Friday, September 28, 2012

Pa. college revives sororities after 79-year ban

In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Swarthmore College student Maya Marzouk poses for a photo on the campus of Swarthmore College, in Swarthmore, Pa. Nearly 80 years after women at Swarthmore College voted to ban sororities because they were too exclusive, a group of female students will reinstate Greek life this spring after weathering months of polarizing debate on campus.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Swarthmore College student Maya Marzouk poses for a photo on the campus of Swarthmore College, in Swarthmore, Pa. Nearly 80 years after women at Swarthmore College voted to ban sororities because they were too exclusive, a group of female students will reinstate Greek life this spring after weathering months of polarizing debate on campus.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Swarthmore College student Julia Melin poses for a photo on the campus of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa. Nearly 80 years after women at Swarthmore College voted to ban sororities because they were too exclusive, a group of female students will reinstate Greek life this spring after weathering months of polarizing debate on campus.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

(AP) ? Nearly 80 years after women at Swarthmore College voted to ban sororities because they were too exclusive, a group of female students will reinstate Greek life this spring after weathering months of polarizing debate on campus.

The future sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta pledge that members will be welcoming, diverse and dedicated to civic engagement and community service. The sorority will also provide valuable national networking opportunities, supporters say.

But some students at the liberal arts school near Philadelphia contend not much has changed since 1933. Sororities are still elite clubs, they say, and flout the college's Quaker roots emphasizing inclusion.

"It's just a really stupid system that shouldn't exist," senior Maya Marzouk said. "I think Swarthmore is better than that."

The highly selective college with about 1,500 students prides itself on rigorous academics, open dialogue and a commitment to social justice. It was co-founded in 1864 by Lucretia Mott, a prominent abolitionist and activist for women's rights.

Campus officials said they are simply facilitating the creation of a group that students want and that Title IX demands. The federal regulations require colleges to provide equal opportunities for men and women, and Swarthmore has two fraternities.

College senior Julia Melin said she helped to start Not Yet Sisters ? the group that will become Kappa Alpha Theta ? out of a sense that female students needed better mentoring and wider professional connections. Swarthmore's alumni association is relatively small, Melin noted.

Sorority critics "thought it was more about having a space to party in, and it's really not about that at all," said Melin, from nearby Abington, Pa. "It's about having a social support system during college and after college."

The Greek revival at Swarthmore appears to be unique, said Nicki Meneley, executive director of the National Panhellenic Conference. But she also noted that, as higher education enrollment has grown, sorority membership overall is at an all-time high: More than 300,000 undergraduates belong to chapters at about 665 campuses across the U.S. and Canada.

At Swarthmore, a Kappa Alpha Theta chapter originally established in 1891 was the first sorority on campus. Several other sororities followed, and by 1931 about 77 percent of the college's female students belonged to the Greek system, according to school archives.

Yet some groups discriminated against Jews. That led student Molly Yard ? who later became president of the National Organization for Women ? to campaign for a campus-wide female vote on abolishing sororities. It passed in 1933. (A male vote in 1951 to abolish fraternities was defeated.) This year, sorority opponents including Marzouk, a psychology major from Great Neck, N.Y., circulated a petition to demand a similar referendum; they say the student body had little input in the decision to revive the clubs. Heated discussions in campus news outlets have included suggestions to form a "women's union" instead, or even to ban Greek groups entirely.

But Title IX is the sorority's trump card, school officials said.

Liz Braun, the dean of students, noted Swarthmore has a written agreement with the national Kappa Alpha Theta organization to ensure the new chapter will uphold the college's founding principles of diversity and inclusivity. In this case, that includes allowing students who identify as female to join the sorority, regardless of their actual gender, Braun said.

"Each chapter takes on kind of its own flair ... based on the campus it's embedded in," she said.

That's partly why concerns about possible hazing and binge drinking have not been a large part of the conversation. Swarthmore is not considered a party school; Braun noted that Kappa Alpha Theta is dry and has a strict anti-hazing policy.

Also, the college's two fraternities are not residential, though they host events at rented houses on campus. About 6 percent of male students are affiliated with the groups.

Melin said about 30 to 40 students have expressed an interest in joining the sorority, which will have its first official intake in the spring. The group won't have on-campus housing, and leaders are still looking for dedicated meeting space.

The chapter's campus adviser, Satya Nelms, said she expects the controversy will eventually quiet down.

"I'm really confident that once the sorority is actually on campus, a lot of the concerns that people have ... will be eased," Nelms said.

A national spokeswoman for Kappa Alpha Theta said the organization is pleased to return to Swarthmore, but referred all other questions to the college.

___

Online:

http://www.swarthmore.edu

http://www.kappaalphatheta.org

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-28-Swarthmore-Sorority%20Returns/id-97160d364f764fec9bf325002b9c16db

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SMOKEY ROBOTIC - "SCHIZOPHRENIC DJ" (VIDEO ...

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Source: http://www.superxofficial.com/2012/09/smokey-robotic-schizophrenic-dj-video.html

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Jay-Z: Bringing Nets to Brooklyn an American dream

(AP) ? Jay-Z has accomplished a lot in his career, but his latest feat has him feeling that like he's living the American dream.

The 42-year-old music mogul and entrepreneur says when he was a poor kid in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, he never imagined that he'd someday own a basketball team. Now Jay is part owner of the Brooklyn Nets and instrumental in moving the franchise from New Jersey.

He feels his rags-to-riches story embodies all that is possible in America.

"Yeah I think I'm the American dream," Jay-Z said. "That whole thing that you could come here and pull yourself up by the bootstraps, like that whole thing what America has always put up to the world that we represent. I feel that. Yes, I've lived that."

Jay-Z made the comments at the launch party for the upcoming NBA 2K13 video game, where he acted as the game's executive producer.

As a child, he says, he dreamed of glory on the basketball court.

"You know the three-two-one, oh, he hits the winning shot," Jay-Z said. "But no one was ever on the court saying I was gonna own the Knicks. Yes, it's way beyond any of my wildest dreams."

Now as part owner of the Nets, he's even designed the team's black and white logo. Brooklyn has not had a professional sports team since the Brooklyn Dodgers left for Los Angeles after the 1957 baseball season.

Rapper Bow Wow, who appears in the video game, says he's always looked up to Jay-Z, but the move to bring the Nets to Brooklyn immortalizes him.

"I think that's the biggest inspirational thing for any kid growing up in any ghetto and any suburb, and you can do whatever you want to do as long as you put your mind to it. That's a great man to follow, right there," Bow Wow said.

As for his success with music, fashion with his brand Rocawear and now a video game, Jay says his creativity is all over the place.

"When you're an artist, you can see greatness in all things, and you say, man, I wonder if I can try and tinker with that and maybe if we put the music into (NBA)2K and bring those two cultures" together, Jay Z-said. They "were cousins already, so why not bring the family together and let them sit at the same table?"

The Brooklyn Nets will play in the newly built Barclays Center. But before his new team takes the court for the first time, the rapper will christen the new arena with an eight-show run beginning Friday.

___

John Carucci covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/jcarucci_ap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-09-27-People-Jay-Z/id-9664aac4d49c40ce874421360acd0436

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How to Create a Social Media Command Center For Your Next Sale ...

Posted on 28. Sep, 2012 by John Jantsch in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media

As more and more people adopt social media tools and get used to Tweeting, Liking and Checking In, smart marketers are employing a raft of tactics to get them to do more and more of just that.

Social media command centerOne of the most important reasons to promote and incentivize sharing on social networks is that it can multiply your message and carry just a hint of referral, albeit it very faint one.

Even small, local businesses can take a clue from large organizations, like Dell and national events like the MLB All-Star Game to create a ?command center? approach to promoting a concentrated happening such as a new product launch, new store opening or seasonal sale. The key is to approach it as a very special event and not something you?re trying to maintain long-term.

You may, in fact, discover some elements do play long-term, but most businesses and their customer base can?t sustain something like this more than a days and couple of times a year.

Let?s take a common example that a local retailer might explore ? Black Friday.

Black Friday has become a major shopping holiday in the U.S. as shoppers head out to snap up deals the day after Thanksgiving. (Between you and me, I prefer Small Business Saturday, but that?s another story.)

Many big box chains spend heavily in local markets in an attempt to lure local shoppers with loss leader pricing. Local shops generally can?t compete on price so they need to get creative and I think the command center could be the answer.

For this illustration you might create an ?anti Black Friday? or ?shop local? promotion and employ social media as your bullhorn.

A noteworthy assumption here is that you?ve been active on social media and have created at least some engagement and following. It?s tough to go ?poof, I?m social.?

The way to make this work is make it one person?s responsibility to create and monitor all of the moving parts. Think in terms of the technology, services, monitors, etc that your point person will need to keep tabs and keep promoting.

Choose one or all of the following to build social media buzz around your promotion.

  • Create logo for your theme! ? a simple visual to use in all of your merchandising for the event can be a great tool when it comes to sharing on sites with images.
  • Decide on and check an event hashtag ? choose a #hashtag that you will use throughout ? make sure to check and see if it?s in use by some other cause or theme as you don?t want to find out mid-sale that your hashtag is also slang for a very naughty act in some Iowa subculture.
  • Claim your Facebook location for checkins ? if you have not yet done so claim your location on Facebook and create ways for people to earn prizes by checking in on their Facebook page. (Check out Wildfire and North Social apps.)
  • Twitter hashtag tweets ? Start tweeting using your hashtag a week prior and create in store posters, flyers and emails to publicize all of your social media activity during the event
  • Choose a local or related charity partner and donate so much per tweet or share during the day
  • Twitter search ? Set up a number of twitter searches related to products and other aspects of your event and reach out to people tweeting before and during your event
  • Pinterest ? Create a Pinterest account and start pinning images of products you are featuring during the event
  • Live Blog ? Create a live blog on your WordPress blog with this plugin or use Tumblr and create updates throughout the day
  • Live Tweets ? Assign someone in store to live tweet out hourly specials, giveaways and images of happy customers using the hashtag
  • Google Hangout Live to YouTube ? Run hourly Google+Hangouts streamed live to YouTube and announce offerings, interview customers and create news like coverage
  • Foursquare checkins ? Create Foursquare checkins particularly focused on swarm discounts
  • Hourly specials ? Promote your hourly specials on every channel
  • Display real time stream ? Use a tool like Postano to display real-time tweet and social stream in the event
  • Bring Facebook into the event ? Install a camera station and let customers upload images to the Facebook pages for even more free stuff
  • Hide discount codes in YouTube videos ? Create a series of YouTube videos featuring products on sale during the event and hide discount code in the videos and promote sharing the videos and codes
  • Facebook ads ? Run tightly focused Facebook ads and promoted content ads focused on local and related brands ? if you sell certain brands target any local fans of the brand or product category
  • Tweet branded messages to get early, early access ? Create early, early bird access for people that fan, like, share and RT
  • Consider a street team ? think about sending employees out into busy places throughout the day to surprise shoppers with free stuff for tweeting, Liking or sharing images.

Another benefit to all of this work is the momentum factor. Even if someone doesn?t veer off course on the given day of your sale, there?s a good chance that you?ve exposed a great number of people to your business and some of those might decide to check you out later.

I?m not suggesting this won?t take some work and planning, but hey, the little guy wins always wins when they outsmart and outhustle the big guy.

So, any ideas you care to add to the list?

How to Create a Social Media Command Center For Your Next Sale, Launch or Event is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Make sure you pick up your copy of our FREE Business Acceleration Report! Simply enter your info on the form to the right and I'll send it right out! -->> Thanks for visiting!

Tags: Black Friday, dell, marketing strategy, Postana, Small Business Internet Marketing, Social media command center

Source: http://www.frontlinemarketingsystems.com/blog/small-business-marketing/how-to-create-a-social-media-command-center-for-your-next-sale-launch-or-event/

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Chemist's education questioned in drug lab scandal

David Meier, right, special consul to the Governor appointed to lead the review of drug convictions which might have been compromised by a State Police drug testing lab, leads a meeting at the Department of Public Safety in Boston, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. Prosecutors, defense attorney's along with representatives from the District Attorney's office, the U.S. Attorney's office, the State Police and the Department of Public Safety were in attendance. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

David Meier, right, special consul to the Governor appointed to lead the review of drug convictions which might have been compromised by a State Police drug testing lab, leads a meeting at the Department of Public Safety in Boston, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. Prosecutors, defense attorney's along with representatives from the District Attorney's office, the U.S. Attorney's office, the State Police and the Department of Public Safety were in attendance. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

David Meier, right, special consul to the Governor appointed to lead the review of drug convictions which might have been compromised by a State Police drug testing lab, leads a meeting at the Department of Public Safety in Boston, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. Prosecutors, defense attorney's along with representatives from the District Attorney's office, the U.S. Attorney's office, the State Police and the Department of Public Safety were in attendance. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

(AP) ? A chemist whose alleged mishandling of drug samples has thrown thousands of criminal cases into question testified under oath that she holds a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, but school officials say they have no record of her receiving an advanced degree or taking graduate courses there.

Defense attorneys say that if Annie Dookhan lied about receiving a master's degree, it causes even more credibility problems for her work at the lab.

"If, in fact, she falsified her education or qualifications, we are even more deeply concerned about what she might have done in terms of testing the drugs," said Anne Goldbach, forensics services director for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state's public defender agency.

State police say Dookhan tested more than 60,000 drug samples submitted in the cases of about 34,000 defendants during her nine years at the lab. She resigned in March amid an internal investigation by the Department of Public Health. After state police took over the lab in July as part of a state budget directive, they said they discovered her violations were much more extensive than previously believed and went beyond sloppiness into "malfeasance" and "deliberate mishandling" of drug samples.

Dookhan has not responded to repeated requests for comments from The Associated Press. No one appeared to be at her home in Franklin on Tuesday. Her husband and her father did not respond to requests for comment on her claim that she received a master's degree.

Asked about her educational background when she testified under oath during the 2010 trial of Larry Blue, a Boston man charged with cocaine trafficking and weapons offenses, Dookhan said she had a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a master's degree in chemistry, both from the University of Massachusetts.

DeWayne Lehman, a spokesman for UMass-Boston, confirmed that Dookhan received a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the school in 2001 but said there is no record of her receiving a master's degree in chemistry, as she listed on her resume and said in sworn testimony, according to a transcript.

"We have no record of her doing subsequent graduate work at our campus," Lehman said.

The registrar's office at UMass-Boston also said it had no record of her receiving a master's degree, as did officials at UMass campuses in Lowell, North Dartmouth and Amherst. The Worcester campus does not offer a master's degree program in chemistry.

A spokesman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, which had overseen the lab, said Dookhan deliberately misled officials about her qualifications. He said she was hired Nov. 3, 2003, for a Chemist I position after meeting the minimum entrance requirements and was reclassified a Chemist II two years later.

"While neither of the positions she held required a Master's Degree, it is now clear that she intentionally misled the Department about her education during the course of her employment," HHS communications director Alec Loftus said in a written statement.

Blue was convicted of trafficking between 14 and 28 grams of cocaine, a drug violation in a school zone, possession of marijuana and weapons charges. He was sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison.

Blue's trial lawyer, Arnold Abelow, said that if Dookhan lied about her education, it calls her testimony about the drugs into question.

"If she's fudging her qualifications as being an expert, then how can you trust her analysis of the drugs?" Abelow said.

State police have not said what Dookhan did wrong at the lab.

But Max Stern, president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he was told in a meeting with Gov. Deval Patrick and other administration officials that Dookhan is accused of deliberately tampering with some drug samples, including the weight of the samples, which can affect the length of prison sentences given to people convicted of drug offenses.

Attorney General Martha Coakley is conducting a criminal investigation. Dookhan has not been charged.

Investigators have not described Dookhan's possible motive for mishandling drug samples. It's also unclear why she would fabricate having a master's degree.

___

Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-25-State%20Police%20Lab%20Shutdown/id-c1f51a6a8efc4b868921bf5482ced858

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Facebook stops asking you to snitch on your friends

5 hrs.

Earlier this week, the Internet had a mini meltdown over false reports that Facebook may?ve posted users' old?private messages.

Though it was swiftly deemed untrue,?even the French government demanded answers on this non-scandal. All of that overshadowed the real news, a creepy misstep of which the world?s largest social network really?is guilty: asking Facebook users to identify friends who may be using fake names on the site.

?Help Us Make Facebook Better,? read a survey prompt that kicked up a comparatively minor amount of ire when it made the rounds on Twitter. ?Is this your friend?s real name?? the survey went on, showing a photo of one of the recipient?s Facebook friends and multiple choice answers, ?Yes,? ?No,? ?I don?t know this person,? and ?I don?t want to answer.?

?Your response is anonymous and won?t affect your friend?s account,? Facebook assured on the poll question, which Facebook representive?Fred Wolens reiterated to NBCNews.com.?

Though Facebook does have a real name policy, Wolens said this particular poll was one of many anonymous surveys Facebook uses to tweak its algorithms. He provided the following company statement:?

This was a limited survey we have already concluded. We are always looking to gauge how people use Facebook and represent themselves to better design our product and systems. We analysed these surveys only using aggregate data and responses had zero impact on any user's account.

According to Wolens, the survey was received by a small amount of users. Exactly how small, he wouldn?t say. News of it?spread when?Twitter user @chapeaudefee tweeted a screenshot and the comment, ?Facebook wants to know if your friends? names are real. Are you going to be the snitch??

Outraged? Probably. You know how you love to be outraged at Facebook. Shocked? Not so much.?

The Internet is currently so unperturbed by this latest turn, YouTube has yet to produce a single ?Hitler reacts to Facebook asking you to snitch on your friends? video ? though a long history of totalitarian regimes asking its citizens to turn on their neighbors is not lost on those who are offended by the poll, despite its reassurances.

?The whole idea of snitching is highly dodgy,? writes privacy blogger Paul Bernal.??It?s creepy ? and it helps build at atmosphere of distrust, breaking down the very things that make social networks good,? he continues. ?The social relationships that are the heart of Facebook are meant to do ?good? things ??not be a route by which bad things are spread.?

--?via Sophos

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about privacy?and then asks you to join her on?Twitter?and/or?Facebook. Also,?Google+.?Because that's how she rolls.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/facebook-stops-asking-you-snitch-your-friends-1B6103332

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I need ideas for places in this Rp!

Faceless

Its true then. Hes no longer just a myth, no longer just the story that sent shivers down your spine, no longer just that stupid horror game. The Slenderman is most certainly real, and our very own human brains have made him flesh and blood...

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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Faceless?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
Well. Literally what it says on the tin...or in the subject!

Please post ideas for places in this RP here! I will most likely take your idea onboard and create that place. Thanks <3

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LunaSpirit
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Tesla reveals Supercharger network it says will cover the US in two years; Model S fills up for free, always

At Tesla's event, CEO Elon Musk has finally taken the wraps off of its Superchargers which it has already set up at six locations in California, pictured in the map after the break. The company plans installations on "high traffic corridors across the US" over the next year, with units heading to Europe and Asia in the second half of 2013. According to Musk, the solar powered systems will put more power back into the grid than the cars use while driving. Oh, and for you Model S owners? You will always be able to charge at any of the stations for free. According to Musk, the economies of scale developed while building the Model S have helped it get costs down on the chargers, although he did not offer specifics.

During the event we also saw video of drivers charging their vehicles at stations today that Tesla apparently constructed in secret. They're using solar technology from (also owned by Musk) SolarCity, and can charge a Model S with 100 kilowatts good for three hours of driving at 60mph in about 30 minutes. Currently pushing 90kW, they could go as high as 120 in the future for even faster charging. Check the press release embedded after the break or Tesla's website for more details.

Continue reading Tesla reveals Supercharger network it says will cover the US in two years; Model S fills up for free, always

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Tesla reveals Supercharger network it says will cover the US in two years; Model S fills up for free, always originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Helmet calls for help when you wipe out

1 day

Sometimes, wearing a helmet isn?t enough to prevent bad things from happening when you wipe out. Thankfully, you?ll soon be able to put a sensor on your noggin protector that will call for help should you crash hard and can?t get up.

The after-market sensor is paired with your smart phone, allowing the ?in case of emergency? system to detect and record data on motion, changes in force, impacts ?and, crucially, your coordinates.

The ICEdot Crash Sensor triggers an alarm and initiates an emergency countdown when it senses a wipe out, say after you hit a stump on a mountain bike, cross your ski tips in the powder off the backside at your favorite mountain, or swerve into a car while bicycling to work.

If you?re unable to silence the alarm, the system?s smart phone app notifies your emergency contacts with your GPS coordinates so that help can be dispatched.?

The system makes good sense for adrenaline sports junkies and bike commuters alike. It could also be helpful to construction workers or anyone else doing something potentially dangerous in remote locations ? assuming there?s cell reception.

The ICEdot Crash Sensor is expected to be unveiled at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas later this month and will likely retail for $200, according to Gear Junkie.

For more information, check out the promotional video below.

?? via Gizmag, Earth Techling?

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/helmet-calls-help-when-you-wipe-out-1B5941636

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Pakistan protesters march on US Consulate

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Hundreds march in NYC to mark Occupy anniversary

NEW YORK (AP) ? About 300 people observing the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street marched to a small concrete park in New York's lower Manhattan that served as headquarters for the protest movement and was its birthplace.

Police patrolled the crowd Saturday and took at least a dozen people into custody near Trinity Church that borders Zuccotti Park. Police confirmed they made arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct, but they did not have a total number.

Protesters marched from Washington Square Park and headed south down Broadway to Zuccotti Park, chanting as they went. The group later thinned out.

The march came on the first of three days of planned events. The official anniversary date is Monday. Occupy Wall Street's protest against economic disparity eventually spread to other parts of the country and world.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-march-nyc-mark-occupy-anniversary-091556466.html

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Friday, September 14, 2012

Apple confirms iPhone 5 won't do simultaneous voice and LTE data on CDMA networks

iPhone 5 hands-on Verizon

If you're still struggling to decide which carrier to use for your iPhone 5, you may have had some of the decision made for you. Following statements by Verizon that hinted simultaneous voice and data still wouldn't be an option despite the inclusion of LTE, which theoretically frees up CDMA for calls, we've confirmed with Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison that this is indeed the case. It's "not yet possible" to do side-by-side CDMA voice and LTE data on a "single-radio" design like the iPhone 5, she says. That's technically true, although it may be a case of Apple wanting to keep hardware differences to a minimum between CDMA and GSM users. AnandTech founder Anand Lal Shimpi tells the New York Times that Verizon phones like the Galaxy S III, which don't have this limit, follow a different approach: where Apple uses a second antenna to improve overall reception for a single connection, Samsung and other phone makers use theirs to keep both data and voice flowing in harmony. While it's a tradeoff with its own benefits, the choice means that iPhone 5 units for Verizon, Sprint, and every other CDMA carrier still won't let you check your e-mail in mid-call without WiFi. If that's an issue, you'll have to turn to AT&T (or T-Mobile with an unlocked phone) to get your fix.

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Apple confirms iPhone 5 won't do simultaneous voice and LTE data on CDMA networks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/apple-confirms-iphone-5-wont-do-simultaneous-voice-and-lte-data-on-cdma/

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Studies: Alzheimer drug may stabilize brain plaque

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/studies-alzheimer-drug-may-stabilize-brain-plaque-100609301.html

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What Is the Future of Computers?

In 1958, a Texas Instruments engineer named Jack Kilby cast a pattern onto the surface of an 11-millimeter-long "chip" of semiconducting germanium, creating the first ever integrated circuit. Because the circuit contained a single transistor ? a sort of miniature switch ? the chip could hold one "bit" of data: either a 1 or a 0, depending on the transistor's configuration.

Since then, and with unflagging consistency, engineers have managed to double the number of transistors they can fit on computer chips every two years. They do it by regularly halving the size of transistors. Today, after dozens of iterations of this doubling and halving rule, transistors measure just a few atoms across, and a typical computer chip holds 9 million of them?per square millimeter. Computers with more transistors can perform more computations per second (because there are more transistors available for firing), and are therefore more powerful. The doubling of computing power every two years is known as "Moore's law," after Gordon Moore, the Intel engineer who first noticed the trend in 1965.

Moore's law renders last year's laptop models defunct, and it will undoubtedly make next year's tech devices breathtakingly small and fast compared to today's. But consumerism aside, where is the exponential growth in computing power ultimately headed? Will computers eventually outsmart humans? And will they ever stop becoming more powerful?

The singularity

Many scientists believe the exponential growth in computing power leads inevitably to a future moment when computers will attain human-level intelligence: an event known as the "singularity." And according to some, the time is nigh.

Physicist, author and self-described "futurist" Ray Kurzweil has predicted that computers will come to par with humans within two decades. He told Time Magazine last year that engineers will successfully reverse-engineer the human brain by the mid-2020s, and by the end of that decade, computers will be capable of human-level intelligence.

The conclusion follows from projecting Moore's law into the future. If the doubling of computing power every two years continues to hold, "then by 2030 whatever technology we're using will be sufficiently small that we can fit all the computing power that's in a human brain into a physical volume the size of a brain," explained Peter Denning, distinguished professor of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School and an expert on innovation in computing. "Futurists believe that's what you need for artificial intelligence. At that point, the computer starts thinking for itself." [How to Build a Human Brain]

What happens next is uncertain ? and has been the subject of speculation since the dawn of computing.

"Once the machine thinking method has started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers," Alan Turing said in 1951 at a talk entitled "Intelligent Machinery: A heretical theory," presented at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. "At some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control." The British mathematician I.J. Good hypothesized that "ultraintelligent" machines, once created, could design even better machines. "There would then unquestionably be an 'intelligence explosion,' and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make," he wrote.

Buzz about the coming singularity has escalated to such a pitch that there's even a book coming out next month, called "Singularity Rising" (BenBella Books), by James Miller, an associate professor of economics at Smith College, about how to survive in a post-singularity world. [Could the Internet Ever Be Destroyed?]

Brain-like processing

But not everyone puts stock in this notion of a singularity, or thinks we'll ever reach it. "A lot of brain scientists now believe the complexity of the brain is so vast that even if we could build a computer that mimics the structure, we still don't know if the thing we build would be able to function as a brain," Denning told Life's Little Mysteries. Perhaps without sensory inputs from the outside world, computers could never become self-aware.

Others argue that Moore's law will soon start to break down, or that it has already. The argument stems from the fact that engineers can't miniaturize transistors much more than they already have, because they're already pushing atomic limits. "When there are only a few atoms in a transistor, you can no longer guarantee that a few atoms behave as they're supposed to," Denning explained. On the atomic scale, bizarre quantum effects set in. Transistors no longer maintain a single state represented by a "1" or a "0," but instead vacillate unpredictably between the two states, rendering circuits and data storage unreliable. The other limiting factor, Denning says, is that transistors give off heat when they switch between states, and when too many transistors, regardless of their size, are crammed together onto a single silicon chip, the heat they collectively emit melts the chip.

For these reasons, some scientists say computing power is approaching its zenith. "Already we see a slowing down of Moore's law," the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku said in a BigThink lecture in May.

But if that's the case, it's news to many. Doyne Farmer, a professor of mathematics at Oxford University who studies the evolution of technology, says there is little evidence for an end to Moore's law. "I am willing to bet that there is insufficient data to draw a conclusion that a slowing down [of Moore's law] has been observed," Farmer told Life's Little Mysteries. He says computers continue to grow more powerful as they become more brain-like.

Computers can already perform individual operations orders of magnitude faster than humans can, Farmer said; meanwhile, the human brain remains far superior at parallel processing, or performing multiple operations at once. For most of the past half-century, engineers made computers faster by increasing the number of transistors in their processors, but they only recently began "parallelizing" computer processors. To work around the fact that individual processors can't be packed with extra transistors, engineers have begun upping computing power by building multi-core processors, or systems of chips that perform calculations in parallel."This controls the heat problem, because you can slow down the clock," Denning explained. "Imagine that every time the processor's clock ticks, the transistors fire. So instead of trying to speed up the clock to run all these transistors at faster rates, you can keep the clock slow and have parallel activity on all the chips." He says Moore's law will probably continue because the number of cores in computer processors will go on doubling every two years.

And because parallelization is the key to complexity, "In a sense multi-core processors make computers work more like the brain," Farmer told Life's Little Mysteries.

And then there's the future possibility of quantum computing, a relatively new field that attempts to harness the uncertainty inherent in quantum states in order to perform vastly more complex calculations than are feasible with today's computers. Whereas conventional computers store information in bits, quantum computers store information in qubits: particles, such as atoms or photons, whose states are "entangled" with one another, so that a change to one of the particles affects the states of all the others. Through entanglement, a single operation performed on a quantum computer theoretically allows the instantaneous performance of an inconceivably huge number of calculations, and each additional particle added to the system of entangled particles doubles the performance capabilities of the computer.

If physicists manage to harness the potential of quantum computers ? something they are struggling to do ? Moore's law will certainly hold far into the future, they say.

Ultimate limit

If Moore's law does hold, and computer power continues to rise exponentially (either through human ingenuity or under its own ultraintelligent steam), is there a point when the progress will be forced to stop? Physicists Lawrence Krauss and Glenn Starkman say "yes." In 2005, they calculated that Moore's law can only hold so long before computers actually run out of matter and energy in the universe to use as bits. Ultimately, computers will not be able to expand further; they will not be able to co-opt enough material to double their number of bits every two years, because the universe will be accelerating apart too fast for them to catch up and encompass more of it.

So, if Moore's law continues to hold as accurately as it has so far, when do Krauss and Starkman say computers must stop growing? Projections indicate that computer will encompass the entire reachable universe, turning every bit of matter and energy into a part of its circuit, in 600 years' time.

That might seem very soon. "Nevertheless, Moore's law is an exponential law," Starkman, a physicist at Case Western University, told Life's Little Mysteries. You can only double the number of bits so many times before you require the entire universe.

Personally, Starkman thinks Moore's law will break down long before the ultimate computer eats the universe. In fact, he thinks computers will stop getting more powerful in about 30 years. Ultimately, there's no telling what will happen. We might reach the singularity ? the point when computers become conscious, take over, and then start to self-improve. Or maybe we won't. This month, Denning has a new paper out in the journal Communications of the ACM, called "Don't feel bad if you can't predict the future." It's about all the people who have tried to do so in the past, and failed.

Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover?or Life's Little?Mysteries @llmysteries. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

Copyright 2012 Lifes Little Mysteries, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/future-computers-131739358.html

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Frannywanny : a food and travel blog: Tea Time: Da.U.De Tea ...

Mommy loves drinking tea. Thus growing up, Pan and I were taught to appreciate the flavor of all sorts of tea blends at a very young age. We would have pots after pots of Chrysanthemum Tea whenever we're enjoying dimsum in Hong Kong, a cup of Earl Grey to go with our choice of macarons or tea sandwiches and even the deep and dark ones like TieGuanYin. Like Mommy, we've learned to drink tea either with honey or with a few drops of sugar cubes. Lately, wanting to stay healthy, I've been having my cup of tea without any sweeteners added into it. I've learned to love it in its purest form.
daude 6
Upon hearing about Da.U.De (da-you-de) Tea Lounge, I set a brunch date with Mommy and Pan after our morning working at the Bonifacio Global City. Da.U.De Tea Lounge is located at the ground floor of the Net Lima Building which is right beside the Mini Showroom. It may be a bit of a challenge to locate but believe me, it'll be worth it.
daude 13
We were greeted by the bright, sunshine-y ambiance of Da.U.De that is said to be similar to those tea shops in New York. Someday, I hope to visit one myself. We met Renee Sebastian, the tea master behind Da.U.De and we really enjoyed chatting with her as she taught us a few things about her wide array of tea blends available.
daude 11
I love how Renee has prepared all these cute containers where customers can sniff the tea blends before making their choice.
daude 12
Everything just looks so chic and modern making it a great place to hang out with a good book or to catch up with friends.
daude 7
Mommy and I got a pot each of Da.U.De's Hot Tea. I tried the Second Flush Green Tea simply because I loveeee green tea! This tea blend was very very light. I find the tea pot really cute too! :)
daude 8
Mommy tried a more darker tea flavor -- Seffarine, if I'm not mistaken and she loved it! :) On the first thirty minutes, Da.U.De has instantly won my mommy's heart! Way to go!
daude 9
For those who would still prefer to have their cup of coffee over tea, they have Coffee Alternatives which are tea blends infused with coffee! Clever don't you think? My sister tried the Macchiato (Php. 120) which she loved loved loved! We were actually surprised that this was suggested to her. Among the three of us, Pan is really a hardcore coffee drinker as she took after Papa. I took a sip of her drink and find it so yummy! I love the milky sweet coffee-tea blend!
daude 10
?I did mention earlier that we came from an early morning workout so...we were famished! Our brunch began with a plate of Prosciutto & Melon Salad (Php. 390). Not wanting to gain back all the calories that we've lost after slaving over the threadmill for almost an hour, we had a plate of refreshing greens to start our meal. You'll never go wrong with prosciutto and melon. This is a perfect example of how salty and sweet can go well together. The greens were lightly drizzled with Da.U.De's Aphriki Masala Vinaigrette.
daude 15
Filipinos love breakfast and it was a great idea for Da.U.De. to offer breakfast all-day long! For someone like me, there are just days when I want to have a breakfast platter for lunch or dinner! Mommy tried The Fisherman (Php. 290) which is supposed to consists of tea confit sardinella, lemonada cured salmon, egg (done which way you want it) and bread. Sadly, the sardinella was still not available that day so they just gave Mommy more salmon which was ok with her. She was very happy with her choice as it was light yet really yummy. Take it from me, it's not easy to impress my Mom and for Da.U.De to successfully make her? flash the thumbs-up sign, that IS a big deal.
daude 16
I tried the Early Ricer (Php. 350) which is made of English Bangers, Sardinella Confit, Egg and Jasmine Rice. Once again, they replaced the sardinella with the Tea-Cured Salmon which was all good with me as I love anything salmon! The salmon was very fresh and yummy, the english bangers was pretty good as well. I could do without the rice though as it wasn't very fluffy as I'd like it to be. Maybe next time I'll just have some bread with this.
daude 1
Pan, on the other hand, was so happy with her The Farmer (Php. 350) platter. She loves anything made of potato so the Roesti at the based of her dish was well-appreciated. She also liked the English Bangers, Roasted Tomatoes and Mushroom, Bacon and Egg! It was a hearty dish that she had to share some of her bacon and bangers with us.

In between bites and sips, we bonded. I simply love spending time with my Mom and Sister! ? We wanted to try more items on the menu so Mommy suggested that we get two dessert items to share.

daude 2
First was the Tea Brulee (Php. 150) which was like our well-loved creme brulee only this one is infused with tea! Sadly, the tea flavor must have been very light that the egg custard taste still overpowers it all. It was light, delicious and not very sweet.
daude 3
The Apfelstrudel (Php. 200) was a revelation! If you love Home-baked Apple Pie, then you'll love this too! Apple strudel drizzled with Dallah Tea Sauce and served with Vanilla Ice Cream. Yum!
daude 4
We all love how eco-friendly Da.U.De. is. Somehow, eating there gives you that good, happy feeling that you're doing something good to your body, your well-being and to the world. They actually have these cute paper cups and paper straws ready for customers who want their drinks to go.
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Da.U.De aims to teach the local market not only to learn how to drink tea but to know more about it. It reminds me of those fun coffee appreciate workshops that I would conduct back then. Tea drinking is a good practice as we all know all the amazing benefits that tea can bring to your body.
daude 5
I really enjoyed our brunch at Da.U.De Tea Lounge that I just have to leave a message on the wall! It was indeed TEA-rrific!!! I'll definitely be back to try their Afternoon Tea Set.

Drop by Da.U.De Tea Lounge at the Ground Floor of the Net Lima Building, 4th avenue and 26th street, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City. Call them at 854 - 4187.

Source: http://www.frannywanny.com/2012/09/tea-time-daude-tea-lounge-in-bonifacio.html

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