Friday, May 31, 2013

Why Did the FBI Kill an Unarmed Man and Clam Up? (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Higher ed systems in 10 states turn to Coursera

The movement of "Massive Open Online Courses," which began with elite universities making their courses available online to the masses, is rapidly moving into the trenches of public higher education.

On Thursday, 10 large public university systems ? including the giant state systems of New York, Tennessee, Colorado and the University of Houston ? announce plans to incorporate MOOCs and platforms offered through for-profit Coursera into their own teaching.

The plans vary widely. Some institutions will focus on improving prep courses for students coming into the system, others on matriculated students both online and on-campus, and still others will be developing their own MOOCs to teach students at other institutions in their states. At least one system, Tennessee, plans a version of an experiment cropping up at schools around the country: having students take in-person and customized MOOC-like versions of the same course, and comparing results.

But overall, the announcement is the latest ramping up of higher education's MOOC experiment, which launched in earnest barely a year ago as a way to sample elite college courses. But it is now tangibly affecting the large public institutions that do much of the heavy lifting of American higher education. The latest batch of partners also includes the Universities of Georgia, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico and West Virginia University.

"We noticed the vast majority of ours students were people who already had degrees and wanted to continue their education," said Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller. "We really wanted to move the needle on fundamental educational problems" of access and affordability. Because Coursera does not produce its own content or administer degree courses, "you have to work within the framework of the institutions that are actually good at that," she said.

The announcement also shows the extent to which, for cash-strapped university leaders and policymakers, the MOOCs and the platforms they are built on offer an irresistible promise of doing more with less ? to scale up education and help students move more efficiently toward a degree.

"It's been a challenge in reduced financial capacity to offer all the courses all the time that every student needs to complete a degree," said SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. "That's what slows students down ? our inability to provide degree-required courses students need at exactly the speed they want them."

Many aren't convinced, however, the trend is good for students, and the latest announcement comes as the sheer speed of the MOOC movement is raising concerns on campus. In recent weeks, faculty at Duke and Amherst have voted against elements of expanding MOOCs on their campuses, and 58 Harvard faculty last week called for a new university committee to consider ethical issues related to Harvard's participation in edX, a MOOC-producing consortium led by Harvard and MIT. Some California faculty have also protested plans in the state higher education system to use MOOCs to supplement teaching on campus.

Legislators in Florida and California are pressing to force universities to accept credit from MOOC courses, especially if students can't get into the in-person versions of the courses they need. Peter Stokes, an expert on education innovation at Northeastern University, said more such efforts will follow ? likely to the alarm of some faculty.

"It almost seems to promote the notion that there is this no-cost alternative for higher education," he said. "It feeds into the fear that many public institutions have that the political solution to higher education is to continue to divest."

At SUNY, Zimpher said the giant, 64-campus system (which already has 150 online degree programs) would be working with Coursera and other providers as part of a broader effort to expand capacity of its "Open SUNY" online program by 100,000 students, potentially offering students up to one-third of their online degree programs outside SUNY.

Details on programs and courses aren't yet set, but she emphasized than any MOOC courses would be evaluated for possible credit by similar faculty mechanisms SUNY currently uses to assess traditional courses.

"We must maintain the same academic oversight and the same academic standards that have applied for decades in our residential delivery system when we employ online delivery," she said.

The University of Tennessee, meanwhile, will have faculty at its Martin and Chattanooga campuses work with Coursera to develop entirely online versions of first-year courses in English composition and masterpieces of music, both general education requirements (these courses won't be "open" to non-UT students, so aren't really "MOOCs," but they will borrow from Coursera's technology platforms). The broader state system of two- and four-year colleges governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents is also part of the agreement announced Thursday.

Tennessee will run two kinds of courses ? traditional and online ? side-by-side, and the results will be compared. University officials said it would be up to the campuses to work out how students would be selected and whether they would have a choice which track to take, but all would get credit.

The university has been awarded about $50,000 in start-up costs to develop the courses. Afterward, it will pay Coursera $3,000 per class and $25 per student ? substantially cheaper than traditional instruction.

But it's not clear how much help students will have. In a conference call with reporters, system president Joe DiPietro and Katie High, vice president for academic affairs and student success, indicated students could send faculty e-mails and those on-campus could approach faculty with questions. If so, that raises questions about whether the technology is truly improving efficiency for faculty as much as promised.

In a world where even many on-campus students are already taking online courses, often from other institutions and transferring them, Thursday's announcements further blur the distinctions not just within universities but between them.

"Now can we find a way to interact with the University of Georgia system and perhaps exchange course content and delivery mechanisms," SUNY's Zimpher said, adding that for future students "choosing" one school or another will no longer mean sacrificing opportunities.

"That is a brave new world into which we are all entering and we want to play in that space," she said. ___

Online: https://www.coursera.org/

Follow Justin Pope on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JustinPopeAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/higher-ed-systems-10-states-turn-coursera-040221186.html

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How Online Gamers Can Support Disaster Response | iRevolution

IRL

FACT: Over half-a-million pictures were shared on Instagram and more than 20 million tweets posted during Hurricane Sandy. The year before, over 100,000 tweets per minute were posted following the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.?Disaster-affected communities are now more likely than ever to be on social media, which dramatically multiplies the amount of user-generated crisis information posted during disasters.?Welcome to Big Data?Big Crisis Data.

Humanitarian organizations and emergency management responders are completely unprepared to deal with this volume and velocity of crisis information. Why is this a problem? Because social media can save lives. Recent empirical studies have shown that an important percentage of social media reports include valuable, informative & actionable content for disaster response. Looking for those reports, however, is like searching for needles in a haystack. Finding the most urgent tweets in an information stack of over 20 million tweets (in real time) is indeed a major challenge.

FACT: More than half a billion people worldwide play computer and video games for at least an hour a day. This amounts to over 3.5 billion hours per week. In the US alone, gamers spend over 4 million hours per week online. The average young person will spend 10,000 hours of gaming by the age of 21. These numbers are rising daily. In early 2013, ?World of Warcraft? reached 9.6 million subscribers worldwide, a population larger than Sweden. The online game ?League of Legends? has over 12 million unique users every day while more than 20 million users log on to Xbox Live every day.

What if these gamers had been invited to search through the information haystack of 20 million tweets posted during Hurricane Sandy??Lets assume gamers were asked to tag which tweets were urgent without ever leaving their games. This simple 20-second task would directly support disaster responders like the American Red Cross. But the Digital Humanitarian Network (DHN) would have taken more than 100 hours or close to 5 days, assuming all their volunteers were working 24/7 with no breaks. In contrast, the 4 million gamers playing WoW (excluding China) would only need ?90 seconds to do this. The 12 million gamers on League of Legends would have taken just 30 seconds.

While some of the numbers proposed above may seem unrealistic, there is absolutely no denying that drawing on this vast untapped resource would significantly accelerate the processing of crisis information during major disasters.?In other words, gamers worldwide can play a huge role in supporting disaster response operations. And they want to: gamers playing ?World of Warcraft? raised close to $2 million in donations to support relief operations following the Japan Earthquake. They also raised another $2.3 million for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Gamers can easily donate their time as well.?This is why my colleague Peter Mosur and I are launching the Internet Response League (IRL). Check out our dedicated website to learn more and join the cause.

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Source: http://irevolution.net/2013/05/29/gamers-to-the-rescue/

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Nordic diet lowers cholesterol, study finds

May 29, 2013 ? A healthy Nordic diet lowers cholesterol levels, and therefore the risk of cardiovascular disease, a pan-Nordic study where Lund University participated has found. There was also decreased inflammation associated with pre-diabetes.

- The subjects who ate a Nordic diet had lower levels of harmful LDL cholesterol and higher levels of "good" HDL cholesterol. The amount of harmful fat particles in the blood also declined, says Lieselotte Cloetens, a biomedical nutrition researcher at Lund University.

The 'healthy Nordic diet' used in the study contains local produce such as berries, root vegetables, legumes, and cabbage. Nuts, game, poultry and fish are also included, as well as whole grains, rapeseed oil and low-fat dairy products. The rest of the group ate butter instead of rapeseed oil, less berries and vegetables, and had no rules on red meat or white bread intake.

The researchers now want to focus on the diet's ability to maintain weight loss in a new study, according to Lieselotte Cloetens, who points out that the problem with most diets is maintaining the results.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Lund University.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. M. Uusitupa, K. Hermansen, M. J. Savolainen, U. Schwab, M. Kolehmainen, L. Brader, L. S. Mortensen, L. Cloetens, A. Johansson-Persson, G. ?nning, M. Landin-Olsson, K.-H. Herzig, J. Hukkanen, F. Rosqvist, D. Iggman, J. Paananen, K. J. Pulkki, M. Siloaho, L. Dragsted, T. Barri, K. Overvad, K. E. Bach Knudsen, M. S. Hedemann, P. Arner, I. Dahlman, G. I. A. Borge, P. Baardseth, S. M. Ulven, I. Gunnarsdottir, S. J?nsd?ttir, I. Thorsdottir, M. Ore?i?, K. S. Poutanen, U. Ris?rus, B. ?kesson. Effects of an isocaloric healthy Nordic diet on insulin sensitivity, lipid profile and inflammation markers in metabolic syndrome - a randomized study (SYSDIET). Journal of Internal Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/joim.12044

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/H5swsViQosI/130529101512.htm

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Police Visit Justin Bieber, Respond to Complaints Over Reckless Driving

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/police-visit-justin-bieber-respond-to-complaints-over-reckless-d/

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Like logging into accounts with other accounts?

Like logging into accounts with other accounts? "Login with Amazon" is coming soon to a browser near you. Can't have too many options, right?

Source: http://gizmodo.com/like-logging-into-accounts-with-other-accounts-login-510261484

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

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'Low sodium diet' key to old age for stars: New observations create major headache for stellar theories

May 29, 2013 ? Astronomers expect that stars like the Sun will blow off much of their atmospheres into space near the ends of their lives. But new observations of a huge star cluster made using ESO's Very Large Telescope have shown -- against all expectations -- that a majority of the stars studied simply did not get to this stage in their lives at all. The international team found that the amount of sodium in the stars was a very strong predictor of how they ended their lives.

The way in which stars evolve and end their lives was for many years considered to be well understood. Detailed computer models predicted that stars of a similar mass to the Sun would have a period towards the ends of their lives -- called the asymptotic giant branch, or AGB [1] -- when they undergo a final burst of nuclear burning and puff off a lot of their mass in the form of gas and dust.

This expelled material [2] goes on to form the next generations of stars and this cycle of mass loss and rebirth is vital to explain the evolving chemistry of the Universe. This process is also what provides the material required for the formation of planets -- and indeed even the ingredients for organic life.

But when Australian stellar theory expert Simon Campbell of the Monash University Centre for Astrophysics, Melbourne, scoured old papers he found tantalising suggestions that some stars may somehow not follow the rules and might skip the AGB phase entirely. He takes up the story:

"For a stellar modelling scientist this suggestion was crazy! All stars go through the AGB phase according to our models. I double-checked all the old studies but found that this had not been properly investigated. I decided to investigate myself, despite having little observational experience."

Campbell and his team used ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to very carefully study the light coming from stars in the globular star cluster NGC 6752 in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). This vast ball of ancient stars contains both a first generation of stars and a second that formed somewhat later [3]. The two generations can be distinguished by the amount of sodium they contain -- something that the very high-quality VLT data can be used to measure.

"FLAMES, the multi-object high-resolution spectrograph on the VLT, was the only instrument that could allow us to get really high-quality data for 130 stars at a time. And it allowed us to observe a large part of the globular cluster in one go," adds Campbell.

The results were a surprise -- all of the AGB stars in the study were first generation stars with low levels of sodium and none of the higher-sodium second generation stars had become AGB stars at all. As many as 70% of the stars were not undergoing the final nuclear burning and mass-loss phase [4] [5].

"It seems stars need to have a low-sodium "diet" to reach the AGB phase in their old age. This observation is important for several reasons. These stars are the brightest stars in globular clusters -- so there will be 70% fewer of the brightest stars than theory predicts. It also means our computer models of stars are incomplete and must be fixed!" concludes Campbell.

The team expects that similar results will be found for other star clusters and further observations are planned.

Notes:

[1] AGB stars get their odd name because of their position on the Hertzsprung Russell diagram, a plot of the brightnesses of stars against their colours.

[2] For a short period of time this ejected material is lit up by the strong ultraviolet radiation from the star and creates a planetary nebula.

[3] Although the stars in a globular cluster all formed at about the same time, it is now well established that these systems are not as simple as they once thought to be. They usually contain two or more populations of stars with different amounts of light chemical elements such as carbon, nitrogen and -- crucially for this new study -- sodium.

[4] It is thought that stars which skip the AGB phase will evolve directly into helium white dwarf stars and gradually cool down over many billions of years.

[5] It is not thought that the sodium itself is the cause of the different behaviour, but must be strongly linked to the underlying cause -- which remains mysterious.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/bAxCUTkp1qM/130529133246.htm

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U.S. Home Prices See Big Gains (WSJ)

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Russian choir of 4,335 performs in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) ? More than 4,000 Russian singers have performed outdoors in St. Petersburg with the aim of setting a world record for the largest choir.

The 4,335 singers of all ages and from nearly all of the city's professional and amateur choirs sang from the steps of St. Isaac's Cathedral before thousands of spectators under an intermittent rain.

The spectators, who closed their umbrellas with the start of Sunday's performance, sang along during the one-hour concert.

The 14 songs performed included some of the most popular and patriotic songs of Russia and the Soviet Union, including a hymn celebrating the country's victory in World War II.

Yulia Alshenina, whose daughter sang in the choir, said the concert was so moving she could not hold back her tears.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-choir-4-335-performs-st-petersburg-130222858.html

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Monday, May 27, 2013

Blake Shelton to Headline Oklahoma Tornado Fundraiser on NBC, Sister Networks

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/blake-shelton-to-headline-oklahoma-tornado-fundraiser-on-nbc-sis/

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Prosecutor: Bombs in bedroom under floorboards linked to Ore. school plot

A 17-year-old student in Albany, Ore., built several bombs and had a detailed plan ? including checklists and diagrams ? as part of a Columbine-style plot to attack West Albany High School, a local prosecutor says.

No motive has yet been made public, but Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said authorities on Friday found six kinds of explosives ? including napalm bombs, pipe bombs, drain-cleaner bombs, and Molotov cocktails ? in "a secret compartment that had been created in the floorboards" of the teen's bedroom. The teen, Grant Acord, sought to make his attack bigger than Columbine, Mr. Haroldson said.

The alleged plot is just the latest example of how the Columbine massacre continues shape school safety 14 years later.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the Second Amendment? A quiz.

Not only does the plot suggest that would-be attackers continue to draw inspiration from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., before committing suicide on April 23, 1999. But it also points to how such plots have been repeatedly foiled.

Authorities say they received a tip. Albany police became suspicious after they "received information that associated ... Acord with manufacturing a destructive device with the intent of detonating it at a school," Haroldson said, according to a CNN report.

With students more alert for signs of potential attacks post-Columbine, tips have been crucial to preventing more Columbines.

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  • In 2001, A suspicious note passed along by a friend led police in Elmira, N.Y., to find a high-school senior in the cafeteria with a pistol, 18 bombs, and a sawed-off shotgun, according to media reports.
  • Three years later, a tip about an Internet chat in which a student said he was planning to attack his school led to a stash of found stolen weapons, an AK-47, and Nazi literature in the student's house in Clinton Township, Mich., reports say.
  • Tips also led to the discovery of Columbine-style plots in Tampa, Fla., in 2011, and in Utah last year.

In the Utah case, the suspect actually went so far as to visit Columbine High School and interview the principal.

?To go as far as to interview the principal and physically go there ? sends a message that they were extremely committed to doing something,? Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland told the Monitor at the time.

In Oregon, Grant will be charged as an adult with aggravated murder, Haroldson said. He will also face charges related to bombmaking.

?This was a very methodical process,? said Haroldson, according to a report in The Oregonian. ?He took time to even get to this point.?

The evidence gathered by police, which includes "diagrams, checklists, a plan to use explosive devices, and firearms to carry out a plan specifically modeled after the Columbine shootings" shows "intent and plans to carry out a deadly assault on a target-rich environment," he said.

Haroldson did not say when Grant planned to carry out the attack, according to ABC, but added: "I can't say enough about how lucky we are that there was an intervention. When I look at the evidence in the case, I shudder to think of what could have happened here."

Grant was arrested at his home Thursday.

Police say they have searched the school and found no devices, though a Reuters report said they are following up the initial search more thoroughly to make sure students can return to school after the Memorial Day vacation.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/teen-planned-attack-bombs-bedroom-under-floorboards-linked-173000105.html

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Oklahoma tornado was stronger than Hiroshima bomb: How?

When the conditions are exactly right ??and they were, for the tornado that devastated Oklahoma City yesterday ??a tornado can unleash more power than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

By Seth Borenstein,?Associated Press / May 21, 2013

Left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., left in ruins on May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma. Right, flattened houses in Moore on May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

AP Photo

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Everything had to come together just perfectly to create the killer?tornado?in Moore, Okla.: wind speed, moisture in the air, temperature and timing. And when they did, the awesome energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

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On Tuesday, the National Weather Service gave it the top-of-the-scale rating of EF5 for wind speed and breadth, and severity of damage. Wind speeds were estimated at between 200 and 210 mph. The death count is 24 so far, including at least nine children. The United States averages about one EF5 a year, but this was the first in nearly two years.

To get such an uncommon storm to form is "a bit of a Goldilocks problem," said Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor Paul Markowski. "Everything has to be just right."

For example, there must be humidity for a?tornado?to form, but too much can cut the storm off. The same goes with the cold air in a downdraft: Too much can be a storm-killer.

But when the ideal conditions do occur, watch out. The power of nature beats out anything man can create.

"Everything was ready for explosive development yesterday," said Colorado State University meteorology professor Russ Schumacher, who was in Oklahoma launching airborne devices that measured the energy, moisture and wind speeds on Monday. "It all just unleashed on that one area."

Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements, some made by Schumacher, to calculate the energy released during the storm's 40-minute life span. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, with more experts at the high end. Their calculations were based on energy measured in the air and then multiplied over the size and duration of the storm.

An EF5?tornado?has the most violent winds on Earth, more powerful than a hurricane. The strongest winds ever measured were the 302 mph reading, measured by radar, during the EF5?tornado?that struck Moore on May 3, 1999, according to Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the Weather Underground.

Still, when it comes to weather events, scientists usually know more about and can better predict hurricanes, winter storms, heat waves and other big events.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/0MhY9mG-8rw/Oklahoma-tornado-was-stronger-than-Hiroshima-bomb-How

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NYPD investigating actress Bynes allegations

NEW YORK (AP) ? Internal Affairs officers on Saturday were looking into allegations made by actress Amanda Bynes that New York Police Department officers sexually assaulted her when she was charged with heaving a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment.

The 27-year-old former child star first alleged during her arraignment on Friday that police illegally entered her apartment after being called to her midtown building. But in a Twitter message believed to be from the troubled actress posted Saturday, Bynes alleged that her arresting officer also sexually assaulted her.

"As it would with any such allegation, regardless of its credibility, IAB is investigating it," said the NYPD's chief spokesman, Paul Browne, referring to the internal affairs bureau.

The Twitter handle used to make the sexual assault allegations Saturday does not appear to be verified by the social network? but Bynes' friend, former Hollywood publicist Jonathan Jaxson, said Saturday the tweet was made from Bynes' account. Twitter did not immediately return a request for comment.

In court on Friday, the former "Hairspray" star made no mention of the sexual assault allegations, though she did complain of illegal entry to her apartment. She's been charged with reckless endangerment, attempted tampering with evidence and unlawful possession of marijuana.

A law enforcement official who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation said the building manager was with officers at Bynes' apartment when they arrived Thursday night. The official said officers were kept waiting approximately five minutes before she opened the door to them. The same official said the building manager told internal affair investigators nothing untoward happened.

Bynes was released by Chief New York County Judge Neil Ross on her own recognizance because, Ross said, he did not believe her to be a flight risk. But in releasing her, Ross also issued a stern warning to Bynes, telling her not to get rearrested or miss any court dates. She's due back in court on July 9.

Attempts to reach Bynes' arraignment lawyer were unsuccessful Saturday evening.

Bynes rose to fame starring in Nickelodeon's "All That" and has also starred in several films, including 2010's "Easy A." But she has been in the news more recently because of several scrapes with the law and bizarre public behavior.

Bynes was arrested Thursday night after building officials called police to complain she was rolling a joint and smoking pot in the lobby. The officers went to her apartment where they saw heavy smoke and a bong sitting on the kitchen counter. They said she tossed the bong out the window in front of them, prosecutors said Friday.

__

Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nypd-investigating-actress-bynes-allegations-235059915.html

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Hipstamatic's Oggl photo sharing community now open to all

Oggl, Hipstamatic's new photo sharing service for the iPhone, has been updated in the App Store removing the requirement for an invite code. New users can now download the app and signup and join the new community that Hipstamatic bills as "A community of creative people capturing & curating their Lives through photography."

Soon after Oggl went live ?and we received our invite code?we took the new service for a spin and on the whole were pretty impressed. The app itself is really well done, if slightly confusing to get a handle on straight away. Opening up to a wider audience now hopefully means the community will grow and we'll get a real indication of how well it may do. The app is free to download, but a subscription of $2.99 quarterly and $9.99 yearly is necessary to get the absolute best out of Oggl.

So, first time Oggl users, give us your thoughts on the service! How are you finding it compared to the likes of Instagram, or even Flickr?

    


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Li_raqSv0V8/story01.htm

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Yankees' Teixeira to play in minors on Wednesday

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira expects to play in his first game since hurting his right wrist in early March, suiting up for a minor-league game with Double-A Trenton on Wednesday.

Teixeira, who injured the wrist while preparing with the U.S. team for the World Baseball Classic, has been working out at the Yankees' minor-league complex.

"If everything goes as planned, I'll leave here Tuesday and play in Trenton Wednesday and Thursday," Teixeira said Friday. "That's the plan right now."

With Yankees manager Joe Girardi watching, the All-Star took part in an extensive simulated game with infielder Kevin Youkilis, who is out with a sore back. Along with hitting and base running, the pair played defense between at-bats.

"That was a serious simulated game," Teixeira said. "That was challenging. It was good. It's hot here. We got a lot of good work done."

Teixeira may be ready to rejoin the Yankees in early June. Youkilis looks to start a minor-league rehab assignment soon.

Reliever Joba Chamberlain, sidelined by a right oblique strain, said he is scheduled to throw two innings out of the bullpen Saturday in his second extended spring training game.

"Everything feels good," Chamberlain said. "Continue to build up strength."

New York may not decide on the next step for Chamberlain until finding out how he feels on Sunday.

The Yankees are in Florida for a three-day weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yankees-teixeira-play-minors-wednesday-195116489.html

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'Hangover Part III': Is This Really The End?

Bradley Cooper and director Todd Phillips dig in with MTV News about a potential fourth movie.
By Kevin P. Sullivan


Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms in "Hangover Part III"
Photo: Legendary Pictures

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707995/hangover-part-iii-future.jhtml

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Community outreach key to Obama counterterror plan (The Arizona Republic)

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President Obama Heckled During Recent Speeches

Apparently, this is the week to get your two cents in with Obama:

During a speech given at Ohio State University, President Obama had to deal with hecklers, as respect for the position he holds continues to erode in the eyes of those who believe differently. The Commander in Chief had to deal with audience member interruptions one more than one occasion, as one audience member challenged the President to read a book he was holding. The lead video reveals the exchange quite clearly, and Politco.com has also transcribed the exchange:

?Sir, I?m here to speak to these folks. You can hold your own rally. You?re being rude. ? I?m trying to talk to these people? I?ll be happy to read your book. If you want to give me your book, I?ll be happy to read it but don?t interrupt my conversation with these folks. Show me some courtesy. I?ll be happy to take your book, but don?t interrupt everybody else. Alright??

The President then instructed his aides to retrieve the book, and while no one outside of that particular circle will ever truly know what happens to the book (or the hecklers), it appears as if they obliged. As for the additional hecklers, they are unhappy with what?s going on with the Keystone XL project, which Politco describes as:

Obama?s visit to a state [Oklahoma] where he lost all 77 counties four years ago will be to tout TransCanada?s plans to build the southern portion of the Keystone XL that would be intended to relieve a surplus of oil stored here in Cushing down to Texas refineries.

Considering the recent outcry, some may be surprised to find Obama?s approval ratings remain steady.

The President was also heckled during a press conference when he was discussing Guantanamo.

The BBC also has additional footage (non-embeddable) where the President discusses the concepts of the First Amendment with the female heckler, who has been identified as Medea Benjamin an activist and founder of Code Pink, an organization that is firmly against war.

Lead image courtesy

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/president-obama-heckled-during-speech-at-ohio-state-2013-05

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Dallas-Based Firehouse Combines Business Consulting With Its Ad ...

Photo: Justin Clemons


Specs
Who (l. to r.) Tripp Westbrook, partner, executive creative director; Steve Smith, partner, planning insights; Mark Hall, president, founder; Doug Miller, partner, finance and options
What Advertising agency
Where Dallas offices

Farmers markets have always held snob appeal for urban foodies seeking organic produce. To promote the Dallas Farmers Market, Firehouse puts out a different message: Lower-income shoppers looking for the cheapest option can buy their healthiest ones now that their local farmers market takes public assistance benefits. The campaign also encourages local farmers to participate. Firehouse started in 1997 when Richards Group vet Mark Hall landed assignments from Nokia and Dr Pepper. Hall has since added talent like GSD&M?s Tripp Westbrook, whose father Bill is the former CCO at Fallon.

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Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/firehouse-combines-business-consulting-advertising-work-149613

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Friday, May 24, 2013

Twin stars closer to Earth than thought

Bill Saxton, NRAO / AUI / NSF

An artist's conception of SS Cygni double-star system, which includes a red-dwarf star (left) and a compact white-dwarf star, right. The binary stars are actually 372 light-years from Earth, much closer than the 520 light-years previously thought.

By Clara Moskowitz
Space.com

A strange pair of stars is much closer to Earth than scientists ever thought, a discovery that finally helps explain a puzzling mystery behind the stellar twins, scientists say.

The binary star system is made up of a normal star and a dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf. According to the new measurement, the star system is 372 light-years from Earth, not 520 light-years as previously thought. Known as SS Cygni, the star pair is one of the variable star systems most often observed in the sky, but until now, astronomers couldn't figure out why it behaves the way it does.

SS Cygni erupts in regular outbursts about once every 49 days, when it brightens to release significantly more light than normal. Such outbursts are considered normal for most star pairs of this type, called dwarf novas, but if SS Cygni was as far away as astronomers thought, this explanation didn't make sense. [Star Quiz: Test Your Stellar Smarts]

White dwarfs are known to pull mass off companion stars with their strong gravity. This stolen mass then swirls around the white dwarf in a rotating disk that feeds material directly onto the dense star. When the flow of mass onto the white dwarf slows down, though, the disk can become unstable and release a flare of light.

This should not have been the case for SS Cygni, however, if it truly was as far away as 520 light-years.

Bill Saxton, NRAO / AUI / NSF

The Trigonometric Parallax method determines distance to a star by measuring its slight shift in apparent position as seen from opposite ends of Earth's orbit.

"That was a problem," astronomer James Miller-Jones of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, said in a statement. "At that distance, SS Cygni would have been the brightest dwarf nova in the sky, and should have had enough mass moving through its disk to remain stable without any outbursts."

Miller-Jones led the research team that made the new distance measurement, which in turn refines astronomers' understanding of the twin stars' intrinsic brightness. At the new distance, SS Cygni finally makes sense. "Our new distance measurement has solved the puzzle of SS Cygni's brightness; it fits our theories after all," Miller-Jones said.

While the previous distance measurement came from Hubble Space Telescope observations, Miller-Jones and his team used radio telescopes ? in particular, the Very Long Baseline Array spread across the United States and the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network in Europe and South Africa.

The scientists employed a method called parallax?to pinpoint SS Cygni's location more accurately than ever before. Essentially, this method compares the apparent wobble of a foreground object ? in this case, the double star system ? against the relatively stable positions of background objects such as distant galaxies.

"If you hold your finger out at arm's length and move your head from side to side, you should see your finger appear to wobble against the background," Miller-Jones explained. "If you move your finger closer to your head, you'll see it starts to wobble more. We did the exact same thing with SS Cygni ? we measured how far it moved against some very distant galaxies as the Earth moved around the sun."

The measurements could be made only during one of SS Cygni's outbursts, when it releases enough light in the radio frequency range to be seen clearly. The scientists collaborated with amateur astronomers from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) to know when to make their observations.

"The system only emits radio waves for a short period of time," said astronomer Matthew Templeton of the AAVSO, who is a co-author of the findings. "Without the cooperation of our many amateur observers who looked at SS Cygni night after night, we wouldn't have known when to look ? their contribution was invaluable."

Follow Clara Moskowitz on?Twitter?and?Google+. Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2c5406d9/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C230C184519740Etwin0Estars0Ecloser0Eto0Eearth0Ethan0Ethought0Dlite/story01.htm

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Xbox One: The Most Restrictive Game Console Ever Made ...

If the Xbox One is the future of gaming, then that future is as grim as everyone feared.

In an event Tuesday morning that felt like a casual bar conversation compared to Sony's brain-exploding extravaganza?back in February, Microsoft unveiled the next-gen Xbox ? not in a giant conference center, but in a tent set up on a soccer field at its Redmond campus.

With a hard-line focus on the One's television connectivity and a smart decision to?actually show off the physical console, Microsoft pulled off a tight one-hour presentation that glazed over the trickier undercurrents at play.?But the devil is in the details, and it's now apparent that while the Xbox One will?not require a constant Internet connection?[Note: this point is now in dispute - see update further down], as many had feared, it's still the most restrictive console ever made.

(See also:?Sim City Launch Disaster Should Kill Online-Only DRM)

As the event highlighted, the One is an aggressive grab for the living room from the get-go. But for gamers, long the core market for the Xbox, two really important questions remain. How much of the hardware we buy do we really own, and how far can and should a manufacturer go in telling us how to use our console?

Microsoft drew some very serious lines in the sand today. It's up to consumers to decide whether or not to play ball.?

Microsoft's Iron Grip

The rumor of a universal always-online requirement was finally quelled, but even more mysterious news boiled up in its place. Microsoft openly revealed that the One will require users to download all games to the console's hard drive to play, but?Wired's Chris Kohler?reported?that to do this a second time with the same disc will require a player to pay an unspecified fee.

(See also:?Xbox One: Microsoft's Big Bid To Pwn The Living Room)

Microsoft quickly responded by saying that the Xbox One will "enable customers to trade in and resell games" and that the company will have more details to share later, likely at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month. But the same spokesperson also added this ominous note in a comment to the game-news site Polygon:

Xbox One?s support for used games and these other scenarios may not look like they have on previous console generations, and that?s what we?ll be explaining as soon as we?re able.

That's as clear as mud, of course. But tacking on fees for re-using an already-purchased game disk could seriously damage the used game market, or even kill it entirely. Not only would used games get more complicated to rebundle and price, resellers would likely offer less for used games in the first place.

That would antagonize retailers and consumers alike. It would be a giant step backward in an era where a game that provides maybe 8-10 hours of gameplay will still cost $60. Such a policy could even boomerang on game developers themselves, since many gamers finance their purchase of new games by trading in their old ones. If the trade-in market vanishes, so does that source of cash for new purchases.

The good news here is that a used game fee?was "a surprise" to GameStop President Tony Bartel?when he spoke to Polygon.?Bartel went on to call the fee requirement "speculation."?In a separate statement to ReadWrite, the company replied, "GameStop is working closely with Microsoft to ensure there is an opportunity for customers to take advantage of our popular buy-sell-trade model and provide a seamless transition for consumers to enjoy the next generation of console gaming."?

(See also:?Xbox One Photo Gallery)

While the Xbox One will be able to operate without an Internet connection, the always-online issue won't go away entirely. Microsoft?announced that it will be handing that ability over to publishers, who can designate certain game functions that will only work on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform ? in other words, effectively requiring an Internet connection to play.

This isn't great news, especially considering Electronic Arts took the stage at the One unveiling. EA, voted the worst company in America two years in a row, recently tried to play nice with its consumer base by discontinuing its insane Online Pass program, which charged gamers a fee to access some online levels or items via a used game disk. But you can bet the company will be near the front of the line when it comes time to bake core game functions into the cloud to make an online-only gaming world an unavoidable, and unpleasant, reality. ?

Say Goodbye To Your Current Collection

So what about that huge library of Xbox 360 games you've collected so far? Sorry, those won't work on the One. (PlayStation 3 games won't work on Sony's upcoming console, either, so there's plenty of blame to go around on this front.)

But what about all those awesome indie games you've downloaded through Xbox Live Marketplace or the full 360 titles you bought digitally? Those will carry over, right? Nope. It turns out that only music, movies, and TV shows purchased through Xbox Live will follow you to the One.?[Note: Microsoft's Don Mattrick has responded to this aspect - see update further down].

Then there's the Kinect. While it sports very impressive voice recognition and motion control, reports quickly surfaced that the updated camera-sensor combo will need to be plugged in at all times to use the One. For starters, that's both annoying and a bit creepy, considering the Kinect will be on all the time watching everything you do. But this bit of news also suggests that the One itself might be pretty pricey, if it comes with the next-generation Kinect bundled.

Your Move, Sony

To be sure, Sony's PlayStation 4 could be equally bad, or even worse; we won't know until Sony really unveils it at E3 next month. For the moment, though, Sony at least stands a chance of offering a more consumer-friendly future for console gaming.

Is it inevitable that both the software and hardware we buy in the gaming realm, be it the new SimCity or the next-gen Xbox, are simply no longer ours to own, let alone to hack and mod and use in the way we're most comfortable? Microsoft may not have come out and said so outright, but it's certainly taken quite a few steps down that gloomy manufacturer- and publisher-dominated road.

Updated 10:15am on 5/22:?When asked directly by Kotaku whether or not the Xbox One would have a time limit on its ability to play games offline, Microsoft Vice President Phil Harrison offered these fateful words:?

Kotaku: If I?m playing a single player game, do I have to be online at least once per hour or something like that? Or can I go weeks and weeks?

Harrison: I believe it?s 24 hours.

Kotaku: I?d have to connect online once every day.

Harrison: Correct.

The company immediately backpedaled on Harrison's statement, telling Polygon Wednesday morning that the comments represent only "potential scenarios," adding, "...we have not confirmed any details today, nor will we be."

Updated 11:40am on 5/22:?When asked about backwards?compatibility?by The Wall Street Journal,?Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft?s interactive entertainment business, said that only 5% of customers play old games on a new system and developing technology to accomdate those players was not worth it. ?If you?re backwards compatible, you?re really backwards,? Mattrick added.

Photos by ReadWrite's Taylor Hatmaker for ReadWrite

Source: http://readwrite.com/2013/05/22/xbox-one-the-most-restrictive-game-console-ever-made

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

acutezza replied to your post: GUNNERKRIGG COURT

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Source: http://gigglingatcrimescenes.tumblr.com/post/51085974728

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Immigration reform moves forward: What's included?

Omnibus immigration reform moves from committee to the full Senate with bipartisan. The bill includes increased skilled-worker visas, provisional residency for current illegal immigrants, but no rights for gay spouses.

By Associated Press / May 21, 2013

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont (l.) confers with Sens. Chuck Schumer (D) of New York and Dianne Feinstein (D) of California as the Senate Judiciary Committee assembled to work on a landmark immigration bill.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Enlarge

The most far-reaching U.S.?immigration?legislation in about two decades moved forward on a solid bipartisan vote in the?Senate?Judiciary Committee after supporters avoided a controversy over the rights of gay spouses.

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The 13-5 vote cleared the way for a full?Senate?showdown on one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities ? and gives the opposition Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.

"Yes, we can! Si, se puede"?immigration?activists shouted after the vote, reprising Obama's campaign cry in his historic run for the White House in 2008.

In addition to creating a pathway to citizenship for 11.5 million?immigrants?living illegally in the country, the legislation creates a new program for low-skilled foreign labor and would permit highly skilled workers into the country at far higher levels. At the same time, it requires the government to take costly new steps to guard against future illegal?immigration.

In a statement, Obama said the legislation is "largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken?immigration?system."

Republicans have embraced the idea of?immigration?reform after a large majority of Hispanic voters supporters Obama in last year's election, leading to concerns that the party was out of touch with a younger, more diverse country.

There was suspense before Tuesday's vote when Sen. Patrick Leahy, the panel's chairman, sparked a debate over his proposal to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under?immigration?law.

But the the bill's supporters, repeating private appeals from the White House, warned that forcing a vote on that issue would lead to the collapse of conservative Republican support and the bill's demise.

In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers. The number of highly skilled workers admitted would rise from 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the possibility of a further increase to 180,000, depending in part on unemployment levels.

Firms where foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled work force would be subjected to tighter conditions.

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka attacked the deal sharply as "anti-worker," although he also made clear organized labor would continue to support the overall legislation.

Robert Hoffman, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, welcomed the deal. "We obviously want to keep moving the bill forward and building support for the legislation, and this agreement allows us to do so," he said.

But Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said his group was "extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people."

The gay rights issue is certain to re-emerge when the full?Senate?debates the legislation, although it is doubtful that sponsors can command the 60 votes that will be needed to make it part of the legislation.

In the other chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives,?immigration?legislation is due to receive a hearing in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

The centerpiece provision of the legislation in the?Senate?allows people living in the U.S. illegally to obtain "registered provisional?immigrant?status" six months after enactment if certain conditions are also met.

Applicants must have arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence, must not have a felony conviction or more than two misdemeanors on their record and pay a $500 fine.

The registered provisional?immigrant?status lasts six years and is renewable for another $500. After a decade, individuals could seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are up to date on their taxes and pay a $1,000 fine and meet other conditions.

Individuals brought to the country as youths would be able to apply for green cards in five years.

Associated Press writers David Espo and Erica Werner and AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/1o3WotjeGU4/Immigration-reform-moves-forward-What-s-included

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