estrous pillbox: April 2013

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Good Reads: Christian Middle East exodus, online ed, drone strikes, and Japan's prisons

The round-up of Good Reads for this week includes a look at the plight of Christians in the Middle East, how online classes are faring, a visual timeline of US drone attacks, and why Japan's crime rate is so low.

By Cricket Fuller,?Staff writer / April 5, 2013

Iraqi Christians pray during a mass in Baghdad.

Khalid Mohammed/AP/File

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The post-Arab Spring climate in the Middle East has accelerated a ?Christian exodus? from the region, says Hassan Mneimneh of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in a piece on RealClearWorld.com. He sees ?[t]he fate of the Christians in the Middle East? as ?inseparable from the region?s transformation into a viable, prosperous, and progressive home for all of its inhabitants.?

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Is online ed here to stay?

Massive open online courses, also known as MOOCs, have drawn plenty of attention ? and hundreds of thousands of students. Several elite colleges have joined with companies such as Coursera, edX, and Udacity to offer free online courses, though not for credit, that can have tens of thousands of students at once.

Proponents laud the popular courses for ?democratizing? access to knowledge and for their potential to educate future innovators. Critics who worry about ?the McDonaldization of higher education? deplore a lack of accountability for plagiarism and cheating, and question the quality of the student experience.

What do the professors who create and teach the MOOCs say? According to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education, 79 percent believe the courses ?are worth the hype.? Steve Kolowich says the findings signal ?a change of heart that could indicate a bigger shake-up in the higher-education landscape.?

Nearly half of the professors said their MOOCs were as academically rigorous as their in-class versions. The majority (72 percent) felt successful students should be given credit at their institution. And an overwhelming majority believe free online courses will drive down the cost of college generally.

But a majority (55 percent) also said that MOOCs diverted time away from research and traditional teaching. And the average pass rate for their online courses (with a median enrollment of 30,000) was just 7.5 percent.

Professors cited a variety of motivations for teaching MOOCs, both altruistic and professional. But most saw online education as the inevitable wave of the future.

Visualizing drone strikes

According to a recent Gallup poll, 65 percent of Americans support US drone attacks on terrorists abroad, but less than half are closely following news on drones. That?s an awareness gap California media company Pitch Interactive seeks to bridge with its newly launched interactive Web visualization of the US drone strikes that have taken place in Pakistan since 2004. The animated visualization (drones.pitchinteractive.com) charts the chronology, frequency and volume, and victims of the attacks.

Using data primarily from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, New America Foundation, and ?Living Under Drones? (a Stanford/NYU report), Pitch groups victims into four categories: children, civilians, other (?a very grey area?), and high-profile targets, which represent just 1.5 percent of total victims. Civilians and children account for 22.8 percent.

Slate blogger Emma Roller says the data should be taken with a grain of salt. For perspective, she also notes that the Iraq Body Count project estimates 60 percent of those killed in Iraq since 2003 were civilians. And though Pitch says its aim is not ?to speak for or against [drones], but to inform,? Ms. Roller feels the group presents data ?in a way that fits nicely into the ?against? column.?

Why Japan has a low crime rate

In the French daily Le Monde, Phillipe Pons takes a critical look at the harsh conditions of Japanese prisons and high rates of capital punishment. The piece can be read in English (translated by Carolina Saracho) at Worldcrunch, a site that translates and edits content from top foreign-language outlets.

The article describes draconian prisons and a criminal-justice system in which those arrested can be held in detention for 23 days without being charged or having access to a lawyer and in which ?[a]lmost all convictions are obtained thanks to ?confessions.? ? During Prime Minister Shinzo Abe?s 2006-07 term in office, 10 people were hanged in less than a year.

But Japan also has the lowest incarceration and recidivism rates of developed nations. The government says Japan?s relatively low crime rate justifies the tough penalties. And polls show that the majority of Japanese support the death penalty. But criminologists debate ?the deterrent effect? and note other factors at play, such as strict gun laws. On balance, Mr. Pons worries that ?Public order comes at a high price in Japan ? the price of prisoner rights and the presumption of innocence.?
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Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/tJfHIuna3fU/Good-Reads-Christian-Middle-East-exodus-online-ed-drone-strikes-and-Japan-s-prisons

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Tennessee high school student shot to death waiting for school bus

By NBC News staff

A Tennessee high school student was shot and killed Thursday waiting for the bus to school.

The victim was Johnathan Johnson, 17. His brother told NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville that he was a good student and basketball player who loved the Boston Celtics.

Police told WSMV that they were seeking a suspect, Eric L. Goodner, also 17. Witnesses told the station that the suspect waited for Johnson on some steps leading to a vacant lot, then walked up to him at the bus stop and shot him.

Both were enrolled at Pearl-Cohn High School in Nashville, but Goodner has not attended since mid-February, WSMV reported. The principal, Sonia Stewart, said that Johnson was friendly and had a bright future.

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:22 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a9a0a0f/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C110C1770A44940Etennessee0Ehigh0Eschool0Estudent0Eshot0Eto0Edeath0Ewaiting0Efor0Eschool0Ebus0Dlite/story01.htm

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Some Melanoma Survivors Still Soaking Up the Sun - Discovery Fit ...

If you?ve had melanoma before, the deadliest form of skin cancer, what is my advice to you? Don?t go to a tanning bed, wear sunscreen when you?re out and avoid excessive amounts of sun.

Makes sense, right? iStockphoto

If you?re shaking your head thinking ?no kidding? ? be warned ? more melanoma survivors than you?d think don?t follow these basic and somewhat obvious rules.

A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research showed that a quarter of melanoma survivors (more than 75,000 new cases are diagnosed each year) don?t use sunscreen and that two percent of these people even frequent tanning salons!

Study author and associate professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Anees B. Chagpar, said that this brings up serious concerns about a population of individuals that are addicted to tanning.

Tanning beds, by the way, in addition to cigarettes, were declared a ?human carcinogen? in 2009 by the International Agency of Research on Cancer. Not a great habit to get into.

And while these individuals who once suffered from melanoma are taking better care of themselves than those who have not, the numbers are startling. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma will kill 9,480 in 2013 alone!

That?s over 9,000 lives that could be saved or elongated by blocking up and staying out of the sun!

The study was conducted through a review of a 2010 national study in which 27,000 U.S. adults were given a survey asking if they suffered from melanoma and what their sun safety practices were.

Of those who participated, 171 individuals self-reported a previous case of melanoma.

The moral of the story here? It might look nice, it might even feel nice (it's so warm, right?!) but just don?t do it! Tanning beds are a surefire way to dramatically increase your chances for skin cancer and their consequences certainly won?t help you age gracefully.

When you?re out in the sun, block up! If you?re very fair-skinned, don?t be embarrassed to wear a hat or sit under the umbrella during the heat of the day. Your skin will thank you later, and you'll have way fewere wrinkles.

By: Jen Wolfe

For More on Skin Care in the Sun:

10 Ways to Protect Yourself from the Sun

Can the sun heal my acne?

Your Skin and the Sun

Source: http://blogs.discovery.com/dfh-insider/2013/04/some-melanoma-survivors-still-soaking-up-the-sun.html

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Grandparents: Fla. boys unaware of kidnapping

Patricia, left, and Robert Hauser, right, escort their grandchildren, Chase Hakken, 2, second from left, and Cole, 4, during a news conference outside the Hauser home in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, April 11, 2013. The two children were returned after their father, Joshua Hakken, forcibly kidnapped the children and sailed with them to Cuba. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Patricia, front left, and Robert Hauser, front right, stand with their grandchildren, Cole Hakken, 4, second from left, and Chase, 2, with Hillsborough County Sherrif's investigators behind them, during a news conference outside the Hauser home in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, April 11, 2013. The two children were returned to the grandparents after their father, Joshua Hakken, forcibly kidnapped the children and sailed with them to Cuba. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Patricia, left, and Robert Hauser, right, escort their grandchildren, Chase Hakken, 2, second from left, and Cole, 4, during a news conference outside their home in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, April 11, 2013. The two children were returned after their father, Joshua Hakken, forcibly kidnapped the children and sailed with them to Cuba. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

These photos provided by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office show Joshua Michael Hakken, left, and Sharyn Hakken. Joshua Michael Hakken and his wife,Sharyn, are accused of kidnapping their two young sons and fleeing by boat to Cuba. They were handed over to the United States and their children were returned to the maternal grandparents who have official custody, authorities said Wednesday, April 10, 2013. The couple are being held at the Hillsborough County Jail on a number of charges including kidnapping, child neglect and interference with custody, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said on its website. U.S. authorities say the Hakkens kidnapped there sons, 4-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase, from his mother-in-law's house north of Tampa, Florida. The boys' grandparents were granted permanent custody of the boys last week. (AP Photo/Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Two young boys seem unaware their parents kidnapped them and believe their sailboat trip to Cuba was only a vacation, not an attempt by their mom and dad to flee U.S. authorities, the children's grandparents said Thursday.

Patricia and Bob Hauser said they want to get the boys back to a normal schedule and "just be carefree little boys again." The grandparents were awarded custody of the young boys before their parents kidnapped them, detectives said.

"We haven't asked the boys anything about the journey," Patricia Hauser said at a news conference outside their house in suburban Tampa. "We're just letting them tell us as things come out, if they feel like talking. We're just treating it like a vacation."

The grandparents have legal custody of 4-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase, who appeared briefly during the news conference to say "hi." Cole jokingly struck a pose on the lawn for the cameras and stuck out his tongue. Chase held up his toy cars.

Their parents, Joshua and Sharyn Hakken, were charged with kidnapping the boys and ordered to remain in jail without bond. Judge Walter Heinrich ordered them to have no contact with any of the victims or witnesses in the case.

They'll face a judge during a pretrial detention hearing on Friday. Heinrich told the couple that they could be ordered to remain in jail without bond until their cases are resolved, depending on the evidence presented at the hearing.

The pretrial detention hearing was requested by special prosecutor Jennifer Johnson, who declined to comment after the hearing on why she asked for it. The Hakkens are being represented by the public defender's office, which has also declined comment.

Joshua and Sharyn Hakken arrived in Florida early Wednesday with their sons and the family dog, accompanied by federal, state and local authorities after being handed over by Cuban officials. The children were "happy and sleepy" on a flight back to the U.S., sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said in an email Wednesday.

Friends of the couple say they seemed to have a charmed life, doting on their two young boys, buying a comfortable home and building successful careers as engineers.

"This is a train that went completely off the tracks, and I don't have any explanation for how it can go off the track that badly basically in a year and a half. It's very bizarre," said Darrell Hanecki, who employed Sharyn Hakken for nearly a decade at Hanecki Consulting Engineers.

Hanecki said Wednesday that she was an easygoing and relaxed employee who worked from the home they owned in sunny Tampa so she could spend more time with the kids. She brought the boys into the office a few times to show them off to her colleagues.

"The kids were really well-behaved. From everything I could tell, she was a great mom. Her kids were definitely her priority," Hanecki said.

Sharyn Hakken's husband, Joshua, also seemed to show few signs of trouble. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1996 to 1998 but did not graduate, according to academy spokesman Sgt. Vann Miller, who declined to provide further details.

Joshua Hakken also worked as an engineer, employed at one point by Hahn Engineering, Inc. A woman who answered the company's phone Wednesday declined comment. Last year, the couple started their own company, listing Sharyn as president and Joshua as vice president, but it's unclear what type of business it was.

Then, last year, police in Louisiana came upon a disturbing scene in a hotel room: The Hakkens were inside with drugs and weapons, talking about "completing their ultimate journey" and saying they were traveling across the country to "take a journey to the Armageddon," Daniel Seuzeneau, a spokesman for Slidell Police, said in a news release. Their two children were in the room at the time.

After that arrest, the Hakkens lost custody of the boys, who were initially sent to a foster home. Authorities say Joshua Hakken tried and failed to kidnap them at gunpoint from the home.

Last week, the boys' maternal grandparents were granted custody. That's when police say Joshua Hakken broke into the home, tied up his mother-in-law, took the children and eventually set sail for Cuba. An affidavit made public Thursday said Joshua Hakken used flex cuffs to tie his mother-in-law to a filing cabinet in her house.

Federal, state and local authorities searched by air and sea for the sailboat Joshua Hakken had recently purchased. They were found in Cuba, thanks to a crucial tip from the person who sold the boat to Hakken.

The blinds at the Hakken household were drawn tight Wednesday. An "infowars.com" bumper sticker was pasted on their mailbox, a reference to conservative radio personality Alex Jones' website.

A white SUV was in the driveway where neighbors said they usually saw a small boat parked. The boat was such a common presence that it was noticeable when it disappeared last week, said neighbor Simon Castillo.

"I'm just surprised the little thing made it all the way to Cuba," Castillo said.

___

Associated Press writer Kelli Kennedy contributed to this report from Miami.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-11-Children%20Kidnapped-Cuba/id-f26d31419fa9492bbefe34a1c36f0aa5

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Paul Ryan blasts Obama's budget

ap paul ryan jef 130314 wblog Paul Ryan Says Obama Budget Cuts Really Not Entitlement Reform

Rep. Paul Ryan

If President Obama's new budget is intended to lure Republicans back into budget talks, particularly with proposed changes to Social Security and Medicare that have already riled up the left, Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, isn't convinced.

SEE MORE: Paul Ryan: Won't hand out voting card to get deal on guns

"I don't know if I would say that he cracked the door on entitlement reform," Ryan told ABC News. "He has proposed to change a statistic, which saves money. That is really not entitlement reform."

Ryan, who is headlining the annual dinner for pro-life women's group the Susan B. Anthony List tonight, said he was disappointed by the president's budget proposal, which he called "status quo." But asked whether Republicans would offer a compromise that could aggravate conservatives, like giving ground on raising taxes, Ryan said his party has already angered its base.

"The fiscal cliff, I would argue, already did that," Ryan said. "That wasn't really popular."

Ryan, who became one of the leading figures in the Republican Party after being selected as the vice presidential nominee last year, said that he has not ruled out seeking the party's presidential nomination in 2016. But he said that he was focused on his work in Congress, particularly the nation's rising debt burdens.

"You never know what comes in the future," Ryan said.

In a wide-ranging interview, he said he was optimistic that Congress would pass some type of bipartisan immigration reform this year that included strengthening border security, expanding visas for skilled and unskilled workers, and dealing with undocumented immigrants already in the United States "in a realistic way."

"I have long thought that we have to fix the broken immigration system we have," Ryan said. "It's high time we do so."

With the Senate poised to start voting on its first gun measures of the year, Ryan said he was carefully watching the legislation, particularly the compromise reached on background checks with Senators Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia. Ryan and Toomey were elected to Congress at the same time and were roommates on Capitol Hill, but he said he would not automatically follow his lead on guns.

"I don't give my voting card based on someone's name. I vote for something if I think it's the right thing to do," Ryan said. "We need to take a look at it, while being very respectful of the individual right to bear arms."

As Republicans try to rebuild their party after failing to win the White House and control of the Senate last year, Ryan said the blame should not be assigned to his former ticket mate, Mitt Romney. But he said Republicans should narrow a "technology gap" with Democrats.

"What we now have to do is not point fingers," Ryan said, "but look at what went wrong."

Poll Finds Broad Immigration Support (WSJ)

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Warrant: Texas suspect interested in cannibalism

Dylan Quick, 20, is seen in an undated photo provided by the Harris County, Texas, Sheriff's Office. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that Quick used a razor-type knife in a rampage Tuesday at the Lone Star College System's campus in Cypress, a Houston suburb, hurting more than a dozen people. Quick was charged Tuesday night, April 9, 2013 with three counts of aggravated assault. It wasn't immediately clear if additional charges would be filed, though he is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday. (AP Photo/Harris County Sheriff's Office)

Jules Laird, center, defense attorney for Dylan Quick, talks to the media Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Houston. Quick, alleged to have wounded more than a dozen people at a Houston area Lone Star College campus, had his arraignment postponed so he can be mentally evaluated. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Jules Laird, left, defense attorney for Dylan Quick, and prosecutor Joshua Phanco, right, talk with Judge Maria Jackson Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Houston. Quick, alleged to have wounded more than a dozen people at a Houston area Lone Star College campus, had his arraignment postponed so he can be mentally evaluated. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Prosecuting attorney Joshua Phanco, talks to the media Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Houston. Phanco will represent the state against Dylan Quick, alleged to have wounded more than a dozen people at a Houston area Lone Star College campus. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

HOUSTON (AP) ? A man accused of stabbing more than a dozen people at a Houston-area college told investigators that he had fantasized about cannibalism and necrophilia and about cutting off people's faces and wearing them as masks, according to a court document made public on Thursday.

Dylan Quick also told an investigator that he had researched mass stabbings on his home computer about a week before the attack at Lone Star College in Cypress, according to a search warrant affidavit.

"He stated that he had read numerous books about mass killings and serial killers which are also located at his residence," the affidavit said.

Quick is being held without bond on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for Tuesday's attack that injured 14 people. Only one person remained hospitalized Thursday, and that person was listed in good condition.

Quick's attorney, Jules Laird, said after a court hearing earlier Thursday that he was still looking into his client's background. Laird said he didn't think the 20-year-old had a history of mental illness. But he said Quick was on suicide watch and will stay in jail as he undergoes a psychological evaluation.

"Not every question has an answer that satisfies you or that says this is the root cause of why he did this ... with a knife. We are going to see if we can reach that," Laird said.

The affidavit released later in the day named nine items that were seized from Quick's home, including one listed as "Hanibal Lecter Mask." Hannibal Lecter is the cannibalistic serial killer from the 1991 movie "The Silence of the Lambs."

Other items seized included a laptop, an animal dissection kit and several books, including ones called "Hit List" and "Hitman." The affidavit does not say what the books are about.

Laird had described Quick as a voracious reader who had thousands of books.

The affidavit said Quick told the investigator that in preparing for the campus attack, he had sharpened various things, including a hairbrush and pencils, to use as weapons. However, authorities have said Quick used only a razor utility knife to slash at his victims on two floors of the college's health science building. They said a scalpel was found in a backpack he was carrying when he was arrested.

Authorities have said students tackled Quick and held him down outside the building until police arrived. Texas does not permit people to carry handguns on campuses, but lawmakers are considering allowing concealed permit holders to take their weapons into college buildings and classrooms.

A Texas House panel approved such a bill Thursday, sending it to the full House. Supporters say it's a self-defense measure that will help prevent campus shootings and assaults. Opponents argue that allowing guns into campus buildings increases the chances for violence.

Quick had been set to make his first court appearance Thursday, but Laird waived the reading of the probable cause statement so his client would not have to be in court. Quick's next hearing is May 10. If convicted, Quick faces up to 20 years in prison.

"We just didn't want to have a media circus at this point in time," Laird said.

When asked about claims by the Harris County Sheriff's Office that Quick admitted to having fantasies about stabbing people since he was 8 years old, Laird said, "They've got a statement from him, but that's not the whole story."

"There are other things that I need to find out about and then we will provide the whole story to the public so that they can understand what happened," he said.

Laird said Quick had been home-schooled for most of his life and that he had been enrolled at Lone Star in part so he could be around other people and "get some type of feel for what the rest of the world is like as opposed to just living at home ... and being home-schooled by his mother."

Laird said Quick's parents hadn't had any major problems with their son, though he did apparently go missing for a few days in January 2011.

Quick's parents had contacted Texas EquuSearch, a private Houston-area group that searches for missing people, after getting a text message from their son saying "he was leaving because he might possibly harm himself," said Frank Black, a case adviser with the organization.

Black said he and others with his group were set to begin a search for Quick when his parents contacted them three days after the initial report, saying they had found their son and he was safe.

Quick had apparently been staying on the Lone Star college campus and some security guards had given him food and a tent to sleep in, Black said.

Laird said Quick's parents are devastated by the accusations made against their son.

Quick's mother is "the person that knows him more than anybody else in the world. And so, what she knows of him does not fit with what happened (Tuesday). She loves him dearly and his dad loves him dearly. And both of them do not understand what happened," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano at http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-11-Texas%20College-Stabbing/id-49eb63c2d875448687be0e588953f094

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

What Should I Tip the Pizza Delivery Gentleman?

Please send your questions for publication to?gentlemanscholarslate@gmail.com. (Questions may be edited.)

Troy Patterson

Photo by Christina Paige

What is a good tip for the pizza delivery guy? My wife says 20 percent, and I think she's crazy. My standard tip for delivering a single pizza, regardless of price, is $2. When we order a cheap pizza, that's close to 20 percent, but it is more like 10 percent at our favorite pizza place. My contention is that the delivery driver is doing the same thing regardless of the price of the pizza.

Obviously, this logic doesn't hold up at a fine dining establishment. In restaurants, I always tip 20 percent, and often more when the service warrants it. I was also a bartender for many years, so I understand the etiquette and importance of good tipping. Asking strictly about delivery guys.

First, thank you for your letter. Second: Mmmmm, pizza.

This oregano-scented topic has been much in the air of late. Last month, it came to light on Reddit that someone paid a $10 tip on a $1,450 pizza order, scandalizing the Internet and requiring journalists to dial up America?s foremost academic in the field of tipping, Cornell?s Michael Lynn. His rule of thumb? $2 minimum per pie. Maybe that?ll fly in Ithaca and wherever it is that you live, my noncheapskate reader, but I?m not certain I agree.

Last night, with a participatory journalist?s hunger for knowledge and, also, dinner, the Gentleman Scholar consulted the Lady Scholar and ordered a large brick-oven pizza from the menu of an Italian restaurant four-tenths of a mile from our apartment. The list of its toppings?prosciutto, arugula, mozzarella, and parmesan?inspired both salivation and postulation: Might the fact of arugula on top of one?s pizza indicates one?s membership in a socio-cultural 20-percent-pizza-guy-tipping bracket?

The pizza guy rang promptly, and I ran to the door. His houndstooth pants told me that he was not a full-time delivery guy; when he bicycled away, he would plunge back into washing dishes and cleaning up other people?s messes. A fragment of Orwell pinged somewhere in my system: ?His work is servile and without art; he is paid just enough to keep him alive; his only holiday is the sack.? This sensation contributed to my half-conscious decision to err on the side of overtipping. I also tend to err on the side of overtipping because I?m black and thus stereotyped as a bad tipper. (Lynn?s research has shown that such stereotypes have a basis in fact. The TipThePizzaGuy.com discussion board hosts some threads on the topic, and the way a few of those pizza guys talk about getting stiffed by customers who are black makes we wonder if the customers were in possession of some kind of racist-delivery-guy-detector technology.)

I signed away $28 for the meal (pie, overpriced ginger ale, tax) and scrawled a $5 gratuity in the man?s direction. I?d rather have tipped him in cash, but I had no folding money, and if I had, I might have tipped $4. (It occurs to me in retrospect that I could have given him a handful of quarters, which I believe are generally acceptable for tipping delivery guys and baristas, somewhat less so for ecdysiasts.)?

Sitting with a calculator, I see that I tipped 19.2 percent tip on the pre-tax total, and I reason it perfectly generous (which is to say, also, not overly generous, Frank Sinatra generous). But as I stood there at the door, intuition was my guide. Developing a subtle internal sense of what to tip delivery guys isn?t difficult, but it is, like learning a language, a talent best acquired by the young. A 26-year-old intimidated by his toaster oven develops a certain knack.

In researching the question, I found I agreed with the guidelines presented at TipThePizzaGuy.com, which is not only an esteemed source for information about tipping the pizza guy but also host to a discussion board that is about to captivate you for the rest of the afternoon, inspiring many threshold questions about the American appetite. Here, pizza guys trade tales of sex (?Maine: Female customer drops towel ? ?) and violence (?Pizza guy gets shot at ? ?) and new hotshot assistant managers who think they know it all and the glory of getting hugged around the knees by a 2-year-old ?who said he loves me.?

These pizza guys think it fair to receive a minimum tip of $3, which is also my personal standard. They call a 15 percent tip a common courtesy, and the default setting on Seamless backs them up on that. These pizza guys allow that if the order is $50 or more, it?s cool to let the tip dip as low as 10 percent. Sounds fair to me. But the pizza guys sell themselves short when suggesting that the customer need only throw in ?at least $1 more? in bad weather. Surely you owe at least an extra Jefferson to a courier who braves snow or rain to swiftly complete your appointment with crazy bread.

You should throw in an extra couple bucks, the pizza guys suggest, if the driver is coming from more than 5 miles away. Is that reasonable? I don?t know. It seems to me not unreasonable, but I live in New York, which is so dense with pizza places that the only way to get a pie delivered from 5 miles away is to buy frozen from Giordano?s.

Lastly, the pizza guys insist that it is correct to tip ?20 percent or more if the service is excellent,? and I won?t fight them, stipulating that I define excellent pizza delivery service as that which brings piping-hot pies to sixth-floor walk-ups or involves the driver performing evasive maneuvers in the course of actively avoiding Noids. Moreover, as the phrase excellent brings to mind the crypto-stoners Bill and Ted, let me issue a reminder: Don?t try to tip the pizza guy in beer or weed or whatever. This is his job, and you need to tip him in American currency so that he can buy beer and weed for his family.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c159bc40281e58c9f331c5d55794f13b

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Facebook Asks You To Please Select Your Emotion

It could make us more willing to express how we feel. Or you could say it over-simplies our complex moods and lives. But today the Facebook status update box began offering the option to "share how you're feeling or what you're doing" through a drop-down menu of emoticons and media. We're entering a more structured era of communication, where both friends and big data know exactly how we tick.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KzyPog9KKjc/

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Legrand Makes Light Switches Pretty with adorne Collection

April 08, 2013
| by Rachel Cericola

When it comes to light switches, most are pretty bland. There?s the white, the off-white and even the eggshell options. Of course, you could get crazy and put one with cartoon characters on your wall, but even your kids may think you?re crazy.

Legrand wants to make that switch an eye-catching spot, via its new adorne collection. This new line of switches, dimmers, outlets, and wall plates can add a splash of color and/or technology into the room, without having to do an overhaul of your decor.

Perfect for the homeowner, interior designer, and do-it-yourselfer, the adorne series features a total of seven models, each with a unique on/off activation and user experience. A few of the standouts include:

The Touch Switch: Features capacitive touch technology to control lights and has a translucent face that operates just like an iPod.
The Wave Switch: Activates lights with the wave of a hand.
The SensaSwitch: Turns lights on and off when people enter or leave a room.
The Pop-Out Outlet: Pops out when needed to provide three outlets; pushes back in to fit flush to the wall when not in use.

Another interesting option is the adorne Under-Cabinet Lighting System, which puts lighting, power and music in the kitchen, all without cluttering the backsplash. In June, the company also plans to introduce the adorne Wi-Fi Music System, Wireless Video Intercom, and Whole-House Wireless Lighting Controls.

?Historically, consumers and designers haven?t given their light switches a second thought?if anything, they were more concerned with hiding them,? said Mario Gonzalez, vice president of marketing for the adorne Collection. ?Extensive research tells us that homeowners and the architecture and design community are ready for something new and different. Through the launch of adorne, Legrand is enabling consumers to give the same level of design expression to their light switches as with all other decorative products in the home.?

Available in 32 finishes, including cast metals, natural woods, leather, and an array of hues, Legrand will start showcasing the adorne Collection in select lighting showrooms and home improvement stores nationwide starting in May 2013.

Follow Electronic House on Facebook and Twitter.

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.

Source: http://www.electronichouse.com/article/legrand_makes_light_switches_pretty_with_adorne_collection/

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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Gulf of Mexico can 'self-deep-clean'

8 April 2013 Last updated at 21:41 ET By Jason Palmer BBC News, New Orleans

New details have emerged about "self-cleaning" effects in the Gulf of Mexico witnessed in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Researchers reporting at the American Chemical Society conference revealed details of a cascade of micro-organisms that spring into action to degrade oil.

Research has also outlined how chemical "dispersants" used in clean-up efforts actually frustrate these processes.

However, the long-term effects of the weeks of oil exposure remain unknown.

And concern was expressed about the ultimate resilience of the Gulf.

Terry Hazen of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been studying oil-degrading microbes in greater and greater detail since the disaster, even discovering some that had never been seen before.

They can break down the long-chain carbon-based "alkane" molecules present in oil - and in isolated conditions will even move towards oil.

"They're really oil-seeking missiles," he told the meeting.

'Deep cleaning'

In a sense, it is no surprise that the seas should host oil-hungry microbes; natural seeps from the ocean floor have been releasing oil into the world's waters for millions of years.

A 2003 US National Academy of Sciences report put the annual average of this seepage in the Gulf at 140,000 tonnes.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

I think the Gulf of Mexico is cleaner than you would expect, not only from the oil but from everything else that goes into it?

End Quote Terry Hazen University of Tennessee, Knoxville

But Prof Hazen's research has revealed more of the complex web of microbes that feed on oil - and are in turn fed on.

Through recent studies, most recently in Frontiers of Microbiology, he and collaborators have begun to map the genomes of these microbes and determine which genes contribute to oil-degrading properties when oil concentrations rise.

A release like that of Deepwater Horizon contains a rich mix of carbon-containing molecules - alkanes, methane and what are called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), each presenting its own risks to the environment.

The new finding is about methanotrophs, which feed on methane - among the last compounds to be degraded.

Prof Hazen said that the sudden release of methane, rather than slow seeps, created a lucky effect.

"All of a sudden the [methanotroph populations] go up to really high densities and they're fat and happy - and then [the methane is] gone." he told BBC News.

"At that point, they degrade anything else that's there fortuitously, and they'll degrade it down below what would be usable as a carbon and energy source - so it's really sort of a 'deep-cleaning' effect.

"That's why I think the Gulf of Mexico is cleaner than you would expect, not only from the oil but from everything else that goes into it."

'Dramatic traumas'

Back on shore, Gabriel Kasozi, now of the Makerere University of Kampala in Uganda, studied the sediments in coastal areas of Louisiana after the disaster.

"We took samples 3m and 15m from the shores? followed that for about a year and did some modelling. We found that the half-life of the half-lives of the alkanes was about 70 days and PAHs was 100 days," he told the meeting.

"After a year, the concentrations had pretty much reduced to background levels."

What is becoming clearer with time is that the chemical dispersants typically used in clean-up efforts to break masses of oil up into small droplets does more harm than good.

A study in Environmental Pollution in February found that the toxicity of the oil-dispersant mix was 52 times more toxic to bacteria that are important to the ecosystem than either component alone.

But Dongye Zhao from Auburn University in the US said that the dispersants also caused sediments to absorb more of the harmful compounds, lengthening their effects on the environment.

"Preliminary results show us that adding dispersants induces a series of hystereses," he told the meeting.

"That means it's really going to? increase absorption, which is quite counterintuitive."

The group's work presented here also showed that dispersants interfered with other natural processes that degrade oil, including effects from sunlight and ground-level ozone.

Prof Hazen said that while the Gulf was cleaner, faster than was once assumed, the effects of spills are yet to be fully quantified.

"There was a lot of oil out there for 84 days," he told BBC News.

"Fish and bacteria and plankton and everything else were swimming through that oil, and we don't know what long-term effects that'll have.

"I am quite worried about how resilient the Gulf of Mexico is," Prof Hazen said.

"She's had some pretty dramatic traumas, and I'm worried how much the ecosystem can actually tolerate."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22075182#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Fat cells prolong survival of human stem cells grown in vitro

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, April 9, 2013One of the main obstacles that stands in the way of using human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSCs) to treat a variety of diseases is the difficulty growing them in culturethey quickly die or differentiate into other cell types. A series of experiments that demonstrate the successful use of fat cells as part of a feeder layer to support prolonged growth of hHSCs in culture is reported in an article in BioResearch Open Access, a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.

In the article "Extending Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Survival In Vitro with Adipocytes" Dean Liang Glettig and David Kaplan, Tufts University, Medford, MA included adipocytes (fat cells) in varying amounts and locations in the feeder layers of hHSCs being grown in the laboratory. They varied the concentrations of different cell types including adipocytes in the feeder layer, comparing different amounts of adipocytes, and evaluated the effect of direct cell-to-cell contact between the hHSCs and the adipocytes in the feeder layer on the survival rate of the hHSCs.

"The ability to prolong hHSC culture in vitro not only benefits basic stem cell research, it is also an important step towards developing advanced cell therapies for future clinical use," says BioResearch Open Access Editor Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

###

About the Journal
BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMed Central. All journal content is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy and HGT Methods, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (https://www.liebertpub.com).

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215 http://www.liebertpub.com Phone: 914-740-2100 800-M-LIEBERT Fax: 914-740-2101
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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.

Fat cells prolong survival of human stem cells grown in vitro Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, April 9, 2013One of the main obstacles that stands in the way of using human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSCs) to treat a variety of diseases is the difficulty growing them in culturethey quickly die or differentiate into other cell types. A series of experiments that demonstrate the successful use of fat cells as part of a feeder layer to support prolonged growth of hHSCs in culture is reported in an article in BioResearch Open Access, a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.

In the article "Extending Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Survival In Vitro with Adipocytes" Dean Liang Glettig and David Kaplan, Tufts University, Medford, MA included adipocytes (fat cells) in varying amounts and locations in the feeder layers of hHSCs being grown in the laboratory. They varied the concentrations of different cell types including adipocytes in the feeder layer, comparing different amounts of adipocytes, and evaluated the effect of direct cell-to-cell contact between the hHSCs and the adipocytes in the feeder layer on the survival rate of the hHSCs.

"The ability to prolong hHSC culture in vitro not only benefits basic stem cell research, it is also an important step towards developing advanced cell therapies for future clinical use," says BioResearch Open Access Editor Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

###

About the Journal
BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMed Central. All journal content is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy and HGT Methods, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (https://www.liebertpub.com).

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215 http://www.liebertpub.com Phone: 914-740-2100 800-M-LIEBERT Fax: 914-740-2101
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

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/2013-04/mali-fcp040913.php
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Monday, April 8, 2013

Wave Glider sea robot gets a new version, replete with more power and gear

The latest seafaring robot from Liquid Robotics got an unveiling this morning. Dubbed the Wave Glider SV3, the mobile, amphibious robot is targeted at the (thoroughly unexciting) usual suspects: big oil, the government, and scientific researchers. Apparently those halcyon days of seeking out Guinness World Records are over. Compared with the previous SV2 model, the latest ship runs faster (2.5 knots top speed), carries more (100 pounds, compared to a paltry 40 in the previous ship), and lasts longer (an additional 40 percent of surface area on the deck allows for many more solar cells). All that extra oomph should allow Liquid Robotics' customers to spend even more time plumbing the Earth's waters for ... well, whatever they'd like. And for the mock G.I. Joe battles that are assuredly taking place with the Wave Glider. Like, come on.

Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt

Comments

Via: The New York Times

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/08/wave-glider-sv3-announcement/

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Dana Clark: Stop Underestimating How Powerful You Really Are

As a country, we're losing our sense of value.?And in the other half of what is now a fatal and destructive cycle, we are losing our value as individuals as well.?In place of religion and family tradition for much of the new generations who thought they had emancipated themselves, and in the wake of what appeared to be the new revolution, reigns a new god: media.?And it has happened because we have yet to identify our self as a worthy enough power to follow. ?

Until we approach the complete awareness of ourselves, we will not know the peace; the beauty that is our truth. We are unable to claim the possibility of our strength.

We give out our power anywhere else.?We immerse ourself in need, we let success say no one loves us if we're not successful, models tell us we're not thin enough, celebrities tell us we're not funny or enjoying life, sports teams tell us if we're losing; our children tell us we're failing, romantic interests determine if we're valuable or not, schools dictate if you have the right answers, magazines inform us we don't look good because don't have the clothing they recommend, news coverage announces that we should be scared at night, books tell us what products our babies need for survival, the government says we have one vote for one of two candidates, and the winner will or will not save our humanity.? ?

It is all an illusion.?It all takes advantage of our vulnerability.?And it all tells us what we're worth -- is nothing.?

These things inevitably take part in our lives, but we are in charge of them letting ourselves feel like we've fallen short or not.?Each individual is responsible for drawing that boundary. And if we don't, we're left as victims -- powerless over the enormous anxiety our nation provides.?And we abandon ourself again, over and over.?Avoiding our shame and repressed anger by drinking.?By eating.?And dieting, and purchasing merchandise, by depressing, by revaluing our sex -- by the vicious search for something we're in control of.?Including our own children, our husbands and wives, our families, and employees, and our dearest friends.?

The last place we look is ourselves.?The last place we look for strength is within our own integrity, our honesty and patience.?Our kindness. The last thing we value in each other is character. And the last place we search is within our own vulnerability and capacity to connect, and find joy in what we already have.?

Left behind in the distance is simplicity; our imagination; our presence, and the innocence of youth.?And in its place: the useless comparison of ourselves to others, the devaluation of our natural given gifts.?Every move we make becomes another weighted source of disappointment.?And good dissolves in the hands of resentment and in the image of fear. We continue the path of oppression.?

All our choices, where we put our energy, the way we interact with others -- practice awareness of why, trace behavior to its root.?Do you interact with the world from a place of fear, from a place of doubt? I used to approach the world as though there would be terrible pain and disappointment everywhere. In place of my presence to life was constant prediction of how it might hurt me, or how I might not meet its expectations -- I let the underestimation of myself safely lead my life for me because I let others' standards tell me I was not good enough. All along, my valuable qualities were there, waiting for me to acknowledge them. Waiting to be nourished.

When you feel anxiety, dig deep and identify where it is placed.?Don't avoid it. It is the key to your potential, it is your body telling you there is something you need to reconcile. When used properly, anxiety is your talent, it is your energy, it represents the possibility of how bright you're capable of shining.?But if it gets smothered, it will only amount to a pit in your stomach, and the hold around your neck.

Dive into the uncertainty and trust yourself. And with the boundaries in place of respect for yourself, trust others. It's OK if you're disappointed -- you will survive. Trust is peace. Let anxious energy release as its divine intention -- as positivity -- as your purpose in life.?Listen to yourself and know that purpose is there.?Live with truth and it will never empty.?Through calmness and presence to what surrounds us, presence to our challenges, we discover meaning. We grow. Discovering how to trust is exactly what informs the limitlessness of our whole life.

For 13 years I avoided my life, my anger and disappointment, my uncertainty and apparent shortcomings with control over what I ate. It was nearly my sole reward and punishment system, and it was all a harmful delusion. A practice based in approval and disapproval from others, at the expense of myself.

The energy we put into obsessing over food, alcohol, unhealthy relationships, and money is the same abundant energy available for us to engage in a life that is truly fulfilling and unattached to societal validation and the crippling worry of outcome. All those other things give us a sense of control -- they mean nothing, they are void of connection and only continue our pain. The one different ingredient between living within the superficial and illusory world of our escapes and what is our actual potential, is trust. Trust in our courage to face life, to breathe through our frustration, to let others see who we are, to accept our circumstances, and then, if necessary, trust that we can handle the discomfort it takes to change them.

In the misinformed guidelines of achievement and virtue, we depend on approval.?We've forgotten how to listen to the only accurate compass of worth there is -- which is ourselves.

For more by Dana Clark, click here.

For more on emotional wellness, click here.

Follow Dana Clark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kaleforyoursoul

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-clark/society-self-worth_b_3017449.html

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Suspects booked on murder in Nev. official's death

RENO, Nev. (AP) ? Investigators believe four suspects stole property in the apartment of Nevada's chief insurance examiner before killing him and dumping his body in a river, authorities said Sunday.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said all four suspects have been booked on murder charges in the death of William McCune, 62, whose blanket-wrapped, duct-tape-bound body was found Saturday.

Initially, Michael Evans, 23, and Anthony Elliot, 20, were booked on murder charges, while Raul Garcia, 22, and Makyla Blackmore, 20, were arrested on burglary charges. But Furlong said Sunday that Garcia and Blackmore were later booked on murder charges.

The suspects are from the Carson City area, he said, and the case isn't related to McCune's work for the state.

Investigators found evidence of a bloody, violent struggle in McCune's apartment on Thursday, the same day he was reported missing after he failed to catch a business flight with a co-worker.

Detectives believe McCune knew two of the suspects socially, Furlong said, and the possible motive was the theft of property or money from him driven by illegal drug use. They're still processing evidence at McCune's apartment and trying to compile an accurate list of stolen items, he said.

"We think stealing was quite apparently the motive because they took so much from him," Furlong told The Associated Press. "The mystery is if you intended on robbing and killing him, why did you have to take the body out? That doesn't make sense to me."

Three suspects were arrested Saturday on the Las Vegas Strip after allegedly trying to sell a "computer item," the sheriff said. Investigators were trying to determine whether it belonged to McCune.

Evans was taken into custody in Carson City, while authorities believe the other three suspects fled Carson City for Las Vegas after news broke of McCune's disappearance.

All four suspects were spotted near McCune's apartment around the time of his disappearance, and businesses frequented by the suspects provided important tips that led to their arrests, Furlong said. He declined to elaborate.

Authorities were unsure how long two of the suspects and McCune knew each other or how they met.

It wasn't clear Sunday whether any of the four had an attorney, and the Las Vegas and Carson City jails don't make new inmates available to the media for comment. The three suspects in Las Vegas are expected to be returned to Carson City within a week.

McCune had held his position since December 2009 and worked similar jobs for two decades before that. As head of the division's corporate and financial affairs section, McCune worked to ensure the solvency of insurance companies in the state. He was charged with ensuring each company had sufficient money in their reserves to cover all claims and obligations.

McCune was single and without any known children, Furlong said, and there was no forced entry at his home.

Investigators believe the body found in the Carson River Saturday was that of McCune, even though a positive identification and cause of death are not expected to be officially established by the Washoe County medical examiner's office until later this week, he said.

There was no indication yet of the weapon or weapons involved in the death, he added, but investigators would have a better idea after autopsy results are released.

While authorities have not found McCune's pickup truck, they located its license plates Friday night at a Carson City residence that Evans was known to have frequented, the sheriff said.

Investigators do not expect any additional arrests in the case. "We believe all the people involved have been taken into custody," Furlong said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspects-booked-murder-nev-officials-death-202830623.html

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Sunday, April 7, 2013

South Africa: Mandela discharged from the hospital

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Former President Nelson Mandela was discharged from a hospital on Saturday following treatment for pneumonia, the presidency said in news that cheered South Africans who had waited tensely for health updates on a beloved national figure.

Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who spent 27 years in prison for opposing white racist rule, was robust during his decades as a public figure, endowed with charisma, a powerful memory and an extraordinary talent for articulating the aspirations of his people and winning over many of those who opposed him. In recent years, however, 94-year-old Mandela became more frail and last made a public appearance at the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, where he didn't deliver an address and was bundled against the cold in a stadium full of fans.

South Africans hold the former leader dear as a symbol of sacrifice and reconciliation stemming from his pivotal role in steering South Africa from the apartheid era and into democratic elections in 1994, at a time of great hope but also tension and uncertainty. The new South Africa, beset by economic inequality, crime and corruption, has not lived up to the soaring expectations of its people, but they still see hope through their icon, Mandela.

Primrose Mashoma, a South African, said she wished that Mandela would live, basically, forever.

"I wish him to stay maybe a hundred more years," she said.

A statement from the office of President Jacob Zuma said there had been "a sustained and gradual improvement" in the condition of Mandela, who was admitted to a hospital on the night of March 27.

"The former President will now receive home-based high care," the statement said.

Mandela had received similar treatment at his home in Johannesburg after a stay at a hospital in nearby Pretoria in December, when he was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones. Earlier in March, the anti-apartheid leader was hospitalized overnight for what authorities said was a successful scheduled medical test.

During Mandela's latest hospitalization, doctors drained fluid from his lung area, making it easier for him to breathe.

On Saturday afternoon, shortly after the presidential statement on Mandela's discharge, a military ambulance was seen entering his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton. In recent years, Mandela had been spending more time in Qunu, the rural area in Eastern Cape province where he grew up. But his delicate condition required that he be moved to South Africa's biggest city.

Many South Africans refer affectionately to Mandela by his clan name, Madiba. Buildings, squares, and other places have been named after him, and his image adorns statues and artwork around the country. The central bank issued new banknotes last year that show his smiling face.

"I'm really happy about Madiba coming out," said student Anele Gcolotela, using Mandela's clan name, a term of affection. "I think it's been too long now."

After Mandela's release from prison in 1990, he was widely credited with averting even greater bloodshed by helping the country in the transition to democratic rule, negotiating with the guardians of the same system that had deprived him of freedom for decades. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after elections were held, bringing an end to apartheid.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment under apartheid. Most of those years were spent on Robben Island, a forbidding outpost off the coast of Cape Town where Mandela and other prisoners spent part of the time toiling in a stone quarry.

The elderly are especially vulnerable to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Its symptoms include fever, chills, a cough, chest pain and shortness of breath. Many germs cause pneumonia.

South African officials have said doctors were acting with extreme caution because of Mandela's advanced age.

In Saturday's statement, Zuma thanked the medical team and hospital staff that looked after Mandela and expressed gratitude for South Africans and people around the world who had shown support for Mandela. The South African government has sought to balance efforts to satisfy wide public interest in Mandela's condition with an intense campaign to preserve the privacy of an ailing figure who already has his place in history.

The African National Congress, the ruling party that led the struggle against apartheid and has held power since its demise, expressed its "happiness" at the discharge of its former leader from the hospital.

"We acknowledge the important role played by President Zuma and his office to keep the nation, the continent and the world informed about progress made on his treatment on a regular basis," the party said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-mandela-discharged-hospital-130600264.html

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3D printed speakers give you a custom light show to go with your tunes (video)

3D printing is still in its relative infancy, but more and more folks are using machines like the MakerBot Replicator and Formlab's Form 1 to turn digital plans into physical reality. An Autodesk engineer named Evan Atherton has access to a much more capable (and expensive) 3D printer, an Objet Connex 500, and as a design exercise decided to use that printer to create a finished product. You see, a lot of 3D printers are used for rapid prototyping, as opposed to product manufacturing. Join us after the break for a video interview with Atherton explaining how he created these sonic beauties.

Gallery: 3D printed speakers with LumiGeek-powered LEDs