Survival of the Galapagos sea lion

June 29, 2013 ? Immune systems of endangered Galapagos sea lions are in overdrive because of harmful activity by people, reveal scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

The study shows that Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) are more prone to starvation because of exposure to human influences like pets and pollution. These can impair the level of their immunity, making them less able to hunt and more likely to go hungry when food is scarce.

This research is published June 28 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Conservationists spent more than eighteen months on the Islands of San Cristobal, which is inhabited by humans, and Santa Fe, where there are no humans, dogs, cats, mice or rats. They tagged 60 Galapagos sea lions from each island and monitored their behaviour and physiology.

ZSL's Institute of Zoology Director, Professor Tim Blackburn says: "We are increasingly aware of the threats of infectious diseases to wildlife around the world, from amphibians in the tropics to the birds in British gardens. It is worrying that we are now potentially seeing such threats to sea lions in the supposedly pristine wilderness of the Galapagos Islands."

ZSL's Dr. Paddy Brock, author on the paper, says: "A tell-tale sign of an unhealthy sea lion is a thinner than normal layer of blubber, which is what we saw in the sea lions on San Cristobal. This was all the more notable as we didn't notice these patterns in sea lions on Santa Fe, where they live without the presence of people or pets.

""The immune systems of San Cristobel sea lions were more active, perhaps indicating a threat of infectious disease, which could mean human activity is increasing the chance of potentially dangerous diseases emerging in the Galapagos sea lion," Dr Brock added.

Despite laws designed to protect the unique wildlife found on the Galapagos, pets are regularly imported to the islands, which increases the risk of new diseases arriving and spreading to local species. In addition, dumping of sewage into the bay on San Cristobal where the sea lions live may be increasing their exposure to germs and bacteria associated with humans.

ZSL, together with collaborators, will continue to address the threats faced by the Galapagos sea lion by carrying out further research into the methods driving the described patterns, such as the role that genetics plays in shaping them.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/UgP0hAd2l9E/130629164735.htm

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T-shirt store starts new fashion trend in Libya's Benghazi

By Feras Bosalum

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Browsing through the racks of printed T-shirts and scarves, a handful of shoppers inspect the latest designs in what has become one of the most popular clothing stores in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

One of them, Ali, a student, holds up a T-shirt printed with a popular Libyan expression "Grab what is new before it becomes old", one of the many catchphrases that adorn the designs in Boza, a small shop in an upmarket neighbourhood.

"I always bought clothes with English writing on them but now for the first time, I am buying a T-shirt with Arabic print," he said. "I am so happy."

Ali is one of the hundreds of Libyans who have flocked to Boza since it opened a few months ago, eager to get their hands on designs that have become a talking point among the youth in Benghazi's popular coffee shops.

Its name meaning "stylish", the store - the first of its kind in Libya according to its owners - sells T-shirts, bags, head and neck scarves printed with "Made in Libya", "Walk like a Libyan" or a jumble of letters spelling out Benghazi.

Some T-shirts are printed with "I love Cyrenaica", referring to Libya's eastern province where calls for more regional autonomy have heightened since Muammar Gaddafi's ouster in 2011.

Benghazi was the cradle of the Libyan revolt and discontent has mounted over continued neglect from Tripoli. Easterners say their oil-rich region was starved of cash under Gaddafi.

Other colourful T-shirts carry portraits of King Idris, whom Gaddafi ousted in his 1969 coup.

"Our designs have political messages, it is difficult to separate daily life from politics," Ahmed Benmussa, a 32-year old oil engineer and Boza co-owner, said.

"We take inspiration from Libyan heritage because we have a rich culture. Reviving history is one of our aims."

Some of the T-shirts tackle the serious issues plaguing post-war Libya - the mass of weapons on its streets and the armed militias which have hobbled governance.

"Better the devil you know" reads the message on one T-shirt accompanied by the drawing of a knife.

"Some of the messages are critical, perhaps in a more humorous way," Benmussa said. "This is how we express ourselves, unlike those who actually use weapons."

PERSONALISED DESIGNS

The shop itself is a mix between old and new. An old record player lies idle in the middle of the store while a large television screen beams Boza's latest designs.

Importing blank T-shirts and scarves from Turkey, its designers use a small printing machine to decorate the clothes and accessories. Customers can also personalise goods or propose new designs on a "suggestion wall" in the store.

Boza's T-shirts, which sell for around 50 Libyan dinars, are popular among Benghazi's youth who say the designs allow them to express themselves - a still relatively new freedom after Gaddafi's 42-year iron-fisted rule.

"This is a great way in which you can express yourself in a modern and fashionable manner," Alaa al-Baba, a 24-year old engineer, said. "It would be great if everybody could do that."

Boza's owners use social media site Facebook to promote the store, both at home and abroad, posting pictures of the owners' friends wearing designs around town like professional models.

"We have sent T-shirts to customers in Saudi Arabia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, United States, Qatar, Ireland, France, Egypt and Spain," Benmussa said.

Capitalising on Boza's success in Benghazi, plans are now under way to open a branch in the capital.

"There will be a Boza in Tripoli in coming days," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-shirt-store-starts-fashion-trend-libyas-benghazi-090344589.html

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Court lifts Calif. gay marriage ban

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Croatia's president: No doubts on joining EU

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) ? Croatia has no second thoughts about joining the European Union despite the continent's economic crisis, and it supports enlarging the bloc even further to help bring about reconciliation in the once-warring Balkans, the country's president said Friday.

Ivo Josipovic told The Associated Press in an interview that after 10 years of painful membership negotiations, Croatia "did not have the opportunity to choose the time" of its formal EU entry, which is set for Monday.

The EU is in deep financial turmoil and Croatia's own economy has been in recession for five consecutive years, so the excitement of becoming the 28th member of the bloc has dimmed, though street festivities are planned starting Sunday.

"We are aware that we are not going to be perfect from the first of July," Josipovic said. "But, together with the EU we have better opportunities to fight the economic crisis than by being alone."

Croatia, a nation of 4.2 million, sees the EU "primarily as a peace project, and then a common market and economy," the president added. "That's the reason we are supporting our neighbors as well to join the EU."

It was only two decades ago that Croatia was ravaged by a war that killed some 10,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless when minority Croatian Serbs rebelled against Croatia's proclamation of independence in 1991.

The Serb-led Yugoslav army came to their rescue by relentlessly shelling and destroying many Croatian towns and villages. The war in nearby Bosnia was even more brutal, killing around 100,000 people and leaving millions homeless.

Croatia is only the second of the six former Yugoslav states to join the EU, after Slovenia became a member in 2004.

Serbia is likely to start EU membership negotiations in January; Montenegro is probably the next in line after Croatia to join; Macedonia's bid has been blocked by Greece over a name dispute; and Bosnia is far from joining because of bickering among its Muslim, Croat and Serb leaders.

Josipovic said Croatia wants to help its Balkan neighbors "politically and technically" gain EU membership.

"Being together in the EU means that any further conflict is senseless," Josipovic said. "It would be definitely the end of the tensions in southeast Europe."

Some EU countries, including Germany, have been reluctant about immediate further enlargement of the EU, primarily because of the ongoing financial crisis. Iceland has dropped its EU bid, while Britain is considering holding a referendum on whether to stay in the club.

The pro-EU voices in Croatia note that joining the bloc means Croatians could find jobs in more prosperous EU countries, that their country could attract more foreign investment, and that the EU's leadership in Brussels could help keep widespread corruption and economic mismanagement in check.

But euro skeptics worry that already plunging living standards will further decline, with increased taxes that could result in rocketing prices. They also fear that the opening of the labor market will result in other EU citizens occupying their jobs.

The Croatian president said Croatia had come a long way, and that joining the EU would help it progress even more.

"Croatia was destroyed in the war, not only physically," Josipovic said. "There are some consequences of the war still, but our negotiations (with the EU) show that a society like Croatia can recover from war, can make friendships, can make good relations with neighbors and fulfill very hard requirements from the EU."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/croatias-president-no-doubts-joining-eu-164613737.html

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Huawei to launch a Google Edition smartphone

FURNACE CREEK, Calif. (AP) ? Associated Press photographer Chris Carlson is no stranger to heat. He grew up just outside Palm Springs, Calif. On Friday, he returned to his desert roots, leaving his home near Los Angeles and driving to the hottest place on earth on one of the hottest days of the year. Below, he describes what it is like to be in triple digit heat in Death Valley:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huawei-launch-google-edition-smartphone-223031089.html

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Final gov't birth control rule for faith groups

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration issued its final compromise Friday for religiously affiliated charities, hospitals and other nonprofits that object to covering birth control in their employee health plans.

The Health and Human Services Department said the final plan simplifies how insurers provide the coverage separately from faith-based groups and gives religious nonprofits more time to comply. However, the changes are unlikely to resolve objections from faith groups that the requirement violates their religious freedom.

More than 60 lawsuits have been filed challenging the rule. The cases are expected to reach the Supreme Court.

The birth-control rule was first introduced in February 2012, as part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, drawing praise from women's groups and condemnation from religious leaders. The original plan exempted churches and other houses of worship, but required faith-affiliated charities, universities and other nonprofits to provide the coverage for their employees.

The regulation became an election-year issue as Roman Catholic bishops, evangelicals and some religious leaders who have generally been supportive of Obama's policies lobbied fiercely for a broader exemption. The Obama administration offered a series of accommodations, leading to the final rules released Friday.

Under the compromise, administration officials said they simplified the definition of religious organizations that are fully exempt from the requirement. The change means a church that also ran a soup kitchen would not have to comply.

Other religious nonprofits must notify their insurance company that they object to birth control coverage. The insurer or administrator of the plan will then notify affected employees separately that coverage will be provided at no cost. The insurers would be reimbursed by a credit against fees owed the government.

Michael Hash, director of the health reform office of the Health and Human Services Department, said the final regulation spells out in more detail the buffer between religious charities and contraceptive coverage. Faith-based groups were given another reprieve ? until Jan. 1 ? to comply.

"There's a much brighter line here ? a simpler line ? and we think that responds to a good many of the comments that we got," said Michael Hash, director of the Health and Human Services office of health reform. More than 400,000 comments were submitted over the last several months, the agency said.

Judy Waxman of the National Women's Law Center, an advocacy group based in Washington, said she would prefer women hear directly about the coverage from their insurer, but her organization could accept the plan. "It's fair," she said.

However, Eric Rassbach, an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm challenging the contraception coverage rule, said "it doesn't really change the overall way they're trying to do this." The Becket Fund represents many of organizations challenging the regulation in federal court.

The Catholic Church prohibits the use of artificial contraception. Evangelicals generally accept the use of birth control, but some object to specific methods such as the morning-after contraceptive pill, which they argue is tantamount to abortion, and is covered under the policy.

The lawsuits are split almost evenly between nonprofit plaintiffs ? including several Roman Catholic dioceses ? and for-profit businesses who say the rules go against their religious beliefs. For-profit businesses are not included in the accommodation released Friday and were not eligible for the time extension.

The Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is the largest and best-known of the businesses that have sued. On Thursday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver allowed the lawsuit to move forward on religious grounds. The judges said the portion of the law that requires them to offer certain kinds of birth control to their employees is particularly onerous and sent the case back to a lower court in Oklahoma. On Friday the lower court granted Hobby Lobby a temporary injunction against full enforcement of the law. Businesses that fail to comply potentially face fines based on the number of workers they employ and other factors. The amount for Hobby Lobby could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Many of the nonprofit lawsuits had been put on hold until the final rules were announced.

Neither the Catholic Health Association, a trade group for hospitals, nor the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had an immediate reaction Friday, saying the regulations were still being studied. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the bishops' conference, said he appreciated the time extension.

___

AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/final-govt-birth-control-rule-faith-groups-154455085.html

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Asia stocks boosted by Japan, US indicators

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were boosted Friday by encouraging indicators from Japan and further proof that the U.S. economy is on the upswing.

Reports showing better-than-expected consumer spending, a jump in pending home sales and a drop in jobless claims emboldened investors to dive into riskier assets like stocks. Wall Street posted its third-straight gain of the week.

Japan got a dose of upbeat economic news when the government said industrial production rose 2 percent in May from April, the fourth straight monthly increase, while the most-watched consumer price index stopped falling for the first time in seven months

Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 3.6 percent to 13,684.37. South Korea's Kospi added 1.3 percent to 1,859.69. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 percent to 4,833.40.

Investors were also encouraged by comments from key U.S. Federal Reserve officials. The president of the New York branch of the Fed said the central bank would likely keep buying bonds if the economy failed to grow at the pace expected. Jerome Powell, a member of the Fed's board in Washington, said investors appear to have incorrectly concluded that the Fed will taper its purchases soon.

That brought a sign of relief to markets fearing that a pullback by the Fed would deflate stock and commodity markets, where investors have turned due to the low interest rates created by the bond buying program.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.4 percent to 20,723.89 while mainland Chinese shares also rose as fears eased of a credit crunch in China, analysts said.

The central bank had allowed rates that banks pay to borrow from each other to soar last week, part of an attempt by Beijing to clamp down on massive credit in the informal lending industry. Later, however, when Chinese policymakers softened their stance with the promise to provide "liquidity support" if needed.

The central bank's action was "good for the future because it makes merchant banks turn more market-driven and do more prudent lending," said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.

Among individual stocks, Japan's Sharp Corp. soared 8.1 percent after announcing it will set up a joint venture with in China with liquid crystal display panel maker Nanjing China Electronics Panda Group Corp., Kyodo News reported. Panasonic gained 7.6 percent. Nintendo added 6.7 percent.

New York stocks got a substantial boost by the National Association of Realtors, which reported that its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 6.7 percent last month. That's the highest level since December 2006. Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.3 percent last month, nearly erasing a similar decline in April. Income rose 0.5 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.8 percent, to 15,204.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.6 percent, to 1,613.20. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.8 percent, to 3,401.86.

Benchmark oil for August delivery was up 11 cents to $97.16 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.55 a barrel to close at $97.05 on the Nymex on Thursday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3062 from $1.3049 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 98.87 yen from 98.36 yen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-boosted-japan-us-indicators-052926878.html

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Netflix Max: A New Recommendation Engine That Talks Back

Well, this is out of left field. Today Netflix is rolling out a new recommendation system for PlayStation 3 owners called Max. He'll help "you find something great to watch in a fun, conversational way."

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lmMfWGZpPos/netflix-max-a-new-recommendation-engine-that-talks-bac-607951716

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Tim O'Brien wins $100,000 military writing prize

FILE - Vietnam veteran and author Tim O'Brien is seen in an undated photo provided by himself. O'Brien, known for such books as "The Things They Carried" and "In the Lake of the Woods," on Tuesday, July 25, 2013 received the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. O'Brien is the first fiction writer to win. (AP Photo/Meredith O'Brien, File)

FILE - Vietnam veteran and author Tim O'Brien is seen in an undated photo provided by himself. O'Brien, known for such books as "The Things They Carried" and "In the Lake of the Woods," on Tuesday, July 25, 2013 received the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. O'Brien is the first fiction writer to win. (AP Photo/Meredith O'Brien, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A $100,000 prize for military writing has been awarded to an author of fiction.

Tim O'Brien, known for books such as "The Things They Carried" and "In the Lake of the Woods," has received the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award.

The honor, announced Tuesday, has previously been given to acclaimed historians such as James McPherson and Rick Atkinson. O'Brien is the first fiction writer to win.

The 66-year-old O'Brien served in the Vietnam War from 1968-70 and often draws directly on his experiences as a soldier.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-25-Books-Military%20Prize/id-c8481ffe591e4ed898a4e211117fae30

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Realistic robot carp created: First robot fish with autonomous 3-D movement in Asia

June 26, 2013 ? A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering has developed a robot fish that mimics the movements of a carp. This robot which is essentially an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is ready for applications, as it can be programmed to perform specific functions, for example, for underwater archaeology such as exploring nooks and corners of wreckage -- or sunken city which are difficult for divers or traditional AUVs to access. Other applications include military activities, pipeline leakage detection, and the laying of communication cable.

The team comprises Professor Xu Jianxin, Mr Fan Lupeng, graduating Electrical Engineering student and Research Fellow, Dr Ren Qinyuan. Mr Fan worked on the project for his final year which won the High Achievement Award at the Faculty's 27th Innovation and Research Award. It will also be featured at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, a top international conference on intelligent robots, in Tokyo on 3-7 November 2013.

Said Prof Xu, "Currently, robot fish capable of 2-D movements are common, meaning that these models are not able to dive into the water. Our model is capable of 3-D movements as it can dive and float, using its fins like a real fish. Compared to traditional AUVs, they are certainly more mobile, with greater manoeuvrability. If used for military purpose, fish robots would definitely be more difficult to detect by the enemy."

Fish robots are also quieter and consume less energy, compared to traditional AUVs. Said Mr Fan who studied the movements of real life carps for three months, in order to develop their robot, "We chose to study carps because most fish swim like them. There is no literature at all on designing a mathematical model on the locomotion of fish and so we had to start from scratch. We used a camera to capture all the possible movements of a carp and then converted the data mathematically so that we could transfer the locomotion of real carp to our robot using different actuators."

This has been most challenging as fish use a lot of different muscles to move, and many actuators are required to enable the robot to move in the same manner.

Added Dr Ren, "Some fish can achieve almost 180 degree turning in a small turning radius through bending their body while traditional underwater vehicles have a much larger turning radius. Hence it is quite a feat for us to achieve this movement in our robot fish."

Other challenges included waterproofing the fish body, the motor and the control box. The fins and tails also need to be flexible and the team decided to use very fine (1mm) acrylic board for these. Buoyancy and balance for the robot is maintained by using plastic foams attached to both sides. For the diving mechanism, their robot fish is equipped with an internal ballast system to change density. The system is sophisticated enough to enable the fish to dive suddenly, as well as to the precise depth intended.

The team has constructed two fish robots. The larger prototype is about one and half metres in length, weighing about 10kg and it can dive to a depth of 1.8 metres. The smaller robot is about 60 centimetres long and weighs a mere 1.5kg. It is developed for investigation on 2D motion control and motion planning in a small place, and it can only swim at water surface.

"To my knowledge, the world's smallest fish robot is one about 12.7 centimetres (5 inches) in length. It was designed by MIT for specific military purpose and could go to a depth of 1.5 metres," said Dr Ren.

Moving forward

Underwater vehicles have long gone past the days of the submarines, said Mr Fan. Fish robots, besides being a micro submarine, can also be fully autonomous and can be programmed to perform many difficult and dangerous tasks.

The team hopes to make their robot fish even smaller and more realistic. Said Mr Fan, "We intend to equip it with more sensors like GPS and video camera to improve autonomous 3-D movement. We also intend to test out our fish with more challenging tasks such as object detection."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/Hexvc4gQL0o/130626113027.htm

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Snowden becomes 'tasty morsel' for spies

By Lidia Kelly

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Edward Snowden's disappearance from view has heightened speculation that the former U.S. spy agency contractor may be talking to Russian secret services, which see him as a "tasty morsel" that is too good to miss.

Even a flat denial by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday is unlikely to end whispers that Snowden may have been interviewed by intelligence officers anxious to get their hands on whatever information he has not yet leaked.

Some experts say Russia might even try to hand him over to the United States in a Cold War-style exchange, although this seemed less likely after Putin ruled out his extradition to face espionage charges back home.

"He is a tasty morsel for any, any secret service, including ours. Any secret service would love to talk to him," said a Russian security source.

Snowden, charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday and the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said he was heading for Ecuador, where he wants political asylum.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters. But a former officer of its Soviet predecessor, the KGB, said Russia was unlikely to miss out, assuming Snowden is willing to cooperate.

"It would be silly to pass on such an opportunity to get information that is very difficult, impossible or expensive to get in any other way," said the ex-officer, Lev Korolkov.

U.S. Senator John McCain, a Republican opponent of President Barack Obama, said Putin - also a former Soviet agent - would grab the chance. "He is ... an old KGB colonel apparatchik that has disdain for democracy and the things we stand for and believe in," McCain said on CNN on Tuesday. "If he sees a situation he'll take advantage of it."

Speculation about an FSB role in Snowden's arrival from Hong Kong began with the plane's touchdown on Sunday, when about two dozen plain-clothed security agents were spotted monitoring the transit zone, at times accompanied by uniformed policemen.

Ecuador's ambassador to Russia, Patricio Alberto Chavez Zavala, got to the transit zone soon after Snowden landed. Then the agents and police blocked the entrance to one of the lounges. Some remained all night and into the next day,

But there was no sign of Snowden, who Putin said on Tuesday was still in the transit area at Sheremetyevo airport.

Snowden has said he accepted a job as a systems administrator at contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked for about three months, to gain access to details of the U.S. National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

U.S. officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had, and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence agencies.

ASSESSING SNOWDEN'S VALUE

Russian political analyst Pavel Salin suggested the Kremlin's near silence on Snowden for more than 36 hours after he arrived was a stalling tactic. "Now they are assessing how useful he may be. His value depends on the information he has," he said.

Korolkov said that is unclear. "We don't know what really is in his possession and how much of an interest he is. All that he can say could already be known," he said. "But he is of interest (to Russia) for a number of other reasons."

Analysts said Snowden could be useful for a Cold War-style spy swap or as a propaganda tool for Russia, which frequently accuses the United States of violating the principles of freedom and democracy that it tries to press on others.

Putin, asked on Tuesday about the U.S. request to hand Snowden over, questioned whether the American and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is also a fugitive from justice, should be treated as criminals and jailed.

Deputy parliament speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has proposed Snowden be exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer whose jailing in the United States angered Moscow. The United States has refused Russian requests for his repatriation.

Korolkov, and the security service source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia would follow a common international practice in using Snowden in negotiations over Bout. "This is how it is done in the world. It would be in the government's advantage not to give Snowden back," Korolkov said.

The source said: "Russia has some negotiating advantage here."

But there are risks for both countries in taking the dispute over Snowden too far.

"It's a very, very important moment for the entire U.S.-Russia relationship: We are really at a point that will define the relationship for the foreseeable future," said Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think-tank.

Korolkov predicted the Kremlin will tread carefully. "Russia is not at all interested in entering into a conflict with such a geopolitical opponent and political partner as the United States," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Thomas Grove and Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Steve Gutterman and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-spies-may-chatting-tasty-morsel-snowden-202755572.html

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Snowden not on flight to Cuba, whereabouts unclear

HAVANA (AP) ? Confusion over the whereabouts of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden grew on Monday after a jetliner flew from Moscow to Cuba with an empty seat booked in his name.

The founder of the WikiLeaks secret-spilling organization, Julian Assange, insisted he couldn't go into details about where Snowden was, but said he was safe.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries, Assange said.

An Aeroflot representative who wouldn't give her name told The Associated Press that Snowden wasn't on flight SU150 to Havana, which was filled with journalists trying to track him down. Two AP journalists on the flight confirmed after it arrived Monday evening in Havana that Snowden wasn't on the plane.

A member of the Aeroflot crew spoke briefly to reporters gathered outside Havana's Jose Marti International Airport, but would not give his name. "No special people on board," he said, smiling. "Only journalists."

Security around the aircraft was heavy prior to boarding in Moscow and guards tried to prevent the scrum of photographers and cameramen from taking pictures of the plane, heightening speculation that Snowden might have been secretly escorted on board.

But about two dozen journalists who made the flight had searched up and down the plane after boarding in a hunt for Snowden. One increasingly desperate Russian television reporter was briefly convinced that AP reporter Max Seddon might be the NSA leaker.

When it dawned on the journalists that Snowden wasn't there, they settled in for a long haul flight to Cuba for nothing. Some read, others chatted.

"A substantial percentage of people on board were journalists," Seddon said. "The flight would have been empty without us."

In Havana, Cuban officers also clamped down, forcing journalists waiting for the flight to arrive to move outside the airport building.

The Interfax news agency, which has extensive contacts with Russian security agencies, cited a source as saying Snowden could have flown out in a different plane unseen by journalists.

Others speculated Russian security agencies might want to keep Snowden in Russia for a more thorough debriefing.

Snowden had not been seen since he arrived in Moscow on Sunday from Hong Kong, where he was in hiding for several weeks to evade U.S. justice and left to dodge efforts to extradite him.

After spending a night in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, he had been expected to fly to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador.

Interfax quoted an unidentified "well-informed source" in Moscow saying that Russia received a U.S. request to extradite Snowden and responded by saying it would consider that. But the same source said Russia could not detain and extradite Snowden since he hadn't technically crossed the Russian border.

Justice Department officials in Washington did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Experts said it was likely that the Russians were questioning Snowden, interested in what he knew about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow.

"If Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in Russia's top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24 television.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday it would be "deeply troubling" if Russia or Hong Kong had notice of Snowden's plans and that would affect their relations with the United States.

The controversy over Snowden could further hurt U.S.-Russian relations, already strained over arguments about Syria and a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children.

The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to consider Snowden's request for asylum.

Aeroflot said earlier that Snowden had registered for the flight using his American passport, which the United States recently annulled.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government had received an asylum request, adding Monday that the decision "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."

Ecuador has rejected the United States' previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping Assange avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.

But Assange's comments in a telephone conference with reporters that Snowden had applied in multiple places opened other possibilities of where he might try to go.

WikiLeaks has said that it is providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group.

Icelandic officials have confirmed receiving an informal request for asylum conveyed by WikiLeaks, which has strong links to the tiny North Atlantic nation. But authorities there have insisted that Snowden must be on Icelandic soil before lodging a formal request.

Snowden gave documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, often sweeping up information on American citizens.

Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.

Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China.

The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong to face espionage charges but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.

The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong.

As for Russia, Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, "Given our intensified cooperation after the Boston marathon bombings and our history of working with Russia on law enforcement matters ? including returning numerous high-level criminals back to Russia at the request of the Russian government ? we expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."

Still, the United States is likely to have problems interrupting Snowden's passage. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.

It also wasn't clear Snowden was finished disclosing highly classified information.

Snowden has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

___

Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace and AP writers Philip Elliott, Matthew Lee and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Lynn Berry and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Kevin Chan in Hong Kong, Sylvia Hui in London and Paul Haven and Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-not-flight-cuba-whereabouts-unclear-141749907.html

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Baby North West is 'amazing' says Kris Jenner

Celebs

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

1 hour ago

North is nifty. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's baby daughter is just over a week old, and according to her doting grandmother, she couldn't be better.

Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner stopped by TODAY to talk about North West and another "new baby" that's on the way.

"She's amazing," Jenner said of her new granddaughter. "Everybody's doing really well at home. ? The baby's doing great and happy and healthy, and it's a really joyful time."

But that's all she's able to share about the new arrival. When asked for a peek at her cell phone photos, she joked, "I'd have to kill you if I showed you my cell phone."

So it seems fans will have to wait for North's official public debut to get a glimpse. But they won't have to wait long for the next big arrival.

"I'm giving birth to something on July 15," Jenner teased about her upcoming talk show, "Kris." "It's going to be really, really cool. It's more of a lifestyle show -- health and fitness and fashion and food. It's pop culture, obviously, because we're kind of in the middle of all of that. It's straight from the horse's mouth every day."

"Kris" will air weekday mornings on Fox.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/baby-north-west-amazing-says-grandma-kris-jenner-6C10435407

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'Nerdy' mold needs breaking to recruit women into computer science

June 24, 2013 ? The 'computer nerd' is a well-known stereotype in our modern society. While this stereotype is inaccurate, it still has a chilling effect on women pursuing a qualification in computer science, according to a new paper by Sapna Cheryan from the University of Washington in the US, and colleagues. However, when this image is downplayed in the print media, women express more interest in further education in computer science. The work is published online in Springer's journal, Sex Roles.

Despite years of effort, it has proven difficult to recruit women into many fields that are perceived to be masculine and male-dominated, including computer science. The image of a lone computer scientist, concerned only with technology, is in stark contrast to a more people-oriented or traditionally feminine image. Understanding what prevents women from entering computer science is key to achieving gender parity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Cheryan and team sought to prove that the shortage of women in computer science and other scientific fields is not only due to a lack of interest in the subject matter on the part of women. In a first study, 293 college students from two US West Coast universities were asked to provide descriptions of computer science majors. The authors wanted to discover what the stereotypical computer scientist looks like in students' minds.

Both women and men spontaneously offered an image of computer scientists as technology-oriented, intensely focused on computers, intelligent and socially unskilled. These characteristics contrast with the female gender role, and are inconsistent with how many women see themselves.

The way a social group is represented in the media also influences how people think about that group and their relation to it. In a second study, the researchers manipulated the students' images of a computer scientist, using fabricated newspaper articles, to examine the influence of these media on women's interest in entering the field. A total of 54 students read articles about computer science majors that described these students as either fitting, or not fitting, the current stereotype. Students were then asked to rate their interest in computer science.

Exposure to a newspaper article claiming that computer science majors no longer fit current preconceived notions increased women's interest in majoring in computer science. These results were in comparison to those of exposure to a newspaper article claiming that computer science majors do indeed reflect the stereotype. Men, however, were unaffected by how computer science majors were represented.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Sapna Cheryan, Victoria C. Plaut, Caitlin Handron, Lauren Hudson. The Stereotypical Computer Scientist: Gendered Media Representations as a Barrier to Inclusion for Women. Sex Roles, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s11199-013-0296-x

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/qI0OhTpgkEc/130624141414.htm

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Lebanese army storms Islamist mosque as Syria crisis spreads

By Ali Hashisho

SIDON, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese soldiers stormed a complex holding gunmen loyal to a radical Islamist cleric in the city of Sidon on Monday and arrested dozens of his supporters, security sources said, in a second day of clashes fuelled by neighboring Syria's civil war.

The fighting is the deadliest outbreak in Lebanon since Syria's two-year conflict began. The army said 12 soldiers were killed in the southern Mediterranean port city, while security sources gave a higher army toll of 18 dead and 128 wounded.

A medic told Reuters that 22 bodies had been pulled from the mosque complex but he expected the final death count to be higher. He said 94 wounded had been treated by the Red Cross.

The violence has strained fragile sectarian relations across Lebanon and residents fear that Syria-related clashes could drag their country back into civil war. Lebanon is still struggling to heal the wounds of 15 years of war between 1975 and 1990.

Fighting spread to a second city on Monday, with Sunni fighters in the northern city of Tripoli opening fire on the military and blocking roads with cement blocks and burning tires. By nightfall, clashes there had injured two soldiers and three gunmen.

Hardline Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, who has accused the army of backing the interests of the Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, was still at large after the battle in Sidon.

The army is trying to kill or capture him, accusing him of killing soldiers "in cold blood" on Sunday.

Security forces were taking over houses around the mosque as they tried to control the area in Sidon. Clouds of smoke rose from the mosque and Assir's office across the road was completely destroyed. At least four tanks and several army vehicles at the scene had been torched.

Sniper fire continued to hit nearby streets, so it was unclear how many buildings Assir's gunmen still controlled.

Sidon had been on edge since violence erupted last week between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim fighters, at odds over the Syrian conflict which pits mainly Sunni rebels against President Bashar al-Assad, who is a member of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Tensions had been rising since the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah sent fighters into Syria to help Assad's forces recapture a strategic town.

The army said clashes broke out on Sunday after security forces detained one of Assir's followers. His supporters retaliated by opening fire on an army checkpoint.

Army commanders pledged to crush Assir's forces.

"We affirm to all Lebanese that the army is determined to eradicate strife, and will not halt its military operations until security is completely restored to the city," the army said in a statement on Monday.

At least 62 Assir supporters were arrested as soldiers combed the area they had seized, a security source said. One of the men captured had disguised himself in niqab, the head-to-foot cloak worn by religious Muslim women.

The commissioner of Lebanon's military court, Judge Sakr Sakr, said that Assir had been summoned "to be put on trial, along with 123 of his followers, including his brother and Fadil Shaker," a prominent Lebanese singer who abandoned his career to join Assir's ultraconservative group.

"SAVE YOUR PEOPLE"

"Come and save your people who are being massacred," said an appeal on Assir's Twitter account on Monday.

The bespectacled sheikh with a long grey beard was little known before the Syria conflict but quickly rose to fame for his protests and marches in support of the rebels and Islamist groups in Syria.

Media took note when he made a brief visit to the besieged Syrian border town of Qusair, where Hezbollah led Assad's forces to victory this month.

The cleric and his followers have grown increasingly hostile in their condemnations of Hezbollah and its Shi'ite supporters, and skirmishes in Sidon were becoming more common.

Assir, who accuses the army of giving cover to Hezbollah gunmen, called in a YouTube video for people across the country to join him and "honorable" soldiers to defect. He was pictured carrying a gun, in a black military-style vest.

A statement by the military command on Sunday said the latest violence "has gone beyond all expectations. The army was attacked in cold blood in an attempt to light the fuse in Sidon, just as was done in 1975", it said.

Assir has a small group of staunch supporters, believed to number in the hundreds. Many other Lebanese Sunnis see him as a militant and trouble maker.

Lebanon's Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani condemned the fighting, saying that there was never a justified reason to attack the armed forces.

However, local media reported that some hardline Sunni mosques in Tripoli as well as the capital Beirut called for jihad, or holy war, in support of Assir. Jihadi feeds on Twitter were full of calls for Sunnis to fight in support of him.

(Additional reporting by Issam Abdallah in Sidon, Erika Solomon and Oliver Holmes in Beirut; Writing by Erika Solomon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanese-army-storms-islamist-mosque-syria-crisis-spreads-154137481.html

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Fires of War

So, I'm sure there are some people out there that are into post-apocalyptic survival stories. Me? I'm not really that big of a fan. However, I have my own ways of trying to make things more...interesting. Humans cannot survive on their own. The most threatening opposing force is not hordes of zombies or a deadly infection, but rather something that lurks in significantly smaller numbers. Of course, that's not to say that other hostiles don't exist - there are ones of many natures, in fact; the premise is that traits of these few, incredibly powerful beings have been passed on to some humans, weaponized, and turned against them in a last ditch attempt to retake humanity. These are the hybrids. Doesn't always work out so well, but it's infinitely better than what they have. But that's not the only problem: The hybrids need to feed as well, and the leading force in human recovery - CoHRR - finds that once everything is over, once all of the hunters have been killed and consumed by the hybrids, the remaining hybrids will have no choice but to feed on the humans to survive and that is an outcome that many will go to dire straits to avoid.

Looking for literate and committed players. Details on the inside.

roleplay/fires-of-war#introduction

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/gbK2ewtzozM/viewtopic.php

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The Most Badass Truck in the US Army Is Straight Out of Thunderdome

Keeping Afghanistan's roads free of improvised explosive devices is no easy feat when important routes are re-mined within hours of EOD teams clearing them. That's why US Army has deployed the Buffalo: a six-wheeled, 38-ton, armor-plated supertruck designed to demolish roadside bombs with abandon.

The Buffalo, built by Force Protection, is classified as a mine-protected clearance vehicle (MPCV) and is based on South Africa's Casspir APC (armored personnel carrier). It measures 27 feet long, 13 feet tall, and nine feet wide, and it has room for six. It's outfitted with a 440 HP CAT C13 12.5l engine that provides a 55 MPH top speed while the 85 gallon fuel tank delivers a range of 300 miles.

Like its namesake, the Buffalo MPCV is built tough. The vehicle is wrapped in layers of BAE Systems L-ROD aluminium armor and has a V-shaped undercarriage that directs IED blasts outwards from the centerline, away from the crew. All six of its steel wheels are equipped with Michelin 16 R 20 XZL aluminium-rim run-flat tires. In all, the Buffalo can shrug off small arms fire (up to NATO 7.62) and RPGs from the sides and top as well as withstand up to a 45-pound landmine to its wheels and 30 pounds of explosives to its underbelly.

Of course, the route clearance engineers would prefer to dispose of IEDs before they're sitting on top of them. That's why these vehicles are also equipped with a 30-foot robotic claw arm (complete with attached camera, sensor suite, and iron manipulator). In addition, the Buffalo can lower a set of disc rollers like a steamroller to run over and detonate bombs planted in the roadway.

The US Army Corps of Engineers deployed its first Buffalo to Afghanistan in 2003 for use in demining, route clearance, and convoy protection operations. Five years later, that number had swollen to 200 as the vehicles proved their usefulness and reliability. Many other European and Asian nations, such as the Italians above, have adopted them as well. "There are no RCPs [route clearance procedures] that are 100 percent," said Sgt. Daniel Martin, a heavy equipment operator in 535th Engineering Support Company, to the Army Times. "It what's working the best and when the enemy changes we have to change our tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs)."

And when it isn't hunting for roadside IEDs, the Buffalo can even be re-equipped as a standard APC or as a heavily armored medical transport. Eat your heart out, Tango and Cash's truck. [Army Technology - Defense Update - US Army - Global Security - Strategy Page - Top Image: US Army, Second Image: Squadra IEDD]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-most-badass-truck-in-the-us-army-is-straight-out-of-514162022

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U.S. files criminal complaint against Snowden

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has filed sealed criminal charges against former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who admitted leaking secrets about classified U.S. surveillance programs, a U.S. source said on Friday.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States also was preparing to seek Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong, where he is believed to be.

Earlier, the Washington Post reported that U.S. prosecutors had filed a sealed complaint charging Snowden with espionage, theft and conversion of government property. The United States had also asked Hong Kong authorities to detain him on a provisional arrest warrant, the newspaper reported.

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-files-criminal-complaint-against-snowden-over-leaks-223801430.html

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Wing walker, pilot die in crash at Ohio air show

CINCINNATI (AP) ? The plane that crashed at an Ohio air show, killing the pilot and stunt walker, is registered to a veteran wing walker.

Federal records show that the Boeing Stearman biplane that crashed Saturday at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton was registered to Jane Wicker of Loudon, Va.

The Federal Aviation Administration says Wicker was also a contract employee who worked as an FAA budget analyst.

An FAA official says the kind of aircraft that crashed was heavily used for pilot training during World War II.

The plane turned upside-down as Wicker sat on top of the wing before it titled and crashed into the ground, bursting into flames.

The air show canceled the rest of Saturday's events after the crash but planned to resume Sunday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wing-walker-pilot-die-crash-ohio-air-show-191655523.html

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Becoming Versus Doing - The Best Fitness and Weight Loss Group ...

?Uncle Steve,? began Carla, a client of just a few weeks, ?I really want to lose about 25 pounds before the end of summer. What do I need to do to get it done??

My answer left her more than just a little befuddled?

Human being: (as defined by Bing Dictionary)

1. member of human species:?a member of the species to which men and women belong.
2. person:?a person, viewed especially as having imperfections and weaknesses

My point in clarification on the definition of human being is to remind you that you are just that?a human BEING. Not a human DOING!

This isn?t to say that you should simply be in life, never doing anything. No, quite the contrary.

If your goal is a lean, shapely and athletic physique, but you still envision yourself as an overweight, fat, out-of-shape individual, you will never achieve lasting success in the realm of health, fitness and wellness.

Successful fat loss is more a ?who do I need to become? rather than a ?what can I do? mindset.

The point is this: until you BECOME the person you want to be, especially in your mindset, you will never DO the things necessary to get the task accomplished.

Who do you see when you look in the mirror?

I know, I know?you have cellulite, and big hips and flabby arms and a poochy belly.

Join the club?

What I?m asking you is this: when you look in the mirror, do you see the person you are, or do you see the person you want to become?

It ain?t easy to do.

I mean, if it was we?d all be lean, shapely and athletic looking.

Remember when you were a kid and you?d pretend to be someone? I remember playing The Lone Ranger as a kid. I?d put on the mask and hat, my six guns and look in the mirror. But I didn?t see a little kid in a costume. I saw The Lone Ranger.

You know why?

Because in my mind I WAS The Lone Ranger!

You can still do that, and here?s how?

First ? Courage Is The Key.

In order to make the necessary changes, both in your mind and in your body, it requires that you must first have the courage to change.?

The courage to change all starts with making a decision, which I will discuss with you a little later.? Understanding that change must take place and that the acceptance of that knowledge eliminates fear is a wonderful thing, because fear will stifle progress.?

The Bible, in 2 Timothy 1:7 states that, ?For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.? Fear, no matter what form it takes, can make you cling to existing patterns and methods of living, no matter how ineffective they have been in the past.

It?s basic human nature to think in terms of ?better the devil you know than the devil you don?t.?? But then again, the definition of insanity is doing the same things, in the same way and expecting a different result. Grasp change and move toward the goals you will be setting later and you will see progress like you?ve never known before.

Remember the movie, ?A League of Their Own? with Tom Hanks and Gena Davis?? I really love that film, mostly because I?m a huge fan of baseball.? In the film Gena Davis plays the role of ?Dottie?, the star of the league.? Tom plays ?Jimmy?, a former homerun champ in the big leagues and now the drunken coach for the ?Peaches.?

Anyway, there?s a scene in the film where ?Dottie? is going to leave the team and head home to be with her husband.? Who could blame her?? He just got back to the good old U.S of A. after being wounded while fighting in World War II.? She hadn?t seen him in months and, besides all of that, she had worried sick that whole time that he might never come back.?

The problem is the ?Peaches? are about to play for the World Series. Tom?s character ?Jimmy? is trying to get her to stay; she is trying to justify her reasons for leaving.? Suddenly she blurts out that she must go because, ?It just got too hard!?? Tom takes a long hard look at her, then, with steely eyes and the wisdom that only a truly great coach can personify states, ?Yeah, it?s supposed to be hard.? If it wasn?t hard everybody would do it.? It?s the hard that makes it great!??

This is what I want you to grasp:? It?s the HARD that makes it great!?

Right now, right this very minute; I want you to stop what you are doing and write this phrase on something that you can see every day.? Find a piece of paper, a piece of poster board, a sticky note on your computer screen, in lipstick on your mirror, anywhere you will be reminded of this great fact and affirmation: It?s the HARD that makes it great!?

When you get up in the morning and don?t feel like training that day: remember ?It?s the HARD that makes it great!? When you?re tempted to overeat, or just shove something unhealthy down your throat: remember ?It?s the HARD that makes it great!?? When you have a chance to blow off your routine and do something counterproductive instead: remember ?It?s the HARD that makes it great!? When you have reached a plateau and are thinking you will just quit, remember these words:? ?It?s the HARD that makes it great!? When someone makes an off color remark or gives you some snide, back-handed comment that lets the air out of your emotional balloon, remember ?It?s the HARD that makes it great!??

Then, when you?ve gone through this course, and you?ve lost the fat, gained the health you deserve, beaten the odds with stacks of statistics supposedly stating it ?can?t be done? and have become the person that you know you are truly capable of, you too will be able to state; ?It was the HARD that made it great!?

Decisions should not be made lightly.? Think for a moment just exactly what a decision is.? My 1968 Funk & Wagnall Dictionary defines decision as: n. 1. The act of deciding (an issue, question, etc). 2. A conclusion or judgment reached by deciding. 3. The making up of one?s mind 4. Firmness in judgment, action, or character. ?5. In boxing, a victory (great word, by the way) decided when there has not been a knockout. ?

Edwin Louis Cole, in his great book ?Treasure? says it this way: ?The level on which you live is under your power of choice. You have the freedom to choose, but once the choice is made (decision), you become the servant of that choice.? Please read that again.

The next time you have the choice to eat something that is beneficial to your goals and body or not, to which are you willing to become a servant? The next time you have an opportunity to exercise and train, or sit and watch T.V., to which choice will you be a servant?

You see, the corollary to this freedom of choice is this; decision translates into energy.

Indecision saps energy.

If you don?t like the life you?re currently living, change your choices.

It?s that simple.

Refusing to exercise your power and freedom to choose allows others to exercise it for you. Allowing others to make choices and decisions for you allows them to create your world, and others will ALWAYS make your world too small.

In other words, making an empowering decision means that there is no turning back, no way out, no backtracking or sidestepping.?

It takes a certain degree of responsibility to make a decision, and a definite degree of character and responsibility to stick with one.? Emerson once said, ?A man (or a woman) can be measured by the amount of responsibility he undertakes.??

When you take a decisive stance on becoming healthier, then you have ended all uncertainty, all dispute, you are conclusive with this resolve:? I will be victorious in this issue no matter what it takes or how long it takes me.? From now on, The Buck Stops Here!

Second ? Your Words Have Power

Edwin Cole also said, ?Life is composed of our choices, and it is constructed by our words. Once you have made the choice to build a new life, change your words. You are only committed to what you confess. If you don?t say it, you won?t feel responsible or compelled to do it, and no one will have heard it to help you be accountable.? We?re about to do something about that.

Get out your pen and paper again.? This time I want you to write at the top of the sheet today?s date, because today is the day you WILL decide to take ACTION and to become the healthy, vibrant, active person you?ve always wanted to become.? Under the date I want you to write these words:

Today is the day that I willingly, voluntarily and knowingly take complete control of my life. I resolve, from this day forward to do what I know to be right, to take care of myself as the wonderful creation of God that I am, and to do whatever necessary to see this task through to completion. I also understand that true success can only be measured by the tasks that I have completed. I will, from this day forward, feed my body the fuel it needs for maximum efficiency, power, stamina and strength, take in the glory and gift of oxygen to the pleasure and vitality of my body, repeat these principles for the complete restoration of my system and eliminate all waste from my body, my mind and my surroundings. I will focus daily on these tasks and the goal of good health, sound fitness and a long, vibrant life.

You must do this in your own handwriting in order for it to have meaning and purpose to YOU!?

Now, sign this piece of paper.?

No one needs to see this except you, if that is what you want.? However, I would recommend signing it in front of someone who supports you in your endeavors.? This could be your best friend, spouse, fianc? or work or workout partner.? This can be anyone who cares enough for you to hold you accountable in a loving, constructive manner and will continue to encourage you to stay the course and keep on going.?

If you don?t have anyone who fits those criteria, don?t worry.? You still have two choices:

1. The first is to just do it.? You?ve made your decision, and there?s no going back, right??
2. The second is to email me at Steve@firestormfitness.com and tell me the date of your decision.? I will be happy to send you encouragement on a periodic basis and hold you accountable to your goal.

3 ? This is where the rubber meets the road!

You must understand; this is very serious business.?

Contracts are made to keep and to honor.? Decisions should not be made lightly, and once made; every effort should be made to keep them.?

The only constant in maturity is change. By undertaking this endeavor you will experience change. It is difficult to live with change but impossible to live without it.

I understand that sometimes extenuating circumstances arise that may cause you to deviate from your course of action.?

Quitting is NOT an option.?

The only time to stop this task is when you breathe your last and close your eyes for good.?

We?re not just looking for short-term gain here.?

This is a lifestyle change that will enhance the quality and quantity of your life.? It is a long-term, lifetime endeavor that will do nothing more for you than you are willing to do to grasp it.?

Remember the old saying, ?The more you give the more you get??? Well, in this instance it is an actuality, a truism.? The more you apply yourself to this system, the more benefit you will see from it.? You have my solemn promise of that.

Now?whom do you want to become?

Steve

Tag: Athletic Physique, Big Hips, Carla, Clarification On, Contrary, Courage, Definition Of Human Being, Dictionary, Flabby Arms, Health Fitness, Human Species, Imperfections, Little Kid, Lone Ranger, Mask, Men And Women, Mindset, Mirror, Shape, Six Guns

Source: http://www.firestormfitcamps.com/2013/06/21/becoming-versus-doing/

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App to protect private data on iOS devices finds almost half of other apps access private data

June 20, 2013 ? Almost half of the mobile apps running on Apple's iOS operating system access the unique identifier of the devices where they're downloaded, computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have found. In addition, more than 13 percent access the devices' location and more than 6 percent the address book. The researchers developed a new app that detects what data the other apps running on an iOS device are trying to access.

The findings are based on a study of 130,000 users of jailbroken iOS devices, where users have purposefully removed restrictions that keep apps from accessing the iPhone's operating system. Most apps in the study were downloaded from Apple's App Store and access the same type of information on unlocked, jailbroken, phones and on locked phones, said Yuvraj Agarwal, a research scientist in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, who co-authored the study with fellow researcher Malcolm Hall. Agarwal will present the findings at ACM MobiSys, the premier mobile systems conference, which takes place June 25 to 28 in Taipei, Taiwan.

The findings suggest that although Apple's App Store no longer accepts new apps or app updates that access the unique identifier as of March of this year, many apps can still get a hold of that information. The unique identifier allows app vendors and advertisers to track users' behaviors across all the different apps on their devices, including iPhones, iPads and iPods. In addition, some apps can associate the unique identifier with the user's email and other personal information.

The researchers believe that it's the first time anyone has done such an extensive privacy study focused on iOS-based apps across a large user population.

The ProtectMyPrivacy App

To carry out their study, researchers developed an app of their own, called ProtectMyPrivacy, or PMP. It lets users know what personal information the other apps on their devices are trying to access. PMP enables users to selectively allow or deny access to this information on an app-by-app basis, based on whether they feel the apps need the information to function properly -- for example, a map app needs to access the location of a device to provide driving directions. iOS devices currently notify users when apps try to access location, photos and contacts. But they do not notify users when apps access the unique identifier or music library and users can't deny access to those two pieces of information.

Since gathering data for the study, researchers have also added notifications and recommendations for when an app accesses other privacy-sensitive information, such as a devices' front and back camera, microphone and photos.

PMP also makes recommendations about whether to allow the other apps to access user data, based on an extensive crowdsourcing 'recommendation engine' that compiles the privacy decisions made by other users.

"We wanted to empower users to take control of their privacy," said Agarwal, who is also an alumnus of UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering. "The choice should be in users' hands."

For locked devices, researchers are currently providing a web page that tells users which information more than 150 apps for iOS -- some of the most popular -- are trying to access and gives recommendations about whether to allow or deny access. The page can be viewed at http://www.protectmyprivacy.org/liveview/

For example, Facebook, the most popular app, accesses the devices' identifier, location and contacts. PMP's crowdsourcing engine recommends denying access to the identifier and contacts music, but allowing access to location.

Findings by the numbers

ProtectMyPrivacy has already been downloaded from the Cydia store by more than 130,000 users since March 2012. Its users have downloaded and used more than 225,000 unique apps from Apple's App Store. The researchers analyzed the data accessed by those apps and found that 48.1 percent of them accessed the device's unique identifier; 13.2 percent the location information; 6.2 percent the address book; and 1.6 percent the music library.

As of January 2013, Apple reported that it had sold 500 million iOS devices. Estimates of how many are jailbroken vary, but Forbes reported in February 2013 that seven million devices had been jailbroken in just four days after a new jailbreaking tool was released. Cydia, an app store that caters only to jailbroken devices, had 23 million users as of March 2013 -a sizeable portion of Apple's mobile devices.

Recommendations to protect your privacy

Almost all of PMP's users -- 99 percent-- voluntarily shared their privacy decisions, indicating which apps they think should be allowed -- or denied -- access to their privacy-sensitive data. These decisions -- which are contributed anonymously -- are then processed on PMP servers to generate the crowdsourced privacy recommendations shown to users. As a result, PMP is able to make recommendations for 97 percent of the 10,000 most popular iPhone apps. "We have already shown millions of recommendations, and more than two-thirds of all our recommendations are accepted by our users, showing that they really like this unique feature of PMP," said Agarwal. Users chose to deny access to one or more pieces of sensitive data for 48.1 percent of apps.

The version of PMP available in the Cydia store gives users the option to feed fictitious or anonymized information to nosy apps. Examples include an address book filled with made-up entries, a random location that may be in a completely different country, and a randomly generated unique identifier.

The researchers say that they do not recommend jailbreaking your iPhone to install PMP, because doing so could potentially leave a user open to other vulnerabilities. But in order to conduct their research, they needed to be able to intercept information about the privacy-protected data that apps were accessing. This required low-level access to the operating system, which is not technically possible on locked, non-jailbroken, iOS devices.

Sometimes, it is not the apps themselves that access the data, but a third-party library or code contained within the apps. For example, Flixster, a popular app for movie reviews and recommendations, in its 5.2 version, was flagged for accessing some private data. Flixster contacted Agarwal and Hall to say that it does no such thing. The computer scientists did some digging and found that a third-party ad library used by the app was accessing users' address books and sending back information. "We provided feedback to the app's developers in case they are unaware that a third party library may be accessing their users' private data," recalled Hall, a visiting researcher in Agarwal's Synergy Lab at UC San Diego. He also pointed out that "an updated version of Flixster now uses another ad library that does not access this kind of information."

Agarwal and Hall tried submitting to the Apple Store a "lite" version of their app that wouldn't interact with the iOS operating system, but the app was rejected. That version would have given users information about the data specific apps access and recommendations about what to allow and deny. It would not have given users the ability to protect their data by providing fictitious information.

Agarwal will join the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor in the fall.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/mlY34Ht1veE/130620101202.htm

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Despite HP's "preferred" status, Maine schools stick with Apple

Despite HP's status as the "preferred" vendor for the state of Maine's massive Maine Technology Learning Initiative (MTLI), the program is largely sticking with Apple for now, according to an Electronista report.

A statement from the MTLI offices reveals that of more than 69,000 machines, only 5,474 will be the preferred Windows laptops. More than 92 percent of state schools are staying with Apple, the majority of which are turning to iPads. 39,457 students and educators in the MTLI are using iPads for the first time. What's more, teachers in schools that chose the iPad also get a MacBook Air to use over the four-year contract. 24,128 students and teachers will remain with the MacBook Air exclusively.

The Maine Technology Learning Initiative (MTLI) has broken ground as one of the first major modern initiatives to get computers in classrooms. Since 2002 MTLI has put iBooks, then later MacBooks and MacBook Airs into the hands of Maine schoolkids. Apple has written about Maine's effort.

Apple's dominion over Maine schools looked like it would change in April when the Maine Governor's office announced that the MTLI's new preferred vendor was Hewlett-Packard - specifically, the HP ProBook 4440 running Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. HP offered the state the ProBook for $286 per year per seat, compared to Apple's MacBook Air, which costs Maine schools $319 per year per seat.

The state stopped short of making the HP ProBook a mandate, however, indicating that they'd reimburse middle schools for computers up to the price of the ProBook, leaving it up to them to choose from one of five vendors, including Apple. Middle schools are currently the only place that Maine requires students to use computers, though teachers from grades 7-12 also have to have them. High schools can leverage the state's buying power to outfit their students with computers, and many do.

iPads have been popular in education, with almost 10 million of them used in classrooms, according to Apple's count. And they're a good bottom line value for the state of Maine, too: iPads cost the state $266 per seat per year, beating even HP's bargain-basement laptop.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/oxmx861DTAs/story01.htm

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