Friday, May 31, 2013

Yank On This Bulb To Let There Be Light

Yank On This Bulb To Let There Be Light

Finally, there's a solution for those who can never find a hanging light's pull switch in the dark, or those who do find it and end up yanking it off. The battery-powered hanging Tuggit Pullbulb is the light and the switch all in one, so it's easy to find as you fumble around your dark basement.

A gentle tug turns the bulb on, and since it uses cool-to-the-touch LEDs inside, you're not going to burn your fingers when you go to turn it off after a few hours. It's also just $20, including four feet of nylon rope, so it's ready to hang and use right out of the box. Goodbye stubbed toes. [ThinkGeek]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/yank-on-this-bulb-to-let-there-be-light-510642421

iditarod nfl free agents 2012 encyclopedia brittanica nfl free agency jonbenet ramsey jason campbell doobie brothers

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Century-old ocean data provides further confirmation of global warming

May 28, 2013 ? A new NASA and university analysis of ocean data collected more than 135 years ago by the crew of the HMS Challenger oceanographic expedition provides further confirmation that human activities have warmed our planet over the past century.

Researchers from the University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Australia; and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., combined the ship's measurements of ocean temperatures with modern observations from the international Argo array of ocean profiling floats. They used both as inputs to state-of-the-art climate models, to get a picture of how the world's oceans have changed since the Challenger's voyage.

The Challenger expedition, from 1872 to 1876, was the world's first global scientific survey of life beneath the ocean surface. Along the way, scientists measured ocean temperatures, lowering thermometers hundreds of meters deep on ropes.

"The key to this research was to determine the range of uncertainty for the measurements taken by the crew of the Challenger," said Josh Willis, a JPL climate scientist and NASA project scientist for the upcoming U.S./European Jason-3 oceanography satellite, scheduled to launch in 2015. "After we had taken all these uncertainties into account, it became apparent that the rate of warming we saw across the oceans far exceeded the degree of uncertainty around the measurements. So, while the uncertainty was large, the warming signal detected was far greater."

Uncertainties around the Challenger's measurements were caused by the limited areas measured during the voyage; the actual depths the thermometers descended to; and the likely natural variation in temperature that could occur in each region during the voyage.

"Our research revealed warming of the planet can be clearly detected since 1873 and that our oceans continue to absorb the great majority of this heat," said researcher and lead author Will Hobbs of the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. "Currently, scientists estimate the oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases, and we attribute the global warming to anthropogenic (human-produced) causes."

The Challenger expedition measurements also revealed that thermal expansion of sea water caused by global warming contributed about 40 percent of the total sea level rise seen in tide gauges from 1873 to 1955. The remaining 60 percent was likely to have come from the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. Prior to this research, climate models offered the only way to estimate the change before the 1950s.

Results of the study are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

For more on the study, visit: http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/right-column-content/whats-new3/news/century-old-science-helps-confirm-global-warming .

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/DBgPvHcp73w/130528104542.htm

stacy francis tournament brackets 2012 ncaa basketball tournament walt what time is it current time a thousand words

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Models from big molecules captured in a flash

May 28, 2013 ? To learn how biological molecules like proteins function, scientists must first understand their structures. Almost as important is understanding how the structures change, as molecules in the native state do their jobs.

Existing methods for solving structure largely depend on crystallized molecules, and the shapes of more than 80,000 proteins in a static state have been solved this way. The majority of the two million proteins in the human body can't be crystallized, however. For most of them, even their low-resolution structures are still unknown.

Their chance to shine may have come at last, thanks to new techniques developed by Peter Zwart and his colleagues at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), working with collaborators from Arizona State University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The new method promises a more informative look at large biological molecules in their native, more fluid state.

The researchers describe their results in two recent papers in Foundations of Crystallography and in Physical Review Letters.

Diffraction before destruction

A key factor in new ways of looking at biomolecules is the data created by free-electron lasers (FELs) such as the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, whose powerful x?ray pulses are measured in quadrillionths of a second. These pulses are faster than a molecule can rotate, and the experimental data reflects the state of the molecule frozen in time.

"It's a technique called 'diffract before destroy,' because the data is collected before the particle literally blows apart," says Zwart, a member of the Lab's Physical Biosciences Division, and the science lead for the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology at the Advanced Light Source. "FELs have shown they can derive structures from single particles, each hit with a single pulse, but there are major challenges to this approach."

Instead of single particles, Zwart and his colleagues include many particles in each shot. When analyzed by computer programs, the data from the different diffraction patterns can be combined to provide detailed insights into the structures the molecules adopt in solution.

The technique is called fluctuation x-ray scattering (fXS), and Zwart and his colleagues have shown that data obtained this way with free-electron lasers can yield low-resolution shapes of biomolecules in close to their natural state, with much greater confidence than is currently possible with less powerful synchrotron light sources.

"Our algorithm starts with a trial model and modifies it by randomly adding or subtracting volume until the shape of the model achieves the optimum fit with the data," Zwart says. This trial-and-error optimization technique, tested on known configurations at the LCLS, can resolve the shapes of individual macromolecules with fXS data alone.

It's not only the structures of molecules taken one at a time that can be solved this way. Zwart and his former postdoc Gang Chen, working with Dongsheng Li of PNNL, have shown that data from mixtures of different kinds of molecules can be untangled to provide clues on the structure of the individual components, forming a basis for understanding the dynamic behavior of large biological molecules working together in solution.

By understanding their structural changes, Zwart and his colleagues are developing fluctuation x-ray scattering as an indispensable tool for determining how mixtures of different proteins behave independently or in concert.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/2eil1Tk6t1U/130528100236.htm

southern university biggest loser TJ Lane lindsey vonn lindsey vonn nit first day of spring

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Kenya: UK soldier killing suspect arrested in 2010

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? A suspect in last week's savage killing of a British soldier on a London street was arrested in Kenya in 2010 while apparently preparing to train and fight with al-Qaida-linked Somali militants, an anti-terrorism police official said Sunday.

Michael Adebolajo, who was carrying a British passport, was then handed over to British authorities in the East African country, another Kenyan official said.

The information surfaced as London's Metropolitan Police said specialist firearms officers arrested a man Sunday suspected of conspiring to murder 25-year-old British soldier Lee Rigby. Police gave few details about the suspect, only saying he is 22 years old.

The arrest brought to nine the number of suspects who have been taken into custody regarding Rigby's horrific killing in London. Two have been released without charge, and one was released on bail pending further questioning. No one has been charged in the case.

The British soldier, who had served in Afghanistan, was run over, then stabbed with knives in the Woolwich area in southeast London on Wednesday afternoon as he was walking near his barracks.

Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are the main suspects in the killing and remained under armed guard in separate London hospitals after police shot them at the scene.

In 2010, Adebolajo was arrested with five others near Kenya's border with Somalia, Kenya's anti-terrorism police unit chief Boniface Mwaniki told The Associated Press. Police believed Adebolajo was going to work with Somali militant group al-Shabab.

A video clip from a local TV station appears to show Adebolajo speaking during a court hearing in the Kenyan city of Mombasa on Nov. 23, 2010. He says, "These people are mistreating us. We are innocent. Believe me," shortly before leaving the court with five other suspects.

Mwaniki said that Adebolajo was deported from Kenya after his arrest in 2010. Kenya's government spokesman said he was arrested under a different name, and taken to court before being handed to British authorities.

"Kenya's government arrested Michael Olemindis Ndemolajo. We handed him to British security agents in Kenya, and he seems to have found his way to London and mutated to Michael Adebolajo," spokesman Muthui Kariuki said. "The Kenyan government cannot be held responsible for what happened to him after we handed him to British authorities."

Kariuki said Adebolajo was traveling on a British passport, but he could not confirm if it was authentic.

When asked whether British security agents and embassy officials had handled Adebolajo in Kenya, a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said in a brief statement: "We can confirm a British national was arrested in Kenya in 2010. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided consular assistance as normal for British nationals." She did not elaborate and said she did not have information about what had happened to Adebolajo then.

Rigby's grieving family visited the scene of his killing in London on Sunday, pausing for a few moments in reflection and laying flowers to join the hundreds of floral tributes already left at the nearby Woolwich Barracks by well-wishers.

The soldier's gruesome slaying has horrified Britain, partly because it was captured by witnesses' cellphones. A video picked up by British media showed one of the suspects, with bloodied hands, making political statements and warning of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground behind him.

Hardline Muslim leaders say the man in the video was Adebolajo, and they have described him as an Islam convert who used to take part in London demonstrations organized by British radical group al-Muhajiroun. The group catapulted to notoriety after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by organizing an event to celebrate the airplane hijackers, and was banned in Britain in 2010.

More than 20 supporters of the group have been arrested over terrorism offenses, including a foiled plot to blow up central London nightclub Ministry of Sound and a bomb attack on London's Territorial Army base.

Abu Nusaybah, a friend of Adebolajo's, has asserted in a BBC interview that Adebolajo became withdrawn after he allegedly suffered abuse by Kenyan security forces during interrogation in prison there. Nusaybah was arrested by counter-terrorism police outside the BBC's London studios Friday night immediately after recording the interview, and police said Sunday his detention has been extended to May 31.

Anti-terrorism chief Mwaniki on Sunday rejected Nusaybah's allegations. Mwaniki said at the time there were no indications of torture or abuse, but that the unit would further investigate.

Mwaniki said dozens of foreign youth are arrested every year attempting to cross the Kenyan border to join al-Shabab, which claims to be fighting a jihad, or holy war, against the Somali government and African Union forces.

Al-Shabab controlled the Somali capital, Mogadishu from roughly 2007 to 2011. The group still dominates most of south central Somalia but has seen its territory reduced after military pushes by African Union and Somali forces.

According to an August U.S. State Department report on terrorism, al-Shabab continues to maintain training camps in southern Somalia for young recruits, including Americans who have traveled there from Somali communities in the United States.

The camps have churned out dozens of bombers who've launched attacks in and outside Somalia.

Al-Shabab boasts several hundred foreign fighters, mostly East African nationals and veterans from the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars.

British officials have been on the lookout for security threats originating from Somalia for some years.

In a speech in 2010, Jonathan Evans, then head of Britain's MI5 domestic security service, warned that "a significant number" of British residents were training in al-Shabab camps to fight in the insurgency there.

"I am concerned that it is only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside al-Shabab," he said.

Meanwhile, London police said a man in his 20s was stabbed Sunday in the Woolwich area of London close to where Rigby was killed, momentarily rattling people in the area. But Scotland Yard said the stabbing was not related to terrorism or to Wednesday's slaying. A spokesman said the victim was not a soldier, and one man was arrested for assault.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne, head of Scotland Yard's counterterrorism command, said officers are pursuing CCTV, social media, forensic and intelligence leads in the Rigby investigation. He appealed for anyone who knew the two attackers to contact police with information.

British officials said Sunday they are also setting up a new terrorism task force to tackle radical preachers and extremism. Home Secretary Theresa May said the group will look at whether new powers and laws are needed to clamp down on religious leaders and organizations who promote extremist messages and who target potential recruits in British jails, schools and mosques.

___

Hui reported from London. Associated Press Producer Khaled Kazziha contributed to this report from Nairobi, Kenya

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-uk-soldier-killing-suspect-arrested-2010-132149952.html

a star is born oscar nominees oscar nominations 2012 kombucha tea separation of church and state dale earnhardt oscar predictions

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Hidden population of exotic neutron stars

May 23, 2013 ? Magnetars -- the dense remains of dead stars that erupt sporadically with bursts of high-energy radiation -- are some of the most extreme objects known in the Universe. A major campaign using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other satellites shows magnetars may be more diverse -- and common -- than previously thought.

When a massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses to form a neutron star, an ultradense object about 10 to 15 miles wide. The gravitational energy released in this process blows the outer layers away in a supernova explosion and leaves the neutron star behind.

Most neutron stars are spinning rapidly -- a few times a second -- but a small fraction have a relatively low spin rate of once every few seconds, while generating occasional large blasts of X-rays. Because the only plausible source for the energy emitted in these outbursts is the magnetic energy stored in the star, these objects are called "magnetars."

Most magnetars have extremely high magnetic fields on their surface that are ten to a thousand times stronger than for the average neutron star. New observations show that the magnetar known as SGR 0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short) doesn't fit that pattern. It has a surface magnetic field similar to that of mainstream neutron stars.

"We have found that SGR 0418 has a much lower surface magnetic field than any other magnetar," said Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Science in Barcelona, Spain. "This has important consequences for how we think neutron stars evolve in time, and for our understanding of supernova explosions."

The researchers monitored SGR 0418 for over three years using Chandra, ESA's XMM-Newton as well as NASA's Swift and RXTE satellites. They were able to make an accurate estimate of the strength of the external magnetic field by measuring how its rotation speed changes during an X-ray outburst. These outbursts are likely caused by fractures in the crust of the neutron star precipitated by the buildup of stress in a relatively strong, wound-up magnetic field lurking just beneath the surface.

"This low surface magnetic field makes this object an anomaly among anomalies," said co-author GianLuca Israel of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome. "A magnetar is different from typical neutron stars, but SGR 0418 is different from other magnetars as well."

By modeling the evolution of the cooling of the neutron star and its crust, as well as the gradual decay of its magnetic field, the researchers estimated that SGR 0418 is about 550,000 years old. This makes SGR 0418 older than most other magnetars, and this extended lifetime has probably allowed the surface magnetic field strength to decline over time. Because the crust weakened and the interior magnetic field is relatively strong, outbursts could still occur.

The case of SGR 0418 may mean that there are many more elderly magnetars with strong magnetic fields hidden under the surface, implying that their birth rate is five to ten times higher than previously thought.

"We think that about once a year in every galaxy a quiet neutron star should turn on with magnetar-like outbursts, according to our model for SGR 0418," said Jos? Pons of the University of Alacant in Spain. "We hope to find many more of these objects."

Another implication of the model is that the surface magnetic field of SGR 0418 should have once been very strong at its birth a half million years ago. This, plus a possibly large population of similar objects, could mean that the massive progenitor stars already had strong magnetic fields, or these fields were created by rapidly rotating neutron stars in the core collapse that was part of the supernova event.

If large numbers of neutron stars are born with strong magnetic fields then a significant fraction of gamma-ray bursts might be caused by the formation of magnetars rather than black holes. Also, the contribution of magnetar births to gravitational wave signals -- ripples in space-time -- would be larger than previously thought.

The possibility of a relatively low surface magnetic field for SGR 0418 was first announced in 2010 by a team with some of the same members. However, the scientists at that time could only determine an upper limit for the magnetic field and not an actual estimate because not enough data had been collected.

SGR 0418 is located in the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 6,500 light years from Earth. These new results on SGR 0418 appear online and will be published in the June 10, 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

For Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/chandra

For an additional interactive image, podcast, and video on the finding, visit: http://chandra.si.edu

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/pFbuOZxASFQ/130523112527.htm

Fatboy Slim Rio de Janeiro Shark Week London 2012 closing ceremony Shark Week 2012 evelyn lozada UFC 150

Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 still don?t offer apps people want

Windows Phone BlackBerry 10 Apps

If you purchase a Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10 smartphone,?don?t expect to download the same applications your friends?are using on their iPhones and Android devices. A new report from research firm Canalys has found that a majority of the top Android and iOS applications still aren?t available on Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10. When combined, the two operating systems were found to only support 34% of the top 50 free and top 50 paid applications in the App Store and Google Play in the United States.

[More from BGR: Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4: PS4 wins on specs]

The Windows Phone Store offered 16 of the top 50 free apps from the App Store, and 14 of the top 50 paid apps. The operating system fared slightly better when compared to Google Play, offering 22 of the top 50 free Android apps and 13 of the top 50 paid apps. BlackBerry World, on the other hand, contained BlackBerry 10 versions of only five of the top 50 free iPhone apps, nine of the top 50 paid iPhone apps, 11 of the top 50 free Androids apps and 11 of the top 50 paid Android apps.

[More from BGR: Don?t expect Google Fiber to come to your town anytime soon]

?These stats underscore the scale of the job Microsoft and BlackBerry each still face in their respective bids to build up their app ecosystems, and to deliver still more compelling ? and crucially ? genuinely competitive offerings around apps, and both vendors must continue to work hard to rise to the challenge,? said Canalys senior analyst, Tim Shepherd. ?The availability of key apps is a factor in motivating consumers? initial mobile device purchasing decisions, and it will only become more so. But moreover, it is a major factor in determining ongoing consumer satisfaction.?

Microsoft announced earlier this month that the Windows Phone Store now has more than 145,000 apps, while BlackBerry revealed that more than 120,000 BlackBerry 10 and ported Android apps combined are now available in BlackBerry World. Despite both companies boasting about the size and growth of their app stores, it remains clear that Microsoft and BlackBerry?s platforms still don?t offer apps consumers actually want to use.

?Simply, Windows Phone and BlackBerry customers do not want to miss out on apps (or app features) from important and locally relevant brands, or the latest games, because of their choice of smart phone,? Shepherd said. ?It is therefore imperative for the success of both Windows Phone and BlackBerry that their respective app ecosystems attract and offer the high-quality content that consumers want and would otherwise miss.?

The analyst explained that to be successful, Microsoft and BlackBerry don?t need to offer the vast amount of apps Google and Apple do, but they need to focus on attracting bigger players. The success of the ecosystems is linked very closely to the success of both platforms.

?At a certain point, how many apps are in a store becomes irrelevant. Offering 100 different unit converters or weather apps is not a valuable choice,? he said. ?What is now far more important for BlackBerry and Microsoft is to focus on plugging inventory gaps and making sure they offer the right apps; to focus on quality and local relevance, not quantity. They must ensure they are attracting and proactively encouraging apps from the locally relevant brands in their key markets, such as retailers, banks, transport services and airlines, news, sport and weather providers, and popular online content, services, communities and games.?

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/windows-phone-blackberry-10-still-don-t-offer-155547872.html

shumpert hopkins hopkins dear john derrick rose torn acl pacers undrafted free agents

Friday, May 24, 2013

James, Bryant voted to All-NBA first team

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) gestures during the second half of Game 1 in their NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Wednesday, May 22, 2013 in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) gestures during the second half of Game 1 in their NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Wednesday, May 22, 2013 in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) is congratulated by Dwyane Wade (3) after defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 in their NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals playoff series, Wednesday, May 22, 2013 in Miami. The Heat won 103-102 in overtime. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

(AP) ? LeBron James was a unanimous pick for the All-NBA team and Kobe Bryant earned his record-tying 11th first-team selection.

James received all 119 votes for the first team from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada. Joining the league's MVP and Bryant on the first team Thursday were Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, San Antonio center Tim Duncan and Clippers guard Chris Paul.

Bryant tied Utah Hall of Famer Karl Malone with his 11th first-team nod.

NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony led the second team, joined by guards Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker, center Marc Gasol and forward Blake Griffin.

The third team was Houston's James Harden, Miami's Dwyane Wade, Lakers center Dwight Howard and forwards Paul George of Indiana and David Lee of Golden State.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-23-BKN-All-NBA-Team/id-611156c3593549b8a998a97e979581da

nick young south dakota state long beach state beasley trailblazers michael beasley jermaine jones

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Flickr Gets A Huge Revamp With Hi-Res Image-Filled UI, New Android App, And 1TB Of Free Storage

flickr5The new Flickr is live. Smack-dab in the middle of Yahoo-Tumblr acquisition day, Yahoo is holding a major press event here in NYC. But announcements coming out of this event aren't related to Tumblr as much as Flickr, the photo-sharing database and social network acquired by Yahoo in March of 2005 for $35 million. Today, Flickr gets a huge revamp including a totally new look and feel, focused on three different things. First, there are no more bits of text or blue links, but rather a grid layout of huge pictures in full resolution.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KpYK2uI-WNg/

irs new york times Friends Reunion Elena Delle Donne usa today yahoo news regions

Saturday, May 18, 2013

When Great Scientists Got It Wrong

In Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein, astrophysicist Mario Livio explores the colossal errors committed by scientific greats, from chemist Linus Pauling's botched model of DNA, to Charles Darwin's failure to understand genetics?the very mechanism of natural selection.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=184775928&ft=1&f=1007

Jim Harbaugh Who Won The Superbowl Super Bowl Halftime Show 2013 Super Bowl Commercials 2013 Ray Lewis Murders 2013 Super Bowl Commercials joe flacco

Rachael Clark, Woman Left in Dumpster as Newborn, Forgives Birth Mother

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/rachael-clark-woman-left-in-dumpster-as-newborn-forgives-birth-m/

carlos santana dodgers triple play baa samoyed kenny powers kenny powers carl hagelin

Tommy Chong: Why he wants to legalize marijuana

Tommy Chong says legalizing marijuana will boost the US economy. Will hemp 'save the world,' as Tommy Chong says?

By John Carucci,?Associated Press / May 16, 2013

Tommy Chong at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The 74-year-old comedian thinks legalizing marijuana on a federal level would offer numerous benefits, including a boost to the U.S. economy if it were taxed.

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Enlarge

The Grammy Award-winning comedy duo Cheech and Chong based their 42-year career on counterculture humor with a particular emphasis on marijuana use. But these days Tommy Chong sees the recreational drug as something more than fodder for jokes about stoned hippies.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; // google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

The 74-year-old comedian thinks legalizing marijuana on a federal level would offer numerous benefits, including a boost to the U.S. economy if it were taxed.

"There's little manufacturing cost. You don't have to do anything except watch it grow and get a couple of hippies to cut it and then put it in a bag," Chong said.

His ambitions for marijuana may be outsized, but he notes the potential medical uses that have already inspired some states to legalize the drug. Nearly 20 states have enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana, and two of them ? Colorado and Washington ? have totally legalized it. And at least 12 states have pending legislation to legalize for medical use.

"Hemp itself is going to save the world," Chong said.

Chong's comedy partner, Richard "Cheech" Marin, 66, thinks legalization will come in the next couple of years.

"The tipping point is 24 states to legalize medical marijuana, so it's coming soon," said Marin.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/2YxFEMYy6Hc/Tommy-Chong-Why-he-wants-to-legalize-marijuana

Jason London rick ross yahoo finance iOS 6.1 BlackBerry Kwame Harris Vine

Position Available: Visions And Pathways For Low Carbon Built ...

Thursday, 16 May 2013 05:57

Post Doctoral Researcher: Visions and Pathways for Low Carbon Built Environment and Urban Living.

A flagship project of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab and the CRC for Low Carbon Living.

?

(Melbourne University?Position Number 0031360?? see:?http://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/jobSearch.asp?stp=AW)

Join a ground-breaking flagship project to explore and articulate visions, scenarios and pathways for a low-carbon resilient urban environment linked to a dynamic program of engagement with industry and government.

This project is lead from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with researchers from the University of New South Wales and Swinburne University. It is supported by a grant from the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, a major research initiative bringing together key property, planning, engineering and policy organisations with leading Australian researchers to develop new social, technological and policy tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment.

The challenge of the decarbonisation of the built environment involves no less than a transition from one set of technologies, infrastructures, practices, perceptions, values, policies and regulations to a (potentially very) different set. This research project will investigate the diversity and complex systems dynamics of technological and societal changes required to pursue a low-carbon resilient society.

The project will use scenario thinking within a twenty-five to thirty year horizon. Over its life, we will road-map potential transitions and disruptive change, articulate and refine scenarios for Australia?s future, guide designers in the production of visualisations of the future built environment, provide strategic input to the scoping of the CRC research program and publish for academic, professional and general media.

The successful candidate will focus on the investigation and elaboration of approaches to the design of ?eco-cities? and the technological, social and infrastructural innovations that could provide the basis for the transformation of both new and existing built environments. Reporting to the project leader, Professor Chris Ryan, the position will connect closely with researchers in the Victorian Eco Innovation Lab (VEIL) and will be located within the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

>> Application deadline extended to May 22, 2013

>> Download the Position Description or apply online

Source: http://www.ecoinnovationlab.com/news/515-position-available-visions-pathways-postdoc

walking dead season finale matt flynn denver news frozen planet creighton new smyrna beach st. joseph

Friday, May 17, 2013

SG Property Channel Strives to Build Lifelong Partnerships in Real ...

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

SG Property Channel has recently said that they strive to build lifelong partnerships in real estate with the customers that they deal with. By building lifelong partnerships, they can help homeowners sell their properties more efficiently, and they can help buyers get connected with properties for sale more efficiently as well. Similarly, lifelong partnerships also enable them to keep in contact with previous customers, so that they can help them the next time that they are looking to buy or sell real estate. SG Property Channel is also a very devoted company that has been dedicated to helping their customers for many years. They provide exceptional real estate services and they are one of the biggest companies in the industry.

By building lifelong partnerships, SG Property Channel is able to accomplish more as a real estate business. With every partnership that they have, they can not only complete a one-time transaction, but they can complete many more in the future. Each client is maximized and fulfilled to the highest possible degree. If you can get more transactions out of each and every client, the business can be far more successful. One of the slogans that they go by is Dnes Echelon Singapore Property, and it?s a philosophy that they uphold for their business.

Purchasing a new home or selling your current home can be a big decision and its often a very stressful experience. If you need help along the way, that?s exactly what SG Property Channel is therefore. They help homeowners put their current property on the market, so that it can sell for the highest possible value. They help you get a maximum return out of your home, so that you can make more profit and have more money in your pocket. Similarly, they also help buyers find a property that meets their needs and expectations appropriately. You can find a home that has a precise number of bedrooms, bathrooms, or the right amount of square footage. Buying or selling a home has never been easier. SG Property Channel has help thousands of clients so far and they plan to assist many more with their services.

SG Property Channel is also a business that provides listings on their website for some of the best condominiums to stay in. They have condominium listings that you can see which condos are most popular in the area. You can find a complex that meets your needs and provides everything that you are looking for in a new home. All of the condominium listings on their website or current, modern, and very luxurious. They can even help you design industrial and commercial complexes, in case you are a real estate investor that is interested in starting a commercial space. They can help you design the property and even begin the building process, so that you can have a successful business from the very beginning. SG Property Channel is one of the only businesses that is dedicated to offering this type of service, they offer all types of real estate opportunities.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]

Source: http://www.submissionsvalley.com/real-estate/sg-property-channel-strives-to-build-lifelong-partnerships-in-real-estate/

usher James Holmes Minka Kelly sex tape Colorado shooting Colorado shooting victims aurora Angie Everhart

Emma Watson In 'The Bling Ring': The Early Reviews Are In!

Sofia Coppola's adaptation just had its debut at Cannes, and the critics have spoken.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707448/bling-ring-emma-watson-cannes-film-festival.jhtml

George Bush After Christmas Sales 2012 Charles Durning Webster Ny Mcdonalds Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The US Military's Disastrous Plan to Use Napalm-Strapped Bats in WWII

In 1942, after having finally entered WWII, the United States Marine Corps spent two million dollars on an insane new initiative. The mission? Strap napalm bombs to bats, and send them flying on deadly kamikaze runs. Seriously.

Vacation Inspiration

While most Americans spent the days following December 7, 1941?the day of Japan's infamous attack on Pearl Harbor?confused, angry, and afraid, dentist Lytle S. James decided to be inspired.

At the time of the attack, James was on a trip to famed bat-haven Carlsbad Caverns. Eager to do his part for his country, he took note of the ferocious fliers who ruled the the caves and suggested what seemed at the time to be a perfectly sensible retaliation plan: making unsuspecting patriots out of bomb-toting bats.

If it had been anyone else's idea, this bizarre, PETA-angering, military absurdity would have died on the vine. But Lytle P. James had something other crackpots of his era could only dream of. He had the ear of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

This Man Is Not a Nut

The concept itself is outlandish enough in its own right, but the truly bizarre part is that the National Research Defense Committee decided to take the idea and run with it. Renowned psychologist Donald Griffin, who had worked extensively on bats' system of echolocation, even helped overlook the trial as one of its biggest supporters, claiming in 1942:

This proposal seems bizarre and visionary at first glance, but extensive experience with experimental biology convinces the writer that if executed competently it would have every chance of success.

This was, apparently, enough to get President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on board, as a Presidential memorandum eventually went out stating:

This man is not a nut. It sounds like a perfectly wild idea but is worth looking into.

Ultimately known as Project X-Ray, the plan used Mexican free-tailed bats, which were kept calm during travel by jamming them into ice cube trays to be cooled down and forced into hibernation.

When it came time to release the (what would be thousands of) bats, a cardboard trap was supposed to spring open and send the napalm-loaded creatures deep into enemy lines. Ideally, the bats would roost in hard-to-reach places, set them on fire, and avenge the nation in the process. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite according to plan.

Trial and Horrible Error

During a test run of just six of the flying bombers, the bats unexpectedly took off a little too early and headed not for their target, but straight for the barracks. The good news: the bombs were highly effective. The bad news: again, the bombs were highly effective. The barracks quickly burst into flames?along with the general's car.

As Robert M. Neer notes in his new book, Napalm: An American Biography, "Flames? jumped from building to building. Many structures lay in ashes." It could barely have been more catastrophic.

Apparently, in an effort to maintain the secrecy of their secret weapon, research team leader Louis Fieser and his team of scientists had chosen to forego fire equipment. Not the best idea where kamikaze bomb bats are concerned. Or as Fieser casually put it, "We made a little mistake out there."

So fortunately for animal lovers and opponents of uncontrollable bomb-toting animals everywhere, this particular military mistake ended nearly as soon as it began. But not before going down as one of the most absurd military experiments in our nation's history. [Wikipedia, Smithsonian]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-us-militarys-disastrous-plan-to-use-napalm-strappe-505782959

mel gibson splunk dark shadows iau msft etan patz obama dog

Special Report - In Myanmar, apartheid tactics against minority Muslims

By Jason Szep

SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Muslim boy lay dying on a thin metal table. Bitten by a rabid dog a month ago, he convulsed and drooled as his parents wedged a stick between his teeth to stop him from biting off his tongue.

Swift treatment might have saved Waadulae. But there are no doctors, painkillers or vaccines in this primitive hospital near Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State in western Myanmar. It is a lonely medical outpost that serves about 85,300 displaced people, almost all of them Muslims who lost their homes in fighting with Buddhist mobs last year.

"All we can give him is sedatives," said Maung Maung Hla, a former health ministry official who, despite lacking a medical degree, treats about 150 patients a day. The two doctors who once worked there haven't been seen in a month. Medical supplies stopped when they left, said Maung Maung Hla, a Muslim.

These trash-strewn camps represent the dark side of Myanmar's celebrated transition to democracy: apartheid-like policies segregating minority Muslims from the Buddhist majority. As communal violence spreads, nowhere are these practices more brutally enforced than around Sittwe.

In an echo of what happened in the Balkans after the fall of communist Yugoslavia, the loosening of authoritarian control in Myanmar is giving freer rein to ethnic hatred.

President Thein Sein, a former general, said in a May 6 televised speech his government was committed to creating "a peaceful and harmonious society in Rakhine State."

But the sand dunes and barren paddy fields outside Sittwe hold a different story. Here, emergency shelters set up for Rohingya Muslims last year have become permanent, prison-like ghettos. Muslims are stopped from leaving at gunpoint. Aid workers are threatened. Camps seethe with anger and disease.

In central Sittwe, ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and local officials exult in what they regard as a hard-won triumph: streets almost devoid of Muslims. Before last year's violence, the city's Muslims numbered about 73,000, nearly half its population. Today, there are fewer than 5,000 left.

Myanmar's transformation from global pariah to budding democracy once seemed remarkably smooth. After nearly half a century of military dictatorship, the quasi-civilian government that took power in March 2011 astonished the world by releasing dissidents, relaxing censorship and re-engaging with the West.

Then came the worst sectarian violence for decades. Clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Rohingya Muslims in June and October 2012 killed at least 192 people and displaced 140,000. Most of the dead and homeless were Muslims.

"Rakhine State is going through a profound crisis" that "has the potential to undermine the entire reform process," said Tom?s Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.

Life here, he said, resembles junta-era Myanmar, with rampant human-rights abuses and a pervasive security apparatus. "What is happening in Rakhine State is following the pattern of what has happened in Myanmar during the military government," he said in an interview.

The crisis poses the biggest domestic challenge yet for the reformist leaders of one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries. Muslims make up about 5 percent of its 60 million people. Minorities, such as the Kachin and the Shan, are watching closely after enduring persecution under the former junta.

As the first powerful storm of the monsoon season approached western Myanmar this week, the government and U.N. agencies began a chaotic evacuation from the camps, urging thousands of Rohingya Muslims to move to safer areas on higher ground across Rakhine State.

Some resisted, fearing they would lose all they had left: their tarpaulin tents and makeshift huts. More than 50 are believed to have drowned in a botched evacuation by sea.

"THEY ALL TELL LIES"

Sittwe's last remaining Muslim-dominated quarter, Aung Mingalar, is locked down by police and soldiers who patrol all streets leading in and out. Muslims can't leave without written permission from Buddhist local authorities, which Muslims say is almost impossible to secure.

Metal barricades, topped with razor wire, are opened only for Buddhist Rakhines. Despite a ban against foreign journalists, Reuters was able to enter Aung Mingalar. Near-deserted streets were flanked by shuttered shops. Some Muslims peered from doors or windows.

On the other side of the barricades, Rakhine Buddhists revel in the segregation.

"I don't trust them. They are not honest," said Khin Mya, 63, who owns a general store on Sittwe's main street. "Muslims are hot-headed; they like to fight, either with us or among themselves."

Ei Mon Kyaw, 19, who sells betel nut and chewing tobacco, said Muslims are "really dirty. It is better we live apart."

State spokesman Win Myaing, a Buddhist, explained why Aung Mingalar's besieged Muslims were forbidden from speaking to the media. "It's because they all tell lies," he said. He also denied the government had engaged in ethnic cleansing, a charge leveled most recently by Human Rights Watch in an April 22 report.

"How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group," he said from an office on Sittwe's main street, overlooking an empty mosque guarded by soldiers and police.

His comments reflect a historic dispute over the origins of the country's estimated 800,000 Rohingya Muslims, who claim a centuries-old lineage in Rakhine State.

The government says they are Muslim migrants from northern neighbor Bangladesh who arrived during British rule from 1824. After independence in 1948, Myanmar's new rulers tried to limit citizenship to those whose roots in the country predated British rule. A 1982 Citizenship Act excluded Rohingya from the country's 135 recognized ethnic groups, denying them citizenship and rendering them stateless. Bangladesh also disowns them and has refused to grant them refugee status since 1992.

The United Nations calls them "virtually friendless" and among the world's most persecuted people.

BOAT PEOPLE EXODUS

The state government has shelved any plan to return the Rohingya Muslims to their villages on a technicality: for defying a state requirement that they identify themselves as "Bengali," a term that suggests they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

All these factors are accelerating an exodus of Rohingya boat people emigrating in rickety fishing vessels to other Southeast Asian countries.

From October to March, between the monsoons, about 25,000 Rohingya left Myanmar on boats, according to new data from Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group. That was double the previous year, turning a Rakhine problem into a region-wide one.

The cost of the one-way ticket is steep for an impoverished people - usually about 200,000 kyat, or $220, often paid for by remittances from family members who have already left.

Many who survive the perilous journeys wind up in majority-Muslim Malaysia. Some end up in U.N. camps, where they are denied permanent asylum. Others find illegal work on construction sites or other subsistence jobs. Tens of thousands are held in camps in Thailand. Growing numbers have been detained in Indonesia.

MOB VIOLENCE

Rakhine State, one of the poorest regions of Southeast Asia's poorest country, had high hopes for the reform era.

In Sittwe's harbor, India is funding a $214 million port, river and road network that will carve a trade route into India's landlocked northeast. From Kyaukphyu, a city 65 miles southeast of Sittwe, gas and oil pipelines stretch to China's energy-hungry northwest. Both projects capitalize on Myanmar's growing importance at Asia's crossroads.

That promise has been interrupted by communal tensions that flared into the open after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by Muslim men in May last year. Six days later, in retribution, a Buddhist mob beat 10 Muslims to death. Violence then swept Maungdaw, one of the three Rohingya-majority districts bordering Bangladesh, on June 8. Rohingya mobs destroyed homes and killed an unknown number of Rakhines.

The clashes spread to Sittwe. More than 2,500 homes and buildings went up in flames, as Rohingya and Rakhine mobs rampaged. When the smoke cleared, both suffered losses, though the official death toll for Rohingya - 57 - was nearly double that for Buddhist Rakhines. Entire Muslim districts were razed.

October saw more violence. This time, Buddhist mobs attacked Muslim villages across the state over five days, led in some cases by Rakhine nationalists tied to a powerful political party, incited by Buddhist monks and abetted at times by local security forces..

U.S. President Barack Obama, on a groundbreaking visit in November, urged reconciliation. "The Rohingya ... hold within themselves the same dignity as you do, and I do," he said. The week he visited, Thein Sein vowed to forge ethnic unity in a letter to the United Nations.

But the violence kept spreading. Anti-Muslim unrest, whipped up by Buddhist monks, killed at least 44 people in the central city of Meikhtila in March. In April and May, Buddhist mobs destroyed mosques and hundreds of Muslim homes just a few hours' drive from Yangon, the country's largest city.

Thein Sein responded by sending troops to volatile areas and setting up an independent commission into the Rakhine violence. Its recommendations, released April 27, urged meetings of Muslim and Buddhist leaders to foster tolerance, Muslims to be moved to safer ground ahead of the storm season, and the continued segregation of the two communities "until the overt emotions subside."

It sent a strong message, calling the Rohingya "Bengalis," a term that suggests they belong in Bangladesh, and backing the 1982 citizenship law that rendered stateless even those Rohingya who had lived in Myanmar for generations.

The Rohingya's rapid population growth had fueled the clashes with Buddhists, it said, recommending voluntary family-planning education programs for them. It suggested doubling the number of soldiers and police in the region.

Rohingya responded angrily. "We completely reject this report," said Fukan Ahmed, 54, a Rohingya elder who lost his home in Sittwe.

Local government officials, however, were already moving to impose policies in line with the report.

THE HATED LIST

On the morning of April 26, a group of state officials entered the Theak Kae Pyin refugee camp. With them were three policemen and several Border Administration Force officers, known as the Nasaka, a word derived from the initials of its Burmese name. Unique to the region, the Nasaka consists of officers from the police, military, customs and immigration. They control every aspect of Rohingya life, and are much feared.

Documented human-rights abuses blamed on the Nasaka include rape, forced labor and extortion. Rohingya cannot travel or marry without the Nasaka's permission, which is never secured without paying bribes, activists allege.

State spokesman Win Myaing said the Nasaka's mission was to compile a list identifying where people had lived before the violence, a precondition for resettlement. They wanted to know who was from Sittwe and who was from more remote townships such as Pauktaw and Kyaukphyu, areas that saw a near-total expulsion of Muslims in October.

Many fled for what Win Myaing said were unregistered camps outside Sittwe, often in flood-prone areas. "We would like to move them back to where they came from in the next two months," said Win Myaing. The list was the first step towards doing that.

The list, however, also required Muslims to identify themselves as Bengali. For Fukan Ahmed and other Rohingya leaders, it sent a chilling message: If they want to be resettled, they must deny their identity.

Agitated crowds gathered as the officials tried to compile the list, witnesses said. Women and children chanted "Rohingya! Rohingya!" As the police officers were leaving, one tumbled to the ground, struck by a stone to his head, according to Win Myaing. Rohingya witnesses said the officer tripped. Seven Rohingya were arrested and charged with causing grievous hurt to a public servant, criminal intimidation and rioting.

Compiling the list is on hold, said Win Myaing. So, too, is resettlement.

"If they trust us, then (resettlement) can happen immediately. If you won't even accept us making a list, then how can we try and do other things?" he asked. The crisis could be defused if Rohingya accepted the 1982 Citizenship Law, he said.

But doing so would effectively confirm their statelessness. Official discrimination and lack of documentation meant many Rohingya have no hope of fulfilling the requirements.

Boshi Raman, 40, said he and other Rohingya would never sign a document calling themselves Bengali. "We would rather die," he said.

Win Myaing blamed the Rohingya for their misfortune. "If you look back at the events that occurred, it wasn't because the Rakhines were extreme. The problems were all started by them," the Muslims, he said.

SCORCHED EARTH

In Theak Kae Pyin camp, a sea of tarpaulin tents and fragile huts built of straw from the last rice harvest, there is an air of growing permanence. More than 11,000 live in this camp alone, according to U.N. data. Naked children bathe in a murky-brown pond and play on sewage-lined pathways.

A year ago, before the unrest, Haleda Somisian lived in Narzi, a Sittwe district of more than 10,000 people. Today, it is rubble and scorched earth. Somisian, 20, wants to return and rebuild. Her husband, she says, has started to beat her. In Narzi, he worked. Now he is jobless, restless and despondent.

"I want to leave this place," she said.

Some of those confined to the camps are Kaman Muslims, who are recognized as one of Myanmar's 135 official ethnic groups; they usually hold citizenship and can be hard to tell apart from Rakhine Buddhists. They fled after October's violence when their homes were destroyed by Rakhine mobs in remote townships such as Kyaukphyu. They, too, are prevented from leaving.

Beyond Sittwe, another 50,000 people, mostly Rohingya, live in similar camps in other parts of the state destroyed in last year's sectarian violence.

Across the state, the U.N relief agency has provided about 4,000 tents and built about 300 bamboo homes, each of which can hold eight families. Another 500 bamboo homes are planned by year-end. None are designed to be permanent, said agency spokeswoman Vivian Tan. Tents can last six months to a year; bamboo homes about two years.

The agency wants to provide the temporary shelter that is badly needed. "But we don't want in any way to create permanent shelters and to condone any kind of segregation," Tan said.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders has accused hardline nationalists of threatening its staff, impairing its ability to deliver care. Mobile clinics have appeared in some camps, but a U.N. report describes most as "insufficient."

Waadulae, suffering from rabies, was treated at Dar Paing hospital, whose lone worker, Maung Maung Hla, was overwhelmed. "We have run out of antibiotics," he said. "There is no malaria medicine. There's no medicine for tuberculosis or diabetes. No vaccines. There's no equipment to check peoples' condition. There are no drips for people suffering from acute diarrhea."

State spokesman Win Myaing said Rakhine doctors feared entering the camps. "It's reached a stage where they say they'd quit their jobs before they would go to these places," he said.

The treatment of the Rohingya contrasts with that of some 4,080 displaced ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in central Sittwe. They can leave their camps freely, work in the city, move in with relatives in nearby villages and rebuild, helped by an outpouring of aid from Burmese business leaders.

Hset Hlaing, 33, who survives on handouts from aid agencies at Thae Chaung camp, recalls how he earned 10,000 kyat ($11 a day) from a general-goods stall in Sittwe before his business and home went up in flames last June. Like other Muslims, he refuses to accept the term Bengali.

"I don't want to go to another country. I was born here," he says, sipping tea in a bamboo shack. "But if the government won't accept us, we will leave. We'll go by boat. We'll go to a country that can accept us."

(Edited by Andrew R.C. Marshall and Bill Tarrant.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-myanmar-apartheid-tactics-against-minority-muslims-000010092.html

dickens greg kelly cujo karen handel hangout todd haley kareem abdul jabbar

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA


The Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA ($599.99 CAD list) is a Windows 8-equipped ultrabook that stands apart from the increasingly saturated field by virtue of its integrated DVD burner, reasonable price tag, and generous two-year warranty. Unfortunately, its subpar keyboard and average performance hold it back from achieving pure ultrabook nirvana, effectively relegating an otherwise great system to a mere good choice.



Design and Features
The VivoBook S56CA's trim chassis measures 0.82 by 13.7 by 9.6 inches (HWD) and, at 4.86 pounds, it's a smidge heavier than comparable ultrabooks like the Acer Aspire V5-571P-6627 (4.63 pounds). While its underside is fashioned from a rather utilitarian black plastic, a stylish brushed aluminum finish on the system's lid and palmrest adds a touch of panache to its overall aesthetic. The VivoBook S56CA's thin body and dashes of aluminum make for an attractively designed system that can easily be stashed into most laptop bags or backpacks.

With a maximum resolution of 1,366 by 768, the VivoBook S56C's 15.6-inch display can play video at 720p, a useful feature since the system ships an integrated DVD burner. Whether in video or the Windows 8 Start screen, the VivoBook S56CA's display dishes out bright colors and crisp text. Equally impressive are the VivoBook S56C's speakers, which pump out clear, tinny-free audio at surprisingly loud levels?at least for an ultrabook.

The VivoBook S56C's chiclet-styled keyboard exhibits the dreaded shallow key travel syndrome that commonly comes with ultrabooks. The absence of backlighting further compromises this already uncomfortable typing experience in dimly-lit settings. The VivoBook S56C's smooth and responsive touchpad partially acquits its subpar keyboard by providing a good amount of tactile feedback and offering fluid support of Windows 8-specific gesture controls.

True to its ultrabook status, port selection on the VivoBook S56C is modest. You'll find a cardreader on the front of the system while the right side houses the DVD burner, a combined headphone and microphone jack, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports. The left side, meanwhile, sports VGA and HDMI ports, an Ethernet port, and the system's sole USB 3.0 port. Peripheral-happy users may be better served by the HP Pavilion M6-1148CA, which features three USB 3.0 ports.

The VivoBook S56C's combined 500GB 5,400 hard drive and 24GB SSD hits the sweet spot between capaciousness and brisk load times. There is, however, a decent amount of preloaded software that must first be contended with. While unnecessary bloatware (desktop links to Skype) is mercifully kept to a minimum, there's also some trialware (Office Starter 2010, McAfee Internet Security), as well as a hefty chunk of proprietary software of varying usefulness (ranging from ASUS WebStorage Sync Agent to ASUS Vibe 2.0). The VivoBook S56C's generous two-year warranty on parts and labor is twice as long the standard one-year deal offered by the competition, like the HP Pavilion G6-2368CA.

Performance
Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA The VivoBook S56C's 1.8GHz Intel Core i3-3217U processor and 6GB RAM yielded mostly average performance on our benchmark tests. Its PCMark7 score of 2,762 points trumped the rest of its class, save for the front-running Samsung Series 3 NP300E5E-A05CA (2,828 points). Its Cinebench R11.5 score of 1.64 points, on the other hand, bested the HP G6-2368CA (1.13 points) but nevertheless struggled to keep up with the competition, including the Lenovo IdeaPad N581 (2.49 points) and, to a more pronounced extent, the class-leading Series 3 NP300E5E-A05CA (3 points).

The VivoBook S56C did, however, demonstrate an ability to handle moderately intense media creation tasks. It completed our Handbrake video-encoding test in 1 minute 58 seconds, landing a mere second behind the Acer V5-571P-6627 (1:57) while breezily outpacing the HP G6-2368CA (3:08) by a wide margin. The 8 minutes 3 seconds it took to run through our Photoshop CS6 test was slower than the rest of its class, though, including the Lenovo N581 (5:34) and the Samsung Series 3 (4:35). All said, the VivoBook S56C is adequate for casual users looking to dabble in occasional photo- or video- editing projects.

When it came to 3D rendering, the VivoBook S56C trailed closely behind its peers. Its 3DMark11 scores (1,169 points in Entry-level settings; 218 points in Extreme settings) landed within striking distance of the Ideapad N581 (1,234 points and 224 points, respectively) and the top-performing HP G6-2368CA (1,263 and 257 points, respectively). High-end gaming, on the other hand, is a no-go. The VivoBook S56C's integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 didn't have the firepower to break the 30 frames per second (fps) playability barrier on our gaming benchmark tests.

Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA

The VivoBook S56C's average performance extended to its removable 2,950 mAh battery, which lasted 3 hours 55 minutes on our battery rundown test. While this handily outlasted the HP M6-1148CA (2:23), it nonetheless came up short of both the Lenovo N581 (4:43) and the Samsung Series 3 (5:11). For most deskbound users, this is perfectly sufficient. Users planning on spending the entire day away from their desks should be sure not to stray too far from a power outlet, though.

Although the market is presently brimming with ultrabooks, the Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA stands apart from the pack thanks to its integrated DVD burner, reasonable price tag, and generous two-year warranty. That said, its subpar keyboard and average performance hold it back from achieving pure ultrabook nirvana. It's worth checking out, but be sure to fully explore other options before doing so.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/PVtect-dgcw/0,2817,2418813,00.asp

ferdinand porsche gregg williams theraflu joe avezzano kanye west theraflu joey votto the masters live

Larry G. Adkins Recognized by Strathmore's Who's Who Worldwide ...

Charleston, WV, May 14, 2013 ?(PR.com)? Larry G. Adkins of Charleston, West Virginia has been included in the Strathmore?s Who?s Who Worldwide Edition for his outstanding contributions and achievements in the field of architecture.

About Larry G. Adkins
Larry G. Adkins has almost 40 years architectural industry experience and has had his own business for the past 17 years. He is President and Principal Architect for Adkins Design, Inc. which is an architectural firm in West Virginia. The business provides architecture and interior design services including: Taking a project from concept to completion, preparing the construction documents and specifications per the owner?s requirements, conducting multiple project related meetings during design and during the construction phase, and conducting site visits to verify contractor?s performance and compliance to the design and specifications. Applying their skills to the design and planning of homes and commercial buildings, Adkins Design, Inc. is devoted to providing basic structural soundness and practicality while preserving the beauty of our environment. They will design the building to be sound in structure, economical in cost and attractive in design. Utilizing modern advances in this highly specialized field, including the latest computer applications, Adkins Design, Inc. strives to complete each project with skill, accuracy and expertise. Mr. Adkins oversees the operations and the staff. He is responsible for designing office buildings, healthcare facilities, commercial buildings, banks, religious buildings, recreational buildings, fire stations, public housing, townhouses and industrial buildings. Mr. Adkins is affiliated with A.I.A., A.I.A. W.V. and W.V.A.H.A. He obtained an A.S. in Design from West Virginia Institute of Technology.

About Strathmore?s Who?s Who Worldwide
Strathmore?s Who?s Who Worldwide highlights the professional lives of individuals from every significant field or industry including business, medicine, law, education, art, government and entertainment. Strathmore?s Who?s Who Worldwide is both an online and hard cover publication where we provide our members? current and pertinent business information and is also a biographical information source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms throughout the world. Our goal is to ensure that our members receive all of the networking, exposure and recognition capabilities to potentially increase their business.

Contact Information:
Strathmore Worldwide
Susan Perrault
516-677-9696
Contact via Email
www.strathmoreworldwide.com
Syndi Reibman

Read the full story here: http://www.pr.com/press-release/487800

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Source: http://aggregator.in/larry-g-adkins-recognized-by-strathmores-whos-who-worldwide-publication/

Columbine shooting Ryan Lanza Facebook Connecticut shooting Nancy Lanza school shootings Jenni Rivera Adam Lanza Facebook

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

US government files morning-after pill appeal

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Obama administration on Monday filed a last-minute appeal to delay the sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill to girls of any age without a prescription.

The legal paperwork asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to postpone a federal judge's ruling that eliminated age limits on the pill while the government appeals that overall decision.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman has said politics was behind efforts by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to block the unrestricted sale of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and its generic competitors.

Last month, he ordered that the levonorgestrel-based emergency contraceptives be made available without prescription and without age restrictions. He then denied a request to postpone his ruling while the government appealed but gave it until Monday to appeal again.

Government attorneys warned that "substantial market confusion" could result if Korman's ruling was enforced while appeals are pending. On Monday, lawyers argued that the district court "plainly overstepped its authority," and that they believe they will win the overall appeal.

Attorneys for the Center for Reproductive Rights have said in court papers that every day the ruling is not enforced is "life-altering" to some women. They have 10 days to respond to the most recent government filings, after which the appeals court will issue a decision.

The appeals court will take up the issue on May 28 and said the judge's ruling remains postponed.

If the government fails, it would clear the way for over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill to younger girls. The FDA announced earlier this month that the contraception could be sold without a prescription to those 15 and older, a decision Korman said merely sugarcoated the appeal of his order lifting the age restriction.

Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

The judge said he ruled against the government "because the secretary's action was politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent" and because there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-files-morning-pill-appeal-161422988.html

Morgan Freeman Dead Stand Up to Cancer Azarenka NFL fantasy football Chris Kluwe Jennifer Granholm Tulane player injured