lorrie getty: March 2013

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Five family members die in Nevada crash, teen charged with drunken driving

(Reuters) - Five members of a California family were killed in Nevada when their van was struck from behind by a teenage driver who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said on Sunday.

Those killed were among seven family members in the van when it was hit early on Saturday, authorities said. The other two ? a 15-year-old boy and the 40-year-old female driver ? were hospitalized in Las Vegas, said Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Sergeant Kevin Honea said.

The 18-year-old California driver who struck the van was treated and released at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, the spokesman said. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The crash happened on Interstate 15 about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The 18-year-old's Dodge Durango struck the van from behind and both vehicles spun off the road and rolled.

Five of the occupants of the van were ejected. A 23-year-old passenger in the Durango was treated at the hospital and released.

Those killed were three men ages 49, 45 and 41, a teenage girl and an adult woman.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson. Editing by Corrie MacLaggan.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-family-members-die-nevada-crash-teen-charged-163341343.html

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Patients of Oklahoma doctor line up for tests

About 150 to 200 patients of Dr. W. Scott Harrington, who's accused of unsanitary practices, line up outside the Tulsa Health Department North Regional Health and Wellness Center to be screened for hepatitis and the virus that causes AIDS, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Tulsa, Okla. Oklahoma officials say 7,000 patients of Harrington's in the past six years will receive letters that warn that poor hygiene at Harrington's two clinics created a public health hazard. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, James Gibbard) ONLINE OUT; TV OUT; TULSA OUT

This Thursday, March 28, 2013 photo shows the dental offices of Dr. Scott Harrington at 2111 S. Atlanta Place in Tulsa, Okla. Health officials on Thursday, March 28, 2013 urged thousands of patients of an Oklahoma oral surgeon to undergo hepatitis and HIV testing, saying unsanitary conditions behind his office's spiffy facade posed a threat to his clients and made him a "menace to the public health." (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Michael Wyke) ONLINE OUT; TV OUT; TULSA OUT

This 1977 license picture provided by the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry shows Dr. Scott Harrington. Health officials urged thousands of patients of Harrington, an oral surgeon, to undergo hepatitis and HIV testing, saying unsanitary conditions behind his office's spiffy facade posed a threat to his clients and made him a "menace to the public health." (AP Photo/Oklahoma Board of Dentistry)

TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? Hundreds of patients of an Oklahoma oral surgeon accused of unsanitary practices showed up at a health clinic Saturday, looking to find out whether they were exposed to hepatitis or the virus that causes AIDS.

Letters began going out Friday to 7,000 patients who had seen Dr. W. Scott Harrington during the past six years, warning them that poor hygiene at his clinics created a public health hazard. The one-page letter said how and where to seek treatment but couldn't explain why Harrington's allegedly unsafe practices went on for so long.

Testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS began at 10 a.m. Saturday, but many arrived early and stood through torrential downpours. The Tulsa Health Department said 420 people were tested Saturday at its North Regional Health and Wellness Center. Screenings resume Monday morning.

Kari Childress, 38, showed up at 8:30 a.m., mainly because she was nervous.

"I just hope I don't have anything," said Childress, who had a tooth extracted at one of Harrington's two clinics five months ago. "You trust and believe in doctors to follow the rules, and that's the scariest part."

Inspectors found a number of problems at the doctor's clinics in Tulsa and suburban Owasso, according to the state Dentistry Board, which filed a 17-count complaint against Harrington pending an April 19 license revocation hearing. According to the complaint, needles were reinserted into drug vials after being used on patients, expired drugs were found in a medicine cabinet and dental assistants, not the doctor, administered sedatives to patients.

One patient, Orville Marshall, said he didn't meet Harrington until after he had two wisdom teeth pulled about five years ago at the Owasso clinic. A nurse inserted the IV for his anesthesia; Harrington was there when Marshall came to.

"It's just really scary. It makes you doubt the whole system, especially with how good his place looked," said Marshall, 37.

An instrument set reserved for use on patients with infectious diseases was rusty, preventing its effective sterilization, and the office autoclave ? a pressurized cleaner ? was used improperly and hadn't been certified as effective in at least six years, according to the complaint.

Dr. Matt Messina, a Cleveland dentist and a consumer adviser for the American Dental Association, said creating a safe and hygienic environment is "one of the fundamental requirements" before any dental procedure can be performed.

"It's not hard. It just takes effort," he said.

Weekly autoclave testing can be performed for less than $400 annually, according to the website of the Autoclave Testing Services of Pearl River, New York.

Autoclaves typically can be purchased for $1,000 to $8,000, depending on their size and features. And an average dental practice can expect to pay more than $40,000 a year in equipment, tools and supplies alone, according to several dental organizations.

Attempts to reach Harrington have been unsuccessful. No one answered the door Thursday at his Oklahoma home, which property records show is worth more than $1 million. His practice a few miles away, in a tony section of Tulsa where plastic surgeons operate and locals congregate at bistros and stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, has a fair-market value of around $851,000.

Property and tax records show Harrington owns another residence in Carefree, Ariz., in an area of upscale homes tucked into in the boulder-strewn mountains north of Phoenix.

Nobody was at home Saturday at the low-slung, 1950s-style vacation home, across from the Boulders Resort. Neighbors said they had seen a lot of activity at the home in recent weeks.

Harrington's malpractice lawyer, Jim Secrest II, did not respond to phone messages left Thursday or Friday. A message at Harrington's Tulsa office said it was closed and an answering service referred callers to the Tulsa Health Department.

Suzy Horton, an old friend of Harrington's, said she can't believe the allegations about the man who removed two of her teeth in the early '90s. Horton's ex-husband sold Harrington his home in Carefree ? a home where she once lived.

"I've been to dentists my whole life, so I know what a professional office looks like," Horton, who now lives in Phoenix, said in a telephone interview. "His was just as professional as anybody."

Horton hasn't seen Harrington in years, but she said he has sent her a Christmas card and wreath every year since her 1999 divorce.

"It was a long time ago, so I suppose anything can change, but the kind of person they're portraying in the news is not the kind of person who sends you a Christmas" card, she said.

___

Associated Press writers Traci Carl in Carefree, Ariz., and Jeannie Nuss in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-30-Dentist%20Investigation-Testing/id-19d4d577670640b3b74a2ce8f44643ef

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Pope extends hand of friendship to "Muslim brothers and sisters" during Good Friday rite

ROME - Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.

With torches lighting the way, the faithful carried a cross to different stations, where meditations and prayers were read out recalling the final hours of Jesus' life and his crucifixion.

This year, the prayers were composed by young Lebanese, and many recalled the plight of minority Christians in the region, where wars have forced thousands to flee their homelands. The meditations called for an end to "violent fundamentalism," terrorism and the "wars and violence which in our days devastate various countries in the Middle East."

Francis, who became pope just over two weeks ago, chose, however, to stress Christians' positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony.

Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Francis recalled Benedict XVI's 2012 visit to Lebanon when "we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others."

"That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world, a sign of hope," he said.

Friday's outreach followed Francis' eyebrow-raising gesture a day earlier, when he washed and kissed the feet of two women, one a Muslim, in the Holy Thursday ritual that commemorates Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.

Breaking with tradition, Francis performed the ritual on 12 inmates at a juvenile detention centre, rather than in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica, where in the past, 12 priests have been chosen to represent Jesus' disciples.

Before he became pope, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio long cultivated warm relations with Muslim leaders in his native Argentina. In one of his first speeches as pope, he called for the church and the West in general to "intensify" relations with the Muslim world.

The Vatican's relations with Islam hit several bumps during Benedict XVI's papacy, when he outraged Muslims with a 2006 speech quoting a Byzantine emperor as saying some of Prophet Muhammad's teachings were "evil and inhuman." And in 2011, the pre-eminent institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world, Cairo's Al-Azhar institute, froze dialogue with the Vatican to protest Benedict's call for greater protection of Christians in Egypt.

However, Francis' past outreach to the Muslim community in Argentina seems to have changed that. Al-Azhar's chief imam, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, sent a message of congratulations to Francis on his election and said he hoped for co-operation.

The Vatican's efforts to reconcile with the Islamic world have not been welcomed by all. Italy's most famous Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, announced last week he was leaving the church because of its "soft" stance on Islam. Allam was baptized by Benedict XVI in 2008 during the high-profile Easter Vigil service when the pope traditionally baptizes a handful of adults. There has been no Vatican comment on his about-face.

Thousands of people packed the Colosseum and surrounding areas for the nighttime procession, holding candles wrapped in paper globes as Francis sat in silent prayer as a giant torch-lit crucifix twinkled nearby. Some in the crowd had Lebanese flags around their shoulders in an indication of the special role Lebanese faithful played in this year's procession.

Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East ? nearly 40 per cent of the country's 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. As civil war has raged in neighbouring Syria, Lebanon's Christian community has been divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Overall, Christians in the Middle East have been uneasy as the Arab Spring has led to the strengthening of Islamist groups in most countries that have experienced uprisings. Thousands of Christians have fled the region ? a phenomenon that the Vatican has lamented, given Christianity's roots in the Holy Land.

"How sad it is to see this blessed land suffer in its children, who relentlessly tear one another to pieces and die!" said one of the Good Friday meditations. "It seems that nothing can overcome evil, terrorism, murder and hatred."

Francis picked up on that message, saying Christ's death on the cross is "the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us."

"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," he said.

At the end of the ceremony, a male choir sang a haunting Arabic hymn, a reflection of the Eastern rite influence that infused the ceremony.

On Saturday, Francis presides over the solemn Easter Vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica and on Sunday, he celebrates Easter Mass and delivers an important speech. Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.

In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Friday "we'll have to see" what Francis does with the multilingual greetings.

The Good Friday procession was conducted entirely in Italian, whereas in years past the core elements recounting what happens at each station would be recited in a variety of languages.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-extends-hand-friendship-muslim-brothers-sisters-during-003104442.html

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Devin Velez Knew 'American Idol' Time Was Up

'Just the fact that America was voting for me, that's crazy!' Velez says about his time on the show.
By Gil Kaufman, with reporting by Kelly Marino

Devin Velez and Ryan Seacrest on "American Idol" Thursday night
Photo: Fox

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704577/devin-velez-american-idol.jhtml

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U.S. Wargames North Korean Regime Collapse, Invasion to Secure Nukes

North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un today ordered his missile batteries to prepare to launch against U.S. and South Korea targets, the latest act of belligerence that has left the United States and the world on edge in recent weeks.

But despite Kim's menacing posture, the U.S. military recently wargamed a different scenario: how many American troops would be needed to go in and secure North Korea's nuclear arsenal if Kim's regime collapsed.

That was the objective this February when the U.S. military played out its Winter Wargame, that the autocratic rule of Kim Jong Un unraveled either from civil unrest or a challenge to his power and his arsenal of nukes was up for grabs. It's a scenario that some believe is more likely than a North Korea attack on the south.

PHOTOS: An Inside Look at North Korea

"North Korea has relied on these time honored, very effective tools that dictators have wielded all over the world, and what we know about these tools is that they work until they don't," said Jennifer Lind, a Dartmouth professor who has studied potential missions to North Korea.

Recent years have seen the sudden collapse of dictatorial regimes in Libya and Egypt, and Syria is now in flames with control of its chemical weapons in doubt.

"A regime collapse is always on the table, and we are in an uncertain period of leadership transition," said Rodger Baker, a geopolitical analyst from Stratfor Global Intelligence.

In a war game focusing on the fictitious country "North Brownland," military experts from the Army's forward-looking research arm, the Concept Development and Learning Directorate, assessed how many U.S. troops it would take to go into a North Korea-like place to secure the weapons after a crisis erupted, and how quickly those weapons could be secured.

PHOTOS: Kim Jong Un Through the Years

According to Maj. Gen. Bill Hix, who oversaw the war game, American troops would have to enter the country by air and sea, locate nuclear material in enormous storehouses and unknown underground bunkers, and figure out how to wrest control of nuclear materials and stop reactors. The challenges, Hix said, are significant.

"We looked at this issue of countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, specifically nuclear weapons, and fissile material, and the data and the scientists associated with that kind of enterprise," Hix said.

Hix declined to discuss the game's conclusions, but he cited studies that determined that nearly 100,000 troops would be needed to storm the country and secure nuclear material, and that the armed forces are still in need of nuclear experts who could help with such a mission.

"There are obviously many people in the U.S. government or the U.S. who are experts in nuclear reactors or whatever, but not paid to work in a hostile environment where someone is trying to kill you while you are trying to render safe a reactor or fissile material," the general said.

Defense News, which first reported on the wargame, said it took U.S. troops 56 days to get into the country and secure the weapons.

Lind estimated that the mission would need up to 200,000 additional troops to carry out other aspects of stabilizing the country, including efforts to feed citizens, and locating and disarming conventional weapons and artillery.

RELATED: North Korea Puts Artillery Forces on High Alert, Threatens US

Those levels would exceed the peak number of troops in Iraq, which was 165,000, and the peak for Afghanistan, which was 101,000.

"Can we get the job done? I think the answer is yes," Hix said. "Can we do it at the speed that may be required right now? I think we're challenged to do that."

Experts said the U.S. began taking seriously the possibility of a regime collapse in 2008 when the former leader, Kim Jong-il, had a stroke. The concern grew when Kim Jong-il died in 2011 and son Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be 30, took over.

Lind said that though Kim's recent statements have been more frequent and more antagonistic than usual, it would make little sense for North Korea to launch a strike now.

"I don't believe war is coming because North Korea has no rational reason for starting a war which would lead them to no longer exist," Lind said.

"I think the number one mission for the U.S. is to defend South Korea against a North Korea invasion, (and) over time that's gotten less and less plausible," she said. "Second is these collapse scenarios."

"When we think about collapse, we worry about all of that [nuclear material] being flung to the winds and accessed on a global black market," Lind said. "Then of course the nightmare scenario is a terrorist group gets hold of fissile material, or a weapon, or one of the scientists that shows them how to make a nuclear weapon."

Gen. Hix noted that the military is constantly preparing for any crises or scenario it may face in the future, and both he and the other experts agreed that a North Korean collapse is not visibly imminent.

"If we look at various factors, I wouldn't say there's any particular indicator that we should be worried right now, but this could change in a matter of days. We could see a collapse and then be speculating for decades," Lind said.

Baker said that though the probability of a collapse was higher than that of North Korea attacking another country, he expected Kim to continue leading the country, with its economy limping along, in the near future. He said he ultimately expects Kim to begin to open North Korea to the rest of the world.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Robotic ants successfully mimic real colony behavior

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Scientists have successfully replicated the behaviour of a colony of ants on the move with the use of miniature robots, as reported in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. The researchers, based at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, USA) and at the Research Centre on Animal Cognition (Toulouse, France), aimed to discover how individual ants, when part of a moving colony, orient themselves in the labyrinthine pathways that stretch from their nest to various food sources.

The study focused mainly on how Argentine ants behave and coordinate themselves in both symmetrical and asymmetrical pathways. In nature, ants do this by leaving chemical pheromone trails. This was reproduced by a swarm of sugar cube size robots, called "Alices," leaving light trails that they can detect with two light sensors mimicking the role of the ants' antennae.

In the beginning of the experiment, where branches of the maze had no light trail, the robots adopted an "exploratory behaviour" modelled on the regular insect movement pattern of moving randomly but in the same general direction. This led the robots to choose the path that deviated least from their trajectory at each bifurcation of the network. If the robots detected a light trail, they would turn to follow that path.

One outcome of the robotic model was the discovery that the robots did not need to be programmed to identify and compute the geometry of the network bifurcations. They managed to navigate the maze using only the pheromone light trail and the programmed directional random walk, which directed them to the more direct route between their starting area and a target area on the periphery of the maze. Individual Argentine ants have poor eyesight and move too quickly to make a calculated decision about their direction. Therefore the fact that the robots managed to orient themselves in the maze in a similar fashion than the one observed in real ants suggests that a complex cognitive process is not necessary for colonies of ants to navigate efficiently in their complex network of foraging trails.

"This research suggests that efficient navigation and foraging can be achieved with minimal cognitive abilities in ants," says lead author Simon Garnier. "It also shows that the geometry of transport networks plays a critical role in the flow of information and material in ant as well as in human societies."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Simon Garnier, Maud Combe, Christian Jost, Guy Theraulaz. Do Ants Need to Estimate the Geometrical Properties of Trail Bifurcations to Find an Efficient Route? A Swarm Robotics Test Bed. PLoS Computational Biology, 2013; 9 (3): e1002903 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002903

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/tNBJskzfrCY/130329090614.htm

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Hands on with Tiny Troopers 2 for iOS at GDC 2012

Live from GDC Simon and I went hands-on with Chillingo's latest tile, Tiny Troopers 2. If you're familiar with the first game, the sequel brings you more of the same great stuff -- more gear, more guns, more machines, more mayhem. We're talking Humvee's with .50 caliber machine guns.

Check out the video up top and if you like what you see, Tiny Troopers 2 has just hit the App Store so go grab it now.

$0.99 - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/kpgL3j_F0vU/story01.htm

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Iran, Syria, N. Korea block first global treaty to control $70 billion arms trade

Maysun / EPA, file

Syrian Army fighters preparing themselves to shoot against Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, Syria, March 11.

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

UNITED NATIONS -- Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday prevented the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it was flawed and failed to ban weapons sales to rebel groups.

To get around the blockade, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant sent the draft treaty to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him on behalf of Mexico, Australia and a number of others to put it to a swift vote in the General Assembly.

U.N. diplomats said the 193-nation General Assembly could put the draft treaty to a vote as early as Tuesday.

The head of the U.S. delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman, told a group of reporters, "We look forward to this treaty being adopted very soon by the United Nations General Assembly."

He declined to predict the result of a vote but said it would be a "substantial majority" in favor.

"A good, strong treaty has been blocked," said Britain's chief delegate, Joanne Adamson. "Most people in the world want regulation and those are the voices that need to be heard."

"This is success deferred," she added.

The point of an arms trade treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons.

It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law.

NRA: Treaty threatens gun rights
Arms control activists and human rights groups say a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

"The world has been held hostage by three states," said Anna Macdonald, an arms control expert at humanitarian agency Oxfam. "We have known all along that the consensus process was deeply flawed and today we see it is actually dysfunctional."

"Countries such as Iran, Syria and DPRK (North Korea) should not be allowed to dictate to the rest of the world how the sale of weapons should be regulated," she added.?

The National Rifle Association opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification if it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights.

The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobby group, has said that the treaty would not impact the right to bear arms.

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Demonstrators from Amnesty International call for a global arms treaty in a protest outside the White House, March 22.

The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms exporter - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support an arms treaty.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told Iran's Press TV that Tehran supported the arms trade treaty. But Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the conference that he could not accept the treaty in its current form.

"It is a matter of deep regret that genuine efforts of many countries for a robust, balanced and non-discriminatory treaty were ignored.,? he said.

One of those flaws was its failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit "acts of aggression," ostensibly referring to rebel groups, he said. The current draft does not ban transfers to armed groups but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari echoed the Iranian concerns. "Unfortunately our national concerns were not taken into consideration," he said.

North Korea's delegate voiced similar complaints, suggesting it was a discriminatory treaty.

Russia and China made clear they would not have blocked it but voiced serious reservations about the text and its failure to get consensus.

A Russian delegate told the conference that Moscow would have to think hard about signing it if it were approved.

If adopted by the General Assembly, the pact will need to be signed and ratified by at least 50 states to enter into force.

Related:

'Not good enough': Rights groups blast draft of arms trade treaty

North Korea is no 'paper tiger', warns US official as regime puts rockets on standby

Israel to grill Obama over possible military strike on Iran

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a21b421/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C290C175153850Eiran0Esyria0En0Ekorea0Eblock0Efirst0Eglobal0Etreaty0Eto0Econtrol0E70A0Ebillion0Earms0Etrade0Dlite/story01.htm

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Mobile Internet Traffic Forcing Companies To Rethink Their ...

Don?t look now, or rather, look now, because mobile internet?traffic is speeding past companies who have not embraced the single most important technology to developing business today. Only a few short years ago, the cumbersome desktop computer was king. It was only practical for office or home use. Taking it with you was dreadfully difficult and impractical. Internet caf??s popped up, and libraries could be used by those?travelling?or away from their computer to find directions, restaurants, shop, or find local businesses, such as car repair, urgent care centres, or a hotel. Along came the laptop computer. But now, the smart phone and iPad, and its tablet brethren, are flying off the shelves and into practical everyday use for the business person and citizen.

Related Posts:
Will Mobile be King in 2013? Analyzing the Present and Predicting the Future!
Announcing?InstantMobile our all-in-one Mobile Website Builder!

Does Your Business Website?Accommodate Mobile Browsers?

A majority of websites and companies have not prepared for the onslaught of business being done through mobile browsers and are missing out on billions of dollars in sales. Since buying services and products are not relegated only to local and regional businesses, it behooves companies to have a mobile version of their website to take advantage of the selling and informational opportunities presently before them. Sadly, most are not.

It is important to understand that the normal websites that don?t accommodate mobile browsers provide a poor visitor experience, and may actually turn off potential customers from your products and services. Therefore, having a site that is mobile-friendly may mean beating out a competitor, growing your business, increasing revenues, and attracting and retaining customers.

New technology is helping make this a simple and modestly priced venture for small and large companies. ?Responsive web design? is one of the hot new terms in the industry today, and we will discuss how it will assist the business owner or company in making certain they acquire as much market share as possible.

A company has three choices when considering whether to develop their website for the mobile browsing. But first, let us look at important statistics of smart phones and tablets to help give you some perspective on why developing your website for the mobile market is a wise investment.

Smart Phone and Tablet Statistics and Information

Today, 91 million Americans own a smart phone, and there are over 1 billion active ones globally in use. By 2014, there will be 90 million tablets in the hands of businesses and consumers. They should not be ignored.

Searching the internet for products, services, and events is the #2 use of the smart phone, while texting is first. Yes, there are significantly more texts going out than phone calls. What may be surprising is that the smart phone has become like a hand-held portable computer.

The buying demographic everyone wants is between 25 and 40, and this is where the majority of smart phone owners are. Moreover, these people have grown up using computer technology like many grew up using pencils and hand-held calculators.

In the recent past, smart phones were slow in uploading websites, information, games, or search, but now speeds are amazing, so this is no longer a deterrent. Because of the slowness, many companies opted out of what they thought would be an expensive design to wait for faster speeds. They are here. This means, if you have been sitting on the sidelines because of this, you no longer have an excuse to remain disengaged.

The fastest growing segment of mobile app and website development is with local businesses. 70% of business search is for local products and services. If you have ever used a smart phone to search for this time of entity, even today, it is likely that you were able to find a website that was neither user friendly nor intuitive. It obviously was not designed for mobile use. How did you feel? Probably like you wasted time. Again, with tremendously fast speeds, and the phone guts to handle the data, this no longer has to be an issue.

Tablets manufacturers have learned quite a bit from their older cousins, the smart phone, and have come to market more prepared for what the consumer wants when locating businesses. Again, it cannot be stressed enough that having your website optimized for these gadgets will help position you to take advantage of the financial and relational opportunities that exist and are coming.

3 Options for Mobile Web Design

Responsive web design uses new technology that allows the web developers to build a mobile site that is pictorially compelling, and easy to read and navigate without losing the essence that a standard site offers. In fact, this technology is being employed on standard internet websites, too. The coding allows for instant sizing of the page in conjunction with the type of web-based tool that is being used to view it, ie, the desktop, smart phone, or tablet.

Your company has three choices when deciding whether nor not to utilize this new technology and, therefore, be more competitive online.

Do Nothing ? There are many reasons why companies will not choose to embrace responsive web design, and they include, budget or cost, technical savvy, fear of the unknown, or simple disinterest. In an economy where competition for customer dollars has never been fiercer, none of these are acceptable. The trend is towards the mobile market, as we demonstrated. Let go your horse-and-buggy mentality because the Model A is rolling off the assembly line.
Develop a Separate Theme ? Responsive mobile web design allows you to develop a totally?separate?mobile theme that properly sizes the site and allows the user to engage with the site in a much more user friendly mode. In this version the available content is chosen strictly for the mobile version and in some instances the whole site is pared down to fewer pages than the normal site and streamlined for the mobile user.
New Website Optimized for Mobile Use ? The third and final choice you have as a company is to either start new with a website, or redesign your website from the outset utilizing the science behind responsive web design, which ultimately is about the user experience. The data on how people engage websites is prodigious, and so this is incorporated into this new way of preparing your site for both the mobile and desktop user for maximum effect and engagement. So no matter what size browser the person is using the coding will be responsive and allow them to see the entire site content (graphics, pictures, etc) in their chosen screen size. It will adapt to the user ? this is the way of the future.

Conclusion

In our ever-changing world we see obsolete technology and products all the time. What will never change is how important it is for businesses to understand how their customers and prospects engage them on the internet, whether it is from a desktop, laptop, smart phone or tablet. Having a website that intuitively makes adjustments to the site visitor so they can have the best user experience possible is now available through responsive website design. This technology will naturally evolve with the user, making it one of the most important innovations yet in website design and development. The question is, will you ignore the business opportunities this technology brings and dismiss mobile web development, or will you embrace it and reap the benefits?

Written By Jim Larson

Jim Larson writes about the internet for National News Daily.

Source: http://www.techwyse.com/blog/mobile-marketing/mobile-internet-traffic-forcing-companies-to-rethink-their-websites/

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OptiTrack debuts $3,700 PRIME 17W mocap cam for small spaces

Independent creators keen on motion capture have had affordable solutions like cheaper sensors and Kinect-based implementations for awhile now, but a large space for moving around has usually been required. OptiTrack has come up with an answer to that problem, however, in the form of the PRIME 17W mocap camera that it introduced at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The 1.7-megapixel lens has a 70-degree by 51-degree field of view that promises to capture motion in a relatively small space, which also means you need fewer cameras to get a full 360-degree shot. Other features include a global shutter, high-speed 360 FPS capture and low distortion, enabling UAV and sports tracking. At $3,700, it's still not exactly cheap, but it's certainly affordable enough for indie engineers and animators with space constraints to get started in the mocap biz.

Filed under: Cameras, Gaming

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Source: OptiTrack

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/LJWTAfSSJpw/

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Freeway chase led to ex-Nev. lawmaker's arrest

File-This file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Nevada state Assembly member Steven Brooks after a Feb. 10, 2013 arrest on charges that he physically attacked a family member and grabbed for a police officer's weapon. Members of the Nevada Legislature are, for the first time since 1867, considering ousting one of their own: Assemblyman Steven Brooks. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, File)

The Assembly Select Committee meets at the Carson City Courthouse, in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, a troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks and instilled fear among colleagues who once called him friend will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, hugs Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, following an emotional and historic vote to expel fellow Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, during the Assembly floor session at the Legislative Building in Carson City, Nev., on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Neal was the lone dissenting vote when a bipartisan select committee empanelled to look into the North Las Vegas Democrat's behavior voted 6-1 Tuesday to recommend expulsion. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 26, 2013, Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, leads the meeting of the select committee at the Carson City Courthouse, in Carson City, Nev. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, a troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks and instilled fear among colleagues who once called him friend will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A former Nevada state lawmaker who had been expelled from the Assembly hours earlier led authorities in California on a high-speed freeway chase before he was shocked with a stun gun and arrested on charges including resisting arrest, authorities said Friday.

Steven Brooks, 41, was arrested at about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 outside the city of Victorville, after a 15-mile chase that began in Barstow and exceeded speeds of 80 mph, California Highway Patrol Officer Don Spiker said.

Police had responded to a disagreement between Brooks and a tow truck operator called to help Brooks fix a flat tire in Barstow.

"We just know the tow truck driver was uncomfortable enough to call us for assistance," Spiker said. "He said the subject was acting strange."

Barstow Police Chief Albert Ramirez said in a statement that Brooks refused to pay the driver and wouldn't provide him with identification.

Brooks' arrest came after he became the first lawmaker in Nevada history to be expelled from the Legislature.

It disappointed his lawyer, who has been representing Brooks through a series of sometimes bizarre legal and psychological incidents since January, and who had been fighting to keep the two-term Democratic state lawmaker in his elected seat representing a North Las Vegas district.

"We had started to discuss possible next steps," attorney Mitchell Posin said, referring to a conversation he said he had with Brooks after Brooks' expulsion from the Assembly. Colleagues cited safety concerns.

"Next thing I know, I heard about this," Posin said.

Posin said he had no details about the arrest, or about why Brooks was on the interstate in Barstow.

Brooks was arrested near the Stoddard Wells Road exit after leading officers on the chase with a flat tire, authorities said.

A witness, 30-year-old Jennifer Simpson, said she was alerted by police helicopters overhead and saw a red four-door SUV hit what appeared to be spike strips on the freeway and veer to the side of the road.

The driver got out of the vehicle but didn't follow police commands to turn around and put his hands in the air, said Simpson, who lives in an apartment near the interstate in Victorville. The man ran back toward the SUV, chased by a police dog, she said.

Simpson said the driver shut himself in the vehicle before several officers with guns drawn pulled him out. She said she saw at least one officer punch the man several times.

Simpson's husband videotaped the last four minutes of the struggle, in which uniformed officers wrestle the driver to the ground in front of the vehicle and an officer in a tan uniform raises his arms three times in apparent punching motions. The man cannot be seen on the ground.

Kris Reilly, city editor of The Daily Press in Victorville, said he heard police scanner reports of the chase and arrived at the scene with a photographer to see a man in dark clothing on a hospital gurney. He said the man was struggling against wrist and ankle restraints as he was loaded into an ambulance.

"He was yelling something to the effect that, 'These cops are going down!'" Reilly said. "He was yelling quite a bit."

Ramirez released a statement alleging that Brooks choked and hit a police dog with a socket wrench inside the vehicle. The dog, named Buck, was treated by a veterinarian for cuts on the head and leg.

"Brooks continued to resist the officers and not comply with their orders," the Barstow police statement said. "A Taser was utilized on Brooks and after this, handcuffs were applied."

The police report does not describe any police officers being injured and doesn't address whether any officers punched Brooks.

Telephone messages for Ramirez and other Barstow police supervisors weren't immediately returned.

Brooks was examined at Barstow Community Hospital before he was taken to a San Bernardino County jail in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., police said

Jail records show Brooks was being held on $100,000 bail pending a Tuesday court appearance on four felony charges including resisting a police officer with force, willful harm to a police service dog, felony evading arrest and throwing objects from a vehicle.

Earlier Thursday, Brooks was expelled from the state Assembly by a voice vote following a recommendation from a bipartisan panel that met largely behind closed doors. The seven panel members considered a more than 900-page investigative report produced by a Las Vegas lawyer hired as a special counsel.

A coalition of Nevada media outlets is seeking to have the document made public.

Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, called Brooks "potentially dangerous" and said lawmakers didn't feel safe with him in the building.

"This really saddens me," Horne said Friday, after learning of the arrest. "I hope they get Steven the help he clearly needs before he or someone else is hurt or worse."

The arrest was Brooks' third this year.

He was arrested Jan. 19 after being accused of making threats toward legislative colleagues including Assembly Democratic Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. North Las Vegas police said Brooks had a gun and ammunition in his car when he was arrested, but no charges have been filed.

Brooks was hospitalized for five days for a mental evaluation after Las Vegas police were called Jan. 25 to a dispute at his grandmother's house.

Brooks was sworn in at the Legislature on Feb. 4 before he was arrested again Feb. 10 at his estranged wife's home in Las Vegas after police alleged he threw punches and grabbed for the gun of an officer who responded to a domestic dispute. He faces a court hearing in May in Las Vegas on one felony and three lesser charges.

Brooks was denied the purchase of a gun in northern Nevada last month after he was banished from the Legislature.

Posin said at the time that Brooks posed no real threat to anyone.

___

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

___

Find Ken Ritter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/krttr and Michelle Rindels at http://twitter.com/RindelsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-29-US-Nevada-Assemblyman-Expelled/id-7f5c72c5abe448aa9c60cfe13c2a9b8c

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Slovenia will not be the next Cyprus: finance minister

By Marja Novak and Zoran Radosavljevic

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia will not be the next euro member to need a financial rescue as it can afford to wait for lower borrowing costs before issuing new debt, its top economic official said on Friday.

The new center-left government was widely expected to raise money on financial markets shortly after taking office on March 20 but has not done so because Slovenia's borrowing costs have soared due to the turmoil in Cyprus.

Investors are betting that Slovenia, another tiny member of Europe's currency zone with a population of just 2 million, will also need a rescue to keep its banks and economy afloat.

Last week, Cyprus became the fifth euro member to receive financial help from Brussels to survive a regional debt crisis.

While Slovenia's banks are also in trouble the sector is smaller than in Cyprus and it does not share the exposure to toxic Greek debt and Finance Minister Uros Cufer said his country did not need help.

"We will need no bailout this year," he said. "I am calm."

Like many other euro zone members, Slovenia is in recession, with slowing exports to its neighbors and high unemployment.

It last issued a bond in October last year before the conservative government collapsed over a corruption scandal in January and was this month replaced by the new center-left cabinet of Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek.

Analysts were expecting a swift debt issue from the government but yields have jumped. The 2021 bond yield rose to 6.06 percent on Friday, from 5.45 a week ago.

The International Monetary Fund says Slovenia will need to raise at least 3 billion euros this year for the budget, debt repayment and the bank overhaul, and former Prime Minister Janez Jansa has said Slovenia must issue debt by June.

But Cufer said Slovenia, a mountainous country on the Adriatic neighbored by Austria, Italy, Croatia and Hungary, was not in a hurry.

"We do not have to go to the markets in these overheated times due to Cyprus," he said. "We can wait for the markets to calm down, for the investors to feel comfortable about our action and then we will tap the market."

BAD BANK

He said the government would launch a "bad bank" by September that would take over a part of 7 billion euros in bad loans from the three main banks, all of which are in majority or large state ownership.

The banks would then require up to 1 billion euro ($1.28 billion) in a capital injection, which Cufer said Slovenia could raise later this year via a bond, part of the total 3 billion in planned debt issuance for this year.

With successive governments citing national interests, Slovenia was the only ex-communist state that refused to sell its largest lenders ahead of EU entry last decade, creating a toxic combination of political control and poor management in banks that backfired when the economy went downhill in 2009.

The global financial crisis ended years of fast growth and indiscriminate lending that included loans worth a reported 187 million euros from one bank to the largest builder, SCT, which went bankrupt after a collapse in real estate and construction.

Many other highly leveraged local companies went bust, sticking banks with more bad loans that combined amount to about a fifth of the economy.

Cufer, 42, took part in shaping the bad bank under a plan launched by the previous conservative government on the side of the biggest lender, Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), where he worked as head of financial management.

He said the bad bank had already been established and would be fully operational "surely in a few months, definitely by the start of September".

Along with the 1 billion euros to shore up their balance sheets this year, the lenders will swap bad loans in exchange for state-guaranteed bonds issued by the bad bank, he said.

NO BANK SALES SOON

Cufer said the banks were now worth 10-20 percent of their book value, which would be 25 to 50 million euros, and the government would wait until they were recapitalized and markets stabilized before sells them into private hands.

"Now is not the appropriate time to sell. Selling at these prices makes no sense... Even next year is very optimistic," he said.

Cufer tried to stress that unlike Cyprus - where banking assets were seven times larger than the economy, as opposed to about 1.3 times for Slovenia - Ljubjana could handle its problems on its own.

"Slovenia cannot be compared to Cyprus, it is certainly not a tax haven... the basic problem of the banks in Slovenia is too much debt in companies and a lack of capital," he said.

To offset the costs of bank cleanup, the government will step up the sale of state companies rather than pursue the type of austerity measures that have deepened economic downturns in Greece, Portugal and other struggling states.

He declined to name what companies could be privatized but said they would continue with the program of the previous government. He added there would be at least "one major privatization" by the end of the year.

The last government was mulling selling stakes in telecoms operator Telekom Slovenia, insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav and fuel retailer Petrol. ($1 = 0.7788 euros)

(Writing by Zoran Radosavljevic; editing by Michael Winfrey and Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/slovenia-not-next-cyprus-finance-minister-153324055.html

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Stem cell fate depends on 'grip'

Mar. 28, 2013 ? The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.

The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.

Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.

Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.

Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.

"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation -- what kind of cells they will turn into."

The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.

The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible -- contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel -- but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.

When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.

However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.

"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds -- they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."

To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.

In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.

"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."

The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.

"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."

As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate -- about a week after they were first encapsulated -- the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.

"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."

Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.

"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Pennsylvania.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Sudhir Khetan, Murat Guvendiren, Wesley R. Legant, Daniel M. Cohen, Christopher S. Chen, Jason A. Burdick. Degradation-mediated cellular traction directs stem cell fate in covalently crosslinked three-dimensional hydrogels. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3586

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3TxG0KVGxqw/130328142402.htm

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Lynch, Markey Spar Over Health Care, Bank Bailouts - Melrose Patch

In the days leading up to the first Democratic U.S. Senate debate, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) has been called upon frequently to explain the vote he took against the health care reform bill in 2010.

Wednesday night, Lynch and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Malden), who represents Melrose, went several rounds on the topic. They faced-off for 30 minutes at the Channel 5 studios in Needham following a contest?among the three declared Republican candidates.

For Markey, President Obama's initiative, aimed at universal health care coverage, was "the proudest vote of my career."

"Steve, when that vote came up you were wrong," Markey said.

For Lynch, taxes and a lopsided deal for insurance companies were among the problems that outweighted benefits such as the elimination of benefit caps and guaranteed suppport for those with pre-existing conditions.

Would Lynch support repealing the law, as has been suggested by scores of Republicans, including those in this race?

"No, but I?d vote to fix it," Lynch said.

The Congressman pointed to the lack of a public option for states as a reason he pulled his support. He was criticized at the time for failing to get behind a national public option, which was not included in the final version of the bill.

Earlier this month, he sought to clarify his position?in an interview with Masslive.com. ?I think the best arrangement for Massachusetts is a state-run public option. I do believe that,? Lynch told the news website. ?But a national public option would be better than no public option."

But the bill Lynch voted against, along with every Republican member of the House of Representatives, was the only bill on the floor, Markey said.

"I want to go to the Senate to make sure they do not repeal that," Markey said.

That health care discussion was one of a few sharp divides that moderator R.D. Sahl encouraged the two Congressmen to explore, along with the 2008 bank bailouts, support for Massachusetts fishermen and abortion.

Wall Street vs. Main Street

The now-classic showdown between bankers and the average voter is a notion that Markey worked to dispel Wednesday night as he explained his support for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and its now infamous Troubled Asset Relief Program.

"In 2008 we were in the eighth year of George Bush turning Wall Street into a casino," Markey said. "Everyone agreed we could not allow the banking system to collapse. ... There would have been tens of millions of people without bank accounts if those banks had collapsed.?

Markey also pointed to his vote years earlier against repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, enacted during the Great Depression to limit interaction between commercial banks and securities firms.

In theory, the bailout was supposed to help main street, Lynch said, but the banks ended up taking the government's money without boosting lending. "You can take credit for something that never happened, I guess," he said.

Helping Fishermen

When it comes to votes on NAFTA and issues that affect local fishermen, Markey is "siding with the big guys against the little guys," Lynch said.

Markey defended himself by saying that he and other Massachusetts Congressmen were on the floor of the House fighting recently for disaster relief for fisherman, while Lynch was nowhere to be found.

"I didn't see you out there," Markey said.

Fisherman don't want disaster relief, Lynch said. They want to fish, and that means regulators need to improve the science of determining catch limits. He also accused Markey of overburdening medical device manufacturers with taxes in Obama's health care bill.

Markey turned to his fight against telecommunications companies in the 1990s, which produced a law that freed up investment resulting in billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, including many that form the "heartbeat of the innovation economy" in Massachusetts, he said.

Change on Abortion?

Early in his political career, Markey was pro-life, but Wednesday night he stressed that his shift to pro-choice came 30 years ago, and that he now has the support of Planned Parenthood.

It is a "core constitutional belief" of his that Roe vs. Wade be protected, Markey said. The decision should only be between a woman, her physician and her family.

Lynch, on the other hand, is unabashedly pro-life.

?I?m not an expert on church teachings but I am an expert on what I believe and what I don?t believe," he said.

Among the things that Lynch does not believe in is overturning Roe vs. Wade. Such a move would push abortions into an illegal, dangerous space. Instead, a better goal would be to reduce unwanted pregancies, Lynch said.

Interest Rates, Veterans Affairs and Ben Bernanke

Toward the end of the debate, Markey tossed Lynch a softball, easing the mood and leading both men to compliment each other.

"That's a kind question," Lynch said after Markey indicated he appreciated his opponent's record on veterans affairs and asked how care could improve as thousands of troops return from serving abroad.

"We?re getting a lot of them coming home after three, four, five tours of duty," Lynch said. "We?re missing something. We?re not correctly diagnosing PTSD."

It is a crisis that is "just on the horizon," Lynch continued, and one that requires an increased level of funding.

"We fought two wars," Markey said. "We did not pay for those two wars. We just put it on the cuff, and that was wrong. The one thing we should obligate ourselves to pay for is the care for our veterans.?

Neither candidate felt that the economy, though showing some signs of recovery, could handle the raising of interest rates.

"The recovery may be reaching Wall Street, it may be reaching State Street but it?s not reaching Blue Hill Ave.," Lynch said.

The sequestration is already a break on economic recovery, Markey said. Adding higher interest rates to that could be "catastrophic."

Both men said that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke deserves another term.

Also check out Patch's coverage of the Republican debate:?http://patch.com/A-3jRt

Source: http://melrose.patch.com/articles/lynch-markey-spar-over-health-care-bank-bailouts

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Women's new place in combat: A Yahoo! News chat

By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/what%E2%80%99s-new-and-what%E2%80%99s-not-for-women-in-war--a-yahoo--news-chat-171220929.html

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Multiple moves found harmful to poor young children

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Poor children who move three or more times before they turn 5 have more behavior problems than their peers, according to a new study by researchers at Cornell University and the National Employment Law Project. The study is published in the journal Child Development.

Moving is a fairly common experience for American families; in 2002, 6.5 percent of all children had been living in their current home for less than six months. Among low-income children, that number rose to 10 percent. In addition, in 2002, 13 percent of families above poverty moved once, but 24 percent of families below poverty moved. Research has shown that frequent moves are related to a range of behavioral, emotional, and school problems for adolescents.

Using national data on 2,810 children from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal, representative study of children born in 20 large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000, researchers sought to determine how frequent moves relate to children's readiness for school. Parents were interviewed shortly after the birth of their children, then again by phone when the children were 1, 3, and 5; in-home assessments were done when the children were 3 and 5. The study also looked at the children's language and literacy outcomes, as well as behavior problems reported by mothers.

The study found that 23 percent of the children had never moved, 48 percent had moved once or twice, and 29 percent had moved three or more times. Among children who moved three or more times before age 5, nearly half (44 percent) were poor; poverty was defined based on the official federal threshold. Moving three or more times was not related to the children's language and literacy outcomes.

But children who moved three or more times had more attention problems, anxiousness or depression, and aggressiveness or hyperactivity at age 5 than those who had never moved or those who had moved once or twice. These increases in behavior problems occurred only among poor children, the study found, suggesting that frequent moves early in life are most disruptive for the most disadvantaged children.

"The United States is still recovering from the great recession, which has taken a major toll on the housing market," notes Kathleen Ziol-Guest, postdoctoral associate at Cornell University, who led the study. "As housing markets have collapsed across communities, highly mobile low-income families have moved in search of work and less expensive housing.

"The findings in this study suggest that the housing crisis and its accompanying increase in mobility likely will have negative effects on young children, especially poor children."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for Research in Child Development, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest, Claire C. McKenna. Early Childhood Housing Instability and School Readiness. Child Development, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12105

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Y4-8E5yDj7Y/130328080229.htm

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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Does Your Business Website?Accommodate Mobile Browsers?

Smart Phone and Tablet Statistics and Information

3 Options for Mobile Web Design

Conclusion

Written By Jim Larson

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Friday, March 29, 2013