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Mars-Life Hypothesis Gets a Fresh Look

2013-04-22T16:31:00.001-07:00

See Inside

At a recent scientific conference in Los Angeles, scientists explored the possibility of Mars being habitable, or even inhabited by microbes, in the present day

Image: NASA

The New Way to Look for Mars Life: Follow the Salt
Astrobiologists are excited about the possibility of liquid water on Mars, even if it is salty, viscous and possibly toxic

Can Hitchhiking Earth Microbes Thrive on Mars?
New experiments indicate that three of the most hostile elements of the Martian environment are not insurmountable blockades for Earth organisms

Curiosity Drills Mars for Answers
NASA's Curiosity rover has now gotten some use from most of its science instruments, but not all of them are working
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=33487a2e745372b84f2a4b0dd2f652f6
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When Business As Usual Becomes Unusual ? Make HR Happen by ...

2013-04-21T07:49:00.001-07:00

I have shared my secret blogging method with many close friends and colleagues. While I flatter myself as a writer, this is not easy for me. Hopefully you are not holding your breath waiting on the book I promised 10 years ago. Usually my style is to outline some topic, research the facts, and then write and rewrite that first draft over and over ad infinitum. In order to publish a new article every day requires that I stage each one to launch at a predetermined hour every day of the week. This also means that I am working on next week?s posts as I write this. Hopefully I won?t lose this obsession with pushing my own creativity beyond its natural tendencies because I would probably do this even if nobody ever read it. In case you haven?t noticed, most of my topics are not related to news of the day because their shelf life is too brief for the intended audience. Just so you know? this is not the blog post you were supposed to see today.

This morning I flipped on the TV to catch up on the financial news from a few cable channels and quickly learned that today was going to be different. My bowl of Cheerios was left to turn to mush while I went online to verify from several other sources the events of last night. The Boston Marathon tragedy touched me personally because I had stood on that spot where the first bomb exploded. I have friends living or working nearby or in the Boston area. The relief of finding everyone unharmed and well gradually soothed my soul? until this morning. It?s not about me, but I can?t help but feel personally attacked by these terrorists. I bought coffee in that 7-11 that was robbed in an apparent getaway attempt. I had worked in a building for a former client only a block away from where the MIT cop was killed. People living in the surrounding areas were told to remain indoors with their doors locked. I felt their pain and fear wash over me.

This is supposed to be a human resources blog, so perhaps I will do future research on how tragic events like this affect us and the employees with whom we work. Today?s message to all of us would seem to highlight the need for strengthening corporate security, maintaining a robust communications network, and waging a legitimate battle to prevent erosion of diversity through personal overreaction to ethnic or religious implications. Corporate America cannot change the environment in which it exists because a company culture will always be a mirror to the world that feeds it. We can influence that small portion of the population that depends on us for livelihood by being vigilant in our resolve to protect, educate and hopefully make some small contribution to change.

This is being written before the current day of rapidly unfolding events has concluded. I doubt seriously that any of these impressions will change. Regardless of the outcome, this is not a dream, it is not a game, and we will probably never be the same.

There will be an opinion piece by me published on Sunday on the topic of Terrorism. Stay tuned.

?
Image credit: feverpitched / 123RF Stock Photo (Edited)

Source: http://leute.com/wordpress/2013/04/19/when-business-as-usual-becomes-unusual/
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98 Degrees Offer Boy Bands Advice: 'Stay Away From Taylor Swift!'

2013-04-09T05:50:00.001-07:00

Reunited foursome gives sage advice to newbies One Direction and The Wanted.
By Jocelyn Vena

Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey and Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees
Photo: MTV News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705186/98-degrees-boy-band-advice.jhtml
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Same-Sex Marriage: An Illogical Counterfeit

2013-04-07T07:02:00.001-07:00
By Richard Larsen on Apr 06, 2013 in Politics

Two cases were argued before the U.S. Supreme Court last week addressing the issue of same-sex marriage. This is not an issue of rights, as proponents maintain, nor is it an issue of Biblical marriage, as opponents contend. It is, rather, based in natural law, and is an issue of seismic significance to our culture, our society, and our civilization, and cannot be cavalierly ?redefined.?

Dr. Patrick Fagan, a sociologist and psychologist has said, ?The family is the fundamental building block of society and predates the state and even the societies it builds?At the heart of the family is the mother and father who bring their children into existence.? This is a self-evident truth, regardless of who said it, and anthropologists, biologists, sociologists, and politicians have reiterated that very sentiment. The family is the building block of society and civilization, and the cornerstone to that foundation, or the genesis of it, is a mother and a father.

Foundations must be strong, and built to withstand the elements, corrosion, and the test of time. Otherwise, the structure built thereon will inevitably crumble. If a foundation is made with unmixed cement or just water, as same-sex marriage tries to do, the foundation is weak, and the structure (our civilization) built thereon will crumble. When we tamper with, and attempt to socially-engineer the foundational elements and institutions to civilization and our society, the results will be destructive.

Redefining marriage based on who one purportedly loves, is a spurious dilution of our societal foundation. Rarely in human history, has marriage been based on who one loves, but has always been about perpetuating the species, and forming familial units that construct the foundation to civilization. Sometimes it?s included multiple spouses of one sex or another, but always it has been based on propagational properties, whether age or fertility exceptions apply or not. Any semantic change to the definition is only that, semantic, and does not change the biological or anthropological verities etymologically embedded in the term. Such a change to accommodate same-sex ?marriage? would therefore be nothing more than creating a verbal counterfeit to the real thing. Simply calling my Tahoe a Hummer is a lie, and does not change the fact that it?s still not a Hummer.

Nor is there a ?right? to marry whomsoever or whatsoever we please, or profess love for. Such a right is as most other ?rights? claimed by those in our society who feel somehow shortchanged, slighted, or disadvantaged. The ?right? is not codified in any legal document, much less our founding documents, just like the ?right? to health care, or the ?right? to a good job. Heterosexual marriage, however, is codified in natural law, as attested by biological and anthropological fact. The test is simple: try building a civilization or a society from scratch with anything other than natural law, heterosexual marriage.

Marriage, historically, has always represented the legal, moral, and cultural recognition of the binding relationship of opposite sexes. Merely definitionally reducing marriage to nothing more than a state legitimized relationship between ?people that love each other? is antithetical to the factual basis to our existence as a civilization. The fact is, marriage has always been about protecting society, at least in part, through the possibility of propagation, protection and the creation of family units.

The law of unintended consequences has certainly been manifest elsewhere as natural law, social mores, and societal conventions and institutions like marriage have been redefined and engineered to accommodate exceptions.

Scandinavian countries that have redefined marriage are experiencing a meltdown of traditional marriage. British demographer David Coleman and senior Dutch demographer Joop Garssen have written that ?marriage is becoming a minority status? in Scandinavia. In Denmark, a slight majority of all children are still born within marriage. Yet citing the 60 percent out-of-wedlock birthrate for firstborn children, Danish demographers Wehner, Kambskard, and Abrahamson argue that marriage has ceased to be the normative setting for Danish family life and poses a significant risk to the future stability of Danish society.

There are undoubtedly exogenous contributory factors for the Scandinavian states. But the eradication of natural law and social mores in favor of a politically correct or supposedly amoral redefinition of basic social conventions indisputably are the incipient causes to the unraveling of the family unit.

Mark Regnerus, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin, recently said,??I think you can have social stability without many intact families, but it?s going to be really expensive and it?s going to look very ?Huxley-Brave New World-ish.? So [the intact family is] not only the optimal scenario ? but it?s the cheapest. How often in life do you get the best and the cheapest in the same package??

Pastor Rick Warren made a fundamentally true and valid observation in this regard. He said, ?Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone?s lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don?t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.? Many are the arguments against same-sex marriage, and none of them frankly have anything to do with discrimination or homophobia.

Doug Mainwaring, an avowed homosexual, proves Warren?s assertion. ?Two men or two women together is, in truth, nothing like a man and a woman creating a life and a family together?Marriage is not an elastic term. It is immutable. It offers the very best for children and society. We should not adulterate nor mutilate its definition, thereby denying its riches to current and future generations.?

Words have meaning, and marriage, as the cornerstone to civilization, is copiously imbued with it. I have yet to hear a logical or cogent explanation as to why a binding homosexual relationship must be a marriage as opposed to a civil union or legal partnership. Rather than weakening and diluting the foundation to our society, we should be strengthening and encouraging it. After all, our future, and stability, as a society is dependent on it.

AP award winning columnist Richard Larsen is President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and financial planning firm in Pocatello, Idaho, and is a graduate of Idaho State University with degrees in Political Science and History and former member of the Idaho State Journal Editorial Board.? He can be reached at [email?protected].
Source: http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2013/04/same-sex-marriage-an-illogical-counterfeit/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=same-sex-marriage-an-illogical-counterfeit
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Transcript: Mitt Romney's Speech at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference

2013-03-17T03:04:00.001-07:00

The following is Mitt Romney's address as prepared for delivery Friday, March 15, at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md.:

What an honor to be introduced by Governor Nikki Haley, a woman of uncommon courage and conviction; whose principles have guided her governance. We need more governors like her!

I've also had the honor of your support from the very beginning. You gave my campaign an early boost. You worked on the front lines?promoting my campaign, turning out voters. Thank you.

With help from so many of you, I had the honor of becoming my party's nominee for president. I was given the privilege of experiencing America in ways Ann and I had never imagined. Across this great country, our fellow citizens opened up their homes and hearts to us.

Of course, I left the race disappointed that we didn't win. But I also left honored and humbled to have represented values we believe in and to speak for so many good and decent people. We've lost races before, and in the past, those setbacks prepared us for larger victories. It is up to us to make sure that we learn from my mistakes, and from our mistakes, so that we can win the victories those people and this nation depend upon.

It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party. I utterly reject that pessimism. We may not have carried the day last November 7th, but we haven't lost the country we love, and we haven't lost our way. Our nation is still full of aspirations and hungry for new solutions. We're a nation of invention and of reinventing. My optimism about America wasn't diminished by my campaign; no, it grew?It grew as I came to know more of our fellow Americans.

I have seen American determination in people like Debbi Sommers. She runs a furniture rental business for conventions in Las Vegas. When 9/11 hit and again when the recession tanked the conventions business, she didn't give up, close down, or lay off her people. She taught them not just to rent furniture, but also to manufacture it.

I've seen perseverance. Harold Hamm drove a truck for ten years so that he could afford to go to college. He majored in Geology. Studying geological surveys, he concluded that there should be oil in North Dakota. He went there and drilled a well. It was dry. I'm told that it costs about $2 million to drill a dry hole. But he kept on drilling. 16 dry holes later, they called it Harold's folly. That changed with the 17th. The Bakken range he discovered is estimated by some to hold as much as 500 billion barrels of oil.

I've seen risk taking. The flagging lumber business and mounting losses convinced International Paper Corporation that they needed to shut down their lumber mill in Ossipee, New Hampshire. Into the breech stepped Jim Smith and Kim Moore, the plant manager and sales manager. They borrowed and invested everything they could, to buy the broken business. They saved their jobs and 30 other peoples' jobs, growing sales from $5 million a year to $50 million.

I've met people of great faith. I sat in the home of Billy Graham and in the residence of Cardinal Dolan and prayed with these men of God.

I met heroes in our armed forces: men and women who re-signed with the National Guard after multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan, knowing that in all probability, they would be going back again.

I met heroes in the homes of the nation: single moms who are working two jobs so that their kids will have clothes like those that the other kids wear, dads who almost forget what a weekend is, because of all the jobs they've taken on to keep the house.

We are a patriotic people. The heart of America is good. Our land is blessed by the hand of God; may we as a people always be worthy of His grace, and His protection.

Like you, I believe a Conservative vision can attract a majority of Americans and form a governing coalition of renewal and reform. As someone who just lost the last election, I'm probably not the best person to chart the course for the next election. That said, I do have advice. Perhaps because I am a former governor, I would urge you to learn the lessons that come from some of our greatest success stories: the 30 Republican governors.

Yes, they are winning elections, but more importantly, they are solving problems. Big problems. Important problems. Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia secured a constitutional amendment to expand charter schools. Governor Rick Snyder signed Right to Work legislation?in Michigan! Several secured tort reform. Many turned huge deficits into surpluses. Republican governors reached across the aisle, offered innovative solutions and have been willing to take the heat to make tough decisions.

We need the ideas and leadership of each of these governors. We particularly need to hear from the Governors of the blue and purple states, like Bob McDonnell, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Susanna Martinez, Chris Christie, and Brian Sandoval because their states are among those we must win to take the Senate and the White House.

We can also learn from the examples of principle, passion and leadership that we have seen during these last several weeks from fellow conservatives here in Washington. I may be a little biased, but I applaud the clear and convincing voice of my friend, Paul Ryan.

If I were to offer advice to any president of the United States, it would be this: do whatever you can do to keep America the most prosperous and free and powerful nation on earth.

It is no secret that the last century was an American century. And it is no secret that over the span of the 21st century, America's pre-eminent position is far from guaranteed. The consequence if America were to be surpassed would be devastating. Why? Because among the primary rivals for world leadership?China, Russia, and the Jihadists?not one believes in the freedoms we take for granted. Freedom depends on American leadership.

American leadership depends on a military so strong, so superior, that no one would think to engage it. Our military strength depends on an economy so strong that it can support such a military. And our economy depends on a people so strong, so educated, so resolute, so hard working, so inventive, and so devoted to their children's future, that other nations look at us with respect and admiration.

That is the America we grew up in, and it is the America our children deserve.

What other nation would have enjoyed hegemonic military power for a quarter of a century, and never have used it to seek revenge against its former foes or to seize precious natural resources from the weak?

What nation is the most philanthropic in the world, the first to bind up the wounds of the injured from hurricanes, tsunamis, and war?

What nation is the largest contributor to the fight against AIDS in Africa?

Who came to the rescue of Europe when it faced its darkest hour and came to the rescue of others under the threat of tyranny, in Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Bosnia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq? Whatever you think of these interventions, the impulse behind them was liberation, not conquest. In all of human history, there has never been a great power that has so often used its power to liberate others from subjugation, to set the captives free. This we must teach our children, and never ourselves forget.

I'm inspired by a people who believe in and live for something greater than themselves?whether their faith, their country, their family, their school.

I marvel at the prescience, the brilliance and the sacrifices made by the nation's Founders.

I'm proud of our immigrant heritage, proud that so many of us and of our ancestors came here because they wanted to be here, to build a better future for their children here, to worship their God here.

At a campaign stop in Texas, I met a Cambodian-American named Sichan Siv. Sichan came here in 1976, escaping the killing fields of Cambodia. His first job was picking fruit, then he drove a cab in New York City. He later volunteered on the campaign of George H.W. Bush. Thirteen years after coming to America he went to work in the White House. And then, he was appointed as a United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He said that whenever he stood to speak in behalf of America, his emotions choked, and he asked himself in what other nation could an impoverished Cambodian refugee have become its Ambassador.

America began with an idea, a noble one. That idea was that every person is endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights. Freedom flows in American veins. It invigorates our many enterprises, it inspires us to live beyond ourselves, it calls us to care for the suffering and downtrodden. It has made us a great nation.

Today, history and duty summon us again. The country is imperiled by mounting debt, by failing institutions, by families stressed beyond their limits, by schools that fail to make the grade, and by public servants who are more intent on scoring political points than on national renewal.

Each of us in our own way will have to step up and meet our responsibility. I am sorry that I will not be your president ? but I will be your co-worker and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you. In the end, we will win just as we have won before, and for the same reason: because our cause is right...and just.

Thank you again for your help and support along our journey. Ann and I will treasure these memories all the days of our lives. God bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/transcript-mitt-romneys-speech-2013-conservative-political-action-183607600.html
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Sport is losing its romance, says Peter FitzSimons | Sports Business ...

2013-03-14T07:19:00.001-07:00

SPORT is a central aspect of Australian culture but will it continue to hold such a prominent place in society?

Ex-Wallaby turned journalist, Peter FitzSimons, told me his concerns for the future of Australian sport. Mr Fitzsimons doesn?t devour sport like a main meal, rather he sees it as the salt and pepper of life. ?I worry on many levels at once that sport in many ways has lost its romance. And I think that sports administration in the future has to look at, how do I put this, working out how sport can keep its magic.?

The Australian Cricket team is an example of a sporting body that certainly appears to have lost its magic. During the current tour of India, four players were stood down, including vice captain Shane Watson and paceman James Pattinson, for failing to deliver a presentation on what they could bring to the team during the next test. For a cricket team that is greatly under-performing, having lost the previous two tests against India, these actions seem rather severe. Coach Mickey Arthur and captain Michael Clarke appear to be taking a hard line on their players, who are desperately needed if Australia has a chance of winning the third test.

Mr FitzSimons suggested the romance in sport was getting lost behind the serious side of the game. ?They (the administrators) can?t get themselves lost in ?It?s a serious serious business.? he said. ?They must always remember that at its very heart what they are presenting is a game and therefore the players have to take joy in that game, the spectators have to take joy in that game.?

Western Bulldogs midfielder, Liam Picken, recently told the Herald Sun ?AFL is very serious now. When Dad played, the game was full of characters,? he said. ?Dad was working full-time ? he?d go to training after work and play on the weekends. They had heaps of fun when they were playing. Now it?s very cutthroat, very serious, I suppose. On the footy field, you?ve got to be focused.? Sport has undergone significant change since the 1970?s when Picken?s father, Bill, was playing for Collingwood. Being an elite athlete is now considered a full time job. It certainly comes with the price tag too; according to the AFL the average player earned $251,559 last year.

Commercial agreements and television rights have seen sports expand in size and popularity. But will the money continue to flow? Or will it curtail at some point?

Mr FitzSimons thinks the money will eventually run out as the last main surge came through paid television. Paid television has had a profound effect on they way we consume sports. Rugby union can thank the success of Super Rugby for its inception into professional sport. Fox Sports first broadcast the league in 1996 as Super 12; it now contains 15 teams spread throughout three countries.

Furthermore the internet now allows sports to be instantaneously broadcast from anywhere in the world. ?The internet?s changed everything but I think that the money that sport gets from television, paid television I suspect will come under attack in years to come and I can?t see anywhere where they?ll get another serge in money like they have.?

However, Mr FitzSimons said rugby union currently appears disaffected with tickets to the British and Irish Lions tour selling out in less than 15 minutes. Tickets to the Australian tour to be held between June and July across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane sold for up to $295 each.

?They?re parting big bucks there but I expect we won?t continue to see the exponential growth.? he said.

One of the major challenges sport faces in the future is to ensure it expands. Rugby league and union are heavily supported in NSW and QLD, whereas the AFL is dominated by Victoria teams.

?I think the challenge for the AFL is to move out of Melbourne (and) to not be so heavily Melbourne-centric. The challenge for Sydney is equally the same, is not to be so Sydney-centric for rugby league.? said Mr FitzSimons. ?Rugby league needs to have presence. Ideally they?d have a presence in Perth the way they once did and they?d continue to grow to bring in different markets.?

Cricket has successfully distributed its presence throughout Australia. There is an Australian domestic cricket side in each Australia state, with the exception of the two territories. However the ACT and the NT both have cricket-governing bodies and have teams that play at lower levels.

To ensure to future of sport in Australia, sporting codes and organisations must ensure that fans and players get enjoyment out of the game.

Source: http://sportsbusinessinsider.com.au/features/sport-is-losing-its-romance-says-peter-fitzsimons/
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Want to win Twitter friends? Stay short, cheery

2013-02-27T03:08:00.001-08:00

Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News ? ? ? 3 hrs.

Twitter audiences need to be tended to carefully, like a garden with young plants (but hopefully less dirt). There?s all kinds of anecdotal advice about how to be a better tweeter, but now a new study says that the twittizens who grow the most audiences tend to share short, clear, informative tweets.
If most of your followers don?t know you, personal tweets aren?t the best way to go, C.J Hutto, one of the researchers of the group from Georgia Tech, told NBC News. "The ties between people on Twitter are weaker than between people in real life, or on Facebook," he explained.
People are mostly looking for information, the team observed. "Rather than talking about what you had to eat for breakfast or lunch you can talk about an interesting news article that you read," Hutto said.
Hutto and his colleagues scrutinized half a million tweets that 507 people had sent over more than a year. They recorded the length, clarity, and general tone of the tweet. They counted how often the tweeters used hashtags, linked to a website, or used a phrase like "RT" or "HT." They then matched all those numbers against friends and follower counts measured at various times during the course of those 15 months.
What else did they find? Using @-mentions and replies helps build a dedicated following, rather than just a stream of tweets addressed to no one. "Imagine an old professor standing in a lecture hall and broadcasting his lecture, versus direct communication," Hutto explained. "When you're talking to one person it helps you grow your audience."
Also: Bad news or negativity of any kind doesn't do so well. That includes swearing, even a frowning face emoticon. And, clarity is a big bonus. Using full sentences rather than abbreviations as you might on text messages goes a long way in convincing a potential new follow that you are a real person. ?Twitter users apparently seek out well-written content over poorly written content when deciding whether to follow another user,? the team writes. If you stick to a topic, that helps too ? something other researchers have also found.
If you tweet often, perhaps you knew most of this already. But if you're looking to get your numbers up, consider this as free advice.
Via: New Scientist

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/want-win-twitter-friends-keep-it-short-cheery-informative-says-1C8563844
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Turning pine sap into 'ever-green' plastics

2013-02-21T06:58:00.001-08:00

Feb. 20, 2013 ? Plastic bags are a bane of nature. And not just bags -- just about all plastics, really. Most are made out of petroleum, and a piece of plastic, if it misses the recycling bin and ends up in a landfill, will probably outlast human civilization.

But Chuanbing Tang at the University of South Carolina is developing new plastics that are "green" from the cradle to the grave. Given that the new polymers he's working on often come from pine trees, firs and other conifers, he's giving the word "evergreen" added resonance.

Rather than tapping a barrel of oil to obtain starting materials, Tang's research group instead begins with the natural resins found in trees, especially evergreens. The rosin and turpentine derived from their wood is rich in hydrocarbons, similar but not identical to some components of petroleum.

Hydrocarbon-rich starting materials, whether from petroleum or tree resin, can be converted into various forms of what are commonly termed "plastics" through polymerization. With petroleum derivatives, scientists have invested more than a hundred years of research into refining the polymer chemistry involved, and their success in that endeavor is evident in the range of plastics now part of common parlance, such as Plexiglas, polycarbonate and PVC.

But processes for developing plastics from renewable sources, such as rosin and turpentine, are not nearly as developed. "Renewable polymers currently suffer from inferior performance in comparison to those derived from petroleum," Tang said.

His laboratory is a national leader in helping change that situation. Tang just received a National Science Foundation CAREER award to further develop the polymer chemistry he has been refining since he arrived as a chemistry professor in USC's College of Arts and Sciences in 2009. The award from NSF's Division of Materials Research will support Tang's laboratory through 2018.

"The aim is to understand how the macromolecular compositions and architectures dictate the properties of the materials we make," Tang said. "If we can establish clear structure-property relationships, we will be able to achieve the kinds of results we now get from polymers made from petroleum."

According to Tang, molecules derived from wood products are particularly worthwhile targets. "They're a rich source of the cycloaliphatic and aromatic structures that make good materials after polymerization," he said. "They have the rigid molecular structures and hydrophobicity that materials scientists know work well."

They also have an advantage at the end of their life cycle. By virtue of being a direct product of biology, the renewable starting materials are a familiar sight for the microbes responsible for biodegradation. "Most plastics from non-renewable resources are generally not biodegradable," Tang said. "With a polymer framework derived from renewable sources, we're able to make materials that should break down more readily in the environment."

Together with graduate student Perry Wilbon, Tang worked with Fuxiang Chu of the Chinese Academy of Forestry to prepare the first comprehensive review of terpenes, terpenoids, and rosin, three components of tree resin (and other natural products as well) that are plentiful sources of cycloaliphatic and aromatic structures. Published as the cover article in Wiley's Macromolecular Rapid Communications in January 2013, the review is a blueprint for just one approach that Tang is taking to develop sustainable polymers from the greenest of sources.

This research was supported in part by an NSF CAREER award (1252611).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of South Carolina, via Newswise.

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

Journal Reference:

Perry A. Wilbon, Fuxiang Chu, Chuanbing Tang. Progress in Renewable Polymers from Natural Terpenes, Terpenoids, and Rosin. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 2013; 34 (1): 8 DOI: 10.1002/marc.201200513

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_environment/~3/xOkzQKngtPs/130220170631.htm
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South African Paper Reports Bloodied Cricket Bat Found In Oscar ...

2013-02-18T03:08:00.001-08:00

Police in South Africa are reportedly investigating the discovery of a bloodied cricket bat at the home of Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius. Local reports stated police believe he may have used the bat to attack girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp before shooting her dead on St Valentine's Day morning, according to a local report. Detectives are working on two other theories concerning the bat: that it was either used to break down the door of the bathroom where she hid, or that she used it to defend herself against Mr Pistorius, South Africa's City Press reported. One bullet cartridge was found in the champion sprinter's bedroom and police are looking at whether he "chased" his girlfriend and fired the first shot before she locked herself in the bathroom and he fired three more through the door, the paper said. It cited three sources "close to the high-profile investigation" who said the police had a "rock solid" case against South Africa's former golden boy. A post-mortem examination on the body of the 29-year-old model revealed that as well as bullet wounds to the head, arm, hand and hip, she suffered a fractured skull, it reported. "There was lots of blood on the bat. Forensic tests will show whose blood it was," one source was quoted as saying. The latest revelations, under the headline The Case Against Oscar, come after his family launched a fightback campaign saying the police had no evidence to sustain a charge of murder. Mr Pistorius' father Henke told the Telegraph in an exclusive interview that the family had "zero doubt" that Mr Pistorius shot Miss Steenkamp dead mistakenly thinking she was intruder. He said the entire Pistorius family was "heart and soul" behind the athlete and would do "whatever needs to be done" to help him clear his name. The family also released a statement in which they described the 26-year-old athlete as "numb with shock as well as grief" over the events of the past three days. "We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the State's case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all," they added. A close friend of Mr Pistorius told how the athlete called him moments after Miss Steenkamp was shot. "Oscar called me at 3.55am saying that Reeva had been shot. I said to him, 'What are you talking about? I don't understand you.' He then repeated himself ? 'There has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva," Justin Divaris told the Sunday People. "Next thing his neighbour picked up the phone and told me it was true and told me to get to Oscar's home. I was in total shock. I asked the neighbour, 'Is she OK?' Did the gun go off by accident?' She replied, 'No. She's not OK. You need to get here'." According to City Press, Mr Pistorius also called his father and sister and asked them to come to the house at around 3.20am on Thursday. When they arrived, it said, Mr Pistorius was carrying his girlfriend's body down the stairs ? her head and arms were "dangling", it added. The athlete's sister Aimee has allegedly given a statement to police saying her brother told her he had shot the FHM cover girl thinking she was an intruder. Miss Steenkamp was said to be still breathing as security guards, neighbours and Mr Pistorius' family gathered, and he tried to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But once police and paramedics arrived on the scene, she was declared dead. According to a source cited by City Press, Miss Steenkamp was wearing a nightdress, an overnight bag was found at the house and her iPad was on the bedroom floor. "It was clear that both of them had slept in the bed," the source added. The holster of a 9mm pistol similar to the weapon recovered by police was found on one side of the bed, the paper said. A bullet cartridge was also reportedly found in the bedroom and police are investigating whether Mr Pistorius fired one shot then "chased" Miss Steenkamp to the bathroom. "The suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip," one source was quoted as saying. "She then ran and locked herself in the toilet. She was doubled over because of the pain. He fired three more shots. She probably covered her head which is why the bullet also went through her hand." Police asked for blood taken from Mr Pistorius to be tested for steroids, City Press claimed, in anticipation that his defence team might claim he acted in "roid rage" ? an aggressive condition associated with taking large doses of performance-enhancing drugs. The sensational new claims come after Miss Steenkamp, a law graduate from Port Elizabeth on South Africa's south coast, appeared posthumously on the reality television programme, Tropika Island of Treasure, which was screened by the country's national broadcaster, the SABC, last night with her family's blessing. In the programme, filmed in Jamaica, Miss Steenkamp was seen alongside other bikini-clad contestants taking part in a hunt for treasure to win ?73,000 in prize money. In a poignant interview, filmed just days before she died as she prepared to return home, she spoke about the importance of leaving a positive mark in life. "Not just your journey in life but the way that you go out and make your exit is so important. You have either made an impact in a positive way or a negative way," she told the camera. On Saturday, Miss Steenkamp's father Barry insisted that they did not "hate" Mr Pistorius for what had happened. "He must be going through things that we don't know about," he told the Mail on Sunday. "There is no hatred in our hearts." He said he and his wife June and the rest of their family were struggling "to find some reason why this happened to our lovely daughter". "This is a very difficult time for us," he told the paper. "June is inconsolable. We just need to find some answers. We ask the Lord every day to help us find a reason why this should happen to Reeva. She was the most beautiful, kind girl in the world. She had love for everyone and she was loved by everyone who knew her." Mr Pistorius' uncle Arnold and sister Aimee read a statement on Saturday in which they said that he had cared deeply for his girlfriend of four months. "All of us saw at first hand how close she had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were. They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," they said. They said their entire family was "in a state of total shock". "Firstly about the tragic death of Reeva who we had all got to know well and care for deeply over the last few months," they said. "We are all grieving for Reeva, her family and her friends. Oscar ? as you can imagine ? is also numb with shock as well as grief." On Friday, during his first court appearance, Mr Pistorius repeatedly burst into tears as prosecutors discussed how they would charge him with murdering his girlfriend. Standing behind him, his father and brother were seen reaching out to clasp his shoulder and pat his back. Henke Pistorius told the Telegraph that they were a close family and had no doubt of his innocence. "I let him know that all of us are in heart and soul with him," he said. "That's why we were there and whatever needs to be done we will do." He said there was "zero doubt" in his mind that he had acted in fear of an intruder, he added. "Without any doubt there was no purpose in it, it's not an issue for us," he said. "I have zero doubt (that he thought it was an intruder) ? it's totally absurd to even suggest anything different. "When you wake up in the middle of the night ? and crime is so endemic in South Africa ? what do you do if somebody is in the house? Do you think it's one of your family? Of course you don't," he said. Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story ?

Source: http://www.bullfax.com/?q=node-south-african-paper-reports-bloodied-cricket-bat-found-
law school rankings

Lawmakers see immigration overhaul this year

2013-01-28T00:56:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican and Democratic lawmakers were cautiously optimistic Sunday that a long-sought overhaul of the nation's immigration system that includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the country will clear Congress this year, the result of changes in the political landscape shown in November's election.

"We are trying to work our way through some very difficult issues," said Illinois' Sen. Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. "But, we are committed to a comprehensive approach to finally, in this country, have an immigration law we can live with. We have virtually been going maybe 25 years without a clear statement about immigration policy. That's unacceptable in this nation of immigrants."

Sen. Robert Menendez, who along with Durbin and Sen. John McCain, is part of the six-member, bipartisan Senate group working on a framework for immigration legislation to be announced this week, said current politics dictate that a pathway for citizenship must be included.

"Let's be very clear: having a pathway to earned legalization is an essential element. And I think that we are largely moving in that direction as an agreement," said Menendez, D-N.J.

But the package "will have the enhancement of the border security," he said, nodding to Republicans' priority to tighten borders to prevent future illegal immigration.

He also said the package would have to crack down on employers hiring undocumented workers.

Arizona Republican McCain has returned to the issue after having led a failed push to fix the nation's broken immigration system ahead of his 2008 bid for the White House.

McCain said: "What's changed is, honestly, is that there is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle -- including, maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle, that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill."

Despite making little progress on immigration in his first term, President Barack Obama won more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, in part because of the conservative positions on immigration that Republican nominee Mitt Romney staked out during the GOP primary. Asians, who immigrated to the U.S. in higher numbers than Hispanics in 2010, also overwhelmingly backed Obama. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November.

Obama is to press his case for immigration changes during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday: a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens.

In an opinion piece published online Sunday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sen. Marco Rubio, also a member of the bipartisan Senate group, laid out his proposal to address the issue. The Florida Republican, son of Cuban immigrants, wrote that "significant progress" on enforcing immigration laws must be certified before unauthorized immigrants now in the country are allowed to apply for residency and "get in the back of the line."

Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican candidate for vice president, said he backs Rubio's proposal.

"Immigration is a good thing. We're here because of immigration. We need to make sure it works," Wisconsin's Ryan said.

If Republicans fail to act, they will pay the price in elections for generations, McCain warned.

"Well, I'll give you a little straight talk: Look at the last election... We are losing dramatically the Hispanic vote, which we think should be ours for a variety of reasons," McCain said.

McCain and Menendez spoke with ABC's "This Week," Durbin appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and Ryan was on NBC's "Meet the Press."

------

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/political/lawmakers-see-immigration-overhaul-this-year
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Hennessey Capital Adds Equipment Financing to its Suite of Products

2013-01-27T06:58:00.001-08:00

Jan 25, 2013

Hennessey Capital Adds Equipment Financing to its Suite of Products

ROCHESTER ? Hennessey?Capital, a division of Hitachi Capital America Corp., Thursday announced that it is offering equipment financing to complement its traditional revolving lines of credit.

?Our new partnership with Hitachi Capital America Corp. has not only given us the ability to provide larger loans at more competitive rates, but it has opened the door for us to add equipment to the list of assets we lend on,? said Hennessey Capital division president and CEO Mike Semanco. ?By offering equipment financing, our asset-based lending clients now have access to yet another avenue of funding that will allow them to positively improve their cash flow.?
For more information, visitwww.hennesseycap.comor call (248) 658-1100.

Hennessey Capital provides revolving lines of credit secured by accounts receivable, inventory, and equipment along with factoring of accounts receivable for small-?and middle-market companies across the United States. Facilities range from initial invoicing to $5 million and beyond and are used as primary loan facilities, for restructuring current debt, and funding seasonal or incremental sales growth.

Hitachi Capital America Corp. is an independent, diversified leasing and?financial?services company providing financing to Hitachi group companies and the commercial business sector in the United States and Canada. We offer a variety of asset-based financing solutions with our business focus on truck finance, vendor finance, trade finance, medical equipment finance, lease discounting and software financing.

SOURCE:?http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/01/24/hennessey-capital-adds-equipment-financing-to-its-suite-of-products/
Source: http://www.worldleasingnews.com/news/hennessey-capital-adds-equipment-financing-to-its-suite-of-products/
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Eastern Europe: Tree rings reveal climate variability and human history

2013-01-16T02:30:00.001-08:00

Jan. 14, 2013 ? A total of 545 precisely dated tree-ring width samples, both from living trees and from larch wood (Larix decidua Mill.) taken from historical buildings in the northern Carpathian arc of Slovakia, were used to reconstruct May-June temperatures yearly back to 1040 AD. The tree-ring data from the Tatra Mountains best reflects the climate history of Eastern Europe, with a geographical focus on the Baltic. The tree-ring record reveals several cold phases around ~1150, 1400, and in the 19^th century. Mild springtime conditions occurred in the first half of the 12^th century, as well as from ~1400-1780. The amount of climate warming since the mid-20^th century appears unprecedented in the millennium-long context.

In addition to the development of the tree ring-based temperature history, the interdisciplinary research team* compared past climate variability with human history. Plague outbreaks, political conflicts and migration movements often matched periods of cooler temperatures. Moreover, fluctuations in settlement activity appear to be linked to climate variability. The Black Death in the mid-14^th century, the Thirty Years War between ~1618-1648 and the Russian crusade of Napoleon in 1812 are three most prominent examples of climate-culture interactions.

The new evidence from Eastern Europe partially confirms similar observations from previous dendroclimatological investigations in Central Europe. However, the lead author of both studies, Ulf B?ntgen, is cautious about making simplified conclusions: ?the relationship between climate and culture is extremely complex and certainly not yet well enough understood. Nevertheless, we now better recognize that well documented and carefully analyzed tree-ring chronologies can contain much more information than supposed so far?. Thus, more data, independent studies and interdisciplinary approaches are of great interest for the enhancement of future knowledge.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

B?ntgen, U.; Kyncl, T.; Ginzler, C.; Jacks, D.S.; Esper, J.; Tegel, W.; Heussner, K.U.; Kyncl, J. Filling the Eastern European gap in millennium-long temperature reconstructions. PNAS, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1211485110

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_environment/~3/Z30x5iprTns/130114152950.htm
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Syrian warplanes bomb rebellious Damascus suburbs

2013-01-13T06:32:00.001-08:00

BEIRUT (AP) ? Activists say Syrian fighter jets have bombed Damascus suburbs as part of a government offensive to dislodge rebels from strategic areas around the capital.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says warplanes carried out airstrikes Sunday on towns and villages around the capital, including Kfar Batna and Gesereen, while regime forces bombarded other neighborhoods with artillery and mortars.
The Observatory also says regime troops are battling rebels in the suburb of Daraya a day after government officials said the army had taken much of the strategic area, which lies on the edge of a major military air base just south of the capital. The group relies on reports from activists on the ground.
Associated Press
Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-13-Syria/id-5ff67b35a76a4d54b105ec16fd727315
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ASU tops No. 25 Kent St. 17-13 in GoDaddy.com Bowl

2013-01-07T04:52:00.001-08:00

Kent State running back Dri Archer (1) crosses the goal line to score against Arkansas State in the second quarter of the GoDaddy.com Bowl NCAA college football game in Mobile, Ala., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/G.M. Andrews)

Kent State running back Dri Archer (1) crosses the goal line to score against Arkansas State in the second quarter of the GoDaddy.com Bowl NCAA college football game in Mobile, Ala., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/G.M. Andrews)

Arkansas State linebacker Nathan Herrold (40) reaches out to intercept a pass in the end zone intended for Kent State tight end Tim Erjavec (42) in the second quarter of the GoDaddy.com Bowl NCAA college football game in Mobile, Ala., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/G.M. Andrews)

Kent State coach Darrell Hazzell talks with his offense as they come off the field following an interception by Arkansas State in the first quarter of the GoDaddy.com Bowl NCAA college football game in Mobile, Ala., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/G.M. Andrews)

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ? Arkansas State's offense was held in check Sunday night after piling up big numbers this season. It was the defense that led the Red Wolves to a breakthrough victory.
Ryan Aplin threw for 213 yards and a touchdown, J.D. McKissic caught 11 passes for 113 yards and Arkansas State edged No. 25 Kent State 17-13 to win the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Arkansas State's usually prolific offense struggled against Kent State, but the consistent Aplin-to-McKissic connection and a stingy defense was enough to help the Red Wolves (10-3) to their first bowl win since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1992.
Kent State (11-3) was driving late in the game when quarterback Spencer Keith tried to scramble on fourth down and was stopped a few yards short of the marker with 52 seconds left. Linebacker Qushaun Lee made the shoestring tackle for the Red Wolves and finished with a team-leading 13 stops.
"That was a good one," Arkansas State interim coach John Thompson said. "Our guys stepped up with a minute to go. We really needed a play, and our guys made one. It wasn't anything except for ballplayers. It was anything special at all. We just made plays."
Darrell Hazell roamed the Kent State sideline one more time in the Golden Flashes' first bowl game since 1972. He is leaving the program to take over at Purdue.
Thompson, a veteran defensive coordinator, coached the Red Wolves after Gus Malzahn left to take the Auburn job last month. It was the second straight season Arkansas State had to play its bowl game without the coach that led it to a Sun Belt championship ? Hugh Freeze left for Mississippi in 2011 before last year's GoDaddy.com Bowl, which the Red Wolves lost 38-20 to Northern Illinois.
The results were much better this time ? and the defensive-minded Thompson was especially pleased with that side of the ball.
Arkansas State's offense was dominant during the last half of the regular season, averaging more than 41 points during a seven-game winning streak.
But the Red Wolves had to rely on their defense in this one while the offense slowly warmed up. Kent State took a 7-0 lead on Dri Archer's 16-yard touchdown run and the margin could have been worse, but Arkansas State linebacker Nathan Herrold picked off a tipped pass in the end zone to end a promising drive for the Golden Flashes.
David Oku rushed for a tying 10-yard touchdown with 5:40 remaining in the second quarter, and then Aplin hit McKissic for a 31-yard touchdown minutes later to make it 14-7.
"Our offense did exactly what it was supposed to do," Thompson said. "They did a great job. Ryan Aplin took some shots ? I guess I can say it now ? some unnecessary shots that weren't good. But our defense ? we've got men over there. Grown men."
Kent State responded with a 42-yard field goal by Freddy Cortez just before halftime. The teams traded field goals in the third quarter, but neither team could score in the fourth.
The Golden Flashes put together one last drive in the final minutes, with Keith completing a clutch 15-yard pass over the middle on fourth down with less than two minutes remaining. He was headed for another fourth-down conversion just four plays later, but was tripped up on a scramble deep in Arkansas State territory. The Red Wolves then began to celebrate on their sideline.
"I saw their defense drop back really fast, and I thought I had enough room to get the first down," Keith said. "But they were able to get me on the ankle."
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise breakthrough season for Kent State, which set a school record with 11 victories, including a 10-game winning streak that lasted nearly three months. But they dropped their last two games, including a 44-37 double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois on Nov. 30 in the Mid-American Conference championship.
One reason Kent State was able to win 11 games was a dynamic rushing attack that averaged more than 250 yards per game. But the duo of Archer and Trayion Durham didn't have a particularly good game against the Red Wolves.
Archer, who missed much of the second half with an apparent injury, led the Golden Flashes with 77 yards rushing while Durham added 68.
Aplin completed 21 of 30 passes in his final college game. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior owns nearly every school passing record and is the Sun Belt two-time player of the year.
This wasn't one of his most spectacular games, but he was consistent, made very few mistakes and had no turnovers.
That was no small feat against Kent State, which led the nation with 38 takeaways coming into the game. The Golden Flashes couldn't get one against the Red Wolves.
"That was a huge part of our game plan," Aplin said. "We knew we couldn't afford to give them momentum. Our guys did a great job taking care of the ball and giving our defense a chance to help us win."
_____
Follow David Brandt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/
Associated Press
Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-07-T25-GoDaddycom%20Bowl/id-35c0eed0d093485ab90effb6c283ef5d
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Millinocket firefighters save several pets from fire - Bangor Daily News

2013-01-01T05:45:00.001-08:00

MILLINOCKET, Maine ? Firefighters battled thick smoke to rescue two cats and a dog from a fire that damaged the cellar and living room of an Aroostook Avenue house Sunday morning.

Firefighters had to stop homeowner Thomas Jameson from going back into his house at 423 Aroostook Ave. to retrieve his pets after he had rescued a dog and a cat, Fire Chief Andrew Turcotte said.

With flames burning into the cellar ceiling and first-floor living room and smoke thick throughout the rest of the house, Turcotte went inside and found a dog and a cat and Firefighter-EMT Sam Monteith rescued a cat, Turcotte said.

?It was the funniest thing,? Turcotte said. ?The cat I found was just lying there, unresponsive, and I thought it was dead. I shook it a little bit and it came right alive. It hissed and clawed at me. I was thinking, ?Oh my goodness.??

Firefighters have pet-sized breathing masks to help resuscitate pets, but didn?t need to use them on the animals. Jameson, however, was treated for smoke inhalation at Millinocket Regional Hospital after refusing treatment at the scene, Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Malcolm said.

The fire apparently started in an ash box in the basement directly beneath Jameson?s living room fireplace. The ash box is large, approximately 16 inches across and about two feet deep, and embedded in cement, but was piled high with ash because it hadn?t been cleaned in a while, Turcotte said.

?It appears there was quite a bit of hot ash in there,? he said.

Ash that fell to the box from a fireplace fire the family started the night before apparently ignited thick building timbers hanging over the ash box. Turcotte said the timbers might also have ignited because they were badly dried out after decades of exposure to ash box heat.

Turcotte smelled smoke at about 8:55 a.m. and either he or a neighbor called 911. When firefighters arrived about five minutes later, heavy black smoke was pouring from the front door, Turcotte said.

Thick basement smoke and intense heat made finding the seat of the fire difficult, but firefighters doused the flames before they could spread very far into the living room area, Turcotte said.

East Millinocket firefighters were called immediately to the scene because Millinocket is down one engine, and they assisted in fighting the flames, Turcotte said. The flames might have eaten into the first floor and become uncontrollable had the fire burned much longer.

?They did a really good quick stop,? Malcolm said. The fire ?could have gone right up the chimney chase but it didn?t. They saved a lot with the initial knockdown.?

The Jameson family won?t be able to occupy the house until repairs are made. Damage estimates run from $30,000 to $40,000.

The fire is Millinocket?s second in about a month. A malfunctioning space heater sparked a fire that destroyed most of a second-floor apartment on Katahdin Avenue on Nov. 28.

Sunday?s fire, Turcotte said, underlined the importance of keeping fireplaces clear of ash buildup. He encouraged homeowners to have their chimneys and fire boxes cleaned professionally or at least emptied.
Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/12/30/news/penobscot/millinocket-firefighters-save-several-pets-from-fire/
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Create Backlinks For Your Site ? Contextual SEO ... - Link Popularity ...

2012-12-31T07:37:00.001-08:00

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Allergies, extra weight tied to bullying

2012-12-24T19:33:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who have food allergies or are overweight may be especially likely to get bullied by their peers, two new studies suggest.

Not surprisingly, researchers also found targets of bullying were more distressed and anxious and had a worse quality of life, in general, than those who weren't picked on.

Bullying has become a concern among parents, doctors and school administrators since research and news stories emerged linking bullying - including online "cyberbullying" - with depression and even suicide.

"There has been a shift and people are more and more recognizing that bullying has real consequences, it's not just something to be making jokes about," said Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of general pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, who wrote a commentary published with the new research.

Studies suggest between one in ten and one in three of all kids and teens are bullied - but those figures may vary by location and demographics, researchers noted.

The new findings come from two studies published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

In one, Dr. Eyal Shemesh from the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his colleagues surveyed 251 kids who were seen at an allergy clinic and their parents. The children were all between age eight and 17 with a diagnosed food allergy.

Just over 45 percent of them said they'd been bullied or harassed for any reason, and 32 percent reported being bullied because of their allergy in particular.

"Our finding is entirely consistently with what you find with children with a disability," Shemesh told Reuters Health.

A food allergy, he said, "is a vulnerability that can be very easily exploited, so of course it will be exploited."

The kids in the study were mostly white and well-off, the researcher said - a group that you'd expect would be targeted less often. So bullying may be more common in poorer and minority children who also have food allergies.

But allergies aren't the only cause of teasing and harassment by peers.

In another study, researchers from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, found that almost two-thirds of 361 teens enrolled in weight-loss camps had been bullied due to their size.

That likelihood increased with weight, so that the heaviest kids had almost a 100 percent chance of being bullied, Rebecca Puhl and her colleagues found. Verbal teasing was the most common form of bullying, but more than half of bullied kids reported getting taunted online or through texts and emails as well.

'START THE CONVERSATION'

Shemesh's team found only about half of parents knew when their food-allergic child was being bullied, and kids tended to be better off when their families were aware of the problem.

He said parents should feel comfortable asking kids if they're being bothered at school or elsewhere - and that even if it only happens once, bullying shouldn't be ignored.

"We want parents to know," he said. "Start the conversation."

"Parents whose kids have a food allergy should really be aware that their kids have the kind of characteristic that often leads to being bullied," Schuster told Reuters Health. "They should be working with the school to handle the food allergy in a way that isn't going to make it more likely that their kids will be bullied - and they need to be attuned to their kids."

That's the same for parents of overweight and obese children, he added.

"Kids need their parents to be their allies in these situations," he said. "Their parents can help them still feel strong."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online December 24, 2012.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/allergies-extra-weight-tied-bullying-142652756.html
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'Hobbit' extends No. 1 journey with $36.7 million

2012-12-24T02:53:00.001-08:00

From left, Andy Serkis, Peter Jackson, James Nesbitt, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Richard Armitage and Ian McKellan at the UK premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" at The Odeon Leicester Square,London on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP)

From left, Andy Serkis, Peter Jackson, James Nesbitt, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Richard Armitage and Ian McKellan at the UK premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" at The Odeon Leicester Square,London on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP)

FILE - This publicity film image released by Paramount Pictures shows Tom Cruise in a scene from "Jack Reacher." Cruise plays a former military cop investigating a sniper case. Just turned 50, and just out with his latest action flick, ?Jack Reacher,? Cruise remains one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Karen Ballard, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Tiny hobbit Bilbo Baggins is running circles around some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" took in $36.7 million to remain No. 1 at the box office for the second-straight weekend, easily beating a rush of top-name holiday newcomers.
Part one of Jackson's prelude to his "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the Warner Bros. release raised its domestic total to $149.9 million after 10 days. The film added $91 million overseas to bring its international total to $284 million and its worldwide haul to $434 million.
"The Hobbit" took a steep 57 percent drop from its domestic $84.6 million opening weekend, but business was soft in general as many people skipped movies in favor of last-minute Christmas preparations.
"The real winner this weekend might be holiday shopping," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
Tom Cruise's action thriller "Jack Reacher" debuted in second-place with a modest $15.6 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. Based on the Lee Child best-seller "One Shot," the Paramount Pictures release stars Cruise as a lone-wolf ex-military investigator tracking a sniper conspiracy.
Opening at No. 3 with $12 million was Judd Apatow's marital comedy "This Is 40," a Universal Pictures film featuring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprising their roles from the director's 2007 hit "Knocked Up."
Paramount's road-trip romp "The Guilt Trip," featuring "Knocked Up" star Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand, debuted weakly at No. 6 with $5.4 million over the weekend and $7.4 million since it opened Wednesday. Playing in narrower release, Paramount's acrobatic fantasy "Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away" debuted at No. 11 with $2.1 million.
A 3-D version of Disney's 2001 animated blockbuster "Monsters, Inc." also had a modest start at No. 7 with $5 million over the weekend and $6.5 million since opening Wednesday.
Domestic business was off for the first time in nearly two months. Overall revenues totaled $112 million, down 12.6 percent from the same weekend last year, when Cruise's "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol" debuted with $29.6 million, according to Hollywood.com.
Cruise's "Jack Reacher" opened at barely half the level as "Ghost Protocol," but with a $60 million budget, the new flick cost about $100 million less to make.
Starting on Christmas, Hollywood expects a big week of movie-going with schools out through New Year's Day and many adults taking time off. So Paramount and other studios are counting on strong business for films that started slowly this weekend.
"'Jack Reacher' will end up in a very good place. The movie will be profitable for Paramount," said Don Harris, the studio's head of distribution. "The first time I saw the movie I saw dollar signs. It certainly wasn't intended to be compared to a 'Mission: Impossible,' though."
Likewise, Warner Bros. is looking for steady crowds for "The Hobbit" over the next week, despite the debut of two huge newcomers ? the musical "Les Miserables" and the action movie "Django Unchained" ? on Christmas Day.
"We haven't reached the key holiday play time yet," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner. "It explodes on Tuesday and goes right through the end of the year."
In limited release, Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden manhunt saga "Zero Dark Thirty" played to packed houses with $410,000 in just five theaters, averaging a huge $82,000 a cinema.
That compares to a $4,654 average in 3,352 theaters for "Jack Reacher" and a $4,130 average in 2,913 cinemas for "This Is 40." ''The Guilt Trip" averaged $2,217 in 2,431 locations, and "Monsters, Inc." averaged $1,925 in 2,618 cinemas. Playing just one matinee and one evening show a day at 840 theaters, "Cirque du Soleil" averaged $2,542.
Since opening Wednesday, "Zero Dark Thirty" has taken in $639,000. Distributor Sony plans to expand the acclaimed film to nationwide release Jan. 11, amid film honors and nominations leading up to the Feb. 24 Academy Awards.
Opening in 15 theaters from Lionsgate banner Summit Entertainment, Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor's tsunami-survival drama "The Impossible" took in $138,750 for an average of $9,250.
A fourth new release from Paramount, "The Sopranos" creator David Chase's 1960s rock 'n' roll tale "Not Fade Away," debuted with $19,000 in three theaters, averaging $6,333.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," $36.7 million ($91 million international).
2. "Jack Reacher," $15.6 million ($2.5 million international).
3. "This Is 40," $12 million.
4. "Rise of the Guardians," $5.9 million ($13.7 million international).
5. "Lincoln," $5.6 million.
6. "The Guilt Trip," $5.4 million.
7. "Monsters, Inc." in 3-D, $5 million.
8. "Skyfall," $4.7 million ($9 million international),
9. "Life of Pi," $3.8 million ($23.2 million international).
10. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," $2.6 million.
___
Online:
http://www.hollywood.com
http://www.rentrak.com
___
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
Associated Press
Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-23-Box%20Office/id-a45552929abc4f42882f7abe82764908
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Self Improvement Times: Time Management Tips - 3 Essential Time ...

2012-12-23T21:22:00.001-08:00
Time management tips address your baseline needs - like accomplishing the top tasks on your to do list before you are overwhelmed by a swiftly advancing deadline. Sometimes, though, to do lists become so overwhelming that you avoid them. Here are some ways you can keep your lists working for you, not against you, by using techniques employed by top executives.
How Savvy Efficiency Experts Work at Top Capacity Using Lists
You can revolutionize your effectiveness by taking just five minutes at the beginning and end of your day. Try these 3 tips when setting up your schedule:
1. Plan by creating a To Do List.
2. Prioritize and consolidate.
3. Review your To Do List(s).
It's most helpful to use each tip daily, and the next 3 points provide helpful perspective:
Finding the time to plan is like scanning the landscape from up in the air.
You need to get a comprehensive overview, note any barriers, and establish your route. Fundamentally, you're deciding how you will travel through your day.
This is the most important part of your process. Without daily planning, you'll be setting out on your day without a compass. Sooner or later, you could get lost, and fall farther behind as you work to regain your bearings! When you navigate your day, it's essential to know where you're starting, where you want to end up, and the major intersections and turning points along the way.
Of course, even with an excellent plan, you may need to make changes as the day unfolds. The gift of making a plan is that it helps you clarify your priorities. When you map out your priorities, you can quickly decide on alternate routes when unforeseen events arise. You needn't go into a lot of detail about those routes, but it's important (and reassuring) to know that they're there. You'll transition with more ease on short notice.
Prioritizing and then consolidating your tasks.
Prioritizing and then consolidating your tasks provides huge dividends in your day, yet only requires a few minutes here and there. As you scan your To Do List, highlight the 3 tasks that you absolutely want to accomplish, no matter what.
Whenever you have tasks that can easily be put together, be sure to connect them. This not only saves time, but helps you maintain your focus, as well. For example, you might group errands that involve stops close to one another, putting all of your computer-related tasks in the same time slot, etc.
Taking time to review at the end of the day gives you a much-needed boost!
Create a special time slot to tweak your To Do List for the next day. When you are relatively relaxed and focused, adjust your priorities, reflect on any lessons learned, and then let go of it all as you head to bed.
Letting go is a wonderful benefit of utilizing this process. As your reach the end of your day, you can release any worries that you might be carrying. Your action steps are organized on your list, and you will start addressing them in the morning. Your sleep will be more restful, and you'll have more energy as the next day begins!
So, what can you do right now to safeguard more time and to use these 3 essential ways to make planning work for you?
----------------------------------------------------
Sign up for our free gift, "The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Simple, Sequential Steps to Find More Time and Recharge Your Energy!" at http://thetimeschool.com/template
This time template plus workbook will help you move beyond overwhelm and frustration. You'll find 24 hours really are enough!
Offered to you by Paula Eder, the Time Finder Expert.
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Source: http://selfimprovementtimes.blogspot.com/2012/12/time-management-tips-3-essential-time.html
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Data Recovery Tools: What is Computer Information Technology ...

2012-12-23T19:32:00.001-08:00
Q. Hello I am majoring in business and now thinking about switching to computers I'm really good with technology, Electronics, fixing and etc. I wanted to know what is Information Technology and everything about it?
Thank You

A. IT is really about designing and securing computers systems so devices can communicate with each other and provide data and resources to their human partners.
To give you the background - There are several main Computer career categories and you need to know these just to get the lay of the land. If this is redundant info that you already know, apologies:
Computer Science - A technical degree which usually has a Programming emphasis - people with this major usually are developing application software, web development, embedded code and robotics. Sometimes depending on the college the degree may cover some more general topics as listed under CIS below.
Computer Information Systems (CIS) This is a general technical degree. Holders of these degree work in a variety of technical jobs like these:
Computer Technician, Service Center Coordinator, Help Desk Staff, Storage Administrator, Network Administrator, Systems Administrator, Systems Engineer, Enterprise Administrator, Active Directory Administrator, Exchange and Messaging Administrator, Backup Administrator, Disaster Recovery Specialist, Database Administrator, Computing Security Specialist, Corporate IT Acquisition Specialist and Data Center Administrator, just to name a few.
Computer Engineering - This is a technical engineering and design degree. These degree holders get jobs related to designing and manufacturing computer related hardware.
Management Information Systems (MIS) - This is a business degree that prepares non-technically trained people to manage projects, budgets and people. Traditionally, senior IT technical pros would eventually be promoted into management positions after years of technical work. The good news is they understood technical challenges their people were working with but the bad news was that some were great tech people but poor people managers. The idea with the MIS degree is to provide business training that is slanted towards managing IT work. Business Colleges like to offer this degree because management principles change must less frequently that technical info where there is always a new operating system or new programming language. This means they can have the same classes, same books and same course titles year after year. In a technical major the technology changes very fast. I have had both types of managers and the new trend is definitely towards these non-technical managers. A lot of them are showing up in the large company I work for.
Best Wishes!
How to recover deleted files ? emergency help plez?
Q. i mistakenly deleted all files on my hard drive, due to huge data its dleted from recycle bin as well !

A. There are several programs you can use to recover your data...some are free, others are not. The free ones are as good as their commercial conterpart.
Keep in mind that you must not install these programs or configure it to put temporary and recoverd files in the drive you want to recover files from.
If all else fails and the data are really important to you, contact a trusted data recovery firms like Ontrack which will charge you fees but will give desirable results.
Try these free ones:
PC Inspector?s File Recovery:
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Undelete Plus:
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FreeUndelete:
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TestDisk & PhotoRec:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Main_Page
Recuva:
http://www.recuva.com/
Free Ontrack Quote:
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If you decide to use this option (Ontrack), better check out the free online quote and enjoy free upgrade to expedited service upon entering or mentioning CUS1042972 as partner code.
Write a detailed note on Transaction processing system (TPS)
Q.

A. From a technical perspective, a Transaction Processing System (or Transaction Processing Monitor) monitors transaction programs, a special kind of programs. The essence of a transaction program is that it manages data that must be left in a consistent state. E.g. if an electronic payment is made, the amount must be either both withdrawn from one account and added to the other, or none at all. In case of a failure preventing transaction completion, the partially executed transaction must be 'rolled back' by the TPS. While this type of integrity must be provided also for batch transaction processing, it is particularly important for online processing: if e.g. an airline seat reservation system is accessed by multiple operators, after an empty seat inquiry, the seat reservation data must be locked until the reservation is made, otherwise another user may get the impression a seat is still free while it is actually being booked at the time. Without proper transaction monitoring, double bookings may occur. Other transaction monitor functions include deadlock detection and resolution (deadlocks may be inevitable in certain cases of cross-dependence on data), and transaction logging (in 'journals') for 'forward recovery' in case of massive failures.
The success of commercial enterprises depends on the reliable processing of transactions to ensure that customer orders are met on time, and that partners and suppliers are paid and can make payment. The field of transaction processing, therefore, has become a vital part of effective business management, led by such organizations as the Association for Work Process Improvement and the Transaction Processing Performance Council.
Transaction processing systems offer enterprises the means to rapidly process transactions to ensure the smooth flow of data and the progression of processes throughout the enterprise. Typically, a TPS will exhibit the following characteristics:
Rapid Processing
The rapid processing of transactions is vital to the success of any enterprise ? now more than ever, in the face of advancing technology and customer demand for immediate action. TPS systems are designed to process transactions virtually instantly to ensure that customer data is available to the processes that require it.
Reliability
Similarly, customers will not tolerate mistakes. TPS systems must be designed to ensure that not only do transactions never slip past the net, but that the systems themselves remain operational permanently. TPS systems are therefore designed to incorporate comprehensive safeguards and disaster recovery systems. These measures keep the failure rate well within tolerance levels.
Standardisation
Transactions must be processed in the same way each time to maximise efficiency. To ensure this, TPS interfaces are designed to acquire identical data for each transaction, regardless of the customer.
Controlled Access
Since TPS systems can be such a powerful business tool, access must be restricted to only those employees who require their use. Restricted access to the system ensures that employees who lack the skills and ability to control it cannot influence the transaction process.
Transactions Processing Qualifiers
In order to qualify as a TPS, transactions made by the system must pass the ACID test. The ACID tests refers to the following four prerequisites:
Atomicity
Atomicity means that a transaction is either completed in full or not at all. For example, if funds are transferred from one account to another, this only counts as a bone fide transaction if both the withdrawal and deposit take place. If one account is debited and the other is not credited, it does not qualify as a transaction. TPS systems ensure that transactions take place in their entirety.
Consistency
TPS systems exist within a set of operating rules (or integrity constraints). If an integrity constraint states that all transactions in a database must have a positive value, any transaction with a negative value would be refused.
Isolation
Transactions must appear to take place in isolation. For example, when a fund transfer is made between two accounts the debiting of one and the crediting of another must appear to take place simultaneously. The funds cannot be credited to an account before they are debited from another.
Durability
Once transactions are completed they cannot be undone. To ensure that this is the case even if the TPS suffers failure, a log will be created to document all completed transactions.
These four conditions ensure that TPS systems carry out their transactions in a methodical, standardised and reliable manner.
Types of Transactions
While the transaction process must be standardised to maximise efficiency, every enterprise requires a tailored transaction process that aligns with its business strategies and processes. For this reason, there are two broad types of transaction:
Batch Processing
Batch processing is a resource-saving transaction type that stores data for processing at pre-defined times. Batch processing is useful for enterprises that need to process large amounts of data using limited resources.
Examples of batch processing include credit card transactions, for which the transactions are processed monthly rather than in real time. Credit card transactions need only be processed once a month in order to produce a statement for the customer, so batch processing saves IT resources from having to process each transaction individually.
Real Time Processing
In many circumstances the primary factor is speed. For example, when a bank customer withdraws a sum of money from his or her account it is vital that the transaction be processed and the account balance updated as soon as possible, allowing both the bank and customer to keep track of funds.
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Source: http://superdatarecovery.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-is-computer-information-technology.html
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Source: http://pukufavug.posterous.com/data-recovery-tools-what-is-computer-informat
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U.S. Shooting Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 100

2012-12-23T04:51:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON -- The night after Sandy Hook, a gunman pulled behind a car in Kansas City's east side and opened fire, striking 4-year-old Aydan Perea in the head. The boy had just gotten into his father's car.

?He was innocent and he was just lifeless,? said the first bystander to reach Aydan. ?All my life I?ve never seen nothing so devastating. I?m unable to eat, I?m unable to sleep because I see this baby in my head."

It was not the pre-schooler's first brush with gun violence. A year earlier, a gunman fired a shotgun at the house where Aydan had been staying. No one was injured, but bullets shattered a front window and riddled a parked car. This week, days after the drive-by shooting, doctors declared the boy brain dead.

Aydan's mother said her world has "stopped."

In the week following the Sandy Hook massacre, a body was found inside a vacant house, at a car wash, in a bodega. They were discovered on a bike trail, in a backyard, inside the front office of a motel, in an idling Chevy pickup. They were the 67th murder in their city and the 88th and the 124th.

All had one thing in common: the murder weapon. All died from gunshots. Shots to the head. Multiples to the chest. And so on.

This week, as mourners gathered in Newtown, Conn., to bury Sandy Hook Elementary's dead, and a nation renewed its debate over guns, the shootings did not stop. The Huffington Post spent the week tracking gun-related homicides and accidents throughout the U.S., logging more than 100 from Google and Nexis searches. This is by no means a definitive tally. In 2010, there were more than twice that many homicides alone in an average week.

There were murder-suicides. One was shot in the face while sleeping, a baby sound asleep in a crib nearby. One was a grandmother on her way home from a store.

On Saturday afternoon, a 3-year-old in Guthrie, Okla., died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a gun he found inside his aunt and uncle's house. His uncle is an Oklahoma state trooper.

"Nobody should have to go through something like that," a resident said during a candlelight vigil for the boy. An aunt at the vigil said, "We are all so close to him. My brother here visited him three times a week and my mom babysat him twice a week."

Paul Sampleton Jr., 14, was bound and shot in his Gwinnett County, Ga., townhome on Wednesday afternoon. His father found him in the kitchen. Police suspect a robbery motive.

"He was smiling, listening to music," a friend recalled to a local reporter. "He got on his bus, I got on mine. We were all happy."

A 20-year-old man shot and killed Veronica Soto, a young mother of two, in an apparent road rage incident on Thursday. Soto and her husband had gone out to a nearby Jack in the Box in the Houston area when they became involved in a confrontation with drivers in two other cars. The accused killer Mark Trevino, and the victim's husband pulled guns.

"Investigators said Mark Trevino came to a stop, ran into his home on Addicks-Clodine, grabbed a rifle and started shooting. Soto was shot in the head. Her husband also pulled out his gun. 'They started shooting back and forth and the bullet went through the windshield, hit her and went out the back windshield,' said Matthew Soto, the victim?s brother-in-law," reported a Houston television station.

The station continued: "Soto?s distraught husband drove to his sister-in-law?s house on Las Brisas near Plaza Libre for help, but it was too late. The mother collapsed and died at the scene."

Soto had two daughters, ages 7 and 14. She just turned 30.

In Georgetown, Ohio, a 71-year-old man was arrested on Sunday after shooting his adult son John Louderback in the chest. The sheriff's office said the man called 911 and confessed.

Ramona Foreman was found shot in the doorway of the Oakland, Calif., 92nd Avenue Head Start office. The 48-year-old and her sister were walking home from a store when shots rang out. Foreman had been the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting. The victim's stepdaughter told a reporter that her grandmother was the 13th person she knows killed this year.

Deputy Sheriff Christopher Parsons, 31, worked the early-morning shift on Saturday, when he took an emergency call to assist an unconscious woman at a trailer park in Mineral Point, Mo. As he helped place the woman in the ambulance, her son came out of the mobile home and fired a rifle, killing Parsons.

The deputy had been on the police force for two months. "He had so completely figured things out and had worked so hard," his mother told a reporter.

On Sunday in New Orleans, three people were shot and killed, including 18-year-old Lawrence Burt, 56-year-old Vivian Snyder, and a 56-year-old Jefferson Parish taxi driver Joseph Wilfred, who was shot behind the wheel. According to an account, he'd been on the job for about three weeks.

That same afternoon, 25-year-old Krystal Garcia Nacoa was allegedly shot to death by her husband, Leonardo Nacoa, 26, at their Porterville, Calif., home. Police found the husband's cell phone number and called it multiple times, until the man finally picked up. He admitted that he had fled across the border to Mexico. Police were able to get Nacoa to surrender.

His three young children were inside the home at the time of the shooting and weren't physically hurt.

Mark Hanrahan, Melissa Jeltsen, Alana Horowitz, Benjamin Hart, and Adam Goldberg contributed reporting.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/us-shooting-deaths-sandy-hook_n_2348466.html
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Chiefs players, coaches try to make sense of the impossible

2012-12-03T17:56:00.001-08:00

Members of the media gather outside Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday. (US Presswire)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn thought he was in for another ordinary Saturday at the Truman Complex, the Chiefs' practice facility. He was made aware of a very different series of circumstances when he arrived?Saturday morning and found that police had blocked off his parking space.

The complex was on lockdown after 25-year-old Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher took his own life outside the team's offices with general manager Scott Pioli, head coach Romeo Crennel and defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs as horrified witnesses. He had done so after shooting and killing his 22-year-old girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, and leaving their 3-month-old daughter without a mother or father.

(Getty Images)Quinn was told by police to park his car up a hill near Arrowhead Stadium, where many of his teammates had already gathered. Crennel told his players what had happened at a 9:30 team meeting.

"It was obviously tough for Coach to have to tell us that," Quinn told the Kansas City Star. "He really wasn't able to finish talking to us. We got together and prayed and then we moved on."

Moving on was all the Chiefs could do. After talking to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made the call for the team to go on with their Sunday game against the Carolina Panthers, a game the Chiefs will host at Arrowhead. The decision was certainly controversial, and many believe out of place, but it's important to remember that this was a decision the Chiefs made.

[Related: Former Belcher teammate writes about Chiefs tragedy]

As Quinn said, that decision wasn't made without considering all the aspects and angles.

"I think everyone is just so shocked at what had taken place, being who it was and being what had happened. I think people are still trying to digest everything let alone think about playing a game. It's tough to put into words.

"It's hard mostly because I keep thinking about what I could have done to stop this. I think everyone is wondering whether we would have done something to prevent this from happening.

"And then we're all thinking about his daughter, three months old and without a parent. It's hard to not allow the emotions of the situation to creep into your head with the game this close. But we're going to do the best we can to concentrate on the task at hand."

Perhaps the most confounding aspect of this story is that there doesn't seem to be any public record of Belcher having personal issues of any sort -- certainly nothing that would have led those who knew him to think that this was remotely possible. Raibonne Charles, who played defense at the University of Maine with Belcher, told the Kansas City Star that this came out of nowhere.

"This wasn't forthcoming of his character. Jovan is a very passionate, very emotional person, and you could tell that by watching him play the game. But this is a shock to us all."

That has to be a problem, and it leaves Belcher's teammates reflecting on what they could have done to help. Quinn had no idea what was tormenting Belcher. But it's beyond disconcerting when you spend day after day in a locker room and on a field with a man and you don't have any idea what's in his heart until something like this happens.

"As players and teammates, we need to do a better job of reaching out to people and trying to be more involved and more invested in their lives," Quinn said. "You never really know what's going on in someone life, what they're struggling with or what they're battling through."

That's hard to do in an environment where toughness is a primary attribute, and plain is a pure liability. Especially in a grind of a season like the 1-10 Chiefs are going through, it's all to easy to put your head down, soldier on, and miss what's right in front of you.

[Michael Silver: NFL shouldn't force Chiefs to play in wake of tragedy]

Then again, nobody seems to understand why Belcher did what he did. Nobody seemed to see the signs ? if there were any. Belcher's agent, Joe Linta, saw the man and the player in a very different light.

"Jovan was a happy, proud father, with pictures of his baby on his Facebook page," Linta told Sports Illustrated. "This is shocking. Something went crazy wrong, and we'll probably never know what it is.

"He came to my youth clinics in the offseason and worked with kids. He was a gracious, unselfish, hard-working, dedicated kid ? very, very caring of some of the underprivileged kids who came to the clinics. I saw him in a real positive way."

Quinn was with the Denver Broncos when receiver Kenny McKinley took his life in September, 2010, which gives him a different and unfortunate perspective when it comes to losing a teammate like this.

"There's really not any words that can describe the emotions that are involved," Quinn said, when recalling McKinley and trying to tie his suicide to what Belcher did.

"The big thing is [Belcher's] daughter. I know a bunch of the guys are going to try to set up a fund to try to take care of his daughter. Her parents are not in her life anymore."

In the end, that's all the Chiefs can really do. Remembrance is important, especially if something can be learned about counseling for players who need it. Time to heal is key, and the ability to allow oneself to grieve in the season is just as important. NFL players may have it in their heads that they're invincible, and that mindset seems to be a necessity in today's game, but there comes a point when even the toughest guys need to take stock and try to reconcile those things that just don't seem to add up.

Those who are used to ignoring pain need to feel it. Now, more than ever.

More Belcher coverage on Yahoo! Sports
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/chiefs-players-coaches-try-sense-impossible-belcher-suicide-151900558--nfl.html
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Acer unveils TravelMate B113 ultraportable with student-friendly $399 price

2012-12-03T16:05:00.001-08:00

Acer's TravelMate line of notebooks usually skews toward the business set, but its latest model is made for that other breed of on-the-go types: students. The new TravelMate B113 is an 11.6-incher weighing in at three pounds and measuring one inch thick. Processor options top out a Core i3 Ivy Bridge CPU with 4GB of RAM, and the hard drive offers a max capacity of 500GB. The 11.6-inch display sports a ho-hum resolution of 1,366 x 768 -- and isn't touch-enabled for Windows 8 -- but then again we're looking at a price of $399 and up. The B113 is available now at authorized resellers -- head past the break for the full presser.
Gallery: Acer TravelMate B113 press images
Continue reading Acer unveils TravelMate B113 ultraportable with student-friendly $399 price
Filed under: Laptops, Acer
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/03/acer-unveils-travelmate-b113-399-price/
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Napoleon's coded Kremlin letter sold for $243,500

2012-12-03T04:54:00.001-08:00

FONTAINEBLEAU, France (AP) ? A secret code letter sent in 1812 by Napoleon Bonaparte boasting that his French forces would blow up Moscow's Kremlin has sold at auction for ten times its estimated presale price.
A Paris museum ? the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts ? was finalizing its purchase of the Oct. 20, 1812, document for ?187,500 ($243,500), including fees. That's far above the pre-sale estimate of ?15,000 ($19,500).
Auctioneers at Fontainebleau Auction House south of Paris say the letter sold Sunday is unique. It was written in a numeric code used by the French ruler to throw off would-be interceptors. Its content bared the strains on Napoleon of his calamitous Russian invasion.
One line said: "At three o'clock in the morning, on the 22nd I am going to blow up the Kremlin."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/napoleons-coded-kremlin-letter-sold-243-500-150449737.html
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Nurses' certification could hinge on CMEs : Kaieteur News

2012-12-02T23:20:00.001-08:00

Nurses may soon be subjected to mandatory Continuous Medical Education (CME) sessions as part of their registration process. Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, made reference to such a development on Friday when he addressed a Midwives? Conference at the Regency Suites/Hotel, Hadfield Street, Georgetown.
According to him ?I would like to see it become mandatory, like among the doctors, that you have legislation for continuing medical education?not two lectures now here and two lectures in another Region.? The Minister spoke of the need for a raft of actions similar to what obtains in the Medical profession adding that ?continuous medical education will have to be a must.?
?In other words you cannot say ?I am a midwife and sit on my laurels and I will automatically get promotion or I will continue to be employed??so that certification process should include mandatory Continuing Medical Education,? insisted the Minister.
It is his expectation that the Midwives Association, which was formed out of the need for midwives to take responsibility for the development of the profession and the provision of quality midwifery services, would adopt a robust approach in this regard.
Besides this, the Minister said that he is anxious to see efforts being engaged to actively review cases of maternal mortality this year and using them as the basis for teacher materials.
?At the same time I would like to see you reaching beyond your immediate profession or circle in this regard. Talk to the doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation; bring them in, you have to have that group approach,? said the Minister.
Friday?s conference saw efforts being made to underscore the importance of training midwives not merely to ensure that they were qualified but to ensure that they were a part of a team. It was with this in mind, the Minister said, that ?I want to see a CME type review. We need to analyse mistakes that were made. The analysis is not that this year we had less deaths and last year we had more, but we have to look at the various cases vigorously? .
Of importance, he asserted, is the need to examine closely, cases that professionals were delinquent in submitting since June of this year. The Minister was at the time referring to maternal mortality cases that are gaining the attention of Cabinet.
?We are somewhat alarmed at the level of Cabinet about the maternal mortality deaths. We have been agitated by this since around November 2010 and then there were two consecutive media reports of maternal deaths?.?
According to the Minister he still awaits reports on maternal deaths that were reported in the media ??Cabinet and I am displeased that since June of this year I have not received a single report concerning even those high profile maternal deaths.?
The onus is on midwives, he stressed, to take pride in their conduct even as he reflected on the practice of a few old individuals within the profession.
?In the old days I know midwives used to keep journals of how many deliveries they did and I have been told by the Chief Medical Officer that there is an old midwife in the Mabaruma area who still, up to recently, continues that practice.?
Such actions, he intimated, will allow for midwives to follow their work and easily detect an interesting case when it occurs and even seek to uncover ways to embrace self-development.
Elaborating on the notion of self-development, the Minister said that it is imperative that, particularly the young midwives learn about the use of various drugs that might have been recommended or issued by doctors.
?These are things I want you to do to probably improve your Association and practice on the ward. Here you would actually be showing leadership, because when there is a contentious case, for example a maternal death and in some instances a near miss, you will be able to consult?.?
Embracing the motto ?Midwives: making a difference in the lives of women, children, families and communities? the Midwives Association was officially launched on May 6, 2009. Since then, midwives have organised and conducted continuing education sessions and held yearly conferences which also provide an environment for fostering unity and networking. With a membership of 85, it was just recently accepted as a member of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) which supports, advises and strengthens associations of midwives across the world.

Source: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/12/02/nurses-certification-could-hinge-on-cmes/
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