CAIRO (AP) ? Jon Stewart took the guest's seat Friday on Egypt's top satirical TV show, modeled after his own program "The Daily Show."
Stewart was brought to the set wearing a black hood and introduced by host Bassem Youssef as a captured foreign spy.
Stewart, wearing a scruffy beard, spoke briefly in Arabic as the studio audience gave him a raucous welcome.
"Please sit down, I am a simple man who does not like to be fussed over," he said in Arabic to laughter.
Youssef, host of the show "Al-Bernameg" and one of Egypt's most popular TV presenters, has been questioned by prosecutors on accusations of blasphemy and insulting the president. Stewart defended his counterpart and friend in one of his monologues after Youssef was interrogated earlier this year, and Youssef has appeared as a guest on the popular New York-based show.
Stewart, who is on a summer-long break from anchoring the Comedy Central fake newscast is in the Middle East making his first movie. He expressed admiration for Youssef in Friday's episode, which was recorded earlier this week during a visit to Cairo.
"Satire is a settled law. If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke, then you have no regime," Stewart said, adding that Youssef "is showing that satire can be relevant."
True to form, Youssef began the weekly show with a series of jokes about Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's appearance and address at a rally last weekend hosted by his hard-line Islamist backers.
The president, Egypt's first freely elected leader, announced at the rally a complete break of diplomatic relations with the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Youssef, however, criticized Morsi for remaining silent and wearing a stone face while one of the rally's organizers denounced as non-believers opposition protesters planning massive, anti-government demonstrations on June 30, the anniversary of the start of the president's term.
Stewart said he was overwhelmed with the generosity of Egyptians but took a jab at Cairo's horrendous traffic. "I flew in three days ago and I have just arrived to do the show," he joked.
Youssef ? known as Egypt's Jon Stewart ? was interrogated in April for allegedly insulting Islam and the country's leader. His questioning drew criticism from Washington and rights advocates. A trained heart surgeon, Youssef catapulted to fame when his video blogs mocking politics received hundreds of thousands of hits shortly after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
Unlike other local TV presenters, Youssef uses satire to mock fiery comments made by ultraconservative clerics and politicians, garnering him a legion of fans among the country's revolutionaries and liberals. He has 1.4 million fans on Facebook and nearly 850,000 followers on Twitter.
During his hiatus, Stewart will be directing and producing "Rosewater" from his own script, based on a memoir by Maziar Bahari. This Iranian journalist was falsely accused of being a spy and imprisoned by the Iranian government in 2009 while covering Iran's presidential election.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) shrugged off the influence of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and his gun control group on Friday, saying Bloomberg had nothing to do with the cancellation of a fundraiser for the senator earlier this week.
Begich was set to hold a fundraiser in New York on Monday, hosted by financial industry titans Peter Solomon and Robert Rubin. But this week, Politico reported that the event had been canceled, just a few days after Bloomberg sent a letter to New York donors asking them to withhold contributions to senators who voted against bipartisan gun background check legislation.
Begich and three other Democratic senators joined with the majority of Republicans and opposed the bill in April, dooming it to failure.
"That event got canceled before Bloomberg even made his statement and the letter went out," said Begich in an interview with The Huffington Post on Friday at the annual Netroots Nation conference for progressive activists.
Begich said many donors who had planned to attend the fundraiser have still made contributions to his campaign, which he said would be reflected in the July fundraising report.
Solomon told Politico there was "no connection" between the fundraiser cancellation and the Bloomberg letter.
Bloomberg's group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has been running ads and spending money against some senators who voted against the background checks legislation. But Begich said he believes such attacks may backfire in Alaska. So far, he said, the Bloomberg criticism has not affected his fundraising.
"A New York mayor telling an Alaska senator what to do? Alaskans will reject that big time," Begich said. "Our view on outsiders -- it's like capital O. They don't like outsiders. Especially a New York mayor, telling Alaskans what to do with their personal lives and what to do with their own life -- not working."
Sure, when tinkerer Caleb Kraft found out that pressure switches marketed at the disabled were massively overpriced, he got mad like anybody else. But then he decided to get even the best way he knew how: by building his own, and posting the plans for all to follow on Hack a dayfor free. The project came about via a kid with muscular dystrophy named Thomas, who enjoyed Minecraft but may eventually lose the ability to hold a controller or use a mouse and keyboard. Caleb's idea was to build low-pressure switches using a 3D printer and simply map them to the Minecraft keyboard and mouse commands using a $20 Teensy board. He posted his plans online, but since he feels they could be improved on, also created a site called the Controller Project (see the More Coverage link). From there, those in need of a custom device can make a request, other modders can post their own plans and builders can use them to make controllers for donation. Since more is always merrier for such things, if you have those skills or know someone who needs them, hit the source for more info.
We've been hearing rumblings that the FAA wants to start letting you use certain gadgets on airplanes through the "terrible 10,000 feet," and according to the WSJ, it's about to do just that. A 28-member industry and government panel's draft report strongly recommended relaxing blanket rules against electronics that have been in place since 1966 due to massive changes in technology since then. The committee also cited reports showing that passengers often forget to turn off gadgets without any consequences and that airlines, left to enact their own rules, are much too conservative. If it goes along with the document, the FAA will likely allow the use of certain devices, like e-readers and music players, during all phases of flight -- though the ban on cellphones is expected to continue since the panel wasn't authorized to broach that controversial issue. As for other devices, the details are still being bandied about, and the FAA is unlikely to announce a formal decision until the end of September. Still, now might be a good time to start fortifying that music and book collection ahead of your next big trip.
ROME -- A family friend of actor James Gandolfini announced at a news conference Friday that an autopsy showed "The Sopranos" star died of a "heart attack of natural causes" and "nothing else was found in his system."
The 51-year-old Emmy-winning actor suffered the heart attack in the bathroom of his room at the Hotel Boscolo in Rome while on vacation with his teenage son, Michael, and sister, Michael Kobold told reporters.
"James came here on vacation with family," Kobold said. "On Wednesday he went to visit the Vatican, and had dinner at the hotel with his son while waiting for his sister ... All are devastated for his loss. He was a loving father."
Kobold said that it could take up to 10 days of red tape to repatriate Gandolfini's body, but the family is hoping that, with the help of Italian authorities, it will happen in the middle of next week so that a funeral could be held in New York next Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
"He was happy, healthy, on vacation with his son," Kobold said. "He was fine."
Medical staff attempted to resuscitate Gandofini after his son found him in the bathroom, but he was pronounced dead at about 11 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET) Wednesday at Policlinico Umberto I hospital, which is a three-minute drive from the hotel.
Famous for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano in hit HBO show "The Sopranos," Gandolfini was on a celebratory trip to Italy with his 13-year-old son, who had just graduated from junior high school and won a soccer championship.
Experts said a heart attack was a common cause of death for a man in his 50s.
Dr. John Harold, president of the American College of Cardiology and a heart specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that ?in many patients who have a heart attack, the first symptom is sudden death and they don?t even make it to a hospital.?
Tributes have flooded in for the actor, who won three Emmy Awards and three Screen Actors Guild awards for playing Soprano from 1999-2007.
He also appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including the crime drama "Killing Them Softly" and "Zero Dark Thirty," a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, who directed Gandolfini in ?Zero Dark Thirty,? said she was devastated by the news of his death.
"James was such an enormous talent, and an even greater spirit. I will be forever grateful for the privilege of working with him, and shall cherish his memories always," she said in a statement.
Nicole Kidman said Gandolfini was ?such a great actor,? describing his death as ?a big loss.?
?Sending love and prayers to James? family. He will be greatly missed,? she said in a statement to eonline.com.
Brad Pitt described Gandolfini as ?a ferocious actor, a gentle soul and a genuinely funny man." ?I am fortunate to have sat across the table from him and am gutted by this loss.?
Gandolfini also made a good impression on the ordinary people he met.
An employee at the Hotel Boscolo told Italy's la Repubblica newspaper that during his stay the actor had signed autographs and was ?very friendly with us from hotel's staff and with other guests in the restaurant. A nice person.?
NBC News' Ian Johnston, Reuters and Mads Frese contributed to this report.
What's New: The 2014 Nissan Versa Note is the all-new second-generation version of the outgoing Versa hatchback. The 109-horsepower 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine is more in line with the Versa sedan than the 122-horsepower 1.8-liter in the 2012 Versa hatchback. The 2014 Versa Note is offered in three trim levels: the base S, S Plus CVT (adds CVT automatic transmission and active grille shutter), and SV CVT (adds Bluetooth, upgraded interior pieces, power windows and locks). Various optional packages are also available.
Tech Tidbit: The available Around View monitor uses four cameras to create a 360-degree image of the Versa Note in its touchscreen to aid parking. With Around View, the driver can get a better read of how far away obstacles are or how much space is between the Versa Note and the curb.
Driving Character: The 2014 Nissan Versa Note handles itself well on the road. Power is down from the outgoing 2012 Versa hatchback, but the curb weight is down even more?to the tune of some 300 pounds. The result isn't exactly a corner carver, but good steering feel and an almost too responsive accelerator help to make up for a passable but occasionally lost CVT transmission and a ride that feels slightly harder than necessary. Overall, the Versa Note is a good-looking car that isn't as slow as its figures would suggest; there's a good bit of fun to be had behind its wheel.
Favorite Detail: With quick turn-in response and great all-around feel, the 2014 Versa Note's steering is an unexpected treat. With Nissan hoping to appeal to a wider consumer base, the driving input isn't tuned as sportily as, say, the Honda Fit's, but it still makes the Note feel a tick more nimble than it actually is. The Versa Note's steering is a nice little touch that, were it not there, would make the Note just another tiny five-door hatchback in an increasingly crowded subcompact market.
Driver's Grievance: Our main issue with the 2014 Nissan Versa Note is an oldie but goodie: the five-speed manual transmission is only available on the base model, while the others come with the CVT only. This is done in the name of fuel efficiency, and Nissan expects manuals to make up around only 10 percent of sales. We like the Versa Note; we would be persuaded to buy if the manual were available in higher trim levels.
Bottom Line: A cut of around 300 pounds and aerodynamic design elements all over help contribute to the 2014 Nissan Versa Note's impressive mileage figures. More impressive is how Nissan managed to integrate the aero-focused design into a car that looks as good as the Versa Note. For a subcompact, the 2014 Versa Note doesn't feel like it's lacking for power?in fact we came away from our test wondering if the throttle response was overly quick. Nissan has pulled off a fun trick with the new Versa Note: It produced a car that by rights should be a slow, plodding, uninspiring econobox, but instead is cute, reasonably comfortable, and fun to drive when you feel like having fun. Now if only we could talk Nissan into giving us the option of a five-speed manual in more than just the base model, and all would be right with this excellent new subcompact hatchback.
June 20, 2013 ? Since the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in in Earth's upper atmosphere in 1958, space scientists have believed that these belts consisted of two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles -- an inner ring of high-energy electrons and energetic positive ions, and an outer ring of high-energy electrons.
However, in February of this year, a team of scientists reported in the journal Science the surprising discovery of a previously unknown third radiation ring. This narrow ring had briefly circled Earth between the inner and outer rings in September 2012 and then almost completely disappeared.
How did this temporary radiation belt appear and dissipate?
In new research, the radiation belt group in the UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences explains the development of this third belt and its decay over a period of slightly more than four weeks. The research is available in the online edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters and will be published in an upcoming print edition.
By performing a "quantitative treatment of the scattering of relativistic electrons by electromagnetic whistler-mode waves inside the dense plasmasphere," the investigators were able to account for the "distinctively slow decay of the injected relativistic electron flux" and demonstrate why this unusual third radiation belt is observed only at energies above 2 mega-electron-volts.
Understanding the processes that control the formation and ultimate loss of such relativistic electrons is a primary science objective of the NASA Van Allen Probe Mission and has important practical applications, because the enormous amounts of radiation the Van Allen belts generate can pose a significant hazard to satellites and spacecraft, as well to astronauts performing activities outside a spacecraft.
The current research was funded by the NASA, which launched the twin Van Allen probes in the summer of 2012.
The lead author of the research is Richard Thorne, a UCLA professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, who was a co-author of the Feb. 28 research paper in Science. Co-authors of the new research include Wen Li, a graduate student who works in Thorne's laboratory; Binbin Ni, a postdoctoral scholar who works in Thorne's laboratory; Jacob Bortnik, a researcher with the UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences; Daniel Baker, a professor at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and lead author of the February Science paper; and Vassilis Angelopoulos, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ? It's the unofficial rule of summer ? when the sun comes out, so do the coolers.
For many, that means stocking up on light beers that are crisp and refreshing, but pack less alcohol. Because when you're hiking, heading to the beach or pitching a tent, you don't want to be weighed down by a beer with too robust a body or whose alcohol content impedes the pleasure of all-day sipping.
If you're looking for options beyond the typical mass-market beers, the booming craft beer industry luckily has plenty of options to quench this thirst. Recently, a number of craft brewers have brought out crisp, refreshing choices like the farmhouse ales known as saisons and sessionable beers, which are perfect for summer sipping.
Added bonus ? these beers also pair well with grilling staples such as burgers, chicken and sausage, summer salads and pizza, as well as spicy foods like Mexican, Thai and Indian.
The trouble with craft beers is that by definition they can be hard to find. That's part of the appeal, of course, but also a bummer when a buddy raves about a recent find that you can't find. So to make your summer that much better, we've gathered a list of some favorite summer-friendly craft brews that are more widely available.
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SUMMERFEST (from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Calif.)
Style: Czech Pilsner
Alcohol: 5 percent
Notes: This golden lager is, of course, refreshing, but it also has a sweet, malty flavor and subtle spicy character that lets you know you're not drinking just another mainstream beer.
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SAISON DUPONT (from Brasserie Dupont in Belgium)
Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale
Alcohol: 6.5 percent
Notes: Saison Dupont is the classic farmhouse ale against which many of today's modern takes on saisons are measured. This style of beer originally was made by farmers in Belgium during the cooler harvest months and stored for drinking during the summer. This unfiltered ale is full-bodied and malty, but has lots of citrus and spice. It finishes dry and has a good amount of carbonation, which heighten its refreshing and complex characteristics.
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ALL DAY IPA (from Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Style: American IPA
Alcohol: 4.7 percent
Notes: Craft beer drinkers have an affinity for hops, which are known for providing a certain bitterness to beer. For some, the more, the better. For others, that "hoppiness" keeps them away. This beer was brewed with summer ? and hop-heads ? in mind. The light-bodied ale is crisp and refreshing, but also offers up the citrus and pine tastes and aromas that IPAs are known for. And with an alcohol content below 5 percent, Founders brewed what it called a session ale to be enjoyed all day ? and night.
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SUMMER LOVE ALE (from Victory Brewing Co. in Philadelphia)
Style: Golden Ale
Alcohol: 5.2 percent
Notes: A few years back, Victory Brewing teamed up with the Philadelphia-area tourism folks to come up with a beer to help promote the City of Brotherly Love ? and Summer Love was born. The beer became popular among aficionados for its combination of German hops and pale malt that creates a light-bodied ale with a lemony finish.
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COLETTE (from Great Divide Brewing Co. in Denver)
Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale
Alcohol: 7.3 percent
Notes: Colette is an homage to traditional farmhouse ales. It's a complex beer that's crisp, fruity, spicy and fairly tart. Originally a seasonal offering, the demand became so great that Great Divide began brewing it as a year-round offering.
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FLEUR DE HOUBLON (from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, N.Y.)
Style: Belgian-style Summer Ale
Alcohol: 6.8 percent
Notes: Ommegang's brand new summer ale is named for the hop flowers used to make the beer. This Belgian-style golden ale blends flavors of citrus from the whole Bravo hops with aromas of fresh cut grass and the sweetness of tropical fruit. The beer, which is clean, dry and refreshing, is fermented twice with the brewery's unique house yeast to impart complex and spicy notes.
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TRADE WINDS (from The Bruery in Placentia, Calif.)
Style: Tripel/Belgian-style Golden Ale
Alcohol: 8 percent
Notes: While a little higher in alcohol content, this Belgian-style ale with sparkling wine-like qualities is definitely a good summer beer, but maybe not all day long. It uses rice in its brewing to give it a lighter body and is spiced with Thai basil. It's dry, fruity and has a good amount of carbonation.
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Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum
The term ?servant leader? applies to executives who lack huge egos. They win allegiance by positioning themselves as supportive allies, not bossy tyrants.
These well-liked leaders prefer to listen, not lecture. They?re more interested in soliciting employees? ideas and concerns than telling people what to think.
Servant leaders exhibit these 6 traits:
They welcome dissent among staffers, prodding people to engage in independent thinking and free expression. By valuing everyone?s views and responding to diverse opinions (rather than shutting down debate), these leaders increase their understanding.
They create a pipeline of aspiring leaders. Instead of assuming they are irreplaceable, servant leaders constantly look for promising underlings to fill their shoes. By training others to lead, they create growth opportunities for high-potential employees.
They emphasize the whole person by caring about employees? personal lives as well as their professional performance. Servant leaders will coach subordinates to manage issues outside of work, such as helping them find eldercare resources or improving their wellness.
They gain compliance through persuasion rather than demand compliance through edict. They ask questions that guide people to draw their own conclusions. For example, they might ask, ?What do you think would happen if you tested other theories??
They favor a long-term perspective. When making personnel decisions, servant leaders look beyond the short term. They look for ways to help grow and develop? tomorrow?s leaders.
They show humility. Stuffy leaders stay aloof, but servant leaders roll up their sleeves and lend a hand. They don?t hide behind their job titles and stay put in their offices; instead, they interact with people at all levels.
? Adapted from ?9 qualities of the servant leader,? Skip Prichard, www.skipprichard.com.
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The reconstruction of TWA Flight 800's fuselage. (Daniel Brooks/Epix)
The producers of an upcoming documentary on TWA Flight 800?which exploded and crashed into the waters off Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people on board?claim to have proof that a missile caused the Paris-bound flight to crash. And six former investigators who took part in the film say there was a cover-up and want the case reopened.
"There was a lack of coordination and willful denial of information," Hank Hughes, a senior accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said on Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. "There were 755 witnesses. At no time was information provided by the witnesses shared by the FBI."
Jim Speer, an accident investigator at the time of the crash for the Airline Pilots Association, who sifted through the recovered wreckage in a hangar, said he discovered holes consistent with those that would be formed by a high-energy blast in the right wing. He requested it be tested for explosives. When the test came back positive, he said, he was "physically removed" from a room by two CIA agents.
The investigators would not speculate on the reasons for the alleged coverup or who would have fired the missile that they believe took down the plane.
After a four-year investigation, the NTSB concluded the plane was destroyed by a center fuel tank explosion likely caused by a spark from faulty wiring. But according to Tom Stalcup, a co-producer of the documentary, the film presents new "radar and forensic evidence proving that one or more ordnance explosions outside the aircraft caused the crash." The film will premiere on EPIX on July 17, the 17th anniversary of the disaster.
"These investigators were not allowed to speak to the public or refute any comments made by their superiors and/or NTSB and FBI officials about their work at the time of the official investigation," a news release announcing the documentary said. "They waited until after retirement to reveal how the official conclusion by the (NTSB) was falsified and lay out their case."
The investigators filed a petition with the NTSB on Wednesday calling for a new probe. The NTSB had said it would review any petition related to the 1996 crash, which touched off one of the most complex air disaster investigations in U.S. history.
The CIA and FBI conducted a parallel investigation to determine if a bomb or missile had brought down the plane.
Dozens of eyewitnesses in the Long Island area "recalled seeing something resembling a flare or firework ascend and culminate in an explosion," the CIA said in a 2008 report. "Had the crash been the result of state-sponsored terrorism, it would have been considered an act of war." Also from the report:
The CIA responded to the FBI?s request within 24 hours of the crash. This support consisted primarily of help from the Counterterrorist Center in the Directorate of Operations and from a small group of analysts in the Office of Weapons, Technology and Proliferation in the Directorate of Intelligence.
But after an eight-month investigation, the CIA "concluded with confidence and full substantiation that the eyewitnesses had not seen a missile."
The CIA's deputy director of intelligence wrote in a 1997 memo,"Our analysis demonstrates that the eyewitness sightings of greatest concern to us?the ones originally interpreted to be of a possible missile attack?took place after the first of several explosions aboard the aircraft."
"We went back and interviewed these people and found them to be quite credible," Hughes said on Wednesday.
He added: "We have no hidden agenda here; we just want the truth."
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The new map, a work of classic anatomy called BigBrain, is 50 times as detailed as previous efforts and will be available to researchers everywhere.
Tesla founder Elon Musk has mentioned battery swap service stations as an even faster alternative to charging for EV drivers, and tonight the company showed just how efficiently it can be done. In a demonstration at its design studio, it beat what it claims is the fastest gas pump in LA by exchanging a drained car battery pack for a fresh fully charged one in just 90 seconds. When the $500,000 stations start rolling out, owners will stay in the car the whole time then either swap the battery back for their original on a return trip, or get a bill for the difference based on how new their battery is. According to Reuters, the exchange is expected to cost owners between $60 - $80 each time or about the cost of 15 gallons of gas
Of course, failed outfit Better Place proposed a similar service before it shut down, but Tesla is betting that it can make it work this time. The first service stations are coming to busy corridors, with some planned for I5 in California. Still need more proof? Elon Musk tweeted that video of the event will be available in "about an hour," so check back then.
Update: We're still waiting on the official video, but reader Weapon sent in a link to video shot by an event attendee, which can be viewed after the break. Take a peek and see a pair Tesla's Model S sedans get quick battery service, one after the other in less time than a fuel pump can deliver one tank of gas.
Sheldon Adelson is the CEO of mega casino company Las Vegas Sands.
You might think that his business would feel threatened if online gambling became legal, and gamblers no longer had to enter his physical casinos.
Thus it's no surprise that during an interview on BloombergTV, Adelson slammed online gambling as a toxic trainwreck.
Of course, he doesn't say he's against online gambling because it will hurt his business. He says it's all about society and the possibility that gamblers will get too hooked.
You can watch the full interview here. The text, via BloombergTV, is below the dotted line
Adelson on online gambling: ??They are not getting wrong. I just had lunch with Steve Wynn. He is not totally against what I am saying. He discussed with me on his the potential impact on his property and my property in Las Vegas because we have two different markets. It really will not affect us one way or the other. I bring this up not because it is a business issue, but because I am citizen of the United States, a veteran of the Korean War, a father, a grandfather I am a patriot and I care about this country? I am not going to stand by knowing what I know, experienced what I experienced and not speak out. We did an eight country survey in Europe because we are contemplating doing a major development there and we found that the eight country that allow full internet gambling has gone up an average of 28% when the land-based casinos have gone down from 3-6% or stayed exactly even with a previously anticipated 5-10% growth factor. For 10 years, if you factor in 5-10% growth factor or even if you just stay even it is a great loss. I have 2 teenage boys. They get addicted to everything that is on the TV. When they talk about Gary Loveman only wants Poker. Gary Loverman and MGM have their own challenges. I do not have Challenges? We made billions of dollars last year. It is not a money issue with me. I think it is a train wreck. It?s really toxicity. It is a cancer waiting to happen.?
On cynics saying he is just trying to protect his rural land-based casino empire: ?First of all, let me tell you that the casinos account for less than 10% of my total gross income and EBITDA. I do have my properties in Vegas at $350 Million EBITDA. I do it in one property. In Macau or Singapore. Singapore last year made five times what our property earns in the United States. We are not intending to get into it. ?I?m just telling you any skeptic could say that money is the consideration. Money is not a consideration. Money is not a consideration with me. If you just look at where I stand in Forbes rating, No. 15 in the world, making $200 million extra is not an incentive for me.?
On whether he wants a piece of potential revenue from online gambling following reports that Europe had $32 Million in online gambling revenue: ?No. No. I don?t want it. It is not $32 Billion in Europe. If you want, we had a study done from eight countries from one of the betting gaining researchers in the world. What do you do with a kid that is either underage or of age with student loans? It is very easy for them to get pressured by peers to go and gamble white they are drunk or doing drugs.?
On whether that is different from land-based casinos: ?Of course it is?No land-based casino would somebody that?s our of control of themselves to sit and gamble? Let?s say one thing for sure, it?s an adult who gets dressed, gets in the car, comes with friends, goes to a place, they have a bueffet, they play, they go bowling and they play for a couple of hours hours on the tables and they enjoy themselves as entertainment, this not dressing in your Birthday suit, taking your computer into bed, and it is not underage kids that get set up by of-age kids, and they play until they lose all of their money. I believe that poker and other forms of gambling, poker particularly since it?s considered a social activity and not gambling per se, kids will get up in the middle of the night if they cannot sleep, or they come home late, and they challenge each other to say, let?s play some power or some blackjack. They are going to lose.?
On not making an exception for the skills based Poker: ?That skill base is, in my opinion, just a bunch of baloney. To get a card is not skill base. I know people say it is skill based, but it?s just so they can categorize it in a certain segment.?
On making an exception for online poker: ?Absolutely not. Look, I?m a father, grandfather. I do not want my children ? I?m a veteran of the Korean War. I do not want my children to have the opportunity to become addicted to gaming. And poker, in my opinion, would become one of the most addictive games. People do not get addicted to necessarily playing blackjack. They get addicted for the game. It is one of the many compulsive behaviors and somebody is addicted to gaming, they are addicted to some other compulsive behaviors. Can you tell me one good reason why internet gaming should be allowed.?
On the argument that online gaming brings in state tax revenues: ?You could also make that argument for legalizing heroin and cocaine and prostitution. You can create a lot of sin tax for the government to make money.? On Jeff Bezos saying that internet gaming being the next logical step for the business:
?Well, why don?t we say that other sins, crime, mugging, thievery, well kind of make that mobile too simply because everything is mobile? And what makes Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt a lot smarter. I?ve got 68 years of being in businesses. I?ve created over 50 businesses and never failed in one. I have recreated the hotel and gaming industry worldwide with a concept of integrated resources. I do not need any more money. Being the 15th richest man in the world does not make incentive to make a couple hundred million dollars more. On Governor Christie legalizing online gaming in the Garden State: ?I live Governor Christie. I talk to him. ?He said he was about to be overridden anyway. He said it was about to be overridden or over-vetoed or whatever you call it. I like Governor Christie, but I?m not making any commitments. I like other candidates as well.?
On whether Governor Christie authorizing online gambling in New Jersey bothers him enough to punish him: ?I don?t reward or punish politicians. It?s not my job. I?m only one vote, but that of my family. I do support a lot of politicians, but I do so because of their ideology and their sharing of values with me? I am not trying to be a dictator. I?m trying to live my live as a normal person. I can speak up because I?m an expert on the subject. The largest gaming and hospitality company in the world. I want to sound boastful, but we earned more money than the top three or four hotel companies combined. We have accomplished an awful lot. I have talked to some politicians about it and they agree with me. It?s the first time in history of their office that a citizen has come in and said, please don?t pass a law that will make more money for me.?
On many being surprised he does not hold it against Gov. Christie:
?People are surprised by a lot of thing I do or don?t do.?
June 20, 2013 ? As work began this month on the restoration of Washington and Lee University's Robinson Hall, one of five buildings composing the historic Colonnade, Alison Bell paid an obligatory visit to the work site.
As chair of W&L's Historic Preservation & Archaeological Conservation Advisory Committee, she routinely visits construction projects on campus as they get underway to determine if there are any preservation issues.
In this instance, Bell, associate professor of archaeology at W&L, doubted there would be much to see around the site of Robinson, which was constructed in 1840 and now serves as home to the Department of Mathematics.
Within minutes of walking onto the lawn behind Robinson and between Washington and Tucker halls, Bell knew she'd been wrong just by virtue of the numerous artifacts that she found on the surface.
"There was a dense scatter of artifacts from the early 1800s -- not at all what I had expected," she recalled. "Steven Lyle, W&L archaeology intern, and I put in one 2?-by-2?-foot test unit and found a remarkable assortment of material."
That happened on Wednesday, June 12. After a rainy Thursday kept them away from the find, Bell and her team converged on the site last Friday, June 14, to start digging in earnest. They worked about 10 hours a day for the next three days, uncovering literally thousands of early-19th-century artifacts buried only two inches under the surface.
As it happened, the ground behind Robinson had been virtually undisturbed for more than 200 years, resulting in what Bell calls a "rich, rich site" that will help paint a more complete picture of student life at Washington and Lee in the years immediately after the institution moved from Liberty Hall, west of the current campus, to the ridge nearer Lexington, where the Colonnade stands today.
Bell is fairly confident that what they have uncovered is the construction site of Graham Hall, a combination classroom and dormitory building constructed in 1804 and demolished in 1835. Graham was one of a pair of identical, two-story brick structures; its twin was Union Hall. These were the first buildings the Washington Academy trustees built with funds from George Washington's gift of canal stock. Eventually the Center Building -- today's Washington Hall -- would be constructed between Graham and Union; it opened in 1824.
"The time frame is perfect," said Bell. "Most of the artifacts are from the early 1800s up until about 1840, although there are some later objects that date to the Civil War. This tracks with the construction of Graham Hall, and then its destruction in 1835."
By the end of that first weekend, Bell and her team, including W&L staff archaeologist Donald Gaylord, had dug 22 2?-by-2?-foot quadrats and had removed bags upon bags of soil to sift through later in a makeshift laboratory in nearby duPont Hall.
Once the team had cleaned the artifacts from each numbered quadrat on the site, they placed the most interesting items on a table, which they marked off with the same grid as the dig site so that the proximity of one artifact to another is clear.
Some of the items that stand out for Bell are a complete pocketknife, bone toothbrushes, slates, nibs for pens, medicine vials, pieces of a Rockingham Pottery pitcher displaying Rebecca at the Well, bone handles, ammunition of varying kinds, and a jaw harp. And the list goes on.
"There are so many things to be excited about regarding this site," Bell said. "Not only do we have the evidence of the construction of Graham Hall with bricks left from that, but then we can see so much of the daily lives of the students by looking at all that we're finding," said Bell, who is herself a graduate of W&L, in 1991. "As we look, for instance, at the type of buttons and buckles, we have found a range of quality, from copper alloy (brass) and delicate mother-of-pearl buttons to bone buttons.
"Some of the most interesting objects are those that show the academic experience," she continued. "Lots of slate to write lessons on, and what we think are many examples of science labs -- pieces of beakers, thermometers, glass stir rods. It's rare to get a glimpse of early college life like this. We were, after all, among the earliest colleges in the country, so we are one of only a few that would even have an opportunity to see a site like this."
Bell surmises that the site laid near a door of Graham Hall. In that era, the normal way that people got rid of all sorts of unwanted material was to throw it out a back door, creating a midden.
"This wasn't a class thing. Everybody did this, and we find collections of artifacts often accumulate around doorways," Bell said. "We might have happened upon a doorway of Graham Hall. That could explain some of the artifacts. Others like buckles and buttons were probably just lost."
While the vast majority of material dates between 1805 and 1840, there are outliers. One of the pieces that Gaylord points to as an unusual find for the era is a tobacco pipe of white ball clay.
"A pipe like this one would have been more common in the mid- to late 18th century," said Gaylord, who joined the W&L staff in January after 12 years as an archaeologist at Monticello. "This could be a pipe that a student had kept for some time. Or it could be something that pre-dates the building of Graham Hall, back to the time when this site was a farm."
On the other end of the spectrum are several pieces that date to the 1850s and beyond. An 1851 penny is one of those representatives of a slightly later period, as are several minie balls from the Civil War era.
"We have one minie ball that was not fired. Our supposition is that it was dropped on the site, perhaps by participants in Hunter's Raid on Lexington in 1864," said Bell. "We know that VMI was destroyed in the raid, but Washington College was vandalized but not burned down. This minie ball and some others like it could have come from that event in 1864." Gaylord noted that the unusual nature of the finding is largely the result of its having been protected from traffic over the centuries.
"It's unusual, because so much of what we have found is just as it was when it was dropped," he said. "This was a low-traffic area. It hasn't been plowed or dug up except for some utility trenches. So finding things like bone toothbrushes is very atypical."
During the three days of digging, Bell believes that they have uncovered only about one third of the site. She is now working with W&L's Facilities Management Department to protect the remaining portions while work proceeds on Robinson. Even though the bulk of the Robinson work is on the interior, the archaeological site will be used for equipment.
"I've been in touch with archaeologists around the state to determine the best kind of material that we can get to protect what's left to dig," said Bell. "This represents an incredible future opportunity for our students as part of one of our spring digs."
Along with Bell and Gaylord, the team members for the dig have included Karen Lyle, who works closely with the archaeology program in her capacity as an administrative assistant and has been intimately involved in cataloguing materials; Lauren Hatfield, a senior archaeology and history major, from Charleston, W.Va.; Steven Lyle, a VMI student who is an intern with the archaeology program; Chelsea Dudley, a recent Longwood graduate who has been working in the summers with the W&L archaeologists since high school; and Erika Vaughan, a 2012 graduate of W&L now working in Roanoke.
Robinson Hall is the fourth building to undergo a major renovation in the overall, $50 million project to restore the Colonnade, which was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in 1972.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States uses drones for surveillance in some limited law enforcement situations, FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Wednesday, sparking additional debate about President Barack Obama's use of domestic surveillance.
The acknowledgement came in response to questions from U.S. senators who said they wanted to know more about the federal government's increasing use of unmanned aircraft.
"Does the FBI use drones for surveillance on U.S. soil?" Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa asked during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
"Yes," Mueller said, adding that the use was in "a very, very minimal way and very seldom."
Mueller did not go into detail, but the FBI later released a statement that said unmanned aircraft were used only to watch stationary subjects and to avoid serious risks to law enforcement agents. The Federal Aviation Administration approves each use, the statement said.
The FBI used a drone during a hostage-taking in Alabama this year after a gunman, Jimmy Lee Dykes, snatched a boy off a school bus and held him in an underground bunker, according to the statement.
The U.S. government has made no secret of its use of drones to monitor the United States border with Mexico.
The Obama administration has been defending its surveillance tactics since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden released secret documents revealing a massive database of daily telephone records, as well as coordination between the NSA and social media companies.
The programs are designed to target militants outside the United States who are suspected of planning attacks, but they inevitably gather some data on Americans, U.S. officials said.
In a May speech, Obama defended the use of armed drones abroad but said the United States should never deploy armed drones over U.S. soil.
The Justice Department had disclosed that two domestic law enforcement agencies use unmanned aircraft systems, according to a department statement sent to the Judiciary Committee and released on Wednesday by Grassley's office. The two are the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Grassley sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday asking why the Justice Department did not earlier mention the FBI's use of drones.
At Wednesday's hearing, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said she was concerned about the privacy implications of drone surveillance.
"The greatest threat to the privacy of Americans is the drone and the use of the drone, and the very few regulations that are on it today," Feinstein said.
Mueller reiterated that drone use is rare. "It is very narrowly focused on particularized cases and particularized needs," he said.
Mueller is due to retire when his term expires in September.
(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Howard Goller and Stacey Joyce)
Amsterdam, June 19, 2013 Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce the launch of a new open access journal, GeoResJ.
With the launch of GeoResJ, Elsevier's earth and planetary science journals portfolio has its first open access only journal. The journal aims to provide a forum for rapid publication of top research within the entire earth science field. The journal will be co-edited by six Executive Editors, each covering a different discipline, including geophysics, geochemistry, space science, volcanology, atmospheric sciences and paleontology.
"I am excited and proud to be a part of the launch of GeoResJ offering researchers a new venue for rapid and open access publishing of their work," said Professor Lyatt Jaegl of the University of Washington who will serve as one of the Executive Editors. "With the journal being open access, published research will be available for all to read anytime, anywhere, an appealing prospect for most scholars," Professor Simon George of Macquarie University, also an Executive Editor, added.
"GeoResJ adds to Elsevier's existing earth and planetary science journals which already offer authors an open access option, including renowned journals such as Earth and Planetary Science Letters and Quaternary Science Reviews," said Clare Lehane, Executive Publisher at Elsevier. "Authors now have more choice to determine which journal best suits their needs in terms of scope and access."
###
GeoResJ will publish its first four volumes in 2014. Any articles accepted for publication in 2013 will be available online on ScienceDirect. For more information or to submit a paper, go to: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/GeoResJ.
Executive Board of Editors GeoResJ
Steve Donovan from Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Netherlands
Stephan van Gasselt, Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany
Simon George, Macquarie University, Australia
Lyatt Jaegl, University of Washington, USA
Scott King, Virginia Tech, USA
David Pyle, University of Oxford, UK
The Executive Board of Editors will be supported by a managing editor:
Vasile Ersek,University of Oxford, UK
About Open Access Publishing at Elsevier
Elsevier has been providing open access publishing options since 2005. Today, researchers can choose to publish open access in over 1,500 established peer-reviewed journals as well as 41 full open access journals and these numbers will continue to grow rapidly. All of Elsevier's open access publications have been peer reviewed, ensuring that the broader community not only reads the latest research but that it is factual, original and of the highest quality and ethical standards. For more information about Elsevier's open access program, visit http://www.elsevier.com/openaccess
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world leading provider of professional information solutions. The group employs more than 30,000 people, including more than 15,000 in North America. Reed Elsevier Group plc is owned equally by two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. Their shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Amsterdam, June 19, 2013 Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce the launch of a new open access journal, GeoResJ.
With the launch of GeoResJ, Elsevier's earth and planetary science journals portfolio has its first open access only journal. The journal aims to provide a forum for rapid publication of top research within the entire earth science field. The journal will be co-edited by six Executive Editors, each covering a different discipline, including geophysics, geochemistry, space science, volcanology, atmospheric sciences and paleontology.
"I am excited and proud to be a part of the launch of GeoResJ offering researchers a new venue for rapid and open access publishing of their work," said Professor Lyatt Jaegl of the University of Washington who will serve as one of the Executive Editors. "With the journal being open access, published research will be available for all to read anytime, anywhere, an appealing prospect for most scholars," Professor Simon George of Macquarie University, also an Executive Editor, added.
"GeoResJ adds to Elsevier's existing earth and planetary science journals which already offer authors an open access option, including renowned journals such as Earth and Planetary Science Letters and Quaternary Science Reviews," said Clare Lehane, Executive Publisher at Elsevier. "Authors now have more choice to determine which journal best suits their needs in terms of scope and access."
###
GeoResJ will publish its first four volumes in 2014. Any articles accepted for publication in 2013 will be available online on ScienceDirect. For more information or to submit a paper, go to: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/GeoResJ.
Executive Board of Editors GeoResJ
Steve Donovan from Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Netherlands
Stephan van Gasselt, Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany
Simon George, Macquarie University, Australia
Lyatt Jaegl, University of Washington, USA
Scott King, Virginia Tech, USA
David Pyle, University of Oxford, UK
The Executive Board of Editors will be supported by a managing editor:
Vasile Ersek,University of Oxford, UK
About Open Access Publishing at Elsevier
Elsevier has been providing open access publishing options since 2005. Today, researchers can choose to publish open access in over 1,500 established peer-reviewed journals as well as 41 full open access journals and these numbers will continue to grow rapidly. All of Elsevier's open access publications have been peer reviewed, ensuring that the broader community not only reads the latest research but that it is factual, original and of the highest quality and ethical standards. For more information about Elsevier's open access program, visit http://www.elsevier.com/openaccess
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world leading provider of professional information solutions. The group employs more than 30,000 people, including more than 15,000 in North America. Reed Elsevier Group plc is owned equally by two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. Their shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Facebook ads are about to become a tiny bit less obtrusive: the social network just announced that it will stop showing Sponsored Results this July. These ads have appeared alongside brands, groups and more in searches since August of last year, but Facebook made the decision to cut the program after noticing that marketers were using Sponsored Results and mobile app install ads quite similarly. Businesses will still be able to use the latter (and purportedly more effective) method, along with post links ads, when the program ends in July. In other words, don't expect a commercial-free experience.
Even within the infrastructure of the American surveillance apparatus, the National Security Agency is notoriously secretive. The spy agency jealously guards from public view practically all aspects of its operations, from the information it collects to its plans for a massive 100,000-square-foot building being constructed in the Utah desert.
But when it comes to the agency's primary tool for making sense of all that data, the NSA hasn't been secretive at all. Indeed, two years ago, it made public the very code for a key program it uses to analyze the firehose of information pouring into its computer servers.
The NSA?s decision to give away that software to developers has helped fuel what is now a booming trend in technology known as "big data." The software, Accumulo, makes it possible for companies to sift through massive amounts of information with essentially the same degree of sophistication and security as the country's top spy agency.
The use of computers to spot connections along a trail of digital breadcrumbs is hardly new. For years, major companies, from Amazon to Facebook to Google, have analyzed customer information to suggest books, friends or search results.
But the NSA?s use of such computing power was not widely understood until last week, when The Guardian and The Washington Post reported the agency was collecting and crunching huge amounts of Internet, phone and financial data in a bid to predict terrorist activity.
The revelation that the NSA was collecting a massive trove of phone and Internet records from Americans highlights privacy concerns around the use of data analysis to draw conclusions from a wide of variety of information.
?There are all sorts of things you can do with this technology,? said Matthew Turck, managing director in FirstMark Capital, a venture capital firm. ?Now it?s up to society to decide what?s acceptable and what?s not acceptable.?
The same cheap data storage and free open-source software used by the NSA now allows companies to conduct the kind of sophisticated data analysis once was only available to Internet giants like IBM and Google.
?Ten years ago, if you wanted to store and process that much data you would have to spend millions of dollars buying really expensive servers,? said Ben Siscovick, general partner at IA Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in big data companies. ?Now, the tools are out there, and they?re accessible in a low-cost way to just about anybody who wants it.?
For advocates of big data -- an industry with an estimated value approaching $100 billion -- the potential for computer software like Accumulo has barely been tapped.
"This is the first technological innovation since the Internet with the potential to change the world," said Christopher Lynch, an investor that has bankrolled 10 Boston-area big data companies.
One of those companies is Sqrrl, which Lynch helped launch two years ago after poaching from the NSA six engineers who developed Accumulo. Sqrrl markets its software to companies in the telecom, health care and financial sectors who need extra security when dealing with sensitive customer data. The software sorts through enormous amounts of information and restricts access to users with high-level security clearances, said Ely Kahn, the company's co-founder.
Its technology is used by major banks to predict whether customers will pay off their credit cards based on information like the demographic characteristics of their neighborhoods. It is also used by a telecom provider to spot damage on its network by searching for keywords like ?broken? in a database of customer service calls, Kahn said.
?It?s similar to the way Amazon or eBay use databases to predict what you might want to buy next,? he said.
But the growing reliance on databases and software to draw conclusions has raised privacy concerns before. Target, for example, sparked controversy last year when an employee told The New York Times how the company could determine whether a woman was pregnant based on her purchasing history and demographic information.
Lenders have started assessing the creditworthiness of borrowers by doing big-data analysis on their social media connections. And some health insurers have started buying massive databases to potentially flag people for being at risk of obesity if they have a history of buying plus-sized clothing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
FirstMark Capital's Turck predicted that the ability for both the NSA and companies to unlock secrets from the data they collect ?is only going to get more powerful and more precise."
The term ?servant leader? applies to executives who lack huge egos. They win allegiance by positioning themselves as supportive allies, not bossy tyrants.
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Public release date: 19-Jun-2013
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