Dan Walters: California needs more than Proposition 31 to fix what ails it

California's chronic budget deficits ? even in times of economic expansion ? testify to its political dysfunction, which is reason to wonder whether a November ballot measure on budget procedures, if enacted, would have much positive effect.

California Forward, a centrist amalgam of civic, political and cultural elites, has proposed what is now Proposition 31 (the numbering sequence is subject to a pending lawsuit). It includes such changes as more public notice on legislation, two-year budgeting cycles and requiring any major new spending program or tax cut to identify an offsetting revenue or savings.

Political activists on the left and right dislike Proposition 31's provisions, which might be a good reason for others to embrace them. But the real question is whether they would truly move California closer to fixing its finances, or merely add another layer of complexity to the Capitol's already byzantine fiscal games.

Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/ walters. Follow him on Twitter @WaltersBee.

The history of dictating budget procedures via ballot measure is not encouraging.

More often than not, governors and legislators wind up putting together a political deal to do what they want to do and then dreaming up ways to make it legal, or at least legal enough to get them through another budget cycle.

Take, for instance, Proposition 98, the 1988 constitutional amendment on school finance that only a handful of fiscal mavens profess to understand, and rarely agree on what it means.

When Proposition 98 requires the state to spend more on schools than it has to spend, or more than politicians want to spend vis-?-vis other categories, they employ bookkeeping tricks to give the schools money on paper, but not in cold cash.

Routinely, the Capitol's denizens dream up phantom revenue and ignore spending obligations to produce budgets that are "balanced" on paper but have immense real-world gaps.

So why wouldn't they just ignore or work around Proposition 31? Most certainly they would, if the politics of the moment impelled them to do so.

The budget mess ? along with other long-simmering, never-resolved issues such as water, transportation and education ? is just a symptom.

California's budget process is dysfunctional because its politics are dysfunctional. They are dysfunctional because an archaic structure does not and cannot reconcile the conflicting demands of a very large and very complex society.

California needs a top- to-bottom overhaul that connects political decision-making to its unique social and economic reality and creates cause-and-effect accountability for those we elect to office.

Proposition 31 is akin to giving someone with a flesh-eating infection an aspirin to relieve the pain momentarily when the patient truly needs radical surgery or powerful drugs to stop the infection.

Source: http://www.modbee.com/2012/07/30/2303419/dan-walters-california-needs-more.html

lori berenson lori berenson the incredibles jon bon jovi dead new jersey plane crash kobe bryant wife bonjovi dead

How we decide (to falsify).

At the tail-end of a three-week vacation from all things online (something that I badly needed at the end of teaching an intensive five-week online course), the BBC news reader on the radio pulled me back in. I was driving my kid home from the end-of-season swim team banquet, engaged in a conversation about the awesome coaches, when my awareness was pierced by the words ?Jonah Lehrer? and ?resigned? and ?falsified?.

It appears that the self-plagiarism brouhaha was not Jonah Lehrer?s biggest problem. On top of recycling work in ways that may not have conformed to his contractual obligations, Lehrer has also admitted to making up quotes in his recent book Imagine. Here are the details as I got them from the New York Times Media Decoder blog:

An article in Tablet magazine revealed that in his best-selling book, ?Imagine: How Creativity Works,? Mr. Lehrer had fabricated quotes from Bob Dylan, one of the most closely studied musicians alive. ?

In a statement released through his publisher, Mr. Lehrer apologized.

?The lies are over now,? he said. ?I understand the gravity of my position. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers.?

He added, ?I will do my best to correct the record and ensure that my misquotations and mistakes are fixed. I have resigned my position as staff writer at The New Yorker.? ?

Mr. Lehrer might have kept his job at The New Yorker if not for the Tablet article, by Michael C. Moynihan, a journalist who is something of an authority on Mr. Dylan.

Reading ?Imagine,? Mr. Moynihan was stopped by a quote cited by Mr. Lehrer in the first chapter. ?It?s a hard thing to describe,? Mr. Dylan said. ?It?s just this sense that you got something to say.?

After searching for a source, Mr. Moynihan could not verify the authenticity of the quote. Pressed for an explanation, Mr. Lehrer ?stonewalled, misled and, eventually, outright lied to me? over several weeks, Mr. Moynihan wrote, first claiming to have been given access by Mr. Dylan?s manager to an unreleased interview with the musician. Eventually, Mr. Lehrer confessed that he had made it up.

Mr. Moynihan also wrote that Mr. Lehrer had spliced together Dylan quotes from separate published interviews and, when the quotes were accurate, he took them well out of context. Mr. Dylan?s manager, Jeff Rosen, declined to comment.

In the practice of science, falsification is recognized as a ?high crime? and is included in every official definition of scientific misconduct you?re likely to find. The reason for this is simple: scientists are committed to supporting their claims about what the various bits of the world are like and about how they work with empirical evidence from the world ? so making up that ?evidence? rather than going to the trouble to gather it is out of bounds.

Despite his undergraduate degree in neuroscience, Jonah Lehrer is not operating as a scientist. However, he is operating as a journalist ? a science journalist at that ? and journalism purports to recognize a similar kind of relationship to evidence. Presenting words as a quote from a source is making a claim that the person identified as the source actually said those things, actually made those claims or shared those insights. Presumably, a journalist includes such quotes to bolster an argument. Maybe if Jonah Lehrer had simply written a book presenting his thoughts about creativity readers would have no special reason to believe it. Supporting his views with the (purported) utterances of someone widely recognized as a creative genius, though, might make them more credible.

(Here, Eva notes drily that this incident might serve to raise Jonah Lehrer?s credibility on the subject of creativity.)

The problem, of course, is that a fake quote can?t really add credibility in the way it appears to when the quote is authentic. Indeed, once discovered as fake, it has precisely the opposite effect. As with falsification in science, falsification in journalism can only achieve its intended goal as long as its true nature remains undetected.

There is no question in my mind about the wrongness of falsification here. Rather, the question I grapple with is why do they do it?

In science, after falsified data is detected, one sometimes hears an explanation in terms of extreme pressure to meet a deadline (say, for a big grant application, or for submission of a tenure dossier) or to avoid being scooped on a discovery that is so close one can almost taste it ? except for the damned experiments that have become uncooperative. Experiments can be hard, there is no denying it, and the awarding of scientific credit to the first across the finish-line (but not to the others right behind the first) raise the prospect that all of one?s hard work may be in vain if one can?t get those experiments to work first. Given the choice between getting no tangible credit for a few years? worth of work (because someone else got her experiments to work first) and making up a few data points, a scientist might well feel tempted to cheat. That scientific communities regard falsifying data as such a serious crime is meant to reduce that temptation.

There is another element that may play an important role in falsification, one brought to my attention some years ago in a talk given by C. K. Gunsalus: the scientist may have such strong intuitions about the bit of the world she is trying to describe that gathering the empirical data to support these intuitions seems like a formality. If you?re sure you know the answer, the empirical data are only useful insofar as they help convince others who aren?t yet convinced. The problem here is that the empirical data are how we know whether our accounts of the world fit the actual world. If all we have is hunches, with no way to weed out the hunches that don?t fit with the details of reality, we?re no longer in the realm of science.

I wonder if this is close to the situation in which Jonah Lehrer found himself. Maybe he had strong intuitions about what kind of thing creativity is, and about what a creative guy like Bob Dylan would say when asked about his own exercise of creativity. Maybe these intuitions felt like a crucial part of the story he was trying to tell about creativity. Maybe he even looked to see if he could track down apt quotes from Bob Dylan expressing what seemed to him to be the obvious Dylanesque view ? but, coming up short on this quotational data, he was not prepared to leave such an important intuition dangling without visible support, nor was he prepared to excise it. So he channeled Bob Dylan and wrote the thing he was sure in his heart Bob Dylan would have said.

At the time, it might have seemed a reasonable way to strengthen the narrative. As it turns out, though, it was a course of action that so weakened it that the publisher of Imagine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has recalled print copies of the book.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a429e70123bf795a3203a4832ac7a81b

wichita brian wilson storm chasers david blaine derek jeter gotye bill cosby

Reclaimed Bricks | UK Home And Leisure Blog

Any home improvement project can be expensive, but by investing in salvaged building materials ? such as reclaimed bricks ? you can not only save a lot of money, but you can also create a wonderful, traditional feature in your home. Whether you?re building a floor, patio, wall or garden path, reclaimed bricks are the perfect solution!

Eco-Friendly

Reclaimed bricks are also one of the greenest building materials available ? recycled, natural and completely non toxic. Not only that, but they are also easily available in many local reclamation yards, such as DDS Reclamations.

There?s a huge choice of beautiful bricks ? yellow gaunt, York Stone, handmade red and wire cut, to name a few ? and if you go to the right reclamation yard they can match your existing bricks to ensure your new build complements your existing structures.

Brick Matching

Many older buildings were constructed from beautiful red bricks, giving them the charm and character that makes them so popular. The only problem is that should you need a repair, want to extend, or even if your property needs refurbishing, it can be difficult to find matching bricks.

Using new bricks can clash with the older bricks, affecting the aesthetic value of the building, but by using reclaimed bricks, you can uphold the traditional style of the property. It?s not always easy to match the colour, style and shape of your bricks, but in a large well-stocked reclamation yard, such as DDS Reclamations ? and with our expert team on hand to assist you with brick matching ? you?re likely to find the perfect match.

Reclaimed Brick Yard

At DDS Demolition, we take great pride in offering a wide and varied range of reclaimed materials, including bricks, tiles, timbers, and architectural pieces such as fireplaces and staircases.? And because we only ever stock materials salvaged from our own demolition projects, you can rest assured we can tell you exactly where they?ve come form ? and best of all ? we can offer you exceptionally competitive rates, because we have salvaged and cleaned up all our materials and pieces ourselves.

Why Choose Salvage?

People choose reclaimed bricks for many reasons, whether they?re trying to lower their carbon footprint, keep their costs at a minimum, match a traditional build, or perhaps they simply prefer the idea of using building materials that have some character. So, with all these reasons to buy reclaimed bricks ? the real question is, why not!?

The team at DDS Reclamations are always available to help, and with their expert knowledge you can rest assured of finding the perfect solution. Simply give us a call to discuss your project, or pop into our yard between 7.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, and we?ll show you around our huge collection of salvaged treasures.

Tags: Home Improvements // Add Comment ?

Source: http://www.ukhomeandleisure.co.uk/home-improvements/reclaimed-bricks/

Chad Everett London Olympics Kristen Stewart Rupert Sanders Photos BBC 2016 Olympics TD Bank earthquake

YC-Backed Newsblur Takes Feed Reading Back To Its Basics

Every few months or so, somebody will declare the death of RSS, and with it the death of old-school feed readers like Google Reader. Don't tell that to Samuel Clay, though, the founder of Newsblur, a web-based feed reader that's in Y Combinator's current batch of startups. Newsblur has many interesting features besides the pure feed reading experience, but at first glance, the web app feels like a throwback to the heady early days of feed readers a few years ago. In addition to the basic feed-reading experience, however, the service also lets you curate your favorite stories on Tumblr-like "Blur Blogs" which bring a strong social aspect to the service.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3b32YryWkm0/

gary carter died cmas cmas tcu dr. oz heart attack grill las vegas the heart attack grill

Humpback whales linger in Antarctica

Humpback whales spend their summers in Antarctica chowing down on shrimplike krill. Now, scientists are finding that these marine behemoths are reluctant to leave the Antarctic as winter draws near.

A new study, published online July 30 in the journal Endangered Species Research, is one of the few to count whales in the Antarctic autumn rather than summer and to focus on near-shore waters rather than open ocean. The results reveal that Antarctica's bays are a more important food source than scientists had expected. The study also suggests that later winters and less ice due to climate change could affect the whales' migration habits.

"Establishing the autumn density of humpback whales in the inshore regions of the Western Antarctic Peninsula is crucial for understanding the role they play in this rapidly changing ecosystem," study researcher Ari Friedlaender, a scientist at the Duke University Marine Lab, said in a statement.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

   1. Mother Nature's Olympians crowned

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: The Olympics is a time to celebrate the world's fastest and strongest humans, but you can rely on conservationists to put the best of human performance in perspective.

   2. Danes set sights on claim to North Pole
   3. A moth with a foot-wide wingspan?!
   4. Antarctic outpost sees season's 1st sunrise

Friedlaender, study leader David Johnston of Duke University and their colleagues surveyed the bays and straits of the Western Antarctic Peninsula between April and June 2009 ? when summer is already drawing to a close at these high latitudes. They used visual surveys backed up by tagging studies to estimate the density of whales near the Antarctic shore. [ In Photos: Tracking Humpback Whales ]

Humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) typically feed at high latitudes in the summer and then move toward the equator to breed in the winter. They were once hunted nearly to extinction, but have recovered in numbers since bans on commercial whaling have been enacted. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists humpback whales as "least concern," though they are still protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

It's not easy to get good counts of whales in the tight confines of bays and inlets, Johnston said in a statement.

"We had no idea that the whales were going to be packed up in these narrow channels and passages," he said. "We had to think on our feet a bit and use alternative sampling approaches and incorporate data from other portions of the project."

The result was a count of 371 groups of humpback whales over a 406-mile (654 kilometers) area of ocean. At their most crowded, the whales were seen at a density of 1.75 per square kilometer. (One square kilometer equals about 0.4 square miles.)

"That's higher than anyone expected," Johnston said.

That high density was seen in the relatively close quarters of Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica. The lowest densities were seen in more open areas, the researchers reported.

The findings reveal that humpbacks spend more time than expected in Antarctica before beginning their long migrations north to the waters off of Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and southern Africa to breed. Climate change could alter these patterns, the researchers wrote.

"The number of humpback whales we detected in these bays in the late autumn raises questions about the timing and frequency of migratory movements to breeding regions by individual whales," they wrote. "If the Gerlache Strait region remains largely ice-free in future winters, nonreproductive humpback whales could choose to remain close to large overwintering krill swarms and forego migration."

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48407880/ns/technology_and_science-science/

album of the year nicki minaj grammy red carpet grammy award winners the band perry grammy awards whitney houston autopsy

Cheney Criticizes Palin Pick; Romney Dances Around Isreal Comments

Dick Cheney came out and said what everyone else already knew. He said picking Sarah Palin for Vice President in 2008 "was a mistake." "That one I don?t think was well handled," Cheney said.?In an interview that aired on ABC's?This Week with George Stephanopolous, Romney talked about what it's like to go through a Vice President search. "I sort of think of it as there are two lists. There is the big list. And it?s got a lot of folks on it," he explained. But, ultimately, to get the call the person has to be ready to take office in an emergency. "And the test to get on the small list has to be is this person capable of being president of the United States, and that?s usually a very, very short list," he said. Cheney said the considerations that a VP could boost your chance of winning shouldn't factor into the decision making process. "I think that that was one of the problems that McCain had," Cheney said. "I like Gov. Palin. I met her. I know her. She is an attractive candidate, but based on her background ? she had only been governor for about two years ? I don?t think she passed that test of being ready to take over." The rest of the interview will air on Monday.

RELATED: Democrats Launch Offensive on Romney's Offshore Accounts

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

RELATED: Romney 'Looking At' a Woman VP After All

Mitt Romney appeared on CBS's?Face the Nation?to clear up his position on Isreal and Iran. One of his advisors made headlines yesterday when he said Romney would support Israel if they decided to attack Iran in an effort to harm their nuclear program. Romney was a bit cagier with his answers.?"I respect the right of Israel to defend itself, and we stand with Israel," Romney said. "We're a nation -- two nations -- that come together in peace and that want to see Iran be dissuaded from its nuclear folly. Let me use my own words in that regard." Romney said he was being careful with his answers because he realized he was on foreign soil, and didn't want to create any more controversy.?"Because I'm on foreign soil, I don't want to be creating new foreign policy for my country or in any way to distance myself from the foreign policy of our nation," he said. "But we respect the right of a nation to defend itself."?Romney said everything should be done to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and only after every other venue's been tried should we consider attacking. "If all those options fail -- and they have not all been executed, they've not all failed entirely at this stage -- if all those options fail, then we do have other options, and we don't take those other options off the table. But that's as far as I'm willing to go in terms of discussing this matter while on foreign soil."

RELATED: Joe Biden Calls Romney 'Out of Touch'; Paul Ryan Admits He 'Misspoke'

Romney was also asked about the?new?Newsweek?cover?that calls him a wimp.?"If I worried about what the media said, I wouldn't get much sleep, and I've been able to sleep pretty well," he said.?"They tried that on George Herbert Walker Bush," Romney said Sunday. "He was a pretty great president and anything but."

RELATED: The Best Totally Wrong Predictions of the Republican Primary

RELATED: Palin's Crowds In on Romney's Spotlight

Antonin Scalia appeared on Fox News Sunday and continued to say the mandate of the Affordable Health Care Act isn't a tax. "You don?t interpret a penalty to be a pig. It can?t be a pig," Scalia said.?"And what my dissent said in the Affordable Care Act was simply there is no way to regard this penalty as a tax. It simply does not bear that meaning."?Scalia also dismissed the reports saying John Roberts changed his decision from "no" to "yes" on the Obamacare ruling. "You shouldn?t believe what you read about internal court proceedings, because the reporter who reports that is either a) lying, which can be done with impunity because as you know we don?t respond, or b) that reporter had the information from someone who was breaking the oath of confidentiality, which means that?s an unreliable person. So, either way, you should not put any stock in reports about what was going on in the secrecy of the court," he said.

Dick Durbin doesn't think Congress can solve the debt problem in time for the November election. Remember last summer when everyone was terrified the U.S. was going to default on its loans and there was a huge battle to raise the debt ceiling? Yep, we're doing that again as soon as the election is over.?"Let me be honest with you ... in the next 100 days before the election, the political environment is not one for compromise and negotiation," Durbin said on CNN's State of the Union.?"If we are prepared, the day after the election to move forward with a plan that restores confidence in the economy and the ability of congress to react to it, it's going to be a positive thing for us. I think we can do it," he said. "With the president's leadership, we can come together. There's a bipartisan answer here that'll reduce the deficit and still create an environment for economic growth."

Sen. Kelly Ayotte hates that the President is planning on cutting defense spending. She said on State of the Union that she's appalled the President would use them as a bargaining chip in the debt negotiations.?"It makes me sick that some in Washington -- particularly some of the Senate Democrats -- want to play, and even our president, unfortunately, want to use our military as a bargaining chip," Ayotte said.?

Obama advisor Robert Gibbs used Mitt Romney's comments about the London Olympics to question whether or not he's ready to President on This Week. Gibbs said that Romney's comments about the London Olympics preparations being "disconcerting" were enough to "make you wonder whether or not he?s ready to be commander in chief."?

"Mitt Romney wondered aloud whether London was ready for the Olympics, and I think it?s clear that voters in this country wonder aloud whether Mitt Romney is ready for the world, and I think the world is not yet ready for Mitt Romney," Gibbs said.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

In case you were wondering how much is going to be spent on advertising in this election, someone who analyses media spending is putting the ballpark figure at $3 billion.?Ken Goldstein, President of Kantar Media/CMAG made the prediction on State of the Union.?"We?ll have over $3 billion spent on just spot, local television ? that?s in all races from dog catcher to president," Goldstein said. "When you add in cable buys and national cable buys, that number is going to be more like $3.6 or $3.7 billion."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cheney-criticizes-palin-pick-romney-dances-around-isreal-180053577.html

kirkwood chris brown and rihanna nightline brady quinn brady quinn bloom box fat tuesday

Safety is unlikely to improve without a transformational conversation ...

As the relevance of Leadership encroaches on the workplace safety discipline, so do supportive concepts and techniques such as transformational conversations.? There is little doubt that such concepts are applicable to improving safety management and worker safety, even if, to some extent, these concepts are old wisdom rebranded into modern lingo.? Safety conversations can, and should, be transformational but don?t think that this type of conversation is new or unique.

Transformational conversations have been integral elements of the language used by? OHS consultants, and small business people, (and?frauds)?all the time, mostly subconsciously.? By answer the phone or asking??how can I help?? you indicate that you are available to be supportive and helpful. It also throws the emphasis back on the customer/employer to?be more forthcoming with?information and reinforces that you are not providing/imposing solutions but helping the client to develop or refine the solutions themselves.

This is a crucial element of OHS law that the business community?still struggles to appreciate. Everyone wants to be told what to do, as this involves minimal thinking. But the days of prescriptive laws and regulations are gone and so the employer must be more actively engaged in safety decisions.? The persistence of this attitude can be seen within many of the statements made recently by Australian businesses in the OHS law harmonisation dialogue (I hesitate to describe it as a debate).

The principal OHS duty to establish and maintain a safe and health work environment remains with the employer, or PCBU so, it can be argued, unquestioningly accepting the advice of an OHS consultant is breaching these laws. The employer is supposed to be involved with the decision making, to be in consultation,?and not just handballing the OHS consultant?s recommendation to their operations manager for implementation.

When I assess hazards on site walks around factories, offices and?construction sites?I do not identify hazards for the client but ask the client whether they see any hazard. In this way, the client learns an alternate perspective of their own worksite.? Hopefully they also learn that the consultant or adviser is not there to do their job for them. The advice should be seen as a second opinion, not the first opinion. And certainly not the last. The ?last? is the client?s decision to control the hazard.

During sociological studies I was impressed by the book (I was too young in 1972 to have seen the TV programs) ?Ways of Seeing? by John Berger.? It is ?considered a seminal text for current studies of visual culture and art history? so is likley to have been missed by most safety professionals as most do not come from a Humanities background.? But this book, coupled with literary deconstruction and the analysis of novel narratives, convinced me that one?s perspective of something can be just as important as the something itself.? This new perspective on hazards can come from the application of transformational conversations.

One article about transformational conversations identified four ?unknowns?:

1. ?We don?t know what solution we?re going to get here.?
2. ?We don?t actually know what topic we?re talking about, what problem we?re trying to solve.?
3. ?We don?t know who we will be at the end of the meeting.?
4. ?We don?t know what kind of universe we will live in when we are done.?

These unknowns can be very threatening to the safety professional, and to a lesser extent, their clients but, I believe, are important stepping-stones on the pathway to safety innovation.

Transformational conversations are required in many social and occupational areas.? It is hard to imagine human resources and personnel management without this type of conversation, although it happens all the time and leads to many of the psychosocial hazards appearing in the modern workplace.? I would say that the successful rearing of children is impossible without transformational conversations.

This type of conversation should?become the default setting in any safety conversation in order to empower the client to reexamine their worksites and their system of work?so that they feel comfortable and confident in asking the questions that can lead to safer workplaces and safer workers.

Your leaders are learning this sort of stuff through their own personal development courses and by reading business magazines such as the Harvard Business Review.? By knowing what they know and what they are trying to apply to safety management, you will (finally?) understand what they are on about and, probably, increase the success of the conversational strategy.? And if your boss is not already on the transformational conservation pathway, you may just be able to move into a position of greater safety influence in your organisation or with your clients by applying this old ?new? technique.

Kevin Jones

-37.716384 145.006665

Source: http://safetyatworkblog.com/2012/07/30/safety-is-unlikely-to-improve-without-a-transformational-conversation/

toy story 4 toy story 4 big brother steam kristin chenoweth Robert Blake BLK Water

AT&T drops the price of the HTC One X to $99.99 on contract

We already got the nod earlier in the week that Radio Shack was dropping the price of the AT&T HTC One X to $100, but now AT&T has followed suit. Thats right, you can now head over to AT&T directly and pick up the mighty HTC One X for just $99.99 on a new 2-year contract.

The no commitment price sits at $449.99 which for a smartphone as capable as the One X isn't a bad deal at all. It applies to both colors, and is available at these prices on the AT&T website right now. If you've been holding out, now is as good a time as any. And, if you haven't already, don't forget to check out our full review before parting with your dough.

Source: AT&T

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/0Tb7ebVhLMI/story01.htm

cotto vs margarito 2 cotto vs margarito cotto vs margarito miguel cotto cotto ncaa bowl games bowls

Israel denies report Obama aide shared Iran war plan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli official denied on Sunday a newspaper report that President Barack Obama's national security adviser had briefed Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a U.S. contingency plan to attack Iran should diplomacy fail to curb its nuclear program.

The Israeli liberal Haaretz daily on Sunday quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the adviser, Thomas Donilon, had described the plan over dinner with Netanyahu earlier this month.

"Nothing in the article is correct. Donilon did not meet the prime minister for dinner, he did not meet him one-on-one, nor did he present operational plans to attack Iran," the senior official, who declined to be named given the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters.

Haaretz said the briefing was the most significant effort by high-level U.S. officials who had visited Israel in the past month, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to try to dissuade Israel from launching its own military strike on Iran.

The report coincided with a visit to Israel by Obama's main rival in his reelection bid this November, Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who was due to meet the conservative Netanyahu on Sunday.

Haaretz said Donilon had told Netanyahu the Pentagon was planning for a possible decision to attack Iran's nuclear sites, and had shown him some of the plans.

The failure of talks between Iran and six world powers to secure a breakthrough in curbing what the West fears is a drive to develop nuclear weapons has raised international concerns that Israel, widely assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed state, may opt for a go-it-alone military strike.

Israel has warned the West it thinks it is only a matter of time before Iran's nuclear programme achieves a "zone of immunity" in which bombs will not be able to effectively strike uranium enrichment facilities buried deep underground.

Iran says its programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

On a visit to Jerusalem this month, Clinton said Israel and Washington were "on the same page" with respect to Iran, calling Iran's latest proposals to world power talks on the issue "non starters."

"Our own choice is clear, we will use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Clinton said.

(Reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-aide-tells-israel-iran-attack-plan-paper-061444925.html

2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees full moon amber rose aubrey o day masters live johan santana

US planning for Future cars 2015 | Hybrid cars

future cars 2015

Future cars 2015 is invested in the very first time that was around August 2005 by Obama administration within the fund $2.4 billion for hybrid cars so that it invites many industries for American automobile could develop their electric and hybrid cars to discover the improvement for battery power. It is planned by Obama in order to get 1 million hybrids plug ? in for 2015 to help American automakers being competitive for world market. There are some points that you need to know about that planning, if you are considering to buy future cars 2015. The first is about requirement. It is a fact that hybrid vehicles grants however must be available for U.S. manufactures in order to make research, training, production and battery supported by extra money to complete the truck stop stations for charging and electric rail for accommodation of those cars in 2015. Second, the news is about the grant money and the distribution.

U.S based companies will receive grant money with the total around $1.5 billion in order to produce batteries within its components and also it could be expanded to be battery ? recyclable. For manufacturers that could produce components such as drive train parts, power electronics and electric motors, they will get award for grant money within the total around $500 million. The last for grant money news is there will be an award for which buying plug- in hybrid completed with all ? electric vehicles in order to test the demonstration for different locations around US. Of course, those grants is given based on the educating and training the work as the way to help the transition for producing these new vehicles for future cars 2015.

Third, it is about the recipients of grant given. For General Motors, they got $241 million as the fund to create battery packs that needed as the fuel for Chevrolet Volt. For Ford, it granted around $92.7 million to create hybrid cars within the components. Meanwhile, Chrysler got $70 million for producing plug ? in hybrid electric trucks and also for minivan. For the company that called as Navistar will get $39 million for the grant of building 400 batteries ? powered for trucks. The last is about training grants. There are some universities as the place for training research, technicians, and also service providers in order to keep the deadline for advanced vehicles so that this planning is rolling for future cars 2015.

Source: http://car2future.com/1772/us-planning-for-future-cars-2015/

summer time coolio daylight savings time 2012 ricky rubio day light savings time peter paul and mary edgar rice burroughs

Jackson move to Mayo could point to complications

CHICAGO (AP) ? Jesse Jackson Jr.'s transfer to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota could indicate a complicating physical illness arose during the Illinois congressman's treatment for depression, several experts in psychiatric care said Saturday.

The Chicago Democrat has been on a secretive leave of absence for nearly seven weeks, during which his office has released only occasional snippets of information, including that he was undergoing treatment for a "mood disorder" at an undisclosed location.

On Friday, the Mayo Clinic distributed a statement from the congressman that said he had been transferred there for "extensive inpatient evaluation for depression and gastrointestinal issues." The clinic would not release more information Saturday.

John Anderson, of the Associates in Psychiatry and Psychology in southeastern Minnesota, said people receiving psychiatric care are often transferred to the Mayo Clinic when a physical illness develops because both can be treated there.

"Mayo does an excellent job in terms of combining those, so they can treat what's essentially a dual diagnosis," he said.

He noted specifically that Mayo Clinic has a highly rated gastrointestinal department as well as a free-standing inpatient psychiatric unit.

Jackson underwent a procedure in 2004 to help him lose weight that involves removing part of the stomach and rearranging the intestine. Phone messages left Saturday for Jackson's spokesman weren't immediately returned.

Friday's statement was the first to mention a gastrointestinal illness, and it was not known whether that was related to his depression or an entirely separate medical issue.

The statement did not disclose where the longtime Chicago congressman, the son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, had been staying previously.

He went on leave June 10, though his office didn't disclose it until weeks later and has been mum on details ever since. Initially, his office said Jackson was being treated for exhaustion. But his staff later said Jackson's condition was more serious and required inpatient medical treatment. They also said Jackson has been grappling with emotional issues.

Under mounting pressure from his colleagues and constituents, his office released a statement last month from his unnamed doctor saying Jackson was receiving intensive medical treatment at a residential treatment facility for "a mood disorder."

The timing of his medical leave has raised questions, in part because Jackson is facing an ethics investigation in the U.S. House connected to imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that Jackson was involved in discussions about raising money for Blagojevich's campaign in exchange for the then-governor appointing him to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat. Blagojevich is serving a 14-year prison sentence for corruption.

Jackson was not charged and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Jackson faces Republican and independent candidates in November, though he's widely expected to win re-election. He first won office in a 1995 special election and has easily won each race since. His district includes parts of Chicago and some suburbs.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jackson-move-mayo-could-point-complications-172154571.html

barney frank barney frank rob gronkowski kim richards robert hegyes mary louise parker mary louise parker

Re-commit your life to health and fitness. ? Nexercise

Dog Walker

19 Jul, 2012

You?ve decided to make a change: you want to ramp up your exercise program to bring a whole lot more vim and vigor into your life with a new commitment to?health and fitness.

A recent news item on the?WebMD?site, ?How to overcome your fitness excuses and start exercising,? layouts an encouraging word or two on how to re-commit yourself to the inspiration?and perspiration?of the exercise life. The summary points are:

?I don?t have the time:??It?s all about getting into the habit with recommendations of at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week (World users spend about?16 billion minutes?a day just on Facebook.) ?No need to make drastic changes to your daily schedule. Approach your exercise program in incremental steps.

?I?m too tired:??It may not feel like it at the moment, but fatigue can pass quickly with a demanding workout, thanks to the endorphins and better circulation.

?I don?t get a break from the kids:??First?off, multitask. And we all know exercise is good for the kids, so take them biking, or to the playground and let them walk around with you. Soccer mom? Find a few minutes to walk briskly around the field as you watch the game. In addition, of course, walk the kids to school if you can instead of driving them.

?Exercise is boring:??Find the activities you love doing and simply do them: inline skating, dancing or gardening? Just do it. Even think about joining a sports league for motivation, or a group to go exercise with. Most importantly, mix it up and you won?t get bored.

?I just don?t like to move:??Try a few ?no-sweat? activities like swimming, or in an air-conditioned room. A low-sweat activity that?s recommended is yoga. If you have physical limitations, check with a local fitness club or physical therapist for ways to keep moving.

?I always end up quitting:??Don?t set unattainable goals to reinforce your successes?no one likes to feel like their failing. Hook up with an exercise buddy, or even use Facebook to post your successes as you progress.

It comes down to making that commitment to change our lives by improving our health; too, a little help from a?fitness app?will add a level of motivation?and fun?to the whole experience.

Source: http://www.nexercise.com/2012/07/re-commit-your-life-to-health-and-fitness/

dodgers sf giants rachel maddow gia la riots new jersey devils torn acl

Healthy Recipe Bunda: Foods: Steak, Mushroom, and Blue Cheese ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://recipebunda.blogspot.com/2012/07/foods-steak-mushroom-and-blue-cheese.html

faceoff kings island red hot chili peppers tour orange juice photos doomsday clock nate robinson

Video: Chanos: Hewlett-Packard in Declining Businesses

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/48232824/

demi moore hospitalized james farentino somali pirates navy seals navy seal team 6 tim gunn tim gunn

How RYA Courses Can Help You Realize Your Water Sport Dreams

July 18th, 2012 | travel and leisure

Tiller is an ideal example of training centres that provide a wide range of rya courses in order to facilitate sailing enthusiasts in achieving their dreams when it comes to pursuing a number of different of water sports. These courses are not just for people with prior experience but there are also some specifically designed to help out new comers in familiarizing them with the various sports and activities that fall under rya?s domain. The extent and manner in which each training centre carries out its training and courses tends to vary on a case to case basis. Tiller for example fuses classroom, practical and correspondence courses into a strong and comprehensive package designed to provide individuals as much exposure as possible.

The rya day skipper theory exam is designed specifically for individuals new to the rya. It is centered entirely on providing theoretical information in order to best prepare them before they are introduced to more practical oriented courses. The course provides an introduction to important concepts such as terminology, safety techniques, collision regulations, chart work, tidal knowledge, coastal navigation, piloting and seamanship. Upon completion of this course, certification will be provided ascertaining an individual?s ability and readiness to start work on the practical and correspondence courses. There are wide arrays of other rya courses which can also be adopted. With courses such as Yatchmaster Ocean and yatchmaster offshore, individuals get a more hands on experience of more advance sailing endeavours.

These courses enable and provide an individual with the knowledge and certifications necessary to ensure that they can take part in rya activities without a hitch.

Source: http://www.inntownmotel.net/travel-and-leisure/how-rya-courses-can-help-you-realize-your-water-sport-dreams/

buckyballs awake mario batali lone ranger aaron brooks dave matthews band solar flares 2012

Zuckerberg's Mortgage Rate is Now 1.05% - Real Estate Law - Law ...

Perhaps more astonishing than?Mark Zuckerberg refinancing a 1.05% home mortgage rate?is the fact that the 40th richest man in the world needed a mortgage at all.

After all, why would someone worth over $15 billion need to borrow money to pay off a $7 million home?

Well, if you can borrow money at 1.05%, you're basically borrowing money for free, reports Bloomberg.

So Zuckerberg would be dumb not to.

Zuckerberg bought his Palo Alto house last year and took out an adjustable-rate mortgage for $5.95 million, reports Bloomberg. An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) is a loan that's interest rate can rise or fall given market conditions. ARMs are usually contrasted with a fixed-rate loan where the interest rate never fluctuates.

The benefits of an ARM are that the interest rates can be lower than a fixed-rate loan -- as evidenced by Zuckerberg's 1.05% rate. However, should the housing market unexpectedly heat up, the cost for borrowing money can increase, causing ARM rates to skyrocket.

For most borrowers, this can be a problem, as that 1.05% loan can become a 6% or 7% loan. In fact, ARM rates skyrocketing is a frequently-cited reason for foreclosures during the past several years.

However, for borrowers who have lots of money, the adjusting interest rate of an ARM poses little risk as the borrower can simply pay off the loan when the interest rate is no longer favorable. For example, if interest rates creep up, Zuckerberg could simply pay off the loan with his cash on hand.

While Mark Zuckerberg's mortgage rate may be an example of the rich getting richer, the fact is that Zuckerberg is a near-zero risk to banks. His lenders are assured a return regardless of what the market does. The same can't be said for most every other borrower.

Related Resources:

Source: http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/07/zuckerbergs-mortgage-rate-is-now-105.html

b.i.g 1000 words ron white ron white buckyballs buckyballs awake

Booker Rising: Adrienne Ross: "Claiming That Sarah Palin Has No ...

Asserts the conservative Republican blogger in New York: "The political world is all abuzz with discussion of the fact that Mitt Romney has not yet invited Governor Palin to speak at the Republican National Convention next month in Tampa, which I covered here. I just knew the meme would be how irrelevant she is now, and I knew her detractors would jump up and down at the news. The truth is anyone with a modicum of common sense knows that no one wastes time writing articles about irrelevant people to express how irrelevant they are! The fact that they write about Governor Palin proves she's relevant."

Ms. Ross argues that Mr. Romney's own issues are to blame: "The GOP needs all the excitement it can get with Mitt Romney as the nominee. It also needs a true conservative message shouted from the rooftops to combat the leftist nonsense President Obama is spewing all over the nation. Who better for the task than Governor Palin? Hopefully, Mitt Romney and the GOP establishment will come to their senses, put egos aside, and do the common sense thing: invite the de facto leader of the tea party movement, the most recognizable voice for conservatism, and the only woman to ever be on a Republican ticket for vice president to speak at the Republican National Convention."

Source: http://www.bookerrising.net/2012/07/adrienne-ross-claiming-that-sarah-palin.html

final four 2012 bridesmaids winning lottery numbers megamillions winner kansas jayhawks mega millions results louisville

APNewsBreak: Calif. tests show lead in jewelry

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-calif-tests-show-lead-jewelry-070511491.html

2012 predictions new years eve ball drop new years eve times square 2012 2012 holidays prosperity japan earthquake bosom buddies

6 Reasons to Use Trim Capping on Your Windows

Caring for and maintaining your home can feel like a full time job at times. Some summers, especially in the heat of VA, it seems the chores are never ending, with weekly lawn care duties, as well as, yearly maintenance issues like painting, pest control, and keeping up on your home?s systems like the furnace, air conditioner, plumbing, and sewer infrastructures. But with homeownership comes great responsibility, and you know all too well that putting any of these chores off will only lead to heart ache down the road. What you put off repairing today will cost ten times as much tomorrow.

Some of the most prominent yearly, summer chores that steal the weekends away from homeowners all over the world is touching up paint and repairing stained and rotted wood trim on the exterior of a home ? especially window trim.

Although the main body of a home takes as much punishment from the elements as trim does, trim often chips more, stains, and starts to look more worn than the body of a home.

This is where trim capping for your windows comes to the rescue.

Window trim capping is made of maintenance-free, vinyl-coated aluminum, which is molded to fit the exact shape of your trim by expert craftsman. This is all done on site at your home, built to suit, so the finished product looks great. But just how does window trim capping save you from a summer of absolute boredom and labor? Here are six reasons why you should consider the vinyl-coated alternative to your standard wooden trim.

1.

Protect Your Investment: You spent a great deal of money on your home and you need to protect your investment. Window trim, like all trim, serves the function of keeping water out of the inside of your home. This means inside the walls as well. Even if you address problems every summer, damage can happen during the winter months when you might not be paying attention. Keep you trim in good shape and keep water out.

2. Never Paint Your Trim Again: Never painting your trim again means more time for you to enjoy projects that move the investment in your home forward, instead of simply keeping up with your investment. It also means saving money, which is a good enough reason all by itself.

3. No More Expensive Wood Repairs: The only thing worse than painting is repairing rotted wood that wasn?t painted soon enough. Vinyl-coated aluminum trim can take care of even rotting trim and keep your house safe from moisture.

4. Stain-Resistant & Scratch-Resistant: Trim capping is resistant to stains and scratches, meaning that once it?s up it will stay up without further maintenance.

5. 30-Year Warranty: Trim capping comes with a 30-year warranty so you can rest easy after it?s installed, knowing that you?re protected for many years to come.

6. Affordable: Compared to the cost of re-painting your home every few years and replacing broken and rotted wood, trim capping is the clear choice.

Source: http://small-business.ezinemark.com/6-reasons-to-use-trim-capping-on-your-windows-7d3794e1813e.html

cpac powell the last lecture kim jong un josh powell madonna halftime show linsanity

New findings expand Apollo observations of lunar atmosphere

ScienceDaily (July 16, 2012) ? In December 1972 the astronauts of Apollo 17 -- the last manned mission to the moon -- deployed the Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment (LACE), a spectrometer designed to measure and characterize the thin lunar atmosphere. Forty years later, Stern et al. built upon those initial measurements, providing the first remotely-sensed measurement of the Moon's gaseous environment from lunar orbit.

Using the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project's (LAMP's) far ultraviolet spectrograph aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the authors determined the atmospheric concentration of helium.

By angling LAMP's sensors towards the lunar limb and comparing those observations against measurements of the interstellar background, the authors were able to estimate the helium concentration of the near-surface lunar environment. They calculate a density of 7,000 atoms per cubic centimeter at 120 degrees Kelvin (-244 degrees Fahrenheit), the assumed atmospheric temperature. The previous LACE observations ranged between 10,000 -- 20,000 and 50,000 atoms per cubic centimeter depending on the time of day, increasing at nighttime and decreasing during the day. The nighttime decrease occurs because the atmosphere cools and contracts, yielding an increased density.

The authors suggest that the next steps should involve looking for spatial or temporal variations in lunar atmospheric helium. Such observations could help to determine whether the helium is produced locally by radioactive decay of lunar material or if it is formed from trapped and neutralized solar wind.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Geophysical Union.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. S. A. Stern, K. D. Retherford, C. C. C. Tsang, P. D. Feldman, W. Pryor, G. R. Gladstone. Lunar atmospheric helium detections by the LAMP UV spectrograph on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Geophysical Research Letters, 2012; 39 (12) DOI: 10.1029/2012GL051797

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/~3/MIUfHb0LIuY/120716214411.htm

sasha baron cohen oscars oscar winners the artist sacha baron cohen oscars the old curiosity shop jane russell meryl streep

LivingSocial to begin selling merchandise

NEW YORK (AP) ? Online deals company LivingSocial is adding merchandise to its offerings that until now have mostly meant restaurant meals, weekend getaways and spa manicures.

Beginning Tuesday, subscribers will be able to buy weekly-changing merchandise from LivingSocial's online shop. LivingSocial says the first collection of items will relate to a trip to the beach, with toys, blankets, tent gazebos and towels included. Other themes will include things for a backyard

The items, about 16 to 20 each week, will cost about $40 to $50 on average, but the prices will vary. They will all be discounted.

LivingSocial's larger rival, Groupon Inc., already sells merchandise. It launched Groupon Goods last fall, offering deals for electronic, household goods, jewelry and other items.

Emily King, the director of LivingSocial's shop, said the company has hired three buyers in New York whose job is to scour blogs, trade shows and showrooms for products "that are framed around a social and memorable experience."

Washington DC-based LivingSocial is privately held ? online retailer Amazon.com Inc. owns a small stake in the company.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-07-17-LivingSocial-Merchandise/id-e91bf7237bdf48338ef7f95b597b9b40

peoples choice awards deplorable mls draft khloe kardashian mark davis marine urination video hostess

Mayans May Offer Drought Management Lessons | FOX2now.com ...

(CNN) ? When anthropologist Vernon Scarborough and colleagues began their investigation of Tikal, an ancient Mayan city in present-day Guatemala, they only intended to confirm previous accounts of the evolution of the city?s water systems. What they found, however, could have consequences for today?s societies dealing with water shortages.

Taking advantage of the few months between 2009 and 2010 that the semi-tropical Tikal was dry, researchers had the opportunity to understand how preclassical and classical Mayans (spanning roughly 600 B.C.E. to 800 A.D.) managed to survive environmental and social conditions many haven?t, focusing on three reservoir systems: the Temple Reservoir, the Corriental Reservoir and the Palace Dam ? the largest manmade hydraulic feat in the entire Mayan territory.

When the Mayans initially colonized Tikal, Scarborough said, they had the luxury of springs as principal water sources. The springs were self-replenishing in large part due to the porous limestone composition of the landscape, which allowed water to get through the ground and into the spring.

With time, though, the Mayans were forced to accommodate the growing population by paving the land and building more housing, covering up the limestone.

?When you do that, you cut down the potential for recharging the springs,? said Scarborough, a professor of anthropology at the University of Cincinnati, ?but any rain that falls on that surface can now be moved into a reservoir.?

The Mayans were able to construct an extensive water system, replete with channels, tanks to store water collected during the wet months, dams to gradually ration water during dry months, sluice gates to better control water distribution and switching stations that controlled the directional flow of water. But their new system presented them with new problems.

With humans and drinking water crossing paths on the surface, the water was at great risk of contamination, Scarborough said.

By mapping the topography of the surface, creating trenches near the waterways and taking cores (undisturbed cylindrical strata samples of the sediment), the researchers were able to identify where sediments came from, and how old they were. Researchers were also able to confirm the past research and, more importantly, extrapolate that the Mayans didn?t just transport water ? they made it better.

Examination of the sediment cores revealed numerous layers of quartz sand. The researchers, who knew that natural quartz sand wasn?t a regular feature of the Tikal region, realized that the Mayans had most likely imported the sand to direct and filter runoff, making even surface water safe for consumption. Researchers know there was a silting tank (a sand filter) at the Temple Reservoir, and concluded they were likely at the other reservoirs also.

?You?ve got to have a clean water source, and we have one scenario now,? Scarborough said. ?But be mindful, it?s not going to filter out everything.? Based on his knowledge of similar societies in Egypt and, most recently, Cambodia, Scarborough believes that the filtration process was occasionally augmented by boiling water or simply drinking fermented (and thus cleansed) liquids.

?It wouldn?t take a stretch intellectually that that?s what they were doing in the past in a place like Tikal,? Scarborough said. ?The question is, to what degree.?

The real question, though, is whether these revelations about the past could have a measure of influence in the present or future.

?People say that history repeats itself, but we need hard facts to say that that?s the case. But I think our study could give us a window into that,? he said.

Scarborough, whose main research interest is the comparison of water systems between contemporary societies, believes it is important to determine whether societies without contact develop similar water systems.

?When you have different parts of the world with different histories that came to the same conclusion, you come closer to explaining certain kinds of behavior. And that leads to questions about answering sustainability,? he said. ?What kinds of lessons can help us in the future project how people will adapt to certain environments? That?s where archaeology?s most helpful.?

The thought, Scarborough said, is that knowledge of what worked for ancient low-tech societies might help today?s low-tech societies compensate for limited water access.

In order to do that, though, researchers will have to conduct experiments exploring the accuracy of their interpretations of ancient water systems ? and he wants to be a part of the process.

?I think we have the outline of how they did it,? Scarborough said of how the waterways were built. ?We have a blueprint ? but it would be advisable to tighten it up, to see if there are any nuances that we?re missing and test what we think we?ve learned. You want to be as careful as possible if you?re going to take a model and apply it somewhere else.?

Even if the systems do work, though, Scarborough said that not everyone will want it.

?You can?t just take a technology and throw it on some group and hope it works. Can this system, with present day society, be accepted? The question isn?t only about the functionality, if it works or not, but also whether or not it?s going to be received politically and ideologically by another group,? Scarborough said.

But Scarborough thinks further research is worth it.

?Humans have a short-term view of their future, and this is an opportunity to look at what we?re really facing.?

The-CNN-Wire/Atlanta/+1-404-827-WIRE(9473)
? & ? 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Source: http://fox2now.com/2012/07/17/mayans-may-offer-drought-management-lessons/

new years eve ball drop new years eve times square 2012 2012 holidays prosperity japan earthquake bosom buddies diplo

2012 NBA Summer League: Dion Waiters To Make Las Vegas Debut

The Golden State Warriors don't play another summer league game until Wednesday, but there are still seven games going on in the Las Vegas Summer League today for the biggest basketball junkies out there.

And today will be our first glimpse at Dion Waiters - reportedly one of the Warriors' primary targets in the 2012 NBA Draft - playing with a few of his NBA teammates.

SB Nation NBA's summer league storystream has more info and will provide updates on game results during the day, but the following is the schedule for the day:

NBA Summer League Schedule For Sunday, July 15 (all times Pacific)

? COX Pavilion
1 p.m. -- New York vs. Phoenix
3 p.m. -- Denver vs. Dallas
5 p.m. -- San Antonio vs. Atlanta
7 p.m. -- Washington vs. NBA D-League

? Thomas & Mack
3:30 p.m. -- Toronto vs. Miami
5:30 p.m. -- Cleveland vs. Charlotte
7:30 p.m. -- New Orleans vs. Portland

You may have already heard that Cleveland's Kyrie Irving will be missing summer league due to a recently broken hand, but as described already at SBN's Fear the Sword both Waiters and second-year forward Tristan Thompson - a player whose ceiling is still unclear to me - are intriguing young talents who could still make their summer league team interesting to watch.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SBNationRecentPosts/~3/o4txALYWKSI/2012-nba-summer-league-dion-waiters-to-make-las-vegas-debut

sopa marg helgenberger censorship wikipedia sopa and pipa bills censoring the internet blackout

FDA Approves the First Preventative Drug for HIV [Health]

Truvada is is a drug already used to treat HIV, but recently, it has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Now the FDA is approving Truvada for preventative use against HIV. This is a huge deal, considering 50,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with HIV every year. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-zjjALIjF0Y/hiv-drug-passes-fda-for-preventative-use

glen davis kobe bryant a christmas story prime rib ny knicks prime rib recipe norad santa tracker