Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Hands-on with Tizen 2.0 on Samsung's developer handset (video)

Handson with Tizen 20 on Samsung's developer handset video

Shuffle along, shuffle along, because this couch is about to get crowded. Alongside the big four, we now have Ubuntu, Firefox OS and the latest version of Tizen all elbowing each other for room. Tizen has one particularly strong backer, Samsung, who built the reference device we play with in the video after the break, and whereas Firefox OS is destined only for the low-end, Tizen seems far more ambitious -- at least judging from the 720p resolution of this developer handset. Since the introduction of version 2.0, the OS is designed to run both native and HTML5 apps, or apps which mix the two layers -- such as the Vimeo app you'll see in the video, which has a web-based interface but accesses the hardware for the purpose of video acceleration.

Huge swathes of the interface are remarkable only by their familiarity: a home screen with a grid of apps; a single navigation button to take you back to this screen or alternatively to a multi-tasking screen by way of a long press; and a top-to-bottom pull-down for notifications and quick access to settings. It's basic, but it represents pretty much what all these new operating systems are supposed to be: ways of getting functionality that is at least close to Android but without all the licensing costs associated with running Google services. Beyond that, however, Tizen at least seems capable of delivering smartphone fundamentals like a fast camera (with burst mode, incidentally). Tizen's mostly likely rival will be Ubuntu, at least once that other Linux-based OS progresses beyond entry-level phones at some point in 2014. From the sound of it though, Tizen is about to beat it to the punch.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5HSoNL9A_1M/

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US pending home sales rise to highest since 2010

In this Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, photo, a sale pending sign is outside of a house in Mount Lebanon, Pa. A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2 ? years. The increase suggests sales of previously occupied homes will continue rising in the coming months. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In this Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, photo, a sale pending sign is outside of a house in Mount Lebanon, Pa. A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2 ? years. The increase suggests sales of previously occupied homes will continue rising in the coming months. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(AP) ? A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2 ? years. The increase suggests sales of previously occupied homes will continue rising in the coming months.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 4.5 percent last month to 105.9. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit was about to expire.

There is generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

Pending home sales rose in all regions, but just barely ticked up in the West, where a limited supply of available homes is holding back sales.

The increase is the latest positive report for the housing market, which began recovering last year after a deep, six-year slump. Steady hiring and nearly record-low mortgage rates have encouraged more Americans to buy homes. More people are also moving out on their own after living with friends and relatives in the recession. That's driving a big gain in apartment construction and also pushing up rents.

"Housing market activity appears to have ended 2012 on a positive note and is off to a strong start in 2013," Cooper Howes, U.S. economist at Barclays Capital, said in a note to clients.

Sales of previously occupied homes ticked up in January after rising to their highest level in five years in 2012.

And new-home sales jumped 16 percent last month from December to the highest level since July 2008, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Home prices, meanwhile, rose by the most in more than six years in the 12 months ending in December.

Steady price increases are also contributing to the housing recovery. They encourage more people to buy before prices rise further. Higher prices also build homeowners' wealth, which can spur more spending and economic growth.

Builders, meanwhile, started work on the most new homes in 4 ? years in December. Last year was the best year for residential construction since 2008, just after the recession started.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-27-Pending%20Home%20Sales/id-ff1cc278b8a8479fbf9edcbd8871ea5e

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Elnathan John- The Dark Corner: DISCOVERING DEATH

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Source: http://elnathanjohn.blogspot.com/2013/02/discovering-death.html

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Gdeim Izik case: conditions of fair trial met - Morocco World News

Paris, February 25, 2013 (MAP)

A group of nine French law experts, attorneys and law professors who attended as observers the trial of persons prosecuted for involvement in the Gdeim Izik violent events, unanimously stressed that the trial was fair and conform to all modern criteria of the rule of law and human rights respect.

?Guarantee of a fair trial provided for by the rule of law, mainly article 10 of the Universal declaration of human rights, seem to be fully met?, said the experts in a report on their observation mission, made public at a press conference Monday in Paris.

The mission, comprising nine authority experts, member of the Paris-based association for the promotion of basic freedoms, said they carried out their observation mission ?constraint-free? during the trial where 24 persons were prosecuted for involvement in the events that followed the dismantling of Gdim Izik camp near Laayoune in 2010.,

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/02/79989/gdeim-izik-case-conditions-of-fair-trial-met-french-observers/

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China considers overhaul to streamline government

BEIJING (AP) ? The Ministry of Railways operates ultramodern bullet trains but its singular focus on rail at a time of booming car ownership and air travel makes it a relic from an era when 100 ministries ran China's planned economy.

That could soon change. China's new Communist leaders are considering another shake-up of a sprawling bureaucracy that has added market regulators and shed agencies that once dictated prices and told companies what to produce.

Modernizing the rail ministry ? a Soviet-style behemoth with 2.1 million employees, its own courts and police and 1.7 billion passengers last year ? by making it part of a transportation "super ministry" would be a likely priority.

Such change would be politically fraught since it threatens top jobs and influence, the lifeblood of party factions. And it could require years to complete. But reformers say it is urgently needed to keep the world's second-largest economy growing strongly.

"If the new leaders want to demonstrate they are in charge, they want to break the logjam, then this is a great time," said Dali Yang, a specialist in the Chinese government at the University of Chicago.

Though details of the streamlining have yet to be announced, General Secretary Xi Jinping and other Communist Party leaders opened a three-day meeting Tuesday to discuss a reorganization plan, state media reported. The closed-door meeting of the Central Committee will also approve the appointment of top government officials who will be publicly announced early next month at the annual session of the ceremonial legislature. That will complete a power transition begun in November when Xi was installed as party leader.

A goal of the government consolidation is to create "super ministries" that pull together a jumble of agencies with overlapping duties in broad fields such as transportation, media, energy, finance and health.

Under scenarios discussed in official media, the Ministry of Railways might be united with agencies that oversee road and air travel.

The Ministry of Culture might absorb regulators for film, publishing and TV, where boundaries have been blurred by the rise of Internet- and mobile phone-based media. The hated family planning agency, which enforces China's birth limits, might be folded into the Ministry of Health.

The potential impact on private and foreign companies is unclear, but American and European business groups regularly urge Beijing to simplify regulation and approval processes they say slow investment and hamper operations.

China has undergone repeated bouts of government restructuring to keep pace with a changing economy.

In 1982, the number of Cabinet-level ministries and commissions was slashed from 100 to 61. In the 1990s, museum pieces such as the Ministry of Machine Building that were no longer needed to set prices and tell companies what to produce were eliminated. In 1998, then-Premier Zhu Rongji shrank the number of ministries further from 40 to 29.

At the same time, Beijing created Western-style regulators for banks and securities. A Ministry of Commerce was formed in 2003 to bring together trade and planning agencies, simplifying some trade regulation to make it easier for private sector traders to function.

Such change can provoke furious opposition. In the last round of proposed reforms in 2008, the only thing leaders finally agreed on was to make the environmental regulator a full-fledged ministry in response to an avalanche of pollution scandals.

Creating fewer, bigger ministries would fit with party pledges to make the economy more productive and keep incomes growing. Xi has called for a "renewal of the Chinese nation," raising hopes a new leader whose attitude toward reform is still unclear might throw his political weight behind remaking the government.

There is, however, no indication the restructuring will affect state-owned companies that dominate most major industries including telecommunications, banking and oil and have direct ties to the top ranks of the party. That will blunt the impact of the restructuring on making markets more competitive and productive.

If leaders take action, they are likely to produce no more than one or two concrete proposals to start, and that might not be until August, said a European diplomat who follows the internal workings of China's government.

And if they fail to release firm plans before the party's plenum late this year, that will suggest they have failed to agree, said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified by name because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

In a reflection of political resistance, the Chinese business magazine Caijing says proposals to group together "big energy," ''big culture," "big finance" and "big system reform committee" were dropped from a draft plan.

And merging rival agencies into one big ministry is no guarantee factions that run them will cooperate.

The World Bank and a Cabinet think tank warned last year growth will deteriorate if Beijing fails to act quickly to curb the dominance of state industry and nurture private companies that generate jobs and wealth. Reformers say ministries that operate their own companies, giving them incentive to suppress private competitors, must be stripped of commercial interests and turned into neutral regulators.

The Ministry of Railways is the biggest example of regulatory throwbacks reformers say must evolve for China to thrive.

In an echo of the 1960s, when ministries were powerful, self-contained empires, it still operates its own police force and courts. Other state entities shed such non-core functions years ago. Its spending is huge; last year's capital spending plan was 745 billion yuan ($115 billion) ? comparable to the 670 billion yuan ($105 billion) military budget.

The ministry has built the world's biggest bullet train network but China's poor majority can't afford it and slower lines are crowded. Cargo service is expensive and inflexible, a dangerous bottleneck for a major trading economy.

The political opening for change might have come when the powerful railway minister, Liu Zhijun, was dismissed in February, 2011, amid corruption allegations. Later that year, a collision between two bullet trains that killed 40 people fueled demands for the ministry to be more responsive to public needs.

Rumors swirling around the fate of media regulators highlight potential pitfalls of consolidation.

The infant online and mobile entertainment industry flourished while regulators refrained from enforcing controls that limit the ability of traditional broadcasters to show foreign programs and other popular material. Change might simplify rules but also could bring more censorship and other controls that might hold back a promising industry.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-considers-overhaul-streamline-government-083807803--finance.html

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Mathematically, How Many Different Tweets Could There Ever Be?

There's only so much you can say in 140 paltry characters. So how many possible different tweets are there that could ever be sent? More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tGlHF46W5Io/mathematically-how-many-different-tweets-could-there-ever-be

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Monday, February 25, 2013

One In Four Mobile Users Keep Dirty Pics Or Vids On Their Smartphone, And We All Know It?s You

smartphone-pornA new survey from software security company AVG announced today reveals that a full 25 percent of mobile users keep "intimate photos or videos" on their smartphones or tablet devices, a surprisingly high number given that only 36 percent said they would be comfortable checking their bank balances from a smartphone screen. AVG surveyed 5,107 smartphone users in the U.K., U.S., France, Germany and Brazil to get a broad look at how pervy we all are.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4RgMwSxbODk/

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Janet Jackson Married!

Is Janet Jackson married to her long-time beau Wissam Al Mana? That would be yes and as it turns out they have been hitched for quite awhile. Jackson broke the news that she is a married woman to ET Online, where she had this to say about the rumors that she and her hubby wed in a lavish ceremony. “The rumors regarding an extravagant wedding are simply not true. Last year we were married in a quiet, private, and beautiful ceremony. Our wedding gifts to one another were contributions to our respective favorite children’s charities. We would appreciate that our privacy is respected and that we are allowed this time for celebration and joy. With love, Wissam and Janet” Well there you have it straight from the singer herself. She got hitched, is happy and looking for privacy. Here is what I wonder, how have they have managed to keep it quiet for like a year? Why release the statement now?? If you want your privacy that bad just keep ignoring the rumors, which I hadn’t even heard I might add and go on about your business. Just my little two cents there. It really isn’t a surprise they kept [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/CEK_f4oiXk0/

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William Shatner can't save Seth MacFarlane at Oscars

William Shatner reprised his Star Trek role in a vain attempt to rescue Seth MacFarlane's Oscars 2013 comedy monologue. William Shatner, aka Capt. Kirk, returned from 'the future' to advise MacFarlane.

By David Bauder,?Associated Press / February 25, 2013

Oscar host Seth MacFarlane gets advice from William Shatner during the opening segment of the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif. February 24, 2013.

REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

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With jokes about domestic violence, breast-baring actresses, picking up Sally Field and a presidential assassination, Seth MacFarlane certainly didn't go soft during his first turn as Oscars host.

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MacFarlane has the good looks and suave manner of a typical show host, but he was a nontraditional choice for the Oscars. His creative calling card is behind-the-scenes work, as maker of the TV show "Family Guy" and movie "Ted." He tried to soften it with self-deprecation, but MacFarlane quickly proved a polarizing choice.

After MacFarlane appeared uncomfortable telling jokes in the opening monologue, he brought on William Shatner via video hook-up for an extended riff on Shatner as a time traveler appearing from the future trying to save MacFarlane from himself.

It sent MacFarlane into some high-concept ? if low-brow ? comedy. He was shown in a song and dance routine, backed by the Los Angeles Gay Men's Chorus, naming famous actresses and the films where they displayed their breasts. During a quick cutaway, Charlize Theron ? one of the actresses named ? did not appear amused.

In another skit, scenes from the movie "Flight" were performed by sock puppets. An overly long skit ? again designed to illustrate MacFarlane's "bad taste" ? showed him wearing a Flying Nun costume in an attempt to pick up Sally Field backstage.

MacFarlane drew groans with a reference to pop stars Rihanna and Chris Brown, back together as a couple four years after a domestic violence incident involving the two.

Talking about the movie "Django Unchained," MacFarlane called it "the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who's been subject to unthinkable violence. Or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie."

MacFarlane drew more groans from the audience during a discussion of the movie "Lincoln" and actors who had portrayed the 19th Century president.

"I would argue that the actor who really got inside Lincoln's head was John Wilkes Booth," MacFarlane said.

He seemed to anticipate and delight in the response. "150 years and it's still too soon, huh? I've got some Napoleon jokes coming up."

In his opening monologue, MacFarlane delivered a quick, knowing poke at the academy for snubbing Ben Affleck as a best director nominee for the movie "Argo." He referred to the movie's story about an undercover mission to rescue Americans trapped in Iran during the 1980 hostage crisis.

"The story is so top secret that the film's director is unknown to the academy," MacFarlane said.

He joked about "Lincoln" best actor nominee Daniel Day Lewis' habit of staying in character during filming days even when the cameras were turned off, addressing him: "If you bumped into Don Cheadle in the studio lot, would you try and free him?"

MacFarlane appeared to loosen up once his opening routine was over. He drew some laughs with a handful of solid jokes when talking about Quvenzhane Wallis, the 9-year-old best actress nominess for "Beasts of the Southern Wild. "George Clooney smiled at a joke about Wallis being a future dating partner.

The puppet teddy bear of "Ted" even got in a few Jewish jokes during a routine with Mark Wahlberg. The bear claimed to be Jewish, which he thought was a prerequisite for working in the film business.

"I was born Theodore Shapiro and I would like to donate money to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever," the bear said.

"You're an idiot," Wahlberg retorted.

Some of MacFarlane's jokes drew rebukes by tweeters, while his supporters countered that the Oscars should have known what they were getting when hiring him. In the weeks before he took the stage, MacFarlane frequently predicted he would be savaged by critics. His opening routine with Shatner even had the "Star Trek" actor displaying a supposed headline from the future saying MacFarlane was the worst Oscars host ever.

And it was difficult to tell how much he was joking when he introduced Sandra Bullock for an award presentation.

"Our next presenter portrayed a raging alcoholic in the movie '28 Days,' which is kind of a weird coincidence because I'm going to be playing one in about an hour and a half," he said.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/JVP9pIX1iR4/William-Shatner-can-t-save-Seth-MacFarlane-at-Oscars

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Local College and High School Roundup: Chico State baseball team wins

Nick Baker allowed two hits in pitching six shutout innings, Cody Slader went 4 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and the No. 5 Chico State baseball team defeated Northwest Nazarene 13-0 Friday at Nettleton Stadium.

Baker (2-0) struck out four and walked none as the Wildcats (11-1) took three of four games from the Crusaders (6-7) in the nonconference series. Jeremy Perez, Morgan Yee and Mike Botelho each pitched an inning to complete the two-hitter.

Austin Prott and Roger Boulden each added two hits and two RBIs for the Wildcats, Cody Webber had an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly, and Ruben Padilla hit a two-run single.

Yuba 6, Butte 5

The 49ers (6-4) scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to hand the Roadrunners (4-7) a nonconference road loss.

Andy Pustejovsky went 2 for 3 with a double for Butte.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Chico St. 4, S.F. State 1

Chico St. 2, S.F. State 0

Alex Molina (3-2) pitched a no-hitter with four strikeouts and one walk as the Wildcats won the second game of a California Collegiate Athletic Association doubleheader at University Softball Field.

Brynn Lesovsky went 2 for 3 and scored both runs for the Wildcats (5-6, 3-3 CCAA) against the Gators (5-6, 1-5) in support of Molina.

Kayla McConnell (1-3) pitched a two-hitter with five strikeouts and no walks for Chico State in the first game.

Desiree Gonzalez hit a three-run home run for the Wildcats, and Lesovsky and Alli Cook each had two hits.

PREP

BOYS BASKETBALL

Shasta 78, Las Plumas 57

The third-seeded Wolves knocked the No. 6 Thunderbirds out of the Northern Section Division III playoffs in a quarterfinal in Redding.

Eric Maturino scored 16 points for Las Plumas (6-20), which was missing two starters due to injury and illness. Chris Knight added 14 points, and Ronnie Osby and Brendon Matheson scored 10 each.

Corning 38, West Valley 27

The No. 1 seed Cardinals defeated the No. 8 Eagles in the quarterfinals of the Northern Section Division IV playoffs. Michael Shoemaker scored 18 points for Corning (25-2), and Chayce Maday scored eight points.

The Cardinals will host No. 4 seed Gridley in the semifinals Wednesday.

Orland 64, Sutter 34

No. 2 Orland (23-4) eliminated No. 7 Sutter out of the Northern Section Division IV playoffs. Jud Sailsbery scored 26 points with five 3-pointers for the Trojans. Kavi Ram scored 10 points and Jordan Long scored nine.

Orland will host a semifinal game on Wednesday.

Gridley 51, Live Oak 47

Emery Haddy scored 14 points with four 3-pointers as the Bulldogs won a Northern Section Division IV quarterfinal home playoff game.

Tyler Abrego added 11 points and Samuel Cota scored 10 for Gridley (17-10), which travels Wednesday to face top-seeded Corning in the semifinals.

PREP SKI/SNOWBOARD

CNISSF Central Division 1

Chico High's Grant Poliquin took first place in boys snowboard in a slalom at Boreal Ridge, with Pleasant Valley's Dylan Schimmel placing third.

Chico's Anabel Davis finished first in girls snowboard with PV's Malori Wagner placing second and PV's Jadie Sweitanski taking third.

Chico's Aiden Wallace came in first in boys ski, and Chico's Delanie Smith placed third in girls ski.

In the final league results, PV repeated as overall ski and snowboard combined champion and Chico took second.

PV also won the boys and girls combined snowboard title, with Chico second. PV won the girls league with Chico taking second. Wagner finished first, followed by Davis in second and Swietanski in third. Chico won the boys snowboard, PV came in second, while Poliquin came in first and Schimmel took second.

Chico also finished first in boys ski, while in girls ski, the PV girls placed second and Chico took third. In the combined ski, Chico finished second and PV third. Individually, Smith and Wallace both placed second.

Source: http://www.chicoer.com/sports/ci_22653008/local-college-and-high-school-roundup-chico-state?source=rss

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UK downgrade pressures reluctant Osborne to change course

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister insisted on Saturday he would not change course after the loss of the country's 'AAA' credit rating but George Osborne is facing pressure to do just that as his bet on austerity falters ahead of the 2015 election.

Moody's dealt Britain its first sovereign rating downgrade on Friday, saying the $2.5 trillion economy faced years more sluggish growth and debt would continue to rise until 2016.

Economically the one-notch cut will have limited importance -- most of Europe, Japan and the United States have already suffered the same fate and Britain continues to borrow at historically low rates.

But politically it is toxic for Osborne who has repeatedly vowed to protect the top credit rating since the 2010 election campaign. The downgrade exposes him to opponents who say his failure to deliver economic growth is driving Prime Minister David Cameron towards electoral defeat.

Osborne said on Saturday the move by Moody's showed he was right to focus on restoring Britain to fiscal health, arguing that only by doing that will the conditions for growth be restored.

"I am absolutely determined to make sure we deal with our problems, to make sure that Britain stays the course, to make sure that it doesn't take from this credit rating the wrong message which is we should go and borrow a lot more," the 41-year-old Chancellor of the Exchequer said.

"I'm absolutely clear we're not going to do that."

For investors, the downgrade underscores Britain's predicament: a debt-ridden, stagnating economy which has kept bond yields low in large part thanks to the Bank of England becoming the world's biggest investor in UK government debt by buying it with newly printed money.

"Osborne no longer has any place to hide or anyone to blame," said David Blanchflower, who served on the Bank of England's interest rate setting committee from 2006 to 2009.

He said the minister should "stand up, be a man and accept responsibility for the worst recovery in 100 years" and, in a message on Twitter, suggested a swift cut to value-added tax, a labor tax holiday for workers under 25 and incentives for investment and hiring to kick start growth.

Osborne can take comfort from Moody's confidence that his austerity plan would eventually "reverse the UK's debt trajectory".

A Treasury official noted Moody's had given the UK's credit rating a stable outlook, meaning little chance of a further downgrade in the next 12-18 months. When the United States and France were downgraded, their outlooks remained negative.

But whether growth will return forcefully long enough before the 2015 election to allow voters to appreciate it is now highly uncertain.

Sterling fell by almost a cent to around $1.5160 after the downgrade, just off Thursday's fresh 2-1/2-year low. Analysts said they expected it to fall further on Monday.

Some of the Conservatives' Liberal Democrat coalition partners questioned the political judgment of attaching so much importance to Britain's AAA rating.

"This is a self-inflicted injury for George Osborne," said Matthew Oakeshott, a former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman. "To be fair, he was very green in 2009 ... He foolishly erected triple-A status as a virility symbol."

"BLEEDING THE PATIENT"

Cameron, who led his Conservative Party back to office as part of a coalition government after 13 years out of power, risks another year of stagnation and giving his opponents and open goal to aim at.

The Labor Party - which left the biggest peacetime deficit when it lost the 2010 election - called for Osborne's head.

"The medicine is not working so the Chancellor says increase the dose - that's crazy economics. It is like an 18th-century doctor bleeding a patient as they get sicker and sicker," said Ed Balls, the party's main spokesman on finance issues.

But people close to Britain's most powerful two politicians say they are completely aligned. Osborne led Cameron's bid for leadership of the Conservatives and ran the 2010 election campaign. There is little or no chance of him being sacrificed or being forced into a humiliating policy U-turn which would wreck his career.

"Osborne has lots of critics, both inside and outside the party, who are now going to be emboldened by this, but there is no coherent alternative," said Tim Montgomerie, editor of the influential ConservativeHome website.

Though Labor is about 10 percentage points ahead of Conservative Party in polls, surveys show voters trust Cameron and Osborne more than Labor's leader Ed Miliband.

TIME FOR A TWEAK?

Osborne originally gambled that by slashing spending, growth rates of between 2 and 3 percent would kick in from 2013.

But with Britain's banks still recovering from the financial crisis and many of its main trading partners in Europe stuck in recession, his debt targets will be missed. His room for more spending is limited as he tries to avoid pushing up yields on Britain's 1.29 trillion pounds ($1.97 trillion) of debt.

With government spending so restricted, many investors' hopes lie with the Bank of England. Its governor, Mervyn King, this month voted to restart government-bond buying. Although in the minority, his change of heart suggested the bank may be closer than expected to pursuing more stimulus.

If Osborne slows his debt reduction plans, he could upset bond investors and throw his deficit targets further off course.

"We should stick to the plan," said Kwasi Kwarteng, a Conservative lawmaker. "The prime minister would not want to be seen to be panicking, and he's committed to keeping George Osborne where he is."

"But we do also need to look at growth," said Kwarteng, who suggested cutting corporation tax and red tape.

Business lobby the Confederation of British Industry has called for more investment on infrastructure and housing to be funded by more cuts in day-to-day spending. It also expects the government to guarantee more private-sector projects.

Osborne has a chance in his annual budget next month to deliver such tweaks to policy. ($1 = 0.6551 British pounds)

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas and William Schomberg. Editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-downgrade-pressures-reluctant-osborne-change-course-000755929.html

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College Basketball Picks, Odds: New Mexico Lobos at Colorado State Rams

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A battle for the top spot in the Mountain West Conference takes place this afternoon as the No. 16 New Mexico Lobos travel to play the No. 22 Colorado State Rams. The game is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Currently the odds for the game have Colorado State favored by a few possessions.

Colorado State hasn't been in the NCAA Tournament in quite awhile. They're ranked for the first time in forever as well. Now they have their sights set on winning the Mountain West Conference. They've extremely tough to beat at home. In fact, the Rams own the nation's third-longest home win streak at 27 games.

New Mexico is a very solid team away from The Pit, going 6-3 this season on the road. The Lobos are currently a game ahead of Colorado State, but a loss here today would put the team's tied atop the conference. New Mexico has certainly had the Rams' number lately. Steve Alford's team has won 10 of the last 12 games in this series. They also picked up a win in the first game this season against the Rams, 66-61.

Kendall Williams or Tony Snell can lead the team on any given night and both are All-Conference type of players. Williams leads the team in scoring at better than 13 points per game while Alex Kirk is a double-double machine. Kirk is going to be huge in this one. In the Rams' last game at UNLV, they were out-rebounded for the first time this season. The Lobos aren't the best rebounding team in the country, in fact they're very pedestrian, but if they hit the glass hard tonight they'll hang around.

It's not hard to see why Colorado State is favored at home and with Colton Iverson dominating inside. He and Pierce Hornung will surely provide a problem for the Lobos in the paint. If the Lobos can't put bodies on the Rams' frontcourt it will be a long game for New Mexico.

New Mexico has not played since overcoming 34.7 percent shooting in last Saturday's 60-50 home victory over Boise State, so there's a chance they can come into this game a bit rusty. Or they'll come in sharp and ready to go. Either way, it's hard not to think Colorado State won't win at home.

Free Pick: Colorado State 67, New Mexico 59

MovieBetting Tips For College Basketball Conference Games

Chuck Edel, Chris Andrews and Vegas Runner give some tips on betting college basketball conference games.

Source: http://pregame.com/sports/stories/b/news/archive/2013/02/23/college-basketball-picks_2C00_-odds_3A00_-new-mexico-lobos-at-colorado-state-rams-1607338.aspx

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Wikipedia expects to offer SMS-based access within months

Wikipedia expects to offer SMSbased access within months

Wikipedia has long been pushing for access to its communal knowledge among those who can't afford the latest technology, going so far as to strike deals with carriers to deliver free mobile web viewing. It's set to expand that reach to those for whom any advanced cellphone is out of the question. In part through the help of a Knight News Challenge grant and South Africa's Praekelt Foundation, the non-profit's Wikipedia Zero effort will offer its content through SMS and USSD messages in the next few months. Curious users will just have to send a text message to get an article in response, with no web required at all. It's a big step forward for democratizing online information for those who may not even have access to a smartphone, although we're curious as to how it will handle large articles; we can only imagine the volume of messages when trying to look up the known universe.

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Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: Knight Foundation, MediaWiki

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/RPfqiQQ7320/

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Nokia Set To Go Cheap, Releasing Bargain Smartphones

Nokia Set To Go Cheap, Releasing Bargain Smartphones
The once mighty Finnish company is set to release a number of cheap feature phones and smartphones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Cvhq7TGEU5Q/

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London Metropolitan University researcher suspended over bombing conviction

Friday, February 22, 2013
11:17 AM

A London Metropolitan University research manager has been suspended after it was found he was convicted 17 years ago for his part in a car bomb attack on the Israeli embassy.

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Jawad Botmeh was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 1996 after he was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions in the UK.

Released in 2008, Botmeh has been working at London Met?s Working Lives Research Institute (WLRI) for five years.

Botmeh was suspended on February 7, the Unison London Met Uni branch said, while union activist and London Met research administrator Max Watson was also suspended.

Professor Steve Jefferys, director of London Met?s Faculty Advanced Institute for Research (FAIR) and head of WLRI, was also suspended on Wednesday for ?potential gross misconduct?, the Unison London Met Uni branch said.

Botmeh, along with Samar Alami, were convicted on the basis that they were part of a UK-based terrorist cell which, acting alone, planned to sabotage the Middle East peace process.

Two car bombs were set off outside the embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens and the offices of a Jewish charity in north London. No-one was killed.

Botmeh and Alami lost an appeal against their conviction in 2001, although they gained support from groups including Amnesty International and Gareth Peirce, solicitor for the wrongly jailed Birmingham Six.

Unison?s London Met Uni branch insists that Botmeh declared his conviction when he applied for the role and was suspended shortly after he was elected as a staff governor.

Mr Jefferys put Botmeh forward to be interviewed some five years ago as a part-time casual administrative worker on a temporary three-month contract, despite his criminal record, Unison added.

The branch said: ?Steve, Jawad and Max have broken no university rules. They have all been entirely open and honest with the university. Professor Jefferys had the authority to make casual appointments.

?There were no procedures suggesting he should discriminate against former prisoners. Jawad had twice informed the university in writing of his earlier prison sentence and conviction and this evidence is on their files.?

Mr Watson did not want to comment further but has released a statement on his blog.

In the statement, he said: ?I am proud to have worked with Jawad for five years at the Working Lives Research Institute.

?I was impressed and honoured by the fact that my colleagues, like me, looked beyond his prison sentence and instead on his ability to do the job.

?We gave Jawad an opportunity to move on from his past, to work, to have dignity in his life, and we have never looked back.?

A London Met spokesman said: ?London Metropolitan University has a duty of care to all its staff, students and partners. It is undertaking investigations and has nothing further to add at this time.?

Source: http://www.london24.com/london_metropolitan_university_researcher_suspended_over_bombing_conviction_1_1950560

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Friday, February 22, 2013

ilomilo plus Only $4.99 on Windows 8!

Yep, you heard right! ilomilo is only $4.99 right now on the Windows 8 store! You better be quick though because this deal will only last for a week! Click Read More to learn all about this?adventurous?puzzle game!

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ilomilo plus is the Windows 8 version of the XBLA title, ilomilo, beefed up with additional fun levels, two exciting new chapters and three new challenging cubes. ilomilo is a puzzle game where the player controls two fellows named ilo and milo. The two friends always seem to get separated from each other in the surrealistic and ever changing world they inhabit, and the goal of each level is to reunite them. ilomilo presents puzzles where the player will have to use a great deal of three dimensional thinking to succeed. The world of ilomilo is made of cubes, and ilo and milo can walk any side of the cubes, as well as move cubes around. The player controls both ilo and milo, and will have to make them cooperate to unite them. ilomilo also allows players to control one character each, and play through the game cooperatively.

Features:

ilomilo plus challenges players with out of the ordinary puzzles in an odyssey through a twisted and surrealistic world.

? Singleplayer story taking you through 6 different environments in the world of ilomilo
? Cooperative gameplay mode for two players, each player controlling a character!
? Famous cameo characters from other games are hidden in the world for players to find
? Online Leaderboards: Compare online who has?completed?the levels in the most clever way
? Unlockable mini game: Play the ingenious retro 2D mini game ?ilomilo shuffle? with its own competitive leaderboard

Click HERE to check it out!

Source: http://playxbla.com/ilomilo-plus-only-4-99-on-windows-8/

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Five Things ?The Sessions? Gets Right: Sex and Disability on Screen ...

So much of criticism, feminist critique included, hinges on highlighting what is wrong. In the case of film reviews, we so often ask what on-screen narratives convey about difference and the status quo. For an industry the prides itself on innovation, misogyny occupies the limelight so often that one might even call it formulaic. (Epic fail, Hollywood.) The same is true of representations of other kinds of difference, be they differences of race or religion, nationality or ability.

This is why it?s so startling, so exciting, when a film that garners critical acclaim does many things well. From the point of view of film watchers looking for a great story, there?s a lot to love about The Sessions. But even from a critical vantage point, The Sessions stands out as a film that gets so many things right.

1. Disability does not mitigate one?s multifaceted humanity.

markMark O?Brien was a poet, a Berkeley graduate student, a community organizer, a cultural critic, and a journalist. Mark O?Brien was hilarious and vulnerable and generous. He believed in treating all labor, especially that of his caretakers, as intrinsically valued. He knew that the ways we treat disability say something very ugly about our culture. Mark O?Brien was a risk taker?venturing into publishing and human connection and sex. He craved love and success. He knew that both depended on self-determination.

At its core, The Sessions is a portrait of a relationship between a surrogate partner and her client, but through The Sessions, we come to know Mark O?Brien (John Hawkes) as layered and contradictory. In sharp contrast to representations of disability in popular culture that tend to rely on a pity trope that emphasizes dependency or an overcoming trope that overstresses rugged individualism, The Sessions does not reduce Mark O?Brien to post-polio syndrome. To be sure, Mark O?Brien self-identifies as disabled, but here disability shapes a multifaceted human experience.

Consider that in their first meeting, Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt) is clearly curious and perhaps surprised to see Mark?s body. One she describes in her memoir An Intimate Life as, ?slight, only four-foot-seven and around seventy pounds.? Critically though, Mark?s disabled body does not elicit pity from Cheryl. When Mark points to some money, Cheryl?s compensation for her work, and then asks, ?That was the wrong way to start off?? Cheryl replies, ?It really was.? As opposed to an equivocating or patronizing response, Cheryl engages with Mark as an adult, one who can be called out for denigrating (albeit unintentionally) her labor. Scenes show Mark shopping for his own clothes, hiring caregivers, writing. By depicting Mark?s life, this film version of a real-life man pulses.

Perhaps most significantly, it is Mark who tells the story first. We see Mark start his work on writing what presumably became his renowned 1990 essay ?On Seeing a Sex Surrogate.?

2. Disability and sexuality are not mutually exclusive dimensions of human experience.

The Sessions is a not a film about sexuality or disability. Rather, sexuality and disability are inextricably linked throughout. In addition to the social stigmas and structural barriers directed towards disability, those with disabilities are routinely perceived as non-sexual. By contrast, Mark?s sexual desires are articulated from the outset, and Mark?s sexuality is an active force in the narrative. While The Sessions may revolve around Mark?s pursuit to have his first sexual encounter, Mark is represented as a sexual being with desires and fantasies that pre-exist his encounters with Cheryl. Given the ways in which the equation of non-sexuality and disability operate to infantilize people, depicting Mark as always already a sexual being is groundbreaking.

3. Sex and intimacy that happen outside of marital bonds, long-term relationship, or enduring partnership can be transformative.

Most reviews of The Sessions devote an inordinate word count to unpacking the differences between sex surrogates and sex workers. Defending surrogacy against associations with ?prostitution? is tinged with all sorts of moralist righteousness. It also helps to situate surrogacy as a ?helping profession.? In portraying the complex and nuanced dimensions of Cheryl and Mark?s connection, The Sessions tells the story of an intimate relationship that leaves both parties changed. And yet, the film does not culminate in marriage or even love, at least not long-lasting love. Rather, first comes financial transaction, then comes sex, then comes greater self-knowledge. There are no wedding bells here or even romantic references to possible domesticity. sessions

It?s important, too, that the film depicts Cheryl?s relationship with her husband. Perhaps because their marriage has reached that moment of routine predictability, the marital bond appears less intimate than the relationship between Cheryl and Mark. I?m not suggesting that there?s nothing there, but what I am suggesting is that in juxtaposing these two relationships, the film challenges the notion that sex that happens a few times, for pay, or between relative strangers never has meaning. In The Sessions, it?s precisely this kind of sex and intimacy that has radically transformative potential. It?s interesting to note that reviews that invest so much in qualifying surrogacy as not sex work ignore how?sex work fulfills emotional needs in ways not dissimilar to surrogacy.

4. Religion and spirituality are spaces where people work out sexuality in multifaceted ways.

Catholic imagery?stained glass windows, a Eucharistic consecration, the Confessional?figures prominently in the film, but interestingly Catholic caricature does not.? Since the sex abuse scandal, the relationship of the Catholic Church to sexuality is often grotesquely depicted as all shame, pathology, and brimstone. Without a doubt, the Catholic Church is responsible for constructing an infrastructure that suppresses adult sexuality and produces unconscionable sexual victimization. But my own admittedly lapsed Catholicism speaks to a Church with a more dynamic, imaginative relationship to sex. While Catholic doctrine may discourage masturbation and stigmatize queerness, the Catholics of my upbringing?specifically the teachers and nuns and priests who staffed my Catholic schools?had subtle ways of conveying that idea that rules, especially those related to sexuality, might be considered suggestive rather than compulsory.

doc509ab63d4c1042862136991?My penis speaks to me, Father Brendan,? Mark reveals to his Priest, played by William H. Macy. Mark attends Mass daily and regularly seeks out confession. Not surprisingly, his decision to see a surrogate is one he wrestles with spiritually. Ultimately, it is Father Brendan who tells Mark, ?Go for it.? This is not the Catholicism of popular caricature. Rather, the relationship between Father Brendan and Mark O?Brien, while grounded in a shared denomination, is forged as together they wrestle with moral questions complicated by lived experience.

5. Sex is about communication and intimacy?and it?s about sex.

What comes through in The Sessions is something Cheryl Cohen Greene emphasizes in her book?successful surrogacy results in the formation of skills that can be used in future relationships. Clients, as Mark does, learn how to ask questions and express needs; they learn how to talk and think about sex. But The Sessions does not purport, as so much pop-sexuality education does, that sex has very little to do with what happens between the sheets (or on the kitchen floor) and everything to do with what happens between the ears.

By contrast, sex in The Sessions is carnal and embodied. As a surrogate, Cheryl incites Mark to pay attention to his penis and to gauge what feels good. The Sessions features nudity, though it is hardly pornographic, and yet sex is not sanitized. ?Cumming? figures prominently, and what emerges is a representation of sexuality that hovers between ?making love? and ?fucking,? while appreciating what both acts have to offer.

Of his iron lung, Mark O?Brien writes, ?It?s huge and ugly and yellow but it works.? Sex is messy and scary and fun. It?s a human need and want and hope for folks who identify as disabled and those who are unconscious of their own temporary able-bodiedness. Likely nominee Helen Hunt will not win an Academy Award for her performance, but The Sessions wins as a widely consumed cultural artifact that disrupts in powerful ways how we think about both disability and sexuality.

Tags: Academy Awards, Cheryl Cohen Greene, Culture, disability, entertainment, Health, intimacy, Mark O'Brien, sex surrogacy, Sex Work, Sexuality, U.S.

Source: http://thefeministwire.com/2013/02/five-things-the-sessions-gets-right-sex-and-disability-on-screen/

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Petition asking Obama to take on SIM unlocking hits signature threshold

Petition

Some good news for the fight against tyrannical cell phone regulation. The official White House petition calling for the Librarian of Congress to rescind the decision to allow a DMCA exemption allowing entities other than the operators to SIM unlock phones ... take a deep breath -- that was a mouthful ... has eclipsed 100,000 signatures, meaning we'll likely see some sort of response from the Obama administration at some point. 

That doesn't guarantee action. That doesn't mean it no longer will be illegal to SIM-unlock your phone on your own, without operator approval. And it still doesn't change the fact that it's not like there were goon squads going around, scooping up hordes of unruly unlockers. This is mainly a tool to be used in extreme cases of litigation. Chances are if you've finished paying off your subsidized handset, and your account is in good standing, your operator will give you the SIM unlock code.

But that doesn't mean that any of this is a good use of DMCA legislation. Thus, the petition. "If a petition gets enough support," the petitions.whitehouse.gov site reads, "White House staff will review it, ensure it’s sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response."

So maybe we'll see something change, and maybe we won't. But for sure, the position that operators shouldn't be the sole decider on SIM-unlocking phones will be heard.

read more



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/hvJ_u1uR7Eo/story01.htm

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Ex-Chicago area police officer gets 38 years for third wife's murder; fourth wife missing

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge on Thursday sentenced former Chicago-area police officer Drew Peterson to 38 years in prison for the murder of his third wife, whose death initially appeared accidental until Peterson's fourth wife disappeared.

Will County Judge Edward Burmila sentenced Peterson after rejecting a plea for a retrial in the death of Kathleen Savio. He had faced a maximum of 60 years in prison.

Peterson was convicted last September of killing Savio in 2004 during a contentious divorce and then trying to make her death look like an accident. Savio was found dead in a bathtub, and her death was at first ruled accidental.

Suspicions were raised when Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007.

After the sentencing, the former police officer's defense team told reporters they would appeal the conviction, saying the trial had been riddled with problems.

"They changed the rules to convict him, they changed the evidence," said attorney Steve Greenberg. "They changed everything."

The Illinois state legislature passed a law, dubbed "Drew's law," in response to the case, loosening requirements for circumstantial evidence.

Peterson, who was a police sergeant in Bolingbrook, Illinois, had waged a high-profile public relations campaign asserting his innocence both in the death of Savio and the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, who is presumed dead. He is the only suspect in her disappearance.

Witnesses testified in the trial that Peterson threatened Savio, tried to hire a hit man and said he could make her death look like an accident.

Prosecutor James Glasgow, asked what he was thinking when looking at Peterson in the Joliet courtroom on Thursday, said: "You're a cold-blooded murderer and I'll stare you down until I die."

Peterson's first and second wives have remarried.

The Peterson case was the inspiration for a popular Lifetime television network movie, "Untouchable," based on the case, starring Rob Lowe.

(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-chicago-area-police-officer-gets-38-years-232118057.html

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Duly Noted: Can Warby Parker make Google Glass look hip? And can the Big Apple make Silicon Valley look square? (Video)


Bloomberg

Tappan Zee Bridge in Tarrytown, New York.

Staff New York Business Journal

If one of your career highlights was pulling into the employee parking lot for the first time in that new Beemer or Benz, congratulations, but um, sorry, you haven't arrived yet -- not until you can drop a cool million and show up in one these bad boys. -- Bloomberg video, above

Warby Parker, a New York-based online eyeglasses company, has been approached by Google about making the tech giant's Google Glass augmented-reality glasses more stylish. -- New York Times

New York City has a burgeoning tech scene, but in many ways the city is still considered a less desirable location for tech startups than Silicon Valley. However, there are plenty of reasons to choose New York over Palo Alto, mainly based on notions of what kind of culture a company will be entering here rather than in California. --Michael del Castillo, Upstart Business Journal

What do you picture when you hear of a business "going green"? Is it installing solar panels on a roof? Rigging a cistern to capture rainwater? Using electric vehicles rather than gasoline-powered? Those are all dramatic and sweeping changes, but upgrading seemingly minor aspects of even the smallest businesses can result in future savings, such as switching light bulbs. -- Wall Street Journal

New Jersey's PSE&G said it would spend $3.9 billion over 10 years to gird itself against powerful storms after 2 million of its 2.2 million customers lost power thanks to Hurricane Sandy. The utility estimated that customers' rates would go up only slightly, if at all, due to the investments since energy prices have been falling. -- New York Post

The director of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project will be Peter Sanderson, an engineer who is perhaps best known as the manager of the project to rebuild the collapsed I-35 bridge in Minneapolis back in 2007. Sanderson will be a Thruway Authority employee overseeing the Tappan Zee Constructors, the private venture slated to build the new bridge. -- LoHud

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_29/~3/sJ_eftjCwHg/google-glass-small-business-going-green.html

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Police offer confused testimony in Pistorius case

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? The detective leading the police investigation into Oscar Pistorius' fatal shooting of his girlfriend offered confusing testimony Wednesday, at one point agreeing with the athlete's defense that officers had no evidence challenging the runner's claim he accidentally killed her.

Testimony by Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha of the South African Police Service left prosecutors rubbing their temples, only able to look down at their notes as he misjudged distances and acknowledged a forensics team left in the toilet bowl one of the bullet slugs fired at Reeva Steenkamp. However, Botha still poked holes in Pistorius' own account that he feared for his life and opened fire on Valentine's Day after mistaking Steenkamp for an intruder.

The second day of the bail hearing in a case that has riveted South Africa and much of the world appeared at first to go against the double-amputee runner, with prosecutors saying a witness can testify to hearing "non-stop talking, like shouting" between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. before the predawn shooting on Feb. 14. However, Botha later said under cross examination that the person who overheard the argument was in a house 600 meters (yards) away in Pistorius' gated community in the suburbs of South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

Later, prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned Botha again and the detective acknowledged the distance was much closer. But confusion reigned for much of his testimony, when at one point Botha said officers found syringes and steroids in Pistorius' bedroom. Nel quickly cut the officer off and said the drugs were actually testosterone.

Pistorius' lead defense lawyer, Barry Roux, asserted when questioning the detective ? who has 16 years' experience as a detective and 24 years with the police ? that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a "negative connotation."

"It is an herbal remedy," Roux said. "It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance."

The name of the drug, offered later in court by Roux, could not be immediately found in reference materials by The Associated Press. A spokesman for prosecutors later said it's too early to know what the substance is, as they don't yet have results of forensic testing on the material.

Pistorius, 26, said in an affidavit read in court Tuesday that he and his 29-year-old girlfriend had gone to bed and that when he awoke during the night he detected what he thought was an intruder in the bathroom. He testified that he grabbed his 9 mm pistol and fired into the door of a toilet enclosed in the bathroom, only to discover later to his horror that Steenkamp was there, mortally wounded.

Pistorius, the first Paralympian runner to compete at the Olympics, is charged with premeditated murder in the case.

The prosecution attempted to cement its argument that the couple had a shouting match, that Steenkamp fled and locked herself into the toilet stall of the bathroom and that Pistorius fired four shots through the door, hitting her with three bullets.

Botha said: "I believe that he knew that Reeva was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door."

But asked if the police found anything inconsistent with the version of events presented by Pistorius, Botha responded that they had not. He later said nothing contradicted the police's version either.

Nel projected a plan of the bedroom and bathroom in the courtroom and argued that Pistorius had to walk past his bed to get to the bathroom and could not have done so without realizing that Steenkamp was not in the bed.

"There's no other way of getting there," Nel said.

Botha said the trajectory of the bullets showed the gun was fired pointed down and from a height. This seems to conflict with Pistorius' statement Tuesday, because the athlete said that he did not have on his prosthetics and on his stumps and feeling vulnerable because he was in a low position when he opened fired.

Officers also found .38-caliber pistol rounds in a safe, which Botha said Pistorius owned illegally and for which he said the athlete would be charged with a crime. However, Botha also acknowledged investigators didn't take photographs of the ammunition and let Pistorius' supporters at the crime scene take them away.

Botha said the holster for the 9 mm pistol was found under the left side of the bed, the side on which Steenkamp slept. He also implied it would have been impossible for Pistorius to get the gun without checking to see if Steenkamp was there. Roux later argued that Pistorius had suffered an injury to his right shoulder and wore a "medical patch" the night of the killing which forced him to sleep on the left side of the bed.

Steenkamp was shot in the head over her right ear and in her right elbow and hip, breaking her arm and hip, Botha said. However, Roux later asked Botha if Steenkamp's body showed "any pattern of defensive wounds." The detective said no.

Botha also said the shots were fired from 1.5 meters (five feet), and that police found three spent cartridges in the bathroom and one in the hallway connecting the bathroom to the bedroom. However, later on cross-examination by the defense, Botha said he wasn't a forensics expert and couldn't answer some questions.

Police also found two iPhones in the bathroom and two BlackBerrys in the bedroom, Botha said, adding that none had been used to phone for help. Roux later suggested that a fifth phone, not collected by the police, was used by Pistorius to make calls for a hospital and help. After the hearing, Roux told journalists that Pistorius' defense team had the phone, but did not elaborate.

Guards at the gated community where Pistorius lives did call the athlete, Botha said. The detective said that all the athlete said was: "I'm all right."

He didn't hang up, Botha said, and the guards heard him uncontrollably weep.

"Was it part of his premeditated plan, not to switch off the phone and cry?" Roux asked sarcastically.

___

Gerald Imray reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Michelle Faul in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP. Gerald Imray can be reached at www.twitter.com/geraldimrayAP.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-offer-confused-testimony-pistorius-case-163838561--oly.html

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Engineering 'ghost' objects: Breakthrough in scattering illusion

Feb. 19, 2013 ? A team at the NUS Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering led by Dr Qiu Cheng-Wei has come out with an optical device to "engineer" ghosts.

When someone claims he or she has seen a ghost, the phenomenon may be caused by an optical illusion happening through a wild stroke of nature. But the actual engineering of such a phenomenon is the holy grail of researchers in the field of optical illusions, electromagnetic, and radar detection -- not only because of the thrill and excitement of being able to create a "ghost" but because of the implications it will have in science and applications.

Their research has opened up a completely new avenue for cognitive deception through light-matter behaviour control. This would have wide applications in defence and security. Their findings will also pave the way for the design of new optical and microwave devices such as those for detection and communication. The team will further develop this technique to make larger microwave devices to achieve radar "ghosts" and aircraft camouflage suitable for defence purpose.

Dr Qiu's paper, co-authored with and Dr Han Tiancheng (NUS Dept of Electrical & Computer Engineering), Prof Tie Jun Cui, Dr Wei Xiang Jiang (State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Department of Radio Engineering, Nanjing), and Prof Shuang Zhang (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, UK), entitled "Creation of Ghost Illusions Using Metamaterials in Wave Dynamics" will be published in Advanced Functional Materials in March 2013.

Their paper reported for the first time, the realisation of creating "ghosts" through optic scattering and metamaterials which are artificial materials designed with properties (which do not exist naturally) built-in. Their device is capable of creating more than one virtual "ghost" image from the actual object. The geometric shape, position and equivalent material properties of these "ghost" images can be pre-designed and controlled -- and are also able to appear in distributed places away from the location of the real object.

Doing a David Copperfield

The scientific community has always been enthralled in the creation of an illusion which can potentially transform an actual perception into a pre-controlled perception. So far, scientists experimenting with metamaterials in "ghosting" do not have much success in changing the perception of the real object, and define where the "ghost" should appear. They can only create one "ghost," in the same location (as where the real object is).

But Dr Qiu's device can create multiple "ghosts." It can also make the real object or person "disappear." The researchers can also determine how the "ghosts" look, taking on a different shape or size from the actual object.

Added Dr Qiu, "As our work solves several major issues associated with "ghost" illusion, we believe it will pave way for future applications of advanced optical illusion, camouflage, and cloaking -- in an interestingly new sense. Our work has enormous potential to enhance our ability to mould, harness, and perceive wave at will. I believe it can stimulate new thoughts of realising something extraordinary that is counter-intuitive."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National University of Singapore, via AlphaGalileo.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Weixiang Jiang, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Tiancheng Han, Shuang Zhang, Tiejun Cui. Creation of Ghost Illusions Using Metamaterials in Wave Dynamics. Advanced Functional Materials, March 2013 (in press) [link]

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/strange_science/~3/rTzs3mXmtl4/130219090643.htm

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