Annan warns 'history will judge' failure on Syria

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

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-russia-still-odds-over-syria-eve-talks-021156229.html

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Russia and West tussle at Syria peace talks

GENEVA (Reuters) - Russia and Western powers locked horns over a peace plan for Syria on Saturday as U.N. mediator Kofi Annan warned the conflict could spread across the Middle East and beyond.

Foreign ministers and international diplomats were meeting in Geneva with governments still in dispute over whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, condemned in the West but still backed by Russia, could have any role in a political transition.

"The Russians have set out a series of objections with the current draft. The Russians are stonewalling quite a bit," a Western diplomat told Reuters as the talks paused for lunch.

"A redraft of the text is looking likely," she said, referring to Annan's draft proposal.

Annan, the former U.N. chief and the special international envoy on Syria, is hoping the meeting can salvage his plan for a unity government that would exclude controversial figures from leadership - effectively meaning Assad would step down.

"We are here to agree on guidelines and principles for a Syrian-led political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said in opening remarks.

"No one should be in any doubt as to the extreme dangers posed by the conflict - to Syrians, to the region, and to the world."

His plan for a negotiated solution to the 16-month-old conflict is the only one on the table and its failure would doom Syria to even more violence. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the anti-Assad uprising broke out and the past few weeks have been among the bloodiest.

Moscow objects to any solution imposed on Syria from outside. The United States and its European and Arab allies see no way ahead while power remains in Assad's hands.

With the wrangling extending the talks beyond their schedule, a report from Russia's Interfax news agency said Russia would propose a new international meeting on the crisis and that Syria should be represented.

"The Russian side will propose to hold such a meeting in Moscow. Syrians themselves should take part in the meeting," it quoted an unidentified source as saying.

Highlighting the deteriorating situation on the ground, Syrian government forces pushed their way into Douma on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday after weeks of siege and shelling. Fleeing residents spoke of corpses lying in the streets.

Britain's ITV showed footage of clouds of black smoke over built-up areas and said war planes had struck at targets in the suburb.

The army also attacked pro-opposition areas in Deir al-Zor, Homs, Idlib and the outskirts of Damascus, opposition activists said.

DIVIDE AND FAIL

Annan said the crisis should never have reached this point.

"Either unite to secure your common interests or divide and surely fail in your own individual way. Without your unity, your common resolve and your action now ... nobody can win and everyone will lose in some way," he said.

The mood of pessimism was reinforced by a senior U.S. official who said the talks might not reach a deal on Saturday.

"Discussions remain challenging," the official said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad and his close associates could not lead any transition. Accountability for war crimes must be part of such a process, he added in his speech to the meeting.

Hague called for the U.N. Security Council to start drafting a resolution next week setting out sanctions against Syria, a move that he noted put him at odds with Russia.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the talks the solution lay with the Syrian people, not outsiders, but that Beijing fully supported Annan's mediation.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said as she headed for lunch that she was hopeful a good solution would be reached.

The foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain - were all attending the talks along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and the EU's Ashton.

Iran, Syria's closest regional ally, and Saudi Arabia, a foe of both Damascus and Tehran and leading backer of the rebel forces opposing Assad, are not represented. Nor is anyone from the Syrian government or opposition.

According to a draft document from Annan, seen by Reuters, the envoy envisages the setting up of a transitional government of national unity which can establish a neutral environment for political change. It would have full executive powers.

"It could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation," it said.

That proposal is the stumbling block as it effectively means Assad cannot be involved, which Moscow and Beijing views as imposing a solution. The Syrian opposition also demands that he be barred from any role.

PATH TO WAR

The Syrian conflict has evolved from peaceful protests against the Assad family's four-decade rule to something akin to a civil war with a sectarian dimension.

The world has condemned the ferocity of Assad's forces' crackdown - including military assaults on pro-opposition areas and mass arrests - but has been unable to halt violence which threatens to draw in the region's religious and political rivalries and alliances.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 people had been killed across the country on Saturday.

Syria's border with Turkey was also tense following a Turkish military build-up in response to Syria's shooting down of a Turkish warplane last week.

Syrian forces reentered Douma and soldiers were carrying out searches in hospitals for dissidents and rebel fighters, activists said. Electricity and water were cut off.

Abo Abdullah, 50, said he and his five children left Douma on Sunday morning fearing attacks by government forces.

"I saw at least three bodies on a street corner, some houses were destroyed, others were on fire. Only a few people remained inside the city. Those who can, leave," he said.

"I saw a body on the side of the street and dogs were gathering around it."

State news agency SANA said security forces were raiding hideouts in Douma of "armed terrorist groups" and had killed, wounded or arrested scores.

Although the government routinely refers to its enemies as foreign-controlled terrorists, Assad himself conceded this week that the country was now in a state of war.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn, Tom Miles and Emma Farge in Geneva and Oliver Holmes and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Andrew Roche and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-writhes-divided-powers-meet-geneva-034811011.html

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I should go to church more often because, OMFG AWESOME @ Aspen, CO http://t.co/RQoLHWmw

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Source: http://twitter.com/Chuckumentary/statuses/218831746572099588

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The main points of Hairloss and Menopause - BondingContractors ...

Posted by MccarrickFreymuth431 | Posted on 30-06-2012

Category : Subcontractors

Tags: apples

A receding hairline is one of clear signal of aging, remaining on effectively by far the most distinguished place. It can be identical to falling leaves when autumn comes. That is why almost all in the center and highly developed aged citizens have problems with hair. And, for their steady chagrin, most male put up with from this misfortune.

Consuming care of your respective hair doesn?t cease with washing and shampooing it. You make payment for equivalent consciousness of it inside of a comparable method when you pay with locations of your total overall body. Your hair specifications nourishment exactly the same because all your system to verify they?re in position and maintain them motionless on your bathroom shower drain.

Along with your campaign for any much healthier physique in most cases the head of hair just isn?t included. You end up picking to work out every single inch of your human body, but isn?t the top of hair. There are not any work outs the right way anyway, you could possibly assume. But a long time back, Sanford Bennett, was a movie star for experiments that introduced about his bodily rejuvenation at 70. In addition to the exercises he devised to make his deal with youthful using the extraordinary bodily muscle tissues much better built, young group devised a health and fitness for just a more healthy and more robust scalp that might bring about the thicker growth of the hair.

To Bennett, the scalp, an other spot along with the shape if exercised, would surge in energy and elasticity. It is actually since you can get definitely microscopic glands and muscle mass in the scalp. Exactly what the legislation states that applies in exercising the main muscle tissues from the physique will even be pertinent to persons.

Delight in will want to it go? Alternately pull the hair everywhere and therapeutic massage the scalp along with the pads of one?s fingers at the time you lie in bed. This will likely likely strengthen circulation of blood and in the end feed the roots from the hair considering the vitamins it desired. Additionally, it work outs the muscular tissues inside the scalp earning the muscular tissues stronger, that will logically support the hair considerably more firmly. And seeing that the blood is pumped inside the microscopic glands and muscular tissues inside the scalp, they will be bound to rise in dimensions, energy and elasticity. This naturally brings about a great deal less hair falling and healthier-looking hair.

Quite possibly the most reliable refreshers for that hair advert the scalp could be the alternate washing of very hot and cold h2o. What?s more, it accelerates the the flow of blood there. Wash your hair first of all with hardships, as warm as possible bear it. Then adopt up with snowy water (but without by making use of ice). Applying chilly and hot towels alternately may just be a fine substitute. This motion has to be repeated no lower than 5-6 days.

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Source: http://bondingcontractors.com/?p=35049

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Executives Discover Innovative Leadership Solutions Via Venture ...

Posted on29 June 2012.

Executives who need to develop innovative leadership solutions should research creative financing sources when planning their new business, product or service strategies. Entrepreneurs don?t have to travel any further than their personal computer for news about raising venture capital funds.

Venture capital is one industry that has been around for the past 60 years or so. However, just like every other industry, it continues to evolve and change. Much of the VC industry?s success is due to the explosive growth of the Internet. The Web has made many information-gathering tasks faster and easier. Updates on venture capitalists and various kinds of venture capital news are readily accessible to the world?s citizens through online media.

Aside from the World Wide Web, there are other sources of venture capital news. Old, traditional sources such as newspapers and magazines continue to provide the necessary candidate criteria or details and information that venture capitalists and entrepreneurs need. These are also good sources of legal updates in the field of venture capital.

Information contributions by VC partners or research associates are published in paper periodicals, magazines or newspapers and can also be found on the Internet. Aside from the printed materials in circulation, some partners even write blogs and lens, operate their own websites and share their expertise in web-posted articles or ezines.

Newsletters and emails are also sources of news. Visitors to a VC-specific site will usually find offers for subscriptions to their daily or weekly newsletters. Inside these publications, sponsoring service providers empower entrepreneurs by providing them with useful articles and practical information. Additional contributions from business experts and capitalists can also be found in these news organs.

Discussion groups and forums are also good venues for posting updates. Online groups, bulletin boards, chatrooms and membership sites give you the ability to exchange ideas and interact with your fellow entrepreneurial colleagues.

Based on the quality and quantity of participants, you can gather advice or tips and learn innovative leadership solutions about the challenging aspects of financing your venture, from raising venture capital to the drafting of proposals to the design of your exit strategies.

Articles on venture capital are not limited to business pages or publications. There are websites which are specifically dedicated to venture capital ? these sites may post news stories or provide video streaming as well. News articles may be categorized into more specific topics such as buyout news, industry news, fund news and transition news.

When a site is classified into clearly defined sections, it makes it easier for the reader to choose which articles to read. So if you are interested in buyouts only, for example, then you don?t have to plow through all articles to find the information that you want. It also helps to have the articles arranged by date, to allow the reader the means to assign currency or relevance to the piece.

With the Internet being worldwide in scope, articles, papers and even application forms can be accessed by practically anyone anywhere, in the same way that we read news, visit offices and updates in our own countries. Everyone with web access can find ways to tap into the innovative leadership solutions being provided by venture capitalist firms.

This goes to show that the availability of venture capital is a worldwide phenomenon. However, in the US alone, close to $29.9 Billion was used for venture capital investment in 2007.

Today?s capitalists are no longer restricted to the US markets only but can now consider funding companies and businesses in China, India and other developing countries in Asia, the Pacific Rim or Middle East and Africa. This is good news for countries in these regions with vast manpower resources but limited access to equity funding.

Entrepreneurial executives can be better informed about the latest trends in VC. Last year, the trend was towards early stage investing. It was estimated that 35% of VC investments will go to seed-stage and early stage deals. On the other hand, expansion-stage funding showed signs of being decreased.

There are some really good websites which provide venture capital news and more. Aside from news, they also provide listings of venture capital firms and the companies that they helped fund.

Find these websites and bookmark them. For entrepreneurs, these sites provide the useful, innovative leadership solutions they need to learn more about the venture capitalist arena.

Copyright 2008, Mustard Seed Investments Inc., All rights reserved.

Bill Thomas conducts innovative leadership training programs for Awesome Leaders and Innovative Leaders - he helps professionals, managers, supervisors, executives, entrepreneurs and directors by providing focused leadership subjects, coaching and consulting support, practical exercises, tons of powerful tools and energetic interactions with clients. His cost-effective innovative training workshops, programs and innovative learning solutions are guaranteed to maximize the returns on your investment. Awesome Leadership Skills Training and
Innovative Leadership Development Workshops

Source: http://www.freshtopicsdaily.com/executives-discover-innovative-leadership-solutions-via-venture-capital-news/

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Egypt's elected president defies military rulers

CAIRO ? Egypt's newly elected president has read the oath of office in Tahrir Square and defied the country's military rulers by saying, "I fear no one but God."

Mohammed Morsi addressed tens of thousands of mostly Islamist supporters in a strongly worded speech.

He spoke on the eve of his official swearing-in ceremony that was scheduled in front of a high court. But many protesters called on him to take the oath in the square to defy the ruling generals who took power after Hosni Mubarak's ouster.

Morsi vowed that the power of people is above all and that no one can take away the president's authorities.

AP

Egypt's President-elect Mohammed Morsi waves to his supporters following Friday prayers at Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo.

Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/egypt_elected_president_defies_military_eqZE9HnOZYLXku1OJ54J6I?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20International

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Locating Dentists in Scottsdale AZ who Provide Laser Procedures ...

A dental laser, in the hands of a cosmetic dentist Scottsdale, offers many advantages over typical dental surgical treatment. Laser treatment may be more costly than common surgery, but the convenience and many advantages they provide make them worth every penny.

What are the Benefits of Laser Treatment?

Laser dental treatment methods frequently offer six advantages:

- Focused laser beams lessen injury to adjacent tissue
- Reduced probability of infection and other problems because of microbes or contamination because the laser sterilizes the targeted zones
- Laser treatments boost the clotting process of exposed veins, resulting in much less hemorrhaging
- Laser operations involving soft tissue often does not require stitching
- Some treatments will not require anaesthesia

When are Laser devices Utilized?

Aside from teeth re-shaping or gum lifts, dentistry lasers can also be great for numerous sorts of procedures. Even procedures relating to teeth whitening in Scottsdale might use laser devices.

Here?s a listing of laser dental care procedures your dentist or oral surgeon may provide:

- Teeth Fillings ? Dental surgeons could use a laser as an alternative for the standard turbine dental drill in making space for teeth fillings in your impaired tooth. This eliminates the need for local anaesthetic injection therapy, and gets rid of the bacteria stuck in your cavity.
- Sensitivity Alleviation ? Some dental offices work with lasers to seal off tubules and nerve endings that can cause sensitivity to cold and hot temperatures.
- Gum Re-shaping ? Dental professionals may make your teeth seem longer or improve the physical appearance of ?gummy? smiles by making use of laser devices.
- Unneeded Tissue Removal (Epulis Fissuratum Removal) ? Ill-fitting dentures and dental implants usually result in an overgrowth of tissue. Dental professionals take out this excess tissue using laser devices.
- Tumour Removal ? Dental specialists can get rid of harmless growths from your gums, palate, inner cheeks, and mouth.
- Cold Sores ? Surgeons make use of laser devices to relieve the discomfort related to cold sores and speed up the process of recovery.
- Tooth Whitening ? A number of dental surgeons utilize low-density laser devices to increase the speed of teeth whitening procedures.

These are only some examples of cases when dentists in Scottsdale AZ make use of laser devices. Ask different dental centers what other laser treatments they offer.

Selecting Clinics for Laser Dentistry

Keep a couple of things in mind when searching for dental professionals to do laser surgical treatment. The first is the dentists? credentials. Did they have the proper amount of training in laser dental care? How long have they been offering laser procedures? Are their clients pleased with the results of their procedures? Researching and asking these queries helps you decide if the dental professional has the knowledge to handle the fragile gear.

It?s also important to keep your budget in mind while looking for a Scottsdale dental center supplying laser procedures. A single dental laser could cost anywhere from $4000 to $50000, depending on its supplier. This makes the prices for laser dentistry a lot more pricey than typical treatments.

Only a few centers provide laser treatment options, but that won?t necessarily mean you need to get rid of your standards. Keep your basic safety and your dental health in mind when selecting your dentist.

Source: http://articlepdq.com/health-fitness/locating-dentists-in-scottsdale-az-who-provide-laser-procedures/

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allWiredFeeds: Mexico's Next President Won't Slow The Drug War http://t.co/HLySp9XI

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Source: http://twitter.com/allWiredFeeds/statuses/218833993930510337

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Party of "perfect dictatorship" set for comeback in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Accused of every dirty trick in the book during its 71-year grip on power in the 20th century, Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party has bounced back and is on the verge of a dramatic victory in Sunday's presidential election.

The PRI has seized on the anemic economic growth and rampant drug violence plaguing Mexico under the ruling conservatives and is promising to restore order and make voters better off if it returns to office after a 12-year hiatus.

Most polls show the centrist PRI's candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, with a comfortable double-digit lead, and the party also might secure the first working majority in Mexico's Congress in 15 years.

That could allow Pena Nieto, the former governor of Mexico's most populous state, to push through economic reforms that the PRI repeatedly had opposed in order to deny conservative President Felipe Calderon any major political victories.

A byword for corruption, vote-rigging and heavy-handed rule during much of its rule between 1929 and 2000, the PRI has tried to distance itself from its grubby past and recast itself as a modern democratic party under the handsome Pena Nieto.

"If Mexico is not like before, why would it be governed like before?" Pena Nieto said in one of his campaign ads. "Don't be confused. As president of Mexico, I will govern with the most solid and free democratic principles in the world."

But memories still linger of what Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa called the "perfect dictatorship" - the PRI's shifting ideology, firm grip on political power and co-opting of both union bosses and captains of industry.

On the campaign trail, Pena Nieto has been vague on some key policy issues and on his potential cabinet team, leaving some to wonder whether he represents the PRI that modernized the economy and instituted democratic reforms in the 1990s or the PRI of old-time power brokers known as the "dinosaurs."

"I'm holding back judgment on whether this means a return to the old PRI days," said Stacy Steimel, managing director at PineBridge Investments who oversees Latin American equity funds worth more than $600 million.

"You have to give him credit for the way he's administered his campaign," she said. "It would appear he has more support from the technocratic side of the party than the dinosaurs, although it's a big political machine."

The conservative National Action Party, or PAN, pushed the PRI out of power in a 2000 election but its two presidents have struggled to get reforms passed and growth has been weak.

Calderon made his war against drug gangs a centerpiece of his presidency but it backfired with a surge in violence with more than 55,000 people killed in brutal turf wars. Polls show voters are most concerned about jobs and violence and the PRI has capitalized on the government's perceived failures.

RIVALS

The PAN's candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, is third in the polls despite warning that the PRI threatens Mexico's hard-fought democracy. "Pena Nieto represents authoritarianism, the abuse of power and the surrender to crime," she said at her closing rally on Wednesday night.

Still, the PAN could choose to work with Pena Nieto and help him get economic reforms passed in Congress if he wins.

Pena Nieto's closest challenger is leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is promising to create millions of jobs and cut poverty. He narrowly lost the 2006 election to Calderon, claimed fraud and launched months of protests but failed to have the result overturned.

Lopez Obrador accuses the PRI of preparing a fraud this time and might call new protests if Pena Nieto wins.

"It would be terrible for the PRI to regain the presidency," he told supporters at a recent rally. "They are going to want to buy people's liberty and dignity with money."

But Mexico's electoral authorities are seen as reliable and any street protests are unlikely to have much impact if Pena Nieto's margin of victory is as wide as polls suggest.

In power, the PRI governed partly through force, as with an infamous 1968 massacre of protesters, and largely through a patronage system that kept the rank and file loyal, filtering the rewards of corruption up the chain of command.

The party also nurtured a cadre of U.S.-educated technocrats who opened up Mexico's economy before other Latin American powers and brokered the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada.

A wave of privatizations made billionaires out of capitalists such as Carlos Slim, now the world's richest man, and cemented an industrial base of de facto oligopolies.

Mexico's oil monopoly Pemex, however, remained firmly in state control.

Pena Nieto is now pledging to push fiscal and energy reforms that his party once blocked, as well as boost competition and revamp police forces to focus more on tackling violent crime rather than going head to head with drug cartels.

Mexican financial markets already are betting on a Pena Nieto win, so an unexpected finish that puts his mandate and economic reforms at risk could spook investors.

He has said he wants Pemex to emulate the success of Brazil's Petrobras and would consider listing Pemex shares on the stock market while keeping it under state control in order to transform the lumbering giant and boost output.

"That shows he is willing to break an old PRI taboo and it's the kind of thing that you need to do to get reforms going," said Timothy Kehoe, an economics professor at the University of Minnesota and an adviser to Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

But reforms will depend on Congress, and how much Pena Nieto will have to negotiate with the opposition if he wins.

"I'm betting there will be modest reforms with modest results," Kehoe added. "I'm hoping for more."

(Additional reporting by Sara Pablo, Michael O'Boyle and Pablo Garibian; Writing by Simon Gardner and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Kieran Murray and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/party-perfect-dictatorship-set-comeback-mexico-160226169.html

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Interacting mutations promote diversity

Thursday, June 28, 2012

\Genetic diversity arises through the interplay of mutation, selection and genetic drift. In most scientific models, mutants have a fitness value which remains constant throughout. Based on this value, they compete with other types in the population and either die out or become established. However, evolutionary game theory considers constant fitness values to be a special case. It holds that the fitness of a mutation also depends on the frequency of the mutation. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Pl?n and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver developed a model to address the scenario of mutations being frequency-dependent but having random fitness parameters. The results demonstrate that the dynamics that arise in random mutants increase the genetic diversity within a population. Fitness, though, may even decline.

Population geneticists generally study mutations with constant fitness values. However, frequency-dependent selection is a recurrent theme in evolution: it enables the evolution of new species without geographical separation (sympatric speciation) or a relatively rapid change in the immune system of a population.

A mutation may be advantageous for low frequencies, for instance, but the fitness of the mutant decreases with rising frequency. A reverse trend in the fitness value is also conceivable. "Our computer model combines aspects of population genetics and evolutionary game theory in order to obtain a new perspective on genetic evolution," says Arne Traulsen from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology. Whereas mutations have a random yet fixed fitness value in many mathematical models, this new model also enables a change in random fitness values with the frequency of the different types.

The results of the simulations show that frequency-dependent selection leads to higher genetic diversity within a population of individuals even though diversity per se is not favoured. The interaction of different mutations and the emergence of new mutants support the development of dynamic diversity in the population. One mutant does not always need to replace all other mutations or the original population. "It is possible for different mutations to exist in parallel such that a new mutant does not to completely replace the residents," says Weini Huang, lead author of the study. What is particularly interesting is the fact that diversity in this model remains naturally limited.

Fitness, on the other hand, does not necessarily rise with frequency-dependent selection in contrast to constant selection. By way of example, a mutation may arise within cells which halts the production of substances that are passed on to other cells. This can initially be advantageous; however, if it reaches fixation, the average fitness of the cell population declines. Advantageous mutations can thereby be lost and deleterious ones become established.

###

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: http://www.mpg.de

Thanks to Max-Planck-Gesellschaft for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/121362/Interacting_mutations_promote_diversity

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The Pros and Cons of Making Your Own Wedding Invitations

The task of making your own wedding invitations can look intimidating, especially if you've never taken on such a grand production as a wedding before. If you're not sure whether to make your own wedding invitations, considering the following pros and cons should help you come to a decision.

Pro: Wedding invitations provide a creative outlet if you make them yourself. If you tend toward real creative flair, and love making art or scrapbooking, making your own invitations could be a lot of fun.

Con: If you aren't the creative type, your handmade invitations might not end up looking very good unless you put a whole lot of concentration and effort into it. If you don't like being creative very much, this may not be for you.

Pro: Making your own wedding invitations opens up many doors for personalization. You can personalize the invitations according to the interests and information needs of your guests, but that's not all. You can also personalize according to the themes of your wedding ceremony and reception.

Con: Personalizing wedding invitations can take a lot of time and effort. You'll have to do a lot of browsing, planning and window-shopping, and then you'll have to make decisions about the details. All in all, it takes a lot more effort to make invitations than it does to purchase custom invitations.

Pro: Making your wedding invitations allows you a lot of freedom. If you have a mental picture of exactly what you want your invitations to look like, you might not be able to find a ready-made type of invitation that suits your personal needs - especially if your ideas came to fruition before you did any browsing. If you make your wedding invitations yourself, you'll be able to fit your own needs more closely.

Con: Making wedding invitations for a large crowd of guests could be practically impossible, considering all the affair's other bits and pieces to put together. If you're expecting a lot of guest, personalizing your wedding invitations is probably not a good idea.

Pro: If you want to save money, and one of your ways of doing this is by having a small wedding with only your closest friends and family members, you should definitely consider making your wedding invitations. Handmade invitations are a great way to personalize and save money for a small wedding, since having only a few guests minimizes the amount of work you'll have to do.

It is possible to find a compromise between personalized, less expensive invitations, and less personal, more expensive invitations. If you want to save a little time and a little money, purchase some plain, ready-made invitations of the less expensive kind. Then, include a few personalizations, like photos of the happy couple, personal messages, and maps of the general area.

Hopefully, the above pro-and-con list has helped you make an important wedding plan decision: will you make your own invitations, or won't you?

See more on: - Wedding Articles

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/startpage/Ireland/~3/w7l3IEO62SA/

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Programmable DNA scissors found for bacterial immune system

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2012) ? Genetic engineers and genomics researchers should welcome the news from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) where an international team of scientists has discovered a new and possibly more effective means of editing genomes. This discovery holds potentially big implications for advanced biofuels and therapeutic drugs, as genetically modified microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, are expected to play a key role in the green chemistry production of these and other valuable chemical products.

Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division and professor at the University of California (UC) Berkeley, helped lead the team that identified a double-RNA structure responsible for directing a bacterial protein to cleave foreign DNA at specific nucleotide sequences. Furthermore, the research team found that it is possible to program the protein with a single RNA to enable cleavage of essentially any DNA sequence.

"We've discovered the mechanism behind the RNA-guided cleavage of double-stranded DNA that is central to the bacterial acquired immunity system," says Doudna, who holds appointments with UC Berkeley's Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Department of Chemistry, and is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). "Our results could provide genetic engineers with a new and promising alternative to artificial enzymes for gene targeting and genome editing in bacteria and other cell types."

Doudna is one of two corresponding authors of a paper in the journal Science describing this work titled "A programmable dual RNA-guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity." The second corresponding author is Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine at Sweden's Ume? University. Other co-authors of the paper were Martin Jinek, Krzysztof Chylinski, Ines Fonfara and Michael Hauer.

Bacterial and archaeon microbes face a never-ending onslaught from viruses and invading circles of nucleic acid known as plasmids. To survive, the microbes deploy an adaptive-type nucleic acid-based immune system that revolves around a genetic element known as CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Through the combination of CRISPRs and associated endonucleases, called CRISPR-associated -- "Cas" -- proteins, bacteria and archaeons are able to utilize small customized crRNA molecules (for CRISPR-derived RNA) to target and destroy the DNA of invading viruses and plasmids.

There are three distinct types of CRISPR/Cas immunity systems. Doudna and her colleagues studied the Type II system which relies exclusively upon one family of endonucleases for the targeting and cleaving of foreign DNA, the Cas9 proteins.

"For the Type II CRISPR/Cas system, we found that crRNA connects via base-pairs with a trans-activating RNA (tracrRNA), to form a two-RNA structure," Doudna says. "These dual RNA molecules (tracrRNA:crRNA) direct Cas9 proteins to introduce double-stranded DNA breaks at specific sites targeted by the crRNA-guide sequence."

Doudna and her colleagues demonstrated that the dual tracrRNA:crRNA molecules can be engineered as a single RNA chimera for site-specific DNA cleavage, opening the door to RNA-programmable genome editing.

"Cas9 binds to the tracrRNA:crRNA complex which in turn directs it to a specific DNA sequence through base-pairing between the crRNA and the target DNA," Doudna says. "Microbes use this elegant mechanism to cleave and destroy viruses and plasmids, but for genome editing, the system could be used to introduce targeted DNA changes into the genome.

Doudna notes that the "beauty of CRISPR loci" is that they can be moved around on plasmids.

"It is well-established that CRISPR systems can be transplanted into heterologous bacterial strains," she says. "Also, there is evidence to suggest that CRISPR loci are horizontally transferred in nature."

Doudna and her colleagues are now in the process of gathering more details on how the RNA-guided cleavage reaction works and testing whether the system will work in eukaryotic organisms including fungi, worms, plants and human cells.

"Although we've not yet demonstrated genome editing, given the mechanism we describe it is now a very real possibility," Doudna says.

This work was funded primarily by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Austrian Science Fund and the Swedish Research Council.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. M. Jinek, K. Chylinski, I. Fonfara, M. Hauer, J. A. Doudna, E. Charpentier. A Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity. Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1126/science.1225829

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

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120628193020.htm

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New fuel cell keeps going after the hydrogen runs out

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2012) ? Imagine a kerosene lamp that continued to shine after the fuel was spent, or an electric stove that could remain hot during a power outage.

Materials scientists at Harvard have demonstrated an equivalent feat in clean energy generation with a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that converts hydrogen into electricity but can also store electrochemical energy like a battery. This fuel cell can continue to produce power for a short time after its fuel has run out.

"This thin-film SOFC takes advantage of recent advances in low-temperature operation to incorporate a new and more versatile material," explains principal investigator Shriram Ramanathan, Associate Professor of Materials Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). "Vanadium oxide (VO_x) at the anode behaves as a multifunctional material, allowing the fuel cell to both generate and store energy."

The finding, which appears online in the journal Nano Letters, will be most important for small-scale, portable energy applications, where a very compact and lightweight power supply is essential and the fuel supply may be interrupted.

"Unmanned aerial vehicles, for instance, would really benefit from this," says lead author Quentin Van Overmeere, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS. "When it's impossible to refuel in the field, an extra boost of stored energy could extend the device's lifespan significantly."

Ramanathan, Van Overmeere, and their coauthor Kian Kerman (a graduate student at SEAS) typically work on thin-film SOFCs that use platinum for the electrodes (the two "poles" known as the anode and the cathode). But when a platinum-anode SOFC runs out of fuel, it can continue to generate power for only about 15 seconds before the electrochemical reaction peters out.

The new SOFC uses a bilayer of platinum and VO_x for the anode, which allows the cell to continue operating without fuel for up to 14 times as long (3 minutes, 30 seconds, at a current density of 0.2 mA/cm²). This early result is only a "proof of concept," according to Ramanathan, and his team predicts that future improvements to the composition of the VO_x-platinum anode will further extend the cell's lifespan.

During normal operation, the amount of power produced by the new device is comparable to that produced by a platinum-anode SOFC. Meanwhile, the special nanostructured VO_x layer sets up various chemical reactions that continue after the hydrogen fuel has run out.

"There are three reactions that potentially take place within the cell due to this vanadium oxide anode," says Ramanathan. "The first is the oxidation of vanadium ions, which we verified through XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). The second is the storage of hydrogen within the VO_x crystal lattice, which is gradually released and oxidized at the anode. And the third phenomenon we might see is that the concentration of oxygen ions differs from the anode to the cathode, so we may also have oxygen anions being oxidized, as in a concentration cell."

All three of those reactions are capable of feeding electrons into a circuit, but it is currently unclear exactly what allows the new fuel cell to keep running. Ramanathan's team has so far determined experimentally and quantitatively that at least two of three possible mechanisms are simultaneously at work.

Ramanathan and his colleagues estimate that a more advanced fuel cell of this type, capable of producing power without fuel for a longer period of time, will be available for applications testing (e.g., in micro-air vehicles) within 2 years.

This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), a postdoctoral scholarship from Le Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS, and the U.S. Department of Defense's National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program. The researchers also benefited from the resources of the Harvard University Center for Nanoscale Systems (a member of the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network) and the NSF-funded MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities at MIT.

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Journal Reference:

1. Quentin Van Overmeere, Kian Kerman, Shriram Ramanathan. Energy storage in ultra-thin solid oxide fuel cells. Nano Letters, 2012; : 120619121149008 DOI: 10.1021/nl301601y

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

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120629211900.htm

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Minnesota Is Up For Grabs (Powerlineblog)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/236191787?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Jimmy Henchman Did Not Admit To Tupac Shooting, Lawyer Says

Attorney Gerald Shargel says claims that James Rosemond admitted to the 1994 shooting of Tupac are 'totally false.'
By Rob Markman

Jimmy Henchman
Photo: Soul Brother/FilmMagic

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1688695/tupac-shakur-murder-not-admitted-by-jimmy-henchman.jhtml

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Fort Hood shooting suspect trial won't be delayed

This undated photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram shows Nidal Hasan. A military judge was to decide Friday, June 29, 2012 whether to further delay the trial Hasan, an the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shootings. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram)

This undated photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram shows Nidal Hasan. A military judge was to decide Friday, June 29, 2012 whether to further delay the trial Hasan, an the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shootings. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram)

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) ? A military judge ruled Friday against delaying the trial of the Fort Hood shooting suspect, an Army psychiatrist who remains banned from the courtroom because his beard violates Army regulations.

Maj. Nidal Hasan's trial will proceed as scheduled, beginning on Aug. 20. Defense attorneys wanted the trial moved to December, saying they needed more time to prepare.

But the judge, Col. Gregory Gross, said the defense already had plenty of time. Prosecutors had indicated they were ready for trial last fall, but the court-martial was set for March and postponed first to June and then August ? all at the request of the defense team.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the 2009 attack on the Texas Army post.

Gross said Friday that top Army officials had rejected Hasan's request for a religious exemption ? due to his Islamic faith ? to the rule banning beards. An appeals court also denied a defense request to overturn the judge's decision last week to bar Hasan from the courtroom unless he shaves.

Hasan watched Friday's hearing from a closed-circuit television in a nearby room, as he did during last week's hearing.

"I could have him held down and have someone shave him, but I'm not prepared to do that at this time," Gross said.

Gross also denied a defense request to step down as the trial judge, disputing allegations that he was biased against Hasan.

Lead defense attorney Lt. Col. Kris Poppe said the judge had asked defense attorneys to clean up a court restroom after Gross found a medical waste bag, adult diaper and what appeared to be feces on the floor after a hearing earlier this month.

Hasan, who is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by police the day of the rampage, has to wear adult diapers ? but the mess in the restroom that day was mud from a guard's boots, Poppe said.

Poppe also said that Hasan often gets cold because of his paralysis and had been allowed to wear a knit cap in court. But when Hasan showed up with a beard June 8, the judge ordered the cap removed because defense attorneys didn't have a doctor's note specifying why Hasan needed it, Poppe said.

Gross said that he always makes sure his courtroom and nearby areas are tidy and has the right to ask those responsible for messes to clean them. He said he has accommodated the defense team regarding scheduling and requests.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-06-29-Fort%20Hood%20Shooting/id-c9763e95dd2248f5ac59a7eb9b1817ca

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City's top chefs reveal their culinary secrets - The Birmingham Press

A series of do-it-yourself style infomercials showing the city?s best chefs at work have been launched as part of Birmingham Food Fest, which runs from 13-19 July this year.

The series of films feature a three minute recipe and 30 second cooking tip from ten of Birmingham?s foodie stars, encouraging people to recreate restaurant quality food and drink at home. Step by step guides to signature dishes from Birmingham?s top restaurants are caught on camera with highlights including lamb tandoori masala from celebrity chef Aktar Islam of Lasan Restaurant and Cornish crab and salmon tartare from Adam Bennett, Head Chef at Simpsons Restaurant.

Practical cooking tips are also provided by Michelin star chef Glynn Purnell, who reveals the secrets of seasoning fish, and Opus Restaurant?s David Colcombe, who demonstrates how to properly seal meat, amongst other helpful hints from Birmingham?s best culinary talents.

Emma Gray, Director of Marketing Services at Visit Birmingham, which manages Birmingham Food Fest, said: ?Birmingham Food Fest is all about getting people to experience our fantastic restaurant offering, while also inspiring a new generation of food lovers. The city is home to world-class, passionate chefs who are true ambassadors for Birmingham ? our reputation for good food and drink continues to tempt visitors from all over the world to sample Birmingham?s culinary creations.

?We?ve teamed up with the city?s best chefs to give people the opportunity to recreate their signature dishes at home with our series of helpful infomercials, which will whet the appetite for this year?s Food Fest.

?The week-long festival features mouth-watering restaurant promotions across the city centre and a programme of hands-on events for food lovers.?

The infomercials, which showcase the city?s diverse talent from Michelin starred chefs to the next generation of rising stars, will be promoted across a range of foodie, lifestyle and social media platforms in the lead up to the gastronomic celebration.? The public will also be encouraged to submit their top cooking tips which will be published on the Food Fest website.

Recipes from the city?s universities are also showcased with University College Birmingham students demonstrating how to whip up the perfect Cr?pes Suzette and Venue Birmingham, the University of Birmingham?s catering team, cooking jerk chicken with rice and peas ahead of the Jamaican Track and Field team training at the university?s sporting facilities this summer. The Soul Food Project is also cooking up a Jamaican classic in honour of the Olympic summer with an easy to follow jambalaya dish.

Other infomercials show Ginger?s Bar creating the perfect ?Tai Mai?, a twist on the classic cocktail, The Jam House preparing a beef dish from its eclectic menu and Indian restaurant Pushkar creating a seafood special.

Top tips include everything from how to create pea stock for risotto and cook the perfect rice to making restaurant quality cocktails at home and learning wine tasting techniques.

For more information or to view the infomercials visit the Birmingham Food Fest website here

Source: http://www.thebirminghampress.com/2012/06/29/citys-top-chefs-reveal-their-culinary-secrets/

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Mild Exercise May Reduce Breast Cancer | Cancer Kick

Exercise ? either mild or intense, before or after menopause ? may reduce breast cancer risk, but weight gain may negate the benefit, U.S. researchers say.

The study, published online ahead of the print edition of the journal Cancer, found women could reduce their breast cancer risk by exercising and maintaining their weight.

Lauren McCullough, a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, and colleagues said the study included 1,504 women with breast cancer ? 233 non-invasive and 1,271 invasive ? and 1,555 women without breast cancer who were ages 20-98 and were part of the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project, an investigation of possible environmental causes of breast cancer.

Women who exercised either during their reproductive or post-menopausal years had a reduced risk of developing breast cancer.

The study found women who exercised 10 to 19 hours per week experienced the greatest benefit, with an approximate 30 percent reduced risk.

?The observation of a reduced risk of breast cancer for women who engaged in exercise after menopause is particularly encouraging given the late age of onset for breast cancer,? McCullough said.

The researchers looked at the joint effects of physical activity, weight gain and body size, and found that even active women who gained a significant amount of weight ? particularly after menopause ? had an increased risk of developing breast cancer, the study said.

Article source: http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2012/6/28/mild_exercise_may_reduce_breast_cancer.htm

Source: http://cancerkick.com/2012/06/29/mild-exercise-may-reduce-breast-cancer-2/

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Rob Schneider on California Bill AB 2109: The latest celebrity antivaccinationist to make a fool of himself [Respectful Insolence]

Remember California Bill AB 2109? I?ve written about it at least a couple of times before. In fact, for some reason, the comment section of this post on AB 2109 suddenly come alive again a couple of days ago, with antivaccinationists infiltrating it, much to the annoyance of my regular commenters. It turns out that the reason was that a couple of days ago AB 2109 came up for discussion in the California Senate Health Committee, after having passed the California House a couple of months ago. I also now know why antivaccinationists infested that comment thread. Believe it or not, when I Googled ?California Bill AB 2109? last night, my post actually appeared at the top of the search!

Bow before the power of Orac! Or something. At least I know that my ?Insolence? on the topic is placing high in Google searches right now.

My well-deserved hubris aside (wait, isn?t ?well-deserved hubris? an oxymoron?), though, our very own regular commenter lilady has mentioned some of the craziness that?s accompanied the testimony for the bill. I can?t link directly to her comment, but here?s a brief account:

?I oppose medical nazism based on voodoo science? ? chiropractor

One of the MIND founders pounding on vaccine injury

?Unconstitutional? ? Christian Scientist

Oh geez this is the same as the last hearing.

Yep, same as it ever was. On the other hand, there was a bit of unintentional humor injected into the craziness surrounding the proceedings. I?ve learned of a new celebrity antivaccinationist, one whom I hadn?t known about before. For example, I?ve known about Jenny McCarthy (of course!), Mayim Bialik, Charlie Sheen, and others. I didn?t know, however, that Rob Schneider was antivaccine, too. After watching the video I just linked to (unfortunately I can?t embed it), all I can say is: With friends like these, antivaccinationists don?t need enemies.

I also hadn?t realized that apparently Rob Schneider is big in progressive politics. Who?d have though it? I also hadn?t realized that he also appears to embody the stereotype of the crunchy liberal who is antivaccine. Seriously. Look at the video of his interview about AB 2109. All the typical antivaccine talking points are there. Schneider starts out talking about how he?s for ?parental rights? and against ?government coercion? (as if requiring something resembling true informed consent before a parent is allowed to claim a philosophical exemption, which is all AB 2109 does, is some sort of grave fascistic threat to democracy). He erroneously says that mandates are ?illegal? even though the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that they are not.

Amusingly (or sadly, depending on your point of view) Schneider even pulls a Godwin, likening vaccine mandates (or AB 2109?I?m not sure which) to the Nuremberg Laws. I kid you not: The Nuremberg Laws. You might remember the Nuremberg Laws, which were passed in 1935. They stripped Jews of their German citizenship and forbade Jews from marrying (or even having sexual intercourse with) non-Jews, as well as a number of other things. They are widely viewed historically as one of the major steps towards the Holocaust because they eliminated many of the remaining existing legal protections for Jews. He then brings home the crazy by comparing vaccine mandates to laws in the early 20th century mandating sterilization of the mentally retarded and people with mental illnesses. Lest you think this is an anomaly, yeserday he took to Twitter with the following Tweet:

Because trying to make sure that parents who make a potentially damaging health decision about their child have at least been made aware of the potential adverse consequences of that decision is just like Nazi Germany. After all, the penalty is much like the Nazi?s favored method of punishment: brutal prison, concentration camps, and execution. Oh, wait. It?s not anything like that at all.

Next up, Schneider goes into a predictable (from an antivaccine standpoint) tirade about how doctors ?won?t tell you both sides? because they?re told what to say by the pharmaceutical companies. He does go a bit off course, though, claiming that ?when you and I were kids? we only got eight shots but that now kids get 70 shots. Yes, that?s right, 70 shots. It?s utterly ridiculous, and nearly twice the largest number of shots even estimated by antivaccine groups like Generation Rescue. After that, the stupid burns fast and furious as Schneider claims that there are no safety or efficacy studies for vaccines.

It?s at this point where he makes such an utterly brain dead anomaly to car seats. Yes, he actually seems to think that there should be a randomized clinical trial of car seats, as he actually says that for a car seat you?d have 1,000 crashes with the seat and 1,000 crashes without it ?and you can compare.? After this, he trots out a call for an ?vaccinated versus unvaccinated study,? apparently not understanding that such a study would be utterly unethical, claiming that pharmaceutical companies don?t want to do that ?because it?s not what they want to hear.? Why? Because, according to him, ?we?re having more and more side effects; we?re having more and more autism.?

He even trots out the tried-and-not-true antivaccine canard about mercury being the ?second most toxic thing on this planet besides plutonium.?

But that?s not all. His rant is like an antivaccine canard greatest hits album. How dare we vaccinate babies against Hepatitis B when you can ?only get it from intravenous drug use or sexual activity?? Yep, it?s there; he even calls vaccinating babies against hepatitis B ?beyond ridiculous? and ?criminal.? He calls AB 2109 ?lunacy.?

And what is his recommendation for reading material? Randall Neustaedler?s The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Choice. I must admit, I had never heard of Neustaedler before, but it didn?t take very long for me to find his website, which reveals that he?s a homeopath and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine (i.e., in my opinion a quack). It didn?t take me too long to find articles on his website about homeopathic vaccines and an article claiming that vaccines are ?destroying our immune systems.? So what Schneider is relying upon for his information about vaccines is a book by a homeopath chock full of antivaccine misinformation, and that is how he advises parents to ?become informed? so that they can make an ?informed decision.?

A misinformed decison, more like it.

I know, I know. I probably shouldn?t get as annoyed by the antics of misinformed celebrities who think they know something about science and medicine on the basis of reading quack literature. It?s also true that no one expects the ?makin? copies? guy to be any more intelligent than Jenny McCarthy. However, unfortunately, celebrities matter. They influence people more than non-celebrities. They have the limelight, fame, access to the media, and money. Add to that the arrogance of ignorance, and there?s no telling how much damage some of them can do. One wonders how long it will be before Schneider starts showing up at Generation Rescue events. Maybe he already has.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/B0zhThN9QM0/

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Home Improvement Is An Investment For Life ? Tips To Make It Easy ...

Source: google.co.uk via Pam on Pinterest

This article is about Home Improvement tips. Chimney cleaning is very essential to avoid toxic fumes inside the house.It can be done by us but proper equipment is needed,so better if its done by a professional.Interiors of our home can be changed in order to make the place look visually appealing.This includes inclusion of some old and antique art works in the living room. Proper budget should be allocated for home improvements which include repairs and upgrades.Home improvement techniques should be done with utmost safety. A 60/30/10 rule should always be used while decorating the house.Usage of dominant color in 60% of the room,30% usage of secondary color and 10% accent color can make our interiors more appealing. Placing trust in the contractor is the most important and he has more experience than us.These tips should be useful while improving and upgrading our home.

Read the full article here:
Home Improvement Is An Investment For Life ? Tips To Make It Easy

Related posts:

1. Home Improvement Is The Best Investment You Can Make. Here?s ?
2. Home Improvement Tips For Making The Best Of Your Investment ?
3. Quick And Easy Home Improvement Tips | The PinSmith ? Dallas/Ft ?
4. Easy Tips To Cure Your Plumbing Problems | Home Improvement ?
5. Home Improvement Tips For Making The Most Of Your Investment ?

Source: http://ctroofingcontractors.com/2012/06/home-improvement-investment-life-tips-easy/

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Heat impacting tornado recovery efforts

HENRYVILLE, IN?(WAVE) ? A heat wave is headed our way and it is already having an impact on tornado recovery efforts.

A group from the?Indianapolis Archdiocese was hard at work Wednesday rebuilding the outside of the Henryville Community Church, but volunteer coordinators?said a student group canceled their trip to come home in the upcoming weekend. They are worried about the safety of the kids working in the oppressive heat.

Volunteer Carolyn King explained, "We had a youth trip, a youth group coming from Wisconsin, and they did call and say you know we're not used to working in that kind of heat and we don't want to be responsible for young people."

Organizers said they still have hundreds of volunteers scheduled to come out despite the heat and they expect to reach their 10,000 volunteer by the end of July.

Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.

?

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Video: Rep. Camp: Stop the Tax Hike

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Understanding what's up with the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2012) ? CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, will hold a seminar early in the morning on July 4 to announce the latest results from ATLAS and CMS, two major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that are searching for the Higgs boson. Both experimental teams are working down to the wire to finish analyzing their data, and to determine exactly what can be said about what they've found.

"We do not yet know what will be shown on July 4th," says Ian Hinchliffe, a theoretical physicist in the Physics Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), who heads the Lab's participation in the ATLAS experiment. "I have seen many conjectures on the blogs about what will be shown: these are idle speculation. Things are moving very fast this week, and it's an exciting time at CERN. Many years of hard work are coming to fruition."

Last December, not long after the LHC had shut down for the winter, ATLAS and CMS both reported slight excesses over background of two kinds of signals consistent with the expected signature of a Higgs boson. The LHC started running again at a higher energy this spring, and, says Hinchliffe, "In that short time we've already doubled the data. But even if both experiments were to confirm what they saw last year with new data, no one can be certain that it is the Higgs."

Why can't they know? And what's a Higgs boson anyway?

Why particles have mass

A Higgs boson is an excitation -- a fleeting, grainy representation -- of the Higgs field, which extends throughout space and gives all other particles their mass.

At the instant of the big bang, everything was the same as everything else, a state of symmetry that lasted no time and was immediately broken. Particles of matter called fermions emerged from the sea of energy (mass and energy being interchangeable), including quarks and electrons that would much later form atoms. Along with them came force-carrying particles called bosons to rule how they all were related. All had different masses -- sometimes wildly different masses.

Using the concepts of a Higgs field and Higgs boson, the Standard Model explains why quarks, protons, electrons, photons, and a wide-ranging zoo of other particles have the specific masses they do. Oddly, however, the Standard Model can't predict the mass of the Higgs itself. That will only be learned from experiment.

It will be far from simple to know when the Higgs has actually been found. Any particle that packs as much energy as the Higgs lasts only a miniscule fraction of a second before it falls apart into other particles, each with lower energy, and these fall apart into still lower-energy particles, finally leaving a set that ATLAS or CMS can see or infer. According to the Standard Model, the Higgs can decay by half a dozen different patterns of tracks, or channels.

The probability of each path varies. For example, there's a low probability that a Higgs with mass equivalent to 100 billion electron volts (100 GeV) of energy would decay into a pair of W bosons, carriers of the weak interaction. Yet if its mass were 170 GeV, the probability of its decaying by that channel would be very high.

But earlier measurements, including those made last year at the LHC and at Fermilab's Tevatron, have already excluded many possible masses for a Standard Model Higgs. Of the narrowing possibilities, the hints that ATLAS and CMS saw in 2011 were in the neighborhood of 125 or 126 GeV.

The two channels involved, called the two-photon channel and the four-lepton channel for short, are certainly not the most likely decay routes, says Beate Heinemann of Berkeley Lab's Physics Division, who is also a professor in UC Berkeley's Department of Physics. "The probability that a 125-GeV Higgs would decay into two gamma rays is about two tenths of one percent, and the likelihood that it would decay into four muons or electrons is even smaller."

Finding the music in the noise

Background noise is the key. Even though the two-photon and four-lepton channels have a low probability, they are relatively free of noise from particle debris that obscures evidence of other channels. More probable routes for the decay of a Higgs with mass near 125 GeV would be to a bottom quark and antibottom quark, or a pair of W bosons, or a pair of tau particles, but all these are much harder to detect.

Heinemann, recently the Data Preparation Coordinator for ATLAS, says knowing what to look for is crucial. "Bunches of protons cross through each other 20 million times a second inside the ATLAS detector, with an average of 20 collisions at each crossing." Electronic filters automatically cull the events to 100,000 per second of possible interest. Sophisticated software further reduces the cull to a few hundred events per second that are recorded and stored for later study. Says Heinemann, "We try to keep everything anyone can think of that might be interesting."

The products of data reduction are colorful diagrams of spectacular sprays of particles from proton-proton collisions, recorded by the concentric layers of detectors that ATLAS wraps around the beam line. What makes the diagrams so intricate and precise begins in the Inner Detector, largely designed and built at Berkeley Lab, as was much of the filtering and sifting hardware and software.

"The LHC produces far more particles per collision than any accelerator before it. Not confusing them requires finer granularity and finer resolution, which means many more detector elements close to the beam," says Murdock "Gil" Gilchriese, who headed the Berkeley Lab group that worked on the ATLAS Inner Detector.

The very heart of ATLAS is a pixel detector consisting of 80 million tiny silicon rectangles 50 microns (millionths of a meter) wide and 400 microns long, each connected to its own electronics -- many millions of transistors bathed in the most intense radiation an accelerator has ever produced.

At CERN, U.S. participation in the ATLAS and CMS experiments alone numbers well over 1,500 people, not to mention significant U.S. contributions to other experiments and the accelerator itself. Fermilab hosts the U.S. participation in CMS, and Brookhaven National Laboratory is the U.S. host for ATLAS.

"About 20 percent of the ATLAS collaboration comes from the U.S.," says Heinemann, "and one of the largest contingents is from Berkeley Lab, many of us in key positions. For example, Kevin Einsweiler, who led the ATLAS pixel project, is currently ATLAS's Physics Coordinator, guiding analysis of the data. Michael Barnett has long held the post of Outreach Coordinator. At any given time we may also have 10 students and 10 postdocs working on ATLAS. There are a lot of us, and much of the time many of us are on the job at CERN."

Whatever news comes out of CERN in the wee hours of the morning on July 4, hints and indications so far are just the beginning of the search to pin down the Higgs and learn its characteristics. The Higgs search commences a long voyage of discovery into a realm of unexplored physics, of supersymmetry, dark matter, miniature black holes, extra dimensions of space -- and other, unanticipated wonders that defy prediction.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The original article was written by Paul Preuss.

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

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