Kansas City eateries go to bat for restaurant destroyed in gas blast

Ed Zurga / AP file

Investigators look down a hole in an alley near JJ's Restaurant after an explosion destroyed the establishment Tuesday, Feb. 19, in Kansas City, Mo.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

More than 70 restaurants in Kansas City, Mo., have pledged to donate part of the Saturday receipts to support employees of the restaurant that was destroyed in a massive gas explosion this week.

The explosion Tuesday killed one person, who hasn't been identified, and injured 15 others. One person remained in critical condition Friday, NBC station KSHB of Kansas City reported.

---

The support effort for the staff of JJ's Restaurant was organized by the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association, which posted details on its Facebook page. By late Friday, the list of restaurants promising to donate 10 percent of their sales Saturday had grown to 74, KSHB reported.

JJ's, a Kansas City institution since 1985, was widely regarded as one of the premier dining locations in the Midwest, earning a 93 rating from Zagat's. The restaurant's wine cellar had been listed by The Wine Spectator as among the finest in the world.

You can watch the blast as it happened in this surveillance video obtained by KSHB:

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17060813-kansas-city-eateries-go-to-bat-for-restaurant-destroyed-in-gas-blast?lite

nick diaz vs carlos condit the patriot hall of fame occupy dc ufc 143 fight card my fair lady conversion disorder

Galaxy Note 8.0 Features Air View-Enhanced Flipboard App, Free Awesome Note For Android, And Other Content Perks

The Galaxy Note 8.0 ? the newest device in Samsung?s many-sized range of tablets, unveiled today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona ? has just managed to trump Apple?s iPad Mini in the small tablet category with one-tenth of an inch more of screen space (more on the device in our hands-on). At the same time, Samsung is also introducing a few new services and features ? including expanded hovering capabilities and more apps, which it hopes will also help it gain more consumer ground against the world?s biggest tablet maker. The extra features show that Samsung sees improved services and content this as key to improving its market share in the tablet space.

Don?t touch, just hover

Samsung?s S Pen stylus has been upgraded to work both on the touchscreen of the Note 8.0 as well as with the physical navigation buttons, and Samsung is also extending the functionality of the pen in other ways. And the Air View feature, where users can initiate previews by hovering their pen over something without touching the screen, is now getting expanded to third party apps. The first of these is a new version of the Flipboard social newsreading app, where users can select and expand a tile by hovering the pen over a selection.

Yes, you can argue that this is more of a gimmick than a useful element at this point: why, exactly, do you need to hover the pen over the over a tile when it?s just as easy to tap and select? And isn?t the point of the touchscreens that you can ?touch? them? But I can also see how this could become more useful as the feature develops and gets used elsewhere. For example, one of the annoying issues with touchscreens are accidental clicks, such as those made on ads when you are trying to navigate around an app.

Companies like Google are introducing ways of reducing accidental clicks; others are even playing around with the touchscreen to de-sensitize them for those with less precise fingers. But the hovering pen ? whose pin of light needs to rest for a brief moment to select an item ? could be another way to select what you want to see and do.

In addition to the Flipboard app, the hovering already works with file folders, email, gallery views of photos and videos, a spokesperson notes, and it will also work with more apps in the future, as developers upgrade them to recognize and respond to the S Pen?s proximity to the screen.

New apps, and new features in older apps

With the Note 8.0, Samsung is also ushering in a couple of new developments on the apps front, in addition to the new version of Flipboard.

In keeping with Samsung?s original vision of the Note acting as a kind of organizer and productivity device ? more screen than a phone for planning; but smaller than a tablet to make it portable ? Samsung has scooped an exclusive on a new Android app launch. Awesome Note, a note-taking that lets you track progress and make lists across different categories, has up to now only been available for iOS devices, where the full edition of the app for iPad retails at $4.99.

Now developers Bird are releasing an Android version, and while this will also be sold as a paid app in the Google Play store, Samsung will be bundling it as a free app on the Note 8.0 ?for at least a year,? according to Michael Lin, marketing manager, Samsung Electronics.

Other apps that will be preloaded on the device include the newest version (2.0) of Chat-On, Samsung?s cross-platform, cross-media group and direct messaging service; Reading Mode that modifies the screen brightness for reading; and Smart Remote, Samsung?s universal remote control and electronic program guide, playing into the fact that nowadays a lot of consumers (80% in the U.S., claims Samsung) use a second device like a tablet while watching TV.

Talk to me, but not everywhere

The camera features, as Chris pointed out, are not brilliant on the Note 8.0 ? and so we may not see too many people doing this with them:

Nor, it seems, will we see many people in some parts of the world using the Note 8.0 to do this:

Although the Galaxy Note 8.0 is incorporating, as Lin says, ?all of the capabilities of a smartphone into a tablet,? the phone feature will be disabled on the device when it launches in the U.S., both in the initial WiFi version as well as in the 3G/LTE versions. Whether this is because carriers have asked Samsung to remove this to keep the device from cannibalizing handset sales, or whether it?s because of consumer taste, or for another reason entirely, is not clear.

It?s a pity, because while you may not want always to talk on your tablet, it can come in useful as an occasional phone, both for video and voice calls. Our test of the phone found the voice quality decent.

The voice calling feature will be included in the device when it launches in other parts of the world, Samsung says.

Nortre Dame cathedral photo: Tumblr

Samsung is one of the largest super-multinational companies in the world. It?s possibly best known for it?s subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, the largest electronics company in the world.

? Learn more

Flipboard is a digital social magazine that aggregates web links from your social circle, i.e. Twitter and Facebook, and displays the content in magazine form on an iPad.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/23/galaxy-note-8-flipboard-content/

snooki pregnant gbc hedy lamarr kowloon walled city ronda rousey vs miesha tate lindsay lohan snl lindsay lohan on snl

Former envoy Pickering on problems at Benghazi mission

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former American diplomat Thomas Pickering said what struck him most during a review of last year's attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, were the frequent personnel changes, second-guessing on security upgrades, and dismissive attitude toward dozens of security incidents.

The temporary status of the mission also led to uncertainty about providing additional funding, including for security, he said in an interview.

The United States established a diplomatic presence in the eastern Libyan city after the 2011 revolt against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Pickering, who served as a U.S. ambassador in the Middle East, Russia and India, headed an Accountability Review Board (ARB) on the September 11 attacks by militants in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans at the mission and a nearby CIA annex.

The mission compound where Stevens was killed was protected against homemade bomb devices but not the horde of attackers - numbering about 60 - who swarmed in, Pickering said in the interview on Friday in his Washington office.

Nor did it offer adequate protection against the use of fire as a weapon and more attention needs to be paid to that threat at diplomatic posts in the future, Pickering said. Stevens and another American diplomat died of smoke inhalation.

The State Department formed a task force to implement 29 recommendations in the ARB report and sent security assessment teams to 19 U.S. missions in 13 countries for an on-the-ground review of posts in high-threat environments.

The department has a three-part plan for fixing security issues at those posts by boosting the number of Marines, adding Diplomatic Security officers and increasing money to deal with construction problems, Pickering said.

"They had found things that needed to be fixed and that the three major programs they were putting in place were designed to immediately find answers to those problems," he said.

The Benghazi attacks have been the subject of congressional hearings and now some Republicans are threatening to hold up President Barack Obama's nominations for top posts unless he releases more information about the administration's response.

The ARB report was released in December, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted all of its recommendations. Her successor, Secretary of State John Kerry, is expected to follow through on them.

One concrete result of the ARB recommendations was that four State Department employees stepped down from their jobs.

"The most difficult area was obviously the personnel area," Pickering said. "We believe that our recommendations were fully carried out."

CHURN SURPRISE

As a seasoned diplomat, Pickering said he was surprised by the frequent rotations of officers - diplomats and security alike - in Libya.

"All the officers in Benghazi were subject to churn," he said. They served on average less than 40 days, many for 30 days or less, with similar rotations at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli.

Into a "very dicey environment" came security officers who had high-threat training but no State Department overseas experience, and there was no continuity, Pickering said.

"Getting on top of your job in a difficult situation obviously takes more than 30 days," he said. "And so these really good officers were disadvantaged by the fact that they had no memory beyond 30 days of what was going on and what had happened except what their predecessors left them."

Pickering said he was also surprised by the reaction to about 40 security incidents aimed at foreigners between April and September in Benghazi. They were largely seen as unrelated rather than pieces of a growing security threat, he said.

"Each individual incident was examined and dismissed on the basis of, one, it didn't involve the U.S. or if it involved the U.S. it was one-off, or that because it involved the U.S. and it was one-off it was only because a disgruntled employee may have been involved," Pickering said.

Proper evaluation was lacking about what appeared to be a slow and steady growth in anti-foreign, Islamic fundamentalist-inspired violence in Benghazi, he said.

"And I think that it was a problem of churn and people getting used to the background, and it fading in background noise rather than being highlighted."

SECOND-GUESSING

Pickering also said he was troubled by the difficulties faced in getting approval for security upgrades.

"I was concerned by the difficulties that they had in getting through the system approvals for security upgrades and it took probably too much time under the circumstances and an amount of second-guessing which was not appropriate to the increasing danger," he said.

Threat assessments by intelligence agencies were fairly general and more focused on Libya as a whole rather than eastern Libya where Benghazi is located, he said.

"We made a recommendation that the intelligence community should have more specific requirements about collecting intelligence for the protection of U.S. personnel and facilities," Pickering said.

"We thought that it was not clear enough in the reporting that we saw and the assessments we saw that they had given that high enough priority."

It was a small threat assessment unit in the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security that came closest to getting it right in a report months before the attacks that noted a trend of growing security problems in Benghazi, Pickering said.

"The problem was that was a highly specialized report for a very limited purpose and didn't get wide distribution," he said. "So the people who were sharp and understood this were in fact sort of hidden under their own bushel."

He would not comment on who was behind the attacks because that will be determined by the FBI, but other officials say some of the attackers appeared to be linked to an al Qaeda affiliate.

The attack on the nearby CIA annex showed sophistication.

"After midnight they were harassed by enemy fire, obviously in the end that was to determine where the defenders were. And then they used mortars because there was no top defense and with five mortar shots in 90 seconds killed two people," he said.

"Highly technical, highly experienced, highly sophisticated tactics - so we are not against rank amateurs there."

(Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-envoy-pickering-problems-benghazi-mission-060244750.html

great expectations jake owen oosthuizen louis double eagle bubba masters winner instagram facebook

High School Student Dies During Trip to California

A Long Island high school student died during a school trip to California, according to a published report.

Newsday reports Seaford High School trumpet player Joseph Tutaj went to Los Angeles last week to perform with his marching band. He was pronounced dead Wednesday after being admitted to a hospital with a high fever.?

Tutaj's parents told the newspaper he called home a few days ago and complained about being sick.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore was described as a gentle giant. His death comes during a tough time: Tutaj's father is reportedly battling Stage 4 cancer and his family was displaced after Sandy.?

Get the latest headlines sent to your inbox!

Source: http://feeds.nbcnewyork.com/click.phdo?i=b13c1aac130d2f55423df738fa6936f9

scalloped potatoes the ten commandments charlton heston moses tulsa shooting doug fister rick warren

Each day could be a big deal in Amerine's world | Business, Political ...

Ask Jeff Amerine about entrepreneurialism and the potential of creating jobs from university research and he becomes evangelical, passionately moving from one possibility to the next.

?There are so many things that happen every day, or that I learn about every day, where I stop and say, ?Yeah, that could be huge,?? Amerine explained during a lunch interview at Powerhouse Seafood and Grill.

Amerine is the relatively new chief ? formally, the director of technology licensing ? of Technology Ventures, a division of the University of Arkansas created to streamline the process of moving ideas out of the university?s research programs and into the economy.

He joined the university as a technology licensing officer in 2008 after an 18-year career as an executive and builder of technology businesses. He held senior leadership positions in seven startup ventures and three Fortune 500 companies and teaches entrepreneurship at the university?s Sam M. Walton College of Business. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor?s degree in physical science in 1984. He also holds a master?s degree in operations management from the UA, conferred in 2009.

BIG IDEAS
?It?s something happening every day that could change our world in a big way. People just see a campus here with a lot of buildings ... but potentially groundbreaking research is happening every day on this campus,? Amerine said.

What are some of the big ideas?

There is a new process that could ?help tremendously? in the treatment of osteoporosis.

The Picasolar group has developed an ?unprecedented way? to vastly improve the efficiency of solar panels and lower the cost. One aspect of the process uses less silver. Amerine said solar energy is not a dominant source of U.S. energy, but the Picasolar method could soon be ?a quality part of an overall energy plan.?

A bigger energy impact is likely to come from Nat Gas Solutions, according to Amerine. A group of finance majors are behind the project that would essentially allow users of compressed natural gas vehicles to fill up at home. The technology ? which isn?t completely developed ? ?significantly reduces? the fill up time, Amerine said.

?Earlier, when I said there are some huge things happening, this is one of those,? he said.

MONEY SUPPORT
Amerine said Arkansas political leaders, the business community and the university system have worked well to support efforts that attempt to commercialize research. For example, the Fund for Arkansas? Future and the Natural State Angels have helped with provide start-up seed funding to numerous ventures.

But two primary issues that could limit the potential of Arkansas research or cause the research result in companies and jobs out of Arkansas are the lack of early-stage venture capital and the lack of engineering talent.

The two venture groups mentioned earlier have helped with funding in the $100,000 to $3 million range, but helping some of these companies get past the ?seed round? with upwards of $25 million is a necessity.

?You?ve got to be able to do that (provide larger venture capital investments) to keep them in Arkansas,? Amerine explained, adding that an important part of his job is to keep the new research-generated jobs in Arkansas.

He is confident Arkansas will have a state-focused venture capital fund that can write the big checks.

?We just have to have the will and belief that we can do this. ... And it will be through force of will, but we?ve got to do this for the good of this region and the state economy,? Amerine said. ?If we solve this, then I don?t see us having a ceiling? on economic development through commercializing research.

FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE
And just like the impact of Wal-Mart Stores, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt, commercialized research will create a cycle in which success feeds success. Amerine said this will especially be true of the entrepreneurs of today if they are ?provided an exit so they can invest in the next big thing.? He said today?s entrepreneurs and scientists are builders rather than sustainers. The system Amerine hopes to foster will allow the builders to cash out and move on to the next project.

?That will put money in the hands of people who have proven they are motivated to do this ... and they will then make the investments in the next big idea company that will change the world and our region,? Amerine said.

Another aspect of entrepreneurial success, especially in Northwest Arkansas, is difficult for Amerine to quantify. He calls it the ?special sauce,? and it helps entrepreneurs in the 18- to 35-year-old demographic go from being successful to being significant.

?The people in this area, they really want to help the other guy or the other gal be a success. ... They are really unselfish in that way. That?s the special sauce in this area that I don?t see on the East Coast or the West Coast or almost anywhere else,? Amerine said.

Source: http://www.thecitywire.com/node/26589

Texas A&m cotton bowl Fiscal cliff deal kathy griffin jadeveon clowney orange bowl Rose Parade 2013

Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto announces.. that he has a Final Fantasy PS4 announcement for E3

What a tease. Brand director Hashimoto-san, who's worked on the likes of Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger and a raft of Final Fantasy titles over the years, took to the stage. And what did he have to tell us? Could Square Enix be working on yet another Final Fantasy title for Sony's new PlayStation 4? Well, yes. Naturally. But that was about it, adding that they are "preparing for development of a Final Fantasy title. Please be excited for E3 this year." What's another few months? Right?

Check out our liveblog of Sony's event to get the latest news as it happens!

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/20/square-enix-ps4-final-fantasy-e3/

pearl harbor Jacintha Saldanha Butch Jones thursday night football japan earthquake Star Trek Into Darkness Heisman watch

No-work Congress: Lawmakers leave for recess with their jobs not done

Congress, led by the Senate, in what could be seen as an attempt to set a new level of irresponsibility, not only used a filibuster Thursday to block the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, it also departed Washington Friday for a 10-day recess with the $1 trillion-plus sequestration of government funds less than two weeks away.

"Recess" means vacation, back in the home district, not working, for most of America's 535 intrepid legislators, unless citizens would like to count grubbing for campaign money as work. Congress returns to work in Washington Feb. 25, four days before the budget cuts kick in.

The sequestration measure was passed by the two houses of Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on the argument that the cuts in it were so drastic, and so unreasoning in the sense that they fall equally on the just and the unjust, civilian and military government services without reasonable differentiation, that the White House and Congress would have to reach agreement on them to forestall the ax falling March 1. That logic underestimated the folly and partisan recalcitrance of the parties concerned.

As usual, the American public gets to pay the price of Washington's lack of ability to reach consensus in the face of America's problems, in this case legitimate needs for services and the requirement to pay for them while managing the nation's rising debt. The fact that these people are taking a recess rather than addressing the spending-revenue problem is almost unbelievable.

The other problem, the Senate's inaction on Mr. Obama's nominee to head the Defense Department, in charge of the nation's defense, is of a lesser magnitude, but also irresponsible. The Senate's failure to reform itself on filibusters at the beginning of this session, the fault of both Democrats and Republicans, meant that on Thursday a 58-40 vote was not considered to be a majority of the senators, in defiance of grade school arithmetic as well as logic. A final vote on Mr. Hagel's nomination will now have to wait until the senators come back to class after their time out on the playground. This action on the part of Senate Republicans makes it clear that their goal, without regard to November's election results, is to make it as difficult as possible for Mr. Obama to lead America.

Again, in the case of Mr. Hagel as well as the sequester, it is the American public who will pay the price for Congress' irresponsibility. How long are they going to act like this?

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/no-work-congress-lawmakers-leave-for-recess-with-their-jobs-not-done-675871

Heather Clem Con Edison LaGuardia Airport weather radar the weather channel national grid LIPA

Swelling found in second battery on ANA Dreamliner

Reuters ? ? ? 5 hrs.

Cells in a second lithium-ion battery on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner forced to make an emergency landing in Japan last month showed slight swelling, a Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) official said on Tuesday.

The jet, flown by All Nippon Airways Co, was forced to make the landing after its main battery failed.

"I do not know the exact discussion taken by the research group on the ground, but I heard that it is a slight swelling (in the auxiliary power unit battery cells). I have so far not heard that there was internal damage," Masahiro Kudo, a senior accident investigator at the JTSB said in a briefing in Tokyo.

Kudo said that two out of eight cells in the second battery unit showed some bumps and the JTSB would continue to investigate to determine whether this was irregular or not.

The plane's auxiliary power unit (APU) powers the aircraft's systems when it is on the ground. National Transportation Safety Board investigators in the United States are probing the APU from a Japan Airlines plane that caught fire at Boston's Logan airport when the plane was parked.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority grounded all 50 Boeing Dreamliners in commercial service on January 16 after the incidents with the two Japanese owned 787 jets.

The groundings have cost airlines tens of millions of dollars, with no solution yet in sight.

Boeing rival Airbus said last week it had abandoned plans to use lithium-ion batteries in its next passenger jet, the A350, in favor of traditional nickel-cadmium batteries.

Lighter and more powerful than conventional batteries, lithium-ion power packs have been in consumer products such as phones and laptops for years but are relatively new in industrial applications, including back-up batteries for electrical systems in jets.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/swelling-found-second-battery-japanese-dreamliner-1C8417252

dr oz sag awards rajon rondo brazil usps Dick Van Dyke anne hathaway

Pink Cloud 9 Launches Revolutionary Wedding Planning Site On Valentine?s Day

Pink Cloud 9 Launches Revolutionary Wedding Planning Site On Valentine?s Day 11:36:42 - 15 February 2013
First-of-its-kind Online Wedding Planning Company Delivers Fun, Easy and Cost-effective Experience With New DIY Web Tools; Wins The Knot's ?Best Wedding Planners Award.?

Los Angeles, Calif. (PRWEB) February 15, 2013 - First-of-its-kind online wedding planning company, Pink Cloud 9, celebrates today its first year anniversary by launching an array of innovative web tools. Savvy brides and grooms gain unprecedented access to a curated directory of highly trained coordinators and their top vendors.

Pink Cloud 9 makes wedding choices easy by delivering cutting-edge resources to DIY brides and grooms in California and beyond. Couples can find, hire, and manage the best service providers all in one place with the help of detailed profiles and customer reviews. Instant online chat with in-demand planners, convenient credit card booking, and a Vendor Concierge with over 600 packages in Los Angeles alone are among the many exclusive features the company has created to transform the wedding experience.

?Technology innovation is at the heart of Pink Cloud 9,? says Pink Cloud 9?s CTO and Co-founder Mark Shervey. ?Wedding planning is a complex and time consuming process and we are thrilled to introduce a broad spectrum of online tools to save couples? valuable time, energy and cost this February.?

Wedding vendors report a 150 percent increase of services sold online between 2010 and 2012 with a total market share of fifteen billion dollars in the U.S. alone. Pink Cloud 9?s innovative business model is positioned for growth in 2013 and beyond.

Affirming the company?s strong start in 2012, the bridal industry?s #1 publication, The Knot recently awarded Pink Cloud 9 with ?Best Wedding Planners? in their ?Best of Weddings, 2013? edition. The Knot Wedding Network, which includes TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com, reaches 8 in 10 U.S. brides every year.

As the cost of a wedding rises, modern couples are looking for creative ways to say ?I do? for less. According to The Wedding Report, 84% of couples spent less than $30,000 on their big day in 2012. Do-it-yourself wedding trends can bring significant cost-saving benefits, which allows Pink Cloud 9 to offer custom-tailored professional wedding planning tools at a fraction of the cost of traditional services.

?At Pink Cloud 9 we work tirelessly to make sure everyone?s big day is carefree, even on a small budget,? shares Pink Cloud 9 Founder and CEO Sarah Shewey. ?We launched our service on St. Valentine?s Day to symbolize our true commitment to keeping the wedding focus away from planning minutiae and on what really matters -- love.?

Brides and grooms can take back control of their wedding day now at http://www.pinkcloud9.com.

Source: http://www.hostreview.com/news/130215-pink-cloud-9-launches-revolutionary-wedding-planning-site-on-valentines-day

bay bridge band of brothers presidents george washington russell westbrook horsetail falls ice t

Type 1 Diabetes Cured In Dogs | Your Health Journal

Exciting news has been published this week by Diabetes, the most important journal on the disease. Researchers from the Universitat Autonomica de Barcelona (UAB) have shown for the first time that it is possible to cure Type 1 Diabetes in large animals with gene therapy. Two diabetic dogs were treated with a single session of gene therapy, and completely recovered their health and no longer show any signs of the disease.

Gene therapy is a new way of treating disease that uses DNA as a pharmaceutical agent. An injection of modified genes are injected into the patient, and the DNA modifies or supplements the patient?s genes so as to better fight off any given disease. Gene therapy can be used to encode a functional gene that helps a cell fight off disease, correct mutations, or create a therapeutic protein drug.

The researchers at UAB led by Fatima Bosch achieved their results with only one round of injections to the dog?s rear legs. These injections introduced gene therapy vectors that accomplished two things: they expressed an insulin gene, and they activated glucokinase. Glucokinase is an enzyme that controls how much glucose is taken out of the blood stream, and when both of these new genes act together, they work as a ?glucose detector?, which helps control the glucose levels in the blood and thus reducing hypoglycemia.

The dogs were treated over four years ago, and since that single round of treatments have shown consistently better health than other dogs that were given frequent insulin shots to help control their diabetes. They showed good glucose levels at all times, even after meals or during fasts, and improved their weight and developed no secondary complications.

This is the first study to be successfully run on a large mammal, though excellent results were achieved before with mice. The success that the UAB team has achieved with dogs opens the doors to developing gene therapy techniques for veterinary medicine, and eventually into treating diabetic human patients. This revolutionary achievement opens high expectations that gene therapy may prove to be the best solution to our burgeoning diabetes crisis, and the fact that only one session was needed also speaks to both the efficacy of the treatment and its permanent benefits.

Phil Tucker is a health and fitness blogger. He?s looking to feel younger as he gets older ? check out his webpage to learn more, or read his blog!

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=12616

Jenni Rivera Alive Facebook Down bo jackson bo jackson hanukkah justin tv justin tv

DoD Buzz | Army Pack Radios to get SATCOM Upgrade

U.S. Army radio operators will soon have carry radios with 10 times more capacity to handle secure data in remote locations.

The service will start upgrading its new Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) AN/PRC-155 two-channel Manpack radios this fall to enable them to communicate with the military?s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite communications system.

The service recently awarded a $5 million contract to General Dynamics C4 Systems for 100 MUOS channel kits to upgrade its 100 PRC-155s.

?By upgrading fielded PRC-155 radios, the Army will greatly enhance soldier effectiveness by providing a tenfold increase in SATCOM capacity for secure, over-the-horizon military communications,? said Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics C4 Systems in a recent GD release.? ?MUOS access on the two-channel PRC-155 will also allow current Army networks to be bridged and extended far beyond their current reach.?

The MUOS waveform, based on the communications interface found in commercial cellular networks, will deliver high-speed voice and data communications and 10-times greater capacity than the military?s current Ultra High Frequency satellite communications system, GD officials maintain.? With a smartphone-like flow of information, the upgraded PRC-155 radios will allow soldiers to access the MUOS communications system wherever they are deployed, on foot or from land vehicles, ships, submarines and aircraft.

Last year, the Army recently awarded GDC4S and Rockwell Collins with a $306 million contract for 3,726 PRC-155 Manpack radios.? The PRC-155 radios is part of the Joint Tactical Radio System and included in Army?s Capability Set 13 networking and communications gear deploying with brigade combat teams.

The two-channel PRC-155 Manpack radio runs on the Soldier Radio Waveform that connects dismounted soldiers to the network and the Wideband Networking Waveform that transports large amounts of data and the legacy SINCGARS waveform for communication with existing radios.?

Using the PRC-155?s two-channel capability, soldiers operating on any one of these waveforms on one channel, can interconnect with soldiers using another waveform on the second channel.? With the MUOS capability in the PRC-155, a network of soldiers can be interconnected with others in a far distant location, GD officials maintain.

Source: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/02/08/army-pack-radios-to-get-satcom-upgrade/

syracuse ohio state girl with the dragon tattoo ohio state basketball collateral dick cheney heart umf

Uggs? Ugh. N.Y. Fashion Week battles the elements

NEW YORK (AP) ? Mother Nature is clearly not a fashionista.

A blizzard forced Michael Kors to arrive at New York Fashion Week's "Project Runway" show on Friday in ? gasp ? Uggs.

"I came in looking like Pam Anderson," he joked backstage, where the offending boots had been traded for tasteful black leather.

Marc Jacobs postponed his Monday night show until Thursday, citing delivery problems, but for the most part Fashion Week went on with the show. IMG Fashion said organizers remained in contact with city officials, including the mayor's office, about potential weather problems but had planned for an extra layer of tenting for the venue and more heat at Lincoln Center, along with crews to help with snow and ice.

Zac Posen said he would present his collection as usual on Sunday but he worried that out-of-town editors and retailers might not be able to make it. Other designers were considering Plan B ? adding an Internet stream ? to accommodate guests who couldn't make it to their shows.

Still, plenty of fashion fans wouldn't let a little snow get in the way. Baltimore college student Carmen Green arrived in a red cocktail dress and black high-heel booties.

"In this outfit, the blizzard did not deter me," she said. She did allow that she only had to cross the street from her hotel and would change into combat boots for the train ride home.

Alyssa Montemurro, 22, works for a website that covers models. She was wearing four-inch heels and left the boots at home. Why?

"I am 5-foot-3 on a good day," she said, "and when you're interviewing models backstage it's best to be somewhere near their face level."

The celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch offered a blizzard pro tip.

"You either come in warm and comfortable clothes and boots or you come in neon ? or sequins would be a good one ? so they see you in the drift," he said.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week wraps up Feb. 14, when the industry moves on to London, Milan and Paris.

JASON WU

Wu's collection was all woman. Not girlie. Not mannish. That was by design.

"I wanted to bring back the woman to the runway," he said backstage before his show at a former Park Avenue church.

The clothes were full of strength, with exaggerated shoulders and some military touches, but chiffon pleats floated down the runway. Two outfits were long ? as in floor-length ? pleated, peplum tops over tuxedo pants, the perfect yin and yang.

Red that offset the mostly black-and-white combinations was the va-va-voom. Use of the color both here and on Michelle Obama's inaugural gown last month was not a coincidence. Wu started on the collection in October and the gown ? for which he received plenty of congratulations and accolades ? was designed in November.

"Certainly red was on my mind. ... I felt it was right for right now," he said.

Wu moved his show from a raw downtown space last season to the very uptown and polished venue where Oscar de la Renta used to stage his shows. It seemed to better suit his look.

RAG & BONE

Outside, there was sleet, snow and slush. But inside at the Rag & Bone show, one could find at least a temporary solution to the winter storm: Hot mulled wine to ease the chill, and some fun, colorful clothes.

Designers Marcus Wainwright and David Neville were interested in pops of bright color ? like mineral green and grape ? and in a more overtly masculine style. "We referenced men's silhouettes a lot more than usual this time," Wainwright said.

On the other hand, the collection was full of flirty quilted miniskirts, too, giving it a feminine accent along with the structured jackets and coats. A grape-colored crochet mini was a typically fun look, as was an orange bomber skirt paired with a long coat, also in grape. A mohair coat ? in grape again ? was paired with a jodhpur pant in black wool and looked just yummy enough for a walk in the cold.

There were lots of soft sweaters, too, like a charcoal "funnel sweater" paired with a crochet skirt of the same color. A charcoal sweater-coat looked deliciously big and warm ? one envied the model who got to wear it on such a cold evening. And one of the most appealing looks was an oversized peacoat in a lovely chartreuse, paired with a wrap skirt in royal blue.

Overall the looks felt wearable, while not ordinary.

PROJECT RUNWAY

The rivalry stayed on the catwalk when new judge, Zac Posen, met previous judge, Michael Kors.

Kors, acting as a guest panelist, Posen, Heidi Klum and Nina Garcia were one big happy family when they took their seats to watch the collections of this season's contestants. (Kors and Klum joked they've spent so much time together over the years that they now look like brother and sister.)

"I didn't call Zac with any tips before he started. He knows what he's doing," Kors said in a preshow interview. "I knew I was leaving it in very capable hands."

Chiming in, Posen added: "I had 10 seasons to watch Michael, and I had been a guest judge with him. I'm sure I learned a few things."

The show is the godmother of fashion reality TV, now in its 11th season. It was time for a change, said Klum, who is an executive producer.

The other new wrinkle this go-around is that the contestants have been working in teams ? and they are not necessarily happy about it, Klum said.

"Project Runway" has outlasted some other competition shows because it opens a window on something people are always curious about," she said. "I never saw this as only a reality show. I see it more as a documentary that shows you how clothes are made, how designers get them to fit, how they find the fabrics."

CARMEN MARC VALVO

Valvo's tell-tale heart drew him to Edgar Allan Poe for inspiration.

"I was thinking long, lean, moody and dark," the designer said backstage. "Edgar Allan Poe. Creatures of the night. With a little rock 'n' roll, too."

The show featured some stunning gowns in ivory, grape and merlot, but most creations were in black. Valvo said he was so taken with black this season that he almost did the entire collection in it. "It really makes you focus on the structure and the detailing, to make sure each dress is different," he explained.

The show opened with what seemed a perfect nod to the stormy weather: An embroidered trench with patent leather squares, all in black.

Actress Nichole Galicia, who appears in "Django Unchained," especially loved a couple of gowns in flowing ivory ? but was partial to the black lacy gowns, too. "I'm doing some mental shopping here," quipped the actress, who wore Valvo to a recent event honoring "Django" director Quentin Tarantino. "I'm still looking for an Oscar dress."

Galicia was wearing a sleek-fitting Valvo dress and black heels, and looked positively summery considering the blustery climes. "I'm suffering for my art today ? or actually for my fashion," she said.

___

Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Samantha Critchell on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AP_Fashion

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uggs-ugh-ny-fashion-week-battles-elements-154327665.html

patrick witt leprosy tampa bay buccaneers birdman whip it

Google must extend payments across Europe for use of content

LISBON (Reuters) - Google Inc must extend its offer made last week to pay French publishers for use of their content to all media companies across Europe, the head of the European Publishers Council said on Thursday.

Last week, the internet search giant agreed to pay 60 million euros ($80 million) into a special fund to help French media develop their presence on the Internet. It will not pay them for posting links to their content.

French publishers had demanded licensing fees for headlines and snippets of articles in its search engine results.

Google settled a similar case with Belgian publishers in December by helping them boost online revenue, but still faces a dispute with publishers in Germany.

"Search engines get more than 90 percent of revenues from online advertising and a substantial part of these come directly or indirectly from the free access to professional news or entertainment content produced by the media," Francisco Pinto Balsemao told Reuters.

"The situation is very bad for media groups (in Europe). This use is carried out without the authorization from copyright holders or without any payment in return. So, all aggregators, like Google, should pay.

"Google's openness to negotiate and talk looks like a good step that must now be followed in other (European) countries."

The EPC represents 26 of the main media groups operating in Europe, including Thomson Reuters, Prisa, News International, Axel Springer and Impresa.

Advertising revenues in Portugal fell by 90 million euros last year to 526 million euros, its lowest since 1997.

Balsemao is also Chief Executive Officer of Portuguese media group Impresa, which owns Portugal's best-selling weekly Expresso and television channel SIC.

($1=0.7469 euros)

(Reporting by Filipe Alves; Writing by Daniel Alvarenga, editing by Axel Bugge and Mike Nesbit)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-must-extend-payments-across-europe-content-182354082--sector.html

buffett rule lollapalooza lineup joss whedon ronnie montrose melissa gilbert dancing with the stars dandelion wine cough

Erykah Badu: Interview With Origin Magazine

Music Legend, vegan and Doula, Erykah Badu is one of the strongest women in the Industry. She gets real, raw and speaks openly about vulnerability and staying centered. The following is an excerpt from ORIGIN Magazine's February issue, currently on stands.

Interviewer: Maranda Pleasant, Editor of ORIGIN Magazine

(Scroll for photos.)

MP: What is it that makes you vulnerable?

EB: My art. Or the empty platform that my art will go on.

MP: What do you do with pain, emotional pain?

EB: Not one particular way. It depends on the severity of it. For the most part, I go with it. I let it happen.

MP: How do you keep your center? How do you stay grounded in the middle of chaos?

EB: I guess it?s the daily routine. I don?t have any particular thing I do ritualistically. I do the same thing every day. I get up. Drink a lot of water. Have a wheatgrass shot. Drink some green juice. Eat as healthy as I can. I?m not trying to win an award for being the best vegetarian, just want to be healthy. Take a salt bath. Do things that my parents were never able to do. I?m blessed to do anything I want so I decide to take the best care of my body and my family in the same way. Holistically. Vitally.

MP: How long have you been a vegetarian?

EB: Let?s see. I?m forty-one. I?ve been a vegetarian since I was 19. How many years is that?

MP: [laughing] That?s a long time.

EB: Yeah. I?ve been vegan-vegetarian for about the time my first album came out, so it was 1997. I eat like a vegan-vegetarian, more than anything.

MP: Do you have any wisdom or advice for women who may be in negative, unhealthy or abusive relationships? Do you have any wisdom for those women?

EB: Mm. I have advice for people?period?who are in unhealthy relationships: Follow your heart. It will get you to where you need to be. Sometimes it?s hard, sometimes it?s easy, the places that your heart takes you. But continue to follow it. Where the train leads you?you?ll get there.

MP: I had my daughter naturally at home, in our bathroom, with a doula. The doula was probably the most important person in that room with me. What led you to become a doula?

EB: Let me see. It was 9.11, actually. Around that time. One of my girlfriends was in labor, she happened to be the wife of stic.man from Dead Prez.

MP: He writes for [ORIGIN]!

EB: They?re my best friends, both of them, stic.man and Afya. I was actually flying from somewhere, doing something. On my layover, stic.man called me and told me Afya was in labor. I just redirected to New York, because we?re friends, and I just had Seven a couple years before. I just wanted to be there and we just all wanted to be together. I happened to be the person, one of the people, that stayed up with Afya. Didn?t sleep. Never got tired. I could feel every emotion that she had. It was just a very natural, intuitive experience. I just knew how to open myself up to the baby and be the welcoming committee. And now when Afya was in labor for fifty-two hours. Day and night. She?s my hero. And she finally had the baby and put my finger in his palm, and I kind of felt like, I like being the welcoming committee.

I just continued to be present at different people?s births, and I started studying on my own, different techniques, and the variables of what being a doula is about. I learned to originally be like water, in the place that I was, so that I could be a container for whatever they need. I love being of service in that way. I?m an official doula, and I am working to get my midwifery license right now.

MP: My midwife and my doula shaped my entire experience. It was beautiful. Have you had a homebirth?

EB: All my children were born in my bed. In my home. I had a midwife and doula each time.

MP: What has shifted for you, what is the thing about motherhood that flows through you? Is there something in you that is different, or that you have learned?

EB: I don?t know. I?ve got to think about that. I?ve never been asked that.

MP: You probably just live it. You?re not used to answering it, you just live it.

EB: I try to. Well, I just learn as I go. There?s no set way. I have a lot of faith in my abilities and in my children. I like them a lot, you know. They?re really good people, and I like them.

MP: What is one truth that you know for sure?

EB: Everything must change.

MP: Do you practice any kind of yoga or meditation?

EB: Breathing is my way of life. As a vocalist, just as a person who?s main focus is evolving, breathing?that?s my meditation. I enjoy yoga classes. I walk in meditation. I dance. I?m a ballerina. Modern jazz and tap. But I would love to get into a good yoga class if I can stay focused and breathe. I love the connection I have with myself every time I take a yoga class. It?s a very nice remembering, remembering the parts of me. You know what I mean?

But I walk and breathe in meditation. Another meditation I do: when I walk I count my steps, so I?m really in the here and right now. Another meditation I do is try to stay out of my mind as long as I can, as an exercise, so I don?t believe everything I think. I do many different things. Many different exercises that keep me focused.

Photos by Kenneth Cappello

ORIGIN is the conscious culture national print magazine bringing together art, yoga, music, humanitarianism, and sustainability to shift the planet for good. Twenty percent of our editorial is donated to nonprofits impacting the planet. You can find ORIGIN in Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Pharmacas, Central Markets and 15+ other National retailers.

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/erykah-badu-interview-origin-magazine-february-2013_n_2638886.html

ohio state basketball collateral dick cheney heart umf elite eight stephon marbury the lion king

Evidence moles can smell in stereo

Feb. 5, 2013 ? Most mammals, including humans, see in stereo and hear in stereo. But whether they can also smell in stereo is the subject of a long-standing scientific controversy.

Now, a new study shows definitively that the common mole (Scalopus aquaticus) - the same critter that disrupts the lawns and gardens of homeowners throughout the eastern United States, Canada and Mexico -- relies on stereo sniffing to locate its prey. The paper that describes this research, "Stereo and Serial Sniffing Guide Navigation to an Odor Source in a Mammals," was published on Feb. 5 in the journal Nature Communications.

"I came at this as a skeptic. I thought the moles' nostrils were too close together to effectively detect odor gradients," said Kenneth Catania, the Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, who conducted the research.

What he found turned his assumptions upside down and opened new areas for potential future research. "The fact that moles use stereo odor cues to locate food suggests other mammals that rely heavily on their sense of smell, like dogs and pigs might also have this ability,"Catania said.

I was quite surprised when they turned out to be very good at locating prey.Catania's interest in the common mole's sense of smell dates back ten years when he was studying the remarkable sense of touch of the common moles' cousin, the star-nosed mole, which uses a set of fleshy tentacles surrounding its nose to detect edible objects as it burrows. He decided to test the common moles' capability to find prey for comparison purposes. "I expected the common mole, which is virtually blind and doesn't have a very good sense of touch, to be a lot worse than the star-nosed mole. So I was quite surprised when they turned out to be very good at locating prey. At the time, I figured that they must be using their sense of smell, but I didn't pursue the matter."

When the neuroscientist began seriously studying the common moles' sense of smell last year, he discovered that it was even more remarkable than he had expected.

He created a radial arena with food wells spaced around a 180-degree circle with the entrance for the mole located at the center. He then ran a number of trials with the food (pieces of earthworm) placed randomly in different wells. The chamber was temporarily sealed so he could detect each time the mole sniffed by the change in air pressure.

"It was amazing. They found the food in less than five seconds and went directly to the right food well almost every time," Catania said. "They have a hyper-sensitive sense of smell."

After observing dozens of trials, he noticed a general pattern. When the mole first entered the chamber, it moved its nose back and forth as it sniffed, but then it seemed to zero in on the food source, and moved in a direct path. This was pretty remarkable, and made Catania reconsider the idea of stereo sniffing. Although there is evidence for this ability in stationary rats trained to detect flowing air, no one had shown how this might work for a natural behavior.

To further investigate the moles' sense of smell, Catania blocked one of the moles' nostrils with a small plastic tube. When their left nostrils were blocked, the moles' paths consistently veered off to the right and when their right nostrils were blocked, they consistently veered to the left. They still found the food but it took them significantly longer to do so.

Next, the researcher designed a chamber where the food was always placed in the same position, directly across from the entrance. Moles using both nostrils went almost directly to the food, but the path of those with their left nostrils blocked was consistently to the right of the direct path and that of those with the right nostrils blocked was consistently to the left.

"This is strikingly similar to a landmark study of hearing in barn owls performed in 1979 by Eric Knudsen and Mark Konishi at the California Institute of Technology, who found that blocking one of the owl's ears caused them to misjudge the location of a sound source," Catania said.

The definitive evidence that the moles rely on stereo sniffing came from yet another test. Catania inserted small plastic tubes in both of the moles' nostrils and crossed them, so the right nostril was sniffing air on the animal's left and the left nostril was sniffing air on the animal's right. When their nostrils were crossed in this fashion, the animals searched back and forth and frequently could not find the food at all.

As for humans, Catania remains skeptical. "In humans, this is easier to test because you can ask a blindfolded person to tell you which nostril is being stimulated by odors presented with tubes inserted in the nose." Such studies suggest it is only when an odor is strong enough to irritate the nostril lining that humans can tell which side is most strongly stimulated.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Vanderbilt University. The original article was written by David Salisbury.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Kenneth C. Catania. Stereo and serial sniffing guide navigation to an odour source in a mammal. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1441 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2444

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/I7s6n5jjnRk/130205123011.htm

whitney houston passed away heartbreak hotel don cornelius whitney houston i will always love you breaking news whitney houston carmen whitney houston last performance

Someone Wants You To Hold This Fake Waterproof Newspaper Over Your Head Instead of an Umbrella

So it turns out there are actually people out there who are more afraid of how they look carrying an umbrella than getting wet in the rain. Which led to the creation of this horribly sexist fake newspaper known as the Manbrella. I'm not entirely sure why women couldn't use it too. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-U64U_lQ2Jk/someone-wants-you-to-hold-this-fake-waterproof-newspaper-over-your-head-instead-of-an-umbrella

orcl the hartford illinois primary 2012 michael bay

3 Low Calorie Valentine's Day Cocktails | Lady and the Blog

In Photo Order:

Aviation

The Aviation is a classic gin cocktail that sparkles a blueish purple in the light of a martini bar thanks to a dash of cr?me de violette. Garnish with a brand- soaked cherry to make this drink extra sexy.

Ingredients:

1. 60ml (2 oz.) gin
2. 15ml (1/2 oz.) lemon juice
3. 15ml (1/2 oz.) maraschino liqueur
4. 7.5ml (1/4 oz.) cr?me de violette

Directions: Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice; shake until well combined. Stain into a chilled cocktail glass. Drop in a Maraschino Cherry and enjoy!

Queen?s Cocktail

This beautiful pink cocktail is heavy on the strawberry without being too sweet. Fresh muddled strawberries and a splash of champagne make this cocktail more fun to drink than your average fruity vodka drink.

Ingredients:

1. 60ml (2 oz.) vodka
2. 1 tbsp simple syrup
3. 1 tbsp lemon juice
4. 3 chopped strawberries
5. Splash of champagne

Directions: In a champagne flute, combine vodka, syrup, and lemon juice. Stir ingredients. Top with a splash of champagne and add strawberries.

Pomegranate Cosmopolitan

This classic cocktail will be a favorite holiday treat for everyone. Not only is it?s red color perfect for this romantic holiday but its sweet taste will be sure to get sparks flying at the very first sip.

Ingredients:

1. 60 ml (2 oz.) vodka
2. 30 ml (1 oz.) orange liqueur
3. 30 ml (1 oz.) Pomegranate juice
4. Splash of lime juice

Directions: Combine vodka, orange liqueur, pomegranate juice, and lime juice into a cocktail shaker; shake until well combined. Pour the mixture into a frozen martini glass. Garnish with a twist of lime peel and serve.

* Cocktail recipes provided by?DailyBurn.com.

?

Tags: drink recipes valentine's day, low calorie cocktails, valentine's day cocktail recipes

Source: http://www.ladyandtheblog.com/2013/02/04/3-low-calorie-valentines-day-cocktails-cheers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3-low-calorie-valentines-day-cocktails-cheers

Katherine Jackson Olympics Opening Ceremony Time paris jackson paris jackson US weekly amelia earhart Sally Ride

Textbook study faults Israelis and Palestinians

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Both Israeli and Palestinian schoolbooks largely present one-sided narratives of the conflict between the two peoples and tend to ignore the existence of the other side, but rarely resort to demonization, a study released Monday said.

The study by Israeli, Palestinian and American researchers, billed as setting a new scientific standard for textbook analysis, tackled a particularly fraught issue ? longstanding Israeli claims that the Palestinians teach hatred of Israel and glorify violence in their schools.

The research, funded by the U.S. State Department, appeared to undermine these allegations, though it was unlikely to resolve the debate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that the conflict with the Palestinians is not over land, but over Israel's acceptance in the region, and that peace is not possible until the alleged incitement stops.

Palestinians say Netanyahu is hiding behind such claims to divert attention from settlement building on occupied lands and from what they believe is his unwillingness to reach a peace deal on internationally backed terms.

The new study said the school books of both sides are typical for societies in conflict ? though books used in Israeli state schools include significantly more information about Palestinians and more self-critical texts. Books used in Israel's ultra-Orthodox religious schools, attended by more than a quarter of Jewish students, and in Palestinian schools contain little information about the other side, the study said.

"On both sides, the chief problem is the crime of omission. It's the absence of a clear, outright recognition of existence and the other side's right to exist," said Gershon Baskin, an Israeli member of the study's scientific advisory panel.

Israel's Education Ministry dismissed the study as biased but did not elaborate. The Palestinian Education Ministry said its books reflect the reality of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories but do not incite to hatred.

The study analyzed 74 Israeli and 94 Palestinian books, covering grades 1-12 and teaching social sciences, geography, literature, religion, Arabic and Hebrew. The Israeli books were from state-run secular and religious schools, as well as independent ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools. The vast majority of the Palestinian books were used in government schools, and only six in private Islamic schools.

Scholars said they developed a new method to ensure greater objectivity, as they reviewed nearly 16,000 pages from Israeli state school books, close to 3,500 pages from books in ultra-Orthodox schools and close to 10,000 pages from Palestinian books.

All Israeli and Palestinian researchers were fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic so they could analyze the books of both communities, study organizers said. Often, the same texts were reviewed by more than one person, and the data was entered remotely into a database at Yale University so researchers could not be influenced by how the study was progressing.

The study found that as part of the selective narratives presented, both the Israeli and Palestinian books tended to describe negative actions of the other against the own community, while portraying the own community in positive terms.

Books often lacked information about the religion, culture, economy and daily life of the other side. The lack, the study said, "serves to deny the legitimate presence of the other."

"It is clear that each side is emphasizing its own narrative of the conflict," said Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University, one of three lead scholars, along with Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University and Bruce Wexler, professor emeritus at Yale.

"There is really minimal dehumanization on both sides, but at the same time, there is really a line of ignoring the other side," he said.

The failure to recognize the other is particularly apparent in maps of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, where the Palestinians hope to establish their state alongside Israel.

The Palestinians want to form their state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967. For now, they have limited autonomy in 38 percent of the West Bank, where more than 90 percent of the Palestinians live. Israel annexed east Jerusalem immediately after the 1967, a move not recognized by most of the world, and withdrew in 2005 from Gaza, now controlled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Israel was only shown in three of 83 post-1967 maps in Palestinian books, the study said.

Of 330 post-1967 maps in Israeli books, 258 included the area between the Jordan River and the sea. Of those, 196 maps, or 76 percent, did not indicate any borders between Israel and the occupied lands. Of the 62 maps that included a demarcation, 33 showed which areas are under Palestinian self-rule, while 29 maps showed borders with color lines, but do not refer to a Palestinian presence.

Historical events, while not fabricated, are presented selectively to present the own community's national narrative, the study said.

Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior Israeli official who monitors Palestinian statements and actions for the government's "incitement index," rejected the study's conclusions.

"Our curriculum calls for peace and states why peace is good and there (in Palestinian schools) it is just the opposite," he said. "Incitement to violence, to hatred, is the main obstacle to peace, and this has to change if we really are to have peace."

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the study proved "there is no incitement in our text books" but added that he has asked the Palestinian Education Ministry to keep the study's criticism of Palestinian texts in mind when developing the next crop of books.

Jihad Zarkarneh, in charge of textbooks in the Palestinian Education Ministry, said that as long as Palestinians live under military rule, their books cannot be expected to portray Israel in a positive light.

"If the study wants me to praise the Israeli occupation, the Israeli culture, I'm telling the researchers that no people on earth praised their occupier, neither in America nor in France or China or anywhere," he said.

The study was overseen by a 19-member scientific advisory panel. On Sunday, 14 members endorsed the findings in a statement. Ruth Firer and Arnon Groiss, two Israeli scholars who conducted previous textbook studies, were among the five panel members who did not endorse the findings.

Firer, a scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, had collaborated in the past with Adwan, one of the lead researchers in the current study.

In their previous work, Firer and Adwan noted that both Israeli and Palestinian books present a national narrative, but that Israeli books allocate more space than in the past to Palestinians and their suffering.

Firer, who has studied Israeli schoolbooks for four decades, said Monday that she believes the new study underplays the difference between the books used in Palestinian and in Israel secular schools on providing information about the other side.

"There is a huge gap," Firer said. In Israeli books, for example, "there is a very nice chapter about Islam, very respectful."

But, she said, "in Palestinian books, there is nothing about the Jewish religion or the Holocaust."

Two NGOs, Palestinian Media Watch and IMPACT-SE, have harshly criticized the Palestinian textbooks, saying they ignore Israel, emphasize "martyrdom," a term for being killed while carrying out an attack or in a clash with Israelis, and do not educate to peace.

The new study was initiated in 2009 by the Jerusalem-based Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy Land, which represents top Jewish, Muslim and Christian clerics.

However, the council is not participating in the study's release, said a top official, Trond Bakkevig, a Norwegian reverend. The study went beyond the requested analysis of books teaching religion, he said, adding that "we found it best it is being published in the name of the scholars who did it."

The State Department said it is one of several to have received grants from Washington, but that they are not being endorsed by the U.S. government. "They are independent assessments that can provide additional perspectives on complicated issues," said spokesman Patrick Ventrell.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank contributed reporting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/textbook-study-faults-israelis-palestinians-074710991.html

patriots vs giants super bowl superbowl halftime show jason wu for target underwood buffalo wings superbowl kick off time 2012 new york giants

West Hampstead Life: Whampreview: Hana February 21st

Ever since Montefiore closed some three years ago, 351 West End Lane has struggled to deliver a good restaurant. Now, there are new owners and new impetus. Hana has been open a few months serving Persian food. The owners had a successful restaurant in Temple Fortune but wanted to try cracking the West Hampstead market.

But is it any good? Only one way to find out - and meet a bunch of lovely locals at the same time. Come along to whampreview on February 21st.

What's the deal?
We're taking 24 people to Hana. Each table will get a selection of starters for ?6/head, and then everyone can order their own main course. It is a meat-heavy main course menu, there's one seafood main course and one vegetarian main - however, they are going to put an additional vegetarian main on for us so even if you're not a meat eater there'll be some choice, and most of the starters are vegetarian. Main courses vary from ?8-13.

Whampreview basics
Dinner will be at 8pm and we'll meet at The Black Lion on West End Lane for a drink from 7.15pm. During the evening, whoever is hosting your table (there'll be three tables of eight people) will note down comments about the food/service/value etc., which will go into the write-up, but the evening is more about meeting people than being ultra-critical about restaurants. The bill is split equally between your table unless there's been a large discrepancy in alcohol consumption. Any questions, just ask.

To put your name in the hat, simply before 5pm February 6th with your mobile number. Whampreviews are always oversubscribed, so I draw the names out of a hat and will contact everyone with a "yes" or "no" on the 7th.

The headmasterly bit
Please don't commit on the offchance you might be free. Once I contact you to say you're in, please check your diary and lock it in. Chasing round to fill last minute cancellations is, to be blunt, a pain in the arse that I could do without. I appreciate that sometimes people do need to cancel for a good reason - obviously the more notice you can give me the better.

Source: http://www.westhampsteadlife.com/2013/02/whampreview-hana-february-21st-0027.html

bo ryan the last waltz earth day activities mel gibson splunk dark shadows iau

Barely legal: Women wearing pants in Paris, and other odd laws on the books

Pants in Paris (Associated Press/Jacques Brinon)

Paris is as fashion-forward as it gets. Then again, maybe not: Women, technically, are banned from wearing pants.

At least according to a law from 1800, still on the books.

But keep your trousers on: In a statement, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France's minister of women's rights, said the 200-year-old ban has been supplanted by other laws.

"This order was aimed first of all at limiting the access of women to certain offices or occupations by preventing them from dressing in the manner of men," she said. "This order is incompatible with the principles of equality between women and men. ... From that incompatibility stems the implicit abrogation of the order."

The outdated municipal order called on women who wanted to wear pants to seek permission from the police. The law was revised to allow women to wear them when on a bike or horse.

France is hardly the only country with antiquated laws no longer enforced. Whacky ordinances pop up all over the United States. A law in Florida, for instance, bars women from parachuting on Sundays. Another fines women for falling asleep under a beauty salon hair drier. An ordinance in Cleveland, Ohio, forbids females from wearing patent leather shoes.

New Jersey is one state seeking to scrub its books of outdated statutes, such as the rule that bans bulls from roaming freely on the streets and allows rams to do so as long as it?s between Aug. 20 and Nov. 1.

John Cannel, who oversaw a review of New Jersey's more eclectic laws, compared the work to "closet cleaning." He added, ?It?s not the most important thing you do, but if you never do it, your closets get very cluttered and nonfunctional. It therefore has importance.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/barely-legal-women-wearing-pants-paris-other-odd-215828337.html

Mermaid Body Found Celeste Holm Stephen Covey klimt bastille day breaking bad breaking bad

FTC slams (and punishes) social network Path for deceiving users

Rosa Golijan , NBC News ? ? ? 4 hrs.

The developers of Path have agreed to settle Federal Trade?Commission?(FTC) charges that the social network has deceived users and improperly collected personal information (including that of children). As part of the settlement, they'll have to "establish a comprehensive privacy program and to obtain independent privacy assessments every other year for the next 20 years."?And pay a fine of $800,000.

Path is an app-based social network which allows users to share "moments" ? photos, text, geographic locations, song names, and more ? with small networks of up to 150 friends. The social network was initially iOS-only, but is now available on Android as well.

The FTC's complaint primarily focuses on the Path iOS app ? version 2.0, to be specific ? which according to the agency had a misleading user interface which "provided consumers no meaningful choice regarding the collection of their personal information."

When users took advantage of the app's "Add Friends" feature in order to find existing connections on the social network, they were provided with the options to search their contacts, find friends from Facebook, or invite friends via email or SMS. There was just one problem:?

"Path automatically collected and stored personal information from the user?s mobile device address book even if the user had not selected the 'Find friends from your contacts' option,"?a press release by the FTC explains.?"For each contact in the user?s mobile device address book, Path automatically collected and stored any available first and last names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook and Twitter usernames and dates of birth."

The FTC alleges that Path deceived users by claiming that it "only" collects certain information such as IP addresses, browser types, site activity info and similar ? rather than snatching up and storing personal information from the users' contacts. This deception was deemed to be a violation of a Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) rule, which requires those who run online services to notify parents and obtain their permission before information is collected from children under the age of 13.

Path's?developers?explain,?in?a?post?on?its?official?blog,?that?the?information?belonging?to?youngsters?was?collected?due?to?a?glitch.?"[T]here was a period of time where our system was not automatically rejecting people who indicated that they were under 13,"?they?write.?"Before the FTC reached out to us, we discovered and fixed this sign-up process qualification, and took further action by suspending any under age accounts that had mistakenly been allowed to be created."

No matter the explanation, neither this violation nor the overall deception of users is being taken lightly by the FTC. In addition to slamming Path with a civil penalty amounting to $800,000 for the COPPA violation, the agency is also prohibiting it from "making any misrepresentations about the extent to which it maintains the privacy and confidentiality of consumers? personal information." Path is also required to delete any information collected from users under the age of 13 (though the social network claims it already deleted the contact information previously gathered).

In a press release,?FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz?emphasized that the agency is focusing on consumer privacy violations:

Over the years the FTC has been vigilant in responding to a long list of threats to consumer privacy, whether it?s mortgage applications thrown into open trash dumpsters, kids information culled by music fan websites, or unencrypted credit card information left vulnerable to hackers. ...?This settlement with Path shows that no matter what new technologies emerge, the agency will continue to safeguard the privacy of Americans.

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/ftc-slams-punishes-social-network-path-deceiving-users-1B8211202

fisker karma super tuesday states shepard fairey is snooki pregnant snooki pregnant gbc hedy lamarr