Sunday, May 19, 2013

Samsung plans to launch 65-, 55-inch 4K TVs in June

Samsung plans to launch 55, 65inch 4K TVs in June

When Samsung unveiled its first 4K Ultra HD TV at CES this year, it said other sizes would follow, both larger and smaller than the initial 85-inch version. Now it's apparently ready to fulfill part of that promise, announcing in Korea that 65- and 55-inch models will launch next month. Of course our next question is how these smaller models will compare to the $39,999 MSRP 85S9 UHD TV in price. Hopefully they'll follow the path blazed by Sony, which recently introduced models at that size with pricing well below the $10,000 benchmark, although we expect Seiki's 50-incher will still hold the crown for value pricing. The press release mentions they will feature Samsung's upgradeable Smart TV platform and the "micro dimming ultimate" LED lighting of their larger cousin, but the odd "Timeless Gallery" frame / stand (pictured above on the 85-incher) was not listed.

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Source: Korea Newswire

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ySBHz47brtM/

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Afghan police chief shot dead outside home

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Motorcycle-riding gunmen assassinated a police chief in front of his house after he led an anti-Taliban campaign in western Afghanistan, an official said Saturday.

Police Chief Abdul Ghani was leaving his driveway in his car outside his home in Farah province when the two raced up and opened fire.

Provincial spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhawandai said that Ghani was rushed to hospital after the attack Friday night but died of his wounds.

Ghani had recently launched a crackdown against insurgents in his district of Khaki Safad that resulted in the killing and capture of several Taliban leaders, Zhawandai said.

"Because he was an active commander in this district, he was a target of the Taliban," he said.

In the same province Saturday morning, four Afghan army soldiers died in Bakwa district when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Afghan security forces and government officials are targeted by the Taliban to weaken the government of President Hamid Karzai ahead of the withdrawal of most international troops by the end of 2014.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-police-chief-shot-dead-outside-home-070503949.html

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Saturday, May 18, 2013

House committee to grill ousted IRS chief

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are ready to question the ousted head of the Internal Revenue Service as Congress holds its first hearing on the tougher scrutiny the IRS gave tea party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

With the scandal joining the parade of political headaches buffeting President Barack Obama, the Republican-run House Ways and Means Committee planned to question the agency's ousted chief, Steven Miller, on Friday.

Miller, acting director until he resigned Wednesday, seems sure to get a hostile reception from the committee. Members of both parties have spent the past week bitterly chastising the agency for abandoning its charge of making nonpolitical decisions about which groups should qualify for tax-exempt status, which makes it easier for them to collect contributions from donors.

Lawmakers also have said that despite asking the IRS repeatedly about complaints from conservative groups that their applications were being treated unfairly, the agency ? including Miller ? never told them the groups were being targeted, even after May 2012, when the agency said Miller was briefed on the practice. Miller was previously a deputy commissioner whose portfolio included the unit that made decisions about tax-exempt status.

Also testifying Friday was J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.

A report George issued this week concluded that the IRS office in Cincinnati, which screened applications for the tax exemptions, improperly singled out tea party and other conservative groups for tougher treatment. The report says the practice began in March 2010 and lasted more than 18 months.

Republicans have spent the past few days trying to link the IRS' improper scrutiny of conservatives to Obama. The president has said he didn't know about the targeting until last Friday, when Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups, acknowledged at a legal conference that conservative groups had been singled out. She said it was wrong and apologized.

"I promise you this, that the minute I found out about it, then my main focus was making sure that we get the thing fixed," Obama said Thursday.

Even so, less than four months into his second term, the president has been on the defensive for the IRS controversy, along with questions about last September's attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, and the government's seizure of The Associated Press' telephone records as part of a leaks investigation.

In one of the latest GOP attacks, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, wrote Obama on Thursday asking whether the White House or Treasury Department pressured the IRS on the treatment of conservative groups. In the letter, Portman accused the administration of "policies that threaten to chill disfavored political speech."

The inspector general's report said all IRS officials questioned said their actions "were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the IRS."

The report blamed "ineffective management" for letting IRS officials craft "inappropriate criteria" to review applications from tea party and other conservative groups, based on their names or political views. It found that the IRS took no action on many of the conservative groups' applications for tax-exempt status for long periods of time, hindering their fundraising for the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Many of the groups were applying for tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations, which are allowed to participate in campaign activity if that is not their primary activity. The IRS judges whether that imprecise standard is met.

Friday's hearing was just the start of Congress' probe of the IRS' actions, with the Senate Finance and House Oversight committees planning hearings next week.

In addition, Attorney General Eric Holder has said the FBI was investigating whether the IRS may have violated applicants' civil rights.

Obama has rejected the idea of naming a special prosecutor to investigate the episode, saying Thursday that the probes by Congress and the Justice Department would get to the bottom of who was responsible.

Obama has named Daniel Werfel, a top White House budget officer, to replace Miller.

Also Thursday, Joseph Grant, one of Miller's top deputies, announced plans to retire June 3, according to an internal IRS memo. Grant is commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, which includes the agents that targeted tea party groups for additional scrutiny.

Grant joined the IRS in 2005 and took over as acting commissioner of the tax exempt and government entities division in December 2010. He was just named the permanent commissioner May 8.

When asked whether Grant was pressured to leave, IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Grant had more than 31 years of federal service and it was his personal decision to leave.

Before he joined the IRS, Grant was a top official at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Grant's predecessor at the IRS was Sarah Hall Ingram, who is now director of the agency's Affordable Care Act Office. Ingram was in charge of the tax exempt division when IRS agents first started targeting conservative groups.

The IRS said Ingram was assigned to help the agency implement the health care law in December 2010, about six months before the Treasury inspector general's report said her subordinate, the director of exempt organizations, learned about the targeting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-committee-grill-ousted-irs-chief-073050747.html

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'Puppet-master' Putin advisor is shown the Kremlin door

Vladislav Surkov was once one of the president's most influential and deft advisers. His forced resignation suggests the Kremlin may be pursuing blunter ways of manipulating the political landscape.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / May 8, 2013

Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov speaks before the state of the nation address at the Kremlin in Moscow in this 2011 photo. Surkov, who was once Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief political strategist and dubbed the Kremlin's puppet master, resigned on May 8.

Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

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Vladislav Surkov, the former theater arts major who took on the job of stage-managing Russian democracy on behalf of Vladimir Putin, was abruptly shown the Kremlin door Wednesday.?Most analysts see the move as a sign that an increasingly heavy-handed Mr. Putin has no further use for Mr. Surkov's elaborate and relatively gentle methods of manipulating the political landscape.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

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Surkov, an influential Putin advisor who helped sculpt Russia's so-called "sovereign democracy" system, told the Moscow daily Kommersant that he had tendered his resignation on April 26, but will only discuss the reasons for his departure "when it is appropriate."

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, suggested to the Kommersant FM radio station that he had been pushed out the door due to poor job performance.?

"[His resignation] is related to the high-priority task of implementing presidential decrees," Mr. Peskov said.

Often referred to as the "grey cardinal" of the Kremlin, Surkov's star had been falling since a massive protest movement hit Moscow streets in December 2011. It had been triggered by the near-universal allegations of electoral fraud committed by Surkov's own brainchild ? the pro-Kremlin United Russia party ? in parliamentary polls.

He was subsequently eased out of his role as Putin's deputy chief of staff and given the thankless-by-definition job of deputy prime minister in charge of modernizing Russia's economy.

"His resignation testifies to the fact that there is a real political crisis in the country. Different bureaucratic structures are at war with each other, and Russia is becoming increasingly ungovernable," says Boris Kagarlitsky, director of the independent Institute of Globalization and Social Movement Studies in Moscow. ?

"Surkov had his own vision. He tried to control the process, to reconcile different structures, and he lost," he adds.

Surkov had been a Kremlin fixture since Putin's first presidential term and is widely regarded as the chief architect of the Putin-era system of "sovereign democracy," whose basic idea is that the political system headed by Putin is the direct outgrowth of Russia's own history and public dynamics ? not an import from anywhere else ? and is therefore democracy.

Critics, and even many independent analysts, quickly substituted the more descriptive term "managed democracy."?The phrase evoked the Kremlin's aggressive role in landscaping Russia's political garden ??weeding out pesky opposition parties and independent politicians, concentrating official resources and state media attention behind the ruling United Russia party, and generally altering rules of the game to favor pro-Kremlin outcomes.?

In addition to fathering United Russia, Surkov created a bouquet of pro-Kremlin public organizations, such as the youth movement Nashi and a state-supported assembly of tame civil society groups called the Public Chamber.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/WG6dOY5W4ow/Puppet-master-Putin-advisor-is-shown-the-Kremlin-door

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Afrojack Cures 'Best Hangover Ever' At Hangout Music Fest

Grammy-winning DJ's explosive set gets the sweaty throngs dancing.
By Elizabeth Lancaster


Afrojack performs at Hangout Fest
Photo: MTV

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707607/afrojack-hangout-fest.jhtml

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Powerball jackpot closing in on another record

Cathy Raymond, of Oklahoma City, displays the Powerball Lottery tickets she purchased in Oklahoma City, Friday, May 17, 2013. Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game's history and the world's second largest lottery prize.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cathy Raymond, of Oklahoma City, displays the Powerball Lottery tickets she purchased in Oklahoma City, Friday, May 17, 2013. Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game's history and the world's second largest lottery prize.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Elizabeth Dillard, left, of Oklahoma City, shows store clerk Mobi, right, the numbers she wants in the Powerball Lottery as she purchases tickets in Oklahoma City, Friday, May 17, 2013. Looking on at center is Lindsay Horn. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Sandra Ortiz, center, fills in her numbers while waiting in line to buy Powerball tickets outside Bluebird liquor store in Hawthorne, Calif., Friday, May 17, 2013. Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game's history and the world's second largest lottery prize. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

FILE - In this June 20, 2012 file photo, workers from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, react as their winning $241 million Powerball ticket is scanned at the Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. Work pools for big jackpots are often fraught with controversy, resulting in lawsuits, broken friendships and worse: delayed payouts. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A clerk dispenses a Powerball Lottery ticket in Oklahoma City, Friday, May 17, 2013. Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game's history and the world's second largest lottery prize.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

(AP) ? Less than 10 months after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize, the jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing was nearing historic territory once again.

Should nobody pick the correct six numbers, the prize money will roll over to next week's drawing and almost certainly eclipse the $656 million doled out to winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in the Mega Millions game in March 2012.

But the record could fall Saturday night too if a flurry of last-minute ticket purchases pushes the jackpot much above its current $600 million level. Since the previous drawing on Wednesday, it had grown by at least $236 million.

"If there was no chance, you wouldn't do it," said New Jersey attorney Rubin Sinins, who represented five construction workers who claimed a colleague cheated them out of a share of a multimillion-dollar lottery jackpot.

It seems simple enough: Just correctly pick five white balls out of a drum of 59 and one red one out of a drum of 35.

However, the odds of a single $2 ticket hitting the correct combination are about 1 in 175.2 million. That's slightly less likely than randomly drawing the name of one specific female in the United States: 1 in 157 million, according to the last census.

With such an astronomic payoff available for the lucky ticket holder, some buyers are content to settle for just a share of the winnings.

In Houston, city firefighter John Paetow and a dozen of his colleagues kicked in $10 each for the drawing, as they do occasionally when a the stakes soar into the lottery stratosphere.

"With firemen it's a camaraderie thing," said Paetow, 59. "It just makes sense to pool our money; it buys more tickets, gives us a better chance of winning."

Even if Saturday's drawing doesn't top last year's Mega Millions jackpot, it's already the highest in Powerball history, surpassing that game's $587.5 million record set in November 2012.

A major reason for the sales surge is that last month, Powerball landed the nation's most populous state as California joined 42 others that offer the game. California lottery director Robert O'Neill said the state had brought "sunshine and good fortune" to Powerball.

The Multi-State Lottery Association conducts the drawing live Saturday night from Tallahassee, Fla. The balls are weighed and X-rayed, and there are practice runs before the official televised version.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-18-US-Powerball-Jackpot/id-d11d91c87b784e5fab34d0b522ae3086

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Jason Sudeikis & Olivia Wilde Get Flirty While Courtside!

The pair can't keep their eyes off each other during the basketball game! Check out more pics of Hollywood's tightest twosomes.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/star-snapshots-celebrity-couples-photos-2013/1-b-469173?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Astar-snapshots-celebrity-couples-photos-2013-469173

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Exclusive: Softbank asks banks not to finance Dish's Sprint bid - sources

(Reuters) - SoftBank Corp has asked investment banks not to finance a rival bid for Sprint Nextel Corp by Dish Network Corp, saying doing so could hurt their chances of gaining a coveted role in the highly anticipated public offering of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Japanese telecom giant SoftBank, which is a big shareholder in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba with a 33 percent stake, is locked in an escalating bidding war with Dish, after the U.S. satellite TV provider made a $25.5 billion proposal for Sprint in April.

SoftBank, which has an existing agreement with Sprint to buy 70 percent of the U.S. wireless carrier for $20.1 billion, has heavily criticized Dish's offer, saying the rival bid does not have committed financing in place.

Dish, which has said it would need to raise $9 billion in debt to finance the offer, is currently in the process of lining up financing, but having challenges partly because banks have come under from pressure from SoftBank not to join the Dish financing, the people said on Friday.

At least one major Wall Street bank already withdrew from financing the Dish bid because of the bank's relationship with SoftBank and its likely role in the Alibaba IPO, they added.

Alibaba declined to comment, but a person close to the company said while SoftBank is a major investor, it does not make decisions for Alibaba management. Alibaba has no timetable for an IPO yet and has not hired underwriters.

Sprint, SoftBank and Dish declined to comment.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Gary Hill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-softbank-asks-banks-not-finance-dishs-sprint-210508801.html

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

North Texas soldier accused of murder for wartime order

by TERESA WOODARD

WFAA

Posted on May 7, 2013 at 10:06 PM

Updated yesterday at 1:03 AM

SPRINGTOWN, Texas ? Rarely does an hour pass they aren't online.? Never does a moment pass they aren't worrying and wondering.

"All day every day that's all I do," said Jamie Garza the cousin of? Lt. Clint Lorance. She's behind the Facebook page and the website, www.defendoursoldier.com, dedicated to sharing Lorance's story.

"We always say, 'What would Clint do if this was us in his shoes?'" asked his mother, Anna Lorance.? "There'd be no stopping him to fight for right."

Lorance was destined to help people, family members say.

"Our toys growing up, I had tractors and he had cop cars and Army jeeps.? He always wanted to be a part of something like that," said brother Cody.

So Clint Lorance enlisted in the Army the day he turned 18, serving in Iraq and Korea.?

When he got out, he returned home to Celeste, northeast of McKinney, and became the first in his family to graduate from college.

Then he returned to the Army as an officer.

Lt. Lorance's platoon came under fire in Afghanistan the first day he was in command. According to his attorney, on the second day... in the same spot... his platoon reported a motorcycle speeding toward them.

His soldiers asked for the OK to open fire. Lt. Lorance said "yes."

Two Afghan villagers were killed. Lorance is now charged with murder.?

The soldiers who actually fired the shots were not charged.

"I know Clint," Cody Lorance said. "Clint, he don't act without completely analyzing everything. He does everything right in line with the way it should be."

The soldier's mother said Clint hasn't talked much about that day.? "But he's told me how hurt he is.? And how he can't believe it.? And he told me he did what he had to do.? And that he would make the same decision again," Anna Lorance said.

Fort Bragg did not give WFAA an explanation about why Lt. Lorance is facing second degree murder charges.? They have said in other published reports that he gave an illegal order to shoot two Afghan villagers that were not acting in a hostile manner.

Everyone who loves Clint Lorance lives in North Texas, and that family is waging a war of its own to clear his name.

"You know, we'd like to see justice be done," said Tracy Lorance, the soldier's father.? "It doesn't make sense.? Makes you wonder what this is all for.? It just don't seem fair."

They created an online petition, hoping to convince someone to drop the charges and stop the court martial.? They set up a website, www.defendoursoldier.com, where they are also soliciting donations to pay for an attorney.

"Until I draw my last breath, I'll fight for my son, because I know him," said his mother, choking back tears.

His family has always admired what they call Clint Lorance's impeccable character -- character they can't believe is now being called into question.

E-mail twoodard@wfaa.com
?

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/North-Texas-soldier-accused-of-murder-for-wartime-order-in-Afghanistan-206530141.html

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Futures point to flat open with Dow, S&P at highs

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Wednesday as investors found little reason to push shares decisively one way or the other, following gains that took indexes to fresh highs a day earlier.

Futures trading had similarly indicated days of limited movement on Monday and Tuesday, though shares ended higher on both days. The S&P has now risen for four straight sessions, up 2.7 percent over that period, and up more than 14 percent thus far in 2013.

While the market continues to trend upward, with analysts citing the attractive valuation of equities relative to other assets, the magnitude and speed of the rally has spurred expectations of a pullback. Wall Street hasn't undergone a sustained decline this year as investors buy on market declines.

"There's room for slight gains from here, maybe another percent or two higher, but even though a lot of people are still not in the market, we think investors will want to take profits soon," said Adam Hewison, chief executive at INO Inc in Annapolis, Maryland. "We're very close to an interim top."

S&P 500 futures fell 1.3 point and were slightly under fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 4 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.25 point.

The Dow closed above 15,000 for the first time on Tuesday and the S&P 500 ended at another record high. Both indexes hit all-time intraday highs during the session.

The U.S. stock market's gains this year have come on strong corporate results and accommodative monetary policies from the Federal Reserve. Recently, growth-orientated sectors like energy have led the way higher.

"We're closely watching energy, which could outperform as oil could potentially rise to $110 on signs that the economy is getting better or on any supply disruption from the Middle East," said Hewison.

Crude rose 0.1 percent to $95.71 per barrel on Wednesday.

Dow component Walt Disney Co reported earnings late Tuesday that beat expectations and revenue that was up 10 percent, while Whole Foods Market Inc reported a rebound in same-store sales and raised its full-year profit view.

Shares of Disney dipped 0.3 percent to $65.90 in premarket trading while Whole Foods advanced 8 percent to $100.25.

J.C. Penney Co Inc reported another quarter of steep sales declines, though investors were cheered that the troubled department store posted cash levels that implied it had gone through less money than feared. The stock rose 2.4 percent to $16.80 in premarket trading but is down 17 percent so far this year.

AOL Inc fell 5.3 percent to $39.22 in premarket trading after reporting earnings that missed expectations, though revenue rose more than anticipated.

Earnings have largely been better than expected this quarter, with about 68.5 percent of S&P 500 companies surpassing estimates so far. At the same time, revenues have been disappointing.

European shares <.fteu3> rose, with mining stocks among the day's strongest as strong Chinese trade data indicated a better outlook for one of the world's largest economies.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/futures-flat-dow-p-500-closing-highs-111726360.html

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Mt. Union coach Larry Kehres retires after 11 Div. III titles

Larry Kehres turned Mt. Union into Division III's dominant program, winning 11 titles in 27 seasons.

AP

ALLIANCE, Ohio (AP) -- Larry Kehres, who turned Mount Union into a Division III powerhouse while stockpiling 11 national titles, is stepping down.

Kehres, 63, had a remarkable 332-24-3 record in his 27 seasons with the Purple Raiders. His teams were unbeaten in the regular season 21 times. The national championships came in 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and this past season.

His .929 winning percentage in all games is the best ever at the college level.

He will continue as Mount Union's athletic director. Kehres did not specify why he was stepping aside as coach, but he will be replaced by his 37-year-old son Vince, who is taking over the job after a resume which parallels his father's.

"The best part of the job was developing relationships with players and continuing those relationships following their graduations,'' Kehres said. "Coaching the Purple Raiders has been a tremendous experience for my family. We have shared many great experiences with our players, fellow coaches, trainers and their families. We plan to continue to enjoy working with Mount Union coaches and athletes.''

The elder Kehres, in his 39th year working at his alma mater, began working as an assistant football coach and professor in 1974. He was Mount Union's first head swimming coach, was hired as athletic director in 1985 then assumed head football coaching duties in 1986.

The 1971 Mount Union grad's teams won 23 Ohio Conference titles.

"His impact on Mount Union has been dramatic, and the entire Raider family will clearly miss him on the sideline,'' said Mount Union President Dr. Richard Giese.

Vince Kehres has spent the last 13 years on the Mount Union football coaching staff and the last eight of those years as defensive coordinator. His defense has ranked statistically among the top in Division III and in 2012 it was No. 1 in total defense, No. 1 in scoring defense and No. 1 in rushing defense while posting six consecutive shutouts.

The 1998 Mount Union graduate has been a part of 10 of the Purple Raiders' national championships as either a player (2) or coach (8).

"I promise this program will continue to uphold the values and ideals that have made Mount Union what it is in the world of college football,'' Vince Kehres said. "Our mission remains the same.''

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130508/larry-kehres-mount-union-retirement/index.html

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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Cannibal tadpoles key to understanding digestive evolution

May 8, 2013 ? A carnivorous, cannibalistic tadpole may play a role in understanding the evolution and development of digestive organs, according to research from North Carolina State University. These findings may also shed light on universal rules of organ development that could lead to better diagnosis and prevention of intestinal birth defects.

NC State developmental biologist Nanette Nascone-Yoder, graduate student Stephanie Bloom and postdoc Cris Ledon-Rettig looked at Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) and Lepidobatrachus laevis (Budgett's frog) tadpoles. These frog species differ in diet and last shared a common ancestor about 110 million years ago. Like most tadpoles, Xenopus exist primarily on a diet of algae, and their long, simple digestive tracts are not able to process insects or proteins until they become adult frogs. Budgett's is an aggressive species of frog which is carnivorous -- and cannibalistic -- in the tadpole stage.

Nascone-Yoder knew that Budgett's tadpoles had evolved shorter, more complex guts to digest protein much earlier in their development. She and her team exposed Xenopus embryos to molecules that inactivated a variety of genes to see if any might coax Xenopus to develop a more carnivore-like digestive tract. Remarkably, five molecules caused Xenopus tadpoles to develop guts that were closer in appearance to those of the Budgett's tadpoles. Taking it one step further, Nascone-Yoder exposed Budgett's frog embryos to molecules with opposite effects, and got tadpole guts that were closer to those of Xenopus.

"Essentially, these molecules are allowing us to tease apart the processes that play a key role in gut development," Nascone-Yoder says. "Understanding how and why the gut develops different shapes and lengths to adapt to different diets and environments during evolution gives us insight into what types of processes can be altered in the context of human birth defects, another scenario in which the gut also changes its shape and function."

The researchers' next steps include finding out whether the changes in these gut tubes were merely cosmetic, or if they also function (digest) differently.

The findings appear in Evolution and Development. James Hanken, Carlos Infante and Anne Everly from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology contributed to the work. The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/AyPA3HH_TTs/130508131848.htm

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GOP Forces Second Delay of Committee Vote on Obama's Labor Secretary Nominee

A Senate committee on Wednesday delayed, for the second time, a vote on President Obama?s pick for Labor Secretary, Thomas Perez amid Republican opposition to Perez
?
A Democratic aide said the delay was forced because Senate Republicans made a rare objection to a routine motion for committees to meet more than two hours after the chamber convenes.
?
?The two hour rule,? is waived almost every day the Senate is in session. The unusual objection forced the Senate Health Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to postpone a vote on Perez until May 16.
Perez.jpgThe delay highlights rising GOP opposition to Perez over his record to the Department of Justice?s top civil rights lawyer.
?
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted Perez in a speech Weds. morning, in a sign Republicans will mobilize to block Perez when his nomination does reach the floor.
?
"His willingness, time and again, to bend or ignore the law and to misstate the facts in order to advance his far-left ideology lead me and others to conclude that he?d continue to do so if he were confirmed to another, and much more consequential, position of public trust," McConnell said. ?

Republicans cite a series of instances in which they argue Perez failing to enforce the law due to a partisan agenda.

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Wednesday he fears Perez "would invariably politicize the Department of Labor and impose an ideological litmus test.?
?
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Weds. brushed off pressure from other Hispanic lawmakers not to oppose Perez.?

"Mr. Perez's far left views and troublign record at the Justice Department simply do not qualify him to lead the Labor Department, and I will strongly oppose his confirmation, Rubio said in a lenghty statement.
?
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that Republican "roadblocks" have become routine due the "unfortuante politicization" of the Senate confirmation process under Obama. Carney said he still expects Perez's confirmation.

"It is unfortunate that some Republicans on the Hill are politicizing this nomination," Carney said. ?

HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) who already delayed one hearing on Perez to give Republicans on the panel more time to investigate the nominees record, in a statement said he is ?deeply disappointed that after additional time was granted as a matter of courtesy, members of the
Republican caucus have now used procedural roadblocks to delay Committee consideration of the President?s Cabinet choice for Secretary of Labor."

Republican obstructionism and procedural tricks are preventing this body from carrying out its constitutional?duties," Harkin said later in a long Senate floor speech.

GOP aides said they were not sure the party would ultimately summon the 41 votes needed to block Perez.

dfriedman@nydailynews.com
@dfriedman33

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/blogs/~3/mrhlRoCBxLo/story01.htm

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Crash kills two on Trans-Canada Highway at Hoffman's Bluff

Two men, believed to be in their 20s, died Monday night in a fiery crash on the Trans-Canada Highway at Hoffman?s Bluff west of Chase.

The Central Interior Traffic Services are continuing to investigate the head-on collision between a pick-up truck and a semi trailer that took place at 9:30 p.m. May 6.

Chase and Kamloops RCMP as well as fire and rescue crews from Pritchard and Chase were called to the scene where witnesses reported a pick-up truck crossed the center line. The truck drove head-on into a west-bound semi trailer which was transporting butter.

The pick-up truck then burst into flames, igniting the semi as well as some surrounding trees and brush.

RCMP believe alcohol and speed were contributing factors in this collision.

A male passenger was able to escape the wreckage with minor injuries after being pulled from the truck by people at the scene. He is reported to have been taken to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops for treatment of serious injuries

Two men, the driver and a passenger of the pick-up truck, subsequently died in the fire.

The driver of the semi-truck suffered a broken leg and was transported to Shuswap Lake General Hospital for treatment.

The Trans-Canada Highway was closed in both directions for approximately six hours, and has since reopened.

The investigation is now being handled by the BC Coroners Service.

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Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/206429501.html

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Michael Jackson show in Vegas more of a good thing

(AP) ? Michael Jackson spent his life breaking music industry records. Four years after his death, the pop star's estate has delivered another first: Jackson is now the only person, place or thing to have inspired two Cirque du Soleil shows.

The troupe presented a sneak peak of its new Jackson tribute show, "ONE," at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The show appears to share many features with Cirque's touring arena Michael Jackson show, "THE IMMORTAL WORLD TOUR."

In both, performers dance, somersault and glide above the crowd in dramatic riffs on Jackson's number one hits. In the new show, the songs are longer and the choreography is designed for the smaller scale of a theater.

"ONE" opens June 29. Both shows are co-produced by the Jackson estate.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-07-US-Michael-Jackson-Cirque-Du-Soleil/id-0ec38eaea1e74f87b2b23c3f18972ae8

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Drones Offer a Safer, Clearer Look at the Natural World

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Technology developed for warfare finds surprising civilian applications, including surveys of wildlife populations.
    


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/science/drones-offer-a-safer-clearer-look-at-the-natural-world.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Internet Marketing Strategy

So what is the secret to internet marketing? Or to ANY online business success?

It?s actually being stated clearly to us ? MARKETING. The truth is, it?s about having a powerful marketing strategy for your internet business. If you?re confused of what I mean, my apology on that ? so let me explain:

You see, these ?Gurus? talk about their blogging software, keyword software, traffic software or Facebook software, or any of those ?push button? software that SUPPOSEDLY generate income for you? they?ll sell to you those shinning objects that promise to make $14,321 in 5 days or something.

Truth is, they don?t use those ?push button? software to make hundreds of thousands or a million? they?re using the ?REAL STUFF? ? which is none other than effective marketing strategy.

Even if those ?push button? stuff work, they?re required to be ?combined? with a marketing strategy.

Look at all of the great businesses today ? they have a particular strategy that makes them so successful today.

On the large scale examples, let?s look at:

Microsoft. Bill Gates understand the strategy of LEVERAGE and ?joint venture?. He ride on IBM by ?incorporating? Windows into computers.

Facebook. Targeting University students when it was first launched. Novelty. ?Exclusivity?. Niche selection.

Google. Way too many strategies to list here but one that is paramount would probably be focusing on giving good stuff away for free.

If you?re doing internet marketing, the #1 strategy you must use is ?information marketing?. Reason is, you can use valuable information to powerfully generate leads, use them as bonuses to your physical or other information products, build credibility, sell them separately and so on.

The biggest question would probably be this ? how do I learn marketing strategies?

Of course the simplest one is to learn from a mentor. But this opportunity doesn?t always exist so here are others?.

1. Look at how big companies are launching their ?products?. Try to decode what the marketing strategy that they?re applying is, then see how that can be applied into your own business. I thought of the strategy of giving away products for free by simply based on what I?ve observed from Google. I?m not a genius, I?m just good at observing.

2. Look at how your competitors are doing it. If you?re in the information business, the best place to find them is at Clickbank.com. Read their salesletters. Watch their video salesletters. You?ll learn how they sell.

3. Create your own ?mastermind? group. This way, whenever you have thought of a marketing strategy, you can bounce your idea with them ? to see if they like it or not.

Here?s what I think would be the greatest ?marketing strategy? of all time:

?Choose your market wisely; choose the market that will be responsive towards your message and focus on building relationship with them. The goal is not trying to sell your product, but positioning yourself as the person who will help them to solve their problems. This way, they would appreciate your product/service because you?re adding value to them.?

If you feel like sharing your marketing strategy, feel free to leave your comment. Or just leave anyway if you like what you?ve read today. :)

By the way, if you?re a Malaysian or coming to Malaysia in June, check this out.

?

Install this web app on your Android: Tap menu, more options, and then Add Shortcut To Homescreen.

Source: http://patricchan.com/268/the-secret-to-internet-marketing/

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New cost-effective genome assembly process

May 5, 2013 ? The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) is among the world leaders in sequencing the genomes of microbes, focusing on their potential applications in the fields of bioenergy and environment. As a national user facility, the DOE JGI is also focused on developing tools that more cost-effectively enable the assembly and analysis of the sequence that it, as well as other genome centers, generates.

Despite tremendous advances in cost reduction and throughput of DNA sequencing, significant challenges remain in the process of efficiently reconstructing genomes. Existing technologies are good at cranking out short fragments (reads) of DNA letters that are computationally stitched back together (assembled) into longer pieces, so that the order of those letters can be determined and the function of the target sequence discerned. However, genome assembly, the equivalent of trying to put together a multi-million piece jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the picture on the cover of the box is, remains challenging due to the very large number of very small pieces, which must be assembled using current approaches.

As reported May 5 online in the journal Nature Methods, a collaboration between the DOE JGI, Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and the University of Washington has resulted in an improved workflow for genome assembly that the team describes as "a fully automated process from DNA sample preparation to the determination of the finished genome."

The technique, known as HGAP (Hierarchical Genome Assembly Process), uses PacBio's single molecule, real-time DNA sequencing platform, which generates reads that can be up to tens of thousands of nucleotides long, even longer than those provided by the workhorse technology of the Human Genome Project era, the Sanger sequencing technology, which produced reads of about 700 nucleotides. The Sanger process involved creating multiple DNA libraries, conducting multiple runs, and combining the data, so that gaps in the code were covered and accuracies of a DNA base assignment were very high. Post-Sanger methods still typically require multiple libraries and often a mix of technologies to produce optimal results. Instead, with HGAP, "only a single, long-insert shotgun DNA library is prepared and subjected to automated continuous long-read SMRT sequencing, and the assembly is performed without the need for circular consensus sequencing," the team reported.

This de novo assembly method was tested using three microbes previously sequenced by the DOE JGI. The data collected were compared against the reference sequences for these microbes and the team found that the HGAP method produced final assemblies with >99.999% accuracy.

"We are always on the lookout for new approaches that will improve upon the efficient delivery of high-quality data to our growing community of researchers," said Len Pennacchio, DOE JGI's Deputy Director of Genomic Technologies. "This technique is one of many improvements that we are pursuing in parallel to achieve additional economies of scale."

The DOE JGI's sequencing efforts account for more than 20% of the more than 20,000 worldwide genome projects (microbes, plants, fungi, algae, and communities of microbes) completed or currently in the queue, and most of those are focused on the biology of environmental, energy, and carbon processing.

"We enjoyed a very productive collaboration with JGI on this project and benefited tremendously from the expertise of JGI's scientists in both the fields of microbiology and microbial genome assembly and annotation," said Jonas Korlach, Chief Scientific Officer at Pacific Biosciences. "This expertise provided us with the ability to adapt our single molecule sequencing assembly methods to produce a higher level of finished quality than was previously possible using a gold-standard Sanger finishing approach, and at a speed and price point competitive with alternative next generation sequencing and assembly methods. We look forward to seeing what scientific advances will be enabled by this method as JGI's User Community assesses JGI's capabilities to assemble their microbial genomes using this new approach."

The team will now seek to extend the utility of this new assembly method beyond microbes to the genomes of more complex organisms.

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/most_popular/~3/RZdVWVQ8lRg/130505145933.htm

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Landsat thermal sensor lights up from volcano's heat

May 6, 2013 ? As the Landsat Data Continuity Mission satellite flew over Indonesia's Flores Sea April 29, it captured an image of Paluweh volcano spewing ash into the air. The satellite's Operational Land Imager detected the white cloud of smoke and ash drifting northwest, over the green forests of the island and the blue waters of the tropical sea. The Thermal Infrared Sensor on LDCM picked up even more.

By imaging the heat emanating from the 5-mile-wide volcanic island, TIRS revealed a hot spot at the top of the volcano where lava has been oozing in recent months.

The two LDCM instruments, working together, illustrate a quote from Aristotle: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, said Betsy Forsbacka, TIRS instrument manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"Each instrument by itself is magnificent," she said. "When you put them together, with the clues that each give you on what you're seeing on Earth's surface, it's greater than either could do by themselves."

The image of Paluweh also illuminates TIRS' abilities to capture the boundaries between the hot volcanic activity and the cooler volcanic ash without the signal from the hot spot bleeding over into pixels imaging the cooler surrounding areas. TIRS engineers tested and refined the instrument pre-launch to ensure each pixel correctly represents the heat source it images on Earth's surface. Otherwise, Forsbacka said, it would be like shining a flashlight in your eyes -- the bright light can leave you seeing spots and halos where it should be dark. The same effect can occur with detectors. But the contrast is sharp on the Paluweh image.

"We can image the white, representing the very hot lava, and right next to it we image the gray and black from the cooler surrounding ash," Forsbacka said. "It's exciting that we're imaging such diverse thermal activity so well."

The TIRS instrument can also pick up subtle shifts of temperatures, within a 10th of a degree Celsius. And, with two different thermal bands instead of the one band on previous Landsat satellites, LDCM is poised to make it easier for scientists to subtract out the effects of the atmosphere on the signal, obtaining a more accurate temperature of Earth's surface.

Taking Earth's temperature from space can be difficult because the atmosphere gets in the way and alters the thermal signals, Forsbacka said. Scientists looking to estimate surface temperatures with the single thermal band on previous Landsat instruments needed measurements or assumptions about atmospheric conditions.

TIRS has two thermal bands, however. The atmosphere affects each band slightly differently, resulting in one thermal image that's a hair darker than the other. By measuring that difference, and plugging it into algorithms, scientists can better address atmospheric effects and create a more accurate temperature record of Earth's surface.

The Landsat program is a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Once LDCM completes its onboard calibration and check-out phase in late May, the satellite will be handed over to the USGS and renamed Landsat 8. Data from TIRS and OLI will be processed, archived and distributed from the USGS Earth Resources and Observation Science Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., for free over the Internet.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Y5qQsazbYgM/130506181722.htm

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Ruckus results miss as telecom service providers delay deployment

(Reuters) - Ruckus Wireless Inc reported first-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street estimates as telecom service providers in the Americas delayed deployments, and the WiFi products maker forecast current-quarter largely below expectations.

Ruckus shares fell 18 percent in after-market trading.

The company expects second-quarter adjusted earnings of 3 cents to 4 cents per share on revenue of $61 million to $64 million.

Analysts were looking for adjusted earnings of 4 cents per share on revenue of $67.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net income fell to $314,000, or break-even per share, in the first quarter, from $3.7 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, it earned 3 cents per share, below analysts' estimates of 4 cents per share.

Revenue rose 27 percent to $57.2 million, which fell short of the $63.3 million that analysts had expected.

"Revenue was impacted by delayed deployments by several service provider customers in the Americas, as well as challenging market conditions in China," Chief Executive Selina Lo said.

Ruckus shares closed at $19.00 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. They have fallen 20 percent in the last three months.

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ruckus-results-miss-telecom-providers-delay-deployment-204612652.html

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