aground chide: May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Galaxy S4 Active destined for AT&T leaked in press renders

Another take on the Galaxy S4 with a rugged exterior and new color options

Building on earlier leaks and rumors of a new version of the Galaxy S4 called the "Active", new press images show show off the handset with AT&T branding and a few more details about the device. If you'll recall back just a few days to earlier leaks, the Galaxy S4 Active is purported to be a more rugged version of the original S4, with a tougher design, three hardware navigation buttons and very similar internals. According to information and images obtained by TheUnlockr, the Galaxy S4 Active will ship with a 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor and have the same 5-inch 1080x1920 display, but will bump down the camera to only 8MP.

The clock widget prominently displayed on the render's screen shows a date of June 21st, to which we can take with a large grain of salt as a potential launch window for the device. Along with the Galaxy S4 Mini, the Active shows how Samsung is working to fill out its Galaxy S4 lineup to include multiple handsets under the same well-known branding. Will you be inclined to pick one of these up if it hits AT&T? Sound off in the comments.

Source: TheUnlockr

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/gyoyqhAw_KU/story01.htm

metta neil diamond kashi orange crush harden nor easter nor easter

Omega-3 fatty acids may help heal a broken heart

May 30, 2013 ? Procedures like angioplasty, stenting and bypass surgery may save lives, but they also cause excessive inflammation and scarring, which ultimately can lead to permanent disability and even death. A new research report appearing in The FASEB Journal, shows that naturally derived compounds from polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3s) may reduce the inflammation associated with these procedures to help arteries more fully and completely heal.

"Our study suggests that biologically active, naturally occurring compounds derived from omega-3 PUFAs reduce inflammation and improve the healing of blood vessels after injury," said Michael S. Conte, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and the Heart and Vascular Center at the University of California, in San Francisco, CA. "They suggest a new opportunity to improve the long-term results of cardiovascular procedures such as bypass surgery and angioplasty by the therapeutic application of this class of agents or their dietary precursors."

To make this discovery, Conte and colleagues studied the effects of the compounds (resolvin or RvD) first in cultured vascular cells taken from patients who had undergone bypass operations, and then in rabbits who were treated with a balloon angioplasty procedure in the arteries of the hind limb. In the human cells, treatment with RvD dramatically reduced features that are associated with the typical vascular injury response -- inflammation, cell migration, and cell growth in vascular smooth muscle cells. The potency of these compounds corresponds to concentrations that have been measured in the blood of human subjects taking high dose fish oil supplements for short periods of time. In rabbits, researchers treated the artery with RvD at the time of the balloon angioplasty procedure by infusing the drug directly into the vessel, and found that this one-time treatment reduced inflammation and subsequent scarring of the vessel after one month.

"If successful in further studies, this finding could be a huge benefit to patients undergoing these procedures," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "What's even better, is that these potentially lifesaving compounds are already available in any fish market or grocery store."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

Journal Reference:

T. Miyahara, S. Runge, A. Chatterjee, M. Chen, G. Mottola, J. M. Fitzgerald, C. N. Serhan, M. S. Conte. D-series resolvin attenuates vascular smooth muscle cell activation and neointimal hyperplasia following vascular injury. The FASEB Journal, 2013; 27 (6): 2220 DOI: 10.1096/fj.12-225615

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/PGZa9EYaQKE/130530111155.htm

purim acc tournament big ten tournament big east tournament 2012 solar storm spanx solar flares

Floyd Mayweather: Canelo Alvarez Fight Is Next, Scheduled For Sept. 14, 2013

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero exchange punches in the fifth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero exchange punches in the sixth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero, right, listens to his father and trainer Ruben Guerrero as he sits in his corner after the ninth round against Floyd Mayweather Jr. during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, lands a blow to the body against Robert Guerrero Jr. in the eighth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. reacts after defeating Robert Guerrero by unanimous decision in a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. reacts after defeating Robert Guerrero by unanimous decision in a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, throws a left jab at Robert Guerrero in the eighth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. lands a left jab against Robert Guerrero in the fifth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero sits in his corner after the fifth round against Floyd Mayweather Jr. during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. lands a left jab against Robert Guerrero in the fourth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., right, dodges a punch by Robert Guerrero in the third round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, throws a jab at Robert Guerrero in the fourth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, throws a jab to the body of Robert Guerrero in the third round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, throws a jab at Robert Guerrero in the third round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero, right, throws a jab against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the third round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, ducks a punch by Robert Guerrero in the third round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. reacts after defeating Robert Guerrero by unanimous decision in a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero exchange punches in the first round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, and Robert Guerrero exchange punches in the first round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. reacts to fans as he sits atop the shoulders of Leonard Ellerbe after defeating Robert Guerrero during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero exchange punches in the first round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr. steps into the ring to defend his WBC welterweight title against Robert Guerrero, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, faces off with Robert Guerrero after their weigh-in, Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the WBC world welterweight title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero waves to boxing fans as he arrives for the weigh-in for the WBC welterweight title fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for Mayweather's title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. waves to boxing fans after the weigh-in for the WBC world welterweight title fight against Robert Guerrero , Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, faces off with Robert Guerrero after their weigh-in, Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for Mayweather's WBC welterweight title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. waves to boxing fans as he arrives for the weigh-in for the WBC world welterweight title fight against Robert Guerrero, Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero waves to boxing fans as he arrives for the weigh-in for the WBC welterweight title fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the latter's title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Robert Guerrero, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Robert Guerrero steps up on the scale during the weigh-in for his WBC world welterweight championship fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Robert Guerrero

Robert Guerrero poses for photos as he steps up on the scale during the weigh-in for his WBC world welterweight championship fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Floyd Mayweather squares off against Robert Guerrero for the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Robert Guerrero

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. steps up on the scale during the weigh-in for his WBC world welterweight championship fight against Robert Guerrero, Friday, May 3, 2013, in Las Vegas. Guerrero will challenge Mayweather for the title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Oscar De La Hoya waves to the crowd before the weigh in between Floyd Mayweather against Robert Guerrero for the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Floyd Mayweather weighs in at 146 pounds for his fight against Robert Guerrero for the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Robert Guerrero plays to the crowd after weighing in at 147 pounds for his fight against Floyd Mayweather for the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Floyd Mayweather plays to the crowd after weighing in for his fight at 146 pounds against Robert Guerrero for the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Ruben Guerrerro, Father of Robert Guerrero waves the Mexican flag during the weigh in against Floyd Mayweather the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 03: Robert Guerrero weighs in at 147 pounds for his fight against Floyd Mayweather for the WBC and Vacant Ring Magazine Welterweight titles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Robert Guerrero - Weigh-In

Oscar de la Hoya, Ruben Guerrero

Oscar de la Hoya, left, steps back to the microphone as Ruben Guerrero, father and trainer of Robert Guerrero, walks back to his seat while calling Floyd Mayweather Jr., a "wife beater" during a boxing news conference, Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in Las Vegas. Robert Guerrero is scheduled to challenge Mayweather for the WBC world welterweight title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., speaks during a boxing news conference, Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in Las Vegas. Mayweather is scheduled to attempt to defend the WBC world welterweight title against Robert Guerrero on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Ruben Guerrero, Oscar de la Hoya

Oscar de la Hoya, center, pushes Ruben Guerrero, father and trainer of Robert Guerrero, right, away from the microphone after Ruben called Floyd Mayweather Jr., a "wife beater" during a boxing news conference, Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in Las Vegas. Robert Guerrero is scheduled to challenge Mayweather for the WBC world welterweight title on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/30/floyd-mayweather-jr-canelo-alvarez-fight_n_3356692.html

Angie Everhart tom hardy British Open leaderboard Jessica Ghawi People Water Fred Willard Emmy nominations 2012

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Boston bombing suspect is walking, mother says

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? The remaining suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has recovered enough to walk and assured his parents in a phone conversation that he and his slain brother were innocent, their mother told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the father of a Chechen immigrant killed in Florida while being interrogated by the FBI about his ties to the slain brother maintained that the U.S. agents killed his son "execution-style."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, walked without a wheelchair to speak to his mother last week for the first and only phone conversation they have had since he has been in custody, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva told the AP.

In a rare glimpse at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's state of mind, he told her he was getting better and that he had a very good doctor, but was struggling to understand what happened, she said.

"He didn't hold back his emotions either, as if he were screaming to the whole world: What is this? What's happening?," she said.

The April 15 bombings killed three people and wounded more than 260. Elder brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout with police, and Dzhokhar remains in a prison hospital after being badly wounded.

"I could just feel that he was being driven crazy by the unfairness that happened to us, that they killed our innocent Tamerlan," their mother said, standing by the family's insistence that their children are innocent.

The Tsarnaevs met the AP in their new apartment in a 14-story building in a well-to-do area of Makhachkala, the capital of the restive Caucasus province of Dagestan. The apartment had no furniture apart from a TV, a few rugs, and wallpaper materials lying on the floor.

Anzor Tsarnaev, the suspects' father, said they bought it for Tamerlan, his wife, and their young daughter in the expectation that they would move to Makhachkala later this year. He added that they planned to turn their old home in a dingy district on the outskirts of town into a dentist's office, so that Dzhokhar, a dental hygiene student, could work out of it after completing his studies.

"All I can do is pray to God and hope that one day fairness will win out, our children will be cleared, and we will at least get Dzhokhar back, crippled, but at least alive," Tsarnaev said.

Separately, at a news conference in Moscow, the father of a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter who was killed during FBI questioning accused agents of being "bandits" who executed his son.

Abdul-Baki Todashev showed journalists 16 photographs that he said were of his son, Ibragim, in a Florida morgue. He said his son had six gunshot wounds to his torso and one to the back of his head and the pictures were taken by his son's friend, Khusen Taramov.

It was not immediately possible to authenticate the photographs.

The FBI says Todashev was being questioned by an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers about his ties to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as well as about a 2011 triple slaying in Massachusetts.

Three law enforcement officials said initially that Ibragim Todashev had lunged at the FBI agent with a knife, although two of them later said it was no longer clear what had happened.

The father said his son was "100 percent unarmed."

Taramov confirmed Thursday that he had taken some pictures of Ibragim Todashev's body at an Orlando funeral home and sent them to the father. He said Ibragim Todashev had a decorative sword with a broken handle, but that it was not a weapon.

"The sword wouldn't cut nothing," Tamarov said. "I played with it many times. It wasn't sharp from any angle. It would do the same harm as a piece of wood."

The father said Taramov told him that U.S. agents interrogated him on the street while five officials interrogated Todashev in his Florida house for eight hours on May 22, the night he was shot.

Todashev's father said that his son moved to the U.S. in 2008 on a study exchange program and met Tsarnaev at a boxing gym in Boston in 2011, about a year before he moved to Orlando. He said the two were "not particularly close friends."

Prior to last month's bombings, Todashev underwent an operation for a sports injury and was on crutches, making it physically impossible for him to have been involved in the bombings, his father said. He added that Todashev had recently received a green card and was planning to return to Chechnya for the summer last Friday, two days after he was killed.

The father said he and his brother were interviewed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Thursday as they sought a visa to take his son's body back to Chechnya.

FBI agents interrogated the younger Todashev twice before the night he was shot, his father said. He said his son told him that he thought Tsarnaev had been set up to take the blame for the bombings.

"I'd only seen and heard things like that in the movies ? they shoot somebody and then a shot in the head to make sure," Todashev said.

"These just aren't FBI agents, they're bandits," he added.

The FBI wouldn't comment on the claims made by Todashev's father.

The Tsarnaevs' parents have held fast to their belief that their sons were framed. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, dressed all in black and still visibly distressed, showed AP several YouTube videos on an iPad she claimed cleared her sons. They could not be authenticated by the AP.

"I remember when our cat was sick, Tamerlan was sick himself for two days afterward, because he was so worried about her," Tsarnaeva said.

She said Tamerlan told her about Todashev, and that she and her husband had invited him to visit them in Russia, though he never came. Tamerlan later told them that he and Todashev were unlikely to continue training together since they practiced different sports, and he appeared to have lost track of him after Todashev moved to Florida, Tsarnaeva added.

_____

Seddon reported from Moscow. Associated Press writer Denise Lavoie in Boston and Kyle Hightower in Orlando contributed to the story.

_____

Follow Max Seddon on Twitter: http://twitter.com/maxseddon

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-bombing-suspect-walking-mother-says-202722908.html

Solomon Islands Mary Leakey Side Effects bob marley weather the walking dead the walking dead

This Robot Learns to Pour Beer by Predicting Your Future

Have you ever dreamed of owning a personal robot servant to pour your beers for you? The idea is now one step closer to reality. Researchers at Cornell University have programmed a robot that can predict what you’re about to ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/moow3_ZhwwI/

the matrix oceans 11 ferris state hockey mary poppins john derbyshire kinkade thomas kinkade paintings

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Comet ISON revives memories of celestial dud Kohoutek

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center / Axel Mellinger

From now through October, comet ISON tracks through constellations Gemini, Cancer and Leo as it zips toward the sun.

By Joe Rao
Space.com

As astronomers track a possible "comet of the century" in the coming months, they might need to recall an old adage:?"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

When it was first sighted last September by two Russian amateur astronomers, Comet ISON was located some 620 million miles (1 billion kilometers) from the sun. At the time, it was hovering at around 18th magnitude on the brightness scale ? about 100,000 times fainter than the faintest star visible to the unaided eye.?

While that is extremely faint, ISON was still glowing rather brightly for a comet so far from the sun. When it was determined that the comet would eventually "graze" the sun, coming within 730,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) ?of the solar surface on Nov. 28, 2013, the implication was that ISON would become superbright ? possibly matching the brilliance of a full moon. [See Photos of Comet ISON in the Night Sky]

Remember Kohoutek?
If you're of a certain age, this story might have a familiar ring. Indeed, exactly 40 years ago, a comet by the name of Kohoutek was also discovered at a tremendously large distance from the sun, en route to a close solar encounter in late December 1973.

Like ISON, Kohoutek was expected to dazzle ? perhaps more than 100 times brighter than Venus. It, too, was dubbed "the comet of the century," but in the end, Kohoutek turned out to be much dimmer and put on a rather disappointing show.?

Members of the media referred to Comet Kohoutek as ?Ko-hoax-tek,? and the recriminations were rather nasty for astronomers, who had promised a holiday light show in the sky.

NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute), and the Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of Comet ISON was taken on April 10, 2013, when the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter's orbit at a distance of 386 million miles from the sun (394 million miles from Earth).

When Johnny Carson, who liked to think of himself as an amateur astronomer, welcomed astronomer Carl Sagan as a guest on the "Tonight Show," the comedian balked at Kohoutek?s poor showing. "Comet of the century?" quipped Carson, "This thing wouldn't have made comet of the week!"

Going nowhere
Although Comet ISON won't begin its rendezvous with the sun for another six months, astronomers say the comet will put on a stupendous display. But as was the case with Kohoutek, there?s a possibility that Comet ISON may not live up to its heralded expectations.

Comet ISON has apparently stopped brightening since the beginning of this year. After increasing more than sixfold in apparent brightness since its discovery, the comet has remained at 16th magnitude since Jan. 2; its brightening trend has, for all intents and purposes, flatlined.?

Using CCD camera imagery, astronomer Faustino Garcia has developed the "observadores-cometas" light curve here for a photometric aperture of 10 inches.

The solid red line depicts the original brightening forecast for the comet; the dates at the bottom of the graph give the day, followed by the month and then the year ? so the final date"19/05/13? corresponds to May 19, 2013.

Celestial deception
Comet ISON is apparently a "new" comet ? a comet making its first trip around the sun ? that has originated from the Oort cloud, a realm of icy objects that extends ?perhaps one to two light-years from the sun, where billions of comets may reside.

Such a comet has never been exposed to the light and heat of the sun, and may possess a thin "frosting" of volatile material that vaporizes at a great distance from the sun and initially gives a false impression that it is dynamically large and active. After the frosting evaporates, the comet stops brightening. This is what may have happened with ISON.

Astronomers probably won?t know what will happen to ISON until the comet gets close enough to the sun for any frozen water locked within its 3-mile-wide (4.8 km) nucleus to begin to sublimate (go from a solid to a gaseous state).

This process could get ISON back on a brightening trend. ISON will need to come within 280 million to 230 million miles (450 million to 370 million km) of the sun for this to happen, but it won?t arrive within this distance range until sometime between July 8 and Aug. 12.?

Until then, consider Comet ISON to be in a "holding pattern." It still has a chance of becoming a celestial showpiece by later this year, but it could just as easily end up following the ill-fated Kohoutek as a celestial flop.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for "Natural History" magazine, the "Farmer's Almanac" and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2c939717/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C290C185870A870Ecomet0Eison0Erevives0Ememories0Eof0Ecelestial0Edud0Ekohoutek0Dlite/story01.htm

Sam Claflin Tony Farmer West Nile virus symptoms snooki Prince Harry Vegas pictures Avril Lavigne Microsoft

Afghan security rescues Red Cross staff

Smoke rises from the International Red Cross building after a gun battle between security forces and an insurgent, in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. A senior Afghan official said security forces rescued seven foreigners working for the International Red Cross on Wednesday after a two-hour-long gun battle with an insurgent at a guest house in the eastern city of Jalalabad. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan police and national army forces stand alert after a gun battle between security forces and an insurgent, in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. A senior Afghan official said security forces rescued seven foreigners working for the International Red Cross on Wednesday after a two-hour-long gun battle with an insurgent at a guest house in the eastern city of Jalalabad. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

The International Red Cross building burns, after a gun battle between security forces and an insurgent, in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. A senior Afghan official said security forces rescued seven foreigners working for the International Red Cross on Wednesday after a two-hour-long gun battle with an insurgent at a guest house in the eastern city of Jalalabad. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan policemen take their positions, during a gun battle between security forces and an insurgent, in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. A senior Afghan official said security forces rescued seven foreigners working for the International Red Cross on Wednesday after a two-hour-long gun battle with an insurgent at a guest house in the eastern city of Jalalabad. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A senior Afghan official said security forces rescued seven foreigners working for the International Red Cross on Wednesday after a two-hour-long gun battle with insurgents at a guest house in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said the three women and four men were safe after police killed an insurgent who had remained holed up inside the compound. He said one of the male aid workers was lightly wounded.

The other of the two assailants had detonated a suicide vest at the building's gate at the beginning of the attack, killing an Afghan security guard, Sediqi said.

Security forces were searching surrounding buildings in case any other attackers were involved and managed to escape, he added.

A spokesman for the Red Cross in Afghanistan, Abdul Hasib Rahimi, said all organization's foreign staff that were inside the compound are safe. He said they were checking to see if any Afghan staffers were there at the time, but added that local employees had left for the day an hour before the attack. The foreigners live in the compound, he added.

A total of 35 Red Cross staff, including the seven foreigners, work at the facility, he said.

"We contacted our foreigners, they are safe. We are now contacting Afghan staff," Rahimi said.

Sediqi said Afghan forces arrived at the scene of the attack shortly after the suicide bombing at the door, which had cleared the way for the other attacker to enter.

"As a result of the shooting exchange the gunman was killed and all seven foreigners who were inside the building were rescued safely. Only one foreigner has minor injuries to his leg, but the six others are unharmed. Right now the security situation is under control," Sediqi said.

The attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad is the second major assault against an international organization in five days. Militants launched a similar operation against a U.N.-affiliated group in Kabul last week that killed three people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and it is unclear why insurgents would want to target the Red Cross, which not only carries out humanitarian work around Afghanistan but also is the conduit for families to communicate with detainees taken off the battlefield, including the Taliban.

The Red Cross warned last month that security was deteriorating across Afghanistan as militants flood the battlefield and conduct attacks in what could be the most important spring fighting season of the nearly 12-year-old war.

The violence comes just five days after Taliban gunmen backed by a suicide car bomber attacked the Kabul offices of the International Organization for Migration, killing two Afghan civilians and a police officer. The assault sparked an hours-long street battle and left another 17 wounded, including seven IOM staff members.

The IOM is a U.N.-affiliated agency assisting returning Afghan migrants as well as those displaced by fighting.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack on the IOM guest house in an upscale neighborhood of Kabul, a relatively uncommon operation by the group targeting an international aid organization.

The Taliban and other militants have unleashed a wave of bombings and assassinations around the country, testing the ability of the Afghan security forces to respond with reduced help from international forces, who have begun a withdrawal that will see most foreign troops gone by the end of 2014.

This year is crucial for Afghanistan as the U.S.-led coalition is expected to hand over most security responsibilities in the country to its own security forces, sometime in the late spring. Foreign military forces are then expected to begin a massive withdrawal of forces that will culminate at the end of next year.

Earlier, seven insurgents wearing police uniforms and bomb-laden vests attacked a government compound in Panjshir, a usually secure province in eastern Afghanistan. One police officer was killed and another was wounded.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, has ramped up its assaults on government forces and officials since launching its spring fighting campaign earlier this month. While the attacks have grown more frequent in many parts of Afghanistan, Wednesday's violence was of note because it took place in in eastern Panjshir province, a normally peaceful area in a valley that was the heart of the anti-Taliban resistance until the U.S. invasion in late 2001.

Governor Kramuddin Karim said the attackers targeted the government complex in the provincial capital of Bazarak, and that all seven militants were killed.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in an email to journalists.

Provincial police chief Qasim Jangalbagh said the insurgents were wearing police uniforms, and that three of the attackers blew themselves up and four were killed by police during the assault. The government complex was empty because of the early hour, Jangalbagh said.

Jangalbagh said a station wagon with 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives that the insurgents were driving did not blow up. He added that one of the seven insurgents managed to flee the scene, but later blew himself up.

___

Associated Press writers Rahmat Gul in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and Patrick Quinn in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-29-Afghanistan/id-d8ee374705154a078a9f978f46d52372

f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas roy williams divine mercy chaplet

Obama, NJ's Christie together again in mutual aid

FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama is greeted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie upon arrival at Atlantic City International Airport in Atlantic City, N.J., to visit areas damaged by Superstorm Sandy. Obama with Christie at his side, will visit the recovering coast on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, in an effort to reinforce a message of effective government, bipartisanship and economic opportunity. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and Gov. Chris Christie, the odd couple of politics, are finding common cause again.

Obama was to tour New Jersey's beach communities with Christie on Tuesday, examining the recovery from Hurricane Sandy's devastating damage last October.

The trip gives Obama a chance to showcase the widely praised Federal Emergency Management Agency at a time when attention has focused on the Internal Revenue Service and its targeting of conservative groups. The president also gets to draw attention to the kind of bipartisanship that has been harder to find in the nation's capital.

The visit occurs as Congress is away for a Memorial Day break, a weeklong recess that likely will silence the daily attention lawmakers, particularly Republicans, had been paying to the IRS political upheaval as well as the ongoing debate about the fatal attacks at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last year and an investigation of media leaks that has stirred opposition from the media and many lawmakers.

It also comes just days after Obama started trying to change the subject in Washington with a speech defending his controversial program of strikes by unmanned drones and renewing his push to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

On Sunday, Obama traveled to Oklahoma to view damage from the recent tornado and console victims of the deadly storm.

For Christie, the president's appearance is yet another way to showcase his beloved Jersey Shore. The Republican governor has been touting it throughout the Memorial Day weekend as a destination point that is back in business, and he broke a Guinness world record Friday by cutting a 5.5-mile-long ceremonial ribbon that symbolically tied together some of the towns hardest-hit by Sandy. The state has a $25 million marketing campaign to highlight the shore's resurgence in time for the summer season.

Both men will reprise the remarkable bipartisan tableau they offered during Sandy's immediate aftermath, when Obama flew to New Jersey just days before the November election to witness the storm's wreckage. Politically, the visit plays well for both men. Christie, seeking re-election this year, will stand shoulder to shoulder with a president popular among Democrats in a Democratic-leaning state. And Obama, dueling with congressional Republicans on a number of fronts, gets to display common cause with a popular GOP stalwart. (Obama was not scheduled to meet with state Sen. Barbara Buono, Christie's likely Democratic opponent in the governor's race.)

Christie, in an interview with NBC on Friday, played down the politics, even when asked whether ties to Obama could hurt him among conservatives if he were to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

"The fact of the matter is, he's the president of the United States, and he wants to come here and see the people of New Jersey," Christie said. "I'm the governor. I'll be here to welcome him."

To be sure, New Jersey is still rebuilding. Obama is visiting those regions that have been among the first to recover ? Christie ranks the recovery of the state's famous boardwalks as an eight on a scale of 10 but concedes that in other parts of the state many homeowners are still rebuilding six months after the devastating superstorm struck. Overall, the storm caused $38 billion in damages in the state, and harmed or wrecked 360,000 homes or apartment units.

But the coastal recovery is a big potential boon for the state, where tourism is a nearly $40 billion industry.

For Obama, coming off a week that had the IRS in the crosshairs of a scandal, the trip also offers an opportunity to demonstrate the work of FEMA, whose response to disasters has been met with bipartisan praise.

Indeed, inside the White House, FEMA is perceived as an example of what's best about government. The agency, panned for its response under President George W. Bush to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, has made a turnaround under administrator Craig Fugate and has been commended for its work in disasters from the Joplin, Mo., tornado in 2011 to Sandy last year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-28-Obama/id-e02b92ab3f004e0090ca7e2bdb5e26c9

north korea news giuliana and bill giuliana and bill bill rancic nflx giuliana rancic giuliana rancic

Self Help and Motivation | The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual ...

Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today?s most inspiring teachers. In The Power of Now, already a word-of-mouth bestseller in Canada, the author describes his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques, and meditation theory but is also eminently practical. In The Power of Now he shows readers how to recognize themselves as the creators of their own pain, and how to have a pain-free existence by living fully in the present. Accessing the deepest self, the true self, can be learned, he says, by freeing ourselves from the conflicting, unreasonable demands of the mind and living present, fully, and intensely, in the Now.

Ekhart Tolle?s message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle?s clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who?s ever wondered what exactly ?living in the now? means. Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. More importantly, within a chapter of reading this book, readers are already holding the world in a different container?more conscious of how thoughts and emotions get in the way of their ability to live in genuine peace and happiness.

Tolle packs a lot of information and inspirational ideas into The Power of Now. (Topics include the source of Chi, enlightened relationships, creative use of the mind, impermanence, and the cycle of life.) Thankfully, he?s added markers that symbolize ?break time.? This is when readers should close the book and mull over what they just read. As a result, The Power of Now reads like the highly acclaimed A Course in Miracles?a spiritual guidebook that has the potential to inspire just as many study groups and change just as many lives for the better. ?Gail Hudson

Source: http://uwcmc.com/2013/05/the-power-of-now-a-guide-to-spiritual-enlightenment-2/

sarah shahi rutgers dharun ravi george clooney arrested ravi leigh espn

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Ecuador tries to fix crash satellite

27 May 2013 Last updated at 05:46 ET

The Ecuadorean Space Agency (EXA) says it will announce later on Monday if it can re-establish contact with its first and only satellite, Pegasus.

Pegasus, a nano-satellite, collided with a cloud of particles from an old Soviet rocket on Thursday.

EXA chief Ronnie Nader said it was still in orbit but was spinning wildly over its two axes.

Mr Nader said Pegasus could neither receive nor send signals, but that he held out hopes it could be fixed.

Pegasus, a small cube measuring 10cm by 10cm (4in by 4in) and weighing just 1.2kg (2.6lb), was launched from the Chinese spaceport of Jiuquan on 25 April 2013.

'Dizzy'

Orbiting the Earth at a height of 650km (404 miles), it transmitted pictures from space while playing recordings of the Ecuadorean national anthem.

Less than a month after its launch, it collided with a particle cloud from an old Tsyklon-3 rocket, which had been in space since 1985.

While EXA scientists were relieved there had been no frontal clash, the satellite's solar panels were damaged in a lateral collision.

EXA announced that Pegasus had "survived" the crash, but that the satellite's antenna had "lost its orientation and the craft is spinning wildly over two of its axes".

The space agency said it was "working tirelessly to stabilise the satellite to regain its signal".

On an EXA Twitter account written in Pegasus's name, the satellite announced it was "dizzy, but still here".

Referring to the Soviet rocket it had collided with, a later tweet read, "you should see what the other one looks like now".

Thousands of Ecuadoreans have gone on social networking sites to express their support for the country's space agency, which is planning to launch a second satellite, named Krysaor, in August.

But some also asked whether the Ecuadorean government had been right in investing $700,000 (?465,000) in Pegasus's launch.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22678919#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Mike Rice yu darvish Skylar Diggins kim jong un Facebook Phone lollapalooza emma watson

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Keeping stem cells strong

Public release date: 21-May-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges
debwms@caltech.edu
626-395-3227
California Institute of Technology

Caltech biologists show that an RNA molecule protects stem cells during inflammation

When infections occur in the body, stem cells in the blood often jump into action by multiplying and differentiating into mature immune cells that can fight off illness. But repeated infections and inflammation can deplete these cell populations, potentially leading to the development of serious blood conditions such as cancer. Now, a team of researchers led by biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has found that, in mouse models, the molecule microRNA-146a (miR-146a) acts as a critical regulator and protector of blood-forming stem cells (called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs) during chronic inflammation, suggesting that a deficiency of miR-146a may be one important cause of blood cancers and bone marrow failure.

The team came to this conclusion by developing a mouse model that lacks miR-146a. RNA is a polymer structured like DNA, the chemical that makes up our genes. MicroRNAs, as the name implies, are a class of very short RNAs that can interfere with or regulate the activities of particular genes. When subjected to a state of chronic inflammation, mice lacking miR-146a showed a decline in the overall number and quality of their HSCs; normal mice producing the molecule, in contrast, were better able to maintain their levels of HSCs despite long-term inflammation. The researchers' findings are outlined in the May 21 issue of the new journal eLIFE.

"This mouse with genetic deletion of miR-146a is a wonderful model with which to understand chronic-inflammation-driven tumor formation and hematopoietic stem cell biology during chronic inflammation," says Jimmy Zhao, the lead author of the study and a MD/PhD student in the Caltech laboratory of David Baltimore, the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology. "It was surprising that a single microRNA plays such a crucial role. Deleting it produced a profound and dramatic pathology, which clearly highlights the critical and indispensable function of miR-146a in guarding the quality and longevity of HSCs."

The study findings provide, for the first time, a detailed molecular connection between chronic inflammation, and bone marrow failure and diseases of the blood. These findings could lead to the discovery and development of anti-inflammatory molecules that could be used as therapeutics for blood diseases. In fact, the researchers believe that miR-146a itself may ultimately become a very effective anti-inflammatory molecule, once RNA molecules or mimetics can be delivered more efficiently to the cells of interest.

The new mouse model, Zhao says, also mimics important aspects of human myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)a form of pre-leukemia that often causes severe anemia, can require frequent blood transfusions, and usually leads to acute myeloid leukemia. Further study of the model could lead to a better understanding of the condition and therefore potential new treatments for MDS.

"This study speaks to the importance of keeping chronic inflammation in check and provides a good rationale for broad use of safer and more effective anti-inflammatory molecules," says Baltimore, who is a coauthor of the study. "If we can understand what cell types and proteins are critically important in chronic-inflammation-driven tumor formation and stem cell exhaustion, we can potentially design better and safer drugs to intervene."

###

Funding for the research outlined in the eLIFE paper, titled "MicroRNA-146a acts as a guardian of the quality and longevity of hematopoietic stem cells in mice," was provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the National Cancer Institute. Yvette Garcia-Flores, the lead technician in Baltimore's lab, also contributed to the study along with Dinesh Rao from UCLA and Ryan O'Connell from the University of Utah. eLIFE, a new open-access, high-impact journal, is backed by three of the world's leading funding agencies, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society, and the Wellcome Trust.

[ | 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.

Keeping stem cells strong

Public release date: 21-May-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges
debwms@caltech.edu
626-395-3227
California Institute of Technology

Caltech biologists show that an RNA molecule protects stem cells during inflammation

###

[ | 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/2013-05/ciot-ksc052113.php

shea weber greystone sidney crosby at the drive in alternative minimum tax modeselektor gran torino

Red Wings beat Blackhawks to take 2-1 series lead

DETROIT (AP) ? The Chicago Blackhawks were controlling the puck and dominating play early in the second period. It took all of a half-minute for the Detroit Red Wings to swing the momentum.

Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller scored 31 seconds apart midway through a previously scoreless game, helping the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 3-1 on Monday night for a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference second-round series.

The top-seeded Blackhawks refused to roll over, pulling to 2-1 on Patrick Kane's goal 4:35 into the third period, and were a judgment call away from tying it about a minute later. Andrew Shaw's goal, however, was waved off because he was in the crease, the officials ruling he interfered with Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard.

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville disagreed.

"He didn't touch the goalie," Quenneville said simply.

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford couldn't touch Pavel Datsyuk's shot 6:46 into the final period, which had already come back out of the net before Crawford saw it.

Howard stopped 39 shots, while Crawford finished with 27 saves.

As good as seventh-seeded Detroit looked ? scoring six straight goals to earn momentum in the series ? its hard-driving coach isn't ready to celebrate.

"We haven't done anything yet," Mike Babcock said.

If the Red Wings keep playing this way, though, the Blackhawks will have a long offseason to wonder what went wrong in a season that looked as though it was going to be special.

On Thursday night at home in Game 4, Detroit has a shot to put Chicago on the brink of elimination.

"A lot of guys in this room have been in tough positions before in the playoffs and that's never stopped us," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "We know this is a long series and we're going to be fighting until the end."

Chicago's chances will improve if Toews can end his goal-scoring drought. Toews doesn't have a goal in nine playoff games, dating to last year, despite matching Patrick Kane with a team-high 23 goals in the 48-game, lockout-shortened season.

Toews did have a game-high seven shots in Game 3, but Howard and his back-checking, shot-blocking teammates wouldn't let him end his drought.

"If he keeps playing like that, it'll find a way to get in," Quenneville said.

Chicago has lost consecutive games for the first time in nearly two months. The Blackhawks began the season by setting an NHL record with at least a point in their first 24 games, ended it with a league-high 77 points and avoided any three-game losing streaks.

"The team is facing a little adversity and I am on a personal basis," Toews said. "Not going to let that stop us or me."

After a scoreless first period in a hot and steamy Joe Louis Arena, Detroit took a 2-0 lead with a pretty goal and a gritty one.

Nyquist patiently carried the puck from right to left and waited for defenseman Brent Seabrook and Crawford to sprawl out before shooting the puck into the open net.

"He's real good at hanging onto the puck," Babcock said.

Miller crashed the net to stuff the puck in after Patrick Eaves got to his own rebound to keep pressure on Crawford. Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival started the sequence with a turnover in the Chicago zone.

It was a sixth straight unanswered goal in the series for the Red Wings, who lost the series opener 4-1 and gave up the first goal of Game 2 before going on to even the series with a 4-1 victory.

"They're a real good team and they're going to carry the play at times," Babcock said. "We're a good team and we're going to carry the play at times."

NOTES: Chicago hasn't given up a power-play goal in its first eight playoff games, matching the 2001 St. Louis Blues for the longest such streak since 1988, according to STATS. ... Babcock won his 77th postseason game, matching Quenneville for the most among active coaches. They both trail Pat Burns by one for eighth place on the NHL's all-time list. ... The Blackhawks put Viktor Stalberg back in the lineup and scratched Daniel Carcillo. Stalberg got shook up early in the game, missing a check and going head first into the boards.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/red-wings-beat-blackhawks-2-1-series-lead-070929478.html

arrested development arrested development revenge revenge dancing with the stars Chris Hadfield golden state warriors

Major League Soccer, Microsoft team up on Windows 8 app, in-game experiences

If you're a Major League Soccer fan, there's now a Windows 8 app to keep up with North America's version of the beautiful game. The league has teamed up with Microsoft on an exclusive app to bring schedules, standings, video highlights, play-by-play, game stats, cards and substitutions to Windows 8 Pro and RT. You'll also be able to get custom updates on your live tiles to see how your team is doing with a glance at the start screen. MLS and Microsoft said they're also bringing "fan and stadium experiences," like trying out Windows 8 on Microsoft Surface tablet at over 40 games during the season, and alluded to bringing "immersive soccer experiences" to players, coaches and fans down the road. We'll have to see exactly what they mean by that, but meanwhile, you can grab the app at the source.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Microsoft

Comments

Source: MLS Matchday (Windows Store)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/major-league-soccer-windows-8-app/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

Barcelona celtics harry connick jr cher Marc Maron amanda knox Carolyn Moos

How to Create a ?Do-It-Yourself? Fund for Diversification

Monday, May 20th, 2013
By George Leong, B.Comm. for Profit Confidential

How to Create a ?Do-It-Yourself? Fund for Diversification The stock market has only one direction in mind and that?s up. I sense there?s froth building up. This current market action reminds me a bit of what happened in 1999, but the situation is different in that interest rates are at record lows, the Federal Reserve is providing liquidity, and the valuation of stocks is much more reasonable versus that of 1999.

My concern is how far the stock market can rise before we see a correction of any significant magnitude. Yet even with selling, it would be a buying opportunity, not a sign to exit.

The one key thing you need to make sure of is that your portfolio is diversified to withstand any major selling in a particular sector and market cap. Case in point: if you were heavily weighted in the precious metals, such as gold and silver, your portfolio would have been devastated by now.

This doesn?t mean you shouldn?t have any metals in your portfolio, but you need to have ample diversification, which is the key to success in the stock market.

If your assets are well diversified, it would be fine to play a possible upside bounce in gold. (Read ?Is Gold?s Near-Beath Crisis Over-Exaggerated? Concerns of a Market Meltdown May Not Be.?)

The reality is that it doesn?t matter if you are investing in real estate, gold, stocks, art, or classic cars; the prudent way to protect your assets is to make sure you are diversified in the stock market.

The concept of spreading the investment risk is portfolio management?a process that encompasses the creation, monitoring, and adjustment of your investments. This process never stops, because you are continually buying and selling new stocks. Taking a portfolio approach to your stock market investments will help you improve your success.

When I refer to taking a ?portfolio approach? to your stock market holdings, it means diversifying your investments through different industries. Not only do you need to spread your investment capital around a number of different stocks, but you also need to diversify your holdings across different industries. Owning a basket of stocks in one market sector increases your investment risk substantially, so you have to spread your money around different sectors if you want to protect your wealth over the long term.

Make sure you have investments spread across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a good index to look at as far as diversification ideas.

You can create a ?do-it-yourself? fund by allocating your assets to various indices that will give you a broad measure of the stock market and allow for ample diversification. In this case, you can add a mixture of the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ, and Russell 2000 as the core holdings along with foreign exposure via exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]

Source: http://www.profitconfidential.com/stock-market/how-to-create-a-do-it-yourself-fund-for-diversification/

kawasaki disease resurrection masters tickets one direction tulsa news scalloped potatoes the ten commandments

What do we eat? New food map will tell us

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ? Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought.

Same goes for soda.

Until now, the only way to find out what people in the United States eat and how many calories they consume has been government data, which can lag behind the rapidly expanding and changing food marketplace.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are trying to change that by creating a gargantuan map of what foods Americans are buying and eating.

Part of the uniqueness of the database is its ability to sort one product into what it really is ? thousands of brands and variations.

Take the chocolate milk.

The government long has long classified chocolate milk with 2 percent fat as one item. But the UNC researchers, using scanner data from grocery stores and other commercial data, found thousands of different brands and variations of 2 percent chocolate milk and averaged them out. The results show that chocolate milk has about 11 calories per cup more than the government thought.

The researchers led by professor Barry Popkin at the UNC School of Public Health, are figuring out that chocolate milk equation over and over, with every single item in the grocery store. It's a massive project that could be the first evidence of how rapidly the marketplace is changing, and the best data yet on what exact ingredients and nutrients people are consuming.

That kind of information could be used to better target nutritional guidelines, push companies to cut down on certain ingredients and even help with disease research.

Just call it "mapping the food genome."

"The country needs something like this, given all of the questions about our food supply," says Popkin, the head of the UNC Food Research Program. "We're interested in improving the public's health and it really takes this kind of knowledge."

The project first came together in 2010 after a group of 16 major food companies pledged, as part of first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to combat obesity, to reduce the calories they sell to the public by 1.5 trillion. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation agreed to fund a study to hold the companies accountable, eventually turning to UNC with grants totaling $6.7 million.

Aided by supercomputers on campus, Popkin and his team have taken existing commercial databases of food items in stores and people's homes, including the store-based scanner data of 600,000 different foods, and matched that information with the nutrition facts panels on the back of packages and government data on individuals' dietary intake.

The result is an enormous database that has taken almost three years so far to construct and includes more detail than researchers have ever had on grocery store items ? their individual nutritional content, who is buying them and their part in consumers' diets.

The study will fill gaps in current data about the choices available to consumers and whether they are healthy, says Susan Krebs-Smith, who researches diet and other risk factors related to cancer at the National Cancer Institute.

Government data, long the only source of information about American eating habits, can have a lag of several years and neglect entire categories of new types of products ? Greek yogurt or energy drinks, for example.

With those significant gaps, the government information fails to account for the rapid change now seen in the marketplace. Now more than ever, companies are reformulating products on the fly as they try to make them healthier or better tasting.

While consumers may not notice changes in the ingredient panel on the back of the package, the UNC study will pick up small variations in individual items and also begin to be able to tell how much the marketplace as a whole is evolving.

"When we are done we will probably see 20 percent change in the food supply in a year," Popkin says. "The food supply is changing and no one really knows how."

For example, the researchers have found that there has been an increase in using fruit concentrate as a sweetener in foods and beverages because of a propensity toward natural foods, even though it isn't necessarily healthier than other sugars. While the soda and chocolate milk have more calories on average than the government thought, the federal numbers were more accurate on the calories in milk and cereals.

Popkin and his researchers are hoping their project will only be the beginning of a map that consumers, companies, researchers and even the government can use, breaking the data down to find out who is eating what and where they shop. Is there a racial divide in the brand of potato chips purchased, for example, and what could that mean for health? Does diet depend on where you buy your food ? the grocery store or the convenience store? How has the recession affected dietary intake?

"It's only since I've really started digging into this that I have realized how little we know about what we are eating," says Meghan Slining, a UNC nutrition professor and researcher on the project.

Steven Gortmaker, director of the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center, says the data could help researchers figure out how people are eating in certain communities and then how to address problems in those diets that could lead to obesity or disease.

"The more information we have, the more scientists can be brainstorming about what kinds of interventions or policy changes we could engage in," Gortmaker said.

But the information doesn't include restaurant meals and some prepared foods, about one-third of what Americans eat. If the project receives continued funding, those foods eventually could be added to the study, a prospect that would be made easier by pending menu labeling regulations that will force chain restaurants to post calories for every item.

Popkin and his researchers say that packaged foods have long been the hardest to monitor because of the sheer volume and rapid change in the marketplace.

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, an industry group representing the 16 companies that made the pledge to reduce 1.5 trillion calories, says it will report this summer on how successful they've been, according to Lisa Gable, the group's president. The first results from Popkin's study aren't expected until later this year.

Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, says the data could be useful in pressuring companies to make more changes for the better. Companies often use "the research isn't there" as a defense against making changes recommended by public health groups, she notes, and it can be hard to prove them wrong.

"What people eat is the great mystery of nutrition," Nestle says. "It would be wonderful to have a handle on it."

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eat-food-map-tell-us-174342840.html

chicago cubs split pea soup recipe the client list yahoo.com/mail baylor april 9 albatross