Sunday, March 31, 2013

TN GOP outraged over ?Muslim foot baths? in state capitol ? otherwise known as ?sinks? (Americablog)

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Educational Programs and Engaged Customer Service ? HR Power ...

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Download the Show Audio Here

Guests:

Joanne Lakin

Director, Corporate Partnership Program

New England College of Business and Finance (NECB)

LinkedIn

High energy, results-oriented sales professional with extensive experience in business development, account management, and relationship-building in the Education and Healthcare arenas.

Joanne oversees the New England College of Business and Finance?s (NECB) Corporate Partnership Program in the Northern New England, working directly with Human Resources and Training professionals in over 200 existing corporate accounts. Her goal is to continuously grow the partnerships program to encompass all industries and create a diverse network of partners and students.

Prior to joining NECB, Joanne worked in product marketing management for over 20 years in leading global healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations, including Hewlett-Packard, Philips Medical, Wyeth Research/Pfizer, and Draeger Medical. Joanne specializes in all aspects of product development, including development of the product roadmap, pricing, global launches, product line profitability, lifecycle activities, development of strategic sales, marketing, and business expansion plans. Joanne graduated with her MBA from Northeastern University in 2002.

The former Chief Strategy Officer for the People Marketing division of McCann-Erickson Advertising and now serves at the Chief Experience Officer in his growing training and development practice.

Recently recognized as one of the ?best keynote speakers seen or heard? alongside Tony Robbins, Bill Gates, Al Gore and Marcus Buckingham, Ryan is a leading expert on culture, leadership and the future of work. He serves as a Sr. Associate with Employer Brand International, an advisory member on the SmartBrief Workforce Council, is a certified Human Capital Strategist and professional member of the National Speakers Association.

Deborah Sementa?

Program Chair,
Masters of Science in Business Ethics and Compliance

New England College of Business and Finance (NECB)

Deborah serves as program chair for the Masters of Science in Business Ethics and Compliance where she assisted in developing this new program.

She has been in the education industry for over 10 years and in the financial services industry for over 26 years, serving as both a regulator and a compliance officer. She holds two industry certifications, Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager and Certified Risk Professional.

For several years, Deborah was chairperson of the Eastern Massachusetts Compliance Network (EMCN), an organization with a membership of over 130 compliance professionals. She is former president of her local Chamber of Commerce where she spent many years on the Board of Directors. She was involved with the organization of the Chamber?s Charitable Foundation, where she currently serves as a Board member.

?

Dr. Carla Patalano

Program Chair,
CAGS degree program in HR Management

LinkedIn

The author and Program Chair of the first of its kind, fully online CAGS degree program in HR Management at New England College of Business & Finance.

With more than 17 years of HR practitioner and consulting experience in a variety of industries, Dr. Patalano brings a strategic business focus to the education of HR professionals. In addition to the CAGS-HRM, Dr. Patalano chairs the MBA program for the New England College of Business & Finance, and provides?consultation. Her publications and conference presentations focus on aligning HR with business and her interest in the study of Generational Differences.

Download Joanne, Deborah and Carla?s Audio

x

Herb Cohen?

Chairman,
Performance Connections International

Email

Download Herb?s Audio

?Chairman of Performance Connections International, a leading training and performance enhancement company best known for its work in employee and customer engagement, employee retention, and turning mission critical initiatives into results.Prior to joining Performance Connections, Herb has 25 years of experience in the HRD/performance improvement industry as a leader, founder, and corporate executive.

Herb was one of the original principles of MOHR Development, Inc., one of the nation?s leading training/consulting companies best known for pioneering behavior-modeling techniques in sales, service, and management development. Mr. Cohen then went on to become the CEO of MOHR Learning Systems, Inc., a specialty training firm and the nation?s largest retail training resource, increasing sales and improving customer service and organizational productivity for hundreds of retailers using state-of the-art classroom instruction and multimedia instructional design technology.

In 1998, Mr. Cohen became a founder and Director of Provant, a company offering the largest instructional performance improvement content in America. Also at Provant, Mr. Cohen took on the position of group President responsible for all Provant companies with an industry focus. A Maine native, Herb graduated from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Psychology.

Mr. Cohen served in the U.S. Army piloting helicopters and is a Vietnam veteran. Prior to his tenure in the performance improvement industry, Herb was a line manager at Melville Corp. (now CVS), where he was President of Miles Shoes, V.P. of Management Development at Meldisco, and V.P. of Stores at CVS. Herb is a frequent speaker at corporate meetings, training conferences, and banking and retail association meetings. Herb is a past President of ISA (Instructional Systems Association), an association of over 150 training, eLearning, and multimedia organizations dedicated to improving performance through training.

Source: http://hrpowerhour.com/educationalprogramsandengagedcustomerservice/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=educationalprogramsandengagedcustomerservice

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Affirmative action forever (Powerlineblog)

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Is Chris Brown Telling Drake To 'Come Out The Closet' On 'R.I.P.' Remix?

'If you started from the bottom, go on and come out the closet,' Breezy raps on Young Jeezy remix, seemingly referencing Drizzy's new single.
By Rob Markman


Chris Brown
Photo: Jason Kempin/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704656/chris-brown-drake-rip-remix-young-jeezy.jhtml

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

SIAM announces class of 2013 fellows

SIAM announces class of 2013 fellows [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Karthika Muthukumaraswamy
karthika@siam.org
267-350-6383
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Philadelphia, PA The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is pleased to announce the 2013 Class of SIAM Fellows. These distinguished members were nominated for their exemplary research as well as outstanding service to the community. Through their contributions, SIAM Fellows help advance the fields of applied mathematics and computational science.

SIAM would like to congratulate these 33 members of the community listed below in alphabetical order:

Randolph E. Bank, University of California, San Diego
Kaushik Bhattacharya, California Institute of Technology
Jerry L. Bona, University of Illinois at Chicago
Oscar Bruno, California Institute of Technology
John A. Burns, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Raymond Honfu Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Andrew R. Conn, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Benoit Couet, Schlumberger-Doll Research Center
Timothy A. Davis, University of Florida
Qiang Du, Penn State University
Michael C. Ferris, University of WisconsinMadison
Christodoulos A. Floudas, Princeton University
Michel X. Goemans, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew V. Goldberg, Microsoft Research
Alan Hastings, University of California, Davis
Sze-Bi Hsu, National Tsing Hua University
Shi Jin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University of WisconsinMadison
David Kinderlehrer, Carnegie Mellon University
Edgar Knobloch, University of California, Berkeley
C. David Levermore, University of Maryland, College Park
Marc Mangel, University of California, Santa Cruz
Hans G. Othmer, University of Minnesota
Haesun Park, Georgia Institute of Technology
Robert J. Plemmons, Wake Forest University
John Rinzel, New York University
Bjrn Sandstede, Brown University
Guillermo Sapiro, Duke University
Michael A. Saunders, Stanford University
Larry L. Schumaker, Vanderbilt University
Horst D. Simon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peter R. Turner, Clarkson University
Pauline van den Driessche, University of Victoria
James A. Yorke, University of Maryland, College Park

###

You can read further details about individual Fellows' accomplishments and citations at the link below:

http://connect.siam.org/announcing-the-2013-class-of-siam-fellows/

A full list of the 2013 Class of Fellows can also be found on the SIAM Fellows page here:

http://fellows.siam.org/index.php?sort=year&value=2013


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


SIAM announces class of 2013 fellows [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Karthika Muthukumaraswamy
karthika@siam.org
267-350-6383
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Philadelphia, PA The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is pleased to announce the 2013 Class of SIAM Fellows. These distinguished members were nominated for their exemplary research as well as outstanding service to the community. Through their contributions, SIAM Fellows help advance the fields of applied mathematics and computational science.

SIAM would like to congratulate these 33 members of the community listed below in alphabetical order:

Randolph E. Bank, University of California, San Diego
Kaushik Bhattacharya, California Institute of Technology
Jerry L. Bona, University of Illinois at Chicago
Oscar Bruno, California Institute of Technology
John A. Burns, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Raymond Honfu Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Andrew R. Conn, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Benoit Couet, Schlumberger-Doll Research Center
Timothy A. Davis, University of Florida
Qiang Du, Penn State University
Michael C. Ferris, University of WisconsinMadison
Christodoulos A. Floudas, Princeton University
Michel X. Goemans, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew V. Goldberg, Microsoft Research
Alan Hastings, University of California, Davis
Sze-Bi Hsu, National Tsing Hua University
Shi Jin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University of WisconsinMadison
David Kinderlehrer, Carnegie Mellon University
Edgar Knobloch, University of California, Berkeley
C. David Levermore, University of Maryland, College Park
Marc Mangel, University of California, Santa Cruz
Hans G. Othmer, University of Minnesota
Haesun Park, Georgia Institute of Technology
Robert J. Plemmons, Wake Forest University
John Rinzel, New York University
Bjrn Sandstede, Brown University
Guillermo Sapiro, Duke University
Michael A. Saunders, Stanford University
Larry L. Schumaker, Vanderbilt University
Horst D. Simon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peter R. Turner, Clarkson University
Pauline van den Driessche, University of Victoria
James A. Yorke, University of Maryland, College Park

###

You can read further details about individual Fellows' accomplishments and citations at the link below:

http://connect.siam.org/announcing-the-2013-class-of-siam-fellows/

A full list of the 2013 Class of Fellows can also be found on the SIAM Fellows page here:

http://fellows.siam.org/index.php?sort=year&value=2013


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/sfia-sac032913.php

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Taylor Swift Had Red Tour Sobbing, Squealing, Soaring In Jersey

Think you've been on an emotional roller coaster? Meet Taylor. She's about to show you what passion's all about.
By Emilee Lindner


Taylor Swift performs in Newark, New Jersey Thursday night
Photo: WireImage

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704572/taylor-swift-red-tour-new-jersey.jhtml

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TCL LE46FHDE5300

  • Pros

    Very affordable. Good image detail. Energy efficient.

  • Cons Oversaturated reds and greens. Sluggish remote. Only two HDMI ports.
  • Bottom Line

    With the TCL LEFHDE5300 series you get capable LED-backlit HDTVs at affordable prices?the 46-inch model we tested rings up for less than $550. Features are scarce and color accuracy could be better, but this set is still a good deal for the money.

By John R. Delaney

Cash-strapped consumers take note: Chinese HDTV manufacturer TCL has reset the bar for budget-priced HDTVs. We recently reviewed the company's LE40FHDE3000 model and gave it props for its overall bang for the buck, as the least-expensive 40-inch HDTV we?ve ever tested. If you want a slightly bigger screen, though, TCL's LEFHDE5300 series is a better choice. This line has 42- and 46-inch versions, and the 46-inch version we tested, the LE46FHDE5300, is notable for its $549 (list) price, especially considering you might be able to find it for much less if you shop around. It's not without issues, though, color accuracy is a bit off, and the remote was slightly slow to respond in our tests. And like most budget HDTVs, there aren?t many features to be had here. On the plus side, 1080p image detail is sharp and the set doesn?t require a lot of power. If you're on a strict budget, TCL is worth checking out.

Design and Features
The LE46FHDE5300 may be inexpensive, but it doesn?t look cheap. The 46-inch panel is framed by very thin (0.5-inch) matte black bezels on the top and sides, with a slightly wider (0.8-inch) bezel on the bottom. The only adornments are a shiny TCL logo in the center of the bottom bezel and a silver Power button off to the right.

At first glance the set looks extremely thin, measuring just 0.6 inches at its thinnest point. However, it juts out to 2.2 inches at the bottom where the down-firing speakers are embedded. The 25-pound cabinet is supported by a heavy, rectangular glass base that is sturdy but doesn?t provide any swivel. There are four VESA-compliant mounting holes on the back for hanging the TV on a wall using an optional mounting kit.

The right side of the cabinet is home to three rocker buttons (Channel Up/Down, Volume Up/Down, Menu/Input). Around back, facing left, are two HDMI ports, a USB port, and a headphone jack. Downward-facing ports include composite and component A/V ports, PC audio input, VGA video input, digital audio output, and an antenna/cable jack. As with the TCL LE40FHDE3000, and our budget Editors' Choice, the RCA LED42C45RQ, this model only has two HDMI ports and lacks any network port, Wi-Fi, or Web apps.

The set uses the same remote that ships with the LE40FHDE3000. It?s 8 inches long, with a glossy black finish and 37 non-backlit buttons. There are no color-coded keys, but it does have playback controls and a dedicated picture preset button. I noticed a lag in response time when using the remote to change picture settings and while navigating through the settings menus, an issue I did not experience with the LE40FHDE3000.

There are six picture presets: Natural, Sports, Cinematic, Vibrant, ECO, and Personal. Basic settings include Brightness, Contrast, and Sharpness. Expert settings allow you to adjust Backlight, Color, Tint, and Color Temperature. The Advanced settings menu offers an SABC (Screen Adaptive Brightness Control) option that, when enabled, changes the brightness level depending on the content being displayed. There?s also a Dynamic Backlight option that changes the backlighting level depending on screen content, and three noise reduction settings.

Performance
Using images from the DisplayMate HDTV diagnostic utility, a Klein K10-A Colorimeter, and SpectraCal?s CalMan 5 software, I performed a basic darkroom calibration on the LE46FHDE5300 and then measured luminance levels and color accuracy. The set produced a peak brightness of 255.73 cd/m2 and a black level reading of 0.079 cd/m2. The resulting contrast ratio of 3,237:1 is nothing to write home about, although it is higher than what we got from other low-cost sets including the Insignia NS-42E480A13, the Westinghouse UW40T2BW, and the RCA LED42C45RQ.

Color accuracy is sketchy, as you can see from the CIE chromaticity chart below. The closer the red, green, and blue dots are to their corresponding boxes, the better the color accuracy. (Ideally each dot will be inside the box.)? In this case, blues were very close to ideal, but reds and greens land well outside the box. As a result, the LE46FHDE5300?s picture is a little hot, or oversaturated. This was obvious while watching the movie Piranha on Blu-ray; flesh tones looked a bit too red, and Elisabeth Shue?s blond hair had a very slight green cast to it. That said, color accuracy issues are not uncommon with HDTVs in this price range, and are part of the reason you?ll pay a lot more for a same-size set like the Sony Bravia KDL-46HX850, which has extremely accurate colors.

Otherwise, the LE46FHDE5300 offers sharp image detail and moderately good viewing angles. There is some loss of luminance at around 45 degrees off center that gives the picture a slightly washed out look, but colors remain intact.

The LE46FHDE5300 is a relatively energy efficient budget HDTV, requiring 53 watts of power during testing, which is exactly what the much smaller (40-inch) Westinghouse UW40T2BW used, and only slightly more than the same-size Sony KDL-46HX850 (47 watts). The Insignia and RCA models used 64 watts and 67 watts, respectively, and both have smaller screens than the LE46FHDE5300.

Conclusion
If you?re in the market for a simple, inexpensive, larger-than-40-inch HDTV, the TCL FHDE5300 series has you covered. It delivers a bright picture and sharp image detail, has relatively wide viewing angles, and is energy efficient. While its color accuracy is not optimal, it offers a better all-around picture than comparably priced sets like the Insignia NS-42E480A13 and the Westinghouse UW40T2BW. That said, it still can?t match the overall picture quality of our reigning Editors? Choice for budget HDTVs, the 42-inch RCA LED42C45RQ.

Cash-strapped consumers take note: Chinese HDTV manufacturer TCL (The Creative Life) has reset the bar for budget-priced HDTVs. We recently reviewed their LE40FHDE3000 model and gave it props for its overall bang for the buck, and for being the cheapest 40-inch HDTV we?ve seen here at the PCMag.com Labs.? However, if a 40-inch screen just won?t cut it, consider 46-inch version of the company's LEFHDE5300 series, the LE46FHDE5300. This $549 (list) 1080p LED-backlit HDTV offers significantly more viewing area than its smaller sibling, and it?s a relative steal at just under $550 (or less if you shop around). However, it is not without issues; color accuracy is off and the remote is slow to respond. Like most budget HDTVs, there aren?t many features on this model, either. ?On the plus side, image detail is sharp and the set doesn?t require a lot of power. The 42-inch version, the LE42FHDE5300, is available for even less, and while we haven't tested that specific model, our tests based on the LE46FHDE5300 give a good sense of how it will perform. ? Design and Features ? The LE46FHDE5300 may be inexpensive, but it doesn?t look cheap. The 46-inch panel is framed by very thin (0.5-inch) matte black bezels on the top and sides, with a slightly wider (0.8-inch) bezel on the bottom. The only accoutrements are a shiny TCL logo in the center of the bottom bezel and silver power button off to the right. ? At first glance the cabinet looks extremely thin, measuring just 0.6 inches at its thinnest point. However, it juts out to 2.3 inches at the bottom where the down-firing speakers are embedded. The 25-pound cabinet is supported by a heavy, rectangular glass base that is sturdy but doesn?t provide swivel movement. There are four VESA-compliant mounting holes on the back for hanging the TV on a wall using an optional mounting kit. ? The right side of the cabinet is home to three rocker buttons (Channel Up/Down, Volume Up/Down, Menu/Input). Around back facing left are two HDMI ports, a USB port, and a headphone jack. Downward-facing ports include composite and component A/V ports, PC audio input, VGA video input, digital audio output, and an antenna/cable jack. As with the TCL LE40FHDE3000 and the Editors' Choice RCA LED42C45RQ, this model only has two HDMI ports and lacks any network port, Wi-Fi, or Web apps. ? The LE46FHDE5300 uses the same exact remote that ships with the LE40FHDE3000. It?s 8 inches long, with a glossy black finish and 37 non-backlit buttons. There are no color-coded keys, but it does have playback controls and a dedicated picture preset button. ?I noticed significant lag in response time when using the remote to change picture settings and while navigating through the settings menus, an issue I did not experience with the LE40FHDE3000. ? There are six picture presets: Natural, Sports, Cinematic, Vibrant, ECO, and Personal. Basic settings include Brightness, Contrast, and Sharpness. Expert settings allow you to adjust Backlight, Color, Tint, and Color Temperature. The Advanced settings menu offers an SABC (Screen Adaptive Brightness Control) option that, when enabled, changes the brightness level depending on the content being displayed. There?s also a Dynamic Backlight option that changes the backlighting level depending on screen content, and three noise reduction settings. ? Performance ? Using images from the DisplayMate HDTV diagnostic utility, a Klein K10-A Colorimeter, and SpectraCal?s CalMan 5 software, I performed a basic darkroom calibration on the LE46FHDE5300 and then measured luminance levels and color accuracy. The set produced a peak brightness of 255.73 cd/m2 and a black level reading of 0.079 cd/m2. The resulting contrast ratio of 3,237:1 is nothing to write about, although it is higher than what we got from the Insignia NS-42E480A13, the Westinghouse UW40T2BW, and the RCA LED42C45RQ. ? Color accuracy was sketchy, as you can see from the CIE chromaticity chart below. The closer the red, green, and blue dots are to their corresponding boxes, the better the color accuracy (ideally each dot will be inside the box).? In this case, blues were very close to ideal but reds and greens landed well outside the box. As a result, the LE46FHDE5300?s picture is a little hot, or oversaturated. This was obvious while watching the movie Piranha on Blu-ray; flesh tones looked a bit too red and Elisabeth Shue?s blond hair had a very slight green cast to it. That said, color accuracy issues are not uncommon with HDTVs in this price range, and is one of the reasons you?ll pay more for a set like the Sony Bravia KDL-46HX850, which has extremely accurate colors. ? Otherwise, the LE46FHDE5300 offers sharp image detail and moderately good viewing angles. There was some loss of luminance at around 45-degrees off dead center that gave the picture a slightly washed out look, but colors remained intact. ? The LE46FHDE5300 is a relatively energy efficient budget HDTV and earns our Greentech stamp of approval. It required 53 watts of power during testing, which is exactly what the much smaller (40-inch) Westinghouse UW40T2BW used and only slightly more than the Sony KDL-46HX850 (47 watts). The Insignia and RCA models used 64 watts and 67 watts, respectively, and both have smaller screens than the LE46FHDE5300. ? Conclusion ? If you?re in the market for a 46-inch HDTV but need to keep expenses below $600, the TCL LE46FHDE5300 has you covered. It delivers a bright picture and sharp image detail, and it has relatively wide viewing angles. It?s energy efficient, too. While its color accuracy is not optimal, it offers a better all around picture than comparably priced sets like the Insignia NS-42E480A13 and the Westinghouse UW40T2BW. That said, it still can?t match the overall picture quality of our reigning Editors? Choice for budget HDTVs, the RCA LED42C45RQ.
John Delaney By John R. Delaney Contributing Editor, Monitors and HDTVs

As a Contributing Editor for PC Magazine, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing business displays, PCs, servers, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for the past 8 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's...

Subscribing to a newsletter, constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. ');}} '); } }

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/StDWnQjH-w4/0,2817,2416903,00.asp

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Decimation of critically endangered forest elephant detailed

Mar. 28, 2013 ? African forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A study just published in the online journal PLOS ONE and supported in part by San Diego Zoo Global shows that a staggering 62% of all forest elephants have been killed across their range in central Africa, for their ivory over the past decade. The severe decline indicates what researchers fear is the eminent extinction of this species.

"Saving the species requires a coordinated global effort in the countries where elephants occur, all along the ivory smuggling routes and at the final destination in the Far East. We don't have much time," say Wildlife Conservation Society conservationists Fiona Maisels, PhD, and Samantha Strindberg, PhD, the lead authors.

The study -- the largest ever conducted on the African forest elephant -- includes the work of more than 60 scientists between 2002 and 2011, and an immense effort by national conservation staff who spent a combined 91,600 days surveying elephants in 5 countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo), walking over 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) and recording over 11,000 elephant dung piles for the analysis.

The paper also shows that almost a third of the land where African forest elephants were able to live 10 years ago has become too dangerous for them. Results show clearly that forest elephants were increasingly uncommon in places with high human density, high infrastructure density such as roads, high hunting intensity, and poor governance as indicated by levels of corruption and absence of law enforcement.

Bethan Morgan, PhD, head of San Diego Zoo Global's Central Africa Program, stressed the importance of this study. "This is the largest collaborative study of its kind across the whole of Central Africa and really highlights the plight of this ecologically important species. Forest elephants are integral to a functioning forest in Africa, opening up the forest floor and acting as a vital part of the life cycle of many plant species through their role as seed dispersers. We have increasing evidence of a decline in certain tree species as a result of the local extinction of forest elephants."

Distinct from the African savanna elephant, the African forest elephant is slightly smaller than its better-known relative and is considered by many to be a separate species.

Research carried out by the CITES-MIKE program has shown that the increase in poaching levels across Africa since 2006 is strongly correlated with trends in consumer demand in the Far East and that poaching levels are also strongly linked with governance at the national level and poverty at the local level. This has resulted in escalating elephant massacres in areas previously thought to be safe.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Zoological Society of San Diego, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Fiona Maisels, Samantha Strindberg, Stephen Blake, George Wittemyer, John Hart, Elizabeth A. Williamson, Rostand Aba?a, Gaspard Abitsi, Ruffin D. Ambahe, Fid?l Amsini, Parfait C. Bakabana, Thurston Cleveland Hicks, Rosine E. Bayogo, Martha Bechem, Rene L. Beyers, Anicet N. Bezangoye, Patrick Boundja, Nicolas Bout, Marc Ella Akou, Lambert Bene Bene, Bernard Fosso, Elizabeth Greengrass, Falk Grossmann, Clement Ikamba-Nkulu, Omari Ilambu, Bila-Isia Inogwabini, Fortune Iyenguet, Franck Kiminou, Max Kokangoye, Deo Kujirakwinja, Stephanie Latour, Innocent Liengola, Quevain Mackaya, Jacob Madidi, Bola Madzoke, Calixte Makoumbou, Guy-Aim? Malanda, Richard Malonga, Olivier Mbani, Valentin A. Mbendzo, Edgar Ambassa, Albert Ekinde, Yves Mihindou, Bethan J. Morgan, Prosper Motsaba, Gabin Moukala, Anselme Mounguengui, Brice S. Mowawa, Christian Ndzai, Stuart Nixon, Pele Nkumu, Fabian Nzolani, Lilian Pintea, Andrew Plumptre, Hugo Rainey, Bruno Bokoto de Semboli, Adeline Serckx, Emma Stokes, Andrea Turkalo, Hilde Vanleeuwe, Ashley Vosper, Ymke Warren. Devastating Decline of Forest Elephants in Central Africa. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e59469 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059469

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/nZ7F7Ebz8jc/130329125303.htm

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Investors wary of "slow panic" on growth after Cyprus rescue

By Mike Dolan

LONDON (Reuters) - World markets have reacted calmly to the twists and turns of Cyprus's financial rescue in the last fortnight but many investors fear the economic fallout is yet to come.

They have sold European assets, rather than make a global dash for safety that could signal concerns about a euro breakup.

Euro blue chip and bank equity prices, regional bank bonds and the euro exchange rate have all fallen sharply this week but Wall St stocks set a record closing high.

Mutual fund data released by fund tracker EPFR on Friday showed that European equity, bond and money market funds all saw hefty redemptions this week even as investors continued to pile into Japanese and U.S. equity funds.

Cyprus's 10 billion euro rescue averted an immediate financial meltdown that could have caused a Lehman Brothers-style shock in financial markets.

But it came with a forced shut down of the island's second largest bank and a raid on bank deposits of over 100,000 euros, that forced big depositors to become part of the rescue.

Global investors are worried that the precedents set in the messy rescue will strain bank funding, hurting businesses and the fragile regional economy and delaying any recovery.

Ben Bennett, strategist at British fund managers Legal and General Asset Management described the scenario of depositor fear, bank solvency and recession as a "slow panic".

"I don't think there's anyone who's woken up in a cold sweat at midnight wondering what assets they need to dump - this is much more of a slow grind," said Ben Bennett, strategist at British fund managers Legal & General Asset Management.

Investors are worried that the precedents set for resolving a bank's problems has pushed up the cost of lenders' funding.

If banks have to pay more to borrow they will be reluctant to lend to businesses, already grappling with a recession and difficult credit conditions.

This would hurt growth and questions about the ability of the bloc to shake off its debt spiral and the viability of Europe's single currency would resurface.

Forcing savers to take a hits also sets a precedent that may mean depositors in other countries withdraw money more quickly in the future if they hear of troubles in the banking system.

DEPOSIT RADARS

While the principle of bail-ins for senior creditors may have been flagged for some time the impact of the depositor exposure is a wild card.

Investors are looking for any sign that savers elsewhere in Europe withdrew deposits from banks fearing they might end up losing money like the depositors in Cyprus.

But it will be at least another four weeks before Europe's central banks release data on depositor behavior post-Cyprus for March and a fuller picture will take another month.

Until there is clear evidence, investors will be nervous, being led by anecdotal evidence and market pricing.

Euro bank stocks have lost more than 10 percent since mid-March to their lowest since September and default insurance costs on senior European bank bonds have jumped about 50 basis points over the same period to six-month highs.

While these price moves are relatively contained, the impact on growth of the higher costs bank will pay to fund themselves appears to be a much bigger worry for many investors.

The world's biggest bond fund manager PIMCO said last week it was cutting exposure to the euro currency and its chief executive Mohamed El-Erian told German tabloid Bild on Thursday that after three years of euro crises, recession on the periphery was hurting the core and "the costs are rising."

John Stopford, co-head of fixed income and currency at Investec Asset Management, said the confidence bought by the European Central Bank's promise last summer to do what was necessary to save the euro hinged on growth returning and policy finding a coherent tack.

The events in Cyprus raised questions about both, he said.

"I'm increasingly pessimistic," said Stopford. "It does seem to me the goalposts are being moved quite a lot at the moment and there's a danger (investor) trust will go again if they're not careful."

"There's a slow credit crunch going on where banks are having to strengthen balance sheets and events in Cyprus can only exacerbate that."

FEWER LOANS HURT GROWTH

Any problems in the banks would make things worse for the small and medium size firms that are crucial to economic growth and are already struggling to find lenders.

"The lack of funding to SMEs is clearly at the heart of the ECB's thinking at the current juncture, as a blatant and persistent sign that policy transmission remains significantly impaired," a Deutsche Bank report said this month.

The existing credit drought and ongoing fiscal austerity on business confidence has already been clear in regional Purchasing Managers Surveys that disappointed expectations again through February and March.

And beyond the surveys, positive euro zone economic surprises have all but disappeared over the past month.

"At some point does the cumulative pressure just precipitate a decision by countries to get out of here?" asked Stopford at Investec. "If you could turn around the economic dynamics, a lot of the other problems would look less challenging."

(Editing by Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/investors-wary-slow-panic-growth-cyprus-rescue-012924594--sector.html

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Spacecraft shortens trip to ISS

The Soyuz capsule docked with the space station after a journey of six hours

A Soyuz space capsule has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) after a journey of less than six hours.

The three-man crew is the first to take the quicker route, involving just four orbits.

The journey normally takes two days for a Russian spacecraft.

The arrival of Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and Chris Cassidy of the US brings the number of crew at the ISS to six.

The crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

After lift-off at 20:43 GMT, the Soyuz capsule then entered orbit and, using intricate ballistics manoeuvres, succeeded in cutting out around 30 orbits and 45 hours from the flight time to the ISS.

Prior to the flight, the shortened route had been successfully tested three times by Russian Progress cargo ships, which are unmanned versions of the Soyuz that transport supplies to the ISS.

The three new arrivals are due to return to Earth in September. The other three members of the ISS crew arrived in December and will leave in May.

Over the next six months the crew will perform 137 investigations on the US operating segment of the station, and 44 on the Russian segment, according to a statement from the US space agency, Nasa.

Nasa said that the investigations will cover human research, biological and physical sciences, technology development, Earth observation, and education.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21972804#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Friday, March 29, 2013

OUYA updates backers about launch titles, day-one software update

OUYA updates backers about what to expect, including launch titles and a dayone update

The OUYA Tegra 3-powered Android game console is having quite a day, but now that it's shipping, CEO Julie Uhrman is informing early recipients of what to expect when they open the packaging. According to an email sent out to Kickstarter backers this evening, their new box will have a software update required as soon as it's plugged in. After the Wii U we hope this isn't a trend (but fear it is) although the Ouya promises to take only seconds or at most minutes to complete. Also detailed are the 104 games already available from the 8,000 registered developers including Beast Boxing Turbo, Stalagflight, and Knightmare Tower, plus entertainment apps like XBMC and Flixster. The games are all free to try out, but a credit/debit card is required upfront.

We've already offered our opinion of the shipping hardware after a quick hands-on, although backers are encouraged to contribute their own during the preview period before it officially launches. To that end, the company is planning a Reddit AMA next month and will have its own forums available for feedback soon. Until then, you can get the rest of the info directly at the source link below.

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Source: OUYA Kickstarter

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/DhEwp0ts7aE/

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S&P 500 moves above its record high, keeps going

NEW YORK (AP) ? There goes another stock market record.

The Standard & Poor's 500 crossed into record territory Thursday morning, beating the closing high it set in pre-financial crisis days. Three weeks earlier, the Dow Jones industrial average beat its own 2007 record.

The S&P 500, a barometer that investors use to gauge how the market is performing, edged above the Oct. 9, 2007, record close of 1,565 about an hour into trading. At midday it was still holding on to the record, trading at 1,567. That was up four points from the day before, a small increase but notable for the milestone it obliterated.

Investors will be waiting until the end of trading, at 4 p.m. EDT, to see if the index can hold on to the record. Their reactions were more guarded than celebratory. Even as the S&P touched new milestones, investors noted that the U.S. economy's footing is still uncertain, and the European debt crisis still far from resolved. Some also are concerned that the gains are being artificially fueled by the Federal Reserve's easy money policy.

"Getting back to where we were is an important step," said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. But, he cautioned in a note to investors: "Markets are volatile, and if you are a long-term investor you should expect declines."

For most of this year, the stock market has zoomed ahead. A mixed performance over the last two weeks, thanks to the bailout of cash-strapped Cyprus, has been more the exception than the rule. Thursday marks the end of first-quarter trading, as markets will be closed for the Good Friday holiday. The Dow is up 11 percent for the three-month period, the best performance in more than a year. Last year, it lost ground in two quarters and was up 4 percent and 8 percent in the other two.

On Thursday, though, news about the U.S. economy and the European debt crisis was far from decisive. For every sign that things were improving, another said it wasn't.

The government reported that the U.S. economy grew faster than first estimated in the fourth quarter. But the growth, an annual rate of 0.4 percent, was still anemic. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped for the second straight week. On a longer time frame, though, jobless claims have been declining since November.

Investors are also uncertain of what to make of the continuing debt crisis in Europe. Portugal reported that its budget deficit widened. In Cyprus, banks reopened for the first time in nearly two weeks, after closing because the government was worried that depositors would make panicked withdrawals. The country reached a deal late Sunday for bailout loans from other European countries.

Like the Dow record three weeks ago, the S&P record reminded investors of a headier time. The last time the S&P closed above 1,565, in the fall of 2007, was back before the financial crisis imploded. October 2007 was pre-bailouts, pre-Great Recession, back when jobs were much easier to come by. Bear Stearns still existed. So did Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and Washington Mutual.

But by March 2009, long after the subprime mortgage market had been revealed as an unsustainable bubble and rumors were buzzing that the government might nationalize U.S. banks, the S&P had cratered from its lofty heights. It fell to its Great Recession low, 676.53, on March 9, 2009 ? down 57 percent from its October 2007 pinnacle. Now, with Thursday's gains, it has more than doubled since reaching that bottom. Including dividends, it is up 152 percent.

With the quarter ending, investors noted the records it had brought for the Dow. The Dow climbed for the first 10 trading days of March, a record not matched in more than 16 years. Its record since then hasn't been as impressive. The index fell on five of the last nine trading days.

Like other major market indicators, the S&P darted between small gains and losses shortly after trading opened Thursday. By midday the indexes were all slightly higher. The Dow was up 30 points, or 0.2 percent, at 14,557. The Nasdaq composite rose a point, 0.03 percent, to 3,257.

Among stocks making big moves:

?Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry phones, rose after surprising analysts with a profitable quarter and better-than-expected sales of its new touch-screen BlackBerry 10s. The company hopes to take back some of the market share it has lost to Apple's iPhone and other competitors. The stock rose 36 cents, more than 2 percent, to $14.93.

?Repros Therapeutics, a drug developer, shot higher on news that its potential treatment for low testosterone moved closer to regulatory approval. The stock rose $6.27, or 69 percent, to $15.40.

?Signet Jewelers, which runs Kay and Jared stores, and Mosaic, the fertilizer maker, were both up after reporting higher quarterly profits and revenue. Signet rose more than 6 percent, $3.97, to $67.24. Mosaic was up nearly 2 percent, rising $1.03 to $59.71.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-500-moves-above-record-high-keeps-going-152842263--finance.html

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Markets weighed down by euro area woes

LONDON (AP) ? Sentiment in the world's markets remained fragile Wednesday ahead of the reopening of Cyprus' banks and the ongoing political stalemate in Italy.

Cypriot banks, which have been closed for the best part of two weeks, are due to start doing business again on Thursday following an international bailout agreement that's caused jitters around the world ? but particularly in Europe ? over the safety of deposits. Under the terms of the bailout, Cyprus is closing its second-largest bank, Laiki, and raiding big deposits in it, as well as in Bank of Cyprus.

The banks will have a number of restrictions imposed on them in order to prevent large-scale withdrawals that would further dent their prospects and damage the country's economy.

While the uncertainty over Cyprus remained, investors were also growing increasingly cautious about developments in Rome, where center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani was struggling to form a government, a month after inconclusive elections.

"If a coalition that remains amenable to austerity can be cobbled together then Italy may limp on without a new crisis," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG. "However, if there is one thing the eurozone situation has taught us it is that it is best not to hope for the most sensible outcomes, or for quick solutions."

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 0.6 percent at 6,364.03 while Germany's DAX fell 1.3 percent to 7,781.12. The CAC-40 in France ended 1.5 percent lower at 3,694, while Milan's main FTSE MIB index dropped 1.5 percent to 15,265.43.

The euro also remained under pressure, trading 0.8 percent lower at $1.2759. The currency has been on the slide since a top European official said the Cyprus bailout may be a model for the future. Though others have since sought to dismiss that idea, the thought has unsettled investors.

Rising worries over the future of the eurozone was visible in the bond markets too. The yield on Spain's 10-year bond ? a gauge of investors' concerns ? rose 0.11 percentage point to 5.04 percent, while Italy's jumped 0.13 percentage point to 4.67 percent.

"Despite the efforts of various eurozone politicians to reassure depositors that Cyprus's banking bail-in will not be used as a template, they will find it difficult to re-seal the can of worms," said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.6 percent at 14,472 while the broader S&P 500 index fell the same rate to 1,554. On Tuesday, the Dow ended at a record closing high and the S&P just short of its all-time record.

Earlier, Asian stocks fared better as they rose in the slipstream of Tuesday's advance in U.S. stock markets, which saw the S&P 500 edge up towards an all-time high and the Dow rise to a new record.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 percent to 12,493.79 while Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index rose 0.6 percent to close at 22,464.82. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.2 percent to 2,301.26 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite rose 0.3 percent to 955.24.

Oil prices tracked equities after hitting a five-week high on Tuesday ? the benchmark crude rate for May delivery fell 59 cents to $95.75 a barrel.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/markets-weighed-down-euro-area-woes-171523760--finance.html

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Imaging methodology reveals nano details not seen before: Understanding nanoparticles at atomic scale in 3-D could improve materials

Mar. 27, 2013 ? A team of scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Northwestern University has produced 3-D images and videos of a tiny platinum nanoparticle at atomic resolution that reveal new details of defects in nanomaterials that have not been seen before.

Prior to this work, scientists only had flat, two-dimensional images with which to view the arrangement of atoms. The new imaging methodology developed at UCLA and Northwestern will enable researchers to learn more about a material and its properties by viewing atoms from different angles and seeing how they are arranged in three dimensions.

The study will be published March 27 by the journal Nature.

The authors describe being able to see how the atoms of a platinum nanoparticle -- only 10 namometers in diameter -- are arranged in three dimensions. They also identify how the atoms are arranged around defects in the platinum nanoparticle.

Similar to how CT scans of the brain and body are done in a hospital, the scientists took images of a platinum nanoparticle from many different directions and then pieced the images together using a new method that improved the quality of the images.

This novel method is a combination of three techniques: scanning transmission electron microscopy, equally sloped tomography (EST) and three-dimensional Fourier filtering. Compared to conventional CT, the combined method produces much higher quality 3-D images and allows the direct visualization of atoms inside the platinum nanoparticle in three dimensions.

"Visualizing the arrangement of atoms in materials has played an important role in the evolution of modern science and technology," said Jianwei (John) Miao, who led the work. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA and a researcher with the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.

"Our method allows the 3-D imaging of the local structures in materials at atomic resolution, and it is expected to find application in materials sciences, nanoscience, solid state physics and chemistry," he said.

"It turns out that there are details we can only see when we can look at materials in three dimensions," said co-author Laurence D. Marks, a professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

"We have had suspicions for a long time that there was more going on than we could see from the flat images we had," Marks said. "This work is the first demonstration that this is true at the atomic scale."

Nanotechnology expert Pulickel M. Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering at Rice University complimented the research.

"This is the first instance where the three-dimensional structure of dislocations in nanoparticles has been directly revealed at atomic resolution," Ajayan said. "The elegant work demonstrates the power of electron tomography and leads to possibilities of directly correlating the structure of nanoparticles to properties, all in full 3-D view."

Defects can influence many properties of materials, and a technique for visualizing these structures at atomic resolution could lead to new insights beneficial to researchers in a wide range of fields.

"Much of what we know about how materials work, whether it is a catalyst in an automobile exhaust system or the display on a smartphone, has come from electron microscope images of how the atoms are arranged," Marks said. "This new imaging method will open up the atomic world of nanoparticles."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University. The original article was written by Megan Fellman.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Chien-Chun Chen, Chun Zhu, Edward R. White, Chin-Yi Chiu, M. C. Scott, B. C. Regan, Laurence D. Marks, Yu Huang, Jianwei Miao. Three-dimensional imaging of dislocations in a nanoparticle at atomic resolution. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature12009

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/KCt2vVQ9aYc/130327144122.htm

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Amanda Knox to Be Extradited to Italy?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/amanda-knox-to-be-extradited-to-italy/

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Who really shot Bin Laden?

Despite renewed controversy over who actually killed Osama bin Laden, the one member of SEAL Team Six who could settle the whole thing -- and the man who may have actually pulled the trigger that fateful night -- may never speak out, according to new reports and a former member of the elite unit.

"You're never going to hear from him," the ex-SEAL Team Six member told ABC News. "I've spoken to him. He's just the type that doesn't care about it... [He] doesn't think he did anything special. He simply pulled the trigger when he was supposed to. That's why he'll never go public."

The al Qaeda leader was killed almost two years ago, but questions over who exactly took him down reignited this week after a pair of reports -- first out of the special operations website SOFREP.com and then from CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen -- cited anonymous SEAL Team Six members who claimed that the account of "the Shooter" featured in a recent Esquire magazine article was, to quote SOFREP's source, "complete bulls**t."

Both CNN's and SOFREP's reports cite a single anonymous SEAL Team Six member each, and both point out apparent inconsistencies in the Esquire account.

In the Esquire article, an ex-SEAL, who the magazine only calls "the Shooter," claims he and another SEAL, the "point man," were alone on the stairs heading up to the third floor of bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Before they reached the third floor, the point man saw a man poke his head out of the bedroom doorway on the third floor so the point man unleashed a few shots in his direction. The shots missed, however, and when the pair reached the third floor, the point man peeled off to tackle two women who were in the hallway -- a move meant to protect his teammates from possible suicide bombs. The Shooter, then, was the first to enter the bedroom where he came face-to-face with bin Laden, standing just inches away, and was the one who shot him three times in the head before he could get to a nearby AK-47.

READ: Bin Laden Shooter Reportedly Speaks: 'That's Him, Boom, Done'

That account is markedly different from the first SEAL account of the raid, as written by the pseudonymous Mark Owen in the book "No Easy Day," which came out last fall.

In Owen's account, Owen, the point man and a third SEAL -- since identified as Esquire's "the Shooter" -- all went up to the third floor together after the point man's shots from the stairway. But when they entered bin Laden's room together, they found the al Qaeda leader already down and bleeding from the head. The point man's earlier shots had apparently connected.

The two women were inside the bedroom when the point man, having deemed the downed bin Laden was not a threat, tackled them into the corner. Owen and the Shooter then fired a few more bullets into bin Laden's dying body. Only later did the SEALs realize who they had killed, Owen said.

READ: Former SEAL on Why We Shot Bin Laden on Sight

Clouding the events further is another account written by "Black Hawk Down" author Mark Bowden called "The Finish" based on interviews with higher-level military officials up the chain of command all the way to President Obama. In that account, three SEALs ascended the steps together but bin Laden was alive and standing in the bedroom when the point man entered. The point man tackled the two women in the room and the second SEAL through the door, who Bowden did not identify, was the one that shot bin Laden first in the chest and then in the head.

Bowden's book, which was still in press when "No Easy Day" hit bookshelves, later carried an insert deferring to Owen's version of events.

Esquire Author: Claims 'Extraordinarily Speculative'

The unidentified SEALs who spoke recently to CNN and SOFREP said certain parts of Esquire's Shooter account don't add up, such as the idea the Shooter knew bin Laden was a threat because he had a weapon nearby. They said that none of the SEALs knew that an AK-47 was nearby until minutes after bin Laden was killed when they found it during a search of the compound. It was stashed above the bedroom doorway, where the Shooter would not have seen it as he entered, they said.

In addition, the Shooter's detractors claimed the men on the mission had been told to try not shoot bin Laden in the head for identification purposes, meaning the Shooter either ignored that directive when he was just feet from his target, or, in their opinion, it was more likely the point man's shots were the ones that killed bin Laden well before the SEALs knew who it was they had hit.

Phil Bronstein, the executive chairman of the Center for Investigative Reporting and author of the Esquire article, told ABC News Wednesday he "absolutely" stands by his original story and said arguments like those made by the other SEALs are "extraordinarily speculative... about what they would've done, what they shouldn't have done."

Bronstein also referred ABC News to Wednesday's statement from Esquire's Editor in Chief, David Granger, which defended the Esquire story, saying that facts of the original article had been vetted by SEAL Team Six members.

"Multiple members of SEAL Team Six confirmed the Shooter was one of those two [first on the top floor] and reported to us that it was known within the unit that the Shooter had fired the fatal shots," Granger wrote. "Other individuals briefed on the mission confirmed this to us."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Special Operations Command, which oversees the Joint Special Operations Command that launched the raid, told ABC News the command wouldn't be the one to settle the controversy anytime soon. He declined to comment on operations and said the official version of events probably wouldn't be declassified for more than two decades.

That leaves the point man, the only person in the room when bin Laden breathed his last who hasn't spoken publicly, to throw his hat in the ring. And according to the CNN and SOFREP reports and the ex-SEAL with whom ABC News spoke, he's not the type to trade the special warfare shadows for the media spotlight. Not "in a million years," the CNN report said.

One thing every account does agree on is that the point man was one of the heroes of that night for risking his life to tackle the two women closest to bin Laden.

"If either woman had on a suicide vest, he probably saved our lives, but it would've cost him his," Owen wrote in "No Easy Day." "It was a selfless decision made in a split second."

"He thought he was going to absorb the blast of suicide vests; he was going to kill himself so I could get the shot. It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen," the Shooter said in Esquire.

CLICK HERE to return to The Investigative Unit homepage.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-seal-could-settle-bin-154506551.html

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Supreme Court Arguments Leave Anti-Gay Movement Humiliated: Salon

Salon:

It didn?t take long for the empty truth about the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act to be exposed Wednesday, and there was little equality opponents could do. At the Supreme Court hearing, Elena Kagan, the newest justice, went to the House Report from Congress when it passed the law in 1996, and summarized DOMA?s entire legal underpinning: ?Congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality.?

Read the whole story at Salon

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/supreme-court_n_2970349.html

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Red Equal Sign on Facebook & Twitter: What Does it Mean?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/red-equal-sign-on-facebook-and-twitter-what-does-it-mean/

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Lindsay Lohan: "Colossal Pain in the Ass" on Anger Management Set

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/lindsay-lohan-colossal-pain-in-the-ass-on-anger-management-set/

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Inside MTC: Feature: Joanna Murray-Smith

Life moves fast on-stage and off for playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, as Stephanie Convery discovered.

Joanna Murray-Smith is having a busy year. The hotly-anticipated premiere of her new romantic comedy True Minds at our own Sumner Theatre notwithstanding, she is also premiering new work at Sydney Theatre Company and a new adaptation of Hedda Gabler over at STCSA. Three premieres back-to-back this April. How on earth does she find time to write, I wonder? Well, sometimes, she doesn?t.

?I?m in a particularly dynamic period right now,? she explains to me over the phone. ?There?s very little time for writing because I?m busily fixing, dealing with casting issues and preparations for the different rehearsal periods. Last year was more about writing, but even then every day is different.?

I am always interested in hearing about other writers? creative processes. ?Could you talk me through a typical writing day for you?? I ask.

She laughs. ?There is no typical writing day for me,? she says. ?It?s an absolutely crazy mix of domestic demands, panic, exhaustion, exhilaration, travel, children, rehearsals. So that?s not to say there aren?t stretches of time where I?m getting up in the morning and distilling down and writing, but generally speaking there?s no real pattern to my day. And that?s especially true of the next six months.?

Her overseas success continues unabated, too. The Gift which MTC premiered in 2011, opened at the Geffen Theatre in the United States in January. But this isn?t something she thinks about when she sits down to write.

?The more that my plays have been done overseas the more aware I guess I am of the potential for the plays to go offshore,? she says. ?But I can?t say that I ever skew a play to try and satisfy a foreign market.?

The universal appeal of a play, she suggests, is the humanity of it. ?If the plays are about classic aspects of what it is to be human ? about love, competition, envy, regret, mortality, suffering, desire ? all those fundamental elements of what it is to be human, then I think you can do a play anywhere.?

Her latest play, True Minds?is light-hearted fare: a romantic comedy inspired in many ways by Preston Sturges-type screwball movies from the 1930s and 40s.

?I love those very quick-witted, quick-spoken, not particularly profane ? and perhaps not even profound ? but delightful entertainments. You can see which two are going to end up together, but the pleasure is in seeing what they have to go through in order to reach that ending.?

Part of the pleasure of the script is indeed the sharp, snappy dialogue between two old political foes. However, the role that politics plays in her work, she suggests, is more unconscious than anything.

?Anyone who argues any position too strenuously always seems to me to be ripe for parody,? she muses. ?The extremes of the right and left to me are equally ridiculous. My parents were very political in their early lives ? in fact, their early lives were completely dominated by it. But by the time I was born, they were extremely cynical about hard-line politics and that was the context in which I grew up.

?[The politics] is, of course, extremely comedic in True Minds,? she says ?but I think the theme of human willingness to believe in a particular ideology at the expense of truth ? particularly at the expense of emotional truth ? is something that comes up again and again in my work.?

You can watch Joanna introduce the plot for True Minds in the video below, taken at our 2013 Season Launch event.


True Minds is playing at Southbank Theatre, the Sumner from 25 April to 8 June.?

This post is an excerpt from an article that first appeared in our subscriber newsletter, Scenes.

Source: http://www.insidemtc.com/2013/03/feature-joanna-murray-smith.html

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