Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295668105?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Drones Could Replace Eager Youths On Paper Routes
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Good Reads: dogs with PTSD, children in the news, unwed mothers, waking up the Ice Age
This week's round-up of Good Reads includes helping dogs who come home from war zones, the dilemma behind telling Malala Yousafzai's story, why more mothers aren't choosing marriage, and a quest to bring back the wooly mammoth.
Gina, a US military bomb-sniffing dog, suffered from stress after serving in Iraq.
Ed Andrieski/AP/File
EnlargeIt has been said that war has no winners. That statement could easily include not just soldiers and civilians, but also the hundreds of stray animals that are caught in the crossfire.
Skip to next paragraph Jenna FisherAsia editor
Jenna Fisher is the Monitor's Asia editor, overseeing regional coverage for CSMonitor.com and the weekly magazine.
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As the 2014 withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan draws closer, a lot of attention has been paid to how to care for the soldiers coming home, many of whom have done multiple tours. Attention is also being paid, as Jessie Knadler points out in The Daily Beast, to the animals they bring home with them.
Some dogs rescued from war zones appear to be coming home with their new masters exhibiting signs of post-traumatic stress disorder ? even when their owners aren?t ?? as they adjust to not having to navigate land mines or sudden fights.
What?s the method to ease such a transition?
?All we could give her was time, love, freedom, and lots of exercise and discipline,? writes Ms. Knadler of Solha, the dog her Army Reservist husband brought home with him from Kandahar. ?Is that how to treat canine PTSD? I don?t know. But Solha is a different, calmer dog today than she was a year ago. And she?ll never have to fight another dog again.?
Children on camera
By the time a 15-year-old schoolgirl named Malala Yousafzai was shot point-blank by the Taliban six months ago in Pakistan, her activism and story had captured interest around the world. She exemplified a rare courage, spunk, and determination that made her a powerful symbol of the fight for female education amid extremism.
It was the media that handed this young girl the soapbox ? and possibly made her a target, worries Syed Irfan Ashraf, who first put Malala on camera when she was just 11 years old.
Disclosing the guilt he felt for doing so, he told Marie Brenner of Vanity Fair, ?No one was paying attention to what was happening in Mingora. We took a very brave 11-year-old and created her to get the attention of the world. We made her a commodity.?
The economy of unwed mothers
Good news: Over the past two decades, teen birthrates have fallen. The other news? By the time American women turn 30, about two-thirds have had their first child ? usually outside of marriage, according to a recent report highlighted in The Atlantic Monthly.
Take note of ?usually outside of marriage,? writes Derek Thompson, asking, ?Why so few marriages?? The answer, he writes, is best seen through the lens of three factors:
?(1) The changing meaning of marriage in America; (2) declining wages for low-skill men; and (3) the declining costs of being a single person.?
It used to be that the marriage contract was entered into in the US with specific roles in mind. The wife would stay home and take care of the kids, and the husband would go to work and put food on the table. That model has been upended.
?Think of marriage like any other contract or investment. It?s most likely to happen when the gains are big. So we should expect marriages among low-income Americans to decline if women perceive declining gains from hitching themselves to the men around them.?
Back to life, back to reality
Right now scientists in South Korea are combing the frozen remains of woolly mammoths looking for the scientific version of a needle in a haystack: a live cell. Any live cell. If they find one, they?ll try to use it to bring the mammoth back from centuries of extinction. (Don?t worry, they?ve got a Plan B.)
Roll your eyes if you must, but, writes Carl Zimmer in National Geographic, the idea of bringing vanished species back to life has percolated in popular culture and in science labs at least since ?Jurassic Park,? and that technology is close ? really close.
Indeed, advances in manipulating stem cells, in recovering ancient DNA, and in reconstructing lost genomes has pushed science closer to reviving that which was once thought to be lost for good. Remember Dolly, the first sheep to be cloned in 1996? Amateur. Scientists now offer up the hopeful example of Celia the bucardo (an extinct type of mountain goat).
?Celia?s clone is the closest that anyone has gotten to true de-
extinction. Since witnessing those fleeting minutes of the clone?s life, [Alberto] Fern?ndez-Arias, now the head of the government of Aragon?s Hunting, Fishing and Wetlands department, has been waiting for the moment when science would finally catch up, and humans might gain the ability to bring back an animal they had driven extinct.?
The question now is, Should it be done?
? ?The history of putting species back after they?ve gone extinct in the wild is fraught with difficulty,? says conservation biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University. A huge effort went into restoring the Arabian oryx to the wild, for example. But after the animals were returned to a refuge in central Oman in 1982, almost all were wiped out by poachers. ?We had the animals, and we put them back, and the world wasn?t ready,? says Pimm. ?Having the species solves only a tiny, tiny part of the problem.? ?
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Drones: Not just for war anymore?
Drone warfare isn't going anywhere, but drone utility could be growing. Marc Lallanilla, assistant editor at Live Science, proposes eight "totally cool" new uses for drones.
This 2004 photo shows the then-new drone flying near Fort Huachuca, Ariz. The unmanned drone, launched by the Border Patrol in June 2004, uses thermal and night-vision equipment to help agents spot illegal immigrants trying to cross the desert into the United States.
John Miller / AP
EnlargeJust a few years ago, drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), were virtually unknown.
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But the remote-controlled aircraft have stealthily slipped over the horizon and are now causing a buzz from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to the rain forests of Sumatra.
"I am convinced that the domestic use of drones to conduct surveillance and collect other information will have a broad and significant impact on the everyday lives of millions of Americans," Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of a Senate Judiciary Committee looking into drone legislation, said on Thursday, March 21, CNN reports.
There's little doubt that UAV technology is here to stay, but their use isn't limited to cloak-and-dagger operations and military technology. Here are eight totally cool ways the drone can be your friend:
Real estate sales
Daniel G?rate had a lucrative career as a UAV videographer, using his $5,000 drone to capture stirring images of high-end properties for the Los Angeles real-estate market ? until the Los Angeles Police Department shut him down, declaring that commercial uses for drones were not allowed, the New York Times reports.
That's no longer the case, since a federal law signed in 2012 opened drone technology to commercial applications. G?rate, who also uses drones to take videos for commercials, has also been approached to take paparazzi-style photos of celebrities like Kim Kardashian, the Times reports.
Sports photography
Falkor Systems, a pioneer in the consumer use of UAV technology, has targeted extreme sports photography and video for drone use, focusing on skiing and base-jumping activities.
"The angles people get [while filming] are not quite as intimate as would be possible with an autonomous flying robot," said Sameer Parekh, Falkor CEO, who envisions a small UAV device that can accompany a downhill skier.
"You just take it out, let it take off and it follows you down the hill. You get back on the ski lift and put it back in your backpack," Parekh said.
Highway monitoring
There are roughly 4 million miles of highways crisscrossing the United States, but who's watching them all? Drones, someday.
A project to study the use of drones for inspecting roads and bridges, surveying land with laser mapping and alerting officials to traffic jams and accidents recently received a $75,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration and the Georgia Department of Transportation.
"Drones could keep workers safer because they won't be going into traffic or hanging off a bridge," said Javier Irizarry, director of the CONECTech Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as quoted by LiveScience's sister site TechNewsDaily. "It would help with physical limitations of the human when doing this kind of work."
Wildlife research
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been testing the Raven A, a small, camera-equipped drone that's about 3 feet (1 meter) long, to see if it can be used to conduct aerial counts of the endangered sandhill crane (Grus canadensis pulla).?
"We flew the [drone] over the cranes when they were roosting, feeding, and loafing to see how they reacted," said Leanne Hanson, a field biologist, in a USGS report. "They sat still for us when they were roosting and loafing, but birds flushed during feeding. We will plan missions during roosting and loafing times, when their behavior is not affected."
And critically endangered Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) nest in treetops, making them difficult to study. Drones, however, can easily navigate the primates' aeries, providing valuable information that will assist in conservation activities, reports PCMag.com.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/U1B4hUijrOU/Drones-Not-just-for-war-anymore
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Communication is Key- Improving Client-Agency Relationships
Imagine you?re? clicking through the internet, stopped dead in your tracks when you come across hundreds of blogs and articles filled with comment after comment about a disturbing ad with your company?s branding all over it. An ad that you?ve never seen before, that you knew nothing about.
Sounds impossible, doesn?t it? Well just this week it happened to Ford. Employees out of JWT?s affiliate offices in India, whom Ford had contracted to do some of their ad work, created several unauthorized ads entirely on their own initiative. The same individuals uploaded the work to Ads of the World, to show off their work. They even went so far as to submit the mockups to India?s top ad awards program.
This brings up a major concern that a lot of companies have when working with an outside agency. How do you ensure the agency you are working with avoids serious mistakes that can severely impact your image? Open and frequent communication is key.
The following are ways to ensure your standards are being met when working with an outside agency:
- Document your requirements- without a solid foundation it?s easy for both the business and agency to get off track and lose sight of the end goal
- Create a review and signoff process- and communicate regularly, even if there are delays
- Don?t be afraid to be strict about how agency employees are using your branding- remind them that they are responsible for your company?s big asset- your image
Instead of thinking of your agency as an outside vendor, treat them as a partner, stay in the loop and you?ll likely avoid any major fiascos like Ford did this week.
You can read more about Ford?s advertising crisis here: Ford?s PR team worked all weekend on ad crisis.
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Virtual reality, goggles and all, attempts return
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? It's back.
The virtual reality headset, the gizmo that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of video game makers in San Francisco.
After drumming up hype over the past year and banking $2.4 million from crowdfunding, the Irvine, Calif.-based company Oculus VR captured the conference's attention this week with the Oculus Rift, its VR headset that's more like a pair of ski goggles than those bulky gaming helmets of the 1990s that usually left users with headaches.
"Developers who start working on VR games now are going to be able to do cool things," said Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey. "This is the first time when the technology, software, community and rendering power is all really there."
While VR technology has successfully been employed in recent years for military and medical training purposes, it's been too expensive, clunky or just plain bad for most at-home gamers. Oculus VR's headset is armed with stereoscopic 3-D, low-latency head tracking and a 110-degree field of view, and the company expects it to cost just a few hundred bucks.
A line at the conference snaked around the expo floor with attendees waiting for a chance to plop the glasses on their head and play a few minutes of "Hawken," an upcoming first-person shooter that puts players inside levitating war machines.
Attendance was also at capacity for a Thursday talk called "Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming" led by Luckey. When he asked the crowd who'd ordered development prototypes of the technology, dozens of hands shot into the air.
"There's been a lot of promise over several decades with the VR helmet idea, but I think a lot of us feel like Oculus and other devices like it are starting to get it right," said Simon Carless, executive vice president at UBM Tech Game Network, which organizes the Game Developers Conference. "We may have a competitive and interesting-to-use device, which you could strap to your head and have really immersive gaming as a result."
Sony and Microsoft are reportedly working on similar peripherals, as are other companies. Luckey contends that the innovations Nintendo made with its Wii U, Sony is planning with its upcoming PlayStation 4 and Microsoft is likely tinkering with for its successor to the Xbox 360 don't seem like enough.
"We're seeing better graphics and social networks, but those aren't things that are going to fundamentally change the kind of experiences that gamers can have," said Luckey.
A growing list of high-profile game makers have sung the device's praises, including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, "Minecraft" mastermind Markus Peterson, id Software's John Carmack, "Gears of War" chief Cliff Bleszinski and Valve boss Gabe Newell.
Valve is planning to release a VR version of its first-person shooter "Team Fortress 2" for the Rift, but Luckey is hoping that designers in attendance at this week's conference begin creating games especially for the doodad.
"The doors are already open," noted Luckey. "People are already telling us things they want to do with the Rift that they can't do with traditional games."
Luckey said prototype versions of the technology are being distributed to developers now, and he anticipates releasing a version for consumers by next year.
___
Online:
http://www.oculusvr.com
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/virtual-reality-goggles-attempts-return-121110187.html
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Gods and Beasts
Denise Mina's latest spins a web of Glasgow connections and corruption.
Gods and Beasts By Denise Mina Little, Brown 311 pp.
EnlargeReviewed by Anna Mundow for Barnes & Noble Review
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The Scottish writer Denise Mina may be regarded as a crime novelist, but that has never been the whole story. From her first novel, "Garnethill," to her latest, Gods and Beasts, Mina has resisted neat classification. Her fiction, set mainly in Glasgow, is too subtle to be "tartan noir." Her protagonists are often female, but they are too complicated to be heroine sleuths, too difficult to pin down. Paddy Meehan, for example, who first appeared as a watchful girl in "Garnethill," became the prime investigator in "Field of Blood." Now Meehan, an established journalist, is barely glimpsed in "Gods and Beasts," while Detective Sergeant Alex Morrow, familiar from "The End of the Wasp Season," is Mina's chief character.
More confident these days in her hard-won authority, Morrow is as shrewd as ever, whether she is studying a suspect or a fellow cop. "It felt strange to have that double perspective," she reflects as she listens to an anxious, perhaps guilty, colleague, "to have to calculate the gulf between what was said and what was meant" (a Jamesian observation that also sums up what Mina does so well).
"Gods and Beasts" opens, however, in a straightforward way with a crime, or rather its aftermath. A young man sits on a curb, in shock, cradling a toddler, "koala-clamped to his chest," strangers welded together by casual violence. During the armed robbery of a post office, the child's grandfather has been shot to death. Martin Pavel, a bystander, is left holding the boy and replaying the bloody image: "automatic fire, red explosions on the old man's back, the tilt of his torso, the greasy slide."
What follows is equally impressionistic, a series of images ricocheting off a stunned consciousness. Martin registers a paramedic kneeling before him, the hospital where he and the child are "[p]ushed in a canvas wheelchair, through the A&E waiting room, not very clean, not very nice." Then a cubicle: "Time passed. Clocks ticked and trolleys rolled. Nurses shoes squeaked by beyond the curtain." And soon the departure of the boy with his distraught mother, followed by the arrival of DS Alex Morrow and DC Harris, whose questions tether and calm Martin's unruly recollections.
It is gradually apparent that the shooting was coincidental but not random ? the gunman and the grandfather seemed to recognize each other ? and that Martin himself is a conundrum. An American who sounds Scottish, is well educated, tattooed, and a compulsive runner, Martin is familiar with guns, gifted with accents, and haunted by details ? all of which makes him an invaluable yet oddly suspect witness. He is also a stray exotic on the harsh, treacherously shifting terrain that Mina so masterfully depicts.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rbkc9VvKU-8/Gods-and-Beasts
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Taylor Swift to guest-star on 'New Girl' season finale
By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taylor-swift-guest-star-girl-season-finale-232544230.html
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Friday, March 29, 2013
Stem cell fate depends on 'grip'
Mar. 28, 2013 ? The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.
The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.
Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.
Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.
Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.
"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation -- what kind of cells they will turn into."
The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.
The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible -- contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel -- but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.
When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.
However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.
"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds -- they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."
To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.
In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.
"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."
The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.
"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."
As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate -- about a week after they were first encapsulated -- the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.
"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."
Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.
"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Pennsylvania.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Sudhir Khetan, Murat Guvendiren, Wesley R. Legant, Daniel M. Cohen, Christopher S. Chen, Jason A. Burdick. Degradation-mediated cellular traction directs stem cell fate in covalently crosslinked three-dimensional hydrogels. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3586
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/~3/3TxG0KVGxqw/130328142402.htm
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Anti-rape video in response to Steubenville trial coverage goes viral
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By Sofia Perpetua, Contributor, NBC News
A University of Oregon film student felt compelled to respond to some of the issues surrounding the Steubenville rape case -- and has 1.3 million views on YouTube.
Samantha Stendal, 19, directed ?A Needed Response? and addressed it to ?the Steubenville rapists ? or any rapists out there,? in order to show the world how real men treat women.
"It is horrifying to me that some people can say that people deserve rape when they are passed out," said Stendal to the NY Daily News.
Samantha Stendal
Samantha Stendal is a sophomore at the University of Oregon.
In Stendal?s 26-second-long video, a woman (Kelsey Jones) pretends to be passed out, and a man (Justin Gotchall) gets her some water and places a pillow under her head. Then he faces the camera and says, ?Real men treat women with respect.?
"I was studying for my finals, and on the side I was reading about the Steubenville rape case. I grew very frustrated with the media," Stendal told NBC News on Tuesday. "That's when I came up with the idea for this video."
Gotchall, who is a philosophy major, added, "After we saw the media coverage of the Steubenville rape cases, we just had to do this."
"I think this video is powerful in its simplicity," Desertra87 posted as a comment on YouTube. After being up only four days, the video already has more than 4,000 comments and more than a million views.
Last week, Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays and Ma?lik Richmond were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a raucous house party in the small Ohio town.
The story had already made headlines because of the issues surrounding the case, such as social media harassment and teenage partying gone wild. But media coverage following the convictions generated even more controversy and angered many when some reporters seemed to focus on the loss of the two football players? bright future -- and not on the victim?s trauma.
"What really upsets me is what the news is going to, what the Internet is going to ? which is asking what the victim could have done differently," Stendal told KVAL 13 News in Eugene, Ore. "I'm upset that in our culture that is one of the first questions asked."
Stendal, a sophomore, added, "The message I hope that people can get from this video is that we need to treat one another with respect.?No matter what gender, we should be listening to each other and making sure there is consent."
Stendal, now on her spring break, is applying for video internships.
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Court turns away class action against Comcast
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court is turning away a class action lawsuit against cable provider Comcast Corp.
The high court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision to certify as a class customers who say the company's monopoly in parts of the Philadelphia area allowed it to raise prices unfairly.
Justice Antonin Scalia said in a 5-4 decision the customers need to be able to prove more of their case early in the process, including whether damages can be calculated for the entire group. The Comcast subscribers had argued that doing so would lead to even more limits on class actions.
Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the dissent jointly for themselves, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
In an unusual move, Breyer and Ginsburg read parts aloud in the courtroom.
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
An Inside Look At NYU Florence's Art Program Controversy ? NYU ...
Beginning next semester, Fall 2013, students at NYU Florence wishing to take studio arts courses?the engaged study of the methods and techniques of the visual arts?can only do so at an institution external to NYU called Studio Art Centers International (SACI), a study abroad center accredited by Bowling Green State University in Ohio.?
These ?outsourced? courses will take the place of those studio courses that have been taught at NYU Florence?s Villa La Pietra by three esteemed faculty members, each of whom have taught at Florence for over 10 years: Alan Pascuzzi, Robert Caracciolo and Patrice Lombardi.
Professor Pascuzzi posted on the student-run?Save NYU Florence Art?Facebook page that NYU Florence Director Ellyn Toscano has been gradually scaling back course offerings for the studio arts courses as well as courses in art history, film, music, and creative writing?the effect of which being that professors now finding they no longer have jobs after this May.
?The reason for closing the art component was based on President Sexton and Ellyn Toscano?s idea to change NYU Florence into a political science-based program,? wrote Pascuzzi.??Political science is now the emphasis.?
The supreme irony of eliminating studio art courses taught on site at Villa La Pietra, the 57-acre estate that was the gift of arts benefactor Sir Harold Acton, is not lost on any of the professors or students affected by the change. Questions have been directed to and subsequently deflected by?Toscano.
Below is the email Toscano sent in response to the numerous emails from students protesting the sudden change and demanding explanations. Professor Caracciolo noted that the faculty affected were not forwarded the email until students took it upon themselves to send it over.
Dear NYU Florence students,
I understand that there are rumors about the future of art history at NYU Florence. I would like to stop these rumors cold, so let me be clear that there is no plan to eliminate the arts at NYU Florence. It would be unthinkable to do so. We will continue to offer students both art history and studio arts; additions to NYU Florence?s curriculum in politics or other social sciences are not in place of art history or studio art.
The art history courses will continue to be offered at NYU Florence as before. They range from Renaissance Art to Florentine Villas, from the Etruscans to Modern Movements in Italian Art. The studio arts courses are a slightly different matter. As we have reflected on these offerings, we are keen to expand them through better facilities, a more complete roster of courses and an opportunity for students to experience the art scene in Florence beyond La Pietra. We plan to move forward with an agreement to offer studio arts through a respected studio art and artist training center. Our expectation is, thanks to this kind of partnership currently under discussion, that we will offer studio arts without interruption. So, as you can see, art history and other humanities courses will continue to be a prominent piece of NYU Florence?s offerings.
Lastly, I have seen some claims that Sir Harold Acton?s bequest to NYU required certain prescribed curriculum in the arts. The Acton gift requires us to maintain his family?s art collection and to use his estate for educational purposes, both of which we do. The inclusion of art history and studio arts in the curriculum is a decision NYU made; it is a natural decision in Florence, and you need not worry ? it is one we intend to stand by.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours,
Ellyn Toscano
One would assume that the decisions to keep, cut or expand courses in New York and abroad would fall under the jurisdiction of the?departments?that?offer the given courses. Yet, surprising is the degree of autonomy that Toscano and other administrators apparently wield on the curriculum and the employment of faculty.
A professor in the Art History department at Washington Square noted that the information they have been receiving from the?administration on the matter has been very opaque; the exact?hierarchy?of and relationship between the directors and administrators at NYU Florence, the Office of Global Affairs, and the?departments?here in New York is unclear. Also unclear is whether the change comes only at the hands of Toscano or if it was a joint decision made with the Office of Global Affairs.
?Collateral damage? ? i.e. the loss of jobs at NYU ? is the Art History department?s primary concern.
The scaling back of the program was accompanied?by unusual and absurd changes to space priorities given to the studio art classes and to the contracts of the arts professors. According to Pascuzzi, the studio courses were moved to rooms too?small?and too inadequate to?accommodate?the volume and needs of students wishing to take the courses.
In an email to NYU Local, Patrice Lombardi, who taught a painting course, said:
?The problem with the whole issue is the lack of communication and transparency on the part of the NYU Florence administration, specifically Ellyn Toscano and her representative for the humanities, Prof. Bruce Edelstein.?The faculty members that have spoken out have said that they showed up to work at the beginning of the Fall semester 2012 to find themselves presented with new contracts they were pressured into signing.?
In the summer of 2012,?changes to Italian labor law?made firing individual workers in private sector jobs easier in a pointed attempt to revive up a sub-par Italian economy and workforce?and?reverse precedent that were??harming productivity growth and discouraging business investment.??According to Lombardi, all faculty salaries were cut by 20% this year.
Lombardi noted that ?the Italian state does not?recognize?programs [like NYU Florence] as universities as they do not confer a final degree. The bizarre upshot of this is that we have contracts that are for teachers in middle schools ? not for university professors.?
Roberto Caracciolo was the third professor to be vocal on the issue. He said in an email to NYU Local:
?I have been teaching two drawing courses at NYU Florence since 1999. This year, because of [that] new Italian labor law I was forced (that or my courses would have been cancelled) to sign a time limited contract that expires in mid-May. In this new contract, which was not shown to me until the day of the beginning of the fall semester [2012], I had to accept a substantial reduction of salary and clauses that are totally unacceptable, such as the university having rights on all that I do even outside of teaching (I am a painter and so are all my new works that I do in my studio in Rome theirs?).
At the beginning of the spring semester I went to talk with the Director of VLP and asked about future plans for the art studio as there were rumors of them being shut down and got generic answers about how the new Italian time-limited contracts cannot be renewed (which is false) and on how all decisions were being taken in New York by the various departments.?
When Caracciolo contacted the?department?that credits students for his studio courses, The Department of Art and Art Professions at Steinhardt, department chair David Darts replied that the decision to offer or not offer art studio courses did not rest with him or the department. When Caracciolo asked Toscano for an?explanation?as to who in directly responsible for determining the curriculum at Florence, he received no reply. ?She simply ignores me and my colleagues,? Caracciolo said, ?to try to get to end of the semester with the least amount of questioning and problems.?
An ?NYU?press release?from June 1st, 2004 announcing Toscano?s appointment as Director of NYU Florence, detailed some of her experience up to that date:
?She is well-versed in government policies with regard to public diplomacy, educational exchanges, and cultural diplomacy; moreover, she has had significant expertise in fundraising and program planning??Since 1990, Ms. Toscano ? who speaks Italian ? has served as chief of staff and counsel to Congressman Jos? Serrano, an association that has spanned some 20 years overall. From 1988 to 1991, she had a private law practice, specializing in arts, entertainment, and publishing. Prior to that, she had served as counsel to the New York State Assembly Committee on Education for nine years, during which time she also worked with Mr. Serrano.?
Her expertise suggests a great deal of administrative ongoings, which may in turn come at a cost to some sensitivities that guide the decisions of those with a?training more deeply rooted in academia.
An additional concern of students and faculty is the calibre of the teaching staff at SACI compared to NYU. Courses at SACI are also far cheaper, a fact which may give an indication of the quality of the education; a 15-credit semester costs a student $11,900 in tuition and fees while NYU Florence will continue to charge just over $21,600. To whom or to what resources that extra $10k per semester per student will be devoted is unclear. We can only speculate as to the motivations for outsourcing the flagship art courses to a off-site?institution.
The Art History department at Washington Square is to issue a statement to students and faculty within the next few days. We await their official response addressing the issue.
[Image via]
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Gay marriage equality box spreads on social media
This image released by the Human Rights Campaign shows a redesign of their logo. A square box with thick pink horizontal lines (the mathematical equal symbol) was offered for sharing this week by the Human Rights Campaign as the U.S. Supreme Court took up arguments in key marriage rights cases. The image, replacing profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and elsewhere, is a makeover of the advocacy group's logo, usually a blue background with bright yellow lines. The HRC made it available in red _ for the color of love _ on Monday and estimated tens of millions of shares by Wednesday. (AP Photo/Human Rights Campaign)
This image released by the Human Rights Campaign shows a redesign of their logo. A square box with thick pink horizontal lines (the mathematical equal symbol) was offered for sharing this week by the Human Rights Campaign as the U.S. Supreme Court took up arguments in key marriage rights cases. The image, replacing profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and elsewhere, is a makeover of the advocacy group's logo, usually a blue background with bright yellow lines. The HRC made it available in red _ for the color of love _ on Monday and estimated tens of millions of shares by Wednesday. (AP Photo/Human Rights Campaign)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Bud Light said it with beer cans and Martha Stewart with red velvet cake as companies and celebrities from Beyonce to George Takei joined millions of social media users in posting and tweaking a simple red logo in support of gay marriage.
A square box with thick pink horizontal lines (the mathematical equal symbol) was offered for sharing this week by the Human Rights Campaign as the U.S. Supreme Court took up arguments in key marriage rights cases.
The image, replacing profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and elsewhere, is a makeover of the advocacy group's logo, usually a blue background with bright yellow lines. The HRC made it available in red ? for the color of love ? on Monday and estimated tens of millions of shares by Wednesday.
"It shows the enthusiasm and the passion," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the nonprofit in Washington, D.C.
Like viral campaigns of yore, supporting breast cancer awareness (pink), President Barack Obama (change your middle name to Hussein) and even Arab Spring (green), a bit of fatigue set in on some social media streams by those questioning whether such efforts serve to change any minds or, put simply, are plain annoying.
"My Facebook feed is a cascading aesthetic nightmare. Thanks, equality," Washington Post writer Dan Zak wryly grumbled on Twitter.
A photo of Justice Anthony Kennedy made the rounds with the quip: "Before we make a ruling, did enough people change their Facebook profile picture?!"
None of that mattered to the masses of same-sex marriage supporters. Some swapped matzoh for the pink lines as Passover got under way, or added frowny Internet star Grumpy Cat, who explained marriage equality would make her happy.
Bert and Ernie showed up against the red background. (They're best friends with no plans to marry, according to Sesame Street.) Another version featured Paula Deen atop the red square and lines turned a shade of yellow akin to her favorite fatty ingredient and the tagline: "It's like two sticks of butter y'all."
Takei, a noted punster with nearly 4 million followers in Facebook, turned the equal sign into the division sign for those opposed to marriage equality.
Beyonce, with more than 44 million followers there, played it straight, leaving the logo alone and adding a personal message: "It's about TIME!!! (hash)EQUALITY (hash)MarryWhoYouLove.
Fergie let the image speak for itself on Twitter, adding: "No words necessary." Montana Sen. John Tester, a Democrat who endorsed same-sex marriage on Tuesday, put the logo up as his profile on Facebook while the clothing site Bonobos swapped its usual Facebook pic for the red square using fancy white pants for the equal sign.
Martha Stewart's Facebook page used a slice of red cake with white icing to make the image and the HBO page for "True Blood" added fangs.
All in good fun?
"There's a lot of serious conversation going on and there's an awful lot of important concepts that the Supreme Court justices are discussing," Sainz said. "What this logo going viral means is individuals have reduced it to a very straightforward concept."
Steve Jones, a professor of online culture and communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wondered whether all the mash-ups muddle the message.
"Once you throw it together with something like Grumpy Cat it's fun," he said. "But was this message intended to be fun?"
___
Associated Press writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this report.
___
Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Kenya's BOC Gases 2012 pretax profit up by a third
Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyas-boc-gases-2012-pretax-profit-third-151652240--sector.html
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George Mason University is reportedly leaving the Colonial Athletic Association to join the Atlantic 10 effective July 1 The A...
11:15 AM: NASCAR driver Tony Stewart said about Joey Logano after they scuffled following Sunday's Auto Club 40 race: "He's nothing but a little rich kid who has never had to work in his life."
11:00 AM: Caroline Wozniacki & Rory McIlroy were sitting courtside at Sunday's night Miami Heat game, where the Heat won their 26th game in a row by beating the Charlotte Bobcats 109-77.
10:45 AM: New York Jets QB Tim Tebow made a surprise visit to the Wichita State basketball team on Sunday a day after the Shockers upset top-seeded Gonzaga: "I just want to say congrats. You're an inspiration to so many people, so always remember that and how you carry yourself and your character."
10:30 AM: For the second time this season, an Oklahoma City Thunder fan won $20,000 by hitting a half-court shot. And Sunday's winner got a congratulatory tackle from Kevin Durant.
10:15 AM: Florida Gulf Coast became the first 15-seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen after Sunday's 81-71 win over San Diego State.
10:00 AM: UCLA announced Sunday night they have fired men's basketball coach Ben Howland after 10 seasons & a 233-107 record.
8:00 PM: The Lockport (NY) Board of Education is considering renaming its junior high school after Aaron Mossell, an African-American businessman who managed to get Lockport schools desegregated by 1876.
7:45 PM: Video of NBA TV's Chris Webber analyzing an Indiana Pacers fan who wouldn't share his ice cream cone with his girlfriend during Tuesday's game against the Orlando Magic.
7:30 PM: Apparently losing a bet with Portland Trail Blazers player Wesley Matthews, Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry changed his Twitter avatar to Matthews in his Marquette days.
7:15 PM: Lower Merion (PA) High School, alma mater of Kobe Bryant, defeated Chester 63-47 Saturday night to win the Class AAAA state title. Two days earlier, the wife of Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer gave birth to a daughter.
7:00 PM: NASCAR driver Tony Stewart went after Joey Logano following the end of Sunday's Auto Club 400 race in Fontana, California. Last week Logano tried to confront Denny Hamlin at the end of the Food City 500 race in Bristol.
6:45 PM: The University of Minnesota women's hockey team defeated Boston U. 6-3 Sunday to win the NCAA title and finish their season undefeated with a 41-0 record. The Golden Gophers also won their 49th straight game dating to last season, when they also won the NCAA title.
6:30 PM: Saginaw Spirit goalie Jake Peterson faced 70 shots on goal in Sunday's OHL playoff game against the London Knights. Peterson made 67 saves but the Spirit lost 3-2 in double OT.
6:15 PM: Dallas Stars forward Brenden Morrow has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Joe Morrow. The Stars & Penguins also swapped 3rd round & 5th round picks for the 2013 NHL Draft.
6:00 PM: Chicago Cubs pitcher Scott Baker is expected to miss the first half of the season after suffering an elbow muscle sprain during a spring training game last week.
Source: http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/sbblive?eid=49714
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
NCAA Tournament Capsules
NEW YORK -- Capsules from the NCAA tournament Saturday.
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BRIDGEPORT REGIONAL
No. 2 KENTUCKY 61, No. 15 NAVY 41
DeNesha Stallworth scored 18 points and Jennifer O'Neill added nine of her 12 points in the second half to lead Kentucky over Navy.
The Wildcats (28-5) trailed by one at the half before O'Neill, who grew up in New York, took over. She hit a quick 3-pointer to start a 12-2 run. The sophomore guard had seven points, a steal and an assist during the burst.
Kentucky had been off for 14 days since losing in the SEC tournament title game and looked rusty early on. Two-time SEC player of the year A'dia Mathies didn't have a field goal for the first time in her career.
Alix Membreno and Jade Geif scored nine each to lead Navy (21-12), which was trying to become the first 15 seed to win a game in NCAA tournament history.
No. 3 NORTH CAROLINA 59, No. 14 ALBANY 54
NEWARK, Del. (AP) - Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored a career-high 30 points, and North Carolina squeezed past Albany to stagger into the second round of the NCAA tournament.
North Carolina trailed 28-23 at halftime and 48-44 with just under 10 minutes left before rallying behind Ruffin-Pratt, who scored 17 of the Tar Heels' final 21 points - including two clinching free throws with 10.8 seconds left.
Waltiea Rolle had 14 points and 14 rebounds for North Carolina (29-6), which will next face sixth-seeded Delaware (31-3) on Tuesday night. Delaware advanced with a 66-53 win over West Virginia.
No. 6 DELAWARE 66, No. 11 WEST VIRGINIA 53
NEWARK, Del. (AP) - Elena Delle Donne scored 33 points and led a second-half surge that carried Delaware past West Virginia.
Playing on their home floor before a sellout crowd, the Blue Hens trailed 33-26 at halftime before bouncing back to extend their school-record winning streak to 26 games.
Delaware (31-3) had never won an NCAA tournament game before last year. The Blue Hens have yet to reach the round of 16, a milestone they will seek to accomplish Tuesday night against either North Carolina or Albany.
Delle Donne, a 6-foot-5 senior, scored 17 points after halftime. She finished 10 for 24 from the floor, went 12 for 13 at the foul line and had seven rebounds.
Ayana Dunning had 15 points and 10 rebounds for 11th-seeded West Virginia (17-14), which closed the season with a four-game losing streak.
No. 7 DAYTON 96, No. 10 ST. JOHN'S 90, 2 OT
Andrea Hoover scored a career-high 24 points and Dayton outlasted St. John's.
It was the first double overtime game in the tournament since 2000 when Vanderbilt beat Kansas.
Brittany Wilson hit a 3-pointer and Kelley Austria had a three-point play to make it 90-86 with 2:11 left in the second extra period. After St. John's failed to score, Olivia Applewhite added a basket with 47 seconds left to seal the win.
The Red Storm (18-13) trailed by 13 with 5:30 left in regulation before rallying. Nadirah McKenith hit a layup with one-tenth of a second left in regulation to force OT. Dayton's Amber Deane tied it with 15 seconds left in OT to force a second one
McKenith led her team with 22 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds before fouling out.
---
NORFOLK REGIONAL
No. 2 DUKE 67, No. 15 HAMPTON 51
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Tricia Liston scored 13 of her 20 points in the second half and Duke pulled away to beat Hampton.
Elizabeth Williams added 18 points and Haley Peters finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (31-2).
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/24/3304491/ncaa-tournament-capsules.html
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Facebook: Now with weather!
Facebook and Weather Underground are teaming up to tell you the the forecast for public pages and events you're planning to attend.
Facebook, with a little help from Weather Underground, has begun unrolling its new weather feature. You'll soon know the forecast for any event you might attend, or for any public place you're planning to visit.
Michael Dalde / Reuters / File
EnlargeFew things are worse than being caught without a hoodie or an umbrella if the weather at a get-together takes a turn for the worse. Facebook today (March 21) added a handy weather forecast to a number of spots across its massive platform.
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Facebook events will now include a weather?forecast if the event is 10 days away or less. Public pages, such as those for local parks and far-flung cities, will also include the weather. The new information will be included on both Web-based and mobile versions of Facebook.
Weather information is provided by Weather Underground. Each single-line entry will include a general forecast as well as the high and low temperatures for the day.
It's a small update for Facebook, but adding automatic weather updates to event pages could be a big help to users. Further, people can use the search bar to find weather for a particular location by typing in "Weather for New York City," for instance. This information is provided by?Bing .
Facebook has begun rolling out its weather feature, so watch for it the next time you plan or RSVP to an event.
Follow Leslie Meredith ?@lesliemeredith. Follow us?@TechNewsDaily,?Facebook?or?Google+.
Copyright 2013 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/usFkfyposgw/Facebook-Now-with-weather
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Monday, March 25, 2013
Winning $338M Powerball jackpot ticket sold in N.J.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? A single ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing for the $338.3 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said. It was the 13th drawing held in the days since a Virginia man won a $217 million jackpot Feb. 6.
Thirteen other tickets worth $1 million each matched all but the final Powerball number on Saturday night. Those tickets were sold in New Jersey and 10 other states. Lottery officials said there was also one Power Play Match 5 winner in Iowa.
The New Jersey Lottery said Sunday that details about the winning ticket would be released Monday, declining to reveal where it had been purchased and whether anyone had immediately come forward. Lottery officials say it was the fourth largest jackpot in Powerball history.
The numbers drawn were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million.
Lottery officials said the 13 tickets worth $1 million apiece ? matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball ? were sold in Arizona, Florida (2), Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina and Virginia.
Powerball said on its website that the grand prize jackpot has now been reset to an estimated $40 million or a lump sum cash amount estimated at $25 million for Wednesday's next drawing.
No one had won the Powerball jackpot since early February, when Dave Honeywell in Virginia bought the winning ticket and elected a cash lump sum for his $217 million jackpot.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. The winning numbers were picked on two different tickets ? one by a couple in Missouri and the other by an Arizona man ? and the jackpot was split.
Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket ? $365 million. That jackpot was won by eight workers at a Lincoln, Neb., meatpacking plant in February 2006.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.
Powerball said on its website that the game is played every Wednesday and Saturday night when five white balls are drawn from a drum of 59 balls and one red ball is picked from a drum with 35 red balls. It added that winners of the Powerball jackpot can elect to be paid out over 29 years at a percentage set by the game's rules ? or in a lump sum cash payment.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/winning-338m-powerball-jackpot-ticket-sold-nj-074556709.html
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Police investigate death of Miss. state legislator
MENDENHALL, Miss. (AP) ? Authorities say they are investigating the apparent suicide of a state legislator in Mississippi.
Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis tells WLOX (http://bit.ly/ZhXTa1 ) that Rep. Jessica Upshaw appeared to have shot herself in the head at a home in Mendenhall on Sunday. The town is about 30 miles southeast of Jackson, the state capital. She was 53.
The sheriff told The Clarion-Ledger (http://on.thec-l.com/X1xwqe) that Upshaw was found at the home of former state Rep. Clint Rotenberry. He has not been arrested.
Upshaw was an attorney who had been a lawmaker since 2004. She was a Republican from Diamondhead along the state's coast. Mendenhall is about 110 miles away from her hometown.
The sheriff did not return a phone call from The Associated Press. Rotenberry did not answer his phone.
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U.S., Afghanistan reach agreement on prison transfer: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States agreed on Saturday to transfer to Afghan control a prison that houses insurgents and other dangerous inmates adjacent to Bagram airfield, the Pentagon said.
The agreement, reached after a week of intensified negotiations between U.S. and Afghan officials, calls for the formal transfer to take place on Monday and includes assurances that inmates who pose a danger to Afghans and international forces will continue to be detained under Afghan law.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by telephone about the Parwan Detention Facility, a point of increasing friction between the two countries.
"The secretary welcomed President Karzai's commitment that the transfer will be carried out in a way that assures the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement.
The United States last year agreed to hand over responsibility for most of the more than 3,000 detainees at the prison to Afghanistan and held a transfer ceremony in September. But U.S. soldiers remained at the prison and controlled the area around it.
A formal ceremony transferring the last prisoners to Afghan custody collapsed at the last minute two weeks ago when General Joseph Dunford, the U.S. head of international forces in Afghanistan, called it off because Karzai rejected part of the transfer deal.
The collapse provoked an angry response from Karzai and embarrassed both sides as Hagel was starting his first official visit to the country as defense secretary.
Hagel pushed for intensified negotiations over the past to resolve the outstanding areas of disagreement.
(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-afghanistan-reach-agreement-prison-transfer-pentagon-024656856.html
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Galaxy S4 Mini makes an appearance on official Samsung website, 4 variants confirmed
Posted by FaryaabS on 24 March 2013 at 12:44
Just two days ago, we showed you folks the Galaxy S4 Mini with some specifications of the device. And today, the Galaxy S4 Mini has made an appearance on Samsung?s official support website. Samsung?s website confirms that the device will be coming in 4 different variants.
GT-I9190 = HSPA+ Variant with a Quad-Core CPU
GT-I9192 = Dial-SIM HSPA+ Variant with a Dual-Core CPU
GT-I9195 = LTE Variant
GT-I9198 = China Variant
The Galaxy S4 mini is expected to be launched during summer in June / July. The device will have a 4.3? Super AMOLED qHD display with a pixel density of 256ppi and based on TW Nature UX 2.0 running on Android 4.2.2. The Dual-SIM variant (GT-i9192) of the device is rumoured to feature a Dual-Core processor whereas the HSPA+ Variant (GT-I9190) variant is rumoured to feature a Quad-Core?processor.
Via: GSMArena
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Sunday, March 24, 2013
Women Launch Clothing Line for Breast Cancer Survivors
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and in Laurel Kamen's case, it certainly was.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2011, Kamen underwent a mastectomy. On the eve of her surgery, after trying and failing to find clothes that would be both comfortable and fashionable during her post-operation recovery period, Kamen noticed a gaping hole in the fashion market and decided to fill the niche herself.
Thirteen months later, Kamen is debuting the Alloro Collection, a fashion friendly line of clothing suited for post-op recovery.
"I didn't want to have to step out of the world of fashion just because I had breast cancer," Kamen said. "I wanted to stay in the world of fashion, still be able to buy a nice dress to go out to dinner, or a nice blouse to go to a Bat Mitzvah or a wedding. I just felt that women with all of these sensitivities need to be addressed, and they could still look gorgeous."
The Alloro line is part of a growing movement to accommodate breast cancer survivors. Just last month, Victoria's Secret responded to a Change.org petition asking for a line of "survivor" mastectomy bras, and Nordstrom department stores offer a service that will convert any basic bra or camisole into a mastectomy bra. Related: Daughter Petitions Victoria's Secret for Post-Mastectomy Bras
Kamen and her business partner and best friend Christine Irvin considered the effects of breast cancer treatment on a woman's body, taking into account the change in neckline, color pallor and sensitivity.
"We started looking at what we could do to really help a woman get beautiful back in her life and recapturing the color that cancer had drained from her life," Irvin said.
Their debut collection is made up of 14 original pieces, all of which will be sold entirely online and through trunk shows.
For Kamen, a former American Express executive, and Irvin, a Wall Street veteran, this is quite the change of pace.
"We can both laugh. We can both say that we've been fashion followers," explained Irvin. "We've switched from reading the Wall Street Journal first to reading Vogue first."
When asked what's next for this dynamic duo, Kamen was quick to point out that this is just the beginning for Alloro. "This is all new to us and we just want to go slowly and get it right and connect with women," she said.
One thing's for sure, the clothes don't make the woman. The woman makes the clothes.
Twenty-five percent of all proceeds from the Alloro Collection will be donated to the Breast Cancer Foundation.
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