Mad Men, Season 6

I was pretty certain the MLK assassination would happen this season. I might have predicted it would occasion an episode about race. Instead, the show went small: A national tragedy became a platform for characters to ponder domestic themes. They turned inward to huddle with kin, fret over family.

Pete Campbell wants to go home when he hears the news, or he wants to utilize the news to strong-arm Trudy into taking him back. But Trudy won?t have it. And so Pete is driven to weirdly declare that the important thing to consider here is the fact that Dr. King had four children.?

Ginsberg hears the radio report while out on a date. And then flees home?though it seems he might soon ditch the odd-couple routine he?s been trapped in with his father. I think the love of a good woman might well soothe Ginsberg?s neuroses. And tidy up his wardrobe. Not the suavest first-date moves from the kid, but sometimes a fellow can evince so little game that it somehow turns into a weird form of game. (Meanwhile, this schoolteacher is fetching times four, and I am firmly in favor of her taking Ginsberg?s virginity.)

For Peggy, an attempt to purchase a house (her agent?s theory: when there?s blood on the streets, buy property) is paired with consternation over what kind of home it might be. When Abe abandons her to cover potential riots in Harlem, Peggy is left standing alone in the lobby of the Ad Club awards show?looking on enviously as Megan is comforted by Don. Later, she fears Abe?s checked out of the home-buying process entirely. But it turns out Abe not only cares, he has very specific requests: No to the UES. Yes to the UWS. Diverse neighborhood, please. And?putting a dazzle in Peggy?s eyes?Abe would like to have kids! I?ve never seen Peggy happier. I am eager to follow her quest to have it all (mom, breadwinner, supporter of starving journalist) as well as her real estate hunt. She?s already missed on a 2BR/1.5BA on York with outdoor space for under $30K. I?m seeing a brownstone in her future.

At the Francis abode, Henry is disenchanted with Mayor Lindsay and ready to strike out on his own as a state senator. Meanwhile, Betty is again bringing the dramz. Her response to a political assassination is to try on cute dresses and nurture her husband?s urge to up his public profile. When Bobby picks at his bedroom wallpaper, she launches into a???Why are you destroying this house?? rant. It can?t be easy for Bobby. People are burning down buildings all over the country, yet he?s the one accused of property destruction.

I?ve sensed brewing?Mad Men?backlash this season. Some whine that the plots are slow. Some argue that the advancing era doesn?t lend itself as well to stylish art direction. But the most common complaint I?ve heard is that Don Draper has failed to progress as a character and is congealing into a grim, awful man. I actually find that a fascinating development?I?m impressed by a show that, steadily over the course of several seasons, manages to turn a sexy pop culture heartthrob into a figure both reviled and pitied. And in this episode, I felt, we saw Don evolve in unexpected ways.

First, there was the remarkable,?Philip Larkin-esque?soliloquy in which Don alludes to his horrific childhood and, thanks to a double dose of?Planet of the Apes?(a movie which hinted at concerns over the kind of world 1960s adults would be handing to their kids), discovers that he actually loves his own son. Don?s feeling pretty good about himself?in a narcissistic way. Then he realizes the father figure in his boy?s life is in fact Henry Francis, a man who may not be important enough to get shot but sure is important to Bobby. We close on some Batman-level brooding, Don on his balcony in the dark night, sirens wailing. Thank goodness "Cat?s in the Cradle"?wasn?t released until 1974, or I fear it might have been our fadeout tune.

How do you two rate the handling of this major historical event we?d been anticipating? Still seemed to treat race rather obliquely. I thought it was interesting that Joan?so socially adept in the past?was given that cringemaking, white guilt moment in which she hugs Dawn, unsolicited.

And what was going on with the tweaked-out insurance guy? At first, I thought?Ethan fromLost?had shown up to make more cryptic pronouncements. But it seems even insurance guys are getting groovy these days, questioning the whole property thing, man.

You maniacs, you blew it up,

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=74dded62df3259f03835354e6dabb5f1

michael jordan Safe Haven Robbie Rogers WWE Rita Ora Meteor Russia jay z

Leadership emerges spontaneously during games

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Video game and augmented-reality game players can spontaneously build virtual teams and leadership structures without special tools or guidance, according to researchers.

Players in a game that mixed real and online worlds organized and operated in teams that resembled a military organization with only rudimentary online tools available and almost no military background, said Tamara Peyton, doctoral student in information sciences and technology, Penn State.

"The fact that they formed teams and interacted as well as they did may mean that game designers should resist over-designing the leadership structures," said Peyton. "If you don't design the leadership structures well, you shouldn't design them at all and, instead, let the players figure it out."

Peyton, who worked with Alyson Young, graduate student in information systems, and Wayne Lutters, associate professor of information systems, both at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said that the players quickly adopted a leadership structure that resembled the U.S. military's leadership hierarchy.

"One of the surprising things is that although the people in the game were not related in any way to the military, many of the teams organized along military lines, from designations to filing situation reports," said Peyton.

The researchers, who presented their findings at the 2013 Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris today (April 29), examined 54,000 posts of 2,500 players who took part in the I Love Bees game. Microsoft released the game in 2004 as part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the release of the company's Halo 2 video game. The object of the I Love Bees game was to decode messages from a beekeeper's website that was supposedly hacked by aliens. The coded messages revealed geographic coordinates of real pay telephones situated throughout the United States. Players then waited at those payphones for calls that contained more clues.

Because the game did not have a leadership infrastructure, players established their own websites and online forums on other websites to discuss structure, strategy and tactics.

A group of gamers from Washington, D.C., one of the most successful groups in the game, established an organization with a general and groups of lieutenants and privates. The numbers of members in each rank were roughly proportional to the amount of soldiers who fill out ranks in the U.S. military, Peyton said.

The players assigned their own ranks, rather than have ranks dictated to them. The general oversaw the strategy, while lieutenants mostly handled specific tactics for accomplishing the strategy. The privates carried out orders from the lieutenants.

As the game progressed, members researched military terminology and frequently used terms, such as armies, platoons and companies, in their message board posts. Peyton said that the increased militarization after 9/11 may have influenced this choice in terminology.

"The concept of militarization is more of a part of the collective imagination now, post 9/11," Peyton said.

Peyton said the study also shows the power of games to inspire people to work.

"These people did all of this work with no tangible reward, no promise of a free game, or anything," said Peyton. "The strict line between work and leisure is disappearing."

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 Penn State, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/n8n3etHbO7s/130429102413.htm

turkey Pumpkin Pie Recipe wii u wii u American Music Awards turkey brine Imessage Not Working

Fertilizers provide mixed benefits to soil in 50-year study

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Fertilizing with inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus definitely improves crop yields, but does it also improve the soil?

The latest study to tackle this question has yielded mixed results. While 50 years of inorganic fertilization did increase soil organic carbon stocks in a long-term experiment in western Kansas, the practice seemingly failed to enhance soil aggregate stability -- a key indicator of soil structural quality that helps dictate how water moves through soil and soil's resistance to erosion.

The results of the research, which was carried out in continuous corn that was also irrigated and conventionally tilled, were somewhat surprising to lead author Humberto Blanco, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln soil physicist. The findings appear in the May-June issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality.

Fertilization typically leaves behind more crop residues in fields, he explains, which in turn can boost soil organic carbon levels. But unexpectedly in this case, "we didn't see improvement in soil aggregate stability even though soil organic carbon concentration increased," Blanco says, noting that soil particles usually bind together more strongly in aggregates as soil organic carbon concentrations rise.

He cautions, however, that more research is needed over a wider range of management and climatic conditions, particularly since studies of fertilizers' impacts on soil structural properties, such as aggregate stability, are currently few.

"Definitely the effects of inorganic fertilizer application on soil properties will depend on tillage and cropping systems," Blanco says. "So we need to look at this in other long-term experiments."

In the present study, he and co-author Alan Schlegel studied a randomized and replicated experiment that was set up in 1961 at Kansas State University's Southwest Research-Extension Center in Tribune. The experimental plots of irrigated and tilled (disk/chisel) continuous corn have received six different rates of ammonium nitrate fertilizer (range 0 to 200 pounds/acre) for 50 years. The plots also received two rates of triple superphosphate fertilizer (0 and 18 pounds/acre) for 50 years, and a higher phosphorus rate (36 lb/acre) for 19 years.

Growing corn continuously under conventional tillage and with high inputs of water and fertilizer may seem outmoded, but this management system is "not uncommon," as demand for corn grain and crop residues grow, Blanco says.

When he tested soils from the experimental plots, he saw soil organic carbon concentrations rise gradually with increases in nitrogen fertilization at soil depths from 0 to 6 inches, although not at deeper ones. Similarly, phosphorus fertilization increased soil organic carbon at depths of 0 to 3 inches and 6 to 12 inches.

But Blanco observed a different trend in soil aggregate stability, especially when nitrogen and phosphorus were applied together at high rates. At a depth of three to 12 inches, for example, adding more than 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre reduced the number of stable soil aggregates by 1.5 times when no phosphorus was applied, by 2.1 times at 18 pounds of phosphorus/acre, and by 2.5 times at 36 pounds of phosphorus/acre.

Blanco can't say for certain why this occurred, but he has some hypotheses. Some studies suggest that adding fertilizers rich in ammonium ions may cause soil particles to disperse rather than aggregate, thereby offsetting any positive effects of increased soil organic carbon content. Because tillage periodically disturbs the soil, it may also negate any benefits of fertilization.

Blanco is now testing these hypotheses in three additional long-term experiments in Nebraska that encompass a wider range of tillage practices and cropping systems. The effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on crop yields are well-researched, of course. Likewise, reduced tillage, cover crops, intensified cropping systems, and other conservation practices are known to build the soil long-term. Blanco now wants to see the two come together.

"It's clear that we need inorganic fertilizers to meet the increasing demands for food production, so it's important to look at how the extensive use of inorganic fertilizers affects soil properties in the long term," he says. "The hypothesis is that inorganic fertilization combined with conservation tillage -- strip till, no-till, and others -- may improve soil structural properties relative to conventional tillage systems."

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 Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), via Newswise.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Alan J. Schlegel. Implications of Inorganic Fertilization of Irrigated Corn on Soil Properties: Lessons Learned after 50 Years. Journal of Environment Quality, 2013; 42 (3): 861 DOI: 10.2134/jeq2012.0451

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/Za_ITo7zHiY/130429094640.htm

Voter registration Election Election results 2012 exit polls Presidential Polls California Propositions Electoral College

Authorities arrest Mississippi man in ricin case

By Robbie Ward

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Federal agents arrested a Mississippi martial arts instructor on Saturday after his home and a former business were searched as part of an investigation into ricin-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama and two other public officials.

Everett Dutschke, 41, was taken into custody by U.S. marshals at his Tupelo home early Saturday morning without incident, the city's police chief, Tony Carleton, told Reuters.

It was not immediately known if Dutschke has been charged in the ricin investigation.

Dutschke faces other charges related to an April 1 indictment for fondling three different children between ages 7 and 16, from 2007 to 2013, according to court records. He was released on $25,000 bond in that case.

Dutschke's attorney, Lori Basham, did not return calls seeking comment but told Reuters earlier in the week that her client denied having anything to do with the ricin letters.

Agents from the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as members of an anti-terrorist response team from the Mississippi National Guard, some wearing hazardous material suits, had searched Dutschke's home on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the premises of a former martial arts studio Dutschke ran in the city.

Dutschke was cooperating with federal officials during the searches this week, the attorney said.

The agents had Dutschke's home under surveillance on Friday afternoon and evening and moved to arrest him about 1 a.m. CDT (2:00 a.m. EDT).

Prosecutors dropped charges on Tuesday against another Mississippi man, Elvis impersonator Kevin Curtis, who was released from jail after a search of his home in nearby Corinth revealed no incriminating evidence.

Prosecutors said at the time that the investigation had "revealed new information" but provided no details.

The case has brought extra scrutiny on the FBI almost 12 years after a 2001 letter-borne anthrax attack in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. It took investigators seven years to solve the anthrax case.

Letters addressed to Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, and Democratic President Barack Obama were retrieved last week at off-site mail facilities before reaching their intended victims. A state judge also received a ricin-laced letter.

The discovery added another layer of anxiety as authorities dealt with bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Ricin, which is made from castor beans, can be deadly to humans and is considered a potential terror weapon, particularly if refined into an aerosol form.

Dutschke's name first surfaced in a federal court hearing on Monday for Curtis where his attorney suggested her client had been framed by someone. She mentioned a running feud between Dutschke and Curtis, albeit over a number of seemingly petty issues.

Suspicion had originally fallen on Curtis because of wording contained in all three ricin letters that appeared to incriminate him.

"Maybe I have your attention now / Even if that means someone must die," the letters read in part, according to the affidavit. The letters ended: "I am KC and I approve this message."

The initials "KC" led law enforcement officials to ask Wicker's staff if they were aware of any constituents with those initials, and the focus of the investigation then turned to Curtis, according to an affidavit from the FBI and the Secret Service filed in court.

(Writing by David Adams; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mississippi-man-targeted-ricin-letters-investigation-arrested-145219248.html

windows 8 preview leap year moratorium dwts season 14 cast leap day michigan primary results olympia snowe

Disrupt NY 2013 Hackathon Team Wants To Build A WebRTC-Based Pandora For Exercise

The Disrupt NY 2013 Hackathon has been underway for a few hours now and we’re already seeing a bunch of cool projects. Team Geem is building what it calls a “Pandora for Exercise.” The service, which will hopefully be ready in time to be demoed tomorrow, will create exercise programs that are tailored for the individual user. The usual exercise DVDs, Geem believes, are just too boring and repetitive, so a web-based exercise service that’s fully customized can help break through that routine. Also, unlike DVDs, Geem could offer users a wider choice of options, so if you want to do some cardio and work on your abs, and also do a bit of yoga, Geem will have you covered. Users, the team tells me, will be able to watch pre-recorded videos, but the cool part of the service is also that it will enable ad-hoc classes that teachers can set up through the service. While I was talking to them, Geem was looking at using TokBox’s OpenTok WebRTC platform for its service. What’s nice about this is that users could also beam their video over to the instructor, so if you just can’t get that crane pose right in your yoga class, the teacher can see what’s wrong and hopefully help you from crashing into the ground in your living room. The team also plans to use the Django framework and possibly build a Roku app to get their service into the living room. It wouldn’t be 2013 if the five-member team, including Mina Azib, Sven Hermann, Livio Dalloro, Alan Johnson, Lauren Dalloro and Guanglei Xiong, wasn’t also thinking about adding some social features to its service. Users, they say, will be able to see what classes their friends are attending and receive notifications when their favorite instructors are about to teach a class (with Facebook being the social backend for the service). Users, of course, will also be able to rate their instructors. Most of the team members currently work for Siemens, and Alan Johnson is working on his own startup, Breakrs, a gamified?platform for music discovery, which is currently in beta.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Jvz-3yz5gag/

harden nor easter nor easter veep los angeles kings timothy leary jonathan frid

U.S. consumers keep spending despite reduced pay

WASHINGTON (AP) -- This year got off to a sour start for U.S. workers: Their pay, already gasping to keep pace with inflation, was suddenly shrunk by a Social Security tax increase.

Which raised a worrisome question: Would consumers stop spending and further slow the economy? Nope. Not yet, anyway.

On Friday, the government said consumers spent 3.2 percent more on an annual basis in the January-March quarter than in the previous quarter ? the biggest jump in two years. It highlighted a broader improvement in Americans' financial health that is blunting the impact of the tax increase and raising hopes for more sustainable growth.

Consumers have shed debt. Gasoline has gotten cheaper. Rising home values and record stock prices have restored household wealth to its pre-recession high. And employers are steadily adding jobs, which means more people have money to spend.

"No one should write off the consumer simply because of the 2-percentage point increase in payroll taxes," says Bernard Baumohl, chief economist at the Economic Outlook Group. "Overall household finances are in the best shape in more than five years."

Certainly, spending weakened toward the end of the January-March quarter. Spending at retailers fell in March by 0.4 percent, the worst showing in nine months. And more spending on utilities accounted for up to one-fourth of the increase in consumer spending in the January-March quarter, according to JPMorgan Chase economist Michael Feroli, because of colder weather.

Higher spending on utilities isn't a barometer of consumer confidence the way spending on household goods, such as new appliances or furniture, would be.

Americans also saved less in the first quarter, lowering the savings rate to 2.6 percent from 3.9 percent in 2012. Economists say that was likely a temporary response to the higher Social Security tax, and most expect the savings rate to rise back to last year's level. That could limit spending.

But several longer-term trends are likely to push in the other direction, economists say, and help sustain consumer spending. Among those trends:

? WEALTH IS UP

Home prices rose more than 10 percent in the 12 months that ended in February. And both the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 stock indexes reached record highs in the first quarter. As a result, Americans have recovered the $16 trillion in wealth that was wiped out by the Great Recession. Economists estimate that each dollar of additional wealth adds roughly 3 cents to spending. That means last year's $5.5 trillion run-up in wealth could spur about $165 billion in additional consumer spending this year. That's much more than the $120 billion cost of the higher Social Security taxes.

? DEBT IS DOWN

Household debt now equals 102 percent of after-tax income, down from a peak of 126 percent in 2007. That's almost back to its long-term trend, according to economists at Deutsche Bank. And households are paying less interest on their debts, largely because of the Federal Reserve's efforts to keep borrowing rates at record lows. The percentage of after-tax income that Americans spent on interest and debt payments dropped to 10.4 percent in the October-December quarter last year. That's the lowest such figure in the 32 years that the Federal Reserve has tracked the data.

? JOBS ARE UP

Employers have added an average of 188,000 jobs a month in the past six months, up from 130,000 in the previous six. Job gains slowed in March to only 88,000. But most economists expect at least a modest rebound in coming months. And layoffs sank to a record low in January. Fewer layoffs tend to make people feel more secure in their jobs and more willing to spend.

? GAS PRICES ARE DOWN

Gasoline prices have fallen in the past year and are likely to stay low. Nationwide, the average price of a gallon of gas has dropped 28 cents since this year's peak of $3.79 on Feb. 27. Analysts expect gas to drop an additional 20 cents over the next two months. Each 10 cent drop over a full year translates into roughly $13 billion in savings for consumers.

? LOAN COSTS ARE DOWN

Lower interest rates have enabled millions of Americans to save money by refinancing their mortgages. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac estimates that in the fourth quarter of 2012, homeowners who refinanced cut their interest rate by one-third, the biggest reduction in 27 years the agency has tracked the data. On a $200,000 loan, that means $3,600 in savings over the next 12 months.

Some economists note that the Social Security tax cut didn't spur much more spending when it first took effect at the start of 2011. The tax cut gave someone earning $50,000 about $1,000 more to spend each year. A household with two high-paid workers had up to $4,500 more.

Despite the tax cut, Baumohl notes that consumer spending rose only 2.5 percent in 2011 and 1.9 percent in 2012. In the 10 years before the recession began in December 2007, the average annual spending increase was 3.4 percent.

And a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that consumers spent only 36 percent of the increased income that resulted from the tax cut. The rest went to paying down debt or to savings.

Since the tax cut didn't boost spending that much, its expiration may not drag it down much, either. Economists say temporary tax cuts are often ineffective because many consumers assume that the tax breaks will eventually disappear. So they don't ramp up spending in response.

Scott Loehrke, 25, hasn't cut back spending this year. Loehrke went ahead in March with some car repairs that could have been delayed. And he still plans to vacation in May in Mexico with his wife, Jackie.

The couple, who live just outside Cleveland, feel secure in their jobs. Loehrke is a salesman for a company that makes T-shirts, cups, key chains and other promotional products. Business has picked up in the past year as the economy has improved. His wife is a pharmacist.

"Everything that we've planned to do we're still doing," Loehrke says.

The Loehrkes both have heavy student debt and so are focused on keeping their expenses in check. They both drive used cars. That's enabled them to build up some savings and made it easier to absorb the tax increase.

New threats have emerged. Across-the-board government spending cuts kicked in March 1. The spending cuts have triggered government furloughs and could lead private companies that do business with the government to cut staff. And the cuts are expected to shave a half-point from economic growth this year.

Even so, most economists are relieved that consumers have proved so resilient so far.

"It's very encouraging that consumers and thus the broader economy have been able to weather that storm as well as they have," says Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody's Analytics.

___

Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at https://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-consumers-keep-spending-despite-070217622.html

kim jong un lollapalooza Facebook Phone lindsay lohan emma watson Jaromir Jagr Shain Gandee

Jets draft QB Geno Smith in 2nd round

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) ? Geno Smith's surprising slide through the NFL draft stopped in the second round.

Now, he might get a chance to be the New York Jets' starting quarterback.

The former West Virginia star was taken with the seventh pick in the second round, 39th overall, on Friday night and could be the future ? or maybe even present ? replacement for Mark Sanchez.

"Once I received the call," Smith said, "I was extremely elated."

Smith went from looking embarrassed and frustrated Thursday night on national TV during the first round, sitting back stage at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan as pick after pick came and went, and he remained seated and wondered where he'd end up ? and when.

He originally planned to head back home Friday, but opted to stay for the second day of the draft.

"Right now, none of that matters," Smith said during a conference call. "My time has come now."

It's the second straight year the Jets have made major news at the quarterback position, and none of it has been good for Sanchez, although he agreed to a contract extension last offseason. But 12 days later, the Jets stunned the rest of the league ? and Sanchez ? by trading for Tim Tebow.

The selection of Smith by new general manager John Idzik seriously clouds the future of Sanchez, the team's first-rounder in 2009 who led the Jets to consecutive AFC championship game appearances but has struggled mightily the past two seasons. Smith could compete for the starting job this season with Sanchez, who is owed $8.25 million in guaranteed money this season.

"I'm coming in with intentions to compete," Smith said. "We'll see where it goes from there."

But Rex Ryan's Jets currently have Sanchez, Tebow, David Garrard, Greg McElroy and Matt Simms ? and now Smith ? as quarterbacks on their roster. Tebow was expected to be traded or released, but in a surprising twist could now potentially stay.

It remains to be seen whether Sanchez will remain on the roster by the beginning of the regular season, despite his hefty contract.

The one-time franchise quarterback counts $12.85 million against New York's salary cap this year. If the Jets do decide to cut him as a June 1 designation ? and that could be done at any point between now and then ? they would take a salary cap hit of $12.35 million this year and $4.8 million next year.

At this point, with the new future franchise quarterback on board, owner Woody Johnson could be prepared to cut his losses now.

The Jets also drafted versatile Kent State offensive lineman Brian Winters in the third round, and acquired running back Chris Ivory from New Orleans for their fourth-round selection.

New York drafted Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner with the ninth overall pick and Missouri defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson at No. 13 ? a spot they also considered taking Smith ? in the first round Thursday night.

Smith's wait didn't take long Friday night even though a few teams that were expected to be in the mix for him ? Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Arizona ? went in other directions.

Former wide receiver Wayne Chrebet took the podium at Radio City to announce the pick, and Jets fans gathered there were loud, with many cheering and others booing. Smith, considered by many to be the top quarterback available in this year's draft, wasn't even the first player at his position taken. That was Florida State's EJ Manuel, who went to Buffalo with the 16th overall pick on Thursday night.

As Smith sat uncomfortably through the first round, television cameras caught him frowning at times and clearly disappointed that someone who has had so much success on the field was becoming a draft-night punch-line.

"I think it was just a test of patience, a test of character," Smith said. "I wanted to make it my duty to come back today and still represent for my family and all of those that support me."

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers knows the feeling well. He was considered a top-5 pick in 2005, but slid all the way to No. 24 as TV cameras captured many of the same looks that Smith had. Eight years later, Rodgers has a Super Bowl ring and signed a five-year contract extension through the 2019 season Friday.

"Tough situation that I was in eight years ago, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel," Rodgers said at Lambeau Field. "April 24, 2005, I didn't know exactly what I was in for. I remember a great conversation I had with (former Packers linebacker) Na'il Diggs that I was reminded of yesterday. The excitement started to grow when I got to the facility when I saw some of the trophies and the names on the stadium. It's been a great run.

"And hopefully for Geno's situation, he's going to have a similar opportunity and obviously he'll have a lot of people to prove wrong."

Smith came into the draft with mixed reviews, in large part because he was considered not as good a prospect as last year's crop of quarterbacks that included Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson and Brandon Weeden.

Smith was asked if he believes he is a franchise quarterback, and he didn't hesitate.

"Yeah, I do believe so," he said, "for a number of reasons."

Smith, who owns almost all of West Virginia's passing records, gets rid of the ball quickly, but has had some accuracy problems. He can make completions on the run and is capable of making big plays ? something the Jets sorely lacked last season.

Smith threw for 11,662 yards ? including back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons ? 98 touchdowns and only 21 interceptions in four years at West Virginia. The Miami native had dinner with new Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg before the draft, and Mornhinweg reportedly raved about Smith to Ryan and general manager John Idzik.

"I had pretty good meetings with them and when I visited, it went well," Smith said. "But, as you can see, nothing is really 100 percent. Right now, I'm just proud to be a Jet and I'm ready to get to work."

___

AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell in Green Bay, Wis., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jets-draft-qb-geno-smith-2nd-round-235233287.html

today show katt williams greg mcelroy bob costas bowl projections Jovan Belcher Charlie Batch

Pinterest revives classic features, revamps notifications and search

When Pinterest unveiled its big redesign last month, it took the sort of gamble on feature trade-offs that we've seen before: some big leaps forward at the expense of a few leaps back. Much to the relief of many, the company is already doing what it can to restore what was lost while still forging ahead. Veteran users can once again see pins they've just posted, mention friends and find would-be contacts on Facebook on Twitter. As for the less nostalgic among us? The progress isn't as dramatic, but it's there: Pinterest has reworked notifications to show their history, and searches now include as-you-type keyword suggestions. More updates are on the way, including notifications for new pins, so we wouldn't worry that Pinterest is spending most of its time mending broken fences.

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Source: Pinterest Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/-SrC5tJunPw/

gbc hedy lamarr kowloon walled city ronda rousey vs miesha tate lindsay lohan snl lindsay lohan on snl real housewives of disney

Russia detains 140 suspected Islamic extremists

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian police and security agents detained 140 people at a mosque in Moscow on Friday on suspicion of involvement with Islamic extremism.

A statement from the Federal Security Agency reported by Russian news agencies said among those detained were 30 citizens of unspecified foreign countries.

The detentions come a week after the two suspects in the fatal Boston Marathon bombings were identified as Russian-born ethnic Chechens who sympathized with Islamic extremists.

There were no immediate reports of charges being filed. The security agency referred The Associated Press to a district office, where the telephone was not answered.

The reports cited the agency as saying the mosque previously has been visited by people who had been involved in preparing or carrying out terrorist attacks.

A Chechen separatist insurgency that began in the 1990s increasingly took on a fundamentalist Muslim character and spread to neighboring Russian Caucasus regions, including Dagestan, where Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and their family lived for a period before emigrating to the United States in 2002 or 2003.

The Tsarnaevs' parents later returned to Dagestan, and Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police last week, made a long visit in 2012. Investigators are trying to find out details of what he did on the six-month sojourn, especially whether he met with any extremists.

Caucasus extremists have carried out gruesome attacks on civilians in Russia, including the 2004 seizure of a school in the town of Beslan that ended in the deaths of 330 people, about half of them children. They also claimed responsibility for the 2011 bombing of Russia's busiest airport, killing 36 people.

In 2011, U.S. authorities questioned Tamerlan Tsarnaev at Russia's request, but found nothing that sparked their interest and stopped watching him.

On Friday, officials briefed on the investigation told the AP that U.S. intelligence agencies had added the mother of the suspects, Zubeidat, to a government terrorism database 18 months before the bombings. The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the ongoing case.

The mother called the information "lies and hypocrisy" and said she has never been linked to crimes or terrorism.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-detains-140-suspected-islamic-extremists-164928030.html

capybara duggars peter facinelli bobby rush supreme court justices 19 kids and counting danny o brien

New grass hybrid could help reduce the likelihood of flooding

Apr. 25, 2013 ? A collaboration of plant and soil scientists from across the UK has shown a grass hybrid species could help reduce the impact of flooding.

The BBSRC-funded scientists, from Rothamsted Research, the James Hutton Institute, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University, Lancaster University and the University of Nottingham, used a hybridised species of grass called perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) with a closely related species called meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis).

They hoped to integrate the rapid establishment and growth rate of the ryegrass with the large, well developed root systems and efficient water capture of the meadow fescue.

Over two years of field experiments in the south west the team demonstrated that the hybrid, named Festulolium, reduced water runoff from agricultural grassland by up to 51 per cent compared to a leading UK nationally-recommended perennial ryegrass cultivar and by 43 per cent compared to meadow fescue.

It is thought the reduced runoff is achieved because Festulolium's intense initial root growth and subsequent rapid turn-over, especially at depth, allows more water to be retained within the soil.

The hybrid grass also provides high quality forage with resilience to weather extremes, making the grass doubly useful to farmers.

Dr. Kit Macleod, catchment scientist at the James Hutton Institute and one of the authors of the paper, said: "Hybrid grasses of this type show potential for reducing the likelihood of flood generation, whilst providing pasture for food production under conditions of changing climate.

"In areas with similar climate and soils, then there is potential for reducing the likelihood of flood generation based on increased soil water storage within a river's catchment."

Professor Douglas Kell, Chief Executive of BBSRC, said: "We usually think of improving food crops solely in terms of traits such as the yield and quality of the food itself, and apart from root crops such as potatoes and carrots these are easily visible, above-ground traits. However, there is increasing recognition that the health and utility of plants can be greatly enhanced by improving below-ground traits such as root growth.

"This is a superb example of that reasoning, and a hugely important advance resulting from decades of fundamental BBSRC-supported work on the hybridisation of Lolium and Festuca (Fescue) species. I am sure that we shall see a continuing resurgence of interest in root biology, which findings such as this are sure to promote. The enormous savings that will be possible by mitigating flooding through planting grasses such as these dwarf any possible cost of producing them."

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 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Christopher (Kit) J. A. Macleod, Mike W. Humphreys, W. Richard Whalley, Lesley Turner, Andrew Binley, Chris W. Watts, Leif Sk?t, Adrian Joynes, Sarah Hawkins, Ian P. King, Sally O'Donovan, Phil M. Haygarth. A novel grass hybrid to reduce flood generation in temperate regions. Scientific Reports, 2013; 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01683

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/dM2PU6pN6mQ/130425103314.htm

the great gatsby the great gatsby roger ebert north korea Daddy Yankee jay leno Brian Banks

Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 92z

The Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 92z ($1,093.99) is a very good midrange all-in-one desktop, built for business. It has the chops to quickly take care of many of the tasks you'll need to do in a small to medium business, and it has a measure of upgradability, something sorely lacking in sealed all-in-one desktops. It's a very good choice for the SMB user and those just starting to use Windows 8 in a business setting.

Design and Features
The ThinkCentre Edge 92z's design follows the design ID set by its predecessor, the Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 91z ($1386) a couple of years ago. This is good if you already have ThinkCentre Edge 91z systems at your office, as the new systems won't necessarily bring envious stares right away. The system comes with a seamless glass panel over the 21.5-inch touch screen, the better to use Windows 8's touch gestures like bringing up the Charms bar and similar functions. The touch screen supports 10-finger touch functionality, which is optimal for one or two simultaneous users. The ThinkCentre Edge siblings use the two feet and easel-style of support, which allows for a 10- to 40-degree tilt. The two feet straddle an opening for the wired keyboard below the screen. The configuration we looked at also came with a standard wired USB mouse. Though it lacks a wireless mouse and keyboard, this is more usable in a business setting than the overly designed HP Spectre One 23-e010se ($1,609) or Asus Transformer AIO (P1801-B037K) ($1,299), both of which have platforms to hold their keyboards.

The ThinkCentre Edge 92z uses an internal power supply with a standard three-prong power cord. This is a boon for your company IT guy, as he doesn't have to keep spare power bricks handy if or when your users run the cords over with their rolling chairs. Other company-friendly features include a removable support arm and feet, so you can mount the Edge 92z on an articulated arm or on a wall.

The system has a good number of I/O ports, including two side-mounted USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports in the back, Ethernet, and rare for a business system, HDMI-in and HDMI-out. HDMI-out is useful for connecting an external monitor for multi-monitor use, and the HDMI-in port is likewise useful to extend the life of the system. You can use the system's 21.5-inch 1080p monitor as the external display for a future laptop or desktop after the PC components in the Edge 92z become obsolete.

Armed with a little IT experience you should be able to open the Edge 92z's chassis with a screwdriver to swap out or upgrade the hard drive, optical drive, system memory, or even the system's CPU. Future internal upgrades may be important to your company, depending on your accounting rules. It may be easier to budget for an internal upgrade rather than a complete system replacement, which is one of the main issues with the non-upgradable chassis in the midrange all-in-one Editors' Choice Apple iMac 21.5-Inch (Late 2012) ($1,199).

The ThinkCentre Edge 92z comes with a large selection of pre-installed apps, including Skype, Lenovo Companion, Evernote, Norton Internet Security, Accuweather, Lenovo Support, Lenovo Quicksnip, PowerDVD, Lenovo cloud storage (by Sugarsync), and Intel AppUp (another online app store). Quicksnip is interesting, as it lets you quickly snip photos for new compositions. Think of Quicksnip as a quick way to combine photo elements into existing photos, like when you need to put a picture of your company founder into a group staff picture. The sheer amout of apps is a little daunting, especially for the formal or informal IT guy in your office. The Edge 92z comes with a one-year warranty.

Performance
The ThinkCentre Edge 92z we looked at came with an Intel Core i5-3470 processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 7,200rpm 500GB hard drive, and AMD Radeon HD 7650A discrete graphics. The combination of components makes the Edge 92z competitive with other mid-priced consumer and business oriented all-in-one desktops. Its scores on PCMark 7 (day-to-day operations), Handbrake (video encoding), and Photoshop CS6 were right in the sweet spot for Core i5-powered midrange systems. It's competitive with the Apple iMac, Asus Transformer AIO, as well as other like minded (and priced) systems like the Dell Inspiron One 23 ($1,199) and Samsung Series 7 (DP700A3D-A01US) ($1099.99), though the Samsung falls behind the others a bit. The Edge 92z comes with discrete AMD Radeon graphics, but as the 7650A is a mainstream GPU, it falls behind the 3D performance on more powerful systems like the Asus and Apple. If you need 3D for light CAD/CAM or GPU-assisted computing, the latter systems are a better choice.

Essentially, the Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 92z hits the midrange all-in-one sweet spot, with a combination of touch computing, good styling, and decent performance. It makes more sense than the Asus Transformer AIO for the business user, even though the Asus gives you a tablet and a desktop in the same package. However, the ThinkCentre Edge 92z isn't quite enough to overcome the iMac's hold on the midrange all-in-one Editors' Choice, which has more memory, a more powerful GPU, and twice the hard drive space.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 92z with several other desktops side by side.

More desktop reviews:
??? Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 92z
??? Steiger Dynamics LEET Reference
??? Velocity Micro Vector Z25
??? Gateway DX4870-UB17
??? iBuypower Revolt R770
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/-GsVh0gdv4k/0,2817,2418131,00.asp

Mothers Day 2013 World Baseball Classic time change Joy Behar Hangover 3 yvette prieto Red Widow

Obamacare for thee but not for me (Powerlineblog)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/301553440?client_source=feed&format=rss

ozzie guillen castro comments phish gluten free diet barry zito mac virus santorum drops out bby

Journalist group says Kuwait planning "repressive" law

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait should scrap plans for a "repressive" new media law, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday, saying the draft legislation would severely undermine press freedom.

As the government of the Gulf Arab monarchy faces ongoing opposition protests, the law would steeply increase fines on journalists deemed to have insulted the state.

The government passed the "Unified Media Law" earlier this month and it now needs approval from parliament and the emir, but the New York-based campaign group said it would mean "inflated" fines as well as "unjustified restrictions on election coverage, and ambiguous regulations for online media."

Kuwait's media are among the most free in the Gulf region and the government generally tolerates more political dissent.

However, in recent months dozens of activists have been charged with insulting the emir and several have been handed jail sentences.

The draft law proposes fines of up to 300,000 dinars ($1 million), up sharply from the previous maximum financial of 20,000 dinars, the CPJ said.

Insulting the emir or crown prince would carry the largest fines. There would also be fines of up to 100,000 dinars for insulting the constitution, the flag, harming public morals, inciting crimes, harming relations with other governments and slandering public servants.

The Ministry of Information has said that the law is positive for journalists because it replaces prison penalties for "secular offences" with fines, but the CPJ said: "the fines are so steep that journalists could be sent to jail anyway..."

Kuwait's main private newspapers have also said the law would violate free speech.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/journalist-group-says-kuwait-planning-repressive-law-172333861.html

cause of whitney houston death keanu reeves whitney houston national anthem beverly hills hotel beverly hills hotel the watchmen whitney houston dies

Braff hopes to Kickstart 'Garden State' follow-up

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

Kickstarter was good to a lot of artistic projects long before the idea of a "Veronica Mars" movie spurred fans to contribute $5.7 million to make it happen. And now other filmmakers are jumping on the bandwagon -- the most recent being former "Scrubs" star Zach Braff, who hopes to raise just $2 million via Kickstarter to fund his next film, "Wish I Was Here."

With 30 days to go (as of Wednesday), he has more than ten percent of what he needs to make the "Garden State" follow-up. According to the Kickstarter description, he says he was about to go the traditional route of trying to finance the film, but the sacrifices he expected he'd have to make "would have ultimately hurt" it.?

"After I saw the incredible way 'Veronica Mars' fans rallied around Kristen Bell and her show's creator Rob Thomas, I couldn't help but think (like I'm sure so many other independent filmmakers did) maybe there is a new way to finance smaller, personal films that didn't involve signing away all your artistic control," he said on the site.

Visitors to the site can check out a preview of the story, a short video from Braff talking about making the film. There are some drawings, pictures of Braff hamming it up and a funny/informative Frequently Asked Questions section (Q: "Why do famous people keep breaking into your house?" A: "They know I keep my fridge stocked with Fresca.")

And then there are the rewards -- those pledging $10 get access to the production diary and a PDF of the screenplay; the incremental rewards go all the way up to $10,000 where one lucky person can get to be a cast member, with a line, in the film.?

Alas, that one's already taken.?

Braff's Kickstarter runs until May 24.

Related content:

?

?

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/24/17896213-zach-braff-starts-2m-kickstarter-to-fund-garden-state-follow-up?lite

Darla Moore newsweek Tony Scott UFC 151 empire state building Hurricane prince harry

?How come there?s no manhunt for the owner of the Texas factory??? (Balloon Juice)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/301394147?client_source=feed&format=rss

London 2012 diving Tim Berners-Lee Olympics 2012 Schedule Kenneth Branagh Lupe Ontiveros London 2012 China muhammad ali

Clenching right fist may give better grip on memory

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Clenching your right hand may help form a stronger memory of an event or action, and clenching your left may help you recollect the memory later, according to research published April 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Ruth Propper and colleagues from Montclair State University.

Participants in the research study were split into groups and asked to first memorize, and later recall words from a list of 72 words. There were 4 groups who clenched their hands; One group clenched their right fist for about 90 seconds immediately prior to memorizing the list and then did the same immediately prior to recollecting the words. Another group clenched their left hand prior to both memorizing and recollecting. Two other groups clenched one hand prior to memorizing (either the left or right hand) and the opposite hand prior to recollecting. A control group did not clench their fists at any point.

The group that clenched their right fist when memorizing the list and then clenched the left when recollecting the words performed better than all the other hand clenching groups. This group also did better than the group that did not clench their fists at all, though this difference was not statistically 'significant'.

"The findings suggest that some simple body movements -- by temporarily changing the way the brain functions- can improve memory. Future research will examine whether hand clenching can also improve other forms of cognition, for example verbal or spatial abilities," says Ruth Propper, lead scientist on the study.

The authors clarify that further work is needed to test whether their results with word lists also extend to memories of visual stimuli like remembering a face, or spatial tasks, such as remembering where keys were placed. Based on previous work, the authors suggest that this effect of hand-clenching on memory may be because clenching a fist activates specific brain regions that are also associated with memory formation.

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 Public Library of Science.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Ruth E. Propper, Sean E. McGraw, Tad T. Bruny?, Michael Weiss. Getting a Grip on Memory: Unilateral Hand Clenching Alters Episodic Recall. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e62474 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062474

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/_QYBoZyfE3E/130424185159.htm

cabin in the woods the legend of korra three stooges the three stooges the bee gees woodward keratosis pilaris

Quick display comparison: Samsung Galaxy S4 versus the competition

How does Samsung's 1080p HD SuperAMOLED match up against last year's offerings and the latest LCD panels?

A pet technology of Korean giant Samsung, AMOLED displays have adorned every one of its flagship Android smartphones, going back all the way to the original Galaxy S. This year's Galaxy S4 ships with the sharpest AMOLED display yet, a Full HD SuperAMOLED display running packing 1920x1080 pixels at 440 pixels per inch. It's the first 1080p smartphone from Samsung, and so during the course of our review we decided to pit the S4's Full HD SuperAMOLED against a selection of competitors -- the iPhone 5, Nexus 4 and HTC One -- as well as last year's Galaxy S3.

We've got comparison photos -- and a general overview of where the S4 sits on our grand imaginary league table of smartphone displays -- all after the break.

More: Samsung Galaxy S4 review

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/RWV6aFB4J-c/story01.htm

Katherine Jackson Olympics Opening Ceremony Time paris jackson paris jackson US weekly amelia earhart Sally Ride

Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer: New Footage!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/star-trek-into-darkness-trailer-new-footage/

kim kardashian flour bomb hunger games box office xavier joan crawford joan crawford john goodman kendall marshall

Iraq vet pleads guilty to killing fellow soldiers

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) ? An Army sergeant pleaded guilty Monday to killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in 2009 at mental health clinic in Baghdad during the Iraq War, describing how he gunned down the men and saying he was in a "rage" when he began his rampage.

The plea agreement in a military court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord means Sgt. John Russell will avoid the death sentence. His maximum sentence would be a life term. He testified Monday to persuade Army judge Col. David Conn to accept the agreement. Conn agreed.

Russell ? who is from Sherman, Texas ? went on a shooting spree at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad in May 2009. It was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war.

In court, Russell said he was in a "rage" when he opened fire.

"I wanted the pain to stop," he testified in court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, talking in a husky voice. He read a written statement detailing his memories of the killings.

Russell was nearing the end of his third tour when his behavior changed, members of his unit testified in 2009. They said he became more distant in the days before the May 11, 2009, attack and that he seemed paranoid that his unit was trying to end his career.

On May 8, Russell sought help at a combat stress clinic at Camp Stryker, where his unit was located. On May 10, Russell was referred to the Camp Liberty clinic, where he received counseling and prescription medication.

The following day witnesses saw Russell crying and talking about hurting himself. He went back to the Camp Liberty clinic, where a doctor told him he needed to get help or he would hurt himself. Russell tried to surrender to military police to lock him up so he wouldn't hurt himself or others, witnesses said.

Military prosecutors say Russell left the clinic and later returned with a rifle he took from his unit headquarters and began firing.

Russell said he wanted to hurt a doctor who he thought had earlier encouraged him to commit suicide. He didn't find that doctor, but still carried out the shooting.

Killed in the shooting were Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C., and four Army service members: Pfc. Michael Edward Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.; Dr. Matthew Houseal, of Amarillo, Texas; Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; and Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.

Of the dead, Russell had interacted only with Springle, who tried to help him a couple of days before the attack.

Yates raised a gun at him after Russell killed Springle and Houseal, but Yates dropped the gun and ran.

Yates "ran and I ran after him, and I shot him," Russell said.

Yates' mother, Shawna Van Blargan, joined Springle's wife and son in court. They held each other tightly as Russell talked about killing their family members.

Van Blargan cried out when Russell described killing her son. She left the courtroom.

Russell also remembered finding Barton hiding under a table. Russell shot him in the head.

Bueno-Galdos tried to grab Russell's rifle. Russell testified he shot Bueno-Galdos in the chest, then shot him once more while he lay face down on the ground.

Two evaluations presented during a 2009 hearing said Russell suffered from severe depression with psychotic features and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. A March 2011 evaluation said the major depression with psychotic features was in partial remission.

The Tacoma News Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/10ue9t1) Russell entered his plea while flanked by his two military defense attorneys and his civilian lawyer.

Some family members of Russell's victims have expressed frustration in news reports that it has taken four years to bring the case to trial.

Russell's pretrial agreement includes a contested portion that remains to be argued in court. He refused to plead guilty to murdering the service members with premeditation. Prosecutors planned to argue that point next month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-vet-pleads-guilty-killing-fellow-soldiers-185619348.html

brandon marshall ryder cup Kate Middleton Bottomless the Pirate Bay Hotel Transylvania eagles nfl schedule 2012

Refinery29: A True Entrepreneurship Story - Business Insider

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano are first-time entrepreneurs and the founders of Refinery29.

Justin Stefano and Philippe von Borries had never started a company before.?Neither had worked in fashion before either.

But in 2005, they left their jobs in law and politics respectively to start Refinery29.?Refinery29 is a New York-based fashion content and commerce company.

For a long time, no one took Stefano or von Borries seriously. Now Refinery29 is one of the few new media companies that is expected to exit north of $100 million.

In February, Refinery29 raised a modest $4.2 million Series B round from First Round Capital, Floodgate, Lerer Ventures, and Hearst led by president David Carey. In 2009 it generated $400,000 annually. This year it's expected to pull in $24 million.

We spoke with Stefano and von Borries about how they grew from from a largely bootstrapped business to a major fashion brand.

* ? ? ? ?*?? ? ? ?*?? ? ? ?*?? ? ? ?*

They remember sitting at their first "office" eight years ago ? von Borries' kitchen table ? and they remember being broke. ?

No one wanted to invest in the first-time entrepreneurs. Stefano says he and von Borries didn't even realize raising money could be an option for them.

When you have no money, you get good at finding ways to make it. Stefano and von Borries?were able to scrap together enough ad dollars through a partnership with Glam Media to pay themselves $28,000 per year for the first three years. Eventually they were able to secure a $160,000 investment to hire two part-time partners.

"We launched thinking we needed to make money," Stefano says. "It trickled in."?

Refinery29 began as a city guide that focused on curating small, great brands in home, music, fashion and design categories. The brands often didn't have the money or time to market themselves, and Refinery29 became a suitable solution. The brands that benefited most from Refinery29's coverage were fashion companies and boutiques. So although they knew nothing about the fashion world, Stefano and von Borries refocused Refinery29 to better meet the demand. "We essentially became the new vehicle to talk about incredible, emerging independent fashion," von Borries says.

The company made a few key decisions that helped it grow into a thriving business. To better promote the boutiques, Refinery29 buffed up an email product which became its main distribution channel. It now has 1.5 million subscribers.?In 2009, following a $500,000 investment from angel investors, the company hire a head of sales and started selling advertising internally.?

"That [hiring decision] set things on fire," von Borries says. "We had enough credibility in the marketplace after 3-4 years of building the brand that it was like dropping a match in a barrel of fuel."

That year, the company generated $400,000. In 2010, revenue quadrupled to $1.6 million. In 2011, it skyrocketed to $7.8 million. Last year, it doubled again to $14.2 million and this year, Refinery29 is expected to generate $24 million.

Most of its revenue to date has come from advertisers.?Like many digital media companies, Refinery29 is trying to marry content and commerce for an additional revenue stream.?Von Borries says he's wanted to get into e-commerce from day one, when readers would write in asking where to buy featured items.

Refinery29 launched a "shop" flash-sale section, which let readers buy items straight from the site. Refinery29 holds no inventory; it just takes 20 to 30 percent of each transaction. Now it's making the shopping experience more seamless.

Instead of having a standalone shopping section, the ability to purchase an item will be embedded into each article page. Refinery29 expects to generate $3-4 million from e-commerce this year.?

"Commerce is meaningful content when the product is great," von Borries explains. "It's ultimate marketing efficiency if you can figure out how to convert readers into shoppers, but it's a lot harder than it sounds. Loads of sites have tried and failed, but we think we're going to make it."

Now Refinery29 has 105 employees and 5.5 million monthly uniques according to internal numbers (ComScore pegs the number lower at 1.5 million). 10 million monthly visitors, and 80 to 90 million monthly page views.?

Finally, people are noticing?von Borries and Stefano.

"We've had our eye on Refinery29 for some time," Hearst President David Carey told Business Insider. "We've been hearing a lot about them for well over one year.?These guys are really smart. I think they've established enormous amounts of credibility in a very short period of time. I have admiration for what they're trying to do...we love to associate with breakout entrepreneurs."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/refinery29-a-true-entrepreneurship-story-2013-4

katie couric good morning america the rock vs john cena acm awards 2012 january jones ncaa final game reba mcentire acm awards

4 Ways to Get the Best Indoor Air Quality

Pollution doesn't exist solely outside your door. Inside your home, mold, mildew, dust, and odors can cause itchy eyes, scratchy throats, and headaches. According to the Indoor Air Quality Scientific Findings Resource Bank, mold is responsible for 4.6 million current cases of asthma and about 20 percent of other common respiratory infections.

Keep your home smelling fresh and your family breathing easy by following these simple tips.

Clean Heating and Cooling System Ducts Regularly

While they keep your home comfortable, heating and cooling systems also drop dust particles along duct walls. As part of your regular home maintenance routine, have the ducts professionally cleaned at least once every five years. Clean ducts not only increase ventilation and air circulation, they also reduce the level of dust, animal dander, and other allergens, remove carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide gases, and help to eliminate odors.

Choose the Right Filter for Your Heating and Cooling System

Pleated filters collect particles over a large surface area and have a MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) rating of 1 to 4. These filters remove larger airborne particles such as dust, pollen, cockroach allergens, and pet dander and must be changed monthly.

Media and electrostatic filters have a MERV of 5 to 13 and remove larger airborne particles along with smaller particles including viruses, bacteria, and mold spores. These filters provide adequate filtration for most homes and you'll only have to change them every three months.

High-efficiency filters and HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters have a MERV of 14 to 16 and are best used when someone in the home has severe allergies or a compromised immune system. Change these filters monthly for the best results.

Use an Indoor Air Cleaner for Tough Allergen Problems

When allergens are difficult to control with ordinary heating and cooling filters, an air-cleaning device can be beneficial. Portable cleaners can be used in homes that don't have heating or cooling systems. These units either use ultraviolet radiation to destroy viruses and bacteria or produce ozone that turns pollutants into harmless substances.

To keep your entire home fresh, an HVAC professional can upgrade your heating and cooling system with more efficient filters and add cleaning devices in the ductwork. These whole-house air cleaners use ultraviolet lamps, gas-phase filters, and electrostatic precipitators to capture mold, pollen, dust mites, pet dander, bacteria, and viruses.

Open the Windows and Let Your Home Breathe

Use spot ventilation systems in wet and enclosed areas. When taking showers or washing laundry, turn on ceiling or stand-alone fans to keep bathrooms, basements, and laundry rooms dry. While frying foods or boiling water, turn on kitchen fans that exhaust to the outside to remove odors and humidity.

Finally, on those sunny days when the weather is warm and dry, open the windows. Letting the breeze circulate through your home lowers indoor humidity and removes stale smells.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/interior/4-ways-to-get-the-best-indoor-air-quality-15383840?src=rss

kindle fire Jenny Johnson olivier martinez ny lottery Ohio Lottery Colorado Lottery Pa Lottery