Tuesday, April 30, 2013

CA-BUSINESS Summary

Still stuck on central-bank life support

LONDON (Reuters) - Five years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the world economy is in such a chronic condition that the European Central Bank might cut interest rates this week and the Federal Reserve is likely to indicate no let-up in the stimulus it is providing the U.S. economy. With the euro zone economy in recession, momentum is building for the ECB to lower interest rates for the first time since July 2012, according to senior sources involved in the deliberations.

Deutsche Bank has "zero tolerance" for tax evaders: CEO

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank has "zero tolerance" for customers seeking to evade taxes by holding assets in foreign accounts managed by the lender, Co-Chief Executive Juergen Fitschen told German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. "Tax evasion is a crime," Fitschen said in an interview. "It's unacceptable."

Japan's ANA takes its first 787 back into the air since grounding

TOKYO (Reuters) - All Nippon Airways , the Japanese launch customer for Boeing Co's 787, flew its first Dreamliner in more than three months on Sunday to test reinforced batteries installed by the U.S. aircraft maker. The ANA flight was the second by an airline since aviation regulators on Friday gave permission for 787 operations to restart after batteries on two of them overheated in mid January. One was on an ANA plane in Japan and another on a Japan Airlines jet parked at Boston's Logan airport.

U.S. Steel locks out workers at Lake Erie in Canada: union

TORONTO (Reuters) - United States Steel Corp has locked out all unionized employees at its Lake Erie works in Canada, the United Steelworkers union said on Sunday. The move, part of a contract dispute, affects nearly 1,000 workers at the Nanticoke, Ontario plant, which produced about 10 percent of U.S. Steel's raw steel output in 2012.

Abu Dhabi plans financial free zone, may resemble Dubai

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi is putting finishing touches to plans to establish a financial free zone that could resemble, and therefore compete with, the Dubai International Financial Centre, sources familiar with the matter said. A federal decree was passed by the United Arab Emirates' President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan in February to create the area, known as the Abu Dhabi World Financial Market, on Al Maryah island, the sources told Reuters.

Dell investors may still gain after Blackstone pullout: Barron's

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dell shareholders could still stand to profit even after Blackstone Group LP withdrew its bid to buy the world's No. 3 personal computer maker more than a week ago, Barron's said on Sunday. On April 19, Blackstone's move knocked Dell shares to a two-month low and narrowed the fight for Dell between activist investor Carl Icahn and the company's founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners, the newspaper said.

Analysis: China's 4G bonanza to shake up mobile gear vendor market

STOCKHOLM/PARIS (Reuters) - Chinese telecom operators will start awarding contracts for super-fast mobile networks this year, kicking off the third wave of a global investment cycle that is reshaping the competitive landscape among telecom equipment makers. China, the world's biggest mobile market with 1.1 billion subscribers, is likely to further alter the picture at the expense of European suppliers by giving a huge boost to Huawei and its smaller Chinese rival ZTE .

Italian court rejects Nomura seizure order: sources

SIENA, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian judge has rejected an order to seize around 1.8 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of assets from Nomura as part of a probe into suspected fraud involving troubled lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena , legal sources said on Saturday. Assets worth 140 million euros that were already seized from the Japanese bank have been released under the judge's ruling, which was made on Friday, the judicial source said.

Vodafone investors want bigger bid or full takeover by Verizon

LONDON (Reuters) - Six major Vodafone investors said $100 billion was not enough for the British company's stake in its U.S. joint venture with Verizon Communications , and urged the latter to come up with an offer of at least $120 billion. Their comments followed a Reuters report on Wednesday that Verizon had hired advisers to prepare a possible $100 billion bid to buy Vodafone's 45 percent stake in their Verizon Wireless joint venture, likely to be structured as a roughly 50:50 cash and stock bid.

Renault hopes to have approval for Chinese plant by summer: CEO

PARIS (Reuters) - Renault-Nissan hopes to receive final approval from Beijing by the summer to build its first Renault plant in China, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Saturday. Ghosn had said last month he expected final government approval for the plant by the end of the year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-012012257.html

black friday How long to cook a turkey green bean casserole green bean casserole recipe red dawn sweet potato pie sweet potato pie

Monday, April 29, 2013

World War II vet who provided flag at Iwo Jima dead at 90

?

AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal, File

This Feb. 23, 1945 file photo shows U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raising the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima, Japan. Alan Wood, a World War II veteran who provided the flag in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima has died. Alan Wood was 90. Wood was in charge of communications on a landing ship on Iwo Jima's shores when a Marine asked him for the biggest flag that he could find. Wood handed him a flag he had found in Pearl Harbor.

By The Associated Press

A veteran of World War II credited with providing the flag in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima has died at his Los Angeles County home. Alan Wood died of natural causes April 18 at the age of 90, his son Steven Wood announced Saturday.


Wood was a 22-year-old Navy officer in charge of communications on a landing ship on Iwo Jima's shores on Feb. 23, 1945 when a Marine asked him for the biggest flag he could find.

After five days of intense fighting to capture the Japanese-held island, U.S. forces had managed to scale Mount Suribachi to hoist an American flag. Woods happened to have a 37-square-foot flag that he had found months before in a Pearl Harbor Navy depot.

Five Marines and a Navy Corpsman raised the flag in a stirring moment captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. Steven Wood said his father was always humbled by his small role in the historic moment.

In a 1945 letter to a Marine general who asked for details about the flag, Alan Wood wrote: "The fact that there were men among us who were able to face a situation like Iwo where human life is so cheap, is something to make humble those of us who were so very fortunate not to be called upon to ensure such hell."

In a story on Wood's death, the Los Angeles Times reported that over the years others have claimed that they provided the famous Iwo Jima flag, but retired Marine Col. Dave Severance, who commanded the company that took Mount Suribachi, said in an interview last week that it was Wood.

"I have a file of more than 60 people who claim to have have something to do with the flags," Severance said from his home in La Jolla, Calif.

After the war, Wood went on to work as a technical artist and spokesman at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.

His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1985. Besides his son, Wood is survived by three grandchildren.

?

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b46191f/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C280C179572270Eworld0Ewar0Eii0Evet0Ewho0Eprovided0Eflag0Eat0Eiwo0Ejima0Edead0Eat0E90A0Dlite/story01.htm

miami heat Jarome Iginla Jessica Brown Findlay keith urban Dorothy Hamill american idol hard boiled eggs

ProBoards Upgrades Its Forum-Building Tools With A New Dashboard And Live Search

proboards logoIs it still possible to do something new with online forums? The answer is yes, according to Patrick Clinger, founder of ProBoards ? he's launching a new version of the company's forum-building software today. Clinger told me that today's launch is the company's first big update since 2008. The company was founded in 2000, and in the beginning, he said ProBoards "actually did have the best software," but he said that over the years it has been overtaken by other companies (one of the latest competitors is the recently announced startup Discourse).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ioN-GCdYLDc/

Dorothy Hamill american idol hard boiled eggs

Obama Yuks It Up With Celebrities At The White House Correspondent?s Dinner (VIDEO)

Obama Yuks It Up With Celebrities At The White House Correspondent’s Dinner (VIDEO)

Obama with bangs photoPresident Barack Obama made fun of his critics, the media, and himself during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday. The event was filled with celebrities as Obama joked about not being the “strapping Muslim socialist” he used to be these days. The president slammed Republicans for not working with him on policy ...

Obama Yuks It Up With Celebrities At The White House Correspondent’s Dinner (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/obama-yuks-it-up-with-celebrities-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-video/

rick warren Final Four 2013 final four Ray J I Hit It First Rick Pitino Spike Albrecht NCAA Championship Game

Nextly Flips Through Websites Like TV Channels

If RSS stresses you out, or you're just looking for a new way to follow sites in the wake of Google Reader's demise, Nextly offers a more casual, TV-like interface to flip through all of the articles on your favorite sites.

Nextly could best be compared to a less pretty, but more efficient version of Flipboard. Once you log in to Nextly, you can browse through the posts and links that your friends have shared on Facebook and Twitter by tapping the right arrow key. Nextly also offers a ton of websites (including this one) from a variety of categories, and allows you to scroll through all of their articles with the same interface. Like RSS, you can scroll through every article posted to the sites, but by forgoing an unread count, I find the reading experience much more relaxing. Full article pages load up seemingly instantly with each tap of the right arrow key, so you can sift through a ton of content quickly until you find something you want to read.

Nextly isn't without its flaws though. Most notably, you can't add your own favorite sites, so this isn't going to completely replace your newsreader. However, it will load up full articles linked in your Twitter feed, so you could make a Twitter list with any sites that aren't included by default in Nextly. The service is also web-only for now, so it's a desktop-only experience. Despite these limitations, Nextly is a cool take on what a post-Google Reader world could look like, and worth checking out if you're jumping off the RSS train.

Nextly (Free) | Via MakeUseOf

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ly3SwzD_iJs/nextly-flips-through-websites-like-tv-channels-478914530

janoris jenkins john edwards trial brandon weeden felicia day nfl 2012 draft miami dolphins buffalo bills

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Military grooms new officers for war in cyberspace

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) ? The U.S. service academies are ramping up efforts to groom a new breed of cyberspace warriors to confront increasing threats to the nation's military and civilian computer networks that control everything from electrical power grids to the banking system.

Students at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies are taking more courses and participating in elaborate cyberwarfare exercises as the military educates a generation of future commanders in the theory and practice of computer warfare.

The academies have been training cadets in cyber for more than a decade. But the effort has taken on new urgency amid warnings that hostile nations or organizations might be capable of crippling attacks on critical networks.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, called cyberattack the top threat to national security when he presented the annual Worldwide Threat Assessment to Congress this month. "Threats are more diverse, interconnected, and viral than at any time in history," his report stated. "Destruction can be invisible, latent, and progressive."

China-based hackers have long been accused of cyber intrusions, and earlier this year the cybersecurity firm Mandiant released a report with new details allegedly linking a secret Chinese military unit to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. This year, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post all reported breaches in their computer systems and said they suspected Chinese hackers. China denies carrying out cyberattacks.

On Tuesday, hackers compromised Associated Press Twitter accounts and sent out a false tweet. AP quickly put out word that the report was false and that its accounts had been hacked. AP's accounts were shut down until the problem was corrected.

Once viewed as an obscure and even nerdy pursuit, cyber is now seen as one of the hottest fields in warfare ? "a great career field in the future," said Ryan Zacher, a junior at the Air Force Academy outside Colorado Springs, Colo., who switched from aeronautical engineering to computer science.

Last year the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., began requiring freshmen to take a semester on cybersecurity, and it is adding a second required cyber course for juniors next year.

The school offered a major in cyber operations for the first time this year to the freshman class, and 33 midshipmen, or about 3 percent of the freshmen, signed up for it. Another 79 are majoring in computer engineering, information technology or computer science, bringing majors with a computer emphasis to about 10 percent of the class.

"There's a great deal of interest, much more than we could possibly, initially, entertain," said the academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Michael Miller.

Since 2004, the Air Force Academy has offered a degree in computer science-cyberwarfare ? initially called computer science-information assurance ? that requires cadets to take courses in cryptology, information warfare and network security in addition to standard computer science. The academy is retooling a freshman computing course so that more than half its content is about cyberspace, and is looking into adding another cyber course.

"All of these cadets know that they are going to be on the front lines defending the nation in cyber," said Martin Carlisle, a computer science professor at the Air Force Academy and director of the school's Center for Cyberspace Research.

About 25 Air Force cadets will graduate this year with the computer science-cyberwarfare degree, and many will go on to advanced studies and work in their service's cyber headquarters or for U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md., the Defense Department command responsible for defensive and offensive cyberwarfare.

Almost every Army cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., takes two technology courses related to such topics as computer security and privacy. West Point also offers other cyber courses, and a computer security group meets weekly. One of the biggest cybersecurity challenges is keeping up with the head-spinning pace of change in the field.

"You know American history is pretty much the same" every year, said Lt. Col. David Raymond, who teaches a cybersecurity course. "In this domain, it's really tough to keep up with how this thing evolves."

In his congressional report, Clapper noted that the chance of a major attack by Russia, China or another nation with advanced cyber skills is remote outside a military conflict ? but that other nations or groups could launch less sophisticated cyberattacks in hopes of provoking the United States or in retaliation for U.S. actions or policies overseas. South Korea accused North Korea of mounting a cyberattack in March that shut down thousands of computers at banks and television broadcasters.

Gen. Keith Alexander, head of U.S. Cyber Command, told Congress in March the command is creating teams to carry out both offensive and defensive operations. A spokesman said the command is drawing cyber officers from the service academies, officer schools and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.

Teams from the three academies compete in events such as last week's National Security Agency Cyber Defense Exercise, in which they try to keep simulated computer networks running as an NSA "aggressor team" attacks. Teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and Merchant Marine academies also took part, along with graduate students from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and Canada's Royal Military College.

Air Force won among undergraduate schools. The Royal Military College won among graduate schools.

That hands-on experience is invaluable, said 2nd Lt. Jordan Keefer, a 2012 Air Force Academy graduate now pursuing a master's degree in cyberoperations at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

"You can't just go out there and start hacking. That's against the law," he said. The competitions, he said, "gave me actual experience defending a network, attacking a network."

Counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, noting that really high-level computer skills are rare, suggested the military might have to re-examine some of its recruiting standards to attract the most adept cyberwarriors.

"Hackers are the 1 percent, the elite and the creators," said Clarke, who served as White House cybersecurity adviser during the Clinton administration. "I wouldn't worry a whole heck of a lot (about whether they) can they run fast or lift weights."

Cyber's appeal was enough to get Keefer to put aside his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, a job with undeniable swagger. "It's a challenge, and for people who like a challenge, it's the only place to be," Keefer said.

___

Witte reported from Annapolis, Md. Associated Press Writer Michael Hill in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP. Follow Brian Witte at http://twitter.com/APBrianWitte . Follow Michael Hill at http://twitter.com/MichaelTHill

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/military-grooms-officers-war-cyberspace-083354456.html

megamillions winning numbers lotto winner jerry lee lewis winning lotto numbers lottery tickets mega lottery sag aftra

Canada train plot suspect traveled to Iran: U.S. officials

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators believe one of two suspects charged in Canada with plotting to blow up a railroad track carrying passenger trains traveled to Iran within the past two years, U.S. law enforcement and national security officials said on Thursday.

Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born doctoral student, traveled to Iran on a trip that was directly relevant to the investigation of the alleged plot, the officials said.

They declined to say precisely when Esseghaier, who appeared in court on Wednesday in Toronto, had traveled to Iran, whether he had gone there more than once, or whom he was in contact with while there.

When they announced the arrest of Esseghaier and his alleged co-conspirator, Raed Jaser, this week, Canadian police said the two men had received "direction and guidance" in the plot from "al Qaeda elements in Iran."

U.S. national security sources close to the investigation said that was a reference to a network of low- to middle-level al Qaeda fixers and "facilitators" based in the town of Zahedan, close to Iran's borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, that moves money and fighters through Iran to support its activities in South Asia.

Canadian police say there is no sign of Iranian government involvement with the suspects.

Neither Canadian nor U.S. officials have said precisely what interactions they believe Esseghaier or his co-defendant engaged in with the alleged al Qaeda network in Iran. Canadian officials have disclosed only minimal details of the alleged Iran connection in public statements.

Esseghaier and Jaser were arrested on Monday after a joint Canada-U.S. investigation that started last year, based on a tip from a member of the Muslim community.

The pair are charged with plotting to derail a passenger train. U.S. officials said the suspects discussed blowing up a trestle on the railway line carrying daily Amtrak trains between Toronto and New York City shortly before the train was scheduled to pass over the track, thus derailing it.

Esseghaier, 30, has been a doctoral student since 2010 at the INRS institute near Montreal where he is researching the use of nanotechnology to detect cancer and other diseases. In his court appearance, he disputed the authority of Canadian law to judge him, saying the criminal code was not a holy book.

The lawyer for Jaser, 35, said he denied the charges against him and would fight them vigorously.

U.S. law enforcement and national security officials said U.S. and Canadian agencies were investigating whether the suspects had accomplices in the United States or Canada.

One official said there was "another shoe to drop" in the case. Canada's National Post newspaper reported on Thursday that the FBI was holding a third man in New York.

A spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said his service was not granting interviews about the case. The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-train-plot-suspect-traveled-iran-u-officials-211533676.html

mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid 2012 ncaa tournament bracket matterhorn chris harrison

New excavations in Sweden indicate use of fertilizers 5,000 years ago

Apr. 26, 2013 ? Researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have spent many years studying the remains of a Stone Age community in Karleby outside the town of Falk?ping, Sweden. The researchers have for example tried to identify parts of the inhabitants' diet. Right now they are looking for evidence that fertilisers were used already during the Scandinavian Stone Age, and the results of their first analyses may be exactly what they are looking for.

Using remains of grains and other plants and some highly advanced analysis techniques, the two researchers and archaeologists Tony Axelsson and Karl-G?ran Sj?gren have been able to identify parts of the diet of their Stone Age ancestors.

'Our first task was to find so-called macrofossils, such as old weed seeds or pieces of grain. By analysing macrofossils, we can learn a lot about Stone Age farming and how important farming was in relation to livestock ranching,' says Axelsson.

Another aim has been to collect animal bone material -- or simply 5,000 year old food remains. The researchers know that pieces of bones from cattle, pigs and sheep can be found at the site.

'By studying the levels of isotopes in the bones, we can for example find out where the animals were raised, which in turn can give important information about their role in trade,' says Sj?gren.

The results of the first grain analyses have now been presented, and besides revealing that both barley and wheat were farmed at the site, they point to elevated levels of the isotope N15 (nitrogen 15). The elevated levels may indicate that fertilisers were used in the area of Karleby already 5,000 years ago.

'We will continue our analyses both in the field and in the lab, and are hoping to find more macrofossils. Hopefully we'll find some weed seeds, as they may help confirm that fertilisers were indeed used since the type of weeds found in a field can signal whether fertilisers or some other method was used,' says Axelsson.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Gothenburg.

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


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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/ogiJ5EtLo7Q/130426114853.htm

Colorado Springs Nora Ephron mario balotelli mario balotelli espn3

AdvSecret.com Personal Image vs. Personal Growth | AdvSecret.com

By Maria Bennett

Is there a difference between being self obsessed and striving to reach self improvement? Obviously, the difference exists and it is huge, as the self-obsessed people make unethical selfish actions that could harm other people. It is necessary to learn more about where the limits are and how to not become unpopular with everyone who knows us.

Having a high level of self confident all the time is a dream to many people, who do not feel confident in some situations. There are, however, people whose nervous systems seem so healthy that they never worry about what they say or how they act. These people are remarkable and other people admire them. What most of us may do not know is that we also may reach that kind of high self esteem and confidence with some efforts directed on ourselves.

Self confidence and personal growth is something that everyone can attain. Just keep in mind that old Freud?s theories do not work any longer and one will not be able to live happy life if blaming someone else for mishaps. On the other hand, phsyco therapy that was the only option a few years ago, is currently also considered to be inefficient. People no longer want to live with their past in order to move ahead. There are other much more effective options that I personally tried and can confidently recommend. Such are meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, neuro linguistic programs, marathon running, and personal coaching. You can choose whether to do them by yourself or hire a tutor, who will lead you in a personal growth progress.

It does certainly vary at what age people are when the dire need for a self improvment program kicks in. Often this starts during the teenage years, sometimes much later, or perhaps this is what the so-called midlife crisis is about. It does not matter when, but what does matter is that people do something about it. That is, take some action before it becomes too late. It must be rather dreadful to have reached 97 years of age and still struggle with low self esteem. It is not necessary. What I do think is necessary, is to consider the boarderline between self obsession, self admiration and a healthy personal growth.

The world has changed a lot during the past century. It was impossible for people 5 centuries ago to have self portraits unless they were kings or queens, as only they could afford expensive work of painters. Today, the iPhone- self-portrait-camera helps us take a photo of ourselves in a few seconds and show it to the entire world through Facebook or another social media site. But is this what we call healthy self esteem?

For more information about how to realize your dreams, check out the Mind Reality. I?m sure you?ll like it!


Source: http://www.advsecret.com/personal-image-vs-personal-growth/

the line us soccer bobby brown arrested the happening black panthers mauritania obama open mic

Physicists, biologists unite to expose how cancer spreads

Apr. 26, 2013 ? Cancer cells that can break out of a tumor and invade other organs are more aggressive and nimble than nonmalignant cells, according to a new multi-institutional nationwide study. These cells exert greater force on their environment and can more easily maneuver small spaces.

The researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports that a systematic comparison of metastatic breast-cancer cells to healthy breast cells revealed dramatic differences between the two cell lines in their mechanics, migration, oxygen response, protein production and ability to stick to surfaces. The researchers discovered new insights into how cells make the transition from nonmalignant to metastatic, a process that is not well understood.

The resulting catalogue of differences could someday help researchers detect cancerous cells earlier and someday prevent or treat metastatic cancer, which is responsible for 90 percent of all cancer deaths, according to the study. It was conducted by a network of 12 federally funded Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers (PS-OC) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. PS-OC is a collaboration of researchers in the physical and biological sciences seeking a better understanding of the physical and chemical forces that shape the emergence and behavior of cancer.

A multi-institutional study including researchers from Princeton University's Physical Sciences-Oncology Center found that metastatic cancer cells are more aggressive and nimble than nonmalignant cells. The Princeton group used silicon-etched microchannels (above) to study the behavior and physical properties of cancer cells. In this device, metastatic cancer cells enter the narrow channels at one end and accelerate as they rapidly move down the channel. Such high motility is a hallmark of metastasis and also indicative of high glucose metabolism, another hallmark of cancer. (Image by Guillaume Lambert)

"By bringing together different types of experimental expertise to systematically compare metastatic and nonmetastatic cells, we have advanced our knowledge of how metastasis occurs," said Robert Austin, professor of physics and leader of the Princeton PS-OC, along with senior co-investigator Thea Tlsty of the University of California-San Francisco.

Researchers with the Princeton PS-OC, for instance, determined that metastatic cells, in spite of moving more slowly than nonmalignant cells, move farther and in a straighter line, Austin said. The investigators studied the cells' behavior in tiny cell-sized chambers and channels etched out of silicon and designed to mimic the natural environment of the body's interior.

"The mobility of these metastatic cells is an essential feature of their ability to break through the tough membrane [the extracellular matrix] that the body uses to wall off the tumor from the rest of the body," Austin said. "These cells are essentially jail-breakers."

The tiny silicon chambers were built using Princeton's expertise in microfabrication technology -- typically used to create small technologies such as integrated circuits and solar cells -- and are an example of the type of expertise that physicists and engineers can bring to cancer research, Austin said. For the current study, the Princeton team included physics graduate students David Liao and Guillaume Lambert, and postdoctoral researchers Liyu Liu and Saurabh Vyawahare. They worked closely with a research group led by James Sturm, Princeton's William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and director of the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) where the microfabrication was done.

The Princeton PS-OC also includes collaborators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California-Santa Cruz.

The nationwide PS-OC program aims to crack the difficulty of understanding and treating cancer by bringing in researchers from physics, engineering, computer science and chemistry, said Nastaran Zahir Kuhn, program manager for the PS-OC at the National Cancer Institute.

Other notable findings from the paper include that metastatic cells recover more rapidly from the stress of a low-oxygen environment than nonmetastatic cells, which is consistent with previous studies. Although the low-oxygen environment did kill many of the metastatic cells, the survivors rebounded vigorously, underscoring the likely role of individual cells in the spread of cancer. The study also looked at total protein production and detected proteins in the metastatic cells that are consistent with the physical properties such as mobility that malignant cells need to invade the extracellular matrix.

"The PS-OC program aims to bring physical sciences tools and perspectives into cancer research," Kuhn said. "The results of this study demonstrate the utility of such an approach, particularly when studies are conducted in a standardized manner from the beginning."

For the nationwide project, nearly 100 investigators from 20 institutions and laboratories conducted their experiments using the same two cell lines, reagents and protocols to assure that results could be compared. The experimental methods ranged from physical measurements of how the cells push on surrounding cells to measurements of gene and protein expression.

"Roughly 20 techniques were used to study the cell lines, enabling identification of a number of unique relationships between observations," Kuhn said.

For example, a technique known as atomic force microscopy indicated that metastatic cells are softer than nonmalignant cells whereas a different technique, traction force microscopy, suggested that metastatic cells exert more force on their surroundings, Kuhn said. Together these two findings may indicate that metastatic cells can exert force to stick to, migrate on and remodel the tough extracellular matrix that surrounds the tumor, while remaining flexible enough to squeeze through small spaces in that membrane.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Princeton University. The original article was written by Catherine Zandonella.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. David B. Agus, Jenolyn F. Alexander, Wadih Arap, Shashanka Ashili, Joseph E. Aslan, Robert H. Austin, Vadim Backman, Kelly J. Bethel, Richard Bonneau, Wei-Chiang Chen, Chira Chen-Tanyolac, Nathan C. Choi, Steven A. Curley, Matthew Dallas, Dhwanil Damania, Paul C. W. Davies, Paolo Decuzzi, Laura Dickinson, Luis Estevez-Salmeron, Veronica Estrella, Mauro Ferrari, Claudia Fischbach, Jasmine Foo, Stephanie I. Fraley, Christian Frantz, Alexander Fuhrmann, Philippe Gascard, Robert A. Gatenby, Yue Geng, Sharon Gerecht, Robert J. Gillies, Biana Godin, William M. Grady, Alex Greenfield, Courtney Hemphill, Barbara L. Hempstead, Abigail Hielscher, W. Daniel Hillis, Eric C. Holland, Arig Ibrahim-Hashim, Tyler Jacks, Roger H. Johnson, Ahyoung Joo, Jonathan E. Katz, Laimonas Kelbauskas, Carl Kesselman, Michael R. King, Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, Casey M. Kraning-Rush, Peter Kuhn, Kevin Kung, Brian Kwee, Johnathon N. Lakins, Guillaume Lambert, David Liao, Jonathan D. Licht, Jan T. Liphardt, Liyu Liu, Mark C. Lloyd, Anna Lyubimova, Parag Mallick, John Marko, Owen J. T. McCarty, Deirdre R. Meldrum, Franziska Michor, Shannon M. Mumenthaler, Vivek Nandakumar, Thomas V. O?Halloran, Steve Oh, Renata Pasqualini, Matthew J. Paszek, Kevin G. Philips, Christopher S. Poultney, Kuldeepsinh Rana, Cynthia A. Reinhart-King, Robert Ros, Gregg L. Semenza, Patti Senechal, Michael L. Shuler, Srimeenakshi Srinivasan, Jack R. Staunton, Yolanda Stypula, Hariharan Subramanian, Thea D. Tlsty, Garth W. Tormoen, Yiider Tseng, Alexander van Oudenaarden, Scott S. Verbridge, Jenny C. Wan, Valerie M. Weaver, Jonathan Widom, Christine Will, Denis Wirtz, Jonathan Wojtkowiak, Pei-Hsun Wu. A physical sciences network characterization of non-tumorigenic and metastatic cells. Scientific Reports, 2013; 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01449

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/fvNmb0CGB6A/130426152558.htm

jay z Oscar Pistorius Carnival Triumph charles barkley valentines valentines day George Ferris

Friday, April 26, 2013

Boston suspects had 'spontaneous' bomb plan for NYC

By Edith Honan and Mark Hosenball

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two brothers suspected of carrying out last week's deadly Boston Marathon bombing decided, after the FBI released photos of them, to drive to Manhattan and detonate more explosives in Times Square, New York City officials said on Thursday.

Their plan unraveled when they realized a Mercedes sport utility vehicle they had hijacked on April 18, three days after the Boston bombing, did not have enough gasoline for the journey, said New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

New York has been on heightened alert since the September 11, plane hijackings in 2001 destroyed the World Trade Center and officials said the plan by the Boston bombing suspects, ethnic Chechens Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, showed America's most populous city remained a magnet for attackers.

Manhattan's Times Square was the target of an attempted car bombing by a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen in May 2010.

In the sharpest criticism of President Barack Obama's security policies since the blasts, a Republican senator said the Boston bombing, which killed three people and wounded 264, illustrated a "broken" national security system.

This week, lawmakers demanded answers about what the U.S. government knew about the suspects before the bombing, especially Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who Russia had asked the FBI to question in 2011 over concerns he may have been a radical Islamist. He died on Friday in a shootout with police.

The surviving brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is recovering from wounds in a Boston hospital since he was captured on Friday night and told investigators of the alleged Times Square plan.

"Questioning of Dzhokhar revealed that he and his brother decided spontaneously on Times Square as a target," Kelly told a news conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "They would drive to Times Square that same night.

"That plan, however, fell apart when they realized that the vehicle that they hijacked was low on gas and ordered the driver to stop at a nearby gas station," Kelly said.

At the time, the men still had six explosive devices, including a pressure-cooker bomb of the type used at the marathon and six pipe bombs, he said.

When they stopped to refuel, the driver of the vehicle escaped, Kelly said. The driver alerted authorities and set off a late-night chase and shootout in suburban Watertown, where police say the suspects threw improvised explosives at officers. Hours earlier, the brothers had shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer in Cambridge, authorities said.

Earlier on April 18, the FBI released photos and video of the at the scene of the Boston bombing.

One Republican congressman said investigators have identified "persons of interest" in the United States to whom they would like to speak, some of them because of calls made from Tamerlan Tsarnaev's cell phone.

"There are also persons of interest here that we would like to more fully understand," said Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. "Their relationship and what role, if any, they may have played in that whole radicalization process. They are just still persons of interest, so they are not named."

Rogers also said investigators want to learn more about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's 2012 visit to Russia.

PARENTS SAY SONS INNOCENT

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was formally charged on Monday in the hospital with crimes that could carry the death penalty.

His lawyer, Miriam Conrad, declined to comment on whether her client was still talking with investigators.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for holding and transporting suspects outside of prison, declined to comment on whether or when Tsarnaev might be moved from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The brothers' father said he planned to travel to the United States from Russia to bury his older son, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

"I am going to the United States. I want to say that I am going there to see my son, to bury the older one. I don't have any bad intentions. I don't plan to blow up anything," Anzor Tsarnaev told reporters in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's Dagestan region.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said investigators might be interested in speaking to the parents.

"There are a lot of questions unanswered about the whys and the hows, and anybody who may be able to shed some light on that is of interest to law enforcement," Patrick said.

Anzor Tsarnaev's former wife, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, angrily denied that her son had any role in the attack and criticized police for shooting him while apprehending him.

Tsarnaeva does not plan to accompany her former husband on his trip. One factor that may have influenced her decision is an outstanding arrest warrant for her in Massachusetts.

A warrant for Zubeidat Tsarnaeva's arrest was issued on October 25 after she failed to make a court appearance on shoplifting-related charges, according to Natick District Court Clerk Brian Kearney.

'WITCH HUNT'

In Washington, the focus remained on intelligence leading up to the Boston Marathon bombing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been on a federal database of potential terrorism suspects and the United States had twice been warned about him by Russian authorities. Congressional testimony this week focused on whether the FBI made mistakes in tracking him.

"We're in the post-event witch-hunt phase, which is predictable," said James Clapper, director of national intelligence, at a conference in Crystal City, Virginia. "I think it would be a real good idea to not hyperventilate for a while now until we actually get all the facts."

Nonetheless, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham blamed the administration for failing to stop the attack.

"I just know the system is broken. The ultimate blame I think is with the administration," the South Carolina senator told reporters, linking the bombings with last year's killing of a U.S. diplomat during an attack on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

"Between Benghazi and Boston, to me we're going backwards, not forward, in terms of national security," Graham said.

(Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Aaron Pressman, Ross Kerber in Boston, Deborah Charles in Crystal City, Virginia, Alissa de Carbonnel in Makhachkala, Russia, and Atossa Araxia Abrahamian in New York; Writing by Scott Malone and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Mary Milliken and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-suspects-had-spontaneous-bomb-plan-york-013726316--sector.html

megamillions winner kansas jayhawks mega millions results susan powell lotto numbers megamillions winners university of louisville

NASA video shows 3 years of the Sun?s activity in 3 minutes

(Adds later picks) NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Selections in the first roundof the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday (picknumber, NFL team, player, position, college): 1-Kansas City, Eric Fisher, offensive tackle, Central Michigan 2-Jacksonville, Luke Joeckel, offensive tackle, Texas A&M 3-Miami (from Oakland), Dion Jordan, defensive tackle, Oregon 4-Philadelphia, Lane Johnson, offensive tackle, Oklahoma 5-Detroit, Ezekiel Ansah, defensive end, Brigham Young 6-Cleveland, Barkevious Mingo, linebacker, LSU 7-Arizona, Jonathan Cooper, guard, North Carolina 8-St. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/nasa-video-shows-3-years-sun-activity-3-003654420.html

michael jordan

Bill to end airport delays headed for House vote

A United Airlines jet departs in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Seattle. A day after flight delays plagued much of the U.S., air travel is smoother Tuesday. But the government is warning passengers that the situation can change by the hour as it runs the nation's air traffic control system with a smaller staff. Airlines and members of Congress urged the Federal Aviation Administration to find other ways to make mandatory budget cuts besides furloughing controllers. While delays haven't been terrible yet, the airlines are worried about the long-term impact late flights will have on their budgets and on fliers. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A United Airlines jet departs in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Seattle. A day after flight delays plagued much of the U.S., air travel is smoother Tuesday. But the government is warning passengers that the situation can change by the hour as it runs the nation's air traffic control system with a smaller staff. Airlines and members of Congress urged the Federal Aviation Administration to find other ways to make mandatory budget cuts besides furloughing controllers. While delays haven't been terrible yet, the airlines are worried about the long-term impact late flights will have on their budgets and on fliers. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP) ? Legislation to end furloughs of air traffic controllers and delays for millions of travelers is headed to a House vote after a dark-of-night vote in the Senate that took place after most lawmakers had left the Capitol for a weeklong vacation.

The bill passed late Thursday without even a roll call vote, and House officials indicated it likely would be brought up for quick approval there.

Under the legislation, the Federal Aviation Administration would gain authority to transfer up to $253 million from accounts that are flush into other programs, to "prevent reduced operations and staffing" through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

In addition to restoring full staffing by controllers, Senate officials said the available funds should be ample enough to prevent the closure of small airport towers around the country. The FAA has said it will shut the facilities as it makes its share of $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts ? known as the sequester ? that took effect last month at numerous government agencies.

The Senate acted as the FAA said there had been at least 863 flights delayed on Wednesday "attributable to staffing reductions resulting from the furlough."

Administration officials participated in the negotiations that led to the deal and evidently registered no objections.

After the vote, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, "It will be good news for America's traveling public if Congress spares them these unnecessary delays. But ultimately, this is no more than a temporary Band-Aid that fails to address the overarching threat to our economy posed by the sequester's mindless, across-the-board cuts."

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a key participant in the talks, said the legislation would "prevent what otherwise would have been intolerable delays in the air travel system, inconveniencing travelers and hurting the economy."

Senate approval followed several hours of pressure-filled, closed-door negotiations, and came after most senators had departed the Capitol on the assumption that the talks had fallen short.

Officials said a small group of senators insisted on a last-ditch effort at an agreement before Congress adjourned for a vacation that could have become politically problematic if the flight delays continued.

"I want to do it right now. There are other senators you'd have to ask what the hang-up is," Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said at a point when it appeared no compromise would emerge.

For the White House and Senate Democrats, the discussions on legislation relating to one relatively small slice of the $85 billion in spending cuts marked a shift in position in a long-running struggle with Republicans over budget issues. Similarly, the turn of events marked at least modest vindication of a decision by the House GOP last winter to finesse some budget struggles in order to focus public attention on the across-the-board cuts in hopes they would gain leverage over President Barack Obama.

The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union that represents FAA employees, reported a number of incidents it said were due to the furloughs.

In one case, it said several flights headed for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York were diverted on Wednesday when a piece of equipment failed. "While the policy for this equipment is immediate restoral, due to sequestration and furloughs it was changed to next-day restoral," the union said.

It added it was "learning of additional impacts nationwide, including open watches, increased restoration times, delays resulting from insufficient funding for parts and equipment, modernization delays, missed or deferred preventative maintenance, and reduced redundancy."

The airlines, too, were pressing Congress to restore the FAA to full staffing.

In an interview Wednesday, Robert Isom, chief operations officer of US Airways, likened the furloughs to a "wildcat regulatory action."

He added, "In the airline business, you try to eliminate uncertainty. Some factors you can't control, like weather. It (the FAA issue) is worse than the weather."

In a shift, first the White House and then senior Democratic lawmakers have signaled a willingness in the past two days to support legislation that alleviates the budget crunch at the FAA, while leaving the balance of the $85 billion to remain in effect.

Obama favors a comprehensive agreement that replaces the entire $85 billion in across-the-board cuts as part of a broader deficit-reduction deal that includes higher taxes and spending cuts.

One Senate Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, noted that without the type of comprehensive deficit deal that Obama favors, a bill that eases the spending crunch at the FAA would inevitably be followed by other single-issue measures. She listed funding at the National Institutes of Health as one example, and cuts that cause furloughs of civilians who work at military hospitals as a second.

At the same time, Democratic aides said resolve had crumbled under the weight of widespread delays for the traveling public and pressure from the airlines.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., involved in the discussions, said the issue was big enough so "most people want to find a solution as long as it doesn't spend any more money."

Officials estimate it would cost slightly more than $200 million to restore air traffic controllers to full staffing, and an additional $50 million to keep open smaller air traffic towers around the country that the FAA has proposed closing.

Across the Capitol, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said, "We're willing to look at what the Senate's going to propose."

He said he believes the FAA has the authority it needs under existing law to shift funds and end the furloughs of air traffic controllers, and any legislation should be "very, very limited" and direct the agency to use the flexibility it already has.

In a reflection of the political undercurrents, another House Republican, Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma, said FAA employees "are being used as pawns by this (Obama) administration to be able to implement the maximum amount of pain on the American people when it does not have to be this way."

The White House and congressional Democrats vociferously dispute such claims.

___

Associated Press writers Joan Lowy, Henry C. Jackson and Alan Fram in Washington and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-26-FAA-Furloughs/id-31f5cfc18c8842d9bcc48dd3964abe25

earthquake bay area deron williams clear channel

Hormone levels and sexual motivation among young women

Apr. 25, 2013 ? Feeling frisky? If so, chances are greater your estrogen level -- and, perhaps, fertility -- are hitting their monthly peak. If not, you're more likely experiencing a profusion of desire-deadening progesterone, and the less fertile time in your cycle. Oh, the power of hormones.

Researchers have long suspected a correlation between hormone levels and libido, but now scientists at UC Santa Barbara, led by James Roney, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, have actually demonstrated hormonal predictors for sexual desire. Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal Hormones and Behavior.

"We found two hormonal signals that had opposite effects on sexual motivation," said Roney, the article's lead author. "Estrogen was having a positive effect, but with a two-day lag. Progesterone was having a persistent negative effect, both for current day, day before, and two days earlier." When hormone levels and sexual desire were factored against the menstrual cycles of test subjects -- in this case, undergraduate students -- the researchers saw a measurable increase in progesterone levels at the same time the subjects noted decreases in sexual motivation. Progesterone, the researchers say, is mediating this drop in desire from the fertile window to the luteal phase -- the second half of the menstrual cycle.

"Progesterone acting as a potential stop signal within cycles is a novel finding in humans," noted Roney. "We know in rhesus monkeys there is a strong negative correlation with progesterone and a positive correlation with estrogen. The patterns are actually comparable to what you see in non-human primates, but hadn't been shown in humans."

The researchers' findings have potential implications on the treatment of low sexual desire and how hormone replacement trials are done. "We're not controlling hormones the way they do in the hormone replacement literature, so, in a sense, that literature is more directly applicable in terms of medical applications," said Roney. "But in the long run, it would be good to have a model of the combination of signals that operates in the natural cycle. The way hormone replacement trials are done now, there's no model of the natural signals, so they're sort of random -- let's give estrogen, let's give testosterone, let's combine them this way or that way."

Roney noted that his findings don't present a full model, and he'd like to replicate his results with women of different age groups. "Undergraduates might be unique for a lot of reasons," he said. "Their hormone levels tend to be a bit different from those of women even just a little bit older. And married women in their 30's are likely to be more consistently sexually active, and that might change the patterns in some ways. They also tend to have higher hormone secretion and more regular cycles than younger women," he said

Eventually, Roney continued, the goal would be to have a better model of the signals in a natural cycle that might then inform medical research.

Another interesting finding, according to Roney, was the impact -- or lack thereof -- of testosterone on the women's sexual motivation. "There's a common belief in the medical literature that testosterone is the main regulator of women's libido," he explained. "Doctors tend to believe that, though the evidence isn't that strong in humans. In the natural cycles, we weren't finding effects of testosterone. It wasn't significantly predicting outcomes."

Roney doesn't deny that testosterone does seem to have a positive effect in hormone replacement therapy, but suggests the effects may be pharmacological. "Testosterone has those effects if you inject it externally in women who are menopausal, and there are a lot of reasons that might be the case," he said. "For example, testosterone can be converted to estrogen through a particular enzyme. If you inject menopausal women with testosterone, it might be acting as a device that's delivering estrogen to the target cells. So the fact that it works doesn't necessarily mean it's an important signal in the natural cycle."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. James R. Roney, Zachary L. Simmons. Hormonal predictors of sexual motivation in natural menstrual cycles. Hormones and Behavior, 2013; 63 (4): 636 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.02.013

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/jAs8e-hNVtU/130425160214.htm

Jason London rick ross yahoo finance iOS 6.1 BlackBerry Kwame Harris Vine

Internet sales tax embraced by no-tax Republicans

WASHINGTON (AP) ? You don't see this very often: a majority of Senate Republicans voting to make people who buy stuff on the Internet pay state and local sales taxes.

Anti-tax guru Grover Norquist isn't happy about it and the conservative Heritage Foundation is questioning the senators' conservative credentials. But the issue of taxing Internet sales is getting strong support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

The Senate could vote as early as Thursday on a bill to empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. Under the bill, the sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.

On Wednesday, the bill passed a test vote in the Senate, 74 to 23, with 27 Republicans voting in favor. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed to pass the bill this week, before senators leave for a scheduled vacation.

"This is a matter of equity and fairness," said South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican. "The same people who are selling the same products should be paying the same taxes."

Under current law, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state. As a result, many online sales are essentially tax-free, giving Internet retailers an advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.

It is part of GOP orthodoxy to oppose higher taxes, a central issue that divides Democrats and Republicans. That's why the bill faces an uncertain fate in the House, where some Republicans regard it as a tax increase.

But supporters of the bill insist it is not a tax increase. Instead, they say, the bill merely provides states with a mechanism to enforce current taxes.

"This bill has nothing to do with imposing any kind of new tax or revenue generator," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. "What this law does is allow states that already have laws on the books to carry out the implementation of those" laws.

In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales taxes when they file their state income tax returns. In South Dakota, which has no state income tax, taxpayers are supposed to pay a use tax on out-of-state purchases. But Daugaard said the law is widely ignored.

"The difficulty is consumers don't understand the law," Daugaard said. "I think that's true in many other states as well."

Supporters say the bill is about fairness for businesses and lost revenue for states. Opponents say it would impose complicated regulations on retailers and doesn't have enough protections for small businesses. Businesses with less than $1 million a year in online sales would be exempt.

Many of the nation's governors ? Republicans and Democrats ? have been lobbying the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales.

The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the U.S. totaled $226 billion, up nearly 16 percent from the previous year, according to Commerce Department estimates.

The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that states lost $23 billion last year because they couldn't collect taxes on out-of-state sales.

Daugaard estimates that South Dakota loses $48 million to $58 million a year, important revenue for a state that doesn't have an income tax.

The main opposition in the Senate is coming from three states that have no sales taxes: New Hampshire, Montana and Oregon. Delaware doesn't have a sales tax, either, but both Delaware senators have voted to advance the bill.

"We don't like the idea of other states auditing our businesses," said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. "They don't like the idea of being subject to both bureaucrats and potential legal action."

Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, says the bill is about "money-hungry state legislators."

"This is a dangerous road to travel, and sets precedent for further expansions of state-level tax collection authority," Norquist says in a letter to supporters. "Take action now to urge your senators to oppose an Internet sales tax scheme that lets liberal states like California and Illinois tax across their borders!"

The Heritage Foundation says that "real conservatives" oppose the bill and that it would hurt online commerce, force small businesses to jump through new bureaucratic hoops and erode state sovereignty.

But Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, a former Tennessee governor, said the bill enhances states' rights because it gives states the authority to enforce their tax laws.

"Tennessee wants to avoid a state income tax and treat businesses fairly in the marketplace, and it shouldn't have to play 'Mother, May I?' with the federal government to do so," Alexander said.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/internet-sales-tax-embraced-no-tax-republicans-071018037--finance.html

taylor allderdice vincent jackson vicki gunvalson pierre garcon brown recluse spider wiz khalifa taylor allderdice eddie royal

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Sprint's Q1 2013 iPhone Sales Show Flat Growth, Off The Pace Worldwide And At Home

iphone5(2)Sprint's Q1 2013 financial results came out this morning, and the news wasn't great overall. Losses continue to accumulate, and total smartphone sales aren't faring very well, either, with just 5 million units sold in total. The iPhone, after achieving a record high of 2.2 million handsets sold on Sprint's network last quarter, dropped back down to 1.5 million, the same number Sprint saw in the three quarters preceding Q4 2012.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mG2Vh-rdP9g/

Richard Mourdock d t p zynga Tropical Storm Sandy W

Much Ado About Nothing Trailer: Watch Now!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/much-ado-about-nothing-trailer-watch-now/

match play championship the national enquirer marie colvin cm punk cm punk

UK experts: Cosmetic surgery needs tighter rules

LONDON (AP) ? A group of independent experts has slammed Britain's cosmetic surgery industry for not protecting patients adequately and is calling for stricter controls in the aftermath of a breast implant scandal in Europe last year that left tens of thousands of women with cheap silicone implants prone to ruptures. A top British health official, meanwhile, signaled support for their recommendations.

In a review of how cosmetic procedures are regulated, the group said all skin fillers should be available by prescription only and that all practitioners ? from surgeons to aestheticians who inject Botox ? must be properly qualified. The expert group, commissioned by the U.K. Department of Health, also called for the creation of a registry of implants and other medical devices and an ombudsman for private health care, among other suggestions.

The recommendations were released in a report on Wednesday.

The British government has previously rejected calls to oversee cosmetic procedures and the industry is largely self-regulated. There are few rules on who is allowed to perform a non-surgical cosmetic intervention.

"Anyone can give you a (skin) filler anytime, anywhere," said Bruce Keogh, medical director of the National Health Service, who led the review. "This is a bizarre situation."

During an embargoed press briefing on Monday, Keogh said the commercialization of the industry has led to some questionable claims about the efficacy of certain procedures.

"This is a pretty data-free zone," Keogh said.

In the report, Keogh and others wrote that a person having a non-surgical procedure such as a Botox injection "has no more protection and redress than someone buying a ballpoint pen."

They noted that the cosmetic interventions sector has grown by 300 percent in the last five years and that the use of procedures such as injecting substances to smooth out the skin make up 75 percent of the market. "It is our view that dermal fillers are a crisis waiting to happen," the report concluded. Side effects from skin fillers can include scarring, infection and even blindness.

Catherine Kydd, a Briton who received faulty breast implants, said stricter ethical policies should be in place for those who perform cosmetic surgeries and procedures.

"When you see a surgeon, you shouldn't be seeing a salesman," she said.

Regulations on cosmetic interventions in the U.K. are more lax than elsewhere. In Denmark, anyone carrying out cosmetic interventions must be registered with a national health board. When standards are breached, the board can suspend a clinic's operations, impose fines, strike professionals off the register and refer cases to the police. There is no such system in the U.K.

Keogh noted there are about 190 different types of skin fillers available in Europe versus only 14 approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In a statement, Dr. Dan Poulter, a senior minister in the Department of Health, said it was time for the government to step in. "There is a significant risk of people falling into the hands of cowboy firms or individuals or individuals whose only aim is to make a quick profit," he said.

Poulter said the government would respond to the report in detail in the summer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-experts-cosmetic-surgery-needs-tighter-rules-024449117.html

spice girls justin theroux Bumbo recall USA Basketball taio cruz taio cruz Winter Olympics 2014

50 things you might not know about Nature Chemistry : The ...

On Monday I realized that our May 2013 issue is our 50th issue. To celebrate, we have compiled 50 (hopefully) interesting tidbits of information about the journal that you might not have been aware of. Apologies for the length of this post, but it seemed like cheating to do fewer than 50?

1. The first formal manuscript submission (i.e., made through our online submission system rather than being e-mailed to us before that went live) arrived on the 25th July 2008. It was sent out to three referees and was then, alas, declined for publication on the 5th September 2008.

2. The first Nature Chemistry research Article was published on February 22nd 2009. The corresponding author was Makoto Fujita and the paper was entitled: Minimal nucleotide duplex formation in water through enclathration in self-assembled hosts. According to Web of Science, as of today it has been cited 62 times.

3. We published 471 research Articles (not including review-type articles) in the first 50 issues of Nature Chemistry. On average, that?s just under 9-and-a-half papers per issue.

4. As of today, according to Web of Science our most cited research Article (in fact, our most-cited piece of content bar none) is this paper: New insights into the structure and reduction of graphite oxide by Pulickel Ajayan and co-workers. It has currently been cited 390 times. It was handled by Anne, who is very smug about this!

5. The first 50 issues piled on top of one another reaches the dizzying height of roughly 25 cm. This seems disappointingly small.

6. We spell ?sulfur? with an ?f? and here?s an Editorial explaining why.

7. While we are on the subject of spelling, I?m going to point out that we use Oxford English spelling. So, for all of you wondering why we put ?z?s in lots of words that you don?t think we should, hopefully that answers your question. Quite a few authors have pointed out what they think are spelling mistakes to us. We do occasionally make mistakes, but using ?ize? words is not one of them.

8. The f-word made its debut in Nature Chemistry in the August 2012 Blogroll column written by Paul Bracher. It?s all DrRubidium?s fault? Paul blogged about the experience here. The editorial team discussed if we should go ahead and use the word in all its glory and we decided we would (it wasn?t a unanimous decision). But it?s OK, it is in the Oxford English dictionary after all.

9. Every time Michelle Francl sends me a new Thesis article to edit, I have to look something up in the dictionary. Which is great! The two most recent examples were ?hermeneutic? and ?sequelae??

10. Four of the five original editorial team members are pretty big football fans (the one with the round ball for all you North Americans, you know, the one where a ?ball? is kicked with a ?foot? for the vast majority of the game? hence the name). Bearing that in mind, I was quite pleased that I was able to get a mention to Manchester United in the March 2011 Editorial.

11. In a similar vein, Gav, who is a massive Sunderland AFC fan, managed to get this phrase into the March 2012 Editorial: How dull would our existence be if everything was black and white ??that?s a subtle dig at Sunderland?s big rivals (arch nemeses might be a better description?), Newcastle United, who play in black-and-white stripes (Sunderland play in red-and-white stripes).

12. And speaking of Nature Chemistry Editorials, the one that appeared in the April 2013 issue was all about how the journal uses Twitter. What was a little unusual, however, was that it was written as a sequence of 42 tweets, complete with a Douglas Adams reference at the end. We live-tweeted the editorial the day that it was published in the journal.

13. After the expression ?rise of the internet? innocently made its way into the first two Editorials published in the journal (April 2009 and May 2009), it became a bit of a running joke to try and squeeze it into subsequent Editorials. It made into the June 2009, July 2009 and September 2009 Editorials. I think we then mostly forgot about it; but the phrase did make a comeback in the Editorials in the August 2011 and September 2011 issues.

14. Nature Chemistry editors are, for the most part, fuelled by tea. We even have our own tea cosy, knitted by our former editorial assistant, Hollie.

15. There must be something in the water that we use to make the tea ? 4 of the 5 original members of the editorial team got married (not to each other) while working on Nature Chemistry.

16. We?re quite particular about what goes on the cover of the journal; we even wrote an Editorial about cover images, outlining our disdain for arbitrary background images. Here?s a short quote: Shimmering oceans, rippling pools, starry skies, breathtaking sunsets and other equally romantic visions are lovely, but please refrain from putting this type of imagery in the background of your cover suggestion unless you have a really good reason to do so?

17. Hand-drawn chemical structures have appeared on four different Nature Chemistry covers (Oct 2009, July 2010, June 2011); including some structures drawn by yours truly (May 2012).

18. Anne has actually appeared on the cover of the journal. Along with many other female chemists, a picture of Anne was used to form the mosaic of Marie Curie that graced the cover of the September 2011 issue.

19. Pictures of all of the founding editors appeared in the Editorial in the very first issue. This turned out to be quite useful for Gav, who used a hardcopy of issue 1 as photo ID during his visit to Salt Lake City for the 2009 Spring ACS meeting. Yes, this is true.

20. We?re fussy about graphical abstracts too ? we covered that in an Editorial as well. We have made it on to tocrofl at least a couple of times (here and here) though?

21. We?re big fans of Twitter and currently the journal has just under 73k followers. All of the editors on the team have their own accounts too: me, Steve, Gav, Anne and Russell.

22. Our first tweet from the journal was made at 10:10 in the morning on the 10th March 2009 ? here it is.

23. After a lunch-time conversation in the canteen here at Nature Towers, we started to wonder who the greatest chemist of all time was. We held a completely unscientific poll on Twitter and here are the results (spoiler alert: Pauling won). We then wrote in more detail about the question itself in an Editorial.

24. We have (deliberately) printed some text upside down in the hardcopy of the journal. Bruce Gibb?s first Thesis article included a quiz and so it just seemed like a good idea to print the answers upside down at the end of the article. We didn?t do this in the online version?

25. We don?t do it as much as Angewandte Chemie, but we do occasionally come up with punny titles, especially for research highlights ? many of which are based on song titles. Two of my favourites are Ice ice maybe and Come on silene.

26. Each month we need to come up with four cover lines for the journal, based on the papers published in that issue. When all else fails, we turn to The Phrase Finder, RhymeZone and Google News.

27. We held a science writing competition based on the In Your Element feature in the journal as part of the activities associated with the International Year of Chemistry. The Editorial in the December 2011 issue summarizes the results of the competition.

28. We use a real periodic table to keep track of which elements have been (or are in the process of being) covered for the In Your Element section of the journal. Having said that, we haven?t updated it for a while?

29. Talking of periodic tables, the one we published in only the second issue of Nature Chemistry contained two entries for thorium (Th). Oops. Here?s the erratum.

30. That?s probably not our most embarrassing error, however. In the very first issue, we said that the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen in water (you know, that stuff H2O) was 1:2. Erm, no. Here?s the erratum.

31. Another embarrassing error is that we have published a stock image of left-handed DNA. No, not Z-DNA, just a normal DNA helix that happens to be left- rather than right-handed. Oops again. It was in this Thesis article ($).

32. We?ve published a picture of Kate Moss in the journal; albeit her likeness cast in gold. Here?s the statue as it appeared in the The Telegraph ? we cropped it somewhat more tastefully for this book review ($) by Andrea Sella?

33. Members of the extended editorial team donned Nature Chemistry labcoats and took part in a photoshoot for Dennis Curran?s Thesis article ($) in the December 2012 issue.

34. We?ve probably given away hundreds of those Nature Chemistry-branded labcoats at conferences over the past few years. We have a handful left in the office (good for photoshoots ??see point 33!).

35. We?ve even branded a bus with the Nature Chemistry logo!

36. After Neil left us to join the Chemistry World crew, we?ve invited bloggers out there in the wild to write the Blogroll column that appears in the journal each month. So far, we have had: Chemjobber, Paul Bracher, See Arr Oh, BRSM, Ashutosh Jogalekar, Karl D. Collins, Adam Azman, DrFreddy, JessTheChemist, DrRubidium, and Mark Lorch pen the column for us.

37. We?ve been featured on Thomson Reuters? Science Watch site.

38. We?ve also featured in two April Fools? blog posts by See Arr Oh at Just like Cooking ??here and here.

39. When it turned out that a stock photo of bismuth was going to be far more expensive than simply buying a lump of bismuth and photographing it ? we bought a lump of bismuth. And took a photo. And published it in this In Your Element article ($). I still have the bismuth on my desk in the office, but it?s had an accident since we first bought it?

40. So when we needed to illustrate the In Your Element article on selenium, we obviously went out and bought some? brazil nuts. That In Your Element essay can be found here ($).

41. In the name of SCIENCE, the editorial team took a trip to our local liquid nitrogen ice cream parlour. We?ve been back since.

42. While talking about tasty treats, the current Physical Sciences Bake Off Champion (for biscuits ??cookies for North Americans) is yours truly ? I?m still a synthetic chemist at heart! Find out more about my progress through the competition rounds here.

43. The journal has even published a recipe to make a curry! (From this Thesis article ($) by Bruce Gibb).

44. We celebrated the International Year of Chemistry by publishing a collection of seven Commentary articles about broader issues in chemistry beyond just the science itself. It was meant to be eight Commentaries, but one author dropped out.

45. We?ve published a handful of what we call ?focus issues? where we bring together a small number of pieces of content on a similar topic. These include prebiotic chemistry, site-selective reactions, small DNA binders, and protein dynamics.

46. Hannah, who spent a week doing some work experience at Nature Chemistry and other divisions in the company, wrote up her experiences for our blog in (awesome) poem form.

47. When an author has sent us a really good piece for the journal that is just too long for the section it is intended for, we have used our blog to publish the additional material. This includes a fascinating essay by Dan O?Leary on deuterium (and related issues) and a great piece by R. J. Dwayne Miller on molecular motors.

48. Two PHD Comics have appeared in Nature Chemistry, one in this Editorial on posters and the other in this Thesis article ($) by Michelle Francl (which included this comic).

49. So far we have received two impact factors ??here are blog posts analysing them.

50. And we?ve even published a cartoon of a chemistry yeti/bigfoot/sasquatch (whatever you want to call it?) in this Thesis article ($) by Michelle Francl on urban legends of chemistry.

Source: http://blogs.nature.com/thescepticalchymist/2013/04/50-things-you-might-not-know-about-nature-chemistry.html

coolio ricky rubio day light savings time peter paul and mary edgar rice burroughs dallas clark litter

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Ticket scalping for a murder trial?

PHOENIX (AP) ? Ticket scalping is nothing new in the sports and music world, but for a murder trial?

Dozens of people flock to court each day for a chance to score one of a handful of seats open to the public in Jodi Arias' ongoing murder trial in Arizona. The seats are provided on a first-come, first-serve basis, and nearly four months into the trial, the crowds are growing.

This week, one trial regular sold her spot to another person for $200 ? and both got reprimands from the court on Tuesday.

Desiree Lee, a regular attendee, said another woman had traveled from Michigan to see the trial but couldn't get a seat because she was too far back in line.

"She was asking a couple of people ahead of me if they wanted to sell their seats," Lee, who lives in the area, told ABC15 in Phoenix. "I said yes because I can come every day if I wanted to ... I seriously didn't know I was going to get in trouble.

"I'm a little embarrassed more than anything," Lee added.

She said she was told to return the money. The purchaser kept her seat for free.

Court officials confirmed the incident. The court's rules prohibit saving spots in line, and that's why the woman was asked to give the money back, although she doesn't face any charges.

The message played for callers to the judge's courtroom explains that seats are indeed limited.

"This is a public trial, but it's likely you will not get a seat," the message says.

Arias faces a potential death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder in the June 2008 killing of her one-time boyfriend at his suburban Phoenix home. Authorities say she planned the attack on Travis Alexander in a jealous rage. Arias initially denied involvement then later blamed it on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense.

The trial continued Wednesday afternoon as the prosecution called witnesses ahead of closing arguments next week. A medical examiner is expected to testify Thursday.

While there is no specific law preventing the public from selling their spot in line to get into the trial, Phoenix criminal defense lawyer Julio Laboy said it undermines the seriousness of the case.

"I think this particular trial has brought out so many salacious facts and sordid details that what happens is people lose sight of how very real this is," Laboy said Wednesday. "Whether you like Jodi Arias or not, whether you side with Travis Alexander or not, for these families, it's very real."

One person is dead and another is on trial for her life, Laboy said.

"It's extremely disheartening, as if people were bartering to get into a Yankees game," he said. "For Jodi Arias, this is her life on the line."

Others said the antics aren't unusual, and even occur at the nation's highest court in Washington.

"As distasteful as it is to most people, it happens at the U.S. Supreme Court each time there's a big case," said San Francisco criminal defense lawyer Michael Cardoza. "It's distasteful, but it's not unusual."

In fact, during the highly publicized Scott Peterson murder trial in 2004 in the San Francisco area, where Peterson was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of his pregnant wife, Laci, hundreds of trial enthusiasts would show up at the courthouse each day for a chance to score one of about 28 seats open to the public.

Court officials there operated a lottery system, not first-come first-serve, drawing random numbers and calling them out to the applause of each winner. The tickets in that case could not be transferred or sold.

The entire Arias case has devolved into a spectacle.

The Arizona Republic reported that Arias' defense attorney Jennifer Willmott has received a death threat, according to Maricopa County authorities, but she declined to pursue the matter.

Adding to the spectacle, Arias is profiting from her notoriety by selling drawings from jail on a website operated by a third party, her mother, Sandra Arias, has said. According to the site, some pieces are fetching more than a $1,000, and Sandra Arias said the money is being used to help pay for family expenses. Nothing prevents Arias from profiting from her notoriety given she hasn't been convicted of a crime.

A woman who attends the trial regularly says she is operating a Twitter account on Arias' behalf, gathering comments from the defendant via jail phone calls. Some of the Tweets have consisted of religious quotes, while others attack the prosecutor and TV pundits.

The Associated Press cannot confirm, aside from with family and friends, whether the Twitter account or website are actually her words or her artwork.

___

Brian Skoloff can be followed at https://twitter.com/bskoloff

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arias-spectacle-grows-trial-seat-sold-200-182132614.html

rob dyrdek oberon donald driver donald driver robin thicke mariana trench transcendental meditation