corporate entertainment company: March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Sandy Hook shooting survivors left homeless by fire

Tyler Sizemore / The News-Times via AP

A house belonging to the Barth family in Newtown, Conn., is seen on March 28, the day after it was destroyed by fire.

A Newtown, Conn., home destroyed by a fire this week was owned by a couple whose children survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in December.

Wednesday afternoon's fire left Hans and Audra Barth and their three children homeless, according to Monsignor Robert Wise, of St. Rose of?Lima Church. The American Red Cross has put them up in a hotel and the church is collecting donations for the family.

Two of their children attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, including a first-grader in teacher Kaitlin Roig's classroom,?the?Danbury News-Times?reported. Roig has been called a hero for barricading her students in a bathroom as the shooter killed 20 other first-graders and six educators.

For more, visit NBCConnecticut.com

Friends say the family lost everything in the fire, and their pet dog and several baby chickens died.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

By NBCConnecticut.com

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Navy SEAL dies in training accident

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ? A Navy SEAL has died and another was injured when they collided in midair during parachute training in southern Arizona, authorities said.

The Department of Defense said an E-8 senior chief was taken to University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, where he was pronounced dead. The other SEAL ? a E-6 petty officer first class ? was in stable condition at the same hospital, military officials said Friday.

U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Kenneth McGraw said the SEALs were practicing "routine military free-fall training" when the accident occurred Thursday afternoon. Authorities said they collided in midair and landed in separate areas.

The command has a parachute testing and training facility at the Pinal Airpark in Marana, according to McGraw, who added that training programs are operated there year-round.

The area is in rugged desert terrain northeast of Tucson.

The names of the two SEALs, both from an East Coast Naval Special Warfare Unit, weren't immediately released and military officials said the accident was under investigation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1-navy-seal-dead-ariz-parachuting-accident-202709095.html

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Soccer-Barcelona lifted by return of Vilanova and Abidal

MADRID, March 29 (Reuters) - Eric Abidal was included in Barcelona's squad to play Celta Vigo in La Liga this weekend only a few days after coach Tito Vilanova returned following two months out receiving cancer treatment.

France international Abidal, 33, has not played since having a liver transplant last April, and was passed fit to return to training with his team mates last month.

His return is timely with fellow defenders Carles Puyol, Adriano Correia and Jordi Alba all out injured for Saturday's trip, and a Champions League quarter-final first leg away to Paris St Germain approaching next Tuesday.

"An example for everyone! Congratulations Abi!" Barca striker David Villa said on his Twitter feed.

Abidal last played for Barca in a 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid in February last year.

Vilanova will not travel to Vigo, but his assistant Jordi Roura said there was a strong possibility he could join the team in Paris.

Vilanova flew back to Barcelona on Tuesday after two months undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment in New York.

The 44-year-old had an operation to remove a tumour from his saliva glands in November 2011 and required a second round of surgery in December.

"The return of Tito means a lot. The boss is back and this is always very important," said Roura who has held the reins in Vilanova's absence.

"It's an important boost for the team," Roura told a news conference on Friday. "Between the doctors and him they have agreed it wouldn't be a good idea (to travel to Vigo).

"He has just finished receiving treatment and the seven to 10 days afterwards are very tough. We prefer to wait although he will come to training and depending on how he goes there is a good chance he could travel to Paris."

In Vigo, World Player of the Year Lionel Messi has the chance to extend his record sequence to 19 consecutive league games with a goal.

The only league team the Argentine has failed to hit the net against this season is Celta - Adriano, Alba and David Villa having grabbed the goals in the 3-1 home win on Nov. 3.

Messi has notched 29 goals in that run of 18 matches, 42 in total in La Liga this season with 10 matches left to play, eight goals short of matching last year's record-breaking campaign.

Barca are 13 points clear at the top of the table. (Reporting by Mark Elkington, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soccer-barcelona-lifted-return-vilanova-abidal-180553250--sow.html

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Stare In Awe At Wet Hedgehogs, Rats, and Dogs Shaking In Super Slow Motion

Slo-mo footage of wet dogs shaking themselves dry are a dime a dozen online. But wet dogs and wet hedgehogs and rats? Now that's something new, and we can thank BBC Earth Productions for this mesmerizing footage. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/gR-cnco_228/stare-in-awe-at-wet-hedgehogs-rats-and-dogs-shaking-in-super-slow-motion

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Companies Investing $20 Million at Agricenter - Memphis Daily News

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VOL. 128 | NO. 60 | Wednesday, March 27, 2013

By Bill Dries

Updated 4:28PM

Bayer CropScience and Helena Chemical Co. have committed to separate investments at Agricenter International totaling nearly $20 million.

Executives from the two companies will be at the East Memphis center Monday, April 1, with Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to break ground on the research laboratory and greenhouse facilities.

Bayer CropScience will build a $17 million greenhouse, including 40,000 square feet of greenhouse space plus open office space. All are of part of Bayer?s research and development of cottonseed and cotton.

Helena Chemical has had a presence at Agricenter for 20 years. Its latest addition will be a $2.2 million new research formulation laboratory as well as some improvements to existing facilities at Agricenter.

Source: http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2013/mar/27/companies-investing-20-million-at-agricenter/

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Pippa Middleton Baby Plans Stealing Kate Middleton's Baby Shower ...

Pippa Middleton Baby Plans Stealing Kate Middleton's Baby Shower Spotlight 0327

Could there be another addition to the Middleton household very soon? Sources report that ever since Pippa Middleton found her common love, Nico Jackson, she?s had babies on the brain and won?t stop talking about wanting to start a family with the uber rich stockbroker.

?Kate?s pregnancy has changed Pippa?s outlook. In the past she hasn?t really thought about having children, but now it?s playing on her mind,? a source told Now magazine.

The story goes on to suggest that Pippa?s new obsession might be causing some friction between the sisters because Kate Middleton?s afraid that Pippa might steal the show from her baby just like she stole the show at her wedding. Does Kate think things like that? She?s not a Kardashian for Christ?s sake. I?m sure there?s some solidarity in there somewhere.

Pippa is hosting Kate Middleton?s baby shower after all. Have you heard all about it yet? Apparently Kate?s bucking royal tradition yet again and opting for a shower. Is that not a casual thing in the UK? It?s a major annoying deal here full of cringingly lame games that I can?t stand. The food is the only thing ever worth going for. I love cake. Kate is hoping the Queen will stop by because the two are close and this will be a first for the royal family. Can you imagine the Queen playing that game where you have to sniff the diaper full of melted chocolate ?to be the first to guess which chocolate bar it is? Amazing! Hopefully Pippa has that game on the list!

So what do you think? Is a Pippa Middleton baby imminent? She and Nico have already looked at rings?.

Photo Credit: FameFlynetUK/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES

If You Want More Hot Celeb Dirty Laundry News Then Please?Like Us On Facebook?and?Follow Us On Twitter!

Source: http://www.celebdirtylaundry.com/2013/pippa-middleton-baby-plans-stealing-kate-middletons-baby-shower-0327/

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UN envoy condemns 'Malala-style' attack on Pakistani teacher

By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News

A female Pakistani teacher and mother of three was shot dead by two motorcyclists near the school where she taught in Peshawar, Pakistan.

UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown has condemned the shooting as a "Malala-style" incident. Malala Yousafzai, 15, is a young advocate for women's education who was shot in the face at point-blank range by Taliban gunmen on Oct. 9 in Pakistan?s Swat Valley.

Shahnaz Bibi was a headmistress and a teacher at a primary school. She was on her way to work, traveling with her young son, when the attack took place. Her son, Daniel, 12, was unhurt.

"I want justice," he told ITV?s Penny Marshall. "My mother suffered an injustice, and I want the world to know that."

His father must now care for Daniel and his two sisters alone.

Yousafzai was one of the first to sign a petition asking the Pakistani government to protect women and girls pursuing an education.

"I think the petition that?s now being started and led by Malala herself is demanding that the Pakistani government not only get girls to school but protect teachers and girls when they go to school from extremist sects that are trying to deny girls in the 21^st century the right to education," Brown, the former British prime minister, said.

Several female aid workers and teachers have died in similar attacks in Pakistan.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a1217a9/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174913310Eun0Eenvoy0Econdemns0Emalala0Estyle0Eattack0Eon0Epakistani0Eteacher0Dlite/story01.htm

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STRANGE AMUSEMENTS: Video Game Review ? Ni No Kuni for ...

Although I usually don?t cover video games here on Strange Amusements, I was recently held captive for over 50 hours by a role playing game that bears mentioning. In an era when video games have found themselves on the radar in Washington, DC due to their sometimes violent nature, one cannot draw enough attention to a game like Ni No Kuni. If politically there is a movement to denigrate the gaming industry and its consumers because of the taste for violence in games, there should also be a strong push to promote a game like Ni No Kuni, a game where your hero quite literally goes on a quest to mend broken hearts and save the world from a consuming nightmare of darkness.

Ni No Kuni tells the story of Oliver, a pure-hearted boy, and his quest to save a parallel world after the death of his mother. Starting from a moment of pure sadness at his loss, he embarks into a fantasy world where each person from his world has a soul mate, or a soul's double. That world has fallen under the shadow of Shadar, a dark figure bent on destruction and a man himself merely a player in a greater plot of despair. Along with his sidekick and guide, Mr. Drippy, a brought-to-life stuffed animal given to Oliver when he was a boy, Oliver sets out against incredible odds to become a wizard and a world's savior.

The story that you follow along with as you play is nothing short of charming, but that alone is not enough to make a great game. The gameplay itself is fantastic, though, featuring a variation of a classic JRPG turn-based mechanic with some more real-time action. Each member of your party relies on familiars that you capture throughout the game and develop into fighting surrogates, and the variety here is diverse. There is always plenty to do, featuring a pile of side quests that give you tons of opportunity to power up your party without ever feeling like you?re grinding and fighting just for the sake of it. These side quests often feature chances to mend broken hearts and right wrongs, but there are also some fun bounty hunts to do as well as some item hunts that assist you in another layer of the gameplay?alchemy.

The flow of the game is well paced, especially after the first few hours that set the story up, and the graphics are perfect, feeling almost as if you are a participant in a classic anime film, especially one made by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) which sort of makes sense since Studio Ghibli is behind this game.

Without a doubt, Ni No Kuni is one of the best role playing games to come along in years. The story is epic and heartfelt, and it also, in a weird way, addresses much of the reasons that good people do horrible things, wrestling with a philosophical question hardly being addressed when politicians point fingers at the gaming industry instead of the social forces that lead to societal ills. If you are even a casual player of role playing games, this is one that shouldn't be missed as it has solid and engaging gameplay and a story that you can enjoy as much as a kid could and, at its core, there is a great message and purpose for the tale it tells.

Source: http://www.strangeamusements.com/2013/03/video-game-review-ni-no-kuni-for-ps3.html

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Cellphone buyback ATMs tempt ? but also thwart ? thieves

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 1 hr.

Cellphone buyback ATMs that dispense cash for phones and other electronics sound like a petty thief's dream. And indeed, a recent article in the Washington Post called attention to the machines serving as a speedy, low-risk fence for stolen property. But EcoATM, which operates a network of 340 machines in 20 states, is trying to make things hard, if not impossible, for criminals.

"We totally recognize that people steal cellphones," the company's director of marketing, Ryan Kuder, told NBC News. "We've got a policy to return any phone we find that has been reported lost or stolen at no charge ... so we've got a serious disincentive to accept stolen phones."

To that end, EcoATMs actually perform quite a battery of authentications on the seller and phone itself:

Several high-resolution pictures are taken of the person selling the phone.
They must present a valid ID showing them to be over 18.
This ID is checked against internal and police blacklists.
A thumbprint is taken.
The serial number of the phone is recorded and cross checked with available stolen phone databases.
Finally, the purchase must be manually approved by an EcoATM representative, who can access all this data.

Yet this still might not be enough ? a thief might use an accomplice with a clean record to sell the devices, or go to a kiosk in another city, where the phone won't appear on local stolen-phone databases. But Kuder points out that these are the same risk that other pawn shops and trade-in-friendly store face.

Like those establishments, EcoATM works with police. But while there is some collaboration, it's necessarily limited owing to the lack of a single nationwide or worldwide lost and stolen phone registry. Carriers, likewise, have no central listing of phone serial numbers that are still under contract, reported lost, and so on. EcoATM shares this info "fully and transparently" with police, but that's not as easy or universal to do as it could be.

In the meantime, the company's buyback machines, though susceptible to clever criminals, at least provide a nice paper trail ? unlike, for example, Craigslist, the popular classifieds site that is largely anonymous and frequently used as a cash-only clearing-house for stolen items.

With hundreds of thousands of devices bought back by the kiosks, and then recycled or resold, the automated ecosystem is new and growing. Still, it may never be 100 percent crime-proof.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a05f5da/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cgadgetbox0Ccellphone0Ebuyback0Eatms0Etempt0Ealso0Ethwart0Ethieves0E1C90A85219/story01.htm

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Supreme Court Weighs Gay Marriage (WSJ)

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Discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from CO2 in the atmosphere

Mar. 26, 2013 ? Excess carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint.

Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to transform the carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products. Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping the sun's rays and raising global temperatures.

"Basically, what we have done is create a microorganism that does with carbon dioxide exactly what plants do-absorb it and generate something useful," said Michael Adams, member of UGA's Bioenergy Systems Research Institute, Georgia Power professor of biotechnology and Distinguished Research Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

During the process of photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to transform water and carbon dioxide into sugars that the plants use for energy, much like humans burn calories from food.

These sugars can be fermented into fuels like ethanol, but it has proven extraordinarily difficult to efficiently extract the sugars, which are locked away inside the plant's complex cell walls.

"What this discovery means is that we can remove plants as the middleman," said Adams, who is co-author of the study detailing their results published March 25 in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We can take carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and turn it into useful products like fuels and chemicals without having to go through the inefficient process of growing plants and extracting sugars from biomass."

The process is made possible by a unique microorganism called Pyrococcus furiosus, or "rushing fireball," which thrives by feeding on carbohydrates in the super-heated ocean waters near geothermal vents. By manipulating the organism's genetic material, Adams and his colleagues created a kind of P. furiosus that is capable of feeding at much lower temperatures on carbon dioxide.

The research team then used hydrogen gas to create a chemical reaction in the microorganism that incorporates carbon dioxide into 3-hydroxypropionic acid, a common industrial chemical used to make acrylics and many other products.

With other genetic manipulations of this new strain of P. furiosus, Adams and his colleagues could create a version that generates a host of other useful industrial products, including fuel, from carbon dioxide.

When the fuel created through the P. furiosus process is burned, it releases the same amount of carbon dioxide used to create it, effectively making it carbon neutral, and a much cleaner alternative to gasoline, coal and oil.

"This is an important first step that has great promise as an efficient and cost-effective method of producing fuels," Adams said. "In the future we will refine the process and begin testing it on larger scales."

The research was supported by the Department of Energy as part of the Electrofuels Program of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy under Grant DE-AR0000081.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Georgia. The original article was written by James Hataway.

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

Journal Reference:

Matthew W. Keller, Gerrit J. Schut, Gina L. Lipscomb, Angeli L. Menon, Ifeyinwa J. Iwuchukwu, Therese T. Leuko, Michael P. Thorgersen, William J. Nixon, Aaron S. Hawkins, Robert M. Kelly, and Michael W. W. Adams. Exploiting microbial hyperthermophilicity to produce an industrial chemical, using hydrogen and carbon dioxide. PNAS, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1222607110

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/Q5Tm_1ZgQ84/130326112301.htm

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Answer to mystery of Pluto's moons could depend on 2015 flyby

Pluto and its moon Charon act like a double-planet system with wreath of other, smaller moons. NASA's New Horizons mission could help explain how those moons got there.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / March 25, 2013

This photo by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the five moons in their orbits around Pluto.

Hubble Space Telescope/NASA/AP

Enlarge

New research by two astronomers has the potential to make the current NASA mission to Pluto and beyond more than just a first close-up glimpse of the distant, demoted planet. It could help scientists understand how planets form around other stars.

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The reason: While Pluto's companion, Charon, is widely considered a moon, its orbital relationship to Pluto is identical to that of stars in a binary-star system. Indeed, some astronomers hold that Charon is not a moon, but part of a binary dwarf-planet system, with Pluto as the senior partner.

With at least four other small moons orbiting beyond Charon, the Pluto system could be a unique laboratory for scientists.

"Not only could we try to understand the outer part of the solar system, we could actually have an idea of how planets form around binary stars and actually test it real life," says Scott Kenyon, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., who performed the analysis along with University of Utah's Benjamin Bromley.

Charon is thought to have formed from a collision between Pluto and another object, Dr. Kenyon explains. To try to determine how the smaller outer moons might have formed thereafter, the researchers used computer simulations. Did the outer moons form from the debris of the collision? Or did they take shape long afterward from the primordial disk of dust, rock, and ice that Pluto-Charon captured from its general neighborhood?

The simulations suggest that both scenarios are possible, but that each would yield moons with different compositions. NASA's New Horizons mission could help prove if either scenario is right. New Horizons is now half way to Pluto and is expected to reach the dwarf planet in 2015.

The results of the calculations by Kenyon and Dr. Bromley have been submitted for publication and have been posted on an astrophysics website in hopes that the New Horizons science team can work in observations that would test these competing ideas into the mission's science plan during the Pluto flyby.

Over the years, the known size of the Pluto system has expanded. Pluto itself was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. It took another 48 years to pick out Charon. In 2005, astronomers discovered Nix and Hydra. And between July 2011 and July 2012, researchers detected another two moons ? P4 and P5. (A recent nonbinding poll to name the two moons suggested Vulcan and Cerberus.)

Assuming a giant impact formed Charon, the raw material for the other moons could have come from debris that formed a disk outside Charon's orbit.

For moons to form in this way, there would have needed to be enough debris, and it would have needed to be orbiting Pluto and Charon at a distance relatively undisturbed by their gravity ? so clumping could occur. "If you can't get material out past the orbit of P5 [the closest known moon to Pluto and Charon], then you're doomed," Kenyon says, because gravity from Pluto-Charon would sweep the material into those two objects.

But simulations of the impact scenario suggested that material did pass the orbit of P5 and that this scenario was the most efficient means of producing moons, Kenyon says. The collision yields more than enough debris to make moons with the masses astronomers think the system's moons have. Moreover, in the simulations, the innermost moon tends to settle into an orbit at a distance comparable to P5.?

But the approach that focuses on the primordial disk of dust and ice can also form moons, simulations found. At some point after the giant collision, the Pluto-Charon system could have drawn in a ring of dust and ice from material in the vicinity ? material that was part of the solar system's original inventory of dust, gas, and ice.

"You just gradually accumulate stuff over millions and millions of years, and that coagulates into the satellites," Kenyon says.

But simulations found that the masses of the moons formed in this scenario are at the lowest end of the range of mass estimates astronomers have calculated for the moons in the Pluto-Charon system. And those less-massive moons would appear in orbits much farther from Pluto-Charon than the existing moons.

Either way, if both scenarios start out with the same amount of mass in the debris disks, the same number of satellites will form, but their composition will be different.

If the satellites are formed from the collision debris, their composition will look much like Charon's. Charon is less dense than Pluto, consisting of a roughly 50-50 mix of ice (mostly water ice) and rock with a very icy surface. This allows it to reflect a relatively larger amount of sunlight from its surface than would a more mixed surface composition.

If the satellites formed via gradual accretion of primordial ice and rock well after a giant impact, Kenyon adds, the satellites would be darker and with a higher proportion of rock to ice.

In that way, they would look more like typical objects in the Kuiper Belt ? the broad expanse of rocky and icy objects left over from solar system's construction phase some 4.6 billion years ago. The belt's inner edge is about 2.8 billion miles from the sun, just beyond Neptune's orbit. The outer edge is thought to lie about 4.7 billion miles from the sun.

Pluto, which orbits the sun at an average distance of 3.7 billion miles, is the second largest known dwarf planet. The solar system's largest, most massive dwarf planet is Eris, which orbits the sun at an average distance of 6.3 billion miles.

Based on the simulations, New Horizons could find perhaps five to 10 more moons in the Pluto-Charon system, Kenyon says. They would be small, perhaps ranging from 1,000 feet to a mile or two across, and outside the orbit of Hydra. And there would be enough material for a tenuous disk of particles whose size are measured in inches.

New Horizons can begin its observations of the Pluto-Charon system about 70 days before its closest encounter and for some days after.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/FmuskSbrWAI/Answer-to-mystery-of-Pluto-s-moons-could-depend-on-2015-flyby

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Video: Time For Boots on Ground In Syria?

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51326147/

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British teenage whiz strikes deal with Yahoo

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

LONDON (AP) ? One of Britain's youngest Internet entrepreneurs has hit the jackpot after selling his top-selling mobile application Summly to search giant Yahoo.

Seventeen-year-old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content-shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal's value at several million dollars.

"I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly," he wrote on his website, before thanking his family, his school ? and his venture capitalist backer Li Ka-Shing ? for supporting him.

Summly works by condensing content so readers can scroll through more information more quickly ? useful for the small screens of smartphones.

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

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

D'Aloisio will work for Yahoo in its London office ? in part so that he can complete his high school exams. Two other Summly workers will join Yahoo at its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters.

D'Aloisio is younger than Yahoo, which was incorporated in March 1995.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-26-US-Yahoo-Acquisition/id-67c3d466d49c4a5cb34ea097106942f0

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Exxon fined $1.7 million over Yellowstone River oil spill

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxon-fined-1-7-million-over-yellowstone-river-061237723--finance.html

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Rock Band Splits: My Chemical Romance Says Goodbye

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Good Reads: US-China relations, 'Lean In,' ballet's whodunit, Ireland's Downton

This week's round-up of Good Reads includes a look at the complex Chinese-US relationship, a response to Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In,' an acid attack linked to the Bolshoi Ballet, and a memoir about an ancestral home in Ireland.

By Gregory M. Lamb,?Staff writer / March 21, 2013

Bolshoi dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko is accused of plotting an acid attack.

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/File

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The United States has two clear choices in dealing with China: Engage or isolate the world?s most populous nation. ?You cannot have it both ways,? argues Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore for more than three decades, who led his tiny Asian nation to Western-style prosperity despite being in the shadow of its giant communist neighbor. ?You cannot say you will engage China on some issues and isolate her over others. You cannot mix your signals.?

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Senior editor

Gregory M. Lamb is a senior editor and writer.

Get back to feminism?s roots

Women have risen to prominence in business and academia, but don?t look for private enterprise to finish the job of ensuring equal rights between the sexes.
In a new book called ?Lean In,? Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg says women are responsible for their own lack of progress in the workplace, notes Judith Shulevitz, writing in the New Republic. But the recent directive from Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer that bans telecommuting shows that women executives hold business success above feminist goals. ?Yahoo employees now understand that, when unregulated market forces go head-to-head with policies that facilitate gender equality, the policies stand down,? Ms. Shulevitz writes. ?It doesn?t matter who runs the company.... Competent female executives run better companies than incompetent male executives, but they?re no more likely to make universal day care the law of the land.?

Where lies progress in gender equality, which seemed to halt three decades ago with the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment? It?s time to get back to changing laws, she says. ?What we are not talking about in nearly enough detail, or agitating for with enough passion, are the government policies, such as mandatory paid maternity leave, that would truly equalize opportunity. We are still thinking individually, not collectively.?

The Bolshoi?s dark side

The bizarre acid-tossing attack on Sergei Yurevich Filin, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, would seem to have come only from the fetid mind of a writer for a fictitious ?CSI: Moscow.? Mr. Filin was severely injured when an assailant confronted him at the door of his Moscow apartment building late one evening and splashed sulfuric acid in his face.

Who did it? As David Remnick unravels the tale in The New Yorker, the suspect list grows and grows into a confusion worthy of Agatha Christie. Did an angry ballerina or danseur or, more likely, one of their wealthy oligarch patrons, order it? Or maybe a bitter rival eager to replace him?

Mr. Remnick takes his time to reveal the not altogether conclusive answer, first weaving his way through the history of the celebrated ballet company from its charter in 1776 under Catherine the Great. (Stalin loved the Bolshoi, but President Vladimir Putin is indifferent.)

Perhaps no result would satisfy a jaundiced Russian public. ?Russians, in the contemporary version of their fatalism, see their country as a landscape of endless bespredel, lawlessness, a world devoid of order or justice or restraint...,? he says. ?After witnessing so many phony trials ? most recently of [the feminist rock band] Pussy Riot ? the Russian public has developed a general distrust of the country?s legal system.?

Saving the Irish manor

?Downton Abbey? has nothing on the autobiographical tale of Selina Guinness and her sometime desperate efforts to hang on to her ancestral home in Ireland.

?Houses for the middle classes are just places to live in, but for the gentry they are evolving organisms, repositories of cherished memories, full of treasured knick-knacks and wrinkled old retainers, as much living subjects as physical sites,? writes Terry Eagleton in the Dublin Review of Books. ?Individuals come and go, but the grange or manor house lives on, more like a transnational corporation than a bungalow.?

He continues: ?Like a slightly dotty but much-loved relative, the house has its own quirky ways, its distinctive aura and personality. One almost expects to encounter it settled on one of its own sofas, granny glasses perched on its nose, knitting and crooning.... Such houses are more sacred texts than bricks and mortar.?

The home Ms. Guinness is trying to keep in the family is known as ?The Crocodile? for the stuffed animal that greets visitors at the front door. Like Lady Mary Crawley in ?Downton Abbey,? she confronts the problem of how to save her beloved estate without ruining its essence and character. All she can do is muddle on and hope for the best.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/jQyyFyAlzCQ/Good-Reads-US-China-relations-Lean-In-ballet-s-whodunit-Ireland-s-Downton

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Nike's Tiger Woods ad draws critics

Nike is causing a social media storm with its latest online ad, seen here, showing a picture of Tiger Woods overlaid with a quote from him, ?Winning takes care of everything.? Woods has used the phrase with reporters since at least 2009 when they ask him about rankings. The ad, posted on Facebook and Twitter, is supposed to allude to the fact that the golfer recovered from career stumbles to regain his world No. 1 ranking on Monday, which he lost in October 2010. But some say it's inappropriate in light of Woods' past marital woes. (AP Photo/Nike)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Maybe winning doesn't take care of everything.

Nike is causing a social media storm with its latest online ad showing a picture of Tiger Woods overlaid with a quote from him, "Winning takes care of everything."

The ad, posted on Facebook and Twitter, is supposed to allude to the fact that the golfer recovered from career stumbles to regain his world No. 1 ranking on Monday, which he lost in October 2010. But some say it's inappropriate in light of Woods' past marital woes. It's the latest controversy from the athletic giant who has recently had to cut ties with biker Lance Armstrong and runner Oscar Pistorius due to separate scandals.

Woods has long used the phrase ? at least since 2009 ? whenever reporters ask him about his or other golfers' rankings.

The ad has garnered more than 8,000 likes and 2,000 shares on Facebook, as well as hundreds of comments, many congratulating Woods on the ranking, but others commenting that the ad sends the wrong message out in light of Woods' past problems. His 5-year marriage to Elin Nordegren collapsed in 2010 after multiple affairs came to light.

Others responded on Twitter. Annie Kessler, 25, in Columbus, Ohio, tweeted that the ad was a "poor choice" for Nike. She said in an interview that she felt compelled to tweet because even though she understands why Nike would want to promote Woods, the phrase itself is inappropriate because of Woods' past infidelity.

Nike spokeswoman Beth Gast said that the ad references Wood's refrain that he competes to win.

"When asked about his goals such as getting back to number one, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there," she said in an email response to a query. "The statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic performance."

Allen Adamson, managing director of branding firm Landor Associates in New York, said the ad signals that Nike believes it is time Woods ? who in addition to his new No. 1 ranking is now in a much-touted relationship with Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn ? is back in the spotlight.

"They're looking at this and saying, 'Time has passed, he's winning again, it's time to turn up the volume on our association,' " he said. "But it's risky when you associate with a celebrity only based on winning or losing. Consumers care about how you play the game: both the actual game and the game of life."

Marketing consultant Laura Ries was more positive on the move.

"The reality is what he said is true," Ries said. "Whether or not they should have said it in an ad is another story."

The ad comes after Nike has had to sever ties with two other high-profile athletes. It dropped Armstrong in October, before Armstrong himself came clean in January, citing insurmountable evidence that he participated in doping and misled the company about those activities for more than a decade. And in February it suspended its contract with Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee runner from South Africa charged with premeditated murder in the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend.

Nike never cut ties with Woods when his scandal broke in 2010, and even tried to help resuscitate his image with a black-and-white ad four months later featuring a voice-over by his late father.

___

Online:

http://on.fb.me/X91rwF

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-26-US-Nike-Tiger-Woods-Ad/id-d4b38fdbd9404bb5b718a938912b4f80

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Molecular roots of Down syndrome unraveled

Mar. 24, 2013 ? Researchers have discovered that the extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome impairs learning and memory because it leads to low levels of SNX27 protein in the brain.

What is it about the extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome -- chromosome 21 -- that alters brain and body development? Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have new evidence that points to a protein called sorting nexin 27, or SNX27. SNX27 production is inhibited by a molecule encoded on chromosome 21. The study, published March 24 in Nature Medicine, shows that SNX27 is reduced in human Down syndrome brains. The extra copy of chromosome 21 means a person with Down syndrome produces less SNX27 protein, which in turn disrupts brain function. What's more, the researchers showed that restoring SNX27 in Down syndrome mice improves cognitive function and behavior.

"In the brain, SNX27 keeps certain receptors on the cell surface -- receptors that are necessary for neurons to fire properly," said Huaxi Xu, Ph.D., professor in Sanford-Burnham's Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging and Stem Cell Research Center and senior author of the study. "So, in Down syndrome, we believe lack of SNX27 is at least partly to blame for developmental and cognitive defects."

SNX27's role in brain function

Xu and colleagues started out working with mice that lack one copy of the snx27 gene. They noticed that the mice were mostly normal, but showed some significant defects in learning and memory. So the team dug deeper to determine why SNX27 would have that effect. They found that SNX27 helps keep glutamate receptors on the cell surface in neurons. Neurons need glutamate receptors in order to function correctly. With less SNX27, these mice had fewer active glutamate receptors and thus impaired learning and memory.

SNX27 levels are low in Down syndrome

Then the team got thinking about Down syndrome. The SNX27-deficient mice shared some characteristics with Down syndrome, so they took a look at human brains with the condition. This confirmed the clinical significance of their laboratory findings -- humans with Down syndrome have significantly lower levels of SNX27.

Next, Xu and colleagues wondered how Down syndrome and low SNX27 are connected -- could the extra chromosome 21 encode something that affects SNX27 levels? They suspected microRNAs, small pieces of genetic material that don't code for protein, but instead influence the production of other genes. It turns out that chromosome 21 encodes one particular microRNA called miR-155. In human Down syndrome brains, the increase in miR-155 levels correlates almost perfectly with the decrease in SNX27.

Xu and his team concluded that, due to the extra chromosome 21 copy, the brains of people with Down syndrome produce extra miR-155, which by indirect means decreases SNX27 levels, in turn decreasing surface glutamate receptors. Through this mechanism, learning, memory, and behavior are impaired.

Restoring SNX27 function rescues Down syndrome mice

If people with Down syndrome simply have too much miR-155 or not enough SNX27, could that be fixed? The team explored this possibility. They used a noninfectious virus as a delivery vehicle to introduce new human SNX27 in the brains of Down syndrome mice.

"Everything goes back to normal after SNX27 treatment. It's amazing -- first we see the glutamate receptors come back, then memory deficit is repaired in our Down syndrome mice," said Xin Wang, a graduate student in Xu's lab and first author of the study. "Gene therapy of this sort hasn't really panned out in humans, however. So we're now screening small molecules to look for some that might increase SNX27 production or function in the brain."

This research was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging grants R01AG038710, R01AG021173, R01AG030197, R01AG044420; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grants R01NS046673, P30NS076411; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development grant P01HD29587; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant P01ES016738), Alzheimer's Association, American Health Assistance Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 973 Prophase Project, Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar of Fujian Province, Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Universities, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation.

The study was co-authored by Xin Wang, Sanford-Burnham; Yingjun Zhao, Sanford-Burnham and Xiamen University; Xiaofei Zhang, Sanford-Burnham; Hedieh Badie, Sanford-Burnham; Ying Zhou, Sanford-Burnham; Yangling Mu, Salk Institute; Li Shen Loo, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore; Lei Cai, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore; Robert C. Thompson, Sanford-Burnham; Bo Yang, Sanford-Burnham; Yaomin Chen, Sanford-Burnham; Peter F. Johnson, National Cancer Institute-Frederick; Chengbiao Wu, University of California, San Diego; Guojun Bu, Xiamen University; William C. Mobley, University of California, San Diego; Dongxian Zhang, Sanford-Burnham; Fred H. Gage, Salk Institute; Barbara Ranscht, Sanford-Burnham; Yun-wu Zhang, Sanford-Burnham and Xiamen University; Stuart A. Lipton, Sanford-Burnham and University of California, San Diego; Wanjin Hong, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore and Xiamen University; and Huaxi Xu, Sanford-Burnham and Xiamen University.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

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

Journal Reference:

Xin Wang, Yingjun Zhao, Xiaofei Zhang, Hedieh Badie, Ying Zhou, Yangling Mu, Li Shen Loo, Lei Cai, Robert C Thompson, Bo Yang, Yaomin Chen, Peter F Johnson, Chengbiao Wu, Guojun Bu, William C Mobley, Dongxian Zhang, Fred H Gage, Barbara Ranscht, Yun-wu Zhang, Stuart A Lipton, Wanjin Hong, Huaxi Xu. Loss of sorting nexin 27 contributes to excitatory synaptic dysfunction by modulating glutamate receptor recycling in Down's syndrome. Nature Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nm.3117

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/~3/9u0EdzWrArI/130324152305.htm

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Head coach Dana Altman (L) and assistant coach Tony Stubblefield of the Oregon Ducks react in the first half against the Saint Louis Billikens during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Damyean Dotson #21 of the Oregon Ducks goes up against the Saint Louis Billikens in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Mike McCall Jr. #11 of the Saint Louis Billikens guards Johnathan Loyd #10 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon Henderson/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/24/syracuse-cal-ncaa-scores-2013_n_2942025.html

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Thursday, March 28, 2013

By Bill Dries

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Recent posts

Get back to feminism?s roots

The Bolshoi?s dark side

Saving the Irish manor

Monday, March 25, 2013

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

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Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

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Butler vs. Marquette

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Butler vs. Marquette

Butler vs. Marquette

Butler vs. Marquette

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

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Colorado State vs. Louisville

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Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colorado State vs. Louisville