Sunday, March 31, 2013

Syrian economy scarred by war

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a24e493/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51375241/story01.htm

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Crosby hit in mouth by puck, will not return

PITTSBURGH (AP) ? Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby lost several teeth and needed oral surgery after he was hit in the mouth with a puck during a 2-0 victory against the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Coach Dan Bylsma wasn't sure if the injury affected Crosby's jaw and didn't know if he would miss any more time. The Penguins, who have won a league-high 15 straight games, host Buffalo on Tuesday.

"I just know he had some issues with his teeth," Bylsma said. "Just from the replay I know that."

Bylsma saw enough to become concerned about the health of the team's biggest star, particularly because of his well-documented history battling concussion problems.

Crosby missed considerable time the past two years because of concussions. He was sidelined for the final 41 games in 2011 and the Stanley Cup playoffs, in addition to skipping most of the 2012 regular season as symptoms lingered.

"I think every time that type of thing happens to a player you think about it," Bylsma said.

Crosby has enjoyed a resurgence this season, leading the league with 41 assists and 56 points. He holds a 10-point lead over Steven Stamkos in the NHL scoring race.

Saturday's injury could hinder Crosby's march to the scoring title.

A bloodied Crosby, who did not return to the game, skated off the ice with a towel covering his mouth after Brooks Orpik's slap shot from the point deflected off a stick and hit the Canadian center just 1:28 into the game.

"When you see the replay, he had no chance to move," said newly acquired star forward Jarome Iginla, who made his Penguins debut after a blockbuster trade early Thursday morning with the Calgary Flames.

"He didn't see it hit him. It's a very, very unfortunate play."

Crosby immediately fell to the ice and tossed his stick in the air. He then went to the hospital for surgery.

"It's very tough to see that happen to anybody on the ice, but this is your teammate, and Sid's such a great player and a big part of this team," Iginla said.

"He's a tough guy and a competitor. Guys were definitely checking to see how he was doing."

Pittsburgh still managed to go on to its 15th straight win, moving within two of the NHL record set by Mario Lemieux and the 1992-93 Penguins.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/crosby-hit-mouth-puck-not-return-182606229--nhl.html

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Researchers combat obesity with tech tools popular with teens


The best weapon in the battle against obesity may already be in the hands of children and teenagers.

That?s the thinking behind the work of several researchers and technologists around the country who hope to turn cell phones into devices that can help young people make healthier food and lifestyle choices.

A recent Pew Internet study found that 78 percent of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half of them ? 47 percent -- own smartphones with computing capability.

?It?s interesting because most often we think using technology is part of the problem,? said Dr. Susan Woolford of the Pediatric Comprehensive Weight Management Center at the University of Michigan, pointing to video games and other uses of technology that have made teens more sedentary. ?We actually hope that using this new technology will help us.?

Woolford leads a team that sends highly tailored and targeted text messages to obese adolescents to help them change their behaviors. The messages urge teens to reduce their time in front of TV and computer screens, eat a healthy breakfast and more fruits and vegetables, and reduce the number of sweets and sugary beverages in their diets.

The initial test program had bout 25 volunteer participants -- overweight teens who are participating in university's weight management program.

To get the most effective messages to individual teens, participants in the pilot program filled out an online survey with questions about their activity level, what kind of support they have, what kind of foods they prefer and what inspires them to lose weight.

From there, the team has developed an extensive library of unique automated messages that are sent daily. Their goal is to get the right message at the right time to the right person.

?We aren?t going to suggest you play basketball as an activity if you said your interest was in water sports,? Woolford said.

Or if a teen prefers dairy for breakfast, the team?s text might suggest low-fat yogurt.

Woolford said the feedback from the participants has been crucial in shaping the messages.

She pointed to a text suggesting alternative snacks that said, ?Instead of ice cream try frozen yogurt today." But some teens in the study were quick to point out when they see the words ?ice cream? in a message they were not able to see the healthy alternative that comes later.

So, Woolford said, the text message simply became "Try yogurt this morning."

?I think technology is definitely going to help us,? she said, ?It?s not just sending a text message, it?s send the right text message. And if we pay attention to the content we hope the success will be greater.?

In Massachusetts, Dr. Nicolas Oreskovic is using another common smartphone feature ? the Global Positioning System ? to study where in a city and when young people are active.

?What urban spaces do they use for physical activity and what spaces they do not use for physical activity?? Oreskovic asked.

Oreskovic and his team based at Massachusetts General Hospital?s Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy had teens in Revere, Mass. wear GPS devices on their wrists and accelerometers on their hips for several months over three seasons to collect data on the location and activity of their daily routines.

By plotting the results on a city map, Oreskovic noticed that children tend to be active in outdoor spaces like parks, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks rather than indoor spaces like their home and school. He also charted when they are most active and where and when they walked to a park or playground.

Oreskovic said he hopes such studies help urban planners design cities and towns to promote a more healthy and active lifestyle in children.

If city officials had good data about how children use their sidewalks, parks and open areas, they can redesign communities with the right walking paths to the right parks, Oreskovic said. Decisions could be made using scientific data, which in turn should encourage more use of a city's parks, playscapes and open space.

Oreskovic said a next step could be to use location mapping to help teens find healthy food options and places to spend their time. The GPS on their cellphones and texting technology could be combined to point teens to a safe park to play or suggest a healthier restaurant near their favorite fast food joint.

?I think the wave of the future in these not traditional areas,? Oreskovic said. ?Intervention in schools has had a limited impact. These novel technology areas are where we can individualize obesity counseling may be helpful.?

Technology is making great strides in the fight against obesity according to Dr. Philip Schauer, director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Schauer said hundreds of applications on mobile and desktop and computerized devices, like smart watches and digital jewelry, are being developed to help users maintain a healthy lifestyle.

?Some of these smart watches can help us with weight, they can keep track of the steps day we take each day, the calories burning and track our weight on daily basis," Schauer said.

"There?s all kinds of apps, more and more come out each day and it?s hard to keep track of them,? Schauer said. ?I even think they are working on one where you can take a picture of the food eating with the camera on your smartphone and an app tells you how many calories it is.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/researchers-combat-obesity-tech-tools-popular-teens-135530214.html

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Weekly Ketchup: New Tomb Raider Reboot In the Works

This week's Ketchup includes movies development news stories that include new roles for Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, and news about the sequels Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

This Week's Top Story

THE TOMB RAIDER REBOOT MOVIE IS STILL IN THE WORKS

Based upon the existence of this story, we can now gather that the notion of there ever being another Tomb Raider movie was hinging upon the success of the recently released videogame reboot that took Lara Croft back to her first adventure as a young lady. Something else that this is a sign of is that this was a slow news week. Anyway, the Tomb Raider reboot also has a new studio in the form of MGM, which is not really that surprising inasmuch as MGM is the place where they've never met a reboot or remake they didn't love. The two movies starring Angelina Jolie were produced by Paramount Pictures, and then Warner Bros was trying to get a reboot going for a few years there, too. There isn't much else to know or report about this Tomb Raider reboot, except that one might speculate that the new movie might follow in the steps of the new video game, and de-age Lara Croft to tell a similar "my first adventure" type of story. The success of a movie like The Hunger Games might, therefore, have also been a factor in this project continuing to attract attention from a studio like MGM.

Fresh Developments This Week

#1 MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY OFFERED LEAD ROLE IN CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S INTERSTELLAR

With eight films now under director Christopher Nolan's figurative belt, a movie fan might feel like they have a pretty good grasp for the sort of actors that Nolan might be considering for his next project, the sci-fi movie Interstellar. Nolan in the past has been pretty big on Aussies (Guy Pearce, Hugh Jackman) and Brits (Christian Bale, Tom Hardy). Right when such choices appear to be that predictable, that's when the news hits that Christopher Nolan has offered the lead role in Interstellar to Matthew McConaughey. Which was the Internet's cue to start breaking out the "lawbreaker" and "alright alright alright" jokes. Because those are things characters played by Matthew McConaughey have said in movies that people have seen the trailers for. Paramount Pictures has scheduled Interstellar for a release date in November, 2014.


#2 AFTER THE AVENGERS 2, MARVEL PHASE THREE IS ALL ABOUT... THE DEFENDERS?

The first movie of Marvel's Phase 2 (Iron Man 3) is still not yet released, but already, we know about the six movies after it that Marvel has planned, taking us into Phase 3 already. Phase 1 and Phase 2 are both known to end, respectively, with The Avengers and its sequel The Avengers 2, but news came this week that Phase 3 might end quite differently. Let's put the pieces together: Last week, the news broke that Robert Redford has been cast as an unspecified S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There's also been rumors of Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones) being cast in a cameo role in Thor: The Dark World as Brunnhilde the Valkyrie. And finally, we know that the second movie of Phase 3 is expected to be Doctor Strange (after Ant-Man in late 2015). Tying in with all that are the reports this week that the third Phase 3 movie will be Namor the Sub-Mariner, devoted to one of Marvel's oldest characters (dating all the way back to 1939), who also, by the way, predates by two years the more famous DC Comics "Atlantis monarch" character Aquaman. We also know that Marvel plans on using the Hulk in more movies in the future, but not necessarily in another solo Hulk movie. Which brings us, finally, to what exactly ties Doctor Strange, Namor, Valkyrie, Robert Redford's mysterious character (who might be "Kyle Richmond"), and the Incredible Hulk? That answer may come in the year 2017 with the release of the final movie of Marvel Phase 3... The Defenders, based upon Marvel's other major superhero team which isn't The Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Inhumans, the Eternals, Alpha Flight, West Coast Avengers, Force Works, Midnight Sons, the Invaders, S.H.I.E.L.D., S.W.O.R.D., the Warriors Three, Heroes for Hire, X-Force, X-Statix, Excalibur, the New Mutants, The Initiative, Power Pack, the Runaways, Young Avengers, Pet Avengers, the Great Lakes Avengers, or the Champions. That's right, The Defenders, that 1970s team of misfit superheroes that started around the trio of Doctor Strange, the Hulk, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, and grew to include... anyone that wasn't already in a super team, because... why not. It sold comics... for a while. And then... APRIL FOOL'S! (admittedly, a few days early, but this column only gets published on Fridays, and April 1st is a Monday this year). We swear The Defenders is the only joke entry in the Weekly Ketchup.


#3 PEPE LE PEW, CHARLES BOYER AND THAT ONE GUY FROM THE ARTIST, MEET... BATROC THE LEAPER!

For all these many years since we first heard that Marvel might really someday make a Captain America movie, those who love all things cheesy about superhero comics have wished (perhaps secretly, perhaps in denial) that we could maybe someday have a movie that featured Batroc the Leaper. There are basically two types of comic book fans, and that division can come right down to what they think of Batroc; it's basically a question of whether or not they like "fun" (and those on the anti-Batroc side of course deny that they despise fun). Batroc is French, has a ridiculous accent, speaks in puns, wears purple with a silly mask, kicks people in the head, and calls himself a "lea-PAR." Well, anyway, that day has finally come, it appears, because current UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has reportedly been cast in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as Batroc the Leaper. Keep in mind that we don't know how big of a role Batroc actually plays in the film (it might be one scene or even just part of a montage or something), but it appears to be real. Georges St-Pierre isn't technically French, but he does come from the French part of Canada (Quebec), which might make him even more "French" than actually being French would. Walt Disney Pictures has scheduled Captain America: The Winter Soldier for April 4, 2014.


#4 ANNE HATHAWAY AND CHLOE MORETZ TO PLAY PALS IN LAGGIES

Director Lynn Shelton (Humpday, Your Sister's Sister) is still definitively "indie," but the cast that she's able to recruit for her films continues to work its way up the "A list" ladder. Anne Hathaway, Chloe Moretz, Sam Rockwell, and Mark Webber are now all in "deep" negotiations to star in Lynn Shelton's next indie film, Laggies. If all goes through, Hathaway will play a late-20-something who is freaked out by her boyfriend's (Webber) wedding proposal, and so she spends a week pretending to be a teenager hanging out with an actual 16 year old (Moretz). Laggies sounds like a movie that premieres at Sundance, and so it probably will the next time the festival occurs, which will be in January, 2014.

#5 CLINT EASTWOOD MAY ABANDON A STAR IS BORN FOR JERSEY BOYS

The continued stumbling blocks for two different musicals may combine to ensure that at least one of them actually gets produced sometime soon. And the winner is... the Jersey Boys movie, based on the hit Broadway musical, itself based upon the true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. And likewise, the loser may be Warner Bros' long-standing attempts at making another A Star is Born entry. The defining factor here may be whether Clint Eastwood really does sign on to direct Jersey Boys, rather than work on A Star is Born, which he's been developing with Warner Bros for several years now (formerly with Beyonce Knowles, more recently with Esperanza Spalding). As for Jersey Boys, the last we heard, it was a project that Jon Favreau had been considering directing, but then he dropped out, which may be where Eastwood steps in (if he does).

#6 ANDY SERKIS GETS SIMIAN COMPANY FOR DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

We've been hearing so much about the humans in the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes that it might have been forgivable if someone guessed that Andy Serkis would remain the only "name actor" attached to play any of the apes. But, alas, nope, we finally have news of someone else playing an ape, and she's even a lady type person. Judy Greer (Arrested Development) has been cast as Cornelia, the female chimp love interest for Caesar. This will presumably mean that Greer will soon have lots of little ping pong balls attached to her personage, if this sequel is filmed the same way the first movie was. Filming of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes starts in April, and 20th Century Fox is expecting to release the film on May 23, 2014.


#7 AFTER A ROUND OF DIRECTOR WHACK-A-MOLE, MATTHEW VAUGHN FINALLY DECIDES UPON THE SECRET SERVICE

Director Matthew Vaughn's name has come up a few times after X-Men: First Class, most notably with either the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past, or as one of the contenders to direct Star Wars Episode VII. We finally know now what he will be directing next. The answer keeps Matthew Vaughn at 20th Century Fox, for whom he will direct an adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book The Secret Service. As the title suggests (albeit deceptively), The Secret Service is about the world of spies and other espionage-type craft work. 20th Century Fox has scheduled The Secret Service for a release date of November 14, 2014.


Rotten Ideas of the Week

#8 HUGH GRANT TO STAR IN A COMEDY CURRENTLY TITLED UNTITLED HUGH GRANT COMEDY

This was a slow news week. How slow? Even with an April Fool's Day joke, there was still enough space to cover a Hugh Grant comedy that reunites him with the director of Two Weeks Notice, which in most weeks probably would have not made the 10 story cut. Writer/director Marc Lawrence has also worked on movies like Miss Congeniality (and its sequel) (as screenwriter, not director), and Did You Hear About the Morgans? Lawrence's RT Tomatometer has many more green splotches than "Fresh" tomatoes, which is why this untitled comedy is one of the week's Rotten ideas. Marisa Tomei, J.K. Simmons, Alison Janney, and Chris Elliot will also costar in this story of an Academy Award winning English screenwriter who takes a job at a small college where, instead of picking up young students, he instead falls in love with an older single mother (Tomei). And love (and possibly other high jinks) ensues.


#9 ALL FOUR NINJA TURTLES ARE NOW CAST... EVEN IF THEY'RE NOT TEENAGE OR MUTANT

There are stories, hopefully every week, that remind this writer what a fun job he has, getting to cover the hottest movie development news. And then there's Michael Bay's reboot (as producer) of (not Teenage, not Mutant) Ninja Turtles, of which, yeah, this is the part where it feels more like a job. So, we now know the names of the four actors who have been cast as the four turtles. And sure, enough, they are indeed names. Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher have been cast, respectively, as Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo. Paramount Pictures has scheduled Ninja Turtles, which will also costar Megan Fox, for release on June 6, 2014.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927146/news/1927146/

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Four family members die trapped in burning home | Ontario | News ...

SHARON ?-?

A family?s love and devotion for each other may be why they died together in an early morning house fire in this village north of Newmarket.

Some who know the Dunsmuirs wonder if Kevin and his two teen sons stayed huddled in the master bedroom, waiting to be rescued, because they refused to leave without his wife, Jennifer, who was disabled by an aneurism in 2010.

?Kevin and Jennifer were sweethearts and their sons were just ... just ... they were honestly just the nicest family ever,? Ashley Bailey, 16, said Friday, wiping tears from her cheeks. ?I can?t even begin to explain how many people are devastated over this.?

Bailey was among many neighbours and friends waiting anxiously on Howard Ave., near Leslie St. and Mt. Albert Rd., to find out if anyone survived.

They knew at least one member of the family of five was dead, but everyone was in disbelief when York Regional Police revealed four had perished.

Const. Blair McQuillan said a 911 call was placed from inside the home around 5:30 a.m. and police arrived at the scene soon after.

?The home was on fire and the four occupants in a room at the front of the house were unable to get out,? McQuillan said, adding officers were unable to battle through the heat and smoke to get upstairs and save the family.

Firefighters couldn?t reach them in time, either.

Bailey played hockey with the youngest son, Cameron, 16, and became close to his mom through her visits to the home.

?I called Jennifer ?mom,??she said, adding Jennifer recently had suffered a stroke.

?It was a miracle that she was alive from it, so this happening...? Bailey said, trailing off as she became overwhelmed with grief.

Tina Ziel said Jennifer was still recovering from the aneurism she suffered a few years ago.

?She couldn?t speak very well and she lost a lot of her thought process,? the family friend said. ?I understand she was getting around with a cane.?

Late in the afternoon, police confirmed it was Cameron and his older brother, Robert, 19, who died with their parents.

The eldest son, David, 24, was away studying at Brock University in St. Catharines.

It?s thought the family?s golden retriever, Rolph, was also killed.

East Gwillimbury Mayor Virginia Hackson, who knew the family, said the tragedy will be tough on the tight-knit community.

?It?s a very sad day,? she said. ?Our prayers and thoughts go out to our community, to our fire fighters and to all the family that have had this loss today.?

The Ontario Fire Marshal?s office is probing the fire and spokesman Scott Evenden said it?s too soon to know what started the blaze or why the family was unable to exit the two-storey brick home.

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Source: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/03/29/4-killed-in-east-gwillimbury-house-fire

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Has The Time Come For Cat Caf?s in the U.S.? - PawNation

Has The Time Come For Cat Cafés in the U.S.? - PawNation

You Say.??

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Source: http://www.pawnation.com/2013/03/29/has-the-time-come-for-cat-cafes-in-the-u-s/

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The justice who will decide gay marriage

Supreme Court Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy (R) and Stephen Breyer await the start of a hearing on Capitol??

Few things were certain after the Supreme Court's first foray into the issue of gay marriage earlier this week?except that conservative-leaning swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy will control the outcome.

The four liberal and the four conservative justices appeared to split right down the middle on how (and whether) to decide the constitutionality of both Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. Kennedy?who in the past authored the court's two most important opinions affirming gay rights?seemed to be on the fence in both cases.

The most likely scenario: Kennedy will form a coalition with the liberals to strike down Proposition 8 and DOMA without substantially addressing the plaintiffs' claims that gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry and have those marriages treated equally to opposite-sex marriages by the law.

The hope for a "nation-wide ruling on same-sex marriage was clearly dashed on Tuesday," said Doug NeJaime, a professor at Loyola Law School.

Gay rights advocates had pinned their hopes on the 76-year-old Sacramento native and Ronald Reagan appointee, based on his striking down of a state anti-sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and a Colorado statute that prohibited local governments from passing anti-discrimination laws protecting gay people in Romer v Evans (1996).

But in both cases, Kennedy appeared unsympathetic to the argument that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marriage. He repeatedly noted that same-sex unions are historically new and that there's not much "sociological" evidence about them and their offspring. He did, however, express sympathy for the children of same-sex couples, saying he believed their voices were "important" and that they were harmed because their parents were not allowed to wed.

Kennedy did seem far more open to striking down both anti-gay marriage laws on procedural grounds. While this would have a much more limited effect than a broader decision, it would still be a victory for the gay rights movement.

In the Proposition 8 case about California's 2008 voter-approved gay marriage ban, Kennedy dropped a bombshell early into oral arguments when he wondered aloud whether the Supreme Court should have ever agreed to hear the case in the first place. (At least four justices must vote to take on a case, which happens privately in the judges' chambers.)

"I just wonder if?if the case was properly granted," Kennedy said to attorney Ted Olson, who was arguing for the ban to be struck down. Kennedy later asked attorney Charles Cooper, who was arguing on behalf of Proposition 8, why the Supreme Court should hear the case at all.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor took up Kennedy's line of argument, asking Cooper why they couldn't let the issue of same-sex marriage "percolate" longer before making such a major decision.

Kennedy appears to be weighing dismissing the case altogether, and Sotomayor's questioning suggests he may be able to get the four liberal justices to join him. If they dismiss the case, the lower-court decision stands allowing gay marriage in California, but no other state would be affected. If that's the route the court goes, it's possible Kennedy would write the opinion without substantially addressing the plaintiffs' claims that they have the same right to marry as people of another sexual orientation.

Interestingly, Kennedy's comments in Wednesday's DOMA oral arguments also suggest he may take a way out that doesn't require him to rule on the substance of whether the law discriminates against gay couples. DOMA defines marriage at the federal level as only between opposite-sex couples, denying federal benefits and obligations to same-sex married couples in the nine states that allow it. Kennedy appeared very intrigued by the argument that DOMA improperly intrudes into the states' domain of marriage, characterizing the law as potentially in "conflict" with states' rights.

Chief Justice John Roberts also pursued this line of questioning, repeatedly asking the attorneys arguing against DOMA if they believed it was a violation of federalism. Neither attorney would take the bait, however, instead sticking with the reasoning that DOMA discriminates against same-sex couples.

"The chief justice got both parties to the case to admit that they don't think there's a federalism issue here," said Chapman University law professor John Eastman. Eastman is the chairman of the anti-gay marriage group the National Organization for Marriage. "I don't know whether that persuaded Justice Kennedy that he was going down the wrong line."

NeJaime said it's possible Kennedy could write an opinion striking down DOMA on federalist grounds, while the four liberal justices joined in a concurring opinion that struck it down as discriminatory. (If Kennedy sides with the liberals, he could assign the opinion to himself since he is the most senior justice of that group.) If so, Kennedy's decision could say nothing substantial about gay rights, merely sticking to the argument that it's an overreach of federal power.

"You could end up with two decisions from Kennedy that basically allow same sex marriage in some ways but do nothing on the substance," NeJaime said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/kennedy-decide-gay-marriage-cases-201558362--election.html

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HTC European boss Florian Seiche leaving for Nokia [Updated]

Florian Seiche

HTC EMEA President to join Nokia as head of European sales from June, HTC UK head Phil Blair to take over

Update: HTC has confirmed Seiche's exit, and says former VP of Product and Operations Phil Blair has taken over as its new EMEA head in addition to overseeing HTC's UK arm. We've got the company's official statement after the break.

Original story: Bloomberg is reporting that Florian Seiche, EMEA President at HTC, will be joining Nokia as head of European sales from June 15. Seiche, a familiar sight at European HTC press conferences, has been with the company since 2005, prior to which he served as Director of Devices at Orange. According to Bloomberg, Nokia's own EMEA head Shiv Shivakumar is leaving the company, to be replaced by its VP of smart devices for the Americas, Arto Nummela.

HTC and Nokia are in the midst of difficult times, as both are squeezed by fierce competition from Samsung and Apple. HTC in particular has seen dwindling sales and market share as a result to the meteoric rise of Samsung in the Android space. By comparison, Nokia recently returned to profitability, but its long-term fate is tied to that of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.

Source: Bloomberg

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/-3s0JyP2JP4/story01.htm

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The Tactical Pen ? a pen James Bond would want

  Need a new multi-functional item for your EDC? Then take a look at the Tactical Pen from Cybernetic Research Labs. What makes this pen different from others is the addition of a carbide end-piece that can be used as an emergency glass breaker. The pen is built of several connecting sections, allowing for multiple [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/29/the-tactical-pen-a-pen-james-bond-would-want/

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The power of the gay kiss (Americablog)

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

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Massive landslide in Washington state damages home, threatens others

KING 5

A landslide threatens homes on Whidbey Island in Washington state.

By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

Residents reportedly heard what sounded like thunder before a massive landslide on an island in Washington state, which damaged one home and threatened or isolated dozens more.

The slide occurred about 4:15 a.m. on the west side of Whidbey Island near the town of Coupeville, NBC station KING 5 reported. No one was injured.

A massive landslide on Whidbey Island has destroyed one home and threatens more than a dozen other homes. Video only.

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Dramatic pictures showed one home off its foundation on a bluff. It had moved several hundred feet, Deputy Chief Chad Michael of Central Whidbey and Rescue told NBC News.?

Other home owners lost large sections of their yards to the slide, and at least one house was now perched precariously with only a 10-foot strip of ground separating it from a large drop to the shoreline of Puget Sound, an inland sea dotted with numerous islands.

A road along the base of the bluff near the beach was closed and power and water were cut off to homes. The closure of the road isolated 17 houses, Michael said.?

All told, 25 homes were effected by the slide.

The Red Cross has set up a relief center for residents who had to flee their homes. Evacuations continued through the morning.?

It was unclear what triggered Wednesday's slide, but winter rains are known to saturate bluffs along Puget Sound's shoreline, putting pressure on high slopes and causing the earth to move.

The state warns people interested in buying shoreline property about the landslide hazards.

Coupeville is about 50 miles northwest of Seattle.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a108425/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174887740Emassive0Elandslide0Ein0Ewashington0Estate0Edamages0Ehome0Ethreatens0Eothers0Dlite/story01.htm

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Indochino Raises $13.5M Series B Led By Highland Consumer Fund, Launches New Line

Screen Shot 2013-03-28 at 9.05.26 AMIndochino, the online one-stop shop for a custom tailored suit, has just launched a brand new Ultimate Spring Collection, with some brand new looks and some Indochino best-sellers in new materials. The new collection comes hot on the heels of a $13.5 million Series B funding round, led by the Highland Consumer Fund alongside Madrona Venture Group, Acton Capital Partners and Jeff Mallett.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jIxcBVt319E/

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Anti-rape video in response to Steubenville trial coverage goes viral

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By Sofia Perpetua, Contributor, NBC News

A University of Oregon film student felt compelled to respond to some of the issues surrounding the Steubenville rape case -- and has 1.3 million views on YouTube.

Samantha Stendal, 19, directed ?A Needed Response? and addressed it to ?the Steubenville rapists ? or any rapists out there,? in order to show the world how real men treat women.


"It is horrifying to me that some people can say that people deserve rape when they are passed out," said Stendal to the NY Daily News.

Samantha Stendal

Samantha Stendal is a sophomore at the University of Oregon.

In Stendal?s 26-second-long video, a woman (Kelsey Jones) pretends to be passed out, and a man (Justin Gotchall) gets her some water and places a pillow under her head. Then he faces the camera and says, ?Real men treat women with respect.?

"I was studying for my finals, and on the side I was reading about the Steubenville rape case. I grew very frustrated with the media," Stendal told NBC News on Tuesday. "That's when I came up with the idea for this video."

Gotchall, who is a philosophy major, added, "After we saw the media coverage of the Steubenville rape cases, we just had to do this."

"I think this video is powerful in its simplicity," Desertra87 posted as a comment on YouTube. After being up only four days, the video already has more than 4,000 comments and more than a million views.

Last week, Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays and Ma?lik Richmond were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a raucous house party in the small Ohio town.

The story had already made headlines because of the issues surrounding the case, such as social media harassment and teenage partying gone wild. But media coverage following the convictions generated even more controversy and angered many when some reporters seemed to focus on the loss of the two football players? bright future -- and not on the victim?s trauma.

"What really upsets me is what the news is going to, what the Internet is going to ? which is asking what the victim could have done differently," Stendal told KVAL 13 News in Eugene, Ore. "I'm upset that in our culture that is one of the first questions asked."

Stendal, a sophomore, added, "The message I hope that people can get from this video is that we need to treat one another with respect.?No matter what gender, we should be listening to each other and making sure there is consent."

Stendal, now on her spring break, is applying for video internships.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a071bae/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C260C1747740A0A0Eanti0Erape0Evideo0Ein0Eresponse0Eto0Esteubenville0Etrial0Ecoverage0Egoes0Eviral0Dlite/story01.htm

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Austrian police chase herd of cows through town

VIENNA (AP) ? Austrian police and firefighters have taken on the role of urban cowboys in a two-day round-up of a herd of cows that broke out of a fenced-off pasture and decided to go into town.

A police statement says the 43 animals defied attempts by police and volunteer firefighters to recapture them after wandering off Thursday and heading toward the Upper Austrian town of Freistadt. After being chased away from the railway station, they endangered motorists by stampeding onto a two-lane highway before running into a town suburb.

Two firefighters who tried to stop them were injured and needed hospital treatment.

The statement says 18 of the animals remain on the loose Friday. The rest have been corralled or tranquilized.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/austrian-police-chase-herd-cows-town-105339896.html

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Biological transistor enables computing within living cells

Mar. 28, 2013 ? When Charles Babbage prototyped the first computing machine in the 19th century, he imagined using mechanical gears and latches to control information. ENIAC, the first modern computer developed in the 1940s, used vacuum tubes and electricity. Today, computers use transistors made from highly engineered semiconducting materials to carry out their logical operations.

And now a team of Stanford University bioengineers has taken computing beyond mechanics and electronics into the living realm of biology. In a paper to be published March 28 in Science, the team details a biological transistor made from genetic material -- DNA and RNA -- in place of gears or electrons. The team calls its biological transistor the "transcriptor."

"Transcriptors are the key component behind amplifying genetic logic -- akin to the transistor and electronics," said Jerome Bonnet, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering and the paper's lead author.

The creation of the transcriptor allows engineers to compute inside living cells to record, for instance, when cells have been exposed to certain external stimuli or environmental factors, or even to turn on and off cell reproduction as needed.

"Biological computers can be used to study and reprogram living systems, monitor environments and improve cellular therapeutics," said Drew Endy, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering and the paper's senior author.

The biological computer

In electronics, a transistor controls the flow of electrons along a circuit. Similarly, in biologics, a transcriptor controls the flow of a specific protein, RNA polymerase, as it travels along a strand of DNA.

"We have repurposed a group of natural proteins, called integrases, to realize digital control over the flow of RNA polymerase along DNA, which in turn allowed us to engineer amplifying genetic logic," said Endy.

Using transcriptors, the team has created what are known in electrical engineering as logic gates that can derive true-false answers to virtually any biochemical question that might be posed within a cell.

They refer to their transcriptor-based logic gates as "Boolean Integrase Logic," or "BIL gates" for short.

Transcriptor-based gates alone do not constitute a computer, but they are the third and final component of a biological computer that could operate within individual living cells.

Despite their outward differences, all modern computers, from ENIAC to Apple, share three basic functions: storing, transmitting and performing logical operations on information.

Last year, Endy and his team made news in delivering the other two core components of a fully functional genetic computer. The first was a type of rewritable digital data storage within DNA. They also developed a mechanism for transmitting genetic information from cell to cell, a sort of biological Internet.

It all adds up to creating a computer inside a living cell.

Boole's gold

Digital logic is often referred to as "Boolean logic," after George Boole, the mathematician who proposed the system in 1854. Today, Boolean logic typically takes the form of 1s and 0s within a computer. Answer true, gate open; answer false, gate closed. Open. Closed. On. Off. 1. 0. It's that basic. But it turns out that with just these simple tools and ways of thinking you can accomplish quite a lot.

"AND" and "OR" are just two of the most basic Boolean logic gates. An "AND" gate, for instance, is "true" when both of its inputs are true -- when "a" and "b" are true. An "OR" gate, on the other hand, is true when either or both of its inputs are true.

In a biological setting, the possibilities for logic are as limitless as in electronics, Bonnet explained. "You could test whether a given cell had been exposed to any number of external stimuli -- the presence of glucose and caffeine, for instance. BIL gates would allow you to make that determination and to store that information so you could easily identify those which had been exposed and which had not," he said.

By the same token, you could tell the cell to start or stop reproducing if certain factors were present. And, by coupling BIL gates with the team's biological Internet, it is possible to communicate genetic information from cell to cell to orchestrate the behavior of a group of cells.

"The potential applications are limited only by the imagination of the researcher," said co-author Monica Ortiz, a PhD candidate in bioengineering who demonstrated autonomous cell-to-cell communication of DNA encoding various BIL gates.

Building a transcriptor

To create transcriptors and logic gates, the team used carefully calibrated combinations of enzymes -- the integrases mentioned earlier -- that control the flow of RNA polymerase along strands of DNA. If this were electronics, DNA is the wire and RNA polymerase is the electron.

"The choice of enzymes is important," Bonnet said. "We have been careful to select enzymes that function in bacteria, fungi, plants and animals, so that bio-computers can be engineered within a variety of organisms."

On the technical side, the transcriptor achieves a key similarity between the biological transistor and its semiconducting cousin: signal amplification.

With transcriptors, a very small change in the expression of an integrase can create a very large change in the expression of any two other genes.

To understand the importance of amplification, consider that the transistor was first conceived as a way to replace expensive, inefficient and unreliable vacuum tubes in the amplification of telephone signals for transcontinental phone calls. Electrical signals traveling along wires get weaker the farther they travel, but if you put an amplifier every so often along the way, you can relay the signal across a great distance. The same would hold in biological systems as signals get transmitted among a group of cells.

"It is a concept similar to transistor radios," said Pakpoom Subsoontorn, a PhD candidate in bioengineering and co-author of the study who developed theoretical models to predict the behavior of BIL gates. "Relatively weak radio waves traveling through the air can get amplified into sound."

Public-domain biotechnology

To bring the age of the biological computer to a much speedier reality, Endy and his team have contributed all of BIL gates to the public domain so that others can immediately harness and improve upon the tools.

"Most of biotechnology has not yet been imagined, let alone made true. By freely sharing important basic tools everyone can work better together," Bonnet said.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Jerome Bonnet, Peter Yin, Monica E. Ortiz, Pakpoom Subsoontorn, and Drew Endy. Amplifying Genetic Logic Gates. Science, 28 March 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232758

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/ED1fLVQ-WsM/130328142400.htm

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Prekindergarten program boosts children's skills

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Boston Public Schools' prekindergarten program is substantially improving children's readiness to start kindergarten, according to a new study of more than 2,000 children enrolled there. The program uses research-based curricula and coaching of teachers, is taught primarily by masters-level teachers, and is open to any child regardless of family income.

The study, out of Harvard University, appears in the journal Child Development. Some of the study's findings on the effects of the program are the largest found to date in evaluations of large-scale public prekindergarten programs.

Researchers found that the program substantially improved children's language, literacy, math, executive function (the ability to regulate, control, and manage one's thinking and actions), and emotional development skills citywide. Children in the program were 4 and 5 years old and from racially, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. While all students who participated benefited, the improvements were especially strong for Latino children.

Preschool has been shown to help prepare children for kindergarten and is an increasing priority among federal, state, and local policymakers. But many preschool programs struggle to attain good instructional quality.

"We can draw several important lessons from our findings about factors that support quality in prekindergarten," notes Christina Weiland, incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan's School of Education, who was at Harvard when she led the study.

First, the combination of explicit, evidence-based curricula (in language/literacy and math) and in-classroom coaching of teachers as part of professional development likely played a major role in improving student outcomes. Investing in such quality supports for prekindergarten teachers may lead to gains in students' school readiness, the study found.

Second, implementing consistent math, language, and literacy curricula might build children's executive function skills. "Our results suggest that curricula in these areas may also improve such domains as executive functioning, even without directly targeting them," according to Weiland. "Interestingly, research shows that these kinds of skills -- which reflect early brain development, the ability to focus, and behavior -- are critical to children's success down the road."

Third, students in the program also may have benefited from having more mixed-income peers than is typical in most public prekindergarten programs, which are means tested and therefore tend to include mostly low-income students.

"Given the particularly large impacts for Latinos, a group that tends to be underenrolled in preschool programs, efforts to increase the enrollment of Latino children in high-quality prekindergarten programs such as the one studied here may be beneficial," Weiland adds.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for Research in Child Development, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Christina Weiland, Hirokazu Yoshikawa. Impacts of a Prekindergarten Program on Children's Mathematics, Language, Literacy, Executive Function, and Emotional Skills. Child Development, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12099

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/Dg2wGEGWtJQ/130328080227.htm

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Malala Yousafzai, shot for defying Taliban, to write book

LONDON (AP) ? Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.

Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced that it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.

"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.

A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.

The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.

Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.

Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.

"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."

Publishers did not reveal the price tag for the book deal, estimated by the Guardian newspaper at 2 million pounds ($3 million).

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shot-pakistani-teen-malala-yousafzai-writing-book-100913748.html

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