Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Apple Logo Could Replace The Home Button Icon On The iPhone 5S [Image]

Screen Shot 2013-06-29 at 9.49.04 AM

A new shot published by Letemsvetemapplem ? which has a credible history with Apple leaks in the past ? suggests that Apple might make a major change to the home button in iPhone 5S, replacing the icon that exists there now with a big, glowing Apple symbol.

On one hand, it seems a little unsubtle for Apple. A little too strongly branded. Apple usually places their logo on their devices so that it faces away from the device?s owner: Apple wants other people to know you?re using one of their products, not constantly bludgeon you with their brand.

However, the iPhone 5S is widely believed to pack a fingerprint sensor underneath

ORIGINAL SOURCE: http://cultofmac.com.feedsportal.com/c/33797/f/606249/s/2df7c9c1/l/0L0Scultofmac0N0C2337860Cthe0Eapple0Elogo0Ecould0Ereplace0Ethe0Ehome0Ebutton0Eicon0Eon0Ethe0Eiphone0E5s0Eimage0C/story01.htm

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Source: http://apple4ladies.com/2013/06/the-apple-logo-could-replace-the-home-button-icon-on-the-iphone-5s-image/

ny lottery

2001 Ford Ranger Pickup Truck ( Annapolis Valley ) $1,500.00

Offers: Ads with a price may include the option to make an offer to the poster. Offers made are non-binding. The poster receives offer details once it is made. The poster may or may not respond to an offer.

Notifications: While making an offer, you can choose to receive a daily notification if more offers are made on the ad. You can choose to not receive these notifications by un-checking the check box.

Source: http://annapolis.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-2001-Ford-Ranger-Pickup-Truck-W0QQAdIdZ499442199

2014 Corvette

Obama: S. Africa shows how people can change world

U.S. President Back Obama U.S. peers out from Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. This was former South African president Nelson Mandela's cell, where spent 18 years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President Back Obama U.S. peers out from Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. This was former South African president Nelson Mandela's cell, where spent 18 years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President Back Obama walks from Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. This was former South African president Nelson Mandela's cell, where spent 18-years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

From left, first lady Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Ahmed Kathrada former prisoner with Nelson Mandela guiding the tour, U.S. President Back Obama, Marian Robinson and Leslie Robinson, look out over the courtyard of the prison on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Former South African president Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President Back Obama U.S. looks around Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. This was Former South African president Nelson Mandela's cell, where he spent 18-years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and first lady Michelle Obama tour Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Robben Island is an historic Apartheid-era prison that held black political prisoners, including former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama challenged young Africans to rise to the challenge of shoring up progress on the continent that rests on a "fragile foundation," summoning them to fulfill the legacy of South Africa's beloved former leader Nelson Mandela.

In his own effort to carve out a piece of that legacy, Obama announced a new U.S.-led initiative to double access to electric power across Africa, vowing to help bring "light where there is currently darkness."

"Nelson Mandela showed us that one man's courage can move the world," Obama said during an evening speech Sunday at the University of Cape Town.

Obama's remarks capped an emotional day that included a visit to the Robben Island prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero has been in hospital for most of this month and is said to be in critical condition.

In deeply personal remarks, the U.S. president spoke of standing in Mandela's cramped prison cell with his two young daughters, Malia and Sasha.

"Seeing them stand within the walls that once surrounded Nelson Mandela, I knew this was an experience they would never forget," he said. "I knew they now appreciated a little bit more that Madiba and other had made for freedom," Obama added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

Obama address came nearly 50 years after Robert F. Kennedy delivered his famous "Ripple of Hope" speech at the same university, an address that Obama aides said helped inspire the president's remarks. Kennedy's speech, delivered soon after Mandela was sentenced to prison, called on young people to launch a fight against injustice, creating ripples of hope that would "build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Laying out his own vision for development on the continent where his father was born, Obama said the U.S. seeks "a partnership that empowers Africans to access greater opportunity in their own lives." He dismissed the notion that the U.S. sought to meddle in Africa's affairs, saying his country would benefit from the continent's ability to manage its own affairs ? economically, politically and militarily.

"Ultimately I believe Africans should make up their own minds about what serves African interests," he said. "We trust your judgment, the judgment of ordinary people. We believe that when you control your destiny ? if you got a handle on your governments ? then governments will promote freedom and opportunity, because that will serve you."

The White House says Obama's electricity initiative, dubbed "Power Africa," symbolizes the type of cross-continent ventures the president seeks. Backed by $7 billion in U.S. investment, the power program will focus on expanding access to electricity in six African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Private companies ? including General Electric and Symbion Power ? will make an additional $9 billion in commitments. However, those contributions fall well short of the $300 billion the International Energy Agency says would be required to achieve universal electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

The funds are aimed at expanding the reach of power grids and developing geothermal, hydro, wind and solar power.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-30-Obama/id-1a35bdb9e5cb48a3ae5434bd0f31d3bf

Pumpkin Pie

For sale: oil rig lifeboat turned into bachelor pad

Motors

Search for a car

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ray allen

Ashley Greene Shows Off New Puppies

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/ashley-greene-shows-off-new-puppies/

Frys

'Lola' tops 204 mph, breaking electric vehicle land speed record

Autos

18 hours ago

Drayson Racing team members celebrate their land speed record.

Drayson Racing/The Detroit Bureau

Drayson Racing team members celebrate their land speed record.

With all the emphasis on electric propulsion these days, it might seem hard to believe that it?s been 39 years since General Electric ? yes, GE ? set the FIA World Electric Land Speed Record. But that achievement has finally been bested by a sleek, Le Mans Prototype dubbed ?Lola.?

On an RAF airbase in Yorkshire, England, an 850-horsepower battery-electric built by Drayson Racing hit a top speed of 204.185 miles per hour during a pair of runs down a 3-kilometer (nearly 2-mile) track. That was a full 29 mph faster than the 175 mph record set way back in 1974 by the Battery Box General Electric.

?I?m delighted we?ve beaten the record tonight and can show the world EVs can be fast and reliable,? said Lord Paul Drayson, whose firm built the 2,200 battery, and who personally piloted it during the record run. ?It is not the outright speed of 204.185 mph that is most impressive about this record, but the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000 kilogram electric vehicle on a short runway over a measured mile.?

Officially known as the Drayson B12 69/EV the enclosed racer used ultra-light carbon fiber for its chassis and body to compensate for the heft of a 30 kilowatt-hour battery pack. It also relied on custom-designed Michelin LM P1 tires.

Though most folks likely associate electric propulsion with ? but slow ? vehicles like the Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt, the reality is that battery power can also deliver some impressive performance as an electric motor yields maximum torque the moment it starts spinning.

Drayson?s Lola can launch from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds, for example, and keep gaining speed until it?s pushed well past 200 mph. In fact, Lord Drayson is apparently looking to soon beat his own record, tweeting to fans that on an additional run the car was ?very lively at 216 mph.?

While he may be celebrating victory, the claimed record could come under dispute. The Buckeye Bullet, an EV built by students at Ohio State University, actually achieved a 307.7 mph average during two runs at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in August 2010 ? and was seen as capable of reaching 400 mph. But that effort was not officially sanctioned by the FIA, leaving GE?s Battery Box the certified record-holder for another three years.

To proponents, what matters most is the increasing focus in electric racing and battery propulsion, in general.

There?s clearly a lot more interest, for example, has nudged its ZEOD RC battery race car up to 186 mph, and Top EV Racing claims to have launched its battery dragster from 0 to 100 in a mind-boggling 0.8 seconds.

What could put battery racing square in the public eye is the new Formula E series set to launch in 2015. Not surprisingly, Lord Drayson is looking to participate when that program gets underway.

Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

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Kim And Kanye Baby Name

Sluggish April GDP confirms Canadian economy is slowing

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's economy grew by just 0.1 percent in April from March, Statistics Canada said on Friday, confirming that after a strong first quarter, growth is slowing amid continuing global economic uncertainty.

Although April marked the fourth consecutive month-on-month gain, it was the smallest of the four increases. The figure matched analysts' expectations.

"(This) is no big surprise and fully consistent with the slow-motion expansion Canada now finds itself in. The modest April gain almost precisely matches the average increase seen over the past year," BMO Capital Markets chief economist Doug Porter said in a note to clients.

The Bank of Canada forecasts that second-quarter growth on an annualized basis will be 1.8 percent, down from the 2.5 percent in the first quarter.

The output of service industries expanded by 0.3 percent in April. Goods production fell by 0.3 percent on a decline in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction.

Porter and other analysts said second-quarter growth would be also hurt by major floods that hit Canada's oil capital last week, as well as a construction strike in the province of Quebec.

The Canadian dollar briefly pared its losses following the release of the data, before weakening back to C$1.0500, or 95.23 U.S. cents. It finished Thursday's North American session at C$1.0475 versus the U.S. dollar, or 95.47 U.S. cents.

The report showed wholesale and retail trade advanced by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, while the finance and insurance sector grew by 0.6 percent.

Manufacturing grew by 0.2 percent with durable goods output up by 0.5 percent on gains in computer and electronic products. Non-durable goods production dropped by 0.3 percent on declines in petroleum and coal products.

"The domestic economy is likely to remain subdued, which will prevent headline growth from moving materially above its trend rate," said TD Securities chief Canada macro strategist David Tulk.

Canada relies heavily on the economy of the United States, where the most recent data on consumer spending and jobs data suggests lukewarm growth.

Separately, Statscan said producer prices were unchanged in May from April as higher prices for petroleum and coal products offset declines in primary metal product and lumber prices. Analysts had estimated a 0.1 percent increase.

Petroleum and coal products climbed by 1.1 percent after two consecutive declines, pushed higher by a 3.6 percent increase in the price of gasoline.

Primary metal products slipped by 1.1 percent in part due to lower prices for gold, gold alloys, silver and platinum. Raw materials prices rose by 0.2 percent.

(With additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins in Toronto; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canadian-economy-grew-0-1-percent-april-services-124841741.html

bronx zoo

The World's Fastest Ship Is Basically an Aquatic Concorde Jet

The World's Fastest Ship Is Basically an Aquatic Concorde Jet

This is no lumbering Staten Island Ferry. This is the Francisco, a wave-piercing catamaran loaded with modified jet engines set to blast commuters across the River Plate at 58 knots, faster than any other ship in the world.

Australia?s Incat shipyard built the 1516 ton-displacement Francisco, named after Pope Francis, on behalf of the Buquebus company, which plans to operate it crossing the 140 miles Rio de la Plata estuary between Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.

The World's Fastest Ship Is Basically an Aquatic Concorde Jet

The ship's hull is crafted from "Two slender, aluminum hulls connected by a bridging section with centre bow structure at the forward end." The Incat website states, "Each hull is divided into nine vented, watertight compartments divided by transverse bulkheads. Two compartments in each hull are prepared as fuel tanks with an additional compartment prepared as a long range tank." It is powered by a pair of 59,000 HP GE LM2500 gas turbines, derived from those used aboard 747s to run on liquid natural gas (it uses either marine distillate to get the engines started and as an emergency fuel). These power plants run through a 7:1 gearbox that drives two Wartsila LJX 1720 SR waterjets, propelling the ship up to 67 MPH.

?This is certainly the fastest ship in the world,? said Incat managing director Kim Clifford. ?Of course there?s a few speed boats that could surpass 58 knots, but nothing that could carry 1,000 passengers and 150 cars, and with an enormous duty-free shop on board.?

The Francisco beat out another Incat design to take the record, 1996's 53.8 knot Juan Patricio. It too is part of the Buquebus fleet and is still in service. Water taxis everywhere, take note!

The World's Fastest Ship Is Basically an Aquatic Concorde Jet

[Incat - GE - Top Image: Kim Clifford / Incat, Interior Image: Eric Graudins]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-fastest-boat-is-basically-an-aquatic-concor-572876759

willie nelson

Facebook and Baidu?

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daylight savings

Atheists unveil monument in Florida

A MONUMENT to atheism now sits near a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments outside a courthouse in a conservative north Florida town.

The New Jersey-based group American Atheists unveiled the 680-kilogram granite bench on Saturday as a counter to the religious monument in what's called a free speech zone.

Group leaders say they believe it's the first such atheist monument on government property.

About 200 people attended the event.

Most were atheists, but a few protesters attended as well, including a group with signs that read "Yankees Go Home".

The atheists sued to try to have the Ten Commandments removed, but dropped the case when they were told they could have a similar monument.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newscomaubreakingndm/~3/fkLgxhkHMA8/story01.htm

Larry King

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Quotations of the day

"Tamerlan Tsarnaev's justice will be in the next world, but for his brother, accountability will begin right here in the district of Massachusetts." ? Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, who released a 30-count indictment against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

___

"I'm not going to have one case with a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly be elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system." ? President Barack Obama on National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

___

"I'm just as surprised as anyone else." ? UNLV freshman Anthony Bennett on becoming the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quotations-day-070627283.html

Katy Perry Grammys 2013

It s All Elementary: Decades of Insights from Nobel Laureates in Chemistry (preview)

Cover Image: July 2013 Scientific American MagazineSee Inside

As laureates and newcomers in chemistry form new bonds, we celebrate their achievements, past and future


Image: BOMBOLAND

In Brief

  • Every summer in Lindau, Germany, Nobel Prize recipients and up-and-coming researchers in a particular field gather and socialize. This year the meeting focuses on chemistry.
  • In celebration of the Lindau meeting, Scientific American has chosen 11 excerpts from articles in the magazine's archives authored by Nobel Laureates in chemistry.
  • The excerpts cover a surprisingly wide range of subjects, from the details of atoms and molecules to the chemical makeup of the earth's atmosphere. Some describe fundamental discoveries about natural elements; others recount researchers' attempts to create brand-new substances.
  • Some of the questions that preoccupied chemists many decades ago remain unanswered today, and certain man-made materials once considered unusual and of uncertain value have now become commonplace.

Chemists typically concern themselves with the properties of matter at the level of atoms and molecules. That focus may seem narrow, but it is quite the opposite. Chemistry reveals a great deal about the world around us, including the origins of life, how the human body works and how tiny molecules can profoundly change the earth's atmosphere. And, of course, chemistry makes it possible to create useful materials not found in nature.

Such insights have been celebrated for more than a century, as evidenced by the long record of Nobel Prizes for advances in chemistry. This summer past winners of the prize are joining up-and-coming scientists in Lindau, Germany, to discuss previous breakthroughs and future prospects. In honor of the event?the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting?Scientific American is publishing excerpts from articles authored by Nobel Laureates in chemistry over the years, beginning on page 70. Many of the snippets resonate with researchers' priorities today.

This article was originally published with the title A Nobel Gathering.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/history-of-science/~3/NwkrPmZ5Nm8/article.cfm

frozen four

Video: Ford?s Virttex driver performance simulator:

Page Not Found | Facebook

The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.

Go back to the previous page ? Go to the Facebook homepage ? Visit the Help Center Facebook ? 2013 ? English (US)

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Queen of Versailles

Egyptian president's supporters rally in Cairo

CAIRO (AP) ? Thousands of supporters of Egypt's embattled president are rallying in the nation's capital in a show of support ahead of what are expected to be massive opposition-led protests on June 30 to demand Mohammed Morsi's ouster.

The president's supporters held Friday prayers in streets surrounding a main mosque in Cairo, close to the presidential palace that in two days will be the focal point of opposition protests.

During Friday's sermon, the cleric warned that if Morsi is ousted "there will be no president for the country" and Egypt will descend into "opposition hell."

The opposition push is rooted in a campaign to collect signatures on a petition calling for Morsi's dismissal and early presidential elections.

The campaign, called "Tamarod," says that it has collected up to 20 million signatures.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-presidents-supporters-rally-cairo-114850950.html

Mayans

Gay marriage opponents ask court to intervene

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Lawyers for the sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban have filed an emergency motion asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the federal appeals court that on Friday freed the state to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Attorneys with the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom said they submitted the petition on Saturday to Justice Anthony Kennedy, who handles motions dealing with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Senior Counsel Austin Nimocks says a three-judge 9th Circuit panel acted prematurely and unfairly when it lifted the hold on same-sex marriages it had put in place while a challenge to the ban made its way through the courts.

Nimocks says the Supreme Court's consideration of the case is not done yet because his clients still have 22 days to ask the justices to reconsider their decision holding that Proposition 8's backers did not have legal authority to defend the ban.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gay-marriage-opponents-ask-court-intervene-210730914.html

Michelle Jenneke

Obama: U.S. Should Lead Assault on Climate Change

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, I'm Ira Flatow. President Obama announced a plan this week calling on the environmental protection agency to regulate how much carbon power plants are allowed to emit. He had tried and failed to get Congress to act on climate change from the very first days of his presidency. This week in a speech at Georgetown University, he announced it was time to take matters into his own hands.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: This is a challenge that does not pause for partisan gridlock. It demands our attention now. And this my plan to meet them, a plan to cut carbon pollution, a plan to protect our country from the impacts of climate change and a plan to lead the world in a coordinated assault on a changing climate.

(APPLAUSE)

FLATOW: Is it really possible for the U.S., long considered a foot-dragger on international climate negotiations to become a world leader on climate change. And how far can the president go without the help of Congress? Can his plan even put a dent in our emissions? What do you think? We're taking a poll on our website. Are you satisfied with what you heard in President Obama's plan? You can go to sciencefriday.com/climate, sciencefriday.com/climate, to let us know.

In the meantime, we're going to talk to David Roberts. He is senior staff writer covering energy and climate for Grist.org in Seattle. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Mr. Roberts.

DAVID ROBERTS: Hi Ira, thanks for having me.

FLATOW: You're welcome. Can you give us a - what are the main basic points of President Obama's plan that he outlined?

ROBERTS: Well, you mentioned the upcoming EPA regulations on power plants, but actually that's only one of probably two dozen individual provisions in the plan. It's sort of a - it's Bill Clintonesque in that it is kind of laundry list of small-bore actions that they're grouped in three categories.

One is cutting carbon pollution. One is adaptation, as they call it, which means preparing for the effects of climate change. And the third is international engagement on this issue. And under each of those headings there are four or five pieces.

FLATOW: Can he do this without the cooperation of Congress?

ROBERTS: Yes, well, this is - well, I think the way to look at this plan is it's sort of a canvas of what's possible using the executive branch only. I think he has tried and tried with Congress, and it has become very clear that Republicans in Congress are totally unwilling to acknowledge the problem, much less do anything about it. So I think in that sense the document is remarkable in that it is really a thorough, a thorough sort of scan of the executive branch, how it engages with carbon and climate and tweaks in almost every part of it.

So everything in the - nothing in the plan requires congressional action. So yes, theoretically it's all possible.

FLATOW: But there are no numbers in the plan.

ROBERTS: Well, there are numbers here and there. The big number is, you know, remember in the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009, I think it was, Obama promised to meet this short-term target, which is 17 percent carbon reductions from 2005 levels by 2020. And this is what the administration says it's trying to do with this plan.

And, you know, lots of the effects of some of this stuff are very hard to predict. But they are saying that they are going to get to that 17 percent number, or at least really close to it. So that's the big number. And there are some more. There are individual numbers throughout the plan. But it is - a lot of it is very sort of bureaucratic stuff.

There's a lot of working groups. There's a lot of pulling people together, disseminating best practices. And it's just hard to sort of - it's hard to predict numerically what's going to come out of that.

FLATOW: And all that stuff takes a lot of time, the comment periods, as you say, the meetings with utilities, refinements of the proposals. The president, does he have any real hope of seeing any of these regulations actually having gone into effect before he leaves office?

ROBERTS: Sure, a lot of it he can do quickly, and a lot of it, I should note, a lot of it is already underway. I mean, a lot of this plan that he released is sort of look at this thing we're already doing. So some of this stuff is already underway. In terms of the big piece you highlighted, which is the EPA power plant regulations, alongside the plan he issued a memo, a presidential memorandum to the EPA, which laid out a timeline for these regulations.

And if EPA meets that timeline, then there will be final proposals on these regulations issued before he leaves office. Of course that's a big if because these things are difficult, and EPA has missed deadlines before, but it's worth saying that a presidential memo specifically laying out a timeline is much more powerful and hard to get around than the sort of fuzzier deadlines of the past. So there's some chance.

FLATOW: That's a pretty bold prediction to say that this country, which does not have a reputation for being number one at any of the climate control meetings, to say it's going to become number one now or the leader.

ROBERTS: Well, on the international piece, it's interesting, there's sort of two schools of thought. One is to continue pursuing this UNFCCC process, which brings all the countries of the world together and tries to create one grand, binding document to bind them all. And the Obama administration has more or less given up on that process. That's what people say they're dragging their feet on.

And I think it's true that they don't find that process fruitful. What they're turning to instead is sort of focusing on the big emitters and doing these sort of bilateral or multilateral deals on specific issues. So it's more a stepwise, you know, pieces here rather than trying to go for the big brass ring.

FLATOW: The president also made some remarks about the Keystone Pipeline, which is not true that they were not in his prepared statements that were released?

ROBERTS: Well, it's interesting, I was on a call with senior administration officials the day before the plan. They were previewing the plan and the speech, and there was nothing said about Keystone. As a matter of fact, they were asked about Keystone, and they said specifically no, he won't say anything about that.

So clearly, whatever it was was added late in the game, which is really interesting to imagine why because what he said on Keystone was so sort of ambiguous that everybody's kind of reading their own interpretation into it. So it's puzzling to me what the political logic was for bringing that up since it mostly just serves to distract from the other stuff.

FLATOW: What did he say basically, that he...

ROBERTS: Well, he said that if building the Keystone pipeline would increase net carbon emissions, then it's not in our national interest. And that's going to be a key part of his decision. But of course the whole argument about Keystone all along has been whether it will in fact increase emissions because, you know, Keystone supporters say if you don't build that pipeline, they're just going to dig up the oil and ship it off some other direction, and it's going to get burned anyway, and net, net, there will be the same amount of carbon emissions.

So, you know, saying that's going to be part of his determination doesn't really add anything to the discussion and his - sort of this gnomic quality to the way he said it has everybody in the - everybody in the energy world is now saying oh, he agreed with me, he's going to do my thing. So that was a puzzling episode, I thought.

FLATOW: The president has beaten a drum over the years of his administration about the need to develop new green technologies that will create green jobs that will put people back to work that will boost the economy. Will these proposed regulations act to stimulate any of those ideas?

ROBERTS: Yes, yes, I would say yes they will and not just the EPA regulations, but there's a lot more in there where he's pumping money into research, pumping money into adaptation measures. One big piece is the federal government itself is aiming to get 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

And so that's going to - so all this, you know, there's this whole network of businesses that provide the federal government with stuff, and setting that target is going to spur all those businesses to innovate and develop new ways of providing the government with that energy. So even that piece alone, if he had announced that piece in isolation, that would be a big deal.

And that's true of a lot of the pieces of the plan. The individual pieces are actually quite significant, but they're sort of blurred together in this one big document.

FLATOW: As someone who covers energy and climate change, was there anything left out that you expected to hear?

ROBERTS: There was a big piece left out, although I expected it to be left out, and I just actually wrote about a post about this today. The big missing piece is coal in the Pacific Northwest, which is, you know, the Powder River Basin up in Wyoming and Montana is a huge coal field, and it's on public land. So the public is leasing that coal to private companies, who are now proposing to ship it over to the West Coast and export it to China.

And that whole process, digging it up, shipping it and then burning it in China, is going to be a huge net addition to greenhouse gases, and an inspector general report just found that the whole coal leasing program is corrupt. They're not getting market rates. They're not doing competitive bidding. I mean, the whole situation up there is a mess, and it's a big piece of the carbon puzzle, too. And I think that Obama really needs to turn his attention in that direction.

FLATOW: Now we were just out in Seattle with the program, and the mayor of Seattle was on this show. And again, and he was talking about how they were trying to block that shippage of coal that might go through Seattle and the whole Pacific Northwest.

ROBERTS: It's a huge fight up in the Pacific Northwest right now, in Oregon, in Washington, in all these little towns. They're going to have literally dozens and dozens of coal trains a day coming through these little towns, which are known for being sort of bucolic tourist destinations.

So - and the whole thing that activists are trying to do and that the mayor of Seattle is trying to do and that the governors of Washington and Oregon are trying to do is kind of nationalize this thing to get a big - to get an overall assessment of the project. And the Army Corps of Engineers, just a few days ago, refused to do a comprehensive assessment.

And in my view, that's Obama's Army Corps of Engineers, and if he wanted to, he could go down there and kick them in the rump and tell them to get on it. So that's what I think was left out of the speech.

FLATOW: He is the commander in chief. So what will tell us, as an observer, what signs might we look for to see if this is progressing, how it's progressing?

ROBERTS: The big thing is whether EPA meets the schedule that he laid out in his memo. And the first piece of that would be in September. They're suppose to re-propose regulations for a new power plant. So it'll be good to keep eyes on the EPA. But the interesting thing about this, because it's not legislation, because it's not going through Congress, a lot of this stuff just goes on behind public view.

It's just sort of bureaucratic stuff that goes on within federal agencies, and so it's a lot - in a sense it's very difficult for the public to know it's happening, which has its good and bad aspects. I mean, I think in one sense Obama wanted this plan to kind of come and go in the news cycle and not to be a big focus and not to draw a lot of attention because everything he's doing he can do just fine without the public being involved or knowing and without Congress knowing or being involved. It's just kind of puttering along behind the scenes.

So, you know, it's going to take some good reporting, I think, and journalism to really dig down into the bowels of the bureaucracy and make sure that this stuff is actually happening.

FLATOW: All right, David Roberts, we'll be in touch with you to see what's happening. Thank you very much for joining us.

ROBERTS: Thank you.

FLATOW: David Roberts is senior writer covering energy and climate change for the Grist.org in Seattle. We asked you to poll on our website. Are you satisfied with what you heard in the president's plan? So far 50 percent said - 54 percent said no, that was the top. Stay with us. We'll be right back after this break. Don't go away.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow, and this is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR.

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/28/196594972/obama-u-s-should-lead-assault-on-climate-change?ft=1&f=1007

Michael Hastings

Obama to meet with Mandela family

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama plans to visit privately Saturday with relatives of former South African President Nelson Mandela, but doesn't intend to see the critically ill anti-apartheid activist he has called a "personal hero."

The White House did not disclose any details for Obama's plans to meet the family in a brief statement issued upon Obama's first morning in South Africa during a weeklong tour of the continent. The statement simply said that Obama and his wife would offer their thoughts and prayers at the family's difficult time.

"Out of deference to Nelson Mandela's peace and comfort and the family's wishes, they will not be visiting the hospital," the statement said.

Obama told reporters on the flight to South Africa Friday that he was grateful that he, his wife and daughters had a chance to meet Mandela previously. Obama hangs his photo of the introduction he had to Mandela in 2005 in his personal office at the White House ? their only meeting, when Obama was a senator.

"I don't need a photo op," Obama said. "The last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela's condition."

Obama will be just a couple miles from the hospital where 94-year-old Mandela has been for three weeks after being admitted with a lung infection. The U.S. president has a bilateral meeting and news conference with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings, where Mandela was inaugurated as the country's first black president in 1994 after 27 years behind bars under racist rule.

Obama has said the imprisoned activist's willingness to risk his life for the cause of equal rights helped inspire his own political activism. Obama said his message during the visit will draw on the lessons of Mandela's life, with a message that "Africa's rise will continue" if its people are unified instead of divided by tribe, race or religion.

"I think the main message we'll want to deliver if not directly to him but to his family is simply a profound gratitude for his leadership all these years and that the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with him and his family and his country," Obama said on his flight into the country.

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

The university plans to bestow an honorary law degree on the U.S. president, while protesters are planning demonstrations against U.S. policy on issues including the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the war in Afghanistan and global warming. Hundreds marched to the U.S. Embassy on Friday, carrying signs that read: "No, You Can't Obama," a message inspired by Obama's "yes, we can" campaign slogan.

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

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

___

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-meet-mandela-family-075010890.html

st bonaventure

Breakthrough in Internet bandwidth: New fiber optic technology could ease Internet congestion, video streaming

June 27, 2013 ? As rapidly increasing demand for bandwidth strains the Internet's capacity, a team of engineers has devised a new fiber optic technology that promises to increase bandwidth dramatically. The new technology could enable Internet providers to offer much greater connectivity -- from decreased network congestion to on-demand video streaming.

Described in the June 28 issue of the journal Science, the technology centers on donut-shaped laser light beams called optical vortices, in which the light twists like a tornado as it moves along the beam path, rather than in a straight line.

Widely studied in molecular biology, atomic physics and quantum optics, optical vortices (also known as orbital angular momentum, or OAM, beams) were thought to be unstable in fiber, until BU Engineering Professor Siddharth Ramachandran recently designed an optical fiber that can propagate them. In the paper, he and Alan Willner of USC demonstrate not only the stability of the beams in optical fiber but also their potential to boost Internet bandwidth.

"For several decades since optical fibers were deployed, the conventional assumption has been that OAM-carrying beams are inherently unstable in fibers," said Ramachandran. "Our discovery, of design classes in which they are stable, has profound implications for a variety of scientific and technological fields that have exploited the unique properties of OAM-carrying light, including the use of such beams for enhancing data capacity in fibers."

The reported research represents a close collaboration between optical fiber experts at BU and optical communication systems experts at USC. "Siddharth's fiber represents a very unique and valuable innovation. It was great to work together to demonstrate a terabit-per-second capacity transmission link," said Willner, electrical engineering professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Ramachandran and Willner collaborated with OFS-Fitel, a fiber optics company in Denmark, and Tel Aviv University.

Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the technology could not come at a better time, as one of the main strategies to boost Internet bandwidth is running into roadblocks just as mobile devices fuel rapidly growing demands on the Internet. Traditionally, bandwidth has been enhanced by increasing the number of colors, or wavelengths of data-carrying laser signals -- essentially streams of 1s and 0s -- sent down an optical fiber, where the signals are processed according to color. Increasing the number of colors has worked well since the 1990s when the method was introduced, but now that number is reaching physical limits.

An emerging strategy to boost bandwidth is to send the light through a fiber along distinctive paths, or modes, each carrying a cache of data from one end of the fiber to the other. Unlike the colors, however, data streams of 1s and 0s from different modes mix together; determining which data stream came from which source requires computationally intensive and energy-hungry digital signal processing algorithms.

Ramachandran's and Willner's approach combines both strategies, packing several colors into each mode, and using multiple modes. Unlike in conventional fibers, OAM modes in these specially designed fibers can carry data streams across an optical fiber while remaining separate at the receiving end. In experiments appearing in the Science paper, Ramachandran created an OAM fiber with four modes (an optical fiber typically has two), and he and Willner showed that for each OAM mode, they could send data through a one-kilometer fiber in 10 different colors, resulting in a transmission capacity of 1.6 terabits per second, the equivalent of transmitting eight Blu-RayTM DVDs every second.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/zoBY3cb6fMU/130627142406.htm

powerball numbers

Gas-giant exoplanets cling close to their parent stars

June 27, 2013 ? Gemini Observatory's Planet-Finding Campaign finds that, around many types of stars, distant gas-giant planets are rare and prefer to cling close to their parent stars. The impact on theories of planetary formation could be significant.

Finding extrasolar planets has become so commonplace that it seems astronomers merely have to look up and another world is discovered. However, results from Gemini Observatory's recently completed Planet-Finding Campaign -- the deepest, most extensive direct imaging survey to date -- show the vast outlying orbital space around many types of stars is largely devoid of gas-giant planets, which apparently tend to dwell close to their parent stars.

"It seems that gas-giant exoplanets are like clinging offspring," says Michael Liu of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy and leader of the Gemini Planet-Finding Campaign. "Most tend to shun orbital zones far from their parents. In our search, we could have found gas giants beyond orbital distances corresponding to Uranus and Neptune in our own Solar System, but we didn't find any." The Campaign was conducted at the Gemini South telescope in Chile, with funding support for the team from the National Science Foundation and NASA. The Campaign's results, Liu says, will help scientists better understand how gas-giant planets form, as the orbital distances of planets are a key signature that astronomers use to test exoplanet formation theories.

Eric Nielsen of the University of Hawaii, who leads a new paper about the Campaign's search for planets around stars more massive than the Sun, adds that the findings have implications beyond the specific stars imaged by the team. "The two largest planets in our Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn, are huddled close to our Sun, within 10 times the distance between the Earth and Sun," he points out. "We found that this lack of gas-giant planets in more distant orbits is typical for nearby stars over a wide range of masses."

Two additional papers from the Campaign will be published soon and reveal similar tendencies around other classes of stars. However, not all gas-giant exoplanets snuggle so close to home. In 2008, astronomers using the Gemini North telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii's Mauna Kea took the first-ever direct images of a family of planets around the star HR 8799, finding gas-giant planets at large orbital separations (about 25-70 times the Earth-Sun distance). This discovery came after examining only a few stars, suggesting such large-separation gas giants could be common. The latest Gemini results, from a much more extensive imaging search, show that gas-giant planets at such distances are in fact uncommon.

Liu sums up the situation this way: "We've known for nearly 20 years that gas-giant planets exist around other stars, at least orbiting close-in. Thanks to leaps in direct imaging methods, we can now learn how far away planets can typically reside. The answer is that they usually avoid significant areas of real estate around their host stars. The early findings, like HR 8799, probably skewed our perceptions."

The team's second new paper explores systems where dust disks around young stars show holes, which astronomers have long suspected are cleared by the gravitational force of orbiting planets. "It makes sense that where you see debris cleared away that a planet would be responsible, but we did not know what types of planets might be causing this. It appears that instead of massive planets, smaller planets that we can't detect directly could be responsible," said Zahed Wahhaj of the European Southern Observatory and lead author on the survey's paper on dusty disk stars. Finally, the third new paper from the team looks at the very youngest stars close to Earth. "A younger system should have brighter, easier to detect planets," according to the lead author Beth Biller of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

"Around other stars, NASA's Kepler telescope has shown that planets larger than the Earth and within the orbit of Mercury are plentiful," explains Biller. "The NICI Campaign demonstrates that gas-giant planets beyond the distance of the orbit of Neptune are rare." The soon-to-be-delivered Gemini Planet Imager will begin to bridge this gap likely revealing, for the first time, how common giant planets are in orbits similar to the gas-giant planets of our own Solar System.

The observations for the Campaign were obtained with the Gemini instrument known as NICI, the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, which was the first instrument for an 8-10 meter-class telescope designed specifically for finding faint companions around bright stars. NICI was built by Doug Toomey (Mauna Kea Infrared), Christ Ftaclas, and Mark Chun (University of Hawai'i), with funding from NASA.

The first two papers from the Campaign have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (Nielsen et al. and Wahhaj et al.), and the third paper (Biller et al.) will be published later this summer.

The NICI Campaign team is composed of PI Michael Liu, co-PI Mark Chun (University of Hawaii), co-PI Laird Close (University of Arizona), Doug Toomey (Mauna Kea Infrared), Christ Ftaclas (University of Hawaii), Zahed Wahhaj (European Southern Observatory), Beth Biller (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), Eric Nielsen (University of Hawaii), Evgenya Shkolnik (DTM, Carnegie Institution of Washington), Adam Burrows (Princeton University), Neill Reid (Space Telescope Science Institute), Niranjan Thatte, Matthias Tecza, Fraser Clarke (University of Oxford), Jane Gregorio Hetem, Elisabete De Gouveia Dal Pino (University of Sao Paolo), Silvia Alencar (University of Minas Gerais), Pawel Artymowicz (University of Toronto), Doug Lin (University of California Santa Cruz), Shigeru Ida (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Alan Boss (DTM, Carnegie Institution of Washington), and Mark Kuchner (NASA Goddard), Tom Hayward and Markus Hartung (Gemini Observatory), Jared Males, and Andy Skemer (University of Arizona).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/KTKfCN1rQK4/130627161436.htm

frances bean cobain

Video: Gold Settles Near 3-Year Low

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52335721/

bob newhart

Engadget Podcast 350 - 06.28.13

Engadget Podcast 343 - 05.10.13

We've made it to the big three-five-oh! Watch out, HD Podcast, we're closing in on your 355 episode mark. Although the week in tech news wasn't terribly exciting, Brian was so pumped he ran nine blocks in the blistering heat straight to our studio. As such, this episode is relatively short -- might we suggest you check out Distro on your favorite tablet with all that extra time?

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Peter Rojas, Brian Heater

Producer: Joe Pollicino

Hear the podcast:

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/engadget-podcast-350-06-28-13/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

wwe wrestlemania

Kristen Bell proposes to Dax Shepard via Twitter

Celebs

3 hours ago

Image: Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell.

Christopher Polk / Getty Images file

Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell.

That didn't take long. Just a short time after the Supreme Court struck down a key portion of the Defense of Marriage Act, which will change the ability of same-sex couples to marry in much of the United States, one straight couple appears to have decided to make it official.

"Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell immediately jumped on Twitter after the decision came down and asked the father of her child, "Parenthood" star Dax Shepard, to marry her.

The two have been public about their decision to wait to wed until same-sex couples in the United States can marry, and appear to not want to wait even a day longer than they have to. They have been engaged since late 2009, and their daughter Lincoln arrived in March.

Very shortly thereafter, Dax accepted the proposal (well, he accepted it in a now-deleted Tweet that read "F--- yes!!!!!!" but then put up a slightly tempered version (below).

There's been no official confirmation that the two are now making wedding plans, but for now it appears both are on the same page: Celebrating the end of DOMA and looking forward to their new united lives together.

Other straight couples in Hollywood have taken the same stance over the years, so it's possible there may be a small flood of these unions in the coming months -- most notably, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Though the pair have hinted at marriage plans in the years since, Pitt told Esquire in 2006 that "Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/kristen-bell-proposes-twitter-dax-shepard-6C10467522

E3 Schedule

Friday, June 28, 2013

Chopped Recap: Climbing and Cooking

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/chopped-recap-climbing-and-cooking/

London 2012 closing ceremony

Russell Crowe as Noah: New Character Pics!

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Kevin Clash

Aereo coming to Chicago on September 13th

Aereo coming to Chicago on September 13th

Between Chicago Hope, Chicago Fire and, erm, The Chicago Code, the Windy City's got a strong pedigree in television drama. That's why it makes perfect sense that streaming TV service Aereo is coming to the Chicagoland area of Illinois on September 13th. As with Aereo's other launches, users will be able to watch the local ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox (yup) affiliates on your computer, smartphone and tablet -- with DVR add-ons starting at $8 a month. At the same time, we've also heard a rumor that Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia has revealed that the service would launch in Washington D.C. at some point in August, and we'll keep an ear to the ground to see if that's true.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/aereo-september-chicago/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

capitals

Rights group says Egypt's Brotherhood incites sectarian hatred

CAIRO (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch accused Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday of inciting religious hatred that led to the lynching of four Shi'ite Muslims in Cairo this week.

Residents of the suburb of Zawiyat Abu Musallem surrounded a house where a prominent Shi'ite cleric had arrived on Sunday for a religious festival. They attacked the guests, killing at least four and mutilating their bodies.

Police arrested eight people over the killings.

"The brutal sectarian lynching of four Shia comes after two years of hate speech against the minority religious group, which the Muslim Brotherhood condoned and at times participated in," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of President Mohamed Mursi, was not available for comment.

Conservative Sunni Muslims, fearing the spread of Shia Islam in Egypt, have increased their anti-Shi'ite rhetoric since a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in February, who called for a strategic alliance with Egypt.

Shi'ites, the majority in Iran, form a small minority of Egypt's 84 million population and keep a low profile.

"This horrific incident in Abu Musallem shows that Shi'ites can't even gather in the privacy of their homes to celebrate and heightens fear of persecution among all religious minorities in Egypt," Stork said.

President Mursi condemned the crime but his liberal opponents accuse him and his Muslim Brotherhood of allowing ultra-conservative Salafi allies to whip up anti-Shi'ite sentiment in return for their support.

Mursi was a guest of honor this month at a rally where a cleric described Shi'ites as heretics.

HRW's report said the investigation into the attack needed to look into the failure of police to intervene to halt the mob attack.

"The official response to the killings falls far short of what is needed to protect Shia in Egypt from future attack and protect their right to religious freedom," Human Rights Watch said.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rights-group-says-egypts-brotherhood-incites-sectarian-hatred-102110187.html

lisa marie presley

Storefront Gets $1.6M To Grow Its 'Pop-Up Shop' Marketplace For ...

Storefront, a startup that launched this past fall out of San Francisco startup accelerator AngelPad focusing on helping businesses find short-term real estate rentals for ?pop-up shops? and other temporary stores, is set to announce today that it?s taken on $1.6 million in seed funding.

The investors in the seed round include Mohr Davidow Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, 500 Startups, David Tisch?s BoxGroup?and?Sand Hill Angels, among other angel investors.

Storefront?s co-founder and CEO Erik Eliason said in an interview that the new funding will be put toward helping the service expand beyond its native San Francisco, where over the past six months the company has helped over 100 large and local brands open pop-up shops (including the Storenvy space which we recently profiled for TechCrunch TV) and listed over 3 million square feet of retail space. That geographical expansion is already underway, with the recent launch of Storefront listings in New York City.

The funding will also be used to add more hires to Storefront?s team, which currently has six full-time staff.

The idea behind Storefront is to help make it just as easy to open a brick-and-mortar shop as it now is to sell stuff online, matching up sellers looking for retail space with existing real estate owners who are currently facing 10 percent vacancy rates.

Eliason put it this way:

?Our bigger vision is that it?s really easy to open a store online with Etsy or Storenvy. But offline there are still so many friction points with setting up a store. Things like Square make things like payments easier, but finding the space, securing the space, furnishing the space ? it?s not an easy process.?

As for the competition? Traditional commercial real estate brokers are not focused on the short-term rental space for the increasingly popular ?pop-up? market, because it?s not as lucrative for commissions, Eliason says. Craigslist has short-term real estate listings, but those come with all the hassles that exist for, well, everything on Craigslist.

In terms of revenue, Storefront does not charge any commission on the rental of a space itself. The startup makes money by taking a referral fee for any purchases that it helps facilitate after the space has been leased, such as sales of furniture, fixtures, temporary staff, signage and insurance.

Overall, it?s a smart idea at a very smart time (with a catchy name to boot), so it?s no wonder that it?s gotten the attention of investors. If Storefront can execute its vision throughout the U.S., it could turn into something big.


Storefront is a marketplace for short-term retail space. We make it easy for brands to open pop-up shops and streamline the short-term lease process for brokers, shopping centers, and space owners. We want to make starting an offline store as easy as an online store, and empower anyone to do so. Along the way we want to: Make retail space more accessible Connect retailers and their communities Foster and grow the sharing economy Help shoppers discover unique, local and authentic products Find the perfect space So, you...

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/26/storefront-seed-funding/

acura nsx

What's in a middle name? For Snowden, a flight out

HONG KONG (AP) ? Edward Snowden's bespectacled and goateed face was almost unavoidable in Hong Kong last week. It stared out from newsstands, banners and giant TV screens on shopping malls and office buildings after it became known that the admitted leaker of U.S. secrets was in town and in hiding.

Still, when the U.S. asked the semiautonomous Chinese city for Snowden's provisional arrest, its response was essentially this: Who exactly do you mean?

Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen said Hong Kong officials weren't sure who to look for because the U.S. government got Snowden's middle name wrong in documents filed to back its arrest request.

He said Hong Kong immigration records listed Snowden's middle name as Joseph, but the U.S. government used the name James in some documents and referred to him only as Edward J. Snowden in others.

"These three names are not exactly the same. Therefore, we believed that there was a need to clarify," Yuen said Tuesday.

Yuen said U.S. authorities also failed to provide Snowden's passport number. He said officials received the arrest request on June 15 and sent a request June 21 for clarification. Two days later, Snowden flew to Moscow.

"Up until the moment of Snowden's departure, the very minute, the U.S. Department of Justice did not reply to our request for further information. Therefore, in our legal system, there is no legal basis for the requested provisional arrest warrant," Yuen said. In the absence of such a warrant, the "Hong Kong government has no legal basis for restricting or prohibiting Snowden leaving Hong Kong."

U.S. officials don't buy Hong Kong's explanation, and neither do some legal experts in the city.

"It's not like he's some mystery figure. He revealed himself on TV," said Hong Kong University law professor Simon Young. "The whole world knows what he looks like."

Young and Hong Kong-based extradition lawyer Michael Blanchflower said authorities are able to exercise their discretion and use other methods to identify fugitives, who often use aliases.

"It may be in some cases that the person's name or passport number are not known, but for instance you could have a physical description accompanied by a photograph," said Blanchflower.

The decision to let Snowden go has raised tensions between the U.S. and Hong Kong. U.S. officials suggested that Beijing had a hand in letting Snowden leave Hong Kong, a former British colony that is now a semiautonomous region with its own legal system. But Hong Kong leaders say they were following the city's rule of law in processing the U.S. request.

The U.S. Justice Department said the government gave Hong Kong all the information that was required under the terms of their extradition treaty.

"The fugitive's photos and videos were widely reported through multiple news outlets. That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request," a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.

"It wasn't a pretext at all," Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said Thursday. "We were just following the laws of Hong Kong."

Young, who specializes in criminal law, said that because of the "political sensitivities" involved in the case, authorities did not rush the case and had taken extra care.

"I think that the Hong Kong government was insisting on a fairly high standard of completeness, and that, I assume, is their practice. They know that our courts will look at these things very closely and they don't take shortcuts," he said.

Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and ex-CIA employee, disclosed the broad scope of two highly classified counterterror surveillance programs to two newspapers. The programs collect vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the name of national security.

He was expected to seek asylum in Ecuador, but it's unclear where he was Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that Snowden was in the transit area of Moscow's main airport, but a horde of reporters have found no trace of him.

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks says one of its staffers is with Snowden, and said Wednesday on Twitter that he is well.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/whats-middle-name-snowden-flight-104658339.html

edmund fitzgerald

Guidance You Need To Improve Your Golf Skills | Sports & Recreation

There are many endeavors in life that call for concentration and exacting attention to detail. Golf is no exception. Golf is a game that requires skill and precision; even the slightest break in concentration can throw your entire game off. The challenge is what makes golf so much fun! Investigate these tips on the game of golf, and watch your game improve.

TIP! A helpful tip when it comes to golf is to consider checking with a golf professional before buying a new club or set of clubs. The information they can provide will be instrumental in purchasing the correct clubs for you, because they can tell you which type will fit you best and data about cutting edge products.

You can get a lot of help you in your golf game from your body. You have to use your body as a source of power, not just your arms. Use your whole body to execute every stage of your golf swing. You will be able to control the ball and send it further without injuring yourself.

TIP! Regarding the game of golf, try not to obsess over it. Things are bound to go wrong from time to time, so you need to learn to laugh at your mistakes.

When first learning to play, it is best to get the correct grip on the club. A common mistake many players make is thinking that a harder club grip means they can power the ball farther down the fairway. However, it?s best to use a firm, yet gentle grip. One popular piece of advice given by instructors across the country is to envision that you are trying to keep hold on bird.

TIP! So you need to drink lots of water and do your stretches before you play. The better shape your body is in, the better your game will be.

Use your entire body to power your golf swing. Novices tend to have the belief that strength is drawn primarily from the arms; however, using arms alone generates nothing but weak, ungainly swings. You get better results when your body is in sync with your arms and hands.

TIP! If you are investing in an expensive new golf club, having it custom-fitted may be a good choice. This will make the club suit your body type exactly.

When you finish one shot, turn your total attention to the next one. Don?t be distracted by your last bad shot or a water hazard on the next hole. Worrying about mistakes can have an effect on your swing, so forget them and move forward.

TIP! See to it that you?re holding the golf club the right way before your swing. Your thumbs should be pointing downward while the handle rests on your palms.

Make sure your left hand is actually ahead of your ball when you putt. Hold this position as you swing the club, maintaining it throughout your stroke. You will have more control over the club and direction of the ball.

TIP! Using an unnatural stance will be detrimental to your game. Practice standing without holding your club.

If you need to make a long putt, focus mostly on the speed that you hit the ball with. It?s best to try to hit the ball towards an intermediate target in this situation, rather than going straight for the hole. That way, you are less likely to either overshoot or undershoot, and your second putt is more likely to be a manageable one.

TIP! Avoid discouragement by playing with partners who share your skill level. As a beginning golfer choose to play easy courses with other golfers who are just starting to play.

One of the first things you need to learn about golf is the scoring rules. Many people live and die by their score, so messing it up will give you a horrible reputation. Every hit of the golf ball is counted as a stroke. The total amount of strokes it takes to place the ball in the cup determines the total score for that hole. Getting the least amount of strokes possible is the goal!

TIP! Make sure you position yourself well and put yourself behind your golf ball so that you can look ahead and see where the ball needs to go. At this time, you also need to factor in the wind and other conditions.

For a powerful swing, use all the muscles in the body, especially your core and leg muscles. Swing your body like a whip when you swing and get power from your lower body.

TIP! Perhaps one of the most important things to understand in the game of golf is that when the club strikes the ball, the club?s face must be perfectly square for maximum distance and accuracy. Doing so boosts the odds the ball will go in a straight path.

You probably want to bring a nice healthy snack to fuel your body and mind while you?re on the course. Golf can make a person both mentally and physically tired. However, the calories and protein in your snack can help you remain alert and prevent your muscles from becoming fatigued, so you can stay on top of your game throughout the 18th hole.

TIP! If your shots are cutting right, your body is probably shifting left when you swing. During your downswing, you need to focus on having your hands released more quickly to the ball.

Don?t mess up your game by messing up your stance. Practice standing without holding your club. Stand at the same distance from the ball you would stand if you were holding the club. Flex your knees, bend your waist slightly, let your arms down in a natural way. Clap your hands together, as if around a club. This position should feel natural to you, and if it does not, you might be overcompensating it.

TIP! Frame golf as an enjoyable activity, not something you have to master right now. Practice whenever you can, and seek advice from experienced golfers to help take your game to the next level.

Golfing with others who play at your level can keep your confidence up. While you are a beginner, find easier courses to play on with people of a similar skill level. Don?t crush your enthusiasm taking on tough courses and competing against those who are much better than you.

TIP! Increase the power of your swing by not bringing your club back too far. Pulling back the club will have a negative effect on your posture.

Try to find ways around the problem if you can?t figure out how to solve it. It could be an advantage in the long run, and make your golf style unique.

TIP! Tee height is an important item to be knowledgeable about if you are a golfing beginner. Your drives might not be efficient if the tree height is not right.

Breathe deeply just before hitting the ball. A deep breath will center your focus on the ball and calm your nerves. Take the time to visualize the destination you want your ball to go to, and take your swing. Deep breaths can also eliminate tension in a competition setting.

TIP! Try not to tense your muscles as your swing nears the ball. Unfortunately, tons of golfers do this, causing their stroke to produce negative results.

TIP! Remember that walking on the course all day often causes your feet to swell. Keep this in mind as you are shopping for new golf shoes; you may wish to buy one size larger than you would ordinarily.

When playing golf, keep in mind you need to practice proper etiquette and that includes speeding up your pace of play when you are going slow. The groups behind yours may become frustrated by excessive delays or slow play. When your group is moving slower across the green, it is proper etiquette to invite faster groups to ?play through?.

TIP! Don?t wear sneaker golf shoes in the early morning when the dew is still on the grass. There are some brands that offer this style with waterproofing, yet many don?t.

You do not need to work just at the driving range in order to improve your swing. Working on improving your swing impacts most of your total golfing game, so keep swinging.

TIP! When golfing, you need to constantly be paying attention. You must be prepared to play as soon as it is your turn.

The key to becoming a good golfer lies, in part, in learning which club does what. In many cases, knowing which club to use can mean the difference between landing the ball on the green or in the rough. It can be disastrous if you don?t use the right club in a certain situation.

TIP! The most essential factor is that the clubs you choose are the right fit for your particular game. Don?t forget that the golfers of a century ago were using clubs made of wood.

Try out tips like the ones you?ve just read above to help keep your game going as smoothly as possible. Employ what you?ve just learned here and you can continue to get better at golf, no matter how long you?ve been playing the game.

TIP! It?s important to know how each club works for your shots. You can shave a lot of points off your score by choosing the correct wood, iron or wedge for every shot.

Source: http://www.after-i-do.com/guidance-you-need-to-improve-your-golf-skills/

earthquake today

Climate tug of war disrupting Australian atmospheric circulation patterns

June 26, 2013 ? Further evidence of climate change shifting atmospheric circulation in the southern Australian-New Zealand region has been identified in a new study.

The study, in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, demonstrates that mid-latitude high pressure zones (30oS-45oS) are being pushed further into the Southern Ocean by rising global temperatures associated with greenhouse warming. This is despite more frequent occurrences of strong El Ni?os in recent decades, which should have drawn the high pressure zones in the opposite direction toward the equator.

"What we are seeing," says study lead author, Mr Guojian Wang "is a 'tug of war' between stronger El Ni?os driving the winds north and the greenhouse gas-warming effect driving the winds south."

Mr Wang, said the result confirms the robustness of the Southern Hemisphere circulation changes over the past three to four decades as the global temperature rose, "so much so that it overode the influence from strong El Ni?os during this period."

Study co-author, Dr Wenju Cai said the most conspicuous change is a rising sea level pressure in the mid-latitude bands and a decreasing sea level pressure over the Southern high latitudes (55o-70oS), a pattern referred to as the Southern Annular Mode. The changing pressures indicate a poleward or southward expansion of the tropical and subtropical atmospheric zones.

In turn, this indicates that over the long-term, there is a relationship between a rising global mean temperature and an upward trend of the Southern Annular Mode.

"The research reinforces our past work that climate change is altering Southern Hemisphere circulation and increases our confidence in this conclusion," Dr Cai said.

Dr Cai has previously reported on changes in atmospheric circulation that have been shifting and strengthening the Pacific Ocean winds poleward and in turn strengthening the ocean circulation, pushing the East Australian Current further south down the Australian coast.

He said during El Ni?o, the warmer ocean releases heat to the atmosphere and global average temperatures increase. At the same time, warm ocean surface temperatures along the equator cause the tropical and subtropical atmospheric belts to move toward the equator, generating a 'negative' phase of the Southern Annular Mode.

"On year-to-year time scales, higher global temperatures are associated with a negative phase of the Mode but over the past 35 years, when El Ni?o has been strong and conducive to a negative trend, we are seeing an opposite trend with the circulation systems moving southward impacting on regional climate," he said.

The project was funded through the Australian Climate Change Science Program.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/-ms3vXaI4mM/130626113658.htm

the pitch

India: can foreign loans lift housebuilding? | beyondbrics

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Source: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/06/26/india-can-foreign-loans-lift-housebuilding/

decathlon

Accused Boston Marathon bomber indicted by jury

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. grand jury has indicted accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhohkhar Tsarnaev on charges of killing four people and using homemade bombs, federal prosecutors in Boston said on Thursday.

Tsarnaev, 19, is one of two ethnic Chechen brothers accused of carrying out the April 15 attack, which killed three people. A fourth victim, a university police officer, died in a gunfight with the pair four days later as authorities raced to capture them.

The indictment includes 30 criminal counts, with 19 of those counts carrying the possibility of the death penalty.

The pair were accused of setting off two homemade pressure-cooker bombs amid a crowd of thousands of people at the race's finish line. They lay low for three days after the attack until the FBI on April 18 released photos of the suspects, hoping that the public could identify them.

That night they set out with five improvised explosive devices, a semiautomatic handgun, ammunition, a hunting knife and a machete.

The pair used those weapons in a battle with police in Watertown, Massachusetts, outside Boston, and Dzhokhar ran over his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, with a car in the escape, officials said.

The younger Tsarnaev, who was badly injured in that gun battle, has been held in a prison hospital west of Boston since his capture on April 19.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/accused-boston-marathon-bomber-indicted-federal-grand-jury-173206491.html

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