Israel attacks arms convoy in Syria, U.S. confiirms

WASHINGTON -- Israeli warplanes struck targets Wednesday outside Damascus,? the Syrian capital,? according to Syrian and Western reports, amid? rising international fear that President Bashar Assad will lose control of his nation?s stockpiles of chemical and advanced weapons.

A Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the airstrike hit a truck convoy believed to be carrying antiaircraft weapons for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.? The shipment was thought to have included Russian-made SA-17 missiles, the official said.? If such weapons were obtained by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, it could weaken Israel?s regional military power and hinder its ability to launch airstrikes in Lebanon.

Syrian state media, while also reporting an Israreli airstrike, denied that the target was a weapons shipment for Hezbollah, instead claiming that a military research facility and adjacent building had been destroyed. It said two people were killed and five were injured in the dawn attack.
Syria did not say what kind of research took place at the center in Jamraya, northwest of the capital.

Israeli officials declined to comment on the reports. But such a strike would mark Israel?s most aggressive military action in Syria during the nearly two-year uprising against Assad?s rule.

Israeli officials have been sounding alarms in recent days that Syria?s weapons might fall into the hands of militant groups that could use them against Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised that concern during a Cabinet meeting this week and officials have repeatedly said that any transfer of Syria?s dangerous weapons outside the country might trigger a military response.

Israel has tried to steer clear of the Syrian conflict, fearing that any actions it might take, such as supporting opposition forces or launching a military strike, could backfire or become propaganda fodder? for Damascus. Syrian officials have long charged that U.S. and ?Zionist? forces are behind the rebellion against Assad. Each side in the Syrian conflict has portrayed itself as an implacable enemy of Israel.

There is also fear that an Israeli strike could draw others into the Syrian conflict. Iran, Syria?s close ally, said this week that any foreign attack against Syria would be regarded as an attack on Iran.

In addition to chemical weapons, Israeli officials have been particularly worried about Syria?s stockpile of SA-17 antiaircraft missiles.

Israel often refuses to confirm or deny its activities in the region, partly out of a belief its silence might reduce the pressure on its enemies to respond.

In recent weeks, Israelis warned that Assad is losing control over his chemical weapons and that military action might be taken.

Amid the renewed warnings, Israelis living in the northern part of the country near the borders with Syria and Lebanon have been swarming into post offices and other distribution centers to pick up government-issued gas masks.

Israel relocated two of its five Iron Dome missile-interception systems to the northern part of the country, though military officials said the move was not related to fear of impending attacks.

ALSO:

Vietnam releases American activist accused of subversion

Egyptian opposition leader calls for talks to end violence

France, Western allies likely to be mired in Mali for years

Times staff writers Sanders reported from Jerusalem and McDonnell from Beirut.

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Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-wn-israel-convoy-20130130,0,6118916.story?track=rss

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Time and the writer | Susan Johnson's blog

FOR A WHILE now I?ve had this little private theory that writers experience time differently to other folk. Not in a better way, or a superior way, just in a different way.

My theory goes that, unlike most, writers (and I would hazard a guess all creative artists) are born with a sort of inner clock, already ticking. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, exist to be filled, that is, filled by something made.

Every artist I know seeks to create meaning from what he or she sees before his or her eyes. If not meaning, then call it form from formlessness, messages from chaos, a recording of beauty, horror, or of the ordinary, struggling days. An artist seeks the essence of the thing, the passing light, the fleeting moment, to speak out loud the pieces of the puzzle.

Every writer I know is compelled by time. Many years ago I was struck by an interview with AS (Toni) Byatt, speaking of her own artistic maths, in that she had worked out some mystical formula involving her age, divided by her working practice/model, giving her a pretty exact approximation of how many books she had left in her. Ditto, Donna Tartt, a notoriously slow writer, who has also figured out the time/book equation.

Like King Canute sitting in his throne, waves lapping around his feet, writers write as a way of holding back the tide. Of course, unlike King Canute they know the tide is coming and even their vanity tells them that they too ? like Canute and every other human soul born into consciousness ? will be washed away. But, for me and I suspect for many other writers, writing is a way of holding back the tide.

Writing is a way of fixing life to the page. So, this is life! This is us, passing, more than a collection of cells. We lived! We breathed! We passed this way! If time is the vessel in which life is carried, then every hour, every day, every second counts.

I have a friend, a writer and an artist who, when he was a boy, used to write himself a letter. An ordinary letter, describing his day, his feelings, his life to that moment. Then he would climb on a chair and, reaching as high as he could, toss it on the top of the highest wardrobe. He then placed an arbitrary date in his diary, say, six months to the day, when he would allow himself to climb back up onto the chair ? using cushions and piles of books ? to retrieve his letter to himself.

He opened it with wonder. Who was he now, reading his letter? Was he the same boy who had stood on a chair and threw up his letter? Where had he gone then, his old self? Was time captured in the ink of the pen he once held? I think I may have used this as a scene in a book somewhere.

I remember being twenty-four, twenty-five years old, and thinking: ?I don?t have time to waste. I must write!? I was conscious of time then, of every passing day. I already knew then that life is fleet, so swiftly passing, the seconds, the moments, and that I wished to put out my hand and cry: Stop!

In that impulse to shout Stop! lies the artistic compulsion. Time is the reason I write books: to witness life?s passing, to record the ordinary agonies of ordinary existence, to make a sort of time capsule for the future. I don?t mean writing for posterity (Ahem ? only time decides which writer achieves artistic immortality, so it can?t be for that). I don?t mean writing as a huge fat exercise in narcissism (although ? double ahem ? all writers must have a dose of that to even begin to think anyone might be interested in what they have to say).

I mean writing because one has a life in which to create meaning. Every one of us has a life to shape, to give meaning to, to use as we wish. For writers, there is never any One day I am going to write an amazing book. For writers, there is only writing the book, even if ? alas! ? it doesn?t prove to be as amazing as one originally hoped. For me, life would have a strange futility if I couldn?t seek to puzzle out meaning, to make use of the days. I don?t wish to merely record my own puzzlement (I?m not vain enough to think anyone would be interested in that). I want to record this particular moment, this puzzlement, this time we collectively swim in.

Yesterday another writer friend sent me some images of long-ago Paris (above). What impulse caused me to weep looking into the faces of the dead? Once alive, with washing up to do, a house to sweep, money to earn. How alive they look! Yet how many years dead they are! I had the same wounded, tender feeling walking around Victor Hugo?s apartments in Place des Voges in Paris, or in the tiny ramshackle house where Balzac lived, with a special escape hatch so he could run away from his creditors.

Life! Create! Aim to be like Balzac and create your hundred characters, every one of them alive, and breathing! Life, do your worst, keep that tide coming, but, please, please, let me write just one more book. ?

Source: http://www.abetterwoman.net/wordpress/?p=567

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Nanoparticles that look and act like cells

Jan. 31, 2013 ? By cloaking nanoparticles in the membranes of white blood cells, scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute may have found a way to prevent the body from recognizing and destroying them before they deliver their drug payloads. The group describes its "LeukoLike Vectors," or LLVs, in a recent issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

"Our goal was to make a particle that is camouflaged within our bodies and escapes the surveillance of the immune system to reach its target undiscovered," Tasciotti said. "We accomplished this with the lipids and proteins present on the membrane of the very same cells of the immune system. We transferred the cell membranes to the surfaces of the particles and the result is that the body now recognizes these particles as its own and does not readily remove them."

Nanoparticles can deliver different types of drugs to specific cell types, for example, chemotherapy to cancer cells. But for all the benefits they offer and to get to where they need to go and deliver the needed drug, nanoparticles must somehow evade the body's immune system that recognizes them as intruders. The ability of the body's defenses to destroy nanoparticles is a major barrier to the use of nanotechnology in medicine. Systemically administered nanoparticles are captured and removed from the body within few minutes. With the membrane coating, they can survive for hours unharmed.

"Our cloaking strategy prevents the binding of opsonins -- signaling proteins that activate the immune system," said Department of Medicine Co-Chair Ennio Tasciotti, Ph.D., the study's principal investigator. "We compared the absorption of proteins onto the surface of uncoated and coated particles to see how the particles might evade the immune system response."

Tasciotti and his group took metabolically active leukocytes (white blood cells) and developed a procedure to separate membranes from cell innards. By coating their nanoparticles with intact membranes in their native composition of lipids and proteins, the researchers created the first drug-carrying nanoparticles that look and act like cells -- leukolike vectors.

"Using the membranes of white blood cells to coat a nanoparticle has never been done before," Tasciotti said. "LLVs are half man-made -- the synthetic silicon core -- and half made of man -- the cell membrane."

Can the membrane be produced entirely via synthetic means?

"Being able to use synthetic membranes or artificially-created membrane is definitely something we are planning for the future," Tasciotti said. "But for now, using our white blood cells is the most effective approach because they provide a finished product. The proteins that give us the greatest advantages are already within the membrane and we can use it as-is."

As the technology is developed, Tasciotti said a patient's own white cells could be harvested and used to create personalized LLVs. "Cloaked by the patient's own cell membranes, the nanoparticles would be far more likely to reach their targets and avoid the activation of the immune system surveillance," he said. To test whether the LLVs would be protected from macrophage sequestration and destruction, Tasciotti's team tested LLVs coated with human membranes and found that human macrophages left the LLVs unharmed, thus confirming the preservation of the self-recognition principle.

Nanoparticle research has generally focused on getting the particles to recognize specific tissue and to release drugs there, and only there. Comparative studies of LLVs' interaction with healthy and inflamed blood vessel cells showed the LLVs selectively targeted the inflamed tumor blood vessels.

"LLVs are dotted with proteins that help the particles reach specific targets, from inflamed or damaged tissues to cancer cells recruiting blood vessels," Tasciotti said. "Over time the membrane lipids and proteins will break away, leaving the nanoparticles to degrade naturally after releasing their payload."

The research team also looked at how well the drugs traveled through the LLV membrane. They found that rather than introducing an obstacle to drug release, the membrane provides controllable release of the drug once the nanoparticles reach their target tissue.

The present study used white blood cells from cell cultures. Tasciotti said one of his group's goals is culturing enough cells from the patient to be useful in drug therapy.

"We are aware that we will not always have access to an infinite number of white blood cells," Tasciotti said. "For this reason, we are working to optimize our system by using as little material as efficiently as possible. I expect this technology to become a new player in the crowded world of drug delivery system thanks to the opportunities it offers for the personalization of drug therapies."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Methodist Hospital, Houston.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Alessandro Parodi, Nicoletta Quattrocchi, Anne L. van de Ven, Ciro Chiappini, Michael Evangelopoulos, Jonathan O. Martinez, Brandon S. Brown, Sm Z. Khaled, Iman K. Yazdi, Maria Vittoria Enzo, Lucas Isenhart, Mauro Ferrari, Ennio Tasciotti. Synthetic nanoparticles functionalized with biomimetic leukocyte membranes possess cell-like functions. Nature Nanotechnology, 2012; 8 (1): 61 DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.212

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/top_science/~3/PAAVP74IQbo/130131144114.htm

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Porn star Ron Jeremy in LA hospital after aneurysm

Adult film star Ron Jeremy attends a Cinema Society screening of "Ghost Town" at the IFC Center Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 in New York. Jeremy is recovering from surgery at a Los Angeles hospital after an aneurysm near his heart sent him to intensive care. Agent Mike Esterman says in an email to The Associated Press that he and others were waiting for Jeremy to awake Wednesday night Jan. 30, 2013 after a smooth procedure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

Adult film star Ron Jeremy attends a Cinema Society screening of "Ghost Town" at the IFC Center Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 in New York. Jeremy is recovering from surgery at a Los Angeles hospital after an aneurysm near his heart sent him to intensive care. Agent Mike Esterman says in an email to The Associated Press that he and others were waiting for Jeremy to awake Wednesday night Jan. 30, 2013 after a smooth procedure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A spokesman says porn star Ron Jeremy is recovering from surgery at a Los Angeles hospital after an aneurysm near his heart sent him to intensive care.

Agent Mike Esterman says in an email to The Associated Press that he and others were waiting for Jeremy to awake Wednesday night after a smooth procedure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Esterman says the 59-year-old Jeremy had a heavy feeling in his chest and drove himself to the hospital, where diagnosed the aneurysm and put him in the intensive care unit.

One of the best-known names in the porn industry, Jeremy has said he's appeared in more than 2,000 adult films.

While officially retired he still shows up in films and public events, and appeared in the reality TV series "The Surreal Life."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-31-People-Ron%20Jeremy/id-229738ba7ff4472d87357ecfd61ab502

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Canada's Metro reports higher profit on sales gain

(Reuters) - Canada's Metro Inc reported higher earnings on Tuesday, a day after boosting its quarterly dividend by more than 16 percent, as sales at its supermarket chain rose in the three months to December 22.

Net earnings rose to C$121.4 million ($120.9 million), or C$1.23 a share, from C$103.7 million, or C$1.01, a year earlier. Sales rose 2.7 percent to C$2.70 billion.

Sales at established stores, an important indicator for retailers, rose 1.5 percent in the fiscal first quarter.

Late on Monday, the Montreal-based firm declared a dividend of 25 Canadian cents a share, up from 21.5 Canadian cents last quarter.

Last week, Metro said it would sell nearly half of its stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc , a convenience store and gasoline station operator, for nearly C$479 million.

Metro, along with rivals such as Loblaw Cos Ltd , are facing rising competition as Wal-Mart Stores Inc expands its grocery offerings in Canada. Target Corp , the No. 2 U.S. discounter, is opening its first Canadian stores this spring, and it will also sell groceries.

($1 = $1.00 Canadian)

(Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canadas-metro-reports-higher-profit-sales-gain-165639918--finance.html

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Qualcomm Q1 2013 earnings: $1.91 billion in profit on revenues of $6 billion

The folks in San Diego are making it rain once again, as Qualcomm has just announced its earnings for the quarter with $6 billion in revenues, which represents a 29 percent year-over-year increase and a new record for the firm. It seems the company's Snapdragon chips are everywhere you look these days, and it should come as no surprise that Qualcomm also hauled in a profit of $1.91 billion, which is a 36 percent hike over the previous year. Seeing that the company is so well off, it's also announced a cash dividend payment of $428 million that will go back to shareholders, along with stock repurchases in the amount of $250 million. In case you were wondering, Qualcomm managed to push 182 million of its SoC's out the door during Q1, which represents a 17 percent year-over-year increase. With the Snapdragon 800 due by mid-year, we've a feeling that it'll keep raining in San Diego for some time -- even if the nice weather says otherwise.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Mobile

Comments

Source: Qualcomm Q1 2013 Earnings (PDF)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/30/qualcomm-q1-2013-earnings/

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Girl who performed at Obama inauguration shot dead

dnainfo.com

Hadiya Pendleton, 15, a student at King College Prep, was killed Tuesday at a Chicago park.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

A 15-year-old girl who performed at President Obama's inauguration last week was shot dead Tuesday while hanging out with friends in bullet-scarred Chicago.

Hadiya Pendleton -- described by a relative as a ?walking angel? -- was standing under a canopy in?Vivian Gordon Harsh Park when a gunman ran down an alley, opened fire at the group and fled in a white car, police said.

Pendleton was shot in the back but managed to run about a block before she collapsed, officer Laura Kubiak said. She died at the hospital.

A 16-year-old boy was wounded in the 2:20 p.m. incident. Police said Pendleton, who had no criminal record, was probably not the intended target.

?As usual, the bad guy aims, but he never hits the other bad guy . . . He hits the one that hurts the most to lose,? the victim?s godfather, Damon Stewart, 36, who is a police officer, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

?I changed her diapers, I played with her growing up. My heart is broken.?

A sophomore at selective King College Prep High School, Pendleton had traveled to Washington to perform with the school?marching band at inaugural events.

?It was the highlight of her young 15-year-old life,? Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday at a Senate hearing on gun violence.

?Just a matter of days after the happiest day of her life, she?s gone.?

Cousin Shatira Wilks said the upcoming inauguration trip was the talk of a family gathering around New Year?s, but the young majorette was even more excited about something else: plans to spend the summer studying in Paris.

?She was an honor student all her life,? Wilks said. ?Honestly, she was a walking angel. She never once gave her mom any problems ever.?

Wilks said the teen doted on her 10-year-old brother, Junior, who is devastated.

?At Christmas this year, she was designated the elf and she handed out all the gifts,? she recalled.

?She loved rock music. She was always listening and playing to music,? Wilks said,. ?What you would usually catching her doing is texting on her phone, like all the teenagers.?

Pendleton last tweeted just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday. ?I?m tired,? she wrote.

Many of her classmates changed their Twitter handles to honor her and decried the violence that had claimed an innocent life.

?You are more than loved and missed,? one wrote. ?Your laugh smile and silly happy personality has made my day more times than I can remember. Nobody deserves this, especially not you.?

Friends of the young majorette described her as a bubbly, well-liked student.

?She was always smiling and laughing,? said Tyler Genovesi, 14. ?She was just a really nice person. ? There?s a lot of people crying in school today. It?s very sad. The band is playing for her right now.?

The shooting happened in an upscale neighborhood where residents were shocked.

"I was torn apart," said Robin Hollis, who lives across the street from the park. "I cried when I heard about it."

Pendleton's murder was one of three shooting deaths in the city on Tuesday. More than 40 people have been shot dead in Chicago since the beginning of the year. There were 506 homicides in the city last year, a 16 percent increase even as other large cities, like New York, saw murders drop.

?We are awash in guns,? Durbin said, noting that six times as many guns as confiscated in Chicago as in New York each year. We have guns everywhere and some believe the solution to this is more guns. I disagree.?

Related:

Tale of two cities: Homicides leap in Chicago, plummet in New York

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/30/16771949-girl-who-performed-at-obamas-inauguration-shot-dead-in-chicago?lite

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ON THE SET: Evelyn Lozada SHARES Sexy Lingerie SHOOT Pics ...

"BBW" star Evelyn?Lozada posted a few BTS shots from a photoshoot she recently worked on.? See Evelyn in her undies inside....

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Controversial reality tv star Evelyn Lozada posted a message to fans recently saying, "Lately I have been super busy with filming and making appearances, however, I found time to squeeze in a shoot for an upcoming ?Beauty Issue? cover!"

The author has also been sharing her workout secrets in a fitness blog for Latina magazine.

She added, "I was styled by the best, Jason Sky and I can?t wait for you to see the finish product!!!"

?Evelyn was spotted earlier in the week filming scenes from BBW5 in LA. Will you be watching this year?

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Photos via Evelyn Lozada

Source: http://theybf.com/2013/01/29/on-the-set-evelyn-lozada-shares-sexy-lingerie-shoot-pics

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We want your UFC 156 picks

This Saturday, Frankie Edgar, the one-time UFC lightweight champion, will try to win the belt at featherweight from champion Jose Aldo at UFC 156. We want to know who you think will win this and the other main card bouts.

Here's the drill: Pick a fight from the main card.

Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar - for featherweight title
Rashad Evans vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio Silva
Jon Fitch vs. Demian Maia
Joseph Benavidez vs. Ian McCall

Then go to Cagewriter's Facebook page, like it and tell who you think will win and why. Selected picks will run here on Friday morning. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/want-ufc-156-picks-233140742--mma.html

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Cardiac disease linked to higher risk of mental impairment

Jan. 28, 2013 ? Cardiac disease is associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment such as problems with language, thinking and judgment -- particularly among women with heart disease, a Mayo Clinic study shows. Known as nonamnestic because it doesn't include memory loss, this type of mild cognitive impairment may be a precursor to vascular and other non-Alzheimer's dementias, according to the findings published online in JAMA Neurology.

Mild cognitive impairment is an important stage for early detection and intervention in dementia, says lead author, Rosebud Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., a health sciences researcher at Mayo Clinic.

"Prevention and management of cardiac disease and vascular risk factors are likely to reduce the risk," Roberts says.

Researchers evaluated 2,719 people ages 70 to 89 at the beginning of the study and every 15 months after. Of the 1,450 without mild cognitive impairment at the beginning, 669 had heart disease and 59 (8.8 percent) developed nonamenestic mild cognitive impairment; in comparison 34 (4.4 percent) of 781 who did not have heart disease developed nonamenestic mild cognitive impairment.

The association varied by sex; cardiac disease and mild cognitive impairment appeared together more often among women than in men.

This research was funded by National Institutes of Health grant AG006786 and the Robert H. and Clarice Smith and Abigail van Buren Alzheimer's Disease Research Program and was made possible by the NIH-funded Rochester Epidemiology Project.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Mayo Clinic.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Rosebud O. Roberts et al. Cardiac Disease Associated With Increased Risk of Nonamnestic Cognitive ImpairmentStronger Effect on Women. JAMA Neurology, 2013 DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.607

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/FCKubVokYPs/130128163334.htm

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Branco Cartoon ? Right to Bear Arms - Legal Insurrection

Posted by A.F. Branco ?? Tuesday, January 29, 2013 at 7:04pm

Note: You may reprint this cartoon provided you?link back to this source. To see more Legal Insurrection Branco cartoons,?click here. ?Branco?s ?page is?Cartoonist A.F.Branco

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Source: http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/01/branco-cartoon-right-to-bear-arms/

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Playground Series-Lower Body Workout | Leisure Fitness Equipment

Article by mixxco.com, Recommended by Jessica Loeser, Wellness Outreach Team

The great thing about playgrounds is that they make for excellent workout environments. The bars, benches, platforms and swings are perfect for exercising while you keep an eye on the kids. It?s also a natural way to expose children to the concept of regular exercise and functional fitness. By modeling healthy behavior you can positively influence their impressionable young minds. This can go a long way toward helping them to develop a positive attitude about exercise.

When you?re working out in a playground, it?s important to be aware of some of the basic principles of training, like making sure the environment is safe before you start exercising. This includes being aware of where your kids and other playground users are playing. The last thing you want is a 6 year old on a rope swing crashing into you while you?re doing a set of squats!

I?m going to break this training series into three columns, each with three exercises. The first part of the series will address lower body exercises, then upper body, then core conditioning. Although I?ve decided to include more traditional exercises, it?s still incredibly important to pay attention to the body posture and technique concepts that I?ve outlined earlier, including proper core activation and stabilization, proximal to distal movement and neutral spine and pelvis.

Always remember to perform a progressive warm-up before training, and get medical approval before beginning any new fitness program.

Start by resting your back against a wall or pole that is smooth and strong, with your feet planted firmly about 18-24? away from the base. Bend your knees and lower your weight, letting your hips slide down the pole, until your knees are bent to approximately 90??. Keep your heels on the ground and your knees aligned over your toes as you do this. The depth of your squat will vary depending upon your leg strength and the health of your knee joints. I know that the people who read my columns range widely in their level of fitness. Obviously I can?t target everyone with every column, but I try to include information that can benefit as many people as possible. For exercises as simple as supported squats, it?s easy to reduce the difficulty by bending your legs less, or holding the position for a shorter time. You can also increase the difficulty by holding the position longer or lifting one foot off the ground. The goal is to perform 3-4 holds to the point of fatigue.

From a static exercise like the supported squat, it?s time to get more dynamic, with the bench step-up. Choose a stable bench or other support that is slightly lower than knee height. Start by placing your left foot firmly on the surface, and your right hand and arm in front of your body as if you were running. Keeping your core engaged, drive upward using your left hip muscles, lifting your right knee up toward your chest as you reach full extension with your left leg. Your arms should switch during the movement, so that your left hand is in front of your body as your right knee reaches the top of its motion. Pause momentarily for control, then bring your right foot back down to it?s starting point, being careful to lower it slowly and touch it lightly on the ground rather than pounding down. Repeat for 12-15 repetitions on each side, performing 2-3 sets in total.

Who doesn?t love lunges, right? OK, maybe not, but they?re so good for you that I had to include them. For this version, find a stable surface that is slightly less than the height of your knee, and stand with your back toward it. Bend your right knee and place your right foot back on the surface. Make sure your left foot is flat on the ground, and far enough from the bench that you can bend both knees to about 90?? without letting your left heel lift up as you lower your body. Try to keep your core engaged to maintain a neutral pelvis and spine as you perform 2-3 sets of 12-15 repetitions on each leg. You can place your hands on your hips or cycle them as we did during the bench step-ups.

Source: http://blog.leisurefitness.com/2013/01/playground-series-lower-body-workout/

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How to Finance Your Car Purchase

Saving up money for a car purchase is not an easy task, especially in this financial climate when it is really hard to save money up front for anything. That doesn?t mean that you don?t have any options when you want to buy yourself a car. It just means that these financial options you turn to come with strings attached and that it?s best for you to do some research in car financing, before you dive headfirst into the whole bloody mess that is balancing to meet your financial obligations from month to month.

Some of the most common ways available for financing a car that are available worldwide are: car loans, car leasing, chattel mortgage, personal loans and credit card loans. Each of these methods has it?s pro?s and con?s and here?s a brief overview of each, as well as a short explanation of how they are different from one another. Hopefully this will be of help to you when you make plans for a car purchase.

If you?ve ever picked up any sort of regular loans, you should be pretty familiar with how car loans work. You go to a bank, they examine your credit history and, together, you make a deal about how much money you can spend up front and for how long will you be paying that money back. The time frame for loans can be anything from 24 months to 86 months, and, during that time, you will be paying the money back in monthly installments with an agreed upon interest rate. If you miss too many payments, you will have to either renegotiate the deal with the bank or you will have your car seized and sold off so the bank can cover its losses.

Car leasing is not?a very common pick because people paying money usually like actually owning the product once the payment period is over. This is not the case with car leasing, as here you pay monthly installments for a certain amount of time and when the time period is over, bank (or lender you have made a deal with) takes away the car. Good side of this kind of car financing is that it?s much more affordable on short terms, if you need a car for a few weeks or months. The bad news is ? you don?t end up with a car.

This form of car financing resembles a typical car loan the most. It?s still a deal with you and the lender for a specific sum of money and you still get the sum up front, while you pay it back over time, but here you are the owner of the car right away, but the car has a mortgage set on it right away, used as a collateral against your loan. This is a secured type of loan with low interest rates, but the term of payment is much shorter than your regular loan (usually two to five years) so the monthly payment rates are a bit higher.

On the risky scale, this type of loan is inching its way into the red zone. This is NOT a secure loan which is why banks usually slap very high interest rates on you, and this type of loan can be pretty devastating to your credit card score, if you?re trying to maintain a high value of it. It can be made into a secure loan, if you pick up a mortgage against some valuable asset like your home, but that is risky, since missing on your payments can result in the bank evicting you from your home, selling it and paying you back the rest after it took the money you owed away. Of course, the banks don?t really go out of their way to reach the highest price possible, worrying only about being paid back for what you owe, anything over that would be irrelevant to them.

We?ve become a credit card society, so it?s no wonder that you can even buy a car with a credit card loan. Very high interest rates and a sum of money you need at once don?t make this an optimal form of car financing, but it?s still a way for you to buy a car, if your credit card limit is high enough, and you don?t really care about high interest rates on your credit card loan.

To conclude, as you can see, you have a lot of options. Be sure to thoroughly examine your options and go for the one that is most suitable to your wallet?s state. We all like our wallets to be chubby and we should do all that we can to keep them that way.

Author Bio:
Ivan Dimitrijevic writes about business and personal financing tips. Among other things he had articles published that consider a wide range of topics that include several car financing options and online business. Asides from writing as guest blogger, he also runs several personal blogs covering various topics he has done a lot of research on.

Source: http://www.howitoo.com/finance-business-legal/how-to-finance-car-purchase?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-finance-car-purchase

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Simple Living Update | Tiny Home Builders

We?ve made some progress on our latest design, which for now I?m calling ?Simple Living?.

The subfloor is complete and we?re now ready to stand up the walls. We?ve actually been at this point for some time while I work out which windows we are going to use. You don?t want to do any framing until you are certain of the brand, type and size of all your windows.

While most manufacturers can make you windows to any size, if you pick from their ?standard? sizes it is a lot cheaper. I put the word ?standard? in quotes since these sizes aren?t standard across manufacturers. They?re not even standard across different lines or types (wood, premium vinyl, standard vinyl, etc) within the same manufacturer. So if you want to control cost, you have to have the brand, line, and size of every one of your windows picked before you start your framing.

For this house, since I am trying to keep cost down, my original idea was to try to use exclusively off-the-shelf windows. These are the windows that you can just walk into a home improvement stores and buy, and are generally cheaper than special order windows. One of the problems with this idea is that the sizes that are available are pretty limited. They are the most popular sizes used in conventional houses and are thus usually a lot bigger than what is needed in a tiny house. You can forget about finding a loft window. To get around this we could have bought just some off-the-self windows and special ordered the others, if size was the only problem. The other problem is that we always order our windows with tempered glass since the houses will be driven down the road. Tempered glass, for those who don?t know, is glass that has been heat treated to make it stronger. It also breaks into much smaller pieces when it shatters making it much less likely to injure anyone if it breaks. It?s the only type of glass used in cars and RV?s. None of the off-the-shelf windows have tempered glass. So all of our windows will need to be special ordered.

In our tiny Living Design, the windows are the largest single cost of all the materials. So I knew if I was going to make a less expensive house, I was going to have to bring that cost down. There are two ways to do that; first, use fewer windows, and second, use less expensive windows.

To use less windows, I?ve eliminated the dormers. This is one of the most loved features of the Tiny Living design, but it adds a lot to the cost of the house, not only in the price of the windows but also in other materials and labor. I?ve also eliminated the two windows that flank the front door. While I really like the look of those, they don?t provide that much light since they are so narrow. By getting rid of these 6 windows, we drop the total cost of the windows (not counting the other saving from getting rid of the dormers that I will talk about later) by $1500. That?s almost 10% of the total materials cost of the Tiny Living house.

Next, we?re using less expensive windows. Instead of the aluminum clad wood windows used in the Tiny Living design, I am opting for vinyl windows. One of the biggest issues I have with vinyl windows is their color selection. They usually only come in white or almond and can?t be easily painted (don?t even try). I personally don?t like the white up against the stained wood siding that?s found on Tiny Living, but since I am using a different, less expensive siding that will be painted and not stained, that?s less of a concern. Vinyl windows end up being about 30% less than the aluminum clad windows.

With these two changes I expect to shave about $2000 off the materials cost. My hope is to get the total cost to build this house down to under $10,000. This is a good start.

Source: http://tinyhomebuilders.com/Blog/2013/01/28/simple-living-update/

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Spain's 'doping doctor' in court

28 January 2013 Last updated at 17:17 ET

A Spanish doctor has appeared in court accused of running one of the world's largest sports doping rings.

Dr Eufemiano Fuentes's trial in Madrid comes nearly seven years after police raided his offices and seized some 200 bags of blood which were linked to a number of top cyclists.

Dozens of cyclists have been called to testify as witnesses in the trial.

Dr Fuentes, his sister and three former cycling coaches are charged with breaking public health laws.

They could not be charged with doping-related crimes because Spain had no anti-doping law at the time of their arrest.

Prosecutors must prove that the defendants' actions put the lives of the athletes at risk - something the defence is expected to deny.

Monday saw only opening legal arguments. Dr Fuentes's testimony was postponed until Tuesday morning.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

The great international interest in this trial is linked to the claim by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that it was told, back in 2006, that the blood bags seized were from athletes from "several sports".

However that claim will not be the focus of this trial, which is expected to look only on cycling.

A suspicion - that some evidence seized during the raids has been held back - will therefore persist.

However, Spain's anti-doping agency says it has seen no evidence to back up that suspicion.

The BBC has spoken to a Spanish long-distance runner who claimed that he was encouraged to dope via Dr Fuentes's alleged network.

I asked Dr Fuentes's lawyer, Julian Perez, if the doctor had clients who were not cyclists. "I do not know", was his response.

The case comes days after former seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong admitted to using banned drugs and blood doping during his cycling career.

Code-names

Spanish police carried out a series of raids on offices, laboratories and flats in Madrid, Zaragoza and El Escorial in May 2006 as part of an investigation known as Operation Puerto.

They found about 200 bags of blood or frozen plasma with labels that were believed to be code-names for Dr Fuentes's clients - athletes who were allegedly benefiting from a highly-sophisticated doping programme.

Dozens of cyclists were allegedly implicated in the scandal, including former Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, who is expected to give evidence in the trial.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has said that it was told, at the time of the raids, that the bags of blood also related to athletes from several sports, including football and tennis.

But the trial will focus only on cyclists who, according to the chief prosecutor in the case, are the only athletes that could be identified from the bags of blood seized.

The trial is expected to last until mid-March.

If found guilty, the defendants could face up to two years in prison and a two-year professional ban.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21227052#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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UK: Specific threat to Westerners in Somaliland

LONDON (AP) ? British citizens should immediately leave the breakaway Somaliland region of Somalia because of a specific threat to Westerners, British diplomats said Sunday. It was the second such warning issued for an African region in just days and comes amid growing turbulence across the continent's north.

In a statement emailed to reporters, Britain's Foreign Office did not go into any further detail about the nature of the threat but noted that "kidnapping for financial or political gain, motivated by criminality or terrorism" is an issue throughout Somalia.

Somalia has endured years of civil war, and Britain ? along with the United States and a host of other countries ? has long advised against all travel to the Horn of Africa nation. Sunday's travel warning applies specifically to the northwest territory of Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 and has since been a haven of relative peace amid the chaos and bloodshed of the country's south.

The new warning was issued only days after Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada urged their citizens in the Libyan city of Benghazi to evacuate in response to what was then described as an imminent threat to Westerners. European officials told The Associated Press at the time that schools were thought to be among the potential targets.

The exact reason for the warnings remains unclear, but they come at a time of heightened tension across north Africa. French and African land forces are battling al-Qaida-linked Islamists in northern Mali, while a renewed bout of unrest has gripped Egypt following the two-year anniversary of the revolution that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.

In addition, a Jan. 16 attack on the Ain Amenas natural gas plant in the Sahara ignited a four-day siege by Algerian forces in which at least 37 hostages and 29 militants died. An al-Qaida-affiliated group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Libya also remains unstable following the overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

It was unclear if any of those factors played a role in Britain's latest warning. The Foreign Office declined to comment beyond its brief statement.

Somaliland, a former British colony, is a key ally for neighboring Ethiopia, which has an embassy in the enclave, and collaborates with the United States and its allies on anti-terrorism missions. Somaliland employs its own security forces, justice system, and currency but is not recognized as a separate country by the international community.

Somaliland was most recently hit by terror attacks in 2008, when suicide car bombers struck inside the enclave and its neighboring Puntland territory, killing more than 29 people.

___

Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.

___

Online:

British government travel advice on Somalia: http://bit.ly/cbSix4

Raphael Satter can be reached at: http://raphae.li/twitter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-27-Somalia%20Warning/id-278238134c83473b91c04002d26d06c0

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Haiti looks to tourism as way forward

Still struggling to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti's prime minister declared it 'open for business.' Rather than depending on international aid, Haiti hopes to attract tourism and investments.

By Angela Charlton,?Associated Press / January 26, 2013

Clothing for sale hangs from ropes at a market in the Dominican Republic where Haitians sell their goods. Haiti is trying to capitalize on tourism as part of its recovery from the 2010 earthquake.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor

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Haiti's prime minister says his country is hoping to attract high-end tourists and multinational investors ? instead of constant aid handouts ? so it can get on its feet after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

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Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said Saturday he recognizes that's an ambitious dream for a country where 52 percent of the people live below the poverty line and where infrastructure is desperately lacking.

Still, he pushed that concept ? and a bid to build up Haiti's tourism industry ? in meetings with CEOs this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"Haiti is open for business," Lamothe said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Haiti still has huge humanitarian needs and little more than half of the $5.3 billion in aid promised after the earthquake has been disbursed.

Lamothe, however, said "we are not going to depend on handouts indefinitely."

Yet humanitarian groups are unlikely to go away, for they have long provided basic services to Haitians because the government can barely do so.

Lamothe argued that his visit to Davos ? a pricey Alpine resort reserved for business and political leaders this week ? was a worthwhile venture that would bear fruit for his Caribbean country, such as an investment pledge from Heineken and new projects with Coca-Cola.

He said he wants people to think of Haiti not just as a place to set up a charity but as a place to set up a business, and argued that corporations "can do equal or better than any large country for small Haiti."

The prime minister called building up the tourism industry "a very high priority," noting that a five-star hotel was already under construction and that new tourist police would provide security for visitors in a country with a turbulent past.

Yet efforts to bring in foreign investors and tourists could prove a tough sell. Haiti is expected to hold legislative elections this year, and the run-up could be fraught with political agitation and protests.

The capital, Port-au-Prince, is also crowded, dirty and clogged with traffic.

Haiti is still clearing the last rubble from the 2010 quake, which killed about 316,000 people. Another 350,000 Haitians are still living in impromptu camps. The reconstruction effort has been slow due to political paralysis and the level of devastation.

Trenton Daniel in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/UcEtX24cHog/Haiti-looks-to-tourism-as-way-forward

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Middle East remains hotspot for global real estate investments ...

Strategic Marketing and Exhibitions the Organizers of the 9th edition of the International Property Show 2013, supported by the Dubai Land Department and Real Estate Regulatory Authority, say interest on Middle East property projects have remained strong, despite challenging issues in several markets.

"The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar markets are moving ahead with key planed projects, while sales and rentals for existing property have both gone up in value and prices in 2012," said Ghaleb Al Khawaga, project Manager, International Property Show.

Already, exhibitors and investors from Turkey, Malaysia, Cyprus, USA, Poland, Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, India and China have confirmed their attendance at IPS 2013, which will be held on April 30 - May 2, 2013 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The event is being held in conjunction with the Annual Investment Meeting 2013, providing attendees bigger networking opportunities with investors from all over the world.

At the IPS, visitors will be apprised of the current real estate market in the Middle East as well as in key frontier and emerging markets, with country presentations providing the hotspots for investments and experts presenting insightful data on risk assessments.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/middle-east-remains-hotspot-global-real-327150

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An Anthropocene opportunity

January 27, 2013 ? No Comments ? Place, Theory

This article by Clive Hamilton on the end of the social sciences has got me thinking about the placelessness of the pre-anthropocene. ?I find the reminder about the separation of humans from nature, and the backdrop of a (presumed) inert nature,?haunting.

Having an interest in spatial theory in education and the influence of place, or a place-conscious curriculum (and pedagogy) I am often battling to bring place and space back into educators thinking. ?It seems so natural to reference Dewey and his concern for a humanist education centred around nature and experience as a basic principle of education. However, the modernist experience of education has been a placeless ?curriculum? of powerful cultural knowledge to be remembered regardless of place. ?Indeed place has often been sidelined as about the past, antiquated and backward: a concern not for these times. ?Instead to get ahead students need to master a placeless curriculum that is about modernity, constant movement, with no time to dwell or consider what learning means for the person engaged in it or the community in which they live. ?Two examples; As we see in the work of people like Michael Corbett education has been about ?leaving, and learning to leave. Similarly the work of Thomas Popkewitz has shown how schooling is about cosmopolitanism, or to be as removed from nature as possible.

It seems on initial thinking that the notion of the anthropocene may be a powerful idea to help bring our curriculum (and pedagogy) back to a more place-conscious form of education. As the logic of Hamilton?s article suggests, we have destroyed the modernist project through our ambivalence to nature, now nature has responded to assert the interconnectedness of everything on this rock. ?It might just prompt the sort of educational reappraisal that has been so long overdue. It might just be the impetus for a return to curriculum.

The content of that curriculum? well we could probably start with the ideas, ?insights? and dispositions outlined by Wade Davis in the Wayfinders or by David Tacey in the Edge of the Sacred.

Source: http://placeandspace.edublogs.org/2013/01/27/an-anthropocene-opportunity/

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'2-D' electronic devices, may be possible: Fine patterns made with single-atom-thick graphene and boron nitride

Jan. 27, 2013 ? Rice University scientists have taken an important step toward the creation of two-dimensional electronics with a process to make patterns in atom-thick layers that combine a conductor and an insulator.

The materials at play -- graphene and hexagonal boron nitride -- have been merged into sheets and built into a variety of patterns at nanoscale dimensions.

Rice introduced a technique to stitch the identically structured materials together nearly three years ago. Since then, the idea has received a lot of attention from researchers interested in the prospect of building 2-D, atomic-layer circuits, said Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan. He is one of the authors of the new work that appears this week in Nature Nanotechnology. In particular, Ajayan noted that Cornell University scientists reported an advance late last year on the art of making atomic-layer heterostructures through sequential growth schemes.

This week's contribution by Rice offers manufacturers the possibility of shrinking electronic devices into even smaller packages. While Rice's technical capabilities limited features to a resolution of about 100 nanometers, the only real limits are those defined by modern lithographic techniques, according to the researchers. (A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.)

"It should be possible to make fully functional devices with circuits 30, even 20 nanometers wide, all in two dimensions," said Rice researcher Jun Lou, a co-author of the new paper. That would make circuits on about the same scale as in current semiconductor fabrication, he said.

Graphene has been touted as a wonder material since its discovery in the last decade. Even at one atom thick, the hexagonal array of carbon atoms has proven its potential as a fascinating electronic material. But to build a working device, conductors alone will not do. Graphene-based electronics require similar, compatible 2-D materials for other components, and researchers have found hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) works nicely as an insulator.

H-BN looks like graphene, with the same chicken-wire atomic array. The earlier work at Rice showed that merging graphene and h-BN via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) created sheets with pools of the two that afforded some control of the material's electronic properties. Ajayan said at the time that the creation offered "a great playground for materials scientists."

He has since concluded that the area of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene "has grown significantly and will play out as one of the key exciting materials in the near future."

His prediction bears fruit in the new work, in which finely detailed patterns of graphene are laced into gaps created in sheets of h-BN. Combs, bars, concentric rings and even microscopic Rice Owls were laid down through a lithographic process. The interface between elements, seen clearly in scanning transmission electron microscope images taken at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, shows a razor-sharp transition from graphene to h-BN along a subnanometer line.

"This is not a simple quilt," Lou said. "It's very precisely engineered. We can control the domain sizes and the domain shapes, both of which are necessary to make electronic devices."

The new technique also began with CVD. Lead author Zheng Liu, a Rice research scientist, and his colleagues first laid down a sheet of h-BN. Laser-cut photoresistant masks were placed over the h-BN, and exposed material was etched away with argon gas. (A focused ion beam system was later used to create even finer patterns, down to 100-nanometer resolution, without masks.) After the masks were washed away, graphene was grown via CVD in the open spaces, where it bonded edge-to-edge with the h-BN. The hybrid layer could then be picked up and placed on any substrate.

While there's much work ahead to characterize the atomic bonds where graphene and h-BN domains meet and to analyze potential defects along the boundaries, Liu's electrical measurements proved the components' qualities remain intact.

"One important thing Zheng showed is that even by doing all kinds of growth, then etching, then regrowth, the intrinsic properties of these two materials are not affected," Lou said. "Insulators stay insulators; they're not doped by the carbon. And the graphene still looks very good. That's important, because we want to be sure what we're growing is exactly what we want."

Liu said the next step is to place a third element, a semiconductor, into the 2-D fabric. "We're trying very hard to integrate this into the platform," he said. "If we can do that, we can build truly integrated in-plane devices." That would give new options to manufacturers toying with the idea of flexible electronics, he said.

"The contribution of this paper is to demonstrate the general process," Lou added. "It's robust, it's repeatable and it creates materials with very nice properties and with dimensions that are at the limit of what is possible."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. C. Drexler, S. A. Tarasenko, P. Olbrich, J. Karch, M. Hirmer, F. M?ller, M. Gmitra, J. Fabian, R. Yakimova, S. Lara-Avila, S. Kubatkin, M. Wang, R. Vajtai, P. M. Ajayan, J. Kono, S. D. Ganichev. Magnetic quantum ratchet effect in graphene. Nature Nanotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.231

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/matter_energy/physics/~3/Z5aTSo83LOQ/130127134208.htm

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Mystery of the fake Matisse masterpiece leads to jail time

Matisse's 'Odalisque in Red Pants' was switched for a fake at a Caracas museum, then recovered in an FBI sting at a Miami Beach hotel. Two conspirators were sentenced this week.

By Warren Richey,?Staff writer / January 23, 2013

The original painting by Henri Matisse titled, 'Odalisque in Red Pants' (l.), shown here next to a fake version that was on display in the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum of Caracas, Venezuela. A federal judge in Miami on Jan. 22 sentenced a Cuban and Mexican 33 and 21 months in prison, respectively, for trying to sell the painting.

Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum/AP/ File

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Nearly a decade after being lifted from a Venezuelan museum, a painting by French master Henri Matisse is heading home while the two individuals who tried to sell the $2 million art work on the black market are heading to prison.

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The missing painting, ?Odalisque in Red Pants,? has been at the center of a deepening mystery since December 2002 when officials at the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art discovered that someone had switched their genuine Matisse for a fake.

It is unclear precisely when the switch took place. And no one has ever been charged or arrested for the theft.

Rumors occasionally circulated in the art world that someone wanted to sell the painting, but potential buyers dismissed the reports, assuming the offered work was a fake.

Then, in the fall of 2011, a Miami man put word out that ?Odalisque in Red Pants? was for sale, according to court documents.

By December, Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman had begun serious negotiations with individuals he believed were unscrupulous art collectors anxious to purchase stolen masterpieces at black-market prices.

After assuring the potential customers that the painting had been assessed at over $3 million, he agreed to sell the work for $740,000.

As part of the deal, Mr. Marcuello would receive $555,000 in cash, with the rest of the money to be wired into a Mexico City bank account prior to transfer of the painting.

But first the buyers wanted to see the painting and verify its authenticity.

That?s where Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo entered the picture. In July, she rolled the Matisse up with another painting, inserted it into a red tube, and hand carried it onto a flight from Mexico City to Miami.

What neither Ms. Ornelas nor Marcuello knew was that the would-be art collectors were in fact undercover agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The final transaction was set to take place in a Miami Beach hotel. The ?art collectors' ? hotel room was equipped with both video and audio recording devices. The entire transaction was captured on tape.

According to court documents, during the meeting Ornelas told the ?art collectors? that she had researched the history of the stolen painting on the Internet after the painting arrived at her home in Mexico several years ago. She told the undercover agents that employees at the Caracas museum had switched a fake painting for the real Matisse.

She added that efforts to sell the masterpiece had been unsuccessful.

After verifying the authenticity of the painting, Marcuello and Ornelas were placed under arrest. Both eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport stolen property.

On Tuesday, a federal judge sentenced Marcuello to two years and nine months in federal custody. Co-conspirator Ornelas of Mexico City received a sentence of one year and nine months.

?Odalisque in Red Pants? is a portrayal of a partially nude harem slave girl painted by Matisse in 1925 in Nice. He is said to have used a French model and recreated the oriental scene in his apartment.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/nAVdwh4ycG4/Mystery-of-the-fake-Matisse-masterpiece-leads-to-jail-time

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Google's Transparency Report Serves as Subtle Call to Action

Governments around the world peppered Google with 21,389 information requests on about 33,634 users from July through December 2012. That represents a 2 percent year-over-year increase, according to Google's latest Transparency Report, released this week. The U.S. led the barrage, with 8,476 requests for information -- a 6 percent year-over-year increase.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/27e7153e/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C771530Bhtml/story01.htm

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For Freedom and Also Good Grades (talking-points-memo)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279595718?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Pope on social networking: the virtual is real

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI put Catholic Church leaders on notice Thursday, saying social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter aren't a virtual world they can ignore, but rather a very real world they must engage if they want to spread the faith to the next generation.

The 85-year-old Benedict, who tweets in nine languages, used his annual message on social communications to stress the potential of social media for the church as it struggles to keep followers and attract new ones amid religious apathy, competition from other churches and scandals that have driven the faithful away.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican's communications office, cited a 2012 study commissioned by U.S. bishops that found that 53 percent of Americans were unaware of any significant presence of the Catholic Church online.

Other studies, Celli said, made clear that the "millennial generation" of people born after 1982 use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube far more than their parents as primary sources of information, entertainment and sharing political views and community issues.

"The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young," Benedict said in his message. "Social networks are the result of human interaction, but for their part they also reshape the dynamics of communication which builds relationships: a considered understanding of this environment is therefore the prerequisite for a significant presence there."

Benedict himself still writes longhand but he is a superstar online, with 2.5 million Twitter followers, nearly 11,000 of them following his Latin tweets alone.

And under his pontificate, the Holy See has greatly increased its presence online, with YouTube channels, papal Apps and an online news portal www.news.va that gathers all Vatican information in one place.

Celli acknowledged that much of the pope's message this year repeated exhortations from previous years about the need for respectful dialogue online, for users to present themselves authentically and to listen, not just preach.

"At first look it could sound like reheated soup," Celli conceded. But he said that sometimes, messages need repeating. "I don't want to make any particular revelations here, but don't believe that everything that is said is absorbed at the ecclesial level."

Celli noted, for example, that at a recent Vatican meeting of the world's bishops on spreading the faith, the recommendations for the church's social communications strategy "could have been written 30 years ago."

"That means that he who is intervening doesn't have the perception of what is happening today, in the sphere of social networking," Celli said. "That's a problem for us."

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-01-24-EU--Vatican-Social%20Networks/id-8f4fe23278644458b94a3a3c9e51537e

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