Sunday, March 31, 2013

Rep. Peter King Compares North Korean Government to 'Organized Crime Family'

Below you can find some of the notable comments made Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Political roundtable guests included former Newark Mayor Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; ABC News political analyst and special correspondent Matthew Dowd; ABC News senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny; and editor and publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel. Our special religion and politics roundtable included writer and religious scholar Reza Aslan; Rev. Calvin Butts, Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York; author and atheist Susan Jacoby; Dr. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Sojourners president Rev. Jim Wallis, author of "On God's Side."

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King describes North Korean government as 'organized crime family'

KING: As far as I see, this is not even government. It's more like an organized crime family running a territory. They are brutal, he is brutal, his father was brutal, his grandfather was brutal. I don't see any purpose at all in [direct talks with North Korea] at all. It would demoralize our allies in Asia, certainly in South Korea, and it would - to me - serve no constructive purpose whatsoever.

Vanden Heuvel on gay marriage: 'justice delayed is justice denied'

VANDEN HEUVEL: "Justice delayed is justice denied. But I think that the Supreme Court is lagging so far behind now that marriage equality has won in this country? It is moving in states, it is moving politically. And I think you've seen, perhaps, the most rapid mass evolution on an issue, among our politicos as well. They know where the future of this country is. It is also a qualifier to win a next generation."

So I think whatever happens in the court, and it may well be that Kennedy's - Justice Kennedy's consuming affection for state rights does lead to overruling DOMA, I think we are going to see a social, moral, and political paradigm shift that is extraordinary.

King supports President Obama's position on guns

KING: Let me say, I support the president's position on guns. So I'll say that. Having said that, it's going to be very difficult to get very meaningful legislation through the congress, because despite what [Mayor Booker] was saying? is that you get a majority of Americans who don't seem to want this type of legislation. And I support it. So I'm - I am again, supporting legislation on gun trafficking, on background checks, assault weapons, all of that. But I just don't see the intensity building up.

Vanden Heuvel states 'the Republican Party is a values challenged party'

VANDEN HEUVEL: If they don't go along with immigration. I mean, as you head into 2014, the Republican Party is a values challenged party. They have big problems on immigration, on same-sex marriage, on gun reform, commonsense gun reform. So I think this is going to be a test case

Land thinks immigration reform 'needs to be done'

LAND: "Immigration reform is tearing the social fabric of the country. It needs to be done. The lack of doing it is causing havoc that will be difficult to repair in the social fabric of the country. And there is a way to do it, and a way to do it that's fair, and a way to do it that will heal the country."

Like "This Week" on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a different take on the news at OTUSNews.com.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rep-peter-king-compares-north-korean-government-organized-163609641--abc-news-politics.html

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First commercial flight between Egypt and Iran for 34 years

CAIRO (Reuters) - The first commercial flight between Egypt and Iran in 34 years took off on Saturday, the latest step towards normalizing ties broken following the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution.

Egypt and Iran agreed to resume direct flights in October 2010 before President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power, but no flights were made.

"A flight by Air Memphis, owned by Egyptian businessman Rami Lakah, took off from Cairo to Tehran earlier on Saturday carrying eight Iranians including diplomats," one airport official said adding that the airline could later carry out more tourist and business trips between Egypt and Iran.

Diplomatic relations between Iran and Egypt were cut in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran when the government in Cairo gave sanctuary to the deposed shah.

But ties improved over the years, and have become significantly better since the election of Islamist Mohamed Mursi as president of Egypt in June 2012.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Egypt in February, the first visit by an Iranian leader to Cairo in more than three decades, and called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and offered a loan to the cash-strapped Arab state.

Mursi visited Iran in August to attend an international summit where he initiated a quartet committee that included Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia to discuss ways to end the Syrian civil war. Saudi Arabia later left the group.

(This story was refiled to correct headline)

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/private-egyptian-jet-flies-iran-first-time-202848954.html

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Senate group resolves key issues on immigration reform: lawmakers (reuters)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295796145?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Filmmaker who rescued Romanian orphans is killed

ENCINITAS, Calif. (AP) ? A documentary filmmaker known for helping rescue children from squalid Romanian orphanages in the early 1990s was fatally shot following an apparent dispute over the trimming of shrubbery outside his Southern California home, officials said Friday.

John Charles Upton Jr., 56, was found dead Thursday on a dirt path in the yard of his Encinitas home. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said detectives arrested Michael Vilkin, 61, on suspicion of murder. He was being held without bail, pending arraignment Tuesday.

Upton, after learning of the plight of Romanian orphans, publicized the brutal conditions and was instrumental in bringing an estimated two dozen orphans to America for medical care and adoption.

Vilkin, in an interview conducted in county jail, told KGTV in San Diego he fired gunshots in self-defense after Upton menaced him with a gun during a dispute over foliage.

Vilkin said he owns vacant property next to Upton's home, and the two men had a disagreement over trimming shrubs.

"I did not go to him," Vilkin told the station. "He came to me threatening and pulled a gun (on) me."

A statement from the department said a dispute between the two men led to the shooting, which was under investigation.

Upton's brother, Michael Upton, told U-T San Diego that his brother and Vilkin previously argued about trees.

Upton's work in Romania also gained the attention of influential activists, inspiring billionaire philanthropist Richard Branson and actress Jessica Lange to help rescue youngsters from Romania.

Upton went on to create an online network of films about charitable causes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/filmmaker-rescued-romanian-orphans-killed-231935649.html

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

I met you, fate

(Sunday, 31 March 2013 / 01:21)


Met baby just for dinner today. We went to 18 chefs again! (Oh god I'm reminded of how blur I was and paid a few bucks more for nothing... T_T) We had main course, drink, ice cream and waffle. OH-NO. It was too much for my stomach. Gah. Nevertheless, a good photo of the yummy waffle. Service was quite bad... Not sure why. It has always been good. I anticipate the new outlet in Cineleisure! :D

Was too full to have any more food so we went to walk around and chill for the day :) Walked from PS after getting a drink from Hiccup to Ion. Then I bought socks! Cutie jap socks <3 Lazy to upload photo... Check my instagram hehe. @Nuttybunny_


Chilled outside Ion until this lupsup man with his partner decided to sit so close to me, making me feel uncomfortable... GAH. Tehn we headed to food opera to camwhore a bit. (many thoughts about this. SIGH. But I will still do it my way)

YAY OR NAY TO COLOURED HAIR? :D

Headed home about 11pm. So late right... I wanted to play dance dance LOL. So that kinda marks my day.


Oh and also not forgetting my OOTD of the day :D + a Hello Kitty tote.

???

Source: http://she-lived-a-century.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_31.html

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Google launching same-day delivery service for online shoppers

Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery.

The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., didn't say how many people will be part of the test.

If the pilot program goes well, Google plans to expand delivery service to other markets.

"We hope this will help users explore the benefits of a local, same-day delivery service, and help us kick the tires on the new service," Google said in a Thursday statement.

The delivery service is part of Google's effort to increase consumer reliance on the Internet, so it will have more opportunities to show online ads, which generate most of its revenue.

Google has learned that the more time people spend online, the more likely they are to use its dominant search engine or one of its other popular services, like its YouTube video site or Gmail, that include advertising.

The delivery service also could spur merchants to buy more online ads if Google's same-day delivery service encourages consumers to do more of their shopping online. Having to wait days or, in some cases, more than a week for the delivery of online orders ranks among the biggest drawbacks to Internet shopping.

It's a problem that Amazon.com and eBay, which operate the largest e-commerce sites, already have been trying to solve by offering same-day service in some U.S. markets. Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, also offers same-day delivery in five markets.

A mix of national, regional and neighborhood merchants are enlisting in Google Shopping Express. The best-known names on the list include Target and Walgreen. All the merchants in the Google program will sell certain items through a central website. Google has hired courier services to pick up the orders at the merchant stores and then deliver them to the customer's home or office.

Although the couriers will be working on a contract basis, they will be driving Google-branded vehicles and wearing company-issued uniforms.

It remains unclear whether Internet shopping and same-day delivery can be profitable. Online grocer Webvan collapsed in 2001, largely because it couldn't devise a pricing plan that would pay for the costs of same-day delivery without alienating shoppers unwilling to pay too much extra for the added convenience.

Google is still trying to figure out how much to charge for its same-day delivery service. For the six-month test period in the San Francisco area, consumers won't have to pay a surcharge. Google instead will receive a commission from participating merchants.

The expansion into same-day delivery comes at the same time that Google is preparing to close some of its older online services so it can devote more attention and money to other projects.

The realignment has irked some Google users. The biggest complaints have centered on Google Reader, which allows people to automatically receive headlines and links from their favorite sites, and iGoogle, which allows Web surfers to design a page consisting of the Google search engine surrounded set up other online features, such as local weather reports and stock market quotes.

Google Reader is scheduled to close in July and iGoogle will shut down in November.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a2418e3/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cgoogle0Elaunching0Esame0Eday0Edelivery0Eservice0Eonline0Eshoppers0E1C9143458/story01.htm

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Son of pro wrestler Ric Flair found dead

(AP) ? Authorities say the son of professional wrestler Ric Flair has been found dead in a North Carolina hotel room.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police says officers were called to a hotel on the city's south side around 10:30 a.m. Friday. When they arrived, they found the body of 25-year-old Reid Fliehr, who also was a wrestler.

A statement from police says there are no signs of foul play, and that the cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner's office.

Flair's agent released a statement Friday describing Reid as "an incredible son, brother, friend, and professional wrestler."

Ric Flair's real name is Richard Morgan Flair. The peroxide-blond wrestled for some 40 years and also was known as The Nature Boy.

The 64-year-old won many pro wrestling titles including in the WWE.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-29-Ric%20Flair's%20Son/id-82004d20dd48493584a71add69ece622

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Malala Yousafzai, shot for defying Taliban, to write book

LONDON (AP) ? Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.

Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.

"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.

A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.

The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.

Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.

Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.

"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."

FILE - In this undated file photo provided by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot at close range in the head by a Taliban gunman in ... more? FILE - In this undated file photo provided by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot at close range in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan, reads a book as she continues her recovery at the hospital. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban, is writing a memoir. Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson said Thursday March 28, 2013 it will release "I am Malala" in Britain this fall. Little, Brown will publish it in the United States.A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9, while she was on her way home from school in northwestern Pakistan. (AP Photo/Queen Elizabeth Hospital, File) less? Publishers didn't reveal the price tag for the book deal.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shot-pakistani-teen-malala-yousafzai-writing-book-100913748.html

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IDC: Tablet Sales Grew 78.4% YoY In 2012 - Expected To Pass Desktop Sales In 2013, Portable PCs In 2014

IpadsStrong growth in tablet sales is helping to drive overall growth in the global smart connected device market, according to analyst IDC. The analyst notes that market expansion last year was "largely driven" by 78.4% year-over-year growth in tablet shipments -- which exceeded 128 million units. It expects tablet shipments to surpass desktop PCs in 2013, and portable PCs in 2014.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cpp-Ti8h96Q/

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

My Purchases for Android Shows You Everything You?ve Bought from Google Play

My Purchases for Android Shows You Everything You’ve Bought from Google Play Android: A while back, Google removed the filter at Google Play that let you see the apps you've purchased. Now, the ones you've paid for are shown along with every other app you've ever downloaded, even if that app is free or no longer on your phone. My Purchases is a handy Android app that shows you everything you've paid for at Google Play and how much it cost you.

My Purchases doesn't just stop with apps either. If you've ever purchased books or movies through Google Play, they'll show up in the list as well, all color coded so you can quickly tell them apart. Each item is also shown with its sale price next to it, so you know how much you spent on the item. The app even supports multiple Google Accounts, so you can see apps you've purchased for work versus ones you purchased for fun, for example. My Purchases is free, and ad-supported. $1.29 will get you a "pro" version that strips out the ads.

My Purchases (Free) | Google Play via Droid Life

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/BRtgv3UvtHc/my-purchases-for-android-shows-you-everything-youve-bought-from-google-play

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Cyprus banks to re-open; limits on transactions

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Bank employees and financial authorities in Cyprus are preparing banks to reopen after being shut for more than a week due to the country's acute financial crisis.

Strict restrictions have been set on financial transactions once the banks open for six hours at noon (1000 GMT). The maximum cash withdrawal limit has been set at 300 euros ($383) per day and no checks will be cashed. Travelers leaving the country can only take up to 1,000 euros, or the equivalent in foreign currency, with them in cash.

Banks have been closed since March 16 as politicians scrambled to come up with a plan to raise enough funds for Cyprus to qualify for 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in bailout loans for its stricken banking sector.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-28-EU-Cyprus-Financial-Crisis/id-cf116eb374b5417e897f3fb7c958d8e8

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DOE Opens Clean Energy Facility, Announces New Grants

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/doe-opens-clean-energy-facility-announces-grants-215100559.html

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US eyes anti-piracy effort along west Africa coast

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. and some of its allies are considering plans to increase anti-piracy operations along Africa's west coast, spurred on by concerns that money from the attacks is funding a Nigerian-based insurgent group that is linked to one of al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliates.

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated over the past year, and senior U.S. defense and counter-piracy officials say allied leaders are weighing whether beefed up enforcement efforts that worked against pirates off the Somalia coast might also be needed in the waters off Nigeria.

There has been growing coordination between Nigeria-based Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which was linked to the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September that killed four Americans, including the ambassador. Military leaders say AQIM has become the wealthiest al-Qaida offshoot and an increasing terrorist threat to the region.

It has long been difficult to track whether there are terrorist ties to piracy in the waters off Africa. But officials are worried that even if Boko Haram insurgents aren't directly involved in the attacks off Nigeria and Cameroon, they may be reaping some of the profits and using the money for ongoing terrorist training or weapons.

No final decisions have been made on how counter-piracy operations could be increased in that region, and budget restrictions could hamper that effort, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about emerging discussions between senior U.S. military commanders and other international leaders.

But officials say the solution could include continued work and counter-piracy training with African nations. The U.S. participated last month in a maritime exercise with European and African partners in the Gulf of Guinea.

"Maritime partnerships and maritime security and safety are increasingly important in the Gulf of Guinea region to combat a variety of challenges including maritime crime, illicit trafficking and piracy," said Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command.

In recent weeks, Ham and other U.S. military commanders have bluntly warned Congress that the terrorist threat from northern Africa has become far more worrisome.

"If the threat that is present in Africa is left unaddressed, it will over time grow to an increasingly dangerous and imminent threat to U.S. interests, and certainly could develop into a threat that threatens us in other places," Ham told Congress earlier this month. "We've already seen from some places in Africa, individuals that ? from Nigeria, for example ? attempt to enter our country with explosives."

A Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was sentenced to life in prison last year for trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb sewn into his underwear on Christmas 2009. The bomb failed.

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts and kidnappings. Last year, London-based Lloyd's Market Association ? an umbrella group of insurers ? listed oil-rich Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia.

Pirates have been more willing to use violence in their robberies, at times targeting the crew for ransom. And experts suggest that many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive and there's a bustling black market for stolen crude oil.

Typically, foreign companies operating in Nigeria's Niger Delta pay cash ransoms to free their employees after negotiating down kidnappers' demands. Foreign hostages can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.

Lately, however, the attacks, which had traditionally focused on the Nigerian coast, have spread, hitting ships carrying fuel from an Ivory Coast port. In January pirates made off with about $5 million in cargo from a fuel-laden tanker near the port of Abidjan, and two weeks later a French-owned fuel tanker was hijacked in the same area.

Just days after that, three sailors were kidnapped off a U.K.-flagged ship off the coast of Nigeria, and late in February six foreigners were taken off an energy company vessel in that same region.

The International Maritime Bureau has raised alarms about the Ivory Coast attacks, calling the first January incident a "potential game changer" in piracy in the region because was the farthest ever from Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea. And U.S. Navy Capt. Dave Rollo, who directed the recent naval exercise in the Gulf of Guinea that involved as many as 15 nations, said piracy in that area is not just a regional crime issue, it's "a global problem."

Meanwhile, over the past year, piracy off Somalia's coast has plummeted, as the U.S.-led enforcement effort beefed up patrols and encouraged increased security measures on ships transiting the region. After repeated urgings from military commanders and other officials, shipping companies increased the use of armed guards and took steps to better avoid and deter pirates.

According to data from the combined maritime force, nearly 50 ships were taken by pirates in 2010 in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin and there were another close to 200 unsuccessful attempts. Last year, just seven ships were pirated there along with 36 failed attacks.

Even as defense officials warn about the growing threat, they acknowledge that increasing counter-piracy operations around the Gulf of Guinea presents a number of challenges.

In recent weeks, the U.S. Navy has had to postpone or cancel a number of ship deployments because of budget cuts, including a decision not to send the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman to the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has maintained two carrier groups in the Gulf for much of the past two years, as tensions with Iran have escalated.

U.S. Africa Command has no ships of its own, so any U.S. vessels needed for operations would have to come from other places, such as Europe or America.

And defense officials also note that it may be difficult to build as much international interest in the Gulf of Guinea attacks as those in the more heavily traveled shipping lanes on the northeastern side of the continent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-eyes-anti-piracy-effort-along-west-africa-151649714--politics.html

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Not All States On Board With Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Certain groups of people would rather not associate with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bodega owners who don?t want to hide their cigarettes from view; movie-theater proprietors who like to charge an arm and a leg for enormous sodas; and, apparently, all the mayors in Alaska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Since 2006, when Bloomberg birthed the idea for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition out of New York's Gracie Manor, the group has actively sought out new members to help fight gun violence. It made news this past week when it?announced?a $12 million ad campaign to push gun-control efforts and to target senators who are wavering on the issue. To date, nearly 1,000 mayors from across the country have signed the coalition's?statement of principles, but those five states remain holdouts.

?There are a couple of factors,? Mark Glaze, the coalition?s director, said in an interview. ?First, it?s [that] there are just more mayors in a couple states than others. But, of course, ideology plays a role. In Western states there is a higher percentage of gun ownership and lower percentage of gun crime, so it can be a tougher sell.?

But if the coalition is trying to get membership from all 50 states, there is still hope. Glaze notes that already about 100 Republican mayors have signed on, and that plenty of rural Republican states are represented. For states like Utah, Idaho, West Virginia, and North Dakota, one is better than none.?

?I think there is a real fear of being associated with it, and that you might be thrown out of office if you sign up,? said Dana Williams, the only mayor in the entire state of Utah to join. ?Even if it?s illegal weapons, it?s such a political hot potato, plenty of people would rather not participate in the discussion.?

Williams, a guitar-playing California transplant, is the mayor of Park City, known as the home of the Sundance Film Festival and the most liberal city in the state. It?s definitely an outlier. And while many of his constituents are on board, the life of an outlier mayor does not come without harassment. He sent National Journal a number of e-mails to prove this point. Here?s one:

The fact that YOU are the only Mayor in Utah on this anti-gun list makes me sick! Are you taking money from Bloomberg? Do your finances need to be investigated? Do the people in ParkCity know you support this DICTATOR? Get OFF his list and prove you are a Patriot for the Constitution!

For Mayor Nancy Chaney, the one mayor from Idaho on board, all the nasty e-mails in the world can?t make her regret signing up last winter. And yet, the decision to sign up was not an easy one for Chaney, whose town of Moscow is home to the University of Idaho.

Her city is one of the most liberal in the state, but it is still part of northern Idaho. For geographical context, her hometown is just two hours south of the proposed site of The Citadel, a planned community for survivalists with plans for its own automatic-gun factory.

In 2007, shortly after Chaney took office, the mayors coalition approached her about joining up. She declined, telling them she felt like a more credible mayor of a north Idaho community without adding her name to the list.

But during her tenure, Chaney has witnessed enough gun violence in her sleepy little town to change her mind. In 2007, a sniper killed three victims and himself, and in 2011 a university professor shot one of his grad students (who was also a former lover) 11 times.

?Those things shouldn?t happen in communities like this,? Chaney?said. ?I decided it was important to articulate my stance on this?. And a person who has access to lethal force ought not to win every argument.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/not-states-board-bloombergs-mayors-against-illegal-guns-111025641--politics.html

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

British teenage whiz strikes deal with Yahoo

Nick d'Aloisio displays his mobile application Summly, as he poses for photographs after being interviewed by the Associated Press in London, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo. Seventeen year old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Nick d'Aloisio displays his mobile application Summly, as he poses for photographs after being interviewed by the Associated Press in London, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo. Seventeen year old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2012 file photo, the company logo is displayed at Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top-selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo the company announced Monday March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Nick d'Aloisio poses for photographs after being interviewed by The Associated Press in London, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo. Seventeen year old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Nick d'Aloisio poses for photographs after being interviewed by The Associated Press in London, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo. Seventeen year old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Nick d'Aloisio displays his mobile application Summly, as he poses for photographs after being interviewed by the Associated Press in London, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo. Seventeen year old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

(AP) ? At 17, he's a tech whiz, he's rich ? and he can even offer some advice on how to raise your kids.

Teenage programmer Nick D'Aloisio's decision to sell his news application Summly to Yahoo for what's rumored to be a massive payout has turned him into a media sensation. The sale caps a short but successful career at Apple Inc.'s vast app store, where hundreds of thousands of pieces of software compete for the attention of smartphone and tablet users.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, D'Aloisio said his computer skills were self-taught, explaining that he started by mastering movie-making software before tackling programming languages.

He said his parents were "very enthusiastic and supportive." Asked what advice he'd give couples hoping to raise their own wunderkinds, he urged them to let their children explore their own paths ? be it computer science or drama.

"If there's a natural curiosity, that'll lead to, eventually, some success," the teenager said.

Summly is one of several apps that D'Aloisio has designed. It uses complex algorithms to automatically condense online news content into attractive little blocks of text that are useful for the small screens of smartphones.

D'Aloisio said he was thrilled to be working for a "classic Internet company" ? Yahoo! Inc. is older than he is ? and he laughingly dismissed a reporter's suggestion that his friends might be jealous.

"All my friends have been very supportive," he said.

He noted that the publicity over Summly had been building for more than a year, meaning he and those close to him had had time to adjust to the outside attention.

As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars. D'Aloisio had already received investment from several sources, including venture capitalist backer Li Ka-Shing.

Asked what he'll do with the payout, he responded with serious answers unbefitting of an adolescent. He said the money was being kept in a trust until he turns 18, and he didn't seem interested in talking about what he'd buy for himself for his next birthday.

"I'd like to keep it safe. Bank it .... If I was to do anything it'd be angel investing," said D'Aloisio, who is slim with dark brown hair and bears a passing resemblance to Josh Radnor, the actor who plays main character Ted in the TV sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."

The teen app expert said he was interested in automated technologies that could anticipate users' needs before they even reached for their smartphones ? such as an app that downloads the day's news stories just before a user steps into a subway.

D'Aloisio said there were no copyright concerns about Summly, which works by running a statistical analysis of the text to guess which bits are the most relevant to cut the content down. Media companies such as New York-based News Corp. have collaborated on making their content more Summly-friendly, he said, arguing that shortening software would ultimately be a win-win for content providers.

"We're introducing their content to a new, younger demographic," he said. "You like the summary, you read the whole story; it increases publisher viewership."

The technology isn't foolproof: He said the app sometimes has trouble shortening long-form or highbrow pieces, but he noted that humans, too, have trouble summarizing sprawling stories.

The deal announced Monday is Yahoo's fifth small acquisition in the past five months. All have been part of CEO Marissa Mayer's effort to attract more engineers with expertise in building services for smartphones and tablet computers, an increasingly important area of technology that she believes the Internet company had been neglecting.

Although the Yahoo acquisition won't close until later this spring, D'Aloisio said the Summly App will no longer be available. Its technology will return in other Yahoo products.

D'Aloisio will work for Yahoo in its London office ? in part so that he can complete his high school exams. Two other Summly workers will join Yahoo at its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters. He said he eventually wants to attend university, perhaps to study philosophy.

"I haven't decided yet," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-26-Yahoo-Acquisition/id-d60b1ec217fd4363abfdb260448d2584

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Supreme Court agrees to hear Michigan affirmative action case

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider a Michigan law that bans affirmative action in public college admissions.

The consideration of race in the admissions process, aimed at correcting past racial discrimination, is deeply unpopular in conservative circles.

In November, a sharply divided 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found that the 2006 state constitutional amendment banning the practice, approved by voters in Michigan, imposed burdens on racial minorities in violation of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. The state challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The Michigan law bans preferential treatment toward any candidates in public university admissions.

The high court is simultaneously considering a case on whether colleges and universities can continue to give special preference to minority candidates in admissions policies, in a case involving the University of Texas. A ruling in that case, Fisher v. University of Texas, is expected imminently and will come no later than the end of June.

That the court agreed to hear the Michigan case before deciding the Texas case is unusual. The court's normal practice is to wait until it has issued a ruling before agreeing to hear another case on a related issue. This may mean that the court is struggling to decide the Texas case, or that the ruling could be coming as soon as this week.

A district court judge upheld the state law in the Michigan case, but a three-judge panel of the appeals court struck it down in 2011. The full appeals court reheard the case the following year and struck the law down on a 8-7 vote.

The majority of the appeals court said the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment does more than guarantee equal treatment under the law. It also prevents laws from being passed that change the political process to impose extra burdens on minorities, the court said.

"ON ITS HEAD"

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, wrote in the state's brief seeking the high court's review that the appeals court had adopted a theory that has been rejected by other courts in striking down a law that 58 percent of voters approved.

"Entrance to our great colleges and universities must be based upon merit, and I remain optimistic moving forward in our fight for equality, fairness and rule of law at our nation's highest court," Schuette added.

The challengers to the law are split into two groups.

One group, including the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, said it wanted the Supreme Court to hear the case even though the group won at the appeals court level. The issue is one of "surpassing national importance" that warrants the Supreme Court's attention, attorney George Washington wrote in a court filing.

In a statement, Washington said the law's supporters "are creating a new form of separate and unequal in a nation that will soon be majority minority," a reference to the growth in the United States of the minority population.

The other group, consisting of prospective college students, said there was no need for the justices to review the case because the 6th Circuit had applied court precedents correctly. Their attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

In Monday's brief order announcing that the Supreme Court will hear the Michigan case, the court noted that Justice Elena Kagan is recused, meaning there is a possibility of a 4-4 split. Kagan is a former solicitor general under President Barack Obama.

Oral argument and a decision are expected in the court's next term, which runs from October 2013 to June 2014.

The case is Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-682.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-agrees-hear-michigan-affirmative-action-case-134414635.html

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ZTE Is Betting On China's Nascent 4G Network To Bolster Its Flagging Profitability

zte-logo-001ZTE is honing in on increased investment in 4G networks by China’s major telecom operators as it struggles to catch up with domestic rival Huawei Technologies, reports Reuters. ZTE and Huawei are expected to compete for most 4G network contracts with China’s three major carriers (China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom) because the two telecom equipment makers?have support from the Chinese government. Securing contracts is especially important for ZTE because its performance has been lagging behind Huawei. ZTE warned in January that it will post its first-ever annual loss for 2012 (its earnings release is scheduled for later this week). According to ZTE, its net loss for 2012 will be between 2.5 billion yuan and 2.9 billion yuan due to delays in network projects and a decline in handset revenue. That is the first annual loss for the company since it went public in Shenzhen in 1997. ZTE’s strategy since the mid-1990s has been to focus on aggressively expanding overseas, taking on rivals Ericsson, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia Siemens in emerging markets such as India. The company’s expansion has often shaved away at its profitability because ZTE offers prices so low competitors often give up instead of matching the bids. But Huawei still holds an advantage over ZTE because Huawei’s larger size gives it an edge when offering lower bids on contracts with carriers. Huawei, the world’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker after Ericsson, has forecast that its 2012 net earnings will rise 33 percent to 15.4 billion yuan. ZTE has said that it hopes to recover and make a profit in 1Q2013 by cutting costs and focusing on developed markets like the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Though China’s 4G network expansion will also be a key part of ZTE’s strategy, the company may have to wait a bit longer for to reap the rewards because TD-LTE is still waiting for approval from the Chinese government. But China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom have already been busy building out their infrastructure. Together, the three companies will spend 345 billion yuan ($56 billion USD) on expanding their 4G networks this year. China Mobile, the world’s biggest wireless network operator by subscribers, wants to set up trial networks in 100 large cities by the end of this year. In February, the telecom giant turned up pressure on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to start issuing 4G licenses soon

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/T6gykelVTgQ/

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Early number sense plays role in later math skills

WASHINGTON (AP) ? We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math ? and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on.

The findings have specialists considering steps that parents might take to spur math abilities, just like they do to try to raise a good reader.

This isn't only about trying to improve the nation's math scores and attract kids to become engineers. It's far more basic.

Consider: How rapidly can you calculate a tip? Do the fractions to double a recipe? Know how many quarters and dimes the cashier should hand back as your change?

About 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. lacks the math competence expected of a middle-schooler, meaning they have trouble with those ordinary tasks and aren't qualified for many of today's jobs.

"It's not just, can you do well in school? It's how well can you do in your life," says Dr. Kathy Mann Koepke of the National Institutes of Health, which is funding much of this research into math cognition. "We are in the midst of math all the time."

A new study shows trouble can start early.

University of Missouri researchers tested 180 seventh-graders. Those who lagged behind their peers in a test of core math skills needed to function as adults were the same kids who'd had the least number sense or fluency way back when they started first grade.

"The gap they started with, they don't close it," says Dr. David Geary, a cognitive psychologist who leads the study that is tracking children from kindergarten to high school in the Columbia, Mo., school system. "They're not catching up" to the kids who started ahead.

If first grade sounds pretty young to be predicting math ability, well, no one expects tots to be scribbling sums. But this number sense, or what Geary more precisely terms "number system knowledge," turns out to be a fundamental skill that students continually build on, much more than the simple ability to count.

What's involved? Understanding that numbers represent different quantities ? that three dots is the same as the numeral "3'' or the word "three." Grasping magnitude ? that 23 is bigger than 17. Getting the concept that numbers can be broken into parts ? that 5 is the same as 2 and 3, or 4 and 1. Showing on a number line that the difference between 10 and 12 is the same as the difference between 20 and 22.

Factors such as IQ and attention span didn't explain why some first-graders did better than others. Now Geary is studying if something that youngsters learn in preschool offers an advantage.

There's other evidence that math matters early in life. Numerous studies with young babies and a variety of animals show that a related ability ? to estimate numbers without counting ? is intuitive, sort of hard-wired in the brain, says Mann Koepke, of NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. That's the ability that lets you choose the shortest grocery check-out line at a glance, or that guides a bird to the bush with the most berries.

Number system knowledge is more sophisticated, and the Missouri study shows children who start elementary school without those concepts "seem to struggle enormously," says Mann Koepke, who wasn't part of that research.

While schools tend to focus on math problems around third grade, and math learning disabilities often are diagnosed by fifth grade, the new findings suggest "the need to intervene is much earlier than we ever used to think," she adds.

Exactly how to intervene still is being studied, sure to be a topic when NIH brings experts together this spring to assess what's known about math cognition.

But Geary sees a strong parallel with reading. Scientists have long known that preschoolers who know the names of letters and can better distinguish what sounds those letters make go on to read more easily. So parents today are advised to read to their children from birth, and many youngsters' books use rhyming to focus on sounds.

Likewise for math, "kids need to know number words" early on, he says.

NIH's Mann Koepke agrees, and offers some tips:

?Don't teach your toddler to count solely by reciting numbers. Attach numbers to a noun ? "Here are five crayons: One crayon, two crayons..." or say "I need to buy two yogurts" as you pick them from the store shelf ? so they'll absorb the quantity concept.

?Talk about distance: How many steps to your ball? The swing is farther away; it takes more steps.

?Describe shapes: The ellipse is round like a circle but flatter.

?As they grow, show children how math is part of daily life, as you make change, or measure ingredients, or decide how soon to leave for a destination 10 miles away,

"We should be talking to our children about magnitude, numbers, distance, shapes as soon as they're born," she contends. "More than likely, this is a positive influence on their brain function."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/early-number-sense-plays-role-later-math-skills-173349630--politics.html

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Ash from refuse could become hydrogen gas

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Every year, millions of tons of environmentally harmful ash is produced worldwide, and is mostly dumped in landfill sites or, in some countries, used as construction material. The ash is what is left when rubbish has been burnt in thermal power stations. A researcher from Lund University in Sweden has now developed a technique to use the ash to produce hydrogen gas. The method is presented in a new thesis.

The technique has significant potential: 20 billion litres of hydrogen gas a year, or 56 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Calculated as electricity, the energy is the equivalent of the annual needs of around 11 000 detached houses. Hydrogen gas is valuable and is viewed by many as an increasingly important energy source, for example as a vehicle fuel.

"The ash can be used as a resource through recovery of hydrogen gas instead of being allowed to be released into the air as at present. Our ash deposits are like a goldmine," said Aamir Ilyas, Doctor of Water Resources Engineering at Lund University and the developer of the technique. Refuse incineration is a widespread practice in Europe.

The technique involves placing the ash in an oxygen-free environment. The ash is dampened with water, whereupon it forms hydrogen gas. The gas is sucked up through pipes and stored in tanks.

It is the heavy, grit-like bottom ash that is used. In combustion, a lighter fly ash is also formed. The bottom ash remains in quarantine, in the open air, at the site for up to six months to prevent leaching of environmentally harmful metals and the risk of hydrogen gas being formed, since accumulation of hydrogen during indoor storage can result in explosion.

"A bonus is that this method removes the risk of hydrogen gas. It also reduces the strain on our landfill sites."

In some countries, processed bottom ash is sometimes used as a construction material for roads and buildings. This doesn't happen at present in Sweden because the ash contains hazardous substances that do not meet the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's strict requirements. Usually it is used as top cover at landfills.

Today, hydrogen gas is mainly produced from natural gas. However, biogas, oil and coal can also be used as the raw material. Hydrogen gas is an important raw material in industry and is used in refineries and to manufacture ammonia. Hydrogen gas has the potential to produce electricity and heat and also to become a vehicle fuel; a number of car manufacturers are investing in hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars. Hydrogen gas is not expensive, but because there is a lack of infrastructure for the production of the gas, the production and handling costs are high. However, these costs would decrease in the future once a production system is established.

"There will not be one universal solution that will be used to generate energy. We need to find a number of solutions," said Kenneth M. Persson, Professor of Water Resources Engineering and one of Aamir Ilyas's supervisors.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/OaBhRP3mmHQ/130325093536.htm

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I'm new to everything!

Hello everyone!

My name is M8Z2, pronounced just like it's spelled. I'm completely new to EVERYTHING - this website, role-playing, character creation, etc etc. I've been interested in it for years and I guess I have never really had the courage to put myself out there like that. To be honest, I still don't. I'm a bit shy and I don't really know how all of this 'works'.

I'd love to meet new people and hear from them their advice and what they have to think about the world in general! Thanks!

~M8Z2

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/707JLMvzrkw/viewtopic.php

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Harrison Ford goes mum on 'Star Wars' sequel

Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford. (Nikki Nelson/WENN.com)

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LOS ANGELES -- It already had a 2015 release date from Disney and a director --J.J. Abrams--and, then last week, Harrison Ford let slip that a rumoured Han Solo/Luke Skywalker/Princess Leia return for Star Wars: Episode VII was "almost true" although "not in the bag yet."

But this weekend while discussing his new movie 42, Ford was sounding like a guy who might have spoken prematurely.

"I've suddenly developed really, uh, bad hearing and, uh, find myself at a loss for words," dodged Ford, when asked if that highly-anticipated reunion with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill was any closer to being a done deal.

"It's - uh - I really can't talk about it now."

He was, however, after decades of "no comment" or quick dismissals, uncharacteristically willing to open up about the original movie that launched the franchise and his career.

At the time, when he landed the role, did he have any inkling of what that very first Star Wars was to become?

"Well, you know, I was lucky to get a job at that time," reflects Ford, who had been making the ends meets in between acting gigs by doing carpentry work for the likes of George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. "And the reason I thought it was going to work was not because we were bringing something new or something original, but because we were bringing something old. We were bringing a fairy tale, with a beautiful princess and a wise old warrior and a callow youth and the necessary leavening of a smart ass. So I thought, you know, it could work."

But when Ford and the rest of the cast first showed up on set, there was concern from some quarters that Lucas and company would be unable to transport moviegoers to a galaxy far, far away.

"We made the film in England in front of these highly-trained professional craftsmen doing the behind-the-scenes jobs and they could not figure out what the [expletive] we were doing and how we thought we were going to get away with that," explains Ford.

Sitting back in his chair, he laughs that, unlike with the franchise's subsequent budgets, it was certainly debatable whether there had been sufficient financial backing.

"If you leaned up against the set at the amount of money we were spending you'd likely knock it over," Ford says. "And when you went to flip a switch in the Millennium Falcon, it would stay up for a very short period of time before it drooped back down because the switches without the springs were about eight cents-a-switch cheaper."

But when he ultimately saw that all that money had been saved for the special effects, Ford had a real sense of the film's potential.

"The minute that ship flew over the audience and the rumble of the speakers in the theatre accompanied it," he says, smiling, "I knew that this was something people were going to have to pay attention to."

?

Are you happy Harrison Ford is back as Han Solo?

Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/24/harrison-ford-goes-mum-on-star-wars-sequel

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Theater review: &#39;Menopause&#39; finds comedic carthasis in &#39;the change ...

Times' theater reviewer C.B. Goldsmith always does what I ask him, and he does it thoughtfully and promptly. Unfortunately, I don't always reciprocate as I should. Take his review of "Menopause The Musical," for example. He attended Tuesday's opening night performance at the Plaza Theatre (the touring company performed it again on Wednesday) at the Plaza Theatre and turned in his review on Wednesday. Due to some unusual time constraints I dealt with last week, I wasn't able to get to it until today. So, sorry for the late posting, but here's his thoughtful review of that performance.

?

By C.B. Goldsmith

?How can it be that on a giant planet, in a big city, on a street full of neighbors, with family and friends, we can feel so alone? We hold tight to ourselves and make our stand within these flimsy forts we call our bodies, but they age and throw us out.

??Menopause The Musical? may be a musical comedy, but it addresses this human condition, which can make the women who experience it feel so along. The touring musical turned the Plaza Theater on Tuesday night, the first of a two-night run, into one part confessional and one part revival meeting, addressing a topic that until recently was (like its sufferers) hidden in plain sight.

?Forty one years ago, the groundbreaking television show ?All In The Family? kicked opened that door and in an episode entitled ?Edith?s Problem.? In these ensuing years, this issue (like so many) has emerged from the shadows and become yet another vehicle to allow half the planet to feel less alone.

"Menopause The Musical? uses four disparate women of a certain age, shopping in a New York City department store, to share their stories ? and their symptoms ? in the revelation of a collective truth, which a predominantly female audience was uproariously delighted to share. The women are archetypes and, most often, well represent all women.?

There is the Professional Woman, played by Nicole Lee; the Soap Star (Cherie Price); the Earth Mother (Ingrid Cole) and last, but far from least, the Iowa Housewife (Roberta B. Wall). All were powerful, with the terrific, full voices one would expect from an Actors Equity (union) touring company. Each brought a subtle humanity to what could have been ? in the hands of a lesser writer than show creator Jeanie Linders ? generic caricatures of all women.?

?Cole and Wall delivered powerful comedy. Price delivered the pathos inherent in an aging actress. Lee centered this work around her musical hurricane of a voice, which rattled rafters. All four had the voices to give heft to what sometimes was a trifle musically, and the comedic chops to consistently turn the broadest of exposition nearer to universal truths.

?The music is song parody of the soft rock and R&B of recent times and was only moderately clever, which is about as good as most song parody gets. The comedy is broad and over the top, which, judging from the roars around me, was just about perfect for this cultural conduit.

?Menopause The Musical? is, in a classical musical comedy aesthetic, not much that is new or novel. It can be painfully hokey but in a theater full of folks having the absolute time of their lives, this criticism is as irrelevant as the critic himself.

?This show illustrates theater as a transformative agent for change and to judge it by the material alone is to miss the bigger picture. Women walk a razor?s edge in a ?man?s world.? They are the life givers, yet this gift has a shelf life. We revere them for the miracle of their fertility, but when this gift fades, we sometimes tend to devalue them unknowingly. Older men can have second acts amidst the big boy?s toys of newer cars or newer wives or newer hair. But for millennia, women have been expected to go back to their cave (or tent or rooms) and get over this change of life.?

?At its best, ?Menopause The Musical? addresses this inequality. The suggested cures of Prozac, plastic surgery and keeping it to themselves can be less about women than it is about the people around them, especially men, and their needs.

What lit up the theater and electrified the audience was the shared cure of community. By illuminating what once was suffered in private by women hidden in plain sight, an entire audience was liberated from their solitude by this light and humorous work.?

?It was wildly powerful to sit amidst women emancipated, and entertained, by the shared fading of shame. This was their story within a theater that belonged to them, and it was a privilege to be allowed witness this.

The falter and the failure of our bodies is the shared destiny of us all. Simone de Beauvoir framed it wonderfully when she said: ?To lose confidence in one?s body is to lose confidence in oneself.??

What ?Menopause The Musical? offers women is the freedom to not be so alone amidst this shared truth.

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Source: http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/pullen/2013/03/theater-review-menopause-finds-comedic-carthasis-in-the-change.html

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Video: Gun Control by Another Name?

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51297703/

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