Thursday, May 23, 2013

Portland, Ore., rejecting water fluoridation

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? The mayor of Portland, Ore., has conceded defeat in an effort to add fluoride to the city's drinking water.

With more than 80 percent of the expected ballots counted late Tuesday night, the Multnomah County election website showed the fluoride proposal failing, 60 percent to 40 percent.

Mayor Charlie Hales supported fluoridation and said "the measure lost despite my own 'yes' vote.

"That's sure disappointing, but I accept the will of the voters," he said in a statement.

Fluoridation foes were delighted.

"We're very excited with how the numbers look," said Kellie Barnes with the anti-fluoride group Clean Water Portland.

If the early returns hold up, "then Portlanders spoke out to value our clean water and ask for better solutions for our kids."

Voters in Portland twice rejected fluoridation before approving it in 1978. That plan was overturned two years later, before any fluoride was ever added to the water.

The City Council voted last year to add fluoride to the water supply that serves about 900,000 people. But opponents quickly gathered enough signatures to force a vote on the subject.

Rejection of the proposal would keep Portland the largest U.S. city without fluoride in the water or with plans to add it. San Jose, Calif., ? which is larger than Portland ? has been working to add fluoride to its water supply.

Voters had weeks to make their choice in the mail-ballot election. By Tuesday it was too late to rely on the postman, so drop boxes were placed across the city to accommodate those who waited until the final day.

"We were still getting ballots from drop sites close to 8 p.m.," said Eric Sample, a Multnomah County elections spokesman. That meant a "pretty darn long night" of vote counting that likely would stretch into Wednesday, he said.

Supporters and opponents of fluoridation raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and traded accusations of sign-stealing and shoddy science in an election that has been the city's most contentious of the 21st century.

A sampling of voters dropping off ballots earlier Tuesday in rainy Pioneer Courthouse Square found people opposed to fluoridation.

"People don't like change. When in doubt, say no," said Tracy Rauscher, a native Portlander who, like a native Portlander, did not use an umbrella.

Portland's drinking water already contains naturally occurring fluoride, though not at levels considered to be effective at fighting cavities. Backers of fluoridation say adding more of it to the water is a safe, effective and affordable way to improve the health of low-income children whose parents don't stress proper nutrition and dental hygiene.

Opponents describe fluoride as a chemical that will ruin the city's pristine water supply, and they argue that adding it would violate an individual's right to consent to medication.

Although most Americans drink water treated with fluoride, it has long been a contentious topic. In the 1950s, fluoridation was feared as a Communist plot. Today, people worry that its effect on the body has not been sufficiently examined.

"I don't want chemicals in my water," Sarah Lazzaro said after voting Tuesday. "I know that there are really no known health risks with it, but there's a lot of things we find out later in life really do have health risks."

The issue re-appeared on Portland's radar late last summer, when health organizations that had quietly lobbied the City Council for a year persuaded the panel to unanimously approve fluoridation by March 2014.

Days before the vote, 227 people ? most of them opponents ? signed up to testify at a public hearing that lasted 6 1/2 hours. When their objections weren't heeded, they quickly gathered tens of thousands of signatures to force Tuesday's vote.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/portland-ore-rejecting-water-fluoridation-034334732.html

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Obama Has Raised the National Debt by Nearly $6.2 Trillion, the Equivalent of $78,385 Per Family of Four

President Obama has raised the national debt by nearly $6.2 trillion, the equivalent of $78,385 per family of four. It is true that projected deficits recently have been reduced. April tax filings increased 28% from 2012, but much of this was thanks to a one-time rush at the end of 2012 to report income before rates rose in January. The second largest reduction in the deficit came from Fannie Mae taking a one-time accounting adjustment.

But unless the economy soars, or a significant budget agreement is reached, the most lasting legacy of the Obama presidency will be a $10 trillion increase in the national debt?a burden that bodes ill for the nation's future.

Once the Federal Reserve's easy-money policy comes to an end and interest rates return to their post-World War II norms, the cost of servicing this debt will explode. The cost will increase further as the Fed sells down its $1.85 trillion holding of government bonds, and the Social Security system runs deeper and deeper into the red. The Treasury will then have to pay interest on an ever-growing percentage of the debt.

Since the World War II era, the average maturity of outstanding federal debt has been about five years, and the average interest cost on a five-year Treasury note has been 5.9%. At this interest rate, the expected cost of the Obama debt burden will eventually approach some $590 billion per year in perpetuity, exceeding the current annual cost of any federal program except Social Security.

An America forever burdened by massive government debt would have been unthinkable for much of the nation's history. Beginning with the Revolutionary War, the pattern has been that federal debt increased to help finance the nation's armed conflicts. But government spending after the wars dropped and debt was paid down, or even paid off, as under President Andrew Jackson in 1835.

Federal borrowing during the Civil War reached nearly $2.8 billion, about 30% of GDP. Thereafter the government ran surpluses and redeemed U.S. bonds that served as the reserve base of national banks and literally burned U.S. paper currency?greenbacks?in the furnace of the Treasury building. The money supply fell and federal spending plummeted to $352 million in 1896 from $1.3 billion in 1865.

These are policies that horrify modern Keynesian economists. Yet over that late 19th-century period real GDP and employment doubled, average annual real earnings rose by over 60%, and wholesale prices fell by 75%, thanks to marked improvements in productivity.

With the onset of the Great Depression, the national debt increased dramatically for the first time in the peacetime history of America, reaching 43% of GDP in 1938. World War II meant more borrowing. Since 1930, there has been no concerted effort to pay down the national debt. Any reductions in the national debt relative to the GDP have been almost solely the result of economic growth and inflation.

As the debt burden rises, so too does the cost of servicing the debt increase as a share of the growth the economy is capable of generating. When the debt on which interest is paid equals the GDP level of a nation, the economy must grow faster than the interest rate to avoid debt-servicing costs consuming all the benefit of economic growth. A nation then begins to lose its ability to grow its way out of a mounting debt crisis. Its options start to narrow down to forced austerity, inflation or default.

Today the total U.S. federal debt is 103% of GDP. Since interest paid to the Fed, the Social Security system and other government pension funds is effectively rebated to the Treasury, taxpayers currently bear only the burden of interest on 60% of this debt. But the size of the debt and the percentage of the debt on which interest will have to be paid are rising.

Some seek solace in the fact that at the end of World War II, the national debt exceeded GDP and still the economy prospered. But when the war ended, federal spending dropped to $29.8 billion in 1948 from $92.7 billion in 1945. Spending as a percentage of GDP fell to 12% from 44%. The U.S. emerged from the war as the world's dominant producer of goods and services. The demand for dollars around the world was insatiable, and a long period of record prosperity ensued. High GDP growth and inflation eventually brought down the debt-to-GDP ratio.

Americans today face a totally different situation. Spending and huge deficits continue unabated, and growth rates have declined since the recovery began four years ago. The reduction in government spending that occurred following World War II would be politically impossible today short of a cataclysmic crisis. Under Mr. Obama, the government has run trillion-dollar deficits for four consecutive years, and the top marginal tax rate today is already higher than it was when the budget was balanced in fiscal year 2001.

The president and many in Washington are complacent because, thanks to the Fed's unprecedented near-zero interest rate policy, the burden of servicing the debt today is just 0.9% of GDP, the lowest level in over five decades. But this cannot last, and the Fed is already looking for an exit plan.

Sadly, nations generally discover the truth of Albert Einstein's dictum that compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe?not through the happy accumulation of wealth but through the agonizing enslavement of debt.

Mr. Gramm, a former Republican senator from Texas, is senior partner of U.S. Policy Metrics, where Mr. McMillin, a former deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, is a partner.

A version of this article appeared May 22, 2013, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Debt Problem Hasn't Vanished.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324787004578494864042754582.html

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Obama to address drones, Gitmo in security speech

FILE - In this May 21, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. The U.S. will refocus its attention on homegrown terror threats against Americans, President Barack Obama will say in a Thursday speech that is forecast as skimpy on any new sweeping policies. The move reflects the global fragmentation of al-Qaida?s top leaders as the U.S. tries to safeguard against attacks like last month?s deadly Boston Marathon bombings. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - In this May 21, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. The U.S. will refocus its attention on homegrown terror threats against Americans, President Barack Obama will say in a Thursday speech that is forecast as skimpy on any new sweeping policies. The move reflects the global fragmentation of al-Qaida?s top leaders as the U.S. tries to safeguard against attacks like last month?s deadly Boston Marathon bombings. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is set to at least partially lift the veil of secrecy surrounding U.S.-directed drone strikes around the world, a key component of counterterrorism strategy, as he outlines the contours of the continuing threat to American security.

On the eve of the president's speech at the National Defense University, the Obama administration revealed for the first time that a fourth American citizen had been killed in secretive drone strikes abroad. The killings of three other Americans in counterterror operations since 2009 were widely known before a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy acknowledged the four deaths.

Obama's speech is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities ? from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants held at the military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ? but make no new sweeping policy announcements.

The White House has offered few clues on how the president will address questions that have dogged his administration for years and, critics say, given foreign allies mixed signals about U.S. intentions in some of the world's most volatile areas.

Obama will try to refocus an increasingly apathetic public on security issues as his administration grapples with a series of unrelated controversies stemming from the attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, the IRS' targeting of conservative groups and government monitoring of reporters. His message will also be carefully analyzed by an international audience that has had to adapt to what counterterror expert Peter Singer described as the administration's disjointed and often short-sighted security policies.

"He is really wresting with a broader task, which is laying out an overdue case for regularizing our counterterrorism strategy itself," said Singer, director of the Brookings Institution's 21st Century Security and Intelligence Center in Washington. "It's both a task in terms of being a communicator, and a task in term of being a decider."

The White House said Obama's speech coincides with the signing of new "presidential policy guidance" on when the U.S. can use drone strikes, though it was unclear what that guidance entailed and whether Obama would outline its specifics in his remarks.

Chief among the topics the speech will focus on, officials said, is the administration's expanded use of unmanned spy drones to kill hundreds of people in Pakistan, Yemen and other places where terrorists have taken refuge.

Obama has pledged to be more open with the public about the scope of the drone strikes. But a growing number of lawmakers in Congress are seeking to limit U.S. authorities that support the deadly drone strikes, which have targeted a wider range of threats than initially anticipated.

The president is expected to talk generally about the need for greater transparency in the drone strikes and may allude to the desire to give greater responsibility for those operations to the military. But he is likely to tread carefully on an issue that involves classified CIA operations.

The U.S. military has begun to take over the bulk of the strikes, replacing the CIA in nearly all areas except Pakistan, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss the plans on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity. That shift in responsibility has given Congress greater oversight of the secretive program.

Obama "believes that we need to be as transparent about a matter like this as we can, understanding that there are national security implications to this issue and to the broader issues involved in counterterrorism policy," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.

"He thinks (this) is an absolutely valid and legitimate and important area of discussion and debate and conversation, and that it is his belief that there need to be structures in place that remain in place for successive administrations," Carney said. "So that in the carrying out of counterterrorism policy, procedures are followed that allow it to be conducted in a way that ensures that we're keeping with our traditions and our laws."

In a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders, Holder said only one of the U.S. citizens killed in counterterror operations beyond war zones ? Anwar al-Awlaki, who had ties to at least three attacks planned or carried out on U.S. soil ? was specifically targeted by American forces. He said the other three Americans were not targeted in the U.S. strikes.

The deaths of three of the four, including al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, were already known. Holder's letter revealed the killing of Jude Kenan Mohammad, who was indicted by federal authorities in 2009 as part of an alleged homegrown terror plot to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va. Before he could be arrested, authorities said, Mohammad fled the country to join jihadi fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

For months Congress has urged Obama to release a classified Justice Department legal opinion justifying when U.S. counterterror missions, including drone strikes, can be used to kill American citizens abroad. Several lawmakers declined immediate comment Wednesday on Holder's letter or Obama's speech.

Human rights watchdogs, however, were not immediately appeased.

Human Rights First legal director Dixon Osburn welcomed the White House's pledge for more transparency but remained "deeply concerned that the administration appears to be institutionalizing a problematic targeted killing policy without public debate on whether the rules are lawful or appropriate."

"The American public deserves to know whether the administration is complying with the law, and Congress should debate the legal and policy implications of our targeted killing operations," Osburn said in a statement.

In re-affirming his pledge to close the detention center at Guantanamo, Obama will push in the speech for a renewed effort to transfer its 166 detainees to other countries. Congress and the White House have sparred since Obama took office in 2009 over the fate of the suspects and whether they can be brought to trial on U.S. soil. In the meantime, the detainees have been held for years with diminishing hope that they will charged with a crime or be given a trial.

An aide to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., said lawmakers remain concerned that detainees who are released would rejoin the terror fight. The staff member was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.

This week, the Pentagon asked Congress for more than $450 million for maintaining and upgrading the Guantanamo prison. More than 100 of the prisoners have launched a hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention, and the military earlier this month was force-feeding 30 of them to keep them from starving to death.

Obama was expected to make the case that the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan has decimated al-Qaida's core, even as new threats emerge elsewhere.

Against the backdrop of last month's deadly double-bombing at the Boston Marathon, administration officials said Obama will highlight the persistent threat of homegrown terrorists ? militants or extremists who are either American citizens or have lived in the U.S. for years. The two Chechen-born suspects in the Boston attacks were raised in the United States and turned against America and its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan only in recent years, investigators have said.

Like the quandaries of drone strikes and Guantanamo, the rise of homegrown terrorism is nothing new. The Obama administration included homegrown threats in its National Security Strategy in 2010. However, such threats have increased as the power of al-Qaida's central leadership has ebbed ? especially after Osama bin Laden was killed in his Pakistani hideout by U.S. special forces two years ago.

Singer, the Brookings expert, said Obama's administration has been plagued with making short-term calculations on security issues with long-term impacts. He said the president's speech will serve to gloss over the "ad-hoc" strategies advocated by some of his advisers, and make clear his top priorities for the rest of his time in office.

Especially with regard to the drone strikes, Singer said, "you have this irony that's played out over the last four years, where one of the greatest speakers of our era has largely remained silent about one of the signature aspects of his presidency."

___

Follow Lara Jakes at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP and Lolita C. Baldor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lbaldor

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-23-Obama-National%20Security/id-0c053dba82fa482a9de412de372e34b0

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Like Father Like Son: Mice Follow Dad's Example

When it comes to parenting, mice follow their fathers' examples. Male mice with neglectful dads grow up to be less nurturing to their own babies, new research finds.

In the study, researchers found that the sons with less affectionate fathers?gave their own offspring the same treatment, suggesting paternal behavior can be passed from fathers to sons across multiple generations.

In the mammal world, mothers are generally the sole providers ? paternal care is seen in only 5 percent of mammal species. Mothers are known to have a profound impact on their offspring, but less is known about paternal care. [The Animal Kingdom's Most Devoted Dads]

"There are very few animal model systems which we can use to study paternal behavior," said study co-author Catherine Marler, a behavioral neuroendocrinologist at the University of Wisconsin?Madison.

The epigenetic" alterations ? probably contribute.

The nurturing behavior of father mice could provide a model for humans, Marler said. Whereas scientists obviously can't do that same kind of study with people, "there are correlations in humans between parental behavior and the behavior of offspring," she said.

Previous studies in rats and vervet monkeys have shown that the amount of maternal care influences stress levels in the offspring. Marler said she hopes to investigate similar effects of paternal care on stress.

The study was published today (May 21) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter?and Google+.?Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/father-son-mice-dads-example-230524760.html

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Tornado season off to a late but deadly start

Tornado season usually starts in mid-April, but this year's first big tornado will go down in the record books not only for its tardiness but for its deadly scale: It reached half a mile wide and killed at least 51, including 20 children.

By Justin Juozapavicius,?Associated Press / May 20, 2013

A fire burns in the Tower Plaza Addition in Moore, Okla., following today's tornado. A tornado as much as half a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.

Sue Ogrocki / AP

Enlarge

Deadly tornadoes that have raked communities in Middle America over the past week, including Monday's massive twister that carved a path of destruction through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, belie what had been a relatively quiet start of the 2013 tornado season.

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In fact, this is the longest the U.S. has gone into May without registering an EF1 or stronger tornado, which are the types that can cause damage. That's according to Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

An unusually cool spring kept the funnel clouds at bay until mid-May, or about a month after they'd typically begin their deadly dance in this part of the country. But that calm melted away with the recent rise in temperatures and humidity in the Plains and Midwest that produced ideal temperatures for the tornadoes that have killed people in Oklahoma and Texas since last Wednesday.

"What had happened over the last week, and for quite a while there, was a ridge in the atmosphere that stayed over the western United States, and that is a pretty unfavorable pattern for tornadoes," said Brooks. "But, over the last few days, the ridge has moved east and the trough flow came over central United States. On Saturday, we got a lot of moisture that returned from Gulf of Mexico, and when you bring those ingredients together, something's going to happen."

Tornado strikes have fallen markedly in the U.S. since the 2011 season, when the country was hit over and over by killer twisters. April 2011 had 497 EF1 or stronger tornadoes, which are the types that can cause damage. That's not only a record, but it's more than the next two highest months combined, Brooks said.

From June 2010 through May 2011, there were 1,050 EF1 or stronger tornadoes, which was a record high for a 12-month period. Then just a year later, a record tornado drought began. From May 2011 through April 2013, there were only 217 tornadoes, 30 fewer than the old record.

This spring's unusually late start to the season was caused by unseasonably cool weather marked by unusual upper air patterns that suppressed storm development for much of the early tornado season, Brooks said.

As Monday's devastating touch down in Moore shows, a slow start of the season says nothing about how it how it could eventually shape up.

"It was quiet in February through April; that doesn't tell us anything that will happen in May," Brooks said.

As Moore residents frantically searched the wreckage of schools and homes destroyed by Monday's strike, communities elsewhere in Oklahoma and the region were bracing for the possibility of new funnel clouds or huge hail stones.

Hours before the Moore strike, National Weather Service meteorologist Peter Snyder predicted that twisters could touch down in the region and other areas to the east.

"There's a good environment for super cell development and it could develop a squall line that produces 70 mph wind and clusters of thunderstorms," Snyder said. "It's a similar situation (as Sunday) but it will affect points east today."

The deadly tornado strikes began Wednesday, when a twister outbreak in North Texas killed six people and injured dozens of others, many in the community of Granbury. A massive storm system that moved through the Plains and Midwest on Sunday produced tornadoes in Kansas and Iowa, but it was Oklahoma that bore the brunt of the destruction, with at least 39 injured throughout the state and two deaths from a tornado strike near Shawnee, 30 miles east of Moore.

Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/eXpbxFvhYqE/Tornado-season-off-to-a-late-but-deadly-start

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Joe Francis: 'Retarded' jury should be 'shot dead'

Celebs

4 hours ago

IMAGE: Joe Francis

AP file

Joe Francis in 2009.

"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis has some choice words for the jury who found him guilty of falsely imprisoning three women in his California home. They're "mentally retarded" "stupid idiots" who are "jealous" of him and should be "put in jail" or even "lined up and shot," or so Francis told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview.

"I want that jury to know that each and every one of you are mentally f--ing retarded and you should be euthanized because, as Darwin said, you have naturally selected yourself," Francis told interviewer Stephen Galloway. "You are the weakest members of the herd. Goodbye! And if that jury wants to convict me because I didn't show up, which is the only reason why they did, then, you know, they should all be lined up and shot!"

Francis, 40, was found guilty May 6 of three counts of false imprisonment and one of assault likely to cause great bodily injury. Three students who Francis said he met at the bar and restaurant Supperclub Los Angeles were involved, but Francis says he was just being nice to the women when he invited them to his home.

"It just proves that any celebrity in Hollywood should never give a ride home to any girls," he said. "They (say they) got their head slammed on a tile floor and they were imprisoned here for hours. They said it was here on the tile floor. I don't see any tile right here."

Hollywood Reporter: 'Girls Gone Wild' mogul breaks his silence

Prosecutors say Francis could face five years, though legal sources told The Hollywood Reporter such a sentence was unlikely. "At the most I could get 90 days of anger management," Francis said.

The Hollywood Reporter recites his other brushes with the law, which include jail time in Florida and Nevada, a successful defamation lawsuit from Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn, indictments for tax evasion and filming underage girls, a ban on entering the Santa Monica offices of his own company, and a claim by a Los Angeles Times reporter that he pinned her to the car and twisted her arm so hard it brought tears.

Hollywood Reporter: How to Keep a Celebrity Sex Tape Off the Web

"Anybody who criticizes me, anybody who -- it's just a jealous guy, Francis told Galloway. "Everybody who says, 'Oh, Joe Francis is this' -- look at their penis and tell me if it's small."

Juries hate him because they want his life, he thinks. "I have private jets, I have a great life, I'm a good-looking guy," Francis said. "I'm not conceited, but like -- look, I have girls around me all the time, whatever I want. I make a lot of money. It's a great life. If I wasn't me, I'd f--ing hate me."

Francis will be sentenced in July.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/girls-gone-wild-founder-calls-jury-retarded-says-they-should-6C10020903

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Global Spa & Wellness Summit announces Titanium Sponsor ...

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Source: http://mfirstnamegatar.blogspot.com/2013/05/global-spa-wellness-summit-announces.html

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Marvin & Rochelle Humes Welcome Baby Girl Alaia-Mai

Marvin & Rochelle Humes Welcome Baby Girl Alaia-Mai

Rochelle Humes gives birth to daughterRochelle Humes has given birth to her fist child with husband Marvin, a daughter named Alaia-Mai. Marvin, former JLS band member, excitedly announced the arrival of their bundle of joy this morning on Twitter. Humes tweeted, “This morning we welcomed our baby girl Alaia-Mai Humes. Mum is doing great & baby is amazing! We are ...

Marvin & Rochelle Humes Welcome Baby Girl Alaia-Mai Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/05/marvin-rochelle-humes-welcome-baby-girl-alaia-mai/

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Newest 3D-Printed Gun Is Far More Dangerous For Much Cheaper

After the stir several weeks ago, buzz surrounding Defense Distributed's 3D-printed gun has begun to (somewhat) die down. This is probably due in part to Kim Dotcom's removal of the gun's blueprint from Mega and the fact that, frankly, the gun itself isn't much of an immediate threat. But as one potential threat dissipates, just like clockwork, a new one has appeared on the horizon. And any fear creeping up on you with this newest incarnation of the 3D-printed gun might actually be warranted.

Read more...

    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/C87olkiq4Lw/the-newest-3d-printed-gun-is-far-more-dangerous-for-muc-508921619

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UC Davis startup changes listening experience

UC Davis startup changes listening experience [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-May-2013
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Contact: Andy Fell
ahfell@ucdavis.edu
530-752-4533
University of California - Davis

Fifteen years of research at the University of California, Davis, is being turned into commercial products by Dysonics, a startup company based in San Francisco. Since becoming the first "graduate" from the Engineering Translational Technology Center, a technology incubator at the UC Davis College of Engineering, Dysonics has launched an iPhone app and is developing a broad product range for future launch. The company currently has 10 employees.

Dysonics aims to reproduce a natural sound experience with sound delivered through headphones. The Rondo iPhone app can change the apparent size of the room, and adds directionality. Add the RondoMotion sensor clipped to your headphones, and sounds will appear to change location as you move your head.

The Rondo app and RondoMotion work with existing audio files. The company is also working on generating its own content by recording live events on specialized media. The technology has promise not just for listening to recorded music in a new and richer way, but for a more realistic, "virtual reality" audio experience for teleconferencing and video games.

"There are multiple applications with market potential," said David McGee, executive director of InnovationAccess, the unit within the UC Davis Office of Research responsible for intellectual property management and licensing. "Dysonics is a great example of a faculty-led startup with cool technology and very active support from the college and university."

UC Davis played a crucial role in getting Dysonics started, said co-founder and President Ralph Algazi, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis. The company is based on research conducted at UC Davis by Algazi and co-founders Richard Duda, a research scientist at UC Davis, Robert Dalton Jr., a former undergraduate and graduate student in Algazi's lab, and colleagues at the university over several years.

Algazi is interested in how sound waves arriving at our ears carry information, for example, about the size and shape of the room or the direction of the sound source. For example, a piece of music sounds different played in a concert hall or on home theater system than it does played in a small room, or over ear buds. If we turn our heads toward a sound source, our experience changes.

Starting about 10 years ago, the team developed software and equipment that allows motion tracking with headphones, so that when you move your head the sound source appears to stay in the same place.

Algazi was one of the first inventors that McGee met with when he arrived on campus in 2004.

"Ralph gave me a demonstration of the technology, and I was just blown away," McGee said. "This was an entirely different and richer audio experience from what I was used to."

InnovationAccess worked with Algazi and licensed the technology to an existing company. But changing business priorities took that company in a different direction, and UC Davis took the license back so as to ensure that this promising technology would not languish.

By the end of the decade several trends were converging that would lead to the formation of Dysonics.

Motion-sensing technology has become much cheaper and more mobile. At the same time, the boom in mobile devices means people want to be able to listen to music wherever they are, setting off explosive growth in the market for headphones.

"When Ralph told me that he had decided to move the technology forward himself, I was very pleased and we worked very closely with him to make it happen," McGee said. "Empowering an entrepreneurial campus researcher to turn their research into societal impact is what technology transfer is all about."

Algazi talked to Bruce White, then dean of engineering, and ETTC director Jim Olson, a former undergraduate student of Algazi's. The company was founded in March 2011, and just over a year later had secured sufficient funding from angel investors to leave the incubator and strike out on its own.

"ETTC was invaluable for us in securing funding and legal work," Dalton said. "We had a heavy engineering focus and we needed business knowledge."

One unique feature of the ETTC incubator is that philanthropic donations to the College of Engineering enable it to reduce initial patent costs for startup companies. Filing patents costs the university money. Usually, when a company licenses a patent from UC Davis, it agrees to reimburse these out-of-pocket costs as well as support future ongoing costs of maintaining the licensed patents.

"ETTC is able to directly reimburse the university for up to $15,000 in patent costs. The ETTC startup is not charged for those costs. This is enormously beneficial to startups at a stage when they have very little cash," McGee said.

It also permits the startup to secure its foundational intellectual property, a very important consideration for investors. UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi recently approved the use of income from licensing intellectual property to maintain ETTC's ability to cover these costs.

The young company also worked with InnovationAccess to license the patents held by UC Davis.

The company recently (April 24) launched a "kickstarter" campaign to raise funds for its next product, a wireless motion sensor for audio headphones that works with the company's Rondo iPhone app. The company aims to raise $60,000 from the fundraising drive to complete the product.

More than 45 startup companies have been spun off from UC Davis since 2005. The campus currently holds a portfolio of 838 foreign and U.S. patents, and earned income of $13.6 million in fiscal year 2011-12.

###


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UC Davis startup changes listening experience [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-May-2013
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Contact: Andy Fell
ahfell@ucdavis.edu
530-752-4533
University of California - Davis

Fifteen years of research at the University of California, Davis, is being turned into commercial products by Dysonics, a startup company based in San Francisco. Since becoming the first "graduate" from the Engineering Translational Technology Center, a technology incubator at the UC Davis College of Engineering, Dysonics has launched an iPhone app and is developing a broad product range for future launch. The company currently has 10 employees.

Dysonics aims to reproduce a natural sound experience with sound delivered through headphones. The Rondo iPhone app can change the apparent size of the room, and adds directionality. Add the RondoMotion sensor clipped to your headphones, and sounds will appear to change location as you move your head.

The Rondo app and RondoMotion work with existing audio files. The company is also working on generating its own content by recording live events on specialized media. The technology has promise not just for listening to recorded music in a new and richer way, but for a more realistic, "virtual reality" audio experience for teleconferencing and video games.

"There are multiple applications with market potential," said David McGee, executive director of InnovationAccess, the unit within the UC Davis Office of Research responsible for intellectual property management and licensing. "Dysonics is a great example of a faculty-led startup with cool technology and very active support from the college and university."

UC Davis played a crucial role in getting Dysonics started, said co-founder and President Ralph Algazi, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis. The company is based on research conducted at UC Davis by Algazi and co-founders Richard Duda, a research scientist at UC Davis, Robert Dalton Jr., a former undergraduate and graduate student in Algazi's lab, and colleagues at the university over several years.

Algazi is interested in how sound waves arriving at our ears carry information, for example, about the size and shape of the room or the direction of the sound source. For example, a piece of music sounds different played in a concert hall or on home theater system than it does played in a small room, or over ear buds. If we turn our heads toward a sound source, our experience changes.

Starting about 10 years ago, the team developed software and equipment that allows motion tracking with headphones, so that when you move your head the sound source appears to stay in the same place.

Algazi was one of the first inventors that McGee met with when he arrived on campus in 2004.

"Ralph gave me a demonstration of the technology, and I was just blown away," McGee said. "This was an entirely different and richer audio experience from what I was used to."

InnovationAccess worked with Algazi and licensed the technology to an existing company. But changing business priorities took that company in a different direction, and UC Davis took the license back so as to ensure that this promising technology would not languish.

By the end of the decade several trends were converging that would lead to the formation of Dysonics.

Motion-sensing technology has become much cheaper and more mobile. At the same time, the boom in mobile devices means people want to be able to listen to music wherever they are, setting off explosive growth in the market for headphones.

"When Ralph told me that he had decided to move the technology forward himself, I was very pleased and we worked very closely with him to make it happen," McGee said. "Empowering an entrepreneurial campus researcher to turn their research into societal impact is what technology transfer is all about."

Algazi talked to Bruce White, then dean of engineering, and ETTC director Jim Olson, a former undergraduate student of Algazi's. The company was founded in March 2011, and just over a year later had secured sufficient funding from angel investors to leave the incubator and strike out on its own.

"ETTC was invaluable for us in securing funding and legal work," Dalton said. "We had a heavy engineering focus and we needed business knowledge."

One unique feature of the ETTC incubator is that philanthropic donations to the College of Engineering enable it to reduce initial patent costs for startup companies. Filing patents costs the university money. Usually, when a company licenses a patent from UC Davis, it agrees to reimburse these out-of-pocket costs as well as support future ongoing costs of maintaining the licensed patents.

"ETTC is able to directly reimburse the university for up to $15,000 in patent costs. The ETTC startup is not charged for those costs. This is enormously beneficial to startups at a stage when they have very little cash," McGee said.

It also permits the startup to secure its foundational intellectual property, a very important consideration for investors. UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi recently approved the use of income from licensing intellectual property to maintain ETTC's ability to cover these costs.

The young company also worked with InnovationAccess to license the patents held by UC Davis.

The company recently (April 24) launched a "kickstarter" campaign to raise funds for its next product, a wireless motion sensor for audio headphones that works with the company's Rondo iPhone app. The company aims to raise $60,000 from the fundraising drive to complete the product.

More than 45 startup companies have been spun off from UC Davis since 2005. The campus currently holds a portfolio of 838 foreign and U.S. patents, and earned income of $13.6 million in fiscal year 2011-12.

###


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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uoc--uds052013.php

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Aamir Hussain: Dhul-Qarnayn: An Ideal Muslim Leader

2013-05-18-ArabRevolutions.jpg

The political turmoil engulfing many Muslim-majority countries has left many people wondering, what does the ideal Muslim leader look like? Tyrants like Saddam Hussein and Muammar al-Gadhafi have demonstrated the depths of human cruelty, while elected leaders like Mohamed Morsi struggle to maintain their legitimacy in the wake of increasing democratization. While classical Islamic political theory focuses on the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his successors (usually caliphs or imams, depending on Islamic sect) as political exemplars, I believe that the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in The Holy Quran also provides insight into the characteristics of an ideal leader.

Dhul-Qarnayn, translated as "the possessor of the two horns," is a legendary king mentioned in Chapter 18 of The Quran, Sura al-Kahf ("The Cave"). The Quran narrates the story of how Allah establishes Dhul-Qarnayn as a powerful ruler on earth and allows the king the freedom to do with his subjects as he pleases. Immediately, Dhul-Qarnayn creates a straightforward legal code wherein the righteous will be rewarded and praised, while the evil will be punished. However, he also acknowledges that punishments on earth can be imperfect, and that Allah is ultimately the final judge of mankind. In this way, Dhul-Qarnayn demonstrates humility, an essential quality of an ideal leader. He recognizes that his power and authority come from God, and that his kingdom on earth is an ultimately flawed attempt to replicate the justice of the Kingdom of Heaven. If only real-world leaders could follow this example. Even though the concept of God's judgment is not universally applicable in the modern world, politicians should acknowledge that virtually every political system is flawed in some way. An ideal modern ruler would understand that his/her political power -- regardless of its origin -- ultimately carries with it a responsibility to establish justice and improve the existing system.

Dhul-Qarnayn exemplifies other good leadership qualities in his dealings with a nation being terrorized by the monsters Gog and Magog (N.B.: these monsters are also referenced in the biblical books of Ezekiel and Revelation). First, when the people offer Dhul-Qarnayn tribute in exchange for helping them, he responds that God's rewards are better than earthly ones. He exhibits self-restraint and does not succumb to greed. Since God has already blessed him with a powerful kingdom, Dhul-Qarnayn considers the tribute unnecessary and decides to help this nation solely due to his sense of justice. However, Dhul-Qarnayn motivates the people to help themselves rather than allowing them to accept a handout. While he supplies the technical expertise necessary to forge a barrier preventing the entry of Gog and Magog, he instructs the people to bring their own raw materials and aid in the construction. In this way, Dhul-Qarnayn models the importance of collective action in tackling nationwide problems. In the modern world, it is clear that governments are not the solution to all societal ills; instead, people from all walks of life must work together to resolve these issues. Politicians may be necessary to supply the required leadership or expertise, but in many cases, the will of a nation's people will dictate an initiative's success or failure.

Dhul-Qarnayn's story ends rather abruptly after the above example, but Quranic exegesis and analysis reveal other important features of his leadership. Since Dhul-Qarnayn is alleged to be a historical figure, scholars over the centuries have continuously debated his identity. Interestingly, a large number of scholars agree that he was a pre-Islamic figure not associated with Jews or Christians, the traditional "Peoples of the Book." In fact, most schools of thought consider him to be either Alexander the Great, a pagan, or Cyrus the Great, a Zoroastrian. In any case, this means that Dhul-Qarnayn's principles of good governance are widely applicable to diverse societies, not only Abrahamic ones. This also references a message of religious pluralism; even though Dhul-Qarnayn may not have been one of the "People of the Book," he still exhibited traits like justice and humility that are central to Islam.

Was Dhul-Qarnayn actually Alexander, Cyrus or a completely different person? We may never know. But since his true identity is a mystery, we can analyze his actions without historical bias. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself must have believed that Dhul-Qarnayn's story was worthy of frequent reading and reflection, since he strongly recommended that believers read Sura al-Kahf every Friday. Indeed, Muslims can be inspired by Dhul-Qarnayn's respect for God's justice and his pious commitment to God's commands. Even non-Muslims (and the non-religious) can learn from this legendary king by striving to emulate his personal qualities of humility, self-restraint and his commitment to justice.

As the "Arab Spring" and its aftermath continue to upset the historical order in many countries, future Muslim leaders would do well to follow the example of Dhul-Qarnayn. Acknowledging the limits of their own political systems and promoting collective action are central to good governance in this increasingly pluralistic age. While it is impossible for anyone to be a perfect leader, Muslims everywhere can benefit from a sincere commitment to Dhul-Qarnayn's governing ideals. After all, The Quran declares, "Let there arise out of [mankind] a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones [who] attain success" (3:104).

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Follow Aamir Hussain on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AamirNHussain

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aamir-hussain/dhul-qarnayn-an-ideal-muslim-leader_b_3299625.html

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Visualized: The Jolla phone's 'other half' kaleidoscope

Visualized Jolla phone's 'other half' kaleidoscope

Following some important pricing details, preorder launches and some concrete hardware specs, we've just got to play with the new Jolla phone. Sure, we've already toyed with the software, but today's event is all about the new physical home for the Sailfish OS. It could be a difficult sell in the cutthroat world of smartphones, there's certainly something compelling in Jolla's split design and all those of color options, regardless of what functionality they might add in the future.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/visualized-the-jolla-phones-other-half-kaleidoscope/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Conductor James Levine Returns To Lead Metropolitan Opera Orchestra After Partial Paralysis

NEW YORK ? James Levine rolled onto the Carnegie Hall stage in his black motorized wheelchair and into a 6-by-6-foot mechanical podium constructed by the Metropolitan Opera.

Belted into the wheelchair, Levine and two aides waited while the podium hoisted him about 3 feet in the air and its interior rotated 180 degrees to leave him facing the audience. Given a 1-minute standing ovation, he blew a kiss to the crowd in the sold-out 2,804-seat auditorium, raised his fists in triumph and tapped his heart.

And then it was to business. After an absence of more than two years caused by a fall that left him partially paralyzed, the Met's music director had returned.

Looking a bit like a starship captain in the commander's chair, Levine conducted the prelude to Wagner's "Lohengrin," Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with Evgeny Kissin and Schubert's Symphony No. 9 (Great) on Sunday afternoon, the first step toward his return the Met next fall. He received a 71/2-minute standing ovation at the end.

Levine, who turns 70 on June 23, has transformed the Met since his debut in 1971 and joined Leonard Bernstein as the most acclaimed American conductors. He has been the leading force at the Met for four decades as chief conductor (1973-76), music director (1976-86 and 2004-present) and artistic director (1986-2004).

But Levine's health began to deteriorate. He was afflicted with aggravated Parkinsonism ? a relatively benign form of Parkinson's disease ? starting in 1994. He tore a rotator cuff in March 2006 when he tripped and fell on the stage of Boston's Symphony Hall during ovations, and his right kidney was removed in July 2008 because of a malignant tumor. Then he had surgery in 2009 to repair a herniated disk in his back and a second back operation in 2010.

By then he was conducting from a chair and by 2011 he took his bows from the podium in the Met's orchestra pit rather than walk on stage. He resigned as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he had held since 2004, and canceled his appearances on a Met tour of Japan that was to celebrate his 40th anniversary with the company.

Two more back surgeries followed in May and July 2011 and the next month he fell and damaged a vertebrae, leaving him with no feeling in his legs. He canceled his entire 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons at the Met, leaving the company to scramble for fill-in conductors for his many assignments.

With intensive therapy, he regained feeling in his legs and in recent months has started to walk. He said doctors are hopeful for a complete recovery at some point. But for now, he conducts from the wheelchair.

Wearing a black shirt ? the outfit he switched to several years ago ? rather than white-tie-and-tails, he seemed to have freer movement than he did before the 2011 surgeries. His upper body was strong, and the gestures he made with his left hand to increase and decrease the orchestra's level and shape its sound were the same as the Levine of old.

His return program opened with a rendition of the "Lohengrin" prelude notable for the shimmering spaciousness of the strings in A-major. Before Sunday, his last performance had been a televised "Die Walkuere" on May 14, 2014, and his illness created a hole in the company's Ring Cycles last spring and this that Fabio Luisi never quite filled.

Levine's Wagner has texture and force, an ebb and flow that creates great import, yet a lightness that lets all the colors shine. In all of nine minutes, he showed what the Met had been missing.

He followed with frothy Beethoven accompanying Kissim, an energetic rendering of the G Major that never sounded rushed. The andante con moto was ominous and the closing rondo galloping. Kissim added a fun encore of Beethoven's "Rage Over a Lost Penny, Vented in a Caprice."

Levine's Schubert, which followed intermission, was grand and lavish with an arch that intensified toward the conclusion. By the final ovations, Levine looked overjoyed.

He is scheduled for three productions at the Met next season: revivals of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" starting Sept. 24 and Berg's "Wozzeck" beginning March 6, and a new-to-the-Met staging of Verdi's "Falstaff" opening Dec. 6. He also will conduct the Met Orchestra's three Carnegie concerts.

Levine says if all goes well, he will increase his schedule in 2014-15. Many a conductor's best work took place after age 70. After Sunday's performance, Levine can start looking forward to his renaissance years.

___

Online:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/19/conductor-james-levine-returns-metropolitan-opera-orchestra-partial-paralysis_n_3303833.html

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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Obama tries to bounce back after tough week

By Steve Holland

ATLANTA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama complained on Sunday that partisan battles in Washington are holding back stronger U.S. economic growth as he tried to recover from one of the most difficult weeks of his presidency.

On a trip to Atlanta, Obama did not specifically mention the three controversies that engulfed his administration last week and raised questions as to how much of his second-term agenda he will be able to achieve.

His message was clear when he told Democratic donors that an American economic revival is being held back by a "tendency in Washington to put politics ahead of policy, to put the next election ahead of the next generation, and that mindset is what we need to change."

Obama's appearance in Atlanta came as he seeks to regain his footing from one of his worst weeks since taking office in early 2009.

His Internal Revenue Service was found to have targeted his political tea party opponents for special attention, new questions were raised about security lapses at a U.S. compound in Libya last year where four Americans were killed, and it was revealed that his Justice Department had obtained phone records from Associated Press reporters in a leak probe.

For now, voters seem not to be taking Obama to task. A CNN/ORC International poll released on Sunday showed 53 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is doing his job, with 45 percent saying they disapprove.

Obama found solace in speaking to donors at an event that raised money for Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate, and at a commencement address to hundreds of African-American graduates at all-male Morehouse College.

To the donors, Obama said Washington needs to get beyond "the kind of short-term tactical partisan thinking that has come to so dominate" the U.S. capital and start trying to get some policy items completed.

He said he remained optimistic that an immigration overhaul is possible despite the tumult.

"It doesn't mean there's not going to be some rough and tumble," he said. "If you get into this business, folks are going to take their shots as you, and I've got the gray hair to prove it. But that kind of stuff doesn't bother me," he said.

At Morehouse College, thunder rumbled overhead, lightning flashed in the distance and rain fell in buckets as Obama got personal about race.

He urged the students to think about how they can serve the wider community as they move on in life and not just focus on material goods.

"Yes, go get that law degree. But ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless," he said.

Obama often speaks of how he wishes he could have had a father figure in his life growing up. His Kenyan-born father and Kansas-born mother divorced when Obama was a child, and he was raised by his mother and grandparents.

On Sunday, he was more personal than usual, saying his wife, Michelle, "has a long list of my imperfections."

"My whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn't for my mother and me. I've tried to be a better husband, a better father, and a better man," he said.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Obama said he ultimately hopes to be remembered not for his record as president but as a family man.

"I know that when I'm on my deathbed someday, I won't be thinking about any particular legislation I passed, or policy I promoted; I won't be thinking about the speech I gave, or the Nobel Prize I received. I'll be thinking about a walk I took with my daughters, a lazy afternoon with my wife, whether I did right by all of them," he said.

Obama urged the graduates not to make excuses for hard times that may come their way. He said he made his own share of mistakes growing up.

"And I have to confess, sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down," he said.

He said he has tried to use his abilities to help people less fortunate than himself.

"There but for the grace of God, I might be in their shoes," Obama said. "I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family ? and that motivates me."

Nowadays, he said, people need to look beyond racism and discrimination in order to work together for a country that can compete around the world.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-tries-bounce-back-tough-week-192534427.html

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When casual words from friends hurt

goo Ranking published quite an entertaining pair of surveys, looking at what casual words from female friends hurt men and what casual words from male friends hurt women.

Demographics

Over the 4th and 5th of April 2013 1,101 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.6% of the sample were male, 23.3% in their teens, 25.2% in their twenties, 25.5% in their thirties, and 26.1% in their forties; there was no-one older than 49 in this sample. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Number 3 I get quite a bit, but I put it down to either my bad Japanese or funny accent? To be honest, I?ve probably heard most of the list at one time or another?

Ranking results

Q1: What casual words from female friends hurt? (Sample size=557, male)

Rank ? Score
1= Eh? You were there? 100
1= Sorry, but just be quiet for a bit 100
3 I don?t know what you?re saying 85.5
4 And yet you seem attractive to women, right? 74.2
5 By the way, you understand the meaning of what was said? 71.0
6= I see? and the punchline is? 66.1
6= Your salary?s unexpectedly low! 66.1
6= You?re diligent indeed. 66.1
9 Even though you?re a guy you do that? 62.9
9= Don?t they say you?re different? 62.9
11= You never learn! 59.7
11= That stuff you talked about, I?d heard it before 59.7
11= What if you were a bit more masculine? 59.7
14= It would be better if you knew more about the world 53.2
14= And you?re not married? 53.2
14= You look older than your age 53.2
17 You?re cute! 51.6
18 It?s OK, I wasn?t expecting you to achieve that anyway 45.2
19 Talking with you feels like when I?m talking with my girl friends 33.9
20= Your name and your face don?t match 32.3
20= When people get to know you well they?ll realise you?re a good person 32.3
20= You?re cool in your old photos 32.3
23= Your clothes were all the rage last year, right? 27.4
23= You can cook? 27.4
25 You fair put the food away 25.8

Q2: What casual words from male friends hurt? (Sample size=544, female)

Rank ? Score
1 Sorry, but just be quiet for a bit 100
2 You understand the meaning of what was said? 97.1
3 I don?t know what you?re saying 95.7
4 That stuff you talked about, I?d heard it before 91.4
5 Eh? You were there? 82.9
6 It would be better if you knew more about the world 78.6
7 You never learn! 75.7
8= It?s OK, I wasn?t expecting you to achieve that anyway 70.0
8= Don?t they say you?re different? 70.0
10 You can cook? 68.6
11 You?re diligent indeed. 65.7
12 I see? and the punchline is? 61.4
13 And you?re not married? 57.1
14 What if you were a bit more feminine? 55.7
15 And yet you seem attractive to men, right? 54.3
16 Even though you?re a girl you do that? 44.3
17 You look more mature than your age 42.9
18 You fair put the food away 41.4
19 You?re cute in this Print Club photo 40.0
20= You usually don?t bother being elegent 38.6
20= You?re cute in your old photos 38.6
22 Talking with you feels like when I?m talking with my guy friends 30.0
23 Your clothes were all the rage last year, right? 27.1
24 When people get to know you well they?ll realise you?re a good person 24,3
25 Your name and your face don?t match 21.4
26 Today?s a no make up day, right! 20.0
27 You?re carrying on like a guy 18.6
28 That?s quite a boyish name 17.1
29 Your salary?s unexpectedly low! 14.3
30 You?re cool! 10.0
Read more on: gender,goo ranking,hurt

Permalink

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/Bbxi5qjLWg0/

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Death toll from new bird flu in China rises to 36: WHO

LONDON (Reuters) - Four more people in China have died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll from the H7N9 virus to 36 from 131 confirmed cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The United Nations health agency said the four deaths were from cases that had already been identified in laboratories. Since May 8, there have been no new cases of infection with H7N9, it added.

The WHO reiterated that there is no evidence that the new strain of bird flu, which was first detected in patients in China in March, is passing easily from human to human - a feature that, if it emerged, could spark a pandemic.

It cautioned, however, that until the source of infection has been identified and controlled, there are likely to be further cases of human infection with H7N9.

The WHO said Chinese health authorities were continuing with enhanced surveillance, epidemiological investigations, close contact tracing, clinical management, laboratory testing and sharing of samples as well as prevention and control measures.

It added that in past week as the number of new cases has dwindled, some provinces have begun to scale back emergency operations.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-bird-flu-china-rises-36-202652806.html

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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Jay Weston: Dudamel Announces Hollywood Bowl Program...and Its Eats!

Hollywood Bowl schedule

I am certain that most of my Huffington readers know who Gustavo Dudamel is, but just in case you don't he is the 32-year Venezualan-born Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In the four years he has been here, he has revitalized the orchestra and brought it to even greater heights of achievement and excitement. Once you have seen this curly-haired wonder conduct the musical ensemble with all of his body (and hair) flying about, you will forever understand why the L.A. Phil is now considered one of the world's greatest orchestras. Much of the credit for this sustained success must also go to a woman named Debra Borda, who is the President of the organization. It was she who realized that bringing Gustavo to L.A. would revitalize the music scene here and was determined to win him from under the noses of larger and richer locations. She followed him from city to city, country to country, as he guest-conducted other orchestras....and finally wooed and won him for us. (The orchestra's charismatic chairman, David Bohnett, provided her with all the support - and money - she needed to make it happen.) This all flashed through my mind as I sat on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl last week as Dudamel and Borda announced the program for this summer's Hollywood Bowl season.
LA Phil Pres. Deborah Borda and Dudamel
LA Phil President Debra Borda and Music Director Gustavo Dudamel

The fact that Joachim Spichal's PATINA RESTAURANT GROUP was also giving me tastes of many of the dishes available to Bowl patrons both in their restaurants there and in meals delivered to the boxes was a powerful incentive for me to be there. For many years I had a box for four on a classical music night at the Bowl, and as the food maven I was responsible for delivering the food. I would spend days shopping and cooking for my guests, finally wearying of that task when Joachim and his guys took over the catering operations 14 years ago and offered up delicious meals delivered to every boxholder. Each year they have enlarged and expanded upon the offerings until, this year, I realized that a trip to the Bowl can be as much for the food as for the music. I recently spent an evening exploring the 17 unique food outlets located in the historic performance venue. It came about when I had lunch with Joachim at his PINOT PROVENCE in the wonderful Costa Mesa shopping emporium, South Coast Plaza, and he invited me to tour the Bowl premises and see what they were offering. Wow, it was a revelation. I realized that they have captured the essence and excitement of the local culinary landscape with all their food places. Especially intriguing was the new full-service al fresco wine-and-tapas bar which was almost completed when I stopped by....it's perched above the main entrance to the box seats. Chef Joe Vasiloff from Ray's will be ensconced there, and he promised me a few interesting dishes if I came back...raw fluke, deviled quail eggs with smoked salmon roe, and skirt steak with warm bone marrow.
artist rendering of the new Wine Bar at Hollywood Bowl
Artist rendering of the new Wine-and-Tapas Bar at the Bowl.

After entering the gates of the famed venue, you first see the Staccato pick-up window (where you can get 'eveything' fries, golden fried chicken, Thai chicken sausages, sushi, and HB veggie bowl options. Different picnic baskets are here for the hungry. You can proceed to the Rooftop Grill (where the tantalizing odor of mesquite-grilled meats will be incentive enough to order a juicy steak or slab of prime rib.) I asked to see some of the menu offerings for box seat holders...and saw some very enticing dishes...cacao-and-pepe pasta with roasted wild mushrooms, golden fried chicken, and platters of farmhouse cheeses and meats.
Patina chef prepares my roast beef
Patina chef prepares my roast beef sample.

I had a chance to talk to Dudamel for a moment, and he said that he was very excited about conducting a performance of Verdi's AIDA on Sunday, August 11th. Oh, yes, I will be there...since it is one of my favorite operas, so majestic and romantic. (In my lifetime I have seen at least a dozen performances of that opera, from the ruined Roman gardens in Italy- with real elephants - to the Met in New York.) We both looked out in wonder at the empty Bowl, and I told him of coming here my first week in L.A. in the early '50s and paying a buck for a seat in the very last row.) He said that he was looking forward to being a guest on opening night, June 22nd, when Steve Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Patti Austin and John Legend will also perform. We marveled at the Tchaikovsky spectacle on Friday, August 16th and Saturday, the 17th, when the fireworks erupt over the shell. We looked at each other and laughed at how good life could be!

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