Saturday, January 26, 2013

Video: Tech Sector Up More Than 30% Since 2007

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50588761/

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Movie Review: 'Parker' ? CBS Philly

(Jason Statham stars in "Parker.")

(Jason Statham stars in ?Parker.?)

By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ? No one will ever accuse Jason Statham of having an acting range, but few are the movie stars whose name on the marquee so completely identifies the genre or the type of leading man he?ll be playing.

Take him or leave him, he sure is a known quantity: quiet, strong, inexpressive, resourceful, and deadly.

But Parker tweaks the Statham formula a tad by adding a female icon to the mix: Jennifer Lopez is the female lead.

(2 stars out of 4)

(2 stars out of 4)

Yep, it?s J-Sta and J-Lo, together again for the first time!

The noir-like action thriller, set in the criminal underworld and brutally violent, offers tough-as-nails Statham as the anti-heroic title character, a professional thief who, sporting a moral code in the Robin Hood mode, steals from the wealthy and punishes the guilty.

During the bungled robbing of the Ohio State Fair that opens the film, Parker is doublecrossed by his crew -? played by Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., and Micah A. Hauptman ? who betray him, shoot him, take his share of the money, and leave him for dead.

But he survives and, seeking vengeance with a vengeance, follows them to Palm Beach, Fla. in disguise.

There, while the quartet of thieves plan an elaborate jewel heist, he enlists the help of struggling real estate agent Leslie Rogers, played by Lopez, who becomes his partner-in-crime in hope of financial reward.

Director Taylor Hackford (Ray, An Officer and a Gentleman, The Devil?s Advocate, Proof of Life), dipping into the action pool, works from a screenplay by John J. McLaughlin that?s based on the novel Flashfire by Donald E. Westlake, who featured the titular master criminal in twenty-some novels but insisted that the character?s name be changed in the several movie versions (Point Blank, The Outfit, Payback) that emerged from the series.

Veteran Hackford knows how to hold our attention during flashy set pieces, but there?s nothing in the narrative to get us rooting or even caring.

The simplistic script is so repetitious and bloated that it seems to struggle to conjure enough in the way of plot continuity to fill out to feature length.

And the lead character is a jumble of arbitrary traits and confused morality that doesn?t add up to a real person.? Even a skillfully nuanced actor would have trouble selling this synthetic construct, and Statham is nothing of the sort.

What this Jason Statham flick offers that distinguishes it from previous outings (The Transporter, Crank, The Mechanic, Death Race) are the two lazy disguises that he dons while half-heartedly impersonating a priest and a tycoon.

But let?s face it: while Statham has an unmistakable muscular charm, his persona, let alone his facial expression, doesn?t vary regardless of the surface accoutrement: he is action icon Jason Statham no matter how he?s dressed.

So much for the camouflage.? And wait?ll you hear his Texas drawl.

As for Lopez, she?s saddled with an extraneous, underdeveloped character -? she?s not even the romantic interest, not really -? and is obviously included as a demographic stretcher who, through no fault of her own, never becomes necessary or convincing.

Overall, there?s lots of stealing going on on-screen, but no one steals the movie while it?s busy stealing your time.

So we?ll disguise 2 stars out of 4 for a ho-hum, here-we-go-again action thriller.? As Statham vehicles go, Parker barely shifts out of park.

More Bill Wine Movie Reviews

Bill Wine?s Top 10 Movies of 2012

Bill?s Winter Movies Preview

More CBS Philly Entertainment News

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/01/25/movie-review-parker/

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Opera about Nazi atrocity being shown in Austria

VIENNA (AP) ? Austrian parliamentarians and invited guests are gathering to watch the premiere of an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children at a Vienna hospital during World War II.

"Spiegelgrund" is the work of Austrian composer Peter Androsch, whose great grandfather died in a concentration camp. Friday's performance will mark International Holocaust Day in Austria ? a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis during the war.

The opera is being performed in a chamber of parliament used for special sessions and ceremonial events, and shown on Internet, starting at 1600 GMT (11 a.m. EST).

Since the war, Austria has gone from denial to full recognition of its part in Nazi atrocities.

The world marks Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday.

___

Online: www.sonostream.tv

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/opera-nazi-atrocity-being-shown-austria-160137426.html

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Friday, January 25, 2013

SA's military helicopters for Mugabe? | News | Africa | Mail & Guardian

The South African National Defence Force is about to send a gift of helicopters and spares to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), raising the spectre they will be used in a military-backed campaign to put President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party back in power in polls expected this year.

The Mail & Guardian has seen confidential minutes of a meeting held in Cape Town two months ago between defence chiefs of the two countries. Under the heading "disposal of Alouette III helicopters and spares", the minutes note that "the administrative processes in the [South African National Defence Force] have been finalised and the equipment will soon be handed over to the ZDF".?The department of defence confirmed shortly before going to press that "all processes for the disposal have been completed and the airframes and spares are ready for dispatch to that country as a donation".

Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold elections by the end of March, although they are expected to be delayed for months. Apprehension is building among civil society and in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that the military will step in, as it did during the violent 2008 presidential run-off, to save Mugabe.

The aged but versatile Alouette III, operated by the military in both countries since the 1960s, would be a force multiplier for the ZDF, providing fast access to rural areas.

Zimbabwe is under European and United States weapons sanctions, which have hampered the efforts of its air force to keep its handful of Alouette III and Agusta-Bell light utility helicopters in the air.

Military meddling?
?The ZDF notoriously stepped in to help to secure a win for Mugabe in the 2008 presidential run-off after the MDC beat Zanu-PF in parliamentary elections. Operation waVhotera Papi (For whom did you vote?) reportedly involved a systematic and brutal crackdown on MDC supporters.

The ZDF chief, General Constantine Chiwenga, openly backs Zanu-PF. He is alleged in media reports and by the MDC to be preparing a campaign to support Zanu-PF's election efforts and to have undermined the current unity government.

The minutes seen by the M&G appear to reflect the ZDF's disdain for the power-sharing arrangement. In a "situation brief", the Zimbabwean delegation was quoted as reporting: "The smooth governing of the country remained untenable owing to divergent political ideologies of the political parties in the inclusive government."

The minutes are of the defence committee of the seventh session of the South Africa-Zimbabwe joint permanent commission on defence and security, a standing bilateral body. Meeting at Cape Town's Mount Nelson Hotel between November 21 and 23, the committee was co-chaired by South African army chief Lieutenant General Vusi Masondo and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Lieutenant General Philip Valerio Sibanda.

Following allegations that his troops were campaigning for Zanu-PF in rural areas when elections were expected as far back as 2011, Sibanda was quoted in the state-owned Herald newspaper as saying: "We have troops in various parts of the country doing training and ? assisting various government departments like health and agriculture. It is unfortunate that we have some people who think that when they see army officers in a particular area ? they are undertaking political activities."

Acquisition spree
More recently, allegations surfaced of the military going on a vehicle-shopping spree in anticipation of the elections. The Zimbabwe Independent reported in November that the ZDF is buying about 1?000 Isuzu bakkies, complementing Zanu-PF's acquisition of 550 cars "to ensure its officials and foot soldiers reach all corners of the country to mobilise voters".

These purchases underscore the importance of mobility if rural voters are to be corralled for Zanu-PF through military inducement or intimidation.

It could not be established this week whether the Alouettes and spares have already been handed over, nor the quantities involved.

The South African Air Force retired its fleet of Alouette IIIs between 2005 and 2007, when they were replaced by Agusta helicopters ordered in the controversial arms deal. The defence department said in 2008 that 17 Alouettes had been stripped of their guns and were for sale.

The Zimbabwe arms embargo is not binding on South Africa, as a 2008 United Nations Security Council attempt to replicate the European Union and US sanctions failed because of Chinese and Russian vetoes.

No permit
Exports of military hardware from South Africa have to be sanctioned by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), a Cabinet body chaired by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe.

But Radebe's spokesperson, Mthunzi Mhaga, deflected questions this week, saying the Alouettes and spares do not "fall within the NCACC's parameters of control".

The committee appears to be relying for this interpretation on the helicopters having been classified as "civilian" after their guns were stripped out ? though both the transferor and the recipient are military.

Answers
The South African defence department on Thursday defended the donation, saying the it stemmed from "a decision that was taken by the former and first minister of defence, Mr Joe Modise, in 1997 when [the Alouettes] were being phased out. How the donation of the spares to the ZDF relate to the forthcoming elections in that country is difficult to understand.

"The SANDF would like to place it on record that it has a bilateral agreement with the Zimbabwe Defence Force and a number of exchanges in various fields between the two defence forces have taken place and will continue."

Zimbabwe army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Alphious Makotore asked for all questions to be physically presented to a Colonel Overson Mugwisi at Zimbabwe Defence House in Harare. For safety reasons, the M&G's Harare correspondent did not present the questions.

MDC spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said on Thursday his party was aware of a plot to beef up the military ahead of the elections, in support of Mugabe's re-election bid. "There is no need to escalate expenditure on the military when there are far more important exercises that the country is concerned with, such as securing the $21 million needed for the voter registration exercise," he said.

"The military chiefs have already stated their objectives and who they will back for president. In our respectful view, the military is political and it is evident that they will neither respect the views of the people nor recognise an MDC victory in the coming election. That is why we are urging the Southern African Development Community and African Union to be thoroughly involved in Zimbabwe's political processes." ? Additional reporting by M&G Harare correspondent


President Robert Mugabe describes the military as "the vanguard of our revolution", but critics say he is increasingly relying on the army to hold on to power.

Its leadership is dominated by struggle veterans, who are suspicious of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai because of the Western backing he enjoys. Mugabe's opponents say the army's top brass only works with him to safeguard the wealth they have accumulated under his rule.

Fears are growing that the army will again play a major role in the coming elections. A joint committee set up to monitor the implementation of the unity agreement said earlier this month it had received formal complaints from the MDC about rural supporters being intimidated by army officers.

Dozens of army officers are standing for Zanu-PF in the elections, but it is unclear whether they intend stepping down from their posts if elected. Retired and serving officers already head several state enterprises.

Ahead of elections in 2002, generals said they would not allow anyone who did not fight in the liberation war to lead the country.

In 2009, General Constantine Chiwenga said the military would not welcome any change of government that "carries the label 'Made in London'", a reference to the MDC, which Zanu-PF accuses of being British-sponsored.

In 2011, Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba said Tsvangirai was more, a "security threat than a political one", vowing to keep Mugabe in power for life. Nyikayaramba headed the Electoral Supervisory Commission in the 2002 elections.

In 2007, during "Operation Maguta" soldiers were sent into rural districts ostensibly to assist struggling resettled farmers. Critics said it was a ploy to justify the army?s presence in the countryside. ? Jason Moyo

* Got a tip-off for us about this story? Email amabhungane@mg.co.za

The M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) produced this story. All views are ours. See www.amabhungane.co.za for our stories, activities and funding sources.

Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-01-24-sa-choppers-for-mugabe/

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Two leading Chechen rebels killed in shootout: agency

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two of the most wanted Islamist rebels in Chechnya were among 14 people killed in a shootout between Russian forces and militants, Interfax news agency said on Thursday.

Brothers Khuseyn and Muslim Gakayev have been accused of organizing several high-profile attacks, most recently a suicide bomb attack on an interior ministry vehicle that killed four people last August.

They were also blamed for an attack on the Chechen parliament in 2010 when at least six people died, and an assassination attempt at the residence of Moscow-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

"During a special operation in the mountains of Chechnya, 12 militants were killed," Interfax quoted an unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman as saying.

Interfax quoted an unnamed local law enforcement officer as saying two police officers had also been killed.

The operation started on Wednesday and continued into Thursday, Kadyrov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Insurgents seeking a separate Islamist state still stage daily attacks across the broader North Caucasus Mountain region more than a decade after Russia reestablished federal control over Chechnya after two separatist wars.

On his website, Kadyrov said the Gakayev brothers targeted state and other institutions. "On their consciences, they have the deaths of tens of innocent police officers, soldiers, teachers, entrepreneurs and religious officials," he said.

Kadyrov said the two were more dangerous than Doku Umarov, Russia's most wanted man who leads the main Islamist insurgency group known as the Caucasus Emirate. Khuseyn Gakayev split from Umarov's insurgency in 2010, but returned to his fold last year.

The special operation was going on in the Vedeno district, one of the regions hardest hit by the wars that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.

(Reporting By Thomas Grove; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-leading-chechen-rebels-killed-shootout-agency-203603201.html

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Justin Timberlake's 'Suit & Tie' Lyric Video: Words Don't Do It Justice

As Timberlake premieres his new clip, we take a look back at some of the greatest lyric videos in recent history.
By James Montgomery


Justin Timberlake in the "Suit & Tie" lyric video
Photo: RCA

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700731/justin-timberlake-suit-and-tie-lyric-video.jhtml

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Morning Security Brief: Business Security in North Africa ...

?The Algerian hostage crisis has prompted businesses with operations in North Africa to reassess their security and safety programs, reports the Stamfordadvocate.com. "The incident is prompting businesses operating in North Africa and other politically volatile regions to enact safety programs to protect employees," noted the report. Among the plans currently being carried out by companies in the region is the relocation of nonessential employees.

? India is in the process of setting up a national cybersecurity architecture to prevent sabotage, espionage and other forms of attack, reports the Times of India. "The architecture [will] protect critical information infrastructure and other networks, will involve monitoring, certification and assurance of India's networks by designated agencies and bodies in accordance with the law," noted Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon in the article.

?Texas lawmakers have announced what they are calling the "Texas solution" to school security in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school massacre. According to Dallasnew.com, "The Texas School District Security Act would allow taxpayers to decide through a local election whether to increase taxes to create a funding source for enhancing school security. The money would help beef up security with the presence of licensed and trained peace officers, metal detectors or other measures only at the campuses taxpayers and school districts approve."

?Meanwhile, in Florida, a local woman is paying an armed deputy to patrol her child's elementary school.

Source: http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/morning-security-brief-business-security-north-africa-cybersecurity-architecture-india-school-s

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Obama urges swift Senate vote on SEC, CFPB nominees

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged the Senate on Thursday to confirm without delay his appointment of Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission and his renomination of Richard Cordray as chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Obama, in announcing the staff decisions at the White House, put particular pressure on lawmakers to approve Corday, saying "there's absolutely no excuse for the Senate to wait any longer."

Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, was appointed in January 2012 while Congress was in recess after Republicans who were wary of the CFPB's independence blocked his nomination. The controversial appointment limited the amount of time Cordray could serve without going through a full confirmation process.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-urges-swift-senate-vote-sec-cfpb-nominees-200114156--sector.html

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Michelle Obama's inaugural fashion: Thom Brown, J. Crew

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. first lady Michelle Obama chose a Thom Browne coat and dress for President Barack Obama's inauguration events on Monday.

The fabric of the navy blue coat and dress was developed based on the style of a man's silk tie, according to the first lady's office.

Her belt is from J. Crew and she wore a necklace designed by Cathy Waterman. She also wore J. Crew shoes.

"At the end of the inaugural festivities, the outfit and accompanying accessories will go to the National Archives," the first lady's office said.

Obama's older daughter, Malia, was wearing a J.Crew ensemble while his younger one, Sasha, was wearing a Kate Spade coat and dress.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michelle-obamas-inaugural-fashion-thom-brown-j-crew-143128178.html

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Experts: Armstrong confession could cost millions

Graham Watson / Reuters

Lance Armstrong, shown here before the 2011 Tour Down Under cycling race in Australia, faces millions in civil claims. The government of Australia has asked for a refund of appearance fees after Armstrong reportedly confessed to doping.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Lance Armstrong may not face criminal charges for admitting to doping, but fending off millions in civil claims could be tougher than climbing the Col du Tourmalet, experts say.

His reported confession to Oprah Winfrey is likely to bolster a whistleblower lawsuit that has caught the feds? attention, demands for refunds of prize and bonus money, even potential defamation actions by critics he viciously attacked.

?At the end of the day, I would be surprised if the damages ? total amount ? aren?t in the tens of millions of dollars,? said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago lawyer who has represented professional athletes in civil cases.

That would punch a big hole in Armstrong?s fortune ? estimated at more than $100 million ? but would still be a softer blow than jail time.


Federal prosecutors spent 20 months probing doping allegations against Armstrong for possible criminal charges. Using performance-enhancing drugs in sports isn?t a crime, but investigators probably looked for evidence of fraud, trafficking and perjury.

They closed their criminal case in February 2011, and some observers think it?s unlikely that whatever Armstrong said to Winfrey would lead prosecutors to reopen it.

?Mr. Armstrong is very well-advised by capable lawyers and I don?t think he would be admitting on the Oprah Winfrey show something that would give rise to a criminal charge,? said Wayne Lamprey, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in San Francisco.

But that doesn?t mean Armstrong is completely off the hook with Uncle Sam.

Settlement agreement in place?
A Justice Department official told NBC News some lawyers in the civil division are pushing for the government to join a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2010.

The suit is under seal but published reports have said that Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis brought it on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, which sponsored the team and paid out $30 million in fees.

If successful, the suit could compel Armstrong and other defendants to pay back that money plus $60 million in damages, with up to 30 percent going to Landis. Federal involvement in the suit could improve Landis' chances.

Lamprey, who handles whistleblower actions, said Armstrong?s decision to spill at least some of his guts while the whistleblower case is still pending ?begs the question? of whether there?s an informal settlement agreement in place.

?If I was representing a defendant in a case like this, if I didn?t feel like if I had something buttoned up, I wouldn?t have my client on national television admitting to the core of the charges,? he said.

The whistleblower suit is just the biggest-ticket claim on the horizon.

The organization that runs the Tour de France has already said Armstrong should pay back almost $4 million it awarded him for his wins. An insurance firm, SCA Promotions, is asking for $12 million in bonus payouts it covered in 2002, 2003 and 2005. The Australian government on Tuesday asked Armstrong to return millions in appearance fees to race in the Tour Down Under.

Until his sitdown with Winfrey, which airs Thursday and Friday, Armstrong has never wavered in his denial of doping, branding his accusers liars and worse, and his insults theoretically could be grounds for defamation claims.

?I would expect people to come out of the woodwork,? Stoltmann said.

New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica talks about Armstrong's revelation that he did take performance-enhancing drugs after years of denials, calling it a "giant athletic Ponzi scheme," and attorney Lisa Bloom discusses the legal implications.

But David Newman, of Manhattan firm Day Pitney, said the statute of limitations may have run out on many of those statements, and plaintiffs would have to prove they had been damaged by Armstrong?s rantings.

Newman also said he would not expect to see lawsuits from some of Armstrong?s former sponsors, like Nike, Anheuser-Busch and Trek, seeking to recoup what they spent.

?One could argue fraudulent inducement or misrepresentation,? Newman said. ?But Nike or any of these sponsors don?t want to get into a lawsuit even if they?re right, because long, drawn-out litigation blackens their name even more.

?They want to cut the ties and move on and find the good new person to sponsor ? the next Oprah Winfrey.?

NBC's Pete Williams contributed to this report.

Related stories:
Oprah: Armstrong 'forthcoming' in interview about drug use
Calculated Armstrong losing image
Even with mea culpa, Armstrong's brand value 'near zero'

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/16/16528831-experts-lance-armstrong-confession-could-cost-him-tens-of-millions?lite

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Verizon Business Security Blog ? Blog Archive ? Case Study: Pro ...

With the New Year having arrived, it?s difficult not to reflect back on last year?s caseload. While the large-scale data breaches make the headlines and are widely discussed among security professionals, often the small and unknown cases are the ones that are remembered as being the most interesting from the investigators point of view. Every now and again a case comes along that, albeit small, still involves some unique attack vector ? some clever and creative way that an attacker victimized an organization. It?s the unique one-offs, the ones that are different that often become the most memorable and most talked about amongst the investigators.

Such a case came about in 2012. The scenario was as follows. We received a request from a US-based company asking for our help in understanding some anomalous activity that they were witnessing in their VPN logs. This organization had been slowly moving toward a more telecommuting oriented workforce, and they had therefore started to allow their developers to work from home on certain days. In order to accomplish this, they?d set up a fairly standard VPN concentrator approximately two years prior to our receiving their call. In early May 2012, after reading the 2012 DBIR, their IT security department decided that they should start actively monitoring logs being generated at the VPN concentrator. (As illustrated within our DBIR statistics, continual and pro-active log review happens basically never ? only about 8% of breaches in 2011 were discovered by internal log review). So, they began scrutinizing daily VPN connections into their environment. What they found startled and surprised them: an open and active VPN connection from Shenyang, China! ?As in, this connection was LIVE when they discovered it.

Besides the obvious, this discovery greatly unnerved security personnel for three main reasons:

  • They?re a U.S. critical infrastructure company, and it was an unauthorized VPN connection from CHINA. The implications were severe and could not be overstated.
  • The company implemented two-factor authentication for these VPN connection. The second factor being a rotating token RSA key fob. If this security mechanism had been negotiated by an attacker, again, the implications were alarming.
  • The developer whose credentials were being used was sitting at his desk in the office.

Plainly stated, the VPN logs showed him logged in from China, yet the employee is right there, sitting at his desk, staring into his monitor. Shortly after making this discovery, they contacted our group for assistance. Based on what information they had obtained, the company initially suspected some kind of unknown malware that was able route traffic from a trusted internal connection to China, and then back. This was the only way they could intellectually resolve the authentication issue. What other explanation could there be?

Our investigators spent the initial hours with the victim working to facilitate a thorough understanding of their network topology, segmentation, authentication, log collection and correlation and so on. One red flag that was immediately apparent to investigators was that this odd VPN connection from Shenyang was not new by any means. Unfortunately, available VPN logs only went back 6 months, but they showed almost daily connections from Shenyang, and occasionally these connections spanned the entire workday. In other words, not only were the intruders in the company?s environment on a frequent basis, but such had been the case for some time.

Central to the investigation was the employee himself, the person whose credentials had been used to initiate and maintain a VPN connection from China.

Employee profile ?mid-40?s software developer versed in C, C++, perl, java, Ruby, php, python, etc. Relatively long tenure with the company, family man, inoffensive and quiet. Someone you wouldn?t look at twice in an elevator. For the sake of case study, let?s call him ?Bob.?

The company?s IT personnel were sure that the issue had to do with some kind of zero day malware that was able to initiate VPN connections from Bob?s desktop workstation via external proxy and then route that VPN traffic to China, only to be routed back to their concentrator. Yes, it is a bit of a convoluted theory, and like most convoluted theories, an incorrect one.

As just a very basic investigative measure, once investigators acquired a forensic image of Bob?s desktop workstation, we worked to carve as many recoverable files out of unallocated disk space as possible. This would help to identify whether there had been malicious software on the system that may have been deleted. It would also serve to illustrate Bob?s work habits and potentially reveal anything he inadvertently downloaded onto his system. What we found surprised us ? hundreds of .pdf invoices from a third party contractor/developer in (you guessed it) Shenyang, China.

As it turns out, Bob had simply outsourced his own job to a Chinese consulting firm. Bob spent less that one fifth of his six-figure salary for a Chinese firm to do his job for him. Authentication was no problem, he physically FedExed his RSA token to China so that the third-party contractor could log-in under his credentials during the workday. It would appear that he was working an average 9 to 5 work day. Investigators checked his web browsing history, and that told the whole story.

A typical ?work day? for Bob looked like this:

9:00 a.m. ? Arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours. Watch cat videos

11:30 a.m. ? Take lunch

1:00 p.m. ? Ebay time.

2:00 ? ish p.m?Facebook updates ? LinkedIn

4:30 p.m. ? End of day update e-mail to management.

5:00 p.m. ? Go home

Evidence even suggested he had the same scam going across multiple companies in the area. All told, it looked like he earned several hundred thousand dollars a year, and only had to pay the Chinese consulting firm about fifty grand annually. The best part? Investigators had the opportunity to read through his performance reviews while working alongside HR. For the last several years in a row he received excellent remarks. His code was clean, well written, and submitted in a timely fashion. Quarter after quarter, his performance review noted him as the best developer in the building.

Source: http://securityblog.verizonbusiness.com/2013/01/14/case-study-pro-active-log-review-might-be-a-good-idea/

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Childhood Obesity Linked to More Immediate Health Problems Than ...

January 13, 2013 (Newswise) ??While a great deal of research on childhood obesity has spotlighted the long-term health problems that emerge in adulthood, a new UCLA study focuses on the condition's immediate consequences and shows that obese youngsters are at far greater risk than had been supposed.

Compared to kids who are not overweight, obese children are at nearly twice the risk of having three or more reported medical, mental or developmental conditions, the UCLA researchers found. Overweight children had a 1.3 times higher risk.

"This study paints a comprehensive picture of childhood obesity, and we were surprised to see just how many conditions were associated with childhood obesity," said lead author Dr. Neal Halfon, a professor of pediatrics, public health and public policy at UCLA, where he directs the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities. "The findings should serve as a wake-up call to physicians, parents and teachers, who should be better informed of the risk for other health conditions associated with childhood obesity so that they can target interventions that can result in better health outcomes."

With the dramatic rise in childhood obesity over the past two decades, there has been a parallel rise in the prevalence of other childhood-onset health conditions, such as attention deficit?hyperactivity disorder, asthma and learning disabilities. But previous studies on the topic have been limited due to a narrow focus on a specific region of the county, a small sample size or a single condition.

The new UCLA research, a large population-based study of children in the United States, provides the first comprehensive national profile of associations between weight status and a broad set of associated health conditions, or co-morbidities, that kids suffer from during childhood.

Overall, the researchers found, obese children were more likely than those who were classified as not overweight to have reported poorer health; more disability; a greater
tendency toward emotional and behavioral problems; higher rates of grade repetition, missed school days and other school problems; ADHD; conduct disorder; depression; learning disabilities; developmental delays; bone, joint and muscle problems; asthma; allergies; headaches; and ear infections.

For the study, the researchers used the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, analyzing data on nearly 43,300 children between the ages 10 and 17. They assessed associations between weight status and 21 indicators of general health, psychosocial functioning and specific health disorders, adjusting for sociodemographic factors.

Of the children in the study, 15 percent were considered overweight (a body mass index between the 85th and 95th percentiles), and 16 percent were obese (a BMI in the 95th percentile or higher).

The study, which is currently available online, will be published in the January?February print issue of the journal Academic Pediatrics.

The UCLA researchers speculate that the ongoing shift in chronic childhood conditions is likely related to decades of underappreciated changes in the social and physical environments in which children live, learn and play. They propose that obesity-prevention efforts should target these social and environmental influences and that kids should be screened and managed for the co-morbid conditions.

The researchers add that while the strength of the current study lies in its large population base, future studies need to examine better longitudinal data to tease out causal relationships that cannot be inferred from a cross-sectional study.

"Obesity might be causing the co-morbidity, or perhaps the co-morbidity is causing obesity ? or both might be caused by some other unmeasured third factor," Halfon said. "For example, exposure to toxic stress might change the neuroregulatory processes that affect impulse control seen in ADHD, as well as leptin sensitivity, which can contribute to weight gain. An understanding of the association of obesity with other co-morbidities may provide important information about causal pathways to obesity and more effective ways to prevent it."

Halfon's co-authors on the study included Kandyce Larson and Dr. Wendy Slusser, both of UCLA.

The study was supported by funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resource Services Administration.

The authors have no financial ties to disclose.

Source: http://www.dlife.com/diabetes-news/content/childhood-obesity-linked-more-immediate-health-problems-previously-thought

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The University announced the creation of the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on College...

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

Source: http://www.facebook.com/DailyPrincetonian/posts/462382623809379

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Monday, January 14, 2013

PolitiFact: Rick Scott says state debt was up $5.2B under Charlie Crist

Gov. Rick Scott is decking Charlie Crist on Florida's debt.

Speculation abounds that Crist, who recently became a Democrat but was a Republican when he served as governor, will challenge Scott's 2014 re-election bid.

"In the four years before I became governor, we increased state debt $5.2 billion. We've paid it down $2 billion," Scott said in response to a question about possibly running against Crist during an interview with CBS-4 Miami. "That's going to cost you money down the road, so we're doing the right thing."

Scott's talking point on the debt is part of a broader strategy to contrast the dour economy Florida experienced during the Crist years with the state's turnaround since 2011.

PolitiFact Florida wanted to check Scott's arithmetic and evaluate the point he's trying to make about each leader's influence on the debt.

Debt down low

We hear a lot about the perils of the $16.4 trillion national debt, accumulated over years of the federal government borrowing money to pay for the cost of running the country.

State debt is a very different animal.

Unlike the federal government, Florida is bound by law to balance its budget every year. However, the state is allowed to borrow money to pay for capital improvement projects, such as university buildings, roads and environmental preservation.

As of June 30, 2012, the state's total outstanding debt was $26.2?billion.

Scott's math works if you compare the fiscal year ending in 2006 with the one ending in 2010 (+$5.2 billion), and then 2010 with the 2012 fiscal year (-$2 billion).

But some experts told us the better way to compare debt between governors is by examining the budgets over which the governor actually had control to veto spending.

Crist was elected in 2006 and took office in January 2007. That means the first budget he signed ? which included projects in need of bond financing ? covered the 2008 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2008. The last budget Crist signed was for the 2011 fiscal year, which ended six months into Scott's tenure.

So, to some experts, it's more accurate to assess the growth of the debt under Crist from FY 2008 to FY 2011. This method produces an increase of $3.4 billion in debt, which is still large but not as big as the $5.2 billion that Scott claimed.

Scott gets the same treatment. He took office in January 2011, so the first budget he signed covered the budget year running July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012. Under this measure, Scott reduced the debt $1.5 billion.

What was happening?

Even during the worst of Florida's recession, Florida borrowed money for capital projects, all the while maintaining its credit ratings with various agencies.

"We've been very well managed financially even during the downturn," said Ben Watkins, executive director of the state's Division of Bond Finance. "We're very conservative."

The sharp decline in debt is due to the state's discontinued borrowing for acquiring conservation land and the decline of the state's largest borrowing program, called Public Education Capital Outlay, or PECO, for public school, college and university construction projects. The decades-old program is paid for by a tax on electric, gas and telecommunications services, a source that has shriveled over recent years.

In his first year, Scott vetoed $474 million in bonds, including dozens of improvement and construction projects at state colleges and universities. Scott lowered debt issuance to $416 million, its lowest level since 1990 and significantly less than the $2?billion yearly average for the previous decade.

Conversely, the rapid increase in debt after 2002 was driven mostly by the 2002 class-size amendment added to the state Constitution by Florida voters that year. It required the Legislature to reduce class sizes by adding more classrooms. It cost the state $2.5 billion to build more class space, which included $1.9?billion in lottery revenue bonds, said David Jacobson, a spokesman for Moody's Investors Service. That program is essentially over, he said, which contributes to the debt falling.

Our ruling

We give Scott some credit for his broader point about the debt's steady rise under Crist and sharp decline under his tenure.

But the numbers he uses are not accurate if you consider the budget years over which Crist could have exerted any control.

Moreover, some bonds Florida issued were to pay for programs in the works before Crist took over, or the Legislature shares at least some of the blame for putting it in the budget.

Finally, there was a spike in the debt after 2002 that was driven by a constitutional amendment to limit class sizes. Voters approved that measure, and the state government was required to put it into action.

Overall, we rate this claim Half True.

PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News. See video fact-checks at WTSP.com/PolitiFact.


Source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/politifact-rick-scott-says-state-debt-was-up-52b-under-charlie-crist/1270425

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CCleaner & Google Search Settings

Just recently, CCleaner has started to clear my search settings in Google.
You change the settings by doing a search and then clicking on the "Options" icon.
One person has reported the same problem with Ixquick.
I've updated CCleaner twice recently (currently v3.26.1888). Perhaps the problem is as a result of one of the updates.
It never used to clear the Google settings.

All my Google related cookies have been added to the "cookies to keep" list.
Unticking "cookies" in the CCleaner main menu ("Windows") makes no difference.
I have Windows 7 Professional & IE9.

Source: http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=37648

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kukurorpuri: Where To Purchase Shurflo RV Water Pump 3.5 gpm ...

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Source: http://automotive2012.com/where-to-purchase-shurflo-rv-water-pump-35-gpm/

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Source: http://kukurorpuri.blogspot.com/2013/01/where-to-purchase-shurflo-rv-water-pump.html

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Police have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital led to calls for tougher rape laws

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said that a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state. The driver refused to stop at her village despite her repeated pleas and drove her to a desolate location, he said. There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said. The driver dropped the woman off at her village early the next day, he said. Singh said that police have arrested six suspects and were searching for another. Gurmej Singh, deputy superintendent of police, said that all six admitted involvement in the rape. He said that the victim was recovering at home. Also, police have arrested a 32-year-old man for raping and killing a 9-year-old girl in Ahmednagar district in western India. Police officer Sunita Thakare said that the suspect committed the crime seven months after his release from prison after serving nine years for raping and murdering a girl in 2003.

Source: http://diversityischaos.blogspot.com/2013/01/police-have-arrested-six-suspects-in.html

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Go Teen Writers: 7 Ways to Grow Your Characters' Relationships

by Stephanie Morrill

A writer emailed me to ask about how to grow a relationship between two characters over the course of a book. This is an excellent question, and a big challenge whether you're talking about a romantic relationship or a friendship.
I had to do this with a romantic relationship in the first Skylar Hoyt book, Me, Just Different, where my main character, Skylar. met a new guy, Connor, who would eventually become her boyfriend.?And a great example of growing a friendship can be found in the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when Harry meets his future best friend, Ron.

Here are some techniques you can use for your own characters:

Create a reason for them to spend regular time together.


In Harry Potter, Harry meets Ron at the train station, and they spend a long time in each other's company right away. Once he gets to school, he then is in the same classes, house, and bedroom as Ron. These guys are together all the time, even when they don't like.

In Me, Just Different, Skylar and Connor have a couple classes together, but they're also manipulated into carpooling twice a day.

When you've done this, you can easily

Allude to time spent together


We don't need to be with Ron and Harry every time they walk to class together to know that they do it a lot. This means that when the author says something about two weeks going by, the reader's brain makes the automatic jump to, "These characters have been together a lot during that passage of time."

Entwine Their Lives


In Me, Just Different Skylar's life becomes entwined with Connor's even when she resists. Even if she decides to avoid Connor, she can't change that?their moms are friends, Connor's dating her best friend, and his brother has a crush on her sister.

Give them a Common Enemy


Even two characters who don't get along can bond quickly over a common enemy. In the first Harry Potter book, Harry and Ron bond over a mutual dislike for Draco Malfoy and a general dislike of all Slytherins.

Put them in a Stressful Situation


This is what J.K. Rowling uses to seal the friendship between the boys and Hermione. They're rather annoyed with Hermione until about halfway through the book when the three of them fight for their lives against a troll. After that, they're all friends.

Other stressful situations could be a death, a secret they must protect (in Me, Just Different Skylar and Connor are protecting Abbie's pregnancy), or even something as simple as a hard class both characters need to pass.

Getting a Glimpse into the Other Person's World


In the first season of Gilmore Girls, when Rory is at a new high school, a girl in her class, Paris, seems like the devil in a pleated skirt ... until we see her mom being horribly critical in a public setting.?Suddenly Paris makes much more sense to us and to Rory. A friendship begins to grow between the girls.

In Me, Just Different Connor's heart softens for Skylar once he gets to know her family and sees how differently she's been raised than him.

And in the Harry Potter books, nothing hurts my heart more than when Ron is ashamed of how poor his family is, and it hurts Harry's heart too.

Surprising Commonalities


This is when two characters who thought they had absolutely nothing in common, maybe who even work against each other most of the time, find common ground. This is done so effectively in later Harry Potter books when Harry sees glimpses of his character and childhood in Voldemort and Snape.

Do you have characters in your manuscript who need to grow closer? Is there something on this list that will help, or do you have another technique you can add to our list?

Source: http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/2013/01/7-ways-to-grow-your-characters.html

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Concert: The New Mexico Philharmonic

Enjoy a night of classical music from The New Mexico Philharmonic. Musical selections inclue Wagner?s Overture to Tannhauser, Mendelssohn?s Violin Concerto and Prokofiev?s Symphony No.5.

Source: http://www.itsatrip.org/events/default.aspx?eventid=20485

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Don't take India for granted: Congress to Pakistan

New Delhi, Jan 12, 2013 (IANS)

The Congress Friday talked tough by saying India wanted peace with Pakistan but the neighbouring country should not take it as a sign of weakness.

It also warned that if Pakistan did not stop? violating the LoC (Line of Control), India would have to think of taking strong action.

"We don't want to break the process of peace but at the same time, we need to send a strong message to Pakistan that we are quite strong and can face any? challenge.

They should not feel that we are weak in any respect," Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit told reporters here.

"If Pakistan did not stop violating the LoC, India will have to think of taking strong action. We are watching the situation whether the Pakistan? government is maintaining the status quo of ceasefire on the Line of Control.

They should stop violating the ceasefire. A clear picture will emerge in the next three-four days," he said.

The Congress also appreciated the diplomatic and military steps taken by the government to keep the sanctity of the LoC and put pressure on Pakistan in the aftermath of the killing of two soldiers by the Pakistan Army Tuesday.

"We take note of the fact that the government has put diplomatic and other pressures on the government of Pakistan and the steps military is taking to? strengthen the patrolling on the Line of Control and the action they have taken. We welcome that," said Dikshit.

"We urge the government to take all necessary diplomatic and other actions that are necessary to keep the sanctity of the Line of Control and the? diplomatic steps necessary to continue to put pressure on Pakistan," he said.

The Congress also rubbished remarks made by BJP leader and former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha that both United Progressive Alliance and National Democratic Alliance had committed a mistake in talking to Pakistan.

"It is possible they are feeling now that they might have erred in taking the bus to Lahore. We want friendly relations with Pakistan and to strengthen the same," said Dikshit referring to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous bus ride to Pakistan in 1999.

On the Pakistan government stopping the bus service (Paigam-e-Aman) between the two countries, Dikshit said: "As far as stopping the bus service is? concerned, I think the government of Pakistan is not clear within themselves for taking any decision".

The Congress expressed hope that Pakistan would help control the situation.
"We do hope that the Pakistan government will take cognizance of our diplomatic and military protests for violating the ceasefire on the Line of Control and they should try to solve the problem than to aggravate the? same," said Dikshit.

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Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/304736/dont-take-india-granted-congress.html

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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

South African farm workers to revive wine region strikes

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Thousands of South African farm workers will go on strike in the Western Cape wine region from Wednesday, reviving labour action for higher wages in which two workers were killed in clashes with police and vineyards were damaged.

Africa's largest economy was crippled by waves of violent strikes last year that started in the platinum industry and spread to truckers and farm workers.

The farm workers, many of them black seasonal hires employed to pick and pack fruit, suspended their strikes in December after vineyards and warehouses were set on fire and at least two workers died in clashes with police.

"We have not reached a deal because of the intransigence of farmers," said union leader Nosey Pieterse, general secretary of the Bawsi Agricultural Workers Union of South Africa.

"We have been met with naked racism and white arrogance."

Almost two decades after the end of apartheid, the commercial farms are still largely white owned, with accusations of racism and mistreatment of workers commonplace.

Workers, who want their minimum daily wage of 69 rand increased to 150 rand, have been negotiating directly with farm owners on an individual farm-by-farm basis since December's action was called off.

But farmers, who are already battling rising electricity and fuel costs, say the demands are too high.

"There is no farm in South Africa that can afford 150 rand," said Carl Opperman of Agri-Western Cape, an industry body.

HARVEST SEASON

Farm workers are among the lowest paid in the country, and often live in squalid conditions with no hot water or electricity - yet their labour at this harvest time is vital for producing wine that is increasingly popular around the world.

Unions are urging an international boycott of South African agricultural products because they are "produced under slave conditions", said Tony Ehrenreich of the powerful labour federation Cosatu.

South Africa's global reputation was tarnished last year in the wave of violent strikes, when police shot dead 34 striking miners in a single day, the bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The government warned against further labour violence.

"The government will not tolerate violent labour disputes and calls on all parties to always strive to reach a common ground," spokeswoman Phumla Williams said in a statement.

The government sets a three-year minimum wage for the agricultural industry and is expected to announce a new minimum early in April.

South Africa has been producing wine in the area around Cape Town since the 1600s, following the arrival of European settlers.

Following the end of apartheid South African wines are increasingly popular outside the country and are regularly sold in Britain, Japan and the United States.

According to statistics from the South African wine industry, the country is forecast to export a total of 440.2 million litres of wine in 2016 from 379 million litres in 2012.

It contributed 2.2 percent to gross domestic product in 2008, with exports rising by 18.3 percent over the year from December 2011 to November 2012.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-african-farm-workers-revive-wine-region-strikes-134709608--finance.html

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Is BitTorrent Legal? - Civil Rights - Law and Daily Life

BitTorrent is a great tool that allows you to download vast amounts of data relatively quickly. But is BitTorrent legal?

After all, you or someone you know may be using BitTorrent to download movies, music, and other types of files with seemingly no problem.

But whether this use of BitTorrent is actually legal is questionable. In fact, the legality can vary on a case-by-case basis depending on what it is you are actually downloading, reports Business Insider.

There is nothing inherently illegal about BitTorrent. It is just like any other computer program out there that moves files.

But BitTorrent users start to get into trouble when they use the file-transferring program for illegal purposes like downloading and uploading copyrighted materials.

So if you are using BitTorrent to upload your homemade movie that you want to share with the world, your use of BitTorrent is likely legal.

But if you are using BitTorrent to download the newest hit movie or your favorite song, then you are likely breaking the law.

In fact, the legality of BitTorrent can be compared to the legality of guns, writes Business Insider. For example, it may be perfectly legal to buy and own a gun. You can take your gun to a shooting range and have a great (and legal) time shooting a paper target. However, if you take that same gun and use it to rob a bank, you would then be committing a felony.

As with other types of software and tools, the legality of BitTorrent entirely depends upon you. You can use it for legal means or illegal means.

The owners of copyrighted materials are, of course, aware of file-sharing programs like BitTorrent. Users have famously been sued for appropriating copyrighted material. Penalties for copyright violations can be significant, and you will want to contact an attorney should you face legal action for any illegal conduct via BitTorrent.

Related Resources:

Source: http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2013/01/is-bittorrent-legal.html

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Sharp Would Like to Interest You in a Giant LED TV

Look at the big TVs. They're thin! They're bright! They're "smart." They're Sharp's LED TVs, and they're coming your way this year. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-ecZ6MDFMs4/sharp-has-four-new-giant-led-tvs

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'Exocomets' common across Milky Way galaxy

Comets may be as common as alien planets in star systems throughout the Milky Way galaxy, scientists say.

Astronomers have spotted likely comets around six faraway stars, bringing the total number of systems now thought to host the so-called "exocomets" to 10. It's likely that all 10 of these systems also harbor alien planets, suggesting that comets and exoplanets are often found together, as they are in our own solar system, the new study found.

The number of exocomet-hosting systems could thus number in the billions across the Milky Way, as astronomers think our galaxy harbors at least 100 billion alien planets.

"This is sort of the missing link in current planetary formation studies," lead author Barry Welsh, of the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement. [A Sky Full of Alien Planets: Infographic]

"We see dust disks ? presumably the primordial planet-forming material ? around a whole load of stars, and we see planets, but we don't see much of the stuff in between: the asteroid-like planetesimals and the comets," Welsh added. "Now, I think we have nailed it. These exocomets are more common and easier to detect than people previously thought."

Welsh presented the findings today (Jan. 7) duing a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif.

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    4. White House urged to build Starship Enterprise

The researchers discovered the six new exocomet systems using the 2.1-meter telescope of the McDonald Observatory in Texas.

The telescope picked up faint absorption lines that varied from night to night. The astronomers determined these features were caused by large clouds of gas emanating from comets as they drew close to their host stars and heated up.

In our own solar system, comets usually stay far from the sun, only venturing close after a gravitational disturbance sends them veering off on a new course. It's likely that alien planets caused the newly discovered exocomets to plunge toward their stars, Welsh said.

The newfound exocomets all orbit very young and bright stars that are about 5 million years old, because the team's detection technique works best with such stars. But higher-resolution instruments may reveal comets around older, more sun-like stars ? the type around which most exoplanets have been found to date, researchers said.

The first exocomet system was discovered in 1987, and three more were spotted over the years.

"But then, people just lost interest. They decided that exocomets were a done deal, and everybody switched to the more exciting thing, exoplanets," Welsh said. "But I came back to it last year and thought, 'Four exocomets is not all that many compared to the couple of thousand exoplanets known ? perhaps I can improve on that.'"

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50389468/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

East Greensboro Performing Arts Center: The GPAC Push ...

I find it interesting that letters in favor of GPAC are longer and given their own web pages at the local paper of record. (You know, the paper that keeps "loosing it's archives" each time the shit hits the fan.) while letters against GPAC are confined to a few words and bundled with all the other LTEs of the day like this excellent letter by Greensboro's Maureen Parker.

" City can do without new performance hall

A performing arts center in Greensboro would not necessarily mean happier times for the city as a whole. Adding another competitor to the mix of currently available options would put a strain on established downtown businesses and on taxpayers struggling to support what?s already here.

Most people have limited budgets. Dollars spent on ?A? cannot also be spent on ?B.? A new performing arts center would stretch entertainment dollars away from Triad Stage, Carolina Theater, the Children?s Museum, the Aquatic Center, the Historical Museum, the Civil Rights Museum, the skating rink, local restaurants, bars and other smaller, less prestigious venues.

Let Durham have its DPAC. Fiscal responsibility demands prudence, careful thought, discretion and loyalty to our own."

To which I might add, GPAC may already be hurting existing venues.

Sad, isn't it, that a newspaper that was once committed to democracy and free speech has now become but a tool for the Fashist elite? Perhaps, on 911, instead of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, the terrorist should have flown their hijacked planes into newspaper and media outlets to prevent to Fashist takeover America didn't see coming? No, that probably wouldn't have been any better but one can't help but wonder what went wrong and why it is that those "nice people" cannot understand how wrong they are to force such burdens on the rest of us.

Source: http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-gpac-push-continues-maureen-parker.html

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Gabby Giffords to visit Newtown

Former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords will visit Newtown, Conn., the site of last month's deadly shooting in which 20 first graders were killed. Giffords survived a mass shooting in her home state of Arizona two years ago

By Dan Burns,?Reuters / January 3, 2013

A parent greets her child as she got off a school bus returning from the new Sandy Hook School in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, January 3. Former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords will visit Newtown, the town were the Sandy Hook School shooting took place in December.

Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Enlarge

Former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a mass shooting in her?Arizona?district two years ago, plans to visit?Newtown,?Connecticut, the site of last month's deadly elementary school massacre, the?Connecticut?lieutenant governor's office said Thursday.

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Giffords plans to attend a private event at a local home on Friday, Steven Jensen, spokesman for Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, said in an email. The event will have no media access and Giffords' plans are still developing and may change.

Giffords retired from?Congress?last year to focus on her recovery from the January 2011 shooting in?Tucson?that left six dead and 12 others wounded.

Giffords, shot in the head in the attack, has become a symbol for proponents of stricter gun control in the national debate about the right to bear arms, which has grown louder since the Dec. 14 attack in?Newtown.

Giffords' planned visit would be three weeks to the day since 20-year-old?Adam Lanza?burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School in rural?Newtown, about 70 miles northeast of New York City, and killed 20 first graders and six school staff members.

Before the attack, Lanza killed his mother,?Nancy Lanza, in their home about 5 miles from the school. Lanza took his own life as police arrived at the Sandy Hook school.

On Thursday, the more than 400 children who escaped without physical harm returned to school for the first time since the assault.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/PaihXuvyHhg/Gabby-Giffords-to-visit-Newtown

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Why It Is Important For Your Small Business To Get A Website

It is extremely important that your small business consider getting a website because a website allows you to expand your brand online and gain new customers through online advertising. First and foremost, you need to find a good Asheville web design company. An Asheville web design studio that is igh-quality and provides professional work will be able to provide you with everything you need. They should specialize in many types of design and development services, this should include small business sites, e-commerce websites, custom coding jobs, and other types of solutions.

#1 - A website allows you to expand online
Getting a website allows your business to finally expand online. The Internet is filled with millions of people, there is potential to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even millions if you put your mind to it. There many different types of online marketing options including search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, and much more. You can tap into these markets relatively easy when you have an online website. You can direct all of the traffic back to your website, this gives you an opportunity to convert some of those readers into buyers.

#2 - A website provides a representation of your services and products
No matter what you are selling, websites represents your business professionally. When people hear of your company, they can go online to find out more about you. It's an excellent opportunity for people to do research on your business and find out about the products and services that you offer. If you want people to be able to do this, then you need an online web presence. Doing this without an online website would be nearly impossible.

#3 - A website is a great way for people to get in contact with you
A lot of people prefer e-mail because calling people can be inconvenient and take a lot of time. If you have an online website, you can then add a contact form that sends messages directly to your e-mail. This is a great way to handle contact requests, it makes managing your company very simple and straightforward. Responding to people through e-mail is a very easy procedure, it is not something that should be complicated for you.

#4 - A website help spread knowledge
The blog that you run on your website is a great way to inform people of new things and spread knowledge about your products and services and the industry you are in. If you want to help people better understand your products and services, then you can do this through your blog. It's a great way to write informative, engaging posts that people will read and interact with. Blog marketing is becoming more and more effective, if your website has been search engine optimized correctly, then you should be able to get some of the blog posts to rank for targeting keyword phrases and your search engine rankings will begin to drive traffic to your website, producing leads and sales for your business.

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Source: http://www.workoninternet.com/business/reviews/miscellaneous/222392-article.html

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In epigenomics, location is everything

Friday, January 4, 2013

In a novel use of gene knockout technology, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine tested the same gene inserted into 90 different locations in a yeast chromosome ? and discovered that while the inserted gene never altered its surrounding chromatin landscape, differences in that immediate landscape measurably affected gene activity.

The findings, published online in the Jan. 3 issue of Cell Reports, demonstrate that regulation of chromatin ? the combination of DNA and proteins that comprise a cell's nucleus ? is not governed by a uniform "histone code" but by specific interactions between chromatin and genetic factors.

"One of the main challenges of epigenetics has been to get a handle on how the position of a gene in chromatin affects its expression," said senior author Trey Ideker, PhD, chief of the Division of Genetics in the School of Medicine and professor of bioengineering in UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering. "And one of the major elements of that research has been to look for a histone code, a general set of rules by which histones (proteins that fold and structure DNA inside the nucleus) bind to and affect genes."

The Cell Report findings indicate that there is no singular universal code, according to Ideker. Rather, the effect of epigenetics on gene expression or activity depends not only on the particular mix of histones and other epigenetic material, but also on the identity of the gene being expressed.

To show this, the researchers exploited an overlooked feature of an existing resource. The widely-used gene knockout library for yeast, originally created to see what happens when a particular gene is missing, was built by systematically inserting the same reporter gene into different locations. Ideker and colleagues focused on this reporter gene and observed what happens to gene expression at different locations along yeast chromosome 1.

"If epigenetics didn't matter ? the state of histones and DNA surrounding the gene ? the expression of a gene would be the same regardless of where on the chromosome that gene is positioned," said Ideker. But in every case, gene expression was measurably influenced by interaction with nearby epigenetic players.

Ideker said the work provides a new tool for more deeply exploring how and why genes function, particularly in relation to their location.

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University of California - San Diego: http://www.ucsd.edu

Thanks to University of California - San Diego for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126125/In_epigenomics__location_is_everything

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