Friday, May 31, 2013

Hulk's Next Fight: Inside Mark Ruffalo's Crazy 'See Me' Brawl

'Now You See Me' actor tells MTV News how he got bloodied by matzo while filming.
By Tami Katzoff

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1708255/mark-ruffalo-now-you-see-me.jhtml

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Winfrey to speak at Harvard commencement exercises

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) ? Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is the featured speaker during afternoon exercises at Harvard University's commencement.

Harvard's 362nd commencement begins Thursday morning with the annual conferring of degrees and honorary degrees. Winfrey and Harvard President Drew Faust will both address attendees during afternoon exercises, which serve as the annual meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Faust calls Winfrey's rise to global prominence one of the great American success stories.

Winfrey's private foundation has awarded hundreds of grants to organizations that promote education and support women, and children and families worldwide.

Forbes listed Winfrey as the 11th most powerful woman in the world last year. She has a net worth of $2.7 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/winfrey-speak-harvard-commencement-exercises-065644930.html

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Submarine expedition to explore uncharted Caribbean reef

Substation Curacao

The "Curasub" submarine, a submarine of the Curacao Sea Aquarium that can descend nearly 1,000 feet undersea, immersed in water by the research vessel Chapman.

By Douglas Main
LiveScience

What lurks in the depths of the Bonaire reef, one of the healthiest and most diverse in the Caribbean Sea?

For the first time, researchers will try to answer just that question as they explore the deepest reaches of the reef, in the Dutch Caribbean, which includes the nearby islands of Bonaire and Curacao. Scientists set out Thursday?in a special submarine that can descend nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) beneath the surface, according to a release from Wageningen University, a research institute in the Netherlands from which the researchers hail.

The expedition will take place aboard the "Curasub," a submarine of the Curacao Sea Aquarium, and will take photographs and samples of organisms in the reef. After returning on June 3, the team will try to identify the creatures, to see whether any of them are newfound species.?The organisms will be examined by collaborating taxonomists.

To help identify these species, researchers will generate DNA bar codes, a quick method of identification which involves sequencing short sections of DNA from a standardized region of the genome.

The "Curasub" collects samples near the Island of Curacao in the Caribbean.

The craft will look for new life beyond what is called the photic zone, at a depth of 650 feet (200 m), below which sunlight cannot support life. Creatures here survive in near-darkness and great pressure from the enormous bulk of water above.

Another recent dive by the Curasub to a nearby reef off Curacao turned up a colorful species of hermit crab that was previously only known through dead, dried specimens procured more than a century ago.

Cura?ao and Bonaire are found in the southeastern Caribbean, just north of Venezuela.

Email?Douglas Main?or follow him on?Twitter?or?Google+. Follow us?@OAPlanet,?Facebook?or?Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2ca2cb42/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C30A0C186342630Esubmarine0Eexpedition0Eto0Eexplore0Euncharted0Ecaribbean0Ereef0Dlite/story01.htm

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Simple strategy works best to reduce infections, study finds

Link Information - Click to View

Simple strategy works best to reduce infections, study finds
Using germ-killing soap to wash the sickest patients every day and applying antibacterial ointment inside their noses turns out to be the most effective way to reduce deadly hospital bloodstream infections, according to a study published Wednesday that has broad implications for practical use.

Source: Washington Post
Posted on: Thursday, May 30, 2013, 7:37am
Views: 29

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128420/Simple_strategy_works_best_to_reduce_infections__study_finds

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It's Official: NYSE Margin Debt Hit New Record, Surpasses 2007

Thursday, May 30th, 2013
By Michael Lombardi, MBA for Profit Confidential

Margin Debt Hit New RecordIs it just me, or have investors completely abandoned the concept of risk and reward?

The reality of the situation is that the key stock indices are treading in shark-infested waters and the risks are piling up daily. I see bearish signals all over, but the theme among investors, even conservative investors, continues to be ?keep buying.?

It?s official?

Margin debt?that?s the amount of money borrowed to purchase stocks?on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) reached its all-time high in April. Margin debt on the NYSE registered at $384.3 billion as the key stock indices hit new record-highs. (Source: New York Stock Exchange web site, last accessed May 29, 2013.) The highest margin debt ever reached prior to this was in July of 2007, when it stood just above $381.0 billion. At that time, just like today, the key stock indices were near their peaks and ?buy now before it?s too late? was the prominent theme of the day

Looking ahead, corporate earnings, which ultimately drive the direction of the key stock indices, don?t look so good. So far, 106 companies in key stock indices like the S&P 500 have provided their corporate earnings outlooks for the second quarter, and more than 80% of them have issued earnings outlooks that are negative! Corporate earnings growth for the second quarter is now projected to be only 1.4%?and the estimate keeps going down! (Source: FactSet, May 28, 2013.)

And this chart doesn?t look good either:

?XLU Utilities Selected Sector SPDR NYSE Chart May 2013

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

The above chart shows the performance of the S&P 500 utilities stocks through an exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca/XLU). Why is this chart important? Utilities stocks are considered safe because the companies in the sector usually have good long-term growth and consistent corporate earnings. But this chart shows how investors are fleeing the safety of utilities stocks?and I think they are running to high-risk stock sectors.

But in spite of all these factors, it wouldn?t surprise me to see the key stock indices go even a little higher because of all the buying momentum. The bear market rally, which began in 2009, has done a masterful job at convincing investors that the stock market is safe again?but it will all end in a collapse. It?s only a matter of when it will happen.

Key stock indices rising on anemic economic growth, poor corporate earnings, and leveraged investors?this is not going to end pleasantly.

Michael?s Personal Notes:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has officially lowered its growth expectation for the Chinese economy, the second-biggest engine in the global economy. The IMF expects China to grow 7.75% this year compared to the eight percent it previously projected.

The First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, David Lipton, said, ?while china still has significant policy space and financial capacity to maintain stability even in the face of adverse shocks, the margins of safety are narrowing.? (Source: ?IMF Forecasts Lower China Growth, Warns on Debt,? Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2013.) This will be the first year since 2009 that China?s economic growth is in the single digits.

France, a key economy in the eurozone and the fifth-biggest in the global economy, is back in a recession for the third time in five years, as the economic slowdown in the country continues to take its toll. In May, consumer sentiment in the French economy reached lows not seen since July of 2008. (Source: France 24, May 28, 2013.)

As I have written before, there is no way the economic slowdown in the global economy will not end up affecting America. The price action in the stock market doesn?t show this, but in the first quarter of 2013, of the 11 companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average that reported their revenues in Europe, nine of them posted a decline in sales from that region! (Source: FactSet, May 28, 2013.)

Dear reader, while the U.S. economy still hasn?t recovered from the last economic slowdown, more troubles from outside our domestic control lie ahead.

China and France are just a few of the many examples of what?s actually happening in the global economy. Other nations like Japan are facing severe scrutiny as well.

There are several countries in the eurozone that are in an outright depression. The youth unemployment rate in some eurozone countries is close to 50%. In Cyprus, the government has gone so far as to take money right out of its citizens? bank accounts if their deposits totaled over 100,000 euros.

While you don?t read or hear as much about it as you did last year, the economic issues in the eurozone are dire?and the ramifications for the global economy are very real. Should Germany?s economy soften further, we could see all of Europe come under economic pressure, the winds of which will surely sail across the Atlantic to the West.

What He Said:

?Even the most novice investor can now read the chart of the Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index and see that it is trading at its lowest level in five years. If, like me, you believe that stocks are an indication of what lies ahead, this important index is telling us housing prices are headed to 2002 levels! What would that do to the economy? Such an event would devastate the U.S.? Michael Lombardi in Profit Confidential, December 4, 2007. That devastation started happening in the first quarter of 2008.

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Source: http://www.profitconfidential.com/stock-market/its-official-nyse-margin-debt-hit-new-record-surpasses-2007/

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How to DJ a Dance Party Without Knowing How to DJ

How to DJ a Dance Party Without Knowing How to DJ

Every quarter-aged hipster wants to be a DJ at one point or another. The only problem is that DJing is actually a really expensive hobby, if you do it right. (And by right, I mean legally.) It used to be that you needed turntables, a mixer, an audio interface, crates of records, a controller and at least one sweet-looking set of headphones. That was then. This is now.

Now, simple, free music apps like Spotify, iTunes and Google Play make it relatively easy to create smooth transitions with nothing but a laptop and, ideally, an iPad or two. While that hardware's not cheap, it's likely that you own at least one if not more already.

How to DJ a Dance Party Without Knowing How to DJ

And the deeper features and emerging culture of social music sites like these even help up-and-coming artists play tribute to the legends in increasingly silly and Internet-y ways. Imagine Spotify is one big band practice, where you have different collaborators throwing songs into the mix. So-and-so brings in the thump-heavy track to serve as a foundation for a mixtape, the kind a DJ from the olden days might've tried to sneak into a Hollywood studio. Another introduces a horns-heavy follow up track. Some lead singer character pulls out that sick hip hop track from last year, while his friend supplies a vocal track. These tracks can also be samples, since Spotify effortlessly finds the music on your hard drive.

Broadcasting with Spotify and crate-digging with iTunes (and vice versa) is also a ton of fun. I found out about these features having spent the last week laid up in bed with what's politely known as Montezuma's Revenge with nothing but a MacBook Pro equipped but Spotify and iTunes and a desire to spin. And guess what: it was awesome.

The premium version of Spotify is be far my favorite daily music app. And given the involvement of Sean Parker (a.k.a. Napster) in bringing it to the United States, it's not surprising that Spotify is a real music nerd's utopia, especially if you like bands on the major U.S. labels. Yes, lots of music is missing due to licensing issues. You might get a little frustrated to find that some songs aren't available in your home country, though there are things like VPNs to work around that issue if you really want to. On a daily basis, though, I find that most of the daft pop that I like to tap my foot to on the subway is there.

How to DJ a Dance Party Without Knowing How to DJ

If you want to be a fake bedroom DJ, your best friend should be the queue feature. Like the expensive DJ apps, this is where you can line up songs on the ones and twos, though Spotify actually makes it even better be enabling you to set up entire playlists on the fly that you can both share and stream as a radio station. This basically enables you to make playlists on the fly that can keep your set sounding pretty smoothless.

Know two other wannabe DJs? Set up a collaborative playlist, tell them to sign on and you can all add to the same queue, switch around the tracks, set up and stream their tracks. Similarly, if you're DJing a party, you can just keep an eye on the social stream to the right for requests. Friends can also send songs straight to you using the share feature. Also super cool: The ability to stream a playlist as a radio station so that you can send the link to your friends and let them customize it and send it back.

Things get really fun when you start integrating Spotify's mobile app into the mix. This sort of eliminates the need for a second turntable channel since you can just preview what's next from your pocket. Ever heard of silent dance parties? Spotify is amazing for silent dance parties.

An even more seamless way of doing this is to run iTunes and Spotify in tandem. This sounds pretty ramshackle, because it is. However, the iTunes has improved a ton since the last time you bothered opening it. It also has the queue feature, as well as a "Play Next" option that will basically make a song of your choosing buck the line. You can fiddle with the transitions in iTunes Preferences to make one song flow smoothly into the next. As always, the ability to rate songs from one to five stars is a great way to organize your collection, one that's a step up for Spotify's binary starring method. The iTunes Match service makes it possible to share a collection with a few people, but it's nowhere near as easy as Spotify's all-your-friends-all-the-time approach.

How to DJ a Dance Party Without Knowing How to DJ

Apple also makes you pay for your music. You do get a better selection and more goodies for the ten or so dollars an album. During my latest pretend DJ phase, I couldn't get the new Daft Punk album on Spotify, so I bought it. It was my first iTunes Music purchase (no kidding) and it came with a neat jacket design that's quite obviously inspired by Michael Jackson's original release of Thriller. I, feeling feverish, decided to start buying more tracks: old Thomas Bangalter james, more Daft Punk remixes and classic Moroder albums like the soundtrack of The Neverending Story. By switching back and forth between iTunes and Spotify, using nothing but the volume slides as a fader, I started to put together mix tapes. With my Sony Studio Monitor headphones, I lost myself to?well?dance. It was the only thing that made me feel better.

The streaming music space is becoming incredibly competitive. No doubt, record companies are letting folks like Spotify and Apple battle it out for some of the best stuff. For instance when I hit a wall trying to blend the Drive soundtrack into all of these Italo-French disco house, I did something I never thought I'd do: I bought the album on Google Play. This interface didn't make as much immediate sense to me as the others, a common conundrum when it comes to Google products, I find. Buying was a breeze, though. Then again, Google's always been good at taking people's money.

But the synergy between Spotify and iTunes is undeniable. Of course, this only get's slicker and sleeker when you integrate tablets into the mix, though Spotify's iPhone-only app isn't all that helpful for this kind of thing. You can still pay lots of money to download real DJ software, too?Traktor Pro has always been my favorite.

You don't necessarily need it any more, though. Spotify is free or $10 a month for the premium version. iTunes is free, but the music's not. But fooling your friends into thinking you're a mixmaster, the man with the treasure fingers on the turntables, pumping up a party? Priceless. (I'll see myself out.)

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-to-dj-a-dance-party-without-knowing-how-to-dj-510277435

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Iraqi Shiite militia warns of sectarian fighting

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A senior member of an Iraqi Shiite militia that once fought the U.S. military warned on Wednesday that Iraq is heading toward widespread sectarian bloodletting similar to the kind that once pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

The head of the political bureau of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, Adnan Faihan, also said the militia is preparing to defend itself, but denied the group's involvement in a spate of attacks targeting Iraq's Sunni Arab minority.

Iraq has been wracked by a wave of the most sustained violence the country has seen since American troops left in late 2011. The bloodshed, which includes coordinated car bombings blamed on Sunni militants as well as a string of attacks on Sunni mosques, is raising fears that Iraq is slipping back toward all-out sectarian fighting like that which nearly tore the country apart at its peak in 2006 and 2007.

"We have major concerns. Because what is going on now is the same that led to what happened in 2006," Faihan told The Associated Press. "We are ready for it and we are ready to protect our people."

Faihan made the comments on the sidelines of a press conference it held in Baghdad under heavy guard by camouflage-clad militia members.

During the event, Faihan distanced the group from recent attacks against Sunnis, saying such allegations were the result of a misleading defamation campaign.

He railed against what he called a Turkish-Qatari agenda to create sectarian strife again and to divide Iraq ? a reference to Sunni countries many Shiites accuse of backing members of Iraq's Sunni community who have been holding months of protests against the Shiite-led government.

Years ago, Asaib Ahl al-Haq ? or the Band of the Righteous ? broke away from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political bloc and has been trying to morph into a legitimate political movement.

It said in late 2011 it was moving away from armed struggle after U.S. forces left but it has not handed over its weapons. It and the Hezbollah Brigades were among a group of Shiite militias backed by Iran that carried out lethal attacks against U.S. bases in the summer of 2011.

Faihan on Wednesday also urged the Shiite faithful to defend the Sayida Zeinab shrine in Syria. The holy site outside Damascus has been a rallying point for foreign Shiite militants fighting alongside government troops loyal to President Bashar Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

"Our stance is ... not to interfere in others' internal affairs. But regarding Sayida Zeinab shrine, we've called on Muslims to go and protect it because any attack on the shrine will lead to bloody events in the region. So protecting this shrine is a must," he said.

Also on Wednesday, Iraqi officials raised the death toll from attacks the previous day that shook Baghdad and towns north of the capital to 28.

Police said the deadliest of Tuesday's attacks struck the southern Dora neighborhood, where back-to-back bombings killed nine people and wounded 10. Bombs in the eastern neighborhood of Sadr City and in the northern Shaab area killed 12 and wounded 33.

Blasts and shootings in Tarmiyah and Mosul killed seven other people.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

A relentless wave of violence has edged Iraq closer to all-out internal warfare. On Monday, attacks killed more than 70 people. More than 450 have died this month.

___

Associated Press writers Adam Schreck and Sinan Salaheddin contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-shiite-militia-warns-sectarian-fighting-124204480.html

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Add a kaleidoscope of lenses to your DSLR or SLR camera

This Holga lens with built-in filters and prisms will let you play around with filter effects without having to break the bank. ?Granted, this lens kit isn’t going to be professional quality, but it will work with digital or film SLR cameras with Canon?EF or EF-S mounts or Nikon F mounts. ?You just mount it [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/05/29/add-a-kaleidoscope-of-lenses-to-your-dslr-or-slr-camera/

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Ex-campaign staffer indicted in NM email scandal

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) ? A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a former campaign manager of New Mexico's governor for computer hacking that allowed him to receive email sent by the Republican governor, her staffers and supporters.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales announced the indictments in Albuquerque against Jamie Estrada of Los Lunas, who briefly served as campaign manager for Gov. Susana Martinez in 2009.

Estrada is accused of using password and username information to change a computer account for the governor's 2010 campaign organization in 2011 after Martinez took office as governor.

The governor and her staff had continued to use the campaign computer account for some government business but the electronic mail was directed to a computer account controlled by Estrada. Some email was leaked to Martinez critics.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-campaign-staffer-indicted-nm-email-scandal-170807476.html

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China and France Adding Indirect Pressure to Global Economy

Thursday, May 30th, 2013
By Michael Lombardi, MBA for Profit Confidential

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has officially lowered its growth expectation for the Chinese economy, the second-biggest engine in the global economy. The IMF expects China to grow 7.75% this year compared to the eight percent it previously projected.

The First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, David Lipton, said, ?while china still has significant policy space and financial capacity to maintain stability even in the face of adverse shocks, the margins of safety are narrowing.? (Source: ?IMF Forecasts Lower China Growth, Warns on Debt,? Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2013.) This will be the first year since 2009 that China?s economic growth is in the single digits.

France, a key economy in the eurozone and the fifth-biggest in the global economy, is back in a recession for the third time in five years, as the economic slowdown in the country continues to take its toll. In May, consumer sentiment in the French economy reached lows not seen since July of 2008. (Source: France 24, May 28, 2013.)

As I have written before, there is no way the economic slowdown in the global economy will not end up affecting America. The price action in the stock market doesn?t show this, but in the first quarter of 2013, of the 11 companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average that reported their revenues in Europe, nine of them posted a decline in sales from that region! (Source: FactSet, May 28, 2013.)

Dear reader, while the U.S. economy still hasn?t recovered from the last economic slowdown, more troubles from outside our domestic control lie ahead.

China and France are just a few of the many examples of what?s actually happening in the global economy. Other nations like Japan are facing severe scrutiny as well.

There are several countries in the eurozone that are in an outright depression. The youth unemployment rate in some eurozone countries is close to 50%. In Cyprus, the government has gone so far as to take money right out of its citizens? bank accounts if their deposits totaled over 100,000 euros.

While you don?t read or hear as much about it as you did last year, the economic issues in the eurozone are dire?and the ramifications for the global economy are very real. Should Germany?s economy soften further, we could see all of Europe come under economic pressure, the winds of which will surely sail across the Atlantic to the West.

What He Said:

?Even the most novice investor can now read the chart of the Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index and see that it is trading at its lowest level in five years. If, like me, you believe that stocks are an indication of what lies ahead, this important index is telling us housing prices are headed to 2002 levels! What would that do to the economy? Such an event would devastate the U.S.? Michael Lombardi in Profit Confidential, December 4, 2007. That devastation started happening in the first quarter of 2008.

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Source: http://www.profitconfidential.com/michaels-personal-notes/china-and-france-adding-indirect-pressure-to-global-economy/

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Sen. McCain makes trip to Syria to visit rebels (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/308652241?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Mark Hunt Fought with Broken Toe in KO Loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 160

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Electric car venture Better Place files to liquidate

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Electric car company Better Place said on Sunday it had filed a motion in an Israeli court to wind up the company, bringing an end to a venture whose battery charging network had aimed to boost electric car sales.

Better Place partnered with Renault in 2008 to create an electric car system combining charging terminals with battery swap stations to increase the range of electric cars and put an end to drivers' worries about running out of power.

It had raised more than $850 million from top-tier investors and two years ago said it was valued at $2.25 billion.

Last August, Better Place secured a 40 million euro ($50 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB)- the company's first credit facility from a financial institution - to further develop its global electric car network.

But sales never took off, with just over a thousand cars on the road in Israel and Denmark, the first two countries where it began operating.

"The (gasoline-free) vision is still valid and important and we remain hopeful that eventually the vision will be realized for the benefit of a better world," the company's board of directors said in a statement. "However, Better Place will not be able to take part in the realization of this vision."

Carmakers have invested heavily in electric cars, but awareness is growing that hybrid and battery cars may not be enough to win the race to meeting rigid EU carbon dioxide emissions limits.

"This is a difficult day for all of us," said Chief Executive Officer Dan Cohen.

"Unfortunately, after a year's commercial operation, it was clear to us that despite many satisfied customers, the wider public take up would not be sufficient," he said in a statement.

The company management, he said, requested the appointment of a voluntary liquidator who would decide on how to award compensation to customers and staff and maintain the network already in place.

MUCH FANFARE, FEW SALES

Sunday's announcement came as no surprise.

With its partner Renault, Better Place committed to a production run of 100,000 electric cars for Israel and Denmark, counting on large fleets to sign up.

At the same time it developed plans to expand into Australia and then onto markets like China and the United States.

But the large-scale deals never materialized. Only about 900 of its cars are on the road in Israel, and about 400 in Denmark.

Renault could not immediately be reached for comment. In February 2008 it said Renault-Nissan and Better Place had signed an agreement "to provide the necessary conditions for the successful launch of electric vehicles."

A November earnings report published by conglomerate Israel Corp , which owns about 30 percent of Better Place, said the company had an accumulated deficit of $561.5 million with more losses expected.

The company made changes and reduced its workforce. Founder Shai Agassi was removed as CEO in October, and his successor was named four months later.

Alan Gelman, chief financial officer and head of operations in Israel, told Reuters at the time that the company knew why it was floundering and was trying to turn a corner.

"We at times were too focused on turning into a global company and expanded too fast, but we have to focus on local operations and selling cars," he said.

After a failed final round of fundraising, Better Place turned to the Tel Aviv area court.

"Revenues are still insufficient to cover operating costs, and in the light of the continued negative cash flow position, the board has decided that it has no option but to seek to make this application to the courts for an orderly liquidation of the company," it said in a statement.

Israel Corp, the largest shareholder in Better Place, said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Sunday it had decided not to inject more cash into the beleaguered company.

Other shareholders include HSBC , GE , Morgan Stanley and Vantage Point Venture Partners. None were immediately available to comment.

Gene Gable, a spokesman for Vantage Point Venture Partners, confirmed that the group was an investor in Better Place and since 2008. However, he said he could not disclose the amount of Vantage Point's investment in the electric car venture.

"We are not making any further comment on Better Place right now," he said. "We may have a statement later in the week."

(Additional reporting by Ellen Freilich in New York and Tova Cohen in Tel Aviv; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford and Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/electric-car-venture-better-place-files-liquidate-230757661.html

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Tied to Obama, Biden forges his own distinct role

WASHINGTON (AP) ? With his political future tied irrevocably to President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden is still working to preserve his own distinct identity as he contemplates a third presidential run in 2016.

With nearly four years left in Obama's second term, it would be untoward for Biden to be openly self-promotional, and his advisers say he's focused on his current job. Still, with the jockeying for 2016 nominations already well under way, there's an advantage to staying part of the conversation. So the freewheeling man from Scranton, Pa., is polishing a reputation carefully nurtured over four decades in Washington, playing up his own strengths even as he stays fiercely loyal to his current boss.

"The good news is my dad understands that he works for the president, first and foremost," said Beau Biden, the vice president's son and Delaware's state attorney general. "I hope he takes a real, hard look at running, but now's not the time."

That time will come soon enough. In the meantime, the vice presidency has afforded Biden ample opportunities to keep his name in the spotlight without seeming overtly political. He's hit the pavement, keeping a strenuous schedule that would wear out many 70-year-old men.

On a Monday earlier this month, Biden hosted religious leaders for hours at a White House meeting on gun control, even though efforts to revive a failed bill had stalled. On Tuesday, he spoke about voting rights at an African-American think tank. He talked immigration with Asian-Americans at an awards dinner Wednesday, and the Boston bombings in a keynote address to firefighters on Thursday. By Friday, he was preparing to return home to Delaware, where he spends many weekends.

"Part of the challenge of being president is you have to be president. It doesn't give you time to go out and travel the country as you'd like," said Ron Klain, Biden's former chief of staff. He said the ability to deploy Biden as a surrogate for Obama has been a major asset for the White House.

As he moves from issue to issue with fluidity and unchecked enthusiasm, it's easy to see how the Biden brand ? blue-collar, solidly liberal, disarmingly candid ? could have distinct advantages when Democrats select their candidate for 2016.

Whether Democrats, in picking their first nominee to follow Obama, will sour on the notion of an "old, white guy" as their standard-bearer is an open question. Another factor in Biden's equation ? and every conversation about 2016 ? is Hillary Rodham Clinton, who Democratic insiders say would start out a heavy favorite if she seeks the nomination.

A match-up with his former Senate colleague, 2008 primary opponent and West Wing teammate would test the loyalties and relative influence of a number of key Democratic constituencies.

Fiercely popular with women and with strong bipartisan appeal, Clinton stands to gain from fond memories of a booming economy under her husband's presidency. Like Biden, she also lays claim to the Obama legacy. But Biden, on many issues, also has cast himself to the left of Obama, staking out ground that could make him an attractive alternative to Clinton for the party's liberal base in presidential primaries.

"When he takes on gun control or comes out ahead of the curve on gay marriage, he is also right where people are," said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who worked on Obama's re-election. "He's evolved just like everyone else."

Unlike Obama, whose appearances are carefully choreographed to leave nothing to chance, each of Biden's public events has an element of suspense. His supporters say his seeming inability to hide his true feelings about an issue speaks to an honesty and candor that are at the heart of his appeal. But White House officials have privately griped about the fallout and distractions when he struggles to stay on message in a highly politicized environment.

"The standing joke in the office is Barack's learning to speak without a teleprompter, I'm learning to speak with one," Biden quipped Tuesday at a Jewish American heritage event, managing to be self-effacing while coming close to slighting his boss in the course of a single sentence.

Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University who interviewed Biden for a recent feature in Rolling Stone magazine, said Biden's become "the Chris Christie of the Democratic Party," a reference to New Jersey's shoot-from-the-hip Republican governor.

"Biden's kind of a joke to the right," Brinkley said, "but in core Democratic circles, they feel that somehow this longtime Washington politician has packaged himself as the straight talker who's not hostage to Washington."

"That kind of makeover doesn't happen by accident," he said.

Behind the scenes, Biden is doing the legwork to keep his membership current in key Democratic circles. He's making recruitment calls for the House Democrats' campaign arm ahead of the 2014 midterms. During inaugural weekend, he schmoozed with prominent Democrats from Iowa and New Hampshire ? the first two states to hold presidential primary contests. While vacationing in early April in South Carolina, another key early primary state, Biden invited the state party chair, Dick Harpootlian, for a round of golf.

A few weeks later, Biden was back in the Palmetto State, where he let his voice rise to a boil as he keynoted the state party's annual fundraising dinner.

"To all of a sudden, since the last election, hear our Republican friends talk about how much they value the middle class ... " Biden said with dismay. He noted state Republicans were holding a competing dinner a few miles away. "I'll bet they're talking about the middle class ? oomph."

When the laughter subsided, a more restrained Biden emerged.

"I don't want to make any news tonight," he said.

"Go ahead!" one activist in the audience shouted, egging him on.

Minutes later, Biden was whisked by motorcade across town, where he riffed on voting access before a casual crowd downing beers at a fish fry in honor of longtime Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. For almost an hour, he worked a rope-line, five-people deep, greeting supporters and posing for pictures the way he did years earlier in two unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

___

Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tied-obama-biden-forges-own-distinct-role-072658119.html

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Surging wildfire forces evacuations in California

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) ? A surging wildfire forced several thousand people, most of them Memorial Day campers, to evacuate the mountains of California's Santa Barbara County, officials said.

The fire broke out about 2:45 p.m. Monday in Los Padres National Forest about 15 miles north of Santa Barbara, and hours later had grown to 1,000 acres ? or 1.5 square miles ? amid winds of about 20 mph, U.S. Forest Service officials said. It was 5 percent contained.

Paradise Road and the many campgrounds along it were closed, forcing between 4,000 and 6,000 of campers, many already clearing out at the end of the holiday weekend, to evacuate, officials said.

The fire was threatening about 50 homes, many of them cabins and vacation rentals, and 50 to 75 residents had evacuated, county fire Capt. David Sadecki said.

A U.S. Forest Service garage and two vehicles had burned, Sadecki said.

The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center at Santa Barbara City College and another was set up for horses stalled in the area's many stables.

U.S. Forest Service firefighters got help from crews from around the region along with water drops from two helicopters and four planes, though the aircraft had to be grounded at times, first because of winds and later because of darkness.

The National Weather Service said the winds may get worse as night falls, but fire officials said they may also get help from the weather.

"We're hoping the temperatures drop and the humidity rises," Sadecki said.

A huge plume of gray and white smoke rose over the mountains and hovered over Santa Barbara, where many residents were flooding Facebook and Twitter with photos.

The county has issued an air quality warning because of the smoke and wind, advising people to limit time spent outdoors and to avoid outdoor exercise altogether.

To the south, a fire in San Diego County wilderness has scorched 900 acres of dry brush but was not a threat to homes or buildings.

The blaze southeast of Julian was sparked around midday Sunday in the Banner Grade area, and fire officials were investigating whether it was set intentionally.

It was 43 percent contained Sunday night, fire officials said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/surging-wildfire-forces-evacuations-california-011455548.html

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Monday, May 27, 2013

PAWS Chicago Oklahoma Pet Rescue: Windy City Shelter Saves 76 ...

Thanks to PAWS Chicago, the lives of 76 pets (51 dogs and 25 cats) have have been rescued from tornado-torn Oklahoma.

Volunteers with the no-kill shelter set out Friday on the recovery mission to alleviate overcrowding at The Oklahoma City Animal Care & Control (OACC) which had experienced an influx of pets following the devastating tornado that ripped through the area Monday.

Story continues after the slideshow.

  • PAWS Chicago's Oklahoma Pet Rescue

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After the eight-car caravan departed Friday for Oklahoma, the shelter gave an update via Facebook Saturday afternoon:

"Each pet that is coming to Chicago was a part of the shelter's pre-existing population of homeless pets. By transferring these pets to PAWS Chicago, we are enabling the shelter to take in and care for the more than 150 animals who have been displaced as a result of the recent tornado and will give them a chance to be reclaimed by their owners."

The PAWS Chicago volunteers now plan to head back north to prepare the animals for adoption.

All pets rescued from Oklahoma will be available for adoption at PAWS' 1997 N. Clybourn Ave. shelter in River North on Monday, Memorial Day.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/25/paws-chicago-oklahoma-pet_n_3336957.html

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Google Play no longer able to pay Argentine Android devs

Google Play

Google to stop accepting payments for Argentine developers from June 27, apps to be pulled from July 27.

Android developers based in Argentina have received notice from Google that it'll no longer be able to accept payments for them from June 27. A letter from Google to devs, obtained by South American phone site Celularis, indicates that the changes apply to both paid apps and in-app purchases. The Verge points out that the change is likely due to tough new restrictions on currency exchanges recently imposed by the Argentine government. But Celularis notes that despite the changes to Google Play, Google AdSense for mobile continues to operate in the country.

The letter from Google states that it'll stop accepting payments on behalf of Argentine developers from June 27. Paid apps and in-app items from these devs will be pulled a month later, starting July 27, following final payments on July 22. One solution for Argentina-based app developers is to move their account to another country where they're able to legally do business, an option Google itself suggests in its email to developers.

Google states that it hopes to restore payouts to developers based in Argentina in the future, but that "no specific plans are in place at the moment."

Source: Celularis; via: The Verge

    


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/zGyGe2ElDAg/story01.htm

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Obama?s struggle: How free should the press be?

President Obama says he's trying to strike a balance between national security and essential freedoms.?Now, after his own Justice Department accessed reporters' phone records, he wants to protect against 'overreach.' Some say he's trying to have it both ways.?

By Linda Feldmann / May 24, 2013

President Obama talks about national security at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington on Thursday. Responding to critics, the president also announced that Attorney General Eric Holder will conduct a review of the guidelines governing Justice Department investigations into reporters? activities, with input from media organizations, and to report back by July 12.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Enlarge

Deep into his one-hour speech Thursday on counterterrorism policy, President Obama reached a topic that is near and dear to the news media?s heart: the ability of journalists to pursue their craft without fear of government intrusion.?

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Mr. Obama announced that Attorney General Eric Holder will conduct a review of the guidelines governing Justice Department investigations into reporters? activities, with input from media organizations. ?Mr. Holder is to report back to the president by July 12.

Chances are, Holder already knows what he will hear: Hands off our phone records and emails. Recent revelations that prosecutors have accessed journalists? private data have sparked an outcry not just from the media, but also from the public and members of Congress of both parties. The Obama administration has defended its aggressive tactics in tracking down leaks of sensitive national security information.

But in his address, Obama demonstrated an ambivalence toward this approach, as he described the balance he is trying to strike between protecting national security and ?the freedoms that make us who we are.? It was a central theme of his speech. ???

?As commander in chief, I believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field. To do so, we must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information,? Obama said. ?But a free press is also essential for our democracy.?

The president also said that journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs, and repeated his new support for a media shield law to guard against what he called ?government overreach.?

Last week, the Obama administration asked Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York to reintroduce legislation aimed at protecting journalists? ability to keep the identity of their sources confidential. Four years ago, the administration sought to weaken the proposed shield law, which played a role in its demise.

Now, it?s a new day. First came the news that federal investigators, armed with a subpoena, had accessed the records of at least 20 phone lines used by Associated Press reporters. The case in question reportedly dealt with the foiling of a bomb plot in Yemen last year.

More recently, court documents first reported by the Washington Post revealed that a federal prosecutor had obtained a search warrant to access the phone records and emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen. Mr. Rosen was listed in the warrant as having ?potential criminal liability? in the matter of a State Department contractor accused of leaking classified information about North Korea?s nuclear test plans.

The public backlash over the seizure of reporters? private records has been fierce. And now the administration is singing a different tune.

?I simply think the administration didn?t anticipate that there would be such a strong reaction,? says Jane Kirtley, a professor of media law at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. ?This is not Sept. 13, 2001, when the public was prepared to say, ?Do whatever you need to keep us safe.? There?s been a great deal of skepticism from both the left and right about the administration?s justification of a lot of things on the grounds of fighting terrorism.?

But it?s not an ?either-or? situation.? Defending national security remains a paramount concern, and must be balanced against the need to protect press freedoms, the president said. ?And clearly, there will be trade-offs. The guidelines for press investigations that Holder is reviewing contain exceptions for cases involving national security, and as long as there are exceptions, there will always be the possibility that journalists? activities attract federal investigators. ?

It?s not clear, for example, that a shield law of the sort the Obama administration now supports would have protected the AP?s phone records.

?Frankly, I don?t mean to make this sound political, I really don?t, but I think President Obama is trying to have it both ways,? says Ms. Kirtley, former executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

?He wants to suggest to the press and to the public that he?s concerned about the government being perceived as overreaching when it?s pursuing journalists? phone records and looking at their news-gathering techniques,? she adds. ?On the other hand, he certainly doesn?t want to suggest he?s about to go soft on national security.??

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4FmKeighNXA/Obama-s-struggle-How-free-should-the-press-be

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The Simplest Flashlight Is Just a Rolled Up Piece of Paper

A flashlight is a crucial thing to have around the house, but even though it can be super useful, it's probably plastic and/or filled with D batteries. Not exactly elegant. The Paper LED Torch Light on the other hand, is the picture of simplicity.

Designed by Kazuhiro Yamanaka, the Paper LED Torch Light is as simple as it seems. There's a single LED mounted on the inside, and when the paper is curved into a tube, two hidden switches turn it on. When the paper lies flat again, it goes off. It's not the first paper-light design we've ever seen, but it's definitely the most wonderfully simple.

As neat as it is, the Paper LED Torch Light doesn't seem to be on sale anywhere. But let's face facts; it probably wouldn't be a very good flashlight. Still, it's a pretty neat trick. And if you ever needed a flashlight that could hide, you'd be hard-pressed to find something better. [Designboom]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-simplest-flashlight-is-just-a-rolled-up-piece-of-pa-509849137

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

NTSB says Wash. bridge collapse is wake-up call

A crew from the National Transportation Safety Board inspects a section of the Skagit River Bridge, Saturday, May 25, 2013 in Mount Vernon, Wash. The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday the bridge collapse in Washington state is a wake-up call for the nation. (AP Photo/The Skagit Valley Herald, Frank Varga)

A crew from the National Transportation Safety Board inspects a section of the Skagit River Bridge, Saturday, May 25, 2013 in Mount Vernon, Wash. The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday the bridge collapse in Washington state is a wake-up call for the nation. (AP Photo/The Skagit Valley Herald, Frank Varga)

A collapsed section of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River is seen in an aerial view Friday, May 24, 2013. Part of the bridge collapsed Thursday evening, sending cars and people into the water when a an oversized truck hit the span, the Washington State Patrol chief said. Three people were rescued from the water. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday declared a state of emergency in three counties around the bridge, saying that the bridge collapse has caused extensive disruption, impacting the citizens and economy in Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom Counties. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Mike Siegel)

People offer spontaneous prayer after an Interstate 5 bridge collapsed over the Skagit River between Mt. Vernon and Burlington, Wash. on Thursday, May 23, 2013. Two cars and one travel trailer went in the water. There were no know fatalities. (AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)

Workers walk past the collapsed portion of the Interstate 5 bridge at the Skagit River Friday, May 24, 2013, in Mount Vernon, Wash. A truck carrying an oversize load struck the four-lane bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River below Thursday evening. All three occupants suffered only minor injuries. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A dented upper right corner and a scrape along the upper side are visible on the "oversize load" equipment casing being hauled a truck parked southbound on Interstate 5 south of the collapsed portion of the highway bridge at the Skagit River Friday, May 24, 2013, in Mount Vernon, Wash. The truck struck the four-lane bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada Thursday evening, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River. All three occupants suffered only minor injuries. At an overnight news conference, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed the collapse on the tractor-trailer carrying a tall load that hit an upper part of the span. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP) ? The collapse of an Interstate highway bridge in northern Washington state is a wake-up call for the entire nation, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board says.

Investigators need to find out what happened at the I-5 span 60 miles north of Seattle and if it could be repeated at similar bridges around the country, Debbie Hersman said Saturday.

"This is a really significant event and we need to learn from it, not just in Washington but around the country," Hersman said after taking a boat ride on the Skagit River below the dramatic scene where a truck bumped against the steel framework, collapsing the bridge and sending two vehicles and three people falling into the chilly water.

"At the end of the day it's about preventing an accident like this," she said.

Her team will spend a week to 10 days looking at the bridge, talking to the truck driver whose vehicle hit it, and examining maintenance documents and previous accident reports.

Other over-height vehicles struck the Skagit River bridge before the collapse on Thursday, she noted. Investigators are using a high tech 3-D video camera to review the scene and attempt to pinpoint where the bridge failure began.

Hersman does not expect the investigation to delay removal of debris from the river or work on a temporary solution to replace or repair the I-5 span. State and federal officials can, and will, work together on the investigation, she said.

They'll be watching for safety issues that could affect other bridges.

"The results can be very catastrophic," Hersman said. "We're very fortunate in this situation."

Washington state officials said Saturday that it will take time to find both short- and long-term fixes for the bridge that collapsed on Interstate 5.

While, the National Transportation and Safety Board finishes its inspection, state workers will begin removing debris from the river. Next, a temporary solution will be put in place to return traffic to Washington state's most important north-south roadway.

Inspectors are working to find out whether the disintegration on Thursday of the heavily used span over the Skagit River, 60 miles north of Seattle and 40 miles south of the Canadian border, was a fluke or a sign of bigger problems.

"These things take time. We want to make sure it's done right, done thoroughly," Washington Transportation Department spokesman Bart Treece said.

A trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment Thursday evening when his load bumped against the steel framework over the bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the span collapse into the water behind him.

Motorists should not expect to drive on I-5 between Mount Vernon and Burlington for many weeks and possibly months, Treece said.

Treece asked people to plan for an extra hour to make their way through detours around the collapsed bridge. There are three detour options northbound and two options southbound.

About 71,000 vehicles use that stretch of highway every day. Late Saturday morning, traffic was moving freely through the detours.

Officials were looking for a temporary, pre-fabricated bridge to replace the 160-foot section that failed, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday. That option could be in place in weeks. Otherwise, it could be months before a replacement can be built, the governor said.

Inslee said it will cost $15 million to repair the bridge. The federal government has promised $1 million in emergency dollars and more money could come later, according to Washington's congressional delegation.

State officials approved Mullen Trucking in Alberta to carry a load as high as 15 feet, 9 inches, according to the permit released by the state. However, the southbound vertical clearance on the Skagit River bridge is as little as 14 feet, 5 inches, state records show. That lowest clearance is outside of the bridge's vehicle traveling lanes, Transportation Department communications director Lars Erickson said Friday. The bridge's curved overhead girders are higher in the center of the bridge but sweep lower toward a driver's right side.

The bridge has a maximum clearance of about 17 feet, but there is no signage to indicate how to safely navigate the bridge with a tall load.

At a news conference later Saturday, Hersman said Washington state does not require signage unless the clearance is 14 feet, 4 inches or less.

The permit specifically describes the route the truck would take, though it includes a qualification that the state "Does Not Guarantee Height Clearance."

____

Contact Donna Blankinship at https://twitter.com/dgblankinship.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-26-I-5%20Bridge%20Collapse/id-1f1ef88cf748462a909b26996553da83

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East Rutherford Sinkhole? How a forklift saved a man.

East Rutherford Sinkhole? A forklift worker narrowly escaped serious injury after a warehouse floor collapsed in East Rutherford, N.J.?

By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / May 21, 2013

A forklift operator found himself suddenly waist-deep in a viscid and aromatic pool of cooking oil and soy sauce, following the collapse of a warehouse floor in East Rutherford, N.J., on Monday.

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Shortly after noon, Danny Rodriguez was moving pallets near the loading dock of a warehouse unit rented by the trucking company?AM Express Freight, when the floor gave way. Mr. Rodriguez, his forklift, and several containers of oil and soy sauce plunged into a hole that witnesses described as six to 10-feet deep and 30 to 40-feet wide. Rodriguez escaped from the warehouse unit ? which at this point resembled the world's largest wok ? ?with only minor injuries.

"Fortunately for the operator, the forklift went straight down and didn?t tip to the side because then he could have really been hurt," said borough Police Chief Larry Minda, in an interview with The Record, a North Jersey daily newspaper.

Authorities declared the warehouse unit and two adjacent ones unsafe and ordered them evacuated.

It is not clear what caused the collapse. The Record quotes property manager, Bruce Jordan, who said that the unit's reinforced concrete floor sat atop a forgotten basement. "We had no idea it was hollow under there,? he said. ?We thought the floor was built over dirt."

The news aggregator site New Jersey Online attributes the collapse to a sinkhole, an underground hollow caused by the erosion of sedimentary rock, such as limestone or dolomite, by groundwater or, in some instances, burst water mains.

In recent years, sinkholes have appeared in?Florida;?California;?Illinois;?Washington, D.C.;?Pennsylvania;?Guangzhou, China;?Guatemala City;?Quebec;?Milwaukee;?Germany; and Chicago.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/IJufGL56n50/East-Rutherford-Sinkhole-How-a-forklift-saved-a-man

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Driving and hands-free talking lead to spike in errors

May 24, 2013 ? Talking on a hands-free device while behind the wheel can lead to a sharp increase in errors that could imperil other drivers on the road, according to new research from the University of Alberta.

A pilot study by Yagesh Bhambhani, a professor in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, and his graduate student Mayank Rehani, showed that drivers who talk using a hands-free cellular device made significantly more driving errors -- such as crossing the centre line, speeding and changing lanes without signalling -- compared with just driving alone. The jump in errors also corresponded with a spike in heart rate and brain activity.

"It is commonplace knowledge, but for some reason it is not getting into the public conscience that the safest thing to do while driving is to focus on the road," said Rehani, who completed the research for his master's thesis in rehabilitation science at the U of A.

The researchers became interested in the topic in 2009 shortly after Alberta introduced legislation that banned the use of handheld cellphones while driving but not hands-free devices. In this study, they used near infrared spectroscopy to study the brain activity of 26 participants who completed a driving course using the Virage VS500M driving simulator at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.

Near infrared spectroscopy is a non-invasive optical technique that allows researchers to examine real-time changes in brain activity in the left prefrontal lobe. Participants were first tested in a control condition, using the simulator to drive in city street conditions using no telecommunications device. They were tested again while talking on a hands-free device during two-minute conversations that avoided emotionally charged topics.

The research team found there was a significant increase in brain activity while talking on a hands-free device compared with the control condition. A majority of participants showed a significant increase in oxyhemoglobin in the brain, with a simultaneous drop in deoxyhemoglobin -- a sign of enhanced neuronal activation during hands-free telecommunication.

"The findings also indicated that blood flow to the brain is significantly increased during hands-free telecommunication in order to meet the oxygen demands of the neurons under the 'distracted' condition," said Bhambhani.

He added the results did not reveal a significant relationship between enhanced neuronal activation and the increase in the number of driving errors, most likely because the near infrared spectroscopy measurements were recorded from a single site, the prefrontal lobe.

The findings are considered novel on a topic that is receiving considerable attention by policy-makers globally. Rehani's contribution to the project earned him the 2013 Alberta Rehabilitation Award for Innovation in Rehabilitation (Student).

The researchers note this is a preliminary study and hope that it can be part of a larger body of literature that can help inform policy-makers about the safety implications of using hands-free devices while driving.

For Rehani, the work was part of rewarding academic journey at the U of A, which gave him opportunities to do research in a number of areas in neuroscience. He said he received outstanding support from both the faculty and colleagues at the Glenrose -- including Quentin Ranson, the occupational therapist and rehabilitation technology lead who helped facilitate the simulator research.

"To have a Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, which is the only free-standing faculty of its kind in Western Canada, and to have a hospital like the Glenrose dedicated to rehabilitation, is amazing," he said. "Both workplaces have such a collegial environment, with quality faculty and staff who are both working toward patient betterment. These institutions connect so well, it's fantastic."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/cNb1w2075lg/130524160745.htm

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Biographer regrets affair with former CIA director

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? The biographer whose extramarital affair with then-CIA director David Petraeus triggered his resignation says she regrets the relationship and the harm and grief it caused her family.

Paula Broadwell told WSOC-TV in Charlotte on Thursday (http://bit.ly/10RjHXE ) that she credited her husband and friends for standing by her as she rebuilds her life six months after her relationship with the married Petraeus was revealed by an FBI investigation and ignited a political firestorm. TV crews camped out front of her family home for days and Broadwell went into seclusion. The couple has two young children.

"I have remorse for the harm, sadness that this has caused in my family and other families and for causes that we belong to," Broadwell said. "I'm blessed with family, community. That's been a great part of my rehabilitation and wonderful organizations that realize that even if you've made mistakes you can pick up dust off and move on."

Broadwell spoke briefly last month with a reporter outside a Charlotte prayer breakfast, but Thursday was her first in-depth media interview since the scandal broke. Broadwell is a U.S. Army reserve officer who met then-Gen. Petraeus while researching a book about his wartime leadership in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The affair came to light after Broadwell sent vaguely threatening emails to a Florida socialite she viewed as a rival for his attention. That woman, Jill Kelly, showed the emails to an acquaintance who is an FBI agent.

For his part, Petraeus made similar comments in March in a speech at an event for soldiers in California, saying he was sorry for the affair and the pain it caused his wife, family, friends and supporters.

"Needless to say, I join you keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago," said Petraeus, who retired as a four-star general before being named by President Obama to head the CIA in 2011. "I am also keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing."

Broadwell spends much of her time now working with local organizations in the Charlotte area that help returning veterans and wounded warriors with finding jobs and housing. Broadwell said working with soldiers struggling to overcome visible and invisible wounds serves as therapy for her, as well.

"I'm not focused on the past, I'm not dwelling on it," she said. "It was a devastating thing for our family and we still have some healing to do, but we're very focused now on how can we continue to contribute and use this for the greater good, too."

___

Follow Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biographer-regrets-affair-former-cia-director-163618283.html

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