Worried Of Home-improvement? Maybe not Anymore!

Home improvement isn?t just for committed enthusiasts. Any homeowner may increase the appeal and value of his / her home with some simple projects. Home-improvement projects are easy to complete once you research them beforehand and get ready well. If you?re likely to do a big renovation at home you may want to take into consideration hiring out a dumpster. Navigating To www likely provides tips you might use with your mother. Dumpster rentals may be easy and cheap ? and in the long run save yourself a great deal of time and energy removing the garden debris just and rapidly. My girlfriend discovered dumpster rental dc by searching Yahoo. Here are some great ideas for doing home-improvement work minus the hassle:

Always check the agreement to ensure the job is fully guaranteed, If you use a professional. If you do not always check the agreement, you might miss out on deficiencies in an assurance that will guarantee that any problems are rectified once they are determined. You need to know that you have assured work and know the length of time the promise will last.

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You have weeds growing throughout your stones and if you have chosen to have a gravel driveway there are several methods to prevent this from happening. A pot obstacle is an excellent way to go about getting rid of the offenders. You do not really need to get rid of most of one?s gravel to complete it, you could put it over gravel and put new!

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If you are seeking to create your dining area liveable space, you can s-and down your old dining table and re-finish it. While this is a long task, a new finish will make a vintage table appear to be new again. If you do this, be sure you take your time therefore it looks good.

Ask your family and friends who they recommend that will help you complete do it yourself work. You?ll know if the advice is good or not because you?ll have use of the house where the work was completed, and your agent will be in a position to inform you honestly how working with the contractor worked out.

In just about any do-it-yourself project involving stone, acquiring extra bricks is just a very wise investment. When repairs o-r improvements must be built to stone work, it could be remarkably difficult to fit new bricks to the color and texture of the originals. Stone styles change regularly. A store of excess stones bought together with the originals ? up to may be fairly bought and stored ? will require the difficulty from potential brick-matching. We discovered like i said by searching newspapers.

Ideally this info can make the next project a piece of cake. Not only is it easy to complete home-improvement projects once you do them right, it may be addictive, too. Doing good work may cause one to taking on new, more ambitious projects. So long as you remember to keep yourself well-informed thoroughly beforehand, the sky?s the limit.

Source: http://californiaonebuy.com/?p=2474

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Obama tells leaders to follow Mandela's example

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Saturday encouraged leaders in Africa and around the world to follow former South African President Nelson Mandela's example of country before self, as the U.S. president prepared to pay personal respects to relatives who have been gathered around the critically ill anti-apartheid icon.

"We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don't get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn't depend on how long we stay in office," Obama said.

Obama spoke at a news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma in the midst of a weeklong tour of the continent that also included stops in Senegal and Tanzania. But many other African nations are embroiled in religious, sectarian and other conflicts.

Obama decided to avoid stopping in his father's home nation of Kenya because of international disputes there. The International Criminal Court is prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the violent aftermath of Kenya's 2007 elections.

"The timing was not right for me as the president of the United States to be visiting Kenya when those issues are still being worked on, and hopefully at some point resolved," Obama said. He noted he's visited Kenya several times previously and expects he will as well in the future.

Obama and Zuma appeared at the Union Buildings that house government offices and the site of Mandela's 1994 inauguration as the country's first black president after 27 years behind bars for his activism.

The 94-year-old Mandela has been in a nearby hospital for three weeks after being admitted with a lung infection. Zuma told reporters that Mandela is in critical but stable condition and the whole nation is praying that he will improve.

Obama and his wife planned to meet with some of Mandela's relatives later in the day but because of their wishes doesn't plan to see the man Obama on Saturday revered as "one of the greatest people in history."

Obama referred to Mandela by his clan name as he praised South Africa's historic integration from white racist rule as a shining beacon for the world.

"The struggle here against apartheid for freedom, Madiba's moral courage, this country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation has been a personal inspiration to me, it has been an inspiration to the world," Obama said.

"The outpouring of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit, the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country," Obama said. "That's what Nelson Mandela represents, that's what South African at its best represents to the world, and that's what brings me back here."

Zuma told Obama he and Mandela are "bound by history as the first black presidents of your respective countries."

"Thus, you both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed," Zuma said, reading from a prepared statement.

On other topics, Obama declined to commit to supporting South Africa's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. He said the U.N.'s structure needs to be updated and it would be "odd" for an expanded Security Council not to have African representation.

"How we do that and what fashion is complicated, it's difficult and it involves all kinds of politics," Obama said.

"Everybody wants a seat at the table, but when it comes time to step up and show responsibility, sometimes people want to be free riders," Obama said, adding he wasn't referring to South Africa specifically.

Zuma responded that he wishes the process of change at the U.N. would speed up.

Obama also said he wants to boost trade with Africa and plans to renegotiate an African trade pact to improve it for American businesses. He said he welcomes competition from other nations who have been aggressive in pursuing commercial opportunities in Africa, including China.

"I don't feel threatened by it. I think it's a good thing," he said. He added: "Our only advice is make sure it's a good deal for Africa." He said that includes making sure foreign investment employs Africans and doesn't tolerate corruption or take its natural resources without compensation for Africans.

Obama also is paying tribute to South Africa's fight against apartheid by visiting the Soweto area Saturday afternoon for a town hall with students at the University of Johannesburg. At least 176 young people were killed in Soweto township 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the apartheid regime's ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.

The university plans to bestow an honorary law degree on the U.S. president.

Protesters demonstrated outside the university against U.S. policy on issues including the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the war in Afghanistan and global warming. Hundreds marched to the U.S. Embassy on Friday, carrying signs that read: "No, You Can't Obama," a message inspired by Obama's "yes, we can" campaign slogan.

Obama has been trying to inspire the continent's youth to become civically active and part of a new democratically minded generation. Obama hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and challenged them to bring change to their countries by standing up for freedom, openness and peaceful disagreement.

Obama wraps up his South Africa stay Sunday, when he plans to give a sweeping speech on U.S.-Africa policy at the University of Cape Town and take his family to Robben Island to tour the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.

Obama has visited the island before, but said it's a particular privilege to bring his daughters back to learn its lessons.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-tells-leaders-mandelas-example-112000386.html

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Democrat predicts House will pass Senate immigration bill

By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled House of Representatives will bow to political pressure and pass the immigration bill approved by the Democratic-led Senate by the end of the year, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer predicted on Sunday.

Schumer, a member of the bipartisan Senate group that crafted the immigration measure, said House Republicans who are now vowing they will not pass the Senate measure will ultimately be convinced by political concerns about the party's future.

"I believe that by the end of this year, the House will pass the Senate bill. I know that's not what they think now. And they'll say, 'Oh no, that's not what's going to happen.' But I think it will," Schumer told the "Fox News Sunday" program.

Senior House Republicans rejected Schumer's prediction. Republican Speaker John Boehner has said the House will write its own immigration bill rather than bringing up the Senate bill passed on Thursday, which is supported by Democratic President Barack Obama.

Fourteen Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats in backing a Senate bill that features a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States, an approach vehemently opposed by many conservative House Republicans who view it as rewarding law-breakers.

Some Republican leaders worry that rejecting the Senate bill could further alienate Hispanics, a fast-growing bloc of voters who overwhelmingly supported Obama's re-election in 2012, and could handicap the party in future presidential elections.

Schumer said House Republicans eventually will allow a vote on the Senate bill to get the issue off their backs and ease the pressure from immigration reform supporters including religious, civil rights and business groups.

"Within several months, Speaker Boehner will find two choices: no bill or let a bill pass with a majority of Democratic votes and some Chamber of Commerce-type Republicans. And he'll find that the better choice," the New York senator said.

House Republicans sarcastically shrugged off Schumer's prediction.

"I was moved almost to the point of tears by Senator Schumer's concern for the future prospects of the Republican Party. But we're going to not take his advice," said Republican Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who heads the immigration subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.

"The Senate bill is not going to pass in the House, and it's not going to pass for myriad reasons," Gowdy said.

"I'm more interested in getting it right than doing it on Senator Schumer's schedule," he added.

FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

Boehner has said an immigration bill will be put to a vote only if a majority of House Republicans back it. Boehner supports a piecemeal approach using smaller, targeted bills rather than the sweeping Senate legislation.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, another member of the bipartisan group behind the Senate bill, said it would not be easy to convince the House to pass broad immigration reform but held out hope.

"I really hesitate to tell Speaker Boehner exactly how he should do this. But I think Republicans realize the implications (for) the future of the Republican Party in America if we don't get this issue behind us," McCain said on "Fox News Sunday."

"I believe that the coalition that we've assembled of support ranging from evangelicals, to the Catholic church, business, labor, farm workers, growers ... I frankly have never seen such widespread support. And I am hopeful that we can convince our House colleagues," McCain said.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrat in the House, said she was optimistic the political realities of immigration would force House Republicans to come around.

"It's certainly right for the Republicans if they ever want to win a presidential race," Pelosi said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

A proposal being talked about in the House as an alternative to the Senate bill would offer possible citizenship in the future after illegal immigrants spend a decade working through a legalized status that gives them work permits.

Representative Robert Goodlatte of Virginia, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said it was possible the House could pass a measure that did not include a pathway to citizenship but focused on a "pathway to legalization" for undocumented immigrants. On ABC's "This Week" program, Goodlatte also made clear the House would not pass the Senate bill.

"When you use the word pathway to 'legalization' as opposed to pathway to 'citizenship,' I'd say, 'Yes,'" he said when asked about the chances for an immigration bill getting through the House.

"Not a special pathway to citizenship where people who are here unlawfully get something that people who have worked for decades to immigrate lawfully do not have," Goodlatte added.

(Additional reporting by Will Dunham and Deborah Charles; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democrat-predicts-house-pass-senate-immigration-bill-165735744.html

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Kerry says progress made in peace talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiles at a question from a reporter during a news conference about his trip to the Middle East, in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks over a four-day span with multiple trips to Jordan and Israel and a stop in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiles at a question from a reporter during a news conference about his trip to the Middle East, in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks over a four-day span with multiple trips to Jordan and Israel and a stop in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about his trip to the Middle East during a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks over a four-day span with multiple trips to Jordan and Israel and a stop in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas brief the media after the meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry continued his frenzied shuttle diplomacy Sunday to restart Mideast peace talks, but while Israel says it's ready to sit down, it showed no sign of bending to the Palestinians' long-standing demands for negotiating a two-state solution to the conflict. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry completed a new round of shuttle diplomacy Sunday without a hoped-for breakthrough in relaunching Mideast peace talks, but optimistically said he had narrowed the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians and vowed to return to the region soon to complete his mission.

Kerry said he was working on an emerging "package" meant to bring the sides together, and said he would leave a team of aides in the region to continue the efforts.

"With a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach," he told reporters, shortly before leaving Israel for an Asian security conference in Brunei.

It was not clear how much progress Kerry had truly made. He refused to provide details of the package he is working on, and Israeli and Palestinian officials, at Kerry's request, remained mum.

Even before negotiations have begun, the gaps remain wide on simply establishing the ground rules.

Negotiations have been stalled since 2008, in large part due to Israeli settlement policies in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The Palestinians claim both areas, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state alongside Israel and have demanded that Israel stop building settlements on occupied lands before talks resume. More than 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in areas sought by the Palestinians, making it increasingly difficult to partition the land into two states.

The Palestinians also say Israel's pre-1967 frontiers should be the baseline for the final borders between Israel and a future Palestine. Previous Israeli leaders have accepted the 1967 lines as a starting point for talks. But Israel's current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, while endorsing the idea of a Palestinian state, has refused the Palestinian demands, saying talks should begin immediately without any preconditions.

Netanyahu has ruled out a return to the 1967 lines, saying it would threaten Israel's security and noting the Jewish people's biblical connection to the West Bank. He also rejects any division of the holy city of Jerusalem, home to sensitive Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy sites.

His tough line and the continued construction of settlements have raised Palestinian accusations that he is not serious about pursuing peace.

The Palestinians also seek the Gaza Strip for their state. Israel, which captured Gaza in 1967, withdrew in 2005. Hamas militants subsequently overran the area.

Kerry was on his fifth visit to the region since taking office early this year. Starting Thursday night, he shuttled between Amman, Jordan, Jerusalem and Ramallah, West Bank, holding three meetings each with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's Netanyahu.

Their talks were long, sometimes stretching into the wee hours of the morning. His last meeting with the Israeli prime minister and his advisers ended after 3 a.m. Sunday. Afterward, Kerry took a pre-dawn stroll in Jerusalem with senior advisers. Kerry, the sleeves on his white shirt rolled up, walked with a security escort to a park near the hotel, gesturing and talking with his top advisers on the Mideast peace process. Just hours later, he traveled by convoy to Ramallah for one last meeting with Abbas, cancelling a trip to Abu Dhabi to extend his work with Israel and the Palestinians.

Addressing reporters at Israel's international airport, an exhausted Kerry, running on adrenaline, said he would have stayed longer if he did not have to attend the international conference.

"I am very positive," he said. "I also know progress when I see it, and we are making progress," he added.

He said both Netanyahu and Abbas had asked him to return to the region ? on what would be his sixth visit. But he declined to disclose, even broadly, the main elements of the "package" being pursued to restart talks.

Kerry said it was best not to float ideas for others to "tear apart, evaluate and analyze." He said he would not have agreed to leave his staff in place if he didn't think it was possible to flesh out a "serious" framework for restarting discussions.

"I think this is worth it, folks," he told reporters. "Obviously, the work has to be completed. People have to make a few choices still. But the gap has been narrowed very significantly."

A Palestinian official who was briefed on Kerry's efforts said the package would likely include, as a goodwill gesture, the release of some Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. He said the Palestinians were told that Netanyahu is prepared to restrain settlement construction and to discuss the 1967 borders, without any promise to withdraw to those lines. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

The emerging deal is also expected to include large amounts of international aid to the Palestinians; Israeli agreement to allow the Palestinians to launch new development projects in the West Bank; and Palestinian pledges to halt their campaign of seeking recognition of their independence in international bodies before there is a peace agreement.

Over Israeli and U.S. objections, the Palestinians last year won upgraded observer status at the United Nations, and they have threatened to pursue war crimes charges against Israel if peace efforts remain stalled.

Israel's Channel 2 TV, citing anonymous Israeli officials, said there had been progress, but sticking points remained in the areas of settlements, prisoners and borders. It said Kerry was expected back in a week or so and was aiming to restart talks before the Muslim holiday of Ramadan begins early next week.

Addressing his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu showed little signs of bending.

"We are not putting up any impediments on the resumption of the permanent talks and a peace agreement between us and the Palestinians," he said.

At the same time, he said, "We will not compromise on security, and there will be no agreement that will endanger Israelis' security."

He added that any agreement would be presented to the public in a referendum.

Critics have said such a step would merely add an additional obstacle to implementing any deal, which would require a broad pullout from the West Bank.

Following Sunday morning's meeting in Ramallah, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, reported progress but said gaps remained.

"I cannot say we have a breakthrough," he said. "All I can say once again is no one benefits more from the success of Secretary Kerry than the Palestinians, and no one stands to lose more from its failure than Palestinians."

As Kerry strolled to the tarmac Sunday, his top Mideast adviser patted him on the back, but both knew the job was not finished.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-30-ML-Kerry/id-4139819019e240dfa6a8437d9abf6f30

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?Why Don?t You Ban Divorce If You?re So Concerned?? Sally Kohn Battles GOP Rep Over Gay Marriage Rulings

Last night on Geraldo at Large, Fox contributor Sally Kohn and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) got a bit intense while debating the ramifications of this week?s Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage.

Debating what host Geraldo Rivera described as ?the brave new world of gay marriage,? Rep. Walberg argued that same-sex marriages, including Kohn?s, simply adds ?another impingement upon making marriage the successful foundation point of America.? The procreative nature of marriage, he said, is altered when you ?redefine? who can be married.

Kohn pointed out that in the congressman?s own district, there are gay families, single parent households, and grandparents raising children ? all of which differ from his traditional definition of family. However, she said, ?we protect everyone, we give everyone rights equally.?

Walberg responded that equal protection ?doesn?t include redefining words that are very descriptive of a foundational structure of society that goes back to the beginning of creation.?

?Why is it that you allow elderly couples that don?t have children to marry?? Kohn challenged the congressman. ?And why haven?t you put forward a bill to ban divorce if you?re so concerned with the preservation of marriage??

?We have put many hurdles in the way of good marriage,? he responded. ?One of those is no-fault divorce. But we?re talking about DOMA. The Supreme Court got it wrong when they said the states should be able to make up their own decisions, their own minds, their own laws.?

Kohn then took a personal tone, noting that there are over 1,000 federal benefits the congressman does not want her to have access to, including tax benefits, hospital visitation rights, and social security inheritance. ?You?re saying that we shouldn?t because we?re somehow lesser families??

?Let?s debate those issues but not redefine marriage as a term,? the congressman replied.

Watch the full debate below, via Fox News:

? ?
>> Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter

Source: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/why-dont-you-ban-divorce-if-youre-so-concerned-sally-kohn-battles-gop-rep-over-gay-marriage-rulings/

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Ibizious Energy Drink Video to Promote Amnesia Disco Club

This video has been produced to promote Amnesia(probably the most popular disco in Ibiza) and Ibizious, a new brand of energy drink.This spot has come to our attention as it employs every 80?s icon.It gathers all the details a geek would love:Zombies,retro gaming,long hair,pink?everything,you name it and it?s there!

Produced by: Lim?n Estudios
Direction by: Ernest Desumbila
Executive producers: Alejandro L?pez, Albert Montero
Edit & postproduction: Lim?n Estudios
Original music and Sound desing: hue-studios.com
Line producer: Alejandro L?pez
Production manager: Jorge Llama
Postproduction coordinator: Albert Montero
DOP: Felipe Contreras Soto
Art director: Iv?n Trivi?o
Stylist: Jess Monterde
Make up: Rub?n M?rmol
Choreography: Les filles f?llen
Production coordinator: Luna Llad?s

Source: http://en.paperblog.com/ibizious-energy-drink-video-to-promote-amnesia-disco-club-574039/

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The Top 3 Places in Colorado Google Trekker Should Go

Do you get envious of people who tweet beautiful hiking pics while you?re stuck inside at work? You can have the last laugh with Google?s 15 lens camera.

You can now sign-up to borrow one of the company?s Trekkers, a soccer ball-shaped camera that captures a 360-degree panorama ? just like the Google Street View camera. As the Verge reports, Google previously only let select employees and a few third-party organizations take the Trekkers out to scenic places including the Grand Canyon and the Canadian Arctic, but now the company is giving any third-party organization the chance to apply online for loaner Trekker backpacks.

The footage that winning applicants capture could be added to Google's growing library of Street View scenes around the world, though its unclear for now just how much, if any, other monetary compensation Google will provide to volunteers.

Google has already mapped the wintertime slopes of Colorado. What about for summer scenes? With so many beautiful places in the state, where should Google Trekker go in Colorado?

Here are our top 3 picks.

Devil?s Head Trail

Although not as high profile as the other two on the list, Devil?s Head trail is 15 miles outside of Castle Rock and a great hike for kids. The 1.4 mile long trail is relatively easy, and takes approximately 45 to 90 minutes on a one way hike with an elevation gain of 940 feet. Once there, there are 143 steps to get to Devil?s Head Lookout, the last of the seven original Front Range Lookout towers still in service. Though over 20,000 people hike it every year, Devil?s Head Trail remains a Colorado secret.

West Maroon Trail

Though they feature prominently on King Soopers cards, the Maroon Bells are still one of the most stunning views in the state. The trail meanders through aspen and around Maroon Lake, all in the shadow of the Bells. This easy hike gives a sustained view rather than just at the end.

The Colorado Trail

Stretching almost 500 miles from Denver to Durango, the Colorado Trail is a great snapshot of the state. Trail users experience six wilderness areas and eight mountain ranges topping out at 13,271 feet, just below Coney Summit at 13,334 feet. The average elevation is over 10,000 feet and it rises and falls dramatically. Users traveling from Denver to Durango will climb 89,354 feet. Now who wants to carry Trekker the whole way?

Are you feeling inspired? You can apply here. Have a better suggestion? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: http://kunc.org/post/top-3-places-colorado-google-trekker-should-go

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Facebook Announces New Review Policy To Prevent Ads From Running On Controversial Pages And Groups

Facebook just announced a new review policy for Pages and Groups, a policy aimed at reducing cases where ads run alongside content that the advertiser or their customers might find objectionable. Earlier today, a BBC report stated that Marks and Spencer and BSkyB had pulled "all or part of their spending" on Facebook after a BSkyB ad (which was "promoting an M&S voucher") was shown alongside a Facebook Page that was titled "cute and gay boys" and included photos of teenage boys. The story said Facebook was going to make an announcement to address these types of concerns later today.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BCQG_UlPC8k/

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?Designed by Apple in California?: Flop or Famous?

Apple?s ?Designed by Apple in California? dubbed a flop by many, is getting plenty of publicity. But not in the way Apple likely intended. The ad received a viewer score of 489 out of 900 based on the Ace Metric scale. This low-scoring commercial, compared to Apple?s 26 other ads this year, has created quite the buzz on Bloomberg, LA Times, Ad Age and various other sites.

Why the low score?

First, is it really a low score? The industry average is 542 making the Apple ad not far from status quo. By contrast, Apple?s most popular ads scored around 700. More importantly, Samsung?s commercials have been ranking above 600.

You might be surprised to know it wasn?t the company?s philosophy that viewers didn?t like; it was the lack of information and the sad tone to the commercial.

Apple is known for cutting edge technology. Perhaps viewers were disappointed that the commercial was focused on branding versus one of Apple?s new devices.

Why the change?

It?s a simple answer, really. If a well-known brand is losing market share to stiff competition and doesn?t have any new products to debut, what do you do? You do the branding thing in an attempt to energize your loyal fans with strong company values.

A secondary reason could be to remove any lingering bad rapport about Apple?s working conditions in China which was heavily criticized last year. Since then, the company has taken strides to move some production into the United States. This, coupled with a seemingly intentional shift in focus from manufacturing to design, is likely a major reason the brand went with ?Designed by Apple in California.?

Flop or famous?

If the commercial?s goal was to draw attention away from Samsung?s new products and back to Apple, they got it. Just not in the way they intended.

Sometimes an attack on a much loved brand is exactly what is needed to energize loyal consumers. Keep in mind, low scores on ad surveys are not always indicative of consumer purchase patterns.

What are your thoughts on the commercial? Do you think this will hurt their new product launch coming up?

This guest post was written by Alicia Lawrence, content coordinator for WebpageFX and blogs in her free time at MarCom Land.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adrants/~3/HzaUnehfmyQ/designed-by-apple-in-california-flop.php

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 29th, 2013 at 5:23 PM and is filed under Marketing Flip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://flippies.com/adflipoff/archives/42493

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House panel pressing IRS figure to talk

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A Republican-led House committee Friday increased pressure on Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner to break her silence on who in the tax agency was behind decisions to make it more difficult for tea party and other conservative groups to obtain tax-exempt status.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a 22-17 party line vote, ruled that Lerner, who headed the division that oversaw nonprofits, had forfeited her right to invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions when she appeared before the panel on May 22.

The GOP-written resolution said Lerner gave up her right to silence when she opened the hearing with a statement denying that she had done anything wrong.

"A witness may not testify voluntarily about a subject and then invoke the privilege against self-incrimination when questioned about the details," it said.

Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said that after consulting with House lawyers he was certain that Lerner had waived her Fifth Amendment rights. Witnesses, he said, cannot "give one side of the story and not allow themselves to be cross-examined."

Some Republicans who have aggressively pursued the investigation against IRS harassment if conservative groups saw Lerner's refusal to talk as more than just a legal issue. "Lois Lerner is in fact a poster child for a federal bureaucrat thumbing her nose at Congress," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. He said the case was a "showdown" over who is in control of government.

Neither Lerner nor her lawyer were present at Friday's vote and Democrats on the committee said Republicans should have allowed testimony from legal experts on Fifth Amendment protections for people testifying before Congress.

"I want to hear Ms. Lerner's testimony," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, top Democrat on the committee. "But we must respect the constitutional rights of every witness who comes before the committee."

Lerner's attorney, William W. Taylor, responded to the vote with a statement that "a party-line vote does not affect anyone's constitutional rights, and this one does not affect Ms. Lerner's." He said Lerner "had requested that she not be required to appear at all, and was forced against her will to invoke her rights in public. When she was forced to do that, she was entitled to say what she said."

The vote opens up the possibility that Lerner will be summoned back to the committee for another round of questioning. Issa dodged a Democratic question about whether Lerner might be offered limited immunity in exchange for her testimony. If she again invokes the Fifth, she could face contempt charges.

Under the rules, any immunity deal with Lerner would have to be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Oversight committee, and then accepted by the Justice Department and a federal judge.

The committee and the full House would have to approve contempt charges, which would then be turned over to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Whether that attorney would be required to prosecute is unclear.

Lerner, now on administrative leave, was a high-ranking IRS official in Washington who oversaw the agency's Cincinnati workers who screened applications for tax-exempt status. The IRS has apologized for imposing tough scrutiny on conservative groups who applied for that designation. It has since emerged that progressive groups also appeared on agency screening lists and that some suffered similar treatment.

Three congressional committees are investigating the IRS treatment of conservative groups, as is the Justice Department and the new leaders of the IRS itself. House Democrats are trying to expand the investigation to include how progressive groups were treated.

On Thursday, the controversy moved in another direction as a clash escalated between the Treasury Department inspector general who investigated the IRS and congressional Democrats who called his probe of the agency misleading.

In a letter to lawmakers, J. Russell George said that only a small number of groups with "progress" or "progressive" in their names had their applications set aside for screening. Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said George should have revealed the involvement of progressive groups before now.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-panel-pressing-irs-figure-talk-205307606.html

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Sprint Network...

Can someone please help. I've exhausted all means of research trying to find my answer, hopefully someone here can help!

Here it goes. My Wife has the HTC One through Sprint and she wanted the SG4.
I looked through eBay and found a brand new one for $500. I read all the details and everything looked fine.

When they phone arrived, sure enough. It was brand new no scratches, pretty much flawless. It had no sim card. So we took the sim card from her HTC One thinking it would work once we put it in the SG4 and it did, BUT we noticed that for example if she called me, it wasn't her number that would show up, it was a completely different number.

We took it to Sprint and they pretty much told us that we cannot activate the phone. That's pretty much all they said.

So what does this mean? Am I stuck with a non working $500 phone? Do I sale it and say it has a bad esn?

Oh... Btw... Contacted seller and even filed ebay buyer protection and of all things I didn't win.

Your opinions most appreciated!

Source: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-active/292775-samsung-galaxy-s4-sprint-network-new-post.html

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Reputation Changer

The Internet has given a lot of power to the consumer?buyers of goods and services have many, many ways to sing a business's praises online or destroy its reputation. This has resulted in a new service industry called Online Reputation Management (ORM). Fortune 500 businesses and even celebrities are often clients of such services, but with one service called Reputation Changer, even small-to-mid-sized businesses can keep tabs on their online reputation. It's a very interesting service and, if your business has an online presence, it's worth a look.

How It Works
Reputation Changer is a cloud-based service that monitors any keywords you enter (such as your business name). The company also offers assistance in improving online reputation by manipulating search engines to push negative content about an individual or business further down in search results. The monitoring part is free.

?

Reputation Changer is not the biggest name in the ORM business. That is arguably, Reputation.com. However, Reputation.com does not offer a trial account for small to mid size businesses to test?not even the monitoring capabilities. With Reputation.com, you can sign up and cancel anytime, but to test the service out, you do have to sign up for it. The ability to test-drive reputation monitoring with Reputation Changer is a definite plus for small businesses.

You can create a free account at reputationchanger.com (it doesn't even require a credit card).You sign in the first time, and are asked to enter up to three keywords to search against. This creates a campaign.

Seeing as I'm not a business owner, I tested Reputation Changer by entering my first and last name. Once I did a dashboard displayed. This interface contains quite a bit of information and activity and the UI is aptly referred to as the "Command Center." This gives the user quite a bit of insight and information into their or their business's online reputation. The company tells me that the Command Center interface and tools are what set them apart from other ORM services.

Command Center
There are several different panels on the dashboard. In one, you are presented with a listing of any URLs to sites containing your keyword?the top-ranked URLs are displayed first. For example, at the top of the list was my PCMag bio information, likely the most searched or viewed URL containing my name.

There's a drop down list above this panel that allows you to switch the view to find URLs in the three major search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

The listed URLs are shown by their ranked position. Next to each, you can flag a URL as "negative" meaning it contains content on the site that can hurt a reputation. Now, Reputation Changer also has underlying algorithms that allow it to find and flag negative content for you. The service recognizes more than 100 negative domains and keywords that contain terms such as "fraud."

On the left panel from the URL listings, you can see how many negative listings a keyword tallies up. You can also here view how many times your keyword was searched. Two lower panels display related keywords and reputation alerts?these are notifications of any recent content on the Internet that contains your keywords.

I created another trial account (you can only have one campaign in the free account) and used a keyword containing a restaurant that had recently closed in my neighborhood, Manganaro's. The two abrasive sisters who ran the place were subject to a lot of criticism online. Sure enough, when I looked at the URL listings for this restaurant's name, there were several flagged as negative by Reputation Changer (a few links are to Yelp.)

Reputation alerts can also show postings in social media about your keyword. I asked a friend on Facebook to create a message tagging me and then delete it. Sure enough, I saw that person's post in Reputation Alerts, and I kept seeing it after it was deleted, days later. My concern about this feature is how up-to-date it is. You could be worrying about negative comments or posts online that no longer exist on a live server.

Reputation Monitoring
With a free account, you can also initiate active monitoring. By clicking "Reputation Monitoring" on the tabs at the top of the interface, you are given the option to add your keywords or a URL for monitoring. You can also send alerts to an email address.

One of the cleverest features is Auto Complete. You know when you type in words in Google and it will auto complete a search term? Well, Reputation Changer also monitors any auto-completed search terms associated with your keyword. Example: my keywords are my first and last name. Google auto complete shows my name auto-completing with "pc mag," "email," and "Linkedin." Reputation Changer automatically picked up on this and monitors these search terms.

The High Price of a Good Reputation
There is a lot to this service, more than I covered in this review. But, you may be asking, OK, so if I get negative reviews and see negative content on the Internet about me or my business how do I fix it? Well, monitoring is free. Fixing that negativity is not. For a fee, the company will provide ways to help bury negative content really deep down in searches. They do this in myriad ways: By creating reviews on sites Reputation Changer hosts, by posting favorable comments?essentially bombarding your keyword with positivity, and keeping the negativity down. That type of salvage will cost you, though.

This is how Reputation Changer makes money. To help an individual or business save face costs at least $5,000. Subscribing as a paid client also gives you more tools and features in the Command Center Additionally, without changing the problems that lead to the bad reviews in the first place, it's likely these sorts of review would crop up again.

Some may question the tactics of this type of service, I know I did. However, businesses (and people) are very vulnerable to attack from the open stage that is the Internet. It only takes one disgruntled customer, who is online-savvy, to really demean your business or service, and they may do so unfairly. Reputation Changer and other ORM services, give you a chance to be active in keeping intact a good reputation for your business, or yourself. It's a fascinating market and one of the first services we've reviewed in this space. I do think the free service offers much benefit to SMBs who want to track what the online community is saying about their business and for that, it gets four out of five stars for SMB services.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/WK4BxNnOI-Y/0,2817,2421194,00.asp

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Voyager 1 comes closer to leaving the solar system...again

Scientists have detected one of the critical signs that the Voyager 1 is nearly in interstellar space. But this has happened before.

By Elizabeth Barber,?Contributor / June 27, 2013

This artist's concept shows NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft exploring a turbulent region of space known as the heliosheath.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Reuters

Enlarge

No, we aren?t there yet. But we're closer.

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Spacecraft Voyager 1 is closer to being the first human-made object to leave the solar system ? but what exactly ?closer? means is still unknown.

Researchers are waiting for Voyager 1, launched some 35 years ago and now more than 11 billion miles away, to exit the heliosheath,?a region that extends past all the planets in our solar system by about 8 billion miles, into interstellar space. But ?about? is the critical word here, because the trouble is that scientists don?t know exactly how big that region is.?

Still, three papers, published in Science, report that scientists have observed one of the signs that they expect to see as Voyager 1 nears the solar system?s edge: the total disappearance of charged particles, known as termination shock particles, that had been steadily present for seven years.

That means Voyager 1 entered a previously unknown space region called the magnetic highway, or the depletion region, on August 25th, 2012, when the disappearance was observed. In that zone, the charged particles travel in and out of the heliosheath along a smooth magnetic field line. Scientists believe that it is the final zone through which the spacecraft must pass before it reaches the heliopause, the exact boundary between the heliosheath and interstellar space.?

?We entered an entirely new region on August 25th,? Ed Stone, lead project scientist for the Voyager spacecraft told the Monitor. ?We think this is the zone that connects to interstellar space.?

Scientists have not yet seen the critical third sign that would mark Voyager 1?s actual passage into interstellar space: a shift in the direction of the magnetic field. The heliosheath's queen is our sun, and the sun?s east-west magnetic field governs the zone. As the space probe exits the solar system, scientists would expect to see a magnetic shift as it enters a regional field with a completely different orientation.

Another sign that Voyager 1 is still in our solar system is that the cosmic rays the craft has begun to detect from interstellar space are traveling unevenly in multiple directions. In interstellar space, scientists expect those rays to be distributed uniformly, Stone said.

Voyager 1 was launched with its sibling, Voyager 2, in 1977, and both craft have already made tours of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune before veering toward interstellar space in 1990. Even though it was launched 15 days earlier, Voyager 2 is some 2 billion miles Voyager 1.

Voyager 1?s triumphant departure has been heralded before. In December 2004, the Voyager reached what is now known as the termination shock boundary, where particles blown outward from the sun suddenly slow down.?

Voyager 1 saw this solar wind hit a dead calm in April 2010, which again suggested that the craft was coming tantalizingly close to the edge of the solar system. That region is now known as the stagnation zone. At that time, the existence of the depletion zone up ahead was unknown.

Scientists aren?t being deliberately cruel by repeatedly announcing that Voyager 1 has departed. The heliosheath is a baffling, mysterious place, and information about its outer reaches is collected only as Voyager 1 continues its unprecedented journey.

So we don't know how long it will be before Voyager 1 leaves for good.

?It could be several more months, or it could also be several more years,? said Stone. ?There could be things we still don?t know about out there. Almost every day we?re learning something new.?

?That?s the nature of exploration ? you find out how nature really does things,? he said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/n8A8OM11KiA/Voyager-1-comes-closer-to-leaving-the-solar-system-again

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Obama urges House to pass immigration reform by August

Four people who were on the ground the night of the Benghazi attacks last year are writing a book about their experience, and they're getting a $3 million advance from Twelve Books to do it. The authors are unnamed, according to New York Post's Keith J. Kelly, who describes them as "members of the elite security team from the annex of the US Embassy." That annex, we now know, was the CIA annex, which makes this book deal really fascinating. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-urges-house-pass-immigration-reform-august-111737311.html

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The Glory That Was Thillens Stadium - The Beachwood Reporter ...

By Roger Wallenstein

"It was the mecca of stadiums," said my boyhood friend Tim Russell.

No, he wasn't talking about the original Yankee Stadium or even old Comiskey. We were talking about Thillens Stadium at the corner of Devon and Kedzie, where the landmark baseball sign was recently removed.

As documented in the local media, the Thillens family, which gave up operation of the facility to the Park District eight years ago, severed all connection to the park when the rusting sign disappeared from the corner.

Apparently the Thillenses - they're the guys with the armored trucks who compete with Brinks to ferry cash from here to who knows where - have been annoyed because of the deteriorating condition of the hallowed ground bearing their name.

Unlike my pal Tim, I never played at Thillens, but I saw a number of Little League games there in the 1950s. And I never had to leave home to do it because WGN carried live Monday night telecasts of the games with none other than Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Brickhouse describing the action.

Maybe "action" is a mistaken term since my recollection is that most hitters either struck out or walked with a few hits sprinkled in between.

"It was a very exciting place to cover games and watch games," said Jack Rosenberg, WGN's sports editor from 1954 to 1994, when I phoned him. But televise Little League baseball? Who would possibly watch that?

"In those days we were willing to try anything because when I came to work up here in 1954 a lot of people still did not have television sets, so obviously there was no color, no videotape, no nothing," said Rosenberg. "It was a different day and age where we were willing to try anything and a lot of it worked. Some of it did not. But that's OK. We went back and tried again. And by the time I left 45 years later, we were all over the world."

My memories of those telecasts were of Brickhouse putting as much expertise and enthusiasm into a game of 10- and 11-year-olds as he did calling another Ernie Banks' round-tripper.

Imagine if the bosses today assigned Hawk Harrelson or Steve Stone to call a Little League game in a North Side neighborhood.

On second thought, they might see better baseball than is being played at either big league park in Chicago this summer.

"We thought nothing of that," said Rosenberg. "Why did Jack and I go to LaGrange every year and do the LaGrange Pet Parade? I still recall we were going to try to have President Kennedy on the Leadoff Man [the Cubs' pre-game show]. People said you've got to be kidding. But we did it. Years later Jack and I went to the White House to interview President Reagan. Here again no one thought this was doable. President Reagan, of course, had broadcast Cubs baseball as a young man in Des Moines, Iowa, on Western Union ticker tape. It was fantastic to be a part of it."

Probably the most notable accomplishment of televising Little League from Thillens - aside from actually doing it with a Hall of Fame broadcaster - was the advent of the center-field camera.

"A number of people had a hand in that," recalled Rosenberg, adding that no one individual can be credited with the idea. "I was not one of them. I was not on the technical side. It turned out to be something that is still used today."

In the '50s Thillens had a house league with six or eight teams complete with replica major league uniforms. These were the games that appeared on TV. In addition, there was a travel team of the best players.

My pal Tim, who grew up in Highwood, which also boasted a vigorous youth program created by iconic recreation director Don Skrinar, played in 64-team, end-of-the-year tournaments at Thillens featuring the top Little League teams in the area.

"The stadium itself I can remember certainly," Russell told me. "But I can remember more about some of the players that played on those teams. They had real authentic major league uniforms, [which were] quite amazing to see, and they were so good - the best players in the city."

Skrinar, a premier promoter credited with the invention of Little Guys basketball for kids under 5 feet, invited teams from Thillens to Highwood, no doubt expecting reciprocal invitations to play at Kedzie and Devon.

"Skrinar gets this idea to bring them up to Highwood on Friday nights against our All-Star team," said Russell. "Not their All-Star team, just one of their teams. The Thillens Cubs were legendary. When they came to Highwood, it was a revelation. They kicked our ass, they were so good."

As were many teams in the tournaments at Thillens in the mid-50s.

"We went up against this kid from Villa Park," Russell said. "We're on our way down there, and I'm crying about this kid because he throws so hard. He beat us 1-0. Skrinar had everybody bunt. Sometimes he told us to bat lefty and don't swing.

"The next year we're in the semi-finals, and here comes another kid from Arlington Heights. The kid threw bullets. We lost again 1-0."

Although almost 60 years have passed, the memories of specific players remain alive for Tim.

"The superior players wanted to play at Thillens," he said. "That was the place to play. Jim Woods played there and later played at Lane Tech. He went on to play third base for the Phillies."

Actually Woods signed with the Cubs before making brief appearances in 1960-61 for Philadelphia. Another Thillens product signed by the Cubs was Chris Barkulis who never made it to the majors but played six seasons in the team's minor league system. My friend Tim played in the City-Suburban All-Star game staged every year alternating between Wrigley and Comiskey featuring the area's best high school players.

"Barkulis hit one off the wall at Wrigley in that game in 1960," he said.

Then there was a Little Leaguer named Becker. "He was the only kid who had a nickname when he was 11," said Russell. "Shotgun Becker. He used to get his name in the paper a lot. He played for the Thillens Cubs. His real name was Bob."

Years have passed since the glory days of Thillens Stadium. I can't think of a comparable park in the city that does what Thillens did, but the suburbs are filled with facilities that are fancier, more expensive and fully-utilized. There's no reason to travel into the city today to compete on a stage like Thillens.

"It's a great part of our baseball history here in the Chicago area," said Jack Rosenberg.

Of course, he's correct on both counts. The Thillens we knew was a gem. And now it's gone, a piece of history.

-

-

Comments welcome.

More from Beachwood Sports ?

Source: http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/sports/the_glory_that_was_thillens_st.php

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Pa. girl doing well after 2nd lung transplant

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl whose parents sued to challenge national lung transplant rules has received a second set of lungs after the first failed, and her family says she's taken some breaths on her own.

However, she faces another operation because of complications from the second double-lung transplant.

The mother of Sarah Murnaghan says that the first set of lungs failed within hours of the June 12 transplant at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She says she was placed back on the lung transplant list the night after her surgery and received a second set on June 15.

Sarah's mother says the second transplant was a success. But, Sarah was placed back on a ventilator due to partial paralysis of her diaphragm, that's not allowing her lungs to expand.

She is scheduled for surgery on Monday in an effort to repair her diaphragm.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pa-girl-doing-well-2nd-lung-transplant-193353953.html

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Complex activity patterns emerge from simple underlying laws, ant experiments show

June 28, 2013 ? A new study from researchers at Uppsala University and University of Havana uses mathematic modeling and experiments on ants to show that a group is capable of developing flexible resource management strategies and characteristic responses of its own.

The results are now published in Physical Review Letters.

Group-living animals are led to regulate their activity and to make decisions on how to manage resources, under the action of a variety of environmental stimuli and of their intrinsic interactions. The latter are typically cooperative, in the sense that the activity of a single animal increases nonlinearly with the number of already active ones.

The researchers monitored experimentally and using mathematical modeling the activity profile of food-searching ants in a natural environment. The number of ants entering in or exiting the nest was recorded as well as the local temperature over several days.

The study shows that the group is capable of developing flexible resource management strategies and characteristic responses of its own. This is achieved by operating in an aperiodic fashion close to a regime of chaos, where nonlinearity is especially pronounced and offers the group more options than just following passively the day/night temperature cycle.

Furthermore, the group bursts into its foraging activity rapidly and subsequently relaxes to the inactive mode more slowly. This flexible behavior is reminiscent of "free will" in the sense that groups' activities are not totally constrained by the environment but on the contrary constitute new, emerging modes of behavior not encoded in the external stimuli or in the activity rhythms of the individuals within the group.

"Our results are likely to account for a wide range of temporal rhythms observed across the animal kingdom as well as in human societies," says Stamatios Nicolis, researcher at the Department of Mathematics, who lead the study.

"For instance, signal processing in the brain typically leads to complex patterns of electrical activity as witnessed by the electroencephalogram whose aperiodic, chaotic-looking structure is not a simple replica of the signal but reflects instead the ability of the brain to store vast amounts information and to process them selectively depending on the circumstances," says Stamatios Nicolis.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/s8EfwWh0yUw/130628091951.htm

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This New Contact Lens Basically Turns Your Eye Into a Telescope

Contact lenses are great if your only issue is near or farsightedness, but for those struggling with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among older adults, those flimsy little lenses ain't going to cut it?or at least not the kind of contact lenses you're used to. But soon, AMD-sufferers could see their vision vastly improving thanks to a slim, adjustable telescope that sits right in the middle of their eye.

Funded by DARPA, the joint team of researchers from the US and Switzerland were facing the problem of correcting vision loss as a result of retina damage?something that normal contacts, which simply refocus the eyes, do virtually nothing to help. By magnifying an AMD patient's vision, though, light is also magnified, allowing it to spread out and hit the parts of the retina that remain intact. Until now, though, any sort of optical magnifier came in the form of a highly intrusive, spectacle-mounted telescope or micro-telescopes that required invasive eye surgery.

The team, led by University of California San Diego Professor Joseph Ford, employed tightly-fitted mirrors in designing a telescope that stands at just over one millimeter thick. While the unobtrusiveness of the new telescope design is impressive in and of itself, the team also managed to create a system that allows for the patient's vision to easily switch from magnified to normal. Thanks to a set of liquid crystal glasses, users can choose to block either the magnifying portion of the contact lens along the rim or the unmagnified portion in the center. According to the news release:

The liquid crystals in the glasses electrically change the orientation of polarized light, allowing light with one orientation or the other to pass through the glasses to the contact lens.

The contacts themselves are made out of a material called polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), an incredibly strong component that allows for the small grooves necessary to fix the abnormal color that the lens's shape creates. And while these new lenses are an incredible advancement, it wil still be some time before we start seeing them on a consumer level. The same grooves that fix color also have the effect of reducing the quality of the actual image, and PMMA isn't gas permeable, which would mean that patients wouldn't be able to wear the lenses for any extended period of time.

Still, an actual, functional telescope shaved down to practically nothing is a huge step for improving the quality of life of those suffering from AMD. And once researchers manage to work out the kinks, the world is going to start looking a whole lot brighter. [Business Wire]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-new-contact-lens-basically-turns-your-eye-into-a-t-598794815

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Obama: Pay no attention to Snowden (CNN)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315967461?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Court lifts ban on gay marriage in California

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Same-sex marriages were set to resume in California on Friday, after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a surprise order lifting an injunction preventing the unions.

The order came in response to an opinion released Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court that effectively killed a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages in the state.

Within moments of the ruling, couples, officials and activists began to converge on San Francisco City Hall, where unions were due to resume immediately.

"On my way to S.F. City Hall," tweeted the state's attorney general, Kamala Harris. "Let the wedding bells ring!"

Harris arrived with her arm around a key lawyer in the case, as the couple at the heart of a case challenging the state's ban waited eagerly for their marriage license to be issued.

"This is really a great day," said Cindy Stier, who with her fiancee Kristin Perry filed the lawsuit against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California in 2008.

The 9th Circuit had been expected to wait 25 days before lifting the injunction so the Supreme Court would have time to release a formal order. But the judges decided to act instead on Friday, a move that would allow the marriages to begin in advance of Gay Pride weekend.

"The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately," the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Writing by Sharon Bernstein and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Gary Hill and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-lifts-ban-gay-marriage-california-224235024.html

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Lawyers file appeal to halt 5th Nigerian execution

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Human rights lawyers have filed an urgent appeal to try to prevent Nigerian authorities from executing a convicted armed robber by firing squad, two organizations said Thursday.

The suit filed Wednesday argues it is unconstitutional to deny an appeal to the man sentenced by a military tribunal in 1995, when Nigeria was under military dictatorship.

They said Thankgod Ebhos has been in prison since 1988. In 1995, when Nigeria was still under military dictatorship, he was tried under a section of the Robbery and Firearms Act that does not allow for an appeal against a judgment of a military tribunal. Ebhos was sentenced while Nigeria was under a military dictatorship notorious for unfair trials and torturing confessions from detainees.

On Monday, Ebhos was dragged to the gallows where he watched four fellow death-row inmates hanged at Benin State Prison in southern Edo state.

The hangings ended a seven-year moratorium on the death penalty in Nigeria.

Ebhos was reprieved because prison officials were not equipped to carry out his sentence of shooting by a firing squad, said Edo state Attorney General Henry Idahagbon.

"Why they have been in prison so long and not executed I do not know and cannot say," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He blamed "some people not wanting to do their job" ? an apparent reference to President Goodluck Jonathan's recent statements which urged governors to sign death warrants, no matter how painful they find it.

Idahagbon, who is also the state commissioner for justice, said he did not know when Ebhos may be executed. "I'm speculating but suspect prison authorities have to work with the military authorities to have the convict shot," he said.

"Any execution of the sentence of death passed on him by the military tribunal will be unlawful and further undermine respect for the rule of law in Nigeria," said the statement signed by director Justine Ijeomah of the Human Rights, Social Development and Environmental Foundation and Chino Obiagwu of the Legal Defense and Assistance Project.

The appeal was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyers-file-appeal-halt-5th-nigerian-execution-103715607.html

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Kerry plunges back into Mideast peace diplomacy

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry plunged back into the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday, using Jordan as a base for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

It is Kerry's fifth visit to the region to try to restart peace talks that broke down in 2008.

He left Amman Thursday evening in a convoy of nearly a dozen vehicles for the roughly 90-minute drive to Jerusalem to dine with Netanyahu. A Jordanian military helicopter flew over his convoy during the trip. He is to have lunch with Abbas on Friday in Amman and more meetings could be in the offing.

U.S. State department officials say that while there are no scheduled plans for any three-way discussion during Kerry's trip, they are confident that both sides are open to negotiations, or at least sitting down together at the same table.

Kerry, they say, will continue to try to find common ground between the two sides that would lead to a re-launching of peace talks. On this trip, Kerry is trying to pin down precisely what conditions Abbas and Netanyahu have for restarting talks and perhaps discuss confidence-building measures.

Beyond that, Kerry wants to talk about the positive outcomes, such as enhanced economic growth, of a two-state solution. But at the same time, the secretary, who has long-time relationships with officials from both sides, will remind them of what's at stake if the conflict is left unresolved, they said.

Earlier this month, in a speech to the American Jewish Committee Global Forum in Washington, Kerry warned of serious consequences if no deal is reached.

"Think about what could happen next door," he told the Jewish audience. " The Palestinian Authority has committed itself to a policy of nonviolence. ... Up until recently, not one Israeli died from anything that happened from the West Bank until there was a settler killed about a month ago.

"But if that experiment is allowed to fail, ask yourselves: What will replace it? What will happen if the Palestinian economy implodes, if the Palestinian Security Forces dissolve, if the Palestinian Authority fails? ... The failure of the moderate Palestinian leadership could very well invite the rise of the very thing that we want to avoid: the same extremism in the West Bank that we have seen in Gaza or from southern Lebanon."

So far, there have been no public signals that the two sides are narrowing their differences.

Abbas has said he won't negotiate unless Israel stops building settlements on war-won lands or accepts its 1967 lines ? before the capture of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in a Mideast war that year ? as a starting point for border talks. The Palestinians claim all three areas for their future state.

Netanyahu has rejected the Palestinian demands, saying there should be no pre-conditions ? though his predecessor conducted talks on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, and the international community views the settlements as illegal or illegitimate.

Earlier on Thursday, Kerry talked about the crisis in Syria and the Mideast peace process over lunch with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

In a statement, the Royal Palace said Abdullah told Kerry that he will continue trying to bridge the gaps in the viewpoints of Palestinians and Israelis. But he warned that Israel's "unilateral actions, which include continuous Israeli trespassing on Christian and Muslim holy sites, undermine chances for peace."

On Wednesday, an Israeli planning committee gave the final approval for construction of dozens of new homes in a settlement in east Jerusalem. The announcement, which was made the day before Kerry's visit, appeared to be an Israeli snub at the secretary of state's latest round of Mideast diplomacy.

Officials traveling with Kerry sought to minimize the significance of the announcement, saying the U.S. has repeatedly said that continued construction of settlements were unhelpful to efforts to restart the talks. The settlements are part of the Har Homa area of east Jerusalem. The Obama administration said it was "deeply concerned" back in 2011 when an Israeli planning commission approved 930 new housing units in the Har Homa neighborhood.

The Palestinian side condemned the announcement.

"Such behavior proves that the Israeli government is determined to undermine Secretary Kerry's efforts at every level," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

___

Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-plunges-back-mideast-peace-diplomacy-154841578.html

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Oil price stays above $97 on improving US data

BANGKOK (AP) ? The price of oil rose Friday as the U.S. economic outlook brightened and concerns eased about a credit crunch in China.

Benchmark oil for August delivery was up 20 cents to $97.23 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.55 to finish at $97.05 on Thursday after the U.S. government released data showing an increase in in consumer spending and home sales while jobless claims fell.

"The truth to these markets are that they are lacking any good reason to go down," said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions. "We're starting to settle into a fair value and it's hard to argue lower."

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 346,000 last week, evidence that the job market is still improving modestly. Steady job gains could help the economy expand later this year and thus increase energy consumption.

The U.S. Commerce Department said consumers spent more in May as their income rose, although spending was weaker in April, February and January than previously estimated. The number of pending home sales jumped in May to the highest level in more than six years, the National Association of Realtors said.

Fears of a cash crunch in China, which could cripple small- and medium-sized businesses, were eased after the country's central bank indicated it would not allow an all-out crisis to unfold.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a commentary that "it is time for markets to calm down now and that the worst is probably behind us" and that a hard economic landing would be avoided, since no Chinese policymaker would want to shoulder the blame for that.

Brent crude, which is used to set prices for oil used by many U.S. refineries to make gasoline, rose 18 cents to $103 a barrel.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Heating oil rose 0.7 cent to $2.895 a gallon.

? Natural gas rose 0.4 cent to $3.586 per 1,000 cubic feet.

? Wholesale gasoline rose 0.1 cent to $2.729 a gallon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-price-stays-above-97-improving-us-data-053928335.html

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