Germany, Italy in spat over 'clowns' jibe

Getty Images, Reuters

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, left, and comic-turned-politician Beppe Grillo have been described as "clowns" by a German politician.

By Holger Hansen and Stephen Brown, Reuters

BERLIN ? Italian President Giorgio Napolitano canceled a dinner with the German opposition's chancellor candidate on Wednesday after he described Italian former premier Silvio Berlusconi and comic-turned-politician Beppe Grillo as "clowns."

Peer Steinbrueck, a Social Democrat who will take on Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany's next national election in September, has a reputation for gaffes, and his remark created the first diplomatic incident of his accident-prone campaign.

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Steinbrueck said on Tuesday he was "appalled that two clowns have won" Italy's Feb. 24-25 election. The vote was actually inconclusive with no party gaining a majority, although Grillo's protest party surged dramatically.

Ralph Orlowski / Reuters

Peer Steinbrueck, an opposition candidate to become Germany's next chancellor, referred to two of Italy's top election finishers as "clowns.

Napolitano, an 87-year-old former communist with no natural affinity for Berlusconi or Grillo, now faces the difficult task of trying to appoint a coalition government.

Italian media said he had expressed concern about "populism" after the election result in a private meeting during his visit to Germany, but these comments could not be confirmed.

As head of state, he may have felt duty-bound to defend the dignity of Italy's political institutions.

The German candidate's spokesman said Napolitano canceled "because of Steinbrueck's remarks on Tuesday" and added that the Social Democrat politician "understood Napolitano's domestic political reasons for canceling."

Napolitano's spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Napolitano and Steinbrueck had been scheduled to meet over dinner at a Berlin hotel. Napolitano, who visited Munich on Tuesday and Wednesday, was due to meet Merkel in the German capital on Thursday.

'Testosterone boost'
Steinbrueck made it absolutely clear in his comments to a party rally in Potsdam he was referring to Grillo and Berlusconi, calling the latter "clearly a clown with a testosterone boost."

"My impression is that two populists won," he said.

Berlusconi, a scandal-ridden billionaire media mogul, is very unpopular in Germany and is assailed often in the media.

But Steinbrueck did himself no favors with his frank talk.

German politicians are expected to strike a serious tone and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of European partners. On Twitter, some commentators dismissed the acerbic Steinbrueck as the "real clown."

Italy's elections, which threaten to tip the euro zone back into crisis, showed a big swell in support for Grillo's 5-Star Movement and a surprisingly strong result for Berlusconi. He had been expected to lose heavily to the center left, which won the lower house but not the senate.

Both Grillo and Berlusconi campaigned against the austerity measures implemented by technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti at the urging of Germany's conservative chancellor Merkel.

Grillo, in his popular blog, laid into Merkel for imposing German-style fiscal austerity on Italy. Berlusconi has made more personal attacks on Merkel, whom he blames for his fall from power in 2011 because of her hesitancy on bailouts.

Berlusconi, who has been sentenced for tax fraud and is on trial accused of having sex with an under-aged prostitute, is reported to have made rude remarks about Merkel's appearance in a phone call wiretapped by investigators, though he denies this.

Steinbrueck made waves with undiplomatic statements when he served as finance minister under Merkel between 2005 and 2009, for example referring to the Swiss as Indians running scared from the cavalry during a crackdown he led on tax havens.

Related:

Italy careens toward political paralysis as Berlusconi rebounds

Italy's 'bunga bunga' man Berlusconi, 76, unveils girlfriend, 27

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17117499-germany-italy-in-diplomatic-spat-over-clowns-jibe-aimed-at-berlusconi-grillo?lite

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1 Trend, 3 Ways: Skyler Berman?s Stylish Fedoras

Rachel Zoe's adorable toddler loves to rock mini fedoras. Check him out, plus our picks for every budget.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/fH1OTBOCYoI/

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Rihanna gets temporary restraining order

Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images

By Bruna Nessif and Claudia Rosenbaum, E! Online

This is one guy Rihanna definitely doesn't want to stay.?The "Unapologetic" singer obtained a temporary restraining order Tuesday at Los Angeles Superior Court against a man who mistakenly broke into her neighbor's house thinking it was the star's home on Friday.

Ri-Ri has asked the court to order that Steveland Barrow stay 100 yards away until the next court hearing on March 21.

View the court documents

According to Rihanna's restraining order request, Barrow was arrested for breaking into her neighbor's house believing it to her residence.

Barrow, who reportedly claimed he had been invited into the singer's house, "removed various items from the home and slept in a bed thinking it was Ms. Fenty's," along with having numerous pieces of poetry for her, according to court documents.

Rihanna says Barrow has caused her to fear for her safety. The filing states that Barrow, "will go to great lengths to come into contact with (Rihanna) and has no regard for her privacy."

The hearing on March 21 will decide whether to make the restraining order permanent.

Luckily, Rihanna was away celebrating her birthday during the break-in

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/27/17115751-rihanna-obtains-temporary-restraining-order-over-home-intruder?lite

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Luxury health, fitness and weight loss retreats launched by LHR and ...

(Forimmediaterelease.net) Centara Hotels&Resorts has partnered with Luxury Health Retreats (LHR), a division of Fitcorp Asia, to offer a range of inspiring educational and recreational retreats for those wanting to combine health, fitness and weight loss with an enjoyable getaway break or holiday experience.

The program will include daily seminars delivered by motivational wellness specialists along with structured movement and exercise sessions, and instruction on how to design meal plans and adjust lifestyles at home.

The inaugural retreat in this new initiative will be held at Away Suansawan Chiang Mai, Centara Boutique Collection between March 2 to 8 and 8 to 10.

Founder of Fitcorp Asia and LHR Daniel Remon said that health and fitness has huge potential for hotels with their own spa and fitness center facilities when they partner with wellness specialists.

?Health savvy consumers are aware of the difference in quality of services and are looking for credible programs delivered by industry experts,? he said.

Operations manager of Centara Hotels&Resorts Paul Snow said that spa, fitness and other leisure activities that promote wellness have always been a core part of the Centara brand.

?In today?s competitive and ever stressful environment in which we all work and live, it is satisfying that we are able to offer our guests an opportunity to improve their health, wellness and quality of life,? he said.

?This partnership is a perfect match, allowing guests the dynamics of luxury and travel to destinations both within Thailand and internationally while at the same time reaping the rewards of a solid and structured educational program.?

Emphasis is placed on the four essentials, namely education, motivation, planning and implementation, leading to the achieving of early results in a comfortable, relaxed and encouraging environment.

?The growing need of consumers to not only experience fantastic destinations in luxury and be pampered is now shifting,? said Mr. Remon.

?Those who have already achieved certain goals and financial status in life are turning to education and knowledge with specific ways to improve their quality of life, increase their longevity, have more energy and perform better physically and mentally.?

Mr. Snow said that the response from the tourism, hotel and travel industry has been very positive.

?Centara is Thailand?s largest operator of hotels and resorts, and is also fast expanding overseas,? he said, ?In conjunction with LHR we can offer retreats and programs that are both unique and rewarding.?
Full details may be had by emailing info@lhretreats.com or visiting www.lhretreats.com or www.centarahotelsresorts.com

PHOTO: Daniel Remon (left), Founder of Fitcorp Asia and LHR is training Paul Snow (right), Corporate Operation Manager of Centara Hotels and Resorts to combine health, fitness and weight loss during Paul?s break time at Fitness Center, Centara Grand at CentralWorld. / Image via centarahotelsresorts.com

MEDIA CONTACT: Centara Hotels & Resorts, 999/99 Rama 1 Road, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330, Thailand, Tel: +66 (0) 2 769 1234, Fax: +66 (0) 2 769 1235, Email: centara@chr.co.th

Source: http://www.forimmediaterelease.net/pm/8424.html

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Arkansas Senate overrides veto of abortion bill

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? The Arkansas Senate voted Thursday to override a veto of a near-ban of abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy and backed a separate measure that would outlaw the procedures in most cases beginning in the 12th week.

The Republican-led Senate voted 19-14 along party lines to override Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of the 20-week bill, a day after the GOP-led state House voted to override it. A simple majority was required in each chamber.

That law, which took effect immediately, is based on the contested claim that fetuses can feel pain by that point.

Senate President Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, supported an override but told reporters afterward he was unsure whether the ban would survive a constitutional challenge.

"If it was an easy answer, then people wouldn't be raising that subject," he said after the vote.

Minutes after overriding Beebe's veto, the Senate's voted 26-8 in support of a bill that would outlaw most abortions starting in the 12th week of pregnancy, sending it to Beebe for consideration. He must decide by next week whether to sign or veto it.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas has already said it would challenge either the 20-week or 12-week bills if they became law, and opponents of the legislation were expected to seek an injunction barring enforcement of the new restrictions pending the outcome of the expected legal challenge.

Beebe said he thinks the new law contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion until a fetus can viably survive outside of the womb, which is typically at 22 to 24 weeks. He said the state will waste money trying to defend it.

Sen. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, previously voted for the 20-week ban but said he voted against the override out of deference to Beebe and the concerns the governor raised over the measure's constitutionality.

"These bills are a real dilemma for people who are pro-life, but still there are constitutional concerns. It does really tear at you," Maloch said.

The near ban of abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy is based on the disputed claim that a fetus can feel pain by then and therefore deserves protection from abortion. Seven states have enacted similar 20-week restrictions based on the fetal pain argument, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks laws affecting women's health. A similar law in Arizona has been blocked while a federal appeals court reviews a lawsuit challenging it.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says it knows of no legitimate scientific information supporting the idea that a fetus experiences pain.

The 12-week bill is based on the argument that a fetus should be protected from abortion once its heartbeat can be detected during an abdominal ultrasound. The governor has not said whether he'll veto the bill but said earlier that he has constitutional concerns with the measure.

Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, the sponsor of the 12-week ban, said Beebe should let the measure go into law without his signature.

"I respect his opinions and what he has to do as an individual, but I believe he should honor the vote of the Legislature," Rapert told reporters after the vote.

___

Andrew DeMillo can be reached at www.twitter.com/ademillo

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arkansas-senate-overrides-veto-abortion-bill-152939504.html

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Sony begins exploring Firefox OS, dares Xperia E owners to experiment with new ROM

Well, that didn't take long. A mere couple of days after announcing it, too, would be jumping on the Firefox OS bandwagon, Sony's now let it be known that it's making an "experimental" ROM available to devs (or any common, daring owner) with an Xperia E device. According the company's Developer World blog post, this developmental version of Mozilla's fresh mobile software is being released in order to show the current progress of the OS project, as well as in hopes of receiving feedback that'll be beneficial toward the finished product. Folks interested in tinkering with the Firefox OS ROM can hit the source link below to see what it all entails, while those only looking for a quick peek will find just that in the video situated right after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: Sony Developer World

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/sony-firefox-os-rom-xperia-e/

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SES New York Keynote Speaker Says Internet is TV's Best Friend ...

The Internet didn?t kill TV! According to Mike Proulx, the Internet has become TV?s best friend. Proulx will be the opening keynote speaker at SES New York 2013. The leading event for experienced marketing and advertising professionals will take place March 25-28, 2013, at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Proulx is a Senior Vice President and the Director of Social Media at Hill Holliday, a renowned advertising agency based in Boston, where he leads a team with a focus on cross-channel integration, emerging and social media. He has spent the last 17 years working at various interactive, high-tech, and new media companies on the agency-side, client-side, and as an entrepreneur. He has spoken at dozens of events and has been widely featured in the press including The New York Times, Fast Company, TV Guide, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Mashable, BuzzFeed, and NPR.

Proulx conceived, produced, directed, and co-host the TVnext summit, which took place in early 2011 and 2012. He is the co-author of Social TV, a best-selling book from Wiley publishing that launched in February of 2012. He is also the host of the social TV web series, ?The Pulse on Lost Remote?. He holds a Master?s degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and in 2012 was named the Ad Club?s Media All Star.

His opening keynote is titled, ?Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile.?

Search Engine Watch (SEW) asked Mike Proulx (MP) five questions about his upcoming keynote. Here are his answers:

SEW: How does the convergence of television with the web, social media, and mobile change our behaviors and shake up our long standing beliefs about TV?

MP: There are those who believe that television is a traditional medium with an impending death. The web, social media, and mobile have evolved TV into a multi-screen experience that transcends devices. Not only are we watching more television than ever before, we?re interacting with programming on the ?second screen? in ways that enrich storylines and bring us together to virtually co-view. The modern era of television is a new media that?s more social, more connected, and more portable?and because of this TV is more alive than it?s ever been.

SEW: How has social media created a new and powerful "backchannel" and why does this fuel the renaissance of live broadcasts?

MP: There are a ton of posts happening in social media about any given TV show as it airs. Since Twitter is open and public, it acts as television?s backchannel filled with real-time commentary and conversation ? And it?s not just about TV series but also TV commercials giving producers and marketers instant feedback about their content. Live television events are seeing some of the highest ratings in years and social media brings a level of community and connection to TV watching the likes of which the medium has never before experienced.

SEW: Can you give us some examples of how mobile devices allow us to watch and interact with television whenever and wherever we want?

MP: Tablets, smartphones, and laptops enable television?s portability but it?s apps like HBO Go, ABC Player, Xfinity Remote, and CNN that deliver ?TV? content via those devices. And in the 4G world of mobile, we can watch TV in places once inconceivable. My favorite spot? Laying out on the roof deck on a warm summer night with my iPad in hand streaming HBO?s The Newsroom.

SEW: Why would ?connected TVs? blend web and television content into a unified big screen experience that will bring us back into our living rooms?

MP: Apple TV, Roku, Boxee TV, Google TV, Samsung Smart TVs, etc. stream online video (that was once relegated to our computer screens) onto the ?big screen? of our living rooms. HD YouTube clips suddenly come to life in ways that are far more impactful and dynamic than tiny smartphone screens further blurring the lines of what?s ?TV.? While the notion of TV everywhere lets us watch TV at will regardless of our physical location, the increasingly seamless ability to channel streaming video through the TV set makes the living room that much more compelling.

SEW: With the television landscape changing, why should brands approach the medium once labeled ?traditional? as new media?

MP: TV has become mashed up with the Web, social media, and mobile. Television networks, providers, brands, and agencies must continue to unshackle themselves from dated business and advertising models and rediscover television as a new medium. This means planning television and digital together to tell stories across devices and engage viewers with TV experiences not just TV shows. The speed, scale, and degree of change that has and is happening create enormous opportunity for those brands who have the courage to innovate.

SES New York 2013 offers a variety of conference passes and on-site training. If you register by Thursday, March 7, 2013, you can save up to $600 on Platinum or All Access passes.

For more information, click on Rates and Registration Details. Group discounts for 4 or more pass holders from the same company are also available by contacting [email?protected] and are the best value for the lowest price possible.

I should disclose that SES New York is a client of my agency. But, trust me, TV is not dead yet.

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Become an Expert Digital Marketer at SES New York
March 25-28, 2013: With dozens of sessions on Search, Social, Local and Mobile, you'll leave SES with everything and everyone you need to know. Hurry, early bird rates expire February 21. Register today!

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2250850/SES-New-York-Keynote-Speaker-Says-Internet-is-TVs-Best-Friend

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Ancient shark relative had buzzsaw mouth

Ray Troll

This is a re-creation of a Helicoprion, which lived 270 million years ago and is the only animal ever with a complete 360-degree spiral of teeth.

By Jennifer Viegas
Discovery

The world?s only animal, past or present, with a complete 360-degree spiral of teeth was Helicoprion, which sliced into prey like a buzzsaw.

This sharklike fish, which lived 270 million years ago, is described in the latest issue of Biology Letters. It had one of the most unusual mouths and sets of teeth in the animal kingdom.

"When the animal closed its mouth on prey, the spiral of sharp teeth rotated backwards, like a circular saw, and slashed through the meat,? lead author Leif Tapanila, an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Idaho State University, told Discovery News.

Tapanila is also the research curator and head of the Earth Sciences Division at the Idaho Museum of Natural History. For the study, he and his colleagues took the first ever 3-D images of Helicoprion remains.

Scientists have puzzled over this animal for more than a century, given its highly unusual "tooth whorl.? The new research sheds light on what this prehistoric marine species looked like, what its ancestry was and how it behaved.

"Helicoprion looked a lot like a big-bodied modern shark, but it had a very unusual mouth,? Tapanila said. "An arc of 15 to 18 serrated teeth were exposed in the center of its lower jaw, and it had no protruding teeth in the upper jaw.?

Ray Troll

Leif Tapanila, an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Idaho State University, with the Helicoprion fossil.

The buzz saw-looking tooth whorl had two functions, the researchers determined. The outermost part anchored the teeth for biting, while the rest of the inner spiral was designed to house the old and previously used teeth from when the animal was younger.

The scientists did not see much wear, tear and breakage, so they suspect Helicoprion primarily sliced into squid or other ancient relatively soft and somewhat chewy sea life. Aside from squid and their early relatives, armored and cartilaginous fish lived in Helicoprion?s ecosystem, along with brachiopods, bivalves and snails. "Cartilaginous? refers to fish made up of cartilage, a firm yet flexible connective tissue.

While Helicoprion looked and acted like a shark, the researchers determined that it?s at the base of the family tree that today includes chimaera (aka "ghost sharks?) and ratfish. Ghost sharks are not technically sharks, but they look and act a lot like them.

Tapanila explained that cartilaginous fish are divided into two main categories: sharks and rays on one side, ratfish and chimaera on the other. They are all marine predators.

No living land or sea animal directly resembles Helicoprion -- especially it?s buzz-saw tooth whorl.

"It was really an improbable animal, and maybe one of the best examples of a successful ?Hopeful Monster,?? Tapanila said, explaining that this refers to evolutionary processes that can result in very unusual body types, with most doomed to failure.

While Helicoprion eventually went extinct, it used to have a nearly global distribution and existed over a period of 10 million years or more, proving that even some eccentric body designs can be successful if they meet the particular needs influenced by the animal?s environment, food sources and more.

John Long, a professor of paleontology at Flinders University, told Discovery News that he fully supports the new findings about Helicoprion and its kin.

"This study ends a century old mystery about this iconic fossil (species) and highlights the unexpected diverse body form that holocephalans occupied,? Long said.

Tapanila and his team would love to find a fossilized prey animal in the mouth of such a prehistoric shark-like animal, to better determine which exact species they were hunting and eating. Given that they lived even before the dinosaurs, Tapanila isn?t "holding his breath? for such a rare find.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17118881-ancient-shark-relative-had-buzzsaw-mouth?lite

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More than half of UK smartphone owners say they?ve never seen a mobile ad

MADRID, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Lionel Messi has rarely been accused of failing to deliver in big games, having scored in two European Cup finals, but after subdued performances against AC Milan and Real Madrid, questions are being asked. The four-times World Player of the Year and leading scorer in one of the greatest club teams of all time, was a shadow of his usual self at the San Siro in a Champions League last-16 first leg last week, when Barcelona slumped to a 2-0 defeat. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-half-uk-smartphone-owners-ve-never-seen-043526814.html

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Friends, family say goodbye to Mindy McCready

By Suzette Laboy, The Associated Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- As her music played in the background, country music star Mindy McCready was remembered Tuesday by friends and family as a fun and talented singer who also "wanted to be healed" from her past.

Alan Diaz / AP

Gayle Inge, mother of country music star Mindy McCready, speaks during her daughter's funeral ceremony at the Crossroads Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

About 200 friends and family gathered in the 37-year-old singer's Florida hometown of Fort Myers. A large screen behind the altar of Crossroads Baptist Church was filled with her images and her portrait stood nearby.?

"Our Mindy was so tired. She felt helpless," said McCready's mother, Gayle Inge. "She was in her darkest moment and she was hurt by so many allegations. She was too emotional to understand."

McCready, whose real name was Malinda Gayle McCready, committed suicide Feb. 17 at her home in Arkansas, days after leaving a court-ordered substance abuse treatment program. The mother of two died from a single gunshot to the head about a month after her longtime boyfriend David Wilson's death, also thought to be suicide, in the same place.?

Inge acknowledged that her daughter had faced many battles but now: "Her spirit found healing on the other side."?

McCready's personal problems started in 2004 and included a custody battle with her mother over one of her sons. She was briefly hospitalized in 2010 after police responded to an overdose call to a home her mother owned in North Fort Myers, Fla., and she later appeared on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew," where she declared herself clean from drugs.?

McCready's family declined to address any custody issue at the funeral.?

"She wanted them to know that nothing, not even death, could separate her from them," Gayle Inge said of McCready's two sons, Zander Ryan and Zayne Christopher. "She's healed. She's no longer sick," she added, referring to what she told McCready's sons.?

A separate funeral organized by her friends and the music community is tentatively scheduled for March 6 in Nashville, Tenn.?

McCready's stepfather, brothers and cousin also shared their fondest ? and often funny ? memories of McCready.?

"You all know I grew up coming from a broken home," said brother Timothy McCready, wiping away tears. "It makes your brothers and sisters really important to you. We used to joke about how she raised us...we raised each other, all of us. And she probably got us all in a lot more trouble than she got us out of," he later joked about his sister.?

"I just know that Mindy is on vacacioun where she is," said younger brother Skylar Phelan, referring to how McCready often used the Latin word for "vacation" to get out of chores.?

McCready grew up in Fort Myers, where she took private vocal lessons and later sang in karaoke bars.?

Family friend Julie Ende-Killion remembers the day when McCready won her first award for "Ten Thousand Angels."?

"And I remember her coming out of the trailer," she recalled. "I think she was in Kenny Chesney's trailer because she didn't even have her own dressing room at that time. Nashville is a pretty cool place. She made her mark on it."?

McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994 and hit the top of the country charts before her personal problems sidetracked her career.?

In 1996, her "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1. Her other hits included "Ten Thousand Angels," which her stepfather sang during the funeral.?

"She's our special angel," said Michael Inge. "She sang a song years ago about 'Ten Thousand Angels' watching over her and now she is in the presence of all those 10 thousand angels," Michael Inge said.?

Related content:

More in Entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/26/17106448-friends-and-family-say-goodbye-to-mindy-mccready?lite

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Paleo Diet - Build Muscles without Any Artificial Supplement | Gnet ...

We have never been so obsessed with our weight and our health- a quick browse of the internet can offer us a diet plan based on any kind of restrictions: no gluten, no dairy, no sugar, no carbs, no meat, no fruit- Phew! Are you overwhelmed? What if it was all more simple??really simple? Caveman simple?? That?s what Dr Loren Cordain had in mind when he came up with the Paleolithic diet, known as the Paleo diet for short.

?

The theory behind the diet is simple- agriculture on a large scale has only existed for the last 10000 years or so, and its development brought with it a whole way of eating that is so ingrained in our modern life now that we completely take it for granted; this is a diet based on grains and cereals. You may not be able to imagine life without bread, but for our ancestors it didn?t exist!

Instead, theirs was a hunter/gatherer diet, based on meat, vegetables and fruit, nuts, funghi, and roots. And this is exactly the sort of food that the Paleo diet is based on. Quite simply, it?s the food we have evolved to exist on, argues Dr Cordain. What?s missing? Any cereal or grain-based food (bye bye pasta and rice), dairy products, sugar, and any processed food.

The diet, in essence, could be quite healthy; dieters are encouraged to eat organically, sourcing vegetables seasonally; and by cutting out processed carbohydrates and sugars (and yes, that does include alcohol unfortunately), a dieter can reduce their risk of diabetes and regulate insulin levels, not to mention drop a few inches from around the waist.

The Drawbacks?

Of course, in addition to the pros, be warned that this diet also comes with a few cons. Firstly, an increased intake of meat could mean an increased intake of saturated fats, which means higher cholesterol levels. High meat consumption is also linked with poor digestion, and an increased risk of diseases like bowel cancer.

This could be countered by approaching the diet responsibly; not eating meat with every meal, and choosing to eat much more fish rather than red meat. However, reports seem to show that dieters are happier to go for a juicy steak than a fish.

The second problem we are faced with is the huge deficiency of calcium in the diet, since dairy products are a Paleo no-no. This can be extremely detrimental to the health of our bones and teeth, as well as to a variety of other functions for which we need calcium. Of course, you can get calcium from dark leafy greens like kale, but you would have to eat a substantial amount of them to get an adequate level of calcium into your diet.

On a practical level, this diet is not cheap! Organic meat and vegetables can cost a fair amount more than your average supermarket product, and since it is considered as a diet for life- in essence a complete eating overhaul- the cost of following it strictly will eventually add up.

A Paleo Food Plan

If you think eating like your cavemen forefathers sounds like just the diet for you, here is an example of a three-day food plan, to give you an idea of how you could be eating:

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Day 1	2 boiled eggs with a grilled tomato and bacon	Salad with roast chicken, cherry tomatoes, and an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing	Shepherds Pie, with mashed parsnip and carrots instead of potato.	Chopped apple and pear, plus a handful of unsalted nuts.
Day 2	Mixed nuts and berries with coconut milk	Tuna Nicoise Salad without the potatoes- olives, cherry tomatoes, boiled egg and vinaigrette dressing.	Roast chicken with grilled Mediterranean vegetables- peppers, courgettes and tomatoes	Chopped raw veg with guacamole
Day 3	Fruit salad	Hearty chicken and vegetable soup	Grilled trout and steamed spinach and broccoli, with a dairy-free pesto	Olives

Be Responsible With Your Diet Plan:

If you decide to follow the Paleo diet, do so responsibly- make sure you eat a variety of food so that you get as many nutrients as your body needs. Also, if you suspect that the diet may be adversely affecting your health- for instance, if you suffer from prolonged constipation or if your cholesterol levels rise- then do stop and consider an alternative plan. Your health is the most precious thing you have, and any diet you follow must take that into account!

What the Papers Say:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2044343,00.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/paleo-diet-healthy_n_1898529.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/paleo-diet-meet-caveman-dieters/story?id=13030483

What People On The Web Say:

I?m Converted!

It has been one month since I first started living the paleo lifestyle and I am converted. I realised I was converted when, like all good paleo zealots, I started calling it a lifestyle not a diet. But it?s true. It feels like a natural progression for me with my focus on developing and improving myself on both mental and physical levels taking me to explore new things. I started the diet simply as a test and the experience has been so positive that it now feels unnatural to be doing anything else.

? Zac Sky ?
(http://zacsky.com) ?

My Energy and Vitality is Back!

I first started to lose weight when I switched to a low-carb diet, but continued to eat lots of dairy and soy, as I was a vegetarian. I have always been a size 12-14, and was quite pleased when I dropped to a size 10 by eliminating bread, pasta and sugar from my diet. I still experienced occasional fatigue and lots of digestive upset, though, and it wasn?t until I took an allergy test and found I was allergic to grains and dairy ? and subsequently cut both completely out of my diet ? that I started to feel the energy and vitality for which I have been searching for years.

? A Customer ?
(www.amazon.com) ?

We No Longer Struggle With Our Weight!

We have been struggling with weight issues all our lives. Now, just by following the guidelines that suggest ways to eat as close as possible to our Paleolithic ancestors, the weight has come off and stayed off: 50lb for my husband and 34lb for me. We are both only 2-3lb from our ideal body weight and keep losing slowly.

? JMacEye ?
(www.amazon.com) ?

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Source: http://www.gnet.org/get-ready-to-meet-your-inner-caveman-with-the-paleo-diet/

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Panel: change sentencing in child porn cases

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. Sentencing Commission says the advent of the Internet has led to broad sentencing disparities in child pornography cases and that the existing penalty structure needs to be changed.

In a study for Congress, the commission said Wednesday that federal law enforcement agencies handle nearly 2,000 child pornography prosecutions annually, up from 700 a decade ago. It attributed that increase largely to pornographers exploiting the Internet.

The report says the current sentencing scheme fails to distinguish adequately among offenders based on how dangerous they are, and is overly severe in some cases.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-27-Child%20Pornography-Sentencing/id-6dcf57c3e17b417897499336b9c4da13

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Organized Living: How One Woman Keeps Her Home Clutter-Free

By Reshma Memon Yaqub

My childhood home -- a four-bedroom colonial in a Washington, D.C., suburb -- had an exquisite exterior. But inside there was too much furniture crowding every room; too many Sears receipts spilling from end tables with too many drawers; too many televisions, with their confusing array of remotes, making too much noise; too many boxes of yellow cake mix aging in the overstuffed pantry; too many shoes and coats crammed into the hall closet, making it impossible to find the ones I needed in a hurry. Don't get me wrong: Ours was never one of those unsanitary houses you see on hoarding shows. It was just uncomfortably full, like a belly straining against a belt while its owner made room for one more pie and seven more mini-muffins.

The problem was my mother, who had trouble parting with anything she thought someone she loved might someday need from her (in other words, anything). My father vacillated between resister and accomplice. In my more enlightened moments, I imagine that if I had grown up as they did, in a poor village in Pakistan, I, too, might have held on a little too tightly once fortune finally favored me. But as a child, I felt as though I were drowning. I remember coming home from school to find things in my closet -- wrapping paper, extra blankets -- that didn't belong there. In protest, I'd toss these intruders into the hall. Then as now, clutter had a physical effect on me. The sight of knickknacks caused my left shoulder to rise and fall, tic-like, as if trying to shake something off.

Since leaving home for college, I've been making up for lost space. The home I currently share with my two sons looks from the outside like the one I grew up in -- gorgeous redbrick, huge yard -- but inside, there are no walk-in closets. No kitchen pantry. And gloriously, no garage. There are no coffee tables, because with them comes coffee-table clutter. No televisions, because their sidekicks are remote controls and piles of DVDs. If a decorator walked through my home, she'd recommend an ottoman here and there, a decorative accessory for the hallway, or end tables to cradle the telephones that sit on the hardwood floor in front of the jacks. She'd suggest art for my untouched walls. She might wonder why there's no dining table in the dining room.

It's not that I dislike decorations; I truly admire beautifully appointed homes. My laundry room holds tightly taped boxes full of mementos from my travels. I just can't figure out how to put them up without turning into a woman who has animal statues flanking her front door. I fear that if I start, my DNA strands -- with their broken C gene -- might eventually strangle me, leaving me writhing in a pile of throw pillows. Surely children of alcoholics are just as careful about taking that first drink.

Though my home is empty of the extraneous, it never feels empty enough. I frequently walk around with a cardboard box hunting for donation targets. For me, decluttering is an itch that pleads, then demands, to be scratched. If something's not being used this very moment, or on the cusp of being used, it's out. There's no ill-fitting clothing in my home, save the two onesies I held on to from my sons' baby days -- and one small box of prepregnancy pants that keep me jogging. I purge my closet seasonally, tossing anything that isn't earning its keep. What have you done for me lately, red sweater?

When they've sat unused too long, mocking me, I've evicted my hair dryer, curling iron, patio furniture, any coffee mug with words on it, and my broiler pan. I understand that most ovens come with a broiler pan. What I don't understand is, why? Why don't we get a choice in the matter? I have no baking pans, either. In an emergency, tinfoil is quite foldable and durable.

I adore items with multiple uses, especially paper towels. In my house, these magic little squares moonlight as dinner napkins, place mats, sponges, dishrags, sometimes toilet paper, and, occasionally, ambitiously, maxipads. But even paper towels I cannot stand to stock up on. Since I discovered Amazon's Subscribe & Save service, they arrive on my doorstep monthly, in a perfectly synchronized dance of use and replacement.

One thing I've been unable to get rid of is the outdoor garbage can that my home's previous residents left behind. Do you know how hard it is to throw away a trash can? I've tried cute notes with smiley faces; I've stuck the can inside my own, but the garbage collectors refuse to take the thing. It grates on me daily to see that green monstrosity leaning against my house. Sometimes I force myself to use it, to justify its existence.

To me, making do with less -- almost to the point of deprivation -- feels like a slightly demented badge of honor, a silent scream that says, Look, Mom, no extras! But more often than I'd like to admit, it turns out that I actually do need an item that I've given away, and I'm forced to repurchase it. Two years ago, I donated my treadmill because I joined a gym. A year later, I quit the gym because I wasn't spending enough time there -- and paid $1,400 for a new treadmill. Two springs ago, I donated my space heaters to my children's school, because... well, it wasn't cold anymore. As it turned out, the frost returned the following winter, and I had to shell out $70 apiece for four new heaters. I once donated a Pakistani cookbook to Goodwill because I had the distressing feeling there might be another one somewhere in my house. I realized later that I'd written some family recipes on the back, so I had to repurchase my own book.

My greatest decluttering challenges are Zain, 11, and Zach, 8, who adore useless stuff just as much as I abhor it. On some days, I fantasize about tossing all their toys and books and papers, the daily avalanche that flows from their backpacks. It's a pipe dream I know I will regret entertaining once they are grown.

And grow they will, into men who will tell their balanced, bewildered wives that their mom never let them bring home stuffed animals or pogo sticks or water guns from their grandparents' house. They'll recount that they owned one pair of sneakers at a time, plus dress shoes for holidays, because I didn't want the hall closet cluttered. That their desire to display LEGO creations and chess trophies buttressed against my obsessive resistance to blemished surfaces. "I can't stand so much stuff everywhere," I recently blurted, surveying the four books and magic wand strewn atop Zach's nightstand. "Stand it, Mom," he replied, not unkindly.

Zain, meanwhile, defiantly displays a framed photo of his fourth-grade "Wizard of Oz" cast party on his desk. I once hid it in the laundry room, hoping he would forget about it. A year later, I felt guilty enough to return it to him. Now he is lobbying to put up a Harry Potter poster. I have engineered a compromise: He can put up whatever he wants, but on the inside of his closet doors.

Occasionally, I worry that I'm depriving my sons of the same sense of control over their environment that I longed for as a child. I cringe at the thought that they might not want to come home for spring break to a house with no television to watch the hockey game on, and no coffee table to prop their feet on while they watch it.

My former husband, who recycled himself two years ago, never shared my fear of clutter but kindly kept his collection of African masks at the office. The first thing I noticed about his new digs was the decorative table that existed solely to display photos of our boys: dozens of pictures of their fully frame-worthy faces. He also had flat-screen TVs. For a moment, I admired his ability to balance his own aesthetics with the needs of others. I doubted that, with his full larders and healthy attitude, he'd ever have trouble drawing anyone into his home to lean against a throw pillow and watch the game.

Then I retreated to my own gloriously uncluttered home, whose clarity rises up to embrace me as I enter the front door. I picked up a stray sneaker and admired a drawing poking out from a backpack. Eventually I sat, with a mug of coffee that had no words on it, on a couch with just enough pillows to make a decent nest. I thought about how lucky I am to live in this perfect, unencumbered space with my two perfect, if cluttery, children. I thought about how everything in this house is here because of a carefully considered decision. Myself included. Ironically, I've lived for the past two years in my parents' real estate clutter, an extra home in a great school district they purchased when I was 3 and held on to for the absurd reason that someday, someone they loved might need it.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/organized-living-clutter-free-declutter_n_2736222.html

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Reply - USVI Moving Center

Spent a short time on stt. This past summer and today I'm just looking out my window at home wishing I was back on the islands.... I miss hanging out at the Dog house drinking a dark and coke, walking through the mall just looking at stuff I would hardly ever use, watching the ships roll in, hanging out at Martys house watching master and commander with his awesome sound system...visiting Bo and Vincent down at lime tree beach at the swim up bar, all the flowers and mangos bananas and papaya trees.. the smell of the salt air..yes and most of all iI miss the people that made me feel so welcome there! Ill Be back in September and hopefully won't have to leave island again! OK I'm done! Just needed to vent.. have a wonderful day..Mike

Source: http://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,198381,198381

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Investing News: Expert Analysis, Investment Tools, Stock Screeners ...

It increasingly appears that the rise of ?shareholder democracy? is leading, in some cases, to a perverse game in which so-called activist investors take to the media to pump or dump stocks in hopes of creating a fleeting rise or fall in a company?s stock price.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839069/Investing_News_Expert_Analysis_Investment_Tools_Stock_Screeners_and_Financial_Strategy_Information__CNBC

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Food And Drink 2013 S01E04 720p HDTV x264-C4TV - Release BB

Season 1 , Episode 4???
Michela and Kate are joined by Monica Galetti to create the perfect comfort meal, Michel mother?s shepherd?s pie. William Sitwell takes a look at the obsession for nostalgic food and journalist Matthew Fort celebrates the return of stodgy British puddings.

Links:?HOMEPAGE???TVRage

Food.And.Drink.2013.S01E04.HDTV.x264-C4TV
MP4 | AAC VBR | 196MB
NFO ? Torrent Search ? NETLOAD ? UPLOADED ? RAPiDGATOR

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Food And Drink 2013 S01E04 720p HDTV x264-C4TV is available on a new fast direct download service with over 2,210,000 Files to choose from.Download anything with more then 1000+ Kb/s downloading speed.Signup process takes just 10 sec to go.Signup today and enjoy the speed !

Source: http://www.rlsbb.com/food-and-drink-2013-s01e04-720p-hdtv-x264-c4tv/

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BJUI ? Article of the week: Prostate cancer treatments: How much do ...

Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial?written by a prominent member of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

Finally, the third post under the?Article of the Week?heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video of Matthew Cooperberg?discussing his paper.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Primary treatments for clinically localised?prostate cancer: a comprehensive lifetime?cost-utility analysis

Matthew R. Cooperberg, Naren R. Ramakrishna^?, Steven B. Duff*,?Kathleen E. Hughes^?, Sara Sadownik^?, Joseph A. Smith^? and Ashutosh K. Tewari^?

Departments of Urology and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center,?San Francisco, CA, *Veritas Health Economics Consulting, Inc., Carlsbad, CA, ^?Department of Radiation Oncology,?MD Anderson Cancer Center, Orlando, FL, ^?Avalere Health LLC, Washington, DC, ^?Department of Urologic?Surgery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, and ^?Department of Urology, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA

Read the full article

OBJECTIVE

? To characterise the costs and outcomes associated?with radical prostatectomy (open, laparoscopic, or?robot-assisted) and radiation therapy (RT:?dose-escalated three-dimensional conformal RT,?intensity-modulated RT, brachytherapy, or combination),?using a comprehensive, lifetime decision analytical?model.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

? A Markov model was constructed to follow?hypothetical men with low-, intermediate-, and high-risk?prostate cancer over their lifetimes after primary?treatment; probabilities of outcomes were based on an?exhaustive literature search yielding 232 unique?publications.

? In each Markov cycle, patients could have remission,?recurrence, salvage treatment, metastasis, death from?prostate cancer, and death from other causes.

? Utilities for each health state were determined, and?disutilities were applied for complications and toxicities?of treatment.

? Costs were determined from the USA payer perspective,?with incorporation of patient costs in a sensitivity?analysis.

RESULTS

? Differences across treatments in quality-adjusted life?years across methods were modest, ranging from 10.3 to?11.3 for low-risk patients, 9.6?10.5 for intermediate-risk?patients and 7.8?9.3 for high-risk patients.

? There were no statistically significant differences among?surgical methods, which tended to be more effective?than RT methods, with the exception of combined?external beam + brachytherapy for high-risk?disease.

? RT methods were consistently more expensive than?surgical methods; costs ranged from $19 901?(robot-assisted prostatectomy for low-risk disease) to?$50 276 (combined RT for high-risk disease).

? These findings were robust to an extensive set of?sensitivity analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

? Our analysis found small differences in outcomes and?substantial differences in payer and patient costs across?treatment alternatives.

? These findings may inform future policy discussions?about strategies to improve efficiency of treatment?selection for localised prostate cancer.

?

Read Previous Articles of the Week

Source: http://www.bjuinternational.com/article-of-the-week/article-of-the-week-prostate-cancer-treatments-how-much-do-you-want-to-spend/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=article-of-the-week-prostate-cancer-treatments-how-much-do-you-want-to-spend

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US urges Egypt opposition to take part in election (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Seals take scientists to Antarctic's ocean floor

By Pauline Askin

SYDNEY | Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:22am EST

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Elephant seals wearing head sensors and swimming deep beneath Antarctic ice have helped scientists better understand how the ocean's coldest, deepest waters are formed, providing vital clues to understanding its role in the world's climate.

The tagged seals, along with sophisticated satellite data and moorings in ocean canyons, all played a role in providing data from the extreme Antarctic environment, where observations are very rare and ships could not go, said researchers at the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystem CRC in Tasmania.

Scientists have long known of the existence of "Antarctic bottom water," a dense, deep layer of water near the ocean floor that has a significant impact on the movement of the world's oceans.

Three areas where this water is formed were known of, and the existence of a fourth suspected for decades, but the area was far too inaccessible, until now, thanks to the seals.

"The seals went to an area of the coastline that no ship was ever going to get to," said Guy Williams, ACE CRC Sea Ice specialist and co-author of the study.

"This is a particular form of Antarctic water called Antarctic bottom water production, one of the engines that drives ocean circulation," he told Reuters. "What we've done is found another piston in that engine."

Southern Ocean Elephant seals are the largest of all seals, with males growing up to six meters (20 feet) long and weighing up to 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lbs).

Twenty of the seals were deployed from Davis Station in east Antarctica in 2011 with a sensor, weighing about 100 to 200 grams, on their head. Each of the sensors had a small satellite relay which transmitted data on a daily basis during the five to 10 minute intervals when the seals surfaced.

"We get four dives worth of data a day but they're actually doing up to 60 dives," he said.

"The elephant seals ... went to the very source and found this very cold, very saline dense water in the middle of winter beneath a polynya, which is what we call an ice factory around the coast of Antarctica," Williams added.

Previous studies have shown that there are 50-year-long trends in the properties of the Antarctic bottom water, and Williams said the latest study will help better assess those changes, perhaps providing clues for climate change modeling.

"Several of the seals foraged on the continental slope as far down as 1,800 meters (1.1 miles), punching through into a layer of this dense water cascading down the abyss," he said in a statement. "They gave us very rare and valuable wintertime measurements of this process."

(Reporting by Pauline Askin, Editing by Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/7PoVWXaCnQ0/us-australia-antarctic-seals-idUSBRE91P03020130226

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Insert Coin semifinalist: Ziphius is a smartphone-controlled aquatic drone

Who doesn't want a little aquatic drone to call their own? Azorean's Ziphius is a partially submerged device that can be controlled via iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. There's an on-board HD camera that offers up visuals to give the user a first-person view both above and below the water. Azorean plans to open the API on the vehicle and software to let developers create all manner of games and apps that'll harness augmented reality. Inside of the drone, you'll find a Raspberry Pi, an Ardunio-based plate and two differential motors. The company's promising intuitive handling and even a bit of autonomy with the Ziphius.

By why talk about it, when we can play you some videos of the little guy in action? You'll find those after the break.

Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!

Comments

Source: My Ziphius

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/insert-coin-ziphius/

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Obama warns spending cuts could idle shipbuilder

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is arguing that looming government-wide spending cuts could idle military resources like naval aircraft carriers, while Republicans are criticizing the president for taking his arguments outside Washington instead of staying to work out a plan before Friday's deadline.

The president planned to appear Tuesday at Virginia's largest industrial employer, Newport News Shipbuilding, which would be affected by cuts to naval spending. Obama warned Monday that if the so-called sequester goes into effect later this week, the company's "workers will sit idle when they should be repairing ships, and a carrier sits idle when it should be deploying to the Persian Gulf."

Obama urged Congress to compromise to avoid the cuts, but there has been no indication the White House and congressional Republicans are actively negotiating a deal. The last known conversation between Obama and GOP leaders was last week, and there have been no in-person meetings between the parties this year.

Obama wants the replace the sequester with a package of targeted cuts and tax increases, while Republican leaders insist the savings should come from reduced spending alone.

Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Republican Conference, criticized Obama for traveling to southern Virginia rather than up the street to Capitol Hill to come up with a solution.

"We need the president to stop campaigning for higher taxes, come back here to Washington, D.C., and lead," McMorris Rodgers said during a press conference Monday with GOP leaders.

The sequester was designed as an unpalatable fallback, meant to take effect only if a congressional super-committee failed to come up with at least $1 trillion in savings from benefit programs.

The White House has warned the $85 billion in cuts could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. The cuts would slash domestic and defense spending, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of workers.

The cuts also would impact Newport News Shipbuilding, which builds and maintains the nation's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers as well as other warships. The Navy has already delayed a long-planned overhaul of the USS Abraham Lincoln at the shipyard as a result of the budget uncertainty, and other plans call for delaying the construction of other ships.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., offered a potential way out of the stalemate Monday by indicating he was open to raising tax revenue if Obama offered to overhaul big-ticket entitlement programs. Many Republicans say they are done raising revenue after letting taxes on top earners increase in December.

"I'll raise revenue. Will you reform entitlements?" Graham said in a challenge to the president on CNN. "And both together, we'll set aside sequestration in a way that won't disrupt the economy and hurt the Defense Department."

___

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington and Brock Vergakis in Norfolk, Va., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-warns-spending-cuts-could-idle-shipbuilder-080553814--finance.html

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Infrared digital holography allows firefighters to see through flames, image moving people

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Firefighters put their lives on the line in some of the most dangerous conditions on Earth. One of their greatest challenges, however, is seeing through thick veils of smoke and walls of flame to find people in need of rescue. A team of Italian researchers has developed a new imaging technique that uses infrared (IR) digital holography to peer through chaotic conflagrations and capture potentially lifesaving and otherwise hidden details.

The team describes its breakthrough results and their applications in a paper published February 26 in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express.

Firefighters can see through smoke using current IR camera technology. However, such instruments are blinded by the intense infrared radiation emitted by flames, which overwhelm the sensitive detectors and limit their use in the field. By employing a specialized lens-free technique, the researchers have created a system that is able to cope with the flood of radiation from an environment filled with flames as well as smoke.

"IR cameras cannot 'see' objects or humans behind flames because of the need for a zoom lens that concentrates the rays on the sensor to form the image," says Pietro Ferraro of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Istituto Nazionale di Ottica in Italy. By eliminating the need for the zoom lens, the new technique avoids this drawback.

"It became clear to us that we had in our hands a technology that could be exploited by emergency responders and firefighters at a fire scene to see through smoke without being blinded by flames, a limitation of existing technology," Ferraro says. "Perhaps most importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that a holographic recording of a live person can be achieved even while the body is moving."

Holography is a means of producing a 3-D image of an object. To create a hologram, such as those typically seen on credit cards, a laser beam is split into two (an object beam and a reference beam). The object beam is shone onto the object being imaged. When the reflected object beam and the reference beam are recombined, they create an interference pattern that encodes the 3-D image.

In the researchers' new imaging system, a beam of infrared laser light is widely dispersed throughout a room. Unlike visible light, which cannot penetrate thick smoke and flames, the IR rays pass through largely unhindered. The IR light does, however, reflect off of any objects or people in the room, and the information carried by this reflected light is recorded by a holographic imager. It is then decoded to reveal the objects beyond the smoke and flames. The result is a live, 3-D movie of the room and its contents.

The next step in moving this technology to the field is to develop a portable tripod-based system that houses both the laser source and the IR camera. The systems may also be suitable for fixed installation inside buildings or tunnels. In addition, the team is exploring other applications, most notably in the biomedical field for non-destructive testing of large aerospace composite structures.

"Besides life-saving applications in fire and rescue, the potential to record dynamic scenes of a human body could have a variety of other biomedical uses including studying or monitoring breathing, cardiac beat detection and analysis, or measurement of body deformation due to various stresses during exercise," Ferraro says. "We are excited to further develop this technology and realize its application for saving and improving human life."

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---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. M. Locatelli, E. Pugliese, M. Paturzo, V. Bianco, A. Finizio, A. Pelagotti, P. Poggi, L. Miccio, R. Meucci, P. Ferraro. Imaging live humans through smoke and flames using far-infrared digital holography. Optics Express, 2013; 21 (5): 5379 DOI: 10.1364/OE.21.005379

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/strange_science/~3/bXDcFd2sAks/130226101454.htm

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Higher levels of several toxic metals found in children with autism

Feb. 25, 2013 ? In a recently published study in the journal Biological Trace Element Research, Arizona State University researchers report that children with autism had higher levels of several toxic metals in their blood and urine compared to typical children. The study involved 55 children with autism ages 5-16 years compared to 44 controls of similar age and gender.

The autism group had significantly higher levels of lead in their red blood cells (+41 percent) and significantly higher urinary levels of lead (+74 percent), thallium (+77 percent), tin (+115 percent), and tungsten (+44 percent). Lead, thallium, tin, and tungsten are toxic metals that can impair brain development and function, and also interfere with the normal functioning of other body organs and systems.

A statistical analysis was conducted to determine if the levels of toxic metals were associated with autism severity, using three different scales of autism severity. It was found that 38-47 percent of the variation of autism severity was associated with the level of several toxic metals, with cadmium and mercury being the most strongly associated.

In the paper about the study, the authors state "We hypothesize that reducing early exposure to toxic metals may help ameliorate symptoms of autism, and treatment to remove toxic metals may reduce symptoms of autism; these hypotheses need further exploration, as there is a growing body of research to support it."

The study was led by James Adams, a President's Professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He directs the ASU Autism/Asperger's Research Program.

Adams previously published a study on the use of DMSA, an FDA-approved medication for removing toxic metals. The open-label study found that DMSA was generally safe and effective at removing some toxic metals. It also found that DMSA therapy improved some symptoms of autism. The biggest improvement was for children with the highest levels of toxic metals in their urine.

Overall, children with autism have higher average levels of several toxic metals, and levels of several toxic metals are strongly associated with variations in the severity of autism for all three of the autism severity scales investigated.

The study was funded by the Autism Research Institute and the Legacy Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Arizona State University.

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---

Journal Reference:

1. James B. Adams, Tapan Audhya, Sharon McDonough-Means, Robert A. Rubin, David Quig, Elizabeth Geis, Eva Gehn, Melissa Loresto, Jessica Mitchell, Sharon Atwood, Suzanne Barnhouse, Wondra Lee. Toxicological Status of Children with Autism vs. Neurotypical Children and the Association with Autism Severity. Biological Trace Element Research, 2012; 151 (2): 171 DOI: 10.1007/s12011-012-9551-1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/N71YjoJQ-TM/130225162231.htm

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Optimize Search Engine Visibility: Ways To Remodel Your Garage

Ways To Remodel Your Garage

Garage remodeling?is when you transform that almost neglected part of your house that your wife and children do not even dare to enter. Remodeling of garage is more efficient today because of recently developed garage organizing and storage systems. Remodeling of your garage is very important aspect of the home remodeling. It is probably the quickest way to add much needed space to your home.?

If you are considering any sort of home repair this may just be the one that should be first on your list, because it is often the most visible exterior element of a home. Its no wonder that garage remodeling is getting a closer looks from homeowners. How to deal with a cluttered garage is an issue faced by every family at some point and garage remodeling and organization are among the most popular solutions. Therefore, the first important step in garage remodeling is to empty out the garage completely of its contents.

Door

The garage door?is beginning to get more attention from todays homeowners as garage remodeling is becoming more important to them. To give you some idea of what you might be looking at, a new garage door usually costs somewhere around $1,000, and a garage storage system is another $1,000. For garage door tips, consider changing your old garage door. Newer garage doors are more secure and make better use of technology for safety and security.?

An old door and opener could be a real threat for your children playing near the garage. The door needs to be maintained every now and then to ensure its continued safe use. When a door and opener gets really old, periodic maintenance gets even more expensive as some worn out parts would have to be replaced. The best way to go is to replace that old door and opener with a new one. Aside from looking better and saving on maintenance costs, these doors and openers contain better technology than the old one you have right now.?

Nevertheless, a home survey found that the garage door is now the most used exterior door when entering the home for both men 44 percent and women 42 percent. The front door was close behind as the second most used exterior door. Wood composite garage doors can also be embellished with stylish details such as unique trim designs, beautiful woodgrain patterns, decorative hardware, multi planked grooves and a variety of window inserts to help bring more natural light into the garage.

Floor

However, for more extensive and lasting renovations that include insulation, flooring, soundproofing, electrical wiring and plumbing, you will probably need to hire a general contractor who can plan and oversee your garage renovation. Garages are notorious for being functional, yet unattractive, dull concrete floors, rough looking exposed beams and a general lack of organization are often the culprits. Some careful storage planning, a little drywall and may be a bit of epoxy floor covering can truly make a less than incredible garage into something worth showing off. As part of your garage remodeling process you may wish to give attention to the garage floor.?

Generally speaking, these floors are made from concrete and often detract from the appearance of the garage due to various stains. However, there are a number of methods that can be utilized to give attention to the garage floor. One of these methods can be the application of paint to the garage floor. Another method of sprucing up a garage floor is through the use of a durable garage flooring product. It is strongly suggested that if utilizing this method of refinishing the garage floor that professional installers be contracted with.

Space

While garages main use is to store the car, you can also use the garage as a storage area. If you are thinking about expanding your garage area by diminishing the garden area, then this idea works for you. If a potential home buyer has always wanted their own work space, your garage remodel could be the thing that sells your home. The nature of your work space will determine what renovations are needed. Be sure to build a play space, whether it is a poker table, pool table, ping pong table or football table, a remodeled garage can be a mecca of home entertainment. Whether you need to de clutter the garage itself or want to use the space to transfer items out of the main part of your home, the garage is a common place for home storage.

Conclusion

While?
kitchen and bathroom?remodeling continue to lead the way in home improvement projects, garage remodeling is beginning to come its own as more and more homeowners decide to use their garages for more than just storing their vehicles. Garage remodeling can be a home improvement strategy that provides many benefits to homeowners.?

They can be remodeled into a new store place where you can make out some place for storing other homely accessories. Garages are very important part of the house and have equal importance such as the other sections of the house. Garage remodeling is probably the quickest way to add much needed space to your home. Garage remodels do not average the same rate of return, although they do certainly increase the value of your home.

Source: http://mysimpleguide.blogspot.com/2013/02/ways-to-remodel-your-garage.html

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