It was just last week that betaworks announced it had acquired a majority stake in fan-favorite reading service Instapaper, and today on the Disrupt NY stage betaworks CEO John Borthwick shed some new light on the process of striking a deal with Instapaper creator Marco Arment.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fM9_F2H9AiA/
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Phil Jackson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011, the former Lakers? coach reveals in his new book. According to the O.C. Register, Jackson revealed the bad news to his team during the playoffs as what sounds like an attempt to motivate. (The story is behind a paywall, but a?Lakers? forum?has the full story.)
Jackson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011. After doctors assured him the cancer could be controlled by drugs temporarily, Jackson waited until after the season to undergo surgery.
Jackson decided to divulge his situation to his players when he sensed the team was lacking something in the playoffs.
?Shocking,? Pau Gasol said Saturday, remembering Jackson?s disclosure to the team. ?But then you also could understand certain moments of his demeanor, energy and involvement because of what he was going through health-wise. It explained certain things. It was a shock. A difficult moment for the team.?
Gasol said Jackson talked with team captains Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher privately before telling the whole team in a video session ? but Jackson was left second-guessing the revelation in which he became teary-eyed as he spoke ? the Lakers strangely fading in that series vs. Dallas.
Whatever Jackson?s motivation for telling his team, it sounds like they were understandably shaken by the news. Whenever Jackson told them, the team was done. The Lakers were eliminated from the 2011 Playoffs by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks in a 4-game sweep. The series ended with a 122-86 blowout in Dallas that featured?Andrew Bynum?s flagrant foul on J.J. Barea.
Gasol allowed that it was different for the team to see Jackson ? ?such a big figure, the physical and spiritual leader of the team? ? as vulnerable.
?As much as I love Phil and I appreciate everything about him,? Gasol said, ?it was difficult to know.?
The good news ? for Jackson at least ? is that he must be feeling pretty good again. People say he is interested in coaching again and there is a rumor about every team in the league making a run at him for various positions.
[OC Register, LakersGround, USA TODAY Sports Images, h/t Herbie]
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BEIRUT (AP) ? The instances in which chemical weapons are alleged to have been used in Syria were purportedly small in scale: nothing along the lines of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack in Kurdish Iraq that killed thousands.
That raises the question of who would stand to gain as President Bashar Assad's regime and the opposition trade blame for the alleged attacks, and proof remains elusive.
Analysts say the answer could lie in the past ? the regime has a pattern of gradually introducing a weapon to the conflict to test the international community's response.
The U.S. said last week that intelligence indicates the Syrian military has likely used sarin, a deadly nerve agent, on at least two occasions in the civil war, echoing similar assessments from Israel, France and Britain. Syria's rebels accuse the regime of firing chemical weapons on at least four occasions, while the government denies the charges and says opposition fighters have used chemical agents in a bid to frame it.
But using chemical weapons to try to force foreign intervention would be a huge gamble for the opposition, and one that could easily backfire. It would undoubtedly taint the rebellion in the eyes of the international community and seriously strain its credibility.
Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said it would also be difficult for the rebels to successfully employ chemical agents.
"It's very difficult to weaponize chemical weapons," he said. "It needs a special warhead, for the artillery a special fuse."
In the chaos of Syria's civil war, pinning down definitive proof on the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction is a tricky task with high stakes. President Barack Obama has said any use of chemical arms ? or the transfer of stockpiles to terrorists ? would cross a "red line" and carry "enormous consequences."
Already, the White House's announcement that the Syrian regime appears to have used chemical arms has ratcheted up the pressure on Obama to move forcefully. He has sought to temper expectations of a quick U.S. response, saying too little is known about the alleged attacks to take action now.
Analysts suggest that a limited introduction of the weapons, with little ostensible military gain, could be an attempt by the Syrian government to test the West's resolve while retaining the veil of plausible deniability. This approach would also allow foreign powers eager to avoid a costly intervention in Syria to remain on the sidelines, while at the same time opening the door for the regime to use the weapons down the road.
"If it's testing the water, and we're going to turn a blind eye, it could be used widely, repeatedly," Alani said. "If you are silent once, you will be silent twice."
The slow introduction of a weapon to gauge the West's response fits a pattern of behavior the Assad regime has demonstrated since the uprising began in March 2011, according to Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
When largely peaceful protesters initially took to the streets, the regime responded with small arms fire and a wave of arrests. As the government ramped up its violent crackdown, the opposition began to take up arms in late 2011, prompting yet another escalation in force by the regime.
In early 2012, government troops began using heavy weapons, first in a relatively restrained manner on military targets.
"Once they could confirm that there wasn't going to be a major reaction from the West, they were able to expand the use of artillery," Holliday said.
By the summer of 2012, government troops were pounding rebellious neighborhoods with tank fire, field cannons and mortars, but the rebellion was stronger than ever, prompting Assad to turn to his air force, and the regime's MiG fighter jets and helicopter gunships began to strike military targets in rural areas.
After the government was satisfied that the international community wasn't going to impose a no-fly zone like NATO did in Libya, Assad unleashed the full might of his air power, and warplanes have been indiscriminately bombing rebel-held areas since.
"It all fits the pattern of being able to do this incrementally," Holliday said.
"It's been important for the regime to introduce these capabilities as gradually as possible so that they don't trip the international community's red lines," he added. "I think this is basically a modus operandi that the Assad regime has established and tested with the United States, and confirmed that it works, and he's using it again with chemical weapons."
Syria has never confirmed it even has chemical weapons. But it is believed to possess substantial stockpiles of mustard gas and a range of nerve agents, including sarin, a highly toxic substance that can suffocate its victims by paralyzing muscles around their lungs.
Concern rose last summer when then-Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told a news conference that Damascus would only use chemical or biological weapons in case of foreign attack, not against its own people. The ministry then tried to blur the issue, saying it had never acknowledged having such arms.
Weapons of mass destruction are generally viewed as a deterrent against foreign attack, and their use a sign of desperation. But Assad appears far from desperate at the moment, and in fact is operating from a position of relative strength.
While much of northern Syria has fallen to the rebels, the government's hold on Damascus is firm and its forces have been on the offensive in the capital's suburbs and in the countryside near the border with Lebanon. In the northwest, regime troops recently opened up a key supply road to soldiers fighting in the embattled city of Aleppo.
Two of the alleged attacks the Syrian opposition blames on the regime took place in and around Aleppo: one in Khan al-Assal west of the city on March 19, and another in the contested Shiekh Maqsoud neighborhood on April 13. The other alleged instances were in the central city of Homs on Dec. 23 and in the village of Otaybah outside Damascus on March 19.
It is not clear exactly how many people died in those attacks because of the scarcity of credible information. The Syrian government seals off areas it controls to journalists and outside observers, making details of the attacks sketchy. But reports from anti-Assad activists and the government provide a basic outline.
Opposition activists have posted videos and pictures online of alleged victims of the attacks foaming at the mouth or with blister burns ? symptoms consistent with chemical weapons attacks, but also other munitions. The Syrian state news agency, after one attack it blamed on rebels, published photos of casualties, including children. None showed signs of physical injuries.
Both sides in the civil war, which has already killed more than 70,000 people, have tried to use the issue to sway international opinion.
Rebels have been clamoring for more robust international action against the Assad regime. At a recent gathering in Turkey of the rebellion's international supporters, the opposition political leadership demanded drone strikes on regime targets and the imposition of a no-fly zone, and it reiterated calls for transfers of heavier weapons to its fighters.
The regime has seized on the opposition's demands for outside support to bolster its argument that rebels may have used chemical weapons to frame the government and precipitate foreign intervention.
In December, after rebels captured a chlorine factory in Aleppo, the government warned the opposition could be planning a chemical attack to frame the regime. To back up its assertions, the state news agency pointed to internet videos that purported to show regime opponents experimenting with poisons on mice and rabbits.
In the video, a masked man mixes gases in a glass box containing two rabbits. About a minute later, the animals start to spasm and then collapse. A narrator then says, "This is what will happen to you, Assad supporters." The origin of the video was not known.
Alani dismissed the possibility of the rebels, including Islamic extremist groups among the most powerful opposition fighting factions, carrying out a chlorine attack.
He noted that al-Qaida militants used chlorine on at least two occasions in Iraq in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, but abandoned the practice because "the impact of the chlorine was far less than conventional explosives."
___
Follow Ryan Lucas on Twitter at www.twitter.com/relucasz
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pattern-seen-alleged-chemical-arms-syria-191327590.html
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Bill Parker poses for a photograph at his home in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Parker is one of the sponsors of an initiative to let Alaska voters decide to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Parker, a former state lawmaker, also supported a failed ballot effort in 2004, but feels possibly the time is right after Washington state and Colorado passed similar measures last year. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Bill Parker poses for a photograph at his home in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Parker is one of the sponsors of an initiative to let Alaska voters decide to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Parker, a former state lawmaker, also supported a failed ballot effort in 2004, but feels possibly the time is right after Washington state and Colorado passed similar measures last year. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Bill Parker holds a brochure from a failed 2004 initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana at his home in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Parker is one of the sponsors of an initiative to yet again let Alaska voters decide a measure in 2014. Parker, a former state lawmaker, also supported a failed ballot effort in 2004, but feels possibly the time is right after Washington state and Colorado passed similar measures last year. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) ? Alaska, known for its live-and-let-live lifestyle, is poised to become the next battleground in the push to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
The state has a complicated history with the drug, with its highest court ruling nearly 40 years ago that adults have a constitutional right to possess and smoke marijuana for personal use in their own homes. In the late 1990s, Alaska became one of the first states to allow the use of pot for medicinal reasons.
Then the pendulum swung the other direction, with residents in 2004 rejecting a ballot effort to legalize recreational marijuana. And in 2006, the state passed a law criminalizing possession of even small amounts of the drug ? leaving the current state of affairs somewhat murky.
Supporters of recreational marijuana say attitudes toward pot have softened in the past decade, and they believe they have a real shot at success in Alaska.
The state is reviewing their request to begin gathering signatures to get an initiative on next year's ballot. The proposal would make it legal for those 21 and older to use and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, though not in public. It also would set out provisions for legal grow operations and establish an excise tax.
It's a significantly different version of the failed 2004 ballot effort that would've allowed adults 21 and older to use, grow, sell or give away marijuana or hemp products without penalty under state law.
"The whole initiative, you can tell, is scaled down to be as palatable as possible," said one of the sponsors, Bill Parker.
If the initiative application is accepted, backers will have until January, before the next legislative session starts, to gather the more than 30,000 signatures required to qualify the measure for the primary ballot.
The effort could determine whether the pendulum swings back.
The Alaska Supreme Court, in its landmark 1975 decision, found possession of marijuana by adults at home for personal use is constitutionally protected as part of their basic right to privacy, though the court made clear it didn't condone the use of pot.
The laws tightened again with a 2006 state law criminalizing marijuana possession. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the law conflicted with the 1975 ruling. The state maintained marijuana had become more intoxicating than in the 1970s, a point disputed by ACLU.
But the high court, in 2009, declined to make a finding, concluding any challenge to the law must await an actual prosecution.
Parker said the lack of clarity regarding marijuana possession is a problem, but he noted police aren't exactly peeking into people's homes to see if they have the drug.
Deputy Attorney General Richard Svobodny said in an email that home-use marijuana cases in Alaska are few because authorities have no reason to get a search warrant unless something else is going on inside a house that attracts their attention.
The proposed initiative includes language that says it's not intended to diminish the right to privacy interpreted in the 1975 case. But it notes that case is not a "blanket protection for marijuana possession," said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.
"In order to have a system where individuals can go to a store, buy an ounce of marijuana, drive home, and enjoy it at home, it is necessary to make up to an ounce of marijuana entirely legal," Tvert said.
Alaska is one of many states mulling changes to marijuana laws. Last fall, voters in Colorado and Washington state passed initiatives legalizing, taxing and regulating recreational marijuana.
This year, bills were filed in more than half the states to enact a medical marijuana law, decriminalize or reduce penalties for simple possession, or to tax and regulate marijuana for adult use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. However, many of those proposals died, stalled or will be carried over.
Tvert said his group is working to promote initiatives allowing recreational marijuana in a handful of other states, including California, Oregon, Maine and Nevada. He thinks those states will be ready to pass such a measure in 2016.
"Ultimately we are starting to see the marijuana policy debate shift away from whether marijuana should be allowed or prohibited and toward how we will treat it," Tvert said.
The U.S. Justice Department has not said how it will respond to the laws in Washington and Colorado. A bipartisan group of congressmen, including Alaska's lone U.S. House member, Don Young, recently introduced legislation that would ensure the federal government respects stat e marijuana laws. For the Republican Young, it's a states' rights issue, his spokesman said by email.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, who consistently has fought the feds when he believes they've overstepped their bounds, supports a state's right to establish its own laws and appreciates Young's effort, Parnell spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said. But he also considers marijuana a "gateway drug that can lead to more serious patterns of substance abuse and criminal offenses," she said by email. He has not stated his position on the proposed initiative.
___
Follow Becky Bohrer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/beckybohrerap .
___
Online:
Link to proposed ballot initiative in Alaska: http://1.usa.gov/YRaJtW
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By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ambulatory Services of America Inc, a U.S. operator of healthcare facilities controlled by private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC, has appointed Morgan Stanley
The Nashville, Tennessee-based company may fetch between $700 million and $800 million based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around $75 million, two of the people said on condition of anonymity because the sale process is confidential.
Ambulatory Services of America and Morgan Stanley declined to comment, while Lindsay Goldberg did not respond to requests for comment.
Ambulatory Services of America manages 85 dialysis programs in 13 U.S. states that provide care to approximately 7,000 patients. It also manages 17 radiation oncology centers in five states.
Lindsay Goldberg, a New York-based buyout firm with about $10 billion of capital under management, invested $75 million in Ambulatory Services of America in 2008, two years after the medical facility company was founded by former Renal Care Group chief operating officer Timothy Martin.
Martin joined Renal Care Group, a dialysis services provider, in 1997, and left the company when rival Fresenius Medical Care AG
(Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ambulatory-services-taps-morgan-stanley-explore-sale-sources-214453700.html
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Writing is a craft, in the hands of a master it becomes an art. ? N. B. Cole
Just because you can speak English doesn?t mean you can write. It is as difficult as learning to play the piano or perfecting a ballet performance. ? James Hall, proffessor of Creative Writing.
There is nothing like the grand, golden, gorgeous semi-orgasmic feeling a writer gets from creating a literary masterpiece. A work that thrills readers, quiets critics and reaffirms the writer?s belief that he has a gift, that she has a gift. In a world where 60 percent of literary journals /magazines are unable or unwilling to pay for published material, applause is the absolute least any writer desires from his efforts. Couple that with the effusive fawning the average writer gets from well meaning friends and family members and most writers find it difficult to believe they are not all that, or not that. Which brings us to the matter at hand, how can we get better when we don?t realise that there is much to do, to learn and to polish before we can truly have a spot among the literary greats? Is it wise to sit in our little bubbles and decide to send out our writing without giving it our best effort? Is it fair on one?s audience or oneself to publish a first draft? Is it sane? If we don?t listen to or indeed encourage honest peer review and critique will we ever get past where we are to where we want to be?
Questions, questions?.questions all of us must answer if we hope to write better, to be better.
Well, today?s gist is not of the philosophical manner and so I will just proceed to the few points I wish to share, hoping that I will be a catalyst in taking your writing from here to there.
So here goes.
1.Set Your Writing Goals.
What do you want to accomplish with your writing? Is it to be a hobby that you treat shabbily while lighter weight talents hone their crafts for national and indeed global honours? Do you want to write just for the gallery? For that select group of people that guzzle up all your offerings without noticing bad pun or verb/pronoun disagreements? If you aim for the latter, then read no further, keep doing things the way you have done them. I assure you there will be no grand or noteworthy happening to disrupt your comfort zone?s workings. If on the other hand you believe that you are talented, that you have have a gift for words and a calling for creating beauty through words and world of beauty then read on. There might be a thing or two for you to glean. Afterall as @chemokopi says there is no end to learning. It is also important to know how much writing you want to do, Are you aiming for two bits of haiku and a drabble or would you rather write seven bestsellers and two poetry anthologies? Knowing how much you want to write and setting time lines to it will go along way in shaping your choices in that regard. Be bold but honest, remember your greatest competitor is your self.
2. Polish Till It Shines.
The first eight drafts are terrible ? Malcolm Gladwell
Every professional writer knows that the first draft is nothing but a warm up. Amateurs however think their first drafts are bursts of heavenly inspiration, words from the gods, pieces of pure literary brilliance that should never be touched or edited. Nonsense. The masters are masters because they have acquired certain skills and they have found out what works and what doesn?t. One thing that definitely doesn?t work is submitting the first string of words you manage to spill out on a piece of paper or on a Word document. To give your writing any chance at all you have to rewrite it. Not once,not twice not even thrice. Then when you have done that get a writer or editor whose opinion you respect to look it over for you. Don?t be satisfied with average, this is the difference between cocoa seeds and chocolate. You might have a great diamond of a story but no one will notice it unless it shines. Remember this -The best writing is not written, It is rewritten over and over again, then edited, by two paid editors ? F.W. Read.
3. Read Your Work Out Loud.
I must confess this was something I learnt fairly recently. It is easy to believe that reading aloud must have died sometime in the junior secondary years and now we can just follow with our eyes silently imbibing the gist of the story/poem. Wrong. Reading aloud helps you experience your story the way a first reader will. It stops your inner voice from interjecting words that aren?t on the page. It also gives you a chance to evaluate the entertainment potential of a piece. Something that is very important in today?s world where the written word is leaping off the page unto the stage through readings and spoken word performances.
4. Learn From The Best.
Every writer has heard the ? read, read, read? rhyme but many writers don?t know what it means. Simply, it means read the work of great writers in the genre that you want to write in. So if you want to write great romance stories then Mills and Boons, Harlequin Romances and @Myne should be regular fare on your shelf. If you are more inclined to poetry then you should keenly study the works of Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, JP Clark and @xikay. Study, don?t copy. As a friend of mine said: When you find a great piece of writing, take it home, pull it apart, study every inch, find out what makes it work then find a way to apply those techniques to your own writing. While studying other peopls?s work, you might find things that you don?t like. That?s fine, just swallow the sugar and throw away the sugar cane pulp.
Avoid poorly written prose and poetry, what you read is what you will write.
5. Write Everyday
It is a tall order, I know, but if you really want to be the village beauty then you have to endure some pain ehn? Okay, crappy proverb, but you get what I mean. Nothing good comes easy, nothing easy ends up good etc etc.To be the best in any field one thing you absolutely must have is commitment. Social scientists have gone even further to describe the 10,000 hours rule. This states that to be a world class expert in any field one needs to have spent at least ten thousand hours studying and practising that skill , craft or trade. So, you can see why this hasty scribbling-stories-for-contests attitude won?t help you. If you want to see your writing celebrated internationally you have to attend to it faithfully ? every month, every week, every day.
Well, I think I have done more than my 20 Cents or 30 Naira worth , ( I know it is not about the money , except for folks like me, but that is another post entirely. Watch out For ?Money For Hand ? The Frustrations Of Asawo Writer? coming soon. ) Please be generous, honest and gentle in the comments section, it is the only way I ll be encouraged to write part two.
What are the things that have made you a better writer? You can share those in the comments section as well . Much love and thanks for reading. Adieu
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My extremely personal word : LCD or LED TVs are built and meant for HD 16:9 widescreen signals only. I really never understood why should anyone watch SD 4:3 (artificially fattened) signal on LCDs/LEDs just for insulting their capabilities. Full HD or not, LCD or LED, 100 inch or even 22 inch, If I was given an option to watch only standard definition(SD) signals on my TV, I wud happily sell any LCD (no matter how good) and instead buy the old CRT TVs - for heavens sake atleast the aspect ratio 4:3 will match the screen in CRTs. Enough said.
Go for it.
Source: http://www.hifivision.com/digital-cable-dth/43726-should-i-buy-hd-box.html
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Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/04/25/just-mobile-gum-max-duo-review/
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? We're in denial: Americans underestimate their chances of needing long-term care as they get older ? and are taking few steps to get ready.
A new poll examined how people 40 and over are preparing for this difficult and often pricey reality of aging and found two-thirds say they've done little to no planning.
In fact, 3 in 10 would rather not think about getting older at all. Only a quarter predict it's very likely that they'll personally need help getting around or caring for themselves during their senior years, according to the poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That's a surprise considering the poll found more than half of the 40-plus crowd already have been caregivers for an impaired relative or friend ? seeing from the other side the kind of assistance they, too, are likely to need later on.
"I didn't think I was old. I still don't think I'm old," explained retired schoolteacher Malinda Bowman, 60, of Laura, Ohio.
Bowman has been a caregiver twice, first for her grandmother. Then after her father died in 2006, Bowman moved in with her mother, caring for her until her death in January. Yet Bowman has made few plans for herself.
"I guess I was focused on caring for my grandmother and mom and dad, so I didn't really think about myself," she said. "Everything we had was devoted to taking care of them."
The poll found most people expect family to step up if they need long-term care ? even though 6 in 10 haven't talked with loved ones about the possibility and how they'd like it to work.
Bowman said she's healthy now but expects to need help someday from her two grown sons. Last month, prompted by a brother's fall and blood clot, she began the conversation by telling her youngest son about her living will and life insurance policy.
"I need to plan eventually," she acknowledged.
Those family conversations are crucial: Even if they want to help, do your relatives have the time, money and knowhow? What starts as driving Dad to the doctor or picking up his groceries gradually can turn into feeding and bathing him, maybe even doing tasks once left to nurses such as giving injections or cleaning open wounds. If loved ones can't do all that, can they afford to hire help? What if you no longer can live alone?
"The expectation that your family is going to be there when you need them often doesn't mean they understand the full extent of what the job of caregiving will be," Susan Reinhard, a nurse who directs AARP's Public Policy Institute, said. "Your survey is pointing out a problem for not just people approaching the need for long-term care, but for family members who will be expected to take on the huge responsibility of providing care."
Most people who have been caregivers called the work both worthwhile and stressful. And on the other end, those who have received care are less apt to say they can rely on their families in times of need, the poll found.
With a rapidly aging population, more families will be facing those responsibilities. Government figures show nearly 7 in 10 Americans will need long-term care at some point after they reach age 65, whether it's from a relative, a home health aide, assisted living or a nursing home. On average, they'll need that care for three years.
Despite the "it won't happen to me" reaction, the AP-NORC Center poll found half of those surveyed think just about everyone will need some assistance at some point. There are widespread misperceptions about how much care costs and who will pay for it. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed underestimated the cost of a nursing home, which averages more than $6,700 a month.
Medicare doesn't pay for the most common types of long-term care. Yet 37 percent of those surveyed mistakenly think it will pay for a nursing home and even more expect it to cover a home health aide when that's only approved under certain conditions.
The harsh reality: Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, is the main payer of long-term care in the U.S., and to qualify seniors must have spent most of their savings and assets. But fewer than half of those polled think they'll ever need Medicaid ? even though only a third are setting aside money for later care, and just 27 percent are confident they'll have the financial resources they'll need.
In Cottage Grove, Ore., Police Chief Mike Grover, 64, says his retirement plan means he could afford a nursing home. And like 47 percent of those polled, he's created an advance directive, a legal document outlining what medical care he'd want if he couldn't communicate.
Otherwise, Grover said he hasn't thought much about his future care needs. He knows caregiving is difficult, as he and his brother are caring for their 85-year-old mother.
Still, "until I cross that bridge, I don't know what I would do. I hope that my kids and wife will pick the right thing," he said. "It depends on my physical condition, because I do not want to be a burden to my children."
The AP-NORC Center poll found widespread support for tax breaks to encourage saving for long-term care, and about half favor the government establishing a voluntary long-term care insurance program. An Obama administration attempt to create such a program ended in 2011 because it was too costly.
The older they get, the more preparations people take. Just 8 percent of 40- to 54-year-olds have done much planning for long-term care, compared with 30 percent of those 65 or older, the poll found.
Mary Pastrano, 74, of Port Orchard, Wash., has planned extensively for her future health care. She has lupus, heart problems and other conditions, and now uses a wheelchair. She also remembers her family's financial struggles after her own father died when she was a child.
"I don't want people to stand around and wring their hands and wonder, 'What would Mom think was the best?'" said Pastrano, who has discussed her insurance policies, living will and care preferences with her husband and children.
Still, Pastrano wishes she and her husband had started saving earlier, during their working years.
"You never know how soon you're going to be down," she said. "That's what older people have a problem understanding: You can be in your 60s and then next flat on your back. You think you're invincible, until you can't walk."
The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey was conducted Feb. 21 through March 27, with funding from the SCAN Foundation. The SCAN Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that supports research and other initiatives on aging and health care. The nationally representative poll involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,019 Americans age 40 or older. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
___
Associated Press writer Stacy A. Anderson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.
___
Online:
Government long-term care primer: http://longtermcare.gov
AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: http://www.apnorc.org
Aging America is a joint AP-APME project examining the aging of the baby boomers and the effect that this so-called silver tsunami is having on the communities in which they live.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/long-term-care-aging-us-not-poll-says-174856514--politics.html
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two Syrian bishops kidnapped by gunmen on Monday are still missing, church sources in Damascus and Aleppo said on Wednesday, contradicting a report that the men had been freed.
A source at the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo said the bishops had not been released and he was unaware of any contact with their abductors. At the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus, a source also said there was no indication they had been freed.
Greek Orthodox archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were seized near the northern commercial and industrial hub of Aleppo, which is contested by rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Authorities blamed the abduction on a "terrorist group", the label they usually give to anti-Assad rebels, but opposition fighters in the province denied they had kidnapped the two and said they were working for their release and trying to find out who had taken them.
The bishops were the most senior church figures caught up in the fight between Assad's forces and rebels trying to end four decades of family rule by Assad and his late father.
The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people and frightened minority groups as the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels gain ground in northern Syria, where Salafi and jihadi groups, including the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, have emerged as among the most formidable insurgent formations.
(Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kidnapped-syrian-bishops-still-missing-church-sources-082251681.html
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Kent Hendrix, 47, draws his sword near his house Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Hendrix, a Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop came to the aid of a woman who was being attacked in front of his house. Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged. Hendrix grabbed a 29-inch Samurai sword and rushed out the door. He says the man attacking a woman jumped back and ran down the street after he drew the sword. The man was chased until he jumped in his car and drove away. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Kent Hendrix, 47, draws his sword near his house Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Hendrix, a Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop came to the aid of a woman who was being attacked in front of his house. Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged. Hendrix grabbed a 29-inch Samurai sword and rushed out the door. He says the man attacking a woman jumped back and ran down the street after he drew the sword. The man was chased until he jumped in his car and drove away. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Kent Hendrix, 47, holds his Samurai sword near his house Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Hendrix, a Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop came to the aid of a woman who was being attacked in front of his house. Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged. Hendrix grabbed a 29-inch Samurai sword and rushed out the door. He says the man attacking a woman jumped back and ran down the street after he drew the sword. The man was chased until he jumped in his car and drove away. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Kent Hendrix, 47, holds his Samurai sword near his house Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Hendrix, a Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop came to the aid of a woman who was being attacked in front of his house. Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged. Hendrix grabbed a 29-inch Samurai sword and rushed out the door. He says the man attacking a woman jumped back and ran down the street after he drew the sword. The man was chased until he jumped in his car and drove away. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Kent Hendrix, 47, stands in front of his house Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Hendrix, a Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop came to the aid of a woman who was being attacked in front of his house. Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged. Hendrix grabbed a 29-inch Samurai sword and rushed out the door. He says the man attacking a woman jumped back and ran down the street after he drew the sword. The man was chased until he jumped in his car and drove away. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? A Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop helped a neighbor woman escape a Tuesday morning attack by a man who had been stalking her.
Kent Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged in front of their house. The 47-year-old father of six rushed out the door and grabbed the weapon closest to him ? a 29-inch high carbon steel Samurai sword.
He came upon what he describes as a melee between a woman and a man. His son stayed inside to call 911 while he approached the man along with other neighbors who came to help. The martial arts instructor didn't hesitate in drawing the sword and yelling at him to get on the ground.
"His eyes got as big as saucers and he kind of gasped and jumped back," Hendrix said by phone Tuesday afternoon. "He's probably never had anyone draw a sword on him before."
The man ran down the street with the barefoot Hendrix and others in pursuit. Hendrix said he couldn't catch the man before he fled in his car, but he picked up ChapStick that the man dropped and memorized his license plate.
"I yelled at him, 'I've got your DNA and I've got your license plate: You are so done,'" Hendrix said.
The suspect, 37-year-old Grant Eggersten, turned himself in to police an hour later, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal. He was booked on charges of robbery, attempted burglary, trespassing and violation of a stalking injunction.
Hendrix, a pharmaceutical statistician, was one of several neighbors who came to the woman's aid after she began yelling for help, Hoyal said.
The incident began just after 7 a.m. when the 35-year-old woman came out of her front door, Hoyal said. Eggersten was hiding behind her carport and attacked her, knocking her to the ground, Hoyal said.
He took her keys and tried to open the door into her house, Hoyal said. That's when the woman ran down the street calling for help.
The woman did the right thing by fighting back and calling for help, Hoyal said. She suffered minor injuries.
Hendrix, a bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it was the first time in 30 years of practicing martial arts that he's used the sword. He didn't swing it at the man, only showing him he had it.
He said he's proud of his 14-year-old son for alerting him and quickly calling 911. He said the family is still abuzz about the events.
"That kind of thing doesn't happen every day," Hendrix said. "Our neighborhood is a pretty quiet place."
A fourth-degree black belt in the Kishindo form of martial arts, Hendrix owns a collection of swords and weapons that he trains with, said his wife, Suzanne Hendrix. He has trained with the sword he used Tuesday for 20 years and keeps it by his bed.
"Some people have bats they go to," said Hendrix. "I have my sword."
___
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USA Today Sports Images Stephen Strasburg rebounded from a rough first inning to post a quality start. |
Hitting lowlight: It's pretty much all lowlights at the plate right now, but let's focus on the lowest of the lows from this game: The bottom of the seventh. With runners on the corners and one out, Davey Johnson sent pinch-hitter Steve Lombardozzi to the plate. Lombardozzi go ahead in the count, 3-0, then fell back into a 3-2 count. At which point Johnson decided to send Solano from first base on the pitch, hoping to avoid a double play grounder. Unfortunately, all that did was create a different kind of double play: one of the strike-em-out, throw-em-out variety. Johnson has been talking about his players trying too hard to make something happen to snap out of this slump. That might have been a case of the manager doing the same thing.
Pitching highlight: The way his afternoon started, you never would have guessed Strasburg would wind up throwing seven innings and earning a quality start. Unable to get ahead of hitters in the top of the first, he was done in by three hits, a walk and an error, leading to three quick runs. But to his credit, Strasburg settled down and re-took control of this game. He did it by throwing strike one, putting himself in a much better position to retire hitters. Because of that, he was able to make it all the way through the seventh, departing without allowing another run to cross the plate. Strasburg built up his pitch count to 110 and was allowed to hit for himself in the bottom of the sixth, another sign of the extra rope Johnson is giving his young ace.
Key stat: Anthony Rendon has as many errors as hits (two) through his first four big-league games.
Up next: The challenge doesn't get any easier for the Nationals as the homestand continues this weekend against the powerful Reds. Gio Gonzalez goes up against Bronson Arroyo in Thursday's opener at 7:05 p.m.
Source: http://www.natsinsider.com/2013/04/instant-analysis-cardinals-4-nats-2.html
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Netflix added three million subscribers?two million at home and one million outside the US?in the first three months of 2013, returning the subscription video service to profitability and sending its stock up?nearly 25%?in after-hours trading. Here?s a look at Netflix subscriptions over the past seven quarters:
There are several ways to look at Netflix?s recent success. Here are four of them, all superlative.
After several strong quarters of growth, Netflix now has 29.2 million people in the US subscribed to its $8-a-month streaming plan, which is, for the first time, greater than HBO?s domestic subscription base of 28.7 million. HBO?s figure dates to the end of 2012, but it?s unlikely to have grown much in the first three months of 2013, owing as much to the cable TV industry?s stagnation as its own trouble signing up new subscribers. (Outside the US, the situation is much different: HBO has a huge lead over Netflix.)
The comparison between Netflix and HBO isn?t perfect, but they increasingly appear to be on similar trajectories. Both started by offering only movies that had long been out of theaters, then ventured into original programming?HBO?in 1997 with?Oz?and Netflix earlier this year with?House of Cards. Meanwhile, all of HBO?s customers buy it as an add-on to existing cable TV subscriptions, but HBO Go now offers all of the network?s programming over the internet, like Netflix. At the moment, it?s just a free perk for existing subscribers, but executives at HBO parent Time Warner have been?hinting at a future?when HBO Go is sold directly to consumers.
?The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us,? Ted Sarandos, Netflix?s chief content officer,?put it recently.
Of course, Netflix isn?t a cable network, but it competes for attention with television fare beyond just HBO. And in that context, Netflix commands more attention?87 minutes per US household per day?than any American cable network, according to an estimate?pulled together earlier this month by BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield?(registration required).
That?s just slightly more than the Disney Channel, which is not a coincidence: Netflix has a large of catalog of children?s programming, and some of its most loyal subscribers are parents who use Netflix as a babysitting tool. Later this year, Netflix will debut an?original show about a speedy snail, which should appeal to children and another core Netflix demographic: stoners.
The watching time data is important because Netflix depends on loyalty to retain subscribers, and the more people use it, the more valuable they are likely to find the service. Both Netflix and HBO have had trouble with churn, or people dropping their subscriptions, because people see them as luxury expenses that can be easily trimmed when budgets get tight. HBO uses HBO Go as a carrot to keep subscribers; Netflix has tried to add more and better programming. Both strategies seem to be working.
As TV and the internet converge, it?s increasingly important to look at what content is dominating those pipes. For now, it?s Netflix. And it?s not even close.
During peak periods of internet use in the US, Netflix constitutes 33% of all downstream traffic, which means content that goes into the device instead of out,?according to broadband network provider Sandvine?(pdf). That?s more than Google?s YouTube (14.8%), BitTorrent (5.9%), Apple?s iTunes (3.9%), Amazon Video (1.8%), and Facebook (1.5%), among others. Netflix isn?t as dominant in mobile internet use, where it has just 2.7% to YouTube?s 31%, but that?s the next battleground.
Bandwidth is a good metric to watch because it arguably measures the depth of attention commanded by these big media companies. Facebook obviously controls a large share of internet use, but the content it serves isn?t as rich, or bandwidth-heavy, as YouTube or Netflix. In theory, the richer media should ultimately translate into more revenue.
If its after-hours surge holds up when the markets open again tomorrow, Netflix will be the?top performing stock?in the S&P 500 this year, up 134%. It?s already the best S&P stock?since the market?s previous peak?in 2007.
Netflix stock tanked in the middle of 2011 after a?poorly handled price hike, then stubbornly refused to recover as investors fretted about the increasing costs of content. Those costs continue to rise, but Netflix has been able to show strong subscriber growth and convince investors that it has a strategy. This, despite companies like Hulu and Amazon?increasingly competing with Netflix?for existing and original content.
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Apr. 23, 2013 ? By using swarms of untethered grippers, each as small as a speck of dust, Johns Hopkins engineers and physicians say they have devised a new way to perform biopsies that could provide a more effective way to access narrow conduits in the body as well as find early signs of cancer or other diseases.
In two recent peer-reviewed journal articles, the team reported successful animal testing of the tiny tools, which require no batteries, wires or tethers as they seize internal tissue samples. The devices are called "mu-grippers," incorporating the Greek letter that represents the term for "micro." Instead of relying on electric or pneumatic power, these star-shaped tools are autonomously activated by the body's heat, which causes their tiny "fingers" to close on clusters of cells. Because the tools also contain a magnetic material, they can be retrieved through an existing body opening via a magnetic catheter.
This image depicts an mu-gripper near the opening of an endoscopic catheter. Image credit: Evin Gultepe, Gracias Lab, Johns Hopkins University.
In the April print edition of Gastroenterology, the researchers described their use of the mu-grippers to collect cells from the colon and esophagus of a pig, which was selected because its intestinal tract is similar to that of humans. Earlier this year, the team members reported in the journal Advanced Materials that they had successfully inserted the mu-grippers through the mouth and stomach of a live animal and released them in a hard-to-access place, the bile duct, from which they obtained tissue samples.
"This is the first time that anyone has used a sub-millimeter-sized device -- the size of a dust particle -- to conduct a biopsy in a live animal," said David Gracias, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering whose lab team developed the microgrippers. "That's a significant accomplishment. And because we can send the grippers in through natural orifices, it is an important advance in minimally invasive treatment and a step toward the ultimate goal of making surgical procedures noninvasive."
Another member of the research team, physician Florin M. Selaru of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said the mu-grippers could lead to an entirely new approach to conducting biopsies, which are considered the "gold standard" test for diagnosing cancer and other diseases.
This photo shows dozens of dust-sized surgical grippers in a vial. Image credit: Evin Gultepe, Gracias Lab, Johns Hopkins University
The advantage of the mu-grippers, he said, is that they could collect far more samples from many more locations. He pointed out that the much larger forceps used during a typical colonoscopy may remove 30 to 40 pieces of tissue to be studied for signs of cancer. But despite a doctor's best intentions, the small number of specimens makes it easy to miss diseased lesions.
"What's the likelihood of finding the needle in the haystack?" said Selaru, an assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. "Based on a small sample, you can't always draw accurate inferences. We need to be able to do a larger statistical sampling of the tissue. That's what would give us enough statistical power to draw a conclusion, which, in essence, is what we're trying to do with the microgrippers. We could deploy hundreds or even thousands of these grippers to get more samples and a better idea of what kind of or whether a disease is present."
Although each mu-gripper can grab a much smaller tissue sample than larger biopsy tools, the researchers said each gripper can retrieve enough cells for effective microscopic inspection and genetic analysis. Armed with this information, they said, the patient's physician could be better prepared to diagnose and treat the patient.
This approach would be possible through the latest application of the Gracias lab's self-assembling tiny surgical tools, which can be activated by heat or chemicals, without relying on electrical wires, tubes, batteries or tethers. The low-cost devices are fabricated through photolithography, the same process used to make computer chips. Their fingerlike projections are made of materials that would normally curl inward, but the team adds a polymer resin to give the joints rigidity and to keep the digits from closing.
Prior to a biopsy, the grippers are kept on ice, so that the fingers remain in this extended position. An endoscopy tool then is used to insert hundreds of grippers into the area targeted for a biopsy. Within about five minutes, the warmth of the body causes the polymer coating to soften, and the fingers curl inward to grasp some tissue. A magnetic tool is then inserted to retrieve them.
Although the animal testing results are promising, the researchers said the process will require further refinement before human testing can begin. "The next step is improving how we deploy the grippers," Selaru said. "The concept is sound, but we still need to address some of the details. The other thing we need to do is thorough safety studies."
Further development can be costly, however. The team has applied for grants to fund advances in the project, which is protected by provisional patents obtained through the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office. Biotechnology investors might also help move the project forward. "It is more a question of money than time as to how long it will take before we could use this in human patients," Selaru said
Along with Gracias and Selaru, the Johns Hopkins researchers who contributed significantly to the two journal articles were Evin Gultepe, Sumitaka Yamanaka, Eun Shin and Anthony Kalloo. Additional contributors were Kate E. Laflin, Sachin Kadam, Yoosun Shim, Alexandru V. Olaru, Berkeley Limketkai, Mouen A. Khashab and Jatinder S. Randhawa. The researchers are affiliated with the School of Medicine, the Whiting School of Engineering and the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology.
Funding for this research has come from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute and the Broad Medical Research Institute.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/gvhbrYrLy98/130423135845.htm
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Shiite Iran and Sunni Al Qaeda have long had a hostile relationship. While state involvement appears unlikely, Tehran has less control over the country's far east.
Officers from various law enforcement agencies including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Peel Regional Police, and Surete du Quebec gather at a news conference in Toronto on Monday, as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announce the arrest of two men accused of plotting a terror attack on a rail target.
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EnlargeCould Iran really have been linked to an Al Qaeda plot in Canada to derail a passenger train bound for the US? ?
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When Canadian officials made that charge yesterday,?it surprised Iran specialists because the Shiite Islamic Republic and hardline Sunni Al Qaeda have been largely hostile to each other for the last two decades.
The history of antagonism between the Iranian government and Al Qaeda makes any state involvement unlikely. However, operatives may be exploiting loose government control in remote border areas.
Iran today denied that it had any connection to the ?major terrorist attack? that Canadian officials say they thwarted.?According to officials,??Al Qaeda elements in Iran? gave ?direction and guidance? to Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal, and Raed Jaser of Toronto, to mount an attack on a Toronto-New York train line. The suspects had been under surveillance for a year before their arrests.?
?No shred of evidence regarding those who?ve been arrested and stand accused has been provided,? Iran?s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said today, according to Iranian media.
?We oppose any kind of violent act that endangers lives,? said Mr. Mehmanparast. ?In recent years, Canada?s radical government has put in practice a project to harass Iran and it is clear that it has pursued these hostile actions.?
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it had no evidence of Iranian state sponsorship in the plot, but also did not specify how Al Qaeda elements in Iran may have been able to shape events from two continents away, and without Iranian knowledge.?
Reuters reported that a US government source suggested that ?Iran was home to a little-known network of Al Qaeda fixers and 'facilitators' based in the Iranian city of Zahedan,? located near Iran?s remote eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, an area known for its?lawlessness.?
Those fixers ?serve as go-betweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for Al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving throughout the area,? and?"do not operate under the protection of the Iranian government, which periodically launches crackdowns on al Qaeda elements,"?Reuters reports.?
Iran detained hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters who fled from Afghanistan to Iran in late 2001, after US air strikes and the Northern Alliance militia ? which shared close ties with both Iran and later the US ? forced the collapse of the Taliban regime, which hosted Al Qaeda.
Iran?s Revolutionary Guard had been helpful to the US military and the CIA in that fight, quietly providing extensive intelligence and political assistance to improve targeting of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Iran repatriated many of the Arab Al Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan to their home countries, but kept several dozen of the most high-ranking, including children and relatives of Osama bin Laden, and Al Qaeda?s former No. 3, the head of security and intelligence Saif al-Adel. Iran has always claimed that they were under house arrest or otherwise prevented from keeping operational contact with Al Qaeda foot soldiers.
A report by the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point?on some of the documents found in Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound in May 2011 appears to confirm Iran?s frequently hostile relationship with Al Qaeda.
The documents ?make it clear that Al Qaeda's ties to Iran were the unpleasant byproduct of necessity, fueled by mutual distrust and antagonism,? states the report.
?Relations between Al Qaeda and Iran appear to have been highly antagonistic, and the documents provide evidence for the first time of al Qaeda?s covert campaign against Iran,? the CTC reports. ?Al Qaeda did not appear to have looked to Iran from the perspective that ?the enemy of my (American) enemy is my friend,? but the group might have hoped that ?the enemy of my (American) enemy would leave me alone.' ?
In the letters, top Al Qaeda leaders complain that the Iranian ?criminals did not send us any letter, nor did they send us a message through any of the brothers [they released]!? The CTC report notes that ?Bin Laden was equally distrustful of the Iranian regime,? and that the release of his family was ?fraught with hurdles.?
An analysis of the CTC report by Barbara Slavin of Al-Monitor?noted that the Abbottabad documents ?underline the view that the George W. Bush administration missed what could have been a major opportunity to work with Iran against the Sunni militant group responsible for the 9-11 attacks.?
Similarly, notes Ms. Slavin, the report suggests the Obama administration ?may have overstated the case when the US Treasury Department designated Iran [in July 2011] for having a ?secret deal with al-Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory.??
Iran tried to use those Al Qaeda operatives as bargaining chips, offering to trade them with the US in 2003 for leaders of the Iranian armed opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), whose base at Camp Ashraf in Iraq came under American control after the US military toppled Saddam Hussein.
The US refused the offer, with some Pentagon and Bush administration officials arguing that the MEK ??which was listed as a ?terrorist organization? by the US State Department from 1997 until last?September???might prove a useful tool in any future US fight against Iran.
Instead, Iran has used them as bargaining chips with Al Qaeda itself. The CTC report notes correspondence boasting that Al Qaeda in 2008 kidnapped an Iranian diplomat in Peshawar, Pakistan, and ?the?threats?we made? to ?scare? the Iranians into releasing bin Laden relatives and key operatives.
The fresh Canadian claims about the Al Qaeda-Iran connection come 1.5 months after bin Laden son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith?was detained in the Turkish capital Ankara, in a joint Turkey-CIA operation.?Mr. Abu Ghaith had been held for years in Iran, and his arrest (eventually by Jordan) ? not long after a US federal court happened to issue an arrest warrant ? indicated to some that he may have been surreptitiously released by Iran.
He is now in American custody.?But the?chain of events?has raised speculation of a ?goodwill gesture? by Iran?as nuclear negotiations with world powers continue, notes Inter Press Service,?or as part of a more complex Turkey-mediated prisoner swap deal with Syrian rebels.?
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The latest developments in Down Syndrome Education's See and Learn programme are being presented online at a series of events here. ?Very highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this field. The child above is developing an understanding that meaning can be contained in pictures by matching the picture in her hand with one on the baseboard. ?
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It's a natural reaction to throw every due date you have into your calendar or task list, but podcaster and blogger David Sparks suggests you only use those due dates for tasks that absolutely need them.
Due dates are incredibly handy for big projects and small reminders, but they're not necessary for everything. When every item on your task list has a due date, you end up with tons of notifications and badges that don't mean anything. Sparks suggests never using using due dates unless a project will totally blow up if you don't get it done by that day. It's a simple trick, but it pulls your focus back to what needs to get done right now. Check out David Sparks video above for a few more tips on how he uses OmniFocus (or any productivity app) to keep things organized.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Voters in the nation's capital are all but certain to approve a charter amendment on Tuesday that would grant the city more control over its municipal budget.
In theory, the amendment would take effect unless Congress passes a disapproval resolution and President Barack Obama signs it. But both the White House and Senate Democrats have shown strong support for greater independence for the district, so that is highly unlikely.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia in Congress says it's unclear what will happen if the referendum passes.
Some fear the amendment will backfire or that it won't get the district any closer to its long-stated goal of spending local tax dollars without congressional approval.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/referendum-could-grant-dc-control-budget-171124253.html
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairmen of President Barack Obama's 2010 fiscal commission are wading back into Washington's budget wars with a revised, somewhat milder plan to rein in intractable federal deficits.
The plan by former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming would lop more than $5 trillion from deficits over the upcoming decade when combined with the deficit-cutting steps enacted in fits and starts since his 2010 proposal.
It's unclear what impact the updated plan will have on the bitter divide over taxes, spending and debt. The initial Bowles-Simpson plan won warm reviews from deficit hawks but received a chilly reception from Obama and much of the rest of official Washington for its tough mix of tax increases and cuts to benefits programs.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bowles-simpson-offer-modified-budget-plan-020212271--politics.html
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Millwards Daisy carrying a massive chance in Keith Hartsdown Race at Romford
Millwards Daisy has the bit between her teeth. After taking a couple of brilliant wins, the brilliant bitch is well prepared to complete her hat-trick. P. Young?s white and black bitch charge is up against five dangerous hounds in the Keith Hartsdown Race at Romford on Friday, April 19, 2013.
She won an exciting race here on March 16th, but lost rhythm for a little while afterwards. The audience at Poole saw her finishing third on March 26th. It was certainly a terrible defeat. As a result, the connections decided to take her down to the A1 level. At the end of last month, the August-10 hound regained her momentum, and won an A1 race in a tremendous fashion.
The maverick bitch continued her majestic work, and won an open race on April 12th. It was a sizzling performance by the sizzling bitch. After leaving the fifth box, she ran superbly, and took a handsome lead very early in the race. She stayed ahead all the way through, and eventually bagged the first prize comfortably by five and a half lengths.
Having done so much damage, the daughter of Royal Impact is all set to make another mega impact. Among her rivals are: Courts Ad Nina, Airforce Allstar, Rathanny Annie, Sharons Dilemma, and Alis Avenger. The 400 metres flat race is set to begin at 21:40 GMT. A handy prize of 175 pounds is reserved for the champion.
Rathanny Annie needs to leave her habit of making moderate exits, otherwise she might get involved in bother. Airforce Allstar must avoid an early mess, which she may suffer after leaving the second box. After that, the black bitch needs to run furiously.
Sharons Dilemma did well at Wimbledon a few days ago, but this is way much tougher. Alis Avenger is facing a terrible draw. It will be hard for her to make a winning move after stepping out of the fourth box. Courts Ad Nina is facing less demanding situation than what she had a few days ago. So, an improvement is highly expected. We wish the best of luck to all the contestants.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not reflect Bettor.com's editorial policy.
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