Thousands of inventors, engineers and entrepreneurs gathered in a suburban Washington convention center on Monday for the annual three-day meeting of Arpa-E, the Advanced Research Projects Agency ? Energy. It wasn?t quite the Oscars. At the registration desk, attendees received a goody bag that included a report on clean energy from the Pew Charitable Trusts and a refrigerator magnet that showed the periodic table of the elements.
But the breakout sessions held true to Arpa-E?s tradition: there were lots of swing-for-the-fence ideas. These included finding a high-efficiency, low-cost way to turn surplus natural gas into liquid fuel for cars and trucks, and identifying something to burn other than hydrocarbons so that carbon dioxide is not one of the byproducts.
One researcher proposed burning aluminum instead. One challenge is that the ashes, or oxidized metal, would be hard to recycle back into aluminum without big releases of carbon dioxide.
Arpa-E is the Energy Department?s effort to imitate the better-known Pentagon arm known as the Defense Research Projects Agency, or Darpa. Darpa laid the groundwork for the Internet and still finances high-potential ideas in their early speculative stages in the expectation that a few will be major breakthroughs; Arpa-E tries to do the same in energy.
So far the agency has invested $770 million in 285 projects, ?and we?re proud of every single one of them,?? said Cheryl Martin, the agency?s deputy director, in opening remarks to several thousand attendees. Although most will never be commercialized, the strikeouts are not as important as the home runs.
One particularly ambitious idea presented on Monday was to re-engineer plants so that their leaves reflect rather than absorb more light. In an age of global climate change, with shifting rainfall patterns, changing reflectivity holds appeal. The technology would save water, which means saving energy because the water that the plants need often must be pumped. It could prove a way to help crops grow with less rainfall.
Some of those crops can be used to produce energy as well. And increasing the amount of light that bounces back into space would help to limit global warming.
The notion is that crops will absorb light in the visible spectrum yet reflect some of the infrared and ultraviolet light, which heats the leaves. ?Plants have a maximum efficiency of about 6 percent,?? said Robert Conrado, an agency scientist. And plants regulate their temperature much the way people do, by giving off water, which cools as it evaporates. ?All energy that is not able to be captured is dissipated as heat,?? he said. ?And that?s a lot of water.??
In a hot climate, a cornfield can give off the equivalent of eight inches of rainfall in a month, he said, and agricultural irrigation accounts for 81 percent of water use in this country. The proportion is even higher in poorer places, which have fewer dishwashers and washing machines.
And some of that energy would radiate back into space, reducing global warming, Dr. Conrado said.Whether butterfly wings or fruits, he said, ?nature has already evolved mechanisms for tailored light reflection.?
From the point of view of its ultimate (human) host, the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni has a gruesome way of life. It hatches in feces-tainted water, grows into a larva in the body of a snail and then burrows through human skin to take up residence in the veins. Once there, it grows into an adult, mates and, if it's female, starts laying eggs. It can remain in the body for decades.
A new study offers insight into the cellular operations that give this flatworm its extraordinary staying power. The researchers, from the University of Illinois, demonstrated for the first time that S. mansoni harbors adult, non-sexual stem cells that can migrate to various parts of its body and replenish tissues. Their report appears in the journalNature.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 230 million people are in need of treatment for Schistosoma infections every year. Most live in impoverished areas with little or no access to clean water. Infection with the worm (also known as a blood fluke) can lead to damaging inflammation spurred by the presence of the worm's eggs in human organs and tissues.
"The female lays eggs more or less continuously, on the order of hundreds of eggs per day," said U. of I. cell and developmental biology professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Phillip Newmark, who led the study with postdoctoral researcher James J. Collins III.
"The eggs that don't get excreted in the feces to continue the life cycle actually become embedded inside host tissues, typically the liver, and those eggs trigger a massive inflammatory response that leads to tissue damage."
Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of infection, in some cases experiencing delays in growth and brain development as a result of chronic inflammation brought on by the parasites.
The new study began with an insight stemming from years of work on a different flatworm, the planarian, in Newmark's lab. Collins thought that schistosomes might make use of the same kinds of stem cells (called neoblasts in planarians) that allow planarians to regenerate new body parts and organs from even tiny fragments of living tissue.
"It just stood to reason that since schistosomes, like planaria, live so long that they must have a comparable type of system," Collins said. "And since these flatworms are related, it made sense that they would have similar types of cells. But it had never been shown."
In a series of experiments, Collins found that the schistosomes were loaded with proliferating cells that looked and behaved like planarian neoblasts, the cells that give them their amazing powers of regeneration. Like neoblasts, the undifferentiated cells in the schistosomes lived in the mesenchyme, a kind of loose connective tissue that surrounds the organs. And like neoblasts, these cells duplicated their DNA and divided to form two "daughter" cells, one of which copied its DNA again, a process that normally precedes cell division.
"Stem cells do two things," Newmark said. "They divide to make more stem cells and they give rise to cells that can differentiate."
Collins had labeled the cells with fluorescent markers. This allowed him to watch how they behaved. He noted that over the course of a few days, some of the labeled cells migrated into the gut or muscle, to become part of those tissues.
"We label the cells when they're born and then we see what they grow up to become," Collins said. "This is not conclusive evidence that these cells are equivalent to the planarian neoblasts, but it is consistent with the hypothesis that they are."
The researchers went deeper, determining which genes were turned on or off, up or down in the proliferating cells as compared with the non-dividing cells. They identified a gene in the proliferating cells that coded for a growth factor receptor very similar to one found in planarians. When the researchers switched off the parasite's ability to make use of this gene (using a technique called RNA interference in worms grown in the lab), the proliferating cells gradually died out.
"We postulated that these cells are important for the longevity of the parasite," Collins said. "Now we can start asking which genes regulate these cells."
"We started with the big question: How does a simple parasite survive in a host for decades?" Newmark said. "That implies that it has ways of repairing and maintaining its tissues. This study gives us insight into the really interesting biology of these parasites, and it may also open up new doors for making that life cycle a lot shorter."
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu
Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.
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Earlier this week, Internet users were treated to another reminder that some of the world's biggest brands don't have the firmest of grasps on their Twitter accounts.
On Monday (Feb. 18), the Burger King Twitter account was hijacked, resulting in a stream of foul-mouthed, funny tweets about how the company had been bought by rival McDonald's.
On Tuesday, it was Jeep's turn, with a string of tweets promoting mostly obscure rappers. (MTV's own Twitter hijack later Tuesday turned out to be a marketing stunt.)
Why are so many corporate Twitter accounts being hacked and hijacked?
Easy-to-guess passwords are initially to blame, but experts said poor passwords indicate a bigger problem: Many big companies simply just don't take social media seriously.
"When senior management doesn't understand social media, they sometimes feel very comfortable handing over social-media management to interns or recent graduates," Philadelphia-based social-media strategist Alexandra Golaszewska told TechNewsDaily.
While the Jeep and Burger King Twitter hijacks were hilarious to many, such incidents can seriously harm a brand's relationship with its customers by showing that brand managers don't value the direct connections social media provides.
"If the decision makers don't use [social media] themselves, they might not understand the extent of its reach," Golaszewska said. "They don't always realize that even a deleted post can live forever in screen shots."
[The 10 Most Embarrassing Company Tweets]
Dismissive attitudes toward social media can lead to lax social-media security as well. High turnover and unclear social-media policies may result in many former interns and employees who still have keys to a company's social-media platforms.
No one has ever died from a hacked Twitter account or a disgruntled intern's rant on the corporate Facebook profile, but that doesn't mean these incidents don't have real-life consequences.
In the past couple of years, household names such as KitchenAid, Chrysler, Microsoft, Marc Jacobs and StubHub have had their Twitter accounts abused by employees who thought they were tweeting on their own personal accounts, or who used the corporate account to send offensive or brand-damaging messages to a larger audience.
It's not just companies that are at risk. Several celebrities, including Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears have had their accounts taken over by hackers who suddenly find themselves with an unearned audience of millions.
So how can an individual or company protect a Twitter account?
"In addition to creating a strong password, be sure to change your password often and always change it after someone leaves the company," said Rebecca Debono, social-media strategist at San Diego digital-marketing agency Digitaria. "You never know where former employees place old documents online or how easy their accounts are to hack."
"I always say to my clients, if you can remember your password, it is not cryptic enough," San Diego social-media expert and consultant Mari Smith told TechNewsDaily. "People need to do their homework and find a reliable system that stores passwords and gets them out of the habit of committing passwords to memory."
Smith recommends social-media scheduling tools such as HootSuite, which enables multiple people to tweet or post updates on a single account but doesn't allow users to make profile changes.
"Following these simple guidelines significantly reduces your likelihood of falling victim to a public hacking experience," Debono said.
[10 Tips for Staying Safe on Twitter]
Smith pointed out that if Twitter offered two-step authentication and strongly encouraged users ? especially high-profile celebrities and brands ? to enable it, account hijacks such as these would happen with less frequency.
(Twitter has said it is looking into adding two-step authentication, which would require users to log in with a password and a separate factor, such as a code text-messaged to a mobile phone.)
But OneID founder Steve Kirsch, whose service provides one username and password for multiple online accounts, disagrees.
Kirsch told tech news service ZDNet this week that even if Twitter offered two-step authentication, he doesn't believe it would be widely adopted.
"From a practical point of view, it would be like offering a feature that no one used," Kirsch said.
It's true that even the strongest passwords and authentication methods wouldn't have prevented a recent attack that resulted in the theft of 250,000 Twitter passwords.
In that case, hackers exploited a flaw in Oracle's Java browser plug-in to break into Twitter's employee network. (Twitter subsequently changed the passwords of all affected users.)
There's no panacea that will solve the complex security problems of navigating the corporate world on social media.
But companies may be doing themselves a disservice if they treat social media as a second-rate medium for communicating with their customers. As with any other customer-facing aspect of a business, image and control is everything.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
3 Johns Hopkins researchers recognized for medical inventionsPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shawna Williams shawna@jhmi.edu 410-955-8236 Johns Hopkins Medicine
BioMaryland LIFE and Abell Foundation awards confer funds for research translation
Johns Hopkins' John Wong, Ph.D., has won a BioMaryland LIFE Award, and Ronald Berger, M.D., Ph.D., and Hien Nguyen, M.D., were awarded funds from the Abell Foundation, the researchers learned last week. Each of the winners will receive $50,000 to help develop their discoveries for clinical use.
The prizes were awarded as part of the annual Joint Meeting of the Johns Hopkins Alliance for Science and Technology Development and the University of Maryland, Baltimore Commercial Advisory Board on Feb. 19. The meeting was attended by more than 150 venture capitalists, seasoned biotech entrepreneurs and business development executives from the biopharma industry. Judging committees evaluated presentations from two dozen university researchers before selecting the winners. The aim of the awards is to speed the translation of promising research into commercial application.
First awarded in 2010, the LIFE Prizes are two grants funded by the Maryland Biotechnology Center, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland to help advance research in biotech and biopharma, medical devices, or diagnostics that have great potential for commercial application. Wong will use the funding to develop technology that will aid in the safer delivery of radiation therapy. This year's other winner was the University of Maryland School of Dentistry's Mark Shirtliff.
For the first time this year, the Abell Foundation also donated funds for two prizes to be awarded at the Joint Meeting. Founded 60 years ago in Baltimore, the foundation's mission is to enhance quality of life in the city. Berger's award will help his team develop advanced defibrillation technology based on their discoveries about the effects of high-frequency alternating current on the heart's electrical patterns. Nguyen will use his prize funds to continue the development of FastStitch, a device that can close the muscle layers of the chest and abdomen in a way that allows surgeons more precision and consistency while requiring less time and resources.
Winner biographies:
Ronald D. Berger is a professor of medicine and biomedical engineering and directs the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Training Program in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. He has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals and holds more than 20 patents in the fields of arrhythmia detection, catheter ablation, defibrillation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. His honors include a First Independent Research Support & Transition (FIRST) Award from the National Institutes of Health and a National Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. Berger has co-founded three medical device companies and served on advisory boards for eight others. His academic focus is on arrhythmia device technology, signal processing and technology transfer.
Hien Nguyen is the director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Hernia Center, an assistant professor of surgery in the school of medicine and an associate medical director for the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID) in the school of engineering. He specializes in minimally invasive surgery and his surgical practice involves the repair of complex hernias, abdominal wall reconstruction, as well as bariatric surgery. His FastStitch device has won many accolades, including a grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and finished first place in business competitions at the University of Maryland, University of California, Irvine and the ASME Innovation Showcase.
John Wong is director of the Division of Medical Physics and a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences. Wong helps coordinate all technical services and directly manages the physics and dosimetry services of the radiation therapy clinics to ensure the delivery of state-of-the-art methods of radiation treatment. He has over 130 peer-reviewed publications and holds two patents on methods of delivering precisely targeted radiation treatment.
Three of Wong's inventions, the Active Breathing Coordinator, the image-guided small animal radiation research platform (SARRP) and the cone-beam computed tomography on-board medical accelerator, have been successfully commercialized and have become standards of care and research in the radiation therapy community.
Instead of Defibrillator's Painful Jolt, There May Be a Gentler Way to Prevent Sudden Death, According to Hopkins Scientists (Ronald Berger): http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/instead_of_defibrillators_painful_jolt_there_may_be_a_gentler_way_to_prevent_sudden_death_according_to_hopkins_scientists
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
3 Johns Hopkins researchers recognized for medical inventionsPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shawna Williams shawna@jhmi.edu 410-955-8236 Johns Hopkins Medicine
BioMaryland LIFE and Abell Foundation awards confer funds for research translation
Johns Hopkins' John Wong, Ph.D., has won a BioMaryland LIFE Award, and Ronald Berger, M.D., Ph.D., and Hien Nguyen, M.D., were awarded funds from the Abell Foundation, the researchers learned last week. Each of the winners will receive $50,000 to help develop their discoveries for clinical use.
The prizes were awarded as part of the annual Joint Meeting of the Johns Hopkins Alliance for Science and Technology Development and the University of Maryland, Baltimore Commercial Advisory Board on Feb. 19. The meeting was attended by more than 150 venture capitalists, seasoned biotech entrepreneurs and business development executives from the biopharma industry. Judging committees evaluated presentations from two dozen university researchers before selecting the winners. The aim of the awards is to speed the translation of promising research into commercial application.
First awarded in 2010, the LIFE Prizes are two grants funded by the Maryland Biotechnology Center, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland to help advance research in biotech and biopharma, medical devices, or diagnostics that have great potential for commercial application. Wong will use the funding to develop technology that will aid in the safer delivery of radiation therapy. This year's other winner was the University of Maryland School of Dentistry's Mark Shirtliff.
For the first time this year, the Abell Foundation also donated funds for two prizes to be awarded at the Joint Meeting. Founded 60 years ago in Baltimore, the foundation's mission is to enhance quality of life in the city. Berger's award will help his team develop advanced defibrillation technology based on their discoveries about the effects of high-frequency alternating current on the heart's electrical patterns. Nguyen will use his prize funds to continue the development of FastStitch, a device that can close the muscle layers of the chest and abdomen in a way that allows surgeons more precision and consistency while requiring less time and resources.
Winner biographies:
Ronald D. Berger is a professor of medicine and biomedical engineering and directs the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Training Program in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. He has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals and holds more than 20 patents in the fields of arrhythmia detection, catheter ablation, defibrillation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. His honors include a First Independent Research Support & Transition (FIRST) Award from the National Institutes of Health and a National Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. Berger has co-founded three medical device companies and served on advisory boards for eight others. His academic focus is on arrhythmia device technology, signal processing and technology transfer.
Hien Nguyen is the director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Hernia Center, an assistant professor of surgery in the school of medicine and an associate medical director for the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID) in the school of engineering. He specializes in minimally invasive surgery and his surgical practice involves the repair of complex hernias, abdominal wall reconstruction, as well as bariatric surgery. His FastStitch device has won many accolades, including a grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and finished first place in business competitions at the University of Maryland, University of California, Irvine and the ASME Innovation Showcase.
John Wong is director of the Division of Medical Physics and a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences. Wong helps coordinate all technical services and directly manages the physics and dosimetry services of the radiation therapy clinics to ensure the delivery of state-of-the-art methods of radiation treatment. He has over 130 peer-reviewed publications and holds two patents on methods of delivering precisely targeted radiation treatment.
Three of Wong's inventions, the Active Breathing Coordinator, the image-guided small animal radiation research platform (SARRP) and the cone-beam computed tomography on-board medical accelerator, have been successfully commercialized and have become standards of care and research in the radiation therapy community.
Instead of Defibrillator's Painful Jolt, There May Be a Gentler Way to Prevent Sudden Death, According to Hopkins Scientists (Ronald Berger): http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/instead_of_defibrillators_painful_jolt_there_may_be_a_gentler_way_to_prevent_sudden_death_according_to_hopkins_scientists
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This week?s top iOS apps features a virtual assistant, so you?ll never have to read another social media post again. Now you can have your Facebook feed dictated to you! Other apps in our list this week include a March Madness app, a Team Coco update, a blue book for bikes and an app to track your pill intake.
Winston for iPhone is a virtual assistant that takes all the reading out of your social media experience. Instead of having to comprehend a how letters combine to make specific words, Winston for iPhone dictates social media and news stories to you with a mix of audio and visual content. Want to check Facebook without actually reading any of your newsfeed?s stories? With Winston, you can. Winston supports sites like Twitter, ESPN, Facebook, and more.
ESPN?s March Madness pick ?em game is back in the form of ESPN Bracket Bound 2013. Users can create up to 10 brackets and compete against friends and strangers to see who has the best bracket of them all. Additionally, Bracket Bound 2013 features top news stories from around college basketball and the ability to follow specific teams under the ?My Teams? tab. Users can also watch video of completed games and read coverage of all the games, from previews to recaps.
The iPhone version of the Team Coco app has received a major boost with some excellent new features in its latest update. iPhone users can now ?sync? the app to run alongside the Conan show on TBS to enjoy a second-screen experience featuring user interaction, trivia and backstage access. Additionally, users can now watch full episodes of Conan right on their iPhone. The overall design of the app has also been tweaked for a more user-friendly experience.
Bicycle Blue Book takes data from hundreds of thousands of used bike sales from the past seven years with bikes from as far back as 1993 in order to assess the proper used value of various bikes. Bikes in the BBB are valued by make, model, condition, age and other variables, just like Kelly Blue Book does with cars. Users can search for values by make, model and year, or choose the make from an exhaustive list of bike manufacturers. Bikes can also be added to a favorites tab for easier reference at a later date.
Whether you?re trying to keep track of your own pill intake or just want to do some scientific reading, The Pill Book All-In-one App has your every medicinal need covered. Pill Book features over 100,000 FDA-approved medications and more than 18,000 images of drugs. There?s information regarding side effects and drug interactions, and users can identify drugs via brand name, generic name, NDC number, imprint, color and shape. Siri voice recognition can also be used to search for drugs. Users can also keep track of their own medications and local pharmacy and physician info.
Well, this might just be the biggest news to come out of Mobile World Congress. Long after discontinuing the TouchPad (and the rest of its mobile devices, for that matter) HP is back with a new tablet. This time, though, it runs not webOS, but an old safety: Android. Interestingly, though, HP is returning to the tablet space not with a high-end flagship, but a lower-end device priced to sell. The Slate 7 is priced at $169, with modest specs that include a dual-core A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, a 7-inch, 1,024 x 600 display and dual 3MP / VGA cameras. All that said, it could be worth a second look when it goes on sale in April. Meet us past the break to see what we mean.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets rebounded on Friday, recovering some of the previous session's sharp losses, but the euro hit a six-week low against the dollar on renewed doubts about the health of the euro zone's financial system.
Wall Street ended higher, boosted by Dow component Hewlett-Packard, whose shares surged on strong results, and as comments from Federal Reserve officials allayed fears that the U.S. central bank would curtail its stimulus measures.
But for the week, the S&P 500 posted its first weekly decline for the year. Risk-associated assets have been rattled this week by suggestions the Fed could scale back its monetary support sooner than expected and by weak euro zone data that dashed hopes of an early recovery in the recession-hit region.
In a sign that some euro zone banks may still need support, the ECB said just over 61 billion euros (53.4 billion pounds) of the 530 billion it lent at the height of the bloc's crisis last year will be repaid when banks get the first opportunity next week.
That was well below the 130 billion euros expected by traders and means there remains more than enough cash in the banking system to keep downward pressure on money market rates. The news sent the euro to a six-week low against the dollar.
"The smaller-than-expected payback of loans means the ECB's balance sheet will shrink at a slower-than-expected pace," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. It "further undermined confidence in the state of recovery in the 17-member bloc."
Stocks fared better in Europe as investors looked to take advantage of the previous session's sharp sell-off, though traders cited some caution given the elections in Italy.
The FTSEurofirst 300 closed up 1.2 percent at 1,165.43, having sunk 1.5 percent on Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 119.95 points, or 0.86 percent, to 14,000.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended up 13.18 points, or 0.88 percent, at 1,515.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 30.33 points, or 0.97 percent, at 3,161.82.
But for the week, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq lost nearly 1 percent. Only the Dow ended the week with a gain - up just 0.1 percent.
MSCI's world share index gained 0.6 percent. For the week, the index was off 0.5 percent.
Like equities, commodities rebounded from Thursday's big sell-off.
Brent crude rose 57 cents to settle at $114.10 a barrel, but was down 3 percent on the week. U.S. crude futures rose 29 cents to settle at $93.13 a barrel, but were down 2.8 percent this week.
FED DOWNPLAYS WORRIES
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke downplayed worries that the Fed has fuelled asset bubbles that could hurt the economy in a private meeting with bond dealers and investors earlier this month, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
Bernanke's view helped ease fears that the central bank may end its easy money policies. Minutes from the Fed's January meeting hit markets on Wednesday as investors interpreted divergent opinions on the benefit of stimulus as a sign the measures may be halted sooner than thought.
"They are in uncharted territory with divergent views," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. "I could see some pretty heated opinions on what the ultimate outcome is, so I do believe there is dissension."
With Bernanke's reported comments much on their minds in Friday's session, investors will want the Fed chairman to reiterate his remarks publicly when he speaks before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. That would echo comments made by two top Fed officials on Friday.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Fed Governor Jerome Powell both defended the U.S. central bank's asset-buying program, arguing that the policy helps the U.S. economy.
U.S. Treasuries prices edged higher as investors prepared for Bernanke's testimony next week.
The 10-year note was 2/32 higher in price at 100-10/32, yielding 1.964 percent, down 1 basis point from late on Thursday.
EURO TUMBLES
The euro fell as low as $1.3144, its lowest since January 10, retreating from a session high of $1.3244 after the German Ifo survey showed a big jump in business morale in Germany, suggesting a brighter outlook for the euro zone's largest economy.
The yen dropped against the dollar and euro, with many investors forecasting further weakness as the Bank of Japan looked set to ease monetary policy further to fight deflation.
On top of the low ECB repayment, a report from the European Commission that forecast the euro zone economy will contract again in 2013, and caution ahead of Italy's election this weekend, also weighed on the euro, which fell for a third straight session.
Adding pressure on the euro, Italians go to the polls this weekend in an election that could threaten reforms in the indebted country. Silvio Berlusconi's resurgence has thrown the vote wide open, with deep uncertainty over whether the poll can produce the strong government the country needs.
Inconclusive Greek elections last year sparked a protracted sell-off and a period of uncertainty in markets.
For the week, the euro fell 1.3 percent versus the dollar.
Against the yen, the euro rose 0.3 percent to 123.12 yen. The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 93.39 yen, not far from a 33-month high of 94.47 hit last week.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Dan Grebler and Nick Zieminski)
If you do a search for ?AngelList? in the Apple App Store, you?ll only get four results ? and one is an app featuring quotes from entrepreneurs. In other words, there?s not a lot of selection despite AngelList?s readily available API. That being said, in the past an app called?AngelList Wings?has served as a useful resource for browsing, searching and following early-stage startups, founders and investors. Today, however, it has some new competition from a mobile app called Simplr.
As AngelList becomes an increasingly important startup community ? and now, investment platform, too ? the need for more services to better manage and guide your involvement on the site is also becoming more essential for those in the industry. Last month, Wittlebee CEO?Sean Percival?launched?angel5, which he described as something of a ?WeFollow for founders,? referring of course to the Twitter user directory created by Digg?s Kevin Rose back in Twitter?s early days.
But angel5 is an editorially curated site of user suggestions, something that Simplr co-founder Lothar Chan-Sew says will be hard to scale the more AngelList grows. Simplr, meanwhile, will make its own recommendations?through an automated means.
To be clear, Simplr isn?t only a user directory to compete with angel5, it?s about offering an alternative view into AngelList?s feeds, and soon, more networks, too.??The app learns your browsing habits and adjusts delivery to allow important topics to come to the forefront,? explains Chan-Sew. The app is starting with AngelList this month, and is working on adding Facebook and Twitter in the near future.
Had the app only focused on these broader, public social networks, I?ll admit that it probably wouldn?t have caught my attention ? there are already so many of these news filtration apps out there, including those that look just at social media, as well as those that track news trends across the web. (See for example: Prismatic, Thirst, undrip, Circa, Summify, Wavii, etc.).?But as an AngelList stalker myself, the idea that someone was building smart algorithms to learn my preferences specifically for that community has some appeal.
Unfortunately, I?m not a huge fan of Simplr?s user interface, with its black-and-orange color scheme, and still very rough UX. AngelList Wings is definitely the better-looking of the two usable iOS apps for browsing AngelList.
That being said, as a basic utility, Simplr has some advantages. You can jump into the bigger sections like Updates, Investments, People, Startups, etc., and you can drill down into specific locations (e.g. San Francisco, New York) and markets (big data, consumer web, social media, etc.). You can also switch to a view of Status Updates, or you can view your Activity Feed as a whole.
In addition, if you?re focused on tracking activities surrounding specific people (investors or founders) or companies, you can bookmark them using the app?s ?SimplrMarks,? which have their own section. This lets you view a feed dedicated to your favorites. In the Settings, you can also switch on or off the ?SimplrSort? feature, if you don?t want to see Simplr?s recommended, prioritized stream of updates, in order to view things as they would appear on the AngelList website.
The app did give me some troubles ? an error message here and a crash there ? so if you?re looking for a complete, near-perfect mobile experience, this is not it. The app feels very beta, but it?s aimed at startup folks right now, and they can handle a little beta-ness, right?
Fremont-based Simplr was co-created by Chan-Sew and CEO Devang Patel, who had both struggled with keeping up with the ever-increasing amount of information available across social networks. They decided to self-fund the app they wanted to use themselves, and are now committed to keeping it ad-free by making it a paid download. For $2.99, if you?re thinking about using it for managing social networks in the future, then be aware that it?s pricier than its more attractive, and typically free, competitors.?But thanks to its inclusion of AngelList, the app is something of a rarity right now in the App Store.
You'd think -- given the sophisticated sorts of folks who annually attend the Berlin Film Festival -- that this wouldn't be the sort of crowd which would enthusiastically embrace something as crass-sounding as The Croods.
But that's actually what happened last Friday night at the world premiere of this DreamWorks Animation production. As the credits began to roll for this out-of-competition screening, an audience of 2000 got to its feet and began to applaud wildly for this silly, sweet yet surprisingly sophisticated animated feature.
And while all the DWA & Fox who were on hand for the world premiere of The Croods were thrilled with the reception that this new feature-length cartoon received, no one was more excited -- or more relieved -- than the film's two directors, Chris Sanders and Kirk Di Micco.
For Kirk, Friday night's screening was the end of an especially long road. You see, he'd been working on this particular project since May of 2005. Back when this DWA production was originally supposed to have been done in stop motion by the talented artists at Aardman Animations.
"Back then, this film had a different title: Crood Awakenings," Di Micco explained.
Its story also had a somewhat different slant. My co-writer on that earlier version of this project -- Monty Python's John Cleese -- is deathly afraid that technology is ultimately going to ruin civilization. So we were looking to use this battle of one-upmanship between two cavemen as a way to comically illustrate this concept.
But as often happens with animated features, as Crood Awakenings moved through DWA's development pipeline (More importantly, as Aardman Animations stepped away from its five-picture deal with DreamWorks Animation in January of 2007), the storyline of this prehistoric comic adventure began to change. Gradually shifting from being about a single caveman (i.e. Crood, Leader of the Hunt, who felt threatened when a more evolved caveman arrived on the scene armed with radical new inventions like fire) to being about this family of cavemen who were struggling to survive in a world fraught with change.
"That's what I think makes The Croods really unique," said DiMicco's co-director Chris Sanders.
This movie really doesn't have a villain. The thing that keeps pushing our set of characters forward, that constantly challenges them is change. The very ground that they're standing on -- thanks to the continental split -- is constantly changing due to earthquakes and all of these great chasms opening up. So the only way that this family of cavemen can hope to survive amid this upheaval is by embracing change.
Which -- I know -- makes The Croods sound kind of dry, which this new production is anything but. You see, Kirk and Chris have set their story in the Croodaceous Period, which is this yet-to-be-discovered prehistoric era when a lot of the species that we know today were still going through some pretty wild permutations. So the skies were filled with colorful creatures who were part sea-turtle and part parrot. And cavemen constantly had to be on the lookout for vicious owl bears or run for cover whenever swarms of piranha birds suddenly took flight.
Mind you, what makes a lot of the prehistoric animals that appear in The Croods so much fun is that they've been filtered through Chris Sanders' unique design sensibility. Anyone who remembers Disney's Lilo & Stitch, Toothless from DWA's March 2010 release, How to Train Your Dragon or who frequents Sanders' own website will know exactly what I'm talking about.
Getting back now to last week's world premiere of The Croods, what pleased Kirk and Chris the most, what made them feel that all of those years which they'd spent reworking this movie's story had ultimately been worth it, was the reaction that the audience in Berlin had to what happens in Act 3. Which is when (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD) this animated feature makes a deft left turn. Transforming from a broad comic adventure which is loaded with slapstick to this sweet & sincere story where our caveman family is suddenly faced with some very real peril. And one member of this comical clan has to make a pretty huge sacrifice.
"We actually built this movie around that moment," Kirk explained.
We deliberately loaded the first two acts of The Croods with fun comic sequences because we wanted the audience to laugh and slowly fall in love with our cavemen characters. Just so -- when we get to that sacrifice in Act 3 -- the stakes are suddenly so high that the audience then can't help but get caught up in the emotion of the moment.
Based on the reaction that The Croods got at the Berlin Film Festival last Friday night, Di Micco and Sanders' story structuring gamble paid off. Which is why festival attendees came away from this world premiere of this new animated feature comparing it to some of the stronger titles that DreamWorks Animation has released over the past 15 years. Among them the original Shrek, the first Kung Fu Panda, and Chris's DWA directorial debut, How to Train Your Dragon.
So don't let the title of this distributed-by-20th-Century-Fox film throw you. Though DreamWorks Animation's The Croods may sound crude, based on the enthusiastic response that this film got during its world premiere last week in Berlin, this animated comedy has a sweet & sophisticated side. Which is why you may want to check it when this DWA production opens stateside on March 22nd.
Jim Hill is an award-winning entertainment writer who lives in New Boston, NH. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed hundreds of veterans of the animation & themed entertainment industry and written extensively about The Walt Disney Company.
Jim is currently working on a behind-the-scene history of the development & construction of Disneyland. For his more immediate musings on movies, TV shows, books and theme parks, please check out his blog, jimhillmedia.com.
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People who are at greater genetic risk of schizophrenia are more likely to see a fall in IQ as they age, even if they do not develop the condition.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh say the findings could lead to new research into how different genes for schizophrenia affect brain function over time. They also show that genes associated with schizophrenia influence people in other important ways besides causing the illness itself.
The researchers used the latest genetic analysis techniques to reach their conclusion on how thinking skills change with age.
They compared the IQ scores of more than 1,000 people from Edinburgh who were tested for general cognitive functions in 1947, when the subjects were aged 11, and again when they were around 70 years old.
The researchers were able to examine people's genes and calculate each subject's genetic likelihood of developing schizophrenia, even though none of the group had ever developed the illness.
They then compared the IQ scores of people with a high and low risk of developing schizophrenia. They found that there was no difference at age 11, but people with a greater genetic risk of schizophrenia had slightly lower IQs at age 70.
Those people who had more genes linked to schizophrenia also had a greater estimated fall in IQ over their lifetime than those at lower risk.
Ian Deary, Director of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, who led the research team, said: "Retaining our thinking skills as we grow older is important for living well and independently. If nature has loaded a person's genes towards schizophrenia, then there is a slight but detectable worsening in cognitive functions between childhood and old age."
Andrew McIntosh, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, said: "With further research into how these genes affect the brain, it could become possible to understand how genes linked to schizophrenia affect people's cognitive functions as they age."
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Published in the journalBiological Psychiatry
University of Edinburgh: http://www.ed.ac.uk
Thanks to University of Edinburgh for this article.
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Cyrus Kouandjio came into last season as the biggest question mark as the line?s only new starter, but one year later, he may be the group?s biggest strength?and one of the nation?s top left tackles to boot.?
Steen enters his third season as a starter, and gives the unit a steadying presence on the right side of the line.?
Of the three projected new starters, Kelly?an All-SEC freshman selection last season?appears to be the safest projection to maintain his starting role into fall camp.?
The battles at left guard (between Lindsay and Arie Kouandjio) and right tackle (between Brown and Shepherd) will be one of the spring?s most closely monitored storylines.?
Given that Saban has shown the tendency to shift linemen around in the spring in an effort to get the best combination of five linemen on the field, the spring should produce more moves and experimentation.?
Conventional wisdom would favor the five players above entering the spring as the best contenders to earn starting nods.?
But at a place that thrives on the spirit of competition, the final determination on a starting lineup will ultimately be decided by which players can separate themselves leading up to the season.?
TORONTO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canada's Rebecca Marino, a rising star in women's tennis, stepped away from the sport in search of a normal life on Wednesday, weary of battling depression and cyber-bullies. Ranked number 38 in the world two years ago, the 22-year-old admitted she had long suffered from depression and was no longer willing to make the sacrifices necessary to reach the top. "After thinking long and hard, I do not have the passion or enjoyment to drive myself to the level I would like to be at in professional tennis," Marino explained in a conference call. ...
NEW YORK (AP) ? A Wall Street maverick who wants Apple Inc. to share more of its wealth with investors took his case to other shareholders Thursday, urging them to send management a message by voting against a company proposal at the upcoming annual meeting.
On a conference call with investors and reporters, David Einhorn, founder of hedge fund Greenlight Capital, laid out the case for something he calls "iPrefs," a class of dividend-bearing preferred stock. He wants Apple to issue these shares free to shareholders as way of committing to use its massive profits for the benefit of shareholders.
Right now, Apple hands only a small amount of its profits to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. The rest of the money goes in the bank, where Apple's cash hoard amounted to $137 billion at the end of last year.
Einhorn's proposal isn't on the agenda for Apple's annual shareholders meeting next Wednesday. Instead, he wants to turn voting on a company proposal ?one that attempts to bundle several governance measures? into a referendum on his plan. Among the measures is one that would eliminate the board's leeway to issue preferred shares without approval from shareholders, something that would make implementing Einhorn's iPrefs somewhat more time-consuming.
Einhorn sued Apple earlier this month to force it to unbundle the various governance measures and permit voting on each one.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's proposal puts more power in the hands of shareholders, making it difficult to understand why a shareholder would fight it. Calling the fight a waste of time, Cook said Apple won't squander money by mailing letters to shareholders to persuade them to vote for the proposal.
"My preference is that everyone on both sides of this issue would take the money they're spending on this and donating it to a worthy cause," Cook said at an investor conference last week.
However, Cook said the company is actively looking at ways to use its cash for the benefit of shareholders, and would consider Einhorn's proposal.
Few other investors have come out in favor Einhorn's plan. The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the country's largest pension fund, has said it will vote for Apple's proposal, which would also let shareholders vote against directors. CalPERS owns 2.7 million Apple shares, nearly three times as many as Greenlight.
On Thursday, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which has a $400 million endowment and invests in both Apple and Einhorn's hedge fund, said it rejected the "false choice" Einhorn was offering.
Einhorn intends "to hold governance reforms hostage to his efforts to draw cash out of Apple. This flies in the face of what we know about long-term value creation," said Simon Greer, CEO of the foundation.
A company with excess cash will usually reward shareholders by raising its dividend or issuing a one-time dividend. It could also buy back more shares. Einhorn believes none of these routes would yield as much shareholder value as the iPrefs, because their 4 percent annual dividend yield would make them attractive to investors that otherwise wouldn't look at Apple shares, like pension funds and endowments.
"In contrast to the rest of Apple's business, where innovation is the norm, Apple's attitude toward managing its cash has been exceedingly non-innovative," Einhorn said on the call.
Greenlight has been an Apple shareholder since 2010, and has 1.3 million shares worth about $580 million.
Apple shares closed down $2.78, or less than one percent, Thursday at $446.07. The shares are down 37 percent from their all-time peak of $705.07 hit in September. Investors are concerned that the company's growth is slowing after a remarkable decade. Its profits remain high.
Einhorn, 44, been highly successful at "shorting" the stocks of companies that have hidden weaknesses, effectively betting that their value will decline. He shorted Lehman Brothers in 2007, a year before the financial firm went under. More recently, his comments have sent the stocks of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Herbalife and Chipotle Mexican Grill plummeting.
Forbes lists his wealth as of Sept. 2012 at $1.2 billion.
MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police registered an accusation from a businessman on Thursday that the country's ambassador to the United States had committed blasphemy, a crime that carries the death penalty, in connection with a 2010 TV talk show.
The accusation against Ambassador Sherry Rehman is the latest in a string of controversial blasphemy cases in Pakistan, a largely Muslim nation whose name translates as Land of the Pure.
According to Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found to have uttered words derogatory to the Prophet Muhammad can be put to death. Those who are accused are sometimes lynched by mobs even before they reach court.
Rehman has already faced death threats from militants after calling for reforms to the country's anti-blasphemy law, according to court documents. Two politicians who suggested reforming the law were assassinated.
The case against Rehman was brought by businessman Muhammad Faheem Gill, 31, who said that the comments Rehman made about the law on the Pakistani talk show in 2010 were blasphemous.
"I've been trying to get this case registered for the last three years, ever since I saw that TV show," Gill told Reuters. "I've even gone to the highest court. I'm glad that action will finally be taken now."
Gill went to the Supreme Court with his complaint after police refused to register it. The court ordered police in the central Pakistani city of Multan to investigate.
Blasphemy accusations are on the rise, according to a report released by the Islamabad-based think tank, Center for Security Studies. At least 52 people accused of blasphemy have been killed since 1990.
The charge is difficult to defend since blasphemy is not defined and courts often hesitate to hear evidence, fearful that reproducing it will also be blasphemy.
Recent cases have included a teacher who made a mistake setting homework, a man who threw away a business card belonging to a man name Mohammed, and a Pakistani Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, who was accused of burning pages of Muslim holy texts last year.
The teenager was cleared by a court after it emerged that she may have been framed by a cleric trying to evict Christians from his area. She and her family are now in hiding.
Rehman, a prominent member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, was appointed as ambassador to the United States in November 2011.
(This story corrects to say businessman not police made accusation, in headline and paragraph 1)
(Writing By Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Katharine Houreld)
A consolidation loan for debt reduction can come through a personal bank, an Internet company, or a debt help company. This type of lending can be tricky because they come along with huge amounts of interest rates that need to be compared to each other. The best way to go about getting a consolidation loan for debt reduction is by choosing an interest rate that is lower and eliminating lenders that charge the higher rates. The financing process will also be easier if the borrower is aware of all the accounts that need to be included in the consolidation process. When getting financing, the interest rate may be higher if an applicant takes the shorter road with paying of the interest. Know what kind of repayment plan to look at before beginning the financing search. The research required for appropriate financing does not have to be a huge headache; it can be something that takes a lot of stress off a person because they have transformed the debt from multiple accounts into one monthly payment. Consolidation loans for debt reduction will allow the debtor to only have to pay one payment a month. It should help a borrower feel a lot less worried about their finances as well as bring peace. A consolidation loan for debt reduction is an excellent thing in order to help build credit and continue on in a financial responsibly way. Certain financing programs may even let the debtor pay off all of their debts faster. This will bring anxiety levels lower. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the worth grivet, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
In order to adequately sort through the plethora of programs offered for debtors, the applicant will need to know what all the options are that are needed to rectify the particular dilemma they are in. A consolidation loan for debt reduction can include a house mortgage, car payment, credit account, etc. If a debtor starts looking for consolidation loans for debt reduction, then being aware of the scams can help avoid a disaster. When filling out an application, it helps to be completely knowledgeable of everything that is to be included in the financing process. If the paperwork is completed to include all eligible accounts the first time, the funds from consolidation loans for debt reduction can be received and bills paid off much faster. Retrieving control over finances can bring great satisfaction and joy.
The warrior's burial site was richly adorned and contained more than a dozen gold artifacts. This fibula-brooch, only 2.3 by 1.9 inches in size, contains intricate decorations leading toward the center where a rock crystal bead is mounted.
By Owen Jarus LiveScience
Hidden in a necropolis situated high in the mountains of the Caucasus in Russia, researchers have discovered the grave of a male warrior laid to rest with gold jewelry, iron chain mail and numerous weapons, including a 36-inch (91 centimeters) iron sword set between his legs.
That is just one amazing find among a wealth of ancient treasures dating back more than 2,000 years that scientists have uncovered there.
Photo courtesy Valentina Mordvintseva
This iron axe is one of many weapons found buried with the warrior.
Among their finds are two bronze helmets, discovered on the surface of the necropolis. One helmet (found in fragments and restored) has relief carvings of curled sheep horns while the other has ridges, zigzags and other odd shapes.
Although looters had been through the necropolis before, the warrior's grave appears to have been untouched. The tip of the sword he was buried with points toward his pelvis, and researchers found "a round gold plaque with a polychrome inlay" near the tip, they write in a paper published in the most recent edition of the journal Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. [See Images of the Warrior Burial and Artifacts]
The remains of three horses, a cow and the skull of a wild boar were also found buried near the warrior.
"These animals were particularly valuable among barbarian peoples of the ancient world. It was (a) sign of (the) great importance of the buried person, which was shown by his relatives and his tribe," wrote team member Valentina Mordvintseva, a researcher at the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology, in an email to LiveScience. The animal bones and pottery remains suggest that a funeral feast was held in his honor.
Without written records it is difficult to say exactly who the warrior was, but rather than ruling a city or town, "he was rather a chief of a people," Mordvintseva said.
Photo courtesy Valentina Mordvintseva
This gold plaque, with mounted agate, would have been attached to the sheath of a short iron sword. It is less than 2 inches across.
The necropolis is located near the town of Mezmay. Grave robbers discovered the site in 2004 and rescue excavations began in 2005.?
Who used the necropolis? Based on the artifacts, researchers believe the warrior's burial dates back around 2,200 years, to a time when Greek culture was popular in west Asia, while the necropolis itself appears to have been in use between the third century B.C. and the beginning of the second century A.D.?
Researchers were careful to note that the artifacts cannot be linked to a specific archaeological culture. Mordvintseva points out that "this region is very big, and not sufficiently excavated," particularly in the area where the necropolis is located. "(I)t is situated high in mountains. Perhaps the population of this area (had) trade routes/passes with Caucasian countries ? Georgia, Armenia etc.," Mordvintseva writes in the email.
Courtesy of Valentina Mordvintseva
The grave of a male warrior who was laid to rest some 2,200 years ago in what is now the mountains of the Caucasus in Russia, shown here in a diagram of the warrior's skeleton and numerous artifacts.
While the people who used the necropolis were clearly influenced by Greek culture, they maintained their own way of life, said Mordvintseva. "Their material culture shows that they were rather very proud of themselves and kept their culture for centuries."
Gold treasures This way of life includes a fondness for gold-working. The warrior's burial included more than a dozen artifacts made of the material. Perhaps the most spectacular find was a gold fibula-brooch with a rock crystal at its center. Although the brooch was only 2.3 by 1.9 inches (5.8 by 4.8 centimeters), it had several layers of intricately carved decorations leading toward the mount.
"Inside the mount a rock-crystal bead has been placed with a channel drilled through it from both ends," the researchers write.?
The team was surprised to find that two of the warrior's swords (including the one pointing toward his pelvis) had gold decorations meant to be attached. In one case a short 19-inch-long (48.5-cm) iron sword had a gold plate, with inlaid agate, that was meant to adorn its sheath. Until now, scholars had never seen this type of golden sword decorations in this part of the ancient world, the researchers write. The "actual fact that these articles were used to decorate weapons sets them apart in a category all of their own, which has so far not been recorded anywhere else ..."
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A Predator B unmanned aircraft taxis at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Eric Gay/AP)Just how many people have America?s drones killed? Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has put the death toll at 4,700?the first time an American official has publicly put a figure on the impact of strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles. The South Carolina lawmaker's office said he was citing an estimate already discussed on cable television.
Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, disclosed the figure during a question and answer session on Tuesday with the Rotary Club of Easley in his home state of South Carolina. His remarks were first reported by the Easley Patch.
?We've killed 4,700,? the lawmaker said. ?Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of al-Qaida.?
Drone strikes, President Barack Obama?s signature tactic for killing suspected al-Qaida and other extremist fighters, have been ?very effective,? said Graham. ?It's a weapon that needs to be used.?
Amid a controversy sparked by Obama?s targeted assassination of American citizens overseas suspected of consorting with terrorists, Graham came down sharply against any judicial oversight of the drone war, calling the idea ?crazy.?
?I can't imagine, in World War [II] for Roosevelt to have gone to a bunch of judges and said, 'I need your permission before we can attack the enemy,'? Graham said.
Drone war expert Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations noted on his blog that Graham?s figure lined up with the high-end estimate by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
?Either Graham is a big fan of TBIJ?s work, or perhaps he inadvertently revealed the U.S. government?s body count for nonbattlefield targeted killings,? Zenko said.
Asked about the disclosure, Graham's office forwarded a clip from MSNBC in which the anchor cites the figure of 4,700 killed. Asked whether the Obama Administration harbored any concerns about Graham's comments, National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor sent along a blog post including the same clip.
Graham did not specify whether he was discussing CIA drone strikes or military drone strikes.
Obama's expanded drone war has broad popular support in the U.S., according to a poll released earlier this month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. That survey found 56 percent support such strikes and 26 percent oppose them. At the same time, 53 percent worry about potential civilian casualties. But overseas it faces majority opposition, Pew found last year.
(Hat tip: Agence France-Presse via the London Telegraph)
US defense contractor selling unarmed Predator drones to UAE
In planning for breeding in early spring, I brought my brood mare, Gretta, into the horse barn to be stalled under cycling lights. ?She can be a rather finicky eater and was not interested in even drinking out of the automatic watering bowl in her stall. ?I remembered seeing Purina?s Hydration Hay at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in October and thought it was an excellent idea! ?So, why not give it a try to encourage the mare?s water intake and prevent possible dehydration, which can lead to colic. ?I was skeptical at first because I am not a fan of alfalfa cubes. ?They do not dissolve well, which increases the chance of a solid cube becoming stuck in the horse?s throat if not soaked properly and the quality of the cube forage is sometimes questionable.
As I opened the Purina Hydration Hay package, I was impressed with the quality (compressed alfalfa, orchard & timothy grass) ?and the appealing ?aroma (good hay products will have that good, fresh smell) and in a convenient 2 lb. block! ?For the first try, I just used half a block, allowed it to soak in warm water for five minutes, then added more water to make a very thin drinkable ?slurpy?. ?The block ?absorbed water quickly, a quick stir, and then I hung the 3-gallon bucket in her stall. ?Gretta walked away from her grain and slurped and slobbered away; totally enjoying the great hay mixtures and drinking all-important quantities of ?water.? All total, she drank about three gallons that night! ?The bucket was licked clean the next morning!!? Needless to say, I went back the next day to my local feed store and purchased the 12-pack of the Hydration Hay.
I do a lot of traveling with my horses and once in a while?in a new environment and different water, a horse may be reluctant to drink. Now, I think I will carry a few ?blocks? in my horse trailer. When you think about the price, it?s about $2 per block. I consider it a minimal investment to help ensure adequate hydration. Not only do my horses love the taste and ?drink? ?it up, but the bricks are light and easy to travel with; unlike 50 lb. bags of alfalfa cubes. A zip lock bag is the perfect container. ?Purina Hydration Hay is a great product and my horses love it! Thanks Purina, you did it again!!
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
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Winston for iPhone is a virtual assistant that takes all the reading out of your social media experience. Instead of having to comprehend a how letters combine to make specific words, Winston for iPhone dictates social media and news stories to you with a mix of audio and visual content. Want to check Facebook without actually reading any of your newsfeed?s stories? With Winston, you can. Winston supports sites like Twitter, ESPN, Facebook, and more.
Bicycle Blue Book takes data from hundreds of thousands of used bike sales from the past seven years with bikes from as far back as 1993 in order to assess the proper used value of various bikes. Bikes in the BBB are valued by make, model, condition, age and other variables, just like Kelly Blue Book does with cars. Users can search for values by make, model and year, or choose the make from an exhaustive list of bike manufacturers. Bikes can also be added to a favorites tab for easier reference at a later date.
That being said, as a basic utility, Simplr has some advantages. You can jump into the bigger sections like Updates, Investments, People, Startups, etc., and you can drill down into specific locations (e.g. San Francisco, New York) and markets (big data, consumer web, social media, etc.). You can also switch to a view of Status Updates, or you can view your Activity Feed as a whole.
As I opened the Purina Hydration Hay package, I was impressed with the quality (compressed alfalfa, orchard & timothy grass) ?and the appealing ?aroma (good hay products will have that good, fresh smell) and in a convenient 2 lb. block! ?For the first try, I just used half a block, allowed it to soak in warm water for five minutes, then added more water to make a very thin drinkable ?slurpy?. ?The block ?absorbed water quickly, a quick stir, and then I hung the 3-gallon bucket in her stall. ?Gretta walked away from her grain and slurped and slobbered away; totally enjoying the great hay mixtures and drinking all-important quantities of ?water.? All total, she drank about three gallons that night! ?The bucket was licked clean the next morning!!? Needless to say, I went back the next day to my local feed store and purchased the 12-pack of the Hydration Hay.