encystment negotiation: May 2013

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Myanmar leader making landmark White House visit

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama, left, stands next to Myanmar President Thein Sein during a group photo session at the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Thein Sein?s historic White House visit next week is the culmination of U.S. outreach to a former pariah regime. That?s been based on a principle of taking ?action for action? by deepening ties in response to democratic reforms. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former general Thein Sein on Monday becomes the first Myanmar president to be welcomed to the White House in almost 47 years, crowning a dramatic diplomatic rehabilitation for his nation after years of international isolation.

But activists are angry about President Barack Obama hosting Thein Sein, and lawmakers are wary. The Myanmar leader has led the shift from decades of direct military rule, but has stalled on some reform commitments and failed to stop bloody outbursts of ethnic violence.

Thein Sein previously served in a repressive junta, and his meetings at the White House and Congress would have been all-but-impossible before he took the helm of a nominally civilian government in 2011. His name was only deleted from a blacklist barring travel to the U.S. last September.

He arrived in Washington Saturday, six months after Obama made history with an unprecedented U.S. presidential visit to the country also known as Burma. The administration's outreach to Myanmar's generals has provided an important incentive for the military to loosen controls on citizens and reduce dependence on China.

Myanmar has been rewarded by relaxation of tough economic sanctions, and Thein Sein will be addressing U.S. businessmen keen to capitalize on the opening of one of Asia's few untapped markets.

"President Thein Sein's visit underscores President Obama's commitment to supporting and assisting those governments that make the important decision to embrace reform," the White House said in its announcement of Monday's visit.

It will be the first by a Myanmar leader since a September 1966 visit by Ne Win, an independence hero-turned dictator, who began the nation's descent from regional rice bowl to economic basket case. Thein Sein visited New York last September for the U.N. General Assembly but did not come to Washington.

The U.S. last month announced it is considering duty-free access for Myanmar to U.S. markets, and there could be progress Monday toward a bilateral trade and investment framework agreement.

The most significant outcome of Thein Sein's trip could be a symbolic one. Obama is expected to use "Myanmar" ? the country name adopted by the junta in 1989 ? when he meets Thein Sein. However, the U.S. will keep using "Burma" in official documents.

Thein Sein will be accorded the protocol due to a foreign president, yet his Washington welcome will pale next to that granted last September to Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who met Obama and was presented by Congress with the highest civilian award it can bestow.

Human rights activists and Myanmar campaigners have sharply criticized the administration for inviting Thein Sein, arguing it sends the wrong message and wastes leverage to press for further democratic change. The administration says it is important to signal U.S. support for his reform agenda, likely still opposed by military hardliners.

Ahead of the trip, Myanmar released at least 19 political prisoners in what has become a pattern for amnesties that coincide with high-profile international meetings as a way of highlighting the government's benevolent policies. Right groups say at least 160 political detainees are still held.

The government has permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its notorious prisons for the first time in seven years. But hasn't allowed adequate humanitarian access to conflict zones where tens of thousands have been displaced. Authorities have failed to stop, and may have abetted in some cases, an explosion in communal violence that has killed hundreds and led to segregation of Muslim communities.

The U.S. Campaign for Burma said Thein Sein's trip follows a troubling downward trend in Myanmar, and that "instead of honoring an abusive leader" the U.S. should tie its concessions to conditions.

____

Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-20-US-Myanmar/id-d98c16df76f4493b9bf1727e67e02e7a

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Measles surges in UK years after flawed research

LONDON (AP) ? More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease.

This year, the U.K. has had more than 1,200 cases of measles, after a record number of nearly 2,000 cases last year. The country once recorded only several dozen cases every year. It now ranks second in Europe, behind only Romania.

Last month, emergency vaccination clinics were held every weekend in Wales, the epicenter of the outbreak. Immunization drives have also started elsewhere in the country, with officials aiming to reach 1 million children aged 10 to 16.

"This is the legacy of the Wakefield scare," said Dr. David Elliman, spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, referring to a paper published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues that is widely rejected by scientists.

That work suggested a link between autism and the combined childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, called the MMR. Several large scientific studies failed to find any connection, the theory was rejected by at least a dozen major U.K. medical groups and the paper was eventually retracted by the journal that published it.

Britain's top medical board stripped Wakefield of the right to practice medicine in the U.K., ruling that he and two of his colleagues showed a "callous disregard" for the children in the study, subjecting them to unnecessary, invasive tests. As part of his research, Wakefield took blood samples from children at his son's birthday party, paying them about 5 pounds each ($7.60), and later joked about the incident.

Still, MMR immunization rates plummeted across the U.K. as fearful parents abandoned the vaccine ? from rates over 90 percent to 54 percent. Wakefield has won support from parents suspicious of vaccines, including Hollywood celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, who has an autistic son.

Nearly 15 years later, the rumors about MMR are still having an impact. Now there's "this group of older children who have never been immunized who are a large pool of infections," Elliman said.

The majority of those getting sick in the U.K. ? including a significant number of older children and teens ? had never been vaccinated. Almost 20 of the more than 100 seriously ill children have been hospitalized and 15 have suffered complications including pneumonia and meningitis. One adult with measles has died, though it's unclear if it was the disease that killed him.

The first measles vaccines were introduced in the 1960s, which dramatically cut cases of the rash-causing illness. Since 2001, measles deaths have dropped by about 70 percent worldwide; Cambodia recently marked more than a year without a single case.

Globally, though, measles is still one of the leading causes of death in children under 5 and kills more than 150,000 people every year, mostly in developing countries. Measles is highly contagious and is spread by coughing, sneezing and close personal contact with infected people; symptoms include a fever, cough, and a rash on the face.

Across the U.K., about 90 percent of children under 5 are vaccinated against measles and have received the necessary two doses of the vaccine. But among children now aged 10 to 16, the vaccination rate is slightly below 50 percent in some regions.

To stop measles outbreaks, more than 95 percent of children need to be fully immunized. In some parts of the U.K., the rate is still below 80 percent.

Unlike in the United States, where most states require children to be vaccinated against measles before starting school, no such regulations exist in Britain. Parents are advised to have their children immunized, but Britain's Department of Health said it had no plans to consider introducing mandatory vaccination.

Last year, there were 55 reported cases of measles in the United States, where the measles vaccination rate is above 90 percent. So far this year, there have been 22 cases, including three that were traced to Britain. In previous years, the U.K. has sometimes exported more cases of measles to the U.S. than some countries in Africa.

Portia Ncube, a health worker at an East London clinic, said the struggle to convince parents to get the MMR shot is being helped by the measles epidemic in Wales.

"They see what's happening in Wales, so some of them are now sensible enough to come in and get their children vaccinated," she said.

Clinic patient Ellen Christensen, mother of an infant son, acknowledged she had previously had some "irrational qualms" about the MMR vaccine.

"But after reading more about it, I know now that immunization is not only good for your own child, it's good for everyone," she said.

___

Online:

Public Health England's Measles website:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Measles/

___

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/measles-surges-uk-years-flawed-research-143443769.html

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Gov. Dayton asks Senate to reject confirmation of tax court judge (Star Tribune)

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Split-second choice ended with NY student dead

NEW YORK (AP) ? The college student was being held in a headlock by a masked intruder with a loaded gun to her head, police said. Then the gunman took aim at an officer.

A moment later both Hofstra University junior Andrea Rebello and the intruder were dead ? killed after a split-second decision that is perhaps the most harrowing in law enforcement: when to pull the trigger.

"The big question is, how do you know, when someone's pointing a gun at you, whether you should keep talking to them, or shoot?" said Michele Galietta, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who helps train police officers. "That's what makes the job of an officer amazingly difficult."

She spoke Sunday as Hofstra University students honored Rebello, a popular 21-year-old public relations major, by wearing white ribbons at their graduation ceremony.

Rebello's funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Sleepy Hollow, north of New York City.

The news that she died from a police bullet came as "a second shock" for the already devastated family, said Henry Santos, Rebello's godfather.

Her life ended in the seconds that forced the veteran police officer to make a fatal decision, but the questions surrounding the student's death are just beginning, along with an internal investigation by the Nassau County Police Department.

Rebello and the intruder, Dalton Smith, died early Friday when the officer fired eight shots, hitting him seven times and her once in the head, according to county homicide squad Lt. John Azzata.

With a gun pointed at her, Smith "kept saying, 'I'm going to kill her,' and then he pointed the gun at the police officer," according to Azzata.

The officer acted quickly, saying later that he believed his and Rebello's lives were in danger, according to authorities.

No doubt, he was acting to try to save lives ? his own and that of the young woman, Galietta said.

"What we're asking the cop to anticipate is, 'What is going on in the suspect's mind at the moment?'" she said. "We're always trying to de-escalate, to contain a situation, but the issue of safety comes in first, and that's the evaluation the officer has to make."

Eugene O'Donnell, a former New York City police officer and professor of law and police studies at John Jay College, said the crucial issue may be whether or not police had deemed it a hostage situation. If so, he said, there are protocols police follow to buy time, slow down, isolate and assess.

But O'Donnell said the officers may have had few options because of "an eyeball to eyeball confrontation between the officer and the offender."

"It may have been too fluid to deteriorate for the officers to do anything else," O'Donnell said. "It underscores that there's no two of these that are exactly alike."

Police tactical manuals are meant to assist officers in making the best decision possible, but in the end, "they're not 100 percent foolproof," Galietta said. "In a situation like that, you can follow procedure, and it doesn't mean it comes out perfectly."

Hofstra student John Kourtessis told the New York Post that he'd gone to a bar with Rebello and a few other friends to celebrate the end of school. When they got back to Rebello's house, she asked him to move his car and he went upstairs to get his keys.

When he came back down, he said, Smith was there. He said Smith kept talking about "the Russian guy," insisting the house's residents owed a Russian man money and that he was outside waiting.

"He was saying ... that he just needed us to cooperate. I said, 'Listen, we have all this money here.'"

Kourtessis said the students offered Smith computers, jewelry and other items from the house but that Smith kept demanding more money.

The officer who fired the shots is an eight-year NYPD veteran and has been with Nassau County police for 12 years.

He is now out on sick leave, Azzata said.

Procedurally, the Nassau County district attorney would determine whether an officer's use of deadly force was justified, O'Donnell said. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said Monday it is monitoring the ongoing police investigation.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Eltman in Mineola, N.Y., and Jake Pearson in New York City contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/split-second-choice-ended-ny-student-dead-062837730.html

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Nintendo partners with Best Buy so you can play unreleased Wii U games in store during E3 (video)

There's nothing more frustrating than watching a product or service get announced, then having to wait an age to try it out. Nintendo hears that, and has announced via Nintendo Direct, that during E3 week, Best Buy will have playable demos of as-yet released Wii U games in 100 stores across the US and Canada. Given that no one was likely expecting any new hardware from the firm, it's clear the gaming stalwart is looking for other ways to stir-up some interest. There's no mention of titles, so we're left to assume they'd be the games announced at the show. Either way, scratch out that week in June to make sure you find out first hand. Scrub right to the end of the video past the break to see the announcement for yourself.

Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo

Comments

Via: Joystiq

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/19/nintendo-partners-best-buy-demo-games/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Kree Harrison: So Happy for Candice Glover!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/kree-harrison-so-happy-for-candice-glover/

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Sharks fined $100,000 for GM's comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? The NHL fined the San Jose Sharks $100,000 on Saturday for general manager Doug Wilson's public comments about forward Raffi Torres' suspension.

The NHL said the fine was issued for violation of rules prohibiting formal team statements to the media during the 48-hour period following a disciplinary decision. The rule calls for an automatic $25,000 fine, and the Sharks were docked an additional $75,000 under an article in the league's constitution because of the "inappropriate nature of the comments."

Torres was suspended for the rest of San Jose's second-round playoff series against Los Angeles on Thursday for an illegal check to the head of Kings forward Jarret Stoll during Game 1. The Kings took a 2-0 lead into Game 3 on Saturday night in San Jose.

Wilson said Friday that the organization strongly disagreed with the NHL's decision to suspend Torres.

"It is abundantly clear that this was a clean hockey hit," Wilson said in a statement. "As noted by the NHL, Raffi's initial point of contact was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit on an opponent who was playing the puck. He did not leave his feet or elevate, he kept his shoulder tucked and elbow down at his side, and he was gliding ? not skating or charging."

It is the fourth career suspension for Torres, who is considered a repeat offender in dangerous hits under the league's collective bargaining agreement.

Stoll was bent forward while trying to play a bouncing puck when Torres approached him from the side for a violent hit in Game 1 on Tuesday night. Stoll's head snapped back violently before he fell forward onto the ice.

In an explanatory video released by Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's senior vice president of player safety, he said Stoll's head was "the principal point of contact" in the hit, creating grounds for suspension. Although Torres initially made contact with Stoll's right shoulder, Shanahan ruled that the shoulder hit was only a glancing blow, as evidenced by the direction both players traveled after the contact.

Wilson said the head must be targeted to violate Rule 48.1 and there is no evidence that Torres targeted Stoll's head. Wilson also said Stoll put himself in a vulnerable position just before the hit to play a bouncing puck.

"It appears that the NHL has not only made an inappropriate application of this rule but is trying to make an example out of a player who is being judged on past events, one who has changed his game dramatically this season and taken only six minor penalties in 39 games," Wilson said.

While playing for Phoenix last season, Torres received a 21-game suspension ? initially 25 games ? for a high hit on Chicago star Marian Hossa in the first round of the playoffs. Torres was suspended for two games in January 2012 for charging Minnesota defenseman Nate Prosser, and he sat out four games in April 2011 for a hit to the head of Edmonton's Jordan Eberle while playing for Vancouver.

Stoll missed Game 2 and there is no timetable for his return.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharks-fined-100-000-gms-comments-220000048.html

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The 21 Habits of Highly Happy People - The Self Improvement Blog

By Judy Widener ?

Researchers say that happiness is a result of thoughts and activities that create a sense of inner peace.

Here are 21 behaviors that have been found to enhance feelings of happiness. The list is broken down into general two categories: things to do, and things to stop doing.

The first group consists of 9 things to stop doing, or, behaviors to dump:

Dump grudges. Holding onto a grudge keeps you in a negative state of resentment, anger and hurt that preclude happiness. Letting go of a grudge opens up more space for positive emotions to fill in.

Dump irritations. Most of today?s burning issues will be irrelevant a year, a month, or even a day from now. Let life?s little annoyances roll off your back; forget them as fast as you can.

Dump problems. Scratch the word ?problem? from your internal dictionary, replacing it with ?challenge? or ?new opportunity to improve my life?.

Dump gossip. The daily dish around the water cooler is tempting, but gossiping about others showers you with negativity, and your body soaks it up. Instead, stick with positive comments.

Dump excuses. It?s easy to blame others for your life?s oopsies. But it?s a slippery slope into a mud pit of victimhood. Instead, take responsibility for your faux pas and use the opportunity to learn, grow and evolve yourself.

Dump lying. Every time you lie, your stress levels increase and your self-esteem crumbles a bit more. Plus, when others find out you lied, your relationships suffer. Telling the truth boosts your confidence and allows others to build trust in you.

Dump comparisons. Your life is unique, so by definition, there?s no way to compare your worth or performance to anyone else?s. Your success is measured by your progress, not others?.

Dump needing approval. It?s crucial to let your dreams and desires guide your decisions. Staying true to your heart will get you where you want to be. Needing the approval of others is only a frustrating waste of time because you?ll never do things exactly the way others think you should.

Dump clutter. It drains your precious energy every time you look at it or even think about it. Clutter is a major source of stress, anxiety, frustration, distraction and guilt, so purge your home and office of paper, chachkis and other superfluous stuff and you?ll feel lighter, more free and more peaceful.

The second list includes 12 things to start doing:

Be here now. Immerse yourself in what you?re doing right now. Instead of ruminating on sad memories or worrying about the future, savor the present moment.

Seek happy people. Misery loves company, and by the same token, happiness loves company, too. So choose friends who are generally happy, and you?ll be happier by osmosis.

Be kinder. When you?re kind, your brain produces feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters like serotonin and you?ll foster a more positive attitude and stronger relationships.

Appreciate more. Being thankful reduces stress, increases positive emotions, and helps you reach your goals. Appreciation is most powerful when you keep a written list and add to it every day.

Dream bigger. You?re more likely to accomplish your goals when you open up the realm of possibilities. Rather than limiting yourself, bigger dreams expand your mind and give you the power and opportunity to achieve more of what you desire.

Listen deeply. Listening makes you smarter and more peaceful. You soak up the wisdom of others while quieting your own mind. Instead of rushing to be the next talker, you?ll feel content as you broaden your perspectives.

Nurture relationships. Positive social relationships are a key to happiness, so prioritize visiting with those you love.

Be in control. Avoid letting other people dictate the way you live. Instead, controlling your own life is a confidence booster that allows you to fulfill your desires and dreams.

Accept what can?t be changed. Everything can?t be perfect and fair, so recognize what you don?t have the power to change. Instead, invest your energy in improving what you can.

Stick with a routine. Getting up at the same time every day (preferably early) maximizes your circadian rhythm, giving you more energy and focus while enhancing your productivity.

Meditate. Even a brief meditation will focus your mind, decrease stress and cultivate inner peace. Meditation also creates physical changes in your brain that make you happier.

Take care of your body. This means eat well and exercise. What you eat affects your mood and energy levels in both the short and long term. Healthy eating puts your body and brain in a focused, happy state, but eating junk foods leads to junk thoughts, sluggishness and illness. Exercise is a tool to lose weight, prevent disease, and live longer, but these are future benefits. Instead, enjoy the immediate benefits of boosted chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which uplift your mood while kicking stress and depression.

There you have it, the 21 habits of highly happy people.

Today?s Coaching Questions: Are you willing to take on one new behavior every day for 3 weeks? Or, try one new behavior until it becomes a true habit?

Judy Widener is a Certified Life Coach and author of Power For A Lifetime: Tools You Customize to Build Your Personal Power Every Day Of Your Life. You can sign up for Discovering Your Values, a 5-day e-course at no cost at http://www.myinnerfrontiers.com. Her passion is assisting her clients to discover what is most important to them, then to create more balance and satisfaction in their lives. She offers a comprehensive program that teaches clients simple ways to build their personal power and overcome obstacles to achieving their dreams. Judy has coached more than 600 people over the past 13 years. Her website is http://www.myinnerfrontiers.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judy_Widener
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-21-Habits-of-Highly-Happy-People&id=7707219

Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/self-improvement-tips/the-21-habits-of-highly-happy-people/

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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Lose Belly Fat With Dr Kareem Samhouri - Health & Fitness Emporium

About Axel Mercado

Axel Mercado is a Health and Fitness Coach. He's a certified Physician Assistant (PA-C) with a Master?s degree in Public Health (MPH) and a Bachelor?s (BS) degree in Physician Assistant Studies. He practices internal medicine, specializing in wound management. As a Health and Fitness Coach, Primary Care cllinician, and internist, he has helped hundred?s of individuals achieve their weight and health goals.

Source: http://www.healthandfitnessemporium.com/lose-belly-fat-with-dr-kareem-samhouri-giant-set-full-throttle-fat-loss/

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Bose VideoWave Entertainment System II (55-Inch)

When we reviewed the original Bose VideoWave Entertainment System back in 2011, we were blown away by its amazing Wave Tunnel sound system and its outstanding video performance. We were less impressed with its $5,000+ price and lack of networking capabilities, but neither gripe prevented us from giving it an Editors' Choice award. With the new VideoWave II Entertainment System, the folks at Bose took the unique 16-speaker subsystem and audio processing technology and paired it with a crisp 55-inch Samsung LCD panel with LED backlighting. The company also hung a hefty $5,999 (list) price tag on it. Black levels are not quite as dark as they were the first time around, and there's still no Web connectivity, but the VideoWave II merits our Editors' Choice for high-end big-screen HDTVs nevertheless. It's literally the best sounding TV you can buy, and one where you don't need a separate home theater speaker system.

Design and Features
Design-wise, the VideoWave II looks almost identical to its predecessor. The original model used CCFL backlighting and had a 6-inch deep cabinet that weighed in at an astounding 99 pounds (for the 46-inch model). This time around the VideoWave II is outfitted with LED backlighting and is slightly thinner, but at 5.5 inches and 118 pounds it is far from svelte. That's because in addition to a 55-inch, 1,920-by-1,080 panel, the cabinet houses an intricate internal speaker configuration consisting of six woofers, 10 tweeters, a Wave Tunnel, and a signal processing unit. The screen includes a semi-gloss coating that keeps glare and reflections to a minimum.

The matte black cabinet sports 1.5-inch black bezels and a band of silver trim around its perimeter. There are no buttons or I/O ports on the cabinet, only a power cord and a proprietary cable that connects the TV to the included console box. The console is also matte black with silver trim and measures 3.1 by 16.5 by 9.5 (HWD) inches. It holds all of the VideoWave's ports, including four HDMI inputs (one is on the front), two component A/V inputs, a composite A/V input, two USB ports (one on the front), and a headphone jack. As with the original model, the VideoWave II comes with an iPod/iPhone dock, although you'll need Apple's $29 Lightning-to-30-pin Adapter if you have one of the latest iPod touch or iPhone models. (iPads are not supported.)

The 5.5-inch click pad remote is pretty much identical to the original remote with one exception: The top now sports a silver finish. There are only eight buttons (Power, Volume Up/Down, Channel Up/Down, Mute, Input, and Return), plus a four-way rocker that sits in the middle of a touch-sensitive click pad. The Control Frame user interface hasn't changed much, either; you use the click pad to navigate the icons that are displayed around the perimeter of the screen. You'll have to spend a little time with the remote to get the hang of it, but once you do you'll appreciate the sheer simplicity of the on-screen menus. This time around the folks at Bose made the Control Frame user-customizable, so you can remove rarely used control icons and replace them with your own frequently used controls. The Control Frame changes according to the device being accessed; the TV gets its own menu icons, as do Blu-ray players, iPods, and iPhones.

Picture settings include three display modes (Bright, Normal, and Dark). Bose calibrates each set at its facility and intentionally makes it difficult to drill down to more specific controls to prevent accidental changes. By pressing and holding the OK button on the remote you can adjust brightness, contrast, color, tint, sharpness, and color temperature levels. More advanced settings can be accessed by pressing OK again, including gamma levels, RGB gain and cut settings, and Motion Smoothing (a new addition this time around).

When you buy the VideoWave II, you also get the Bose White Glove treatment, which includes delivery and setup of your HDTV. The company will hook the set up to your existing A/V components, configure the audio to your specific room using proprietary ADAPTiQ calibration system (which you keep for future use, in case you move the set later), program your remote, and give you a complete product tour. For an additional $250, Bose will professionally wall mount the TV and hide whatever cabling is needed. The VideoWave II is covered by a two-year warranty.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/5UAdCekNeu8/0,2817,2418891,00.asp

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Know where the water supply shutoff valves are located before you ...

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For GOP, scandals could be an electoral plus - or minus (cbsnews)

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Mars rover Opportunity examines clay clues in rock

May 18, 2013 ? NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York" with examination of a rock intensely altered by water.

The fractured rock, called "Esperance," provides evidence about a wet ancient environment possibly favorable for life. The mission's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., said, "Esperance was so important, we committed several weeks to getting this one measurement of it, even though we knew the clock was ticking."

The mission's engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., had set this week as a deadline for starting a drive toward "Solander Point," where the team plans to keep Opportunity working during its next Martian winter.

"What's so special about Esperance is that there was enough water not only for reactions that produced clay minerals, but also enough to flush out ions set loose by those reactions, so that Opportunity can clearly see the alteration," said Scott McLennan of the State University of New York, Stony Brook, a long-term planner for Opportunity's science team.

This rock's composition is unlike any other Opportunity has investigated during nine years on Mars -- higher in aluminum and silica, lower in calcium and iron.

The next destination, Solander Point, and the area Opportunity is leaving, Cape York, both are segments of the rim of Endeavour Crater, which spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) across. The planned driving route to Solander Point is about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers). Cape York has been Opportunity's home since the rover arrived at the western edge of Endeavour in mid-2011 after a two-year trek from a smaller crater.

"Based on our current solar-array dust models, we intend to reach an area of 15 degrees northerly tilt before Opportunity's sixth Martian winter," said JPL's Scott Lever, mission manager. "Solander Point gives us that tilt and may allow us to move around quite a bit for winter science observations."

Northerly tilt increases output from the rover's solar panels during southern-hemisphere winter. Daily sunshine for Opportunity will reach winter minimum in February 2014. The rover needs to be on a favorable slope well before then.

The first drive away from Esperance covered 81.7 feet (24.9 meters) on May 14. Three days earlier, Opportunity finished exposing a patch of the rock's interior with the rock abrasion tool. The team used a camera and spectrometer on the robotic arm to examine Esperance.

The team identified Esperance while exploring a portion of Cape York where the Compact Reconnaissance Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had detected a clay mineral. Clays typically form in wet environments that are not harshly acidic. For years, Opportunity had been finding evidence for ancient wet environments that were very acidic. The CRISM findings prompted the rover team to investigate the area where clay had been detected from orbit. There, they found an outcrop called "Whitewater Lake," containing a small amount of clay from alteration by exposure to water.

"There appears to have been extensive, but weak, alteration of Whitewater Lake, but intense alteration of Esperance along fractures that provided conduits for fluid flow," Squyres said. "Water that moved through fractures during this rock's history would have provided more favorable conditions for biology than any other wet environment recorded in rocks Opportunity has seen."

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project launched Opportunity to Mars on July 7, 2003, about a month after its twin rover, Spirit. Both were sent for three-month prime missions to study the history of wet environments on ancient Mars and continued working in extended missions. Spirit ceased operations in 2010.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For more about Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov . You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/LelUYtxz7xM/130518100641.htm

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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Long-Term Study Links Bad Relationships and Depression | NLP ...

images Even though so much research is dedicated to promoting chemical imbalances as the cause of depression, some research efforts still support the logical link between your actual life and your mood.

Analyzing data from nearly 5000 participants, with a follow up at 10 years, researchers have scientifically established what most people know intuitively. If your relationships are bad, your mood is likely to follow.

New information coming out of the University of Michigan makes the link. ?Our study shows that the quality of social relationships is a significant risk factor for major depression,? says psychiatrist Alan Teo, MD, of the University of Michigan. ?This is the first time that a study has identified this link in the general population.?

Relationship strain, feelings of isolation in relationships, a lack of support and other issues among spouses, families and friends contribute to depression. It isn?t the quantity of relationships that is important, according to the research, but the quality.

The quality of your relationships is a determining factor in your mental health

?The magnitude of these results is similar to the well-established relationship between biological risk factors and cardiovascular disease,? Teo says. ?What that means is that if we can teach people how to improve the quality of their relationships, we may be able to prevent or reduce the devastating effects of clinical depression.?

What can you do to improve the quality of your relationships and increase your mood? Here are some ideas:

Forget your mood and focus on your relationships

Which are the most important relationships in your life? What is wonderful about them? What is missing? What steps can you take to improve them, beyond passively wishing that other people will magically change?

Learn real relationship skills

Do you know how to take another person?s perspective? Do you understand how to look at a relationship from a neutral perspective? Do you know your preferred way to receive love? Do you know your partner?s? Do you know how to mediate a conflict when you are in the midst of one?

Most of us do not have great intuition about these things. Most often, we assume other people should give love in the precise manner that we like to receive it. Most people assume that they should defend themselves with solid information when attacked. Most people assume the words they say are the most important aspects of the relationship. These assumptions are all dead wrong, even damaging to relationships.

Get some relationship skills! My professional bias is toward NLP or neuro-linguistic skills, but any conscious study is usually beneficial.

Beware of self-sabotage in relationships

The number one destroyer of relationships, in my experience working with people, is self-sabotage.

Beyond pure relating skills, self-sabotage is the number one issue in relationships. Most sabotage is done unconsciously, which is why it is imperative to expand your awareness? Do you unwittingly sabotage your relationships? Here are just a few signs that you do:

1. You don?t express your needs
2. You take on more than your fair share of the burden
3. You resist accountability to your partner
4. You act like a child that needs supervision
5. You annoy your partner and encourage rejection

There are hundreds of signs that you are sabotaging your relationship, most of them leading to feelings of being controlled, deprived or rejected.

For your relationship to last ? or more importantly ? to be peaceful and happy, you must address the unconscious patterns of self-sabotage. To learn more about self-sabotage, watch this free, 20-minute video.

It is now firmly established that the health of your relationship is tied directly to your mental health. Guard it with care.

If you like this article, please like my Facebook Page to keep up with all my writing.

Watch the free video The AHA! Process: An End to Self-Sabotage and discover the lost keys to personal transformation and emotional well-being that have been suppressed by mainstream mental health for decades.

The information in this video has been called the missing link in mental health and personal development. In a world full of shallow, quick-fix techniques, second rate psychology and pharmaceutical takeovers, real solutions have become nearly impossible to find. This presentation will turn your world upside down.

Mike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center and host of Mental Health Exposed, a Natural News Radio program.

Follow Mike on Facebook for daily personal development tips.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by Mike Bundrant (or subscribe to their feed).

????Last reviewed: 17 May 2013

APA Reference
Bundrant, M. (2013). Long-Term Study Links Bad Relationships and Depression. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 18, 2013, from http://blogs.psychcentral.com/nlp/2013/05/long-term-study-links-bad-relationships-depression/

Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/nlp/2013/05/long-term-study-links-bad-relationships-depression/

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Caribbean talks conservation on Branson's island

Angus Friday, Oceans Representative at the World Bank, speaks to delegates attending a Caribbean Summit of Political Business Leaders? at the home of Richard Branson on Necker Island, in the British Virgin Islands, Friday, May 17, 2013. Political and business leaders gathered Friday to back an initiative aimed at expanding protection for the Caribbean's imperiled coasts and waters. Branson, the adventuring CEO and founder of the Virgin Group of companies is co-hosting the two-day meeting at Necker Island, his home in the British Virgin Islands, where he has developed an ultra-exclusive eco-resort that showcases renewable energy technology, reintroduced flamingoes, imported lemurs and other creatures. (AP Photo/Todd VanSickle)

From left, Richard Branson, British Virgin Islands Premier Dr. Orlando Smith, and Grenada Prime Minsiter Dr. Keith Mitchell listen to Costa Rica's former President and businessman Jose Maria Figueres speak during a Caribbean Summit of Political Business Leaders? at the home of Richard Branson on Necker Island, in the British Virgin Islands, Friday, May 17, 2013. ?It's just so important to get every single Caribbean country 100 percent behind protecting the wonderful sea life and the wonderful reefs and mangroves, and therefore the species that occupy our oceans,? Branson said from his 74-acre Caribbean retreat, a haven for entertainment and business A-listers. (AP Photo/Todd VanSickle)

NECKER ISLAND, British Virgin Islands (AP) ? Surrounded by a turquoise sea and a menagerie of exotic animals on a billionaire's private island, political and business leaders gathered Friday to back an initiative aimed at expanding protection for the Caribbean's imperiled coasts and waters.

The "Caribbean Challenge" calls for special protected zones along at least 20 percent of the region's coasts by 2020 in hopes of protecting its biodiversity and its crucial tourism market. The region's scattered islands have 10 percent of the world's coral reefs and some 1,400 species of fish and marine mammals.

Richard Branson, the adventuring CEO and founder of the Virgin Group of companies, is co-hosting the two-day meeting at Necker Island, his home in the British Virgin Islands where he has developed an ultra-exclusive eco-resort that showcases renewable energy technology, reintroduced flamingoes, imported lemurs and other creatures.

"It's just so important to get every single Caribbean country 100 percent behind protecting the wonderful sea life and the wonderful reefs and mangroves, and therefore the species that occupy our oceans," Branson said from his 74-acre Caribbean retreat, a haven for entertainment and business A-listers.

British Virgin Islands Premier Orlando Smith and Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell are also co-hosting the gathering of delegations from nine Caribbean countries, chiefs of resort companies and cruise lines, representatives of the World Bank, United Nations and other international bodies, private foundations and environmental groups.

"This is not a situation where we can say: This is a Caribbean thing and it doesn't include anybody else. This is an international issue," Mitchell told reporters gathered for a brief press conference held on Necker's tennis courts, not far from an animated group of lemurs.

On Friday, delegations from the participating governments signed a communique pledging to establish a framework for a regional approach to coastal conservation, including "increasing considerably the number of marine protected areas." They also said they recognized an urgent need to protect sharks and rays, and vowed a "dramatic acceleration in the transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources over the next five years."

One of the key sponsors is the Virginia-based Nature Conservancy, which touts the Caribbean Challenge, begun in 2008, as one of the world's most ambitious conservation initiatives. The conservation group has been providing technical expertise to the participating islands for years.

"The Caribbean is truly paradise under threat, and today's focus is a critical step toward a brighter future," Glenn Prickett, chief external affairs officer with the Nature Conservancy, said in an email.

If the Caribbean, the world's most tourism dependent region, takes strong steps now to protect its natural resources, conservationists say it will be in a far stronger position to protect its small economies and cope with future threats from climate change and ocean acidification due to greenhouse gases.

The challenges are many in the ecologically stressed Caribbean, which covers some 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles). Once brilliant coral reefs have lost their luster due to warming waters and disease. Live coral cover of regional reefs has plummeted to an average of just 8 percent from 50 percent in the 1970s, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says. Many reefs have been degraded by overfishing, runoff pollution and coastal development.

Some of the Caribbean Challenge's participating countries ? Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and the British Virgin Islands ? have already taken steps to reach their conservation targets.

The Dominican Republic has actually exceeded its 20 percent goal by creating more than 30 new protected areas in recent years. The Bahamas established the largest marine protected area in the region by expanding a national park in Andros from 185,000 acres to 1.28 million acres. Heavily overfished Jamaica has set up several "no-take" fishing sanctuaries and fishermen say they are seeing improvements.

The initiative is modeled after similar conservation financing efforts in the Pacific and linked to the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, a sustainable finance mechanism that will generate funding. The initial endowment capitalization target of $40 million has been reached, according to the Nature Conservancy.

But there are questions about how deep the political will really is in a region with heavily indebted governments. Political leaders have long spoken about the need for protecting coasts, developing alternative energy sources and diversifying tourism-dependent economies but little has been accomplished. One country, Antigua & Barbuda, recently dropped out of the initiative for reasons that are not clear.

Grenada's prime minister believes that now is the time for the Caribbean region to come together and tackle shared environmental threats. More countries and territories are being encouraged to join the compact.

"The political divide in our region is very deep but this is one issue where all nations are on the same side," Mitchell said.

___

Smith reported from Necker Island, British Virgin Islands, and McFadden reported from Kingston, Jamaica.

___

David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter/com/dmcfadd

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-17-Caribbean-Conservation%20Summit/id-62c7dee58ce342f4892b78efaa180af2

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Re: the Benghazi messages: Browse administration emails like an inbox

The 100 pages of emails that the White House released on Wednesday, which cover the administration's crafting of its talking points about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, do not contain any clear indications of a political cover-up.

But they do indicate that the CIA, FBI, State Department and the White House operate with the same sort of office drudgery as workplaces across America. There are the same cascading CC lists, the guy who insists on formally addressing every email message to "Colleagues" and the incessant looping in of one more person as a decision impends.

The following interactive arranges the emails as a typical inbox, in date order. For the sake of simplicity, every email is included in one inbox instead of separate ones for different people. You can click the "From" or "Thread" bars to sort by those fields instead.

Letters in square brackets indicate that a person's name was redacted and replaced by a handwritten acronym representing the organization he or she works for.

Update, 12:43 p.m.: Now includes Brennan edits and Victoria Nuland's push back.

Update, 4:36 p.m.: Now half complete.

Update, May 17, 2012: All emails now digitized.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/benghazi-messages-browse-administration-emails-inbox-153342167.html

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Google Glass to get CNN, Elle, Twitter, Tumblr, Evernote and Facebook apps soon

The I/O news faucet hasn't quite dried up yet. During the San Francisco conference today, Google chatted up some new Glass apps. The new applications will come packaged as "Glassware," delivering CNN breaking news alerts, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook posts, Evernote reminders and articles from Elle Magazine. The New York Times and Path were the only two apps previously available to Explorers, making this new suite of products a very welcome addition indeed. More apps are no-doubt on the way -- hundreds of developers are working to produce their own software for the Google-branded headgear, which is set to launch for consumers sometime next year.

Filed under: Wearables, Software, Google

Comments

Source: The New York Times

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/kk0-WXM29UY/

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Demi Lovato Got Comfy With Her 'Girl' Britney Spears

'She is so down to earth,' Lovato reveals on 'Live From MTV' about her onetime 'X Factor' mate.
By Christina Garibaldi

Demi Lovato, Britney Spears and Simon Cowell on "X Factor"
Photo: Ray Mickshaw/ FOX

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707563/demi-lovato-britney-spears-friendship.jhtml

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Carbon in a twirl: The science behind a self-assembled nano-carbon helix

May 16, 2013 ? Nanotechnology draws on the fabrication of nanostructures. Scientists have now succeeded in growing a unique carbon structure at the nanoscale that resembles a tiny twirled moustache.

Their method might lead the way to the formation of more complex nano-networks. Researchers of the Electronic Properties of Materials Group at the Faculty of Physics (University of Vienna) and their international collaborators have published their results in the new open access journal of the Nature Publishing group, Scientific Reports.

Nanomaterials exhibit unique properties that can only unfold when the structures of the material are very small -- that is, at the nanoscale. In order to exploit these special properties such as, for example, specific quantum effects it is very important to produce predefined nanostructures in a controlled way and interpret the formation of their shape. Scientists try to understand how to initiate and control the growth of nanomaterials and are exploring different ways to design and build up nanostructures with fine control over shapes. In nature, many organic forms grow bilaterally, that is, symmetrically in two distinct directions. An international team of researchers from the University of Vienna (Austria), the University of Surrey (UK) and the IFW Dresden (Germany) have now achieved such a bilateral formation of inorganic nanomaterials in a controlled environment by implementing a new method.

How to grow a nanomoustache

The scientists pressurized a gas consisting of carbon and iron atoms at an elevated temperature until they observed two arms of carbon atoms spontaneously started growing out of an iron core. When the iron core was small enough, the two carbon arms started spiraling at their ends so that the whole nanostructure bore a striking resemblance with a twirled moustache. "The encouraging insights we gained from our experiments provide a very good starting point for the controlled production of extraordinary new materials with designed nanostructures," expects Dr. Hidetsugu Shiozawa, leading author of the scientific publication and researcher at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna.

Useful imperfections

In order to find out more about the internal architecture of the nanomoustaches, the researchers cut their nanomaterial into extremely thin slices and used a special microscopy technique -- the transmission electron microscopy -- to have a closer look at the slices. When nanostructures grow, structural imperfections of the material emerge that are characteristic for the way the material was formed. In the observed herringbone pattern of the sliced nanomoustache, the distribution of the structural imperfections allowed the scientists to look back in time and extract further information about the formation of the nanomaterial. For future applications it will be fundamental to apply their knowledge to the growth of nanostructures in 2 or 3 dimensions in order to build regular patterns and networks at the nanoscale. Therefore, the scientists strive to understand even more about the mechanism behind the formation pattern of the nanomoustaches and are aiming at growing more dimensional and more complex nanostructures in future research projects.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/dD5t9yvkxsQ/130516105513.htm

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How This 116-Story Skyscraper Will "Confuse" the Wind

Last week, when Smith + Gill Architects unveiled its design for Imperial Tower, which will become Mumbai?s tallest building (by a lot!), their description of the project confounded many critics. ?The building,? the architects explained, ?is designed to confuse the wind.? Huh? Curious to know exactly what that meant, I got in touch with the Gordon Gill, one half of the Chicago-based office.

There aren?t many skyscrapers in the city, which is part of the reason Smith + Gill?s design shocked so many people. Misgivings about the city's dramatic divide between rich and poor aside, the 116-story, kidney-shaped supertall will literally tower 1200 feet above the rest of Mumbai when it opens. The glass facade is punched with dozens of cut-outs?sometimes they?re balconies, sometimes they?re gardens, and sometimes they?re functionless.

According to Gill, the cut-out pattern isn?t ornamental?it?s a crucial structural detail that alleviates the negative pressure formed by wind buffeting the tall, thin structure. ?What happens is that the wind goes around it on one side, creating a vortex at the opposite end. The same thing happens on the other side, creating negative pressure, and pulling the building from side to side. If the building is smooth, you can end up with a harmonic movement, like a blade of grass in the wind.?

That?s why most supertalls have mass dampers on the roof?they counteract the natural vibration of the building. Imperial Tower, Gill explains, seeks to counteract vibration by breaking up the negative pressure that streams along the facade. ?I always say we?re basically tuning the building,? he says. ?If we think of this thing as an instrument, you?re cutting grooves into the body, you can basically define the characteristics of its behavior.?

There still aren?t a huge number of supertalls in the world?and spending the cash and years to build one doesn?t leave much room for experimentation. ?Ideas about wind behavior is still being developed,? Gill explains. ?When I was in school, the basic assumption was that an extruded tube was the perfect shape. Then it was an extruded square. The truth is, neither one of those is accurate.?

Instead, the office relies on data from a wind tunnel facility in Waterloo, Canada, to provide feedback on how the wind will react to particular footprint, environment, or facade. They also borrow ideas from auto and aerospace engineering; After all, structures that reach close to a half mile into the sky are more like space shuttles than buildings. And just like an early space mission, we won't know if this design actually works until it's tested. [Smith + Gill]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-this-116-story-skyscraper-will-confuse-the-wind-508206826

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New Google Maps Hands-On: Maps Have Never Been This Cool

Amongst the the deluge of new stuff Google announced today, there was a rather large update to Maps. We took a good look at it earlier, but we just spend some time putting our hands all over it. The verdict? You're in for a treat.

Why Obama agenda group faces pushback from some Democrats

Organizing for Action, an issue-advocacy group that spun off from President Obama's reelection campaign, is going after some Democrats and competing for fundraising dollars.

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / May 15, 2013

Jerry Delaney listens to speakers during an Organizing for Action rally against gun violence in Chicago last month.

John Gress/Reuters/File

Enlarge

The young life of Organizing for Action ? the issue-advocacy group that spun off from President Obama?s reelection campaign ? has been anything but easy.

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OFA launched four months ago amid high expectations for what it could do to boost Mr. Obama?s agenda. After all, its leaders come from the Obama political machine that won two presidential campaigns. And it has access to the Obama campaign?s massive database, including more than 14 million e-mail addresses and a gold mine of information about supporters? voting, donating, and volunteering habits. ?

OFA touts high involvement, including 1.5 million people who have ?taken action,? which can mean donating, going to an event, helping OFA earn local media coverage, or tweeting a member of Congress.

But so far, the results have been modest. Obama failed to win expanded background checks for gun buyers despite polls showing 90 percent public support. Fundraising has proved challenging: OFA brought in just under $5 million in the first quarter of 2013, only 10 percent of its goal for the year. And some Democrats are worried that OFA is working at cross-purposes with the party?s broader political goals, including fundraising for the 2014 midterms.

?Democrats now serve two masters: DNC and Organizing for Action,? Time magazine declared last month.

Relax, say OFA officials. These are early days. Since he began his second term, Obama has done multiple fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee and other party committees, and just one appearance for OFA. And the effort to expand background checks on gun buyers may not be over. Three weeks after the bill died in the Senate, OFA delivered 1.4 million signatures to Congress urging it to reconsider it. Vice President Joe Biden says he?s going to make another push on guns, though after immigration reform.

?I do think some of these senators doubted that we would be able to show continued strength and momentum on this,? says Jon Carson, OFA?s executive director. ?That was the No. 1 lesson for us. That we have to be prepared to do that.?

OFA is also still ramping up its operation. The Chicago headquarters will open this summer. Ten paid staffers are about to be hired in states to be determined for the immigration debate, adding to the existing full-time paid staff in 19 states. ?

A map put out by OFA highlighting local news coverage reflects that most of the activity is taking place in blue states, though OFA points to strong volunteer networks in Georgia and Arizona ? two red states the Democrats see as having potential for turning purple.

In addition, OFA?s coffers could be in for a big infusion of cash from the wealthy, liberal donors who are part of a network called the Democracy Alliance. At a recent meeting in California, the group recommended that its members support OFA.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/jh9DEC1AtAE/Why-Obama-agenda-group-faces-pushback-from-some-Democrats

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