are carrying substantially less debt than they were before the 2008 meltdown, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. But they?ve also put off the big ticket purchases like cars and houses that are typically the main reasons for taking on debt.
There are several reasons younger households are carrying less debt than the generations that preceded them, said Richard Fry, a Pew senior economist.
?We know they?re going to school more, so that puts them into the job market later, and they?re postponing marriage and having kids later,? he said. ?So if you're marrying and having kids later, the urgency to buy a home and get a mortgage is also delayed as well.?
When they decide to begin their borrowing life in earnest, younger households are also having a harder time getting bankers to go along with their plans. Gone are the days when lenders carpet-bombed mailboxes with credit card offers or set up tables on college campuses to hand out cards with generous limits to freshmen with no steady income to pay them off.
Related: Are you over 75 and struggling with debt?
While lending has loosened up a bit since the 2008 credit crash, bankers are saying yes only to the most creditworthy applicants. Younger borrowers -- who typically have a much shorter financial track record than older borrowers -- are having a tougher time getting approved.
?There?s some easing of credit, but we?re not talking a fire hydrant being turned wide open,? said Keith Leggett, a senior economist at the American Bankers Association. ?Mortgage lending, for example, is still tight and will probably remain that way with the rules that are coming out of Washington.?
The devastating impact of the credit bust and the resulting surge in home foreclosures also left many younger borrowers more than a little gun-shy.
Until 2006, generations of young adult Americans had no reason to doubt the conventional wisdom that buying a house was a sure-fire investment. But the allure of homeownership was badly tarnished by the housing collapse. Since the bust, homeownership has become a financial albatross for millions of Americans who now owe their lender more than their house is worth. That collective ?negative equity? now stands at about $1 trillion, according to figures released Thursday by Zillow.
The housing bust also knocked many younger households, who bought their first homes shortly before prices peaked in 2006, back into the rental market at greater rates than in the past, said Fry.
Younger Americans are also putting off borrowing to make other big-ticket purchases, including cars. In 2007, when credit was easy to get, nearly three out of four under-25 households had a car, the Pew researchers reported. By 2011, that number had dropped to two-thirds. Despite a recent surge in car buying, and a pickup in auto lending to subprime borrowers, both the number of younger households and their average loan balances have fallen since 2007.
The one exception to younger Americans' aversion to borrowing is student debt, which now stands at roughly $1 trillion outstanding. While more younger Americans are going to college and graduate school, financial aid has not kept up with rapidly rising tuitions. As a result, some 40 percent of younger households were carrying student debt in 2010, up from 34 percent in 2007.
Older households have also lightened their debt burden since the 2008 credit crunch. From a peak of $12.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2008, total household debt has fallen by about 11 percent, according to the New York Federal Reserve. The bulk of that decline has come from a 14 percent drop in mortgage debt outstanding, much of which was wiped out in foreclosure.
The exception has been among the oldest Americans, who have seen their debt burden increase sharply since the 2007 recession began, according to an analysis from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
For households aged 75 or older, the average debt burden essentially doubled to more than $27,000 in 2010. Debt payments, most of which went to paying off a mortgage, consumed 7.1 percent of income in 2010 ? up from just 4.5 percent in 2007.
Homeowners of all ages are getting some help from record low interest rates, which have allowed many to lighten their monthly payments. On Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the percent of borrowers who have missed at least one payment has fallen to the lowest level since the credit crunch high in the fourth quarter of 2008.
But the overall financial health of younger households -- most of whose wealth is tied up in their homes -- has not recovered as well as older households, which tend to have more wealth in financial assets, according to Fry. While the stock market has recently rebounded to pre-crash levels, housing prices, which fell by roughly one third from peak prices, have retraced only a fraction of those losses.
The economic impact of the lower debt burdens carried by younger households will likely have a mixed impact on the economy. The smaller pool of first-time buyers is likely one of the main reasons the housing market?s post-recession recovery has been weaker than most in the past half century.
On the other hand, households with lower debt payments typically have more cash to devote to consumers spending, which makes up 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
Either way, if the credit collapse of 2008 left younger borrowers with a lasting aversion to debt, that?s not good news for lenders, who have traditionally sought to build relationships with customers early in their adult life.
?That the big question that bankers are wrestling with: where are these new loans going to come from?? said Leggett. ?That is the question I get from bankers all the time.?
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/younger-americans-no-house-no-car-less-debt-1C8473187
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India Vs Australia, 2nd Test- 03 Mar 2013
India Vs Australia, 2nd Test- 03 Mar 2013
Upcoming Match Schedule Updates
India Vs Australia
2nd Test ? 03 Mar 2013 at 04:00GMT
Series/Cup : Australia tour of India 2012-13
Scheduled to Begin : 09:30 local time
Read more here for Upcoming Match Details:
India Vs Australia, 2nd Test- 03 Mar 2013
With above link you can get information for Series Stats: Most Runs Centuries Fifties Fours Sixes Wickets and Catches.
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Architects Take on Fashion: Regent Street Windows Project 2013
From 15 April to 6 May, Regent Street London W1 will be showcasing a number of inspiring architectural installations created by cutting edge architects in partnership with RIBA
(Royal Institute of British Architects). Now in its fourth year, the Regent Street Windows Project matches a diverse range of RIBA architects with international fashion brands to create innovative window displays.
This initiative is in line with The Crown Estate?s ?750m investment plan to maintain Regent Street as one of the leading shopping destinations in the world. As part of this long-term strategy, Regent Street has recently seen the revival of iconic landmarks in the area balancing original architecture with contemporary restoration. This restoration of vast architectural buildings has recently welcomed to the street the largest Burberry in the world, restaurants Brasserie Z?del and MASH and the re-opening of Caf? Royal after being restored to its former golden-age glory.
Brands participating in the Regent Street Windows Project 2013 include: Topshop working with NEON, Esprit working with naganJohnson architects, Jack Spade working with Carl Turner Architects, Ferrari Store working with Gensler, Karen Millen with Mamou-Mani and Moss Bros with AY Architects.
Annie Walker, Director of the Regent Street Association, said: ?The RIBA Regent Street Project, now in its fourth year, is getting more and more recognition. Each time I look forward to seeing the designs and marvel at the result of the collaboration between the architects and the retailers; it definitely adds to the visitor experience.?
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| For further information and images please contact Lucia Ruz and Verity Ramsay. Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 9601 Email: ? or ? |
Notes to Editors
Concept images showcasing the designs of the installations will be available for press use from 4 March.
Photographs of the completed installations will be available from 16 April.
A viral film of last year?s Regent Street Windows Project 2012 can be seen on the Regent Street YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCHRx7wiKME
For more information about RIBA London, please contact Antonia Faust in RIBA London on 020 7307 3624 or email ?
Regent Street Windows Project is an initiative of RIBA London and Regent Street, London W1. The project started in 2010 as part of the London Festival of Architecture and is now established as a stand-alone annual event.
RIBA London supports RIBA membership in the capital by providing high quality support services, organising regular activities and training. It seeks to increase the political and professional influence of the RIBA in London and work to raise public awareness of architecture as a profession. It encourages improvement in the built environment by delivering cultural activities and by encouraging architectural debate in the public arena.
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| For further information and images please contact Lucia Ruz and Verity Ramsay. Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 9601 Email: ? or ? |
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Video: Rossen Reports: Are plumbers charging you unnecessarily?
>>> report investigation. jeff and his team have looked into all kinds of contractors and this time, plumbers, will they be honest and competent. hey, jeff, we've been waiting for this.
>> something asked about many time, honest or competent. when you call a plumber many times you trust them for help to find the problem and fix it at a fair price . we're at it again with our hidden cameras testing plumbers to see who gets it right and who lands in hot water .
>> reporter: you stand behind your story she needs a new hot water heater . we just want a plumber to fix a small atlantleak.
>> why do you want to charge her $ 1900 ?
>> reporter: these experts want to charge her for things that aren't even broken. we rented this house in suburban, new jersey.
>> it should have been in your backpack. did you look in your backpack?
>> reporter: home to liz, mother of four. down in this basement, she has a hot water heater in good shape.
>> everything looks fine on this.
>> reporter: we know because we had three experts all licensed master plumbers inspect it top to bottom.
>> excellent condition.
>> i'm confident that's in good working order.
>> in excellent condition.
>> reporter: one of the experts was pete boros, chairman of licensing board for plumbers.
>> reporter: how many years in the business?
>> over 30 years.
>> reporter: he set up a simple problem with the heater, churning this screw just a hair to start a small leak from this valve, creating a puddle on the floor. the fix, easy. just tighten the screw, something he says any plumber should spot in a minute.
>> reporter: if one of these companies says you need repairs?
>> that would not be true.
>> reporter: we wired the house with hidden cameras covering every angle.
>> i need someone to come out and look at my hot water heater .
>> reporter: then had our mom called 10 water companies to diagnose the leak. as each company shows up, we're watching with our expert from a control room upstairs.
>> there he is.
>> reporter: things start off great. within a minute, this first plumber finds and fixes the problem, that easy churn of the screw.
>> the drain valve was just slightly open just a hair. i just closed it.
>> thank you.
>> okay.
>> okay. what do i owe you for that?
>> that's okay. no problem.
>> nothing? are you kidding?
>> no problem.
>> reporter: amazing. these next few plumbers also fixed the problem in just minutes.
>> that's it?
>> yeah.
>> reporter: but our luck is about to go down the drain. meet frank.
>> liz. good to meet you, frank.
>> reporter: he checks the tank. and watch, frank finds and fixes the leak, churning that screw. problem solved , but he tells our mom, there's still a drip.
>> the water has to be drained and then you need a new valve put on.
>> that will fix the leak?
>> that will fix the leak.
>> reporter: that's right, even though he fixed the leak, he still wants to put in a brand new valve. price, $359.
>> what do you make of that?
>> i think he's trying to take advantage of the homeowner financially.
>> reporter: we have questions for frank.
>> hi, jeff rossen from nbc news. you just told her she needs a new valve. why?
>> it was leaking.
>> reporter: you tightened it and it stopped leaking.
>> it was still forming a drip.
>> reporter: actually the dripping had stopped but he says he didn't want to hang around and make sure or have to come back.
>> reporter: do you stand by this?
>> for what i saw? yes.
>> reporter: if you think he's pricey, this next plumber takes it to another level.
>> the basement is right there.
>> reporter: just seconds in, he sees major problems.
>> there is no fixing it, just replacing it.
>> you're the expert, what do you think?
>> you need a new unit, just from looking at it.
>> reporter: a new unit. he says it's getting old, wet on the bottom and this corrosion means the side pipe is leaking. all wrong says our expert. this unit is in tiptop shape. why is this guy telling our mom she needs to pay for a new one?
>> there's no fixing the leak except for replacing it.
>> reporter: the cost, a whopping $1,675.
>> hi. jeff rossen from nbc news. the leak was coming from this valve. did you check this?
>> i didn't see nothing here.
>> reporter: didn't see it. our expert says it was right in front of him.
>> here is where i saw the leak.
>> i'm feeling it. it's bone dry.
>> when i first felt it there, i felt a little bit of wetness.
>> reporter: do you feel it now?
>> no.
>> reporter: neither do i. he couldn't explain that and decided to leave. we reached out to the company owner but didn't hear back. but the biggest bill is yet to come. meet joe.
>> i'm just trying to see because i don't want you to have to spend no money you don't have to spend.
>> reporter: that sounds nice. joe spends a lot of time looking, touching, staring at the heater. at first, he says this.
>> i think it's coming from here.
>> reporter: minutes later, he changes his tune.
>> replace it, take this one out and put a new one in.
>> you mean the whole thing?
>> yeah. it has to be coming from that.
>> the price?
>> 1900 bucks.
>> that's what i need to do for this leak?
>> yes, ma'am.
>> reporter: nearly $2,000 to replace a water heater our expert says could last another 10 to 15 years.
>> reporter: why do you want to charge her $ 1900 ?
>> i told her the bottom of the water heater is leaking. it was wet.
>> reporter: our expert says it was a simple explanation.
>> it was easy to fix, a turn of the screw .
>> i told her that.
>> reporter: no, you didn't.
>> i told her that either way .
>> reporter: i was watching hidden camera .
>> i told her either way .
>> reporter: i was watching in a hidden camera .
>> i'm gone.
>> reporter: she said what do i need to do to fix this leak? you said a new hot water heater . our expert says it was working perfectl perfectly.
>> all right.
>> reporter: in the end most did what's rite and in the end almost half tried to charge money for work she didn't need.
>> experts says before you pay for a hot water heater you should get estimates and ask friends for a recommendation before you find yourself in the middle of an emergency and quickly searching for a plumber. call your local consumer affairs office to make sure that plumber you hire is licensed.
>> you think it can't be
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50886062/
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