Friday, May 31, 2013

Gizmodo How a Supercomputer May Have Finally Unlocked a Way to Beat HIV | Deadspin Does Jaden Smith,

Gizmodo How a Supercomputer May Have Finally Unlocked a Way to Beat HIV | Deadspin Does Jaden Smith, After Earth's Uncompelling Star, Really Want This? | Jalopnik Did Transformers 4 Rip Off This Guy's Design For The New Bumblebee? | Kotaku How Razer's New Ultrathin Gaming Laptop Compares To A MacBook Air

Source: http://lauren.kinja.com/gizmodo-how-a-supercomputer-may-have-finally-unlocked-a-510755109

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Could You Stare at a Samsung Galaxy S4 For 60 Minutes to Win One?

Because the Samsung Galaxy S4 can sense when you're looking at it, Swisscom hilariously set up a challenge for people to stare at the phone for an hour. If you hit the 60 minute mark, you win a free Samsung Galaxy S4. If you get distracted, you don't get one. Easy? Not as easy as you think!

Read more...

    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9iO9jsU81iQ/could-you-stare-at-a-samsung-galaxy-s4-for-60-minutes-t-510594969

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Nasdaq paying $10M to settle Facebook disruption

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Nasdaq has agreed to pay a $10 million penalty to settle federal civil charges after regulators said its systems and decisions disrupted Facebook's public stock offering last year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that the penalty is the largest ever imposed against an exchange. Nasdaq also has had to pay $62 million in reimbursements to investment firms that lost money because of the problems.

Facebook launched its initial public offering on May 18, 2012 amid great fanfare. But computer glitches at Nasdaq delayed the start of trading and threw the launch into chaos. The technical problems kept many investors from buying shares that morning, selling them later in the day or even knowing whether their orders went through. Some said they were left holding shares they didn't want.

The SEC says a design flaw in Nasdaq's systems was to blame and Nasdaq officials then made a series of "ill-fated decisions."

Nasdaq neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.

Robert Greifeld, the CEO of the exchange's parent Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., called the settlement an "important step forward."

In a letter to customers made public Wednesday, Greifeld said Nasdaq has carefully reviewed the Facebook disruption over the past year and put new technical safeguards in place. The exchange has taken steps such as creating new executive positions within its technology division, and setting up teams to monitor and test trading systems, Greifeld said.

In addition to its namesake stock exchange, Nasdaq OMX also operates other exchanges and clearinghouses in the U.S. and abroad.

The Facebook IPO was widely anticipated and one of the largest in history. The social network was valued at more than $100 billion when it went public for $38 a share.

Nasdaq violated market rules by being poorly prepared for the launch, the SEC said. Exchanges have an obligation to ensure that their systems and contingency plans are strong enough to manage an IPO without disrupting the market.

The SEC said Nasdaq officials believed they had fixed the design flaw by removing a few lines of computer code and opted not to delay the start of trading in Facebook. But they failed to understand the root cause of the problem, the SEC said.

The $10 million penalty had been expected. Nasdaq said last month that it might have to pay that amount to resolve the matter with regulators.

In its administrative order issued Wednesday, the SEC also censured Nasdaq. Censure brings the possibility of a stiffer sanction if the alleged violation is repeated.

On Wednesday, Facebook shares fell 78 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at $23.32

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasdaq-paying-10m-settle-facebook-disruption-173358535.html

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And It Hurts?Here?Because? Ergonomic Recommendations ...

Thumb Pain- May indicate a trigger thumb or DeQuervain?s Tenosynovitis.? Often occurs from either squeezing the mouse too hard or from tensing the thumb (as if hitch-hiking) over the keyboard keys.? Keep the thumbs relaxed using only the minimal amount of force needed to control the mouse.? When typing, keep the thumbs relaxed and just hovering over the keyboard.? Don?t pound the space bar.? Also, when writing, use a larger-barreled pen and don?t squeeze the pen too tightly.? Keep the thumb tip relaxed and only slightly bent ? it is common for people write with their thumb tips bent at an extreme angle.

Wrist Pain?or?Pain at the Base of the Hand/Thumb? May indicate a tendinitis where the wrist muscles attach (flexor or extensor tendinitis), DeQuervain?s Tenosynovitis, or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.? These are often caused by swiveling the mouse in or by poor wrist positioning.? Keep the wrist neutral (flat ? not bent forward or back or angled side-to-side; the middle finger should be in a parallel line with the forearm).? Initiate small movements to control the mouse from the elbow and shoulder.?? Don?t squeeze the mouse too tightly ? use only the minimal amount of force necessary to control it.? Check your keyboard size and fit.? Pain over the small finger side of the wrist is often caused by the outward angulation of the wrist required to rest your hand on the home keys.? Using an ergonomic split keyboard is a quick-and-easy way to provide neutral wrist positioning.

Elbow Pain?? May indicate an inflammation where the forearm muscles attach into the upper arm bone at the elbow ? Medial or Lateral Epicondylitis.? Can also be caused by several nerve compression syndromes that occur near the elbow ? Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, Radial Tunnel Syndrome.? Check out the positioning of the keyboard height and mouse location.? When working at a computer, your ear, shoulder and elbow should be stacked in a vertical alignment.? If your elbow is not relaxed at your side, you may need to change positioning by lowering the keyboard surface or getting in closer to your desk.? The elbow should not be bent at more than a 90 degree angle while using the computer.? A mouse that positions the arm in a more neutral ?hand-shake? position may also be helpful.? Don?t swivel the mouse from the wrist.? Also, keep the hand relaxed on the mouse and use only the smallest amount of force necessary to activate the mouse click.? Don?t hold the index finger stiffly over the mouse (as if pointing) and don?t pound the mouse buttons, especially with a straight finger.? Rather, keep the index finger slightly bent and lightly touching the mouse.

Shoulder Pain?? Often caused by reaching forward for long periods of time for the keyboard or mouse.? When working at a computer, your ear, shoulder and elbow should be stacked in a vertical alignment.? If your elbow is not relaxed at your side, you may be reaching forward causing strain on the arm muscles.? It takes work to hold the arm in this position for long periods of time even if the work itself is not too forceful.? To keep the upper arm muscles more relaxed, you may need to lower the keyboard surface or get in closer to your desk.? Check your chair.? Are you sitting back in the char?? Does it provide proper lumbar support and seat depth?? Look at the arm rest height.? You may need to lower the arm rests in order to keep the shoulders relaxed.

Neck Pain, Eye-Strain & Headaches?? Often caused by poor positioning of the monitor.? Position the monitor directly in front of the keyboard so you are not twisting the body while using the computer.? Check out the height and distance of the monitor.? It may need to be adjusted so that you can clearly see the monitor print without tipping the head forward or back.? Avoid using bifocals while on the computer.? If you work extensively from copy, keep the copy in front of the monitor or directly to each side.? Use a tray that holds the copy close to monitor height to avoid repetitively looking up-and-down from the copy to the monitor.? Use a phone headset to avoid cradling the phone between the shoulder and the ear if you need to type and talk at the same time.

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Source: http://handtherapy.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/and-it-hurts-here-because-ergonomic-recommendations/

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Scientists capture first images of molecules before and after reaction

May 30, 2013 ? Every chemist's dream -- to snap an atomic-scale picture of a chemical before and after it reacts -- has now come true, thanks to a new technique developed by chemists and physicists at the University of California, Berkeley.

Using a state-of-the-art atomic force microscope, the scientists have taken the first atom-by-atom pictures, including images of the chemical bonds between atoms, clearly depicting how a molecule's structure changed during a reaction. Until now, scientists have only been able to infer this type of information from spectroscopic analysis.

"Even though I use these molecules on a day to day basis, actually being able to see these pictures blew me away. Wow!" said lead researcher Felix Fischer, UC Berkeley assistant professor of chemistry. "This was what my teachers used to say that you would never be able to actually see, and now we have it here."

The ability to image molecular reactions in this way will help not only chemistry students as they study chemical structures and reactions, but will also show chemists for the first time the products of their reactions and help them fine-tune the reactions to get the products they want. Fischer, along with collaborator Michael Crommie, a UC Berkeley professor of physics, captured these images with the goal of building new graphene nanostructures, a hot area of research today for materials scientists because of their potential application in next-generation computers.

"However, the implications go far beyond just graphene," Fischer said. "This technique will find application in the study of heterogeneous catalysis, for example," which is used widely in the oil and chemical industries. Heterogeneous catalysis involves the use of metal catalysts like platinum to speed reactions, as in the catalytic converter of a car.

"To understand the chemistry that is actually happening on a catalytic surface, we need a tool that is very selective and tells us which bonds have actually formed and which ones have been broken," he added. "This technique is unique out there right now for the accuracy with which it gives you structural information. I think it's groundbreaking."

"The atomic force microscope gives us new information about the chemical bond, which is incredibly useful for understanding how different molecular structures connect up and how you can convert from one shape into another shape," said Crommie. "This should help us to create new engineered nanostructures, such as bonded networks of atoms that have a particular shape and structure for use in electronic devices. This points the way forward."

Fischer and Crommie, along with other colleagues at UC Berkeley, in Spain and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), published their findings online May 30 in the journal Science Express.

From shadow to snapshot

Traditionally, Fischer and other chemists conduct detailed analyses to determine the products of a chemical reaction, and even then, the actual three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in these products can be ambiguous.

"In chemistry you throw stuff into a flask and something else comes out, but you typically only get very indirect information about what you have," Fischer said. "You have to deduce that by taking nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared or ultraviolet spectra. It is more like a puzzle, putting all the information together and then nailing down what the structure likely is. But it is just a shadow. Here we actually have a technique at hand where we can look at it and say this is exactly the molecule. It's like taking a snapshot of it."

Fischer is developing new techniques for making graphene nanostructures that display unusual quantum properties that could make them useful in nano-scale electronic devices. The carbon atoms are in a hexagonal arrangement like chicken wire. Rather than cutting up a sheet of pure carbon -- graphene -- he hopes to place a bunch of smaller molecules onto a surface and induce them to zip together into desired architectures. The problem, he said, is how to determine what has actually been made.

That's when he approached Crommie, who uses atomic force microscopes to probe the surfaces of materials with atomic resolution and even move atoms around individually on a surface. Working together, they devised a way to chill the reaction surface and molecules to the temperature of liquid helium -- about 4 Kelvin, or 270 degrees Celsius below zero -- which stops the molecules from jiggling around. They then used a scanning tunneling microscope to locate all the molecules on the surface, and zeroed in on several to probe more finely with the atomic force microscope. To enhance the spatial resolution of their microscope they put a single carbon monoxide molecule on the tip, a technique called non-contact AFM first used by Gerhard Meyer and collaborators at IBM Zurich to image molecules several years ago.

After imaging the molecule -- a "cyclic" structure with several hexagonal rings of carbon that Fischer created especially for this experiment -- Fischer, Crommie and their colleagues heated the surface until the molecule reacted, and then again chilled the surface to 4 Kelvin and imaged the reaction products.

"By doing this on a surface, you limit the reactivity but you have the advantage that you can actually look at a single molecule, give that molecule a name or number, and later look at what it turns into in the products," he said.

"Ultimately, we are trying to develop new surface chemistry that allows us to build higher ordered architectures on surfaces, and these might lead into applications such as building electronic devices, data storage devices or logic gates out of carbon materials."

The research is coauthored by Dimas G. de Oteyza, Yen-Chia Chen, Sebastian Wickenburg, Alexander Riss, Zahra Pedramrazi and Hsin-Zon Tsai of UC Berkeley's Department of Physics; Patrick Gorman and Grisha Etkin of the Department of Chemistry; and Duncan J. Mowbray and Angel Rubio from research centers in San Sebasti?n, Spain. Crommie, Fischer, Chen and Wickenburg also have appointments at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The work is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/ayjACm9PmwM/130530142007.htm

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VENITISM: BUSINESS ETHICS

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Bangladeshi Garment Workers and the Perversion of?Ethics

by Mario Rizzo

For the last few days the newspapers have been filled with stories about how western garment manufacturers will now insist on greater safety for the workers who make their clothes in Bangladesh. They will pay for renovations and reconstructions of the physical plants. What is more, the government in Bangladesh will raise the minimum wage and make unionization easier.
So now Pope Francis and the relatively rich in the developed world (many of whom were among the 900,000 names on a petition to improve things that has been circulated) will be pleased and the demands of their social conscience will be satisfied.

This is another instance of the simplistic pseudo-morality of those who can only see what is right in front of them at the present moment. This attitude is closer to a sympathetic reflex than a reasoned moral judgment.

Consider the following. The cost of garment labor in Bangladesh will rise. When public attention moves elsewhere, western manufacturers will either hire fewer workers or reduce the rate at which they hire workers in Bangladesh. Some many even leave the country. (Remember Bangladesh also has bad infrastructure and political instability making it a marginal place to do business.)

Costs will rise not only because of the costs of improved working conditions but also because a rise in the minimum wage will prevent the compensating-downward adjustment of wages. And the increase of unionization will also raise costs and wages. What Bangladesh has going for it at this particular stage in its development is relatively low wages and globalization. We do not do the Bangladeshis a favor by insisting on even early twentieth-century labor standards in an incredibly backward economy.

The nineteenth-century economist Frederic Bastiat asked us to pay attention to the ?unseen? as well as the seen in economic life.? Where will Bangladeshis who do not get to work in the garment factories (or perhaps other factories if the new minimum wage and labor standards set in more widely) go? Where will they get an income? Will people in Western Europe and the United States send them compensatory payments?

Too often, as this case demonstrates, people moralize high standards of living and hence of worker safety. Worker safety is a normal good, that is, as income rises we can afford more of it. To say that people have a right to a certain level of worker safety and a ?living wage? is an example of the harm the notion of positive rights can do in poor countries ? especially when the standards are imported from developed countries.

I am not saying that the death of more than a thousand garment workers isn?t a horrible event. I am not saying that we should not have compassion for these people. What I am saying is that the whole of morality is not about feeling good. It is about doing good. And doing good is a complex affair. It requires attention to the unseen.
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Source: http://venitism.blogspot.com/2013/05/business-ethics.html

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Could 'Man of Steel' star Henry Cavill be WB's 'Man From U.N.C.L.E.'?

By Jeff Sneider

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - WB's "Man of Steel" star Henry Cavill is now in talks to be the studio's "Man From U.N.C.L.E.," TheWrap has learned.

Cavill is making a deal to play Napoleon Solo in Guy Ritchie's feature adaptation of the classic 1960s TV series.

Cruise left the project last week in order to focus his attention on producing "Mission: Impossible 5" for Paramount and Skydance.

With "Man of Steel" buzz swirling in Burbank, WB execs are confident that Cavill has what it takes to launch a franchise that lacks the built-in audience of Superman fans. The British star of "The Tudors" previously powered Relativity's "Immortals" to a worldwide gross of $226 million.

Ritchie had been expecting to start production in the fall with Armie Hammer co-starring as Illya Kuryakin, Solo's fellow agent in the United Network Command for Law Enforcement. Robert Vaughan and David McCallum originated the roles on the 60s spy series.

Ritchie is producing with Lionel Wigram and John Davis.

It's early days, but CAA-repped Cavill doesn't have any projects crowding his fall schedule, as WB and Legendary East's supernatural movie "The Great Wall" has been postponed indefinitely.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-man-steel-star-henry-cavill-wbs-man-002530734.html

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House Republicans question Eric Holder on his leak testimony

By Lawrence Hurley and David Ingram

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican lawmakers asked Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday to clarify testimony he gave Congress this month about his role in the targeting of journalists in a leak probe.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and colleague James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin sent a letter to Holder saying recent media reports "appear to be at odds with your sworn testimony."

At the May 15 hearing, Holder said he had never been involved in any decision to pursue a criminal investigation of a journalist and said it would not be "wise policy" to do so.

Last week, news outlets reported that Holder had approved a decision to seek a search warrant for Fox News email records as part of a leak investigation. Reuters later reported Holder signed off on a subpoena for telephone records as well.

The Fox News reporter involved, James Rosen, was described as a "co-conspirator" by investigators, but was not charged.

In a defense of Holder, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Holder had testified truthfully. Carney told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday there was an "extremely large distinction" between describing a reporter as a co-conspirator and charging him with a crime.

Carney said there are no plans to prosecute Rosen.

President Barack Obama "absolutely" has confidence in Holder to continue as the chief U.S. law enforcement officer, he said.

Concern from journalists and free speech advocates last week prompted Obama to order a review of Justice Department procedures governing investigations that involve reporters. Many of those procedures predate email.

On Thursday, as part of the review, Holder was scheduled to begin a series of meetings with Washington news bureau chiefs to allow them to air concerns and exchange ideas. Later meetings were being planned for news executives and lawyers, and for government intelligence and law enforcement officials, according to a Justice Department statement.

'FULL AND ACCURATE ACCOUNT'

The letter on Wednesday from House Republicans focused not on the wider review but on the searches of Rosen's materials. It asked Holder for a "full and accurate account of your involvement in and approval of these search warrants."

Rosen reported in 2009 that U.S. intelligence officials believed North Korea would conduct more nuclear tests in response to U.N. sanctions. Stephen Kim, a former State Department analyst suspected of being Rosen's source, faces trial on charges he violated an anti-espionage law.

The Republicans' letter asks Holder to give a detailed account of his role and to respond to eight questions, including whether the Justice Department ever intended to prosecute Rosen.

A Justice spokesman was not available for comment.

U.S. Representative John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Holder had been "forthright and did not mislead the committee."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Howard Goller and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-republicans-assail-eric-holder-leak-testimony-173927307.html

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Paterno lawyer says estate to sue NCAA

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? A lawsuit planned by the family of the late Penn State coach Joe Paterno, former players and others connected to the school seeks to overturn the NCAA's swift and strict sanctions against the football program for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The 40-page suit to be filed Thursday will name as defendants the NCAA and its president, Mark Emmert, and Oregon State President Edward Ray, who was chair of the NCAA's executive committee, according to a statement released by attorney Wick Sollers and other family representatives late Wednesday night.

The planned litigation also seeks to shine a light on the withering report prepared by former FBI director Louis Freeh, whom the university tapped to lead an investigation into the scandal, and calls into question how and why the NCAA used the report as a basis for its sanctions in July, according to Sollers.

College sports' governing body acted with uncharacteristic speed in levying landmark penalties that included a four-year bowl ban and steep scholarship cuts less than two weeks after Freeh released his findings.

The NCAA, Emmert and Ray "acted in clear and direct violation of the organization's own rules based on a flawed report" by Freeh, the statement said. The report pointed blame in part on Paterno and three former school officials.

"This case is further proof that the NCAA has lost all sense of its mission. If there was ever a situation that demanded meticulous review and a careful adherence to NCAA rules and guidelines, this was it," Sollers said. "Instead, the NCAA placed a premium on speed over accuracy and precipitous action over due process."

Paterno's son, Jay Paterno, and Bill Kenney are two former Paterno assistants taking part in the action against the NCAA, the statement said. Also joining in the suit are five trustees, four faculty members and nine ex-Penn State players, including Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson, according to the statement.

Sollers said the suit was to be filed in state court in Centre County, home of Penn State's flagship campus. The family planned to post the complaint on www.paterno.com after it was filed.

Freeh accused Paterno and three former university officials of concealing allegations against Sandusky, a retired defensive coordinator. Sandusky was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison after being convicted last year of dozens of criminal counts of abuse, including allegations on and off campus.

Paterno died in January 2012. His family and the former school officials have vehemently denied they took part in a cover-up.

The suit is designed "to redress the NCAA's 100 percent adoption of the Freeh Report. ... The reality is that consent decree was imposed through coercion and threats behind the scenes, and there was no ability for anyone to get redress," Sollers told Bob Costas in an interview that aired on the NBC Sports Network's "Costas Tonight" early Thursday morning.

"There was no board approval, there was no transparency, and there was no consideration of this consent decree."

Dick Thornburgh, a former U.S. attorney general and Pennsylvania governor, also was interviewed by Costas. Thornburgh was an author of a critique released in February and commissioned by the Paterno family that called Freeh's work a "rush to injustice."

The family's lawsuit would be the latest filing in a tangled web of litigation related to the sanctions. Most prominently, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, which also has faced criticism for a botched investigation of Miami and departures in the enforcement division.

The penalties against Penn State included a $60 million fine. The NCAA also vacated 111 wins from Paterno's record, meaning he would no longer hold the title of major college football's winningest coach.

The lawsuit lodges six counts against the NCAA, Emmert and Ray, including breach of contract, civil conspiracy, defamation and commercial disparagement, according to Sollers' statement.

Sollers, in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, said the suit would ask for the sanctions and agreement between school and the NCAA to be deemed unlawful and the penalties overturned.

The lawsuit also would ask for unspecified damages and court costs, Sollers said, though the family would donate any net proceeds to charity.

"The broader goal is to get the truth out," Sollers told the AP. "This narrative that's in public that was perpetuated by the NCAA's adoption of the deeply flawed Freeh report ... cannot stand."

The NCAA said Wednesday it had not received any such lawsuit and could not comment.

"Despite our request, the Paterno family has not shared any information about its planned legal action," chief legal officer Donald Remy said in a statement. "We remain committed to working with Penn State toward the continued successful completion of our voluntary agreement with the university and to working" with the NCAA's independent monitor, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.

Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre said the school was not a party to any litigation that might be filed by the Paterno family and remained committed to "full compliance" to the sanctions.

"We look forward to continuing to work with Sen. George Mitchell and recognize the important role that intercollegiate athletics provides for our student athletes and the wider university community," the statement from La Torre said.

Sollers said Freeh is not named as a defendant in the case, but is listed as a "co-conspirator" in the lawsuit, and that there were close communications between the NCAA and Freeh's team throughout the investigation.

The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Wednesday for a spokesman for Freeh.

Costas said Freeh and Emmert declined to appear on his show.

___

Online:

http://progress.psu.edu/the-freeh-report

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paterno-lawyer-says-estate-sue-ncaa-223734364.html

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Justin Bieber investigated for reckless driving

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, Justin Bieber performs during the"I Believe Tour " at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Los Angeles County Sheriff?s detectives are investigating Justin Bieber for reckless driving after witnesses, including former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, complained. Sheriff?s spokesman Steve Whitmore says at 8 p.m. Monday, May 27, 2013, Bieber allegedly drove his white Ferrari at freeway speeds in his north Los Angeles County gated community. (Photo by Jeff Daly/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, Justin Bieber performs during the"I Believe Tour " at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Los Angeles County Sheriff?s detectives are investigating Justin Bieber for reckless driving after witnesses, including former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, complained. Sheriff?s spokesman Steve Whitmore says at 8 p.m. Monday, May 27, 2013, Bieber allegedly drove his white Ferrari at freeway speeds in his north Los Angeles County gated community. (Photo by Jeff Daly/Invision/AP, File)

(AP) ? Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives are investigating Justin Bieber for reckless driving after witnesses ? including former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson ? complained about the pop-star's alleged freeway speeds in their gated community in north Los Angeles County.

At about 8 p.m. Monday, Bieber allegedly drove his white Ferrari at freeway speeds in what is a 25 mph zone, Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Johnson was outside with his 3-year-old daughter who was preparing to get into a small electric car when Bieber zoomed by. Johnson was upset and got into his Prius, following Bieber to his nearby home. As the garage door was closing, Johnson put out his arm and stopped it, telling Bieber he wanted to talk about his reckless driving.

Whitmore said Bieber scurried into his home without speaking.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department received two calls and responded to the location. When they tried to talk to Bieber, however, they were also turned away.

"His security detail said he declined to talk to us based on the advice of counsel," Whitmore said.

Deputies interviewed two witnesses, including Johnson, and wrote up their report. They handed that off to detectives who are continuing to investigate the incident.

"Their eyewitness testimony to our deputies was definitive ? not only the speed, not only the vehicle, but Mr. Bieber was sitting and driving in the driver's side seat," Whitmore said.

Deputies plan to send a reckless driving report to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to consider filing misdemeanor charges in the next week or two.

Bieber's publicist did not immediately return a call for comment. Johnson declined to comment via ESPN, where he now works as a TV commentator.

Prosecutors are also looking at whether to charge Bieber for battery in a separate incident involving a neighbor, who complained the pop-star attacked and threatened him.

"We take this very seriously and if this actually did occur, which it appears that it did, it is unacceptable behavior from anybody, anywhere, anytime," Whitmore said.

___

Follow Tami Abdollah on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/latams

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-28-Bieber%20Investigation/id-af835f7ffdb141328406578c049c5aa6

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PFT: NFL officially pushes 2014 draft into May

WilliamsGetty Images

Once, voluntary offseason workouts actually were voluntary.? At some point, however, these practices became ?voluntary? in name only.

But the NFL and its 32 teams still use the label.? Which makes it refreshing when a player chooses to take advantage of that outdated description.

In Philadelphia, newly-signed cornerback Cary Williams has opted not to show up for optional practices, arriving only recently.? And when he showed up, Williams ended up not in the starting lineup.

?That?s what Coach [Chip Kelly] wants, that?s what he?s doing, and that?s fine with me,? Williams said, via Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer.? ?It?s just one of those things where I missed a couple of weeks, guys have been here, and Coach has given them an opportunity.? And that?s fine.? OTAs are OTAs. ?When we get the pads on, it?s a different thing.?

Per Berman, Kelly attributed Williams? absence from the first week of OTAs to his wedding and honeymoon.? Williams, however, said he had other issues to deal with, including building a house and dental work.

?Just because it was OTAs doesn?t mean I need to derail my plans for a situation like that,? Williams said. ?Not being disrespectful.? Everybody has their own personal life and things to take care of.? And in my life, I have something to take care of, and I felt that was important. . . . As far as I?m concerned, I did what was more important to me at the time, and family is the most important thing.?

The problem for Williams and anyone else who misses offseason practice ? for whatever reason ? comes from the possible creation of a gap that may never be bridged.? Last year, for example, Rams second-round running back Isaiah Pead fell behind due to the outdated rule that prevents players from joining offseason workouts until their colleges complete final exams.? Pead landed behind seventh-rounder Daryl Richardson on the depth chart, and Pead never was able to pass him.

While Williams is confident that ?the cream will rise to the top? once padded practices begin in training camp, there are now fewer opportunities for that to happen, because there are fewer padded practices.? It can happen for Williams or anyone else who misses offseason workouts, but he?s taking a calculated risk that he won?t be able to unseat someone who chose to show up for voluntary practices.

That?s Williams? prerogative.? And as long as the NFL continues to try to call these practices ?voluntary,? we support anyone who chooses to stay home ? as long as he realizes that it could in some cases mean staying on the sidelines come September.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/28/nfl-pushes-draft-back-two-weeks-only-major-change/related/

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Need a financial advisor? Avoid commissions.

While you?re never guaranteed to find one that is truly unbiased, a fee-based financial advisor is one that earns his or her income solely based on the fee you pay them, not on commissions from any products they suggest to you, Hamm writes.

By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / May 27, 2013

A woman counts her US dollar bills at a money changer in Jakarta. If a financial advisor works on a commission, that means their income is somewhat reliant upon people signing up to buy specific financial products, Hamm writes.

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It?s easy to find lots of personal finance information online. Most of the time, it?s easy to see how it applies to your life. Frugality tips, for example, are very easy to incorporate into day-to-day living and see exactly how they?re saving you money.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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When you start moving beyond that and start looking at things like insurance and investments, it starts to get less clear, for two reasons.

First of all,?everyone exists in a different personal finance situation.?It?s easy to apply most frugality tips to anyone?s life without knowing exactly how their finances are because, well, they work for everyone.

When it comes to questions about specific insurance policies, how to save for future education expenses, and how to save for retirement,?you can?t simply take every piece of advice out there at face value. Different solutions work better for different people in different situations, and without someone laying out their full financial plan on the table, it?s basically impossible to say what the best choice is.?

Shrink Dreams

Man lying on a sofa while with therapist making notes Career changes become part of one's life story.

Photo by Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Thinkstock

Whenever I describe my career path to people, they seem a little perplexed. ?Journalism to psychiatry?? they say. ?How?d that happen?? I admit, it isn?t a common path. Young people have always left journalism, of course. Many get tired of eking out a living as a freelancer and seek something more stable. Some find that they don?t like the grind of constantly producing copy. And then there are those who are talented and thriving but nevertheless seek greener pastures. In my brief time in journalism, I saw two very talented twentysomething colleagues leave for law school and another depart for graduate school and then become a successful fiction writer.

But leaving journalism to enter a scientific field such as medicine is unusual. In fact, if you?d told me in college that several years later I would walk away from a budding career in journalism, I would have been surprised. Like most aspiring journalists, I had always been interested in politics and policy, and I wanted to be in the thick of it. Like many before me, I wrote for my college newspaper and parlayed my clips into internships and finally a post-college job. The job was at Slate. I was very fortunate.

But there was something amiss. I liked my job in many ways, but I was getting tired of covering daily politics. It was the summer of 2001, and I was writing a news-summary column for Slate called ?The Week/The Spin.? As this assignment compelled me to write about what was on the front pages, I found myself writing every day about the Chandra Levy-Gary Condit affair, one of those gossipy stories that people in Washington, D.C., occupy themselves with in slow news seasons. I found it draining.

Of course, burnout from the steady stream of dish from inside the Beltway didn?t require that I leave my profession. I could have carved out a new beat for myself. But there was something else going on. I had always been fascinated with folks who have trouble making it in society?with the people who mutter to themselves on the street; with the plucky outcasts in the photos of Diane Arbus; with the neurotic, obsessive narrators of Philip Roth novels; and with everyday people who struggle with grief and anger and trauma and loss.

I also had some personal connections to mental illness and its treatment. My paternal grandmother had been permanently institutionalized with schizophrenia when my father was 7 years old. Although I didn?t know her well, the knowledge that an unfathomable insanity had robbed my father of his mother had a strong effect on me. Moreover, my own experiences in psychotherapy had a profound effect on the way I viewed the world. It allowed me to be more open to new opportunities and to people and provided me with tools that helped me continue to grow, long after the treatment ended. Over time, it made me more flexible and optimistic.

It also made me want to practice the treatment myself. I was 26 years old, and I had been working in journalism for several years. I wasn?t sure I wanted to make a career out of mental health care, but I figured that I would regret it if I didn?t at least explore the option. I started by dipping my toe in the water?I became a weekly volunteer at both a suicide hotline and a homeless shelter. About six months later, I took the plunge. I quit my job at Slate and took a full-time position as a floor worker at the shelter where I had been volunteering. I didn?t have any formal qualifications, but I didn?t really need any: The position paid $10 an hour and didn?t require a college degree.

This position was everything you might expect. I dealt with the mundane?homeless people bickering over plastic folding chairs?to the profound?people withdrawing from heroin on a mattress in a corner, or lying stiff and cold on a bunk bed after morning wake-up, having overdosed the previous night. (You can read a five-day diary I wrote for Slate while working this job.) Of course, the job was tough and caused rapid burnout. After about a year, I managed to secure a position as a case manager at a community mental health clinic. I now had regular working hours and a caseload of patients to follow up with. But I had no formal training in mental health, was making just $12 an hour, and with only a bachelor?s degree in political science, I had hit my career ceiling as a mental-health practitioner.

Ah, the degree. As a job requirement, this was new ground for me. In the world of journalism, degrees are emphasized about as much as clear, jargon-free prose is in medical records. When I was an editorial intern at a magazine in college, recent j-school grads would send in r?sum?s looking to be hired. They thought their degree gave them a leg up, but many editors are disdainful of this academic professionalization of what, to them, is a trade. In journalism, you?re only as good as your clips. In the field of health care, the degree means nearly everything. Degrees determine ?scope of practice??who is allowed to perform which treatments?and who?s the boss of whom in a hospital ward or a clinic.

The medical profession?and doctors love to think of themselves as professionals, never as tradesmen?emphasizes the importance not just of degrees, but of hierarchy. In journalism, a certain combination of talent, hard work, and luck can land you a very good job at a very young age. In a way, that had been my story?I had been hired for a full-time staff job at Slate immediately after leaving college, which was an enviable ?get? for a young, ambitious writer. But in health care, no amount of talent and hustle will let you leapfrog the organizational chart. A crack surgical intern is still just an intern, and until he completes his five (or six or seven) years of residency, he will never wield much influence in his field, no matter how precocious he may be.

So, as a social worker at a community mental health clinic, I had a decision to make. I knew that I liked working with the mentally ill. I enjoyed their stories, I felt privileged by the intimacy they granted me, I could sit with their pain, and I felt I had the ability at least to begin to make things better. But, on a clinical level, I needed some real training. I had gotten as far as I was going to get with on-the-job experience, clinical intuition, and my own reading. And on a practical level, I needed some qualifications to put on my r?sum?.

My choices were a master?s degree in social work, a master?s- or doctoral-level psychology degree, or an M.D. The master?s-level choices didn?t really tempt me. Those degrees were useful for private-practice therapists, but I would be excluded from certain research and administrative career paths. As a former journalist unaccustomed to such hierarchical restrictions, I chafed at this. I didn?t want my degree to limit what I could do with my career.

A psychology Ph.D. or Psy.D. had its appeal, but ultimately I chose the long and winding path?the M.D. I was influenced by many things. For one, my therapist in college had been a psychiatrist, and I held him in high esteem. I also liked the practical bent of medical training. Given the choice between spending five to seven years in a narrowly focused doctoral program, burdened with an esoteric thesis, or spending a similar amount of time learning about treatments for all forms of bodily illness, I preferred the latter. But mostly I knew that much of what interested me about the field of mental health was the interplay between the psyche and the body, between the ?science? of psychopharmacology and the ?art? of psychotherapy, between the mind and the brain. At the end of the day, psychiatry is the discipline that truly allows one to straddle these multiple ways of looking at a person?s mental suffering.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=d51ac5077d4f774536a8e1bccb9d5903

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Real-life examples of simple, low-cost work/life efforts ? Business ...

work-life balanceStudies show that work/life programs can help improve employee engagement and productivity. But you may believe effective strategies are expensive and require a big-business budget. ?

Not true. Some larger and midsize employers have created innovative, low-cost work/life practices that even small businesses can adopt. Some examples:

?Autonomy day.? Employees at G5, an Oregon-based software firm, have an annual ?autonomy day? to pursue any project they want?from developing new products to researching new lunch spots. ?

Encouraging volunteerism. UnitedHealthcare hosts VolunteerMatch, an online database of volunteer roles that employees can search by entering their location and type of service they?re interested in.

New experiences, new stories. A New York-based PR firm, Weber Shandwick, gives certain employees a stipend and extra paid week off to experience a new activity that enriches them professionally and personally. Participants contribute to a blog so they can share their experience with colleagues.

Advice for parents-to-be. Professional services firm KPMG hosts a ?My 9 Months? website that offers information, articles and other insights for expectant parents.

Lunch and learn. First Insurance Company offers free ?Balance Life? events in which experts speak on wellness, health, family, finances and other issues.? ?

Personalized perks. Managers at Hilcorp Energy are given leeway (and a budget) to reward employees with personalized bonuses. These have included everything from horseback riding trips to horseshoe throwing lessons.

No travel, no problem. In an industry that typically requires lots of travel, a Seattle-based consulting firm, Slalom Consulting, guarantees employees that all their clients will be local if they want that.

Family affair. Chicago-based cleaning manufacturer PortionPac has several siblings work side-by-side with parents. Workers at the 84-employee company can flex their schedules around family obligations. The company even changed the start and end times of its day shift?at employees? request?so workers could clock out by 3:30 to get kids off the bus. ?

Vegging out. During lunch breaks, employees at Southern Ohio Medical Center can plant and pick tomatoes, kale, broccoli, strawberries and more in the employees? own garden.

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Fashion writer Suzy Menkes to sell her own clothes online

LONDON (Reuters) - Suzy Menkes, doyenne of the fashion press, says she plans to auction off part of her own label-strewn wardrobe at a two-week online sale in July.

The International Herald Tribune fashion editor, a regular on the front row at catwalk shows of the world's top designers from Giorgio Armani to Diane von Furstenberg, will open bids for 80 lots of clothes on July 11 in the Christie's sale.

"I have never thrown anything out of my wardrobe since 1964," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

Menkes will sell coats, dresses, skirts, tops, jackets and accessories that she has laid in a "tomb of trunks" from designers such as Ossie Clark and Emilio Pucci, to Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Lacroix.

"They need to live again and this auction provides the opportunity for them to walk out in the sunshine, to dance the night away and to give someone else the joy that they gave to me," she said.

Estimates for individual lots start at 200 pounds ($300), with the majority on offer for under 1,000 pounds. The star lot of the sale is an Yves Saint Laurent cocktail jacket from his 1980 collection 'le soleil' estimated at up to 2,000 pounds.

Menkes follows in the footsteps of British designer Vivienne Westwood, fashion trendsetter Daphne Guinness, English model Erin O'Connor and Italian fashion writer Anna Piaggi by selling much of her collection via a single-owner auction at Christie's.

The New York Times Co, which owns the Herald Tribune said earlier this year that it would be rebranding the paper as the International New York Times.

($1 = 0.6651 British pounds)

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fashion-writer-suzy-menkes-sell-her-own-clothes-195300833.html

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NY statue sought for Hollywood cult figure Ed Wood

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) ? A man in upstate New York wants to erect a statue to the Hollywood film director considered by some critics to be the worst of all time.

Ed Wood was born in 1924 in Poughkeepsie, where he became attracted to horror and science fiction films shown at the city's movie theaters. After World War II, Wood moved to Hollywood to make films.

His low-budget, campy movies were universally panned, but have now achieved cult status. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" tops many lists as the worst film ever made. Wood died in 1978.

Johnny Depp portrayed the filmmaker in the 1994 film, "Ed Wood."

The Poughkeepsie Journal reports (http://pojonews.co/13hGU8B ) that Joe Mendillo is attempting to raise funds to commission and build a life-size bronze statue of Wood in the city.

___

Information from: Poughkeepsie Journal, http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-statue-sought-hollywood-cult-figure-ed-wood-124731447.html

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Immigration status affects educational achievement

Immigration status affects educational achievement [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Matthew Swayne
mls29@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

Mexican American mothers' formal immigration status affects the educational achievement of their children and even their grandchildren, according to a study written by Penn State and University of California, Irvine, sociologists and released by the US2010 Project at Brown University. Based on a large-scale survey of second-generation Mexican young adults in Los Angeles, the study finds that those whose mothers were authorized immigrants or U.S. citizens averaged more than two years more schooling than those whose mothers entered the country illegally. The researchers estimate that more than a third of the education gap between third-generation Mexicans and native whites is attributable to the legacy effects of grandparents' unauthorized status.

"The fact that Mexican-origin children appear to fall behind most of the rest of the population in terms of educational attainment has long been a concern of researchers and policy-makers," said James Bachmeier, research associate, Population Research Institute, Penn State. "This report indicates that this derives in large part from the fact that many of these children are raised in families in which one or both parents lack legal status." This study and future studies may help guide the national debate on immigration reform, said Bachmeier, who worked with Jennifer Van Hook, director of Population Research Institute and professor of sociology and demography, and Mark Leach, former assistant professor of rural sociology and demography, both of Penn State.

"The extent to which parental legal status shapes the opportunities of U.S.-born children warrants more attention in the future, especially as Congress discusses comprehensive immigration reform," said Bachmeier.

According to the study, legalization may help the children and even grandchildren of immigrants increase their educational attainment.

"The implication of our findings is that clear pathways to legalization can boost Mexican American educational attainment even as late as the third generation," said Frank D. Bean, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. "Legislation providing the possibility of entry into full societal membership helps not only the immigrants themselves but also their children and their children's children."

The study looked closely at the trajectories of parental immigration status. In 10 percent of cases, the mother was U.S.-born but married to an immigrant spouse, and about 44 percent entered the country legally. It is in comparison to the children of these mothers that the researchers found a disadvantage for those whose mothers were unauthorized immigrants -- about one third of mothers.

"There are nearly 4 million children of Mexican immigrants living in this country, most of them born here," said Bean. "At present, with few pathways for their parents' legalization, they live too long in the shadows. Because America's future labor force depends so heavily on the children of immigrants, we all have a stake in their progress."

###

Susan K. Brown, associate professor of sociology, University of California, Irvine, also worked on the report.

Funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and Brown University, the US 2010 research project examines changes in American society in the recent past.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Immigration status affects educational achievement [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Matthew Swayne
mls29@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

Mexican American mothers' formal immigration status affects the educational achievement of their children and even their grandchildren, according to a study written by Penn State and University of California, Irvine, sociologists and released by the US2010 Project at Brown University. Based on a large-scale survey of second-generation Mexican young adults in Los Angeles, the study finds that those whose mothers were authorized immigrants or U.S. citizens averaged more than two years more schooling than those whose mothers entered the country illegally. The researchers estimate that more than a third of the education gap between third-generation Mexicans and native whites is attributable to the legacy effects of grandparents' unauthorized status.

"The fact that Mexican-origin children appear to fall behind most of the rest of the population in terms of educational attainment has long been a concern of researchers and policy-makers," said James Bachmeier, research associate, Population Research Institute, Penn State. "This report indicates that this derives in large part from the fact that many of these children are raised in families in which one or both parents lack legal status." This study and future studies may help guide the national debate on immigration reform, said Bachmeier, who worked with Jennifer Van Hook, director of Population Research Institute and professor of sociology and demography, and Mark Leach, former assistant professor of rural sociology and demography, both of Penn State.

"The extent to which parental legal status shapes the opportunities of U.S.-born children warrants more attention in the future, especially as Congress discusses comprehensive immigration reform," said Bachmeier.

According to the study, legalization may help the children and even grandchildren of immigrants increase their educational attainment.

"The implication of our findings is that clear pathways to legalization can boost Mexican American educational attainment even as late as the third generation," said Frank D. Bean, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. "Legislation providing the possibility of entry into full societal membership helps not only the immigrants themselves but also their children and their children's children."

The study looked closely at the trajectories of parental immigration status. In 10 percent of cases, the mother was U.S.-born but married to an immigrant spouse, and about 44 percent entered the country legally. It is in comparison to the children of these mothers that the researchers found a disadvantage for those whose mothers were unauthorized immigrants -- about one third of mothers.

"There are nearly 4 million children of Mexican immigrants living in this country, most of them born here," said Bean. "At present, with few pathways for their parents' legalization, they live too long in the shadows. Because America's future labor force depends so heavily on the children of immigrants, we all have a stake in their progress."

###

Susan K. Brown, associate professor of sociology, University of California, Irvine, also worked on the report.

Funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and Brown University, the US 2010 research project examines changes in American society in the recent past.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/ps-isa052813.php

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Senator McCain met with rebels in Syria on Monday: spokesman

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator John McCain, a former presidential candidate and one of the loudest voices calling for military aid to the Syrian opposition, met with some of the rebels during a surprise visit to the war-torn country on Monday, his spokesman said.

Spokesman Brian Rogers confirmed McCain's meeting with the rebels, but declined to give any details about the visit, which came a week after a U.S. Senate panel voted overwhelmingly to send weapons to forces fighting the Syrian government.

General Salem Idris, who leads the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, told the Daily Beast in an interview that McCain's visit came at a critical time for the rebels, who have stepped up their calls for U.S. support, including heavy weapons, creation of a no-fly zone and air strikes.

"The visit of Senator McCain to Syria is very important and very useful especially at this time," the publication quoted Idris as saying. "We need American help to have change on the ground; we are now in a very critical situation."

McCain entered Syria from the country's border with Turkey and stayed there for several hours before returning to Turkey, according to the report. It said McCain met with assembled leaders of Free Syrian Army units in both Turkey and Syria.

McCain, who made a similar visit to Libya early in that conflict, called for U.S. military aid to the forces opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a Time magazine column earlier this month, arguing that the cost of inaction outweighed the cost of intervention.

"The U.S. does not have to act alone, put boots on the ground or destroy every Syrian air-defense system to make a difference," McCain wrote, arguing that training for the rebels, targeted air strikes and the stationing of Patriot missiles just across the border would help change the current dynamic.

McCain recalled his support for a U.S.-led effort under then President Bill Clinton to stop mass atrocities in Bosnia two decades ago and said the United States was uniquely positioned to help in Syria as well.

"Taking these steps would save innocent lives, give the moderate opposition a better chance to succeed and eventually provide security and responsible governance in Syria after Assad," he wrote in the Time magazine article. "However, the longer we wait, the worse the situation gets."

The Obama administration has increased humanitarian aid, but has stopped short of providing lethal assistance to Syrian opposition forces. President Barack Obama has resisted pressure to deepen U.S. involvement in Syria's civil war, wary of getting U.S. forces embroiled in another ground war just as American troops are preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan.

The Pentagon remains concerned about Assad's ability to shoot down enemy aircraft with surface-to-air missiles, particularly in a sustained campaign.

The Pentagon estimates than Syria has five times more air defenses than those that existed in Libya, where the United States helped establish a no-fly zone in 2011. They are also far more densely packed and sophisticated.

In Libya, there were no Western casualties. But the risks are higher in Syria and it's unclear whether the war-weary American public - exhausted by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan - would tolerate U.S. casualties.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senator-mccain-met-rebels-syria-monday-spokesman-183001895.html

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Factors To Consider When Choosing A Limo Service From Nj To Nyc

When you are planning of renting a limo for your trip from New Jersey to New York City, there will a whole lot of companies available at your service. But, the goal is to have a smooth, comfortable, and classy ride in that giant vehicle, which requires you to settle for the best company. Here are a few help tips in shortlisting the right Limo rental service company.

If you are planning to hire a limo service NJ to NYC for an occasion that is fast approaching, there are a number of issues that you must consider. It is without doubt that you will need to plan in advance as the process can be challenging. There are many types of limos such as the SUV Hummer, Rolls Royce, Escalade, Super stretch and the standard stretch. Each of these comes in a variety of sizes and colors. Therefore, you will need to decide which is the best for your event. While making the decision, you will have to consider the number of people that can be accommodated by the limo.

You should be aware that there are many limo services and if you think that their services are similar, then you are wrong. Each of the limo company has different features, services and rates. Therefore, you should take a few moments to get the necessary details before booking limo services with a particular company. Avoid choosing the limo company that is offering the lowest rates. Find out the condition of the company's limo as well as the service that they are likely to offer. When hiring the limo, you will need to consider not only the rates but also the services and features that are provided to you.

Ensure that you personally visit the limo company that you intend to engage .Ask for the number of the proprietor or senior staff whom you can contact in case of anything going wrong. Ensure that the person get the details such as the time, pickup point and destination. Ask all the necessary questions concerning the company and the services they provide. For instance you should confirm about the condition of its fleet and whether they have any contingency arrangements in case of the limo breaking down. Find out about the features and amenities that are in their limo, the cost, the minimum and the maximum hours required, payment type and everything that is included in the package.

Confirm about the driver of the limo to ensure that you get a professional and clean one. Ensure that the driver knows the details of the time, pickup point and destination. Confirm if the driver will be in uniform and what roles he is supposed to play during the ride. Ensure that you get all the details before signing any contract with the limo service company. Certainly you would not be to end up not knowing some of the companys rules after you have already signed the contract with them. Read all the details in the contract before signing on the dotted line. When the day of the event draws near, probably one week earlier, make a visit to the limo company to ensure that everything is in order. Ask to see the limo which you will be using to ensure that it is in good condition. When you follow these guidelines, it will be easy for you to choose the best limo service NJ to NYC.

About the Author:
Author of the article is associated with NY Travel Limo DBA, the limousine rental company providing luxury sedans and stretch limousines for weddings, proms, city tours, airport transfers, and more.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Factors-To-Consider-When-Choosing-A-Limo-Service-From-Nj-To-Nyc/4812936

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FACT CHECK: Kerry dishes some iffy claims abroad (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/308526308?client_source=feed&format=rss

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