Thursday, January 31, 2013

PHOTOS: Prince Charles & Camilla Ride The London Tube!

It's not every day that a British royal hops on the tube -- would you bother with public transportation if you had a luxurious private car service at your disposal?

Some days, however, these nobles have photo opps to fulfill, which means we get to see them doing what the common folk do. Well, sort of. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the London tube, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall took a spin on the train. And by "spin," we mean they traveled one whole stop.

The royal couple caught the Metropolitan line at Farringdon station to King's Cross. And even though their journey was a mere three minutes, we have to give Charles extra points because he managed to swipe his very own Oyster card despite the fact that it was his first trip on the tube in 33 years (the last time he visited, he ended up driving the train instead). According to The Telegraph, Camilla probably took the train at some point in the more recent past.

Of course, they weren't just thrown on any old tube. Charles and Camilla rode on a brand new walk-through, air-conditioned train (swanky), which Camilla remarked was "very nice, very smart." Perhaps the transport system has a new pair of loyal customers?

But the best photo opp of the entire trip had to be when the pair stopped by "Platform 9 3/4" -- you know, where Harry Potter catches the Hogwarts Express. Very cute, guys, very cute. So while we're sure Charles and Camilla bathed themselves in Purell as soon as they stepped off the train, we'd say this was a successful "just like us" moment, wouldn't you?

PHOTOS:

prince charles tube

prince charles tube

prince charles tube

Prince William & Kate are also just like us sometimes!

  • They Grocery Shop

    (BauerGriffin photo)

  • They Do Community Service

    (Getty photo)

  • They Enjoy Pottery

    (Getty photo)

  • They Like To Paint

    (Getty photo)

  • They Drink

    (Getty photo)

  • They Go To The Rodeo

    (Getty photo)

  • They Iron

    (AFP photo)

  • They Play Hockey

    (Getty photo)

  • They Wear Matching Hoodies

    (Getty photo)

  • They Go Canoeing

    (Getty photo)

  • They Like To Garden

    (Getty photo)

  • They Cover Their Ears When There's A Loud Noise

    (AFP photo)

  • They Take Photographs

    (Getty photo)

  • They Practice Safety First

    (Getty photo)

  • They Play Games

    (Getty photo)

  • They Get Amazed By Magic Tricks

    (AFP photo)

  • They Stop To Smell The Roses

    (AFP photo)

  • They Drink Water

    (Getty photo)

  • ...And Coffee

    (AFP photo)

  • They Prepare Meals

    (Getty photo)

  • They Get Down

    (AFP photo)

  • They Go To The Movies

    (WireImage photo)

  • They Hang With Their Parents

    (Getty photo)

  • ...And Their Grandparents

    (AFP photo)

  • They Love Animals

    (AFP photo)

  • They Get Caught In The Rain

    (Getty photo)

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Do you have a style story idea or tip? Email us at stylesubmissions@huffingtonpost.com. (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/prince-charles-camilla-tube-photos_n_2580574.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=World

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The 5 Most Overrated Stocks That Retail Investors Love - Money ...

When you hear mention of a particular stock in a water-cooler conservation, it could be a sign the stock's in trouble.

Think of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (Nasdaq: GMCR), Groupon Inc. (Nasdaq: GRPN) and Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA).
Retail investors flocked to all these stocks, only to get burned: All three collapsed.

Now, with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up over 7% the past month to near all-time highs, other stocks have attracted quite a bit of buzz among retail investors.

But investors eager to jump in to the markets during the strong start to this year need to be careful: Many stocks that seem attractive to retail investors are actually seductive traps.

The five stocks below have made amazing gains in relatively short time spans, leaving investors who missed out wanting to cash in on the companies' success. Plus, investors often like to shop at these companies or use their products, making the stocks appear even more appealing.

But you'd do well to stay away from these overvalued stocks with poor long-term prospects.

Source: http://moneymorning.com/2013/01/29/the-5-most-overrated-stocks-that-retail-investors-love/

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Italian fashion house Fendi to fund $2.85 million Trevi Fountain repairs in Rome

LONDON.- Schwitters in Britain is the first major exhibition to examine the late work of Kurt Schwitters, one of the major artists of European Modernism. The exhibition focuses on his British period, from his arrival in Britain as a refugee in 1940 until his death in Cumbria in 1948. Schwitters was forced to flee Germany when his work was condemned as ?degenerate? by Germany?s Nazi government and the show traces the impact of exile on his work. It includes over 150 collages, assemblages and sculptures many shown in the UK for the first time in over 30 years.

Schwitters was a significant figure in European Dadaism who invented the concept of Merz ? ?the combination, for artistic purposes of all conceivable materials?. Whether those materials were string, cotton wool or a pram wheel, Schwitters considered them to be equal with paint. He is best known for his pioneering use of found objects and everyday materials in abstract collage, installation, poetry and performance. Schwitters?s time in Britain was quite extraordinary and continues to reverberate today, with the influence he has exerted over artists such as Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi and Damien Hirst.

Schwitters?s escape from Germany took him first to Norway, where he boarded the last ship to leave the country before Nazi occupation. On arrival at the Scottish port of Leith, he was detained as an enemy alien. He was one of many German exiles, including a significant number of artists, who were interned on the Isle of Man during WWII. In the camp he participated in group exhibitions and gave poetry performances. On release in 1941 he became involved with the London art scene, engaging with British artists and critics such as Ben Nicholson and Herbert Read. The latter described him as ?the supreme master of the collage?.

Exhibition highlights include an early example of Schwitters?s unique concept of Merz in the assemblage Merz Picture 46 A. The Skittle Picture 1921, the sculpture Untitled (Birchwood Sculpture) 1940 carved on his journey to Britain, and his collaged travelling trunk. Schwitters?s collages often incorporated fragments from packaging and newspapers reflecting British life such as the London bus tickets and Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts wrappers used in Untitled (This is to Certify That) 1942. The exhibition reunites a group of works shown in his 1944 London solo show at The Modern Art Gallery including the important assemblage Anything with a Stone 1941?4.

In 1945 Schwitters relocated to the Lake District. Inspired by the rural Cumbrian landscape, he began to incorporate natural objects into his work, as shown in a group of small sculptures including Untitled (Opening Blossom) 1942? 5 which he considered to be among his finest British pieces. The move also culminated in the creation of his last great sculpture and installation, the Merz Barn, a continuation of the Hanover Merzbau; an architectural construction considered to be one of the key lost works of European modernism. The exhibition concludes with an exploration of Schwitters?s lasting legacy through commissions by artists Adam Chodzko and Laure Prouvost made in collaboration with Grizedale Arts.

Schwitters in Britain is curated by Emma Chambers, Curator: Modern British Art, Tate Britain and Karin Orchard, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Sprengel Museum Hannover. The exhibition is organised by Tate Britain and the Sprengel Museum Hannover in cooperation with the Kurt und Ernst Schwitters Stiftung, Hannover. It will tour to the Sprengel Museum Hannover from 2 June to 25 August 2013.

Source: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=60417

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The Top 10 Anti-Cancer Vegetables | Chris Beat Cancer

Photo by David Grunfeld

Photo by David Grunfeld

If you haven?t noticed, we are constantly bombarded with pleas from charities for cancer research money.

?Race for the Cure, Stand Up to Cancer, Buy Pink products, grow a Movember mustache?.?

This is often accompanied by the message ?that ?we are running out of funding for cancer research?. ?And of course this is a problem, because ?without funding for more research, we will never find a cure?.

Cue the shots of bald women and children poisoned by chemo, accompanied by dramatic music. Then insert a high-profile celebrity to say, ?The cure is just around the corner.
Together?we can make cancer history. Please give today.?

Here?s the reality. The mega billion dollar pharmaceutical industry has plenty of money to fund research, they would just prefer that you fund it with your donations instead of theirs.

Real problem #1 ?They are running out of your?money.

Real problem #2 They are only interested in medicines they can patent.

Real problem #3 ?Research on nutrition and natural therapies is ignored.

There are literally thousands of published peer-reviewed?studies demonstrating that the 100,000+ phytonutrients in plants have the ability to prevent and reverse cancer.
But because the pharmaceutical industry can?t figure out how to extract these compounds, synthesize them, and patent them for profit, they are ignored.

Doctors can?t even use this published information or they risk losing their license.

But you can!

One of my favorite studies was published in Food Chemistry, January 2009 called,
?The antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of common vegetables: A comparative study?

The title is so boring I almost fell asleep typing it, but hold on, because the results are awesome.

Researchers studied the inhibitory (cancer-stopping) effects of 34 vegetable extracts
on 8 different tumor cell lines.

They basically just ran vegetables through a juicer and then dripped the extracted juice on different cancer cells to see what would happen. Here?s what they found?

The #1 most powerful anti-cancer food was Garlic.

Garlic stopped cancer growth COMPLETELY against these tumor cell lines:

Breast cancer, brain cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer,
childhood brain cancer, and stomach cancer.

Leeks were #1 against kidney cancer. Garlic was #2.

But not just garlic and leeks, almost all vegetables from the Allium and Cruciferous families completely stopped growth in the various cancers tested. Here they are:

Allium vegetables: Garlic, Leeks, Yellow and Green Onions

Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Kale, Red cabbage and Curly Cabbage

Spinach and Beet Root also scored in the top ten against many of the cancers tested.

Honorable mentions: Asparagus, fiddlehead, green beans, radishes and rutabaga.

Poor Performers: Acorn Squash, Bok Choy, Boston Lettuce, Carrot, Endive, English Cucumber, Fennel Bulb, Jalape?o, Orange Sweet Pepper, Potato, Radicchio, Romaine lettuce, and Tomatoes.

Here is an excerpt from the paper?s abstract:

?The extracts from cruciferous vegetables as well as those from vegetables of the genus Allium inhibited the proliferation of all tested cancer cell lines whereas extracts from vegetables most commonly consumed in Western countries were much less effective. The antiproliferative effect of vegetables was specific to cells of cancerous origin and was found to be largely independent of their antioxidant properties. These results thus indicate that vegetables have very different inhibitory activities towards cancer cells and that the inclusion of cruciferous and Allium vegetables in the diet is essential for effective dietary-based chemopreventive strategies.?

Translation:

-Allium and cruciferous veggies stopped cancer growth.
-Commonly consumed vegetables did not work as well.
-The antioxidant content of veggies was not a key anti-cancer factor.
-Different vegetables work for different cancers.
-Allium and cruciferous veggies should be eaten to prevent cancer.

So the most commonly consumed vegetables in Western countries had very little effect on cancer cell growth. The top three (potatoes, lettuce and carrots) account for 60% of the vegetables we Westerners are eating. 32% of our vegetable intake is potatoes, and half of that is actually french fries. Nice.

Dark greens, cruciferous veggies and garlic account for less than 1% of our Western diet!
Hello?

An interesting note: ?Radishes were shown to stop tumor growth by 95-100% for breast and stomach cancer, but had no effect and may have even increased tumor growth by 20-25% in pancreatic, brain, lung and kidney cancer. Definitely something to keep in mind.

You really need to look at the charts in the study to see which veggies worked best against which cancer.

Read the full study here? The charts are on page 3.

Now if you are familiar with my story you may be thinking, ?Wait a minute Chris, didn?t you drink tons of carrot juice every day??

Yes I did. ?(More about that?here)

Before you write off the ?poor performers?
It?s important to keep in mind that this is a laboratory study showing only what a vegetable extract did to when applied directly to cancer cells.?The study does not take into account the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that indirectly support your body?s ability to detoxify and heal. For example, carrots are a great source of Vitamin A. Vitamin A supports your liver. Your liver is a critical component of your immune system because it detoxes your body. Cancer is a product of a toxic body, so detoxing your body is critical in healing cancer, and so on.

Having said all that, it makes sense to focus on eating tons of the veggies that were actually killing cancer in the lab.

Also this study confirms why what I did in 2004 worked.

I ate copious amounts of these cancer-fighting vegetables every day in my Giant Cancer-Fighting Salad,?specifically spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, red cabbage, and garlic powder. I had no idea about leeks or else they would have been in there too.

And according to Dr. Richard Schulze?s recommendation, I ate several cloves of garlic per day. If garlic kills cancer, then I wanted to saturate my body with garlic. So I would just crush up the cloves and swallow them with a mouthful of water.

I also took Kyolic Garlic Extract.

And yes I reeked, but I lived to tell the tale.

(((c)))

Please LIKE and Share. Post your comments below!

7 Reasons To Subscribe

Source: http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/top-10-anti-cancer-vegetables/

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Money fears vs. real benefits in Medicaid choice (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/280115208?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Often loud, Suggs takes quiet approach on Day 1

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? As Terrell Suggs made his way to his seat for his first media appearance of Super Bowl week, a member of the Baltimore Ravens' PR staff pointed at the linebacker and whispered to a colleague: "I think somebody should be here."

Yes, generally, better safe than sorry with Suggs. Never know what he's liable to say.

Except this time, the 2011 Defensive Player of the Year was hardly a loud mouth. Not in the mood, apparently, to stir things up before his Ravens face the San Francisco 49ers for the NFL championship next Sunday.

Given a chance to crack wise or lob insults on a variety of topics ? from President Barack Obama's concerns about football safety to New York Jets coach Rex Ryan's tattoo ? Suggs was soft-spoken and thoughtful Monday. Even made sure to praise the 49ers.

Now we'll see what happens Tuesday in the circus that is Super Bowl media day.

The last time Suggs was seen leaving the field after a football game, he was tossing curse words and insults in the direction of the New England Patriots after Baltimore's defense shut out Tom Brady and Co. throughout the second half of a 28-13 victory in the AFC championship game.

Since then, Suggs has kept things low key within earshot of reporters, aside from the occasional non sequitur shouted in the locker room at the Ravens' practice facility last week.

Asked Monday whether he would be providing any bulletin-board material for the 49ers to latch onto, Suggs quietly replied: "Maybe. Got to wait and see. I mean, nothing I do is scripted, so got to wait and see what I come off the noggin with, when I come off the top."

Yet as he sat there in front of microphones and cameras, wearing a pinstriped gray suit with polka-dot tie and just-so pocket square, Suggs sounded mostly, well, scripted.

He did make sure to correct a reporter who opened a question by pronouncing Suggs' first name incorrectly ? for the record, the emphasis goes on the second syllable, not the first ? but otherwise said many of the right things.

Someone wanted an assessment of 49ers left tackle Joe Staley, one of the players who will try to slow Suggs' pass rush, and this is what came forth: "Solid. Very good offensive tackle. I think he's highly underrated, but he was a Pro Bowler this year, so I think he finally got his just due."

Then Suggs thought back to Baltimore's 16-6 victory over San Francisco last season and offered this: "Had a little bit of a hard time with him. You know, he's a great player."

What about San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the guy Suggs will be chasing Sunday?

"I like the way he plays," Suggs said.

Someone else wanted a nickname for Baltimore's defense. No luck there, either.

"Ask me on Feb. 4," the day after the Super Bowl, was the reply.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

When the topic turned to Obama's recent statement about wondering whether he'd let a son play football, Suggs gave a considered response, saying that he respects that point of view "for the simple fact that this is a very physical and dangerous sport that we play."

Asked whether he would allow his own 4-year-old son to pick up the sport, Suggs said: "Absolutely, but it would have to be his choice. Football isn't for everybody. If my son ... came to me and said, 'Dad, I want to play football,' then I would let him play."

Toward the end of Suggs' interview session, a reporter brought up Ryan's body art.

After playfully saying to the reporter, "Are you from New York? Last I checked, it was 49ers-Ravens. ... The Jets are nowhere around," Suggs launched into a from-the-heart discussion (OK, with some kidding around, too) about what the media doesn't need to know.

"Who cares? I've probably got something on my (body) that y'all don't see that's probably inappropriate, but who cares? I think you blow that all out of proportion," he said. "Everybody should have a certain amount of privacy, even if they're in the public eye. ... We're not just football players. We're not just coaches. We're human beings, too, and just keep that in mind."

It's been a difficult season for Suggs, who played in only eight of 16 regular-season games because of injuries. He missed the first six weeks because of an Achilles tendon problem, then also missed time with a torn right biceps.

A guy with four double-digit season sack totals ? including a career-high 14 in 2011, when he also led the league with seven forced fumbles ? only had two in 2012.

As someone who, as he put it, has "rarely ever been injured," it wasn't easy to deal with. But his teammates are sure he's rounding into form at the right time, the postseason.

"He's what you want in front of you ? a playmaker, a guy who never stops," Ravens safety Ed Reed said. "And he's been playing like that in the last three (games)."

One more game to go.

And five more days to watch what he says.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/often-loud-suggs-takes-quiet-approach-day-1-032303219--nfl.html

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Forget buying software: You can now rent Microsoft Office (cheap!)

6 hrs.

Considering that we can have music, movies, TV shows, Photoshop???even underwear???via some sort of monthly or yearly subscription, it's about time we can finally rent Microsoft Office 365, too.

In exchange for $100 per?year (or $10 per?month), you'll be able to install Office 2013 on up to five PCs, Macs or Windows tablets. You'll have?access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access. Additionally, you'll get an extra?20GB of cloud storage through SkyDrive (on top of the 7GB you already get for free) along with 60 minutes of Skype world calling per month.?

You can still buy Office 2013 the old-school way, though don't expect to see any physical media in the software box; you'll just buy a product code and be sent online to download the actual software. The Home & Student version of that is $140 and is limited to one device (and just Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote); Home & Business is $220 (which includes Outlook as well), and Pro ? with all of the same?apps offered in the subscription ??is $400.

Besides being able to install on up to five devices, there are other benefits to the subscription plan:?Free upgrades to the latest versions of the Office software are included, so you can buy in at any time without worrying about missing the next version. Better still, since the subscription?license covers different types of devices, you don't have to buy a bunch of different versions.?(Besides Mac support, Microsoft has said in the past that this Office 365?license would even?provide you with not-yet-released editions, including a possible iPad version.)

If you have a family with lots going on, it is likely to be a money saver, even when you factor in the deals you get from home/student pricing.?

If you are simply?a power user with a lot of different devices, you'll be able to sync Office 365?documents between them with ease. (And you'll, of course, also be able to share documents quickly, thanks to SkyDrive.)?It doesn't stop with the documents though: Your settings and preferences sync as well. This means that no matter where you sign into Office 365, you'll have the same experience. This is, once again, a great benefit for those who split their time between one too many devices.

Pricing and cloud support aside, the latest Office itself isn't a radical redesign. Everything feels familiar, with some small tweaks. It appears that Microsoft is attempting to reduce the bloat we occasionally experience when it comes to its software suite. Does it succeed? Well, we'll have to use the software for a bit longer to make a solid judgment call in regards to that.

While?the?latest version of the software isn't?lacking anything?from?the?traditional?desktop?view???in fact, our initial impression is that it might be the best version of Office we've used so far???we're still waiting for a finger-friendly tablet version of the?legendary?suite.?Though?it?would?be?a?huge?success?given?the?popularity?of?iPads?and?other?tablets,?Microsoft?isn't?going?to?rush?that?out?in?haste,?because?the?company's?developers?say?they?want?to?get?it?right.

You can snag a free one-month trial of Office 365 through Office.com and we suggest taking advantage of this deal. Odds are that you'll find it feeling comfortable and familiar ? and a little lighter on the checkbook as well.

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/forget-buying-software-you-can-now-rent-microsoft-office-cheap-1C8157930

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Report: Pentagon to boost cybersecurity force fivefold

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has approved a major expansion of its cybersecurity force to counter a growing threat of hacking and to conduct offensive operations against foreign foes, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing U.S. officials.

The officials, who were not named because the plan is not yet public, said the move would increase the cybersecurity force fivefold, from 900 personnel to a total of 4,900 troops and civilians.

It said senior Pentagon officials made the decision late last year amid a string of attacks, including one that wiped out more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company.

The increase in personnel was requested by the head of the Defense Department's Cyber Command.

A Pentagon spokesman had no immediate comment, but said he was aware of the report in the Washington Post.

The plan, the paper said, calls for creating three types of force under the Cyber Command.

"National mission forces," would protect computer systems that undergird electrical grids and other kinds of infrastructure. "Combat mission forces," would help commanders abroad execute attacks or other offensive operations, while "cyber protection forces," would focus on protecting the Defense Department's own systems.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-boost-cybersecurity-force-fivefold-report-034248436.html

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Detentions made in Brazil fire, funerals begin

A police officer places flowers outside the Kiss nightclub that were brought by mourners in memory of those who died due to a fire at the club in Santa Maria, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless Kiss nightclub in this southern Brazilian city early Sunday, killing more than 230 people. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

A police officer places flowers outside the Kiss nightclub that were brought by mourners in memory of those who died due to a fire at the club in Santa Maria, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless Kiss nightclub in this southern Brazilian city early Sunday, killing more than 230 people. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Gladimir Callegaro, second from right, father of fire victim Marina Callegaro and other relatives mourn during her funeral at a cemetery in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless Kiss nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, within seconds filling the space with flames and a thick, toxic smoke that killed more than 230 panicked partygoers who gasped for breath and fought in a stampede to escape. An early investigation into the tragedy revealed that security guards briefly prevented partygoers from leaving through the sole exit and the bodies later heaped inside that doorway slowed firefighters trying to get in.(AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Relatives and friends carry the coffins of two brothers, Pedro and Marcelo Salla, who died in a nightclub fire, as they prepare to bury them at a cemetery in Santa Maria, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. Brazilian police officials said Monday they?ve made three detentions and are seeking a fourth person in connection with blaze that ripped through a nightclub in southern Brazil over the weekend, killing more than 230 people. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A girl cries during the burial of her brother, soldier Leonardo Machado, at a cemetery in Santa Maria, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless Kiss nightclub in this southern Brazilian city early Sunday, killing more than 230 people. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Relatives and friends dance and mourn next to the coffin during the burial of fire victim Tanise Cielo, at a cemetery in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. The city in southern Brazil started burying the 233 people killed in Sunday's fire at the Kiss nightclub after the conflagration caused by a band's pyrotechnic display. An early investigation into the tragedy revealed that security guards briefly prevented partygoers from leaving through the sole exit. And the bodies later heaped inside that doorway slowed firefighters trying to get in.(AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

(AP) ? Brazilian police officials said Monday they've made three detentions and are seeking a fourth person in connection with a blaze that ripped through a nightclub in southern Brazil over the weekend, killing more than 230 people.

Inspector Ranolfo Vieira Junior said at a news conference that the detentions are for investigative purposes and those detained can be held up to five days. He declined to identify those detained or the fourth person sought, but the Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora quotes lawyer Jader Marques saying his client Elissandro Spohr, a co-owner of the club, had been held.

The paper also says police detained two band members who were on stage when the blaze broke out and were thought to have used pyrotechnics in their act.

A military brigade official said Monday the death toll now stands at 231 people in the early Sunday blaze in the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, a university town of about 260,000 people in southern Brazil. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors. Most victims died from smoke inhalation rather than burns.

Police have said they think the pyrotechnics ignited sound insulation on the ceiling, while witnesses have reported a fire extinguisher didn't work and that there was only one working exit. Many of the dead were also found in the club's two bathrooms, where they fled apparently because the blinding smoke caused them to believe the doors were exits.

"It was terrible inside ? it was like one of those films of the Holocaust, bodies piled atop one another," said police inspector Sandro Meinerz. "We had to use trucks to remove them. It took about six hours to take the bodies away."

Survivors and another police inspector, Marcelo Arigony, said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club. Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they are allowed to leave.

"It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," Arigony told The Associated Press.

Firefighters responding to the blaze initially had trouble getting inside the Kiss nightclub because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance," Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper.

Authorities said band members who were on the stage when the fire broke out later talked with police and confirmed they used pyrotechnics during their show.

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning."

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it," he said. "When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."

He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Survivor Michele Pereira told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit some sort of flare that started the conflagration.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Police inspector Meinerz, who coordinated the investigation at the nightclub, said one band member died after escaping because he returned inside the burning building to save his accordion. The other band members escaped alive because they were the first to notice the fire.

Television images from Santa Maria showed black smoke billowing out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who attended the university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at the hot-pink exterior walls, trying to reach those trapped inside.

Teenagers sprinted from the scene after the fire began, desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms. About half of those killed were men, about half women.

Bodies of the dead and injured were strewn in the street and panicked screams filled the air as medics tried to help. There was little to be done; officials said most of those who died suffocated within minutes.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, Silva said.

A community gym soon became a horror scene, with body after body lined up on the floor, partially covered with black plastic as family members identified kin.

Outside the gym, police held up personal objects ? a black purse, a blue high-heeled shoe ? as people seeking information on loved ones crowded around hoping not to recognize anything being shown them.

The party was organized by students from several academic departments at the Federal University of Santa Maria. Such organized university parties are common throughout Brazil.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff arrived Sunday to visit the injured after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," said Rousseff, who began her political career in the state where the tragedy took place.

Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria. said he was told the club had been filled far beyond its capacity. He had gone to the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

"Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told the AP.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom."

In the hospital, the doctor "saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information," he said, calling it "one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed."

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000 people, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said officials were investigating the cause of the disaster.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday's fire also appeared to be the worst at a nightclub since December 2000, when a welding accident reportedly set off a fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309 people.

In 2004, at least 194 people died in a fire at an overcrowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Seven members of the band playing at the club were sentenced to prison for starting the flames.

A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, killed 152 people in December 2009 after an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.

Similar circumstances led to a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people in the United States. Pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling of a Rhode Island music venue.

The band performing in Santa Maria, Gurizada Fandangueira, plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. Guitarist Martin told Radio Gaucha the musicians are already seeing hostile messages.

"People on the social networks are saying we have to pay for what happened," he said. "I'm afraid there could be retaliation".

___

Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja contributed to this report from Brasilia, Brazil, and Stan Lehman and Bradley Brooks contributed from Sao Paulo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-28-LT-Brazil-Nightclub-Fire/id-baa25f03a0b7408aab484aa52e02853a

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Ask Engadget: best video baby camera?

Ask Engadget best video baby monitor

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Berry2Droid, who wants to geek-up monitoring his first-born. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"My wife and I are having a baby soon and need a video monitor. We'd like it to be compatible with our Android phones, rather than having a separate screen in the package. We'd also like some sort of visual aid as my wife is deaf so she would need some sort of other signal. If there was any ability to add additional cameras, that'd also be great. Thanks for your help!"

We could certainly point you in the direction of Samsung Techwin's Video Baby Monitor or Y-Cam's offering, both of which are infrared-and-internet capable cameras that pump the picture straight to your mobile device. We came a little unstuck on the visual warning element for your wife, however, but that's why we'll turn this question over to our faithful group of commenters to see if their knowledge stretches further than our own. Dear friends, help out a lovely couple as they embark upon the majestic (albeit fraught) journey of parenthood and provide some wisdom in the comments below.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/26/ae-video-baby-camera/

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

With MS Research Help, UN Attempts To Model All of Earth's Ecosystems

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft Research and UN scientists have teamed up to build the first general-purpose computer model of whole ecosystems across the entire world. The project was detailed in a recent Nature article [note: yet another expensively paywalled original article] titled 'Ecosystems: Time to model all life on Earth.'"

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/HnQh3JFtmlA/story01.htm

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North Korean leader vows strong action

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened top security and foreign affairs officials and ordered them to take "substantial and high-profile important state measures," state media said Sunday, indicating that he plans to push forward with a threat to explode a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations.

The meeting of top officials led by Kim makes clear that he backs Pyongyang's defiant stance in protest of U.N. Security Council punishment for a December rocket launch. The dispatch in the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the meeting took place.

Last week, the Security Council condemned North Korea's Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The council, including North Korea ally China, punished Pyongyang with more sanctions and ordered the regime to refrain from a nuclear test ? or face "significant action."

North Korea responded by rejecting the resolution and maintaining its right to launch a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful civilian space program.

It also warned that it would keep developing rockets and testing nuclear devices to counter what it sees as U.S. hostility. A rare statement was issued Thursday by the powerful National Defense Commission, the top governing body led by Kim.

Kim's order for strong action and the recent series of strong statements indicate he intends to conduct a nuclear test in the near future to show "he is a young yet powerful leader both domestically and internationally," said Chin Hee-gwan, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Inje University.

North Korea cites a U.S. military threat in the region as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons. The two countries fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended after three years in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S.-led U.N. Command mans the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, and Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.

North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the country's nuclear complex northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.

However, it is not known whether North Korean scientists have found a way to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile.

Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect the technique, and another atomic test could take the country closer to its goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile designed to strike the United States. North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.

South Korean defense officials say North Korea is technically ready to conduct a nuclear test in a matter of days.

Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that over the past month, roads have been kept clear of snow and that North Koreans may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be detonated.

Analysis of the images of the Punggye-ri site was provided Friday to The Associated Press by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Kim could order a nuclear test ahead of the Feb. 16th birthday of his late father and former leader Kim Jong Il to "create a festive mood," Chin predicted. Kim Jong Il died at age 69 in December 2011.

The U.S., South Korea and other countries have warned North Korea not to go ahead with a nuclear test, saying that would only deepen the country's international isolation.

After meeting with Chinese officials Friday, U.S. envoy for North Korea Glyn Davies said a nuclear test would set back efforts to restart regional talks on the North's nuclear disarmament.

North Korea has accused the U.S. and South Korea of leading the push for the U.N. Security Council resolution.

Sunday's KCNA dispatch said the U.N. punishment indicates U.S. hostility toward North Korea has reached its highest point. North Korea also warned South Korea on Friday of "strong physical countermeasures" if Seoul takes part in the U.N. sanctions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-leader-vows-strong-action-042151410.html

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Daily Kos: Credit card processor no longer doing business with ...

Some gun dealers may be finding it more difficult to sell their wares online. ? A gun salesman near Nashville found out yesterday that Intuit Payment Solutions no longer wants to do business with online gun dealers.

"We go through all the hoops and all the steps and at the end of the day it's still a struggle to get the same services anybody else would," said Nick McMillan.

He owns Leiper's Fork Firearms. It is a small gun dealership McMillan runs out of his home.

"We're set up like a business, just like every other small business out there," he said.

McMillan is a has a federal firearms license and is heavily regulated by both the state and federal governments.

But McMillan received an email from Intuit Payment solutions informing him the company was no longer interested in processing his credit card sales.

"They either reviewed several accounts, or it was a company wide policy, because I wasn't the only federal firearms license dealer that got pushed out the other day," McMillan said.

According to the email McMillan and several other gun dealers got, Intuit is no longer willing to process payments for guns that aren't purchased face-to-face. ?McMillan thinks that Intuit simply doesn't want to deal with any bad publicity in the event of another tragedy.

Good for Intuit. ?Until we make it tougher for those who have no business having guns to get them, this more than makes sense. ?Hopefully other credit card processors will step up.

Originally posted to Shut Down the NRA on Sat Jan 26, 2013 at 03:31 PM PST.

Also republished by Three Star Kossacks.

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Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/26/1182376/-Credit-card-processor-no-longer-doing-business-with-online-gun-dealers

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Plan for GOP Recovery

THE PLAN FOR GOP RECOVERY. The first step, as the Republican Party is learning, is to admit you have a problem. One thing is already clear: Recovery won?t be quick, easy, or painless, as National Journal?s Tim Alberta and Jim O?Sullivan report. There are no Band-Aids capable of closing the wounds opened by years of self-mutilating politics. The GOP faces complex problems that require comprehensive solutions. Read more

FILIBUSTER REFORM IS BOTH BIG AND SMALL. The changes to the filibuster that were approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Thursday would seem, at first blush, to be relatively small. Yes, the minority party will still be able to block a bill unless the majority party musters 60 votes to proceed. And yes, many liberals wanted to see reforms go further to speed up the legislative process. But for such a hidebound place, where any change comes hard, there is something to applaud. As Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tells The New York Times, ?It?s some change in a Senate committed to no change. So that?s important.? Read more

KERRY?S TASK: ADDRESSING AL-QAIDA REBORN. In her dramatic testimony on Wednesday, outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to concede, at long last, what Mitt Romney and many Republicans tried to argue during the 2012 presidential campaign: Al-Qaida is not close to being defeated. Quite the contrary, it has been reborn. National Journal?s Michael Hirsh writes that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is widely expected to sail through his confirmation process, will need to address these realities when he takes the helm. ?Kerry said America had to ?assert a new role in a world of increasing failed and failing states,? Hirsh writes. ? Yet as his outgoing predecessor admitted, there is as yet no strategy for that.? Read more

DEBT CEILING DEAL DIDN?T END THREATS TO ECONOMY. Pushing off the debt-ceiling battle until mid-May still poses major risks for the economy and may even heighten the severity of the economic impact, National Journal?s Nancy Cook reports. Prolonging the debate and putting it at the end of the spring?s fiscal-fight queue, after the sequester and the question of funding the government, only keeps investors and markets nervous for a longer period of time. Moreover, the idea of defaulting is scary because no one is quite sure exactly what would happen. It?s the no-man?s-land of fiscal policy. Read more

FRUSTRATED AIDES LEAVING CAPITOL HILL. An unusually large number of senior aides in the energy and environment policy space have left in the past few months. Among them are the chief energy adviser to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.; the senior energy aide to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; staff directors for both the Democratic chairman and the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and most of the Republican staff on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Many of these departures are part of the natural churn brought on by changes in committee assignments and members? retirements, and all the aides offer different reasons for leaving. But in interviews with National Journal?s Amy Harder, many of them cite the Hill?s partisanship and the constant political-campaign atmosphere. Read more

CONGRESS

WITH TOUGH ROAD AHEAD FOR FEINSTEIN GUN BILL, MANCHIN IN TALKS WITH NRA. The assault weapons ban introduced Thursday by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will have a tough time making its way through a Congress tied so thoroughly to the gun lobby, The New York Timesreports. Majority Leader Harry Reid has already said he is skeptical of the bill. At the same time, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Thursday he was working with the National Rifle Association on a bill to implement universal background checks, The Hill reports. Facing a tough 2014 reelection, Manchin is looking at ways to address the president?s agenda on gun violence without angering his constituents. However, the NRA has backed away from some of what Manchin proposed on background checks. Read more

BIPARTISAN SENATE GROUP TO PUSH HIGH-SKILL IMMIGRANT BILL. A group of Democratic and Republican senators plan to introduce a bill that would make it easier for certain types of immigrants who work in technology to gain visas, The Hill reports. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Chris Coons, D-Del., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ?proposes to increase the cap for H-1B visas to 115,000 from the current cap of 65,000,? writes The Hill. ?It would also create a ?market-based H-1B escalator? that would allow for additional visas to be made available to foreign workers if the cap is hit early during a particular year.? Read more

CRAPO: CORDRAY APPOINTMENT ?PREMATURE.? Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Utah, the ranking member on the Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment, lambasted President Obama for tapping Rob Cordray to serve as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying that the bureau itself still needed to be restructured and noting that 44 Republican senators had signed a letter in 2011 vowing opposition to any nominee until changes to the bureau were made. ?Until key structural changes are made to the bureau to ensure accountability and transparency, I will continue my opposition to any nominee for director,? Crapo said in a statement.

THREE MONTHS AFTER SANDY, AID BILL SET FOR FINAL VOTE. Almost three months after Superstorm Sandy pounded the Northeast coast, lawmakers hope to complete an aid package next week for those affected. The Senate approved its own Sandy aid package Dec. 28, but House Speaker John Boehner unexpectedly pulled the bill from the House calendar and it was left unfinished when the 112th Congress adjourned for good. Last week, the House took the issue up again, passing a package of more than $50 billion in aid. The Senate will take up the bill on Monday. Read more

WHITE HOUSE

MARY JO WHITE FOR SEC CHAIR. In a Thursday ceremony, President Obama tapped attorney Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. White is known for her work as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, where she pursued white-collar-crime and complex securities- and financial-fraud cases. Obama also renominated Richard Cordray to serve as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray was promoted to the position last year with a recess appointment. In choosing White, the administration is signaling its plans to take a tougher stance with Wall Street, a response to liberal attacks that it has been too lenient with an industry that they argue brought the economy to its knees. Read more

EPA CHIEF CONFIRMATION FIGHT COULD TAKE CLIMATE CHANGE TO HILL. President Obama?s second Inaugural Address left no doubt about his desire to put climate change front and center in his second term. He?s likely to pursue his agenda through executive actions rather than legislation, at least initially. That could put the Environmental Protection Agency at the center of a political battle, as Senate Republicans use the process of confirming a new head of the agency as a chance to weigh in on or block what they see as regulatory overreach in pursuit of climate-change goals. Read more

GRANHOLM FOR LABOR SECRETARY? If President Obama is very concerned about income inequality, he should consider naming Jennifer Granholm as his next Labor secretary, argues National Journal's Jill Lawrence. The Current TV host and former two-term Michigan governor would be a highly symbolic choice, given that her Republican successor recently signed a law making Michigan ? birthplace of the organized labor movement ? a right-to-work state. She would also be a practical choice. It was during Granholm?s tenure that the auto industry, with Obama?s bailout, began its comeback. She is also favorably viewed in the labor community for looking to clean energy as a source of manufacturing jobs. Read more

KERRY: OBAMA?S DIPLOMAT. Over nearly three decades in the Senate and especially during the past four years of the Obama administration, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has often played the role of the calm diplomat and the closer in negotiations. Now, he hopes to use that experience as the next secretary of State. Kerry will arrive at State with several advantages, including his close ties to the White House and a high profile as a former presidential candidate. ?Kerry sees himself as a diplomat, someone who can engage in smart, effective diplomacy to get results,? Brookings Institution fellow Shadi Hamid said. ?He will be comfortable in that negotiation role of sitting down with leaders and trying to hammer things out.? Read more

BID-RIGGING PROBE AT USAID. The Justice Department is looking into potential contract-rigging allegations at USAID, the agency that distributes foreign aid, the Associated Press reported. The investigation involves the general counsel at the agency and the deputy administrator, who may have interfered with an internal investigation in what is being described as a canceled contract. As the AP reports: ?The original investigation focused on whether Lisa Gomer, USAID general counsel, may have ?wired? a contract last May so the winner of the solicitation would be the agency's retiring chief financial officer, David Ostermeyer.?? But the AP notes that Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg may have tried to interfere with USAID?s inspector general, an independent watchdog within the agency. Read more

NATIONAL SECURITY

KERRY HEARING FREE OF SPEED BUMPS. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., President Obama?s nominee to replace current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a confirmation hearing Thursday. Kerry, who had chaired that very committee the past four years, is not expected to face significant resistance in the confirmation process. And the hearing did nothing to suggest otherwise. Kerry expressed a ?strength at home means strength abroad? approach to foreign policy, and added that foreign policy couldn?t be done ?by drones and deployments alone.? A protester criticizing U.S. action in the Middle East briefly interrupted the proceedings, but Kerry remained unfazed, citing his early years in Washington during significant opposition to the Vietnam War. Read more

MALI REBELS SPLIT AFTER ?PUNISHING? AIRSTRIKES FROM FRENCH. A possible turning point occurred Thursday in the ongoing clash between French forces and Islamist rebel groups in northern Mali. After a round of ?punishing? airstrikes, according to the Associated Press, one of the rebel groups indicated a willingness to negotiate an end to their siege and possibly even fight against their former allies. The conflict has become more notable in the U.S. since the White House admitted to providing military assistance to French forces and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton mentioned the region as a new hotbed for al-Qaida-linked extremist groups in her testimony before the Senate this week. Read more

U.N. TO INVESTIGATE U.S. DRONE PROGRAM?S LEGALITY. Arguments over the legality of the U.S. drone program have raged for years, and the United Nations will be the next to weigh in on the issue, reports Wired. The organization will investigate what ?applicable legal framework? is used in targeted killings. Afghanistan is the only internationally recognized ?conflict zone? out of several countries where drone strikes have occurred, and currently, the U.S. uses a legal premise for its drone program based on a 2001 act of Congress that is unrecognized by many other nations. Read more

POST- U.N. SANCTIONS, N. KOREA VOWS NUCLEAR TEST ?TARGETED? AT U.S. North Korea announced plans Thursday to launch a variety of satellites and long-range rockets, and to conduct a nuclear-weapons test ?targeted? at the U.S., ?the sworn enemy of the Korean people.? The statement came on the heels of a new round of United Nations sanctions and a U.N. condemnation of a Dec. 12 North Korean rocket launch. No timetable was given for the coming tests, which, if successful, would be the nation?s first nuclear test since leader Kim Jong-un came to power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. Read more

POLITICS

GOP PLOTS PATH BACK TO POWER. With President Obama?s second inauguration still ringing in their ears, Republican national party leaders are hunkering down for three days of soul-searching in Charlotte, N.C. The most obvious hurdle on the path back to power will be improving the party?s image among minorities, women and young voters, who constitute a growing share of the electorate and rejected GOP nominee Mitt Romney as out of date and out of touch. On Thursday, Newt Gingrich blasted Romney at the conference for his ?47 percent? remarks that alienated large segments of the electorate. Read more

LAUTENBERG BASHES BOOKER?S PERFORMANCE. Days after Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey compared Newark Mayor Cory Booker to one of his disobedient children who needs a spanking, he again criticized the two-term mayor?s job performance. ?He?s got a lot of work to do ? a lot of work that should have been done and hasn?t been done,? Lautenberg told National Journal. He described Newark as a ?city in desperate need of attention,? adding that ?maybe if the mayor can solidify the fact that he wants to improve Newark by being there, things would be different. But he?s free to do as he wants to do.? Read more

CHRIS CHRISTIE WINS OVER MARK ZUCKERBERG. In a sign of New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie?s strength heading into his 2013 reelection campaign, he has won over the founder of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg will be holding a February fundraiser for the governor at his Palo Alto, Calif., house, Christie strategist Mike DuHaime confirmed to National Journal. ?We have not asked for any help beyond the fundraiser at this point,? DuHaime wrote in an e-mail. ?Governor Christie is very appreciative of the support.? Read more

FOR OBAMA, SOCIAL EQUALITY WILL COME EASY, ECONOMIC EQUALITY NOT SO MUCH. Equality was the North Star in President Obama?s Inaugural Address this week. But the speech defined the idea around two distinct poles, and his path to progress is much clearer on one than the other, writes NJ?s Ronald Brownstein. Obama argued that fidelity to America?s founding beliefs requires a widening circle of economic opportunity and social tolerance. On this point, he had the wind of history at his back. The process is often circuitous and, as Obama noted, fiercely contested, but America through its history has consistently razed legal barriers and eventually welcomed the contributions of groups once marginalized or even scorned. But the president?s prospects are much murkier on expanding economic opportunity and reversing inequality. Read more

THE WANING OF THE WAXMAN-BERMAN MACHINE. The path to power and political office in Southern California once ran through Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., two liberal Los Angeles-area lawmakers who have been friends for half-a-century. In their heyday, the two dished out campaign cash, forged alliances, drew districts for friends (and themselves), and developed microtargeting techniques before a word for it even existed, as National Journal?s Shane Goldmacher reports. ?When I was a kid, I remember reading and hearing about the Waxman-Berman machine and what a powerhouse they were in Democratic politics,? says recently retired GOP Rep. David Dreier, who had represented Southern California for 30 years in the House. Read more

ENERGY

KERRY GIVES NO HINTS ON KEYSTONE PERMIT. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., gave no indication of his intentions for the Keystone XL pipeline at his confirmation hearing for secretary of State on Thursday, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The State Department must review the proposed pipeline because it crosses an international border and will decide whether to issue the project a permit this spring. ?It will not be long before that comes across my desk, and I will make the appropriate judgments about it,? Kerry said at the hearing. Read more

CLIMATE, ENERGY WOULD BE KERRY PRIORITIES. Kerry did make clear that climate change and energy policy would be high priorities in his State Department, the Washington Post reported. In his opening statement, the Massachusetts senator, whose career has been marked by climate advocacy and support for renewable energy, referred to climate change as a ?life-threatening? issue. In response to comments from Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., arguing against strong environmental policies, Kerry said, ?the solution to climate change is energy policy. You want to do business and do it well in America, we got to get into the energy race.? He also called the clean-energy industry ?a job-creator.? Read more

COURT DECLINES TO REVIEW EPA CROSS-STATE AIR RULING. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington declined on Thursday a request by the Environmental Protection Agency to review an August ruling that struck down an agency regulation capping sulfur-dioxide emissions in 28 states, Bloomberg reported. The move lets stand the 2-1 decision that found EPA had overstepped its legal authority in issuing the regulation. Per the ruling, EPA will enforce an older rule for interstate pollution while it formulates an acceptable alternative to the regulation that has been struck down. Read more

PETROLEUM LOBBY ARM QUADRUPLES SPENDING. The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers spent $2 million in the last quarter of 2012, a fourfold increase over its fourth-quarter spending in 2011, The Hill reported on Thursday. The group has been busy lobbying on behalf of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and in opposition to a mandate that requires the industry to blend billions of gallons of biofuel into its products, among other initiatives. Despite the lobby?s increased efforts, the EPA has rolled out a number of emissions rules the group had sought to block, according to The Hill. Read more

ECONOMY & BUDGET

ON GEITHNER?S LAST DAY, TALK OF ?TRAGIC TENSION.?? It?s Timothy Geithner?s last day on the job, and in an interview with The New Republic, the outgoing Treasury Secretary reflects on his tenure, including attempts to chip away at financial reforms such as the Dodd-Frank Act, which he surmises: "does not have much political force now." He is also philosophical about the efforts of the government to avert a meltdown while at the same time punishing wrongdoers. ?My own view was that it was going to be very hard, if not impossible, to design a financial rescue that was going to be effective in protecting all the innocent victims hit by the crisis and still satisfy the completely understandable public desire for justice and accountability," he said, adding:?"Those things were in direct and tragic tension, never resolvable at that time." Read more

COULD LEW?S CITIGROUP BACKGROUND HURT HIM? Not much is known about Treasury Secretary nominee Jacob Lew?s time at Citigroup. There, as Chief Operating Officer, he oversaw some of the bank?s most toxic assets, also serving during the financial crisis, when the back accepted a massive taxpayer-financed bailout. Senate Republicans, already smarting from the tough line Lew has taken in budget negotiations, are ready to press him on his ties to Wall Street, The Washington Post reports. ?The Treasury secretary can?t owe anyone on Wall Street any favors. He has to be independent from special interests and put taxpayers first,? Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement. He intendeds to question Lew about a $940,000 bonus he received just before the bank bailout. Read more

WHY NEW-HOME SALES NUMBERS ARE IMPORTANT. The new-home sales numbers are out at 10 a.m., and they will be a good read on just how well the economy is doing. As USA Today?s John Waggoner writes: ?Why the focus on new homes? Because they require considerable labor to construct, which is good for the economy and the hard-hit construction sector. Rising new-home sales also mean more work for people in the raw materials and manufacturing sectors: It takes a heap of plumbing to make a house a home.? The consensus number for sales is 385,000, which would be the highest since April 2010, but some expect it to be higher. Earlier this week, the existing home sales report was a disappointment, though numbers were up for 2012 overall. Read more

COMMISSIONER WHO WROTE DODD-FRANK RULES TO RESIGN. Jill Sommers, a commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will be stepping down from her post at some point after the first quarter, the commission announced today. Sommers, one of two Republicans on the five-member commission, told Bloomberg News that she had been mulling the decision ?for months,? and that her departure was not ?abrupt.? As Bloomberg reports, ?CFTC has spent more than two years writing Dodd-Frank Act rules to bolster oversight of the $639 trillion swaps market and the futures industry after a shortfall in customer funds at failed brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd.? The agency is preparing final rules regarding trading platforms, after issuing rules on data reporting.?Read more??

HEALTH CARE

MARCH FOR LIFE DESCENDS ON WASHINGTON. The annual March for Life will bring thousands of antiabortion activists to the city today in a rally on the National Mall and a demonstration on the steps of the Supreme Court. House Speaker John Boehner will address the crowd by video, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Reps. Diane Black, R-Tenn., and Chris Smith, R-N.J., will join former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in speaking to the crowd at the noon rally.

KAISER: AMERICANS WANT EXCHANGES. A full 55percent of the public, including majorities of Republicans and Democrats, say state-based health insurance exchanges should be a top priority for their state government, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health. ?Governors are largely splitting along partisan lines on the exchanges, but the public is not. People like the idea,? said Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. As of right now, just 18 states and the District of Columbia have decided to create their own exchange, and seven others will partner with the federal government for their exchange.

AHA REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HOSPITALS. A new report from the American Hospital Association estimates the economic impact of hospitals, noting that the health care sector has grown and added jobs, even in times of recession. Hospitals, according to the report, employ nearly 5.5 million people and are the second-largest source of private-sector jobs. They also spend more than $702 billion on goods and services from other businesses, a figure which leads the AHA to estimate every dollar spent by a hospital supports $2.30 of additional business activity.

PRICE TO COCHAIR HEALTH CAUCUS. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., will cochair the Congressional Health Care Caucus in the 113th Congress, according to Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas, the outgoing chairman. ?As a fellow physician and Member of the Ways & Means and Budget committees, Dr. Price is an influential member of the House, always striving to develop policies to improve the health care system for the American people,? Burgess said in a release.


(YOU DON?T NEED TO KNOW. Former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., may be done in Congress, but that joint he?s about to light isn?t to celebrate the end of his tenure. He?s just holding up his end of a bet. Tancredo ??normally a staunch conservative force ? was actually a proponent of Colorado?s referendum to legalize marijuana in the last election. So much so, in fact, that he appeared in a promotional film to support it. In it, Tancredo agreed to a bet that he would smoke pot if it passed (he didn?t think it would). But Tancredo is a man of his word; he told Fox News that he?ll be toking up soon. Read more)


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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/plan-gop-recovery-075814026--politics.html

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Villanova Upsets Syracuse 75-71 In Overtime (VIDEO)

PHILADELPHIA ? Ryan Arcidiacono hit the tying 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left in regulation, and James Bell hit consecutive 3s in overtime to send Villanova to its second win over a Top 5 team this week, 75-71 over No. 3 Syracuse on Saturday.

The Wildcats defeated No. 5 Louisville 73-64 on Tuesday and became the first unranked team to beat two Top 5 teams in the same season since Florida State in 2011-12, according to STATS LLC.

Arcidiacono's 3-point attempt to tie with about 25 seconds left in regulation was off the mark. Syracuse's Michael Carter-Williams missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and JayVaughn Pinkston of the Wildcats grabbed the rebound.

Bell missed a 3 and Mouphtaou Yarou grabbed the offensive rebound. Syracuse decided not to foul, giving Yarou time to kick it out to Arcidiacono. He let go a leaner from just beyond the 3-point line to tie the game at 61, force overtime and send the crowd into a frenzy.

With the Orange (18-2, 6-1 Big East) down two points in overtime, Brandon Triche made one free throw with 46.5 seconds left.

Bell followed with a layup to for a 71-68 lead and the Wildcats (13-7, 4-3) held on from the free throw line.

Philly's college fans came down with a case of court-storming fever this week after Villanova's win over Louisville and La Salle's 54-53 win the next night over No. 9 Butler. At the Wells Fargo Center, home of the NHL's Flyers, the fans made it a Philly hoops hat trick, rushing the court in celebration of one of the biggest regular-season weeks in Villanova history.

Florida State beat No.3 North Carolina and No. 4 Duke in its big week.

Darrun Hilliard scored 25 points and Yarou had 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Wildcats while Bell scored 13 points.

Triche led the Orange with 23 points and Carter-Williams scored 17 points. The Orange had an eight-game winning streak and both of their losses came to Philadelphia teams. They lost to Temple on Dec. 22.

The Orange clearly could have use James Southerland in the tight game. Southerland, second on the team in scoring at 13.6 points and the team leader with 33 3-pointers, was declared out indefinitely because of an eligibility matter involving academics that has yet to be resolved.

Jerami Grant, who played well in Southerland's absence, fouled out with 5:22 left and the Orange up one. His fifth foul was against Hilliard. Hilliard missed both from the line, the Orange stormed down in transition off the defensive board, and Triche hit a 3 for a 57-53 lead.

The Orange just could never put them away. They missed six of eight shots in overtime and were only 5 of 14 overall from 3-point range.

Grant's 3-pointer early in the second half gave the Orange their first lead of the game, 33-32.

The Wildcats gave all the students standing behind each basket and dressed in white an early reason to think they would be rushing again. They opened the game on a 10-0 run and stretched the lead to 25-13. But the fun didn't last long.

Triche, a 50 percent shooter on the season, hit Syracuse's first 3-pointer of the half to slice the lead to four. He tipped in a basket at the buzzer to cut the lead to 32-26.

Syracuse missed 10 of its first 14 shots and finished at 29 percent for the half.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/26/villanova-syracuse-overtime-video-upset_n_2558410.html

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Purported Relativity Paradox Resolved

Science is alive and well in at least the Physics community. Whilst I won't even pretend to understand General Relativity, the questioning of it and discussion about those questions is the true essence of science.

Sigh. General Relativity was not even at question here. Perhaps commenting on Slashdot should require a minimum amount of knowing what one is talking about. AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. Sigh.

At any rate, electrical engineers tend to view parts of Special Relativity in isolation. That makes them easier to handle and "visualize" in some respects, but much harder to deal with interactions. Minkovsky vectors and tensors are what theoretical physicists use instead, grouping several codependent field parts into one entity that can then be transformed as a whole.

So the physicists will most likely just have employed a better mathematical toolbox for resolving the "paradox". I've not actually read the original Einstein papers, but I would not be much surprised if his equations were closer to what Electrical Engineers get to deal with than what Theoretical Physicists do. Shaking out all that tensor stuff is more or less elegant wrapup work.

That sort of approach was, however, at the core of General Relativity, and mastering it took quite a bit more time for Einstein. I seem to remember that he discussed the underpinnings with Hilbert, and Hilbert came up with the general equations independently within something like a week, but retracted his papers out of respect for Einstein doing all the visionary groundwork as well as shouldering the math (though being quite slower at it than well-versed mathematicians).

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/GzYmt1FdzOM/story01.htm

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