Monday, August 5, 2013

Google Nexus 7 Essentials Kit

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Source: www.incipio.com --- Saturday, August 03, 2013
Everything for your Google Nexus 7 in one kit. Price: $70.00 Special Price: $20.00 ...

Source: http://www.incipio.com/google-nexus-7-essentials-kit-3658.html

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SBOBET Football Betting for Novices | ArticlesMagic Plus!

When it comes to football, we all sit around the living room and watch 11/2hr of action. At times we are jumping with arms up celebrating a goal and at other times we sink into our sofas dejected because we have just conceded a goal, such are the emotions of the game. Football is the world?s most loved, watched and played game, and it is easy to see why no game has such entrenched history and passion. It speaks a universal language that goes beyond borders, race, creed, religion or tribe. The biggest sport in the world definitely has to feature prominently in the online sports betting industry with sites like SBO leading the way.

You might say, well, then all that is good, but how do you actually bet in football? There are number of ways to submit your wager at SBO, but the most common are on the three outcomes of a win, draw or lose.

Before betting on which team will win always remember that the team perceived as the underdog will retain the most risk but will also have the most reward. The odds will always be skewed to have a more favorable payout for the underdogs. When you have a wager set on a win for your team, there are three possible outcomes and they determine what you get from SBOBET. If you are lucky enough to win, then you are refunded your deposit with an extra buck for the win. Your winnings will be set on the odds that you waged on. A draw at SBO will result with you being given your wager back. However, a loss at SBOBET will result in you losing your wager completely.

For those of us who wage on draws, we lose our wager whether the results end up as a victory or loss to one of the teams. Thus a draw is a risky bet as it has no safety net as compared to an all out win bet. Similar to a bet for a win, in a draw bet you are paid your full wager and remunerated according to the odds you placed your bet on.

The win and draw bets have been the traditional stalwarts of football betting, however, there have been new developments as to what you can bet on. You can bet on who is going to score the first goal or even how many goals they are going to score in a game. However, if the game finishes goalless you get your wager refunded. Bets for which team is going to get relegated, or a team keeping a clean sheet, are available on SBO. It is common to find betting on individual players to become the player of the season or to win the golden boot on sites like SBOBET. The football calendar is packed with events one can bet on from the Ballon D?Or, the Fifa World Player of the Year, Champions League winners etc. You can never run out of ideas when betting in football and with SBOBET as each season offers you new opportunities to make some money.

Edsoseo is the author of this article on football betting online. Find more information, about Baccarat here

Source: http://articles-plus.com/sbobet-football-betting-for-novices.html

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Photo Sphere on Android gets Compass Mode

The latest update of Google Play Services being rolled out also include a brand new feature for Photo Spheres on compatible devices.

Users get the option to enable compass mode when they are checking out photo spheres. When this option is enabled, they can move the phone to view the image in 360 degree view. No need to touch the device to check the image itself.

Compass Model is already a popular functionality of Google Street View. It is great to see it appear for Photo Spheres as well.

  • TypeMobile / embedded OS
  • Source modelOpen
  • ReleasedJuly 9, 2012
see all specs ?

9.2 average user rating

  • Ease of use9.1
  • Speed9.4
  • Configurability9.4
  • Ecosystem (apps, drivers, etc.)9.0
  • Openness9.5

Get better reviews from people who actually have this product!

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This entry was posted in News and tagged Google, Google Android, Google Photo Sphere, Google Play, Google Play Services on by Sushubh Mittal.

Source: http://techwhack.co/photo-sphere-android-compass-mode-45788/

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Researchers Hack and Bypass Windows 8 UEFI Secure Book

When the hackers roll to Vegas, you know a good amount of exploits are going to surface. Defcon was on point this week in the Nevada desert, and here's yet another exploit that has piqued our interest. Researchers have discovered that the Windows 8 Secure Boot mechanism can be circumvented on PCs built by certain manufacturers. Why? Oversights in how those particular vendors implemented the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specification.

Andrew Furtak, Oleksandr Bazhaniuk and Yuriy Bulygin were on hand to showcase their findings. Thankfully, due to the nature of the event, none of the specifics are shown; instead, companies are alerted so that fixes can be put in place before ill-willed hackers discover the same hacks. Here's a bit more on what went down:
"Secure Boot is a feature of the UEFI specification that only allows software components with trusted digital signatures to be loaded during the boot sequence. It was designed specifically to prevent malware like bootkits from compromising the boot process. According to the researchers, the exploits demonstrated at Black Hat are possible not because of vulnerabilities in Secure Boot itself, but because of UEFI implementation errors made by platform vendors. The first exploit works because certain vendors do not properly protect their firmware, allowing an attacker to modify the code responsible for enforcing Secure Boot, said Bulygin who works at McAfee. The exploit is designed to modify the platform key -- the root key at the core of all Secure Boot signature checks -- but in order to work it needs to be executed in kernel mode, the most privileged part of the operating system."

As Asus VivoBook Q200E laptop was hacked on stage, but select Asus desktop motherboards are also impacted. Asus will obviously be releasing patches soon, as would any other company that has been found to be affected.

Source: http://hothardware.com/News/Researchers-Hack-and-Bypass-Windows-8-UEFI-Secure-Book/

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July Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.4 Percent

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July Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.4 Percent

The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in July , as the unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. The Associated Press reports: ...

1 day ago | News Report (Article)

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Source: http://www.newstrust.net/stories/9344224/toolbar?ref=rss

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Buoy 10 sportfishing opens with decent catches; should heat up in ...


ASTORIA -- Not many boats ventured onto the lower Columbia River estuary Thursday for the opening of the popular Buoy 10 salmon season.

It's early, after all, and the Pacific Ocean outside the river's mouth has plenty of salmon still stuffing themselves before wandering inshore and upriver in the next few weeks.

Still, dozens who trolled the entrance to Youngs Bay found willing biters. Many were the highly prized, fat-laden, select-area bright chinook, released from pens to return as commercial prizes.

They're missing left ventral fins, if you're wondering how to tell.

That's important, because this is also the first year of significant returns from another type of hatchery-raised chinook, the tule, also now being released in the bay. They have almost no fat, are nearly ready to spawn when they hit freshwater and are barely marketable. But the hatchery releases were moved away from Big Creek, a small local tributary, to reduce straying onto wild tule chinook spawning beds.

This is likely the last season anglers will get this kind of shot at the select area brights. Legislation recently signed into law by Gov. John Kitzhaber will create a no-sportfishing buffer off Youngs Bay by the 2014 fishing season. The intent is to reduce angler interception of the far more valuable fish in partial exchange for shifting commercial gill-nets off the mainstem Columbia.

BUOY 10 Caution! Don't forget the new barbless-hook rules apply to the Buoy 10 fishery as well as the rest of the Columbia and lower Willamette rivers.

Law enforcement boats spent most of the morning Thursday checking the fleet of anglers outside the bay.

Regulations also allow only one chinook per day inside the estuary (but two-salmon/steelhead overall) and no jacks west of Tongue Point. Coho, but not chinook, must be missing an adipose fin.

Duck/goose seasons set: Duck seasons will look just about like last year, but goose hunters are getting some significant expansions this fall.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission set fall bird seasons Friday at their monthly meeting in Eugene.

For the first time since restrictive goose regulations began in northwest Oregon, hunters on Sauvie Island's public hunting area will be allowed to take snow geese on certain hunt days. All northwest goose zone permit rules will be in effect and a northwest zone permit will be required. Snow goose hunting will close if a single dusky Canada goose is shot. Officers will watch closely for anyone accidentally shooting a swan.

There will be no more "dark goose" designation. Instead there will be seasons for Canada geese and white-fronted geese, which will get their own category and bag limit (six per day in most areas).

The September goose daily limit has been increased to five in eastern Oregon and the white goose limit in Malheur County will double to 20 per day.

The major changes to duck hunting are a reduction in scaup, with a shorter season (starts Nov. 2 in zone 1) and bag limit (three daily), and an increase in canvasback bag limits to two per day instead of one.

All other duck hunting will mirror last fall.

The Oregon bird-hunting synopsis will be published sometime in the next few weeks and available at all outlets.

Sturgeon retention in 2014: The commission also set 2014 angling regulations Friday.

Highlights include the statewide shift to catch and release fishing only for sturgeon...EXCEPT: Beginning next year, sturgeon can be kept in the Willamette River above (south of) Willamette Falls. Limit is one per day, two per season, between 38 and 54 inches fork length. There are pockets of sturgeon up there, mostly holdovers from years past when baby sturgeon were planted. ?

The commission also approved extension of the no-fishing sanctuary on the Willamette all the way down to the railroad bridge between Milwaukie and Lake Oswego. That means no sturgeon fishing at all, even catch and release, from May 1 to Aug. 31.

Halibut hearings: Anglers are asked to attend public meetings beginning next week to voice their opinions about 2014 halibut fishing seasons and 2015-16 groundfish seasons.

Meetings all begin at 7 p.m. and are set for: Tuesday, Tillamook office of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife; Wednesday, Holiday Inn Express, Newport; Monday, Aug. 12, Best Western Beachfront Inn, Brookings; Tuesday, Aug. 13, North Bend Public Library.

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/bill_monroe/index.ssf/2013/08/post_86.html

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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Adidas Springblade Running Shoes review

My daily geek uniform includes a pair of sneakers, tennis shoes, athletic shoes, kicks or whatever other name you might call them. I own more pairs of sneakers than “grown up” shoes and am picky when it comes to their style and comfort. A month or so ago when I saw the news about the […]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/08/04/adidas-springblade-running-shoes-review/

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Smart Bot Reads Your Facebook, Mimics You in Spear Phishing Messages

Spear phishing is increasingly getting easier for criminals trying to put together social engineering attacks, and it's all thanks to to the data you yourself post online, researchers said at a session at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.

Attackers mine the posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare, and other online properties to find information that people provide about themselves, but also to mimic people's writing style, such as frequently used words, said Trustwave researchers Joaquim Espinhara and Ulisses Albuquerque during their presentation on Thursday. All this information is used to craft a message that actually sounds like someone the victim would know.

Many attack emails are actually recognizable as malicious precisely because they don't sound like something a real person the victim knows would say. But if attackers can refine the tone of the message, then they are likely to trap that victim, Espinhara and Alburquerque said.

Black Hat 2013 Bug

Microphisher
To prove their point, Trustwave researchers released a new tool at the conference which analyzes public posts and creates a "fingerprint" for each person's communication style. Microphisher uses natural language processing to analyze public posts on social networks and other online sites. Even how you use hashtags on Twitter, how long your typical sentence is, and topics you generally write about, can all be used towards determining your fingerprint, Alburquerque said.

Microphisher is intended to help organizations improve their IT security, Alburquerque said. Trustwave SpiderLabs frequently put together penetration tests and other social engieering tests to determine how effective an organization is in thwarting spear phishing. Microphisher can be used to craft messages that are similar in style and content to what a specific individual would write. With a more natural sounding and topical message, Trustwave could test the organization's security readiness much more effectively, Alburquerque said.

Imagine if attackers analyze the contents of a CEO's Twitter feed with Microphisher. They can then craft a message that mimics his or her style and send it to other employees, who would likely click on a link in the email or open the attachment because it would sound like something the CEO would normally write, they said.

The reverse is also possible, where the tool can be used to figure out which posts were legitimately written by someone and which one was faked. "The same tricks can be used to evaluate whether emails are realistic, if you know the sender's Twitter account," Alburquerque said.

Microphisher relies on statistical analysis to determine how close a message being written is to an email profile, so cannot be used to automatically generate believable phishing messages.

Stay Safe
As always, people should not click on random, unknown links or open attachments, regardless of the source. It doesn't matter if you know who the person sending the information is?since it is increasingly clear that there is plenty of information available online to create convincing fakes.

Image via Flickr user?Eliel Johnson

Source: http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security/314402-smart-bot-reads-your-facebook-mimics-you-in-spear-phishing-messages

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Whirlwind wedding allows dying son to be best man for his parents


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Obama: No tax reform without spending to spur jobs

President Barack Obama speak to the media a he meets with Yemen's president Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi meet in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama speak to the media a he meets with Yemen's president Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi meet in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama says there are no gimmicks to grow the economy ? just difficult steps that require Washington's focus.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama is promoting a plan he says can break through gridlock. He's calling it a grand bargain for the middle class.

Obama says he's willing to work with Republicans to reform the tax code for businesses. That would mean lowering rates but ending many loopholes and deductions.

But Obama says he'll only do it if money generated is used for infrastructure, training and job growth.

In the Republican address, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says Obama's health care law will cost jobs. She wants to change the law to require companies to provide insurance to employees working 40 hours a week, not 30.

___

Online:

White House address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-08-03-Obama/id-1575b17ca4824e45a9750ad08f9d7b1f

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'Love Potion No. 9' singer sues over Clovers' name

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Harold Winley sang "Love Potion No. 9" and other hits with the R&B group The Clovers in the 1950s, but now the 80-year-old says another group is trying to keep him from performing using the band's name.

Winley says he was in his teens when he and four other singers started performing as The Clovers in the Washington area. The R&B group played at New York's Apollo Theater, eventually signed with Atlantic Records and celebrated when "Love Potion No. 9" became their biggest hit in 1959.

"It was great," said Winley, who now lives in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. "We didn't make no money but we had a lot of fun."

The group's success fell off in the 1960s, however. And that's when things got more complicated, leading to a lawsuit filed earlier this year in federal court in Washington.

Winley and another band mate, Harold Lucas, went on to perform with separate musical groups that called themselves The Clovers, and Harold Lucas' group eventually trademarked the name in the 1980s. Lucas died in 1994, but two of the men he trademarked the group's name with continue to use it when performing.

Winley says the group has threatened venues who have booked him when he's used The Clovers' name, forcing organizers to cancel his shows at least twice. That's why he filed his lawsuit.

"It is our position that when people come to see The Clovers they expect that they are going to see Harold Winley or another original member of The Clovers," said Winley's lawyer, Brad Newberg.

Winley says his bass voice is still strong and he'd like to perform as much as possible. But if he goes on stage, he said, "I want to go on stage as The Clovers." He recently tried filing a trademark application for "The Original Clovers featuring Harold Winley" but was denied.

A lawyer representing the two men who hold The Clovers trademark did not return several telephone calls and an e-mail requesting comment. The attorney previously filed a court document asking that the lawsuit be dismissed.

The song "Love Potion No. 9" was written and composed by Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber, the duo behind many of Elvis Presley's biggest hits. The lighthearted song is about a man looking for love who visits a gypsy, who says "what you need is Love Potion Number Nine." He starts "kissing everything in sight" until he kisses a police officer, who the singer explains "broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine."

After The Clovers' version rocketed up the charts in 1959, the song was covered by various groups and singers, most notably England's The Searchers, who had a hit version of it a few years later. The Clovers' version was later featured in George Lucas' iconic 1973 film "American Graffiti." It was later the title of a 1992 Sandra Bullock romantic comedy.

Charles Stevens, one of the group members from Lucas' Clovers, called the lawsuit "frivolous." Stevens, who lives in Washington, said Winley is not an "original Clover" because he didn't start with the group until the late 1940s. Lucas and three others were performing as the Four Clovers before Winley joined.

"All of a sudden he wants to come back and be The Clovers again," Stevens said, adding that his group has had the trademark for decades and now performs two or three times a year.

He says he doesn't mind if Winley uses the name "The Clovers," but he has a problem with the word "original." Stevens says his group had a former agent who may have called venues that booked Winley, but Stevens says he never personally blocked Winley from booking shows.

Both sides have agreed to mediation and will meet Monday to see if they can work things out.

Said Stevens: "We really do want to get this behind us."

___

Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/love-potion-no-9-singer-sues-over-clovers-214229643.html

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Feds, states want Apple to revamp e-book practices

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Justice Department and 33 state attorneys general on Friday said they want to force Apple to sign contracts with publishers that don't prevent Apple or other e-book stores from competing on price.

A federal judge ruled last month that Apple Inc. colluded with publishers to raise e-book prices. The Cupertino, Calif., company has denied wrongdoing and has said it will appeal the decision.

The Justice Department and the attorneys general told the court Friday that they want Apple to tear up its contracts with five e-book publishers and sign new ones that aren't likely to increase prices. In addition, they want Apple to allow rival e-book sellers like Amazon.com Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. to provide links inside their iPhone and iPad apps to their own book stores.

Apple allows Amazon and Barnes & Noble's apps to load books that have already been purchased, but doesn't allow the apps to sell books or link to online bookstores.

Apple did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The book publishers previously settled the price-fixing charges. They are Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Holtzbrinck Publishers, doing business as Macmillan, and The Penguin Publishing Co. Ltd., doing business as Penguin Group. The settlements were designed to encourage price competition and discounting, but that hasn't happened.

The government alleged that the publishers colluded with Apple to move the e-book industry away from the wholesale model employed by Amazon, which had unnerved publishers by selling e-book versions of popular hardcover titles for $9.99 before the April 2010 release of Apple's iPad. Under its contracts with publishers, Amazon was free to sell books at any price it wanted. Apple instead adopted the "agency" model, under which publishers set the retail price and the store takes a cut. Under that model, the store can't discount a book.

In her ruling, the judge said the conspiracy harmed consumers in numerous ways. Some had to pay more for e-books, she said. Others bought a cheaper e-book rather than the one they preferred to purchase and others deferred a purchase altogether rather than pay the higher price.

The settlements with the publishers removed the shackles that prevented Amazon from discounting, but the $9.99 price for e-books that publishers dreaded has become increasingly rare.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feds-states-want-apple-revamp-e-book-practices-142615574.html

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New US penalties will greet Iran's new leader

WASHINGTON (AP) ? As Iran's new president takes over, new U.S. penalties against the country appear a done deal.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, 76 senators are demanding tougher punishment on Iran's economy until the Islamic republic scales back its nuclear program. It also urges Obama to consider military options while keeping the door open to diplomacy.

The Senate letter, a copy of which was obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, comes just days after the House overwhelmingly passed new restrictions on Iran's oil sector and its mining and construction industries. Senators are expected to take up the same package in September.

"Until we see a significant slowdown of Iran's nuclear activities, we believe our nation must toughen sanctions and reinforce the credibility of our option to use military force at the same time as we fully explore a diplomatic solution to our dispute with Iran," says the letter, which will be delivered Monday.

The Obama administration is concerned Congress' effort could undercut Iran's relatively moderate President-elect Hasan Rouhani, who was formally endorsed by Iran's ayatollah on Saturday and takes the oath of office Sunday. Rouhani has pledged to follow a "path of moderation" and promised greater openness over Iran's nuclear program.

Obama wants to give Rouhani a chance to prove his seriousness.

The U.S. believes Iran has been working for years to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists its program is for peaceful energy and research purposes.

Rouhani's victory signaled Iran's clear dissatisfaction, the senators said. But they noted that all final decisions on nuclear matters rest with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said Iran must not be allowed to use any new nuclear negotiations with world powers to stall for time.

"Iran today continues its large-scale installation of advanced centrifuges," their letter said. "This will soon put it in the position to be able to rapidly produce weapons-grade uranium, bringing Tehran to the brink of a nuclear weapons capability."

"We need to understand quickly whether Tehran is at last ready to negotiate seriously," it added. "Iran needs to understand that the time for diplomacy is nearing its end."

Obama prefers diplomacy. He has given Iran until sometime next spring to prove to the world that its program is peaceful.

If Iran fails to do so, the stage may be set for military intervention from the U.S. or Israel, which sees Iranian nuclear weapons capacity as an existential threat and has warned of taking action according to its own timeline.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-penalties-greet-irans-leader-145539945.html

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Facebook Homes Most Popular Feature Comes to the Android App

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Source: www.asiabulletin.com --- Saturday, August 03, 2013
Android app Thursday, bringing with it one of the most popular features of Facebook Home: Cover Feed. Now Android users can take advantage of the lock screen from Facebook Home without having to download and install the Android launcher. SEE ... ...

Source: http://www.asiabulletin.com/index.php/sid/216214513/scat/d805653303cbbba8

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Democratic governors nervous about health plan

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Democratic governors say they are nervous about getting the new federal health care law implemented but add they will be better positioned in next year's elections than many of their Republican counterparts who have resisted the far-reaching and politically polarizing measure.

Several of the 12 Democratic governors shared that sense of nervousness-veiled-by-optimism at the National Governors Association in Milwaukee Saturday.

"There's some angst, and you can see that from the decision the administration made a couple weeks ago," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. "There's a lot of work to do."

By next Jan. 1, most people will be required to have insurance. States have to set up exchanges by Oct. 1, when uninsured individuals can start buying subsidized private health coverage that would go into effect Jan 1, and businesses with more than 50 employees working 30 or more hours a week were supposed to offer affordable health care to their workers or risk a series of escalating tax penalties.

But businesses said they needed more time, and on July 2, President Barack Obama's administration abruptly extended the deadline one year ? to Jan. 1, 2015.

That caused some Democrats in Congress to worry the program would not be ready on time, as states are building online platforms for their residents to use to comply with the law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in June 2012, the Republican-controlled House has voted 40 times since Obama signed the law in 2010 to repeal, defund or scale it back, most recently Friday.

As Congress prepared to head home for a five-week recess, Obama sought to calm jittery Democrats, assuring them that they are "on the right side of history" despite problems with the law's launch.

Republicans have stated openly they plan to use the slow economic recovery and the health care law to attack Democrats in the 2014 congressional elections.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the governors' host and a possible 2016 Republican presidential prospect, said Obama delayed the employer mandate out of fear voters would blame Democrats in the 2014 elections if the economy suffered as a result of the new law.

"A cynic would be right to say the reason they pushed back the employer mandate had little to nothing to do with policy and everything to do with politics," Walker said.

Most of the two dozen governors from both parties gathered at the conference expressed confidence that their states would be ready on time, especially Democrats, although they said the work is daunting.

"Any time you go and make this much change in this short a period of time, it does cause headaches," Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said.

But with that pain comes progress, Hickenlooper and others argued. And those Republicans who have resisted or delayed taking action will pay the price.

Long before election day, the philosophical debate over the bill will have turned into a practical reality for millions of newly insured voters.

"Choosing ideology over jobs and affordable health care is a false choice, and it's an example of the differences between Republicans and Democrats," Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, said.

Among the challenges states are encountering are the technological requirements to allow buyers to search for insurers, rates and benefits on the exchanges. Others are training state employees to administer the program and marketing it to millions of Americans, all during a time of strained state budgets. Marketing employees were often among the first to lose their jobs.

Despite the headaches, the alternative to the status quo is far worse, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said.

"Nothing could be more complicated than doing what we were doing before, which was to throw away more and more money on more expensive care for worse results," said O'Malley, a Democrat also mulling a 2016 White House run.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-governors-nervous-health-plan-201750108.html

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Wedding Guest

Wedding Guest Outfit

I just love finding new brands online that no one else has even heard of, the internet is such an amazing thing!

This summer everyone has a wedding they need to attend and there?s always that slight fear that you?re going to turn up wearing the same dress as someone else, what a disaster?

Luckily I?ve struck gold with Box Clothing, this amazing online fashion retailer sells loads of designer brands, with many independent boutiques as well, so there?s a very slim chance of anyone wearing the same dress as me.

I?ve decided to go with a gorgeous, Blue Lace Dress, ?41, from Darling. I just love this brand, it?s a new designer range which is ultra-feminine and vintage-inspired. I?m really impressed, it?s a timeless piece that can be worn again and again. I couldn?t help but buy the Flowers Blush Hard Pink Clutch, ?26, from Darling to match, it?s so unique.

I want the dress to stay the statement piece so I?ve found a beautiful taupe curl feather headband from Debenhams which will match the bag perfectly. I?ve decided to pair the dress with my comfortable nude, peep-toe heels from New Look.

Wedding Guest Outfit

There?s a wide range of clothing and accessories for both men and women ? all fairly reasonably priced for designer labels ? and they often have sales too! The bride better watch out, I might be using the aisle as my own personal catwalk!

Source: http://en.paperblog.com/wedding-guest-607884/

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Saturday, August 3, 2013

UCA loses Williamson to NBA job

Published: Friday, August 2, 2013

Central Arkansas coach Corliss Williamson gestures during the first half against UNLV in an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)
Central Arkansas coach Corliss Williamson gestures during the first half against UNLV in an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)

Central Arkansas men?s basketball Coach Corliss Williamson has accepted an assistant coaching position with the NBA?s Sacramento Kings.

Sports, Pages 17 on 08/02/2013

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Source: http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2013/aug/02/uca-loses-williamson-nba-job-20130802/

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English language teaching for migrants and refugees | British ...

David Mallows, a language teacher and teacher educator at the Institute of Education, University of London, has edited a collection of academic essays by experts on English language teaching for migrants and refugees.

The book is part of a series of publications commissioned by the British Council to showcase new thinking in English language teaching. Here, he explains some of its insights.


The UK has a long history of inward migration. For those who arrive on our shores seeking a better life, learning the dominant language is of primary concern. For children, it is the key to social and academic success at school; for adults, language proficiency opens doors to social acceptance, economic security and cultural understanding.

In English schools, children who speak languages other than English are increasing in number year-on-year. There are currently a million 5 to 16-year-olds in English schools who are bilingual or multilingual. The 2012 annual schools census shows that such learners now represent 17.5% of all pupils in English primary schools and 12.9% of all pupils in English secondary schools. In urban areas, this rises ? more than 300 languages are currently spoken in London schools. More than half the children in inner London schools are now thought to speak a language other than English at home.

The teaching of English to migrants and refugees falls into two areas, each with its own distinct professional identity and, of course, its own acronym. Work with young people in school settings is generally referred to as English as an Additional Language (EAL), whereas with adults it is known as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). In this book, Innovations in English language teaching for migrants and refugees, experienced teachers working with all age ranges of migrants and refugees reflect on working with and teaching this diverse group of adults and children.

Migrants and refugees come from very different geographical areas, and have left their home countries for very different reasons. They may have come to the UK to join a spouse, to seek job opportunities or to flee violence and persecution. They will have had very different experiences of education: some will have had no formal schooling, and others will have studied to a high level and hold relevant academic and professional qualifications. Some will join settled communities, while others will be living in isolation.

The linguistic diversity apparent in the UK is a valuable economic and social resource. Supporting children in developing their language, and particularly literacy skills in their home languages, plays a key role in their success at school ? and for adult learners it is equally important. The authors of the chapters in the book describe various ways in which the languages and other knowledge that learners arrive in the classroom with can be harnessed to increase the confidence, knowledge and understanding of learners.

Many readers will likely come to this volume from the field of English language teaching (ELT). Some will consider themselves as teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), working in countries where English is not the home language of the majority of the population. The work of ELT as described by the writers of the chapters is necessarily distinct from that carried out in EFL classrooms in much of the world. It is more heavily context-dependent, and more implicated in the social and economic realities of the host country. It is also primarily public sector-funded, and is thus integrated with and influenced by other related education services and wider government agendas.

Readers may expect to find more in the chapters that distinguishes the practices of EAL teachers (who teach children and young people) and ESOL teachers (who teach adults) than that joins them. Both groups of teachers work in different phases and sites of learning, have separate professional associations, and little reference is made in ESOL teacher education to EAL pedagogy or vice-versa. However, in compiling this volume I have found the opposite to be true. The writers appear to be drawing on a similar body of knowledge, grounded in sophisticated language awareness, theories of second language acquisition and socio-cultural understanding. Whatever their professional formation and prior experiences, they are all language teachers working with often vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of learners.


Read more: How do you become a better English teacher?

Find teaching resources on our ESOL Nexus site.

Image courtesy of climatetalk on Flickr under Creative Commons license.

Source: http://blog.britishcouncil.org/2013/08/02/english-language-teaching-for-migrants-and-refugees/

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'Words with Friends' maker takes 'Bangwith Friends' to court over name

Video games

9 hours ago

Words with Friends

Zynga

Until recently, if you heard the extended suffix "with friends" attached to something, you'd probably associate it with a handful of cutesy smartphone games like "Words with Friends," "Scramble with Friends" or "Running with Friends" ? all Zynga games, all exceedingly family friendly. But the game maker is not happy about an app called "Bang with Friends," that has, well, different intentions, and is taking "Bang with Friends" to court, alleging trademark infringement.

"This is a case about illegal free riding on recognized and valuable intellectual property rights," Zynga said in a lawsuit filed this week in California district court.

"Bang with Friends," like many of Zynga's most popular games, is an app that lives and breathes on the borders of the larger Facebook ecosystem.?

By logging in to Facebook or downloading an Android app (Apple removed the iOS version of "Bang with Friends" from its App Store in May), users can scroll through their Facebook book friends, swiping up or down to indicate whether they're down to "hang" or ahem, do more. The app, in short, promises to be "a completely anonymous way to hook up with your Facebook friends."?

That has very little in common with a game like "Words with Friends" (itself a clone of the popular board game "Scrabble.") But Zynga now says that using "with Friends" in the app's name is basically a way to draw in more users at Zynga's expense.

"Zynga filed a lawsuit to stop blatant infringement of its valuable 'With Friends' brand," Ren?e Lawson, Zynga's deputy general counsel, told NBC News in an emailed statement.?

"A company calling itself 'Bang with Friends' ... decided to gain attention for its sex-related app by leveraging Zynga?s well-known mark. Zynga is compelled to file suit to prevent further consumer confusion and protect its intellectual property rights against infringement."

In its court filing, (shared here by GigaOm), Zynga said that it had approached the hookup app developers "through informal efforts" to take action before resorting to a lawsuit, but negotiations about a possible name change eventually broke down.

"It now appears that [negotiations were] either ... a ploy or [BWF] has reconsidered in light of recent attention showered on it," Zynga said in its suit.

Bang With Friends did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News . But BWF co-founder Colin Hodge told PC Magazine that the company only heard about the lawsuit after reading about it in the news.

"As a technology company, we take intellectual property seriously and will evaluate the case in detail once we receive a copy," he said.?

Greg Boyd, partner and chairman of the Interactive Entertainment Group at the law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, told NBC News in an email that the "Bang With Friends" case reminds him of Zynga's other legal disputes with the creators of "PyramidVille" (which has since been renamed "Pyramid Valley") and "Blingville," to rival game industry titan Electronic Arts, which last year sued Zynga for copyright infringement over its game "The Ville." Zynga, of course, is also known for its "FarmVille" games.

While a dispute like EA and Zynga's got into legal definitions of what parts of video games, exactly, a company is able to lay claim to, James Grimmelmann, a law professor at the University of Maryland, said that things are much more cut-and-dry in a case like the dispute over "Bang with Friends."

"It's not really a Zynga thing, it's more just a trademark thing," Grimmelmann told NBC News. "These cases have nowhere near the complexity of the gameplay lawsuits."

Grimmelmann added that BWF's best defense in this case, as with many defendants in trademark disputes, could be to claim that "Bang With Friends" was an intentional parody of the "With Friends" brand name from which Zynga is accusing it of profiting.

He said that the case likely will come down to "whether Zynga can show that there's been consumer confusion" over the "With Friends" label.?

Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: Yannick.LeJacq@nbcuni.com.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f73a653/sc/15/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cwords0Efriends0Emaker0Etakes0Ebang0Efriends0Ecourt0Eover0Ename0E6C10A822978/story01.htm

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Burnt sugar derivative reduces muscle wasting in fly and mouse muscular dystrophy

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A trace substance in caramelized sugar, when purified and given in appropriate doses, improves muscle regeneration in an insect and mammal model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The substance, THI, protects the body's levels of a cell signal important in cell differentiation, proliferation, and migration. Fruit flies and mice with the muscular dystrophy gene both showed improvements in movement, and other reductions of symptoms.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/_Hihnld1TEk/130801233106.htm

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Cowboys State Of The Union, Training Camp Edition

As Ol' Rabble wraps up his leg of Training Camp 2013, he reflects back on his two weeks in Oxnard to deliver some thoughts on the state of the team as they prepare to play the first preseason game.

Your Dallas Cowboys have now conducted ten practices in a little less than two weeks time. Every year, this proves to be an interesting two weeks, in no small part because of the news cycle. Because the three to four week period immediately prior to camp is usually, to say the least, a slow news time, and the kickoff of the season such a news-rich time, saturated with stories, training camp reports, etc., we often struggle to adapt to the new paradigm. In the training camp bubble, everything is magnified ("Dez Bryant missed practice today? The season is lost! Mike Woicik and his staff are amateurs! Why does this ALWAYS happen? WHHHHYYY?"). As we struggle to return to news saturation, the most important thing we can do is to refocus, and see the forest where it is, standing behind the trees.

This is a long and convoluted way of saying that we needn't panic about such things as injured offensive guards, because the general state of affairs in Cowboyland is very good. This is especially true when we compare the current state of the team to that which was happening a year ago. Then, you may recall, eighteen players - an even 20% - were unable to participate in the Blue-White scrimmage, which took place on August 5th. And, even though the current narrative is that the respective lines have been decimated by injuries, the hurts in question, as O.C.C. so astutely pointed out, have been neither as severe nor as widespread as those that plagued the team a mere twelve months ago.

More importantly: at this time last year, myriad questions about the team had not yet been answered, and continued to be open questions into and throughout the season. Here, just over halfway through camp, many of the questions that we posed coming into camp have been answered, most of them convincingly. Consider the questions that were posed by the various "offseason headscratcher" posts penned by the front page writers:

  1. How will they use their two TEs in 12 personnel? Who would play the "F"? the "Y"?
  2. Who would be the backup defensive linemen and where would they play?
  3. Who will man the three interior OL positions? Will Travis Frederick play OG?
  4. Who will be WRs 3-5? Will they keep six receivers?
  5. Who will be the backup linebackers?
  6. Who will start at safety? Who will back them up? Which of them will play strong safety? Free safety?
  7. Who will be the third running back?

Looking at these questions, the only ones I can't answer definitively as I sit here are numbers two and three, which pertain to the respective lines. And that can partly be attributed to positive developments: the backups on the defensive line have been so good that they have muddied the interpretive waters a bit and, while injuries have delayed clear understanding about the offensive side, the performances of David Arkin and Ronald Leary have been a revelation. Indeed, both have developed about as much as we could possibly have hoped. That goes in the "good news" column, my Cowboys-lovin' friends.

With that in mind, let's break the camp happenings down into two columns - things that are going as well or better than we hoped and things that aren't going as well as we imagined they might - as a way to gain a bit of perspective on our fave team:

Going As Well (or Better):

The Cowboys have four good running backs, each of whom has shown himself to be adept at the one-cut running style a zone blocking system demands. All are good to very good receivers. More importantly for Jason Garrett and his staff, all have proved to be willing (and, in the case of DeMarco Murray and Joseph Randle, downright combative) blockers.

The right side of the defensive line is superb. DeMarcus Ware has been the best defensive player in camp. No surprise there; what might surprise is that the second-best guy might well be Jason Hatcher, who has been lining up next to Ware as the three-technique. The two of them have stopped many a run to that side in its tracks, and have provided a potent, even overwhelming, pass rush.

Wide receiver is a talented and deep position, filled with guys capable of making plays. Unlike 2012, the down-roster receivers in this camp have been much more competitive and consistent across practices. It remains to be seen how many wideouts make the 53; whatever decision is made, they will cut more than one pass catcher who has had a better camp than guys who made the team in recent years.

The linebacking unit is dynamic. We know all about the starters. Sean Lee, Bruce Carter and the under-rated Justin Durant form arguably the best 4-3 LB unit in the league. But their backups have been very good as well; Ernie Sims has been reborn, and looks capable of stepping in for any of the starters if need be. DeVonte Holloman is big and superfast, and Brandon Magee is a football playin' dude. Plus, both Alex Albright and Caleb McSurdy have flashed, both on defense and special teams.

Twelve personnel. The two tight end offense looks to be as versatile as advertised. With four or five capable tight ends on the roster, the offensive staff can mix and match them in myriad interesting ways, setting them in motion, lining them up in the backfield, placing them both on one side of the line, etc. Jason Garrett loves to "go against formation" in his offensive calls, passing out of running sets and vice versa. With 12 personnel as the base offense, he'll be able to do it with regularity.

This is the best group of defensive backs the team has had in twenty years. The top five corners, Brandon Carr, Mo Claiborne, Orlando Scandrick, Sterling Moore and B.W. Webb have all played very well, and the safety unit has exceeded (my high) expectations. Together they are a tough, physical, cohesive (and, increasingly, playmaking) group - a tribute to secondary coach Jerome Henderson, who has done yeoman's work. Along those lines...

This coaching staff is coaching guys up, up, up. Jason Garrett has assembled a staff that, from top to bottom, is composed of excellent teachers. Thus far in camp, their lessons started with the micro (technique, hand placement, etc.) and built to the macro (assignment, scheme). At each stage, they have proven to be meticulous, consistent, clear and rigorous in their pedagogy.

Center is a position of strength. Not only did drafting Travis Frederick upgrade the center position, in relegating Phil Costa to second-team, it strengthened and deepened the position. While he might not be cut out for a full-time starting role, the tough, smart, tenacious Costa is arguably the best back-up center in the league, a guy capable of stepping into a close, heated game and taking over for Frederick if need be. A position in disarray a year ago is now one of real strength moving forward.

The team's depth in general is very good. The second and third teams are dotted with good, competitive players. As I have written in recent training camp reports, the seven-on-seven and OL-DL competition periods are featuring terrific matchups when second- and third-teamers go head to head. Its exciting, and suggests that roster spots 37-53 will be occupied by talented, competitive and tough-minded players. How can you ask for anything more than that?

Not What We Imagined:

The right side of the defensive line. The primary concern here isn't whether they have capable starters; in Anthony Spencer and Jay Ratliff, the team has two players who appear built to excel in this system. The question is when, and for how long, they'll have them. One positive side effect of their prolonged absences is that guys like Ben Bass, Monte Taylor, Jerome Long, George Selvie, and Nick Hayden have asserted themselves, to the degree that all of them are legitimately competing for roster spots. That said, they are all in the Costa mold; they don't have starting stuff, but will comfort the hearts of Cowboys fans in rotational or back-up roles.The one position where this is not the case is...

The backup/ swing tackle. This, to my mind (and to those of other close followers of the team whose opinions I respect), is the biggest problem nagging the team. Going into camp, it was thought that Doug Free and Jermey Parnell would duke it out for the right tackle position and whomever lost would be the third/ swing tackle. Sadly, Parnell spent two days struggling with basic technique material that had been covered in OTAs and minicamps, promptly got injured, and has been out for the duration.He may come back and end up being who we though he was capable of being: a naturally strong foot athlete whose arrow was pointing up. Until that happens, however, the team is hamstrung.

But there is another issue compounding Parnell's disappearance. I believed that former Oregon Duck Darrion Weems would be nimble-footed and athletic enough that we could picture him, after a bit of time in an NFL strength program, filling in for a starter without the offense going ker-plop. But he has looked slow and ponderous of foot, and has been beaten routinely by the down-roster defensive linemen. His and Parnell's struggles in camp, and the absence of another reasonable candidate, explain the team's continued interest in the bag-of-donuts shaped Demetress Bell.

As I promised, much of the news is good. A global overview like this serves as a restorative tonic when we get caught up in the teeth-gnashing about gloom and doom scenarios, the latest of which is the injuries at guard. Take a drink; you'll feel better. Doctor's orders.

Star_medium

More Cowboys Camp Coverage

Source: http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/8/2/4584420/state-of-the-cowboys-union-training-camp-edition

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GOP governors try to keep their hold on battleground states

When Scott Walker won office in the Tea Party wave of 2010, he was part of a huge class of 16 first-time Republican governors ? eight of them elected in Democratic-leaning or battleground states.

Since then, these eight have supplied much of the political drama coming from the nation?s 50 state capitols, pursuing conservative agendas in states that voted twice for Democrat Barack Obama.

As the nation?s governors gather in Milwaukee, it?s a group worth watching closely. More than most of their peers, they?re on the front lines of the policy wars, testing the appeal of red-state governance beyond the boundaries of red-state America.

Their re-election fights in 2014 will largely determine whether the GOP, which now boasts 30 governors, can maintain its dominance of an office that drives public policy in the states and supplies both parties with many of their presidential prospects.

The map below from the National Conference of State Legislatures shows the party affiliation of all 50 governors (Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee recently switch from independent -- coded green on the map -- to Democrat):?

The following eight GOP governors took office for the first time in January of 2011 and have been governing in states that voted Democratic for president in both 2008 and 2012: Wisconsin?s Scott Walker, Ohio?s John Kasich, Michigan?s Rick Snyder, Pennsylvania?s Tom Corbett, Florida?s Rick Scott, Maine?s Paul LePage, New Mexico?s Susana Martinez and Nevada?s Brian Sandoval.

It?s not a monolithic group. Some have been more activist and conservative than others. Some seem politically secure;?others appear to be endangered. Taken together, they would seem to offer no single political model for GOP success in swing states.

?Any way you look at it, it?s a mixed bag,? says University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, who tracks gubernatorial campaigns and wrote a study of the modern governorship.

Four of the eight are the most vulnerable GOP governors in the country: Corbett, LePage, Scott and Snyder, according to five separate nonpartisan election ratings by Sabato, the Cook Political Report, the Rothenberg Political Report, the Washington Post and Governing magazine. Job approval ratings for the four have languished below 40% in most public polls over the past year.

Two others, Kasich and Walker, endured rocky times early in their tenure and emerged as re-election favorites.

Those six have all encountered heavy turbulence, either because of their governing styles, difficult issues they?ve had to grapple with or controversial policies they and their mostly Republican legislatures have pursued.

?They are responding to the coalition that elected them, but it?s not the usual coalition in their states,? says Sabato, meaning their states are less conservative electorally than the movement that brought these governors to power in the wave election of 2010.

?I think these guys also inherited states with lots of problems,? says Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report. ?And they promised big decisive action and that?s what they?ve tried to do. Some of them created their own drama. But ? they inherited pretty bad economies, pretty high unemployment rates, and deficits. And just by the nature of public policy, they were asked to make some big decisions, i.e., (implementing) health care reform.?

In contrast, the remaining two ? Sandoval and Martinez ? have had smoother sailing, enjoying high approval ratings with significant support from voters in the other party. They are the only two of the eight that have had to work with Democratic legislatures throughout their first term. Oddly enough, some analysts believe that has made governing their ?purple? states politically easier. They aren?t fielding hot-button bills from their own party?s legislators; ideological boldness isn?t much of an option.

Looking ahead to their re-election races, it?s almost impossible to imagine the political climate being as favorable to the GOP in 2014 as it was in the historic Republican surge of 2010. And the Obama victories in these states suggest they?re inherently winnable for Democrats.

But the eight governors also have factors working in their favor. Incumbents as a rule are hard to beat. Any uptick in the economy should help. The party out of the White House typically does well in elections held during a president?s second term. And mid-term electorates are smaller, less diverse, and tend to be better for the GOP than they are in presidential years.

?If their elections were in presidential years, many of them wouldn?t be in office,? says Sabato. (You can find another look at these same governors in this USA TODAY story here)

Walker is rated a healthy 2014 favorite by most independent handicappers. It?s not because his approval ratings are spectacular. In four Wisconsin polls this year by Marquette Law School and Public Policy Polling, he averages 49% approval and 46% disapproval. He remains arguably the most polarizing governor in the country, unusually popular with voters in his own party and acutely unpopular with voters in the other party.

But no challenger has materialized. And the Democratic effort to recall him last year is now widely seen as a huge political misfire by opponents, allowing Walker to put the union fight behind him before his 2014 race and turning him into a well-financed national figure, conservative hero, and potential 2016 presidential candidate.

The push to curb unions has also had a political impact in other states. In Michigan, Snyder signed a right-to-work law he didn?t initiate but came out of the GOP legislature. Polls suggest that hurt him. A first-time office-holder, Snyder is also dealing with the unpredictable politics of Detroit?s bankruptcy.

Ohio?s Kasich lost a referendum aimed at curbing public sector unions, but has rebounded politically as the state?s economy has improved. Scott may be getting an economic bump in Florida, too. Walker is hoping for one in Wisconsin, if the robust job growth he campaigned on in 2010 finally materializes.

But so far, the political standing of these governors seems to be less about economic performance than other factors. Of the eight states, Florida and Michigan had the highest rates of private-sector job growth during the two years of 2011 and 2012; Michigan was fifth in the nation and Florida ninth, according to the most authoritative jobs data, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Yet Michigan?s Snyder and Florida?s Scott are among the most vulnerable GOP governors.

Wisconsin was 34th?and New Mexico 42nd?in private-sector job growth in the same two-year period, but their governors are in better shape politically.

Pennsylvania ranked 41st?and Maine ranked dead last:

LePage, Corbett and Scott have endured criticism for their management style, communication skills, and relationships with legislators.

?In some cases they have Republican legislatures that have been less than cooperative,? says Duffy. One example: intra-party clashes over how to implement the new federal health care law.

Governors like Walker, Scott, Corbett and Kasich stand in contrast to a previous generation of high-profile GOP governors in blue or battleground states. This was the group in the 1990s that included Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, John Engler of Michigan, George Pataki of New York, Jim Edgar of Illinois, Pete Wilson of California, Bill Weld of Massachusetts, Christie Todd Whitman of New Jersey and Arne Carlson of Minnesota.

These were by and large more centrist Republicans, operating in a less polarized, pre-Tea Party world. Most of them spent much or all of their tenure having to work with Democratic-controlled legislatures in moderate-to-liberal states, which placed a premium on bipartisan deal making.

Their swing-state counterparts today are more conservative on fiscal and social policy. Some have GOP legislatures that are as conservative or more conservative than they are. It allows for very aggressive policymaking, but at the risk of political upheaval and partisan overreach.

Is it a formula for political longevity? Next year?s elections will provide the first answers.

Follow Craig Gilbert on Twitter @WisVoter

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/218026591.html

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Damaged Goods

An undated aerial handout photo shows the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland.

An undated aerial photo shows the National Security Agency headquarters building in Fort Meade, Md.

Handout photo by Reuters

?When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it, and you argue about what to do about it after you?ve had your technical success.? ?J. Robert Oppenheimer

The father of the atomic bomb made this observation in 1951 while testifying before a panel that wound up revoking his security clearance as a result of reports that he?d opposed going ahead with the much more powerful hydrogen bomb. He was explaining to the panel why he?d initially supported the H-bomb project?it was so ?technically sweet? that ?the moral and ethical and political issues? dropped by the wayside.

Technical sweetness may explain how the National Security Agency put in place the massive surveillance programs that Edward Snowden has revealed in recent weeks.

Consider this. The core mission of the NSA, ever since it was founded in 1952, has been ?signals intelligence??intercepting all manner of communications sent or received by the enemy. The task has been getting more challenging as the means of communication have evolved from radio antennae and the telephone to satellites, fiber optics, cellphones, and the Internet. It has become harder still in the past dozen years, as the enemies to be tracked have expanded to include not only nation-states, but also amorphous, decentralized terrorist groups.

And so, when the NSA?s allies and affiliates in the corporate software world came up with devices that can intercept, sift through, collate, and parse patterns from everything, in near-instantaneous time?well, it was all so ?technically sweet,? the natural inclination among those in charge would have been, as Oppenheimer said, to ?go ahead and do it.?

There were, of course, legal limits to what they could do. And in the past, these limits served as firm obstacles. Back in the early 1980s, when White House and Pentagon officials became aware that the government?s computer networks were vulnerable to hacking, the NSA proposed putting itself in charge of software security?but leaders in Congress rejected the idea, noting that, by statute, the NSA must have nothing to do with domestic surveillance.

In 2002, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon?s high-tech research and development shop, put Adm. John Poindexter, who had been Ronald Reagan?s national security adviser, in charge of a massive surveillance program called Total Information Awareness?which was essentially a somewhat cruder version of the programs that we know are in place now. The 9/11 terrorist attacks had occurred just months before; most Americans were willing to make compromises in the interests of national security?but only to a point. When news reports described the vast scope of Poindexter?s TIA program, Congress ordered it shut down, for the same reason: Foreign intelligence programs?whether run by the CIA, the NSA, or the Pentagon?had no business snooping within the United States.

But sometime over the past decade, the means of surveillance became so fast and vast?so technically sweet?that the decision was made to ?go ahead and do it.?

And it?s not hard to see why. Threats from al-Qaida and its affiliates were still active?and, with the Cold War gone, they marked the only plausible threats to the U.S. ?homeland.? Several plots, though much smaller in scale than the 9/11 attacks, had just barely been foiled in the years since. FBI director Robert Mueller told a House committee in June that the 9/11 plot might have been disrupted if today?s technologies had been around in 2001. Apparently, one of the intercepted phone calls?the calls that led the intelligence community to warn President George W. Bush of a possible impending attack?had been made from San Diego, but the monitors had no way of knowing that at the time. Had they known, Mueller claimed, the caller could have been tracked down and detained.

NSA officials also testified that the most far-flung of these tools, called XKeyscore, has helped capture more than 300 terrorists. On the other hand, Sen. Patrick Leahy says he?s not convinced it?s done much to capture any.

Who?s right? I don?t know. I?m pretty sure Glenn Greenwald doesn?t know either; nor, it?s quite likely, does Edward Snowden. Does Leahy really know? Do Sens. Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, who are also on the Senate committee, know? They should, one way or the other. Should the rest of us? Obviously, we can?t be expected to know everything about how XKeyscore or some other program helped capture the terrorists, if it in fact did. But now that the secrets have been spilled, now that the whole program is under discussion, we need to know some more of the details.

Sunlight pains the whole culture of the NSA and those with lifelong careers there. Throughout its existence, everything about the agency?everything about signals intelligence and communications intercepts?has been highly classified. Until recently, the very fact that there were intercepts was highly classified, and disclosure of that fact was a serious crime. Intelligence agencies are, by nature, insular and secretive; the NSA, by far the largest and most secretive U.S. intelligence agency, is exponentially so.

There?s the scene in Dr. Strangelove when the president lets the Russian ambassador into the war room so that he can see the common predicament of both superpowers, and the Air Force chief of staff (played by George C. Scott) sputters, ?But he?ll see the Big Board!?

That?s the situation in which the NSA chiefs now find themselves. They have to show us the Big Board?not all of it, or maybe they don?t have to show it to us (i.e., to you and me). But the secrecy has been too tight, the few public statements on the matter have been too vague or deceptive, the level of distrust is rising so steeply that the program itself is in jeopardy. A recent amendment to cancel the program lost in the House of Representatives, 217?225, a startlingly narrow margin. Those who manage or support the program should be the keenest to open the curtains.

It?s easy to see the logic by which the NSA managers widened the scope of their surveillance. At first, they focused on tracking traffic patterns. Some phone number in the United States was calling suspicious people or places in, say, Pakistan. It might be useful to find out whose phone number it was. It might then be useful to find out what other people that person has been calling or emailing, and then it might be useful to track their phone calls and email patterns. Before you know it, they?re storing data on millions of people, including a lot of Americans. Then maybe one day, they track someone?a phone number or email address they?d never come across before?engaged in some very suspicious activity. They wish that they?d been tracking this person for some time, so they could go back and see if a pattern exists without having to wait for one to emerge. Then they learn that they can do this; new technology makes it possible. So they scoop up and store everything from everybody. They even convince themselves that they?re not ?collecting? data from American citizens (as that would be illegal); no, they?re just storing it; the collecting doesn?t happen until they actually go retrieve it from the files. (James Clapper, director of national intelligence, actually made this claim.)

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2013/08/national_security_agency_s_surveillance_scandal_how_the_nsa_can_regain_americans.html

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Ellen DeGeneres to host Oscars for 2nd time

NEW YORK (AP) ? Comic and daytime television host Ellen DeGeneres was picked to host the Academy Awards for the second time.

Show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced DeGeneres' selection Friday. The movie awards show will air on ABC on March 2.

"There are few stars today who have Ellen's gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity," the producers said in a statement. "She is beloved everywhere."

DeGeneres quipped: "I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time. You know what they say ? the third time's the charm."

She also announced the gig on Twitter, posting: "It's official: I'm hosting the #Oscars! I'd like to thank @TheAcademy, my wife Portia and, oh dear, there goes the orchestra."

Last year's host, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, drew mixed reviews for an edgy performance that included a song-and-dance number, "We Saw Your Boobs," about actresses who had gone topless on screen. He had already taken himself out of the running for a return engagement next year.

Academy Awards organizers had hoped to attract a younger audience with MacFarlane, and the ratings showed they succeeded.

With DeGeneres, they went for a star that Hollywood and television viewers were familiar and comfortable with.

About her first hosting role in 2007, television critic Frazier Moore of The Associated Press wrote that "like her, the evening was easygoing, comfortable and relatively unsurprising."

DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award for her last gig. Her daytime talk show has won 45 Daytime Emmys during a decade on the air.

The Oscars, with 40.3 million viewers this year, is very often the year's most-watched television event after the Super Bowl.

___

Online:

http://www.oscars.org/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ellen-degeneres-host-oscars-2nd-time-191458014.html

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Friday, August 2, 2013

Disability Awareness: 10 Things Parents Should Teach Their Kids About Disabilities

By Tiffiny Carlson, THE MOBILITY RESOURCE

Parents are all over the board when it comes to how they teach their kids about disabilities. Some scold their kids when they ask what?s wrong when a person with a disability passes by, and other parents are totally cool with letting their kids run around and approach us at will. No two parenting techniques are alike.

But there are a few things that are repeated. From telling their child to always look away or giving them a generic viewpoint of people with disabilities, mistakes on how to talk about us are abound. Since even the most well-meaning parent can accidentally flub up, here are 10 ways to help give your kid a leg up on how to think differently about disabilities.

1) Answering ?Why can?t they walk??

One of the most common questions kids ask when they see someone who uses a wheelchair is this, ?Why can?t they walk?? Kids are naturally curious and have no filter, which are without question one of their best and worst qualities. If your child is younger, saying, ?They just have an owie,? can be enough.

If they?re older however, just be honest. ?I don?t know, baby, but most likely it?s because their nerves,? is all you need to say. My 6-year-old niece is a great example. She?s still too young to understand the concept of a spinal cord injury, so I just tell her my legs just don?t listen to me anymore, and she understand it completely.

But what?s great is once they fully understand, fear is erased.

2) Don?t get mad when they get curious.

While it?s great so many parents want to make sure their kids don?t offend us, which for some kids is a legitimate concern when it comes to sensitive people with disabilities, getting angry with your child when they ask questions about our disability should be avoided. Fear, shame or embarrassment is not what you want your kids to feel in the presence of disability. I hear kids ask their moms about me all the time. Cutest thing ever.

3) Being different isn?t a negative thing.

Instead of putting a ?sad story? spin on disability whenever they inquire about someone, saying something along the lines of, ?But it?s ok.? ?The world is full of people who are different,? is vital. We all get around in our own ways. As long as we get there is the important part.

4) Always ask before helping.

A lot of well-meaning parents like to teach their kids to help us whenever possible. But it?s just as important to teach them to ask before helping so they can appreciate our autonomy, and respect us as such. Teaching your child to automatically jump to our aid is kind, but it can make it harder for them to see us as a person apart from the chair. Letting them know we can do many things on our own is a huge lesson for kids.

5) Our wheelchairs aren?t oversized strollers.

Seeing a wheelchair as our ?legs? is another big lesson to drive home. Kids can come up with some hysterical words when referring to a wheelchair ? a mini car, a wagon, a ?what?s that? (my personal favorite), but don?t let them go on thinking of our wheelchair as a stroller. Kids like to, but driving home the notion of a wheelchair as being an empowering object, not one that symbolizes helplessness, can make a huge impact.

6) Be careful how you react yourself.

It?s no secret kids are sponges and instantly sense whatever mom or dad is feeling. Feeling nervous, awkward or afraid around people with disabilities will only make your kids feel exactly the same way. Try to put those feelings aside in the best interest of your kids. Respond positively and calmly when encountering a person with a disability and they?ll do the same (and hopefully into adulthood too).

7) A 10-second stare is ok. I promise.

When it comes to staring, kids get a ?Get of Jail Free? card. At least that?s how I feel about things. As long as it?s not a long drawn out stare that is, which in that case you should tell them, ?Looking is ok, but not too long.? I say this because it always saddens my heart whenever I see a parent scold their children for looking at a person with a disability for a brief moment. Kids are shiny new people learning about the world. Their innocent glances are 100 percent ok.

8) We aren?t in pain.

When I told my niece, ?My neck has an owie. That?s why Aunty Tiffy can?t walk,? her first response was, ?Well does it hurt?? Kids are just learning about the human body and the double-meaning of words too. By saying ?I hurt my neck,? she heard ?hurt? and equated ?pain.? While some of us do have some awful chronic pain, letting your kids know a disability doesn?t necessarily equate to physical pain can take a definite load off their mind.

9) We can be awesome too.

Whenever possible, showing your child a movie, book or play with a positive portrayal of disability can make a huge difference. Sad movies about skiers who break their necks, then fall in love with a pilot who ends up dying in a crash is not such a good movie to show. They need to see us involved, having fun, even dare I say cool.

While it can be hard finding children?s books with a positive disability spin, they?re out there. Arlen, Marvelous Mercer, Saddle Sore, Cinderella?s Magical Wheelchair and Mama Zooms are some good reads (click for more). And a few good kids movies or shows to check out in the same vein include Miracle in Lane 2, a movie with a young adult in a wheelchair who dreams of winning trophies like his brother, Dragon Tales, a cartoon with a character who uses a wheelchair and Pinky Dinky Doo, an animated series with one of the main characters having a friend with a disability. **(Win one of these books by sharing this article on Facebook, google + or twitter, but make sure you tag or mention us so we know its you).

10) Our chairs aren?t glued to our butts.

I?ve always felt every child needs to see someone in a wheelchair get out of their wheelchair just once. Maybe onto a couch, or even better ? into a pool or onto a motorcycle ? leaving their wheelchair behind, just so they can see we are a person first, wheelchair-user second.

The first time my niece saw me get out of my chair and onto the couch was at Christmas when she was 2-years-old. Her eyes widened and she was deliriously happy when she saw me get out. I think she saw it as breaking free (I don?t think she thought it was even possible until that point).

Parenting is a huge responsibility, and molding your kids into hopefully soon-to-be awesome adults is the end goal. I?ve met a handful of these adults who were raised in a disability-positive environment and they have been some of the most amazing people I?ve ever met. If your child ends up being one of these very people, you?ve done a parenting job well done.
And remember, these above tips are mine alone. Not all people with disabilities may agree on these recommendations. Whenever possible, ask people with disabilities in your life for any input or tips. There?s knowledge to be learned from everyone.

To read more on The Mobility Resource, see below:

9 Disability Related Charities You Should Never Support or Donate To

A Life Lesson About People With Disabilities For Parents Everywhere

20 Things Every Parent of Kids with Special Needs Should Hear

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/disability-awareness-parents-teach-kids_n_3696279.html

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