It's been eight years and nine days since Microsoft showed the world the Xbox 360 on May 12th, 2005. Today, we see what's next. The Xbox One.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Greying China taps rural elderly to care for those even older
By Li Hui and Maxim Duncan
QIANTUN, China (Reuters) - Two years short of 70, Zhang Guosheng spends his days caring for an 81-year-old fellow villager - washing his clothes, bringing meals to his bed, and keeping him company - a routine he'll keep up until he himself needs the type of care he is now giving.
"Living here is better than staying at home alone. We help each other and have a common language," said the spritely Zhang, an enthusiastic dancer. "We are very happy here."
With younger villagers who would traditionally have looked after their parents and grandparents flocking to the booming cities to seek work as part of Beijing's urbanization drive, Qiantun village in northern China's Hebei province has had to pioneer a new model - the old looking after the even older.
Surrounded by green wheat fields that stretch across a flat plain, Qiantun is unremarkable among countless rural Chinese communities, but its old-age care model is now a prototype cited by central government as a solution to the daunting challenge of caring for a vast and rapidly greying rural population.
One of every four Chinese will be older than 60 by 2030, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Massive rural-to-urban migration will further strain the rural areas' ability to provide care for the elderly, as personal savings and family support remain the primary pillars of old-age care.
"Migrants to urban areas are mainly young adults, leaving mostly the elderly in villages with children," said Wang Dewen, an expert with the World Bank's Beijing office. "The formal eldercare system in rural areas is very weak, and basically a blank spot in many places."
As a result, the gap between the number of elderly in rural and urban areas is expected to balloon over the next 15 years, to 11 percentage points from today's 1.24 percentage points, the ministry projects.
The costs of caring for China's rapidly expanding elderly population are likely to be too heavy a burden for the government, forcing Beijing to find cost-effective and creative ways to provide care in myriad localities. The self-help model practiced among the 1,500 residents of Qiantun offers a cheaper and streamlined alternative to a state-run system.
More than 95 percent of China's rural elderly still adhere to the traditional practice of seeking old-age care within their families, Wang said. But families are no longer able to cope, with youth and even middle-aged people heading to cities to find work, leaving the elderly behind to fend for themselves.
THE "LIGHT" OF FEIXIANG
In their search for affordable eldercare models, Beijing's leaders have turned their attention 450 km (280 miles) to the south in Hebei's Feixiang county, where Qiantun lies. The practice of old people taking care of each other posed a simple and attractive solution.
Labeled "mutual assist eldercare", the Feixiang model is set to be expanded to the rest of rural China, with 3 billion yuan ($490 million) set aside by the central government to get it started over the coming three years.
"The light of Feixiang will shine across China," Li Liguo, minister of civil affairs, declared enthusiastically during a trip to Feixiang in 2011. "Feixiang has set an example for the whole country."
But not everyone is as optimistic about the model.
"As people get older, they don't tend to get healthier. So if you have somebody in their sixties caring for somebody in their nineties, are they going to be able, and trained and strong enough themselves to care for somebody who has chronic conditions?" said Tony Buccheri, a manager with Right at Home International, a U.S.-based senior home care provider that offers services in China through a partner.
Buccheri's concern echoes that of Cai Qingyang, pioneer of the model and Qiantun's village chief.
"Old people with critical illnesses need more than the very basic care provided here, and we will have to think of other ways to care for them," said the 61 year-old former soldier Cai, watching several old villagers dancing in the yard.
"But this really is the only feasible way given the local elder care situation. The village and the government simply can't afford proper institutional care for every aged rural resident," Cai added.
In 2008, Cai sought to do something about the lack of care for rural elderly left behind as young adults sought better paying work in cities. He turned an abandoned brick house into an old-age home, where 25 elderly villagers moved into 11 rooms, keeping each other company, sharing meals, as well as farming and doing housework.
His innovation has thrived under state support and more than a dozen other provinces have replicated the model.
OLD BEFORE RICH
What separates China's ageing pattern from that in other Asian societies such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore is that the country is still relatively poor on a per capita basis. The phrase "getting old before rich" reflects the fact that even though China's economic growth remains robust, its demographics work against it.
Those in the emerging middle class have more options among at-home care providers, and public as well as private senior homes, and are more likely to find them affordable.
The rural elderly have fewer resources and fewer choices, while youth migration patterns unstitch the traditional family safety net. And despite years of efforts by China's leaders, the income gap between urban and rural residents has increased. A report published by the World Bank last year noted that rural elderly have "remained consistently poorer than the urban elderly over time".
Nor is that likely to change. Two-thirds of elderly Chinese currently live in rural areas, and although migration patterns cloud demographic estimates, many demographers believe the majority of China's elderly will remain in the countryside.
To meet the challenge, says the World Bank's Wang, China must make its urbanization an equalizer of basic social services for urban and rural residents. To do that, he adds, it must reform the household registration system that ties social services to people's registered home, to facilitate family migration to cities and receive care there.
But in the short term, rural areas such as Qiantun, which has three times as many elderly residents as young adults, can only make do with the resources they have. The government provides 600 yuan ($97.68) a year in subsidies for each of the 30 elderly Qiantun villagers at the centre. Their average age is 75.
By contrast, offering professional care at an old-age care institution would cost a minimum of ten times as much, 6,000 yuan a year, according to government estimates, offset by a mere 120 yuan annual subsidy from the government.
At the Qiantun villager centre, "old" Zhang, as he is known, talks about the future as he brings a bowl of dumplings and medicine to the bedside of his charge, bedridden by a broken thigh bone.
"He can't move around now, I help him," said a still spry Zhang. "When I can't move, someone will also care for me."
($1 = 6.1428 Chinese yuan)
(Editing by Ben Blanchard and Ian Geoghegan)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greying-china-taps-rural-elderly-care-those-even-041855642.html
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Russia's Karjakin wins Norway chess tournament
STAVANGER, Norway (AP) ? Russia's Sergey Karjakin won the ?100,000 ($130,000) Norway chess championship on Saturday after drawing against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.
Karjakin needed only a draw against Topalov to take the top prize after the world No. 1 player Magnus Carlsen failed to win against Levon Aronian from Armenia, ranked No. 2.
Karjakin led the nine-day tournament from the beginning, winning his first four games and starting the day on 5.5 points, half a point ahead of Carlsen. He took over five hours to secure the draw.
Playing white, Karjakin handed an early initiative to his opponent with a passive bishop move to e3, giving Topalov hope of a first victory in this tournament.
"I got into a bad position, but I knew if I could get a draw I was in with a good chance of winning," Karjakin said. "O.K. I didn't play very well here today, but I thought that I would still have huge chances for first place."
There had been high hopes for Carlsen, playing on home ground, but the 22-year-old Norwegian said he had not played his best chess since the event began here on May 7.
"I think my play was a little off. In general, the positions I got from white openings weren't that bad. I just made some mistakes later on," Calsen said. "Karjakin deserves to win."
Carlsen faces India's five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand in November in the holder's home town of Chennai.
The pair met earlier in the tournament, neither securing a victory which would have handed one of them the psychological advantage going into the final few months of their preparation.
The Norway tournament attracted eight of the world's top 10 players.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russias-karjakin-wins-norway-chess-tournament-185426958.html
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Ex-Pa. officer once hailed as hero faces charges
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A former Philadelphia police officer once hailed as a hero and given a seat next to the first lady at a speech by President Obama has been arrested and charged with rape and other crimes.
Authorities allege that former officer Richard DeCoatsworth left a party with two females early Thursday and took them to another location, where they allege that he produced a handgun and "forced the two females to engage in the use of narcotics and sexual acts."
A police spokeswoman said the two called police after he left, and 27-year-old DeCoatsworth was charged with rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats and related offenses.
DeCoatsworth was hailed as a hero after he was shot in the face during a traffic stop in September 2007 but still managed to chase after his attacker, who was later sentenced to 36 to 72 years in prison.
DeCoatsworth was invited by Vice President Joe Biden to attend the president's televised February 2009 address to Congress and sat with first lady Michelle Obama. He said he didn't know why he had been singled out, but being in the presence of the nation's leaders was an honor "that I will keep with me for the rest of my life."
WCAU-TV, which first reported his arrest, said DeCoatsworth retired from the department on disability in December 2011.
Police said no other information on the alleged attack would be released Saturday to protect the victims and the integrity of the ongoing investigation. Authorities declined to say give even general locations for the party and alleged crime scene and also wouldn't say when DeCoatsworth was arrested.
A listed number for DeCoatsworth has been disconnected and it was unclear whether he had an attorney.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told a Philadelphia Daily News columnist in February of last year that he believed he had made a mistake in granting the former officer's request to go back to work too soon after he was shot.
"God bless him for still wanting to get out there and do police work, but did I act in his best interest? In hindsight, I would say probably not," Ramsey told columnist Sty Bykofsky.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-pa-officer-once-hailed-hero-faces-charges-181200222.html
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Saturday, May 18, 2013
NM mom: I followed instincts in chasing abductor
Melissa Torrez, 27, holds her 4-year-old daughter in her apartment in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, May 17, 2013. Torrez chased down a man for miles and ran into his car Wednesday, May 15, after he abducted her daughter. She told The Associated Press her ?mother's instincts? kicked in when she launched her chase. Police later arrested 31-year-old David Hernandez and charged him with kidnapping and child abuse. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)
Melissa Torrez, 27, holds her 4-year-old daughter in her apartment in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, May 17, 2013. Torrez chased down a man for miles and ran into his car Wednesday, May 15, after he abducted her daughter. She told The Associated Press her ?mother's instincts? kicked in when she launched her chase. Police later arrested 31-year-old David Hernandez and charged him with kidnapping and child abuse. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)
This undated photo provided by the Albuquerque police department shows David Hernandez, 31, who was arrested Thursday, May 16, 2013 on kidnapping charges. Police say a mother whose 4-year-old daughter was being abducted from an Albuquerque, N.M. apartment complex chased Hernandez on Wednesday and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt. The 4-year-old was found later, uninjured, police said. (AP Photo/Courtesy Albuquerque Police Department)
Melissa Torrez, 27, holds her 4-year-old daughter in her apartment in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, May 17, 2013. Torrez chased down a man for miles and ran into his car Wednesday, May 15, after he abducted her daughter. She told The Associated Press her ?mother's instincts? kicked in when she launched her chase. Police later arrested 31-year-old David Hernandez and charged him with kidnapping and child abuse. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)
This undated photo provided by the Albuquerque police department shows David Hernandez, 31, who was arrested Thursday, May 16, 2013 on kidnapping charges. Police say a mother whose 4-year-old daughter was being abducted from an Albuquerque, N.M. apartment complex chased Hernandez on Wednesday and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt. The 4-year-old was found later, uninjured, police said. (AP Photo/Courtesy Albuquerque Police Department)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? Melissa Torrez didn't even think when teenagers in her apartment complex said a man had just grabbed her 4-year-old girl and drove away.
She jumped in her car and began chasing the brown Buick through traffic, zigzagging on Interstate 40 at high speeds and staying with the car even as it bluffed trying to exit in an attempt to lose her.
Many called Torrez a hero after her story came out Wednesday. But Torrez said Friday that she was just a mother following her instincts.
"My mind went black. I grabbed my keys," said the 27-year-old mother of three. "I just got in my car and I ... went looking for her."
Torrez said she remained only focused on getting her daughter back and quickly drove around the complex as teenagers chased the suspected abductor, later identified by police as 31-year-old David Hernandez. The teenagers pointed out his whereabouts, she said.
Torrez said she eventually found a man in a brown Buick who led her on a high-speed chase throughout Albuquerque.
"I felt like I was flying ... as if I didn't have my soul or something," she said.
The frantic mom was able to corner the man in the Buick at an apartment complex with no exit. She said as she drove toward his vehicle, she lost control of her car and struck his car.
"I wasn't trying to hit it because I thought my daughter was inside," Torrez said.
Torrez said the man got out of the car and raised his hands but took off running when police arrived. She then ran toward the car to search for her daughter but the vehicle was empty. An empty infant car seat was the only thing left.
According to a police report, Hernandez pushed the 4-year-old out of the car at the Saint Anthony's Plaza Apartment complex shortly after the abduction "presumably once he noticed Torrez had been notified and was following him."
Authorities said the child was uninjured.
Torrez said she found out that her daughter was safe when neighbors called her.
Police arrested Hernandez the next day following a massive manhunt that involved Homeland Security Investigations and the newly created multiagency called Sexual Predator and Exploitation Enforcement Detail, or SPEED, a task force aimed at finding missing and abducted children.
Hernandez was charged with kidnapping and child abuse. He told reporters Thursday he was innocent.
It was unclear if he had an attorney.
Police were also investigating a possible connection to the abduction and sexual assault of a 6-year-old from the same apartment complex last week. The suspect in that case was described as a male in a silver or gray vehicle.
Torrez said the ordeal has left her on edge. "I'm overprotective, but I'm even more overprotective now," she said. "That's my baby."
___
Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras.
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Google Glass rooted and hacked to run Ubuntu live at Google I/O
Today at Google I/O the company held a session entitled "Voiding your Warranty" where employees demonstrated how to root Google Glass and install Ubuntu on it. What you're seeing above is a screenshot from a laptop running a terminal window on top and showing the screencast output from Glass on the bottom -- here running the standard Android launcher instead of the familiar cards interface. The steps involve pushing some APKs (Launcher, Settings and Notepad) to the device using adb, then pairing Glass with a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. After this, it's possible to unlock the bootloader with fastboot and flash a new boot image to gain root access. From there you have full access to Glass -- just like that! Running Ubuntu requires a couple more apps to be installed, namely Android Terminal Emulator and Complete Linux Installer. The latter lets you download and boot your favorite linux distro (Ubuntu, in this case). You're then able to use SSH or VNC to access Ubuntu running right on Glass. We captured a few screenshots of the process in our gallery. Follow the links below for more info -- just be careful not to brick your Glass okay?
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Google
Source: Google I/O 2013
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/aHxmS_0PPrw/
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Friday, May 17, 2013
Shug McGaughey expecting Orb to continue winning streak ... - Bettor
Shug McGaughey expecting Orb to continue winning streak ? Horseracing news
Shug McGaughey is hopeful that Orb will be able to continue his winning streak by claiming the Preakness Stakes (Grade 1) at Pimlico in the United States of America. The race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18, 2013.
At the moment, the young challenger has been given the best odds by different betting sites, which shows that he is definitely going to attract a lot of bets from the punters. However, he has not been rated as the outright favourite to succeed, which has disappointed his team to some extent.
Despite that, McGaughey is staying optimistic about the race and said, ?Obviously if I was going to pick the post, I wouldn't have picked post one. But with only nine horses in there and with a rider like Joel [Rosario], he's going to figure out what to do. He'll have him in the right spot. I'm looking forward to Saturday afternoon.?
Orb started off his career in January this year and proved to be dominant in his first ever outing. He continued delivering good results over the next few months and is currently unbeaten with four race victories to his name.
Although the young stallion has got off to a great start to his career, it will be extremely difficult for him to maintain a 100 percent winning percentage. If he manages to do so, he will be rated right up there with the likes of Frankel and Black Caviar, who remained unbeaten in their respective careers before retiring to stud.
However, the three-year-old colt will have to battle hard in the upcoming event, which has attracted some fierce competitors.
This is not a worry for McGaughey though, as he stated, ?The one post here is different than the one post at Churchill Downs. It's not going to be a concern. We've got an even-money shot in the Preakness. What more could I ask for??
The real challenge for Orb will be to weather the storm from Departing, who is quite a talented stallion and has been performing well too. Therefore, the competition will be an interesting one and the punters will have to place their bets carefully.
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Visualized: Google I/O's colorful circle of ChromeBook Pixels
Google loves to use I/O as a platform for sharing its creativity with the world. This year, one of the masterpieces is a circular edifice consisting of two lines of Chromebook Pixels, with each keyboard on the outside. Ultimately, the artistic monument appears to highlight the Pixel's touchscreen and high-def display, as it flashes a wide variety of colorful imagery and music as you interact with each monitor. We have a gallery of images and a brief video below, showing off some of what this clever spheroid of Chrome OS can do.
Filed under: Displays, Laptops, Google
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How This 116-Story Skyscraper Will "Confuse" the Wind
Last week, when Smith + Gill Architects unveiled its design for Imperial Tower, which will become Mumbai?s tallest building (by a lot!), their description of the project confounded many critics. ?The building,? the architects explained, ?is designed to confuse the wind.? Huh? Curious to know exactly what that meant, I got in touch with the Gordon Gill, one half of the Chicago-based office.
There aren?t many skyscrapers in the city, which is part of the reason Smith + Gill?s design shocked so many people. Misgivings about the city's dramatic divide between rich and poor aside, the 116-story, kidney-shaped supertall will literally tower 1200 feet above the rest of Mumbai when it opens. The glass facade is punched with dozens of cut-outs?sometimes they?re balconies, sometimes they?re gardens, and sometimes they?re functionless.
According to Gill, the cut-out pattern isn?t ornamental?it?s a crucial structural detail that alleviates the negative pressure formed by wind buffeting the tall, thin structure. ?What happens is that the wind goes around it on one side, creating a vortex at the opposite end. The same thing happens on the other side, creating negative pressure, and pulling the building from side to side. If the building is smooth, you can end up with a harmonic movement, like a blade of grass in the wind.?
That?s why most supertalls have mass dampers on the roof?they counteract the natural vibration of the building. Imperial Tower, Gill explains, seeks to counteract vibration by breaking up the negative pressure that streams along the facade. ?I always say we?re basically tuning the building,? he says. ?If we think of this thing as an instrument, you?re cutting grooves into the body, you can basically define the characteristics of its behavior.?
There still aren?t a huge number of supertalls in the world?and spending the cash and years to build one doesn?t leave much room for experimentation. ?Ideas about wind behavior is still being developed,? Gill explains. ?When I was in school, the basic assumption was that an extruded tube was the perfect shape. Then it was an extruded square. The truth is, neither one of those is accurate.?
Instead, the office relies on data from a wind tunnel facility in Waterloo, Canada, to provide feedback on how the wind will react to particular footprint, environment, or facade. They also borrow ideas from auto and aerospace engineering; After all, structures that reach close to a half mile into the sky are more like space shuttles than buildings. And just like an early space mission, we won't know if this design actually works until it's tested. [Smith + Gill]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-this-116-story-skyscraper-will-confuse-the-wind-508206826
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Nikkei up after Japan gets nod from G7 on stimulus
BANGKOK (AP) ? Japan's stock market jumped Monday after global finance leaders gave a seal of approval to the country's stimulus program and refrained from criticizing its weakening effect on the yen. Stocks were mixed elsewhere in Asia.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo rose 1.1 percent to 14,765.29. The index has soared nearly 43 percent since the beginning of the year.
Finance leaders from the world's seven leading industrialized economies said at a meeting over the weekend in Britain that Japan's stimulus policies are aimed at boosting the domestic economy, which has been mired in stagnation since the 1990s, and not manipulating the yen.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, elected late last year on promises to revive the world's third-largest economy, has implemented a policy mix of increased public spending and aggressive monetary easing.
One result has been a dramatic fall in the value of the yen, which helps the country's export industries by making products more affordable in overseas markets while increasing the value of repatriated profits. On Thursday, the dollar rose above 100 yen for the first time in more than four years.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi was nearly unchanged at 1,945.52. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.1 percent to 23,071.67. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.2 percent to 5,196.10 after banking shares slid. Westpac Banking Corp. fell 3.8 percent and Macquarie Group shed 1.9 percent after both companies went ex-dividend.
Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia said some investors were sticking to the sidelines ahead of the release later in the day of data on fixed asset investment, including property development, in China. Expectations are for a 21.1 percent year-on-year increase; anything beyond raises the possibility of monetary tightening in the minds of analysts, Lucas said.
"A lot of people are talking about the possibility that China's central government may look to tighten to slow the economy down again," he said. China was also to report on industrial output and retail sales.
Commodities such as gold and oil fell Friday as the U.S. dollar continues to appreciate against the yen and other currencies. When the dollar rises against other currencies, it tends to weaken demand for commodities, hurting resource-related shares.
Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group, China's largest gold miner, fell 2.2 percent. Japanese energy explorer Inpex Corp. tumbled 6.1 percent.
On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 percent to close at 15,118.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 0.4 percent to 1,633.70. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.8 percent to 3,436.58.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 90 cents to $95.14 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 35 cents to $96.04 per barrel in Nymex trading on Friday in New York.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2975 from $1.2983 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 101.66 yen from 101.53 yen.
___
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nikkei-japan-gets-nod-g7-stimulus-032555033.html
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Monday, May 13, 2013
Kristen Wiig returns to 'SNL' with Target Lady
TV 
1 hour ago
NBC
Kristen Wiig brought Target Lady back to "Saturday Night Live."
Former "Saturday Night Live" castmember Kristen Wiig returned to host the show just a year shy of Mick Jagger giving her an emotional sendoff in last season's finale.
In her ridiculously charming opening monologue, Wiig sang to the tune of The Pointer Sisters? ?I?m So Excited? to show how good she felt about being back on "SNL." She explored backstage to prove how well she knew the show's inner workings, but at every turn she got the details totally wrong.
Wiig misidentified Jason Sudeikis and others, tasered Kenan Thompson, and thought the janitor?s closet was her old dressing room. (Maya Rudolph and Jonah Hill were inside the closet making out.)
PHOTOS: From Live TV to the Big Screen: 12 'SNL' Sketches Made Into Movies
But despite Wiig?s charisma, many of the sketches left little impression ? good or bad. Among the better of the show?s moments came when Wiig starred in a hilarious 1-800 Flowers ad celebrating mothers. Her mom (played by Kate McKinnon) was pretty terrible, asking if Wiig should keep the flowers because her ?apartment is so sad"; demanding to know if there were any nuts in her eggs benedict at a restaurant; and asking for updates about years-old celebrity scandals.
She reprised her role as Target Lady, the cashier from hell who comments on her customer?s every purchase.
?Degree deodorant,? she said in surprise disgust, looking at Aidy Bryant?s item. She asked Vanessa Bayer what she was buying Maxi Pads were for.
Wiig and Cecily Strongteamed up for a totally weird sketch that somehow worked. The women played two 30-somethings working in finance who were double dating with a pair of sixth graders (Bobby Moynihan and Tim Robinson). The women wreaked of ditzy desperation, remarking on how old they felt because the boys didn?t know who Steve Urkel was, and fawning over one of the young lad?s knowledge of dinosaurs.
VIDEO: 'SNL' Recap: Zach Galifianakis Plays 'Game of Game of Thrones'
Perennially unprepared music duo Garth and Kat (Fred Armisen and Wiig) reunited on "Weekend Update" to Seth Meyer?s annoyance. As always, the pair had not practiced, with Meyers noting the pair had a year to prepare yet hadn?t done so, and calling their effort ?terrible.?
In its cold open, "SNL"improbably combined the Cleveland kidnapping case, the Jodi Arias murder trial, and the U.S. Senate hearing on Benghazi. Republican Sen. Darrell Issa (Bill Hader) called on Arias (Nasim Pedrad) to testify. Democratic Sen. Elijah Cummings (Kenan Thompson) accused his colleague of bringing Arias onstage in order to increase TV ratings and draw more attention to the hearing.
?What?s next? The guy from Cleveland who kept those women in his basement?" asked an exasperated Cummings. As it turned out, accused Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro (Monihan) was on hand to demand when it would be his turn to testify.
"SNL" concludes season 38 next week with host Ben Affleck and musical guest Kanye West.
How did Wiig do? Which was your favorite skit? Tell us in the comments!
Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/kristen-wiig-returns-saturday-night-live-target-lady-1C9888228
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Gavin and Stacey - No Fat People Allowed on American TV? | Street ...
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Republican State Rep. Nate Bell quotes Hitler
PS ? It's a bogus quote. PPS ? Nate Bell defends Hitler citation.
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The Damien I Know - The Architect and the Inmate
Public for the first time, the woman who married Damien Echols discusses their relationship
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TV producer Bryant Huddleston disinvited as Imboden Ark., high school graduation speaker because he's gay
Our news partner Channel 4 has a news story that deserves repetition in full. More national headlines for the small people of Arkansas should follow directly.
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Loy Mauch update: The Republican rep is on record on slavery, too
Perhaps U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin might want to reconsider his earlier decision not to include Republican Rep. Loy Mauch on the list of Republican candidates he'd asked not to use his campaign contributions, having read some of what they'd written.
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John Rogers owns more photos than anyone, anywhere
Over the past three years, his Rogers Photo Archive in North Little Rock has been on a buying spree, purchasing the vast photo morgues of 11 great (and greatly cash-strapped) American newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times, The Denver Post, the Boston Herald and The Detroit News.
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18 killed in blasts near Turkish-Syrian border
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Two car bombs exploded in a Turkish town near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 22 others, officials and media reports said.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler told private NTV television that the explosions hit the town of Reyhanli, just across the border from Syria's Idlib province. One of the car bombs exploded outside the city hall while the other went off outside the post office, he said.
Guler said the number of injured had risen above 22 people, but he did not specify.
There was no immediate confirmation of Syrian involvement. Turkey, which shares a more than 500-mile border with Syria, has been a crucial supporter of the Syrian rebel cause and Ankara has allowed its territory to be used as a logistics base and staging center for Syrian insurgents.
At least 15 ambulances were helping the injured, the health ministry said. There was no immediate information on the identities of the victims.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed from Berlin that Turkey would act. "Those who for whatever reason attempt to bring the external chaos into our country will get a response," he said.
The frontier area has seen heavy fighting between rebels and the Syrian regime.? In February, a car bomb exploded at a border crossing with Turkey in Idlib, killing 14. Turkey's interior minister has blamed Syria's intelligence agencies and its army for involvement.
Four Syrians and a Turk are in custody in connection with the Feb. 11 attack at the Bab al-Hawa frontier post. No one has claimed responsibility, but a Syrian opposition faction accused the Syrian government of the bombing, saying it narrowly missed 13 leaders of the group.
In that bombing, most of the victims were Syrians who had been waiting in an area straddling the frontier for processing to enter Turkey.
Tensions flared between the Syrian regime and Turkey after shells fired from Syria landed on the Turkish side, prompting Germany, the Netherlands and the United States to send two batteries of Patriot air defense missiles each to protect their NATO ally.?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/18-killed-blasts-near-turkish-syrian-border-124613867.html
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
CBS anchor Pelley: Journalism's house is on fire
NEW YORK (AP) ? Top CBS News anchor Scott Pelley delivered a tongue-lashing to fellow journalists on Friday, urging them to worry less about the "vanity" of being first on a story and more about being right.
"This has been a bad few months for journalism," Pelley said. "We're getting the big stories wrong over and over again."
The "CBS Evening News" anchor made the criticism while accepting a journalism award named for broadcast executive Fred Friendly from Quinnipiac University. He didn't exempt himself, noting that during early reporting of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school massacre last December he mistakenly reported that shooter Adam Lanza's mother was a teacher in the school.
Media organizations were roundly criticized for falsely reporting an arrest of a Boston Marathon bombing suspect two days after the April 15 attack. Stories and pictures spread quickly on social media websites erroneously suggesting some people on the scene were suspects, and the images were used by some news organizations.
"In a world where everybody is a publisher, no one is an editor," Pelley said, "and we've arrived at the point today."
Twitter, Facebook and Reddit are "not journalism," he said. "That's gossip. Journalism was invented as an antidote to gossip."
He repeated a maxim heard often in newsrooms recently: "If you're first, no one will ever remember. If you're wrong, no one will ever forget."
The race to be first on stories is "vanity," he said. "It's self-conceit. We do it to make ourselves feel better."
Media critic Howard Kurtz apologized this week on his CNN show, "Reliable Sources," for messing up a story about NBA player Jason Collins and was sharply criticized by other media critics on the air.
Kurtz had written that Collins, who made headlines by being the first active player in one of the four major U.S. pro sports leagues to come out as gay, had hidden a previous engagement to a woman in his announcement. In fact, Collins revealed the engagement in his first-person Sports Illustrated story and in a subsequent ABC interview.
Kurtz's story was published on The Daily Beast website, which subsequently parted ways with Kurtz in a decision he said was long in the works. Kurtz said the story was riddled with errors and shouldn't have been written in the first place.
CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker said on Friday that he was comfortable with Kurtz's apology and had no plans to replace him on the weekly media criticism show.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cbs-anchor-pelley-journalisms-house-fire-195955949.html
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HTC One CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies now available
Nightly builds to begin rolling out "relatively soon" for both GSM and Sprint models of the One
With both a post on its official Google+ page and new thread in the HTC One forums at XDA, CyanogenMod has announced that CM10.1 nightlies are beginning to roll out for all models of the HTC One. Whether you have a GSM model or one running on Sprint, you can expect the first builds to show up on the get.cm site "relatively soon". These things take time, so while you're waiting you can follow the instructions from the forum post to make sure your device is ready. If you're running a GSM model you'll of course have to unlock the device via HTCDev, as well as have all of the downloads ready to flash a custom recovery and push all of the files over.
We're sure there are a whole lot of you that are ready to get cracking on some custom ROMs for your own HTC One, but following the right process will always help you in the long run. If you're unsure, you can always consult the forums and ask some questions before you dive in.
Source: XDA; +CyanogenMod; More: HTC One Forums
| |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/62vJNM7Ha-4/story01.htm
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Saturday, May 11, 2013
John Baird reaches out directly to Iranians, encouraging them to end ?clerical military dictatorship?
TORONTO ? Amid signs Tehran is suppressing opposition ahead of next month?s presidential election, Foreign Minister John Baird reached out directly to Iranians on Friday to encourage them to end the country?s ?clerical military dictatorship.?
At a conference in Toronto that is using social media to engage participants within Iran, Mr. Baird said Canada should have done more to support the Green Movement that took to the streets following the 2009 ?stolen election? that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
But he said this time Canada would stand with democratic voices, which are often brutally suppressed in Iran but which the two-day Global Dialogue conference at the University of Toronto aims to amplify, largely through the Internet, ahead of the June 14 vote.
?On this, we all agree: the people of Iran deserve free and fair elections. Not another version of the Ayatollah Khameini?s never-ending shell game of presidential puppets. Not the rise of a regressive clerical military dictatorship. But robust elections which take power out of the hands of puppet masters and place it in your hands,? he said.
Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran last September, citing the regime?s human rights abuses, rogue nuclear program, threats to destroy Israel and lack of security at the embassy in Tehran. The government also officially designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism.
In addition, Canada listed the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as well as the Iranian proxy Hezbollah, as terrorist groups. Canada also participates in the United Nations sanctions program that has isolated Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
But with an election looming, Ottawa is now trying to circumvent the regime by speaking directly to Iranians ? an approach made possible by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. The conference will debate the Iranian economy, political freedom, equality of women and Iran?s diplomatic isolation.
Participants inside Iran are being encouraged to take part and ask questions through virtual channels. Government officials said Iran was already trying to prevent Iranians from participating by blocking Internet access. But they said they were confident the message would reach Iranians.
In the notes for his speech, obtained by the National Post, the minister urged Iranians to imagine an Iran with a political culture of ?inclusiveness and freedom,? where citizens could voice their views and where checks and balance guarded against the abuse of power.
?Imagine an Iran where government protects people?s lives, where government does not silence, imprison and murder ethnic, religious and cultural minorities for their beliefs,? he said. ?Imagine democracy. Just imagine it.?
The regime is hollow. It does not have the depth, the intellect, the humanity, or the humility to bring about a better future for its people. I believe the Iranian people want change
Since 1979, Iran has been ruled by Shi?ite clerics who have steadily eroded rights and freedoms. During the last presidential election, activists suffered under a harsh crackdown that included arrests, torture and murders. Many have since fled into exile.
With just over a month to go until the next election, there are already indications Iran is attempting to rig the results by blocking Internet access and monitoring social media. The editor of a popular news website was arrested Sunday on charges of instigating public unrest.
Mr. Baird said the crackdowns showed that the regime feared the people of Iran. ?The regime is hollow. It does not have the depth, the intellect, the humanity, or the humility to bring about a better future for its people. I believe the Iranian people want change.?
How to participate in the Global Dialogue on Iran
http://theglobaldialogue.ca/participate
www.twitter.com/gdfilive
www.facebook.com/TheGlobalDialogue
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Obama, in Texas, presses middle-class jobs agenda
President Barack Obama listens to a question during a news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, not pictured, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Barack Obama listens to a question during a news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, not pictured, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Barack Obama gestures as he speak during his visits Manor New Technology High School, Thursday, May 9, 2013 in Manor, Texas. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama speaks during a visit to the Manor New Tech High School in Manor, Texas, Thursday, May 9, 2013. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
A members of the audience uses an iPad to record President Barack Obama speaking at Manor New Technology High School, Thursday, May 9, 2013 in Manor, Texas. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Offering a more upbeat view of the economy, President Barack Obama resurrected his jobs proposals Thursday, advancing modest initiatives as he pushed for action on more ambitious efforts that face resistance from congressional Republicans. "We're poised for progress," he declared.
The president chose the bustling Texas capital as a backdrop to refocus on higher wages, education and a manufacturing-driven agenda that had been eclipsed by his struggles over gun control and spending cuts and his ongoing push for an overhaul of immigration laws.
"You might not know this, because if you listen to all the doom and gloom in Washington and politics, and watching cable TV sometimes you might get kind of thinking nothing is going right," Obama told students at a technology high school. "The truth is there's a lot of reasons for us to feel optimistic about where we're headed as a country."
"Thanks to grit and determination of the American people we cleared away the rubble of the worst economic crisis in our lifetime," he continued.
Still, Obama said, that while housing markets are improving, corporate profits are skyrocketing, and the energy and auto industries are thriving, there is still a need to improve.
The president's visit to Austin is the first in a series of field trips aimed at giving a high profile to the economy and jobs, issues still clearly at the forefront of the public's concerns.
By traveling to Texas to begin this renewed attention to his jobs initiatives Obama is choosing a state represented by two of the most conservative Republican members of the Senate ? John Cornyn and tea party hero Ted Cruz. Texas also has the second-highest Hispanic population in the country, an attractive demographic group for Democrats and a key audience for Obama as he also pushes for an overhaul of immigration laws.
Obama reiterated his push for college affordability measures and expanded pre-school, points he made during his State of the Union speech earlier this year.
The White House also used the trip as an opportunity to launch administrative initiatives to demonstrate continued action even as his bigger proposals find opposition in Congress.
Among those actions is a plan to launch a competition to create three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, partnerships among businesses, universities and government to help U.S.-based manufacturers and workers create good jobs. Five federal agencies ? the Defense, Energy and Commerce departments, NASA and the National Science Foundation ? are putting $200 million toward the effort.
"We believe that manufacturing is worthy of that priority because it punches above its weight economically," said Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council.
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Apple Building Another Store In Beijing Ahead Of Fall Product Launches?
Apple looks to be building another retail store in Beijing, which could open its doors in time for the launch of new iPhones and iPads this fall. Construction has begun on a building that bears a strong resemblance to a typical Apple retail outlet?in Beijing?s China Central Place Shopping Center.
The store was first spotted by the?Beijing Business Daily,?which describes it as a two-story building that occupies around 500 square meters. The picture below, which shows the building covered in a protective construction material, is the only one we currently have of the location at the moment.
According to the?Beijing Business Daily,?inside sources claim that Apple has been planning the store since last October, when the company opened its flagship Wangfujing outlet. They also claim that Apple has already begun training store managers ahead of its opening.
It?s thought the store could open its doors towards the end of this year, possibly in time for Apple?s new iPhones and iPads. Recent rumors have claimed that the Cupertino company will launch a low-cost smartphone aimed at emerging markets, which could prove to be a big seller in China.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has made China a priority since taking over from Steve Jobs, and he recently announced during an Apple earnings call that he intends to double the number of retail stores there within two years. Cook also believes that China will eventually surpass the U.S. as Apple?s largest market.
There?s still a long way to go before that vision becomes a reality, however. Apple claims just 8% of the market share in China, which puts it in fifth place behind local manufacturers like Huawei, Yulong, and Lenovo.
It?s thought, however, that an iPhone deal with China Mobile, the world?s largest carrier, could be a big boost Apple?s market share pretty much overnight.
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Friday, May 10, 2013
Achy breaky hot: Miley Cyrus tops Maxim hot list
Celebs 
4 hours ago
Miley Cyrus spoiled her own news last week: The singer and actress was named No.1 on the Maxim Magazine's 2013 Hot 100 list of beautiful women, and she just couldn't keep the news secret.
Maxim
Miley Cyrus tops Maxim's Hot 100 list.
Cyrus tweeted on May 3, "Didn't know this was coming out yet! I'm so happy to be #1 on Maxims HOT 100!" Whoops, turns out the magazine, and the news, wasn't out yet. But the news was true anyway, and the issue will be on newsstands May 21.
Readers vote for the 100 women, and Cyrus, No. 68 last year, moved up to the top spot this time.
Maxim
Football player Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend also made the list.
She's followed by Selena Gomez, Rihanna, Mila Kunis, and Jennifer Lawrence rounding out the top five.
There are some surprises on the list. TODAY show fourth-hour anchor Hoda Kotb is No.79 -- Maxim's editor came by the program to present her with a sash and bouquet.
And also on the list was "Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend," honoring the hoax that made headlines nationally for the Notre Dame football player. The photo for her was a bikini hanging in thin air, as if on an invisible woman.
Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/achy-breaky-hot-miley-cyrus-tops-maxims-hot-100-list-1C9873133
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Bangladesh factory fire kills 8; collapse toll tops 900
By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul
DHAKA (Reuters) - Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh, police and an industry association official said on Thursday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900.
The fire, in an industrial district of Dhaka, comes amid global attention on safety standards in Bangladesh's booming garment industry following the catastrophic collapse of Rana Plaza, on the outskirts of the city, in the world's deadliest industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984.
"It is not clear to us how the accident happened, but we are trying to find out the cause," Mohammad Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told Reuters.
On Wednesday the Bangladesh government said it had shut down 18 garment factories for safety reasons following the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories making clothes for Western brands. Six were cleared to re-open on Thursday after inspectors issued safety certificates.
Salvage teams were still pulling bodies from the rubble of the Rana Plaza complex in Savar, around 20 miles northwest of Dhaka, and on Thursday a spokesman at the army control room coordinating the operation said the number of people confirmed to have been killed had reached 912.
Roughly 2,500 people were rescued from the building, including many injured, but there is no official estimate of the numbers still missing.
The government has blamed the owners and builders of the eight-storey complex for using shoddy building materials, including substandard rods, bricks and cement, and not obtaining the necessary clearances.
Bangladesh's garment industry, which accounts for 80 percent of the poor South Asian country's exports, has seen a series of deadly accidents, including a fire in November that killed 112 people.
The latest fire, in an 11-storey building in the Mirpur industrial district, broke out at a factory belonging to the Tung Hai Group, a large garment exporter.
"The factory was closed and all the workers had left the premises an hour earlier," said fire service official Bhazan Sarker.
A fire service official and BGMEA president Islam said the Bangladeshi managing director of the company and a senior police officer were among the dead. The others killed were friends and personal staff of the factory boss, officials said.
Tung Hai Group says on its website that it has more than 1,000 employees and its customers include major Western retailers including Britain's Primark, and Inditex Group of Spain. It makes products including cardigans, jumpers and pyjamas.
A spokesman for Inditex said it had last placed an order with the factory in 2011. "But then we stopped ordering because the factory did not meet the standards we demand from our providers", he said.
(Editing by Matthew Green and Alex Richardson)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eight-killed-bangladesh-factory-fire-police-015412443.html
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Thursday, May 9, 2013
Power plants: UGA researchers explore how to harvest electricity directly from plants
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Public release date: 9-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Ramaraja Ramasamy
rama@uga.edu
706-542-4101
University of Georgia
Athens, Ga. The sun provides the most abundant source of energy on the planet. However, only a tiny fraction of the solar radiation on Earth is converted into useful energy.
To help solve this problem, researchers at the University of Georgia looked to nature for inspiration, and they are now developing a new technology that makes it possible to use plants to generate electricity.
"Clean energy is the need of the century," said Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering and the corresponding author of a paper describing the process in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science. "This approach may one day transform our ability to generate cleaner power from sunlight using plant-based systems."
Plants are the undisputed champions of solar power. After billions of years of evolution, most of them operate at nearly 100 percent quantum efficiency, meaning that for every photon of sunlight a plant captures, it produces an equal number of electrons. Converting even a fraction of this into electricity would improve upon the efficiency seen with solar panels, which generally operate at efficiency levels between 12 and 17 percent.
During photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to split water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen, which produces electrons. These newly freed electrons go on to help create sugars that plants use much like food to support growth and reproduction.
"We have developed a way to interrupt photosynthesis so that we can capture the electrons before the plant uses them to make these sugars," said Ramasamy, who is also a member of UGA's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.
Ramasamy's technology involves separating out structures in the plant cell called thylakoids, which are responsible for capturing and storing energy from sunlight. Researchers manipulate the proteins contained in the thylakoids, interrupting the pathway along which electrons flow.
These modified thylakoids are then immobilized on a specially designed backing of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures that are nearly 50,000 times finer than a human hair. The nanotubes act as an electrical conductor, capturing the electrons from the plant material and sending them along a wire.
In small-scale experiments, this approach resulted in electrical current levels that are two orders of magnitude larger than those previously reported in similar systems.
Ramasamy cautions that much more work must be done before this technology reaches commercialization, but he and his collaborators are already working to improve the stability and output of their device.
"In the near term, this technology might best be used for remote sensors or other portable electronic equipment that requires less power to run," he said. "If we are able to leverage technologies like genetic engineering to enhance stability of the plant photosynthetic machineries, I'm very hopeful that this technology will be competitive to traditional solar panels in the future."
"We have discovered something very promising here, and it is certainly worth exploring further," he said. "The electrical output we see now is modest, but only about 30 years ago, hydrogen fuel cells were in their infancy, and now they can power cars, buses and even buildings."
###
The full study, which was co-authored by UGA graduate student Jessica Calkins and postdoctoral research associate Yogeswaran Umasankar, is available at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/ee/c3ee40634b.
For more about research in Ramasamy's lab, see http://www.ramasamy.uga.edu
Writer: James Hataway, 706/542-5222, jhataway@uga.edu
Contact: Ramaraja Ramasamy, 706/542-4101, rama@uga.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 9-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Ramaraja Ramasamy
rama@uga.edu
706-542-4101
University of Georgia
Athens, Ga. The sun provides the most abundant source of energy on the planet. However, only a tiny fraction of the solar radiation on Earth is converted into useful energy.
To help solve this problem, researchers at the University of Georgia looked to nature for inspiration, and they are now developing a new technology that makes it possible to use plants to generate electricity.
"Clean energy is the need of the century," said Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering and the corresponding author of a paper describing the process in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science. "This approach may one day transform our ability to generate cleaner power from sunlight using plant-based systems."
Plants are the undisputed champions of solar power. After billions of years of evolution, most of them operate at nearly 100 percent quantum efficiency, meaning that for every photon of sunlight a plant captures, it produces an equal number of electrons. Converting even a fraction of this into electricity would improve upon the efficiency seen with solar panels, which generally operate at efficiency levels between 12 and 17 percent.
During photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to split water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen, which produces electrons. These newly freed electrons go on to help create sugars that plants use much like food to support growth and reproduction.
"We have developed a way to interrupt photosynthesis so that we can capture the electrons before the plant uses them to make these sugars," said Ramasamy, who is also a member of UGA's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.
Ramasamy's technology involves separating out structures in the plant cell called thylakoids, which are responsible for capturing and storing energy from sunlight. Researchers manipulate the proteins contained in the thylakoids, interrupting the pathway along which electrons flow.
These modified thylakoids are then immobilized on a specially designed backing of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures that are nearly 50,000 times finer than a human hair. The nanotubes act as an electrical conductor, capturing the electrons from the plant material and sending them along a wire.
In small-scale experiments, this approach resulted in electrical current levels that are two orders of magnitude larger than those previously reported in similar systems.
Ramasamy cautions that much more work must be done before this technology reaches commercialization, but he and his collaborators are already working to improve the stability and output of their device.
"In the near term, this technology might best be used for remote sensors or other portable electronic equipment that requires less power to run," he said. "If we are able to leverage technologies like genetic engineering to enhance stability of the plant photosynthetic machineries, I'm very hopeful that this technology will be competitive to traditional solar panels in the future."
"We have discovered something very promising here, and it is certainly worth exploring further," he said. "The electrical output we see now is modest, but only about 30 years ago, hydrogen fuel cells were in their infancy, and now they can power cars, buses and even buildings."
###
The full study, which was co-authored by UGA graduate student Jessica Calkins and postdoctoral research associate Yogeswaran Umasankar, is available at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/ee/c3ee40634b.
For more about research in Ramasamy's lab, see http://www.ramasamy.uga.edu
Writer: James Hataway, 706/542-5222, jhataway@uga.edu
Contact: Ramaraja Ramasamy, 706/542-4101, rama@uga.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uog-ppu050913.php
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