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Thursday, April 11, 2013
Official Samsung Galaxy S4 UK TV spot is heavy on drama, close-ups
Samsung's marketing machine kicks up a gear with new TV ad
A world away from the goofy Super Bowl ads and iPhone mockery of old, Samsung's just sent over its first teaser ad for the Galaxy S4... and it's actually pretty good. The ad puts the product itself front and center, with dramatic close-ups of its design followed by quick demos of some of the headline features. Check it out above, and share your thoughts down in the comments.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 lands in the UK on Apr. 26. The U.S. launch is expected around the same time.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/XiaN9qYsByM/story01.htm
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Debate over funeral for 'loved, hated' former PM Thatcher divides nation
Peter Morrison / AP
Anti-Margaret Thatcher graffiti adorns a wall on the Falls Road in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday,
By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will be buried with military honors, it was announced Tuesday, as a fierce debate over her funeral arrangements illustrated the extent of division over her political and social legacy.
While many expressed sadness at her passing on Monday, some raised glasses of champagne in impromptu street parties, and Judy Garland's "Wizard of Oz" song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" was sent surging up the UK singles charts.
The ?Iron Lady? who led a conservative resurgence in her home country and forged a legendary partnership with President Ronald Reagan, died from a stroke on Monday, aged 87.
The first and only woman to hold the job and longest-serving prime minister of the postwar era, she earned a formidable international reputation as a champion of freedom and the catalyst for the end of the Cold War.
However, many former industrial areas of Britain still bear the scars of the bitter struggles of the 1980s, when her free-market reforms saw the closure of dozens of state-run coal mines and steel factories.
Her televised memorial, in London?s St Paul?s Cathedral on April 17, will be the grandest for a British politician since wartime leader Winston Churchill in 1965 and will be attended by the Queen and world leaders.
But at her own request, she will not receive an official state funeral ? an apparent acknowledgement that a fully-publicly-funded national event would have enraged her enemies and turned her burial into a political issue.
Some of the cost will still be borne from public funds, but in common with her ideology of personal financial responsibility she also insisted that public money not be wasted on a ceremonial fly-past.
Though Margaret Thatcher will not be given a state funeral, a service held in her honor at Westminster Abbey will be followed by a televised funeral a day later at St. Paul's Cathedral. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
?So it will be a plain old ceremonial funeral for Maggie,? wrote U.K. journalist and newcaster Jon Snow on Tuesday. ?We won?t notice the difference. But her agreement to avoid that state funeral would seem to recognize that, in death at least, she did finally know her limits.?
Some lawmakers, from areas where the closure of state industries has left a legacy of long-term unemployment and social deprivation, said they would not be attending the event, nor even a special meeting of the House of Commons.
Mining union official Chris Skidmore said Thatcher should not even be given a ceremonial funeral, adding that she would never be forgiven by mining communities for the policies which led to thousands of job losses. "Where there was hope she brought despair," he told ITV News.
In south London and the Scottish city of Glasgow, small crowds gathered to cheer and toast her death with champagne and cider. "We've waited a long time for her death," Carl Chamberlain, 45, told Reuters in Brixton, south London, the scene of anti-Thatcher riots in 1981.
In Northern Ireland, a wall was daubed with the phrase: ?Iron Lady ? rust in peace.?
The editor of the U.K.?s conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper said online comments had been disabled on its Thatcher stories because of the volume of anti-Thatcher abuse.
Conor Burns, a Conservative lawmarker and friend of Thatcher, said he was "delighted" that some had seen her death as a cause for celebration because "the hatred that burns in their hearts...is actually an enormous tribute to her...they hate her because she won."
Tuesday's front pages reflected the division. The Daily Mail described Thatcher as "The Woman Who Saved Britain," while the Daily Mirror headline read: "The Woman Who Divided A Nation." The Northern Echo said she she would be "loved, hated, never forgotten."
The Associated Press noted the contrast between the willingness of small groups of Britons to publicly mock a longtime national leader, and attitudes in the United States.
There were no similar scenes of jubilation after the 1994 death of Richard Nixon, a polarizing figure who is the only U.S. president to resign from office, said Robert McGeehan, an associate fellow at the Institute for the Study of Americas.?
"This really shows the dissimilarity between the two countries," said McGeehan, a dual national who worked with Thatcher in academia after she left office. "One does not recall, with the passing of controversial figures in the U.S., anything remotely resembling the really crude approach we've seen over here," he said. "There is a class ingredient here that we simply don't have in America. They like to perpetuate this; the bitterness goes from father to son."
In London?s West End theater district, audience members watching a production of Billy Elliot were asked to decide Monday night on whether a song anticipating Thatcher's death should be performed hours after she died, ITV News reported.
The musical, which is set during the bitter 1984-5 coal miners? industrial dispute, features the song "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher," with lyrics that refer to celebrating the death of the former prime minister. Following a show of hands, the song was performed.
Thatcher?s official biography, withheld at her request until after her death, will shortly go on sale. Its author, the journalist Charles Moore, wrote on Tuesday:
?Her love for her country was expressed even more in her action than in her words. As with all great loves, it was often spurned.?
Related:
Thatcher played polarizing role in pop culture
Margaret Thatcher, 'Iron Lady' who led conservative resurgence in Britain, dies at 87
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15 years after Good Friday Agreement, an imperfect peace in Northern Ireland
On this date in 1998, republicans and unionists put an end to the 'Troubles' that had ravaged the region for decades. But a permanent peace remains a more remote prize.
A section of the peace wall that divides Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast wraps around houses in Cluan Place, east Belfast, in October. The first barriers were built in 1969, following the outbreak of the Northern Ireland riots known as 'The Troubles.'
Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
Enlarge Fifteen years ago today, one of Europe's longest and seemingly most intractable conflicts came to an end. On April 10, 1998, Irish republicans and unionists signed the Good Friday Agreement, a peace accord that put a formal end to the "Troubles," a slow-burn civil war that had been going on in earnest since 1969.
?
Well, in fact, they didn't sign it. Nothing was actually signed on paper by the opposing sides. But they did agree to it, marking the end of the beginning of the Irish peace process.
?
The guns had already fallen silent two years previously, with both the Irish Republican Army and their unionist antagonists declaring a cease-fire within a six-week span. In the years that followed, a new British prime minister, Tony Blair, and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, worked to bring reluctant unionists to the table with their hated and feared old enemies.
Ireland Correspondent
Jason Walsh has been the Monitor's Ireland correspondent since 2009, dividing his time primarily between Belfast, Northern Ireland and?Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. During that time he has reported on stumbling blocks in the peace process, the dissident republican threat,?pro-British unionist riots, demands for abortion legislation and Ireland's economic crash.
Recent posts
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And on this date 15 years ago, they succeeded: the Ulster Unionist Party agreed to work with republicans, something that would have been unimaginable just a short time earlier.
?
Life in Northern Ireland has been transformed since that day, no one disputes that. But the conflict has not been replaced with perfect peace. In July 1998, three young Catholic children were killed when the Ulster Volunteer Force, supposedly on ceasefire, firebombed their home. The infamous Omagh bomb, planted by dissident republicans, was to go off on August 15 of the same year, killing 29. And there have been murders carried out by both unionist and republican groups since then, as well as annualized rioting.
?
In some ways, the post-Good Friday state of affairs mirrors that of Northern Ireland prior to 1969, with sporadic episodes of violence punctuating a shaky peace. Still, with Irish republicans represented in government and Catholics no longer discriminated against in jobs, education, and housing, it is difficult to imagine the same sense of grievance that give birth to the conflict being nurtured ever again.
?
The problem, as with so many conflicts today, is that an honest desire to put an end to bloodshed and misery may not so much bring about peace as?transform violence into deep-frozen cultural and pseudo-political resentments.
?
In Northern Ireland, as elsewhere, there was no single winner or loser. Both sides can legitimately claim to have won, or to have lost. Whichever they claim depends on how they are feeling at any given moment. This year's rioting in Northern Ireland, sparked by a decision to fly the British Union flag over Belfast city hall on state occasions rather than every day, speaks of a unionist community that is brittle and fearful. A community that thinks it has lost. A community that feels abandoned and is itself now nursing a sense of grievance.
?
High-flown talk about plurality and neutrality simply do not reflect reality on the ground, except perhaps in a few well-to-do areas.
?
No one, other than a few extremists on the fringes of unionism and republicanism, wants to see a return to violence in Northern Ireland, and so the architects of the Good Friday Accord can rightfully claim a victory on that front. A permanent peace remains a more remote prize.
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New Era for Energy Department Expected Under a Secretary Moniz
With stimulus funding for clean energy at an end, climate-change policy dead in Congress, and harsh budget cuts looming over all agencies thanks to the sequestration, the days of President Obama?s vision of the Energy Department as a green juggernaut have probably come to an end.
But Ernest Moniz, who faces a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday morning as Obama?s choice to become the next Energy secretary, would be likely to steer the department into a new era, one in which climate change still plays a key role in guiding its mission but so, too, do policies connected to the nation?s recent boom in oil and natural-gas development.
The MIT professor and former Energy undersecretary in the Clinton administration is also likely to renew the agency?s traditional focus on nuclear energy, nuclear waste, and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
Before Obama took office, the Energy Department had been widely viewed as a backwater agency. But people close to Moniz say they expect him to revitalize the department?s original mission while also taking on new issues involving global trade and commerce.
Like the man he would succeed, Nobel laureate Steven Chu, Moniz is a renowned physicist with serious research chops: He is director of the Energy Initiative at MIT, where he has been on the faculty since 1973. Unlike Chu, however, Moniz has a long record of supporting a broad portfolio of energy sources, including natural gas. He also has a strong background in nuclear issues, making him a better fit considering the agency?s historic nuclear portfolio.
Also unlike Chu, Moniz is viewed as a pragmatic and politically savvy operator who knows his way around Washington.
?I think it will be a very different agency than it was in the first term,? said Charles Ebinger, director of the Energy Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution, who has worked with Moniz on energy policy for many years.
?Ernie knows climate change, but also unconventional oil and gas and coal and nuclear. He will push the president towards a more balanced policy. I think you?ll see a focus on unconventional oil and gas and not as much on renewables.?
Frank Verrastro, director of the energy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, ?He?ll be a more complete secretary of Energy. He brings different skills. He?s focused on climate and clean energy, but he?s aware of what?s going on in the oil and gas space. It?s an opportunity for the administration to gain back some energy-policy stake.?
The nation?s energy picture has changed profoundly since 2008, when Obama appointed Chu to lead the DOE. Since then, a boom in unconventional oil and gas development, thanks to breakthroughs in hydraulic fracturing, or ?fracking,? technology has led to a dramatic increase in domestic oil and gas supply. Obama has been particularly bullish on natural gas as a one-two punch for his climate-change and economic goals: The fuel has half the carbon emissions of coal, and the new glut of it has lowered U.S. manufacturing costs.
The fossil-fuel industry, which regularly railed against Chu, has already indicated its openness to Moniz.
?Moniz seems to be a pragmatist on the important energy issues facing our nation including natural-gas development,? said John Krohn, a spokesman for Energy In Depth, which represents the gas-fracking industry in Washington. ?When he arrives at DOE, he will join many senior-level Obama officials who have publicly stated that natural gas is an important fuel for our nation?s environment and economic future.?
Among the biggest policy decisions facing the Energy Department in the coming years will be the question of whether or not to grant permits for U.S. companies to begin exporting natural gas. Manufacturers fear that exporting the fuel will increase their prices, but foreign policy thinkers believe it could help increase U.S. muscle in Asia. Moniz is expected to be a key player in these decisions.
Nuclear-energy issues are also likely to get more attention under Moniz. While some environmentalists remain wary of nuclear energy, Moniz is among a group of thinkers who see nuclear power?which produces no carbon emissions?as a key piece of a future climate policy. While nuclear-waste issues were not a forte of Chu?s, Moniz was part of the blue-ribbon commission on nuclear waste that last year recommended building medium-term nuclear-waste storage facilities that could hold waste for up to a century.
?There will be more attention paid to nuclear waste and the nuclear stockpile,? said John Deutch, a professor at MIT and former head of the CIA who held senior positions in the Energy and Defense departments during the Carter and Clinton administrations, and who has worked with Moniz on energy issues for more than 30 years.
?He will have a much broader agenda, and he will be asked to have a broader agenda by President Obama,? Deutch said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/era-energy-department-expected-under-secretary-moniz-223657993--politics.html
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Kim Kardashian (And Her Baby Bump!) Coming To MTV Movie Awards
'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star will introduce Selena Gomez's performance Sunday night.
By Todd Gilchrist
Kim Kardashian
Photo: Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705301/kim-kardashian-2013-movie-awards-presenter.jhtml
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Temperature suddenly plunges 55 degrees in Colorado: 'It's just brutal'
Much of the country's midsection will face severe storms and a high risk of tornadoes. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
By Erin McClam and John Newland, NBC News
Blizzard warnings were in effect Tuesday in Colorado, where the temperature plunged more than 50 degrees in less than 24 hours and the wind chill approached zero. Forecasters also expect hurricane-force blasts of frigid air in Utah and heavy snow in the Dakotas.
The culprit is a deep dip in the jet stream that swung west and pulled arctic air far into the country. As it collides with warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, strong storms and tornadoes are possible in the Great Plains and Texas.
?It?s just brutal to be outside,? said Eric Fisher, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.
Full coverage from Weather.com
In Denver, the temperature plummeted from 71 degrees at 2 p.m. Monday to 16 degrees at 7 a.m. Tuesday, with a wind chill of 1. More than 300 flights had been canceled into and out of Denver since Monday night.
Forecasters said Denver could get as much as 11 inches of snow and South Dakota more than a foot, with snow stretching as far north and east as Minnesota and Nebraska. In Utah, wind gusts of 75 mph were possible, The Weather Channel reported.
The calendar may say spring, but April is the second-snowiest month of the year in Denver. The city has averaged 9 inches in April since 1882, second only to the 11.5 inches it gets in an average March, according to the National Weather Service.
Seth Wenig / AP
Kids including Branden Rivera, 9, spray each other with water from a drinking fountain while enjoying the warm weather in New York on Monday. Things may not be so pleasant later this week, as a massive storm system moves east.
The weather pattern threatened to bring damaging wind, large hail and perhaps tornadoes to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa, and weaker storms later in the day in the Ohio Valley.
?We?re looking at the gamut today for severe weather,? Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
As the system moves east, severe storms are possible Wednesday across a boomerang-shaped swath of the country from the Texas Gulf Coast north through Indiana and into western Pennsylvania.
Severe storms could move into Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas on Thursday.
This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 4:59 AM EDT
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Detroit archbishop wants gay marriage supporters to self-excommunicate (practically) (Americablog)
Newtown victims' families in Washington, quietly pushing gun control
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Family members of the Newtown school shooting victims flew into Washington on Air Force One to press for gun-control legislation, but kept a low profile as they held private meetings with senators on Tuesday.
After coming to the capital aboard the presidential plane on Monday evening, the families had breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden. He said after the two-hour meeting, "I wish the members of Congress had been able to eavesdrop on the discussion in my home today."
The 11 family members stayed largely out of sight on the first of three days of lobbying in Washington, maintaining that private meetings with lawmakers would serve their cause better than grandstanding. They did hold a conference call with reporters.
"We're just private citizens who are now part of a club we never wanted to be in," said Bill Sherlach, whose wife Mary was the school psychologist at Sandy Hook Elementary School, one of six adults and 20 children killed in the December 14 attack.
"We're not up on all the political wranglings that go on," Sherlach said. "We're just the ordinary public, coming to the people that we elected to the offices nationwide and try to bring a program to the table that will be wide-ranging."
The shooting in the small Connecticut town horrified the country and prompted President Barack Obama to seek ways to prevent such massacres, including gun control. But his administration has struggled to gain support for legislation amid strong opposition from the powerful National Rifle Association.
The Newtown families are pushing for background checks to prevent criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns, and they want a provision to limit the capacity of gun magazines.
KEEPING POLITICS TO A MINIMUM
The families planned a series of private meetings with Democratic and Republican senators, but declined to name the lawmakers, except for Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who they said had agreed to be identified.
They said no senator had declined to meet with them. Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat who faces a tough re-election race next year in a state where gun control faces stiff opposition, said his office would try to schedule a meeting.
Making the Capitol Hill meetings private would keep politics to a minimum, the families said.
Tim Makris, executive director of the advocacy group Sandy Hook Promise, said private meetings let legislators open up in a way public meetings don't.
"When it's public, unfortunately at times it can turn political and then nothing happens," he said.
The Senate is expected to hold a preliminary, test vote on a gun-control measure on Thursday, but Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the bill may not get past Republican procedural hurdles. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said there was no bipartisan support for the effort.
Obama's proposals include expanded background checks for gun buyers, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Makris said the Sandy Hook shooter brought 30-bullet magazines to the school and left smaller magazines at home.
"We know when the shooter stopped to reload, he made it possible for 11 children to escape," Makris said. "And we're left to wonder, if he had carried smaller magazines, and been forced to reload up to three times more ... would more children be alive?"
The group sought to present a human face to lawmakers.
Asked what the group could bring to the debate what other gun-control advocates could not, Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed in the shooting, told the conference call:
"Lots of people can discuss the issues from an intellectual perspective, but we bring a personal perspective."
(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Richard Cowan; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/newtown-victims-families-washington-quietly-pushing-gun-control-233101254.html
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10 Tips for Maintaining Your Rental Properties | AOL Real Estate
By Sharon Vornholt
Just about everyone takes care of the maintenance on their personal home; it's a matter of pride for most of us. We all know that it doesn't take too long for little problems to become big problems. Over the years, I have found that many landlords just aren't as diligent when it comes to resolving problems in their rental property.
So What's the Problem?
Why is it that they don't get taken care of in a timely manner? I think it's primarily the lack of having a system to help them stay on track. Landlords certainly know that the failure to diligently monitor the condition of their properties can lead to costly damage over time.
Another downside to not taking care of routine maintenance is that it will always lead to unhappy tenants, and unhappy tenants move out. This leaves you not only with a lot of costly repairs you have to do anyway but delays in getting the home rented again.
It's time to stop procrastinating. Here's a quick checklist you can use for keeping your properties in tip top shape.
This article was originally published on BiggerPockets.com.
Find homes for rent in your area.
See more on BiggerPockets.com:
The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing
Tenant Screening: The Ultimate Guide
9 Steps to Flipping Houses
More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
See more celebrity real estate.
Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.
Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/08/rental-property-maintenance-tips/
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In China, You Can Pay Women To Play Video Games With You
In many parts of Asia, there is a job called "beer companion". It's exactly as its name implies. Young women working for a bar or a beer company dress in relatively skimpy outfits to drink with and to entertain bar guests. It's already hit the West, but this seems this type of service is now moving towards the video game world in China.
According to People's Daily, this gaming companion service is a recent thing in China. The service comes in two different types. The first type is a promotion and the other you for pay. In the promotion category, a game company offers a promotion where players can play games with pretty ladies. For pay service, gamers can pay for companions to play online games with them.
What this comes down to is that Chinese players are paying to play with companions online...and paying to play with companions in person.
This service seems to be geared towards male gamers. A quick search online for the phrase gaming companion (MM??) brings up girls looking cute to solicit gamer clients. It should be noted that MM in China refers to "younger sister" (mei mei??), which is also a term often associated with sex workers.
According to the People's Daily, this concept first came about when news broke out about a high-end World of Warcraft club that offered online companion services 24/7. Basically, a member of the WoW club would log on, request a companion and then have someone to play with until they log off.
After the revelation of the WoW club, enterprising "gamers" started advertising similar services of companion play. Some of them offered to in person gaming at a local Internet cafe, others were just online play. The prices vary greatly. It appears playing with a "ranked" gamer will cost about 8 dollars an hour whereas an "amateur" will go for about 3 dollars an hour.
One shop on Chinese e-commerce supersite Taobao.com that Kotaku questioned about services said that pretty much most of the services are "agencies". The shop that we contacted offered the services of a "Dear Sue". The person running the shop chatted with us online through the QQ account of a woman, but we have no way verify her gender. "She" was offering services in games such as Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, and Counter Strike.
"We have lots of different girls of different skills that can play with you," said 'Sue', despite the fact that her site only advertised her services. "We offer online play only, 1 vs. 1."
This agent also said that "she" couldn't guarantee that we would win our match. On top of that "she" also said that they used the YY TeamChat program to converse.
While there is nothing too sinister about the concept of companion play, searches into the subject leads to some pretty sketchy stuff. Halfway through a search on Taobao.com, the results return with some pretty pornographic material. It's unclear what this entails about the whole situation.
So far, we haven't been able to contact a shop offering in person companion play.
[???????????DotA??20?] [People's Daily]
[Taobao search for MM??] [Taobao.com]
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
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Source: http://kotaku.com/in-china-people-are-paying-women-to-play-video-games-w-471161999
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Senator: NASA to lasso asteroid, bring it closer
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, the Orion Exploration Flight Test 1crew module is seen in the Operations and Checkout building during a media tour at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Senate Science and Space subcommittee Chairman Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. says President Barack Obama and NASA are planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon. Then astronauts would explore it in 2021. Nelson said the plan would speed up by four years an existing mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by bringing the space rock closer to Earth. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, the Orion Exploration Flight Test 1crew module is seen in the Operations and Checkout building during a media tour at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Senate Science and Space subcommittee Chairman Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. says President Barack Obama and NASA are planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon. Then astronauts would explore it in 2021. Nelson said the plan would speed up by four years an existing mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by bringing the space rock closer to Earth. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon for astronauts to explore, a top senator said Friday.
The ship would capture the 500-ton, 25-foot asteroid in 2019. Then using an Orion space capsule, a crew of about four astronauts would nuzzle up next to the rock in 2021 for spacewalking exploration, according to a government document obtained by The Associated Press.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the plan would speed up by four years the existing mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by bringing the space rock closer to Earth.
Nelson, who is chairman of the Senate science and space subcommittee, said Friday that President Barack Obama is putting $100 million in planning money for the accelerated asteroid mission in the 2014 budget that comes out next week. The money would be used to find the right small asteroid.
"It really is a clever concept," Nelson said in a press conference in Orlando. "Go find your ideal candidate for an asteroid. Go get it robotically and bring it back."
This would be the first time ever humanity has manipulated a space object in such a grand scale, like what it does on Earth, said Robert Braun, a Georgia Institute of Technology aerospace engineering professor who used to be NASA's chief technology officer.
"It's a great combination of our robotic and human capabilities to do the kind of thing that NASA should be doing in this century," Braun said.
Last year, the Keck Institute for Space Studies proposed a similar mission for NASA with a price tag of $2.6 billion. There is no cost estimate for the space agency's version. NASA's plans were first reported by Aviation Week.
While there are thousands of asteroids around 25-feet, finding the right one that comes by Earth at just the right time to be captured will not be easy, said Donald Yeomans, who heads NASA's Near Earth Object program that monitors close-by asteroids. He said once a suitable rock is found it would be captured with the space equivalent of "a baggie with a drawstring. You bag it. You attach the solar propulsion module to de-spin it and bring it back to where you want it."
Yeomans said a 25-foot asteroid is no threat to Earth because it would burn up should it inadvertently enter Earth's atmosphere. These types of asteroids are closer to Earth ? not in the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. They're less than 10 million miles away, Braun said.
"It's probably the right size asteroid to be practicing on," he said.
A 25-foot asteroid is smaller than the size rock that caused a giant fireball that streaked through the sky in Russia in February, said Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, head of the B612 Foundation, a nonprofit concerned about dangerous space rocks.
The robotic ship would require a high-tech solar engine to haul the rock through space, something that is both cutting-edge and doable, Braun said. Then NASA would use a new large rocket and the Orion capsule ? both under development ? to send astronauts to the asteroid.
There would be no gravity on the asteroid so the astronauts would have to hover over it in an extended spacewalk.
Exploring the asteroid "would be great fun," Schweickart said. "You'd have some interesting challenges in terms of operating in an environment like that."
Nelson said the mission would help NASA develop the capability to nudge away a dangerous asteroid if one headed to Earth in the future. It also would be training for a future mission to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, he said. But while it would be helpful for planetary defense, "that's not your primary mission," Schweickart said.
George Washington University Space Policy Institute Director Scott Pace, a top NASA official during the George W. Bush administration, was critical of the plan, saying it was a bad idea scientifically and for international cooperation.
Instead, NASA and other countries should first join forces for a comprehensive survey of all possible dangerous space rocks, Pace said.
The government document describing the mission said it would inspire because it "will send humans farther than they have ever been before."
___
Online:
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov
The Keck Institute plan: http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/study/asteroid/asteroid_final_report.pdf
B612Foundation: http://b612foundation.org
___
Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
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Blackmagic announces Production Camera 4K, $995 Pocket Cinema Camera with MFT mount (hands-on)
A sub-$1,000 price tag makes any product a relative steal on the floor of NAB -- impressive specs and industry standard compatibility are just icing on the cake. If such figures are any indication, however, Blackmagic's new Pocket Cinema Camera, which leaked earlier today and ships in July, is potentially a very solid buy at $995, with a Super-16 Cinema 1080HD sensor with 13 stops of dynamic range, CinemaDNG RAW recording, SD card storage, Micro HDMI monitoring and a Micro Four Thirds lens mount. We got an early look at the shooter on the showroom floor, and the compact size is truly striking -- the body is comparable in size to any other mirrorless camera, though it definitely pushes the limits of what we'd consider pocketable. The design is very similar to Blackmagic's larger Cinema Camera launched at last year's NAB, with the same Micro Four Thirds lens mount. There's a very sharp built-in matte LCD for viewing footage and adjusting settings, and the build is quite solid -- it's significantly heavier than you'd expect.
Naturally, the camera isn't as capable as Blackmagic's pricier NAB model, the Production Camera 4K, which also made its debut today and ships in July. With that flavor, $3,995 buys you a Super 35 sensor with native Ultra HD and 4K support, a built-in SSD recorder, compressed CinemaDNG RAW and compatibility with EF lenses. We spent a few minutes with that model as well, and were equally impressed. The screen was very bright, sharp and not at all reflective, and the camera includes your standard array of inputs and outputs, including dual mic jacks, an SDI port, power and control. Both models are very competitively priced, as you might expect from Blackmagic, and with this wide range of appeal, there's now a little something for everyone. Be sure to head past the break to check out our hands-on video as we take a closer look at both models.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qdDMlMus8HQ/
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Razer promises sneakier sneak attacks with $130 Orbweaver Stealth Edition mechanical keypad
That guard you just stealth-killed in Dishonored never heard you coming. But everyone else did. Which is why you might want to consider a noise-dampened mechanical keyboard of some sort. There are a few of 'em out there, not least the Matias Quiet Pro we reviewed last year, and now Razer has a keypad option solely for gamers: a new Stealth Edition of the original Orbweaver that came out in January. The price is unchanged at $130, as are the main specs and adjustable design, but Razer promises "silent tactile feedback" that provides an "entirely new feel," alongside a slightly reduced actuation force of 45g (instead of 50g). Perhaps your long-suffering colleagues will throw in a decent headset to go with it.
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals
Source: Razer
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Qm_2CXBpZ4I/
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Monday, April 8, 2013
Ukraine leader pardons jailed allies of ex-PM Tymoshenko
By Richard Balmforth
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich pardoned two jailed allies of his main political opponent, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on Sunday but took no steps to free the imprisoned opposition leader herself.
The European Union, which has curbed its ties with Ukraine over the jailing of Yanukovich opponents, hailed the pardons for former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko and former ecology minister Heorhiy Filipchuk as an important initial step in addressing what it considers "selective justice".
The pardons were the first sign of any relaxation in a drive against Tymoshenko and her allies in which several of her ministers have been jailed or fled abroad to avoid prosecution.
The two former ministers had been serving jail terms for abuse of office. Their pardon came after a week of political tension which saw the opposition, re-energized by a strong showing in an election last October, block parliamentary proceedings and force pro-Yanukovich deputies to hold a rival parliamentary session in a separate building.
The United States and the EU say prosecutions of Tymoshenko and former members of her government are politically motivated.
The EU has made their release a condition for signing deals on trade and political association with Kiev, and has said those agreements could be shelved for years unless progress is made on justice and other issues by next month.
"Ukraine: AT LAST-Welcome very much Pres Yanukovich decision 2 pardon Lutsenko & Filipchuk: first but important step 2 deal w/ selective justice," the EU's enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele, wrote in a message on Twitter after the pardon.
According to the presidential decree, Yanukovich's clemency decision was based on a request by the state ombudsman and took into account the health of the two men.
Lutsenko, 48, had been serving a four-year sentence at a jail 230 km (140 miles) north of Kiev and only last week had his appeal against conviction rejected by a court. His press secretary said he had already been released and his wife and a group of supporters were on their way to pick him up.
Despite Sunday's decree, Yanukovich showed no signs of clemency towards Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year jail sentence also for abuse-of-office.
The peasant-braided, 52-year-old former heroine of Ukraine's 2004 "Orange Revolution" street protests came close to beating Yanukovich in a bitter run-off for president in February 2010 and is regarded as his fiercest challenger.
Apart from the charge for which she is currently in prison, Tymoshenko is also being prosecuted for alleged embezzlement and tax evasion. Pre-trial hearings are also being conducted in Kiev in a third case against her for allegedly ordering a contract killing of a local businessman and parliament deputy in 1996.
(Additional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Kiev and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Editing by Andrew Roche and Peter Graff)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-leader-pardons-jailed-allies-ex-pm-tymoshenko-083819445.html
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Two-step ovarian cancer immunotherapy made from patients' own tumor benefits three quarters of trial patients
Apr. 6, 2013 ? As many as three quarters of advanced ovarian cancer patients appeared to respond to a new two-step immunotherapy approach -- including one patient who achieved complete remission -- according research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 (Presentation #LB-335).
The immunotherapy has two steps -- a personalized dendritic cell vaccination and adoptive T-cell therapy. The team reports that in the study of 31 patients, vaccination therapy alone showed about a 61 percent clinical benefit, and the combination of both therapies showed about a 75 percent benefit.
The findings offer new hope for the large number of ovarian cancer patients who relapse following treatment. The first step of the immunotherapy approach is to preserve the patient's tumor cells alive, using sterile techniques at the time of surgery so they can be used to manufacture a personalized vaccine that teaches the patient's own immune system to attack the tumor. Then, the Penn Medicine team isolates immune cells called dendritic cells from patients' blood through a process called apheresis, which is similar to the process used for blood donation. Researchers then prepare each patient's personalized vaccine by exposing her dendritic cells to the tumor tissue that was collected during surgery.
Because ovarian cancer symptoms can be stealth and easily mistaken for other issues -- constipation, weight gain, bloating, or more frequent urination -- more than 60 percent of patients are diagnosed only after the disease has spread to their lymph nodes or other distant sites in the body, when treatment is much less likely to produce a cure compared to when the disease is detected early. As the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the United States, it takes the lives of more than 14,000 women each year.
"Given these grim outcomes, there is definitely a vast unmet need for the development of novel, alternate therapies," said lead author Lana Kandalaft, PharmD, PhD, MTR, a research assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and director of clinical development and operations in Penn Medicine's Ovarian Cancer Research Center. "This is the first time such a combination immunotherapy approach has been used for patients with ovarian cancer, and we believe the results are leading us toward a completely new way to treat this disease."
Both treatments are given in conjunction with bevacizumab, a drug that controls the blood vessel growth that feeds tumors. Combining bevacizumab with immunotherapy makes a powerful duo, Kandalaft says. The vaccine trial is still open to accrual to test new combinatorial strategies.
The other Penn authors are Janos Tanyi, Cheryl Chiang, Daniel Powell, and George Coukos. This study was funded by a National Cancer Institute Ovarian Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant, the National Institutes of Health and the Ovarian Cancer Immunotherapy Initiative.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/NgpeMoGt25w/130407090732.htm
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New Jersey's Rutgers to review handling of basketball abuse claim
By David Jones
NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Rutgers University plans to commission an independent review of how the school handled allegations that its men's basketball coach physically and verbally abused his players, Rutgers officials said on Monday.
"It is our intention to move quickly with this review," Robert Barchi, the university's president, and Ralph Izzo, the chairman of the school's board of governors, said in a statement.
Rutgers, the largest public college in New Jersey, received a video last year showing the coach, Mike Rice, throwing basketballs at players' heads and berating them with homophobic slurs during practices. The school suspended him for three games and fined him $50,000.
Last week, after the ESPN sports network broadcast the videos, Barchi watched the videos and fired Rice. The videos sparked outrage among Rutgers' students, faculty and fans.
Three other officials have left in the wake of Rice's ouster: Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, interim University General Counsel John Wolf, and Assistant Coach Jimmy Martelli.
Barchi is due to speak to Rutgers students, faculty and staff in a town hall-style meeting at the school's Newark campus on Monday. The meeting, scheduled before the Rice video was released and postponed until this week, had been intended to discuss a major restructuring of the 58,000-student university.
(Writing by Scott Malone; editing by John Wallace)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jerseys-rutgers-review-handling-basketball-abuse-claim-134251555--finance.html
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Pride Prom @ Memorial Union, MU
Celebrate Pride Month with LGBTQ and the Triangle Coalition. Bring who you want, wear what you want, and enjoy the night. Snacks will also be provided.
- Event Information
- Event Times
- Saturday, April 06, 8 p.m. - 10 p.m.
- Contact Information
Source: http://www.voxmagazine.com/events/event/12060/
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Senate nears gun debate, background checks pivotal
FILE ? In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo faces of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims are seen behind Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D? Calif., as she speaks about the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 during the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns Monday, April 8, 2013, from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end. But leaders also might decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
FILE ? In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo faces of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims are seen behind Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D? Calif., as she speaks about the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 during the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns Monday, April 8, 2013, from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end. But leaders also might decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
FILE - In this March 14, 2013 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Gun control legislation the Senate debates next month will include an expansion of federal background checks for firearms buyers, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday, March 21, 2013, in a victory for advocates of gun restrictions. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE- In this Jan. 30, 2013, file photo Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks about gun legislation during the committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns from a two-week spring recess Monday, April 8, 2013, with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end, but leaders may decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress returns Monday from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda.
Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end. But leaders also might decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers.
Passing the expanded background checks would be viewed as a victory for gun control advocates after Democratic leaders made it clear that supporters were nowhere close to getting a majority of votes in favor of reinstituting an assault weapons ban.
Both measures have been a priority for President Barack Obama since the Dec. 14 shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
The National Rifle Association opposes both the assault weapons ban and the expanded background checks
Short of unanimous support in their own party, Democratic senators have been unable to strike a deal with Republicans for the votes they would need to push background check legislation through the chamber. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., might delay debate to give bargainers more time, underscoring how crucial the proposal is to the gun control drive.
"It's the most pivotal piece" of Democrats' gun legislation, said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Also high on Congress' agenda is immigration, where a pivotal moment is approaching.
Bipartisan groups in the House and Senate are expected to present legislation as early as this week aimed at securing the U.S. border, fixing legal immigration and granting legal status to millions who are in the United States illegally. That will open months of debate on the politically combustible issue, with votes by the Senate Judiciary Committee expected later this month.
The House is looking at a busy, if more low-profile agenda in the coming weeks.
In its first week back, the House will consider a bill that would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from issuing rules until a dispute over administration appointees is resolved.
Among the bills that could see action in later weeks is a measure requiring the Treasury to pay principle and interest on debt held by the public if the nation's borrowing limit is reached but not extended.
Other measures would prioritize pediatric research to assist children with autism and give workers greater flexibility to choose paid time off instead of overtime pay.
Lawmakers will devote much time to the 2014 budget proposal that Obama plans to release on Wednesday. It calls for both new tax increases, which Republicans oppose, and smaller annual increases in Social Security and other government benefit programs, over the objections of many of the president's fellow Democrats.
Even with a background check deal, Senate debate on gun legislation may begin at a slow crawl with some conservatives promising delays and forced procedural votes. There's a strong chance the first votes won't occur until at least mid-April.
Until Democrats come out with the final shape of their background check measure, gun control advocates nervously are tracking the private negotiations, worried their allies might cut a deal that goes too far.
"We want a vote on the issues, we don't want them watered down so they're unrecognizable," said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "If they can't vote for it, let the American people judge them on that. Don't let a dumbed-down bill be the outcome of this."
The Senate gun legislation would toughen federal laws against illegal firearms sales, including against straw purchasers, or those who buy firearms for criminals or others barred from owning them. The legislation also would provide $40 million a year, a modest increase from current levels of $30 million, for a federal program that helps schools take safety measures such as reinforcing classroom doors.
Omitted from the bill are bans on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, both factors in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Those bans were approved last month by the Senate Judiciary panel. Reid has said he will allow both to be offered as amendments by their sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., but neither seems likely to survive.
Many experts agree that the proposal with the widest potential reach is a broadening of background checks, now required only for transactions by the roughly 55,000 federally licensed firearms dealers. Proponents want to cover private sales, such as those between individuals at gun shows or online.
One major hang-up has been Democrats' insistence on retaining records of private sales, which they say is the best way to ensure background checks are actually conducted. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a leader of conservatives in the talks, has rejected that as excessive government intrusiveness
The system is aimed at preventing guns from going to criminals, people with severe mental problems, some drug abusers and others.
The National Rifle Association and other critics say the checks are ignored by criminals, and they fear that expanding the system could be a prelude to the government maintaining files on gun owners. Current law forbids that. The government must destroy records of the checks within a day, though gun dealers must retain information on the transactions for 20 years.
"We remain committed in our opposition to expanding a broken system," said NRA lobbyist Chris W. Cox.
Justice Department figures show that from 1994 when the system began through 2010, 118 million would-be gun buyers were checked and 2.1 million were denied firearms. Defenders say the data proves the checks prevent many dangerous people from getting weapons.
The current background check measure, by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would expand the system to cover nearly all gun transactions, with narrow exceptions that include sales involving immediate relatives such as parents and children. Even without a bipartisan deal, Schumer is expected to expand the exemptions to more relatives, people with permits to carry concealed weapons and others.
Schumer and Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., have been shopping alternatives in an effort for more GOP support. Democrats are sure to need 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to win, but there are just 53 Democratic senators plus two Democratic-leaning independents.
Democrats have considered requiring background checks for all gun show and online sales, but exempt face-to-face transactions between private individuals who do not run commercial gun enterprises.
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