Actor Jason London Arrested: And He Soiled His Pants!
Actor Jason London was arrested this weekend, but that's just the beginning of the craziness.
The 40-year-old actor, best known for his role in "Dazed And Confused," was arrested in Arizona Sunday night outside of a bar, after allegedly assaulting a fellow drinker.
As paramedics attended to him, London began screaming and ranting, inluding the choice phrase: "I'm rich and a motherf--king famous actor!" That's when the actor allegedly, um, soiled his pants. On purpose.
The whole story of what got Jason London arrested is out of control: head over to E! and read it.
London went to Twitter to defend himself against the charges, but the details of the story seem too good to be true. Hopefully this isn't the last time we see Jason London arrested, because who knows what he'll do next!
Struggling smartphone vendor HTC (2498) will hold a press conference in New York City on February 19th to unveil its latest device. Invitations to the event were sent to bloggers and reporters on Tuesday, but no details were provided. The likely topic of conversation will be the company?s upcoming flagship Android phone, code-named ?M7,? which is expected to pack impressive specs including?a 4.7-inch full-HD display with a pixel density of 468 ppi, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, a 13-megapixel camera and a 2,300 mAh battery.?BGR will be on hand at the event, so tune in for all the news as it breaks. An image of the invitation follows below.
The takeout boxes you typically get with Chinese food are great, but it's not exactly easy to eat directly out of the box. If you don't have a plate on hand, food blog Foodbeast shows off a simple way to unfold the box itself into a plate.
All you need to do is pull back the glue on the sides of the boxes, unfold, and then you have a plate. You should be able to do the same thing with the containers that have the wire handle too, but you'll have to remove the handle first. It's not exactly the world's most perfect plate, but it should work in a pinch.
So Apparently, We've Been Using Chinese Takeout Boxes All Wrong | Foodbeast
CAIRO (Reuters) - A man was shot dead on Monday in a fifth day of violence that has killed 50 Egyptians and prompted the Islamist president to declare a state of emergency in an attempt to end a wave of unrest sweeping the biggest Arab nation.
Emergency rule announced by President Mohamed Mursi on Sunday covers the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. The army has already been deployed in two of those cities and ministers agreed a measure to let soldiers arrest civilians.
A cabinet source told Reuters any trials would be in civilian courts, but the step is likely to anger protesters who accuse Mursi of using high-handed tactics of the kind they fought against to oust his military predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's politics have become deeply polarized since those heady days two years ago, when protesters were making the running in the Arab Spring revolutions that sent shockwaves through the region and Islamists and liberals lined up together.
Although Islamists have won parliamentary and presidential elections, the disparate opposition has since united against Mursi. Late last year he moved to expand his powers and pushed a constitution with a perceived Islamist bias through a referendum. The moves were punctuated by street violence.
Mursi's national dialogue meeting on Monday to help end the crisis was spurned by his main opponents.
They say Mursi hijacked the revolution, listens only to his Islamist allies and broke a promise to be a president for all Egyptians. Islamists say their rivals want to overthrow by undemocratic means Egypt's first freely elected leader.
Thousands of anti-Mursi protesters were out on the streets again in Cairo and elsewhere on Monday, the second anniversary of one of the bloodiest days in the revolution which erupted on January 25, 2011 and ended Mubarak's iron rule 18 days later.
"The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted Alexandria. "Leave means go, and don't say no!" they shouted.
VOLLEYS OF TEARGAS
Propelled to the presidency in a June election by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi has lurched through a series of political crises and violent demonstrations, complicating his task of shoring up the economy and of preparing for a parliamentary election to cement the new democracy in a few months.
Instability in Egypt has raised concerns in Western capitals, where officials worry about the direction of a key regional player that has a peace deal with Israel.
In Cairo on Monday, police fired volleys of teargas at stone-throwing protesters near Tahrir Square, cauldron of the anti-Mubarak uprising. A car was torched on a nearby bridge.
A 46-year-old bystander was killed by a gunshot early on Monday, a security source said. It was not clear who fired.
"We want to bring down the regime and end the state that is run by the Muslim Brotherhood," said Ibrahim Eissa, a 26-year-old cook, protecting his face from teargas wafting towards him.
The political unrest has been exacerbated by street violence linked to death penalties imposed on soccer supporters convicted of involvement in stadium rioting in Port Said a year ago.
As part of emergency measures, a daily curfew will be imposed on the three canal cities from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) to 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). Residents have said they will defy it.
The president announced the measures on television on Sunday: "The protection of the nation is the responsibility of everyone. We will confront any threat to its security with force and firmness within the remit of the law," Mursi said, angering many of his opponents when he wagged his finger at the camera.
He offered condolences to families of victims. But his invitation to Islamist allies and their opponents to hold a national dialogue was spurned by the main opposition National Salvation Front coalition. Those who accepted were mostly Mursi's supporters or sympathizers.
SENDING A MESSAGE
The Front rejected the offer as "cosmetic and not substantive" and set conditions for any future meeting that have not been met in the past, such as forming a government of national unity. They also demanded that Mursi declare himself responsible for the bloodshed.
"We will send a message to the Egyptian people and the president of the republic about what we think are the essentials for dialogue. If he agrees to them, we are ready for dialogue," opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference.
The opposition Front has distanced itself from the latest flare-ups but said Mursi should have acted far sooner to impose security measures that would have ended the violence.
"Of course we feel the president is missing the real problem on the ground, which is his own policies," Front spokesman Khaled Dawoud said after Mursi made his declaration.
Other activists said Mursi's measures to try to impose control on the turbulent streets could backfire.
"Martial law, state of emergency and army arrests of civilians are not a solution to the crisis," said Ahmed Maher of the April 6 movement that helped galvanize the 2011 uprising. "All this will do is further provoke the youth. The solution has to be a political one that addresses the roots of the problem."
Rights activists said Mursi's declaration was a backward step for Egypt, which was under emergency law for Mubarak's entire 30-year rule. His police used the sweeping arrest provisions to muzzle dissent and round up opponents, including members of the Brotherhood and even Mursi himself.
Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch in Cairo said the police, still hated by many Egyptians for their heavy-handed tactics under Mubarak, would once again have the right to arrest people "purely because they look suspicious", undermining efforts to create a more efficient and respected police force.
"It is a classic knee-jerk reaction to think the emergency law will help bring security," she said. "It gives so much discretion to the Ministry of Interior that it ends up causing more abuse, which in turn causes more anger."
(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Abdelrahman Youssef in Alexandria; Editing by Giles Elgood, Peter Millership and Alastair Macdonald)
I have built a spreadsheet to talk about 5 year planning in retirement if you have a stock portfolio. When you take money from a stock portfolio, you want to ensure you have enough in cash and projected income to allow you to withdraw money in the next 5 years.
Basically in this scenario you expect to take out money from your RRSP stock fund, have pension income and to use the dividend income of your stock fund. If you are using money from a stock fund, you want to make sure you have enough for withdrawals over the next 5 years.
I am projecting a budget to increase by 3% per year, the pension income to increase by 2% per year and the dividend income to increase by 6% per year. (The dividend increase is quite conservative and 8% could also be used here.) See my first spreadsheet on my site at planning.htm.
Personally I use a similar sheet and change the month in column 1 each month and adjusted the budget and income left. So I track my progress month by month. See sample on my site at planning2.htm.
With the second spreadsheet, I have showed the information slightly differently and it shows that there is not enough money in either the Trading Account or the RRSP Account to cover withdrawals and therefore something would have to be sold to give the full 5 year coverage. For the Trading Account, you could also lower your budget. See my third spreadsheet on my site at planning3.htm.
In these spreadsheets, if you have a self-directed RRIF, you can just put the RRIF in the RESP spot. If you want a table showing the RRIF withdrawal rates, see Tax Tips site or the RRIF document from Canada Revenue Agency.
I use Quicken and I find it great for keeping track of my current investments. However, there is nothing like a spreadsheet to answer the question of "What if". There is why I use spreadsheet to project what I could likely expect in the next 5 years. However, with all projections, you are making assumptions. For example, I made an assumption of inflation at 3% in connection with my budget.
If you want a copy of the spreadsheet, just email me at brunner@rogers.com.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.
We commonly think that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is something that only combat troops face. It?s thought of as an effect only of war. But that?s not the whole story.
Through news reports and media coverage we are also aware of the ripples and problems PTSD can create in the lives of many brave military members after they return home. But what if I was to tell you that people who have lived through difficult financial problems can also suffer from PTSD?
Debt Related PTSD and FInancial PTSD Quietly Hurts Many ? Click to Tweet
Your first reaction to such a statement would probably be ?that?s not possible? or ?that?s not true.? But in fact it is possible and it is true that many people have struggled with debt related PTSD.
It?s quite possible that Dave Ramsey?s entire efforts to talk people out of bankruptcy are based not on logic or reality but on the unresolved PTSD he faced after living through his financial problems.
Dave Ramsey?s unawareness of what was actually happening to him is not a unique occurrence. In fact I might also be just one such person that was struck with debt related PTSD.
Years ago Pam and I recorded a video about our experience with our financial problems and if you watch this section of that video you can hear us described symptoms that we experienced.
While I had previously associated post-debt depression with the financial struggles we had. After doing the research for this article I think that what we actually lived through was most similar to some PTSD experiences.
Society minimizes the impact that a problem debt has on lives. Those suffering with problem debt are often disparagingly labeled. But the fact remains, that no matter how someone landed in financial trouble, they still must deal with the trauma and find a way out.
Money problems have two primary components. The first is the actual events that led to the financial trauma but the second is that of the aftermath and impact that financial trauma has on the individual lives.
It would be wrong to label people with debt in negative ways without realize many are suffering with what could be easily classified as post-traumatic stress disorder and need to seek help for that illness.
[Financial] Trauma: ?An emotional state of discomfort and stress resulting from memories of an extraordinary, catastrophic experience which shattered the survivor?s sense of invulnerability to harm.? (Trauma and its Wake, Charles Figley, Ph.D.)
This article introduces a common condition we have heard much about, PTSD, and the reality that many traumatized by money troubles actually suffer from the psychological impact of PTSD related difficulties and without treatment and/or awareness it can dramatically alter the otherwise healthier path in life that could be possible after money troubles.
And that detour in life from debt related PTSD does not began after the event is over, but once the trauma has been felt. The presence of PTSD also hurts the ability for the individual to deal with their debt in a healthy way. Dr. Goulston, a psychiatrist, describes what he calls the ?Four Ds of Financial PTSD,? debt, dependency, distrust and denial. Those conditions hold people back from making good and level-headed decisions about how to best deal with their debt.
I can?t tell you how many times I?ve had people tell me that they are stuck not knowing what to do to get out of debt or following their financial problems they want to avoid credit because they don?t want to face that pain again. They mistakenly continue to link credit with the retraumatizing feeling that occurs when they think about having good credit again. Good credit in their minds equals pain because the good credit led to problem debt and the problem debt led to pain.
The reality is most likely their financial PTSD is keeping them linked in behavior that actually holds them back from escaping the bonds of their lingering emotional debt. By not taking action or only taking avoidance action to deal with their debt they circle in a nearly perpetual cycle of self-fulfilling financial unhappiness.
Some say their money troubles have left them distrusting and depressed. And I?ve talked about the impact of denial in the process of dealing with debt in my article on the seven stages of debt.
The Seven Emotional Stages of Debt
A financial collapse can lead to the same emotional reactions as those experienced by those facing other traumatic events. It?s not the exact nature of the event that leads to PTSD, but how the trauma impacts the individual.
This example from psychiatrist Dr. Mark Goulston shows the way many people have felt living through their money troubles. I remember similar feelings myself.
Dr G: How big a trauma has losing all this money been?
Client: Big.
Dr. G: How big?
Client (now beginning to cry with upset and relief): I can?t even think about it.
Dr. G: What does it make you want to do?
Client: I don?t know. I guess, just hide. (He then continues to speak about this for several minutes).
Dr. G: How well do you think you could handle another trauma with your wife, children, parents, health?
Client (looking at me incredulously): Are you nuts? I couldn?t.
Dr. G: What do you think you?d do?
Client: I couldn?t even imagine. (He continues to speak about this for several minutes).
Dr. G: So, you?re as scared as you?ve ever been.
Client: More than I?ve ever been. ? Source
Lind Friend, a practicing psychotherapist for many decades has also witnessed the same PTSD symptoms in people experiencing financial loss and worries. She describes the PTSD symptoms as, ?anxiety, sleeplessness, heart palpations, overreacting, irritability, excessive worry, a sense of doom, loss of interest in normal events, emotional numbing, and flashbacks to traumatic events.? ? Source
Dr. Maggie Baker, another experienced in anxiety, depression and financial issues, says she sees ?patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These patients are grappling with the psychological burden that results from catastrophic losses.?
Dr. Baker states the symptoms of financial PTSD are easy to recognize. Ask yourself the following questions:
Do you think about your money more in the last few weeks?
Are you worried about the current and future performance of your 401(K)?
Do you wake up at night with persistent memories of the 2008 financial collapse?
Have any small events (such as friend asking if you are going on vacation) caused you anxiety or worried money thoughts?
Do you feel a jolt of anxiety when financial statements arrive?
Do you avoid opening or reading your financial statements?
Do you have a growing sense of fear, helplessness and hopelessness?
If 4 or more of your answers are YES, then you are being held captive to the symptoms of PTSD. ? Source
Sarah who lived through debt said, ?When I was debt, it didn?t just feel like ?stress?- it felt like my life was falling apart. It also left me wondering if I will ever shake the feeling that I could lose everything again at the drop of a hat.?
There have been a limited number of studies about the effects of financial problems and the result of PTSD. One such study was published in 2012. In that study by Audrey Freshman (Freshman, A. (2012). Financial disaster as a risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder: Internet survey of trauma in victims of the madoff ponzi scheme. Health and Social Work, 37(1), 39-48.) she stated:
There are no known studies to date examining the risk of PTSD associated with sudden and dramatic personal financial loss. A Web-based, online, nonprobability convenience survey of 172 Madoff victims (56% female; mean age, 60.9 years) using the Posttraumatic Stress List Checklist, civilian version was conducted 8 to 10 months following the focal event.
Sociodemographic information and data concerning anxiety/depression and health-related concerns were gathered by self-report questionnaire. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to assess victim response to government regulatory systems.
Results demonstrated that a majority of respondents (55.7%) met criteria for a presumptive DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of PTSD, and as a group, respondents acknowledged high levels of anxiety (60.7%), depression (58%), and health-related problems (34%). Victims overwhelmingly affirmed a substantial loss of confidence in financial institutions (90%). This raises a public health concern as to governmental response and counseling needs during times of severe economic trauma.
Dr. Goulston, who I previously mentioned, describes in an interview which you can listen to here, some key experiences of those with debt PTSD.
Goulston: I think what goes on for a lot of people, something that I call the ?Four D?s of financial PTSD,? and that?s debt, dependency, distrust and then our denials in working. And what that means is when you?re in debt, whenever someone calls you to try to get money from you, it re-traumatizes you, it makes you realize how you don?t have what you thought you had. And then, when you feel that vulnerable, you reach out ? who can I depend on? Who can I rely on? I?ll call my stock broker, I?ll call my financial person. I?ll read the news. And then what happens is when you hear the news changing from day-to-day, you feel I can?t trust anyone.
So when you?re in a state of feeling like the world is trying to take more money from you and you don?t even have that much leftover, and who can you depend on, because you don?t know what you can do under your own control, and the people that you have trusted, you can?t trust anymore. It puts you into this real state of irritability, almost brittleness, fragility. And that?s where the fourth D is, what allows us to get through life is denial that functions?
Moon: ?I?d rather not think about it.?
Goulston: There you go. I mean, if we were aware of how dangerous it is to drive, how dangerous it is to fly, all the side effects of every medication we take ? if we didn?t have healthy denial, we would be frozen. So I think what?s happening is people are living with these four D?s constantly, which leads to ?so what do you do about it?? So any thing that?ll help you regain a sense of control will help you feel better. And also, talk with each other and you listen to each other, makes it better.
Moon: What are some of the warning signs, if you will, that you might be experiencing this?
Goulston: OK, warning signs are you feel a change in your personality, you tend to be irritable, you snap at people, you?re withdrawn. But the key signs for PTSD is that you tend to relive the event over again, either in dreams or you even have flashbacks when you read the newspaper. And you want to avoid it, you want to avoid being re-traumatized, because if you?re feeling vulnerable and you get another hit, a lot of people feel shattered, I just won?t come back. And then the third thing is that you have this increased arousal in your hyper-vigilance. So you can?t ever totally lower your guard. And if you think about it, think about that you can never lower your guard, so you never know what it?s like to relax.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder following a traumatic event like injury, death or even something as emotional as the death of your financial like.
The symptoms of PTSD fall into three main categories:
?Reliving? the event, which disturbs day-to-day activity
Flashback episodes, where the event seems to be happening again and again
Repeated upsetting memories of the event
Repeated nightmares of the event
Strong, uncomfortable reactions to situations that remind you of the event
Avoidance
Emotional ?numbing,? or feeling as though you don?t care about anything
Feeling detached
Being unable to remember important aspects of the trauma
Having a lack of interest in normal activities
Showing less of your moods
Avoiding places, people, or thoughts that remind you of the event
Feeling like you have no future
Hyperarousal
Difficulty concentrating
Startling easily
Having an exaggerated response to things that startle you
Feeling more aware (hypervigilance)
Feeling irritable or having outbursts of anger
Having trouble falling or staying asleep
You might feel guilt about the event (including ?survivor guilt?). You might also have some of the following symptoms, which are typical of anxiety, stress, and tension:
Agitation or excitability
Dizziness
Fainting
Feeling your heart beat in your chest
Headache ? Source
According to the National Institute of Mental Health to be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have all of the following for at least 1 month:
At least one re-experiencing symptom
At least three avoidance symptoms
At least two hyperarousal symptoms
Symptoms that make it hard to go about daily life, go to school or work, be with friends, and take care of important tasks. ? Source
It?s one thing to now recognize the reality that PTSD can be experienced by many as a result of financial trauma or debt trauma, but what now?
Currently there are a number of therapies for those that suffer from PTSD. But the most important step to take is the one that allows you to either reach out to someone suffering and guide them towards help or to seek help if you are the one struggling with these issues.
The most common avenues of treatment are counseling, therapy, medication, or a combination of all. If you are looking for help you should talk to your physician about a referral for help with anxiety counseling or find a local mental health professional that has experience with PTSD or anxiety counseling. You may also want to use the links provided here.
With treatment, you can actually learn to get past these issues and resume a more emotionally stable and healthy life again.
In my personal situation the financial trauma I lived through decades ago is still easily recalled and felt as if it was yesterday. But the good news is that it long ago stopped controlling my life because I took action and steps to deal with my trauma.
Ironically, helping others with their debt problems was probably a real blessing for my recovery. It helped me to see I was not alone and that my issues were not catastrophic but actually trivial compared to many people face in debt.
But my experience dealing with debt was not unique. Take Dave Ramsey for example, all you have to do is listen to his traumatic tales of his financial problems and you can begin to see some glimpses of the impact debt had on his life and how he struggle with the emotional implications of his financial stress.
Dave says things like ?I?ve never forgotten how painful it was for both of us,? Dave says. ?I feel that pain to this very day.? ? Source. He also says, ?Bankruptcy is a gut-wrenching, life-changing event that causes lifelong damage? and ?Bankruptcy. That word sends chills up the spine. If you?re facing the prospect of bankruptcy or you?re in the middle of it right now, you know it?s a living nightmare. It can devastate your job, destroy your marriage and steal your peace of mind? and ?Bankruptcy is listed in the top five life-altering negative events that we can go through, along with divorce, severe illness, disability, and loss of a loved one. I would never say that bankruptcy is as bad as losing a loved one, but it is life-altering and leaves deep wounds both to the psyche and the credit report.? ? Source.
It?s very possible that Dave?s disgust with bankruptcy and credit cards is not a position based on logic as I talked about here, but the remaining bits of his unresolved debt PTSD issues he faced.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ? Hundreds of people rallied in Portland on Saturday in what was billed as the largest protest yet against the possibility of so-called tar sands oil being piped in from Montreal.
Protesters gathered downtown, then marched to the city's waterfront for a rally that included speeches from Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan and others who said allowing heavy oil from western Canada to cross northern New England poses serious environmental risks.
Environmental groups say plans are in the works to bring oil by pipeline from western Canada to Montreal and then to Portland. Critics say tar sands, or oil sands, oil is so corrosive, acidic and thick that it's more likely to spill than conventional crude oil and that would put rivers, lakes and streams at risk in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. They further say that renewable energy should be promoted to reduce reliance on oil.
"With climate change once again at the forefront of our minds, it is crucial that we work together to end our dependence upon on foreign oil and keep our community free of fuels like tar sands," Brennan said in a statement. "We need to work together to expand the market for renewable energies and eliminate the demand for tar sands and other fuels that are not only a root cause for climate change but also carry real risks of pollution and spills in our backyard."
The debate in northern New England comes at the same time that debate is increasing in Washington over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, a $7 billion project that would carry oil from Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. Environmental groups say the pipeline would transport "dirty oil" from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, and produce heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming.
The company that owns pipelines connecting western Canada to Montreal, and a separate company that owns the 236-mile pipeline from Portland to Montreal, both say there are no plans to bring tar sands oil across northern New England to Portland. The Portland-to-Montreal pipeline now carries oil that arrives in Portland by ship from overseas through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Quebec to Montreal.
Opponents of oil sands oil are putting out misinformation, said John Quinn, executive director of the New England Petroleum Council, which represents the oil industry.
Seventy percent of the gasoline sold in Maine now comes from oil from Alberta that's refined in New Brunswick, he said. The oil is no more corrosive or dangerous than conventional crude oil, he said.
"They intend to demonize oil sands because it's a direct threat to wind power," Quinn said. "Many of the organizers of this rally oppose petroleum in any form."
Yogurt rice or curd rice is a popular South Indian dish. Yogurt Rice makes a great side dish or good for lunch box as a complete meal.
Recipe will serve 4.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice
1/4 cup split moong dal (washed) available at Indian grocery store
3 cups of water
1 tablespoon oil
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup yogurt (curd or dahi)
1/4 cup shredded cucumber (kheera)
1/4 cup shredded carrots (gajar)
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger (adrak)
For Seasoning
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
2 whole red peppers
1 tablespoon finely chopped green pepper, adjust to taste
8-10 curry leaves available at Indian grocery store, optional
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
?Method
Wash rice and moong dal changing water several times until the water appears clear.
Drain the rice and moong dal and put it into the saucepan. Add water, oil, ginger, and salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to low, do not cover the pan. Cook for 10-12 minutes rice and dal will be soft cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is very soft and mushy.
Mix the rice and dal whipping making them mushy; if rice is dry add little more hot water as needed. Mix should be consistency of portage.
Let the rice cool down to room temperature, add the yogurt and mix it well. Adding the yogurt to hot rice will make yogurt sour and watery. Next add cucumber, carrot and ginger and mix.
Prepare the seasoning: In a small sauce pan heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds as seeds crack add red pepper, green chili, curry leaves and cilantro stir for about a minute. As you will add curry leaves oil will splatter, so be careful.
Turn off the heat and mix the seasoning with rice mix. Yogurt Rice is ready to serve.
January 23, 2013 - Filed under: Outreach, Students | Tagged: College of Arts & Sciences, Creative Writing Program, Education, English
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ??The University of Alabama invites local high-school students ? freshmen through seniors ? to sign up for the Spring 2013 Creative Writing Club.
The Creative Writing Club will meet from 4:30 to 6 p.m. each Wednesday from Jan. 30 to April 24 in 301 Morgan Hall on the UA campus. No previous creative writing experience is required.
The instructors will be writers who are graduate students in UA?s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. They will lead a semester-long exploration of creative writing under the direction of Robin Behn,?poet and professor of English. Students will experiment with many kinds of creative writing, give a public reading, and create their own publication.The emphasis is on having fun while exploring what language can do. Tuition is free for students. Free parking is also available.
The Creative Writing Club is entering its ninth year and has had support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Tuscaloosa Arts Council, UA?s College of Arts and Sciences, the English department and the Program in Creative Writing.
The Creative Writing Club also offers a free summer experience, Creative Writing Camp, for two weeks every year in June. Registration for the summer program will begin in March.
To register for the Spring 2013 Creative Writing Club, send an e-mail with the student?s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, school and grade level to P. J. Williams, program assistant, at?uacreativewritingclub@gmail.com. For more information, visit the website at www.bama.ua.edu/~cwc/.
The English department is part of UA?s College of Arts and Sciences, the University?s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.
The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is experiencing significant growth in both enrollment and academic quality. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state's economy, is in keeping with UA's vision to be the university of choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state's flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.
CONTACT: Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782 SOURCE: P. J. Williams or Robin Behn, 205/348-5065, uacreativewritingclub@gmail.com
Jan. 23, 2013 ? Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found new evidence in mice that the two phenomena are connected by more than just timing. If further research confirms these links, boosting estrogen levels may get a second look as an approach for reducing urinary infections in menopausal women.
"Scientists tested estrogen as a treatment for post-menopausal women with urinary tract infections in the 1990s, but the results were either ambiguous or negative," says senior author Indira Mysorekar, PhD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of pathology and immunology. "With the mouse model of menopause that we've created, we can more completely understand how estrogen levels affect infection susceptibility, bladder health and the inflammatory response to infection. That should point the way to better treatment strategies."
The findings appear online in Infection and Immunity.
Urinary infections are a significant cause of illness in many women throughout their lives and are particularly prevalent after menopause. The bacteria that cause these infections can spread to the kidney and bloodstream, with the potential for serious complications.
To simulate menopause in mice, scientists surgically remove their ovaries. Like menopausal women, the mice no longer make estrogen.
To rule out the possibility that the stress of surgery affects the risk of urinary tract infections, the researchers conducted the same surgery in other mice but put the ovaries back in, maintaining their ability to make estrogen.
When researchers gave both groups of mice urinary tract infections, the menopausal mice had higher levels of infectious bacteria in their urine. Most of the bacteria came from barrier cells, which line the interior of the bladder. These cells are the first to be infected by the bacteria.
"When the barrier cells are lost, they need to be replaced immediately," Mysorekar says. "In the menopausal mice, we found that this replacement process was stopping short of completion. That left cells under barrier cells exposed, and they are much more vulnerable to infection."
The menopausal mice had more bacterial reservoirs, which are pockets of infection that may provide a place for the bacteria to hide during antibiotic treatment. After treatment stops, the reservoirs can reseed the infection.
In earlier research, Mysorekar had identified an important regulator of the barrier cell repair process. In the new study, she showed that low estrogen levels disable this regulator.
The bladders of the menopausal mice also had higher levels of immune inflammatory compounds known as cytokines.
"The cytokines caused inflammation that left the bladder in bad shape," Mysorekar says. "It's possible that damage caused by inflammation increases the bacteria's ability to break into bladder tissue and create reservoirs of infection."
In the control mice, which had normal estrogen levels, cytokine levels and inflammatory damage were both significantly lower. When researchers gave the menopausal mice estrogen, their cytokine levels and inflammatory damage also decreased significantly, as did reservoirs of infectious bacteria.
Mysorekar notes that earlier clinical trials of estrogen's usefulness against urinary infection evaluated the treatment's success by tracking levels of bacteria in the urine. The researchers say their new results suggest that bacteria levels alone may not provide a complete picture of estrogen's effectiveness against the infections.
"If we can find ways to look at other aspects of the infectious process in humans, we may find that estrogen is more helpful than we previously realized," Mysorekar says. "We need to look for other indicators, such as cytokines in the urine, to more fully assess estrogen's potential role in treatment."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Michael C. Purdy.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Wang C, Symington JW, Ma E, Cao B, Mysorekar IU. Escherichia coli pathogenesis in a murine menopause model. Infection and Immunity, March 2013
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Jan. 22, 2013 ? Chronic drinking is known to have detrimental health effects such as cardiac and liver problems, cognitive impairments, and brain damage. Binge drinking in particular is known to increase the risk of developing dementia and/or brain damage, yet little is known about an exact threshold for the damaging effects of alcohol. A study using rodents to examine various markers of neurodegeneration has found that brain damage can occur with as little as 24 hours of binge-like alcohol exposure.
Results will be published in the March 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
"We know that the extent of damage following alcohol exposure depends heavily on the manner in which it is consumed," said Kimberly Nixon, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at The University of Kentucky as well as corresponding author for the study. "Human studies suggest that binge-pattern drinking is more closely associated with brain damage. One study, for example, reported that binge drinking at least once per month in adulthood significantly increases the risk of developing dementia later in life. Animal models help provide the critical information that binge drinking, which produces high blood alcohol levels, directly causes damage."
"The exact threshold for the damaging effects of alcohol on the brain is unclear," commented Fulton T. Crews, John Andrews Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina. "It is likely that the higher the blood alcohol level the greater the damage, however, this manuscript only studies binge drinking, using vimentin and flurojade B as markers of neurotoxicity."
"People hear from multiple sources that low-moderate alcohol consumption can be beneficial, and then we come along and say that heavy alcohol use leads to detrimental outcomes," said Nixon. "People then want to know what the line is between beneficial and detrimental Unfortunately, we don't know exactly. However, our study suggests that it may be even less than previously thought."
Nixon and her colleagues administered a nutritionally complete liquid diet to adult male Sprague-Dawley rats that additionally contained either alcohol (25% w/v) or isocaloric dextrose every eight hours for either one or two days. The rodents were sacrificed immediately following, two days after, or seven days after alcohol exposure and their brain tissues were examined.
"This was really a simple study that took advantage of some new 'tools' to look for evidence of brain damage," explained Nixon. "In other words, we didn't look for dying cells themselves, but we looked at more indirect indices of damage by looking at what happens to astroglia, one of the 'supporting' cells for neurons. Astroglia react to brain damage by expressing several proteins that they do not normally express under healthy, happy conditions, one of which is an intermediate filament protein called vimentin. We saw a remarkable number of cells expressing this marker It is one of those 'here is your brain, here is your brain on drugs' kind of findings where the expression was obvious to the naked eye in many brains with as little as 24 hours of high blood alcohol levels."
Nixon added that, because rodents metabolize alcohol significantly faster than humans do, it is important to look at the actual concentration of alcohol in the blood in order to translate this to the human condition. "These rats had blood alcohol levels that were more than four times the legal driving limit, which for humans would require excessive drinking in the nature of a 12-pack of beer, a couple bottles of wine, or half of fifth of whisky. Unfortunately, drinking self-reports and blood alcohol level data from emergency rooms confirm that this level of drinking is common in those with alcohol use disorders."
"Rodent brain damage can model human damage," noted Crews. "Vimentin seems to be a good marker of glial activation that shows that one day of binge drinking can cause some brain damage that persists and grows after a week of abstinence. However, both rodent and human brain damage generally require long-term alcohol consumption that models alcoholism and not the acute responses studied in this manuscript."
Nixon agreed. "The lack of overt neuronal deterioration suggests that a single, short-term, high-level binge probably does not result in functional changes and/or cognitive deficits," she said. "However, since alcoholics experience multiple binges throughout their lifetime, it is important to consider that each successive binge, starting with the very first one, affords some level of damage to the brain. Therefore, theoretically, with multiple binges comes a cumulative detrimental effect where pronounced cognitive, behavioral, and structural effects are observed."
Nixon said this study demonstrates that new discoveries are always possible. "You have to know where and when to look for some of these effects," she said. "The reason why this discovery wasn't made previously is merely due to groups, ourselves included, not taking the time to thoroughly investigate these lower threshold doses with some pretty specific time points. Chasing down a threshold is not a sexy topic and it was actually fairly risky in that it was possible that we would have had all negative effects. Nonetheless, the take-home message of our data is that even one short-duration binge-alcohol experience -- which is unfortunately similar to what young adults may experience during spring break or weekend partying -- may start a cascade that leads to brain damage."
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Research in Motion (RIMM) held a ?Port-A-Thon? earlier this month to boost developer interest in BlackBerry 10. The event ended up being a huge success for the company with more than 15,000 apps submitted to BlackBerry World in less than two days. In a last chance effort to increase its app count before the launch of its new operating system, RIM held a second event this past weekend and it was even bigger than the first one. Developers submitted 19,071 apps in 36 hours, bringing RIM closer to its goal of offering more than 70,000 apps at launch. RIM is scheduled to unveil BlackBerry 10 at a press event on?January?30th.
[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 OS walkthrough, BlackBerry Z10 pricing]
A 78-year-old grandmother has been charged in a New Jersey burglary ring that included two of her grandchildren, police said.
Lorraine Bleckley, 78, of Medford, N.J., is one of six people charged in the burglaries that authorities say took place from the beginning of October 2012 through the end of November 2012 in the Hoot Owl and Tamarac Developments in Medford.?
Police say Bleckley allowed her grandchildren, Kenneth Bleckley, Jr., 24, and Cynthia Bleckley, 21, to live in her house and use it as a "home base" for the alleged crimes. She also let other defendants in the case stay at her house, according to authorities.
Read more at NBCPhiladelphia.com.
Both grandchildren are charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary. Kristina McLeod, 23, is charged with five counts of burglary and various other charges. Jeffery Simpkins, 23, is charged with burglary, theft, criminal mischief, attempted burglary and conspiracy. The eldest Bleckley is facing one count of maintaining a nuisance.
Bail for the crew ranges from $20,000 to $40,000.
Authorities say $26,845 worth of jewelry and cash were stolen over two months.?
On January 16, Alyssa Carducci published a story at Media Trackers-Florida in which she claimed that Michael Mann charges ?$10,000 plus expenses for speaking fees.? Carducci went on to imply that greed was Mann?s reason for performing climate research and for speaking publicly about the reality of industrial climate disruption. However, Carducci?s reporting demonstrated that she lacks understanding of how much speaking engagements cost, how research grants actually operate, and of Steve Milloy?s well-documented history of being a ?science denier for hire.? In addition, Carducci obtained her information by misrepresenting her affiliation when she contacted Mann?s agent to ask about Mann?s speaking fee, something that raises a number of questions about both Carducci and both Media Trackers ? Florida and The Heartland Institute, where Carducci is an author for Environment & Climate News.
Scientists who are experts in their field often get paid for speaking to the public, whether that?s businesses or universities or general audiences. The more famous the scientist is, the more he or she gets paid. According to an article from 1996 in The Scientist, a ?typical? speaking fee was about $2,000, although that varied widely from industry to industry and audience to audience. The same article reported that clinical researchers presenting to pharmaceutical companies could command between $5,000 and $15,000. And ?famous authorities on science and medicine? could demand fees of $25,000 per lecture.
That was in 1996. If we adjust those values for inflation, that range changes to a typical fee of $3,000 to a maximum fee for ?famous authorities? of about $37,000 per lecture.
According to this article in Outside Magazine online from 2007, MIT scientist and National Academy of Sciences member Richard Lindzen (who is also someone who denies that human industry is predominantly responsible for climate disruption) asks between $1,000 and $2,000 from non-corporate groups and between $5,000 and $10,000 from corporate groups. Presumably this is because corporate groups have deeper pockets than universities or community groups.
Mann is a famous scientist and a public figure. His name is arguably better known to the general public than Lindzen?s is, and as such he can command high speaking fees. And not incidentally, Carducci was claiming to be a representative of an industry group, not a university or community group. So the $10,000 she was quoted by Mann?s agent is not unreasonable given Mann?s fame and the expected audience.
Carducci also implied that Mann?s research grants were making him rich, writing that he brought about $7 million between 2006 and 2010 into Penn State?s research coffers. The problem is that no research grant, however large, makes scientists rich. There are rules in place at universities and imposed by the federal government (usually the National Science Foundation) that are designed specifically to prevent scientists from becoming rich with grant money (aka defrauding the grantor). Physical science professor Scott Mandia wrote two posts at his blog describing exactly how this works. Essentially, principal investigators have their salary reduced by some amount to account for the additional income from research grants.
Furthermore, as two S&R investigations found, Mann?s contributions to the overall Penn State research budget was essentially negligible and that scientists who were primarily motivated by greed would fare better working for fossil fuel-related industries.
Carducci also refers to science denier Steve Milloy as a ?scientist? and implicitly rejects Mann?s claim that Milloy has been paid to manufacture doubt about the dangers of pesticides, second-hand smoke, etc. According to Sourcewatch, Milloy has a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences and Master of Health Sciences in Biostatistics from from Johns Hopkins University. However, simply having a general science degree does not confer upon anyone the ?scientist? moniker ? only working scientists or one-time working scientists get to make that claim. A search of Google Scholar turned up no peer-reviewed papers written by Steven J. Milloy, and there is no evidence that Milloy has ever worked as a scientist.
There is a great deal of evidence that Milloy has been paid by the tobacco industry specifically to deny the dangers of second-hand smoke. According to Philip Morris documents stored by the Tobacco Legacy Project, Milloy?s group The Association for Sound Science Coalation (TASSC) was paid $480,000 in 1994 through Philip Morris PR company APCO International. TASSC was founded by Milloy in 1993 at the behest of APCO and Philip Morris. Before Milloy disbanded it, TASSC had a long history of denying the dangers of second-hand smoke.
And Milloy continues being paid to cast doubt upon scientific studies that identify risky products, most recently by pesticide maker Syngenta. In this case, the Center for Media and Democracy obtained court documents that showed Milloy had been paid $25,000 by Syngenta in 2008 to deny the risks of atrazine and that he?d asked for $15,000 in 2004. And one email clearly shows Milloy asking for Syngenta talking points that he can repeat in his weekly column.
After Mann posted his Facebook responses to her article, Carducci wrote that Mann was connected to Climategate along with several statements that implied he was guilty of misconduct. While everything she wrote was fastidiously factual, Carducci failed to mention that Mann was exonerated by two different Pennsylvania State University investigations and a subsequent National Science Foundation (NSF) investigation. So far as S&R was able to tell, Carducci has never before written about the details of Climategate or Michael Mann?s multiple exonerations, so it?s entirely possible that she is simply ignorant of the facts. However, writing about topics on which you know little is generally considered unwise in journalism.
As serious as her factual errors are, Carducci?s breach of journalistic ethics was much more serious. In order to obtain the $10,000 figure she quoted in her Media Trackers ? Florida article, Carducci misrepresented her affiliation to Mann?s agent, Jodi Solomon of Jodi Solomon Speakers. According to Mann?s account of what happened on his Facebook page, Jodi Solomon Speakers logs every call and email they receive and ?there is no record that Media Trackers was ever in touch with us. If they claim otherwise, they did so by misrepresenting themselves to us.? An update by Mann reported that Jodi Solomon had found Carducci?s phone call and that Carducci had ?said she was from the Association of Air Conditioning Distributors in the state of Florida and she was helping to plan their upcoming event for 300-500 people (emphasis added).?
S&R contacted Jodi Solomon in order to confirm that what Mann wrote on his Facebook page was correct. Solomon confirmed that Mann?s quotes were accurate of statements she had made with regard to Carducci and Media Trackers.
S&R also tried to ask Media Trackers-Florida for comment via their website, but there is no list of who is associated with the organization and no contact information. S&R asked for comment via the Media Trackers ? Florida Facebook page but had received no response by publication time. However, given the behavior of the original Media Trackers organization as documented by PR Watch and Sourcewatch, it is not likely that S&R?s request for comment will be answered.
Carducci?s unethical misrepresentation of her affiliation with Media Trackers ? Florida raises a number of other questions given that she is also associated with The Heartland Institute. While Carducci has been writing for Media Trackers ? Florida since October, 2012, she?s been writing for Heartland?s Environment & Climate News (E&CN) periodical and the Heartlander zine since at least March 2009. Furthermore, she works with James M. Taylor, editor of E&CN, who has been with Heartland since 2002 and who has been one of Media Trackers ? Florida?s most prolific posters since they started up in March 2012. In fact, since June 2012 there have essentially been only three authors responsible for all of Media Trackers ? Florida?s content, and two of them are also associated with The Heartland Institute.
Heartland faced a similar situation last year when Peter Gleick misrepresented himself as a board member to gain access to confidential documents and then revealed that information. Carducci certainly knew about ?Fakegate,? yet she still chose to misrepresent herself to Solomon and to publish what she acquired through unethical means. This indicates that Carducci represents another example of hypocrisy at The Heartland Institute, an organization that makes a habit of being hypocritical about a great many things. Just on the issue of misrepresenting one?s associations, someone from Heartland called Greenpeace activist Cindy Baxter during the 2007 Bali climate conference, and three days later Heartland later press release that contained the recorded audio of the phone call.
S&R contacted The Heartland Institute for comment but they had not responded by publication time.
While Carducci?s behavior is an example of The Heartland Institute?s habit of hypocrisy, misrepresenting herself is unethical regardless of her affiliations. But nearly as bad as her breach of ethics was the fact that she reported on topics that she clearly knew little or nothing about, such as speaking fees, research grants, and Climategate. Carducci would do well to apply the journalism adage ?write what you know? to her own reporting.
BERLIN (AP) ? A lawyer in Germany claims surgeons left up to 16 objects in her client's body after an operation for prostate cancer. She is seeking ?80,000 ($106,216) plus costs for the family of the patient, who has since died. Surgical slips such as these are rare, but with millions of operations performed worldwide each year mistakes do sometimes occur.
According to Loyola University in Chicago, citing medical studies, some 1,500 patients in the United States have surgical objects accidentally left inside them after surgery each year. Most of the objects are sponges used to control patient bleeding during long operations. They can lead to pain, infections and other medical complications.
Such cases have prompted doctors to coin the term "retained surgical items" and draw up guidelines to prevent them occurring. These include accounting for all items after surgery ? such as with the help of RFID chips ? and using equipment containing special strips that show up clearly in x-rays.
Some notable cases:
?In Dec. 2011, a man in Ohio who had two towels left in his body after surgery at a Veterans hospital won a $275,000 settlement from the federal government.
?In Aug. 2012, California regulators fined a Fresno hospital $50,000 for leaving a towel in a patient after abdominal surgery.
? In Sept. 2012, The Canberra Times of Australia reported that a patient required a second operation after a surgical instrument was left in the abdomen. The incident prompted Canberra hospitals to begin special training for staff to make sure they kept better track of instruments during surgery.
? In Feb. 2010, doctors in the Czech Republic discovered a foot-long metal tube had been left inside a woman's abdomen five months after surgery. The chief of the clinic said four staff members had been punished.
? In March 2009, a Kentucky jury awarded a woman $2.5 million after she required surgery to remove a sponge left inside her after a hysterectomy three years earlier. Part of her small intestine had to be removed.
A coroner has found that a newborn baby died because he did not receive effective ventilation following his birth at Whanganui Hospital.
?
'They don't want this to come out'
Kim Dotcom is standing by his assertion that music labels pressured MediaWorks into canning an advertising campaign for his new website .
No move towards work-hour limit
The Government has ignored a recommendation by the United Nations for legislation to dictate a maximum number of work hours to reduce the risk to workplace health and?
Man admits assaulting cop
A 27-year-old Dargaville man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a Northland police officer - one of two officers injured in a brutal attack during a Christmas Day arrest?
McDonald's manager jailed
A senior McDonald's manager was allowed to continue working at one of its restaurants while he faced charges of molesting two young women.
Sacked employee blows $13k compo
An attempt by a sacked Oceana Gold employee to claim costs for an ERA hearing has backfired, costing him more than the company was ordered to pay him.
Kids help parents find love online
Kiwi sons and daughters encouraging their single parents to find love online are helping set up profiles to push their mums and dads into the dating game.
2012 ninth warmest year on record
2012 was the ninth warmest year around the world since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures, NASA scientists say.
Crash victim was 'brave and beautiful'
A New Zealand teenager who died as a result of a bus crash in Kenya told passengers going to her aid to help others first, despite being badly injured.
Christchurch rattled by quake
Christchurch's first major tremor of the year today was the 11,000th aftershock since the deadly earthquake sequence started on September 4, 2010.
Armed robber jailed for six years
One of three men who attempted to hold up the Katikati Park Rd Dairy and Waihi Mobil Service Station last June with a pistol and hammer has been jailed.
NZ gets world's biggest waterslide
Construction has begun on the world's biggest waterslide - a 650m drop down a hillside west of Auckland.
Sony unveiled the Xperia Z during CES 2013. The company was really pushing the water-resistance of the device during the show and it looks like that trend is being continued. Thankfully though, that is not all that Sony is showing off in regards to the Xperia Z. In fact, the company has been releasing Xperia Z promo videos on their YouTube channel.
The channel has a few vides that have been posted over the past few days. They include a look at (you guessed it) the water-resistance as well as the display and battery life management. There are also two videos that highlight the phone as a whole. That being said, lets kick things off with the water-resistance video (which can be seen below). Many have seen this before, in-fact we touching on this feature in our hands-on video. The key facts, the Xperia Z will be able to handle some rain as well as a drop in water such as a pool, bathtub or toilet. The handset can be submerged in up to 3.3 feet of water and will be ok with up to 30 minutes of submersion time.
The next video shows off the screen technology, which in this case means a handset with a BRAVIA Reality Display which Sony touts as bringing ?the best combination of luminance, resolution and color gamut.? More to the point here, Sony believes the display on the Xperia Z will be able to replicate the colors that we have in our memories. The screen technology video can be seen below.
The battery life topic is always hot. Mostly because smartphones never seem to have enough battery life. Sony makes the comparison to some real-world items such as turning the lights off when you leave home and the fridge saving power by having the light off when the door is closed. Basically, Sony has introduced a battery Stamina Mode which will turn off functions you don?t need when the phone is in standby mode. This can be customized based on app, however once you leave standby mode, all functions come back to normal. Sony has said that by using Stamina Mode, you will be able to increase you standby time by up to four times.
Jakarta - Pamor Windows Phone memang tak secemerlang Android atau bahkan iOS. Tapi siapa sangka, soal kepuasaan terhadap smartphone-nya, pengguna OS Microsoft tersebut ternyata lebih puas dibandingkan dengan Android.
Hasil yang cukup mengejutkan ini didasarkan pada survei yang dilakukan oleh ChangeWave terhadap sejumlah pengguna iPhone, Android, Windows Phone dan BlackBerry di Amerika Utara.
Dikutip detikINET dari Bussines Insider, Rabu (16/1/2013), menurut survei ChangeWave pengguna Windows Phone yang puas terhadap pirantinya sebanyak 53%, lebih unggul sedikit dibandingkan dengan Android yang hanya 48%.
Jika Windows Phone dan Android masing-masing menempati posisi tiga dan empat, maka pengguna yang paling puas terhadap smartphone-nya adalah iPhone dengan pencapaian hingga 71%.
Lalu bagaimana dengan BlackBerry? Persentase konsumen yang puas terhadap handset BlackBerry menempati posisi buncit. Menurut survei yang dilakukan selama Desember 2012 tersebut, kepuasann terhadap BlackBerry sebanyak 26%.
( tyo / fyk )
Tetap update informasi di manapun dengan http://m.detik.com dari browser ponsel anda!
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria's U.N.Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari described as "a cowardly terrorist act" an attack on Tuesday that killed scores of students sitting for exams at Aleppo University in Syria's biggest city.
"This act killed 82 students and wounded 162 other students," he told the U.N. Security Council during a debate on counterterrorism. "A cowardly terrorist act targeted the students of Aleppo University."
A Syrian opposition group put the death toll from the two explosions that rocked the university at 83.
The cause of the explosions was not clear but the Syrian government and opposition activists blamed each other.
"The terrorist armed groups in my country always take advantage of a Security Council meeting to perpetrate a terrorist attack inside Syria and this is indeed what happened today perhaps for the 10th or 20th time since the crisis in my country began," Ja'afari told the 15-nation council.
According to the United Nations, more than 60,000 people have been killed during a 22-month-old revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which began with peaceful protests but turned violent after Assad's forces tried to crush the demonstrations.
U.N. special envoy for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, said more than 20 children had been killed and many injured during the past few days in air strikes and other attacks on populated areas in and around Damascus.
"Children pay a very high price in the ongoing fighting. All parties must immediately refrain from targeting civilian areas and take all necessary precautions to protect girls and boys," she said in a statement.
In a letter to the Security Council and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, dated January 9 and released on Tuesday, Ja'afari outlined details of a peace plan put forward by Assad in a speech earlier this month.
Although Assad's speech appeared to dismiss peace talks with his enemies and was rejected by opposition groups, Ja'afari wrote that the government was prepared to enter a national dialogue in a bid to resolve the crisis.
In preparation for such a dialogue, Ja'fari said all countries in the region should stop funding, arming and harboring rebels, while all combatants - government forces and rebel fighters - should adhere to a ceasefire.
He also said "guarantees will be offered to Syrian opposition groups in order that they might enter the country, without conditions, to participate in the national dialogue."
More than 50 countries asked the Security Council on Monday to refer the Syria crisis to the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes people for genocide and war crimes. But Russia - Assad's long-standing ally and a major arms supplier - blocked the initiative, calling it "ill-timed and counterproductive.
The takeout boxes you typically get with Chinese food are great, but it's not exactly easy to eat directly out of the box. If you don't have a plate on hand, food blog Foodbeast shows off a simple way to unfold the box itself into a plate. 
Ingredients:
On January 16, Alyssa Carducci published a story at Media Trackers-Florida in which she claimed that Michael Mann charges ?$10,000 plus expenses for speaking fees.? Carducci went on to imply that greed was Mann?s reason for performing climate research and for speaking publicly about the reality of industrial climate disruption. However, Carducci?s reporting demonstrated that she lacks understanding of how much speaking engagements cost, how research grants actually operate, and of Steve Milloy?s well-documented history of being a ?science denier for hire.? In addition, Carducci obtained her information by misrepresenting her affiliation when she contacted Mann?s agent to ask about Mann?s speaking fee, something that raises a number of questions about both Carducci and both Media Trackers ? Florida and The Heartland Institute, where Carducci is an author for Environment & Climate News.
Carducci?s unethical misrepresentation of her affiliation with Media Trackers ? Florida raises a number of other questions given that she is also associated with The Heartland Institute. While Carducci has been writing for Media Trackers ? Florida since October, 2012, she?s been writing for Heartland?s Environment & Climate News (E&CN) periodical and the Heartlander zine since at least March 2009. Furthermore, she works with James M. Taylor, editor of E&CN, who has been with Heartland since 2002 and who has been one of Media Trackers ? Florida?s most prolific posters since they started up in March 2012. In fact, since June 2012 there have essentially been only three authors responsible for all of Media Trackers ? Florida?s content, and two of them are also associated with The Heartland Institute.
