Zumba trial: How much porn should jurors watch?

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

A Maine judge decided Tuesday not to dismiss charges against Zumba prostitution defendant Mark Strong. Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills is also expected to decide whether to allow in court 577 "extremely sexual" Skype screenshots that the defense has argued would unfairly prejudice the jury.

The defense attorney for Strong, 57, warned of the graphic nature of the images and said Monday they would "drown" his client, according to the Bangor Daily News.

"I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won't possibly get a fair trial," defense attorney Daniel Lilley said.

But prosecutors allege that the images are crucial evidence showing that Strong was involved in running a prostitution ring out of Alexis Wright's Pura Vida Zumba studio in Kennebunk. Wright is due to stand trial separately.

"The state has to prove that Mark Strong was actively involved in the prostitution [business]," Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan told Justice Mills on Monday. "Part of that active involvement was that he was monitoring the prostitution from his Thomaston location through Skype."

Also discussed on Tuesday was a motion filed by the defense to dismiss the remaining charges against Strong. Defense attorney Lilley has accused the prosecution of missing deadlines to turn over documents related to the case.

"Enough is enough," defense counsel Tina Nadeau said Tuesday. Dismissing the charges against Strong would be a fitting rebuttal to prosecutors, she said.

The judge will instead issue a special instruction to jurors. Mills also decided on Tuesday to order prosecutors to give the defense a file on a Kennebunk police officer.

The trial is to continue with witness testimony on Tuesday, the Portland Press Herald reported, and Mills has yet to come to a decision on how many pornographic images the jury will see.

Strong is on trial for 13 charges related to promotion of prostitution. Forty-six charges related to alleged violations of privacy were dismissed by the judge in a decision affirmed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Feb. 15. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:40 AM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17101633-zumba-trial-how-much-porn-should-jurors-watch?lite

david garrard michael bay ninja turtles san antonio weather mike daisey nicollette sheridan apple dividend snow white and the huntsman

Women's Exposure to Chemicals May Explain Unexpected Breast Cancer

Women attend a fundraiser for breast cancer in San Francisco. Image: Flickr/cpurl

Deep in a laboratory freezer, 100,000 vials of blood have been frozen for the better part of five decades.

For scientist Barbara Cohn, it?s a treasure trove. Collected from more than 15,000 San Francisco Bay Area women after they gave birth in the 1960s, each vial of blood holds a woman?s lifetime of secrets.

Scientists say these vials could help them unravel one of the most enduring medical mysteries: Why do some women, with no family history, develop breast cancer?

The blood bears the chemical signature of environmental pollutants, some long banned, that the women were exposed to decades ago. Cohn, who directs the research in Berkeley, Calif., believes these early-life exposures may hold the key to understanding a woman's risk of breast cancer today.

The women's blood is being tested for traces of dozens of pollutants???used by industry and found in many consumer products???that can impersonate estrogen and other hormones. The theory is that early exposure to these chemicals, even before birth, inside the mother?s womb, may fundamentally alter the way that breast tissues grow, triggering cancer decades later.

Cancer patients and their doctors have long puzzled over what factors in a woman?s environment may raise her risk of breast cancer. One of every eight women in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime, with more than 232,000 new cases diagnosed yearly, according to the American Cancer Society. Only five to 10 percent can be accounted for by genetics; other known risk factors include age, obesity and low physical activity.

Earlier this month, a science advisory panel?urged the federal government to fund more projects aimed at uncovering the environmental causes of breast cancer because eliminating these factors may provide the greatest opportunity to prevent it.

It?s particularly vexing for scientists because it?s difficult to unlock a woman?s exposures during her most critical times for breast development: in the womb and during puberty and pregnancy.

?As researchers looking at adult outcomes of disease processes such as breast cancer, one of the biggest challenges we face is trying to get a handle on prenatal exposures and what is going on in the prenatal environment,? said Shanna Swan, an environmental health scientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Many scientists have been looking for connections between various environmental exposures and the disease???with mixed results. Some findings suggest links to a few chemicals, including the banned pesticide DDT. But others have found no link.

For example, experts from the American Cancer Society, reviewing previous studies, in 2002 found no association between breast cancer and chlorinated chemicals including DDT.

And in 2011, an institute of the National Academies of Sciences reported ?a possible link? between breast cancer and some common ingredients of vehicle exhaust, benzene and 1,3-butadiene. But the report?said the jury is still out for most other widespread chemicals, such as pesticides, ingredients of cosmetics and bisphenol A (BPA).

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4be39565ab7b234106a46966811520a8

us soccer bobby brown arrested the happening black panthers mauritania obama open mic jefferson county colorado

Judge refuses to toss gay Calif. veteran's lawsuit

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A lawsuit brought by a lesbian Army veteran and her wife over the denial of disability benefits can move forward over the objections of the Department of Justice, a federal judge in California ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall refused to dismiss Tracey Cooper-Harris' challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and to two other laws that make same-sex spouses of military veterans ineligible for benefits available to straight spouses. Marshall did not explain her reasoning in court, but said she would issue a written ruling at a later date.

The Justice Department under President Obama has refused to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should strike it down as unconstitutional when it hears arguments in another lawsuit next month.

But the department had asked for Cooper-Harris' case to be tossed out on the grounds that veterans' claims can only be heard by an administrative Board of Veterans' Appeals.

Cooper-Harris suffers from multiple sclerosis and receives disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. She and her wife, Maggie Cooper-Harris, got married in California during the brief period in 2008 when same-sex unions were legal in the state.

Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex marriages, and veterans' benefits laws that define a spouse as a person of the opposite sex, the VA denied the couple's application for additional money and benefits that married veterans are entitled to receive.

In the case of the couple, they would receive about $150 more a month in disability payments, and Maggie Cooper-Harris would be eligible for about $1,200 a month in survivor's benefits if her wife died, said Southern Poverty Law Center deputy legal director Christine Sun, who is representing the couple.

Even though the Supreme Court is set to examine the Defense of Marriage Act, the justices could end up issuing a narrow decision that does not settle the question of whether the act is constitutional, in which case it would remain important for Cooper-Harris' case to remain active, Sun said. Marshall has scheduled the next hearing for April 1.

"The significance of the court's ruling today is it vindicates the right of Tracie and Maggie Cooper-Harris to go forward to have their day in court," she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-refuses-toss-gay-calif-veterans-lawsuit-020426943.html

face transplant maundy thursday fab melo google glasses kim kardashian and kanye west henrik stenson jobs act

Social Media Savvy Marketing Benefits Sellers | Real Estate Blog ...

Everyone is talking about it but not many real estate professionals are doing it?social media marketing. The numbers say it works but the competition has yet to embrace the tech savvy marketing that only benefits their sellers. Recent studies show that social media does influence the products we buy.

Traditionally, the number one way to market has been word of mouth advertising, but now social media has the power to influence consumers to buy according to what their family and friends like. Social media marketing has become word of mouth marketing on steroids.

This chart below shows a study from eMarketer citing the number of internet users who would buy a brand from social media influence.

eMarkerter also found that; ?while that is a relatively small percentage, younger consumers were more likely to buy because of a ?like.? They found that 23% of US internet users under the age of 35 said they would buy a brand because of a friend?s social endorsement, and nearly as many internet users between the ages 35 and 49 would do so. Females and males were about even by this metric, at 18% vs. 17%?.

What does this mean for sellers? All real estate professionals need to be utilizing social media including blogs, facebook, twitter and more to promote their properties. Not doing this is a disservice to the seller. The National Association of Realtors in 2011, found that 52% of the first time home buyers were between the ages of 24 and 35 years old. First time home buyers made up 37% of all homes purchased. These numbers directly correlate with the study of influence of social media on buying decisions.

So when looking to make a decision on who to list your home for sale with make sure your real estate professional is social media savvy.

Source: http://blog.homesconnection.com/social-media-savvy-marketing-benefits-sellers/

clear channel drexel dale george will obama birth certificate nick cannon lindsay lohan saturday night live

Afghanistan: US special forces must leave province

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghanistan's president ordered all U.S. special forces to leave a strategically important eastern province within two weeks because of allegations that Afghans working with them are torturing and abusing other Afghans.

The decision Sunday seems to have surprised the coalition and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, a separate command. Americans have frequently angered the Afghan public over issues ranging from Qurans burned at a U.S. base to allegations of civilian killings.

"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," the U.S. forces said in a statement.

Also Sunday, a series of attacks in eastern Afghanistan showed insurgents remain on the offensive even as U.S. and other international forces prepare to end their combat mission by the end of 2014.

Suicide bombers targeted Afghanistan's intelligence agency and other security forces in four coordinated attacks in the heart of Kabul and outlying areas in a bloody reminder of the insurgency's reach nearly 12 years into the war.

Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said the decision to order the American special forces to leave Wardak province was taken during a meeting of the National Security Council because of the alleged actions of Afghans who are considered linked to the U.S. special forces.

He said all special forces operations were to cease immediately in the restive province next to Kabul, which is viewed as a gateway to the capital and has been the focus of counterinsurgency efforts in recent years.

The Taliban have staged numerous attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces in the province. In August 2011, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops, mostly elite Navy SEALs, in Wardak. The crash was the single deadliest loss for U.S. forces in the war.

Afghan forces have taken the lead in many such special operations, especially so-called night raids.

"Those Afghans in these armed groups who are working with the U.S. special forces, the defense minister asked for an explanation of who they are," Faizi said. "Those individuals should be handed over to the Afghan side so that we can further investigate."

A statement the security council issued in English said the armed individuals have allegedly been "harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people."

Ceasing all such operations could have a negative impact on the coalition's campaign to go after Taliban leaders and commanders, who are usually the target of such operations.

Faizi said the issue had already been brought up with the coalition.

The U.S. statement said only that the announcement was "an important issue that we intend to fully discuss with our Afghan counterparts. But until we have had a chance to speak with senior Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officials about this issue, we are not in a position to comment further."

The brazen assaults, which occurred within a three-hour timespan, were the latest to strike Afghan forces, who have suffered higher casualties this year as U.S. and other foreign troops gradually take a back seat and shift responsibility for security to the government.

The deadliest attack occurred just after sunrise ? a suicide car bombing at the gate of the National Directorate of Security compound in Jalalabad, 125 kilometers (78 miles) east of Kabul.

Guards shot and killed the driver but he managed to detonate the explosives-packed vehicle, killing two intelligence agents and wounding three others, according to a statement by the intelligence agency. Provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai confirmed the casualty toll and said the building was damaged in the attack.

A guard also shot and killed a man in an SUV filled with dynamite that was targeting an NDS building on a busy street in Kabul, not far from NATO headquarters. The explosives in the back of the vehicle were defused. Blood stained the driver's seat and the ground where security forces dragged out the would-be attacker.

Shortly before the Jalalabad attack, a suicide attacker detonated a minivan full of explosives at a police checkpoint in Pul-i-Alam on the main highway between Kabul and Logar province. One policeman was killed and two others were wounded, along with a bystander, according to the NDS.

Also in Logar province, which is due south of Kabul, a man wearing a suicide vest was stopped by police as he tried to force his way into the police headquarters for Baraki Barak district, said Din Mohammad Darwesh, the provincial government spokesman. The attacker detonated his vest while being searched, wounding one policeman, according to Darwesh and the NDS.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the Jalalabad attack and two others in the eastern province of Logar in an email to reporters. He did not address the attempted assault in Kabul.

____

Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt, Rahim Faiez and Kim Gamel contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-us-special-forces-must-leave-province-161601103.html

leslie varez ward solar storms uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012 space weather

AMD Turbo Dock promises better performance and cooling for hybrids, we go hands-on (video)

Here's a question we've been asking ourselves for a while: what if the dock for a hybrid tablet could offer not only a keyboard and battery, but also increased performance? Wouldn't that provide the best of both worlds, with long battery life when you're tablet mode and true laptop productivity when you have a place to sit down?

Turns out AMD is on the same wavelength. In fact, the company has already implemented the idea in a prototype device here at MWC, destined to appear in commercial products around the middle of this year. As you'll see if you check out the video after the break, it's built by Compal and includes a 13-inch 1080p tablet with a quad-core Temash chip, and when combined with its Turbo Dock it delivers some serious power -- going from 8 W to 15 W, with extra air flow delivered through the connector to keep it cool.

AMD says that the docket tablet offers general computing performance broadly at the level of a full-fledged 17 W Intel Core i3 notebook. Judging from Microsoft's Fish Bowl HTML5 benchmark, we're looking at a gain of 50 percent -- and yes, that's pretty impressive. Next stop, a dock with an extra discrete GPU for CrossFire gaming? Who knows, but it's the logical progression.

Gallery: AMD Turbo Dock prototype hands-on

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, AMD

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qPhQmQOsSVw/

tax day freebies madison bumgarner wnba draft tax day april 17 boston marathon tu pac hologram

Sandy Koufax welcomed back to spring training

Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax watches workouts during spring training baseball in Phoenix, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax watches workouts during spring training baseball in Phoenix, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax signs autographs during spring training baseball in Phoenix, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, left, talks with pitcher Chris Capuano during spring training baseball in Phoenix, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax signs autographs during spring training baseball in Phoenix, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) ? Sandy Koufax hadn't worn a major league uniform for more than two decades until the Dodgers got him back in blue this spring.

The beloved left-hander is in camp with Los Angeles as a special instructor, doling out advice and experience to young players who haven't forgotten his singular achievements during an all-too-brief career.

During a rare interview, the 77-year-old Koufax says he doesn't know why so many people think he's reclusive and shy. He's grateful simply to talk pitching with the Dodgers, saying it might be the only thing he's ever been good at.

Manager Don Mattingly says the three-time Cy Young Award winner is just one of the guys during spring, although he read a list of Koufax's accomplishments to the team just to make sure everybody knew.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-23-BBN-Dodgers-Koufax-in-Camp/id-7c433bc01b734332b410e5f94813eee0

new york knicks lin j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells meek sturgis

Patriots baseball strong against top-three teams

Published: Friday, February 22, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 11:45 p.m.

The College of Central Florida baseball team has been more than up to the challenge of playing tough competition this week.

The Patriots (12-8) improved to 2-1 this weekend against teams ranked among the top three in the state, as they downed No. 2 Gulf Coast State 11-5 on Saturday afternoon at Goodlett Field.

?We?re calling this our February State Tournament,? CF coach Marty Smith said. ?We want to win five, before we lose two (the format needed to win the state title).

?We?ve faced some very good competition and we are going to need this when we get to conference and have to play five tough games in a row.?

CF, which split a pair of games this weekend with No. 3 Miami Dade (that included a 14-5 loss Saturday), scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on a RBI single by Enderson Velsasquez, who added a three-run double that sparked a five-run sixth.

For the game, Velasquez was 3-for-3 with six RBIs and a run.

Travis Richardson (2-1) retired seven of the eight hitters he faced and earned the win.

Jason Lombardozzi was 4-for-4 with two doubles, four runs scored and one RBI for CF in the win over Gulf Coast.

Over the course of the doubleheader, Lombardozzi (6-for-8, four runs scored, two doubles, three RBIs), Ryan Smith (3-for-6, two runs scored), David Lugo (2-for-6, double, triple, RBI, run scored), Kevin Games (2-for-7, RBI, triple, two runs scored), Velasquez (3-for-6, six RBIs, run scored, double) and Mario Urdaneta (2-for-7, double, two runs scored, RBI) led the way for the Patriots.

CF, winner of seven of its last nine games, hosts Gulf Coast (13-5) today at noon.

CF Men?s Basketball 98, FSC-Jacksonville 79: At Jacksonville, the Patriots (27-3, 8-1), ranked 10th in the nation and third in the state, clinched the best single-season winning percentage in school history with their 18th win in the last 20 meetings dating back to 2007.

CF will now await the Suncoast Conference runner-up in the opening round of the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Men?s Basketball Tournament on March 7 in Marianna.

The Patriots led by seven at halftime and upped their edge to as many as 23 in the second half, as they won for the third time in as many tries this season against the Blue Wave (14-15, 4-5).

Eugene McCrory and Rodell Wigginton led CF with 16 points each, while Will Saunders added 15.

Rasham Suarez chipped in 14 points and Jeremiah Eason scored 13.

Source: http://www.ocala.com/article/20130222/articles/130229827

best buy sears abercrombie abercrombie Aeropostale Jcpenny ohio state football

Report of gunman on MIT campus "unfounded": police

BOSTON (Reuters) - Police searched a building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday before concluding that a report that a gunman was on campus wearing body armor was "unfounded."

MIT had issued a "shelter in place" warning on Saturday and said that multiple law enforcement agencies, including Cambridge Police, had responded to the report.

The Cambridge Police Department said on its website that it had searched the building with "negative results" and then concluded there was no threat to public safety.

"Scene is clear. Call unfounded," the department said.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber and David Bailey; Editing by Vicki Allen and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mit-orders-lockdown-report-gunman-campus-150739941.html

Redbull Stratos steve mcnair vice presidential debate Martha Raddatz Chris Lighty JJ Watt jerry sandusky

Gold and Silver Nearing MAJOR Long Term Support :: The Market ...

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2013 Feb 21, 2013 - 10:22 AM GMT

By: Chris_Vermeulen

Gold and silver along with their related miners have been under a lot of selling pressure the last few months. Prices have fallen far enough to make most traders and investors start to panic and close out their long term positions which is a bullish signal in my opinion.

My trading tactic for both swing trading and day trading thrive on entering and exiting positions when panic trading hits an investment. General rule of thumb is to buy when others are extremely fearful and cannot hold on to a losing position any longer. When they are selling I am usually slowly accumulating a long position.

Looking at the charts below of gold and silver you can see the strong selling over the past two weeks. When you get drops this sharp investors tend to focus on their account statements watching the value drop at an accelerated rate to the point where they ignore the charts and just liquidate everything they have to preserve their capital.

Gold Bullion Weekly Chart:

The price and outlook of gold has not really changed much in the past year. It remains in a major bull market and has been taking a breather, nothing more. Stepping back and reviewing the weekly chart it's clear that gold is nearing long term support. With panic selling hitting the gold market and long term support only $20 - $30 dollars away this investment starts to look really tasty.

But if price breaks below the $1540 level and closed down there on a weekly basis then all bets are off as this would trigger a wave of selling that would make the recent selling look insignificant. And the uptrend in gold would now be over.

Silver Bullion Weekly Chart:

Silver price is in the same boat as its big sister (Yellow Gold). Only difference is that silver has larger price swings of 2-3x more than gold. This is what attracts more traders and investors but unfortunately the masses do not know how to manage leveraged investments like this and end up losing their shirts.

A breakdown below the $26.11 price would likely trigger a sharp drop back down to the $17.50 level so be careful...

Gold Mining Stocks - Monthly Chart:

If you wanna see a scary chart then look at what could happen or is happening to gold miner stocks. This very could be happening as we speak and why I have been pounding the table for months no to get long gold, silver or miners until we see complete panic selling or a bullish basing pattern form on the charts. We have not seen either of these things take place although panic selling is slowly ramping up this week.

There will be some very frustrated gold bugs if they take another 33% hair cut in value...

Precious Metals Trend and Trading Conclusion:

In short, the precious metal sector remains in a cyclical bull market. That being said and looking at the daily charts the prices have been consolidating and are in a down trend currently. Until we see some type of bottoming pattern or price action form it is best to sit on the side lines and watch the emotional traders get caught up and do the wrong thing.

The next two weeks will be crucial for gold, silver and miner stocks. If metals cannot find support and close below the key support levels things could get really ugly fast.

If you would like to keep up to date on market trends and trade ideas be sure to join my newsletter at http://www.thegoldandoilguy.com

By Chris Vermeulen
Please visit my website for more information. http://www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

Chris Vermeulen is Founder of the popular trading site TheGoldAndOilGuy.com.? There he shares his highly successful, low-risk trading method.? For 7 years Chris has been a leader in teaching others to skillfully trade in gold, oil, and silver in both bull and bear markets.? Subscribers to his service depend on Chris' uniquely consistent investment opportunities that carry exceptionally low risk and high return.

This article is intended solely for information purposes. The opinions are those of the author only. Please conduct further research and consult your financial advisor before making any investment/trading decision. No responsibility can be accepted for losses that may result as a consequence of trading on the basis of this analysis.

? 2005-2013 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.

Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39121.html

chardon high school christopher plummer viola davis school shooting in ohio shooting at chardon high school sasha baron cohen stacy keibler

Obama Puts Sequester Pressure On Republicans During Local TV Interviews

Obama Holds Final Primary Night Event In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, MN - JUNE 3: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (R) and his wife Michelle Obama bump fists at an election night rally at the Xcel Energy Center June 3, 2008 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination following today's primaries in South Dakota and Montana, although his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has not yet conceded the race. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Barack Obama

President Barack Obama acknowledges the crowd as he exchanges fist bumps with the audience after speaking at Hyde Park Academy, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Obama Fist Bump

President Barack Obama fist-bumps custodian Lawrence Lipscomb in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building following the opening session of the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, Dec. 3, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama does a fist bump

President Barack Obama does a fist bump with Ethan Gibbs, the son of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, after arriving by Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Washington, DC, April 19, 2009. President Barack Obama returned from the Fifth Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago. AFP PHOTO/Aude GUERRUCCI (Photo credit should read Aude GUERRUCCI/AFP/Getty Images)

Barack Obama Campaigns Across U.S. Ahead Of Primaries

SPRINGHILL, WV- MAY 12: Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (L) bumps fists with Iraq war veteran Paul Scott after playing a game of pool during a stop at Schultzie's Bar & Hot Spot May 12, 2008 in Springhill, West Virginia. Sen. Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) continue to battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

McCain And Obama Address LULAC National Convention

WASHINGTON - JULY 8: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (L) gives a 'fist bump' to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during the national convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) at the Washington Hilton July 8, 2008 in Washington, DC. Obama has been recently criticized for moving to the political center after calling for a slowing of withdrawal of troops from Iraq, supporting a proposed wiretap law and government funding of faith-based programs. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Barack Obama Campaign Weeks Away From Election Day

CHANTILLY, VA- OCTOBER 22: Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) fists bumps with Ethan Gibbs the son of Robert Gibbs the campaign communication director as he arrives at Dulles International Airport October 22, 2008 in Chantilly, Virginia. Obama continues to campaign with election day less than two weeks away. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

US Democratic presidential candidate Ill

US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama (R) and North Carolina Governor Mike Easley bump fists at Sen. Obama's surprise appearance at a North Carolina Democratic Party dinner October 4, 2008 at the The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - APRIL 7: In this handout provide by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama (L) receives a fist-bump from a U.S. soldier as he greets hundreds of U.S. troops during his visit to Camp Victory on April 7, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. Obama is serving as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)

President Barack Obama

WASHINGTON - APRIL 8: In this handout provide by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama (L) holding a football, offers a fist-bump, to senior staff member Pete Rouse (R), during a meeting with senior advisors in the Oval Office of the White House on April 8, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama is serving as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama gives a studen

US President Barack Obama gives a student a fist bump while touring the Wind Turbine Manufacturing and Fabrication Lab at Lorain County Community College, in Elyria, Ohio, January 22, 2010. Obama is visiting Ohio to tour local businesses and hold a town hall meeting on jobs and the economy. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama bumps fists wi

US President Barack Obama bumps fists with a school children after reading Christams book 'The Polar Express' to an audience of elementary school children at the Richard England Clubhouse and Community Center in Washington, DC, on December 21, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama fist-bumps wit

US President Barack Obama fist-bumps with a supporter after speaking at a fundraiser for Senator Michael Bennet February 18, 2010 at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama (2nd-R) fist b

US President Barack Obama (2nd-R) fist bumps with Marvin Nicholson as he plays golf at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on August 26, 2010. The US First Family is vacationing on the Island until August 29. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

President And Mrs. Obama Host Annual Easter Egg Roll

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 25: (AFP OUT)U.S. President Barack Obama gives a fist bump to a young boy during a 'Let's Move' tennis clinic during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 25, 2011 in Washington, DC. About 30,000 people are expected to attend the 133-year-old tradition of rolling colored eggs down the White House lawn. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama gives a young

US President Barack Obama gives a young boy a fist bump as he greets guests after speaking about the economy at Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, on January 4, 2012. Obama announced plans to appoint Richard Cordray as acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a recess appointment, bypassing Congress and setting up a bitter election-year legal showdown with Republicans. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Barack Obama

President Barack Obama fist bumps service members after he addressed troops at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

US President Barack Obama (L) asks for a

US President Barack Obama (L) asks for a fist bump from a young girl as he speaks with patrons outside the Kozy Corner restaurant in Oak Harbor, Ohio, July 5, 2012, where he made an unannounced visit to speak with supporters while on a bus tour of Ohio and Pennslyvania. AFP PHOTO/Jim Watson (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/GettyImages)

Obama Welcomes 2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Champions To White House

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 18: U.S. President Barack Obama gives a fist bump to Baylor University basketball guard Terran Condrey while welcoming the 2012 NCAA Women?s Basketball champions in the East Room of the White House July 18, 2012 in Washington, DC. The Baylor Lady Bears became the first NCAA basketball team to complete a 40-0 season by defeating Notre Dame 80-61 in the NCAA women's championship. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Barack Obama, Odyssey Sims

Point guard Odyssey Sims gets a fist bump from President Barack Obama at a ceremony honoring the 2012 NCAA Women's basketball champions Baylor University Bears in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN

US President Barack Obama (L) fist bumps with supporters after delivering remarks during a campaign event at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, August 21, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/GettyImages)

Barack Obama

President Barack Obama pounds fists with a supporter after speaking at a campaign event at The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center at Kent State University Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, in Kent, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN

US President Barack Obama fist-bumps with a woman during a lunch visit to the West Tampa Sandwich Shop and Restaurant in Tampa, Florida, September 8, 2012, during the first day of a 2-day bus tour across Florida. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages)

US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN

US President Barack Obama (L) fist bumps a supporter after speaking at a campaign rally in Nashua, New Hampshire, on October 27, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/obama-sequester_n_2728849.html

jamie moyer bone cancer hossa the cell dickclark gavin degraw gavin degraw

One Direction Zap 2013 Brit Awards With 'One Way'

The guys jump onstage to share their new charity single Wednesday.
By Emilee Lindner

One Direction's Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson perform at the 2013 Brit Awards
Photo: Matt Kent/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702284/one-direction-brit-awards-performance-one-way.jhtml

album of the year grammy red carpet grammy award winners the band perry grammy awards whitney houston autopsy dobie gray

With The HTC One Launch, HTC Tries Apple Tactics To Challenge Samsung?s Android Dominance

HTC unveiled its newest flagship phone, the HTC One at a special press event in NYC and London today, and the drastically different design marks a departure from a strategy of trying to beat other Android OEMs (read: Samsung) at their own game. Instead, HTC looks to be taking cues from Apple to better compete, in more ways than one.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gvtaz0QbVGw/

Shark Week London 2012 closing ceremony Shark Week 2012 evelyn lozada UFC 150 Caster Semenya Medal Count 2012 Olympics

Huge brain-mapping project sparks debate

MGH-UCLA Human Connectome Project

This visualization shows the grid structure of major pathways of the human brain, as mapped by the NIH Blueprint Human Connectome Project. Click on the image for a Flash interactive exploring the brain.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

BOSTON ? The brain-mapping project that the Obama administration wants to facilitate isn't necessarily aimed at adding billions of dollars to the money already being spent on research, according to the scientists who inspired the idea. Instead, it's aimed at harnessing new technologies to uncover the secrets of neural function less expensively and more completely.

"We can bring down the cost and increase the quality of the technology," said Harvard geneticist George Church, one of the researchers who proposed the Brain Activity Map Project last year. "We are trying to work with current funding [levels] to bring down the cost."

The New York Times reported on Monday?that the White House has embraced the idea of having the Office of Science and Technology Policy spearhead the project, with participation by the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. The federal initiative is to be unveiled as early as next month, the Times quoted its sources as saying.

---

The roots of the project go back months if not years earlier: The goals of the BAM Project were outlined last June in a?white paper appearing in the journal Neuron. The researchers proposed a 15-year international effort to map the functions of the brain's complex neural circuitry to an unprecedented degree?? using traditional tools such as magnetic resonance imaging in combination with novel technologies such as nanosensors and wireless fiber-optic probes that can be implanted into the brain, and genetically engineered cells that can be linked up with brain cells to record their activity.

The scientists' idea was to start with mice and work their way up to primates. "We do not exclude the extension of the BAM Project to humans, and if this project is to be applicable to clinical research or practice, its special challenges are worth addressing early," they wrote.

The discoveries generated by the effort could point to new strategies for dealing with brain-centered maladies such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, autism and schizophrenia.

Church and his colleagues compared the BAM Project's potential impact to the effects of the $3.8 billion Human Genome Project, a 13-year-long effort that analysts say?generated $796 billion in economic activity. "After the genome project, we brought the cost [of whole-genome sequencing] down by a million-fold," Church said. Advanced technologies for studying brain activity could bring savings on the same scale, he said.

In this month's?State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama made a similar point: "Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy ??every dollar. ?Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer's. ?They?re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries 10 times more powerful. ?Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. ?Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race."

Debate over the dollars
The Times' report on the project quoted scientists familiar with the BAM Project as saying they hoped it would receive as much support as the Human Genome Project did, which amounted to more than $300 million a year. That was widely interpreted as implying that more than $3 billion would be shifted over to the effort from other federally supported research over the next decade ? a prospect that rankled some observers.

"If there is money for frivolities like the Billion Dollar Brain Project, doesn't it show that NIH has too much money?" evolutionary geneticist Detlef Weigel of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology?wrote in a?Twitter comment.

Some scientists noted that the European Union has already established a?Human Brain Project?in cooperation with a range of research centers, including some that are expected to play a role in the BAM Project. The European-led project is due to receive?up to 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) over the next decade.

Michael Eisen, a biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, pointed to a blog posting in which he said grand projects in biology such as?Project ENCODE?for DNA analysis?were emerging as the "greatest threat"?to individual discovery-driven science because they crowded out less costly, smaller-scale studies.

"It's one thing to fund neuroscience, another to have a centralized 10-year project to 'solve the brain,'" Eisen wrote in a?Twitter update.

Emphasis on existing funds
Church said he couldn't speak for the federal government, and he didn't rule out the possibility that the project would receive new funding. But he noted that the concept outlined last year emphasized better coordination of existing publicly and privately supported brain research efforts, which already receive hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

"We want to use existing funds," he told NBC News.

The BAM Project received a strong endorsement from Allan Jones, chief executive officer of the privately backed Allen Institute for Brain Science.

"Our own work over the last 10 years has shown that large-scale brain research and sharing vast data sets and tools publicly for use by scientists around the world accelerate progress and catalyze important research advances across the field," Jones said in a statement emailed to NBC News. "In early 2012, we launched our large-scale initiative to understand brain activity, creating a foundation for other related projects."

The Allen Institute helped organize a workshop that gave rise to last year's white paper proposing the BAM Project, and it is also a partner in the Human Brain Project. Jones said such efforts "complement our work at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and hold promise for helping to bring on new discoveries about the human brain and bring us ever closer to much needed advances in medicine."

More about the brain:

---

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/18/17007438-how-researchers-shaped-the-white-houses-brain-mapping-initiative?lite

Obama Acceptance Speech Prop 30 Election 2012 Michigan Election Results Missouri Election Results Amendment 64 marijuana

Live from HTC in London and New York! 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. EST

We're coming at you live Tuesday morning not just from two cities, but from two continents. HTC has beckoned us to London and New York for what what should be a pretty major event for the struggling smartphone manufacturer. We've seen weeks of leaks and leaks for weeks. But today it all becomes official.

We're liveblogging after the break. Alex Dobie in London, and Phil Nickinson and Anndrew Vacca from New York. It all kicks off at 10 a.m. EST, or 3 p.m. GMT.

Keep this site open, folks. It's on. 

read more

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

Obama Acceptance Speech 2012 dow jones Selena Gomez ariel winter Paige Butcher David Petraeus Petraeus

In a first, Obama playing golf with Tiger Woods

Last updated at 5:55 am

Hello, '+data+'

'); //session extend only for non protected pages $(".ldap_iframe").html(""); } else { //get remember cookie var ldap_remember = getCookie("ldap_remember"); if(ldap_remember == "enable") { //check if user logout sucessfully before. if no counter found, proceed var ldap_remember_counter = getCookie("ldap_remember_counter"); if(typeof ldap_remember_counter === "undefined") { //once redirect create counter cookies to prevent for infinite looping createCookie("ldap_remember_counter","enable",24); window.top.location.href = "http://www.straitstimes.com/ldap/regen.php?goto=/breaking-news/sports/story/first-obama-playing-golf-tiger-woods-20130218"; } else { //logout not clean up eraseCookie("ldap_remember"); eraseCookie("ldap_remember_counter"); $('#header_ajax').html('

Monday, 18 February 2013

Last updated at 5:55 am

'); } } else { $('#header_ajax').html('

Monday, 18 February 2013

Last updated at 5:55 am

'); } } }, error:function(xhr, status, error) { var ldap_remember = getCookie("ldap_remember"); if(ldap_remember == "enable") { var ldap_remember_counter = getCookie("ldap_remember_counter"); if(typeof ldap_remember_counter === "undefined") { createCookie("ldap_remember_counter","enable",24); window.top.location.href = "http://www.straitstimes.com/ldap/regen.php?goto=/breaking-news/sports/story/first-obama-playing-golf-tiger-woods-20130218"; } else { eraseCookie("ldap_remember"); eraseCookie("ldap_remember_counter"); $('#header_ajax').html('

Monday, 18 February 2013

Last updated at 5:55 am

'); } } else { $('#header_ajax').html('

Monday, 18 February 2013

Last updated at 5:55 am

'); } } }); }); function eraseCookie(name) { createCookie(name,"",-1); } function createCookie(name,value,days) { if (days) { var date = new Date(); date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000)); var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString(); } else var expires = ""; document.cookie = name+"="+value+expires+"; path=/"; } function getCookie(c_name) { var i,x,y,ARRcookies=document.cookie.split(";"); for (i=0;i

Source: http://straitstimes.com.feedsportal.com/c/32792/f/640963/s/28a86ce1/l/0L0Sstraitstimes0N0Cbreaking0Enews0Csports0Cstory0Cfirst0Eobama0Eplaying0Egolf0Etiger0Ewoods0E20A130A218/story01.htm

i want to know what love is courtney mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid 2012 ncaa tournament bracket

FEMA demands flood insurance near Floyd River - KTIV News 4 ...

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, says homes and businesses near the Floyd River have to get flood insurance.

People in Leeds are scratching their heads, and those who grew up there say it hasn't flooded since the 1960's.

Since then, the Floyd levee has kept the neighborhood protected.

"It seems ridiculous to me...since they redid the Floyd channel...there hasn't been any problem for years," said Patrick Miller.

"I was told a long time ago, there was never gonna be anything in like that," added Dennis Robeson.

"I'm not sure about fair, I don't think it's necessary. In 2011, we had the bad flood in the Sioux City area and everywhere else, we had no risk whatsoever here at all," argued Kevin James.

Major weather events, like Hurricane Katrina, prompted FEMA to certify levees across the country.

Sioux City's Public Works Director, Jade Dundas says FEMA's findings indicate the levee itself is in excellent condition and that the potential for flooding remains unchanged. But, the potential for ponding, or localized flooding during heavy rains triggered the government's decision to force flood insurance on certain home and business owners.

"It's an evaluation of the drainage system capacity. For example, if the Floyd River was full, and the gates were closed, then a rain event on the outside of the levee would then cause ponding issues. The study assess various scenarios that we have not experienced yet," said Dundas.

Two public meetings are planned to discuss the impact of FEMA's decision on local property owners.

The first is at 2:00 p.m. at City Hall. The second is at 7:00 p.m. at Leeds Elementary on February 20th.

Dundas says the city also plans to discuss some solutions the city is prepared to pay for to take as many people as possible off the flood insurance requirement.

There are some commercial properties that are also on the flood insurance map.

One area that isn't is the new development along the Outer Drive bridge. Officials say it is surrounded by other property that will need flood insurance, but just made it out of the boundary.

Source: http://www.ktiv.com/story/21229907/2013/02/17/fema-demands-flood-insurance-near-floyd-river

big east tournament ashley olsen new apple tv sun flare love hewitt new ipad solar flare

Octomom: Topless! Stripping! Putting on A LOT of Weight!

Source:

colcannon dystonia tourettes gonzaga rosie o donnell soda bread recipe vanderbilt

L.A. tries to save Verdugo Hills Golf Course

Los Angeles this week began a process that could end up protecting Verdugo Hills Golf Course from controversial plans to build hundreds of homes after the City Council voted unanimously to review the site of a former internment camp for possible status as a historical monument.

L.A. Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district includes the golf course, put forward the motion on Monday, sending the matter to the Cultural Heritage Commission, which will review the site and come back with a recommendation on whether to designate the site a Historic-Cultural Monument.

Alarcon issued a statement Tuesday acclaiming the City Council?s decision, which he said came at a critical juncture for opposing the threat posed by the development.

?I strongly believe that a housing development would be inconsistent with our goal to preserve the legacy of the Tuna Canyon Detention Station site,? Alarcon said, adding that the designation ?would allow us to protect this important piece of our history.?

During World War II, the federal government converted the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp ? where the golf course is now located ? into the Tuna Canyon Detention Station.

The camp was ?a gateway to internment,? for civilians of Japanese, Japanese-Peruvian, Italian and German descent taken into custody after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, according to Alarcon's office.

Residents and several local officials have been trying for years to keep the golf course from being developed. The proposed development by Snowball West Investments would include 229 single-family homes, to be located on about 28 acres of the 58-acre golf course, with the rest of the land being converted to open space, according to the draft environmental impact report filed with the city of Los Angeles in 2009.

If the golf course were to be designated a historic site, demolition or alteration would require permits from the Cultural Heritage Commission.

At Tuesday?s meeting, attorney Fred Gaines, representing Snowball West, told the council that because the developer was already undertaking an environmental impact report, further review was unnecessary.

?This motion and this case is a complete waste of time,? he said. ?You can have all of this process and waste all of this time and the city?s resources, [Snowball West?s] resources, to get to the same place you?re already at.?

Residents have previously tried to prevent development through failed attempts to rezone or buy the land outright with grants and government funding.

?This space must be preserved, documented and protected,? Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council representative Krystee Clark told the L.A. City Council. ?It is important for the stories and the memories of the men who were detained here to be remembered.?

--

Follow Daniel Siegal on Google+ and on Twitter: @Daniel_Siegal.

Source: http://www.burbankleader.com/the818now/tn-gnp-0217-la-tries-to-save-verdugo-hills-golf-course,0,1014110.story?track=rss

marlins facebook buys instagram kevin systrom fibonacci sequence maryland lottery grand jury ozzie guillen fidel castro

First tweeting pope remains silent over resignation

Naomi O'Leary , Reuters ? ? ? 10 hrs.

It could have been the tweet of the century.

But Pope Benedict decided not to announce his resignation on Twitter, which he joined last year in a foray into social media that has reaped uncertain spiritual returns and could be curtailed by his successor.

Obviously keen to avoid any leak of his resignation - which would have been a risk as his tweets are typed up by an aide ? the pope announced it in person, in Latin, to a restricted group of cardinals. The video was then given to the world's media.

News of the first pontiff to resign in seven centuries scorched through Twitter, generating 1.5 million comments in the first 36 hours, according to analytics firm Crimson Hexagon.

But of those, a third were negative, criticizing the pope or the Roman Catholic Church, and 38 percent were jokes. Just 7 percent were positive, expressing concern for the pontiff or hope about the future.

"We are receiving tweets that I consider not worthy of a human person," said Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, a Vatican office set up in the 1940s to address the flourishing film industry, but which under Benedict branched into Twitter, YouTube and smartphone download "The Pope App".

An easy target of Internet "trolls", the pope has come in for plenty of online abuse.

"It's a problem," Celli said in an interview in the marble-floored offices near St. Peter's Basilica that house the communications hub. "When you are offending in a vulgar way, that is not worthy of a human being."

Nevertheless, the 85-year-old was not "naive" in joining the micro-blogging site synonymous with instant news, irreverence and mob behavior. "The idea of the Holy Father was simple: I want to be present where people are present," Celli said.

No hint
There was no hint of the resignation in recent tweets, sent from a locked room in the Vatican from a computer kept especially for the purpose and fortified against possible hacks.

Last Sunday, one day before the announcement, he tweeted: "We must trust in the mighty power of God's mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new."

The only tweet from @Pontifex since then was on Ash Wednesday, the start of lent this week, when he reminded his more than 1.5 million online followers the Christian fasting period had begun.

The Vatican's communications apparatus, put in place mostly by Benedict's predecessor, is readying for its busiest weeks since John Paul II's death and Benedict's election in April, 2005.

The day Benedict announced his resignation, hits on the Vatican's news website jumped from 14,000 to 190,000 in a day, forcing technicians to switch from one to four servers to prevent a crash.

Benedict is likely to send his last tweet on February 28, his final day as pontiff before he departs the Vatican in a helicopter.

After that ? during the "Sede Vacante" or "Empty See" when there is no pope ? the @Pontifex Twitter account will be silent.

Anyone with "The Pope App" on their smart phone will be able to watch for the white smoke that heralds a new pontiff on a live stream trained on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

Benedict's push into online media was part of a battle that was central to his papacy: to win back believers in the rapidly secularizing developed world. But patchy success means the next pontiff may choose not to Tweet.

"It will depend on him for sure. When the new pope will be elected we are going to present to him such an opportunity," said Celli.

"We need to touch the imagination of people. We need to touch their heart. Because we have a lot of new technology, but do you realize how really difficult it is to communicate with people?"

(Reporting by Naomi O'Leary; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/first-tweeting-pope-remains-silent-over-resignation-1C8403490

Corvette Stingray Claire Danes quentin tarantino jessica chastain jessica chastain hugh jackman

Letters reveal friendship between Presidents Clinton and Nixon (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/284795699?client_source=feed&format=rss

jack white wiz khalifa ll cool j Presidents Day 2013 2013 Grammys kelly clarkson school closings

BC Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium ? VIMB.com

Vancouver, BC - February 13, 2013 ? ?The Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA) in partnership with Recreation Sites and Trails BC, Tourism British Columbia, International Mountain Bicycling Association Canada, Royal Roads University, and District of Sooke is proud to present the BC Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium at the Best Western Premier ? Prestige Oceanfront Resort in Sooke, BC, May 26-28, 2013.? British Columbia has gained much attention worldwide for its significant role in mountain biking.? The program of the Symposium is entitled ?Progression?. It speaks to the opportunity for stakeholders and experts to gather and share insights and knowledge about how to progress toward a more sustainable and viable mountain bike tourism sector.?

- A symposium to progress mountain bike tourism in the province -

The Symposium is geared towards community leaders, land managers, trail advocates, adventure tourism operators, and government and industry representatives and will present lessons learned from BC and other parts of the world. Key initiatives will be highlighted that represent new opportunities for communities throughout the province.? Topics will cover marketing mountain biking experiences, land use and product development considerations, environmental and risk management issues, partnerships and funding, as well as developing bike friendly communities and services.? Our goal is to unify the voice of the BC mountain bike tourism industry, and discuss the opportunities we have to drive more tourism to the province.

The symposium offers:

• Knowledgeable speakers and interactive panels of experts discussing key issues.
• Networking opportunities with stakeholders from around the province, plus a variety of social events.
• Announcements and updates on new initiatives.
• Pre-symposium Trail Development Workshop, May 25-26, featuring expertise from International Mountain Bicycling Association Canada.

To register or to find out more details visit www.mtbtourismsymposium.ca

Symposium location and date: Best Western Premier ? Prestige Oceanfront Resort, Sooke, BC, May 26-28, 2013

?

For more details or media enquiries, please contact:
Martin Littlejohn, Executive Director, Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association

martin@mbta.ca

?

About Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA)

The?MBTA is a non-profit tourism sector marketing organization that works with government, industry, and stakeholders to increase awareness for British Columbia?s mountain bike tourism opportunities under two marketing brands; Mountain Biking BC and Bike Parks BC.? www.bikeparksbc.com features BC?s top lift access mountain biking resorts, attracting downhill riders from around the globe.? www.mountainbikingbc.ca was launched in 2011?with the goal of having British Columbia recognized as the best and most diverse mountain bike destination in the world. The website contains information about riding destinations? signature trails and riding opportunities, and is maintained by active, progressive and supportive riding communities located in British Columbia?s six tourism regions.?

?VIMB.com

Source: http://vimb.com/?p=1312

debate marco scutaro Russell Means Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 celiac disease san francisco giants

Windows Phone 7/8 Deals - Earthworm Jim HD and Assassin's Creed - Free Posted b...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/ozbargain/posts/10151453516429131

Blue Moon August 2012 Eddie Murphy Dead Democratic National Convention 2012 robin roberts myocardial infarction What Is Labor Day jersey shore

Animal bite force: Size of lunch dictates force of crunch

Feb. 12, 2013 ? Even in the same animal, not all bites are the same. A new study finds that because the force in a muscle depends on how much it is stretched, an animal's bite force depends on the size of what it is biting. The finding has direct implications for ecology and evolution.

Many animals prefer food -- snails, nuts, etc. -- that must be cracked and crushed. Scientists have measured the maximum force of their impressive bites before, but a new study introduces a significant subtlety: bite force depends not only on the size and strength of the eater, but also the size of the eatee. That insight has important implications in the lives of predators and prey.

"Everybody measures bite force as one value," said Nicholas Gidmark, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University and lead author of the new study published Feb. 14, 2013, in Biology Letters. "There's a lot more nuance to it than that."

The nuance comes from a well-understood phenomenon of physiology that had never before been measured in terms of a living animal's bite force: The force a muscle can exert depends on how long that muscle gets preparing for the chomp.

Gidmark and his co-authors hypothesized that the length-force relationship could have culinary consequences. For an individual animal, too much stretch (for a big piece of food) or too little stretch (for a small piece of food) would weaken the bite compared to the stretch required to crush an optimally sized morsel. To test this idea they conducted a series of experiments with black carp, which normally dine on fresh escargot and have conveniently simple jaws.

The stakes are quite high for the carp, which is why the study matters to their evolution as predators.

"You have to break a snail in order to eat it," Gidmark said. "If you don't have enough bite force to break that snail, you get nothing from it."

Crunch time

The scientists started out by training carp of three different sizes to eat not snails but food-stuffed ceramic tubes, which had standardized and easily measured diameters and strength. Gidmark's team had coated some of the tubes with various amounts of polyurethane to create a variety of strengths for each diameter. Tests with a piston-activated crushing device allowed them to measure how much force was required to crack them.

On each fish, the scientists then inserted tiny metal balls into strategic locations on the jaws to act as x-ray markers of jaw position and muscle length. Once the fish recovered from the implants, Gidmark and his colleauges methodically fed each one tubes of different diameters and strength. They recorded X-ray videos of the chewing and noted which tubes the fish could crush and which they could not.

After the feeding trials, the scientists then dissected the fish to make more direct measures of muscle force and muscle length. Keeping the jaw muscles alive, they stimulated them so that they would chomp down. The jaw, meanwhile, was connected to a force transducer that measured the bite.

Finally, Gidmark and his team fed the jaw bone position data into a 3-D animated computer model of the fish jaws. That gave the researchers an even richer set of measures of muscle stretch.

"What the animation lets us do is actually reconstruct the positions of the whole bone relative to the whole skull," Gidmark said. "What that shows us is the whole surface of muscle attachment on the jaw and the whole surface of muscle attachment on the skull and how those move relative to each other."

In all, what they found is that for each fish, bite force depended heavily on tube size and that bite force peaked at an optimal amount of muscle stretch. Too much or too little lengthening led to profound reductions in bite force. A stretch of either about 85 percent or 115 percent of the optimal value led to bite force that was only about half as strong as at the optimal stretch.

The strongest carp bite was about 700 Newtons, or 157 pounds, of force. That allowed the biggest carp to crush strong tubes that happened to be the right size, even when it couldn't crush weaker tubes that were too big or too small.

"Successfully crushed intermediate-sized 'prey' were stronger than larger and smaller 'prey' that were uncrushable, indicating a performance optimum at intermediate prey sizes," the authors wrote.

Ecology and evolution

Were snails in an ecosystem's population to begin growing larger or smaller, in other words, carp could gain or lose the ability to eat them. Small carp might have to stretch too far to crush bigger snails, for example, but larger carp might find that those larger snails had evolved right into their biting sweet spot.

"Depending on how prey is defending itself, whether it is getting big or strong or both, it will have an important impact on those relationships between predators and prey," Gidmark said.

The muscle-length bite-strength relationship likely holds for humans, Gidmark said, but probably very few people depend on crushing hard, co-evolving foods for daily sustenance. Still, Gidmark said he is eager to determine how the findings might extend to other species and their ecology.

"There is variable bite-force with gape," he said. "The implications of that are all over the place. This really sets the ground for a lot of cool ecology and predator-prey interaction studies."

In addition to Gidmark, the study's co-authors are Nicolai Konow, Eric LoPresti, and Elizabeth Brainerd.

Support for the research came from The American Society for Ichthyology and Herpetology, Sigma Xi, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the National Science Foundation (grant: 0840950) and the Bushnell Graduate Research and Education Fund.

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 Brown University.

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

---

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/~3/2bs-UAbOl-E/130212210116.htm

boxing day george h w bush Belk Led Zeppelin Ned Rocknroll Norman Schwarzkopf Avery Johnson