World Landmarks in The Dark For Earth Hour: Curated News Edition - 01/04/12

Curated News Edition
- 01/04/12
http://www.LibertyNewspost.com
World landmarks in the dark for Earth Hour

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Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:09:58 PM
also dimmed and in Hong Kong, buildings along Victoria Harbour also went dark. All the events take LONDON (AP) Hundreds of place at 8:30 p.m. local time. world landmarks from Berlin's The WWF, the global Brandenburg Gate to the Great environmental group which W a l l o f C h i n a w e n t d a r k organizes the event, said the Saturday, part of a global effort to n u m b e r o f c o u n t r i e s a n d highlight climate change. territories participating has grown By Lintao Zhang, Getty Images from 135 last year to 147 this The Great Wall is illuminated year. during the Earth Hour 2012 on "Global warming is a big issue," Saturday in Beijin. said Rudy Ko, of Taiwanese environmental group Society of By Lintao Zhang, Getty Images Wilderness. "Everybody can help The Great Wall is illuminated reduce the problem by turning the during the Earth Hour 2012 on lights off." Saturday in Beijin. Ko said children should invite Earth Hour, held on the last their parents "to turn the lights Saturday of March every year, off, go out, go to the parks to do began as a Sydney-only event in some exercise, and enjoy some 2007. The city's iconic Harbor family time instead of watching Bridge and Opera House were TV or play video games." dimmed again this year. In Europe, 5,000 candles were lit Australia is among the first in the form of a globe in front of countries to flick off the light Berlin's Brandenburg Gate before switches each year; in New city officials switched off the Zealand, Sky Tower in Auckland monument's lighting. and the parliament buildings in More than 230 monuments and Wellington switched off two major gathering points in Paris hours earlier; Tokyo Tower was were expected to dim lights for an content] [unable to retrieve full-text
hour including Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, as well as fountains and bridges over the Seine. An exception: The Eiffel Tower, which the mayor's office said would go dark for only five minutes "for security reasons." Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral were among the other London landmarks to go dark. Managers at the Savoy hotel planned to light the lobby, bars and restaurants with candles. "Let us stand together to make of our world a sustainable source for our future as humanity on this planet," the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory said in a tweet. Across the Nordic nations, [unable to retrieve full-text
government buildings and municipalities joined in, including Stockholm's royal castle and the Swedish capital's huge globeshaped sports arena. In Sweden's second-largest city, Goteborg, the main boulevard was bathed in an hour's darkness. People launched paper lanterns into the air in St. Petersburg, Russia. Washington's National Cathedral and New York's Empire State Building also took part. Libya, Algeria, Bhutan and French Guinea are among those participating for the first time. "Earth Hour 2012 is a celebration of people power; the world's largest mass event in support of the planet," WWF official Dermot O'Gorman told reporters in Sydney. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards content]
Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Concert at U.S. military post geared toward atheists

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Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:24:25 PM
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) For the first time in history, the U.S. military hosted an event expressly for soldiers and others who don't believe in God, with a county fairlike gathering Saturday on the main parade ground at one of the world's largest Army posts. By Raul R. Rubiera, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, via AP Professor Richard Dawkins speaks at the Rock Beyond Belief event Saturday at Fort Bragg, N.C. By Raul R. Rubiera, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, via AP Professor Richard Dawkins speaks at the Rock Beyond Belief event Saturday at Fort Bragg, N.C. The Rock Beyond Belief event at Fort Bragg, organized by soldiers here two years after an evangelical Christian event at the eastern North Carolina post, is the most visible sign so far of a growing desire by military personnel with atheist or other secular beliefs to get the same recognition as their religious counterparts. The purpose was not to make the Army look bad, organizers said, but to show that atheists and other
secular believers have a place in institutions like the military. "I love the military," said Sgt. Justin Griffith, main organizer of the event and the military director of American Atheists. He added, "This is not meant to be a black eye." Griffith said he and other nonreligious soldiers are not permitted to hold atheist meetings at the post and have so far been rebuffed in their efforts to change that. They feel their beliefs marginalize them. Organizers were hoping for a crowd of about 5,000. At least several hundred people gathered on the parade ground by midday Saturday. Rainy weather for most of the morning may have affected the turnout. Fort Bragg officials said they would provide a crowd estimate later. The atmosphere was festive, with carnival treats like ribbon fries and ice cream, games for children and a demonstration jump by the Army's Golden Knights parachute team. Speakers and bands performed on the main stage. In many ways it was indistinguishable from a county fair except for the information booths ringing the parade ground and the content of the performances. "We got any Darwin fans in the house?" asked a performer named
"There is no good, honest reason to believe in a god or gods of any kind, or indeed in anything supernatural," he said. "The only reason to believe something is that you have evidence for it." The event marked a coming-out of sorts for atheist and secularist soldiers at Fort Bragg, who have Baba Brinkman, before launching been trying for more than a year into a rap song about evolutionary to be recognized as a "distinctive biology that culminated in a call- faith group," a designation that a n d - r e s p o n s e c h a n t o f would allow them to hold their "Creationism is dead wrong!" meetings at Bragg facilities. Organizers said the goal was not Curious soldiers in uniform mixed t o d i s p a r a g e s o l d i e r s w i t h with people in civilian clothes as religious beliefs. In the weeks bands played and children began leading up to the event, some to race around the huge field bloggers and others expressed when the rain let up. concerns. A chaplain currently "I've been an atheist pretty much deployed in Afghanistan posted my whole life, and where I was an open letter on Fort Bragg's growing up in Texas, I didn't Facebook page, saying he feared know another atheist," said Pfc. the event would be devoted to Lance Reed. "It's important to meet people who have some of mocking religious soldiers. "We're never antagonistic toward the same beliefs and interests as r e l i g i o u s b e l i e v e r s , w e ' r e you do, and that's what this is antagonistic toward religious about." Reed also said he hoped belief," said Richard Dawkins, the British biologist and best-selling Christians at Bragg and other atheist author who was the event's believers would attend, to dispel some misconceptions about headline speaker. Dawkins, who frequently makes atheists. pointed criticism of religious "A lot of people think it's all about a d h e r e n t s , d e l i v e r e d s o m e God-bashing or something like relatively restrained remarks, that," he said. "You can see we're asserting that none of the common not evil people who want to burn arguments for religious belief down churches. We're just here to have fun." stand up to scrutiny.
Sgt. Lance Hollander, who said he's been looking forward to the event ever since he first heard about it last year, agreed that in some ways the concert could serve as a calling card for soldiers who aren't religious. "Atheists are the least trusted group in America, and we want to change that," he said. A concert that was planned last year fell apart after a dispute between organizers and the base leadership over questions such as location. Saturday's gathering was made possible in part by $70,000 in donations from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, whose founder, Todd Stiefel, said he hopes the Army ultimately decides that its role doesn't include events like Rock Beyond Belief and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associationsponsored concert that prompted it. "I would like this to be the last one of these events," Stiefel said, arguing that the government shouldn't have any role in hosting events geared towards religious belief or lack of it. Fort Bragg is willing to work with organizers of any event that fits its guidelines, said Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Sicinski, who estimated that the CONCERT page 3
Headline/ Technology/ Economy/
Burma's Suu Kyi poised to win parliamentary seat

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Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:57:57 PM
CONCERT
continued from page 2
crippled the Southeast Asian nation's economy. Suu Kyi's party and its opposition WAH THIN KHA, Burma (AP) allies will have almost no sway B u r m a , a l s o k n o w n a s even if they win all the seats they Myanmar, held a landmark are contesting, because the 664election Sunday that was expected seat parliament will remain to send democracy icon Aung San dominated by the military and the Suu Kyi into parliament for her military-backed ruling party. first public office since launching But when Suu Kyi takes office, it her decades-long struggle against will symbolize a giant leap toward t h e m i l i t a r y - d o m i n a t e d national reconciliation after nearly government. a quarter-century in which she By Paula Bronstein, Getty spent most of her time under Images Democracy leader Aung house arrest. It could also nudge San Suu Kyi watches a dance Western powers closer to easing p e r f o r m a n c e i n h e r h o n o r economic sanctions they have Saturday in Kaw Hmu, Burma. imposed on the country for years. The 66-year-old Nobel Peace By Paula Bronstein, Getty P r i z e l a u r e a t e i s v y i n g t o Images represent the constituency of Wah Democracy leader Aung San Suu Thin Kha, one of dozens of dirtKyi watches a dance performance poor villages south of the main in her honor Saturday in Kaw city Yangon. She is running Hmu, Burma. against the ruling party's Soe Win, Sunday's by-election, to fill a few a former army doctor. dozen vacant seats, followed Suu Kyi slept overnight in the months of surprising reforms by a t i n y h a m l e t , w h e r e p a r t y nominally civilian government s u p p o r t e r s h o o k e d u p a that does not relish ceding ground homemade grid of generatorto Suu Kyi, but which must powered electric lights perched appear more democratic in order outside the home she stayed in. to emerge from decades of The village of 3,000 farmers has international isolation that have no electricity or running water,
nor any paved roads, and its neartotal underdevelopment illustrates the profound challenges facing the country as it slowly emerges from 49 years of army rule. Last year, Burma's longentrenched military junta handed power to a civilian government dominated by retired officers that skeptics decried as a proxy for continued military rule. But the new rulers who came to power in a 2010 vote that critics say was neither free nor fair have surprised the world with a wave of reform, prompted in part by a desire to get Western sanctions lifted and to come out from under the influence of its powerful neighbor, China. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
BGEA evangelical concert generated twice as much controversy as the atheist event. As far as the Army is concerned, Siciniski said, the event isn't a bellwether of changing beliefs redistributed. For more it's simply another one of the information about reprints & community events that Bragg permissions, visit our FAQ's. To often hosts. report corrections and "We don't treat soldiers who are clarifications, contact Standards atheists as atheists, we treat them Editor Brent Jones. For as soldiers," he said. "They're publication consideration in the soldiers first." newspaper, send comments to Copyright 2012 The Associated letters@usatoday.com. Include Press. All rights reserved. This name, phone number, city and material may not be published, state for verification. To view our broadcast, rewritten or corrections, go to redistributed. corrections.usatoday.com. USA This entry passed through the TODAY is now using Facebook Full-Text RSS service if this is Comments on our stories and blog your content and you're reading it posts to provide an enhanced user on someone else's site, please read experience. To post a comment, the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentlog into Facebook and then "Add" only/faq.php#publishers. Five your comment. To report spam or Filters recommends: Donate to abuse, click the "X" in the upper Wikileaks. right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it [unable to retrieve full-text on someone else's site, please read content] the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Romney Looks To Fall Campaign, Doubts Linger - NPR

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Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:13:45 PM
evangelical conservatives Saturday, acknowledging the doubts in the former FITCHBURG, Wis. March 31, Massachusetts governor that 2012, 10:43 pm ET linger with these voters, and FITCHBURG, Wis. (AP) foreshadowing the balancing act Appearing ever-more confident in that will face him in the months to Wisconsin's primary, Republican come. p r e s i d e n t i a l c a n d i d a t e M i t t "President Obama believes in a Romney focused entirely on government-centered society. He Democratic President Barack believes government guiding our Obama during a campaign trip lives will do a better job in doing through this upper Midwestern so than individuals," Romney told battleground and predicted a more than 1,000 Wisconsin victory that could effectively seal conservatives at a Faith and the nomination for him Tuesday. Freedom Coalition meeting in the "We're looking like we're going to heart of GOP-heavy Waukesha win this thing on Tuesday," County. The county, just west of R o m n e y t o l d s u p p o r t e r s , Milwaukee, is home to the state's suggesting he could also claim l a r g e s t e v a n g e l i c a l m e g a wins in Maryland and the District c h u r c h e s . of Columbia that day. "If I can get Romney, tagged by opponents as that boost also from Wisconsin I rich and detached, appealed to the think we'll be on a path that'll get spectrum of households he will me the nomination well before the need in the fall should he remain convention." on the likely course to the GOP At the same time, fading rival nomination. He mentioned a Rick Santorum sought to stoke single mother he met Friday in d o u b t s a b o u t R o m n e y ' s Appleton, Wis., a landscaper from conservative credentials on the St. Louis and a Cambodian last weekend of campaigning immigrant from Texas, all while before the critical showdown. It's blaming Obama for "the most Santorum's last chance to prove tepid, weakest recovery we've his strength in the industrial seen since Hoover." heartland, where he's said he can Romney Saturday veered slightly challenge Obama but where from the strict general election R o m n e y h a s b e a t e n h i m message he's offered since consistently. winning big in the Illinois Still, Romney nodded toward primary.
"We were endowed by our creator with our rights. Not the king, not the state, but our creator," Romney told the packed hotel ballroom who would later hear Santorum. Romney promised to restore religious freedom he and other Republicans have accused Obama of undermining, and "to protect the sanctity of life," an issue that has haunted him since his conversion to opposing abortion rights as governor of Massachusetts. Romney received a healthy if not thunderous ovation from the group. However, Santorum, who has counted on like-minded activists in winning across the Bible Belt, did not do much better in appearing before the group. He described Romney's enactment of sweeping health care legislation as governor as disqualifying him from challenging Obama. "Don't listen to the pundits...They're telling you to give up on your principles in order to win," Santorum said. "Stand up for what you know is right for America. Stand up and vote your conscience." With about half of the GOP nominating contests complete, Romney has won 54 percent of the delegates at stake, putting him on track to reach the threshold 1,144 national convention delegates in June.
Santorum has won 27 percent of the delegates at stake. The former Pennsylvania senator, who has described Romney as too moderate on key issues to effectively confront Obama, would need to win 74 percent of the remaining delegates. GOP rival Newt Gingrich would need 85 percent. Santorum has maintained a heavy schedule of campaign events in Wisconsin, imploring Republicans in the state to keep his sputtering campaign alive. "I ask you to shake this race up. I ask you to let people across this country know that Wisconsin stands ... for the principles they stand for," Santorum told a local Republican fundraising event in Milwaukee. Maryland and the District of Columbia also hold primaries Tuesday. Santorum is not on the D.C. ballot but could pick up delegates in Wisconsin and Maryland, although Romney is favored in both states. A defeat for Santorum in Wisconsin would present him with a difficult choice: drop out or continue wounded into the next round of primaries, an April 24 five-state Eastern gauntlet that favors Romney and includes Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania. Santorum planned to host his election watch party Tuesday in
western Pennsylvania an indication he may not feel good about his chances in Wisconsin. Still, cultural conservatives have struggled to embrace Romney. On average, in states where exit or entrance polls have been conducted, white evangelical conservatives have made up about half of the GOP primary electorate. Romney did not win in any of the eight states where they were a majority of voters, and he carried evangelicals themselves in just five states: New Hampshire, Nevada, Massachusetts, Virginia and Vermont. Outside of those states, Romney has won on average 28 percent of votes among evangelicals, compared with a 37 percent average support for Santorum. Even in states Romney won after hard-fought campaigns, such as Michigan and Ohio, he has struggled to appeal to white evangelicals. He trailed Santorum among evangelicals by 16 percentage points in Michigan, 17 points in Ohio. Several primary voters at the forum Saturday voiced reservations about Romney, but said they would likely support him if he's the nominee. "If he turns out to be the ROMNEY page 7
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After $650 million in Friday sales, 3 win frenzied Mega Millions lottery - CNN
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Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:55:56 PM
Maryland has a Mega Millions winner STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Mega Millions tickets worth $651,915,940 were sold Friday, a lottery spokeswoman says NEW: That's more than 1/3 the $1,491,082,270 in sales since the previous winner The three big winners bought their tickets in Kansas, Maryland and Illinois That assures them an equal share of the $656 million jackpot What would you do if you won? Let us know. Baltimore (CNN)-- Would you rather have $1 to spend, or $1.49 billion? For a trio of people, all it took was a dollar to cash in and reap the rewards of Friday's recordsetting Mega Millions jackpot. By picking the same winning numbers -- 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 with a Mega Ball of 23 -- they earned an equal share of the $656 million jackpot, which amounts to about $218 million each, before taxes, under the annuity option. Lottery players dished out a cumulative $1,491,082,267 since the game's last big winner emerged in late January. Except for a few smaller payouts, all that
worked out to next to nothing. "Oh Mega Millions, why do you shun me?" a Twitter user mused on the social networking site, echoing the angst felt by many nationwide as it dawned on them that they were among the losers. "Dear news updates on my phone, stop rubbing it in that I didn't win
the mega millions!!!" said another. In fact, nearly as many dollars were spent on tickets Friday alone than ended up being given away. Kelly Cripe, a spokeswoman for Texas state lottery that is currently overseeing Mega Millions, said the day's sales in
the 42 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, where the game is played, added up to $651,915,940. While lotteries are nothing new in the United States and beyond, the frenzy leading up to Friday night's drawing -- much like the jackpot itself, which was the
largest pool potentially for any single winner -- was unprecedented. People stood in long lines at convenience stores, dreaming of what they'd buy, how they'd quit their jobs and how their lives AFTER page 9
Top News/ Culture/
Burma elections a start - but who is there to succeed 'The Lady?'

(The Front Page)
for Democracy into contested elections for only some 5 per cent of the National Assembly (in In what is sure to be the top news B u r m e s e , t h e P y d i a u n g s u story worldwide Sunday evening, H l u t t a w ) . Aung San Suu Kyi will probably But the likely election of the win a seat in Burmas National Nobel Laureate and symbol of her A s s e m b l y f o l l o w i n g t h a t countrys hope for democracy countrys first legitimate elections r a i s e s m a n y m o r e c r i t i c a l in 22 years. questions regarding Burma and The daughter of Gen. Aung the rest of the world. Will the Santhe George Washington of elections Sunday lead to Burmas Burma, who led his country to military strongmen permitting independence from the British free and fair nationwide elections after World War II and was scheduled for 2015? assassinated by political rivals in More importantly, will there be a 1 9 4 7 A u n g S a n S u u K y i continuation of the countrys (pronounced On San Soo Shee) recent liberalization of the is revered worldwide as the voice militarys ham-fisted rule under of democracy in a country ruled President (and retired General) since 1962 by military strongmen T h e i n S e i n w h i c h s o f a r since 1962 (who renamed Burma includes permitting independent Myanmar). She was herself trade unions, unblocking of under house arrest from 1990 dissident websites on the Internet, until her release in 2010. With the freeing of more than 200 (but her image and even mention of not all) political prisoners, and, of her name banned during that time, c o u r s e , t h e f r e e a n d f a i r she was referred to in her country (apparently) elections on Sunday. as the Lady (also the title of a And, if these gradual steps new hit motion picture on her toward a more democratic system life). and market economy continue, Now, The Lady is leading the will it lead to the United States just-re-registered National League and other Western countries
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:50:00 PM
ending sanctions against Burma and investing in its most promising economy? To call Burma a jewel is no exaggeration. Noting what it called the pace of change in Burma, the Financial Times noted in 2011 that there is renewed attention to a rich in oil and gas, gems and timber. . . [with] significant natural gas reserves, roughly equal to Brazils; tourist appeal, fertile rice -growing land; and a youthful population, estimated at about 54 million, that could be tapped to help offset rising labour costs in China. China! Any discussion of openings to Burma leads back to China. Long with their fellow strongmen in Beijing, Burmas rulers are reportedly growing uncomfortable with the growing Chinese influence in their country. Last year, the Thein Sein government ruffled some Communist feathers when he suddenly suspended a $3.6 billion Chinese dam project in Burma. More than a few observers see the recent steps toward democracy as a venue to opening up Burma to Western investment and thus
moving away from China. It all comes back to The Lady All these questions lead back to to Aung San Suu Kyi. At age 67, and in fragile health (she was recently hospitalized for exhaustion), the Ladys future is uncertain. Whatever her party wins on Sunday, 25 per cent of the Assembly seats are set aside for the military and the ruling regimes USDP Party shows every sign of holding on until the national elections in 2015. Aung San Suu Kyi is the symbol of democracy and her party, said one American scholar of the Burmese political scene who requested anonymity, But thats the problem: shes all there is . Like a lot of women who have come to power in Asia as part of dynastic leadership, she has no natural heir. There is no one, not now at least, who could take over the National League and lead it after her. No one has her allencompassing appeal. Herein lies the problem for Burma and the rest of the world: whether Aung San Suu Kyi will have enough time to be a transitional figure in her country
as, say, Nelson Mandela was in South Africa, or will she and her party be able to groom future leaders. I am a person, who is very popular with the public, her father the Bogyoke (general) said a year before he died, but I am neither a god, wizard or magician. The Lady may not have to be any of the above. But what she does in the coming weeks and days will have to be both farreaching and dramatic if Burma is to continue on a path that affects its people, China, and the United States. John Gizzi is Political Editor of HUMAN EVENTS. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
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What is known, what isn't about Trayvon Martin's death MiamiHerald.com

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ROMNEY
to a social movement and, at least temporarily, cost the local police chief his job. In the next 30 days, Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:53:08 PM the name Trayvon would be SANFORD -- Sunday evening, tweeted more than two million Feb. 26: It was raining in Central times. Florida while the NBA All Stars In a fast-paced world of 24-hour game and the Oscars were about cable news and nonstop social to begin on TV. media, what happened that night A 17-year-old high school junior h a s b e c o m e b o t h c o m m o n from Miami Gardens serving a 10 k n o w l e d g e a n d a b l u r o f -day suspension went to 7-Eleven unattributed rumor accepted as to get candy. It was the third time fact. A controversial police report Trayvon Martin was disciplined at incited conspiracy theories and school, so this time his parents failed to definitively resolve what sent him up to a quiet, racially everyone wants to know: Who m i x e d g a t e d c o m m u n i t y i n picked the fight? Armchair crime Sanford with his dad to get his scene investigators around the priorities straight. He was black nation insist on access to the and wore a hoodie. evidence, and millions more George Zimmerman, a 28-year- demand an arrest in a case now old neighborhood watch volunteer being looked at by at least three who routinely called police to different agencies, including the report anything awry, had just FBI. made dinner and told his family The protagonists in the saga he was headed to Target. He was g r i p p i n g t h e n a t i o n a r e Hispanic and wore a holstered Kel Zimmerman, a man with a history T e k 9 m m s e m i a u t o m a t i c of going after suspects in hot handgun. pursuit, and Trayvon, a The brief encounter between the chronically tardy teenager who two at the Retreat at Twin Lakes liked aviation, was making plans community would leave one dead for college and got suspended for and the other in hiding, give rise h a v i n g a n e m p t y b a g g i e
containing marijuana residue. Their story begins when Zimmerman got out of his vehicle and pursued Trayvon on foot. But in the tale pieced together from 911 calls, witnesses, police, Zimmermans family and the girl who was on the phone with Trayvon in the last minutes of his life, a key one-minute gap remains a mystery that may never be solved: Who approached whom? Who threw the first blow? And the key question a special prosecutor in Jacksonville is now tasked to investigate: Did Zimmerman justifiably take Trayvons life to save his own? The encounter Trayvon, a junior at Dr. Michael M. Krop High, was a lot like most teenagers: He spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone. On that Sunday, he talked for nearly five hours. Earphones in his ears, Arizona iced tea in hand and a cellphone, Skittles and $22 in his pockets, he chatted the whole way back from the store. It started raining harder as he walked, so he pulled up his hood and sought shelter at one of the buildings in the townhouse
complex, the girlfriend he was chatting with on the phone told attorneys. At 7:11 p.m., Zimmerman, who was in his truck, spotted Trayvon. There had been a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood attributed to young black men, and Zimmerman was wary of someone he did not recognize walking along the path that goes through the back of the townhouses, his father later told a local TV station. Zimmerman called police. Records show it was the fifth time in a year that he had alerted authorities to the presence of a black male he found suspicious. This one, he said, looked high and had something in one hand while he kept the other in his waist as he peered at houses. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
candidate, you bet I'll be behind him," Mary Ruth Gobek of Waukesha said. "But there's that hesitation, that question mark." Romney sought to answer questions by heralding the recent endorsements by an array of Republican establishment and conservative leaders. Among them were Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Utah Sen. Mike Bell, both tea party favorites. In Wisconsin, Romney was introduced by House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, a local GOP hero and a rising national star. Ryan endorsed Romney Friday. "I think there comes a point where this primary can become counterproductive," Ryan told the audience. "I think we need to coalesce around the person we think is going to be the best president and who gives us the best chance of realizing this vision." Associated Press Writer Beth Fouhy in Milwaukee and AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
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-34-meter tsunami may hit Japan after megaquake report

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Apple moves to share cost burden in China - CNN International

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Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:44:30 PM
earthquake will have a magnitude of 9.0 and will occur on the Submitted at 3/31/2012 3:39:00 PM Nankai Trough. The oceanic fault A general view shows the runs east of the central Japanese devastation as rescue workers island of Honshu and is 900 km search for victims in the rubble long. Moreover, this trough is one after the March 2011 magnitude of the most probable places for an 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in earthquake of such magnitude to Rikuzentakata, northern Japan, occur in the coming decades, local March 13, 2011 (Reuters/Toru specialists believe. Hanai/Files) The waves generated by 9.0 Japan's Pacific coastline may be tremor would hit areas from hit by an enormous tsunami, Kanto to Kyushu, with waves as should a major earthquake occur high as 34.4 meters. Areas in off the coast of the country's Shizuoka, Kochi and Miyazaki central island. This is the scenario prefectures may see waves as high feared - and expected - by local as 10 to 20 meters. Urban areas of specialists. Tokyo may be hit by a tsunami up A special Cabinet Office panel to 2.3 meters high, however the w a r n e d o f t h e p o s s i b i l i t y village of Niijima in the Izu Island Saturday, after it revised its 2003 chain, which is administered by estimate, reports the Kyodo news Tokyo, could face deadly waves agency. The new revision reflects up to 29.7 meters. new findings from the March What is worse, if the tremors 2011 earthquake that triggered a w e r e t o c o n t i n u e f o r t h r e e massive tsunami and the world's minutes, some areas would be worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. struck by a tsunami even before Back in 2003, the panel was sure the tremors stop, adding to the that Japan would never see a potentially devastating outcome, tsunami more than 20 meters said the panel. high. The new report, however, is While the panel will continue to based on the assumption that the study the potential extent of the
damage in the event of such an earthquake, the Japanese government faces a hard task of re -examining its emergency measures based on the new estimates. The last such earthquake at Nankai fault happened in 1946, with a magnitude of 8.1. The tsunami triggered by the quake destroyed over 35 thousand homes. Meanwhile, on Friday, a research team under the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has completed a five-year report. The report found that if a 7.3 magnitude quake hit Tokyo, some parts of the city and surrounding areas would be shaken at level 7 on Japan's seven-point "Shindo" scale of seismic activity, Reuters reports. The Shindo scale measures ground motion at a specific place and points to the likely impact on people and structures. The government has put the chances of a magnitude 7.3 quake centered in the north of Tokyo Bay at 70 per cent over the next three
decades, and has estimated there would be about 11,000 casualties and 850,000 buildings destroyed. The study concluded that the tectonic plates seen as the focal point in a quake were 10 kilometers shallower than previously estimated, making any impact more severe. Professor Kazuki Koketsu of the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute, which heads the ministry team, urged citizens of Tokyo to prepare for the disaster. Japan is situated on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin. This region accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
The Associated Press Apple moves to share cost burden in China CNN International By Chris Nuttall, Kathrin Hille and Robin Kwong, FT.com CEO Tim Cook tours a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China on Wednesday, March 28. The plant employs 120000 workers. (Financial Times) -- The tour of China by Tim Cook this week had all the trappings... Apple pledge likely to boost China factory wages The Associated Press Apple pledge could lead to China wage hikes USA TODAY Two Sides to Labor in China New York Times San Jose Mercury NewsInformationWeek all 223 news articles
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Capitals C Backstrom returns from concussion

(Sports News Headlines Yahoo! News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:34:48 PM
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AFTER
would change with the help of Lady Luck. It ended up being a boon to many state coffers -- who reap some of the money from lottery sales -not to mention those selling the tickets. At Manhattan Tobacco, a New York convenience store, cashier Alex Shanahe said that sales had tripled. "Everybody wants to win the Mega Millions," Shanahe said before the drawing. Many came convinced that they could beat the roughly 176 million-to-one jobs and take home the prize. But only three did. They included a person who, around 7:15 p.m. Friday night, came to a 7-Eleven store in Baltimore, Maryland, and paid $1 for a "quick pick" of one line of numbers -- which ended up exactly matching those pulled less than four hours later. It's not know if the identity of that person will ever be known, as Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino noted that the state does not require its jackpot recipients to do publicity, as some other states do. Winners can also remain anonymous in Kansas, that state's lottery director Dennis Wilson
said. Security officials know the precise location where the ticket was sold, but that information hadn't been released -- even to Wilson. The state lottery has only said the winning ticket came from somewhere in northeastern Kansas. And the town of Red Bud, Illinois, located about 35 miles south of St. Louis, was buzzing Saturday with news that one of its own bought a ticket at a Moto Mart. "We're having a great time," the store manager, Denise Metzger, told CNN affiliate WGN. "The people in town are having a good time trying to speculate who it is or hoping it's still them. The atmosphere has just been sensational." While no one has yet stepped forward to claim the prize, Wilson had some advice for the winner or winners: Sign the back of the ticket. Put it someplace very safe. And talk to a lawyer before coming in for what will be a lifechanging experience. While only three tickets hit the big jackpot, at least 42 matched five of six numbers -- 29 in California, 12 in Illinois and one in Kansas, according to lottery
officials. California Lottery Commission spokesman Alex Traverso said the payout on those tickets will be about $125,000 to $130,000. Still, that's practically petty cash compared to the rewards reaped by the three still anonymous jackpot winners. Psychologist Scott Bea said if any one of them is a poor money manager and has been unhappy in life before winning, that's likely to continue. "It solves one problem, but it creates a half-billion others," he said. "You have about no chance at winning this, but it really gets people excited." CNN's Greg Morrison, Mary Snow, Chris Dignam, Devon Sayers and Athena Jones in Baltimore contributed to this report. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Switching to candle light: Russia goes dark for Earth Hour (VIDEO, PHOTOS)
laser show. St. Petersburgs contribution to Earth Hour was centered at the Moscows celebration of the day citys main Palace Square. The was centered at Vorobyovy Gory city shut down lighting for the (Sparrow Hills) (RIA Novosti/ famous bridges across the Neva Andrey Popov)(6.5Mb) embed River, the Winter Palace, Peter video and Pauls Fortress, the Central With the planet turning out the N a v a l M u s e u m a n d o t h e r lights in a symbolic Earth Hour b u i l d i n g s . event, some 15 million Russians Being stretched across nine time o b s e r v e d i t t h i s y e a r , i t s zones certainly doesn't hurt Russia organizers claim. This is about 40 during Earth Hour. Whatever per cent more than the previous risks the sudden changes in power year. consumption may have are -Moscows celebration of the day mitigated by the sheer size of was centered at Vorobyovy Gory Russias power grid. (Sparrow Hills), which is located The dimming of lights is a near the campus of the Moscow symbolic gesture, calling on State University in the citys people to seek a better balance southwest. between humanitys desire for Thanks to its elevation, it has a consumption and the planets spectacular view of the capitals ability to sustain it. skyline, so observers were able to -This years Earth Hour is the clearly see a total of 75 famous sixth consecutive event to take structures in Moscow going dark. place worldwide. Those include Luzhniki Stadium just across the Moskva River, Moscow City Hall, several high- standing Stalinist buildings known collectively as the Seven Sisters, (including the universitys This entry passed through the central facility), several bridges Full-Text RSS service if this is and Moscows Academy of your content and you're reading it Sciences, among others. on someone else's site, please read A spectacular celebration took the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentplace on the hills themselves, with only/faq.php#publishers. Five a fire show, the launch of Filters recommends: Donate to hundreds of sky lanterns and a Wikileaks.
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:24:00 PM
10
Top News/ Finance/
NTC signals another ceasefire China says in Libya tribal fighting, manufacturing hoping this one sticks rises - CNN
and the Tubu, a tribe that stretches through Niger, Chad and Libya itself, but whose members are Smoke from explosions is seen regarded as outsiders by many in during clashes between rival the city. militias in the southern Libyan Allegedly, a Tubu attempt to city of Sabha March 28, 2012. steal a car belonging to a Sabha (Reuters/Ibrahim Azagaa) militiaman provided the initial Libya's interim government has spark last Sunday, and the announced that a ceasefire has violence escalated as more and been reached in a six-day conflict more families were dragged into a between two tribes that has taken deadly blood feud. over 150 lives in the southern city In addition to the dead there are of Sabha. But its grasp over the more than four hundred injured, country remains tenuous. overwhelming the local hospitals. -Premier Abdel Rahim al-Kib told -Libya disintegrating reporters in the capital Tripoli Although Libyas National that"calm now prevails in Sabha." Transitional Council nominally Previous ceasefires had been controls all of the country, in announced throughout the week, practice it has struggled to but collapsed within hours each integrate the disparate tribal time, as deep-seated local tensions militias who fought Gaddafi into a erupted into violence. single national force. The conflict is Sabha is between As a result, large parts of Libya the indigenous Arabic population have disintegrated into separate
Submitted at 3/31/2012 3:13:00 PM
fiefdoms. The Council has been accused of passivity, but it is not clear if it has the manpower to resolve a conflict in a city nearly 800 kilometers to the south of the capital. Authorities in Tripoli say they have sent twenty cars of medical supplies, and evacuated around 200 wounded. The Sabha conflict is not the first major outbreak of violence. Clashes in Al Kufra, also involving the Tubu, killed more than a hundred people last month. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
in March, while a closely-watched private report said factories Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:51:36 PM struggled with poor demand for... Moneycontrol.com China factory output falls for China says manufacturing rises fifth month: HSBC PMI Reuters CNN China Manufacturing Rises Wall B y C N N M o n e y s t a f f Street Journal @CNNMoney March 31, 2012: China's Manufacturing Expands 11:47 PM ET NEW YORK at Fastest Pace in 12 Months ( C N N M o n e y ) - - C h i n a ' s BusinessWeek government reported Sunday that all 77 news articles its manufacturing sector expanded
Alan Miller's SCM Private venture is a family affair

Louise Armitstead (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 4:30:20 PM
husband and wife venture that aims to shake fund management 'dinosaurs'.
Alan Miller's latest project is a
China March Housing Prices Slide For 7th Straight Month - Fox Business
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:41:06 PM
China March Housing Prices
Slide For 7th Straight Month Fox Business SHANGHAI Housing prices in 100 major cities in China were
lower for the seventh consecutive property developers and realmonth in March, China Real estate agencies showed the Estate Index System said Sunday. average... The data provider said a survey of and more
Business/
11
Every Company Should Always Be Prepared For A Buyout

Bill Stewart and Karl Stark (Business Insider)
years away from selling your business, you need to ensure you are prepared for the unexpected. Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:07:00 PM Business valuations fluctuate as A s e n t r e p r e n e u r s w e a r e the capital markets ebb and flow, constantly putting out fires, and its important to maximize the prioritizing and re-prioritizing our value of your lifes work. There most urgent tasks, and changing are four things every business our schedules so rapidly that owner should be thinking about committing to lunch with an old n o w i n a n t i c i p a t i o n o f a n friend next week brings a certain u n s o l i c i t e d b i d o r a n o t h e r sense of anxiety. unexpected event that will We run our businesses to achieve convince you to sell: 1. Keep the our mission and earn a profit. We Competitive Advantage. periodically check qualitative and Evaluate your market and quantitative metrics against a realistically determine your scorecard or budget to ensure that competitive advantage relative to the business is running according your peers. What unique product to plan. or service are you providing to We get so consumed in the day- your customers that a suitor can t o - d a y m a n a g e m e n t o f t h e get only from you rather than your business that its easy to overlook closest competitor? Any acquirer a key part of the strategic will be willing to pay more for planning process: an exit strategy. competitive advantage instead of Recently, we were approached by something they could replicate an entrepreneur who had just t h e m s e l v e s . 2 . K n o w Y o u r received an unsolicited bid from a P o t e n t i a l B u y e r s . company to acquire his business. Identify three to five companies He was incredibly honest about that could and would be interested the fact that while he wants to in your business if it were for sale retire in the next five years, he today. Think about what would wasnt sure if now was the best make your business more or less time to exit. He had never really a t t r a c t i v e t o t h o s e b u y e r s . thought about when or how to sell Consider investing in assets and his business. capabilities that would cinch the The lesson: Even if you are many deal. 3. Stay Ahead of Trends.
to maximize the value of your business. These four simple steps may not turn you into the next billionaire, but they are sure to bring in top dollar for your business when the time is right. Are you considering an exit or preparing for one down the road? Share your thoughts with us at karlandbill@avondalestrategicpart ners.com. Avondale associate Asim Aleem contributed to this article. Read more: Capitalize on a Lack of Focus 4 Stages of Business Commitment Do You Know Your SWOT? Start thinking now about the trends in your market and how you need to position your business to be successful five years from now. It is great to have a product offering that fulfills a current market need, but if you are seeing trends that your business is not quickly adapting to, youll need to consider the implications of maintaining the status quo. If you find yourself chained to your desk, make yourself attend at least one industry conference and just talk to people! It is amazing what you will learn if you keep your eyes and ears open. 4. Start Making Changes NOW. Upgrade your technology platforms. Aggressively recruit the most relevant talent. Get the right resources and people in place now to start transitioning to your ideal future state. Even if you dont choose to sell the business, these changes will likely make your business more valuable to your customers and shareholders. Waiting until you are ready to sell is usually too late to do much This post originally appeared at Inc. Please follow Careers on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: The Big Mistakes That Forced This Iconic NYC Boutique To Close After 20 Years How Grammar Girl Turned Her Podcast Hobby Into A Media Empire Your Brain Is Wired To Be Negative: Here's How To Fight Back
12
Business/
Forensic Expert: It's Not George Zimmerman Screaming For Help In The 911 Calls
Michael Brendan Dougherty (Business Insider)
prosecution of terrorists. The report also contains the opinion of E d Primeau, a Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:57:00 PM Michigan-based audio engineer The Orlando Sentinel got in and forensics expert, who touch with court-authorized disagrees with some of the biometric voice analyst, Tom biometric analysis technology, but Owen, to analyze the 911 tapes comes to the same conclusion: where either Zimmerman or "I believe that's Trayvon Martin in Martin can be heard crying for the background, without a doubt," help. (One unnamed witness has Primeau says, stressing that the said it was Zimmerman crying for tone of the voice is a giveaway. help.) "That's a young man screaming." His conclusion: It's not via@MichaelBKelley Zimmerman. Please follow Politics on Twitter After the Sentinel contacted and Facebook. Owen, he used software called Join the conversation about this Easy Voice Biometrics to story compare Zimmerman's voice to See Also: the 911 call screams. c e r t a i n t y t h a t i t ' s n o t The case in the public mind BACKLASH: Explosive New "I took all of the screams and put Z i m m e r m a n , " O w e n s a y s , h a s n ' t b e e n g o i n g w e l l f o r York Post Cover Says The those together, and cut out stressing that he cannot confirm Zimmerman the past few days. Trayvon Martin Shooting Is Being everything else," Owen says. the voice as Trayvon's, because he Security video from the police Exploited By 'Race Hustlers' The software compared that didn't have a sample of the teen's station shortly after the shooting The Smears Against Trayvon audio to Zimmerman's voice. It voice to compare. doesn't show a Zimmerman who Martin And Why They Aren't returned a 48 percent match. Forensic voice identification is looked like he had just survived a Relevant Owen said to reach a positive not a new or novel concept; in near deadly fight. (Though it did Drudge Report Leads With A match with audio of this quality, fact, a recent U.S. Department of look as if police looked at the Story Questioning Obama's he'd expect higher than 90 Hoodie Sale, And The Obama Justicecommittee report notes that back of his head). percent. federal interest in the technology The Sentinel noted that biometric Campaign Says It's Ridiculous "As a result of that, you can say "has a history of nearly 70 years." voice analysis is often used in the with reasonable scientific
Flint Housing Commission to receive grant money to help homeless veterans - The Flint Journal MLive.com
(housing - Google News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:15:03 PM
The Flint Journal - MLive.com Flint Housing Commission to receive grant money to help homeless veterans The Flint Journal - MLive.com The Flint Housing Commission is one of seven Michigan housing agencies chosen to receive grants to help provide housing for homeless veterans. The program will serve 25 homeless veterans and their family in the Flint area, said Kim Erwin,...
Business/ Technology/
13
Linsanity Is Officially Over As Jeremy Lin Will Have Season-Ending Knee Surgery
Cork Gaines (Business Insider)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:59:00 PM
China March Housing Prices Slide For 7th Straight Month - Fox Business
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:41:06 PM
Jeremy Lin's remarkable breakout season may now be over as he will have surgery that will in all likelihood sideline him for the remainder of the season. According to an Associated Press report ( via SI.com), Lin will have knee surgery and will be out six weeks. There are only four weeks left in the regular season. So unless the Knicks, who are clinging to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, pull a huge upset in the first round of the playoffs, it is unlikely that Lin will see the court again before the 2012-13 season. Since his first big game back on February 4th, Lin has averaged 18.5 points and 7.6 assists per
China March Housing Prices Slide For 7th Straight Month Fox Business SHANGHAI Housing prices in 100 major cities in China were
lower for the seventh consecutive month in March, China Real Estate Index System said Sunday. The data provider said a survey of property developers and realestate agencies showed the average... and more
Sequential Snapshot Amalgamations - The Misunderstanding Focus Series Merges Imagery (TrendHunter.com)
game. Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: Kevin Love Did Something Last Night That Has Only Happened 13 Times In Last 27 Years The Key To The Knicks Resurgence That Everyone's Been Ignoring After Refusing To Join Team Huddle, Dwight Howard Gets Shredded By An ESPN Analyst
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:07:17 PM
( TrendHunter.com) The Misunderstanding Focus collection by Nerhol duo Ryuta
Iida and Yoshihisa Tanaka offers an enticing display of distorted photography. The dizzying series mixes an assortment of snapshots...
China March Housing Prices Slide For 7th Straight Month - NASDAQ
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:41:23 PM
China March Housing Prices
Slide For 7th Straight Month NASDAQ SHANGHAI -(Dow Jones)Housing prices in 100 major cities
in China were lower for the seventh consecutive month in March, China Real Estate Index System said Sunday. The data
provider said a survey of property developers and real-estate agencies showed...
14
News Wire/
Insight: Lifting the veil on Afghanistan's female addicts

(Reuters: Top News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:00:27 PM
By Amie Ferris-Rotman KABUL| Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:00pm EDT (Reuters) - Anita lifted the skyblue burqa from her face, revealing glazed eyes and cracked lips from years of smoking opium, and touched her saggy belly, still round from giving birth to her seventh child a month ago. "I can't give breast milk to my baby," said the 32-year-old Anita, who like other women interviewed for this story, declined to give her full name. "I'm scared he'll get addicted She was huddled with other women at the U.N.-funded Nejat drug rehabilitation center in the old quarter of Kabul, having sneaked out of her home to avoid being stopped by her husband from going outside alone. With little funding and no access to substitution drugs such as methadone, treatment is rudimentary at Nejat for a problem that is growing in a dirtpoor country riven by conflicts for more than three decades. Afghanistan is the source for more than 90 percent of the world's opium, which is used to make heroin, and more of it is being grown than ever before. While it is not uncommon to see
men shooting up along the banks of the dried of up Kabul riverbed in broad daylight, women in the ultra-conservative culture of Muslim Afghanistan are expected to stay out of public view for the most part. They often have to seek permission from a male relative or husband to leave their home, and when they do they are encased in the head-to-toe burqa. "I am not allowed to leave home for medical checks. What can I do? I am a woman," Anita said matter of factly. Like many of Afghanistan's female drug users, Anita picked up the habit from her husband. Like other women interviewed for this story, Anita asked that only her first name be used. Shrouded in stigma, female drug users is a topic that is almost never mentioned in Afghanistan. They agreed to tell their stories to a reporter only through an intermediary they trusted. CONSUMPTION ON RISE Opium poppy cultivation in a country that has been growing the plant for a thousand years increased 7 percent in 2011 from the year before, due to a spike in prices and worsening security, according to a survey sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In 2011, the farm-gate value of opium production more than
doubled from 2010 to $1.4 billion and now accounts for 15 percent of the Afghan economy, the UNODC says. Opiate consumption in Afghanistan, where it has long been a medication but in recent years has been used increasingly for recreation, is also on a sharp rise. The UNODC says Afghanistan has around one million heroin and opium addicts out of a population of 30 million, making it the world's top user per capita. No estimates are available on how many women are addicted to opium or heroin. Nejat estimates around 60,000 women in Afghanistan regularly take illegal drugs, including hashish and marijuana. "There has been a definite increase amongst women drug users over the last decade," said Arman Raoufi, director of harm reduction for women at Nejat. Smoking opium costs around 200 Afghanis a day ($4), a very expensive habit in a country where a third live beneath the poverty line. Women send their children to collect scrap and bottles to help pay for their habit, or resort to begging, extending a hand to cars from beneath their burqa on busy streets when their husbands have left home. "My husband took on a second
wife and began to ignore me, so I started to smoke his powder (opium) and now must beg," said Fauzia, 30, a petite mother of five sitting in the corner of Nejat, her embroidered floral slippers poking out from under her baggy trousers. She said she was terrified that her husband and male relatives might discover she was seeking treatment on her own at the center. Treatment options are sorely limited. A pilot project launched two years ago by Medecins du Monde, which gives methadone to drug addicts, is the only one in the country. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) wants to roll it out across the country, but the Ministry of Counter-narcotics has objected, saying it would introduce yet another narcotic onto the black market. IRANIAN CONNECTION With her five-year-old son tugging on her unwashed burqa, 30-year-old Najia said she has smoked opium for nine years. "It is so hard for me. I have kids. I'm poor. I'm not able to work -my husband won't allow me," said the raven-haired mother of four. Najia said she picked up the habit from her husband after he returned from his job as a laborer in neighboring Iran. Raoufi at the Nejat center says
the return of migrant workers and refugees, who fled to Iran and Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, and the bloody civil war and Taliban rule that followed, is the main reason behind the rise in female drug addicts. Increased street prostitution since the fall of the Taliban, which policed the trade more rigorously than the government does today, has also contributed, he said. Iran has the second highest heroin abuse rate in the world after Afghanistan, according to UNODC. Afghan addicts among the 1 million refugees in Iran have become such an issue Tehran has started to expel them. "Our relatively open borders are not doing us any favors," said Feda Mohammad Paikan, who heads the NACP working under the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. "Most addicts get hooked in Iran, and many of these men have wives." PRISONERS OF HABIT Afghanistan's female narcotics problem is now filling the country's largest women's prison, Badam Bagh or "Almond Orchard", on the outskirts of Kabul. Of its 164 inmates, 64 are opium and heroin users, double what it INSIGHT: page 17
News Wire/
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FOXNews.com
(FOXNews.com)
Illegal Hiring Case]]> Sat, 31 March 2012 21:39:16 EST10:39 FOXNews.com FOXNews.com PM ESThttp://www.foxnews.com Live Bookmark /politics/2012/03/31/missourihttp://www.foxnews.com/FOX children-move-to-make-jumpingNews Channel - We Report. You j a c k s - o f f i c i a l - e x e r c i s e / Decide.Copyright 2012 FOX ?utm_source=feedburner&utm_m N e w s edium=feed&utm_campaign=Fee Channelfoxnewsonline@foxnews. d%3A+foxnews%2foxnewsonline comen-usSat, 31 March 2012 @foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2 2 : 1 1 : 0 2 2012 21:39:16 EST10:39 PM ESTfoxnewsonline@foxnews.co ESThttp://www.foxnews.com/us/ m h t t p : / / w w w . f o x n e w s . c o m / 2012/03/31/documents-showimages/headers/fnc_logo.gifhttp:// e v i d e n c e - p i l e d - u p - i n - u t a h www.foxnews.com/http:// d i s a p p e a r a n c e / www.foxnews.com/world/2012/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com 03/31/revolt-to-ouster-president- Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 assad-is-over-says-syrian-official/ E S T 1 0 : 4 0 P M E S T h t t p : / / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30 Palestinian Killed As Thousands /one-dead-six-hospitalized-afterProtest on 'Land Day']]> Sat, 31 drive-by-shooting-outside-miamiMarch 2012 21:39:16 EST10:39 f u n e r a l - h o m e / PM ESThttp://www.foxnews.com foxnewsonline@foxnews.com /politics/2012/03/31/obama- Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 republicans-showing-madness-in- E S T 1 0 : 4 0 P M E S T h t t p : / / e c o n o m i c - p o l i c i e s / www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 foxnewsonline@foxnews.com / i r a q i - a m e r i c a n - w o m a n Romney, Ryan Hit Campaign bludgeoned-to-death-in-herTrail Romney's Talk Turns to california-home-brought-to-iraq/ Obama foxnewsonline@foxnews.com ]]> Sat, 31 March 2012 21:39:16 Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 EST10:39 PM ESThttp:// EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 /jetblue-crew-will-stay-quiet- /officials-expand-search-fora b o u t - l a s - v e g a s - i n c i d e n t / missing-colorado-ultrarunner-infoxnewsonline@foxnews.com n e w - m e x i c o / Sat, 31 March 2012 21:39:16 foxnewsonline@foxnews.com E S T 1 0 : 3 9 P M E S T h t t p : / / Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 E S T 1 0 : 4 0 P M E S T h t t p : / / /man-denied-entry-to-us-from- www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/ m e x i c o - t o - b u r y - s o n - 1 0 / 03/31/missouri-children-move-tofoxnewsonline@foxnews.com make-jumping-jacks-officialArizona Man Gets Probation in e x e r c i s e /
foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/world/2012/ 03/30/victim-horrific-rape-oksana -makar-dies-in-ukraine/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30 /mother-faces-contempt-jail-forbaptizing-children/ ?test=latestnewsfoxnewsonline@f oxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:/ /www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/ 03/30/ex-nfl-quarterback-ryanleaf-arrested-in-montana/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/ 03/30/gas-pump-gimmicks-scams -and-black-science-seek-to-dupec a r - o w n e r s / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/world/2012/ 03/31/last-drowned-rugby-players -bodies-recovered/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/ 03/31/defense-secretary-panettablasts-defense-budget-cuts-in-visit - t o - s h i p - o f f / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30 /woman-in-controversial-
belvedere-vodka-rape-ad-filesl a w s u i t / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/ 03/31/seeing-man-abouthorsefoxnewsonline@foxnews.co m Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 /trayvon-martin-funeral-directorn o - s i g n s - f i g h t / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 /lottery-official-says-winningmega-millions-ticket-sold-inmaryland-could-be/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:38 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31 /north-carolina-military-postconcert-geared-toward-atheists/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 21:40:37 EST10:40 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/ 03/28/jeep-mighty-fc-is-forwardthinking-retro-concept/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxbusiness.com/personalfinance/2012/03/29/badges-fraudwhat-sets-alarms-off-at-irs/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/entertainment/ 2012/03/31/kate-winslet-hates-
celine-dions-titanic-theme-song/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/ 03/31/americas-largest-pizzas/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/slideshow/ health/2010/08/03/celebritiespromote-breastfeeding/ #slide=1foxnewsonline@foxnews .com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:/ /www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/ 03/29/how-to-make-small-rooml o o k - l a r g e r / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/ 03/29/new-milky-way-photocaptures-1-billion-stars/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/ 03/31/man-who-wants-to-savea n t a r t i c a / foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/ 03/29/teddy-bear-faced-robot-isbuilt-for-battlefields/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM ESThttp:// www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/ 03/31/kentucky-off-to-title-gameFOXNEWS.COM page 17
16
News Wire/
Fighting continues in Syria as West, opposition to meet

(Reuters: Top News)
A protest singer in Kafr Ruma was killed when his house was raided. A young man and his By Khaled Yacoub Oweis sister were shot dead when state ISTANBUL| Sat Mar 31, 2012 forces stormed their village, and a 8:38pm EDT man died of gunshot wounds (Reuters) - Syrians trying to inflicted during a protest in topple President Bashar al-Assad Damascus. meet their Western backers on In a television address on the eve S u n d a y w h i l e f i g h t i n g h a s of the "Friends of Syria" meeting continued despite the Syrian i n I s t a n b u l , T u r k i s h P r i m e government saying the year-long Minister Tayyip Erdogan sounded revolt is over. pessimistic about the chances of The political opposition remains Assad complying with the peace divided and has not yet formally plan. accepted a peace plan brokered by "We want the attacks on civilians United Nations-Arab League to stop and legitimate demands of special envoy Kofi Annan. the Syrian people to be met. Prospects of Western-led military Unfortunately, the Assad regime's intervention are close to zero, actions do not leave any space for although Saudi Foreign Minister hope," Erdogan said. Prince Saud al-Faisal renewed The conference was to bring calls on Saturday to arm the together Assad's opponents and Syrian opposition, describing it as the foreign ministers of allied a "duty". Western powers, including U.S. Assad, whose foreign ministry Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. has declared that the revolt has The Annan proposal for ending been crushed, has said he accepts what began in March 2011 as Annan's plan but has to keep peaceful protests against Assad's security forces in cities to rule says the army must stop maintain security. violence immediately and be the His opponents say they will not first to withdraw its forces. It does put down their arms until his not call on Assad to step down, as t r o o p s a n d h e a v y w e a p o n s the opposition and its Western withdraw. and Arab supporters have Opposition activists said security d e m a n d e d . forces killed 25 Syrians on Washington and Gulf Arab states, Saturday in shelling and raids on who believe Assad is simply opposition areas. playing for time, urged Annan to
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:38:02 PM
set a timeline for "next steps" if there was no ceasefire as his plan requires. "Given the urgency of the joint envoy's mission, (U.S. and Gulf ministers) urged the joint envoy to determine a timeline for next steps if the killing continues," a statement said. Burhan Ghalioun, president of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said: "We expect immediate action and bold decisions to put an end to these crimes committed daily against the Syrian people." "The Friends of Syria and us are preparing to save the Syrian people from real annihilation." CEASEFIRE Ghalioun met Erdogan and senior diplomats in Istanbul on Saturday. He said they did not expect "the Assad regime will implement any item in the Annan plan and the international community will have to go the Security Council very soon, maybe after days". The conference is expected to seek a clear endorsement of the plan from the SNC and demand that Assad order an immediate ceasefire and open two-hour daily windows for humanitarian aid. It is not expected to recognize the SNC as the sole legitimate government of Syria, or to back arming the rebels - though Ghalioun said he hoped for
support for the Free Syrian Army. If Assad fails to keep his word, Annan will have to decide whether to tell the United Nations he has failed to make peace through a "Syrian-led process", diplomats said. Annan will brief the Security Council on Monday on whether he sees any progress in implementing his six-point plan. The next steps could include a return to the Security Council for a binding resolution, with increased pressure on Assad's allies Russia and China, which have endorsed Annan's mission, to get tough with Damascus. Russia warned that it was not up to the "self-styled Friends of Syria" to decide whether Assad is keeping his word. The U.N. peacekeeping department will send a team to Damascus soon to begin contingency planning for a possible observer mission to monitor any eventual ceasefire, Western diplomats have said. The idea, which Annan has suggested to the Syrian government, is to have a mission of 200 to 250 observers who would be borrowed from other U.N. missions already deployed in the Middle East and Africa, envoys said. A spokesman for the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations did not have an
immediate comment. REVOLT "OVER" More than 9,000 people have been killed by Assad's forces during the revolt, according to the United Nations, while Damascus says it has lost about 3,000 security force members. Despite continuing violence, Damascus claims the upper hand. "The battle to topple the state is over," Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi told Syria TV late on Friday. He said Annan had acknowledged the government's right to respond to armed violence during the ceasefire phase of the peace plan. "When security can be maintained for civilians, the army will leave, he said. "This is a Syrian matter." A rebel spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Qassim Saad al-Din, told Reuters by telephone from Homs: "We don't have a problem with the ceasefire. As soon as they remove their armored vehicles, the Free Syrian Army will not fire a single shot." (Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Tim Pearce and Michael Roddy) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentFIGHTING page 17
News Wire/ Technology/
17
INSIGHT:
FOXNEWS.COM
was when the clinic started in 2008, said clinic doctor, Hanifa Amiri. "There are simply more drugs out there available to women now," she said, waving a medical-gloved hand over a prison courtyard, where burqa-clad female relatives were bringing gifts of pomegranates and flat naan bread for the inmates. With cropped black hair, a leather jacket and a henna tattoo of a scorpion on her hand, inmate Madina looks nothing like an ordinary Afghan woman. One of seven injecting heroin users in Badam Bagh, she lives with her teenage son and daughter in prison, where she has been for seven years since she killed her husband. She said she murdered him after he forbade her from prostituting herself to support her habit, said
Madina, the only inmate at the prison who agreed to speak to Reuters. "I would love to give it all up, but how am I meant to, as a woman?" the 37-year-old mother of two said as she scratched at the scabs on her arm, dark red from recent use. She supports her habit by selling handmade sexual aid tools -stuffing compacted wool into condoms -- to other inmates, several of whom have developed lesbian relationships. HIV and AIDS is becoming a more serious issue, largely spurred by injecting drug use, and could reach the general population if not tackled properly. A new strategy being rolled out by the health ministry to target more women in counseling and HIV testing is being met by opposition from the strong
conservative forces in Afghan society. "HIV and drug use are viewed as evil in Muslim society, and even more so for women," said specialist Mohammad Hahn Heddait, who works at the infectious diseases hospital under the ministry of health. (Reporting by Amie FerrisRotman; Editing by Michael Georgy and Bill Tarrant) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
beats-louisville-6-61/ foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Sat, 31 March 2012 20:58:59 EST09:58 PM EST This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it
on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
FIGHTING
only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News

(Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News)
Ornate Ballerina Ballgowns - The Marchesa Fall 2012 Collection is Detail-Oriented and Elegant (TrendHunter.com)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:37:02 PM
Top Stories Wei Jingsheng, one of the most recognized Chinese human rights and democracy activists, weighs in on the significance of the political upheaval presently
occurring in China. The head of the Mali junta that came to power only a week ago said the country needs help in dealing with Tuareg-led rebels. Syria is exporting oil via Iran to China, and in the process, the countries are circumventing international sanctions that were placed on Syria.
On March 24, the family of human rights attorney was allowed to visit him in jail-something that probably could not have happened if Zhou Yongkang had a firm hold on power. Governments need to address the Earths environmental challenges or humanity will face an unprecedented disaster, scientists
said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
( TrendHunter.com) The Marchesa Fall 2012 collection of ball gowns and evening dresses goes beyond any other replication of a fairytale dream. The looks are extremely feminine, while maintaining a classy and ladylike...
18
World News/
No future for liars in politics, Maharashtra: state to form says former Labor leader Mark tribal battalion to fight Latham - The Australian
(Nation - Google News)
is to "bring in a non-liar as prime minister". Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:31:48 PM Restore public trust in Sydney Morning Herald government: Newman sets team's No future for liars in politics, mission Brisbane Times says former Labor leader Mark Huge solar project in limbo as Latham Newman pulls funding Sydney The Australian Morning Herald THE high levels of public distrust Corruption fighter blasts LNP and cynicism with politicians Govt ABC Online leave no margin for lying to the NEWS.com.au- Courier Mailelectorate, former Labor leader The Daily Telegraph Mark Latham has warned, saying all 371 news articles the ALP's only hope for survival
Naxals - IBNLive.com
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:56:21 PM
IBNLive.com Maharashtra: state to form tribal battalion to fight Naxals IBNLive.com Gadchiroli: Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil has said that the state will form a tribal battalion to counter the Naxal situation in Gadchiroli after 12 CRPF jawans were killed in an attack there on the March 27. But with Naxals
allegedly brutally... 'Post-incidence enquiries into Naxal violence could not change a thing' Times of India Corporate houses are funding Naxals: RR Patil Daily News & Analysis State to form special police force of tribals to fight naxal menace Hindustan Times Indian Express- India TodayFirstpost all 34 news articles
Tatra truck deal: Antony faces jail for neglect of duty? - Economic Times
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:02:10 PM
Air Passengers Jagan DA case: TDP Hit By 8% Tax demands action IBNLive.com Rise - Sky News
(Nation - Google News) (Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:48:26 PM
Sky News Air Passengers Hit By 8% Tax Rise Sky News Higher taxes on flights leaving Britain have taken effect with most passengers paying an extra 8% in Air Passenger Duty. Tax rates depend on your destination and whether travellers are in
economy, business or first class seats, but industry chiefs have... UK air passenger duty rises by 8% BBC News Departure tax rise takes effect The Press Association Willie Walsh: End this unfair tax on family holidays The Independent Yahoo! News UK- Isle of Wight Radio all 280 news articles
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:35:28 PM
IBNLive.com Jagan DA case: TDP demands action IBNLive.com New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday closed in on YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, filing its first chargesheet against him and 12 others in an alleged disproportionate assets case.
Sources tell CNN-IBN that the CBI is unlikely to arrest Jagan this week... CBI charge sheets Jagan Mohan Reddy Daily News & Analysis DA case: Will Jagan Reddy face arrest Zee News CBI files chargesheet against Jagan India Today NDTV- Times of IndiaHindustan Times all 97 news articles
Moneycontrol.com Tatra truck deal: Antony faces jail for neglect of duty? Economic Times NEW DELHI: Defence minister AK Antony had better come up with a "reasonable excuse" for waking up to corruption allegations in the Tatra deal two years after they had been brought to his notice. For, he would otherwise be liable for a criminal offence... Can Antony be jailed for failure to report Tatra crime? Firstpost Gen continues to retreat, praises Antony Indian Express A general falls out of line Times of India Hindustan Times- IBNLive.comBusiness Standard all 2,142 news articles
World News/ Technology/
19
Miliband brushes off poll defeat WalesOnline

Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:39:47 PM
Slim chance of shark being destroyed Sydney Morning Herald

Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:53:14 PM
The Guardian Miliband brushes off poll defeat WalesOnline Ed Miliband brushed off Labour's shock defeat in the Bradford West by-election, claiming the party is set for a return to power at the next general election. The party suffered a humiliating blow when Respect's George Galloway
overturned a 5000 Labour... By-election reflects popular disenchantment Reuters UK George Galloway hails 'Bradford spring' as Labour licks its wounds The Guardian A runaway victory for George Galloway and all praise to Allah Telegraph.co.uk The Independent- BBC News all 1,664 news articles
Telegraph.co.uk Slim chance of shark being destroyed Sydney Morning Herald A diver south of Perth is believed to be the fourth person in seven months to be fatally attcked by a shark in WA waters. Despite scientists revealing that it was
most likely a great white shark that killed shark attack victim Peter Kurmann,... Great white killed diver: fisheries Yahoo!7 News Fears as fourth man is killed by shark New Zealand Herald WA rules out shark cull after fatal attack ABC Online all 423 news articles
Christian World Adoption

Forces boost not all about China: Bleich - Brisbane Times

Kwame Ofosu-Asare: Man charged with Brixton murder - BBC News

rise of China. US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich said Darwin was simply the ideal place for more BigPond News US forces given its access to... Forces boost not all about China: 'Chess, not China' behind US Bleich troop moves in Australia, says US Brisbane Times Ambassador... The Australian America's top diplomat in Cocos Islands for US military Canberra has denied the United base Sky News Australia States' decision to boost military all 13 news articles ties with Australia is all about the
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:35:02 PM
was found with fatal stab wounds in Adelaide Close, Moorlands Estate, in Brixton, on the evening BBC News of 2 March. Kwame Ofosu-Asare: Man Teenager charged with stab charged with Brixton murder murder WalesOnline BBC News Teen murder charge ITV News An 18-year-old man has been Man held in teenager murder charged with the murder of a 17- probe The Press Association year-old boy in south London. all 180 news articles Kwame Ofosu-Asare, of Catford,
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:11:27 PM
Christian World Adoption is one of the largest international adoption agencies in the United States. Since 1991, Christian World Adoption has placed thousands of children from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. These children now enjoy the love and security of a forever family. Christian World Adoption currently offers adoption programs in Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine. Explore our website to learn more about international adoption. Then, when youre ready, call our friendly adoption counselor, toll free, at 1.888.97ADOPT.
20
Technology/
Hackathon Planning In Less Than 10 Steps

Contributor (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:15:08 PM
hackathons is the collective goodwill that builds relationships and carries on long after the Editors note: Erin Tao is a event; though possible, its not the business development associate at ideal shindig for turning a profit. Aviary and, yes, its hackathon Why attend hackathons? o r g a n i z e r . F o l l o w h e r o n If youre a company: Nothing Twitter@etaooo. gives your API the same degree of Its been about a month since exposure as providing a room full Photo Hack Day 2, and Ive of developers with the opportunity recovered sufficiently from my to do some tinkering firsthand. hackathon hangover a very Better yet, you have the ability to legitimate ailment, though less be present for the duration of the literal than a SXSW one to put hacking process. There are very some coherent thoughts together. f e w c h a n c e s t o g e t s u c h A number of people have reached immediate, fresh feedback on out, asking for tips, thoughts, and w h a t s c o n f u s i n g , w h a t s advice on throwing hackathons; awesome, and what you can be only now that the second one is doing better. under my proverbial belt do I If youre a participant: You need feel slightly more qualified to an arena to demonstrate your speak on the subject. coding prowess. You dont mind Theres so much involved in missing out on sleep. You also terms of planning that I cant dont mind subsisting on pizza, adequately address the important beer, and flat soda for 24 hours. points in a single post. The Most importantly, you want an emphasis of this article is the opportunity to participate in an requisite planning, whereas the event that really brings your local follow-up will focus on best developer community together: practices for actual execution of youll meet fellow hackers, see demos, which are the most what theyre up to, and show what challenging and stressful element you can do. of hackathons. Why would companies want to Why organize hackathons? get involved in the first place? You want a strong showing of Ive gotten this question (which I local technical talent, who will consider absolutely fair) a number presumably use the next twenty- of times. Nowadays, hackathons four hours to create awesome possess a much broader appeal; in things. You also want to establish fact, they provide one of the most your company or organization as direct forms of exposure to the a thought leader and community startup scene and the technical mobilizer in a particular space. In talent in it. No longer are they lieu of cash, the currency of niche events that are only relevant
for a university computer science department: a perfect example is how the original Photo Hack Day was the first of NASDAQs many event sponsorships, such as Shelby.tvs hackday.tv, the foursquare hackathon, and the hackNY benefit / fashion show, Raise Cache. Nokias headline support of Photo Hack Day 2 enabled them to reach mobile developers and showcase the platform to the Windows Phone community in addition to New York City startups as a whole. Big companies are beginning to understand that hackathons offer the brand visibility they desire as well as the audience theyre trying to target and that audience is quite receptive. Yes, developers arent exactly fond of being pitched to, but theyre undeniably curious: what new APIs are out there? How they can build on them, and what can be made? Each Demo Day Ive had the pleasure of attending has proven that these answers are limited solely by the imagination and technical expertise of the hacker. This begs the question Where else does or can this sort of thing happen?, which encapsulates everything that is awesome and slightly magical (yes, seriously) about hackathons. Interested in throwing a hackathon of your own? Organization and the pre-event legwork are everything. Here are the major points you must cover: 1. Pick a theme. A good approach
is to explore existing verticals: at Aviary, we picked photos because of their relevance to our API / SDK in addition to the abundance of companies building awesome products in the space. If community is your primary concern (and it should, at a minimum, be a key motivation for throwing one in the first place), keep your role explicitly neutral. Dont name the hackathon after your company (this is why we opted for Photo Hack Day rather than Aviary Hack Day). Most importantly, dont privilege your own product. 2. Leave ample time to plan. Depending upon the scale of the event, you need anywhere from three to six weeks to properly prepare for the event. The first Photo Hack Day was organized in three incredibly frantic weeks, and Photo Hack Day 2 a much more extensive endeavor, in terms of attendees, offerings, and general scale took over two months. 3. Lock down a venue. For obvious reasons, nothing substantive can happen until this is taken care of. General Assembly is the go-to hackathon destination in New York City, but other alternatives exist: the Spotify hackathon was held at SPiN, hackNY continues to be held at NYU, and plenty more take place in a range of corporate venues such as Microsoft, Google, or Aol ventures. 4. Secure sponsorships. To be
sure that the broadest range of potential sponsors can participate, use tiered sponsorships and keep price points relevant to what you can provide in exchange for support. This consists of varying degrees of product / API exposure, as well as branding opportunities. Generally speaking, the most expensive elements of a hackathon are venues, food, and prize money contributions from a headline sponsor should cover the cost of at least one of these. That being said, as an organizer, its crucial to strike a balance between making an event worth a sponsors time and preventing the weekend from degenerating into a pitch-fest. Your priority is to throw the best event possible for hackers and the tech community. After all, when builders and innovators are exposed to sponsors in ways that dont feel forced, everyone wins. 5. Rally the interested parties. Tap into existing developer networks Meetup is perfect for this and make the appropriate reach-outs to sponsors and companies with cool, useful APIs. If a company with an irrelevant API contacts you, its perfectly okay to tell them that the event may not be the best use of their time. You save them the time, effort, and the risk of being disappointed, while sparing developers from demos of technology they wont use. HACKATHON page 22
Technology/
21
A Fistful of Smart Media Dollars

Contributor (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:00:37 PM
content. Recent studies reveal that over half of American tablet owners paid to watch a movie in Editors note: Jay Fulcher is CEO Q4 2011 and more than 40% paid of video technology company for TV content. These are strong Ooyala. This is a follow-up to his signs that weve come a long way columns Fear And Loathing In f r o m J e f f Z u c k e r s d i g i t a l Online Video and One Screen pennies remark back in 2008. To Rule Them All. Follow him To make the most digital dollars, on Twitter@jbfulcher. new TV technologies should The rise of smart, multi-screen securely deliver media to viewers streaming media is fundamentally on their terms. Audiences today changing the TV experience. This have personal, portable ways to year, for the first time ever, consume content. There are more Americans will watch more screens, platforms and devices to movies over the Internet than on display their favorite shows, and physical media like DVD and Blu more ways than ever to rent, -ray. Ooyalas Video Index purchase, gift and download video Report found that non-desktop content. It is an exciting time for video plays doubled in the fourth both TV viewers and TV content quarter of 2011. Tablet sales providers. continue to explode. People now Innovation is a tricky business, spend more time on Xbox Live however, and change can be hard. streaming movies and TV shows There are bound to be a few than playing video games. And missteps and failures as we invent c o n s u m e r e l e c t r o n i c s the next generation of TV. This manufacturers are gearing up to isnt a new phenomenon. For ship 125 million Smart TVs in every VHS recorder there is a 2014. Simply put, TV is no longer Betamax; for every DVD, a constrained to a single box, a Laserdisc. But there will also be single screen, or a single UI. key victories and new revenue Smart networks, broadcasters, streams as media and technology studios and service providers c o m b i n e t o c r e a t e t h e T V recognize that theres real money e x p e r i e n c e o f t o m o r r o w . to be made as TV moves into the Heres how forward-thinking information age. People are not media companies will profit from only watching more movies and the new TV. TV shows online, they are paying Big Data & Analytics for access to premium video More than a buzzword, Big Data
is changing the way we look at information and the world around us. The ability to quickly extract actionable insights from vast sets of data has already become a business imperative in some sectors. This trend can only grow. Corporations, governments, and non-governmental organizations will all leverage distributed computing to gain insights into their operations and their constituencies and maximize efficiencies. Big Data and analytics will become mission critical for major media companies as TV moves to IP delivery. Firms that fail to invest in data-driven solutions will be at a severe disadvantage in the marketplace. Putting analytics tools in place to collect and analyze key metrics enables video publishers to see how people interact with their content and understand where and why its underperforming (something that was impossible before). These insights will inform critical business decisions that impact audiences and drive revenue. Intelligent Monetization As we all know, the easiest way to make more money in media is to sell more advertising. But simply inserting more pre-roll ads into a video stream, for example, quickly falls prey to the law of diminishing marginal returns. An
initial uptick in revenue is followed by a substantial dropoff in ad completion rates, as viewers quickly grow weary of the oversupply of irrelevant ad messages. Smart monetization strategies go hand-in-hand with analytics. With the right tools in place, video publishers can analyze how variables like ad load (the number of ads served per video) and ad placement (where ads are inserted within the video) impact viewer engagement. Its even possible to find the optimal rental price for, say, a feature-length movie. And soon it will be commonplace to match ads to viewers based on social graph interests, location, device type, and viewing history. Smart video publishers will use analytics to simultaneously accomplish two somewhat conflicting goals: (1) maximize digital revenue, and (2) create and /or maintain an optimal viewing experience for their viewers. Personalized Content A streaming media strategy based on Big Data computing, powerful analytics and smart monetization results in a personalized viewing experience across all connected screens. Content producers and providers will attract and retain more viewers when they deliver highly relevant content to their viewers, and presented in a way
the viewer prefers. Insights derived from vast data collection ensures that the right content is delivered to the right viewer at the right time. The future of personalized television is geo-targeted, interactive content. Viewers who opt to share data will receive a better experience: location-specific ads, augmented reality media experiences, interactive games and content targeted for their viewing history, network and device. Content publishers will also tap into social networks to deliver meaningful content that is informed by viewer interests. As social media continues to evolve, expect video to play a bigger role in how we relate to one another online. In Sum The TV of tomorrow will be smart. It will understand who is watching, where they are, and what shows they enjoy. The end result will be a more personal TV experience that spans multiple screens and locations. TV is changing quickly. There is a real need for companies to recognize and get out ahead of this change. With the right tools (like those offered by my company Ooyala), fistfuls of digital dollars are there for the taking.
22
Technology/ Culture/
HACKATHON
Figure out who can help you on the day of the event: coworkers, volunteers, or friends alike. If the venue offers on-site help, be sure you establish, in writing, who is taking care of what, and what time you can rely on them to be where. When you dont know how the hell the A/V system works or where extra power cables are stored, these people will help fend off the waves of potential panic attacks. 6. Market like heck to potential attendees and dont forget students! In addition to the obvious press reach outs, look for influencers who can spread the word via social media and word of mouth. Attend events, happy hours, and contact listservs: a few great places to start include StartupDigest, Garys Guide, or incubator mailing lists. Ask sponsors for help with crosspromotion and leverage their networks; after all, its in their best interest to have the widest audience. Weve had great success with student-hackers, so reach out to the computer science departments at local universities. At Photo Hack Day 2, Columbia senior Yufei Liu created Synviary and walked away with the Aviary company prize, Peoples Choice, and First Place, winning a grand total of $7,500. Abe Stanway and Misha Ponizil, students at Rutgers and NYU, respectively, won Peoples Choice and Second Place
at Photo Hack Day for Honey Badger. Their bounty? $4,000. If, according to one redditor, neon wayfarers, American Spirits, and PBR are ingredients for the hipster beartrap, then free pizza, free beer, and the potential to win hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars over the course of a weekend is the student developer equivalent. Their attendance is absolutely worth the time it takes to reach them. For those of us a few years removed from college, we cant allow ourselves to forget that the next wave of members in the New York tech community will be new graduates. 7.(Slightly) over-order on food. I can speak on this matter as someone who has epically over and under-ordered. If you over-order, it sucks to see food wasted (especially if youre footing the presumably expensive bill), but its nothing compared to facing a maelstrom of empty, angry developer bellies. There should be two golden rules concerning hackathons and food: (1) dont f*ck up the coffee, because nothing is more endearing than dragging developers out of bed on a Saturday morning and depriving them of caffeine, and (2) dont f*ck up the meals. (In the interest of full disclosure: I have done both.) If you think it is remotely feasible for a room of over 200 young men and women to finish the spread, trust me they will.
Also, it helps tremendously to ask attendees to note any special dietary needs when they sign up for the event. To give you an idea of why you should oh-so-slightly over-order on food, heres what hackers at Photo Hack Day 2 consumed in a span of thirty-two hours: 250 bagels, 300+ tacos, 300+ burritos, 12 buckets of BBQ chicken, 20 quarts of pulled pork, 12 pans of cornbread, 20 quarts of mashed potatoes, 150 cookies, 80 boxes of pizza (640 slices total), 27 cases of water (432 bottles total), 384 beers, and 28 cases of soda (448 cans total). Hackathon organizers, do yourself and your hackers a favor by including an extra pizza (or ten) in your catering order. 8. Make sure theres (a wide range of) cool stuff to give away. Theres a strong correlation between the quality of prizes and the quality of hacks. For the first Photo Hack Day, Twilio gave away an 11 MacBook Air, while Shutterstock gave away a Nikon dSLR. Im sure you can guess whose APIs were well represented on Sunday. Push participating companies to sponsor a prize and give them the freedom to choose the winner. Its a win-win situation for everyone: companies want developers to hack on their APIs, developers (like the rest of us) dont mind material motivation, and attendees want to see cool hacks. 9. Remember that, regardless of
how much you prepare, sh*t may and probably will go wrong. Its just a matter of figuring out what constitutes an acceptable mishap and what is debilitating, and building safeguards to ensure that the latter doesnt happen. Mishap: an order of twenty Hawaiian pizzas, when you meant to order pepperoni. Percolators end up brewing what looks like dirty water, rather than coffee. Not enough small or medium tees to go around. Compare this to the disastrous counterpart: the wifi cuts out. Projector breaks during demos. Not enough power outlets. See what I mean? Once all of these moving pieces are in place, the foundation is set for a solid hackathon. Solid does not mean smoothly run, by any means execution of the actual event is an entirely new beast. (Credit must be given where it is due. Everything I learned about building some semblance of order and structure came from John Britton, whose knowledge once existed as a seven-page Word doc that he kindly shared with me. Johns thoughts have since turned into a more cohesive article by Ben Doernberg, which I would absolutely recommend as a starting point.) [ image from Hackers]
Self-Absorbed Photography - The 'Don't Touch My Universe' Series is Hilariously Thought-Provoking (TrendHunter.com)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:37:02 PM
( TrendHunter.com) At first glance, the Don't Touch My Universe' photo series looks like a typical fashion shoot, but it quickly becomes clear that is not the case at all. When the viewer finally...
This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup]

(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:00:00 PM
XBMC 11.0 "Eden" Adds AirPlay Support, Speed Improvements, and Lots, Lots More More
Technology/ Economy/ Sports/
23
Apple, publishers to settle e-books price-fixing suit: Report

Joe Aimonetti (CNET News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:36:47 PM
BaNZaiI7 EVeNiNG HeRaLD APRiL 1, 2012

williambanzai7
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:53:31 PM
Suspected of collusion with intent to drive up e-book prices, Apple and some of its major publication partners are now negotiating to settle a suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. Negotiations continue, but sources close to the talks tell Reuters that Apple and its partners are looking to avoid a long litigation process by bending on some of the wording used in contracts with publishers and retailers. The "most favored nation" clause, as it has come to be known, states that the price of an electronic book published using Apple's iBookstore cannot be higher than any other iteration of the same content at other retailers. The contract has, to this point, prevented other content retailers like Amazon from undercutting Apple's iBookstore prices for ebooks. According to Reuters' sources, Amazon (as well as consumers in general) stand to gain the most from this settlement. Amazon
could sell e-books cheaper, making its Kindle hardware more attractive for potential tablet buyers, and if the prices on Amazon fall, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and any other e-book retailers would have to tailor their prices accordingly -- a win for consumers. Agreements between Apple and several major publishers helped launch the original iPad(and Apple) into the e-book market in January 2010, giving Apple an inroad to disrupting Amazon's stranglehold on the e-book business. Because of the success of the iPad, the "agency model" (a business model that allows publishers to set prices of their content for retailers and enables companies like Apple to take a 30 percent cut from each sale) has come under intense scrutiny. Related Stories Has Apple's iBooks Fair Play DRM been cracked? iBooks 2 brings textbooks to life (hands-on) Apple's academic January event delayed from 2011
Though Apple is not likely to take a major financial hit after the settlement (it represents about 10 percent of the e-book market according to analysts), Amazon stands to gain upward of $1 billion in revenue, according to Cowen & Co. analyst Jim Friedland. In the pre-iPad world, Amazon was able to control pricing of ebooks individually, and to undercut publishers still placing large investments in paper-based distribution. As publishers worried that their margins would
collapse with Amazon reducing prices at will, Apple was able to secure deals for fixed-pricing on e -books made available on its newly formed iBookstore. The lawsuit is expected to be settled in the next couple of weeks, which would include an elimination of the agency model wording in contracts between Apple and publishers. Once the settlement is reached, expect to see a shift in pricing strategies, especially from Amazon, as it will surely look to secure some of its lost market share. Would lower e-book prices from Amazon sway your decision to buy a Kindle instead of an iPad? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Contact Information: Tips: tips [ at ] zerohedge.com General: info [ at ] zerohedge.com Legal: legal [ at ] zerohedge.com Advertising: ads [ at ] zerohedge.com Abuse: abuse [ at ] zerohedge.com Suggested Reading: Make sure to read our " How To [Read/Tip Off] Zero Hedge Without Attracting The Interest Of [Human Resources/The Treasury/Black Helicopters]" Guide It would be very wise of you to study our disclaimer, our privacy policy and our (non)policy on conflicts / full disclosure. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Spurs beat Pacers, push NBA-best win streak to 7

Tim Duncan had 23 points and 11 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs remained the hottest team
in the NBA, beating the Indiana Pacers 112-103 for their seventh consecutive win Saturday night.
24
Lilitab iPad kiosk hits the mark on price, simplicity

Michael Rose (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
baseplate keeps the unit steady and vertical once the iPad is installed (it can be bolted to the Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:02:00 PM floor too, if desired), and the top Having the iPad serve as a section encloses the device easily portable, simple display kiosk or a n d w i t h o u t f u s s . T h e t o p showcase is terribly tempting. For enclosure comes with a set of one thing, now that the 16GB security screws (and an Allen iPad 2 has dropped in price due to wrench to set them) so that the new iPad launch, it's more nobody else can come along and affordable than ever. For another, abscond with your iPad. You have getting that touch interaction right a choice of frontplates with or in front of your customers or without a camera opening, and exhibit viewers is a great way to with or without a home button increase their engagement and pinhole -- you can lock in your focus. chosen app with the fully closed Rule #1 of iPad kiosks is, of frontplate and it won't get course, make sure we don't lose c h a n g e d i n a d v e r t e n t l y o r the iPad. That's among the p u r p o s e f u l l y . strengths of lilitab's kiosk line, Down at the base, the main pipe which keeps device security top- stalk slides into a corresponding of-mind throughout the design section welded to the baseplate. without giving up ground on ease That's also where the included of assembly, looks or price. I iPad charging cable meets up with tested out the lilitab standard the user-supplied iPad AC adapter kiosk model, which comes in and Apple charger extension cord either white or black and retails -- you do have to bring your own for US$495. on those. Getting the power In white, the lilitab looks a little adapter installed was really the bit like a section of a high-end only tricky bit of the assembly, as shower assembly. The heavy steel it requires you to feed the AC
cord into the base at a sharp angle so that both pieces fit into the available space. Once the power is plugged in, the next security step is the two-piece cowling that attaches around the pipe fitting. Another pair of security screws keep it firmly attached. The base also has a lock
or future, as long as it's the same screen size); there's also no metal at all around the iPad's RF antennas, so WiFi and 3G performance should be unimpaired. You can get additional options and branding kits from lilitab, but even the spare and unadorned kiosk made a positive impression on everyone I showed it to. Aside from the tight tolerances on the power adapter in the base, there's not much to criticize and a lot to admire about this product; if you're looking for a good way to get your iPad kiosks to look professional and sleek, give them a call. Lilitab iPad kiosk hits the mark on price, simplicity originally appeared on TUAW - The fitting for both Kensington-style Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, and conventional 3/8" steel cable 31 Mar 2012 17:02:00 EST. attachments. With all items set up, Please see our terms for use of the iPad can be fitted into the feeds. enclosure and mounted either in Source| Permalink| Email this| landscape or portrait mode. The Comments enclosure itself includes foam supports that can be adjusted to house any model of iPad (current
Recycle Jeans Into a Garden Apron [Video]

David Galloway (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 4:00:00 PM
If you have a pair of jeans that is beyond repair you can repurpose them into a gardening (or other
everything not part of the apron. More activity) apron by cutting away
25
A quad-core Windows 8 laptop more ultra than an ultrabook?

Brooke Crothers (CNET News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:32:39 PM
Can a quad-core Windows 8 laptop be as thin as an iPad? That's the design Qualcomm is aiming for. But we've heard this story before. The San Diego-based chip supplier anticipates superthin laptops running Windows 8 on top of its Snapdragon chips, according to a report in PC World. It's certainly an enticing idea: Laptops lighter and thinner than even Intel-based ultrabooks -- an idea also put forward by Nvidia, which already supplies its wellreceived quad-core Tegra 3 processor to Asus for its Tranformer Prime tablet. At a macro level, this is about ARM versus Intel on Windows 8, which will be compatible with both chip technologies. More specifically, it's about the camp of chip suppliers, like Qualcomm and Nvidia, that use a powerefficient silicon design versus
on Intel and ARM to become available at the same time. That tells me Microsoft is leaving itself some wiggle room for ARM. And, Microsoft, on the same blog, made it clear that Windows compatibility on Intel chips will be radically broader than on ARM chips. But there's still plenty of opportunity for Qualcomm and performance-centric Intel. hope than Linux, a competitive Nvidia, because Windows 8 The argument goes something ARM-based laptop will be a tablets will probably favor ARM like this: ARM-based laptops can bigger challenge than either chips, for the power-efficiency be thinner and lighter than an Qualcomm or Nvidia anticipate, reasons cited above. ultrabook because power-sipping because Intel is a moving target, So, Qualcomm, Nvidia, et al would be well-advised to focus ARM processors don't require and a pretty fast one at that. fans (Intel-based ultrabooks do). Intel's highly integrated (and more on proselytizing tabletlike Qualcomm made a similar likely much faster) Haswell chip designs, not laptops, which have argument a couple of years ago, in will be available in the timeframe been, and will always be, an Intel fact. At that time, it made a lot of in which Qualcomm announces its stronghold. This entry passed through the n o i s e a b o u t L i n u x - b a s e d quad-core Snapdragon. "smartbooks." And Qualcomm Moreover, it's not clear how soon Full-Text RSS service if this is C E O P a u l J a c o b s e v e n Windows 8 will be ready for your content and you're reading it "announced" one from Lenovo-- ARM. Microsoft is carefully on someone else's site, please read which never saw the light of day, choosing its words here. The the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentb y t h e w a y . N o r d i d a n y company's Steven Sinofsky said only/faq.php#publishers. Five smartbook. on his blog that Microsoft's " Filters recommends: Donate to Though Windows 8 offers more collective goal" is for Windows 8 Wikileaks.
Icon Badger Provides Favicon Notifications on Pinned Tabs [Chrome Extensions]

David Galloway (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 3:00:00 PM
Chrome: If you like to pin your tabs in Chrome you may have noticed that you usually lose new item notifcations that several sites such as Gmail, Facebook, and others add to the page title. With Chrome extension Icon Badger many of these notifications are moved to the favicon so you can know when your favorite sites are updated even when their tabs are pinned. More
A supercut of super dudes [video]

(Holy Kaw!)
the noun that wont die, and, therefore, its also the perfect basis for yet another supercut. Its the word thats haunted Heres to all the dudes out there YouTube user Slacktory and, of English vocabulary for too long, and those that love them from
Submitted at 3/31/2012 1:14:00 PM
course, our friends in Hollywood. Full story at YouTube via The Denver Egotist. Supercut videos. Permalink| Leave a comment
26
Technology/
OMGPOP Draws Zyngas Daily User Traffic Up By 25%

Eric Eldon (TechCrunch)
of 2010, and Poker years before. Zynga has milked them along, and Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:25:05 PM will no doubt continuing doing so As the dust settles after Zyngas far into the future. But, theyre purchase of New York mobile never likely to grow significantly social game developer OMGPOP, beyond their current sizes, based the company is visibly taking on a on the overall lifecycle of these new shape. A 25% larger and games. more mobile one. Thats the Draw Something is a blank slate. percentage growth of its total Its been out for around two daily active user base, when you months, and could keep growing. add in the 14.6 million people Zynga has the analytics and playing mobile sketching app marketing skills to help with that. Draw Something to its existing 55 And it also has the experience million players. keeping traffic up across its The game has gone from 1.7 games on social and mobile million to 14.6 over the month of p l a t f o r m s . I t s c o r e m o b i l e March, based on app tracking franchise to date, Words With service AppData. Today, its Friends, has the second-most nearly the combined size of daily active users out of any Zyngas two biggest hits on Zynga game, with 8.1 million Facebook, CityVille and Texas daily actives. Holdem Poker. The user count comes with a Which means Draw Somethings caveat here. Only Zynga knows share of the market is likely to the non-deduplicated daily unique grow in the coming months. user number. Its quite possible CityVille was launched at the end that users of other Zynga games
are already playing Draw Something, particularly with Words With Friends. Thats still good, in that they might be paying for virtual goods across titles. But it also means the total traffic is lower than it looks here. The big long-term potential isnt just that Zynga has all these users from this game. It also has the ability to promote its other games, including any its planning on launching in coming months, to this vibrant user base. That could extend the value of the game far beyond its own cycle. The$210 million bet on OMGPOP has the obvious risks, too. The acquired company has never made a hit even close to this big. And Draw Something may have a shorter life cycle Zynga hasnt had a chance to see how long this type of sketchingsharing game can stick around.
Asteroid to get neighborly with Earth on Sunday

Edward Moyer (CNET News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:01:19 PM
November. Besides, the NASA-affiliated Near Earth Object Office assures Whew! A tweet from the Jet us via Twitter that the stone will Propulsion Laboratory's Near "safely pass." Earth Object Office, which But let's don't jinx ourselves by "coordinates NASA's efforts to getting too smug about it all. detect, track, and characterize We're only three months into the potentially hazardous asteroids storied year of 2012. There's still and comets that could approach plenty of time left for the Earth to Earth." get wiped out by a killer fireball Get ready for another asteroid to or a ginormous solar tornado. zoom past the Earth, closer than ( T h o u g h N A S A s a y s t h o s e the moon. scenarios are rather unlikely as Space.com reports that Asteroid well.) 2012 EG5 will get within 143,000 This entry passed through the miles of the planet at 8:32 a.m. PT Full-Text RSS service if this is on Sunday -- that's a little more your content and you're reading it than half the distance to the moon. on someone else's site, please read About the size of a passenger jet the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content(a mere 150 feet or so wide), this only/faq.php#publishers. Five wee space pebble is nothing Filters recommends: Donate to compared with the aircraft-carrier- Wikileaks. size Asteroid 2005 YU55 that screamed by us all back in
Technology/ Sports/
27
Google Maps goes 8-bit for April Fools

Mark Raby (SlashGear)
to gain attention. Yes, we know that it isnt quite April 1 yet, but the worlds If youve ever wondered what biggest day for pranks falls on a your neighborhood would look Sunday this year, and really, like in an old-school Zelda-style w h o s p a y i n g a t t e n t i o n t o RPG, your imagination is about to anything on Sundays? So, it isnt be realized with the latest update clear if Google will shut down to Google Maps. Of course, this feature immedidately at the technologically speaking, the stroke of midnight on April 2, but u p d a t e i s m o r e o f a s t e p at least for now you can search for backward. But for those who love any address and see if it comes up dwarfed with satellite pictures of all things old-school, it may be in super awesome old-school 8-bit buildings and crowded streets. one of the coolest things that the format. The picture above is of Unlike a lot of April Fools jokes, search giant has done when it midtown Manhattan in New York this one requires some digging comes to Google doing things just City, a site that normally looks
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:28:06 PM
around to find. Once you type in an address on Google Maps, like usual, youll get your map; same as always. But if you click the
word Quest on the right-hand side of the map, it will be transformed into the special 8-bit graphical style. Its possible when you click Quest that you migt see this prank message: Your system may not meet the requirements for 8-bit computations. So, youve got at least a good 24 hours to check out as many locales as you want. Google Maps goes 8-bit for April Fools is written by Mark Raby& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Bethesdas Skyrim updated on PC only

Mark Raby (SlashGear)
That is, of course, because as players delved further into the Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:28:55 PM adventure, their save files became The latest patch has gone live for unwieldy and caused the game to Bethesdas hot-selling role- have extreme lag. The 1.4 update playing game The Elder Scrolls: addressed that issue to some Skyrim, but as to be expected, it is e x t e n t , b u t B e t h e s d a s t i l l only available for PC players. For conceded that it wasnt perfect. those playing on the Xbox 360 Version 1.5 would, hopefully, and PS3, the game remains at further address that issue. In fact, version 1.4. PS3 players in developers said that even when particular still have reason to be they released the game, they sore because that version still has already knew the PS3 version some memory bugs. The PS3 might be buggy but they released version of the game game under it anyway. increasing scrutiny. The 1.5 update is able to go live
for PC gamers right away because there is no red tape. The update is also ready to go for PS3 and Xbox 360, but the process of patching a game on either console requires
the publisher to go through Sony or Micosoft, respectively. There is a queue of game patches, and the console manufacturer needs to verify the file before it pushes it
to system owners. According to Bethesda, the patch was submitted to both Sony and Microsoft 10 days ago. Now its just a matter of playing the waiting game. [ via Kotaku] Bethesdas Skyrim updated on PC only is written by Mark Raby& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Big comeback leads KU to 64-62 win over Ohio St

Same story, new night for Kansas. The team that's been teetering on the edge of the
tournament since before it even began is now one of the last two left.
28
Technology/ Economy/
Robert Shiller Answers: Are We In Another Tech Bubble?

breathtaking. There's going to be huge fortunes to be made. That kind of excitement I do feel in the "Maybe," answered Shiller to air." Daily Ticker's Aaron Task earlier "I wish I understood human this week. psychology better than I do," It's not the greatest answer in the Shiller modestly said earlier. world. But it's not a "No." Later in the interview, Shiller Remember, Robert Shiller was added "I would still put money in the genius who predicted the the stock market right now. But dot.com bubble of the late 90's in not overwhelmingly. This is the his book Irrational Exuberance. time to be reasonably diversified." He also predicted the housing Here's the full interview courtesy bubble. So, when Shiller talks of Yahoo's Daily Ticker: about bubbles, people listen and Please follow Money Game on markets move. Twitter and Facebook. "There's always a chance of Join the conversation about this another technology bubble," story Shiller added. See Also: However, he wasn't willing to Markets Are Down In Europe, Mark Raby (SlashGear) focuses on lightweight design, drive, or four-wheel drive. The commit to calling the current Germany's Unemployment Rate using a carob-fiber plastic clothed total recharge time for the battery frenzy for tech stock a bubble for Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:39:45 PM Falls To A Historic Low in body panels that are made of is a reported 105 minutes, the several reasons. Among them, UBS Just Slashed Its Gold Price BMW has just released concept the same kind of material. It will company said. It can run 0-to-62 Shiller thinks investors are being Target, Cites 'Material Erosion' In pictures of its upcoming i8 spyder have the same differntiated look miles per hour in 5.0 seconds. In held back because the economy is QE Expectations vehicle that is planned to be as the coupe, with designs for electric mode, it has a zeroonly slowly coming back and Jeremy Siegel Explains Why heading to a BMW dealer near aerodynamic efficiency. Its also a emission range of up to 19 miles, unemployment levels remain Even DOW 15,000 Would Be you in 2014. The car will be full hybridm making it capable of and it can run up to 783 miles per high. Cheap shown to the public for the first running on either 100% gasoline, gallon of gasoline. Not bad. But, he added: "We've got an time at the Beijing motor show, 100% electric, or a combination BMW i8 Spyder revealed is exciting thing going. All of the next month. The automaker first of the two fuel types. written by Mark Raby& originally n e w g a d g e t s a r e j u s t s o teased the model as an i8 coupe in The gasoline tank is stored right posted on SlashGear. 2009, and today it remains only behind the rear bulkhead, and the 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All available in pre-production lithium-ion battery that is stored right reserved. concept form, but it is on its way in the center tunnel. Its also and still on schedule. designed to be able to run with The i8 is based on a structure that front-wheel drive, rear-wheel
Submitted at 3/31/2012 3:21:27 PM
Sam Ro (Money Game)
BMW i8 Spyder revealed
Economy/
29
Germany the Vampire Squid of Europe

RobertBrusca
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:18:25 PM
Herr VAMPIRE SQUID revisited and affirmedGermany is in it for Germany, not for united Europe. When you look at Europe and see that Germay is a success and no one else is, there is a reason for that. Germany, after 'trapping' many countries in the e-Zone ignored their situation while Germany continues to post increasingly lower-than-required rates of inflation as many in EMU ahve run higher rates. As a result of this, there is a huge competitiveness conundrum in the Zone. It seems to have been engineered by Germany-and they are great engineers. s e e h t t p : / / robertbrusca.blogspot.com/ for a previous discussion of this toipic. How are we to view Germany's actions? Now I do not 'blame' Germany alone but as you know in our financial system the low inflation Balance-of-payments-surplus countries rule. The others are forced to adjust. Germany has persisted in growing slowly, running a high rate of unemployment while others wanted to grow faster. Germany helped them to do that by lending to them. Germany was not mindful of the consequences of their excesses but there were consequences as they all were/are in the Zone together. the Zone
was not a Bento box divided into various walled-off compartments; it was like bowl of soup and poison one place circulates to another place. As the 'adult,' or fiscal conservative, Germany did nothing constructive. It held back and watched until the others were in trouble then it dropped the hammer. Am I supposed to view Germany kindly for this sort of behavior? Did Germany really 'behave' any better or did it simply spring its trap? Why did it neglect the growing imbalances in the Zone? Not just the fiscal ones that might have been hidden, but the inflation differences that were reported month after month after month. I have been haranguing about EMU inflation differences in the zone for years. Did Germany smirk and know that it was gaining competitiveness? Did it not realize this disparity would benefit its exporters but come back to haunt it politically and financially? Now that it has... does Germany disavow itself of any responsibility? What allows the US to to maintain a union that has areas of vastly different real income, property values, etc, is its fiscal transfer system. Germany instead of dealing with today's issues, and assisting with development (instead of just bail-out bucks) wants to roll the clock back and
set up what I have called a Bentobox view of Europe in which GERMANS will be made safe as each member of EMU will have its own mandated balanced budget and will be put in a Germanic-like straight jacket of fiscal responsibility. Hey that sounds like fun! The Euro zone is NOT the German Zone. It was not formed and does not exist for the benefits of Germans. But as Germany is in a position of power it is now trying to bend every EMU nation to its way of doing things. This widespread use of austerity is foolishness. You may denigrate 'Keynesianism' a term that is such a cartoon and straw-man that it has no meaning, but austerity in the midst of recession is tomfoolery! Germany waited until other EMU members got in trouble then, as I said, sprung THE TRAP. While the Germans think they have been virtuous they are among the TWO COUNTRIES that are the farthest out of equilibrium with respect to the Euro-average. Look at the EU Commission indices and everyone else is weak and only Germany still has strong readings. I can understand wanting to glorify Germany for this success. But if we view Europe as a team, then Germany is not a team player. It is a high scorer on a team that is losing all its games! Germany has created a game of 'economy' and set the rules of EMU to benefit itself and
to impoverish everyone else. I know this is not a popular way to look at it. We should glorify the best performing economy but why is it best performing? Because it has the fiscal policy and national work ethic and social policy that works with the monetary policy that is being run. Suppose the US were to play Germany in 'Football.' Suppose the US sent NFL guys in their pads and the Germans sent their 'soccer' team. Now if they played soccer instead of NFL football and the Germans wiped us out would that really make them 'the best?" Suppose we played NFL football instead? What I am trying to do is to suggest that Germany wins at this game because it is a German game. Germany did not have to change anything to join EMU. Everyone else SHOULD HAVE been made to change a lot but they did not. Yet the game continued under 'German rules' NO WONDER THEY DO BEST... and there has been no one out there 'blowing the whistle' on those counties that have been building excesses; they have been left alone until WHAM! Crisis time. The Germans have not swerved one iota to help their neighbors nor has this idea of what macro policy should be been broached. The 'Mass-Trick' was supposed to be a constraint on that policy that was never agreed to but the Germans and French broke the
rule first and ruined it. Macro policy cannot be every man for himself with a fixed currency. So here is a restatement of the Zone and a new accounting of who is most out of whack: Currently Germany is the low inflation country in the Zone since it was formed. It has done this by averaging inflation of 1.7% per year while the GDP-weighted EMU average was 2.12% per year. Only FOUR EMU nations among the first 12-members average inflation at the EMU average or less (Germany, France, Finland, & Austria). They are the strong countries and they are the outliers -too. Of course Germany and friends are closer to the EMU average because Germany is such a large country and it carries a large weight in making up the EMU average. If we look at the simple unweighted average for inflation for the EMU first-12 members, average inflation among these countries goes up to 2.35%. Viewed that way the most normal country since EMU was formed is Italy in terms of inflation followed by Ireland. Next most normal is Belgium. Germany ranks 11th out of 12, and guess what? Greece ranks 12th! Germany and Greece rank right next to each other as outliers - on different ends of the spectrum, of course. . Isn't that amazing? If policy were geared for the GERMANY page 32
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Economy/
Spiegel Says "Even a 1-Trillion Euro Firewall Wouldn't Be Enough"; Mish Says "The Bigger the Bazooka, the More Money Will be Lost"
noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
will be a currency or banking crisis at the worst possible time. For now, please consider'Even a 1-Trillion Euro Firewall Wouldn't Submitted at 3/31/2012 2:57:00 PM Eurozone bureaucrats keep Be Enough' upping the ante as to how big a European finance ministers "firewall" is needed. And at every meeting in Copenhagen on Friday c r i t i c a l j u n c t u r e , G e r m a n agreed to boost the euro-zone Chancellor Angela Merkel has firewall to over 800 billion euros. proven she is nothing but a liar. The move marks another U-turn With every demand for additional o n t h e p a r t o f t h e M e r k e l firepower, comes an inevitable administration, which recently cave-in from Merkel supporting d r o p p e d i t s o p p o s i t i o n t o the move, no matter what she says increasing the fund. German in advance. commentators warn that even the Meanwhile, the entire idea that new firewall may still be too firewalls can accomplish anything small. is ludicrous, given the key point German Chancellor Angela that no currency unions in the Merkel and her finance minister, absence of fiscal unions cannot Wolfgang Schuble, have been and will not work. accused of crossing many of the I suspect Merkel understands "red lines" that they have set for this, merely wanting to get themselves over the course of the Germany so deep into bailouts euro crisis, making U-turn after step by step, that it will be U-turn as the crisis escalated. reluctant to leave the Eurozone. They officially stepped over the It is high time the German latest red line on Friday, when Supreme court step in and stop E u r o p e a n U n i o n f i n a n c e this nonsense. ministers meeting in Copenhagen However, nothing can stop agreed to boost the scope of the Greece, Portugal, and Spain from euro zone's firewall to over 800 leaving, and eventually they will. billion ($1 trillion). Berlin had In the meantime, rest assured that long rejected such an expansion every increase in firepower will out of hand. be additional money of German The Nuclear Option citizens' pockets. The end-game On Thursday evening, in the run-
up to Friday's summit, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schuble had said he was prepared to combine the existing bailouts with the new permanent mechanism. He said that the 800 billion capacity was "convincing" and "sufficient." But not everyone shares his view that the sum is enough. On Thursday, French Finance Minister Franois Baroin called for the permanent euro bailout fund to be increased to 1 trillion, to shore up market confidence and prevent contagion in the euro crisis. "The firewall, it's a little like the nuclear option in military planning, it's there for dissuasion, not to be used," Baroin said in a radio interview. 'Shifting Sand Dunes' Opposition parties in Germany were quick to make political capital out of the Merkel administration's many U-turns during a debate on the euro rescue fund and the European fiscal pact in the German parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday. "Your red lines have, in reality, become shifting sand dunes," Frank-Walter Steinmeier, floor leader for the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), said to widespread applause.
In December, Merkel argued, entirely convincingly, that boosting the euro bailout fund was the wrong course to take. After all, she said, it would reduce the pressure on crisisstricken states to push through reforms. There was also the question of whether the creditor countries, including Germany, were in danger of being overwhelmed by ever-higher guarantees." "Now, the fund is indeed being expanded, and the coalition government's former concerns have suddenly disappeared. Instead, the administration is attempting to conceal its own U-turn with highly flawed arguments. The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung focuses on the calls to boost the ESM to 1 trillion: "One trillion euros is a lot of money, and yet even this huge sum will not be enough. But again, that's nothing new. For months, calculations have been doing the rounds that show that at least 1.5 trillion will be needed. The only interesting question left is how long it will take France and Germany to acknowledge this reality." No Amount is Enough For reasons noted at the top, no amount of money (that can
reasonably be provided) would be sufficient. After all, there is a limit to what German citizens and taxpayers can stand. Besides,money alone cannot fix structural problems. Finally, the "nuclear" option is nothing more than former US treasury Hank Paulson's "Bazooka" theory in disguise. Bazooka Theory vs. Actual Results " If you have a bazooka in your pocket and people know it, you probably won't have to use it." Paulson said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. The reference was in regards to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Paulson believed that if he had the power to bailout Fannie Mae, the market would react to that possibility and no bailout would be necessary. Now taxpayers have wasted close to $200 billion bailing out Fannie and Freddie bondholders (mainly PIMCO and foreign banks). Flashback February 12, 2010: EU Leaders Deploy Bazooka to Repel Attack on Greece German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her counterparts yesterday pledged determined SPIEGEL page 32
Economy/ Culture/
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No More Viagra For Mario Monti And His Ilk

testosteronepit
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:52:30 PM
W o l f R i c h t e r www.testosteronepit.com Economic, regulatory, and entitlement reforms are tough. While theyre supposed to open opportunities, put budgets on sounder footing, or make the economy more competitive, they invariably cut into the flesh of some groups, who then react with demonstrations and strikes to draw attention to their plight and put pressure on the reformers to preserve the status quo. This has been happening across the Eurozone wherever major reforms have been attempted. People in those demonstrations m a y s p e a k o f revolutionmeaning a radical change. But they want the opposite: preserve the existing system, protections, and entitlements. So its complicated. Greece is a salient example with impressive TV footage of street battles, Molotov cocktails, and burning buildings. In other countries, France for instance, reforms have been greeted with peaceful demonstrations and more disruptively, with massive transportation strikes that throw innocent bystanders, such as businesses, commuters, and
travelers, into utter chaos, sometimes for days. But now the perhaps most tongue -in-cheek effort will take place in Italy where unelected technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti and his government are trying to liberalize the economy and create conditions for growth by reforming a whole slew of professions whose insiders are protected by regulatory barriers to entry. Growth is essential. Italy is staggering under its debt. Already, the ECB bought piles of Italian government bonds and printed a mountain of euros that it handed to the banks, including Italian banks, so that they would buy crappy bonds for which the financial markets had lost their appetite. Without those actions, controversial and inflationary as they may be, Italy would have to face the music. Its tough out there. "The financial aspect of the crisis is over," declared a relieved Monti last week while visiting Japan, a country mired in a much deeper fiscal hole than Italy but endowed with a central bank that has no compunction about monetizing government deficits. Alas, as he gloated about the progress his government has made in reforming the economy, the targets of his reforms weren't
quite so happy. Among them are state-employed hospital pharmacists, an integral part of Italy's public health care system. Theyre upset because the reforms envision issuing 5,000 licenses mostly for new private pharmaciescreating jobs for young unemployed pharmacists who are stewing at their parents house while waiting for a miracle. These private pharmacies would then compete with hospital pharmacies. Scared out of their wits by these evil machinations, hospital pharmacists have come up with an ingenious plan: hit back where it hurts the most, and not willy-nilly in every direction, but go after the very top of the power structure, the old men that run the show. Standard labor actions commence in April and will rise into a crescendo. The old men that run the show should heed the warning; if they dont water down the reforms, the hospital pharmacists will roll out their ultimate weapon. It will be brutal and life-altering. No more ... Viagra. Hospital pharmacists will cease selling it. Men who habitually use it will be cut off cold turkey and will be cast into abstinence hell. The "Viagra strike is aimed straight at those responsible for the reformsthe
old men in parliament and at Monti himself. The logic is impeccable. And, as Union official Loredana Vasselli points out, it "does not put patients health at risk." Only flaw in the logic: given the early warning, these men could acquire a stash in advance to get them through the strike. Thus, hording could actually cause a spike in pharmacy sales. However, like any Italian man worth his salt, Monti, if pressed by reporters, would deny with casual eloquence that he is hording Viagra.... Its a heck of a lot better than the astonishing ploy used with impunity across the border. For a debacle that is viewed as amusing by everyone except the bosses, read.... Taking Bosses Hostage: A Labor Negotiating Tactic In France. Average: Your rating: None Average: 5( 5 votes) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
12-minute history of Rome [video]

(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 4:17:00 PM
Nothing feels quite like throwing Rome references around in defense of an argument, especially when no one else in the room remembers any more than you do from that class in high school or college. Now, thanks to Crash Course, you dont have to dig out those notes before predicting a superpowers demise with something that sounds like authority, just spend twelve minutes watching a YouTube video. Full story at YouTube. Review your history. Permalink| Leave a comment
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Featured/
GERMANY
SPIEGEL
average EMU country the Zone would be quite different. But it is not; it is geared for Germany making everyone else much worse off relative to Germany. Instead of having a zone with most members tightly clustered around the average with Germany and Greece as outliers we have a policy that is being run for one extreme of the Zone - Germany! Typically the Germans think everyone else is wrong. ...and before you side with Germans let me note here that the US has had a good inflation performance over this period averaging a CPI of 2.5% (PCE even lower) . So before you go, "Ugh! Italy's the the average - are you crazy!!!" remember that US inflation has been relatively well contained during this period and Italy has done BETTER than us. But Italy is stuck in Zone with Germany and policy is being run for German inflation at 1.7% not for Italian inflation. Yes, the Germans are extremely successful in EMU especially compared to everyone else. They know how to work, how to engineer - there is no doubt about that. But they do not know how to
share; they know how to dominate militarily, economically etc. Now they want to dominate EMU by by setting macro policy and social policy as well as having a German monetary policy. If Germany is going to be in a single economic zone with everyone else, it must fit as well as they must fit. Germany and France were the first to break the Mass-Trick rules and once that was gone they could not expect discipline from others. Germany wants every other nation to sacrifice a generation's worth of growth to get their competitiveness back in line to and to defend Herr Euro. Why should any of those countries do that to perpetuate a game where the Germans win? The two important questions to ask are (1) how did this happen so we (Europe) can stop it from continuing and (2) what do we (Europe) do about the huge competitiveness gaps that each EMU member -EACH MEMBER - took part in letting develop? NOT What does GERMANY want to do... Can EMU be saved? Should everyone devalue and re-form a
new currency unit? Should the new unit be renamed? What are the new rules? Who makes compromise in the next system? Say it UP FRONT. Certainly you can't expect whole countries to sacrifice a generation of growth to protect a currency! That puts economics backwards. Currencies are there to serve economic efficiency, to replace barter and to augment growth not to enslave a nation.. ...unless you are German of course. In that case it works for you and you can enslave everyone else. ergo, Germany, the VAMPIRE SQUID of Europe Average: Your rating: None Average: 1.7( 12 votes) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
and coordinated action to support Greeces efforts to regain control of its finances. They stopped short of providing taxpayers money or diluting their own demands for the country to cut the European Unions biggest budget deficit. Its like Paulsons bazooka, said Nielsen, Goldman Sachss chief European economist in London. Its a difficult balancing act -saying something comforting to the market without committing money and hoping the market will take their word for it. After a three-month long plunge in Greeces bonds amid speculation it was facing the threat of default, euro-region leaders yesterday ordered the country to slash its budget deficit and warned investors they would be willing to defend the country from speculative attack if necessary. This is not money for free, said Luxembourg Prime Minister JeanClaude Juncker, who heads the group of euro-area finance ministers. This is a strong commitment imposed on Greece. How Well Did That Idiotic Bazooka Move Work Out? Bazooka theory does not work,
nor did threats to investors that the ECB and EMU would be willing to defend the country from speculative attack if necessary. The same holds true today. The Bigger the Bazooka, the More Money Will be Lost. Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
Tom Brokaw to Appear on Chinese Communist Television

Daniel Halper (The Weekly Standard)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 11:37:00 AM
Former network television host
Tom Brokaw will be appearing on the Chinese Communist channel later tonight, according to a press release from China Central Television. The Communist
CCTV, which in other contexts usually stands for closed-circuit television. channel bears the ironic acronym
Economy/ Gaming/ Finance/
33
14 Fascinating Insights From Wall Street's Sharpest Minds

Eric Platt and Sam Ro (Money Game)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 1:17:28 PM
Oil prices are high and interest rates are rebounding. Meanwhile, gold prices have been volatile, Iran is unstable, and China is slowing. And amid all of these concerns, stocks are sitting at 4-year highs. Wall Street's sharpest economists, strategists, and analysts all sounded off on these matters this week. Most offered the same trite analysis we've read repeatedly. But some thought outside the box or went against the grain (to use two overused cliches). Morgan Stanley Explains Why The Next Jobs Report Is Very Likely To Turn South "In fact, the four-week average of initial jobless claims has now been very little changed for a month and the big improving trend from mid-September to midFebruary has thus now stalled. Our initial forecast for March non -farm payrolls, due on April 6, is that job growth will moderate to
+175k, down from the average +245k gains in the three prior months, with a bigger weatherrelated payback likely ahead in the spring." Read more here > Another Big Inflation Conspiracy Theory Just Got Debunked "The current annualized inflation rate of about 2.2% through early March is the lowest rate in at least two years. That's almost a full
trade deficit in some recent months, the calls for an imminent Greece-like collapse in the Japanese bond market have intensified. Hedge fund managers like Kyle Bass are hoping to make a monster return when this happens. But it's not going to happen, as Koo explains..." Read more here > See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. See Also: GOLDMAN: Sorry Wall Street, Here's The Truth About What's Going To Happen To Profit percent below the 3% annual rate Margins of inflation from the CPI (NSA), CITI: This Demographic Trend providing support to the notion Is Going To Be Wildly Bullish t h a t t h e B L S m e a s u r e o f For Stocks c o n s u m e r p r i c e s o v e r s t a t e s JPMorgan's Tom Lee Explains inflation by a full percentage What Will Happen With The $3.6 Trillion In Cash On Corporate point." Balance Sheets Read more here > RICHARD KOO IS BACK, And He Has Some Bad News For Hedge Funder Kyle Bass "Because Japan has gone into
Skullgirls hits XBLA April 11, PSN release still undetermined

Jordan Mallory (Joystiq)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:12:00 PM
Skullgirls has just passed Microsoft's certification gauntlet and will be available for 1200 MS Points on Wednesday, April 11. The game's PSN release date has yet to be finalized, although it will "very probably be April 10th," according to an announcement made on neoGAF by Reverge Labs community manager Peter Bartholow. Bartholow was able to say, however, that the PSN version's price point will be a comparable $14.99 in North America. Skullgirls hits XBLA April 11, PSN release still undetermined originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
City agrees to lead 'Day of Sorrow' over financial crisis

Pat Diemu (Finance News Business news from the UK and world)
Britain's leading banks have agreed to hold a day of "mass atonement" for the financial crisis
after pressure from the Treasury for a "significant act of contrition" according to a series of leaked
emails.
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Economy/ Culture/ Finance/
If 2012 Ended Right Now, This Would Be The Market Chart Of The Year
Joe Weisenthal (Money Game)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 3:28:29 PM
One quarter of the way through 2012, and t his chart from Bespoke is a great candidate for Chart Of The Year. It shows how in Q1, the best performing stock deciles were the worst performing deciles last year. We've talked about this a lot this year. In fact, on January 19, we said that the three words 'Dash For Trash' were already defining the market.
And this phenomenon was seen all over the place. One of our favorite markets to watch this year was a brutal loser last year: The Egyptian Stock market. And within the US, no stock seemed to catch more people with their pants down more than Bank of America, a stock that collapsed last year, but which is up over 75% this year. Even Greece took a circuitous route to some fairly decent gains (actually it gained nearly as much as the S&P 500).
As the quarter ended, there were Greece has been getting pounded already signs of this trend for weeks, and Egypt has seen reversing Bank of America's some big losses. momentum has been stalled. So it's probably too early to
declare this the story of 2012, but it's certainly the story of the first quarter. Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: NYSE: We'll Allow The DOW To Crash 3900 Points In One Day, But That's It Jeremy Siegel Explains Why Even DOW 15,000 Would Be Cheap That Dj Vu Feeling
Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield Stick Together for Kids' Choice Awards
Molly Goodson (PopSugar)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:13:47 PM
Think Tank: Customers and businesses get burnt by renewable energy schemes
Richard Tyler (Finance News Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:00:35 PM
Cute couple Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield posed together on the orange carpet at the Nick Kids' Choice Awards in LA on Saturday. The real-life loves and The Amazing Spider-Man costars looked adorable making their first official red-carpet appearance
together. Recently the two have been cozying up in NYC, where Andrew is starring in the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman. Emma cheered him on from the front row at his first performance, and since then she and Andrew have been spotted around Manhattan holding hands and checking out the city. They got all dressed up - she in Antonio
Berardi and he in a dapper burgundy suit - for this evening's
show, where they both are presenting. Emma also took the chance to catch up with Kristen Stewart on the way in. Check FabSugar for all the Kids' Choice Awards fashion details, and follow PopSugar on Twitter for updates from inside the show. View Slideshow
New industries pop up all the time, whether by accident - think of the popularity of mobile phone texting - or the mass commercialisation of a clever piece of science.
Culture/
35
John Piper, Tim Keller Discuss Why Churches Still Struggle With Racism
(Christianpost.com > Most Popular)
March 30, 2012| 8:29 am (Photo: Crossway) (l-r) Anthony Bradley, professor of theology at The King's College; John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis; and Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City, speak at the "Race and the Christian" event at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. NEW YORK At a live discussion on race and the Gospel this week in New York City, evangelical pastors John Piper and Tim Keller discussed why racism still persists in today's Church and shared struggles that pastors, including themselves, face in pursuing racial diversity in their churches. Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn., and Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City, headlined a conversation called "Race and the Christian," held Wednesday at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Dr.Anthony Bradley, Professor of Theology at The King's College in New York City moderated the talk. Piper's latest book Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian was the impetus for
the event. Grace Over Race In his talk, Piper characterized racism as a "history-long, global problem" that could only be explained by the biblical narrative of sin and the Fall. Man's sin of pride, according to Piper, causes him to find satisfaction in himself rather than in God, providing the basis for racism. "That is because humans are in rebellion against God. That's where that comes from. Exalting ourselves over our maker and of course, if over our maker, over each other. That's a given," Piper told the audience at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Like us on Facebook The Christian worldview that culminates in the Gospel undermines racism, he continued. "You are so sinful and I am so sinful we are roped together. There is no exalting of another over another here. We are both dead, bent rebels together on our way to hell. How vain is the exaltation of a sinner over another sinner?" Piper said. Christ died to reconcile us all in one body, said the Bloodlines author. Those who have received this redemption through faith must base his identity on the grace of Christ, not race, he said. So why is there still racism in today's church? Piper believes
Christians can do better but they must intentionally choose grace over race. "Redemption is not perfection," said Piper. "The redeemed must realize their imperfections." Racism as a Systemic Evil Keller, who wrote the foreword to Bloodlines, argued that racism is perpetuated by "systemic evil" and the lack of "corporate responsibility." Racism persists, he contended, because the system that allows it to exist is actively or passively supported to varying degrees by different participants. For example, the Holocaust happened because a whole system was working, according to Keller. At the top of the system, there were people who sent Jews to death camps but at the bottom, there were German citizens who heard rumors, didn't want to know more and continued to pay taxes. Like Piper, Keller agreed that converting people to Christianity is not enough to combat racism. "You can't just convert everyone and convict them of their individual sin of racism," he said. Keller said the system must change in order for the people to change. But one of the challenges, he presented, is that "white people" don't have a concept of "corporate responsibility" which prevents them from dealing with "corporate evil" or "systemic
racism." The Bible supports the practice of corporate responsibility, Keller further explained. In Joshua 7, corporate responsibility in family is illustrated when Akin and his family are punished for Akin's sin of taking the wealth for himself. Daniel 9 demonstrates corporate responsibility for an entire culture because it shows how the prophet Daniel repents for the sins of his ancestors and sins that he individually didn't commit. This lack of understanding can explain why many white Americans couldn't understand "Linsanity," joked Keller. If they had truly grasped the principle of corporate responsibility, they would have understood that for other cultures it's both the "guilt" and the "credit" that is applied to a whole community. Keller underscored the need for Christians to see systemic evil, take responsibility, and come alongside those who recognize systemic evil to articulate their concerns. Love Instead of Rhetoric Bradley, who moderated Wednesday's discussion, shared his perspective as an AfricanAmerican who grew up after the civil rights movement but grew up listening to his parents tell brutal stories about how they were treated like animals in the Jim
Crow South. He thanked Piper for confessing his sin of racism in Bloodlines and said there needed to be more people in this generation to confess where they have failed when it comes to the issue of racism. According to Bradley, the discussion of racism needs to be framed around God's covenant story and Jesus' teachings of love if it is to move beyond just rhetoric. It is not enough, for example, to be for abolition but not embrace Jesus' teaching of "love thy neighbor." Bradley's parents were told by white Christians proselytizing that they were saved by grace but were never told about that they were worthy of being loved by them. "We need to go much, much deeper," Bradley challenged the audience and those tuning in to the talk via livstream. "Much of the credibility of what is said here is based on what you all do in the next five or ten years." Changes that would reflect "progress," according to the King's College professor, would include evangelicals listening to the perspective of more black or brown theologians or the presence of more black speakers at a Gospel conference, instead of JOHN page 39
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Culture/
Mark Driscoll Steps Down as Leader of Acts 29; Resigns From Gospel Coalition
systems, and such were not as effective as we needed, which is to be expected to some degree in a Featured Posts large, complex, fast-growing Movie Hungry People Games entrepreneurial network such as Our culture, at this time, is ready ours." for a movie like this. Hunger After meeting for a full day with Games ... pastors Chandler and Darrin March 29, 2012| 8:58 am Patrick, along with the executive Later in the day, in another major elders of Mars Hill, he stated that move by Driscoll, the Gospel a decision was made on how to Coalition announced that they had restructure Acts 29. received a letter of his resignation Order Online: Real Marriage: as a council member. A change in The Truth about Sex, Friendship priorities was the reason given by & Life Together Driscoll who plans to devote more "Together, we decided, in light of time to his growing church. all the complexity we're facing, Acts 29 is a network of church that the best thing for Acts 29 planters that "emerged from a going forward would be for Matt small band of brothers" to more C h a n d l e r t o a s s u m e t h e than 400 churches in the United presidency, move the network States and networks of churches offices to Dallas, and select his in multiple countries. Acts 29 staff," Driscoll said. Driscoll, who is the lead pastor of The Seattle pastor said he will Seattle-based Mars Hill Church, remain on the Acts 29 board of issued a statement through Acts directors and support his friend, 29, which gave a brief history of Chandler. All of the network of the group and how the decision Mars Hill local churches will was made. continue to be a part of Acts 29 as "Recently, I sensed that not all well, he said. was well in Acts 29. As my "I want to thank the people of concerns grew, I recently resumed Mars Hill for pouring millions of the presidency of Acts 29 to work dollars into Acts 29 over the d i r e c t l y w i t h o u r n e t w o r k years," Driscoll added. captains, most influential pastors, "As for myself, I want to humbly and staff," Driscoll stated. "It serve Jesus and his men in Acts seemed to me that some of our 29 by doing whatever is best for relationships, board size and them. Going forward, I will gladly s t r u c t u r e , c o m m u n i c a t i o n , remain on the Acts 29 Board
supporting Matt, along with Darrin and whomever else Matt believes best fits the Board." Chandler, who is the lead pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, Texas, also wrote a letter about the group's transition posted on various websites. "I am greatly humbled by the opportunity to serve our great God and King, as well as our movement, in the capacity of president of Acts 29," Chandler stated. "Our meeting in Seattle couldn't have been more Spiritempowered and unifying than it was, and I flew home excited and invigorated by the opportunities that are before us. "There are few things that excite me like planting churches and seeing people come to know, love, and mature in Christ. So, this task allows me to serve in an area of my passion," he said. "We are in the process of transitioning Acts 29 from Seattle to Dallas. At present that involves gathering all of the information we can on Acts 29 's budget, processes, setting up Acts 29 legally in Texas, etc." Pastor Scott Thomas, who was a board member and director of the group at one time, was not mentioned in Driscoll's letter, but Chandler wrote that Thomas was "taking this transition as a chance to pursue other opportunities he
has before him and will not be making the move to Dallas." "Scott and I are on very good terms and had dinner just this past weekend, where he informed me of his deep love for you and the network but felt like God has released him from leading Acts 29. He is excited about what God has next for him," Chandler wrote. In a development that followed later on Wednesday after the announcement about the reorganization at Acts 29, The Gospel Coalition announced that they received a letter from Driscoll that stated he was stepping down from the Council of The Gospel Coalition. The coalition is "a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing [their] faith in the gospel of Christ and ... reforming ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures." "Mark let us know in advance of his intentions, part of a major reorganization of his priorities and a changing of the guard in Acts 29. We are saddened by his departure but understand that all busy people must establish priorities," officials from the group posted Wednesday afternoon. "The Council is grateful to Mark for his contributions to TGC during the past decade. In the
months and years ahead, we will certainly be praying for him, his family, and the ministries he influences," the Gospel Coalition wrote. In Driscoll's letter posted on the group's site he clarified that he was not asked to stepped down. "I was a founding member of The Gospel Coalition and to this day enjoy deep friendships and theological unity with the men. But I'm no longer going to be a Council member, as I seek to focus my energies on a handful of things. If I'm honest, with the continued growth of all the ministries in which I'm involved, it's not sustainable for me to keep up with all of them. So, this is a season of pruning for me. "For the record, no one has asked me to leave the Council, and I have no relational conflict with anyone and no disagreement theologically. The men remain friends who are welcome to speak into my life, and I'm transitioning for no other reason than I find myself at the end of my tether with time and energy." Driscoll outlined most of what transpired in the last several days in a blog post on his PastorMark.tv website published Wednesday and headlined, " What's Next for Me." MARK page 38
Culture/
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With GPS Data Out, Feds Eye Warrantless Cell Phone Surveillance
David Kravets (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 4:13:00 PM
Prosectors are shifting their focus to warrantless cell-tower locational tracking of suspects in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that law enforcement should acquire probable-cause warrants from judges to affix GPS devices to vehicles and monitor their every move, according to court records. The change of strategy comes in the case the justices decided in January, when it reversed the life sentence of a District of Columbia area drug dealer, Antoine Jones, who was the subject of 28 days of warrantless GPS surveillance via a device the FBI secretly attached to his vehicle without a warrant. In the wake of Jones decision, the FBI has pulled the plug on 3,000 GPS tracking devices. In a Friday filing in pre-trial proceedings of Jones retrial, Jones attorney said the government has five months worth of a different kind of locational tracking information on his client: Socalled cell-site information, obtained without a warrant, chronicling where Jones was when he made and received mobile phone calls in 2005. In this case, the government seeks to do with cell site data
what it cannot do with the suppressed GPS data, attorney Eduardo Balarezo wrote(.pdf) U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle. Balarezo added: The government has produced material obtained through court orders for the relevant cellular
telephone numbers. Upon information and belief, now that the illegally obtained GPS data cannot be used as evidence in this case, the government will seek to introduce cell site data in its place in an attempt to demonstrate Mr. Jones movements and
whereabouts during relevant times. Mr. Jones submits that the government obtained the cell site data in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and therefore it must be suppressed. Just as the lower courts were
mixed on whether the police could secretly affix a GPS device on a suspects car without a warrant, the same is now true about whether a probable-cause warrant is required to obtain socalled cell-site data. A lower court judge in the Jones case had authorized the five months of the cell-site data without probable cause, based on government assertions that the data was relevant and material to an investigation. Knowing the location of the trafficker when such telephone calls are made will assist law enforcement in discovering the location of the premises in which the trafficker maintains his supply narcotics, paraphernalia used in narcotics trafficking such as cutting and packaging materials, and other evident of illegal narcotics trafficking, including records and financial information, the government wrote in 2005, when requesting Jones cell-site data. That cell-site information was not introduced at trial, as the authorities used the GPS data for the same function. The Supreme Court tossed that GPS data, along with Jones conviction, on January 23. The justices agreed to decide WITH page 39
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Culture/ News Photos
Church-State Group Opposes Road Project That Benefits 'Ark Park'

MARK
apparent religious entanglements. "The Highway-36 appropriation is intended to promote and support a religious, evangelical enterprise, (Photo: Creation Museum) violating the separation of church Model display of Noah's ark as and state and the Kentucky seen at the Creation Museum in Constitution's prohibitions on Petersburg, Ky. The biblical government support of religion," apologetics ministry, Answers in said Luchenitser. Genesis, plans to build a life-sized "The KY-36 road project has only r e p l i c a o f t h e a r k i n one purpose: to support the Williamstown, February 2012. construction of the Ark Encounter Theme Park a proposed biblical Featured Posts theme park that would be in the Movie Hungry People Games shape of a full-size replica of Our culture, at this time, is ready Noah's Ark, using the dimensions for a movie like this. Hunger set forth in the Bible." Games ... Like us on Facebook March 29, 2012| 3:34 pm Chuck Wolfe of the Kentucky Americans United for Separation Transportation Cabinet told CP o f C h u r c h a n d S t a t e h a s that the project was necessary denounced the project, which given the expected traffic increase would provide $11.1 million for courtesy of the Ark Park. various improvements to KY 36, a "The Kentucky Transportation highway that is near the site Cabinet is designing a project to where Answers In Genesis' Ark a c c o m m o d a t e a s i g n i f i c a n t Encounter Theme Park will be increase in traffic projected for located. KY 36 in Grant County, northern Known as the "Ark Park," the Kentucky," said Wolfe. theme park would showcase a life "That increased traffic otherwise -size replica of Noah's Ark, built w o u l d c a u s e s i g n i f i c a n t in the same dimensions described c o n g e s t i o n a n d d a n g e r o u s in the Genesis account of Noah's backups on Interstate 75. The flood. cabinet designs projects based on Alex Luchenitser, associate legal traffic needs, regardless of the director for Americans United, source of that traffic." told The Christian Post that his The transportation plan that o r g a n i z a t i o n o p p o s e s t h e includes the $11.1 million project monetary expenditure over its for KY 36 was introduced by
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and has been amended and passed by both houses of the State Legislature. Since each legislative chamber passed a different version of the highway construction project bill, at present the two chambers will be negotiated. According to Wolfe, the total expense allotted from the KY 36 project that would benefit the Ark Park is miniscule compared to the overall allotments for the highway plan. "It ($11.1 million for KY 36) is a comparatively modest project. The entire highway plan submitted by Governor Beshear totals $10.7 billion," said Wolfe. "The competing House and Senate versions [currently] add up to $10.6 billion and $11.5 billion, respectively." Mark Looy, chief communications officer for Answers in Genesis, told CP that as the KY 36 legislation is still being processed, The Ark Encounter LLC and its partners have made progress on the Ark Park. "The Ark Encounter LLC, with whom we are partnering, recently closed on the final piece of land, known as the Finke property. We now have 800 acres in Williamstown, Kentucky," said Looy.
"In addition to reaching that milestone, we have seen the completion of complex engineering and architectural work on the Ark structure. This thorough study has determined that there can be significantly greater guest capacity inside the Ark than originally anticipated." Looy also said he did not believe there was a church-state issue with the KY 36 project since no additional taxes will be raised in order to pay for it. "Funds for road and interchange improvements would come via the federal and state governments and from revenue collected through gasoline taxes," said Looy. "Local and state taxes will not increase for Kentucky citizens in order to pay for road improvements. Thus there is no church/state issue in this regard." Looy also told CP that the Ark Encounter Theme Park was not the only beneficiary of the proposed improvements to KY 36, as "residents living near the Speedway have benefited from road improvements." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
SEE VIDEO OF MARK DRISCOLL SPEAKING ON HIS FAITH This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Photos, Video Replays, Quotes: 2012 Dubai World Cup Results - Yahoo! Sports
(news photos - Google News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:56:14 PM
Photos, Video Replays, Quotes: 2012 Dubai World Cup Results Yahoo! Sports @7DaysUAE posted a photo on Twitter of His Highness holding the winning gold trophy. On his Facebook page, His Highness posted on March 31, 2012, "Excited about the victory of Monterosso in Dubai World Cup We present this victory to all people in... and more
News Photos
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JOHN
WITH
typically being outnumbered by white speakers 20 to 1. "If your churches continue to look the same way they look now, the leadership in your organizations don't change, people will be suspicious that this is simply rhetoric," said Bradley. He called on Christians to participate in God's mission of "reconciling all things" and make the world they live in reflect His glory and mission. Challenges in Creating a Racially Diverse Church During the two-hour long discussion, Piper and Keller also shared challenges they encountered in promoting racial diversity in their congregations. Piper, who pastors a predominantly White church, said he was criticized for writing a book on racism when he couldn't make his own church racially diverse. He frankly admitted his shortcoming Wednesday, saying he is "an urban pastor who doesn't have an ideal church." "I'm 65. It isn't going to get better in my church under me. It's over," he added. Piper announced earlier
this week that he is preparing to step down as lead pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Though it may be difficult to achieve racial harmony, Piper encouraged Christians to at least try even if they end up making mistakes along the way. His church once attempted ethnic worship but it proved to be a disaster. Still, some of his nonwhite church members thanked him for the effort. "That you care and that you tried matters a lot," said Piper. "Give yourself to people who are different from you and give yourself to the Word." Keller, whose congregation is comprised of over 50 percent Asian, said that the race of the pastor also presents a challenge in retaining a multi-ethnic congregation. For example, it is harder for an Asian or Hispanic pastor to retain Whites because Whites naturally assume that the congregation is Asian or Hispanic since they are not used to a nonwhite person being in power. On the other hand, a white pastor can more easily retain a non-White
member because non-Whites are used to white people being in charge. He said he learned that criticism comes with the territory of such a controversial issue like racism. Any pastor who wants to diversify his church is bound to "fall short" and "be told you're falling short," said the Redeemer pastor. But Keller takes everything with a grain of salt, telling himself, "I'm not going to feel sorry for myself because that is a very white thing to do." "Race and the Christian" was sponsored by Crossway and hosted by Redeemer's Grace and Race Team. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Jones case in a bid to settle conflicting lower-court decisions some of which ruled a warrant was necessary, while others found the government had unchecked GPS surveillance powers. We hold that the governments installation of a GPS device on a targets vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicles movements, constitutes a search, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the five-justice majority. The government has maintained in a different case on appeal that cell-site data is distinguishable from GPS-derived data. District of Columbia prosecutors are expected to lodge their papers on the issue by April 6 in the Jones case. Among other things, the government maintains Americans have no expectation of privacy of such cell-site records because they are in the possession of a third party (.pdf) the mobile phone companies. Whats more, the authorities maintain that the cell site data is not as precise as GPS tracking and, there is no trespass or physical intrusion on a
customers cell phone when the government obtains historical cell -site records from a provider. In the Jones case, the Supreme Court agreed with an appeals court that Jones rights had been violated by the month-long warrantless attachment of a GPS device underneath his car. Scalias majority opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, said placing the device on the suspects car amounted to a search. (.pdf) Photo:@jbtaylor/Flickr This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Photos/Maps: Lower North Fork Fire Denver Post

Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:24:41 PM
Photos/Maps: Lower North Fork
Fire Denver Post Rescue crews Saturday afternoon suspended the search for a woman
missing in the Lower North Creek spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said fire after they found "human that test results to... artifacts" in the ruins of her home. and more Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
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Culture/
Apple's Biogas Fuel Cell Plant Could Go Live By June

Robert McMillan (Wired Top Stories)
First reported by Greensboro News & Record, the filing offers a few more technical details on Submitted at 3/31/2012 12:31:00 PM the 4.8 megawatt facility, which Apple plans to power this will be comprised of 24-200 Maiden, North Carolina, data kilowatt fuel cell systems that will center with biogas. sit on a common concrete pad Apple says that a biogas-powered out of doors. Each system will fuel cell system that will help h a v e s i x p o w e r - g e n e r a t i n g power its Maiden, North Carolina, m o d u l e s , A p p l e s a y s . data center could be up and The fuel cells take methane in running as early as June, much this case, produced by animal earlier than previously expected. waste and convert that to T h e c o m p a n y m a d e t h e electricity. Apples installation d i s c l o s u r e i n a W e d n e s d a y will be built by Californias regulatory filing with the North Bloom Energy, and it will be the Carolina Utilities Commission. largest such fuel cell installation
built outside of the utility industry, the News & Record reports. The first of Apples fuel cells could be online as early as June,
and Apple expects to have the whole facility up and running by the end of November. Apple isnt saying publicly what it will cost that part was filed under seal.
Apples trying to turn around its reputation as a dirty energy user with the Maiden facility, which powers its iCloud. Right next to the biogas plant, Apples building a massive 20-megawatt solar array. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Kristen Stewart Wows in Bright Blue Stella McCartney at Kids' Choice Awards
Molly Goodson (PopSugar)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:32:00 PM
Kristen Stewart stood out in a gorgeous blue Stella McCartney dress and matching Barbara Bui heels on the Kids' Choice Awards orange carpet in LA this
afternoon. She stopped to sign Kristen stars in one of two autographs for some fans on her adaptations of the classic fairy way into the show, where she is tale hitting the big screen this up for favorite movie actress. year, and we took a look at Snow Kristen is kicking off promotional White's transformation into a work for Snow White and the badass through the years. Kristen Huntsman, though this is also reportedly headed to work in the Twilight series. nomination is primarily for her Cannes next month to premiere
On the Road, so it should be an exciting few months of red-carpet appearances for Miss Stewart. Are you feeling Kristen's blue moment? Let us know and follow PopSugar on Twitter for updates from inside the show! View Slideshow
Culture/ Gaming/
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Highlights From the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

Allie Merriam (PopSugar)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:39:16 PM
The 25th ever Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards went down in LA tonight with Will Smith presiding as host. The first famous face to get smiled was Halle Berry, who was doused in green goo. Big honors went to 2012 butt-kicker Taylor Lautner, and Selena Gomez won favorite TV actress. Adam Sandler was crowned favorite movie actor, and Katy Perry also took home gold. First Lady Michelle Obama was also on hand. The First Lady presented the "Big Help" award for charity endeavors to Taylor Swift. Michelle's two daughters, Sasha and Malia, were in the audience to watch. Kristen Stewart wore Stella McCartney to take the stage
and accept her favorite movies actress award, while other p r e s e n t e r s i n c l u d e d R o b e r t Jordan Mallory (Joystiq) Downey, Jr., Josh Hutcherson, Submitted at 3/31/2012 11:30:00 PM Chris Rock, Andrew Garfield, and Emma Stone- stay tuned for more Tomorrow is April Fools' Day, highlights from the show! View also known as "Liar's Day" or "Free Ice-Cream and Disneyland Slideshow Day." It's a horrible, socially dissonant 24-hour endurance marathon of deceit, crushed hopes and maleficent laughter at the expense of the trusting and loving. When you wake up tomorrow, remember that nothing is as it seems. If something is too good to be true, it is. Like most situations in life, the only way to make it out of April Fools' Day unharmed is to turn your heart into a desolate, barren shell, never again able to trust or empathize. Before you do that, though, check out our favorite webcomics from last week, and vote for your favorites
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is giving you fair warning
New Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition trailer channels the encyclopedia britannica

Jordan Mallory (Joystiq)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:30:00 PM
The question posed by this by this latest Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition trailer ("What is a Witcher?") could easily be after the break! answered by visiting Wikipedia, Jokers To The Right ( Penny b o t h r e g u l a r a n d W i t c h e r Arcade) flavored. Getting your Spring ( Nerf Now!!) information that way, however, Tread Lightly ( Awkward prevents you from seeing a dude's Zombie) face ripped open by tiny shovels. Crafty Crucible ( Hejibits) New Witcher 2: Enhanced I'll stop when I've saved the Edition trailer channels the world and fallen in love. ( encyclopedia britannica originally Magical Game Time) appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 31 Don't Tell Peta ( Brentalfloss: Mar 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please The Comic) see our terms for use of feeds. C o n t i n u e r e a d i n g W e e k l y Permalink| Email this| Comments Webcomic Wrapup is giving you fair warning Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is giving you fair warning originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
42
Politics-Left/
Sudan governor to troops: 'Take no prisoners'

(AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE))
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:36:07 PM
The governor of Sudans Southern Kordofan has been filmed addressing troops before a battle with rebel fighters urging them to "take no prisoners". In footage obtained by Al Jazeera, Ahmed Harun, the state governor who has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in Darfur, is captured on camera telling his soldiers to take strong action against anyone who comes in their way. Southern Kordofan holds most of Sudan's remaining known oil reserves, after South Sudan seceded in July 2011, taking its oilfields with it. Southern Kordofan has become a strategic asset for Khartoum, but rebels there want to follow Juba and be granted independence from Khartoum. The footage shows Sudanese troops stationed in a captured base involved in a gun battle with rebel forces. Harun is addressing his soldiers before they enter rebel territory by saying: "You must hand over the
place clean. Swept, rubbed, crushed. Dont bring them back alive. We have no space for them." An army commander standing near Harun then says: "Dont bring them back, eat them alive." General Jogot Mekwar, who is from the Southern Kordofan rebel forces after watching the video told Al Jazeera: "What Ahmed Haroun says is inhumane. He wants to enslave people, and he has a hatred against humanity." "From our perspective, the things he says are the reason the court has issued an arrest warrant." Accusations denied Sudan's government said Harun's comments were "not interpreted correctly," Rabi Abdel Atti, a senior adviser to Sudan's information ministry, told Al Jazeera from Khartoum on Saturday. "He is not ordering the soldiers to kill civilians but to kill rebels; this is war," Abdel Atti said. "What was said by the Southern Kordofan governor to the soldiers is in the context of mobilisation of soldiers to confront and to chase the rebels to the south where they are coming from. "What do you want us to do if rebels come and invade the area
and threaten civilians and disturb peace and security in the area? I think that what is said by the governor is absolutely correct to confront those. "They are coming to kill our soldiers and our soldiers have a right to kill them." Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Khartoum, said people in Sudan felt Harun's comments should not be taken out of context. "People here are saying that this statement by Ahmed Harun should not be taken as a literal order to the Sudanese soldiers to kill those rebels and not to take any prisoners," he said. "They said Ahmend Harun was smiling, he was in an unofficial way talking to those soldiers in a situation which is locally understood ... as a way to raise the fighting spirit of the soldiers but not giving them a specific and definite order to kill. "However, it can be understood outside Sudan as a literal statement, given that Ahmed Harun has been accused by the ICC with those crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. "In that context it can be very much understood as going into the
same direction and kind of evidence of what has been levelled against Harun." ICC charges Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the ICC, told Al Jazeera the video footage was part of a pattern of behaviour for Harun. "A commander has a responsibility to ensure that his troops are not violating the law. He cannot encourage them to commit crimes," Moreno-Ocampo said. "'Take no prisoners' means a crime against humanity or a war crime, because if the prisoner was a combatant it is a war crime and if the pisoner was a civilian it's a crime against humanity. "In both cases, it confirms the pattern that Mr Harun should be arrested and brought before the ICC to stop the crimes." In 2007 the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Harun for his alleged role targeting rebel groups in Darfur by funding and arming the Janjaweed armed group to incite attacks against civilian forces. The charges against him constitute some 50 counts of atrocities including murder, mass rape and torture. Harun has always denied the
accusations, and was quoted as saying the violence "never happened in the first place". According to the UN, tens of thousands have fled the violence in the Nuba Mountain region since July 2011. The world body has called for an investigation into reports of human rights abuses in the territory. Sudan's government has dismissed those accusations, and in turn has accused rebel groups, many of whom fought alongside South Sudan during decades of civil war with the Khartoum government, of launching a rebellion to try and control the territory. Tensions have been high since Harun, who is a member of President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party won the state governorship election, in a vote that some opposition groups said was rigged. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Politics-Left/
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Egypt's Brotherhood picks presidential runner

Submitted at 3/31/2012 3:49:34 PM
Khairat al-Shater, a top financier of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, is set to be the group's presidential candidate [AFP] Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, in control of almost half the seats in parliament, announced it was fielding its own presidential candidate, reversing an earlier decision not to do so and escalating its confrontation with the nation's ruling generals and the group's secular and progressive critics. A win by its candidate, the group's chief strategist and deputy leader Khairat al-Shater, would give the formerly outlawed movement Islamic principles should regulate all aspects of public and family life a strong grip on both the country's legislative and executive branches, and gives the group a powerful hand in determining the future of this mainly Muslim nation whose longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, a staunch US ally, was ousted a year ago. The announcement at a Cairo news conference ended weeks of speculation and confusion within the group. The Saturday's decision split the group's governing Shura council, the group's legislative body, to two camps: one in
favour of fielding a candidate from within and one against it, fearing the repercussions, according to a Brotherhood official. He spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter. Egypt's press describe al-Shater as a multi-millionaire
businessman and one of the Brotherhood's main financiers. The movement's decision to finally nominate one of its own is likely to escalate the group's confrontation with the council of military generals, who are accused of seeking to preserve the army's privileges and are likely
not to want too much power concentrated in the hands of a single group. It will also widen the gap with progressives and secularists, who fear that the movement - which has largely espoused moderate rhetoric in the past year - will
implement a conservative Muslim agenda once it has solidified its political position. Already, Muslim conservatives enjoy a comfortable majority on a 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution for EGYPT'S page 45
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Politics-Left/
Myanmar votes in crucial by-election

Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:08:15 PM
campaigning on Friday. Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay, reporting from Kawhmu in Voting is under way for crucial Myanmar, said: "There are by-elections in Myanmar, seen as international monitors on the a key test of the military-backed ground, but they are not allowed civilian government's budding inside the polling booths. They r e f o r m s , w i t h p r o m i n e n t are certainly not allowed to opposition leader Aung San Suu oversee the counting when that Kyi among those standing. starts later on Sunday." Polling stations opened at 6:00am "So, they are here to observe local time on Sunday (23:30 GMT overall process, talk to voters on Saturday) and were due to about any irregularities that they close at 4:00pm local time, with might have seen," he said. more than six million people "What we are hearing that some eligible to vote. voters have complained that The results are expected within voting sheets have been tempered about one week, according to w i t h . S o m e v o t e r s h a v e election officials. complained that inside the polling The Nobel laureate, who is stations some of the officials have running in the constituency of been coercing voters into voting Kawhmu, south of Yangon, is for a certain party. widely expected to win a seat in a "So, not the best of starts, but parliament dominated by the certainly something the National military and its political allies. League for Democracy and Suu She said she did not regret Kyi were expecting." standing for parliament because Suu Kyis NLD party is the polls had boosted people's contesting 44 out of 45 seats, but interest in politics after decades of has complained of irregularities outright military rule ended last that could undermine the vote. year. The NLD won a landslide A carnival atmosphere pervaded election victory in 1990 but the i n M i n g a l a r T a u n g N y u n t junta never allowed it to take t o w n s h i p , o n e o f s i x office. The party also boycotted constituencies up for grabs in the 2010 polls that swept the Yangon, on the last day of army's political proxies to power
and were marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation. "We have done a lot of preparation for April 1. We have polling station representatives and people to provide information, because we want to know what's going on," Phyu Phyu Thin, a local NLD candidate, told the AFP news agency. "The result will match people's desires. The NLD must win." Foreign observers A total of 160 candidates from 17 parties, including six new to the political stage, are contesting in the country's 45 constituencies. Suu Kyi is contesting despite
criticising the polls as not "genuinely free and fair" [AFP] The number of seats at stake is not enough to threaten the military-backed ruling party's overwhelming majority in parliament but Suu Kyi described the vote as "a step towards step one in democracy". The pro-democracy leader, who spent most of the past 22 years as a political prisoner, is contesting for the first time despite criticising the polls as not "genuinely free and fair". "What has been happening in this country is really beyond what is acceptable for a democratic
election. Still, we are determined to go forward because we think that is what our people want," Suu Kyi on Friday. She has accused rivals of vandalising election posters, padding electoral registers and "many, many cases of intimidation", including two attempts to injure candidates with catapulted projectiles. The government has for the first time invited teams of foreign observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN], European Union and the US, and journalists to witness the elections. Since taking office a year ago, President Thein Sein has carried out reforms including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, easing media restrictions and welcoming the opposition back into mainstream politics. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Featured/ Technology/
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EGYPT'S
Egypt, which has raised serious alarm among the nation's large Christian minority and progressives. Policy reversal The decision to run a presidential candidate may have as much to do with the Brotherhood's internal politics as its long-term plans. Two other advocates of political Islam - one a relative progressive and the other an ultraconservative - are also running for president, and Brotherhood leaders reportedly feared that these candidates might attract a following from younger members of the movement and break down its legendary discipline. Mahmoud Hussein, the group's deputy leader, said the decision to run a candidate was made in the face of "attempts to abort the revolution," after the military council refused several requests by the Brotherhood to appoint a cabinet of ministers. "We don't want to reach a
confrontation that affects the path of the nation," Mohammed Morsi, top leader of the group's political arm said. But such a confrontation is likely. The move reverses a pledge made by the group's leaders not to contest presidential elections to reassure progressives and Western countries fearful of an Islamic takeover. The group won close to half of parliament seats in the country's first post-revolution elections in November. That victory was largely due to the Brotherhood's grassroots movement, however, and it is unclear how al-Shater will do against other candidates who might have greater name recognition and stronger television presence, such as exArab League chief Amr Moussa. Al-Shater also faces off against the two other candidates calling for an Islamic form of government, although the impact of him splitting the Islamist vote
is lessened because the top two candidates in the first round of balloting will go on to a run-off. Al-Shater, who is in his early sixties, joined the Brotherhood in 1974. He has been jailed four times for a total of seven years on charges relating to his membership in the Brotherhood, which was outlawed more than 50 years ago. However, Hussein said that there are "no legal obstacles" in front of al-Shater to contest the election. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Mom's TV
(Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:23:33 PM
It was a good thing I went to visit Mom today. She says it's time to get a new TV, because this one isn't working anymore. I said that's great because it's an old TV, one that I bought in Boston in 2003 and gave to my parents when I moved back to Calif in 2006. It was super expensive then, but it was a flat-screen LCD, and was a revolutionary product. But it's 9 years old. They make much better TVs for much less these days. And I love buying electronics. So I was excited to get to buy a new TV for Mom. A chance to learn what's new in TVs, if anything. So we went to lunch and talked about lots of things. I asked what was wrong with the TV. Turns out her remote needed new batteries. So no new TV now. She's happy
with the one she has. Then we sat down to watch basketball and she put on CBS and I thought this picture really sucks. I know she has FIOS and I know they have HD. So I looked at the channel lineup and we switched from Channel 2 to 502. What a difference! So Mom got the big upgrade anyway. Moral of the story -- it's a good idea to visit your mother from time to time. She may have HD and not know it, and her remote might need new batteries.
Mobile Miscellany: week of March 26th, 2012

Zachary Lutz (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:04:00 PM
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come
to the right place. This past week, we've seen hints of a Droid Bionic 2, and unfortunately, a number of T-Mobile customers will need to brace for a price hike. These stories and more await after the the ride as we explore the " best of break. So buy the ticket and take
the rest" for this week of March 26th, 2012. Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of March 26th, 2012 Mobile Miscellany: week of March 26th, 2012 originally
appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments
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Is Chevy Chase Quitting 'Community'?

Maggie Furlong (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
would take it into syndication, Chase's comments are oddly timed and certainly not indicative Submitted at 3/31/2012 4:10:58 PM of how the rest of the When the cast of " Community" "Community" cast and crew feels. tweets quotes and anecdotes But they could also be the final asking "Pierce or Chevy?," it's not straw with fans who've put up always easy to tell. Just like his with Pierce's nonsense, bigotry "Community" alter ego, Pierce and flat-out obnoxious behavior Hawthorne, star Chevy Chase for so long because it was a small doesn't always know how or when price to pay for more of the to edit himself. "Community" characters we love. On the heels of Deadline's report Yes, his anti-TV and antithat Chase is in a feud with "Community" statements might " C o m m u n i t y " c r e a t o r D a n just make every "Community" fan Harmon-- and the airing of a anti-Pierce. And Chevy Chase profanity-laden voicemail Chase seems OK with that. l e f t H a r m o n ( w a r n i n g : v e r y What are you all shooting today? NSFW) after Harmon reportedly We hear it's another fun flashback called Chase out for storming off episode. the set and then gave him an I'm just doing the lines as best I unfiltered roast at the show's can, doing whatever the director Season 3 wrap party -- here's tells me. Apparently my flashback some more insight into Chase's is so odd ... I can't really get a attitude about the fan-favorite hold of it. On the other hand, if show. you look at the other actors in the The last time I was on set, right same scene, I don't think they can before they wrapped production get a hold of it either. for Season 3, Chase was even Do you have more fun playing more fired up than usual, going as Pierce the asshole or Pierce the far as saying, "I have creative bumbling old guy? issues with this show. I always I've never really come to grips have," before comparing elements with it ... I don't think that of the show to "being relegated to anybody has. [Laughs.] Viewers, hell and watching 'Howdy Doody' the writers, me. I think, just by for the rest of your life." He then being older, I'm supposed to be added: "I can't stand sitcoms," and more of a curmudgeon. declared, "I probably won't be Would you hang out with Pierce? a r o u n d t h a t m u c h l o n g e r , No. No! [Laughs.] Why would I? frankly." Part of the challenge of being in With the NBC sitcom still this is to not be anything like waiting to hear about its fate, and myself. No ... I'm funny. Pierce a possible Season 4 pickup that isn't funny.
But you know guys like Pierce, don't you? No, I don't. Not that still have their teeth. No. I don't know guys like anybody in this sitcom, frankly. I think that the two white girls -- the two pretty, young girls, Alison [Brie] and Gillian [Jacobs] -- they're probably more like people that we can all understand. There are narcissistic elements to Joel [McHale]'s character, which come easily to him. [Laughs.] I don't think that there's anything that's unrealistic, but do I really know anybody like this? No. I have creative issues with this show. I always have. With my character, with how far you can take [Joel McHale's] character ... just to give him a long speech about the world at the end of every episode is so reminiscent. It's like being relegated to hell and watching "Howdy Doody" for the rest of your life. It's not particularly necessary, but that's the way they do these things. I think it belies the very pretenses that his character, Jeff, has, that he's giving these talks. They're supposed to, in some way, be a little lesson to people who watch sitcoms ... to that degree, I can't stand sitcoms. But we all love this show because it's not the typical sitcom. I'm not really gonna buck you all up a lot and say that this is the one, the one that tells it innovatively. It is what it is. I would like to see it go further. I think, if you know me and my
humor over the years, you know that this is certainly not my kind of thing. I probably won't be around that much longer, frankly. They can go farther, and maybe they will. It basically started off as what a community college might consist of. You might have a guy in his 60s and kids in their 20s -- that's the fact, and what can you do with them? There are many times when this doesn't seem like a community college at all. Particularly this year ... I think we've gone way south. And way north. It doesn't even appear to have anything to do with college. It's got its own secrets that reside in the creator of the show [Dan Harmon]. What does it mean, really? I think you could just as well take these people and put them in a bar every week, and have nothing to do with academics or anything else, and we'd still have the same basic interactions. The community college thing sort of went down the drain this year. How would you change things, creatively? I come from a much freer kind of performance thing, where I rely on my own improv and my own sense of humor. I would like to see every actor mine that vein and get in there and just go. And if they're funny, you'll see it -- if they're not, they shouldn't be doing it. I'm saying that I believe that all of these kids that I'm working with have the ability to go somewhere. I've seen it. I've
not seen it a lot on this show. I would say Alison stands out as a comedienne that nobody has seen yet. She's also just a great actress. I've given her my advice, which is, "Don't stay in television doing sitcoms. You're very pretty, you're young and I think that film is where you should be and that you could become a big movie star." Her response was, "I just did two movies." I didn't even know about it [laughs], but I was glad to hear that. I'm only talking as like a father figure. But I think that everybody at this table would agree that she seems to be more of an attraction you'd want to see in film, rather than just steadily in sitcoms until she just gets older and older. What's wrong with sitcoms? As fans, we like getting to spend time with these characters and actors every week. If what you do in life is perform to open up eyes and minds, to make people laugh, then it better damn well be new! It shouldn't be just a repetitious 'Hey, I'm still here!' For what purpose? You're getting all this exposure -- I've seen too much exposure of too many people who just stink. That's not what it's about. I don't think I'll be back on this show again, frankly, between you and me. Depends on what happens. We'll see. I think I've already given away about as much as I can as this character. This is the CHEVY page 49
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Laura Prudom: 'Nikita': Amanda And Nikita Revisit The Past In 'Power'
Laura Prudom (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
network's more vapid fare was renewed over this scrappy spy drama next season. Submitted at 3/31/2012 4:55:01 PM Anyway, I'll step off my soapbox Note: Do not read on if you have and get to the episode itself, not seen Season 2, Episode 18 of which saw plenty of development The CW's "Nikita," entitled in all of our intersecting storylines "Power." this week. Alex managed to When a show is as consistently conspire with an old family friend compelling as " Nikita," it's easy -- and Nikita -- to oust Ari from to take each well-crafted episode both Gogol and Zetrov before he for granted, but "Power" once could assume control of her again upped the ante for all our father's company, while Percy characters without wasting a used the momentary distraction to minute on meaningless filler concurrently oust Amanda from material. In my mind, it's one of Division. Now, Amanda and Ari the biggest injustices in primetime are on the run with a black box that as the show grows steadily and a sudden lack of allies, while stronger, the ratings seem to slip Nikita seems to be in a better lower. place emotionally after facing I'm not sure if it's purely because down Amanda and letting her The CW fails to promote the live. series with billboards and posters While Michael and Birkoff were as well as on-air ads (as it's on back-up duty again (although I reluctant to do with anything appreciated the intimacy between that's not a freshman series or Michael and Nikita that's been "The Vampire Diaries"), or missing for a few episodes), Alex simply because the serialized had a chance to shine this week, nature of the show is daunting to too. Though she was mostly newcomers. I can only urge fans tasked with distracting Ari, it was to take note of the advertisers who clear that the opportunity to face buy time during "Nikita's" hour him and the board was cathartic and contact them in support of for her, especially since she was their products in exchange for denied the opportunity to kill their support of "Nikita," or Semak. Lyndsy Fonseca imbued introduce friends to the series via Alex with a steely resolve and her Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. assertiveness when facing down It would be a travesty of style Ari and branding him a "dog" was over substance if some of the completely convincing. It's nice to
see all three of our female leads given such excellent, characterdriven material to play with. Nikita and Amanda's story was beautifully drawn in "Power" (perhaps they should've renamed the episode "Girl Power"), utilizing flashbacks to delve deeper into the pair's early relationship. We saw Amanda grooming Nikita to be the poised and powerful assassin we now know and love, and it was a pleasure to see the two women unguarded with each other, proving that once upon a time, the two could actually laugh and take off their masks around one another. Though Carla saved Nikita from her addiction and gave her that first safe house, in many ways, Amanda is just as much of a maternal figure for our heroine. She may have taught Nikita a lot of the wrong lessons, but her impact on the spy's life is undeniable. This episode humanized and redefined Amanda in a way that her relationships -- real or faked -with Percy and Ari never could; this was a woman relating to another woman, imparting all the tricks used to manipulate men and all the methods Amanda has always utilized to hide her own weaknesses. But unlike previous encounters with Percy, where he has seemingly got the better of her
by playing on her emotions, this resonated in a more realistic way, and Amanda was wounded enough to admit to Nikita, "You broke my heart." She had two opportunities to kill Nikita this week, and both times, failed to finish the job, because somewhere deep down, Amanda does love Nikita. There's a very thin line between love and hate, and I think that's something that both Amanda and Nikita have been struggling with since Nikita escaped Division. One scene, in particular, so wonderfully summed up both characters that I had to go back and transcribe it; what writer Carlos Coto managed to encapsulate in these few lines speaks volumes about who Nikita and Amanda are as people. Amanda: Why are you doing this, Nikita? I didn't kill Daniel, I didn't kill Ryan. Nikita: I'm so grateful. Amanda: You should be on your knees. I saved your life -- when you came to me, you were nothing, a foster kid tossed by the system. I made you better, I made you amazing-- and what did you do to repay me? You broke my heart. Nikita: You think you gave me some kind of gift? You took a messed up girl and you made her a broken woman. You told me I
was beautiful, you told me I was special-Amanda: You were. Nikita: You lied. You took me from one hellhole and you put me in another. You dressed me up all pretty and served me up to them, just like my foster mother did. I broke your heart? You broke mine. Melinda Clarke and Maggie Q knocked it out of the park in all of their scenes together, but this one in particular demonstrated so many layers of love and anger and guilt and betrayal that it's worth rewatching several times just to pick up on all the nuances. Nikita has always felt unworthy and broken, haunted by her past mistakes and the way in which Division quite literally whored her out for her country, and her comparison between Amanda and her foster mother hints at a truly chilling past. It's easy to forget just how damaged these characters are, how Nikita and Alex are both victims of sexual abuse and drug addiction, but when the show circles back to those issues, I'm glad that it doesn't shy away from them, or the pain those experiences have inflicted. Perhaps my favorite lines, and those that best epitomize Nikita's LAURA page 48
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The Heartbreaking Reason Taylor Swift's Date Can't Make ACM Awards
AP/The Huffington Post (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:20:52 PM
LAURA
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The New Jersey teen who is fighting cancer and scored a date with Taylor Swift to The Academy of Country Music Awards is in the hospital and won't make the show. A Facebook post Saturday says 18-year-old Kevin McGuire was admitted to the hospital Friday night and can't keep his date with Swift. It was not clear why McGuire was hospitalized. USA Today reports that McGuire was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with a 103-degree fever. "Just talked to Kevin McGuire," Swift said in a tweet. "He's not well enough to join me at the ACMs. Please keep him in your thoughts. I'll make it up to you, Kevin!" Swift asked the Somerdale, N.J., resident to Sunday's ACMs after
his sister started a campaign to get her to attend his prom. The reigning ACM entertainer of the year couldn't make the prom, but offered to go on the date instead. His sister Victoria posted this message on the"Taylor Swift take KEVIN MCGUIRE TO PROM!" Facebook page:"I am so sorry to announce this devastating news, but Kevin was admitted to the hospital last night, and is unable
to attend the Academy of Country Music Awards with Taylor Swift. ... We appreciate everything you have done for us, and we know you are all hurt from this too. ... Please continue to pray for Kevin and his health, because that is the most important thing. As for Taylor, she is just as depressed as all of us to miss out on this date, and we are so thankful for the opportunity she has given us."
Back in February, Taylor Swift had taken to her Facebook page to give McGuire a response: "I've never seen him smile like that," Victoria McGuire had told FOX 29 News. For more on the story, watch the video report below: Taylor Swift: No on Prom, Want to Come to An Awards Show?
character, were her parting words to Amanda: "You wanna know the difference between you and me? You see a moment of weakness and I see a moment of strength." To Nikita, Amanda's moment of hesitation was a sign that the "real" Amanda, the one she keeps locked away, is still buried beneath the mask -- that Amanda is still capable of goodness and, more importantly, grace. Amanda insisted that she was being weak when she failed to kill Nikita, and reiterated that in the bitter way she delivered her last line of the episode, "I let her live." Nikita, on the other hand, knows - from both her own experience and from watching Michael say goodbye to Max last week -- that letting someone go can be the greatest act of grace a person can accomplish. Q's delivery of "I let her live," was far more hopeful, more proud, because she finally has her definition of grace. She now seems to realize that she's no longer broken, despite the horrors she's endured; that she's still able to feel love and, perhaps more tellingly, so is Amanda. What did you think of Nikita and Amanda's showdown? Did you enjoy the flashbacks? Share your reactions below. "Nikita" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. The show now takes a three-week break and will return with a new episode on April 20.
Social Media/ News Photos
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CHEVY
only time I've ever had to act every week in the same clothes and as the same character, and I don't find it particularly enlightening. It's not teaching anybody anything. If I can sneak in and get a laugh here or there, I'll do it, but for the most part, I'm sticking to the script, because that's what I've been asked to do. OK, so if Pierce is gonna go, how do you think he should be killed off? I have no idea what'll happen to Pierce. I may well be back next year as a teacher, or as a dean, or as a bum. I don't know. I have no idea what's going to happen to him, but if he were to die, I could think of many funny ways. One would be right in the middle of
one of these [interviews]. Well it would've been easy to write Pierce out of the show at the end of last season when he quit the study group and stormed off ... [Last season], no one had any idea whether I would or wouldn't come back, but who in God's name in this country would care? We would! We. Are. Fans! At that point, Chase tried to recover a bit, ending the chat on a more sentimental note. Chase admitted that the show's cast -almost all of whom he'd called out individually for their talents -- has become like family to him. "That's why I'm here, because of them," he said. "They are my friends. They have become my family. I'm out here in this
incredibly intellectual land of L.A., and thank God at least I have this family. I'm a New Yorker, and I live in the country. What this is is business. Thank God I have the right friends." Although we're guessing after listening to that harsh voicemail that he's not counting Harmon in his "family." What do you think, "Community" fans: Would you be sad or relieved to see Chevy Chase/ Pierce Hawthorne go? See the fates of all your favorite shows here:
Ashley Tisdale Is Red Hot at 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (PHOTOS) - Celebuzz
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:24:35 PM
cleavage-baring gown this weekend. Although the 26-yearold was at the event to support her Access Hollywood boy band friends from Big... Ashley Tisdale Is Red Hot at One Direction hits Kids' Choice 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards orange carpet; fans go Awards ( PHOTOS) insane ( photos) Examiner.com Celebuzz Access Hollywood - Celebrity Complete with a scarlet streak in News, Photos& Videos Access her hair, blonde bombshell Ashley Hollywood Tisdale burned up the 2012 Kids' all 521 news articles Choice Awards red carpet in a
This iPhone Platform Will Change The Way You Shoot Videos
Emily Price (Mashable!)
out of sight of the camera you could move the platform to follow her using your own device. The A new Kickstarter project is platform could also be used in aiming to redefine how you shoot situations like meetings so you video with your iPhone. The can can follow all the action going Galileo is an iOS-controlled on in the room. The platforms robotic iPhone platform that lets inventor originally created the you manipulate the angle your device in order to have better iPhone from another iOS device, chats with his son while he was giving you the ability to adjust away on business. your iPhone to almost any angle Galileo can be controlled from you could possibly want. another iOS device such as an For instance, if you were video iPad or iPod touch by swiping a chatting with a child who moved finger across the screen, and gives
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:33:58 PM
you infinite 360-degree panning and 200-degree tilting. You can see everything around the iPhone and above it, with the only unavailable angle being whats going on below. The platform is also offering its SDK (software developers kit) for app development, giving app developers the freedom to integrate Galileo functionality into existing apps or create apps and software specifically designed
More About: apple, iphone, iPod Touch, kickstarter to work with the product. For more Mobile coverage: Galilieo has currently raised Follow Mashable Mobile on close to $270,000 on Kickstarter, Twitter and only required $100,000 to go Become a Fan on Facebook into production. The project will Subscribe to the Mobile channel be officially funded on April 21, Download our free apps for 2012, after which the device will Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad go into mass production and be sent out to project backers and then likely general consumers. What do you think of the project? Tell us what potential uses you see for Galileo in the comments.
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Hank Haney chronicles years as Tiger Woods' coach - Houston Chronicle

David Barro (- Bing News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:51:48 PM
it. I wanted to share my experiences and felt that when it was all said and done that, you Hank Haney, the Dallas-based k n o w w h a t , t h e s e a r e m y former coach of Tiger Woods, memories, too, not just his talks about his new book, "The memories, and I wanted to share Big Miss: My years Coaching them. Tiger Woods," with Chronicle I didn't expect everyone to agree. reporter David Barron. But I think that when people are Q: Is this the book that you reading the book, at least they're wanted to write, with the mixture going to come back and say, you of technical and personal details? know what, it is interesting, it's A: I went over and edited it at insightful and it's fair and honest. least eight times, and I took out Q: What were your criteria about things that I thought didn't pertain what to include and what to omit? to his golf or didn't relate to it in A: If it didn't pertain to his golf any way. I knew that to write a or his personality that had to do fair and honest book I was going with his golf in other words, to to have to include some things be a great player you would that were going to be viewed as e x p e c t s o m e s o r t o f s e l f negative. centeredness, and I needed to give Q: Some golfers and golf fans some examples of that and I did. have suggested that writing the I don't feel like there's anything book violated Woods' trust. What t h e r e i s p e r s o n a l . I t h i n k is your response? everything in the book pertains to A: I'm a person who had an his golf game in one way or opportunity to observe greatness another. at close quarters, and when you Q: Does golf have a different, do that, you're always asked about unwritten code that would make it
a violation to write this book? A: That would be some peoples' opinion. I've never heard of this code before. Obviously some people think that there is one. These are my memories, too. I'm not the first coach who broke the code. Did Phil Jackson break the code? Did Joe Torre break the code? Q: Woods is such a singular talent. Are there things in the book that people can learn to help them play better golf? A: There are many, many things describing how he practices, the focus that he has, the mental preparation. And there are technical things about his swing as well. Tiger is a genius. But I tried to break it down to make it simple for people to understand. Q: Can he be as good as he was at his best? A: 2000 was definitely his best year, and his best stretch of golf winning-wise was probably the last three years that I helped him. He won 45 percent of his
tournaments. I don't think that you're ever going to see that again. There are just many factors that go into that. One is that Tiger is 36. He's had four knee operations. He's been through a lot with this scandal. To play that well over a three-year period of time is probably not going to happen at this point in his career. But I certainly expect him to win a lot of golf tournaments. There's no reason to believe that he wouldn't. The other thing is that the competition is greater. There's no doubt about it. That has changed. Q: Can he win the 2012 Masters? A: If he putts well enough, I would expect him to be there with a chance to win. Q: Would this book be as compelling, and would people find it as interesting, had he not had his marital problems and personal flaws become public? A: People, I think, realize that Tiger is a very complex individual and they have probably gotten
that idea not just from his golf and the way he acts on the golf course but from the greatness that he is and the way that he addresses people in the media. And the things that happened off the course lead to the intrigue of people asking, "I wonder what he's like, because he seems like a very complex individual." That probably adds to the intrigue that people have about the book. Q: You wrote an entire book about Tiger Woods, but how would you describe him in a few words? A: He is a study in absolute greatness and very complex. david.barron@chron.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Sports/
51
Sean Payton, the Saints and GM appeal NFL suspensions - Boston Herald
(- Bing News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 2:53:53 PM
N EW ORLEANS Saints coach Sean Payton is appealing his season-long suspension from the NFL for his role in New Orleans bounty system. And hes not the only one looking for a little relief from the penalties handed down by Commissioner Roger Goodell. General manager Mickey Loomis, assistant coach Joe Vitt and the Saints organization each decided to appeal on Friday. Payton will also ask Goodell for guidance on the parameters of the suspension, which runs through next years Super Bowl, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the league and the Saints did not announce Paytons plan to appeal. Saints spokesman Greg Bensel did confirm that Loomis was appealing his eight-game suspension and, separately, the team would challenge its $500,000 fine and loss of second-
round draft picks this year and in 2013. Vitt, suspended for six games, is doing the same. David Cornwell, representing Vitt as head of the NFL Coaches Association, confirmed the decision in an email to the AP. Goodell last week announced the suspension of Payton, starting Sunday, for his role in connection with New Orleans bounty system, which offered improper cash bonuses for big hits that either knocked opponents out of games or left them needing help off of the field. Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who left the Saints after last season to join the St. Louis Rams, ran the bounty program and has been suspended indefinitely. The commissioner has said since the unprecedented penalties were announced that the Saints coach would likely be allowed to continue working as his appeal was resolved. However, he added that the challenge would be expedited, indicating that Payton would not likely be able to add on
much work time should his appeal be upheld. Goodell also said at the NFL owners meetings this week in Florida that Payton could have some contact with the team but did not go into detail, and Payton indicated that he was still a little unclear about that, as well. With all the uncertainty, Payton is trying to compress as much planning for the 2012 season into whatever time he has left at Saints headquarters this weekend. The NFL could not immediately provide details on how Paytons decision to file an appeal on Friday would affect the timeline for the process to play out. "The decision to appeal is for Sean Payton to make and announce as he deems appropriate," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "If there are appeals, the commissioner will arrange for expedited hearings, as he stated at the league meeting." The results of the appeal could affect whether Bill Parcells comes out of retirement to take over as interim coach while his former offensive assistant and protg
is suspended. Parcells has said he would consider coaching the Saints if asked. At a spring training game in Jupiter, Fla., on Friday, Parcells declined to answer questions about the possibility. "I know better than that," Parcells said. Payton and Loomis played golf with Parcells this week to talk to him about the teams predicament, and Parcells has told multiple media outlets that he would consider taking the Saints interim post to help his friend. Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Pitino says he'll pull for UK in championship game - San Jose Mercury News
BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer (- Bing News)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:34:45 PM
Click photo to enlarge CORRECTS RICK PITINO AT RIGHT, NOT LEFT - Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, right, shakes hands with Kentucky head coach John Calipari before the first half of an NCAA Final Four semifinal college basketball tournament game Saturday, March 31, 2012, in New Orleans. NEW ORLEANSLouisville coach Rick Pitino is taking a stance that will probably make some Cardinals fans cringe: He's backing Kentucky in the NCAA championship game against Kansas. Shortly after fourth-seeded Louisville lost 69-61 to the topseeded Wildcats in the Final Four on Saturday night, Pitino said he hopes coach John Calipari and the PITINO page 52
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Wildcats "bring it home for the state." "I just said, 'John, I'll be pulling for you, bring the trophy back home to Kentucky,'" Pitino said. "Louisville will be rooting for Kentucky, which doesn't happen very often." Pitino said he's well aware of the animosity fans of both teams have for one another and even made reference to a story about elderly dialysis patients who got into a fist fight over the rivalry back in Georgetown, Ky. "Sometimes there's a lot of talk about these guys fighting, dialysis, there's also really a lot of people that get along," said Pitino, who also coached at Kentucky in the 1990s and led the Wildcats to a national title in 1996. "In every society there are people without brains. But for those that have brains, they get along, they root for each other." There is a long history of mutual
dislike among the two biggest basketball programs in the Bluegrass State. Louisville faithful long resented Kentucky for refusing to play other teams from within the state under legendary head coach Adolph Rupp, and his successor, former assistant Joe B. Hall. It took Gov. John Y. Brown stepping in following their matchup in the 1983 NCAA Mideast Regional finalsthen the teams' first meeting since 1959to get the rival programs to start scheduling each other annually. The two teams have combined for nine national titles, seven by Kentucky. The Wildcats have now also improved to 30-14 in head-to-head meetings with the Cardinals dating to 1913. Pitino said he'd be lying if he said he liked every Kentucky team he has faced, but he had only good things to say about this season's
squad that includes projected firstround NBA draft picks such as Anthony Davis, Michael KiddGilchrist and Terrence Jones. "I'm really impressed with them, not only as basketball players, the way they carry themselves, their attitude," Pitino said. "They're a great group of guys doing a tremendous job." Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Daniel Cooper (Engadget) Wikileaks.
Submitted at 3/31/2012 9:55:00 PM
Ask Engadget: Best HD Camcorder for live shows?

paramount. Thanks for your help!" The comedy clubs we've been in are rarely well lit, so we'll We know you've got questions, add that this camera has to have and if you're brave enough to ask fantastic low light performance, the world for answers, here's the which is going to increase the outlet to do so. This week's Ask price by a hefty amount. Still, if Engadget inquiry is from is from you can think of a HD camcorder Keith, who needs our help to that can do the job -- and let's be become the next internet comedy honest, carving things out of stone sensation. If you're looking to would be better than a QuickCam send in an inquiry of your own, Pro 9000-- and is within the drop us a line at ask [at] engadget budget of a struggling artist then [dawt] com."Hey Engadget! I'm a lob your suggestions into the river fledgling stand-up, performing at of comments below. my local open mic, but I'm Ask Engadget: Best HD thinking of branching out. I'd like Camcorder for live shows? t o r e c o r d s o m e o f m y originally appeared on Engadget performances on something better on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:55:00 than my QuickCam Pro 9000. EDT. Please see our terms for use Anyone know the best HD video of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| camera for live performances? I'm Comments looking for something reasonably priced and audio quality is
Health/
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Babies Take Longer To Come Out Than They Did In Grandma's Day
Richard Knox (Shots - Health Blog)
The typical first-time mother takes 6 1/2 hours to give birth these days. Her counterpart 50 Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:50:00 PM years ago labored for barely four Carsten/Three Lions/ Getty hours. Images That's the striking conclusion of a Fifty years ago, the typical first- new federal study that compared time mother in the U.S. took nearly 140,000 births from two about four hours to give birth. time periods. These days, women labor about 6 One big implication: Today's 1/2 hours. obstetricians may be rushing to do
cesarean sections too soon because they're using an out-ofdate yardstick for how long a "normal" labor should take. "That's absolutely correct," says Dr. Ware Branch of Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, a study author. Lead author Dr. Katherine Laughon of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
agrees. The definition of a "normal" labor the range of times when a woman in labor reaches certain milestones was laid down in the 1950s. Contemporary obstetricians still use that "labor curve." "The past definitions of 'normal' labor have been used to draw the line as to when it's time to
intervene with a cesarean delivery," Branch said during a telephone conference with reporters. "But what we've shown is that labor is actually longer ... than it was 50 years ago. That certainly calls for a reassessment of when one should draw the line for cesarean delivery." BABIES page 54
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Last year Branch and his colleagues at Intermountain Healthcare calculated that the U.S. could save $3.5 billion by lowering the national cesarean delivery rate from 32 percent to 21 percent, which is the C-section rate in the Utah hospital system. A cesarean birth costs nearly $17,000, compared with $9,400 for a vaginal delivery. The reasons for today's much longer labors aren't entirely clear. They may have something to do with differences in today's mothers compared with their grandmothers. For instance, firsttime mothers are about four years older on average, they have higher body mass, and they're more racially diverse. Today's babies are also bigger for instance, first-borns are 4 ounces heavier today than the 1960s crop. But study authors say the most important causes for longer labors are what obstetricians do, not how their patients have changed. Even after statistically adjusting for differences in maternal and newborn characteristics, modern labors are still substantially longer.
Laughon says part of the reason is a jump in the use of epidural anesthesia during labor. "That is known to prolong labor by approximately 40 to 90 minutes," Laughon says. "Of course, it's very accepted practice to help improve pain control during labor." Branch points out that up to 85 percent of contemporary laboring mothers get epidurals. "Once that's in place, they're in bed," he says. "In the late '50s and early '60s, how much did people get up out of bed during labor and walk around?" Another big change is that many more women have induced labors these days. That is, they're not permitted to go into labor spontaneously. One in three women had spontaneous labor, among women giving birth between 2002 and 2008. Women today are 19 percent more likely to get a drug called oxytocin, which increases the strength of uterine contractions. But this should shorten labors, so the study authors note that "if women were allowed to progress in natural labor without oxytocin, the stages of labor could be even
longer with the same odds of achieving vaginal delivery." Laughon and Branch acknowledge their results may be controversial among some obstetricians those who view it as an attack on epidural anesthesia, for instance. "Some skeptics are going to say, 'Gee, you really don't know the details about these two groups 50 years apart to be able to compare them fairly,' " Branch says. "That's a legitimate criticism." But the "plain and simple fact," they say, is that giving birth takes longer today. They say all they're suggesting is that today's routine practices "may need to be thoughtfully reconsidered." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to James Carafano (The Foundry: Wikileaks. Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:55:47 PM
On the Outpost of Sovereignty at Sea

A driving, wind-swept rain pummels the deck of the USCG Stratton. A typical day at sea for the Coast Guards newest National Security Cutter when it plys the Bearing Straits or protects fisheries in Americas Arctic waters. But today the Stratton is not at seaits commissioning day at the pier in Oakland, California. The crew is being piped aboard for the first time. Speeches made, and then it is down to the business of protecting Americas sovereignty at sea. The National Security Cutters are replacing the Coast Guards Hamilton classa family of ships that first went to sea in the 1960s. (A Hamilton-class ship was berthed behind the Stratton during the commissioning ceremony.) It is long past time to retire these Vietnam-era craft. They are expensive to maintain and dont have a fraction of the endurance, speed, or capability of the new cutters. Keeping them around is penny-wise and pound-foolish. OUTPOST page 55
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The Obama Administration has proposed budgeting for a sixth new cutter. There is talk that that would be itthe last one. That would be a huge mistake. Even if the U.S. never fights another naval war, there will always be a need to keep the seas safe. There will always be search-and-rescue missions, environmental disasters to deal with, smugglers of people and drugs to combat, poaching fisheries to stop, encroachment on natural resources that has to be dealt with, and piracy and waterborne terrorism to be prevented. While there were cheers, claps, and smiling faces at todays ceremony, despite the dismal weather, this is a sad occasion if it winds up being the beginning of the end of Coast Guards major shipbuilding program. At a time when the Navy is
struggling to keep enough ships at sea to ensure our security and the shipyards that build our ships are in danger of collapsing from lack of work, its exactly the wrong time to talk about closing down the building of the National Security Cutter. Today the men and women of the Coast Guard endured the driving rain and wind with indifference as they boarded their new ship. They will keep that demeanor every day at sea, whether its aboard a stateof-the-art craft or a ship old enough to draw Social Security. That is because that is the kind of people they arebred for selfless service. They will go to sea in whatever ships we provide. They will try not to fail usif they do fall short, it will be because we didnt give them the equipment they needed to do the job. Today, when the weather turned
sour, I retreated to a nearby gym and watched the ceremony remotely on a TV screen. The men and women of the Coast Guard dont have that optionthey go down to the sea in ships every daythats what protects Americas sovereignty at sea. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Google: Japanese Court Didnt Ban All Our Search Suggestions

Kate Freeman (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 6:36:48 PM
Google is setting the record straight about a courts demands that Google stop automatically completing its searches in Japan. Google searches on most browsers and devices automatically suggest search terms that you might be looking for, based on their popularity. Type mash, for example, and the search engine will suggest youre looking for Mashable followed by a suggestion for mashed potatoes. Numerous outlets reported that a
court in Japan had asked Google to suspend the autocomplete function entirely, after a Japanese man claimed his certain criminal acts appeared as a suggestion next to his name when Googled. The man claims he was fired from one job, and missed out on being hired GOOGLE: page 56
NBA Brings Twitter Handles to T-Shirts in Pro Sports First

Sam Laird (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:46:46 PM
So youre a big Kevin Durant fan. You watch his games, you wear his jersey but do you have his Twitter-handle T-shirt? In whats believed to be a pro sports first, the NBA this week began selling official T-shirts that feature some of the leagues biggest stars Twitter handles
above their jersey numbers, where surnames would normally go. The shirts are available at the NBA Store website and include Durant, Dwyane Wade, Jeremy Lin and a number of other big names. Lisa Pilken, the NBAs vice president of licensing, says the move is in keeping with the leagues tradition of creativity in social media. We are always looking at new
million followers on@NBA and more than 350 NBA players active on the site, we thought this would be a great way to engage with our fans. NBA players were among the first pro athletes to embrace Twitter. In 2009, Milwaukee ways to connect with fans, Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva Pilken told Mashable in an email. was reprimanded for tweeting As the top sports league on from the team locker room during Twitter with more than 4.5 halftime of a game. Later that
year, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love used a tweet to break news that the teams coach had been fired. The league as a whole has been especially adept at leveraging social media as well, and this year hosted a digitally influenced AllStar Weekend. While the NBA is the first league NBA page 56
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from others, because of the association. The court ruled that certain terms must be deleted from searches, Google says rather than a blanket ban on autocomplete. A spokesperson from Google tells Mashable the company cant say what terms will be removed from Google autocomplete searches in Japan, since it is a current legal matter. Heres Googles statement:A Japanese court issued a provisional order requesting Google to delete specific terms from autocomplete. The judge did not require Google to completely
suspend the autocomplete function. Google is currently reviewing the order. Autocomplete is a feature of Google search that offers predicted searches to help you more quickly find what youre looking for. These searches are produced by a number of factors including the popularity of search terms. Google does not determine these terms manuallyall of the queries shown in autocomplete have been typed previously by other Google users. The Google spokesperson wouldnt speculate as to whether or not Google autocomplete could
be turned-off entirely in Japan. This is not the only legal battle Google is fighting at home and abroad. The company has been the target of numerous investigations into its privacy practices and how it uses the publics information. What do you think about this ruling in Japan? Tell us in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alija More About: autocomplete, Google, japan
Quotes of the day

Allahpundit (Hot Air Top Picks)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 8:30:59 PM
NBA
to officially make player Twitter T-shirts, its not the first to have a version of the idea. The sportsmeets-social site TweetStarGame has an online store selling Twitter -handle shirts of players from a number of sports. Professional soccer and lacrosse teams have also replaced players names with their handles on official game uniforms. Do you think putting players Twitter handles on T-shirts is a smart marketing play or not? Let us know in the comments. Photo courtesy of iStockphoto,
Link-creative More About: sports, Twitter For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
posted at 9:30 pm on March 31, 2012 by Allahpundit Sadly, even before the sessions on health-care reform had ended, some liberals were preemptively trying to delegitimize a potential defeat at the court. If the justices strike down the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, they said, they will prove themselves partisan, activist and, essentially, intellectually corrupt. QUOTES We share in the disappointment continued from page 56 that the justices on both sides of from June to November where their ideological divide are, for instead of running a campaign to the most part, so predictable. educate people about the benefits Thats not, in the ideal world, how they get from the law, youre judging is supposed to work. But campaigning for six months on we also think theres a kind of what Republicans are trying to cynicism, or at least intellectual laziness, in asserting that this is an take away from you. easy or obvious call that no *** By the fall, Im guessing, if the justice could possibly strike down ACA is overturned, the media will the mandate out of honest, be demanding of Romney that he reasoned conviction. Solicitor explain how hes going to make General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. had sure people with pre-existing his hands full defending the conditions can get reliable mandate, not because hes a bad coverage. He could not do that the lawyer, but because its not an other night to Jay Leno. In fact, easy question while he obviously didnt intend Given the courts responsibility to, he ended up defending . . . the to err on the side of modesty and individual mandate! Youve got deference to elected legislators to get insurance when youre who can be turned out of office if well, he said, and if you get ill, voters object to the health-care then youre going to be covered r e f o r m t h e y d e s i g n t h e governments argument is strong QUOTES page 57 enough to carry the day. But it is
not, as we said, a slam-dunk. We wouldnt assume anyone who disagrees is a hack. *** I was baffled the court would even hear that argument, let alone take it seriously, said Ron Pollack, executive director of the pro-reform Families USA and a health-care activist for three decades. If that goes, federal programs to improve education, the environment, transportation. and more could suddenly be under fire, he said creating the potential for the wholesale gutting of the New Deal and the welfare state I fear for the Court if a 5-4 decision [rejecting health care] comes in the wake of Citizens United and still reeling from Bush v. Gore, Tanden said. People already believe the Court is a political actor, and when you add to that a decision where they strike at the heart of the presidents single-biggest domestic-policy accomplishment a few short months before the election in what seems to be a very partisan decision, the Court is undermining its own standing. The times that Republicans have gotten into trouble with health care are when they try to take stuff away from people. We saw it most recently with contraception, Vale said. It will be an interesting campaign situation QUOTES page 56
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precisely the logic behind the mandate (which we all know he secretly accepts, which is why he supported it as Massachusetts governor). If the Democrats are doing their job, votersand perhaps especially independent votersare going to realize by the fall: Hey, wait a minute, we didnt quite know repeal meant that people with pre-existing conditions wouldnt get coverage. To be sure, repeal may or may not mean that, depending on how broad it is. But if it does, then Romney will have to come up with some answers. And the problem is, there are no honest answers that dont involve the government doing . . . something. Given the guys propensities toward pretzel logic in the first place, this may prove to be a challenge for him. But the Court itself might be Romneys biggest problem. Again, this will depend to some extent on the scope of the ruling, and even the tone of the majority opinion. But if either provides any fodder for the Supreme Court is
out of control argument, that is a potential albatross around Romneys neck. *** This is pure political hooey. If Obamacare falls, it will be a devastating rebuke to the president. The crown jewel of his presidency will have been repudiated as unconstitutional. His pretensions of uniquely knowing how to get things done in Washington will be shattered. Obama will be a diminished political figure. He will become a lesser president, far from the top ranks where he has envisioned himself. The opposite is true if the Court upholds Obamacare. Obama will be able to crow that he has succeeded where presidents over the past century failed. He has brought about universal health care coverage. He has counseled hope and brought about change. Republicans will be demoralized. Assuming Obamacare is voided, Republicans will still have plenty to say about health care. They can remind voters of the promises Obama made about his plan that
were false. Everyone could keep his current health insurance and doctor. Premiums would drop. Obamacare would save money and reduce the deficit. Anything underwriting abortions would not be funded. All untrue. *** If they rule against health-care reform, the justices might be doing Obama a favor. He never really won the public battle on the issue. So he could take the high ground disagreeing with the decision but showing respect for the court and for the American people, and vowing to continue the fight for health care for more Americans In his reelection campaign, Obama could propose that states be incentivized to sign on to a plan like the one in Massachusetts, where most voters favor the plan. He could deal with the issue in the same way states are incentivized to require seat belts. Such a strategy would preserve some state choice and leave much of the financing to them as well. Effectively, Obama could still be for universal health
care and yet neutralize the issue for the election. Part of the problem with the health-care law is that controlling costs and improving quality took a back seat to broadening coverage. A redo would allow Obama to produce a new plan that covers these bases, costs less and has broader support. He should treat an adverse ruling as a political gift, an opportunity to move to the center on health care, more like where he was in 2008. *** Via the Daily Caller. *** Via the Daily Rushbo. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Obamas top two energy advisers on taxpayer-funded junkets to Tokyo, Paris

Rob Bluey (Hot Air Top Picks)
Were #1, were #1, were #1! In corporate tax rates, but still
John Hawkins (Hot Air Top Picks)
Submitted at 3/31/2012 7:00:00 PM
after spotting this tweet from Chu spokesman Damien LaVera, who Submitted at 3/31/2012 5:30:17 PM posted a photo from the Tokyo posted at 6:30 pm on March 31, Dome on his official Energy 2012 by Rob Bluey Department account. While many Americans were Chu attended Wednesdays game filling up their tanks with $4 between the Seattle Mariners and gasoline this week, Energy Oakland Athletics, which marked S e c r e t a r y S t e v e n C h u w a s the start of the Major League enjoying Major League Baseballs Baseball season. He was in Asia opening game on a taxpayer- for a weeklong trip, which funded trip to Tokyo. Taxpayers included a stop in Seoul for a were also footing the bill for conference on nuclear security, Environmental Protection Agency also attended by Obama. Administrator Lisa Jackson to Jackson darted off to Paris earlier spend a few days in Paris. this week to meet with What are President Obamas top environmental leaders from more two Cabinet-level energy advisers than 40 nations to discuss the doing in Tokyo and Paris while Agencys international efforts on the price of gas continues to urban sustainability. She was climb? also talking about the upcoming At the very least, its bad optics. R i o + 2 0 C o n f e r e n c e o n But for an administration that has Sustainable Development, which consistently bungled energy will be held in Brazil this June. issues from restrictions on oil Neither was with Obama on and gas drilling to the botched Thursday when he railed against Solyndra loan its yet another Big Oil during a Rose Garden public-relations disaster. speech. Obama was urging the The Washington Guardians John Senate to end tax breaks for Solomon broke the story Friday energy companies. The measure
failed; four Democrats chose to ignore Obamas plea. The image of two globetrotting Cabinet officials gave Republicans ammunition to hammer the administration. Solomon reports: The juxtaposition of the two Cabinet officers far-flung travel with the Obama administrations populist appeals to Americans suffering through economic hard times and high gas prices wasnt lost on the presidents Republican critics. With soaring gas prices here at home and hitting Americans pocketbooks every day, it seems that the last thing two of the administrations top officials should be doing is using taxpayer dollars to jet to Tokyo and take in a baseball game or fly to Paris for a questionable environmental regulation conference, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told the Washington Guardian. This travel, alongside the Presidents Rose Garden news conference today calling on
Congress to raise taxes on energy producers, shows an administration that is completely out-of-touch with the realities of working men and women who count on their cars and trucks to get to and from work, he added. This, of course, isnt the first time a presidential administration has encountered an uncomfortable scenario. Solomon recalls former President George W. Bushs decision to remain on vacation when Hurricane Katrina struck, or the Interior Department employees infamous taxpayerfunded trip to Disney World in the mid-1990s, shortly after the government shut down during a budget standoff. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
posted at 8:00 pm on March 31, 2012 by John Hawkins If you believe Joe Biden, Barack Obama has had it even tougher than FDR. At first glance, that seems like an unfair comparison since FDR was fighting the Axis while Barack Obama seems to spend most of his time making war on American businesses. However, in Obamas defense, like FDR he is at least gradually pounding his enemies into submission. As of Sunday, April first, the United States will have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. This new record is not something that would make most Americans proud. We take the title as Japan cuts its tax rate by five percent. Americas business tax rate now tops out at 35 percent. Add state taxes and American job creators face a median rate of 39.2 percent. The United States was in the middle of the pack when we last changed our rates in 1993. Since 2000, however, 30 of the worlds leading developed countries looking to boost their economies have cut their rates. Germany dropped its top rate by WERE page 59
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22 points. Canada cut its by 13 points. Ours stayed the same. Today the worldwide average is 25 percent. Even Russia, at 20 percent, and China, at 25 percent, have lower rates than America does. The difference in tax rates means American companies are trying to compete with one hand tied behind their backs. High taxes also leave less money for businesses to expand, innovate and create jobs. The prospect of saving millions of dollars in taxes has caused some U.S. businesses to move overseas, taking their jobs with them. In contrast, researchers at the Heritage Foundation have calculated that if Washington were to cut our corporate rate to 25 percent, the benefits to Americans would be dramatic. After-tax income for a typical family would rise by almost $2,500. The U.S. economy would
create 581,000 jobs a year over the next decade. Its like the old slogan youve probably seen pinned to a cubicle at work somewhere, The beatings will continue until morale improves. Barack Obama has been cranking out the regulations, driving oil prices higher, demonizing successful people, cheering on the Occupy freeloaders, expanding government wildly, promising more tax increases in his second term, and spending so much money that people have genuinely started to fear an economic collapse caused by the government being unable to even pay the interest on its debt in the near future. Meanwhile, Obama seems to be puzzled as to why the economy is continuing to limp along and businesses arent hiring. The biggest problem this country has is sitting in the Oval Office a golf cart somewhere and voting him out of office in
November would do more to help the economy and create jobs than any policy the government could implement. John Hawkins is a professional writer who runs Right Wing News and Linkiest. Hes also the coowner of the The Looking Spoon. You can hear more from John Hawkins on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, G+, You Tube, & at Pajamas Media. This post was promoted from GreenRoom to HotAir.com. To see the comments on the original post, look here. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Richard Lai (Engadget) Wikileaks.
Weibo services 'punished' for Beijing coup rumors, comments temporarily disabled
Submitted at 3/31/2012 10:40:00 PM
WEIBO
during which these two companies can, in their own words, clean up the mess. Well, at least we now know where to draw the line for China's April Fools'. Weibo services 'punished' for Beijing coup rumors, comments temporarily disabled originally
appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Tech In Asia| Xinhua| Email this| Comments
For a country who doesn't really do April Fools' Day, you know China means business when it lays the smackdown on its weibo services. Here's the background story: about a week ago there was a rumor on the Chinese web about a military coup on one of the main streets in Beijing, and coincidentally I was in town around the time (for the Windows Phone launch). Funnily enough, I wasn't aware of this at all until my taxi driver in Hong Kong asked me about my visit, as he claimed that the passenger he picked up beforehand was actually a Chinese military officer who had several intense phone calls about
said coup. But of course, nothing actually happened. In fact, the guards at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were pretty relaxed when I visited on that very day. As for the rumormongers, the Chinese government announced through Xinhua that 16 websites have been shut down and six people have been detained, while local microblogging platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo have been "criticized and punished accordingly," though it didn't elaborate on the details. All we know is that comments under each weibo post are now disabled until local time 8pm on April 3rd, WEIBO page 59

World Landmarks in The Dark For Earth Hour: Curated News Edition - 01/04/12

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