NYC mayor: Power out at NYU hospital, patients being evacuated

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The Happy Truth About Life | Brainwave Entrainment

The game of self-improvement and goal achievement can, at some times, be a double edged sword.? It takes a certain type of person to become awakened enough to find the specialized type of motivation that leads them to visit websites, read books, attend seminars/workshops, etc. on self-development.? Ultimately this type of search leads people on a long, exciting, and prosperous journey of discovering the means to bring themselves to their highest potential as a human being, and live a more happy, abundant, and joyful existence.? The rewards of this journey can be priceless.

But there is certainly a balance that must be maintained.? Trying too hard can be self-defeating.? Simply put, trying too hard to bring yourself anywhere than where you already are can, by virtue of the very laws of manifestation that we are all learning to employ, become an affirmation and a vibration of being unsatisfied and unhappy with life as it is, which can in turn manifest and attract more dissatisfaction, more of a feeling of ?if I only do this and this, THEN I will be happy??

It is important at all times to be enjoying the journey, and accepting life as it is NOW, while at the same time, exploring the possibilities that open up to us as we learn new techniques to further enhance our life and increase our powers of manifestation.

I would like to propose a shortcut, or, perhaps in better words, remind you of something you already know.

The very basis of reality is goodness.? At the very core of your identity, you are one with everything, and that everything that you are one with is infinite, abundant, peaceful, joyful, and loving.? It is not that you are just connected to this goodness and abundance.? You ARE this goodness and abundance.

I normally do not prefer to get this esoteric about things.? My personal style is about making things as practical as possible, so that even the skeptics can benefit from this information, but this is so key to learning to manifest a successful and happy life that I had to write about it.

Negativity, wrongness, guilt? all the things that we strive to overcome and desire to decrease or eliminate in life only exist in our minds.? More specifically, these things only exist in our rational mind, the one that draws conclusions, makes decisions, rationalizes, and provides us with an endless internally verbal commentary about almost everything that happens to us, or has happened to us, or will happen to us.

I?m sure you know what I mean.? You know that incessant string of words that is constantly going on in your head.? If its not talking about what?s happening now, it will instantly begin to talk about something that happened in the past, or start making predictions and defensive decisions about what could happen in the future.

Many teachings of the law of attraction and other self-development concepts focus on training this inner voice to be more positive, to imagine happy things, to say things that help us feel good, etc.? This is a very helpful thing to do.

But there is also another very simple, time-tested, and easy method for manifesting a more peaceful, prosperous, and abundant life.

The moment you can silence this internal dialogue, or even just detach from it, you will begin to directly experience the happy truth about life, and yourself.? The happy truth about life and yourself is that there is no ?wrongness? there is no ?thing that you don?t want?.? Everything is you, and you are nothing more and nothing less than infinite love, peace, and abundance.? You are infinitely abundant because you ARE everything.? This feeling of being at one with everything is the ultimate feeling of abundance, because it is based on REALITY, not just a happy imagination of your rational mind.? You ARE abundant because you are EVERYTHING!? How can you feel lacking when you are everything?

And so, the ultimate way to manifest a life of prosperity, happiness, and abundance is to simply get in touch with the truth about what you are, and the ultimate reality of life.? When you do this, even if for a few minutes, you are resonating with an incredibly powerful vibration that will certainly manifest abundance and happiness in your life.

There are many simple ways to do this.? Most importantly, one must learn to silence or at least detach from their inner dialogue.? Once the rational mind stops interpreting everything, you actually begin to just experience life as it is.

Experiment with this practice:? Take some time each day to close your eyes and imagine that, behind everything going on in your mind, there is a blackboard.? This blackboard has no edges, and extends to infinity.? Now any content in your mind: the words, the conclusions, the decisions, and the mental images, are being written on this blackboard.? You can just watch these things being written on the blackboard, or, if you choose, you can take a big eraser in your mind and erase this content, leaving the blackboard clean.? Things get written, and you easily and effortlessly wipe them clean with the eraser.

Content will inevitably continue to be written on the blackboard, and you can slowly and easily just erase it.? The more you practice this exercise, the more you will notice that it becomes easier and easier to keep the blackboard clean.

Now another crucial key to getting in touch with the truth about yourself and reality, and to cultivate a sense of detachment towards your rational mind, is to gain conscious access into the deeper brainwave states.? Monks, mystics, and yogis have been doing this for centuries to achieve enlightenment, attain peace, and explore the full realm of human experience.? Until recently, we have only been able to do this by practicing meditation for several years.

An average traditional meditator can usually maintain a steady alpha brainwave state after about 3-5 years of daily meditation. ?Lifelong meditators and monks can usually bring themselves into deep theta and delta, where even more positive benefits and ?mystic? experiences can occur.

With brainwave entrainment technology, even a complete novice can access these deep states their very first time sitting down and listening to an audio with headphones.? This, in my opinion, is nothing short of miraculous.? If you have not already tried brainwave entrainment, or if you are looking for a product that best suites your needs, feel free to visit my site, brainwavelove.com, and download a few audios for free.

We all become better and better at manifesting a life of peace, joy, and prosperity every day!? Here?s to you and your success.? Do not hesitate to drop me a line if there is anything that I can do to be of service to you.

With Love,

-Ashton

Source: http://www.brainwavelove.com/the-happy-truth-about-life/

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Bad weather has track record of swinging some elections

Does bad weather really favor one party in a national election? Data from a 2007 study is getting new attention as people ponder the effects of Hurricane Sandy in the coming week.

Tropical_Storm_Sandy_Oct_22_2012_2345zThe study by three researchers appeared in the Journal of Politics in August 2007 and it was called ?The Republicans Should Pray for Rain: Weather, Turnout, and Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections.?

And while the study focuses on the effects of foul weather on Election Day, it could be instructive as to voting patterns on November 6^th, when millions of people could likely be dealing with power outages, storm damage and obstructed travel conditions.

The gist of the findings from three major universities: ?When compared to normal conditions, rain significantly reduces voter participation by a rate of just less than 1 percent per inch, while an inch of snowfall decreases turnout by almost .5 percent. Poor weather is also shown to benefit the Republican party?s vote share.?

Meteorologists are forecasting huge rainfall amounts through Wednesday for an East Coast area where 66 million people reside. It remains to be seen how much storm damage will affect folks a week from now, but it will definitely affect states that have early voting.

Another wild card: the key swing states of Virginia and Pennsylvania are heavily dependent on electronic voting machines.

The research paper from Brad T. Gomez from the University of Georgia, Thomas G. Hansford, from the University of California, Merced and George A. Krause, from the University of Pittsburgh shows how bad weather influenced the two closest presidential elections in the past 100 years: the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon contest and the 2000 Bush-Gore election.

?Individuals low in socioeconomic status simply find it more difficult to bear the costs of voting, which includes both decision costs and the direct costs of registering and going to the polls,? the researchers said.

Another wild card: the key swing states of Virginia and Pennsylvania are heavily dependent on electronic voting machines.

The team looked at the effect of weather on voter turnout in more than 3,000 U.S. counties for 14 U.S. presidential elections from 1948 to 2000.

?Poor weather conditions are positively related to Republican party vote share in presidential elections,? they said. ?The results not only lend credence to the weather-turnout thesis and the conventional wisdom regarding the determinants of aggregate voter turnout, they further add to the debate over how sensitive citizens may be to the costs of voting.?

Where the study gets interesting is in its analysis of Electoral College votes in 1960 and 2000, and how differing weather conditions would have made Richard Nixon and Al Gore winners.

The study says Nixon would have taken seven more states and 105 electoral votes if rain and snow were factors in 1960. And in 2000, better weather in Florida would have swung that state to Gore.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

Hurricane Sandy may force presidential campaign truce
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Hurricane Sandy as the October election surprise

While it remains to be seen if the delayed effects of a huge storm can influence a general election a week in advance, the study shows that any problems with travel on Election Day could favor the GOP.

?Bad weather may also limit one?s ability to travel. Roads soaked by rain or perhaps covered by snow may make for a more hazardous journey to the polls. Again, these are not major costs. But for many citizens, the imposition of an additional minor cost may make the difference between voting and abstaining,? the researchers say.

The current long-term weather forecast for big swing states like Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Nevada on November 6 shows different conditions, according to the Weather Channel.

Rain is expected in northern Virginia and spotty showers in Florida. Ohio and Nevada are looking clearer.

The National Weather Service doesn?t issue a 10-day weather forecast.

Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bad-weather-track-record-swinging-elections-122409712.html

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Documents Found in Meth House Reveal Workings of Dark Money Group (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Australia's new home sales fall 3.7 pct in Sept. - Business News - Sina

New home sales in Australia fell for the third consecutive month in September due to the loss of consumer confidence in housing sector, a new report released on Tuesday by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) showed.

The HIA mew home sales report showed a decline of 3.7 percent in September, following a fall of 5.3 percent in August.

The report said sales in the detached housing segment recorded a fall of 3.5 percent in the month while multi-unit sales dropped 4.2 percent.

HIA Chief Economist Harley Dale said the persistent weakness in new home sales in 2012 reflected a dire lack of consumer confidence in the housing sector.

"Interest rates have come down since November 2011 and there is a recognition that the home-buying environment has improved in 2012. However, households remain reticent to actually make a decision to buy," he said.

"This situation is especially evident in the new home building sector where excessive taxation instills a bias against new housing relative to existing property."

However, Dale said interest rate cuts should help foster a recovery in new home sales in the December quarter, along with new home incentives for first time buyers in three states and a promising recovery gathering legs in Western Australia.

Source: http://english.sina.com/business/2012/1029/521204.html

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NYSE to trade electronically Monday, shut floor

NEW YORK (AP) ? The New York Stock Exchange and the NYMEX are shutting their trading floors in New York Monday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the Big Apple.

But trading will continue electronically on both exchanges.

NYSE Euronext said Sunday it is putting in place its contingency plans beginning Monday and will announce later when the trading floor will reopen.

The New York Mercantile Exchange, a commodity futures exchange, also will be shutting on Monday its trading floor which is located in a mandatory evacuation zone. The CME Group, which owns NYMEX, said all electronic markets will open at their regularly scheduled times.

The moves come as Hurricane Sandy causes the shutdown of transportation systems throughout the region. Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York City's subways and buses will shut down Sunday evening. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered residents to evacuate some low-lying areas Sunday and said city public schools will close Monday.

Trading can still go on even without people yelling orders to buy and sell across the floor of the exchange because many orders on the NYSE are already handled electronically. On Monday, securities normally handled on the NYSE will shift to the purely electronic NYSE Arca.

The servers that handle all of the exchange's transactions are housed in Mahwah, N.J.

Trading has rarely stopped for weather. A blizzard led to a late start and an early close on Jan. 8, 1996, according to the exchange's parent company, NYSE Euronext. The NYSE shut down on Sept. 27, 1985 for Hurricane Gloria.

Since the Great Depression, the longest suspension in trading at the NYSE occurred after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when the exchange closed for four days.

Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph as of Sunday afternoon, was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began churning up the Eastern Seaboard. It was expected to hook left toward the mid-Atlantic coast and come ashore late Monday or early Tuesday, most likely in New Jersey, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.

Forecasters said the monster combination could bring close to a foot of rain, a potentially lethal storm surge and punishing winds extending hundreds of miles outward from the storm's center. It could also dump up to 2 feet of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyse-trade-electronically-monday-shut-floor-202519998--finance.html

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Iran Claims It Has Advanced Drone Technology - Yeshiva World News

Iran possesses drones that are far more advanced than the unmanned aircraft Iranian-backed Hezbollah launched into Israeli airspace this month, Iran?s defence minister was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Iran?s military regularly announces defence and engineering developments though some analysts are sceptical of the reliability of such reports.

Earlier this month, Israel shot down a drone after it flew 25 miles (55 km) into the Jewish state. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the aircraft, saying its parts had been manufactured in Iran and assembled in Lebanon.

Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the downed drone did not use his country?s latest know-how, according to a report from Iran?s Mehr news agency on Sunday.

?The Islamic Republic of Iran currently possesses unmanned aircrafts with technology that is far more advanced than the drone recently sent by Hezbollah forces to fly in the skies of the Zionist regime (Israel),? he was quoted as saying.

?Undoubtedly the technology in the (Hezbollah) drone ? was not Iran?s latest technology.?

Vahidi had earlier said that the drone?s launch into Israel was a sign of the Islamic Republic?s military capabilities.

In April, Iran announced it had started to build a copy of a U.S. surveillance drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel, which was captured last year after it came down near the Afghan border.

Tensions in the region have simmered over Iran?s disputed nuclear programme and Israeli threats to bomb its nuclear sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop Iranian nuclear activity the West suspects is meant to develop a weapons capability.

Tehran says it is seeking only civilian nuclear energy.

In a speech on Saturday evening, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to present the country as a defender of peace and security in the Gulf region, echoing comments made in the past by Iranian military leaders.

?The Iranian nation has never been an aggressor nation, but history has shown that it is a very good defender,? Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony to honour Iran?s naval forces, according to the Iranian Students? News Agency.

?The Islamic Republic of Iran has always been a protector of the security of the Persian Gulf.?

He said: ?The security of the Persian Gulf has only been undermined when outsiders have been present there. Other than at such points, the Persian Gulf has been completely secure and this security has been created by Iran.?

Iranian officials have said previously that the country could block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world?s sea-borne oil trade, or strike U.S. military bases in the region if it is attacked.

(Reuters)

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Source: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/?p=142780

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Niting: Context-based Music Discovering Service | TechNode

While sitting across the table, talking about mobile app design principles and how Songza and Path inspired him, Wang Zhixiang, CEO of a one-year-old startup, didn?t impress me as a seasoned musician, who has been a lyrics writer, song composer, arranger and producer for the past several plus years. It just sounded like he has always been in the Internet trade.

?

From Musician to Founder

Wang, in his late twenties, is now leading a startup staffed by 14, in hopes of evolving China?s digital music landscape, including how music get distributed and how people discover, explore and consume music.

Wang Zhixiang, founder and CEO of Niting?

Niting, the Beijing-based startup?s flagship product, found its way into more than 110k iOS devices in China. It?s Android sibling, according to Wang, would be launched later this year, but will not be the main focus yet. At least not until Android ecosystem is as well-regulated as Apple?s is.

Back in his life in China?s record industry over the past years, Wang composes/writes lyrics/arranges/produces for many famous Chinese singers. Eyeing the gradual decline of the old-fashioned music industry and the rising of the digital music and how it disrupts the old empire, Wang thought to himself that he should seize on the new opportunities to create a new service, to solve some problems that would never be solved in the old ways.

?

He wants to help people find the right music at the right time in the right context. The old way of feeding people with new titles via Billboard-like charts doesn?t work anymore in a world where mass-produced music equals to trash to some.

?

?

Three Rights

With that idea in mind, he started Niting from scratch, by being rejected by Internet professionals over and over again. How could those people bear listening to a laymen talking about mobile Internet and business model? He laughed and told me this in the interview.

So, he taught himself Axure RP, a prototyping tool often consulted by product manager in designing Internet-based products, drafted the first version of Niting, and then touted his idea to people in hopes of attracting people with similar thoughts. Gradually, he built up his team, one by one. Now Niting is 14 people team with half of them are product managers.

Before the birth of Niting, there?re already a big army of online music services, why do you think people would need another one? And particularly, why do you think people need Niting? I asked Wang.

Because Niting is different from everything available in the market, with three Rights, he said.

Take Kuwo, and Kugou for example. The two resemble each other from many ways and sometimes its hard to users to tell which one they?re using. They both have a dedicated website, desktop clients as well as mobile clients (iOS and Android), both recommend music to users in old-fashioned ways via different categories and subcategories like ?charts, artists, albums and genre, and they both operate online gaming business on its web premise, yes, you read it right, online game translates into real money. Since music service (including online streaming and download) are provided for free, these startups have to find a way to make money off of their traffic.

Niting won?t distract itself like this, Wang claimed, even though gaming means money.

Niting want to be a pure music service, a service that help people uncover and explore music they?ll never step into before if Billboard is the only thing the refer to when thinking of getting some new beats, a service to help people find the right music at the right time in the right context.

?

Algorithm V.S. UGC

There?re two major approaches to helping people uncover new songs. The first one, adopted by the likes of Douban.fm, Xiami.fm and Jing.fm (we wrote about them before), is algorithm.

These services automatically push what they (or the algorithm) think users would love to listen to. Users vote by clicking a heart icon (meaning loving it, give me more like this) or trash can icon (thank god, don?t ever play this to me again). The services will then cater to your music tastes by faithfully putting down what kind of music you like and hate.

Machine learns and understands your personal tastes? That sounds like something very sophisticated and intriguing, Douban.fm and Jing.fm, both were quite popular among music fans. But there must be a catch.

And the catch is, sometimes they?re just too faithfully to keep record of your flavors, so the more you listen, the more they understand you, the more confined your music spectrum would be. It?s easy to imagine. Once the service literally understands your tastes, it?ll try to please you with more music similar to what you like, hence you?ll always be confined to a limited scope of music choices.

Niting, on the other hand, adopted a rather different approach.

Context-Based Music Finding

Wang, defined Niting as a social-based UGC-driven music service, through which people find music by choosing different contexts (scenes).

Firing up the app, you?ll see a digital clock taking up the screen top and several scenes beneath it, like ?afternoon tea time?, ?party?, ?doing chores?, ?reading?, ?dating? and so forth. Tapping on one of them, Niting will start playing music for you under that scene. Technically, every scene is a big music repository consisted of songs lists created and shared by users.

Benefits of co-edited song lists? As people?s music flavors vary, you have better chance cheering up your ears by encountering songs that you might miss out on, they?re just so out of your genre. And also, you don?t have to knock yourself out on thinking of something to listen to, just tap the scene fits your current status, and then listen up.

You can try out Niting service here online or just download the iOS app here.

?

Source: http://technode.com/2012/10/29/niting-context-based-music-discovering-service/

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All Coverage Is Local (TIME)

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Bombings, clashes leave Syria truce in tatters

BEIRUT (AP) ? A Syrian warplane flattened a three-story building, suspected rebels detonated a deadly car bomb and both sides traded gunfire in several hotspots across the country Saturday, activists said, leaving a U.N.-backed holiday truce in tatters on its second day.

The unraveling of the cease-fire marked the latest setback to ending Syria's civil war through diplomacy. Foreign military intervention is unlikely, raising the grim prospect of a drawn-out war of attrition between President Bashar Assad and those trying to topple him.

The proposed four-day truce during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha had been a long shot from the start since international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi failed to get solid commitments from all combatants. Fighting dropped off in the first hours of the cease-fire Friday, but by the end of the day, activists said 151 people had been killed in bombings and shootings, a standard daily toll in Syria.

On Saturday, the first regime airstrike since the start of the truce reduced a three-story building in the Arbeen suburb of the capital, Damascus to rubble, killing at least eight men, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which compiles reports from activists.

In the remote eastern town of Deir el-Zour, assailants detonated a car bomb near a military police compound, then opened fire at those rushing to the scene, killing a total of eight people and causing extensive damage, the Observatory said. Syrian media denied there were casualties. The attack bore the hallmarks of Jabhat al-Nusra, a radical rebel-allied Islamic group that has rejected the cease-fire.

The Syrian air force also bombed rebel positions Saturday during a fierce battle for control over the main road linking Aleppo, Syria's largest city, with the capital, activists said. Earlier this month, rebels seized Maaret al-Numan, a town along the highway and besieged a nearby military base, disrupting regime supplies to embattled Aleppo. The Syrian air force has responded with sustained bombing raids on area villages.

By nightfall Saturday, at least 49 people had been killed across Syria, including 16 Syrian soldiers, activists said. The Observatory reported deadly regime shelling and sniper attacks in several locations, while Syrian state-media said rebels ambushed a number of military positions.

Military analyst Joe Holliday said neither side has an incentive to halt fighting, noting that rebels have disrupted regime supply routes to the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. "The regime can't accept the current military status quo without a fight and the rebels have no reason to since they believe they have the momentum," said Holliday, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.

Brahimi's spokesman declined comment Saturday on the apparent failure of his initiative. It's not clear what Brahimi's next move could be, since the international community is divided over the Syria conflict that erupted 19 months ago.

Assad allies Russia and China have shielded the regime against harsher U.N. Security Council sanctions, while the rebels' foreign backers have shied away from military intervention.

The U.S., meanwhile, is averse to sending strategic weapons to help the rebels break the battlefield stalemate, fearing they will fall into the hands of militant Islamists, who are increasingly active in rebel ranks. The al-Qaida-inspired Jabhat al-Nusra, for example, is believed to be on the front lines in Aleppo and near Maaret al-Numan.

When Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy, first floated the idea of a holiday truce, he did not say what his long-term plan was. Even a temporary reduction in violence during such a truce would not have been a springboard for talks between Assad and the opposition on ending the war. Syria's opposition says it will only negotiate if Assad resigns, a step the Syrian leader has refused to take.

Some said Brahimi's initiative allowed a paralyzed international community to show briefly that it was doing something to try to end the war that has claimed more than 35,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center said the truce at least "provides the illusion of movement, that something is being done, that the international community is still trying to find a solution."

The U.S. said Friday that both sides have violated the holiday cease-fire, but singled out the regime. In the previous attempted truce six months ago, the Syrian military violated key provisions, such as withdrawing troops from urban centers, and was widely held responsible for the collapse of the cease-fire.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi on Saturday accused the U.S. of being one-sided. He said Syria remains committed to halting military operations. He said all cease-fire violations were the result of attacks, most of them carried out by organizations that originally rejected the truce, an apparent reference to Jabhat al-Nusra. The spokesman said Syria has sent messages to the U.N. Security Council concerning the violations.

Syrian state media accused the rebels of breaking the truce from the start.

One of the deadliest attacks Friday was a car bomb attack in a residential area of Damascus.

The state-run news agency SANA on Saturday quoted the director of Damascus Hospital, Dr. Adib Mahmoud, as saying the hospital received 15 dead civilians, including eight children, and 92 wounded, among them 65 children. Activists had put the death toll at 11.

Also Saturday, Lebanese broadcaster LBC TV said journalist Fidaa Itani, one of its employees covering Syria's civil war, was detained by the rebels and is being held in the town of Azaz near the Turkish border.

The station quoted a local rebel leader in Azaz, Abu Ibrahim, as saying that rebels suspected Itani after he filmed many videos of rebels operations in Aleppo. Itani's Lebanese cell phone was closed when The Associated Press tried to reach him.

The area also was the site of the May kidnapping of 11 Shiite Lebanese pilgrims who were on their way home from Iran. Two have been released while rebels say they will hold the others until Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, apologizes to the Syrian people for supporting Assad.

___

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bombings-clashes-leave-syria-truce-tatters-174933351.html

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Rare ladybug in Montana behaves like a turtle

Rare ladybug: The 'headless' ladybug is a new genus that can tuck its head in its throat. How rare is it? Only two of the bizarre-looking ladybird beetles have ever been collected, a male in Montana and a female in Idaho.

By Laura Zuckerman,?Reuters / October 25, 2012

A newly discovered ladybug tucks its head into its throat - making it not only a new species but an entirely new genus. With just two specimens ever collected, scientists say it's the rarest species in the United States.

REUTERS/Montana State University/Handout

Enlarge

Sleepy Hollow has its headless horseman and now Montana has a headless ladybug.

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The newly discovered insect tucks its head into its throat - making it not only a new species but an entirely new genus, or larger classification of plants and animals.

Ross Winton captured the insect in 2009 in traps he set in a sand dune while an entomology graduate student at Montana State University. Winton, now a wildlife technician in Idaho, at first thought he had parts of an ant but then discovered the bug can hide its head, much like a turtle ducking into its shell.

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz

Winton sent his discovery to scientists in Australia working on this group of insects and the headless ladybug was formally described in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed journal Systematic Entomology, a publication of the Royal Entomological Society.

Just two specimens of the tan, pinhead-sized ladybugs, also known as ladybird beetles, have ever been collected, a male in Montana and a female in Idaho, scientists said, making it the rarest species in the United States.

Entomologists historically used males to describe beetle species so the credit for the new discovery went to Winton.

However, the new species - Allenius iviei - was named after his former professor and Montana State University entomologist Michael Ivie.

The insect, with the proposed common name "Winton's Ladybird Beetle," may prey on aphids and other plant pests.

"The species is very unusual not only because of its small size, unique habitat and rarity, but the fact that its head is pulled back into a tube in its thorax makes its biology quite a mystery," Ivie told Montana State University News Service.. "It was so unique that it was placed, along with another new species known from Baja California, in a new genus. While discovery of a new species of beetle in the USA is not an everyday event, a completely new genus is quite rare."

He said it was unclear why the beetle slips its head into a tube in its midsection.
"It's a whole new kind of ladybug. Whatever this does, it is very specialized. It's quite the exciting little beast," Ivie said.

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz

(Editing by Mary Slosson and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/iXDMCOK2cvk/Rare-ladybug-in-Montana-behaves-like-a-turtle

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National GOP to spend $500,000 in Pa. Senate race

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Where do I click again? A Windows 8 guide

18 hrs.

AP staff , AP

With the launch?of Windows 8, buyers are about to discover a computing experience unlike anything they've seen before. Here's a guide to getting past some of the hurdles.

The main thing to know is that Windows 8 is designed especially for touch-screen computers, to make desktops and laptops work more like tablets. It is Microsoft's way of addressing the popularity of tablets, namely the iPad. But Windows 8 will work with mouse and keyboard shortcuts, too. It'll take some getting used to, though.

There are two versions of Windows 8, or more precisely, there's Windows 8 and there's Windows RT. They look the same, but they run on different processing chips. Windows 8 runs on standard chips from Intel and AMD and is the version you'd get if you're upgrading your home desktop or notebook PC. Windows RT is the version for light, small tablets and laptop-tablet hybrids.

Windows 8 will run programs written for older versions of Windows. Windows RT won't. It's limited to applications specifically written for it and available through Microsoft's store. (As a consolation, a version of Microsoft Office is included free on Windows RT devices).

Here are some tips on how to navigate the new Windows:

??When you start a Windows 8 machine, you're greeted with a screen that shows the time and a pretty picture. To get past it with a touch-screen device, swipe upwards with your finger from the bottom edge of the screen. If you have a keyboard, hit any key.

? Next, you'll see a mosaic of Live Tiles, each representing an application. Programs specifically written for Windows 8 will run in this new environment, which is unofficially nicknamed Metro. Each application fills the screen when you run it. Applications written for older Windows versions will open up in something that looks very much like the old Windows Desktop environment. You can switch back and forth between Metro and the new Desktop, though Microsoft wants people to eventually use only Metro.

? The Desktop screen lacks a Start button, so it's hard to start programs from there. Microsoft's idea is that users should learn to go to the Metro tiles to start programs or access settings, even if many programs, including some Windows utilities, will open up in Desktop. To get back to the tiled Start screen with a mouse or touchpad, move the mouse cursor to the top right corner of the screen, then swipe it down to the "Start" icon that appears. If you have a touch screen, reveal the Start icon by swiping in from the right edge of the screen.

? In the Desktop environment, you can glance at the Taskbar to see which Desktop programs are running. If you're a mouse or touchpad user in Metro and want to see what's running, you have to know this trick: Move the cursor into the top left corner of the screen, then drag it down along the left edge of the screen. If you have a touch screen, swipe in from the left edge, then quickly swipe back in.

? Neither environment will show you programs that are running in the other environment, but if you have a touch screen, swiping in from the left side of the screen lets you jump between open applications. The "Alt-Tab" combination does the same thing with a keyboard, in case you aren't using a touch screen.

? There are two versions of Internet Explorer, one for each environment. A Web page you open in one doesn't appear in the other, so if you're trying to find your way back to a page, it helps to remember which browser you were using.

? When using Metro on a touch screen, you close a program by first swiping your finger down from the top edge of the screen. That shrinks the window. Then you swipe your finger down to the bottom edge of the screen. Don't stray to the right or left edges of the screen, or the app will end up "docked" in a column along that edge. You can perform the same action with a mouse cursor by clicking and dragging from the top edge of the screen, but using the old "Alt-F4" command is easier.

? In the Desktop version of Internet Explorer, you can see at a glance which pages you have open in "tabs." In Metro, each Web page fills the screen, leaving no room for tabs.

To see which other pages are open on a touch-screen computer, you swipe your finger down from the top of the screen to reveal thumbnails of the other windows. Don't sweep too far, or you'll shrink the window instead.

If you're using a mouse in Metro, you right-click anywhere on the screen to reveal the tabs. Of course, this means right-clicking no longer does any of things it can be used for in previous versions of Windows, such as letting you open a link in a new tab.

? When Microsoft introduced Windows 95, some people thought it was amusing and counterintuitive that the procedure for shutting down the computer began with the "Start" button. In Windows 8, that incongruity is gone along with the Start button, but shutting down with a mouse or touchpad isn't obvious either. Move the cursor into the top right corner of the screen. A menu will pop out. Sweep down to the "Settings" button that appears, and click it. Then click "Power," then "Shut down." If you're on a touch screen, start by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, then tap "Settings."?

??Reported by?Peter Svensson?

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/where-do-i-click-again-windows-8-guide-1C6715971

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Nature, Technology and Religion ? Transdisciplinary Perspectives ...

Nature, Technology and Religion ? Transdisciplinary Perspectives

2nd Announcement

The European Forum for the Study of Religion and Environment is pleased to announce?the fourth international conference from May 22 to May 25, 2013, to be held at the Sigtuna Foundation in Sweden (nearby Stockholm), in association with the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture and The Sigtuna Foundation, entitled:

Nature, Technology and Religion ? Transdisciplinary Perspectives

Keynote speakers are:

Bronislaw Szerszynski, Lancaster University
Lisa Sideris, Indiana University
Zemfira Inogamova, Totnes, Devon
Walther Christoph Zimmerli, Brandenburg University of Technology
Bengt Gustafsson, Uppsala University

Conference committee:
Maria Jansdotter Samuelsson, Karlstad University
Sigurd Bergmann, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Celia Deane-Drummond, Notre Dame University
Forrest Clingerman, Ohio Northern University
Carl Reinhold Br?kenhielm, Uppsala University

The capacity to invent, construct and use technical artifacts is an essential skill of human beings. Technology furthermore represents one of the central pillars of modern society and dominates the social sphere. Different ? conflictual ? understandings of technology and its significance for the modern society are at the heart of modern self-understanding, and these are by no means reconciled with each other. In spite of technology?s deep impact on human lifeworlds as well as on different kinds of natural environments, reflections about ethics and the deeper driving forces of technology have so far not been developed in a satisfying way. Additionally, the interaction between religious traditions and the meanings of technology is often poorly developed.

Although technology has not been regarded as a faculty of its own right in the academy, nevertheless from mid-20th century technology has moved closer to science and has rapidly increased not only its own power but also transformed the development of science in general as well as impacting on culture more widely. As developments in technology and science are rooted in the religious Christian history of the West, one needs to investigate deeper the internal normative codes from this long European history as these seem to be active still today in spite of the overall secularization of science.

Ethically regarded, it is probably preferable to regard technology as a highly ambiguous phenomenon which needs to be analyzed and examined in a much deeper way than commonly conducted. While many scholars have explored the interconnection of ethics and religion only a few have investigated how technology, ethics and religion interact.

As modern technology impacts are widely and deeply affecting many different spheres of life, religion and research, it should be a common task to continuously reflect on technology developments critically and constructively for the sake of the Common Good, including human and non-human life systems. The planned event intends to explore the phenomenon of religion and the spiritual and socio-cultural power of human technical innovation. The conference will offer the beginning of a wider novel discourse about the nature of technology and the technically constructed ?second nature? and how both interact with each other. New ethical standards and reflections might result from such a discourse. This discussion? also might catalyze new insights about the Sacred at work in human technical creativity.

Questions such as the following indicate clearly the need for deeper reflection on technology, demanding a broader investigation in the environmental humanities and the sciences. The proposed conference will hereby focus on the implicit religious driving forces of technological practices and discourses about by attention to religious traditions, the diversity of nature and the meanings of technology.

? What criterion is used to make decisions about technological development: that what benefits life or that what increases profits? How are benefits and profits defined, and who is consulted? Can one model the practices of ?homo faber?, the engineering human, rightly in present economic systems?

? How is the spread of technology affecting global justice between the rich and the poor? How does it affect environmental justice? What is the relationship between technology and globalization?

? In what ways are technologies in the social sphere impacting on receptivity to environmental issues, particularly among youth cultures?

? How can one understand the ambiguity of environmental technology, for example in the context of climate change, where climate technology on the one hand is expected to produce solutions of problems due to anthropogenic (dangerous) change and on the other hand promotes a specific form of irresponsibility due to its externalization of responsibility to experts and self-going systems? How should one interpret large-scale, technological attempts at global geo-engineering against this horizon?

? How are different models of human self-understanding at work in ideational legitimations of technology? What role did and does the old Jewish-Christian understanding of the human person as God?s icon play for ?homo faber?? Are religious traditions offering alternative paths for technical self-regulation?

? How are understandings of nature and the environment in relationship to ?the Sacred? at work in different technologies and discourses?

? Do modern technics liberate us from the human body and its semiosis in the relation between organism and environment, and allow us to follow an independent evolutionary dynamic? What influences does it have on natural environments as well as on self-understandings of human beings and their practices, perceptions and imaginations?

? Can one explore technology with the help of methods from gender studies and post-colonial studies in order to generate new knowledge, and what can modern technology teach about the spirituality and culture of late modernity?

? What are the deeper normative beliefs implicit and behind technological innovations? How can religious studies ? especially the study of religion and the environment ? throw light on the significant fabrications of meaning?

? In what ways is the notion of progress ? with which modern construals of technology are associated ? related to religious interpretations of history and eschatologies? What is the contribution of apocalyptic discourses to this debate?

? What can indigenous cultures teach about the animated artifacts for human survival and how are such spiritual practices and perspectives embedded in cultural systems? Are technical artifacts made into fetishes? How are ?magic? and ?power? fueled by human machines?

We invite contributions from scholars based anywhere in the world and in all fields that address the theme of the conference. Submissions are welcome by January 4, 2013. Decisions will be shared after February 1. Please, submit your abstract, no more than 200 words, together with a brief (one-page) CV as e-mail attachment or by post to <maria.jansdotter@kau.se> (Dr. Maria Jansdotter Samuelsson, Faculty of Arts and Education, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden).

Registrations for the event are welcome from January 15 to the Sigtuna foundation. An invoice for the? conference fee (4800:-SEK/555:-?, covering single room and all meals) will be sent after registration. Contact: <karin.assarsson@sigtunastiftelsen.se>

For further information, please contact:

Maria Jansdotter <maria.jansdotter@kau.se>

http://www.hf.ntnu.no/relnateur/
http://www.religionandnature.com/society/
http://www.sigtunastiftelsen.se/index_hk.asp/id/15

Information about key note speakers can be accessed at:

?

Source: http://www.easlce.eu/news/conferences/nature-technology-and-religion-transdisciplinary-perspectives/

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Concrete used to break door at church | WAVY.com | Newport News

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Police are searching for a person responsible for breaking into a church and Chinese restaurant Thursday morning.

Holly McPherson with the Newport News Police Department said someone used a piece of concrete to shatter a door at Grace and Truth Fellowship Church in the Sherwood Shopping Center at 13771 Warwick Boulevard. The suspect stole a candle, which was then used to break the glass door at the New Chinese Buffet nearby.

Several hundreds of dollars were stolen from the restaurant?s cash register, McPherson said.

Additionally, a burglary attempt was made at the Jing Jing Asian restaurant located at 562 Denbigh Boulevard. A piece of concrete was also used to breaking a window. According to McPherson, the restaurant was burglarized earlier in the month.

Police have not connected that attempt to the two at Sherwood Shopping Center.

Anyone with information should call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Source: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/crime/concrete-used-to-break-door-at-church

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SAfrica's finance minister decries inequality

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Geography? (talking-points-memo)

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LDS Church sees increase in missionary applications

SALT LAKE CITY - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released new numbers Monday regarding an increase in missionary applications since the change in age requirements announced at the October General Conference.

This came in response to a weekend tweet that went viral. The original tweet reads, "On average, the LDS Church had received 600 missionary applications per week. Last week it received 7,000."

The tweet prompted questions about the validity of the information.

Monday evening, the Church's spokesman Michael Purdy issued the following statement:

"As Church leaders had anticipated when the change was announced, the number of individuals who have begun the missionary application process has increased significantly. Typically approximately 700 new applications are started each week. The last two weeks that number has increased to approximately 4,000 per week. Slightly more than half of the applicants are women."

To clarify, the applications referred to are not submitted applications, rather online applications that have been opened and started.

Church leaders announced the change in age requirements two weeks ago during the Church's semiannual General Conference. Young men are now eligible to serve a mission at age 18, when the previous requirement was 19. The age for young women wishing to serve was lowered from 21 to 19.

Carole Mikita, Religion & Arts Specialist

Carole Mikita has worked for KSL-TV News since June of 1979 as an anchor and reporter. Currently, she is a senior reporter who specifically covers religion and the arts. Full Bio ?

?

Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22663708&nid=1016&s_cid=rss-extlink

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Giants beat Cardinals 9-0, advance to World Series

Score and situation: They may have used the most painful (and wet) route to get there, but the torture-minded San Francisco Giants are headed back to the World Series. A 9-0 romp over the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS on Monday night earned the Giants a Fall Classic date with the Detroit Tigers and ran the team's record in elimination games to 6-0 this postseason. The final out came as rain poured down on AT&T Park and ended in an appropriate fashion as Matt Holliday popped out to Game 2 run-in mate Marco Scutaro.

The Giants are the 11th team in postseason history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in a seven-game series and the first since the 2007 Boston Red Sox came back to beat the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. (St. Louis fans should be familiar with such heartbreak. The 1996, '85 and '68 Cardinals also blew 3-1 leads while going on to lose the series.)

Leading lads: Scutaro capped ?off his series MVP performance with a 3 for 4 night and led a Giants lineup that saw every starter notch at least one hit. Brandon Belt put an exclamation point on the whole affair, launching a moonshot home run to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The numbers of Giants starter Matt Cain were not eye-popping, but the righthander did exactly what he needed to do, striking out four and spreading five hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Four relievers ? Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo ? then took the team the rest of the way home.

(Getty Images)Head hangers: Kyle Lohse answered a lot of questions for the Cardinals this season, but the free agent-to-be bombed in what might be his last start for St. Louis. The 34-year-old righthander gave up five earned run and failed to record an out in the third inning before getting yanked. The six relievers behind him hardly faired any better, though it didn't make a difference with the offense the Cardinals had been sending to the plate. St. Louis was shut out for the second time in three games and managed only one run in its Game 6 defeat.

St. Louis rookie shortstop Pete Kozma had a particularly bad night, breaking the wrong way on a key play, making a bad throw home on another and going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts at the plate.

Key play: Hunter Pence's awkwardly-hit double faked out Kozma and brought home a total of three runs to start the five-run third inning.

Interesting stat: Though the NLCS went seven games, it featured only one lead change and that was when Matt Carpenter hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third in Game 3. San Francisco outscored St. Louis 27-2 in its four wins while St. Louis outscored San Francisco 17-8 in its three victories.

What they'll be talking about: How do the Giants keep on doing this? They overcame a 2-0 deficit in the NLDS to beat the Cincinnati Reds and have now staged a 3-1 comeback against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the first Game 7 victory in Giants postseason history. The collapse has to sting for Cardinals fan, though the bitter feelings will eventually be softened with more viewing of that 2011 World Series title DVD and a great organization that produces postseason trips on a frequent basis.

What's next: The Giants will welcome the Detroit Tigers to AT&T Park for Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night. It's the second time in three years that the Fall Classic will begin in San Francisco.

Are you ready for the World Series?
Follow @bigleaguestew,?@KevinKaduk and the BLS Facebook page!

(AP)

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/nlcs-game-7-never-die-giants-cap-classic-034555543--mlb.html

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