Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Samsung announces the Galaxy Tab 3, 7-inches of mid-range tablet

Android Central

Styled like the Galaxy Note 8.0, the Galaxy Tab 3 has more than a whiff of the mid-range about it

Samsung has pulled the wraps off their latest addition to the Galaxy Tab range with this, the new Galaxy Tab 3. This particular tablet is the 7-inch version, which will launch in a WiFi only flavor at the beginning of May. A 3G-enabled sibling will then follow in June. 

The styling follows on very much from the larger, Galaxy Note 8.0, continuing Samsung's new theme of adding their traditional three button setup to their tablet devices. Software wise we're looking at Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with the usual Touchwiz overlay, but on the hardware front things are distinctly mid-range. 

Powering the Galaxy Tab 3 is a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, on top of 8GB or 16GB of on board storage. This being Samsung though, storage is expandable by way of microSD card. The display is somewhat disappointing, with the Tab 3 sporting a resolution of just 1024x600. The cameras too are on the low end of things, with a 3MP rear shooter accompanied by a 1.3MP front facer. 

All this adds up to what should be a keenly priced tablet. Its predecessor has been retailing at Nexus 7 money for some time now. But, without a glaring jump in either hardware or software, it's difficult to think of a compelling reason to take the new Galaxy Tab 3 over the year old Nexus 7. Samsung brand power might come into play a little with this one. No pricing has been announced at this time and for the full press release, be sure to click on past the break. 

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/8lJrPg-Pen0/story01.htm

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Sharapova beats Li Na to win Porsche GP again

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) ? Maria Sharapova beat Li Na 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to successfully defend her WTA Porsche Grand Prix title in a final between the last two French Open champions.

The top-seeded Russian swept to her second title of the year after winning in Indian Wells, Calif. She became the first player to retain the Stuttgart title since Lindsey Davenport in 2005.

"I thought it'd be the toughest match of the tournament, but I played my best tennis today," Sharapova said. "I was able to step it up."

This was her 29th career title and 16th consecutive win on clay, dating to Rome last year. Since Stuttgart last year, she is 23-1 on clay. Her only loss was to Serena Williams in Madrid.

Sharapova, ranked No. 2, was using the Stuttgart tournament for her clay-court debut this season, as she did last year when she went on to capture the French Open.

The second-seeded Li had a double-fault on match point, with another one earlier in the final game.

"I was under pressure on her return," Li said. "She was aggressive."

Sharapova had to fight through three long three-setters to get to the championship match, but there was little drama in the final.

The Russian opened with a break and went up 4-1 before Li could pull back one break. But that was not enough, and Sharapova closed the set with a service winner.

"I tried to put it together from the start," Sharapova said.

Li, who became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title with her victory at Roland Garros in 2011, simply didn't have enough consistency to threaten. Sharapova gained the key break in the seventh game of the second when Li sent a volley wide.

Sharapova holds a 9-5 career edge over Li, who beat her in the semifinals of the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam.

"I'm a little sad to lose," Li said. "But it's a pretty good start to my clay-court season."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharapova-beats-li-na-win-porsche-gp-again-144816595.html

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Monday, April 29, 2013

Kosovo: 3 get jail time in organ trafficking case

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) ? A court in Kosovo found two citizens guilty of human trafficking and organized crime Monday in a major trial against seven people suspected of running an international organ trafficking ring that took kidneys from poor donors lured by financial promises.

A panel of two European Union judges and one Kosovo judge sentenced urologist Lutfi Dervishi to eight years in prison and his son Arban Dervishi to seven years and three months. Both also received fines, while Lutfi Dervishi was barred from practicing urology for two years.

A third defendant, Sokol Hajdini, was sentenced to three years in jail for causing grievous bodily harm. Two others received suspended sentences, while two were freed. The defendants can appeal the verdicts.

Organ transplantation is illegal in Kosovo. The trial began in December 2011 and included more than 100 witnesses. All the donors and recipients were foreign nationals.

Seven donors who testified were from Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey. They described how they were flown into Kosovo from Istanbul and then quickly wheeled into surgery in a medical facility named "Medicus" on the outskirts of Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

The victims were promised $10,000 to $12,000 in return for their kidneys, but many said they were never paid.

"At least two were cheated out of the entire amount and went home with no money and only one kidney," the court said in its reasoning.

The donors' kidneys were removed for transplantation into people who paid up to 130,000 euros for the procedure. The recipients were mostly wealthy patients from places such as Israel, Poland, Canada, the U.S. and Germany.

The court ordered that Lutfi and Arban Dervishi pay partial compensation of 15,000 euros to each of the seven victims who testified during the proceedings. The victims may later seek additional compensation in court, the panel said in its reasoning.

At least 24 kidney transplants, involving 48 donors and recipients, were carried out between 2008 and 2009, the period the case covered.

The donors "were alone, did not speak the language, uncertain of what they were doing and had no one to protect their interest," the court's reasoning read. "Some donors had severe second thoughts at the clinic, but were given no opportunity to back out and were psychologically pressured into going forward with the surgery."

Most of the names of donors and recipients were traced through documents seized during a police raid into the clinic in 2008 acting to verify a statement by a Turkish man that his kidney was removed. The man caught police's attention when he collapsed at the Pristina airport.

The defendants are believed to have profited $1 million from the transplants. It's unclear how many total donors and recipients there were.

"In every sense this was the cruel harvest of the poor and weak in our society," Jonathan Ratel, a Canadian prosecutor who brought the charges as part of European Union's rule of law mission in Kosovo, said after the verdicts.

He alleged that the sole motive of the defendants was "obscene profit and human greed." But the defendants claimed they were not guilty, arguing that the donors came to Kosovo voluntarily and that the surgeries saved lives.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kosovo-3-jail-time-organ-trafficking-case-180335330.html

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Undercover Cops Are Selling iPhones On The Street To Get People To Stop Buying Stolen iPhones

In San Francisco police are using a new tactic to disincentivize people from buying stolen iPhones: they're trapping them in undercover stings. Wearing plain clothes, the officers are going around certain city areas and selling iPhones which they readily indicate are stolen. When someone tries to buy one, they make an arrest. More »
    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fZETTo17PHA/undercover-cops-are-selling-iphones-on-the-street-to-get-people-to-stop-buying-stolen-iphones

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Weekend legislative threefer (Offthekuff)

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Sunday, April 28, 2013

US tries new aerial tools in Caribbean drug fight

ABOARD THE HIGH SPEED VESSEL SWIFT (AP) ? Drug smugglers who race across the Caribbean in speedboats will typically jettison their cargo when spotted by surveillance aircraft, hoping any chance of prosecuting them will vanish with the drugs sinking to the bottom of the sea.

That may be a less winning tactic in the future. The U.S. Navy on Friday began testing two new aerial tools, borrowed from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, that officials say will make it easier to detect, track and videotape drug smugglers in action.

One of the devices on display aboard the High Speed Vessel Swift is a large, white balloon-like craft known as an aerostat, which is tethered up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) above the ship's stern. The other tool on board for tests in the Florida Straits is a type of drone that can be launched by hand from the deck.

Together, they expand the ability of Navy and Coast Guard personnel to see what's beyond their horizon, according to officials from both military branches and the contractors hoping to sell the devices to the U.S. government.

The devices should allow authorities to detect and monitor suspected drug shipments from afar for longer sustained periods, giving them a better chance of stopping the smugglers. They also should allow them to make continuous videotapes that can be used in prosecutions.

"Being able to see them and watch what they are doing even before we get there is going to give us an edge," said Chief Chris Sinclair, assistant officer in charge of a law enforcement detachment on board the Swift, a private vessel leased to the Navy that is about to begin a monthlong deployment to the southwestern Caribbean, tracking the busy smuggling routes off Colombia and Honduras.

Crews practiced launching and operating both systems before a small contingent of news media on board the Swift, managing to bring back video of vessels participating in a mock surveillance mission as well as radar and video images of the fishing charters and sailboats that dot the choppy seas separating Cuba from the U.S. mainland.

The drone, officially a Puma All Environment unmanned aircraft system from Aerovironment Inc. of Simi Valley, California, splashed into the water on one landing and had to be retrieved. On the second round, it clacked noisily but intact on the shifting deck of the 321-foot ship. Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, commander of the Navy's 4th Fleet, said the devices are necessary at a time when the service is making a transition to smaller, faster ships amid budget cuts.

The aerostat, formally the Aerostar TIF-25K and made by a division of Raven Industries Inc. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is filled with helium. It's an old technology, models of which have been used for decades, but it's packed with cameras and sensors that expand the ship's radar capability from about 5 miles (8 kilometers) to about 50 miles. That can help teams in an on-board control center to identify larger ships, which now would appear as just dots on the horizon, from as far as 15 miles (25 kilometers) away.

The Puma, meanwhile, can be sent out to inspect a vessel flagged by the larger aerostat and give a "God's eye view," of what's happening on board, a job usually handled by a plane or helicopter, said Craig Benson, director of business development for the company.

Both the aerostat and the drone have been used widely by the U.S. government for overseas actions, but Harris and others aboard the Swift said neither has been used before by the Navy to conduct counter-drug operations.

Unmanned aerial devices, however, are not new to the drug fight. U.S. Customs and Border Protection operates 10 Predator drones, including two based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, that patrol a wide swathe of the Caribbean through the Bahamas and down to south of Puerto Rico. It deployed one to the Dominican Republic last year for six weeks and has considered using one in Honduras. The others are used along the northern and southern borders of the United States.

The U.S. military has long been deeply involved in counter-drug operations in the Southern Hemisphere, coordinated by a multi-agency task force based in Key West, Florida. Navy ships and Air Force jets use their radar to track and run down smugglers, though for legal reasons the actual arrests are carried out by the Coast Guard, civilian agencies or officials from other countries.

In March, the military said it would reduce patrols and sorties in Latin America and the Caribbean because of the automatic spending cuts imposed by Congress, another argument for increased use of aerial surveillance devices like the aerostat and drone, officials said.

Representatives on the Swift from both contractors declined to say what their systems cost. But they said each can be run at a fraction of the cost of the fixed-wing planes or helicopters usually dispatched to check out suspected smugglers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-tries-aerial-tools-caribbean-drug-fight-114421954.html

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Intermittent fasting may help those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, study suggests

Apr. 26, 2013 ? Intermittent fasting is all the rage, but scientific evidence showing how such regimes affect human health is not always clear cut. Now a scientific review in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease published by SAGE, suggests that fasting diets may help those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, alongside established weight loss claims.

Intermittent fasting -fasting on a given number of consecutive or alternate days -- has recently been hailed as a path to weight loss and improved cardiovascular risk. A team led by James Brown from Aston University has evaluated the various approaches to intermittent fasting in the scientific literature. They searched specifically for advantages and limitations in treating obesity and type 2 diabetes using fasting diets.

The basic format of intermittent fasting is to alternate days eating 'normally' with days when calorie consumption is restricted. This can either be done on alternative days, or where two days each week are classed as 'fasting days'. These types of intermittent fasting have been shown in trials to be as effective as or more effective than counting calories every day to lose weight. Evidence from clinical trials shows that fasting can limit inflammation, improve levels of sugars and fats in circulation, and reduce blood pressure. Our fasting bodies change how they select which fuel to burn, improving metabolism and reducing oxidative stress.

For people with obesity, only one drug (orlistat) is currently available in the UK, and gastric surgery is a relatively rare and expensive alternative. Dietary changes remain the most common intervention used for obese people. Fasting is known to help, but former treatments were based on intermittent starving. Today's intermittent fasting regimes are easier to stick to, and are proven to help remove excess pounds melt away.

Scientists have known since the 1940s that intermittent fasting helps us lose weight, and can cut the incidence of diabetes in lab animals. Recent studies have also confirmed that restricting calorie intake could possibly reverse type 2 diabetes in some people. Researchers measured improved pancreatic function and fewer of the fatty deposits associated with insulin resistance were present in fasting subjects.

A healthy heart

In animal models, scientists have shown that intermittent fasting has some cardiovascular benefits that appear similar to exercising, such as improving blood pressure and heart rate, and lowering cholesterol. Fasting also appears to aid those with ischemic heart disease. Fasting may even protect the heart by raising levels of adiponectin, a protein that has several important roles in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and vascular biology.

"Intermittent fasting might achieve much of the benefit seen with bariatric surgery, but without the costs, restriction on numbers and risks associated with surgery," according to lead author, James Brown. "Whether intermittent fasting can be used as a tool to prevent diabetes in those individuals at high risk or to prevent progression in those recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes remains a tantalising notion and we are currently in preparation for clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of this form of lifestyle intervention in various patient groups."

Intermittent fasting is an increasingly popular diet plan that hit the headlines in the run up to Christmas 2012 after the release of a book on the subject. Proponents claim that in addition to weight loss, the diet can lead to longer life, and protection against disease, particularly conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by SAGE Publications, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. James E. Brown, Michael Mosley and Sarah Aldred. Intermittent fasting: a dietary intervention for prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease? British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease, April 2013

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/D78Xbo49i8U/130426115456.htm

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UK terror plot leader jailed for minimum 18 years

LONDON (AP) ? The ringleader of an al-Qaida-inspired plot to detonate knapsack bombs in England was sentenced Friday to at least 18 years in jail.

Judge Richard Henriques said 31-year-old Irfan Naseer was "the leader, driving force and man in charge" of the elaborate plot, sentencing him to life with no possibility of parole for 18 years.

"Your plot had the blessing of al-Qaida and you intended to further the aims of al-Qaida," Henriques told Naseer in London as he sentenced the man nicknamed Big Irfan, or Chubbs, along with 10 accomplices. "Clearly nothing was going to stop you, short of intervention of the authorities."

Prosecutors had said the men, fired up by the sermons of U.S.-born al-Qaida preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, hoped to cause carnage on a mass scale. One of Naseer's accomplices was recorded calling the planned attack "another 9/11."

Police said the terrorist conspiracy was the most significant uncovered in Britain since a plot to blow up airliners in midair was foiled in 2006.

But the plot was undone by problems with money and logistics. No targets had been chosen and no bombs built when Naseer, Ashik Ali and Irfan Khalid, both now 28, were arrested in September 2011 in Birmingham, central England, after a huge investigation and surveillance operation by police and the security service.

Prosecutors said Naseer and Khalid had traveled to Pakistan for terror training, where they learned details of poisons, bomb-making and weaponry, and made "martyrdom videos" justifying their planned attacks.

On their return to England in July 2011, they began to recruit others to the plot and to raise money by posing as street collectors for Muslim charities. They also began experimenting with chemicals, the prosecution said, aided by Naseer's university degree in pharmacy.

But many of the group's plans soon went awry. Four other young men dispatched by the plotters to Pakistan for terrorist training were sent home within days when the family of one man found out. The four pleaded guilty to terrorism-related offenses.

Rahin Ahmed, an alleged co-conspirator described in court as the cell's "chief financier," tried to increase the group's budget by trading the money it made from bogus charity fundraising on the financial markets. Instead, he lost the bulk of the terror cell's money.

Among the pieces of evidence at the four-month trial was a sports injury cool pack, which prosecutors said Naseer had mistakenly believed would contain ammonium nitrate, a key bomb-making ingredient.

The group also considered other outlandish attacks, including tying sharp blades to the front of a truck and driving it into a crowd. Naseer was heard talking about the possibility of mixing poison into creams such as Vaseline or Nivea and smearing them on car handles to cause mass deaths.

Prosecutors said the men ultimately gravitated toward a plan to detonate up to eight knapsack bombs ? either on timers or in suicide attacks ? in a bid to cause destruction on a scale larger than the July 7, 2005, London transit bombings, which killed 52 commuters.

Naseer was recorded plotting about knapsack bombs going "boom, boom, boom everywhere," while Khalid said the attack would be "revenge for everything, what we're doing is another 9/11."

The trio was convicted in February of plotting terrorist attacks and sentenced Friday at Woolwich Crown Court, with Khalid getting a minimum of 12 years in prison and Ali a minimum of 10 years.

Eight others who had pleaded guilty to involvement also were sentenced.

___

Associated Press writer Cassandra Vinograd contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-terror-plot-leader-jailed-minimum-18-years-143214948.html

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Saturday, April 27, 2013

House of Youkai


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The custom-built "roleplay" system was designed and implemented by Eric Martindale as of July 2009. All attempts to replicate or otherwise emulate this system and its method of organizing roleplay are strictly prohibited without his express written and contractual permission; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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Te'o time in San Diego; Geno Smith goes to Jets

NEW YORK (AP) ? Manti Te'o and Geno Smith provided the sizzle previously missing from the NFL draft.

Te'o is headed to San Diego, Smith is a Jet, and Radio City Music Hall shook with the kind of noise usually heard in stadiums when they were selected.

The theater rocked with two picks within minutes of each other Friday night.

Te'o, the Notre Dame All-America linebacker, was chosen sixth in the second round by the Chargers, drawing a loud roar from the fans. One spot later, the Jets took the West Virginia quarterback, drawing a raucous reaction of cheers and boos.

The big names had taken over from the bulk and beef of opening night, when 18 linemen went in the first round.

Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to the national championship game, was projected as a first-rounder last year. But his poor performance in a rout at the hands of Alabama, some slow 40-yard dash times, and a tabloid-ready hoax involving a fake girlfriend that became a national soap opera dropped his stock.

"I did expect to go in the first round," Te'o said. "But things happened and all it did was give me more motivation."

When former Chargers defensive back Jim Hill was handed the card to make the announcement by Commissioner Roger Goodell, he was told, "You're going to get a big cheer when you announce this pick."

It was more a mix of surprise and recognition of the most talked-about player in the draft finally finding a landing spot at No. 38 overall.

The Chargers traded up with Arizona to grab Te'o, the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Te'o ran a 4.82-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, slow for a linebacker. He did better at Notre Dame's pro day, but NFL teams already had plenty of football reasons to doubt his worthiness as a first-round pick.

San Diego was willing to gamble on him.

"We did a lot of work on Te'o and I've seen him for a number of years," first-year general manager Tom Telesco said. "He loves football. He's passionate about it. He loves to practice. He loves to play."

Two officials, each with a different team, said their clubs passed on Te'o in the first round partly because of his off-field issues. The men, speaking on condition of anonymity because team draft strategy is confidential, said the decision was not just because of a disappointing combine performance or the linebacker's poor performance in the national title game.

Te'o was the third linebacker chosen in this draft.

"It's a perfect scenario. My parents can come and watch, I can go home, it's San Diego," said Te'o, a native of Hawaii. "We're all excited. I can't be any happier."

With the very next pick, the Jets sent their QB situation spiraling into further chaos. They already have Mark Sanchez, who struggled last season but was brought back in great part because of a prohibitive contract. They still have Tim Tebow, who almost certainly soon will be cut. They signed David Garrard, who hasn't played in the NFL since 2010.

And now there is Smith, who waited futilely throughout the first round, returned to the theater Friday and was rewarded.

"It's extremely relieving. I withstood the test of time," he said. "It felt like forever in there."

If Smith thought that was tough, wait until he enters the cauldron overseen by Jets coach Rex Ryan, where every move by every QB on the roster is tabloid-Internet fodder for days.

"I'm a competitor and I'm going to accept my role on the team, whatever is handed to me," Smith said, "but my job is to compete day in and day out."

Safety Johnathan Cyprien of Florida International was the first selection of the second round. Cyprien was a standout in the Sun Belt Conference and really solidified his stock with an excellent performance in the Senior Bowl.

"He's got a passion for the game," coach Gus Bradley said. "He is very animated. He just enjoys it. He loves to play the game. I think he's going to add to what we have here and the attitude that we're looking for."

Arizona added some spice to the third round by selecting former LSU cornerback-kick returner Tyrann Mathieu. The Honey Badger was a 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist that LSU dismissed from the team last August for failing a drug test. He was arrested in late October after police said they found marijuana at Mathieu's apartment.

"He impressed me so much in my office one on one, knowing at this point in time what he needs to do in his life," Cardinals first-year coach Bruce Arians said. "I was really taken aback a little bit. He knows what his problems are, he knows what he has done to himself, but he also knows that someone will give him a chance, that he knows what he needs to make sure he succeeds."

Other notable second-round picks Friday were Tennessee wide receiver Justin Hunter by the Titans, who traded up with San Francisco; Stanford All-America tight end Zach Ertz by Philadelphia; and North Carolina's Gio Bernard, the first running back chosen, by Cincinnati.

After no running backs were selected in the first round, five were taken in the second. The number of linemen dropped to five.

The presumed top-rated running back, Eddie Lacy of Alabama, went with the next-to-last selection of the round, to Green Bay.

NCAA record-setting RB Montee Ball of Wisconsin was chosen by Denver.

Tampa Bay's first pick this year was defensive back Johnthan Banks of Mississippi State at No. 43 overall. Washington, which traded it first-rounder last year to draft Robert Griffin III, went for defensive back David Amerson of North Carolina State at No. 51.

New England, known for trading early picks for a bunch of later selections, chose linebacker Jamie Collins of Southern Mississippi at No. 52. Seattle, after trading down six spots with Baltimore, closed out the second round by taking running back Christine Michael of Texas A&M.

Cleveland used its second-rounder, which would have been 39th overall, in last year's supplemental draft to take wide receiver Josh Gordon of Baylor, who made 50 catches for the Browns in 2012.

New Orleans was stripped of its second-round pick in the bounty scandal.

The final pick of Day 2 was the Titans' selection of Missouri linebacker Zaviar Gooden.

Among those who didn't go were quarterbacks Matt Barkley of Southern California, Landry Jones of Oklahoma and Ryan Nassib of Syracuse; South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore, who is recovering from a severe knee injury; and two starters from national champion Alabama, OL Barrett Jones and DT Jesse Williams.

___

AP Sports Writers Bernie Wilson, Rob Maaddi and Rachel Cohen contributed to this story.

Online: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/teo-time-san-diego-geno-smith-goes-jets-024210680.html

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Red line: Obama cautious on Syria chemical weapons

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Proceeding cautiously, President Barack Obama insisted on Friday that any use of chemical weapons by Syria would change his "calculus" about U.S. military involvement in the 2-year-old civil war ? but said too little was known about a pair of likely sarin attacks to order aggressive action now.

The president's public response to the latest intelligence reflected the lack of agreement in Washington over whether to use America's military to intervene in the civil war, ? and if so, how. But lawmakers in both parties expressed concern that inaction could embolden Syrian President Bashar Assad and perhaps other countries including North Korea and Iran.

U.S. officials declared on Thursday that the Syrian government probably had used chemical weapons twice in March, newly provocative acts in the civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. The U.S. assessment followed similar conclusions from Britain, France, Israel and Qatar ? key allies eager for a more aggressive response to Syrian conflict.

Obama, in his first comments about the new intelligence disclosure, said Friday, "For the Syrian government to utilize chemical weapons on its people crosses a line that will change my calculus and how the United States approaches these issues." He has issued similar warnings for months, saying the use of chemical weapons or transfer of the stockpiles to terrorists would cross a "red line" and carry "enormous consequences."

Seeking to show resolve, Obama added Friday that "I've meant what I said."

The president is facing political pressure from a familiar contingent of senators, led by Arizona Republican John McCain, favoring a quick and strong U.S. response. But even those lawmakers appear opposed to an American military invasion and are instead supporting creation of a protective "no-fly zone" or another narrow, safe zone inside Syria, along its border with Turkey.

Some lawmakers voiced concern that if Obama doesn't make good on his promise to respond aggressively if it's shown that Assad used chemical weapons, his inaction could send a damaging message to the world.

"There's no question that when the United States takes a position that this crosses a line that our failure to respond has implications," said Rep. David Cicilline, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "So that if we, in fact, determine that chemical weapons were used, I think the expectation is that we and the coalition and others take some action."

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., wondered whether the red line was "turning into a pink line."

White House officials insisted Obama's caution was not an indication that the line was shifting. Officials said firm evidence of a chemical weapons attack would trigger a U.S. response ? unspecified ? and would not be contingent on the size and scope of the use.

Obama met at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose nation is suffering amid an influx of refugees spilling over its border with Syria. The president promised to vigorously pursue more information about chemical weapons attacks, including exactly who might be responsible and how they might have been carried out.

But the president set no deadline for answers.

"The president wants the facts," spokesman Jay Carney said. "And I'm not going to set a timeline because the facts need to be what drives this investigation, not a deadline."

Syrian officials denied Friday that their government forces had used chemical weapons against rebels.

Hanging over the Obama administration's approach to the new intelligence reports are hard lessons learned from the Iraq war, when faulty intelligence drew the U.S. into a lengthy and expensive conflict. Obama, as a candidate for U.S. Senate, opposed the Iraq war and made ending the conflict a priority in his first term.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill appeared to be drawing on similar lessons from more than a decade ago. Many who sounded the alarm about Saddam Hussein and the possibility of weapons of mass destruction ? and strongly stood with President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq ? were far more muted on Friday.

Following a closed-door briefing by Secretary of State John Kerry, they stressed the importance of building international support for any military move against Syria rather than unilateral U.S. action. The sectarian strife in Iraq and the lawlessness in Libya after the killing of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 stand as sober reminders of what can happen.

"We want to do everything we can to avoid putting boots on the ground," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee. "I don't think that we, just as the United States, want to go in to another war."

Polling shows war-weary Americans are broadly opposed to the notion of the U.S. military intervening in Syria. Just one in five said the U.S. has a responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria, according to a CBS News poll conducted in late March.

But faced with more specific scenarios, Americans appear more willing to back U.S. involvement. In an ABC News/Washington Post poll late last year, 63 percent said they would support military intervention if the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.

Roughly the same number said they would support using American military aircraft to create a no-fly zone if no ground troops were involved.

The White House faces a limited choice of military options to help the rebels oust Assad.

Arming the rebels would run into the reality that a military group fighting alongside them has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida. Establishing a no-fly zone poses a significant challenge, as Syria possesses an air defense system far more robust than the U.S. and its allies overwhelmed in Libya two years ago.

Thus far, the Obama administration has limited its assistance to the Syrian rebels to nonlethal aid, including military-style equipment such as body armor and night vision goggles. The U.S. has also deployed about 200 troops to Jordan to assist that country's military, and has participated in NATO's placement of Patriot missile batteries in Turkey near the border to protect against an attack from Syria.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Donna Cassata at http://twitter.com/DonnaCassataAP

___

AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writer Bradley Klapper contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/red-line-obama-cautious-syria-chemical-weapons-214455716.html

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Computer scientists suggest new spin on origins of evolvability: Competition to survive not necessary?

Apr. 26, 2013 ? Scientists have long observed that species seem to have become increasingly capable of evolving in response to changes in the environment. But computer science researchers now say that the popular explanation of competition to survive in nature may not actually be necessary for evolvability to increase.

In a paper published this week in PLOS ONE, the researchers report that evolvability can increase over generations regardless of whether species are competing for food, habitat or other factors.

Using a simulated model they designed to mimic how organisms evolve, the researchers saw increasing evolvability even without competitive pressure.

"The explanation is that evolvable organisms separate themselves naturally from less evolvable organisms over time simply by becoming increasingly diverse," said Kenneth O. Stanley, an associate professor at the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida. He co-wrote the paper about the study along with lead author Joel Lehman, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin.

The finding could have implications for the origins of evolvability in many species.

"When new species appear in the future, they are most likely descendants of those that were evolvable in the past," Lehman said. "The result is that evolvable species accumulate over time even without selective pressure."

During the simulations, the team's simulated organisms became more evolvable without any pressure from other organisms out-competing them. The simulations were based on a conceptual algorithm.

"The algorithms used for the simulations are abstractly based on how organisms are evolved, but not on any particular real-life organism," explained Lehman.

The team's hypothesis is unique and is in contrast to most popular theories for why evolvability increases.

"An important implication of this result is that traditional selective and adaptive explanations for phenomena such as increasing evolvability deserve more scrutiny and may turn out unnecessary in some cases," Stanley said.

Stanley is an associate professor at UCF. He has a bachelor's of science in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He has over 70 publications in competitive venues and has secured grants worth more than $1 million. His works in artificial intelligence and evolutionary computation have been cited more than 4,000 times.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Central Florida.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Joel Lehman, Kenneth O. Stanley. Evolvability Is Inevitable: Increasing Evolvability without the Pressure to Adapt. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e62186 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062186

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/yFudqCEhgpw/130426115612.htm

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Evernote's John McGeachie on business expansion, the shift to mobile and an update on two-factor authentication

Evernote's John McGeachie on business expansion, the shift to mobile and an update on twofactor authentication

Evernote Business has only been around since last summer, but it's already having an impact on how teams far and wide keep track of what's on the collective mind. The division's vice president John McGeachie sat down with us for a bit at The Next Web Conference this week in Amsterdam, giving us an inside look at how the company has evolved, what it has learned and where it hopes to go. Specifically for Evernote Business, McGeachie affirmed that there's a greater need for educating users as compared to individuals just testing the waters on its free service. "It sort of takes a while for people to figure out how to best fit Evernote into their workflow," he said, "but once that starts happening, people see that it adds an amazing amount of value to all of these different areas." He added: "That's basically how our whole marketing strategy works. We're really just listening to how people use Evernote, and then put that back out there [as use case scenarios]."

In that sense, Evernote's quite unusual. Many startups have to maintain a focused product just to convince a new audience to try something foreign. Evernote, on the other hand, is deliberately open-ended, and it's the company itself that's now learning how to evolve based on direct feedback. "Our best source of new users that stay and really use the product is from understanding how someone they know or someone they can identify with uses it," said McGeachie. He did, however, acknowledge that the huge amount of flexibility does mean that the learning curve is steeper. "We see a lot of people download the app and use it once, and they aren't sure what to do next, so they go away. But a lot of them come back and reengage because they read something or run into someone they know who uses it, and it clicks."

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/25/evernote-john-mcgeachie-business-expansion-security-mobile/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Highlights of Moroccan editorials, April 24, | Morocco World News

Rabat, april 24, 2013 (MAP)

The Moroccan Sahara issue, the 6th Agriculture convention (opened on Tuesday in Meknes) and the recent meeting of Maghreb interior ministers are the major topics commented this Wednesday April 24, 2013 by Moroccan editorialists.

In an editorial titled ?two opposed wills?, Bayane Al Yaoum recalls that while Morocco proposed an autonomy plan in the frame of Morocco?s sovereignty over the Sahara, welcomes as ?realistic? by several world capitals, the other party has failed to propose any alternative to settle the Sahara issue and remained adamant and protracting to maintain the statu-quo.

The editorialist calls the United Nations and the international community to take note of the existence of two wills, one endeavoring for a political, final and consensus-based solution meant to go beyond remnants of the cold war and face the security, strategic and development challenges facing the region, and another vision seeking to maintain tension and continuing to threaten to return to war.

The editorialist insists that Moroccans will never let anyone jeopardize its sovereignty or territorial integrity and will never allow international superpowers to pursue their interests and economic and strategic goals at the expense of its legitimate rights.

Aujourd?hui le Maroc which runs an editorial titled ?Success story? writes that the 6th agriculture convention opened Tuesday by HM King Mohammed VI is taking place as ?Morocco has opted for modernizing its agriculture, and set forth the ambitious +Green Morocco? strategy?, arguing that this convention ?is an important opportunity to assess this strategy, five years after it was launched?.

?Results are already promising?, the daily writes, noting that ?the Royal strong involvement, the efficient governmental management and the important human and material resources are ingredients that made of Moroccan agriculture one of the most developed ones in the Euro-Mediterranean basin?.

Of the recent meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union interior minister Rissalat Al Oumma says this has been an opportunity to remind that Maghreb countries (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) are still attempting to achieve shared objectives despite the frozen UMA political process.

For the editorialist, the UMA failures are the direct results of anti-Moroccan stances taken by Algeria. He adds that Morocco will not tolerate the plots of Algerian officials who support the Polisario mercenaries and try to set up a ?bogus state? in the region at the expense of Morocco?s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

This attitude jeopardizes the UMA essence as the treaty creating this Union stipulates that its aim is to safeguard the independence of each member state and that member-states pledge not to allow on their respective territory any activity or organization that puts at stake the security, territorial integrity or political system of any other member state and to abstain from adhering to any pact or pact that would harm the political independence or territorial integrity of anyone of the other member states.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/04/88299/highlights-of-moroccan-editorials-april-24/

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Like it or hate it, Free-To-Play gaming is here to stay | Digital Trends

Agree? ?Disagree? Sound off in the comments below, and for the ?con? side of the argument, check out ?Why Free-to-Play is a fad.?

Free-to-play games may not overtake the standard model of retail gaming, but it is the future of gaming ? not the only future, or even the dominant one, but the future nonetheless. Soon there won?t be a major publisher on the planet that doesn?t offer a free-to-play game, just as many are now focusing time and money on mobile gaming. Unlike mobile ? which is perhaps best viewed as a companion to retail games, or as an option for people that wouldn?t otherwise game ? F2P is proving that it is more than just a business model, it is a new way to think about traditional gaming.

In America, the F2P craze is just beginning to catch on. You can argue that it began decades ago with freeware, but the current ?free-to-play? model is a specific type of game that is powered by microtransactions. That style of game has been slowly expanding for a while now, but it?s really only within the last handful of years that the model stretched beyond just a few specific games and became its own sub-industry.

On the other hand, F2P is huge around the world. In China, where consoles are almost nonexistent and there are over 100 million online users, F2P games enjoy massive popularity.?Call of Duty Online?entered open beta earlier this year, bringing a massively multiplayer take on Activision?s hit franchise exclusively to the Chinese audience. Nintendo has a similar plan in motion for an MMO treatment of?Monster Hunter.

free_to_play is here to stay monster hunter screenshot

South America is also a hotbed for online gaming as consoles struggle to saturate that market. Brazil services the 8th largest online population in the world, and ?F2P games receive much of the attention. This is partly due to an old law that puts a 120-percent tax on retail video games, treating them as gambling in the eyes of the law. Free-to-play games create a creative loophole that circumvents the outdated statute.

American, European, and Asian publishers know which way the wind is blowing: Retail games aren?t going away by any means, but the F2P model is more than just a gimmick. It is one of the pillars of the future of gaming. To top it all off, F2P virtually eliminates the need for piracy and used games, two things that publishers hate in nearly equal measure.

People like Free Stuff

The ?free-to-play? classification is actually a misnomer. These games are free to play, but only technically, as they rely heavily on microtransactions. The publisher needs these to make money, and the gamers need them to get the most out of the game. It is annoying and even frustrating to play and lose to someone that simply paid some money for an in-game benefit but it really is just a matter of how you perceive these games.

People like free stuff, and publishers know that. Marketing campaigns push the ?free? aspect over and over again, and you often hear that you can unlock the same or equivalent content through play that you can with money. This is usually true, but it?s unrealistic. If the difference between getting a cool weapon that makes the game more fun is either $1 or 100 hours of gaming, a dollar seems reasonable. A better way to think of F2P is ?pay what you want.?

The free portion of many of these games often amounts to a robust demo that allows you to play for a long, long time before you commit to paying anything. In games like these you eventually have to pay up if you want to get the most out of the experience, but you still have the option to choose what you want to pay for and when.

Full retail releases are expensive. A new game will generally run you $60, often more when you count in things like DLC. If you buy a game like Call of Duty and also purchase all of its expansions, you are looking at a bill of around $120 (not counting discounts like season passes). That is fairly common, and really not even ?unreasonable compared to the time you get out of it and the market value of games.

free_to_play is here to stay ballistic screenshot

For people that aren?t already into gaming, this is an expensive and steep fence to climb. Even the most dedicated gamers have to choose carefully before putting down any money. Whether you are on a budget or just not willing to commit $60-$100 on a game you may know nothing about, F2P exists and expands around the notion that there is an alternative.

A player can now play a game for hours and hours with no monetary investment. It?s easy and accessible. Even Facebook is starting to catch on, with more traditional gaming experiences like the first-person shooter?Ballistic (which, incidentally, was developed in Brazil) offering an alternative to FarmVille and its ilk. If the right spark catches,?the F2P audience could explode there.

The Next-Gen Holds the Key

While much of the world may already embrace F2P gaming via PC, console audiences haven?t seen as much of this model. That could change with the next generation of consoles due out this year. Xbox Live has over 40 million subscribers, many paying an annual fee, while the free PlayStation Network has roughly twice that. It is a massive market that F2P games have only scratched the surface of, with games like?Dust 514 and?Happy Wars.

free_to_play is here to stay planetside 2 screenshot

The advent of downloadable content has led gamers to embrace new models and approaches on consoles. Indie downloadable releases like Journey?and The Walking Dead?were big hits both commercially and critically last year. Publishers like EA have also made sure to get gamers well acquainted with microtransactions and the virtual storefronts that support them. It would be surprising to see either Sony or Microsoft ignore this in the next-gen. Sony already has the popular Planetside 2;?the PS4 could easily handle a port of the game.

Free-to-play is Here to Stay

It is unlikely that the F2P model is going to overtake the traditional model. Even if it does, that won?t mean the end of retail games. People still like interactive experiences with campaigns and stories, and those are much more difficult to monetize through microtransactions; plus, not everyone likes playing games online. The industry is changing though, and new avenues for games are being created that just weren?t possible even a few years ago. There is no going back now: free-to-play gaming will be one of the pillars of gaming in the years to come.

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Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/like-it-or-hate-it-free-to-play-gaming-is-here-to-stay/

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Ryan Lochte on Letterman: Why Do You Have a Show Again?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/ryan-lochte-on-letterman-why-do-you-have-a-show-again/

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KEF introduces M Series headphones bred from HiFi speaker know-how

DNP

Mostly known for its extravagant speaker systems, KEF is finally taking a whack at ear gear. Today, the company announced two new types of HiFi headphones, known as the M Series, which include a pair of on-ear cups (M500) and a set of in-ear buds (M200). Priced at $300, the M500 sports a full aluminum frame and sweat resistant padding, along with a 10mm driver for lows and a 5.5mm driver for mids and highs in each earcup. If enclosed head gear isn't your thing, the $200 M200 offers an aluminum housing and a pair of silicone ear tips with an adjustable arm for improved comfort. Like their pricer sibling, these earphones also feature a dual-driver system. While we've yet to spend time with the M500 or M200, their press pictures and specs aren't too shabby. Call it a hunch, but we doubt they'll need any celebrity endorsements. For more info on KEF's new headphone line, hit the presser after the break.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/kef-m-series-headphones/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Photographer's loss offers hope for Boston wounded

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? In the first horrific moments after the Boston bombing, with smoke still billowing around the wounded, I know what is going through the minds of the maimed victims.

They are at once conscious and unconscious. They want to scream, but they cannot scream. They want to wake up from a nightmare, but they are awake.

Overcome with a sense of deja vu, I feel my past converge with the future of those wounded spectators.

I lost my leg in a bomb blast. I know the violent shock of a day that begins well and ends with an amputation, the fog of drugs and surgery, the months of painful rehabilitation.

I know the suffering that lies ahead for these people in Boston. And I know the possibilities, too.

For those who lost a limb or more in the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2013, was the day their world changed forever.

Mine changed on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. I had been embedded with the U.S. military for two weeks in southern Afghanistan as a photographer for The Associated Press, and this was to have been my last patrol before going home. It had been a long day in the open desert of Kandahar province and I was whipped, barely awake, in fact, when our eight-wheel armored Stryker vehicle hit a roadside bomb and flipped over, knocking me unconscious.

When I came to, I tried to get up but couldn't; my left foot was hanging by a few tendons. I felt brutal pain, like an electric shock, that began in my leg and swept through the rest of my body. Lying inside the vehicle, I thought of my wife, and willed myself to stay alive.

Eventually, a soldier found me and tied on a tourniquet.

In my years as a photojournalist, I'd taken many pictures of wounded soldiers and victims of suicide bombers. I had covered medical evacuations from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, and found it odd to suddenly be among those pulled from an inferno and carried on a stretcher ? along with two other soldiers and AP Television News videographer Andi Jatmiko.

They loaded me onto a helicopter next to a soldier who had lost both of his legs and we locked hands as the chopper took off for the provincial capital of Kandahar. The solidarity in that moment is the last thing I remember before waking up in a hospital tent to find my left leg had been amputated below the knee. There was no option to save it, doctors told me. Bone and tissue were destroyed by shrapnel. But fortunately my knee was intact, and that would make a substantial difference in my future mobility, they explained.

That offered little comfort as I lay alone and exhausted in a hospital bed in Afghanistan. I had so many questions about life with just one leg but I preferred sleep to thinking about my uncertain future.

The difference between those who lost limbs in Boston and me is that I knew I was taking a risk in a war zone and assumed it willingly, while they had merely gone out to cheer friends and relatives at a family sporting event.

They weren't supposed to be in danger.

I was a photographer documenting soldiers at war and everyday life for civilians under fire. But before violence grabs you, does anyone really believe he will become one of the dead or wounded? No. Nothing had happened to me on dozens of previous patrols with the military through hostile lands. And while I suspected I was playing a kind of Russian roulette, I also told myself that car accidents happen every day and most people don't stop driving because of that.

For months after the explosion I was tortured by so many "what ifs." What if I had stayed back to pack rather than going on patrol that day? What if I had sat a little bit to the right, would the shrapnel have missed my leg? Or if I had sat to the left, would I have lost both legs like the soldier next to me?

I imagine those in Boston whose bodies were torn up by nails or the blasts have similar thoughts: Why didn't I stand at mile 25, go for water, leave earlier, stay home? I would like to tell them that these questions fade as one begins to accept the reality of losing a limb.

The morphine they gave me to dim the pain of my amputation sapped my energy. I wanted off it so I could start my recuperation with all my strength and walk as soon as possible. I am a Spanish citizen, not American, and was lucky that the AP was able to work bureaucratic miracles to get me admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, one of the world's best rehab hospitals.

In Afghanistan, I had visited a rehabilitation center run by the Red Cross in Kabul that was considered one of the best in the country. The hospital was one of the few that provided prostheses to patients, including children, who had been blown up by forgotten mines in rural areas.

It's nonsense to compare Walter Reed with the Red Cross center; it is like comparing day and night. However I never stop thinking about those Afghan patients and how they were facing their rehabilitation process even in that calamitous center.

I appreciated even more my luck in Walter Reed and I realized that fate is marked by where you are born.

I was 40 years old, agile and in good shape from exercise and work as a photographer in rough terrain. I even used to jog in the Afghan capital of Kabul when I lived there. So just a month after the explosion, I threw myself into rehab. Although my wounds were still fresh, I put on my first prosthesis and took my first steps. I was determined.

And I was completely unprepared for the difficulty.

It took tremendous strength to learn to walk again. I needed practice, but practice rubbed my wounds raw. Exercise was essential and exercise produced blisters where the prosthesis was joined to my leg ? more hot pain.

I was frustrated and felt useless on the days I couldn't exercise, waiting for the blisters to drain and heal. Then I would put the prosthesis back on and push myself to my limit until the skin broke again.

In those first days, I could only take a few steps. In the first weeks, it took me an hour to walk a mile. I worked out on a bicycle, on a treadmill and with weights. And month by month, I increased my speed so that finally I could walk the 2 1/2 miles from my rented home to the hospital in 25 minutes.

If those maimed in Boston were to ask me what was harder, the physical or psychological recovery, I would say the two go hand-in-hand.

At first I thought it was enough to recover physically, and that learning to walk and work again would naturally produce a psychological recovery.

I was wrong.

The strength of the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed helped me a great deal. Even though many of their injuries were so much worse than mine, I never heard them complain about pain or withdraw in self-pity.

I lost only the lower half of my left leg and came to understand that important distinction alongside soldiers who had lost a leg up to the hip, both legs, or legs and arms. We shared our daily experiences and hardships, often with humor. When a soldier who had lost both arms and legs teasingly called me "Paper Cut" for my lesser wounds, I called him "Trunk" and we laughed.

The soldiers, and some of my Spanish friends with amputations, also taught me the difference between losing a leg and missing a leg. The missing leg can be replaced with a prosthetic, but a loss is permanent. If you don't confront the feelings of loss ? the fact that your world has changed ? you never fully recover from the amputation.

The support of my family and friends was crucial. My relationship with my wife after the accident changed to a deeper love. I could see that the patients who didn't have as many visitors, as much love and reassurance around them, did not respond to physical therapy as quickly.

And then there was my camera.

The very instrument that had gotten me into this mess, if you will, became my inspiration and part of my salvation. I carried it with me all the time to photograph the recovery of my hospital mates and to test my own. It took a lot of practice to be able to look through the lens and maintain my balance while walking, as I had done before the amputation.

With a prosthetic, you have to watch for bumps and dips in your path because you have no feeling in your false foot. If you take a wrong step, it is easy to fall, and I fell many times before learning to compensate. Running is much harder, as the body struggles to adjust to a prosthetic leg. When I was 15, I ran a marathon. Now, I am running three miles once a week and I am exhausted. My goal is to run again and recapture the runner's high, the feeling of strength that I used to experience.

The new amputees in Boston will discover, as I did, that there is a whole world of prosthetics to choose from. Who would know if you didn't need one? There are feet made for running, walking, climbing, cycling, even for swimming and golfing. But it turns out there's no such thing as an all-terrain prosthesis, so in the end, I accumulated several.

I normally wear a versatile, durable foot, but I also carry a couple of extras in a backpack, one spare foot and a special one for running. I even have one for roller skating, which, after multiple clashes with trees, parked cars and the pavement, is now one of my favorite sports.

In the same way I have always tended to my cameras, I now must care for my prosthetics, making sure they are always in perfect working condition.

Like the amputees in Boston today, 3 ? years ago I joined a community to which no one wishes to belong. I have changed over the years, as they will.

For better or worse, I am more vulnerable now. If I were to offer advice, it would be that it's possible to accept help without feeling dependent. I would tell them what I tell myself, "Emilio, you're missing a foot so don't be too hard on yourself, and when someone offers you a seat on the bus, take it."

I would tell them the greatest truth I have learned is that I am a man who had a leg amputated, not an amputee.

I am still a whole person.

I have returned to work as a photojournalist with the AP. I have tried to become a better person, sharing my small successes with all the people who have helped me in critical times. I appreciate that I live in a nice house in Barcelona with my wife, who is pregnant. I am looking forward to becoming a father for the first time.

I know they cannot imagine this in Boston now, but I want them to know that while certainly I miss my leg, I feel very fortunate.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/photographers-loss-offers-hope-boston-wounded-150058095.html

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100 years later, a time capsule is opened

The First Lutheran Church of Oklahoma City dug up and opened its Century Chest, a time capsule that was buried under the church 100 years ago.

The artifacts inside the copper chest were remarkably well intact. Credit for that goes to the church's Ladies Aide Society, the group that buried the capsule a century ago. The group buried the chest in double concrete walls and under 12 inches of concrete, according Fox News. It also left guidelines on how to unearth the capsule.

The chest was full of treasures. Among the finds: a newspaper from the day the capsule was buried (April 22, 1913); a dress; a telephone; a flag; a pen used by President William McKinley; a camera; and a pair of women's shoes that still had their shine. Perhaps most remarkable was a phonograph record featuring voices of citizens from the era.

The Oklahoma Gazette reported that the project was the brainchild of Virginia Sohlberg. Her great-granddaughter, Virginia Eason Weinmann, was especially moved by a book that contained family photos and poetry.

Experts from the Oklahoma Historical Society worked with the church to make sure the objects were handled with care. All of the items will be displayed at the Oklahoma History Center.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/100-years-later-time-capsule-opened-185852550.html

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Meet the new Zito

Barry Zito got tagged with some sort of hippie/playboy/zen master stereotype when he came up with the A?s. Since then most of that has been obscured by talk of his contract, his pitching struggles and then his nice little comeback the past season or so.

But his?interview?in the May ?GQ? reveals a much different Barry Zito than that which exists in casual, popular perception. ?Turns out that he found God in 2011 and he and his wife have immersed themselves in ?the Christian faith? to use Zito?s term. Also: while he still surfs and does yoga, he has a new passion:

You?ve been written about a great deal, as you pointed out. But is there anything you?re interested in that we don?t know about?

Let?s see. I?ve kind of picked up a new hobby of shooting firearms. So that?s something that I?ve really gotten excited about lately. I think when you have a family and you understand that you have so much to lose if some lunatic is gonna come off the street and try to do something in your home, it makes you feel a little better to know that I?ll be able to defend my family. It?s a utilitarian thing. That?s basically what it?s about.

I?m struggling to think of whose violent impulses are so messed up and random that Barry Zito of all people becomes the target of them, but I suppose that sort of thing, by definition, defies rational analysis.

The bigger takeaway, I think, is that while it?s often tempting and easy to pigeonhole hippie/playboy/zen/surfer types on the one hand, and it?s tempting and easy to pigeonhole Christian gun owner types on the other, there are a lot of people ? probably most people ? who fit neither of those easy caricatures. Zito is his own dude, comes off as a pretty thoughtful dude, and there?s something cool about that.

In other news, that Zito interview is part of a baseball package which includes Buster Posey, Zito,?Brandon Phillips,?Chase Headley,?Jake Peavy, and?Andre Ethier modeling clothes that are vaguely baseball-inspired. Posey in what look like sweat-capris is a particular highlight.

Next month, if there is a God in Heaven who loves us and wants us to be happy, we?ll have the Matt Adams/Billy Butler swimsuit?pictorial.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/22/barry-zito-is-a-reborn-christian-really-excited-about-owning-and-shooting-guns/related/

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