CFPB: Fixing student loans in an effort to help housing | HSH ...

February 28th, 2013 by Marcie Geffner

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is gathering information to help develop policy options that might aid borrowers struggling to repay private student loans. This issue is important in part because people burdened by student loans are less able to finance a home purchase.

Specifically, the CFPB is seeking input on such issues as:

• How student loans affect the U.S. economy and consumers? access to mortgages and car loans
• How distressed borrowers manage their student loan obligations
• What options borrowers currently have to lower their private student loan payments
• Examples of alternate payment programs that might apply to student loans
• Effective mechanisms for communicating with distressed borrowers

CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement that too many private student loan borrowers are struggling with debt that prevents them from climbing the economic ladder.

?We will be analyzing plans for policymakers to consider that might help avoid a repeat of the mortgage meltdown for today?s student loan borrowers,? Cordray said.

Easier repayment terms for student loans could help people better position themselves to buy a house.

Comments will be accepted until April 8, 2013.

Bank expect higher student-debt delinquencies

Student loans continue to be a subject of concern for lenders, according to FICO, a credit scoring and analytics company in San Jose, Calif.

In a recent quarterly survey of 251 U.S. bank risk professionals, FICO found a generally positive outlook for consumer credit health, but heightened expectations of rising delinquencies on student loan debt. This marked the fifth consecutive quarter in which a majority of survey respondents offered a pessimistic outlook for student loans.

An October 2012 CFPB report found borrowers had trouble negotiating affordable repayment plans for private student loans, which aren?t designed with income-based payment options. This report recommended that policymakers explore ways to encourage alternative repayment and refinance options for student loan debt.

An earlier study by the Pew Research Center found 19 percent of U.S. households owed student debt in 2010, a significant rise compared with the 15 percent of households that owed such debt in 2007. A record 40 percent of households headed by someone younger than 35 years old owed student loan debt, the highest proportion by far among any age group. The average outstanding student loan balance was $26,682.

Unpaid loans impede future borrowing

?As more people default on their student loans, their credit ratings will drop, making it harder for them to access new credit and help grow the economy,? Dr. Andrew Jennings, FICO?s chief analytics officer, said in a statement. ?Even people who stay current on their student loans are dealing with very large debts, which reduces the money they have available to spend elsewhere,? Jennings said.

That elsewhere spending certainly includes housing and costs related to homeownership.

Source: http://blog.hsh.com/index.php/2013/02/cfpb-fixing-student-loans-in-an-effort-to-help-housing/

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Apple's Obsession With Simplicity Can Really Complicate Things

Apple makes powerful products that do complicated things very simply and easily, and are mostly intuitive. You don't need an owner's manual to figure out how to use most Apple products. Apple aggressively whittles down its products so they become the essence of the most important things they do.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/290ea684/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C774130Bhtml/story01.htm

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IE 10: It's Not Just for Windows 8 Anymore

In what could be a boost for Microsoft in the browser wars, the company on Tuesday began offering Internet Explorer 10 to Windows 7 users, giving them the same enhanced Web surfing features previously only available to those who had access to Windows 8. The company will automatically update Windows 7 users' browsers in 95 languages over the next few weeks.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/28fe4b91/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C7740A10Bhtml/story01.htm

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Hunter Boyle - Free Web Design Tucson

Meet?Hunter Boyle,?a multichannel marketer and content strategist, who is now Senior Business Development Manager at Aweber. At Affiliate Management Days SF 2013 (April 16-17), Hunter will be revealing ways in which affiliate managers and advertisers may effectively maximize affiliate relationships with email.

* * * * *

Question: If you were to emphasize one important area that every affiliate manager should be paying more attention to, what would it be and why?

Hunter Boyle: Engagement. That applies to long-time affiliates just as much as the new faces joining your crew. The channels you?re using ? email, social media, webcasts, the offers and tools you?re presenting ? have to capture the attention of your affiliates and get them excited to promote you.

So if you?re not focusing on, measuring and testing ways to improve engagement, you?re leaving a ton of money on the table.

Question: What do you see as the main areas of opportunity for online marketers in 2013 ? 2014?

Hunter Boyle:?There?s a surge happening these days around content marketing. If that?s not the buzzword of the year, I don?t know what is. But aside from the hype, there?s enormous value in the ability to consistently create and deliver exceptional content. Particularly as a marketing tool for affiliates.

The best affiliate marketers are those who use trust, authenticity and authority to build up their networks. They succeed because their recommendations carry real weight online. Can affiliates cultivate those circles with an endless cycle of overt sales pitches? Only in rare instances, such as deals sites, does that work. ?And that?s a whole separate topic.

That?s why, all the buzz aside, an effective content marketing strategy is essential for affiliate marketers. Same goes for affiliate managers. Developing the messaging, goals, process, tools, metrics, a testing plan and training affiliates to succeed with them is a major opportunity for affiliate managers.

Question: What do you believe to be the top 3 present day challenges that online oriented small businesses should be aware of? And where can solutions be found?

Hunter Boyle: ?Judging by the small businesses I know and work with, the top three challenges don?t really change that much:

That?s the trifecta that most small businesses struggle with in marketing and beyond. In most cases, they?re very passionate about their work and business. They have clear goals in mind. Where it gets tricky is trying to keep up with the pace of change in marketing. ?Often because they?ve got a small team or are doing most of it themselves without the bandwidth to become experts in content, email, social, SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay per click), affiliate marketing and so on.

I wish I could say that?s likely to change. But the ?small? part of small businesses is why it rarely does. Small business leaders really need to focus on what?s legitimately going to drive business growth and minimize the distractions, latest fads and initiatives that don?t support the growth goals.

How do you determine where to draw those lines?

I think the best place to find solutions is right from your prospects and customers themselves. That means putting some real thought into assessing your marketing analytics (site, email, social) and test results. Supplementing that with qualitative data such as customer polls, email queries and responses, blog comments and good old-fashioned jawboning, like phone calls, site visits, live events or online chats like Google Hangouts.

This approach reflects the customer first mentality behind the lean product development model, usability design, listening with social media, and so on. And rightly so because these days, customers and prospects play a critical role in your business development process. That?s especially true of small and independent businesses.

Question: As an email marketing expert, what do you view as the number one overlooked component of a healthy email marketing campaign?

Hunter Boyle: ?The welcome series. Hands down. I like to compare it to first impressions when you meet someone in real life. Even though the website and email sign-up form are technically first impressions, let?s be honest, that first email or two that we get when subscribing really sets the tone for the entire lifecycle, right?

I dread signing up for yet another email. I work in the industry. We all do these days. We all get too much of it and we decry our overflowing email inboxes. So think of what the emails you actually love to get have in common: They often ?wow? you. Whether it?s because the content is funny or personable or makes you think or helps you discover cool sites and ideas or offers great deals. We want to be impressed by that diamond in the rough of dozens of subject lines.

Welcome messages can do that. An unexpected 15% coupon or a high quality ebook or video bonus ? these are pretty standard. But a welcome series, spread out over the first few weeks, that?s designed to familiarize readers with actually using your product or service, isn?t as common.

Content that delivers awesome value and an engaging experience, is coordinated with social channels and is timed to get an optimal response rather than annoy readers? That?s mighty rare. Testing a series like this should be a priority for all digital marketers this year.

Question: Can you give us one piece of advice regarding how to increase email open rates and two tips on how we can improve click through rates?

Hunter Boyle: ?You can increase open rates with subject line and timing tests. But those tend to be incremental, one-off gains that are hard to replicate or maintain. That said, we ran a timing experiment, not a test by the purist definition, and doubled our click through rate with a send to our affiliates on Saturday morning.

One tip would be to keep experimenting. Even if it doesn?t fit all of the official testing criteria. I know that makes some of my optimization friends cringe. But we?re not robots. People send emails and people receive emails. I?m not suggesting anyone replace serious testing with experiments like the one above. In fact, doubling the clicks absolutely made us want to set up a formal test to explore further.

That?s the benefit of experimenting: It can lead you to new ideas and surprises and help you formulate more exacting tests.

Another tip for click through is ensuring your emails and links in particular, are mobile-friendly. Video is getting more and more popular. If you?re using the standard screen capture with play button image, with alt text (alternative text), that?s going to render nicely in mobile and could be a click magnet.

Whereas, if you?re using embedded text links and just one or two words are linked or it?s not clear that an image is a live link or you have way too many links ? you?re going to see lower response rates from the growing smartphone population.

So make sure you?re testing mobile compatibility and usability before you hit send. And keep checking your analytics.

* * * * *

The upcoming Affiliate Management Days conference?takes place April 16-17, 2013. Follow @AMDays or #AMDays on Twitter. When registering, make sure to use the code SBTAM250 to receive an additional $250.00 off your two-day (or combo) pass. Early bird rates are valid through March 1, 2013.

The rest of the interview series from #AMDays may be found here.

The post Hunter Boyle: Affiliate Management, Challenges and Email Marketing #AMDays appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://freewebdesigntucson.com/?p=9198

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Novel combination therapy shuts down escape route, killing glioblastoma tumor cells

Novel combination therapy shuts down escape route, killing glioblastoma tumor cells

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain tumor in adults, is challenging to treat because the tumors rapidly become resistant to therapy. As cancer researchers are learning more about the causes of tumor cell growth and drug resistance, they are discovering molecular pathways that might lead to new targeted therapies to potentially treat this deadly cancer.

Scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in San Diego worked collaboratively across the laboratories of Drs. Paul Mischel, Web Cavenee and Frank Furnari to investigate one such molecular pathway called the mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR. This signaling pathway is hyperactivated in close to 90 percent of glioblastomas and plays a critical role in regulating tumor growth and survival. Therapies that inhibit mTOR signaling are under investigation as drug development targets, but results to date have been disappointing: mTOR inhibitors halt the growth but fail to kill the tumor cells.

A study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences uncovers an unexpected but important molecular mechanism of mTOR inhibitor resistance and identifies a novel drug combination that reverses this resistance.

The story begins with a closer look at a gene-encoded protein called promyleocytic leukemia gene or PML. The study investigators explored the role of PML in causing resistance to mTOR inhibitor treatment. They found that when glioblastoma patients are treated with drugs that target the mTOR pathway, the levels of PML rise dramatically. Further, they showed that PML upregulation made the tumor cells resistant to mTOR inhibitors, and that if they suppressed the ability of the tumor cells to upregulate the PML protein, the tumor cells died in response to the mTOR inhibitor therapy.

"When we looked at cells in in vivo models and patients treated in the clinic, it became clear that the glioblastoma cells massively regulated PML enabling them to escape the effects of mTOR inhibitor therapy," reported senior author Paul Mischel, MD, Ludwig Institute member based at the University of California at San Diego.

"Our team hypothesized that if we could use a pharmacological approach to get rid of PML and combine it with an mTOR inhibitor, it could change the response from halting growth to cell death. The question was how?" added Mischel.

Previous research had shown that the use of low-dose arsenic could cause degradation of the PML protein in patients with leukemia. The team hypothesized that if arsenic could degrade PML, it may reverse resistance to mTOR inhibitors. The combination of mTOR and low-dose arsenic in mice indeed showed a synergistic effect, with massive tumor cell death along with very significant shrinkage of the tumor in mice with no ill side effects.

"Current therapy upregulates PML, turning off the mTOR signaling pathway. The tumor cells hide, waiting for the target signal to return," said Mischel. "When low-dose arsenic is added, not only does it stop the cell from returning, it shuts down the escape route killing the tumor cell."

These results present the first clinical evidence that mTOR inhibition promotes PML upregulation in mice and patients, and that it mediates drug resistance. The clinical relevance was confirmed when researchers looked at before- and after-treatment tissue samples from patients treated with mTOR inhibitors, confirming that PML goes up significantly in post treatment of mTOR inhibitors.

"These data suggest a new approach for potential treatment of glioblastoma," said Mischel. "We are moving forward to test that possibility in people."

Post-doctoral students Akio Iwanami and Beatrice Gini from the Mischel lab as well as Ciro Zanca from the Furnari/Cavenee lab, also contributed significantly to this paper.

###

Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research: http://www.licr.org

Thanks to Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 27 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127038/Novel_combination_therapy_shuts_down_escape_route__killing_glioblastoma_tumor_cells

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Multilingual dictionary keeps humans in the loop

Jim Giles, consultant

(Image: Image Broker/Rex Features)

There's an old dream shared by artificial intelligence researchers: an algorithm that can create perfect translations of any text, in any language, at the press of a button.

And then there is today's automated translation technology. Services like Google Translate can provide the gist of a passage of text. But if you're a newspaper publisher seeking foreign readers or a public health expert wanting to educate speakers of another language, human translation remains the only option.

Martin Benjamin wants to change that, and the anthropologist-turned-lexicographer is betting on a radical means of doing so. Machine translation is largely a statistical business: computers learn to translate by searching for correlations in texts that have been translated by humans. Benjamin thinks it's time to put humans back in the loop.

The latest iteration of his attempt to do so launched this week. It's called Kamusi and it's a multilingual dictionary that could, give or take a few million dollars in funding, contain all the world's languages. Unlike other online dictionaries, Kamusi is built around concepts as well as words. So the word "spring", for instance, is linked to several concepts, including the season that comes before summer and a sudden upwards or forward motion.

This structure could solve one of the biggest challenges for machine translation. Asked to translate "spring in her step" into French, for example, Google chooses printemps?- the season - for "spring". Similar examples abound. The inability of computers to deal with homonyms - words that are spelled the same but have different meanings - is one reason why machine translations are often so garbled.

Kamusi avoids this problem by recognising that "spring" is associated with multiple concepts and prompting the user to say which is relevant. The demonstration version contains 100 words from 15 languages, including English, Swahili and Japanese.

There is a reason why Google opted for the algorithmic approach, however: once it's up and running, it's cheap and fast. Benjamin needs bilingual speakers to add words to his dictionary and, by comparison, humans are slow and expensive.

Kamusi has come this far by relying on volunteers and a grant from the US National Endowment for the Humanities. Benjamin thinks that speakers of minority languages will be motivated to add more terms for free, since they will gain the ability to translate their language into those that are already represented in the dictionary. Benjamin is also betting on some top-down support: companies that do business in Africa, a continent that is poorly served by existing dictionaries, for instance, might be motivated to pay for large numbers of local words to be added to Kamusi.

Either way, it won't be easy to build up Kamusi. Totting up wages and other expenses, Benjamin estimates it will cost around $5 to add each new concept. Representing 10,000 concepts in 100 languages would require $5 million.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/28fb0464/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Conepercent0C20A130C0A20Cmultilingual0Edictionary0Ekamusi0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Oscars 2013: 'In Memoriam' snubs carry over from telecast to web

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Comedian Phyllis Diller, actress Lupe Ontiveros and "The Jeffersons" star Sherman Hemsley were snubbed in the Oscars' time-restricted "In Memoriam" montage on Sunday night.

And they didn't make the cut for an online slideshow, either.

The 85th Academy Awards paid tribute to stars who died in the last year, but with the telecast limited to three-and-a-half hours, many names were omitted from the program.

Since 1993, the segment has honored those contributors to cinema that died in the previous year, a group selected by a small committee of the Academy.

While actors Andy Griffith and Larry Hagman did not appear on the screen in the Dolby Theatre, their names and portraits were posted in a 114-photo gallery on the official Oscars website.

George Clooney had said not everyone would be included as he introduced the segment, reminding the audience: "So for those friends who are on this list tonight, and many others who aren't, we thank you for the memories."

While Ontiveros, Diller and Hemsley were well known for their careers on the small screen, all three had long lists of films under their belts, too.

Ontiveros played a leading role in the 1997 biopic drama "Selena." Diller's credits included films like "A Bug's Life," and, later, multiple documentaries. And Hemsley, while best known for "The Jeffersons" and "All in the Family," appeared most recently in "American Pie Presents: The Book of Love."

But for some Latinos, the exclusion of Ontiveros seemed racially driven.

Sarykarmen Rivera, a reporter and anchor for Telemundo Austin, said the snub showed the "poor representation" of Latinos in Hollywood movies.

"Latinos: the biggest minority," she tweeted, "the ones watching movies but poor representation tonight even left out Lupe Ontiveros! #latism"

"Oscars Academy: We didn't include Lupe Ontiveros in the In Memoriam segment because we thought she really was a maid!" tweeted Lalo Alcaraz, a Los Angeles-based radio host.

In an op-ed published by CNN.com, filmmaker Alberto Ferreras said that, during an interview with him, Ontiveros complained of the limited roles available to her as a Latina - she played a maid more than 150 times.

Ontiveros played a maid in her most memorable role on "Desperate Housewives" and in the movie "Selena."

"Maybe for the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures, her screen accomplishments were not enough," he wrote. "Perhaps her 35 years in the movie industry representing Latinos with courage and dignity didn't earn her the right to be honored at such a prestigious event."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oscars-2013-memoriam-snubs-carry-over-telecast-213852870.html

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#ShareTheLove ? My Love Every Sip Of Life Love List ? With $50 ...

Valentine?s Day may have passed, but that doesn?t mean we have to stop loving life and sharing the love. The folks at Diet Pepsi asked me what some of the things that I love in life are. It?s cold here and I?ve been eagerly looking forward to warmer weather. It was with that in mind that I created my Summer Love List.

If you?d like a chance to read more about my Summer Love List and possibly win a $50 GC, head on over to the #ShareTheLove post on From Val?s Kitchen. Hurry, the giveaway ends soon!

Tags: featured

Category: Current Giveaways, Giveaways

Source: http://www.valmg.com/index.php/2013/sharethelove-my-love-every-sip-of-life-love-list-with-50-gc-giveaway-from-dietpepsi/

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Extreme Weather Linked to Giant Waves in Atmosphere

Extreme weather events have been on the rise in the last few decades, and man-made climate change may be causing them by interfering with global air-flow patterns, according to new research.

The Northern Hemisphere has taken a beating from extreme weather in recent years ? the 2003 European heat wave, the 2010 Pakistan flood and the 2011 heat wave in the United States, for example. These events, in a general sense, are the result of the global movement of air.

Giant waves of air in the atmosphere normally even out the climate, by bringing warm air north from the tropics and cold air south from the Arctic. But a new study suggests these colossal waves have gotten stuck in place during extreme weather events.

"What we found is that during several recent extreme weather events these planetary waves almost freeze in their tracks for weeks,"?lead author Vladimir Petoukhov, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, said in a statement. "So instead of bringing in cool air after having brought warm air in before, the heat just stays."

How long these weather extremes last is critical, the researchers say. While two or three days of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) pose little threat, 20 days or more can lead to extreme heat stress, which can trigger deaths, forest fires and lost harvests. [The World's 10 Weirdest Weather Events]

Monster Waves

The researchers created equations to model the motion of the massive air waves, determining what it takes to make the waves plough to a stop and build up. The team then used these models to crunch daily weather data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

During extreme weather events, the waves were indeed trapped and amplified, the scientists found. They also saw a significant increase in the occurrence of these trapped waves.

Here's how the waves may be getting trapped: The burning of fossil fuels causes more warming in the Arctic?than in other latitudes, because the loss of snow and ice means heat gets absorbed by the darker ground, not reflected (as it would by the white snow). This warming lessens the temperature difference between the Arctic and northern latitudes like Europe. Since these differences drive air flow, a smaller difference means less air movement. Also, land areas warm and cool more easily than oceans. The result is an unnatural pattern of air flow that prevents the air waves from circulating over land.

The study's results help explain the spike in summer weather extremes. Previous research had shown a link between climate change and extreme weather, but did not identify the mechanism.

"This is quite a breakthrough, even though things are not at all simple ? the suggested physical process increases the probability of weather extremes, but additional factors certainly play a role as well, including natural variability," study co-author Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, also of PIK, said in a statement.

The 32-year period studied provides a good explanation of past extreme weather events, the researchers say, but is too short to make predictions about how often such events may occur in the future.

The findings were reported online today (Feb. 25) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.?

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/extreme-weather-linked-giant-waves-atmosphere-212306044.html

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Nick App: Binge on Spongebob For All Eternity

Slime on your TV, slime on your tablet. Nickelodeon just launched a fun new iPad app. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/XbbmQ9lI5HQ/nick-app-binge-on-spongebob-for-all-eternity

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PFT: Browns, Jaguars deny trade for Alex Smith

Getty Images

If the Ravens want to make Joe Flacco the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, and if Flacco is satisfied to barely clear the bar set last year by Saints quarterback Drew Brees, there?s a quick and easy way to get this contract done.

Using Brees? 2012 contract as the starting point, Flacco would get a $40 million signing bonus, a fully-guaranteed base salary of $5 million in 2013, and base salaries of $10 million in 2014, $13 million in 2015, $15 million in 2016, and $18 million in 2017.

Under the rules of signing-bonus proration, $8 million would be applied to each year?s salary cap.? That would result in a cap number of $13 million in 2013, $18 million in 2014, $21 million in 2015, $23 million in 2016, and $26 million in 2017.

It equates to a five-year payout of $101 million ? $1 million better than Brees and, for now, making Flacco the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.

The two sides would have to decide whether and to what extent the money due beyond 2013 would be guaranteed, for injury only or fully.? Last year, Brees received $40 million in the first year, with $20 million guaranteed for injury only in future years.? (The injury guarantees eventually convert to full guarantees.)

The cap number in the final year would be a potential problem for the Ravens, since Flacco presumably would have one more long-term contract left before retirement.? Specifically, the $26 million cap number in 2017 would translate to a franchise tag of $31.2 million in 2018.? Thus, it would make more sense for the Ravens to tack on a sixth year at a base salary of, say, $21 million.

This would keep the average north of $20 million per year and it would give the Ravens a more manageable franchise number of $25.2 million for 2019.

Is it really that simple?? Yes, it is.? Which means that it likely won?t happen this way.

Even though it could be worked out in a matter of hours.? Or, if both sides are truly motivated, a matter of minutes.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/25/report-49ers-have-a-deal-for-smith-jags-and-browns-deny/related/

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And Now, Ubuntu for Tablets - Wait, What?

Six weeks have passed since Canonical's splashy debut of Ubuntu for phones, but for many here in the Linux blogosphere, the memory is still crystal-clear. It came as some surprise, then, to see follow-up news announced so soon afterward. The news this time? None other than Ubuntu for tablets.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/28eefbc9/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C773830Bhtml/story01.htm

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Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador in Iran, feels slighted by CIA thriller 'Argo'

TORONTO ? Canada's former ambassador to Iran, who protected Americans at great personal risk during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, said Friday if "Argo" wins the Oscar for best picture there would be something wrong with director Ben Affleck if he didn't mention Canada.

Ken Taylor said he continues to feel slighted by a movie that he says makes Canada look like a meek observer to CIA heroics in the rescue of six U.S. citizens caught in the crisis. Taylor said if Affleck doesn't say something in his acceptance speech "then it's a further reflection" on him.

"I would hope he would," Taylor said. "But given the events of the last while I'm not necessarily anticipating anything."

Taylor kept the Americans hidden at the embassy in Tehran and facilitated the escape. He became a hero in Canada and the United States after.

Affleck's CIA thriller "Argo" is widely expected to win the best-picture trophy on Sunday. Two other high-profile best-picture nominees this year, Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" and Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," have also been criticized for their portrayal of some factual issues.

"In general it makes it seem like the Canadians were just along for the ride. The Canadians were brave. Period," Taylor said.

Taylor noted that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter appeared on CNN on Thursday night and said "90 per cent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian," but the film "gives almost full credit to the American CIA."

"There would be no movie without the Canadians. We took the six in without being asked so it starts there," Taylor said. "And the fact that we got them out with some help from the CIA then that's where the story loses itself. I think Jimmy Carter has it about right, it was 90 per cent Canada, 10 per cent the CIA."

Affleck said he thought his issue with Taylor had been resolved.

"I admire Ken very much for his role in rescuing the six houseguests. I consider him a hero.In light of my many conversations as well as a change to an end card that Ken requested I am surprised that Ken continues to take issue with the film," Affleck said in a statement. "I spoke to him recently when he asked me to narrate a documentary he is prominently featured in and yet he didn't mention any lingering concerns.I agreed to do it and I look forward to seeing Ken at the recording."

Friends of Taylor were outraged last September when "Argo" debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The original postscript of the movie said that Taylor received 112 citations and awards for his work in freeing the hostages and suggested Taylor didn't deserve them because the movie ends with the CIA deciding to let Canada have the credit for helping the Americans escape.

Taylor called the postscript lines "disgraceful and insulting" and said it would have caused outrage in Canada if the lines were not changed. Affleck flew Taylor to Los Angeles after the Toronto debut and allowed Taylor to insert a postscript written by Taylor that gave Canada some credit.

Taylor called it a good movie and said he's not rooting against it, but said it is far from accurate.

"He's a good director. It's got momentum. There's nothing much right from Day 1 I could do about the movie. I changed a line at the end because the caption at the end was disgraceful. It's like Tiananmen Square, you are sitting in front of a big tank," Taylor said.

Taylor said Carter's remarks support what he has been saying for months.

"Canadians know the truth and a lot of U.S. citizens do. Those involved know it," he said. "If it conveys something about diplomacy I'll be happy if he wins. He's a good guy. He's very affable, a lot of talent."

Taylor's wife, Pat, said everyone has tried to be "diplomatic" about it. Pat, who was with Ken in Iran, would have preferred if the movie said at the start that it was "based on true events" instead of saying it was a true story.

"Even President Carter said that Tony Mendez, which is the CIA character that Ben Affleck played, was just in Iran for a day and a half," she said. "I think Ben has directed a very good action movie. Unfortunately people's perception of what actually happened is colored."

Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Taylor+Canada+former+ambassador+Iran+feels/8007961/story.html

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Regulators examine if big banks evade payday loan laws: NYT

(Reuters) - Federal and state regulators are examining whether some of the largest U.S. banks are helping Internet-based lenders evade state laws that cap interest rates on payday loans, The New York Times said on Sunday.

Citing several people with direct knowledge of the matter, the newspaper said the FDIC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C. are examining the role of banks in online payday loans.

It also said Benjamin Lawsky, who heads New York State's Department of Financial Services, is investigating how banks enable online lenders to make high-rate loans to residents of New York, where interest rates are capped at 25 percent.

Payday loans, typically a few hundred dollars in size, enable cash-strapped borrowers to obtain quick funds to tide them over until their next paychecks.

But the loans can carry effective annual interest rates that reach well into three digits. Some consumer advocates consider the loans a means to take advantage of financially desperate Americans, who nonetheless shell out $7.4 billion a year for them according to a February 20 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The newspaper did not identify the banks being examined.

But it said that while large banks such as Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co do not make the actual loans, they do let lenders that do to withdraw payments from customers' accounts, even if customers have already begged them to stop.

According to the newspaper, 15 U.S. states ban payday loans, but lenders are setting up online operations in places such as Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade the caps.

Representatives of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo, the four largest U.S. banks, had no immediate comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FDIC, the CFPB and Lawsky's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The newspaper said a Bank of America spokeswoman said that bank has always honored requests to stop automatic withdrawals, a JPMorgan spokeswoman said that bank is working to resolve open cases, and Wells Fargo declined to comment.

"YOU NEVER CATCH UP"

According to the Pew study, Americans on average pay $520 in finance charges for payday loans that average just $375.

Many of these borrowers find the process a never-ending cycle that leaves them in the same financial binds where they started, according to the study.

Fifty-eight percent of borrowers reported persistent problems paying their bills, and 41 percent found they needed help to repay the loans - such as by borrowing from friends or family, selling personal possessions, or taking out other loans.

Moreover, 27 percent of payday loan borrowers said the loans caused them to overdraw their checking accounts - enabling banks to charge fees for those overdrafts.

"It seems like you never catch up, and it, it's just check-to-check, and something breaks down, and the house needs work, kids have school, just never catch up," a storefront borrower in Chicago was quoted in the report as saying.

The borrower was then asked how long this had gone on. The response: "Twenty years."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/regulators-examine-big-banks-evade-payday-loan-laws-190733173--finance.html

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Sony's PS4 System Should Become Real by Mid-2013

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/xbitlabs/posts/10151458638247766

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Microsoft Victimized by Cyber Attack

Software giant Microsoft has become the latest victim of a shameless and malicious computer hacking, according to a CNN report.

The report claim that Microsoft general manager Matt Thomlinson has admitted to such an attack to the software company by saying, "As reported by Facebook and Apple, Microsoft can confirm that we also recently experienced a similar security intrusion."

Thomlinson went on further to say "During our investigation, we found a small number of computers, including some in our Mac business unit, that were infected by malicious software using techniques similar to those documented by other organizations."

Microsoft gave few other details about the hacking incident, but the company said it had "found no evidence that any customer data has been stolen in the cyber attack."

In addition, Thomlinson said Microsoft was being targeted by "determined and persistent adversaries," though he didn't specify who those were, but there's also an NBC news report linking the recent attacks on the Internet on the U.S. government and American private companies to hackers working for the military based in China.

Meanwhile, a Business Insider report has shared an article on how the people can protect themselves against the "alleged" Chinese hackers. You may also want to read that site's report here.

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Source: http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/trarticles/~3/Ubk1ehaFIR8/

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Kerry makes first foreign trip as top U.S. diplomat

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Kerry views his first trip as U.S. secretary of state as a listening tour, but the leaders he meets will want to hear whether he has any new ideas on Syria, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kerry leaves on Sunday for London, the first stop on a nine-nation, 11-day trip that will also take him to Berlin, Paris, Rome, Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha before he returns home on March 6.

It is an introductory trip for a man who needs little introduction abroad after spending 28 years in the U.S. Senate, all of them as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the last four as its chairman.

After talks with allies in London, Berlin and Paris, Kerry travels to Rome to meet members of the Syrian opposition as well as a wider group of nations seeking to support them in their nearly two-year quest to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

While the opposition Syrian National Coalition is willing to negotiate a peace deal to end the country's civil war, members this week agreed that Assad must step down and cannot be a party to any settlement.

The political chasm between the sides, along with a lack of opposition influence over rebels on the ground and an international diplomatic deadlock preventing effective intervention, has allowed fighting to rage on. Almost 70,000 people have been killed in 22 months of conflict, according to a U.N. estimate.

U.S. President Barack Obama has limited U.S. support to non-lethal aid for the rebels who, despite receiving weapons from countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are poorly armed compared to Assad's army and loyalist militias.

Although the Obama administration appears to be rethinking the question of arming the rebels, there are few signs it is on the verge of a new approach toward Syria, said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.

"I have a hard time imagining that this is the time to float a new American strategy because he (Kerry) still doesn't have a counterpart in the Department of Defense (and) the new administration is still getting set up," Alterman said.

"I don't see any sign that there is a new strategy but I do see signs that he wants to be engaged and understand what the options are for moving something in a different direction," he said.

IRAN TALKS

Kerry makes his first foreign trip as senior U.S. diplomats, along with counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, will meet Iranian officials on Tuesday in Kazakhstan in an effort to persuade Iran to curtail its nuclear program.

The United States and many of its allies suspect Iran may be using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons, a possibility that Israel, which is regarded as the Middle East's only nuclear power, sees as an existential threat.

Iran says its program is solely for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and making medical isotopes.

Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution think-tank said Saudi King Abdullah would regard himself, rather than Kerry, as the listening party and want to hear of any new U.S. approaches on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran and other issues.

"The secretary has the tough job of selling as something new an administration (whose) foreign policies are pretty well established," Riedel said.

"There is not a high level of expectation that it is going to be able to break the logjam on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, get Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program and topple Bashar al-Assad," he added. "The Saudis will understand that Kerry will try to put a new face on policies which are now pretty well known but they will be looking for what's new."

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-makes-first-foreign-trip-top-u-diplomat-060625117.html

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Human foot identified as that of Lancaster University student

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Smog envelopes China during Lantern Festival

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's central and eastern parts are expected to be blanketed by heavy fog Sunday, the Chinese Lantern Festival, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

The authority issued a yellow smog alert at 10 a.m.. Yellow is the second lowest level in China's four-tier color-coded weather alert system.

Thick fog, lowering visibility to less than 1,000 meters, shrouded central and northern parts of Jiangsu and areas in Zhejiang early Sunday morning. Smog choked southern Beijing, and parts of Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, according to NMC monitoring data.

Smog will cover central and eastern China during Sunday daytime, the center forecast.

There will be visibility to less than 1,000 meters in many parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Zhejiang due to fog. In north China, the plains of Huanghuai and Jianghuai, and regions south of the Yangtze River are expected to see some smog, the center said.

Zhejiang Province and Shanhai municipality have had alerts for fog and smog since Saturday, according to the NMC.

The center warned of a decline in air quality and advised residents in these regions to stay indoors or take precautions.

Meanwhile, flurries of snow and sleet will hit Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, Qinghai Province, north China and Liaodong Peninsula over the next 24 hours, the NMC said.

It also forecast rainfall in the provinces of Shandong and Hunan, southwestern China, south China, and Taiwan.

Source: http://english.sina.com/china/2013/0223/564555.html

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I Find My Lack Of This Darth Vader Statuette Disturbing

Bear with us for a second, guys. We just hallucinated that there was an impossibly cool statue of Darth Vader, holding his own helmet in introspection. Oh God, it's real! The statuette comes from the always impressive Sideshow Collectibles (via io9), and it's the latest in their "Star Wars Mythos" series of badass figures. On [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/22/darth-vader-statuette/

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IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA CASE NO. 1402600 ORDER REGARDING SERVICE BY PUBLICATION RICARDO RAMIREZ dba NEW ERA PLUMBING, Plaintiff, v. DON ALEXANDER aka DONALD KING ALEXANDER; DESERT GREEN BUILDERS, a business entity form

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA
CASE NO. 1402600
ORDER REGARDING
SERVICE BY PUBLICATION

RICARDO RAMIREZ dba
NEW ERA PLUMBING, Plaintiff,
v.
DON ALEXANDER aka DONALD
KING ALEXANDER; DESERT
GREEN BUILDERS, a business
entity form unknown; GREEN
CONSTRUCTION US, a business
entity form unknown; RICHARD G.
SCOTT; AND DOES 1 THROUGH 20,
INCLUSIVE,

SUMMONS

NOTICE TO DEFENDANT:
DON ALEXANDER aka DONALD KING ALEXANDER; DESERT GREEN BUILDERS, a business entity form unknown; GREEN CONSTRUCTION US, a business entity form unknown; Richard G. Scott; AND DOES 1 TO 20, INCLUSIVE

YOU ARE BEING SUED BY Plaintiff:
RICARDO RAMIREZ dba NEW ERA PLUMBING

NOTICE! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below.
You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff, A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal farm if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information as the California Courts Online Self-help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing Fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case may default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.
There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want lo call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at (the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifomia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Confer (wv/w.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court?s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case.
The name and address of the court is:

Santa Barbara Superior Court
1100 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93121

The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiffs attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is:
MARIO A. JUAREZ, INC.
BRENNEMAN. JUAREZ & ADAM LLP
625 E. Chapel Street
Santa Maria, CA 93454
(805) 922-4553
DATE: July 3, 2012

(February 15 & 22, 2013 and March 1 & 8, 2013)

Source: http://kauai-www2.kauaiworld.com/mobile-classified/ads/29858435/?market=admarket

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I love the sequester for the military cuts - but here is the rest of the story

Posted 4 hours ago on Feb. 21, 2013, 7:18 p.m. EST by bensdad (6189)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

By Matt Vasilogambros - National Journal
President Obama has been warning that deep cuts triggered by sequestration could be devastating for the military and other government programs. But many Republicans, determined to see a reduction in federal spending, show no sign of wanting to cut a deal with the president to avoid the sequester.

Here are some of the programs that would be pared as part of the sequester, according to a report by the
White House Office of Management and Budget:

Air Travel: An estimated $619 million would be cut from the operations and facilities and equipment accounts of the Federal Aviation Administration. This could mean major flight delays and an economic hit on the millions of people who depend on air travel every day.

$483 million cut from the FAA operations budget, forcing all FAA employees to be furloughed for 11 days. On any given day, that could mean that 10 percent of the FAA?s 40,000 employees could be on furlough, resulting in longer delays, reduced air-traffic control, and losses in tourism. There will also be a hiring freeze.
$136 million cut from the FAA?s facilities and equipment account, which helps maintain and modernize the air-traffic control infrastructure.
Transportation Security Administration screeners would receive a seven-day furlough.

National Parks: In order to cut 5 percent of its budget, the National Park Service would have to slash $110 million. The NPS has already begun to plan for sequestration by cutting park hours and visitor services in some of the nation?s leading national parks?from Yosemite to the Great Smokey Mountains.

The Pentagon: Most of the 800,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department would get unpaid leave, called a furlough,for up to 22 days, saving the Pentagon between $4 billion and $5 billion through the rest of the fiscal year.
TRICARE, which provides health care for active and retired military personnel and their dependents, would get cut by $3 billion for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Health Services: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius outlined the significant impact to the nation?s health services if sequestration goes into effect: $350 million cut from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
109,000 fewer people in need of critical treatment might not get admitted to inpatient facilities.
91,000 fewer people would receive substance-abuse treatment.
30,000 children would go without child-care services.
373,000 seriously ill adults and emotionally disturbed children would not receive treatment.
4 million fewer meals would get delivered to seniors' homes.
424,000 fewer HIV tests would be administered.
540,000 fewer doses of vaccines would be available for the flu, hepatitis, and measles, among other diseases.
$1.6 billion cut for medical research at the National Institutes of Health.
$120 million cut in federal support for health centers, which could lead to 900,000 fewer patients served.
$168 million cut in embassy security.

Humanitarian Aid: In his first major speech as secretary of State, John Kerry said the budget battles in Washington could hurt the U. S. effort to provide economic and political aid across the world. Saying the State Department would have to cut $2.6 billion for this fiscal year. $200 million in global humanitarian assistance, citing American efforts in Syria, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel.
$400 million in global health funding that fights AIDS and child hunger.
$500 million in security-assistance accounts, which goes toward conflict prevention.
$70 million in operations expenses for USAID.

Education: If sequestration goes into effect, $406 million would get cut in Head Start programs, resulting in 70,000 children losing access to the service. That would lead to the layoffs of 14,000 teachers, teacher assistants, and staff who work in the program.

Disaster Relief: The Federal Emergency Management Agency would receive a $1 billion cut.

Additional Cuts: The National Science Foundation ($375 million), the Library of Congress, NASA ($950 million), the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Patent and Trademark office would also have their budgets cut.

Source: http://occupywallst.org/forum/i-love-the-sequester-for-the-military-cuts-but-her/

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Ontario teen charged for uploading schoolyard fight video to Facebook

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Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ontario+teen+charged+for+uploading+schoolyard+fight+video+to+facebook/6442813988/story.html

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MWC 2013 preview: what we can expect

We here at Engadget are awfully fond of those hunks of metal, motherboards and magic we call smartphones and tablets, and Mobile World Congress is determined to gather as many as possible on an annual basis. Indeed, this year's show, held in beautiful Barcelona at the Fira Gran Via, is not just a weeklong event -- in fact, it's already started. A handful of companies have announced their key products in an attempt to gather some crucial pre-show buzz, but does that mean there's nothing left for us to hunt for? Absolutely not. Gather with us beyond the break and we'll tell you about everything that's already been announced, as well as what we can expect from the rest of the mobile extravaganza.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qsF4ZX4HsBY/

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Jenelle Evans: Battling Andrew Lewis For Custody of Jace?!

Source:

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Ex-Taiwan Premier Frank Hsieh's Weibo Deleted by Chinese Censors

It was a short-lived Weibo experience for Taiwan?s former premier Frank Hsieh.?

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On Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he opened an account on China?s wildly popular microblogging site Sina Weibo, it was shut down.?

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Despite being on Weibo for less than a day, Hsieh managed to amass more than 60,000 followers. Hsieh was the former leader of Taiwan?s opposition Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP. It has been strongly opposed to attempts by China?s communist authorities to assert sovereignty over Taiwan.

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[Mr. Zhang, Xinjing-based Netizen]:

?A lot of netizens probably wanted to find out what he?s saying on Weibo. Actually a lot Mainland netizens support the DPP?s ideals; they usually pay more attention human rights"

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It?s unclear why Hsieh?s account was shut down. But it could have to do with this post. Hsieh said on Wednesday ?freedom of speech doesn?t depend on whether you have the freedom to criticize those in power. But, rather, whether you lose your freedom after you do so.?

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Later that day, his account was closed.

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Frank Hsieh wasn?t the only high profile person to have his Weibo account shut down recently.

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Brad Pitt, who has already been banned from visiting China because of his role in the movie 7 Years in Tibet, also had his Weibo account disappear, according to Hollywood Reporter.

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Li Kaifu, the former head of Google?s China division had his account disabled for three days earlier this week. Li has more than 50 million followers, and has been vocally critical of the Chinese regime?s Internet censorship. His account was reactivated again on Wednesday.?

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The account closures comes just days after Chinese leader Xi Jinping reportedly told fellow Communist Party members they should be able to ?put up with sharp criticism?.

Source: http://ntdtv.org/en/news/china/2013-02-21/ex-taiwan-premier-frank-hsieh-s-weibo-deleted-by-chinese-censors.html

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PS4 Eye promises to unlock your PlayStation at a glance, tips hat to Kinect

Just finished watching Sony's "see the future" of PlayStation event? We hope you didn't blink, you might have missed a quick reveal of the next PlayStation Eye The optical sensor was overshadowed by the reveal of the DualShock 4, but it's nothing to scoff at -- the second generation Eye features two 1280 x 800 cameras, four microphones and an 85-degree field of view. Put together, the setup promises facial recognition, player positioning and depth sensing and enhanced PlayStation Move support. The Kinect-like camera is designed to work with Sony's new controller standard too, recognizing each player by the color of the DualShock 4's LED light bar. Sony says the Eye will allow the PS4 to use face login, and the collection of microphones might make voice control possible as well. No word yet if the new camera device will be a PS4 pack in or sold separately, but if you're interested in mining press releases for details, you'll find one after the break.

Filed under: Sony

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/20/PlayStation4-eye/

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Boehner Idle as GOP Calls for Select Committees on Benghazi

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have suggested the formation of select committees since November 2012, one month after the assault which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other State Department employees. Such select committees could provide a channel for Benghazi survivors to come forward and tell their stories to Congress?without legal repercussions from the federal government.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told USA Today on Wednesday, "I want to know who the survivors are and for the appropriate committees to interview them." He explained further, "We know it was clear from the beginning it was a terrorist attack. I want to know what kind of help they asked for."

Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), a member of the armed services committee, all called for a joint select committee to investigate Benghazi in November. The South Carolina Senator is threatening to hold up the nomination of CIA pick John Brennan if the White House will not release more information on the attack.

Both Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), along with other Democrats,?rebuffed the idea of a joint select committee to investigate the Benghazi attack.

?At this point, I think that the standing committees of the House, whether they be the (State Department) oversight committee or the intelligence committee, are working diligently on these issues,? Boehner said shortly after his Senate colleagues floated the idea in November.

The GOP senators were not the only ones blown off by Republican leadership on the House side to create a select committee to study the deadly Benghazi attack. In November, Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, called for a select committee to investigate the attack.

According to Wolf?s November press release, the congressman ?reminded Speaker Boehner of a September 25 letter to President Obama signed by eight House members requesting more information about the attack and the administration?s response.?

Speaker Boehner did not heed Wolf?s call for a select committee in the last Congress. In late January, Wolf refiled the resolution to establish a House Select Committee to investigate the Benghazi attack. Boehner has yet to comment or act upon the resolution.

Breitbart News sent an inquiry to Speaker Boehner's office on Thursday afternoon that has gone unanswered.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BreitbartFeed/~3/K3BR0rpbelg/Boehner-Ignores-Republican-Lawmakers-Call-For-Select-Committees-on-Benghazi

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Paul Ryan offers optimism to GOP faithful

NEWPORT BEACH -- Rep. Paul Ryan, one of Republican's brightest stars on Capitol Hill, dropped into Orange County on Thursday to lay out his vision how lawmakers can roll back the "big government" reforms of President Barack Obama.

While one local congressman, Democrat Alan Lowenthal, took advantage of the congressional recess to hold a roundtable discussion of the repercussions if sequestration cuts are allowed to go into effect on March 1, Ryan spoke only in broad terms about the budget and the GOP approach.

"We are going to do everything we can to get our spending and our debt under control to prevent a debt crisis," said Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, 2012 vice presidential candidate, and possible 2016 presidential contestant.

Click here to listen to Ryan's entire speech.

Ryan gave a 10-minute speech at a Hyatt Regency Newport Beach luncheon hosted by Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton. Ryan told the crowd of about 260 that voters would back Republican initiatives once they saw Obama's reforms in action.

"The results of big government, in practice -- the fiscal recklessness, the debt that it grows, the lack of freedom of choice in health care and all these other sectors of our economy -- that will all happen in reality now," Ryan said.

"So our vision of showing the country -- here's how to balance the budget, here's how to reform the tax code, here's how you grow the economy, here's how you fix the immigration laws, here's how you fix health care -- we now get to showcase these ideas in contrast to big government policies that have proven, wherever tested, not to work."

Earlier in the day, freshman Rep. Lowenthal hosted an event at his Long Beach office that focused exclusively on the sequestration cuts -- a sharp contrast to Ryan's message of the need to shrink government.

Lowenthal, whose district extends from Long Beach to Garden Grove and Westminster, brought in education, airport, mental health and small business representatives to outline the across-the-board cuts called for by sequestration. Among the predictions: cuts in school programs for the disabled and vocational education; longer lines and fewer flights at the airport; and fewer crucial loans to small businesses.

"This is going to have a devastating impact on our economic recovery," Lowenthal said. "It will especially impact the people who are the most vulnerable."

Ryan has predicted that Congress will allow sequestration cuts to kick in. Lowenthal doubts there is time to finalize a comprehensive alternative, but thinks Congress will find a way to again postpone the cuts originally scheduled to become effective Jan. 1.

"I think that's a terrible way to go, but it's better than the sequester," he said. "No matter what we do by March 1, it won't be the grand bargain we eventually need."

Ryan may have best summed up the situation during his Newport Beach stop.

"Winston Churchill was right when he said that the Americans can be counted on to do the right thing," Ryan said. "But only after they've exhausted all the other possibilities."

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com or 714-796-6753

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50899304/ns/local_news-orange_county_ca/

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Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 Telephoto Prime Lens

By Jim Fisher

The Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 Telephoto Prime Lens ($1,799.99 direct) is a lens that's sure to please portrait photographers. The 135mm focal length is a classic for capturing flattering photos of people, as it allows you to fill the frame with your subject, blur the background, and maintain a working distance that won't distort features. There are less expensive options for other camera systems?Nikon and Canon both make 135mm f/2 lenses that sell for around $1,400 and $1,100 respectively, and if you're a Micro Four Thirds shooter the excellent Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 is only $899.99; but if money isn't an object, the Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 is a tough act to follow.

The lens is big for a prime at 4.6 by 3.5 inches (HD), and very heavy at 2.3 pounds. It features a large manual focus ring, and an internal motor for fast, quiet autofocus. The front filter size is 77mm and a circular lens hood is included to reduce flare and increase contrast. The f/1.8 aperture combined with this focal length allows you to really blur the background of your photos?especially when you shoot at the closest focusing distance, just under 2.5 feet.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the 135mm at various apertures using the full-frame Alpha 99. Even at f/1.8 it is extremely sharp, recording 2,061 lines per picture height?a good deal better than the 1,800 lines required for a sharp photo. It sharpens up very slightly as you stop down, but not significantly so?at f/2.8 the score is 2,068 lines, and it peaks at 2,302 lines at f/8. Distortion is not relevant in field shooting conditions?it only exhibits 0.3 percent.

If you're in the market for a portrait lens for your Sony D-SLR system, the Carl Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 Telephoto Prime Lens is an excellent choice. It's sharp at every aperture, and you can really create a shallow depth of field at f/1.8. It's best suited for use on a full-frame camera?it's heavy to the point where the larger body of the Alpha 99 will help it balance better. But you can comfortably use it with a larger APS-C body like the Alpha 77, where its reach is effectively lengthened to 200mm. It's by no means a budget lens, but you're not going to find any optic that bears the Carl Zeiss name at a bargain basement price.

More Digital Camera Reviews:
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Obama considers weighing in on gay marriage case

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Chicago. The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California?s ban on gay marriage, a step that could be a major political victory for advocates of same-sex unions. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Chicago. The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California?s ban on gay marriage, a step that could be a major political victory for advocates of same-sex unions. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

FILE - This Sept. 6, 2011 file photo shows a man walking past a group of people protesting against gay marriage outside a courtroom where the California Supreme Court was hearing arguments in San Francisco. The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California?s ban on gay marriage, a step that could be a major political victory for advocates of same-sex unions. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Barack Obama to rights for gay couples.

Obama raised expectations among opponents of the Proposition 8 ban when he declared in last month's inaugural address that gays and lesbians must be "treated like anyone else under the law." The administration has until Feb. 28 to intervene in the case by filing a "friend of the court" brief.

The Proposition 8 ballot initiative was approved by California voters in 2008 and overturned a state Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage. Twenty-nine other states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, while nine states and Washington, D.C., recognize same-sex marriage.

An administration brief alone is unlikely to sway the Justices but the federal government's opinion does carry weight with the court.

A final decision on whether to file a brief has not been made, a senior administration official said. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli is consulting with the White House on the matter, said the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to address the private deliberations publicly.

While the Justice Department would formally make the filing, the president himself is almost certain to make the ultimate decision on whether to file.

"I have to make sure that I'm not interjecting myself too much into this process, particularly when we're not a party to the case," Obama said Wednesday in interview with San Francisco's KGO-TV.

He said his personal view is that gay couples should have the same rights as straight couples and said his administration would do whatever it could to promote that principle.

Obama has a complicated history on gay marriage. As a presidential candidate in 2008, he opposed the California ban but didn't endorse gay marriage. As he ran for re-election last year, he announced his personal support for same-sex marriage but said marriage was an issue that should be decided by the states, not the federal government.

To some, Obama's broad call for gay rights during his Jan. 21 inaugural address was a signal that he now sees a federal role in defining marriage.

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law," Obama said during his remarks on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. "For if we are truly created equal, than surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

But administration officials said Obama ? a former constitutional law professor ? was not foreshadowing any legal action in his remarks and was simply restating his personal belief in the right of gays and lesbians to marry.

Seeking to capitalize on growing public support for gay marriage, advocates are calling on the administration to file a broad brief not only asking the court to declare California's ban unconstitutional but also urging the Justices to make all state bans illegal.

"If they do make that argument and the court accepts it, the ramifications could be very sweeping," said Richard Socarides, an attorney and advocate.

The administration could also file a narrower brief that would ask the court to issue a decision applying only to California. Or it could decide not to weigh in on the case at all.

The Supreme Court, which will take up the case on March 26, has several options for its eventual ruling. Among them:

? The justices could uphold the state ban on gay marriage and say citizens of a state have the right to make that call.

? The court could endorse an appeals court ruling that would make same-sex marriage legal in California but apply only to that state.

? The court could issue a broader ruling that would apply to California and seven other states: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. In those states, gay couples can join in civil unions that have all the benefits of marriage but cannot be married.

? The broadest ruling would be one that says the Constitution forbids states from banning same-sex unions.

For weeks, supporters and opponents of Proposition 8 have been lobbying the administration to side with them.

Last month, Theodore Olson and David Boies, lawyers arguing for gay marriage, met with Verrilli and other government lawyers to urge the administration to file a brief in the case. A few days later, Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Proposition 8, met with the solicitor general to ask the government to stay out of the case. Those kinds of meetings are typical in a high court case when the government is not a party and is not asked by the court to make its views known.

Boies and Chad Griffin, president of the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, also had a meeting at the White House on the case.

Ahead of next week's deadline, nearly two dozen states have filed briefs with the Supreme Court asking the Justices to uphold the California measure.

"There's a critical mass of states that have spoken out and believe states should continue to have the right to define marriage as between one man and one woman," said Jim Campbell, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents supporters of Proposition 8.

Public opinion has shifted in support of gay marriage in recent years. In May 2008, Gallup found that 56 percent of Americans felt same-sex marriages should not be recognized by the law as valid. By November 2012, some 53 percent felt they should be legally recognized.

Obama has overwhelming political support among those who support same-sex marriage. Exit polls from the November election showed that 49 percent of voters believed their states should legally recognize gay marriage. More than 70 percent of those voters backed Obama over Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

One day after the court hears the California case, the justices will hear arguments on another gay marriage case, this one involving provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA. The act defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purpose of deciding who can receive a range of federal benefits.

The Obama administration abandoned its defense of the law in 2011 but continues to enforce it. Because DOMA is a federal law and the government is a party to the case, the administration does not have to state its opposition through a friend of the court brief.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-20-Obama-Gay%20Marriage/id-7e543d95039d4871923ebd0053b03dc0

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