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Thursday, February 28, 2013
The Judge Who Forced Apple to Publicly Apologise to Samsung Now Works for? Samsung
Sending top secret information? There's an app for that ? CNN ...
By Mike Mount
Combat troops to four-star generals will soon be able to use cell phones or mobile tablets to quickly share classified information anywhere in the world.
The program soon to be rolled out by the Pentagon will allow the more than 600,000 Defense Department employees who use government-issued "smart" mobile devices to send top-secret information on those units or computers.
Until now, classified and other highly sensitive information has only been allowed to be shared by specially designated desktop systems.
Most Defense Department mobile device users peck away at Blackberries. Another 41,000 use Apple devices and a much smaller number use Android-based technology, according to statistics provided by the Pentagon.
The secure network would apply to all of those technologies.
"The application of mobile technology into global operations, integration of secure and non-secure communications, and development of portable, cloud-enabled capability will dramatically increase the number of people able to collaborate and share information rapidly," said Teri Takai, the Pentagon's chief information officer.
Mobile users range from ground troops in Afghanistan to the Joint Chiefs chairman to Pentagon policy wonks.
The motive for the Pentagon is to get a system in place as mobile technology increasingly advances.
The Pentagon eventually hopes to phase in a larger number of users and involve vendor competition to build a system that could possibly handle the agency's more than three million employees, officials said.
The initial system will allow mobile "smart" device users to run apps, e-mail and other functions securely even in remote and hostile locations.
The system will operate on commercial carrier networks that are able to handle classified data, according to Pentagon officials who briefed reporters on the plan.
Takai said the biggest challenge for the Pentagon has been to design a system that can fully leverage all of the uses of the "smart phones" in a way that allows the users to communicate securely.
"The challenge for the DOD is to balance the concern of cyber security with the need to have the capability of these devices," Takai said.
Source: http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/26/sending-top-secret-information-theres-an-app-for-that/
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Home Sweet Home: Great Home Improvement Tips | Pest Control ...
A lot of work is need for some home improvement projects. But home improvement doesn?t need to be hard as long as you do a little research to learn how to handle them first. The following tips will help guide you in accomplishing your home improvements, from getting supplies to deciding whether you need professional assistance.
Use fruit and flowers to add fresh energy to your kitchen. A fruit bowl or flower arrangement will really make your kitchen sing. Cheap and effective, this is a simple upgrade. Fresh flowers can make your kitchen appear more lively.
If you want an improvement that will yield value and appeal to your home, install new carpet. Not all carpet is created the same. Take special care when you?re selecting the type of carpet you want. Inquire about samples that you may take home with you.
Figure out how you?re going to get rid of debris. Many projects around the house require forceful demolition, but you must remember to constantly remove the debris along your trail. Decide where you want to trash this debris before starting and you will have a better road ahead. Either rent a large waste receptacle or borrow a large truck. This gives you a place to store debris as you clear it, keeping your work space tidy.
Listening to music while working is a common desire when outside the house. But headphones are not recommended because you want to be aware of your surroundings.
Clean your home with old toothbrushes. Whether cleaning the kitchen or bathroom faucet or sprucing up engine parts, used exterminators charlotte nc toothbrushes work well. And they won?t cost you a cent. There is no sense in throwing a toothbrush away when it can be recycled for many useful projects in your home. Go ahead and save your money for another project.
If you are thinking of adding a tiled floor to your home, putting a heat source under it is easy and relatively inexpensive. If considering getting tile make sure to do some research on radiant heating. It?s an efficient and enjoyable way to heat a room. It?s especially nice for the cold bathroom floors in the morning. Radiant heat flooring is a very good thing to have if you are going to sell your home.
You have to let neighbors know of times when the street will be blocked due to your renovations. Sometimes it?s necessary pest control greenville sc to block traffic for big renovation jobs or for the delivery of equipment and supplies. If you let your neighbors know about this, they will appreciate your consideration and won?t mind the inconvenience so much.
Doing a home improvement project on your own can be a very fulfilling experience. There are also some times that you need to hire a contractor. However, if you have a general knowledge of home improvement, the majority of the work can be accomplished by you. All of these components are important to each home improvement project. Take advantage of the advice presented here to get moving on your own projects today.
Source: http://pestcontrolexperts.edublogs.org/2013/02/27/home-sweet-home-great-home-improvement-tips/
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Netgear Centria (WNDR4720)
The Centria WNDR4720 is Netgear's offering in the crop of network devices that serve as both routers and Network Attached Storage (NAS). The WNDR4720 is a dual-band router and a NAS with 2TB of storage (Netgear also offers the WNDR4700; you need to supply your own drive). While the Centria is not a powerful performer as a router?and even weaker in performance as a NAS?the combined functionality makes it an attractive device for creating a robust home network. With this single device you have the means to deploy a wireless network, shared storage, multimedia streaming, and even backup.
The Centria is a competitor to Apple's Time Capsule, which is a NAS/router combo. Like the 2TB version of Time Capsule, the Centria is priced at around $300. Another competitor in the space is Synology's DS213air which also combines routing functionality with a NAS.
If you need a more powerful router than what the DS213air offers, the Centria is the better option of the two.? If you are mostly focused on NAS capabilities, then look to the DS213air.? One other caveat with the Centria: there are some issues with the Desktop Genie app you can install to manage it.
Specs
The Centria's design is the same boxy shape introduced with Netgear's R6300 router. This large device operates upright on a built-in stand. Design is one of the big drawbacks of the R6300, in my view. The bulky case makes placement options within an entertainment center, for example, limited.
The model I tested, the WNDR4720, is an N900 dual-band router with integrated 2TB of storage on a 3.5" SATA HDD. There are two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. The Centria also has four Gigabit LAN ports and a Gigabit WAN port.
On the side of the case are three buttons: WPS, WiFi on/off, and a one-touch backup button. LEDs on the front correspond to each button and are lit when the buttons are activated. On the opposite side of the case is a door that opens to where the HDD sits. It's a bit of an effort of get your fingers around the HDD to pull it out. The drive's backplane sits so far deep into the Centria that it's somewhat difficult to ensure that the drive is seated properly. You'll know if it isn't if you don't see the HDD's LED light up green when the Centria is powered on.
There are also five more LEDs on the bottom front panel, one each, representing status of power, WAN connection, WiFi, HDD status, and USB device connection.
Centria Setup
The WNDR4720 ships with wireless networking pre-configured. In fact, the SSID and password are printed on a sticker affixed to the unit. As soon as I powered the Centria up, I saw two Netgear SSIDs?one for the 2.4 GHz radio and one for 5GHz, in Windows' listing of wireless networks.
You still want to go through the setup process to establish your WAN connection and make sure settings are the way you want. To do this, open a browser from a computer connected to the Centria, to the address routerlogin.net.? This kicks off the Netgear Genie setup wizard.
The setup process has been updated in Netgear's newer device line, as I first noticed when reviewing the R6300. I was impressed that the setup wizard elegantly avoided any possible IP address conflicts with my ISP assigned address by changing the router's IP addressing appropriately.
The setup wizard then checked my internet connection. I received confirmation that I was connected to the Internet and the interface displayed the router's settings including the wireless settings, the HDD state. The wizard then scanned for any connected USB devices.
Setup gives you the option of installing Netgear's newer management apps: the Desktop Genie, for monitoring and repairing your home network, and ReadyShare Vault?a backup app. While I'll dig deeper into each app in separate reviews, I did install the Desktop Genie, since it's relevant to managing the router functionality in the Centria. After installing the desktop version of genie, I encountered a few issues.
Genie Conflicts
When you install the Desktop Genie, you can use the shortcut to it on a desktop to get to the router's settings and monitoring tools. Typically, you would just open a browser to the IP address of the router, and use the device's management software for configuration, which is also called the Netgear Genie. The fact that both are named Genie is confusing.
Desktop Genie is a newer interface for Netgear products introduced in 2011. Instead of having to open a browser and go to the IP address of the device's interface, you can double-click the Genie shortcut on the desktop. The Desktop Genie has more features than the default Genie interface you get by typing in the IP address of the router in a browser.
I found Desktop Genie was problematic to use. When I first opened it, I was greeted with a Login Failed error message, despite the fact I could go into the browser-based interface using the same admin login and password. There was a little help icon to give me more information about the error. The additional information was that I was getting a login failure because "your Netgear router does not yet support all desktop genie features," and that is was something Netgear was working on.
There were areas within Desktop Genie I could access at times, and that I would then would get a login failure message in later tries. For instance, I was able to click a monitoring icon and see a nice real-time graph of my router traffic, but then when I clicked to go into wireless settings, I would get the failure notice.
?Desktop Genie became so prohibitive to continuing my review of the Centria that I closed it and did the rest of the review by just going to the Web interface of the router?the regular Genie, as I refer to it.
As mentioned, I'll dive deeper into the Desktop Genie in a separate review. The app has a lot of promising capability but functions like beta software when used with the Centria. This is despite the fact that the Desktop Genie webpage lists the Centria as a supported router.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/9mpbPEwY8Qc/0,2817,2415849,00.asp
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Stocks edge higher in early trading
Stocks edged higher in early trading on Wall Street, boosted by gains for discount retailers, after Dollar Tree posted strong earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 30 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,929. The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,500. The Nasdaq composite fell seven points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,136.
Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. rose $4.50 to $45.57 after it said its net income increased nearly 22 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter as consumers spent more at its stores. Dollar General and Family Dollar Stores also advanced.
Orders for U.S. factory goods that signal business investment plans jumped last month by the most in more than a year, suggesting that companies are confident about their business prospects.
The Commerce Department said orders for so-called core capital goods, which include machinery, equipment and software, rose 6.3 percent in January from December. However, a sharp drop in demand for commercial aircraft caused overall durable goods orders to drop 5.2 percent, the first decline since August.
Stocks bounced back Tuesday after logging heavy losses at the start of the week.
Both the Dow and the S&P logged their biggest losses in more than three months Monday on concern about Europe after elections in Italy left the country with political gridlock.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell 2 basis points to 1.86 percent.
Among other stocks making big moves;
? Priceline.com, a Travel website operator, gained $26.45 to $704.60 after it said late Tuesday that its net income jumped in the fourth quarter as bookings grew.
? First Solar plunged $4.31 to $27.02 after the company posted disappointing sales for the fourth-quarter and offered a weak early outlook for the year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-edge-higher-early-trading-153639656--finance.html
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Momentum grows for alternative phone system Tizen
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? The junior league of smartphone operating systems is getting more competitive. Phones from yet another contender ? Tizen ? will go on sale this year with a view to eventually competing with the industry leaders, Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
For now, Tizen will compete with another newcomer, Firefox OS, as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone and a revamped BlackBerry operating system.
Most of the impetus behind Tizen comes from cellphone carriers, which want a successful counterweight to the clout of Google and Apple. Samsung has become the world's largest maker of smartphones in large part through its embrace of Android.
Tizen has a powerful backer in Samsung Electronics Co. Spokesman Michael Lin confirmed Tuesday that the Korean company is ditching its own, homebrew operating system Bada in favor of Tizen. Samsung will also continue to make Android phones.
Yves Maitre, the executive in charge of handsets at Orange, France Telecom's wireless arm, said the carrier expects to launch Tizen phones in France this year and in developing countries next year. He spoke Tuesday to reporters and industry insiders at an event in Barcelona, Spain, on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress, the world's largest cellphone trade show.
Sprint Nextel Corp. is a member of the Tizen Association, but it hasn't said if it has any plans to bring Tizen handsets to the U.S. Other major backers include Intel Corp. and Huawei Technologies Ltd., China's largest phone maker.
Tizen phones will look and work much like Android phones, except that the familiar square app icons are round. By coincidence, that's the shape chosen for the Firefox OS, which was revealed in Barcelona on Sunday. Phones from that project are also expected this year.
Both Firefox and Tizen are "open source" projects, managed by non-profit associations. That means the software is freely available to customize, giving phone carriers control over how the software works on the phones they sell. By contrast, Apple maintains complete control over the workings of the iOS software in iPhones.
The idea to create an "open" phone operating system is not new. In fact, Android is an open-source project run by Google. However, one controlled by a non-profit has never been successful. Tizen is based on two failed attempts, MeeGo and LiMo. Frederic Dufal, the technical director of handsets at Orange, said The LiMo Foundation, the most broad-based attempt, was set up in a way that made it very hard for the interested parties to reach consensus. The nitty-gritty of getting Tizen to work is handled by the independent Linux Foundation instead, which has a history of shepherding the creation of effective software.
"We've learned from the mistakes of the past," Dufal said.
The Tizen Association said the phones will launch with a store with thousands of applications.
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Brikk pushes solid-gold iPhone cases with philanthropic twist ...
Brikk solid gold iPhone case
High-end technology accessories maker Brikk is marketing solid-gold and platinum iPhone 5 cases to affluent consumers through a charity component.
The brand promises to donate more than?2,000 pounds of rice that will be distributed to various non-governmental organizations for each iPhone case purchased. Brikk?is also challenging other luxury brands to contribute to philanthropic organizations.
?We believe that all luxury brands should donate a decent percentage of their proceeds to charity,? said Cyrus Blacksmith, founder at Brikk, Los Angeles.
?We donate specifically to hunger in third-world countries where there are famines and large populations are dying because of food shortages regardless of whether the shortages are caused by climate or politics,? he said.
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Philanthropic gold
Brikk is self-described as a maker of fine philanthropic goods. It was founded in 2009 on the premises that a portion of every purchase would go to help humanitarian aid.
Brikk?s new collection of iPhone 5 cases called ?Haven? offers four different models of luxury iPhone cases that are customizable.
Cases are available in pink gold, yellow gold, yellow gold satin matte and platinum polished.
Yellow gold polished case
Diamonds and other stones can be added to the cases.
Each gold case contains more than 75 grams of gold and the platinum case contains more than 100 grams of platinum.
The gold models are priced at $11,610 and the platinum model is $14,235.
The cases are sold through Brikk?s Etsy account. The brand also plans to sell the phone cases in select retailers in Singapore, Dubai, New York and London in the future.
Brikk has been pushing the new cases on its Facebook page, Twitter account, Etsy store and Web site.
Giving back
Many luxury brands make charitable donations or give back to the community in various ways.
For instance, U.S. apparel and accessories label Michael Kors upped its philanthropic portfolio through a long-term partnership with the United Nations? World Food Programme to help put an end to world hunger.
The brand is pushing the partnership and encouraging donations through a PSA that was released on its social media channels and its Destination Kors? Web site. The PSA includes messages from notable celebrities who support the cause including Bette Midler, Seth Myers, Olivia Munn, Patti Hansen and Karol?na Kurkov? (see story).
Also, Montblanc, a maker of writing instruments and watches, offered customers the chance to purchase a bracelet as a holiday gift for a parent of a cancer patient at the Texas Children?s Cancer Center. The bracelets were priced at $345 of which $50 goes directly to the center to support patient care and research (see story).
Brikk?s charitable donations come from every product that the brand offers.
?As luxury brands are high profit and have a clientele that pays for the quality and brand, we believe that luxury brands can increase their prices slightly to offset the charity, if required,? Mr. Blacksmith said.
Final take
Erin Shea, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York?
Erin Shea is an editorial assistant on Luxury Daily. Her beats are automotive, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, financial services, media/publishing, software and technology, telecommunications, travel and hospitality, real estate, retail and sports. Reach her at erin@napean.com.
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Peter La Anguila, Jamsha: Catchy Lyrics And Funny Moves From A New Generation Of Reggaetoneros
He represents the new generation of Latino rappers but instead of using tattoos, big muscles, a gangster attitude and a lot of bling-bling, Peter La Anguila has captured the attention of social media with fun reggaeton dancing moves.
Similar to popular Korean song "Ganganm Style" by PSY, which quickly became a social phenomenon after being posted on Youtube, it seems that the same could be happening to Peter la Anguila (Peter the Eel), a funny and skinny character who moves like an eel in the water when dancing.
Produced by The Pichy Films a group of Cubans from South Florida called Alejandro Gonz?lez and Maikito Rodr?guez, and played by reggaetonero Peter La Anguila, in just months the video ?El Estilo de Peter La Anguila? .(The Style of Peter the Eel) has reached 30 million views, and thousands of followers on Facebook and Twitter.
The Pichy Boys are two cousins who have done all kinds of parodies of either Hollywood movies, television shows or news breaks for several years. However, it was the union to Peter La Anguila that helped them reach this big hit.
The three young Cubans have already been traveling around the world to attend many events. After returning from a European tour where they visited several cities in Spain, France and Germany, they made stops in Mexico, Central and South America to greet fans.
Another artist who has also taken advantage of his own unique style and has jumped to fame on social media platforms using parody and comedy is the Puerto Rican Jamsha. With funny sketches that almost always showcase the urban realities of the island, and catchy lyrics the new reggaetonero, has also claimed a space on the Internet.
Take a look at Peter La Anguila above and more about Jamsha below. (Caution: Obscene language and graphic visuals are used in this video.)
Also on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/peter-la-anguila_n_2768836.html
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APNewsBreak: Taliban attacks not down after all
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, an Afghan solider, left, stands guard at the scene of a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year, and officials said Tuesday that there was actually no change in the number of attacks on international troops from 2011 to 2012. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, an Afghan solider, left, stands guard at the scene of a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year, and officials said Tuesday that there was actually no change in the number of attacks on international troops from 2011 to 2012. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks during his last news conference as defense secretary. at the Pentagon. The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year, and officials said Tuesday that there was actually no change in the number of attacks on international troops from 2011 to 2012. In mid-December, Panetta said "violence is down," in 2012, and that Afghan forces "have gotten much better at providing security" in areas where they have taken the lead role. He said the Taliban can be expected to continue to attack, "but overall they are losing." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The American-led military coalition in Afghanistan backed off Tuesday from its claim that Taliban attacks dropped off in 2012, tacitly acknowledging a hole in its widely repeated argument that violence is easing and that the insurgency is in steep decline.
In response to Associated Press inquiries about its latest series of statistics on security in Afghanistan, the coalition command in Kabul said it had erred in reporting a 7 percent decline in attacks. In fact there was no decline at all, officials said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is among the senior officials who had publicly repeated the assertion of an encouraging drop-off in Taliban attacks last year, was disturbed to learn of the error, said his spokesman, George Little.
"This particular set of metrics doesn't tell the full story of progress against the Taliban, of course, but it's unhelpful to have inaccurate information in our systems," Little said.
A coalition spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, attributed the miscounting to clerical errors and said the problem does not change officials' basic assessment of the war, which they say is on a positive track as American and allied forces withdraw.
The 7 percent figure had been included in a report posted on the website of the coalition, the International Security Assistance Force, on Jan. 22 as part of its monthly update on trends in security and violence. It was removed from the website recently without explanation. After the AP asked last week about the missing report, coalition officials said they were correcting the data and would re-publish the report. As of Tuesday afternoon it had not reappeared.
U.S. and allied officials have often cited declining violence as a sign that the Taliban have been degraded and that Afghan forces are in position to take the lead security role when the last U.S. combat troops leave Dec. 31, 2014.
In mid-December, Panetta said "violence is down" for 2012 and Afghan forces "have gotten much better at providing security" in areas where they have taken the lead. He said the Taliban could be expected to continue to attack, "but overall they are losing."
Little said Panetta was briefed only "very recently" on the erroneous data.
U.S. and alliance officials try to measure progress against the Taliban from a variety of angles. Those include, for example, indications that the Taliban have lost much of their influence in population centers.
"The fact that 80 percent of the violence has been taking place in areas where less than 20 percent of the Afghan population lives remains unchanged," Little said.
The Taliban have lost a good deal of territory since a 2010 surge of U.S. forces in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, and they failed to recover it during the past two fighting seasons. Even so, they are resilient, and they are expected to severely test Afghan forces as the U.S. and its coalition partners step further into the background this year and complete their combat mission next year.
Many people, including coalition officials, have cautioned against the heavy reliance on statistics in assessing war progress. Yet the figures often are highlighted when they fit the narrative being promoted by leaders in Washington and other allied capitals.
"It is disturbing that, after 10 years of war, no reliable count of trends in violence exist even in terms of deaths, the most visible form of violence and one that is only a small portion of the actual causes and patterns of violence in the war," Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote in February 2012.
Graybeal did not fully explain erroneous reporting of 2012 Taliban attacks by the International Security Assistance Force. It was not clear, for example, at what point the data errors began or who discovered them.
"During a quality control check, ISAF recently became aware that some data was incorrectly entered into the database that is used for tracking security-related incidents across Afghanistan," Graybeal said earlier.
He said an audit determined that portions of the data from unilateral Afghan military operations were "not properly reflected" in the trends ISAF had reported in its monthly updates.
"After including this unilateral ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) data into our database, we have determined that there was no change in the total number of EIAs (enemy initiated attacks) from 2011 to 2012," Graybeal said.
"This was a record-keeping error that we recognized and have now corrected," he added.
While ISAF routinely reports trends in Taliban attacks, it does not reveal exact numbers of attacks. Judging from its illustrative charts, however, it appears that there were more than 28,000 Taliban "enemy initiated" attacks in 2011.
The coalition defines enemy initiated attacks as those by small arms, mortars, rockets and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. But it does not include IEDs that are found and cleared before they explode.
Trends in Taliban attacks are one yardstick used by ISAF to measure war progress. Others include the state of security in populated areas, the number of coalition and Afghan casualties, the level of economic activity, the degree to which civilians can move about freely and the performance of Afghan security forces.
Graybeal said that even though the number of 2012 Taliban attacks was unchanged from 2011, "our assessment of the fundamentals of campaign progress has not changed. The enemy is increasingly separated from the population, and the ANSF are currently in the lead for the vast majority of partnered operations."
___
Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP
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Surprise! Janet Jackson is Married!
Forget something borrowed, something blue -- these weddings were out of the blue! From Janet Jackson & Wissam Al Mana to Kate Winslet & Ned Rocknroll to Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds, check out the star nuptials that shocked us
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
South Dakota legislator calls MMA ?Child porn of sports,? while governor says it?s too violent
A bill to create an athletic commission in South Dakota is going nowhere fast, largely thanks to the ignorance of Gov. Dennis Daugaard and state house Rep. Steve Hickey.
Their primary objective is to ban sanctioned mixed martial arts in the state. In a blog post, Hickey writes that, "MMA Cage Fighting is the child porn of sports."
The lack of knowledge and the lack of research both Daugaard and Hickey showed about MMA has to be frightening for persons who live in South Dakota. If they can't be bothered to do the minimal research required to learn that MMA is far safer than other "mainstream" sports, including football, it's scary to think about the laws they'll pass in the state regarding education, health care and budgets.
The UFC is the largest MMA promoter in the world. No fighter has ever suffered traumatic brain injury, let alone died, in the UFC's 20-year history. A 2006 study done by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and which appeared in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine found MMA has far less traumatic brain injury than other sports.
Mixed Martial Arts competitions have changed dramatically since the first Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993. The overall injury rate in MMA competitions is now similar to other combat sports, including boxing. Knockout rates are lower in MMA competitions than in boxing. This suggests a reduced risk of TBI [traumatic brain injury] in MMA competitions when compared to other events involving striking.
MMA events must continue to be properly supervised by trained referees and ringside physicians, and the rules implemented by state sanctioning?including weight classes, limited rounds per match, proper safety gear, and banning of the most devastating attacks? must be strictly enforced. Further research is necessary to continue to improve safety in this developing new sport.
A 2008 study released by the British Journal of Sports Medicine reached the same conclusions. After a five-year study, its authors wrote:
Injury rates in regulated professional MMA competition are similar to other combat sports; the overall risk of critical sports-related injury appears low. Additional study is warranted to achieve a better understanding of injury trends and ways to further lower injury risk in MMA.
The simple fact is that a random NFL player is at far greater risk of a serious brain injury than is a random MMA fighter. Sadly, neither Gov. Daugaard nor Rep. Hickey bothered to do much investigation or educate themselves before speaking out.
South Dakota state house Rep. Mark Johnston introduced a bill to create an athletic commission in the state for the express purpose of making the sport safer. According to the Argus Leader, Johnston said his goal is to prevent unregulated events where tragedies could possibly occur.
A state athletic commission's job is, at the core, to protect the fighters. It makes sure the proposed matches are fair and that promoters have doctors and an ambulance at all events. The commissions also require qualified referees, who stop fights when one fighter is in danger. It also requires fighters to undergo extensive medical examinations before fighting to make certain they are fit to compete. States such as Nevada, California and New York, with strong commissions, have discovered injuries fighters didn't know they had and prevented them from competing. That wouldn't be the case in South Dakota, with no commission to require those tests.
A fear of many states with strong commissions is that promoters will travel across state lines to put on shows in states such as South Dakota, where there is no regulation and where, as a result, costs are less. But the result is that it is far less safe for the competitors.
Sadly, neither Daugaard nor Hickey recognize that. Hickey told the Argus Leader he was angered by the thought of his state sanctioning MMA.
I'm offended that the state would legitimize cage-fighting and the bloody violence that those kinds of spectacles create. I think it's interesting that we declare that it is a crime for one human being to strike another, and yet the state now proceeds to legitimize, and label a sport, cage-fighting.
With all due respect, Gov. Daugaard, a few points:
? It is a crime for one human to strike another outside of the bounds of athletic competition. But it is no crime to strike another in the context of sport and when doctors and referees are available to protect the athletes and where the athletes have signed a contract to compete against each other.
? MMA fights sometimes get bloody. But no fighter to my knowledge has ever suffered anything worse than scarring as a result of being cut. It is important to note that a lot of the cuts are on the forehead above the eyes, where they mix with sweat and make them seem far worse than they are.
? States that have athletic commissions ban fighters who have sustained head injuries from competing again for several months. And before even being allowed to practice in a gym, the fighter needs to be cleared by a doctor.
? MMA is a combination of sports, many of which are already legal in South Dakota, including boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu-jitsu and judo.
Fujitsu Stylistic S01 hands-on: a smartphone even grandma can use
Not every smartphone needs to have piles of RAM an inhumanly fast quad-core CPU and a comically large 1080p display. For some niches of the market those things are not only unnecessary, but potentially a huge negative. Fujitsu's Stylistic S01 is one of those phones that eschews high-end specs for practical features aimed at a particular segment of the market -- namely, your grandparents. The four-inch WVGA display and dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon would have been par for the course a year or two ago, now they're getting a bit dated. But that's ok, they're serve up the heavily skinned Ice Cream Sandwich here just fine.
The UI has large buttons and simplified widgets that are carefully crafted to be easy to manipulate for those with less dexterity in their digits. And, unlike most phones, a glancing touch wont be enough to accidentally launch the camera or maps. While an initial touch wil temporarily select an option, you'll have to actually press just a bit harder than you're accustomed to in order to confirm your selection. In addition to minimizing accidental app launches, it also gets a little bit closer to recreating the tactile sensation of dialing on a physical numeric pad.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/fujitsu-stylistic-s01-hands-on-a-smartphone-even-grandma-ca/
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Get down and dirty for snowshoeing | Sun Peaks Independent News ...
Even without the adrenaline factor that popularizes many winter sports, snowshoeing is becoming more accessible and more appealing in Western Canada, if not the world.
We know that snowshoes were developed centuries ago and used around the world, but there?s little certainty about their exact origin. Whatever their genesis, there?s no doubt they were used to provide an efficient means of travelling on snow. Their use has become more recreational over time, with some of the first documented snowshoeing clubs surfacing in Eastern Canada in the 1800s. Today, snowshoeing is a relatively new popular sport and is not yet represented at the Olympics.
One company that can place a claim in helping raise the profile of snowshoeing is Dirty Feet, which runs snowshoe races, along with trail runs and mountain bike races, in B.C.?s Interior.
?Snowshoeing?s been the fastest growing sport in North America for the past 10 years. You?d be amazed at the amount of people going out snowshoeing, it?s huge,? says Grace Hiom, who runs Dirty Feet with her husband Phil, adding that Dirty Feet has seen large increases in registrations since it launched.
The early incarnations of snowshoes were tough wooden frames with webbing made of animal hide, like caribou or deer, between the frame and leather buckles to secure the foot. Hiom said that nowadays they?re much more versatile.
?There?s really a snowshoe for every use. There are running specific snowshoes, recreational type snowshoes and more aggressive stepper snowshoes to give you more traction and a harness system for doing longer steeper stuff,? she explains.
Hiom added that as long as you set them up right the beauty of snowshoeing is that it?s easy.
?You rent some snowshoes and . . . just hike wherever you?d usually hike in the summertime, it makes it easy to just go do it, you don?t have to organize a big group, don?t usually have to pay trail fees (unless in resorts or parks).?
Dirty Feet will bring the North Face Dirty Feet Snowshoe Fun Run and Walk to Sun Peaks for its fourth year on March 3, and Hiom encourages all people to enter.
?The course (at Sun Peaks) isn?t too crazy technical, it?s a fun 5 kilometre loop and the 10 km is two loops of the 5 km. It?s on the snowshoe trails (and) crosses the Nordic trails,? says Hiom.
The event is open to all ages and will be followed by snacks and hot drinks. There will also be a prize presentation that?s not just for the place getters.
?We have a lot of prizes for our races because we like to encourage people to just come out and participate. You can be dead last and win a $200 prize.?
Cost of entry is $30 until February 23, and will increase to $35 on February 24. Registration closes on March 1, and there is no race day registration.
Source: http://sunpeaksnews.com/get-down-and-dirty-for-snowshoeing-13650.htm
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AT&T LTE coming to GM's 2015 fleet
General Motors Selects at&t's 4G LTE network TO DELIVER enhanced services to Millions of vehicles
AT&T*, the leader in emerging devices and telematics services, today announced an agreement with OnStar, LLC, a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation (GM), to wirelessly deliver an enhanced suite of safety, security, diagnostic and infotainment services to most Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles, beginning in 2014 in the United States and Canada.
The multi-year agreement calls for AT&T to enable millions of GM cars, trucks and crossovers with 4G LTE mobile Internet access, providing the latest wireless technology to power GM's safety and security services offered by OnStar, as well as a new suite of infotainment services like streaming audio, web access, applications, and even video for backseat passengers. AT&T will also enable GM's in-vehicle Wi-Fi hotspots and voice calling services. These enhancements build on OnStar's existing portfolio of connected services, first introduced in GM vehicles in 1996.
Contractual and financial details of the agreement are not being disclosed.
"Introducing 4G LTE into GM vehicles is a game-changing opportunity, and we couldn't be better positioned to help drive this movement," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility. "We're working closely with GM to grow the connected car base, and provide unique and relevant services that will improve the connected experience inside automobiles for both drivers and passengers."
"By adding a fast, reliable and built-in 4G LTE connection specifically designed for vehicles, we can drive innovation to enhance virtually every aspect of the driving and riding experience ? from safety and diagnostics to entertainment to integration of emerging third-party applications," said Mary Chan, president, Global Connected Consumer, General Motors. "Through this built-in 4G LTE connection we have the opportunity to reinvent the mobile experience inside a vehicle."
Beyond 4G LTE connectivity, AT&T and GM will work together as part of a broad ecosystem focused on development of new communication applications for the vehicle designed to deliver more efficiency while also enhancing the driving and riding experience.
GM will preview a series of conceptual connected services at GSMA's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week in the AT&T-sponsored area of the Connected City. GM's move to integrate 4G LTE services in vehicles in the U.S. and Canada is part of a broader global strategy.
GM and AT&T first teamed in January when GM sponsored a Connected Car Challenge as part of an AT&T Hackathon for mobile app developers in Las Vegas. During the event, GM introduced a new set of vehicle application programming interfaces (APIs), enabling developers to build apps for GM vehicles' infotainment systems. The GM SDK (software developers' kit) also offers a new flexible application framework that will allow drivers to add apps and features to their vehicles after purchase.
Telematics, Apps and Global Presence
AT&T has been an industry leader in telematics and related applications development, offering a range of connectivity and services for cars manufactured by a variety of global automotive makers. For more than a decade, AT&T has provided world-class connected and M2M device support and professional services to many of the world's largest device manufacturers and global exporters of wireless-enabled equipment. AT&T has certified and supports nearly 1,300 varieties of connected devices, with labs dedicated to bringing new devices to market, global roaming and integrated SIM provisioning, billing and reporting tools.
Many of these advancements are being made possible as a result of AT&T's innovation programs, which include the AT&T Foundry, TIP (an internal innovation program) and AT&T Labs. Researchers are leveraging decades of speech recognition expertise to deliver a connected, voice-enabled virtual assistant for use by automotive manufacturers. The technology will be backed by the AT&T WatsonSM speech engine, providing a complete cloud-based, voice-enabled natural language mobile virtual assistant solution for wirelessly connected vehicles. AT&T also provides support for hands-free speech-enabled services to prevent driver distraction, as well as remote vehicle functions such as door lock/unlock, remote start, and vehicle location services.
AT&T was also the first to enter the market with a proprietary, single global SIM platform enabling automotive, consumer and M2M equipment makers the ability to work through a single carrier to wirelessly enable and connect products. Announced last year, AT&T's single SIM platform delivers built-in access to wireless and data networks throughout most of the world, with service in more than 200 countries and access to more than 600 carriers worldwide. AT&T's platform is backed by a world-class service-management solution, AT&T Control Center powered by Jasper Wireless, offering powerful global diagnostic, monitoring, and alert/response capabilities proven to help automate operations and reduce the total cost associated with globally connected vehicles, consumer devices and M2M deployment.
AT&T 4G LTE Network
AT&T customers today have access to the nation's largest 4G network, covering 288 million people. AT&T recently announced Project Velocity IP (VIP), its strategic plan to invest $14 billion over the next three years to enhance and expand its wireless and wireline IP broadband networks. As part of Project VIP, AT&T's 4G LTE network is expected to cover 300 million people by year-end 2014.
AT&T's 4G LTE network has been recognized for its speed and coverage. AT&T 4G LTE delivered faster average download speeds than any of the competitors in PCWorld's most recent 13-market speed tests, and telecommunications industry analyst firm Frost and Sullivan awarded AT&T its 2012 North American Mobile Network Strategy Award for the second year in a row.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/att-lte-gm/
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Radioactive tuna from Fukushima? Scientists eat it up
Marine biologist Dan Madigan stood on a dock in San Diego and considered some freshly caught Pacific bluefin tuna. The fish had managed to swim 5,000 miles from their spawning grounds near Japan to California's shores, only to end up the catch of local fishermen.
It was August 2011, five months since a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami had struck in Japan, crippling the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Madigan couldn't stop thinking about pictures he'd seen on TV of Japanese emergency crews dumping radioactive water from the failing reactors into the Pacific Ocean.
The graduate student looked at the tuna and wondered: Could they have transported any of that radiation to California?
For most people, the thought of radioactive sushi tuna is nightmarish, but for Madigan it represented an opportunity.
If radiation from Fukushima was detectable, scientists might look for traces of the contamination in all sorts of amazing creatures that make epic journeys across the open seas, from tuna to sharks to turtles to birds. They might learn more about where the animals came from, when they made their journeys, and why.
They might learn how a single, man-made event ? the plant failure in Fukushima ? could be linked to the lives and fates of animals making homes over half the globe.
Madigan bagged some tuna steaks he had collected from the fishermen, threw them in a cooler and made a mental note to call Nicholas Fisher, a scientist he knew who would be able to tell him whether the tuna had carried radiation from the disaster.
Maybe the fish could still tell their story.
***
Madigan began thinking about the globe-spanning migrations of marine animals in 2006, during a fishing trip in the open waters off Costa Rica.
For hours, he and his friends saw nothing ? no land, no features in the water, no fish. Then, in a flash, they hooked and released a dozen sailfish, magnificent 150-pound catches known for their spectacular jumping maneuvers and brilliant colors.
"It's black water, and all of a sudden you have a huge animal," said Madigan, a Long Island, N.Y., native who camps on the weekends and catches all of the fish he eats. "Why? Why now? And why here?"
Intrigued, Madigan enrolled in a doctoral program at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif., where scientists used electronic tags to track the journeys of sea creatures such as white sharks, leatherback turtles and the black-footed albatross.
They had also tagged the Pacific bluefin tuna, a creature distinguished by its unusual biology (it's one of the few warm-bodied fish) and its popularity on sushi menus. At a January auction in Tokyo, a buyer paid a record $1.8 million for just one of the fish, which are carved up into toro and other choice bites.
Pacific bluefin tuna migration is mysterious. Only some of the tuna born each year leave the Western Pacific around Japan for California, swimming for two months or more to reach their destination. They stay here for a few years, and then they swim back to the waters where they were born so that they can reproduce. Some tuna are thought to cross the ocean multiple times.
Researchers don't really understand why. It may have to do with food availability, ocean temperatures or other factors.
Madigan's doctoral research tries to fill in some of the blanks by looking for nitrogen and carbon isotopes in tissue that serve as signatures of where the fish have lived and for how long. But interpreting the chemical signatures can be tricky. If Madigan could use the radioactive signal from Fukushima to confirm the results of the chemical analysis, he realized, it might bolster his work.
Or that was the theory, anyway.
Madigan, a 30-year-old whose casual demeanor can mask the intensity he brings to his research, called Fisher about the San Diego steaks.
The marine radioactivity expert, who works as a professor at Stony Brook University in New York, doubted they'd detect any radiation in the bluefins. Surely, he thought, any radiation the fish might have picked up would have dissipated over the months it took for them to cross the Pacific. What's more, it was hardly certain that the animals ever got close enough to Fukushima to encounter its plume in the first place.
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SHOW BITS: Avengers goof around backstage
Presenters Robert Downey Jr., left, and Jeremy Renner pose during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Presenters Robert Downey Jr., left, and Jeremy Renner pose during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Actress Kristen Stewart arrives with crutches at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Singer Adele, left, and musician/producer Paul Epworth accept the award for best original song for "Skyfall" from "Skyfall" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Actress Anne Hathaway arrives at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP)
Singer Shirley Bassey performs during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Show Bits brings you the 85th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles through the eyes of Associated Press journalists. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.
___
THE AVENGERS REUNITE
Just like the superheroes they played in the movie, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson huddled together backstage to get a plan together and of course joke around.
Downey suggested the stars of "The Avengers" bow as they headed onstage to make Oscar presentations. Or perhaps curtsy.
When a show worker asked Jackson to stand still so he could be wired with a microphone, the actor faced a backstage wall and pretended he was being frisked by police.
To pass the time, the superheroes watched Melissa McCarthy and Paul Rudd from a backstage monitor.
Suddenly Ruffalo asked, "Did we miss our cue?"
"You want to go out there with them?" asked Jackson.
After presenting two awards, the actors returned backstage, where Downey quipped, "Avengers disassemble."
? Sandy Cohen ? http://www.twitter.com/apsandy
___
QUICKQUOTE: JENNIFER LAWRENCE
"You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell." ? Jennifer Lawrence acknowledging her standing ovation after being named winner of the lead actress Oscar.
? Christina Hoag.
___
KRISTEN STEWART HOBBLED
Kristen Stewart ditched her crutches to hobble onstage as an Oscar presenter, appearing bored and disheveled in the process.
She and Daniel Radcliffe handled one of the less glamorous awards for production design. Stewart read her lines with a slouchy insouciance.
Just before going on, Stewart left a pair of crutches in the wings and apparently the backstage hairstylists didn't get ahold of her for a brushing. Her long brunette hair looked stringy.
The reaction on Twitter was swift and severe.
"Kristen stewart are you ok? And by that I mean where were the hash brownies before u got hit by bus (hash)bruise (hash)limp," tweeted comedian-actor David Spade.
Actor Joel Hale tweeted, "Kristen Stewart is limping because she sprained her ankle from being excessively disinterested."
Backstage, Stewart ran into supporting actress winner Anne Hathaway, who noted her crutches.
"I know, I'm an idiot," Stewart replied. "But congratulations!"
"Please tell me you're going on stage with those," Hathaway said, pointing to the crutches.
"Nope. I'm gonna hobble," said Stewart, explaining that she had stepped on glass.
? Beth Harris ? http://www.twitter.com/bethharrisap
___
TONYS OR OSCARS?
Did the Oscars intentionally turn into the Tonys?
All those song-and-dance numbers weren't lost on Twitter.
"Sucks for the actors at the Oscars who can't sing ... (hash)TONYS? (hash)HollywoodGoesBroadway," Nylon magazine tweeted after a tribute to the musical "Chicago."
"Am I watching the (hash)Oscars or the (hash)Tonys? Either way I'm happy:) lol," tweeted a belter herself, Lea Michele.
? Leanne Italie ? Twitter http://twitter.com/litalie
___
NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON
Just as soon as Adele stepped off the stage after singing the Oscar-winning theme from "Skyfall," she kicked off her sparkly Louboutin platforms.
"I'm sorry. (Forget) that," she said, flinging the shoes onto the floor. A stagehand quickly swooped them up.
"I'd pick them up but I can't bend over," she said, motioning toward her tight beaded dress.
? Sandy Cohen ? http://www.twitter.com/APSandy .
___
QUICKQUOTE: SALMA HAYEK
"It's the night of the gold." ? Salma Hayek to Barbra Streisand, who both wore black-and-gold Oscar gowns.
? Sandy Cohen ? http://www.twitter.com/apsandy.
___
CELEBRITY SCHMOOZING
It was maybe the next best thing to being there.
Down the road from the Academy Awards, musicians and models found common schmoozing ground at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing dinner in West Hollywood.
Lithe supermodel Naomi Campbell sat next to music mogul Quincy Jones then gripped hands and chatted with Steven Tyler and the party host himself, Elton John.
Bono, wearing his customary tinted shades, gleefully kissed Jones on the top of his head, then hugged statuesque model Petra Nemcova.
"Elton's a warrior on the HIV, AIDS scourge, since before anyone can remember," Bono told The Associated Press. "Like Bruce Springsteen is 'the Boss', Quincy is 'the President.' He is so unique. And Elton is both 'the king' AND 'the queen.'"
? Solvej Schou ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Solvej_Schou
___
QUICKQUOTE: JIM CARREY
"They symbolize my awkward spiritual struggle." ? Jim Carrey, joking about why he wore enormous prosthetic bare feet and had feathered wings stitched onto his jacket at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing dinner.
? Solvej Schou ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Solvej_Schou
___
DAVID ARQUETTE CRASHES OSCAR PRESS ROOM
Things got even more surreal for folks coming off the high of winning an Academy Award when they found a high-spirited David Arquette waiting backstage to interview them.
Nestled amid the rows of working press, the actor asked a series of non sequitur questions. He said he was covering the event for Sirius XM radio, which carries Howard Stern's show.
"Django Unchained" supporting actor Christoph Waltz was asked about the possibility of a black man being chosen pope.
Director John Kahrs, whose film "Paperman," won for animated short film, was asked what he thought of receiving condoms in his gift bag. Arquette told him he'd take them if Kahrs didn't want them.
Academy officials said they didn't hand out any gift bags.
"I guess I have a lot to learn," Arquette said when told that.
The actor says he decided to cover the event so he could get a view of entertainment reporting from the other side.
He also took the opportunity to make a pitch to Kahrs.
"I do lots of voices," he told the director, "so if you're ever looking ... "
? Hannah Dreier ? Twitter http://twitter.com/hannahdreier
___
BASSEY HITS IT OUTTA THE PARK
For all the sparkling young starlets and the edgy new host, it was none other than Dame Shirley Bassey who truly set the joint on fire early in the Oscar telecast.
The 76-year-old singer's rendition of the theme from "Goldfinger" ? or, as she sang so memorably, "GoldfinGAH" ? was a feel-good moment that won what was at the time the biggest ovation of the night.
Bassey, who recorded the song in the '60s to great acclaim, reprised it as part of the Academy's 50th anniversary tribute to the James Bond franchise.
On social networks, as people were debating vigorously how the telecast was going, there was no question as to how Bassey did: She was an unqualified hit.
Minutes after the performance, the singer and her song were trending on Twitter.
Adele, who was to perform her "Skyfall" theme later in the show, had her work cut out for her.
? Jocelyn Noveck ? Twitter http://twitter.com/JocelynNoveckAP
___
QUICKQUOTE: CHRISTOPH WALTZ
"Quentin writes poetry and I like poetry." ? Supporting actor winner Christoph Waltz of "Django Unchained" about working with writer-director Quentin Tarantino.
? Beth Harris ? http://www.twitter.com/bethharrisap
___
MAYBE IT LOOKED EASY ...
Charlize Theron, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were one big bundle of nerves before they took the stage for their opening song-and-dance numbers.
Radcliffe danced by himself. Theron dabbed at her eyes and Gordon-Levitt stood silently as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane delivered the Oscar show's opening monologue.
Then it was time to hit the stage.
"Thank God!" Theron said afterward as she let out a sigh of relief.
"You stepped on my dress," she told Tatum.
Radcliffe and Gordon-Levitt bear-hugged after their dance routine.
"We did all right! We did all right," they told each other.
"It felt good! How did it look?" Gordon-Levitt asked.
"Well done," Radcliffe told him. "See you later!"
? Sandy Cohen ? http://www.twittermcom/APSandy
___
QUICKQUOTE: BEN AFFLECK
"We don't expect to depart with anything but our integrity." ? Ben Affleck, shunning the nominations his film "Argo" received.
? Beth Harris ? http://www.twitter.com/bethharrisap
___
AND THE FANS SAY ... 'ARGO'
The clear fan favorite among fans in the Oscar bleachers was "Argo."
The bleacher crowd forced actor-director Ben Affleck to stop an interview with their loud chants of "Ben! Ben! Ben!"
They gave the film's producer, George Clooney, similar treatment and lavished applause on supporting actor nominee Alan Arkin.
Perhaps the strongest sign of fans' love for the CIA thriller was when the group was polled for its choice for best picture before any actors hit the red carpet.
While the chanting was spirited for "Les Miserables" and some other films, it was clearly loudest for "Argo."
? Anthony McCartney ? Twitter http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
___
JENNIFER BLEEPED
It's always fun to hear what Jennifer Lawrence has to say ? even if you have to lip read because she's being bleeped.
The bleeping started early for the charmingly blunt Lawrence, a best actress nominee for "Silver Linings Playbook," as ABC silenced her cheeky red carpet response to actress Kristin Chenoweth.
The two were bonding over "Dance Moms," the Lifetime reality series, when Lawrence asked Chenoweth if she liked it too.
Chenoweth: "Is the pope Catholic?"
Lawrence: "... ?" (We can't print her reply here, but the reference was to something a bear does in the woods.)
And the night, as they say, was still very young.
? Jocelyn Noveck ? Twitter http://twitter.com/JocelynNoveckAP
___
AMY ADAMS SITTING PRETTY
To slide, plop or shimmy?
That's the dilemma that faced Amy Adams in her flowing Oscar de la Renta gown when she approached her front-row seat inside the Dolby Theatre before the Oscars began.
After greeting fellow nominee Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the row behind her with a big hug, "The Master" co-star tilted to her right side and sort of shimmied down into her seat.
While Jennifer Aniston and Samuel L. Jackson mingled with attendees nearby, Adams held court in her fluffy dove grey fabric cloud.
Across the aisle, Bradley Cooper rushed his mother to meet Jean Dujardin, who took home the best actor Oscar last year.
? Derrik J. Lang ? Twitter http://twitter.com/derrikjlang
___
JOAQUIN PHOENIX: THE GUY CAN MOVE
Joaquin Phoenix didn't waste any time getting into the Dolby Theatre, and the Oscar-nominated actor's dash across the red carpet didn't go unnoticed.
Red carpet host Chris Connelly heckled Phoenix, who has criticized the awards show, as he rushed by, saying he was setting new speed records.
Connelly then added, "You should be at the (NFL) combine," a reference to the athletic tests NFL recruits go through.
? Anthony McCartney ? Twitter http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
___
SHOWING OSCAR FANS LOVE
Oscar bleacher fans got a wave from some stars such as Jane Fonda, and a peace sign from others, including Channing Tatum.
Then there were those who pulled out all the stops.
Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter paused on the red carpet to pose for pictures for star-struck fans.
Melissa McCarthy stopped to beam and wave at every section of the bleachers, all but ignoring the professional photographers surrounding her.
Jessica Chastain blew the crowd a kiss.
And Joseph Gordon-Levitt topped it all off with an appreciative bow to his audience.
? Anthony McCartney ? Twitter http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Italy's Bersani on anti-glamour quest for power
ROME (Reuters) - In an electoral landscape crowded with some of the most colorful personalities in European politics, Italy's center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani is a conspicuously unglamorous exception.
Bald, rumpled and habitually seen dragging on a stumpy Tuscan cigar, opinion polls suggest the 61-year-old head of the Democratic Party (PD) is the man most likely to lead the next government after elections on Sunday and Monday.
The son of a mechanic who ran a small petrol station near the northern city of Piacenza, Bersani made his way up through regional politics before a spell as a well-regarded industry minister under former Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
Bersani lacks the professorial aura of Mario Monti, and is no match as a speaker to the two great showmen of Italian politics: media magnate Silvio Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo, the rabble-rousing comic whose anti-establishment 5-Star movement is set to enter parliament for the first time.
But Bersani has traded on a homespun image and even rivals acknowledge his decency.
"I'm sure Bersani would govern well, though he still has to prove himself. He was a good industry minister," said Monti, who has been harshly critical of PD allies like Nichi Vendola, head of the leftist SEL party, or the hard-line trade union CGIL.
Bersani has pledged to maintain the broad reform course set by Monti while easing the burden of austerity policies on ordinary families and pensioners. He has also expressed strong reserves about moves to ease hiring and firing rules that were one of the centerpieces of Monti's reform drive.
Although financial markets appear unruffled at the prospect of a Bersani victory, doubts persist about his capacity to emulate German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the last European center-left leader to push through major economic reforms.
But while he has none of the international prestige of Monti, a former European commissioner who has been praised by U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, none of Italy's allies have expressed concern about the prospect of Bersani taking power.
"I think we're heading in the same direction," said Jean-Claude Juncker, former head of the group of euro zone finance ministers, after a meeting with Bersani in Brussels in December.
"BEER, NOT CHAMPAGNE"
Other rivals have been less kind, deriding Bersani, a former communist and practicing Catholic as an essentially local politician with narrow horizons and a man who would be unable to impose himself on his more left-wing partners.
"Bersani is like a beer, not champagne and certainly not barolo," said one veteran center-right senator, referring to the expensive Italian red wine that is popular abroad.
"He's nice, he doesn't scare anyone, he won't have much effect. He's the image of Italy today," he said.
Exploiting the deep suspicion of the left felt by a significant part of the electorate, Berlusconi brands Bersani a communist who would sell Italy out to his radical partners.
He has also done his best to tie Bersani to a scandal at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a bank with close ties to regional politicians from the Democratic Party.
But although Bersani has sharpened his left-wing rhetoric and has had several spiky exchanges with Monti, with whom he may still have to form a government alliance, the PD leader appears more pragmatist than revolutionary.
His immediate priorities include passing anti-corruption legislation, strengthening Italy's often feeble state institutions and reducing payroll taxes to boost employment.
He has pledged to ease the burden of a much-hated housing tax on poorer homeowners by taxing the rich more heavily but has denied planning a more generalized "wealth tax".
Above all, he has promised not to deal in the kind of "fairy stories" he accuses Berlusconi of peddling to voters.
In a profoundly conservative country like Italy, Bersani's provincial image and his prosaic talk of fairness and improving people's lives may be no handicap after the turbulent era of Berlusconi and the year of austerity under Monti.
But in a back-handed warning, his ally Vendola noted that plain talk may not be enough to turn Italy around and a more inspiring message may be needed if he is to avoid the failure of previous left-wing leaders.
"Berlusconi understood that the country needed a dream," he said. "While the left sold itself as a group of good condominium administrators."
(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-bersani-anti-glamour-quest-power-094546600.html
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