knepperwillis: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Disney Princess Palace Pets and Unbolt the Goat are among the ...

It's been quite a while since I last posted a piece about the various domain names The Walt Disney Company has recently registered. ?Which sometimes offers up a clue or two about the Mouse has in the works for the weeks, months & years ahead.

Mind you, a lot of the news that I've uncovered this time around won't be all that startling. I mean, given that production just began last week in Iceland on "The Fifth State," (i.e. a movie about the controversial website WikiLeaks, this DreamWorks Studios production will be released to theaters on November 15th through Disney's Touchstone label), does it really surprise you to learn that -- on January 27th -- the Mouse's legal department snagged the following domain names?

fifthestatefilm.com
fifthestatemovie.com
thefifthestatemovie.com

Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Br?hl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg
in "The Fifth Estate." Copyright DreamWorks / Disney. All rights reserved

Likewise given that DreamWorks Studios acquired the film rights to Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed" video games last June and given that this Scott Waugh movie (which will supposedly pay tribute to " ... the great car-culture films of the '70s) is slated to begin shooting late next month in Atlanta ... Well, it's probably not going to shock you to learn that Disney (which will -- once again -- be releasing this DreamWorks production through its Touchstone label) snapped up all sorts of "Need for Speed" film -related domain names back in September 28th ...

needforspeedfilm.com
theneedforspeed-movie.com
theneedforspeedfilm.com
theneedforspeedmovie.com

... and September 29th of last year.

needforspeedfilm.com
theneedforspeed-movie.com
theneedforspeedfilm.com
theneedforspeedmovie.com

... so that the Studio's PR department will then have all sorts of options available when it comes time to decide how exactly Disney is going to promote "Need for Speed" online out ahead of its February 7, 2014 release date.

That was a fairly common occurrence this time around as I went back through the past six months or so of domain names that The Walt Disney Company had recently registered. Coming upon instance after instance where the Studio's PR department had grabbed up names that it might possibly use as part of the online promotion of an upcoming motion picture. Take -- for example -- what happens on December 14th ...

stark-industries.biz
stark-international.org

?... and December 22nd of last year ...

be-stark.com
becomeironman.com

... when Company officials snagged the above domain names to possible use out ahead of the May 3rd release of "Iron Man 3."

Mind you, some of the upcoming online promotions that the Mouse has in the works do sound genuinely intriguing. Take -- for example ...

unboltdisneygoat.com
unboltthegoat.com

... which Disney officials snagged back on December 22nd supposedly to help support / promote the June 21st release of that "Monsters, Inc. " prequel, "Monsters University."

"So what does a goat have to do with this upcoming Pixar Animation Studios production?," you ask. Well, if you'll check out these promotional images from that Dan Scanlon film which were released to various entertainment news sites during the month of December ...

... you'll see that a small orange goat-like creature does factor into "Monsters University" 's plotline. As I understand it, Mike and Sulley wind up joining Oozma Kappa, a college fraternity over the course of this movie. And since rivalries between different fraternities is kind of a college tradition? ... The guys who are producing "Monsters University" have evidently decided to have the frat brothers of Oozma Kappa prank another fraternity on campus by having Mike & Sulley mastermind the theft of that frat's mascot. Which is this weird little orange goat-like thing.

"So what does this 'Unbolt the Goat' domain name have to do with 'Monsters University' ?," you query. Well, as I understand, Disney & Pixar are looking to use various social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter and the like) as the way to stage an online goat where "Monster University" fans out in cyberspace will perform some sort of virtual task that will then help Mike & Sulley steal this rival fraternity's mascot.

Here. If you want to get a sense of what sort of online interaction I'm talking about, check out this Twitter-based campaign that DDB Spain put together for the Volkswagen Polo.

And speaking of interactive online stuff ... I wish that I'd actually been paying attention when Disney had the website associated with these domain names ...

disneyqbotics.com
disneyqbotic.com
disneyqboticgame.com
disneyqboticsgame.com
disneyqboticsthegame.com
disneyqboticthegame.com
q-botic.com
q-botics.com
qboticsgame.com
qboticsthegame.com
cuboticsgame.com
cuboticsthegame.com
disneycubotics.com
disneycuboticsgame.com
disneycuboticsthegame.com

... up and running.

As I understand it, back in October of last year, the Mouse was recruiting kids online to take part in the Beta test of Disney Qbotics. Which was this " ... place where your child can design, build, and drive unique vehicles, contraptions, and machines they've created with their imaginations."

Given that -- during the big unveiling of "Disney Infinity" earlier this month at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre -- the folks at Disney Interactive heavily hyped this video game's Toy Box mode (which will -- in essence -- allow users to build their own unique worlds and then send Disney & Pixar characters off on adventures that are only limited by that user's imagination) -- I have to admit that I was kind of intrigued by this description of Disney Qbotics that I came across online. Which described this proposed virtual community as being a place where ...

... In Disney Qbotics, your child can use their skills in collaboration, creativity, budgeting, and mechanics to create structures and machines, to complete challenges, and compete against their fellow builder friends, or build without limitations in Free Build Mode.

Which makes me wonder if Disney Qbotics was in fact part of the final phase in testing for Disney Infinity. Or whether Disney Interactive had both of these projects with their Toy Box / Free Build Modes in development at the exact same time and -- in the end -- opted to table Disney Qbotics in favor of Disney Infinity?

More to the point, did any of you parents out there have kids that were recruited to take part in the Disney Qbotics beta test last Fall? And if so, what was your impression of this proposed online virtual community?

And speaking of your children ... I just want to give you parents out there a heads up that Disney Consumer Products may soon be launching a new product line that your children just will not be able to resist. One that will possibly pair the Disney Princesses with cute little puppies and kittens.

Don't believe me? Then check out this series of domain names that The Walt Disney Company registered back on January 16th ...

disneyprincesspalacepets.com

... and January 19th ...

disneypalacepets.com
disneyprincesspets.com

When Nancy and I are down in New York City next month covering the 2012 edition of the American International Toy Fair, I'd do some poking around and see if anyone's heard anything about Princess Pets or Palace Pets possibly being in the Disney Consumer Products pipeline.

But what about you folks? Would you really be interested in a new line of plush toys with direct ties to the Disney Princesses if it featured cute little kittens and puppies? I mean, you have to admit that this proposed product line would put a whole new spin on that classic "Snow White" song, "Someday My Prince Will Come."

Here, Prince! Here, boy! Good dog!

Your thoughts?

Source: http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2013/01/30/disney-princess-palace-pets-and-unbolt-the-goat-are-among-the-domain-names-that-disney-company-officials-have-recently-registered.aspx

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Sports Briefing | Baseball: Mets and Murphy Settle and Avoid Arbitration

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: www.nytimes.com --- Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Second baseman Daniel Murphy and the Mets agreed to a one-year contract worth $2,925,000, avoiding salary arbitration. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/sports/baseball/mets-and-murphy-settle-and-avoid-arbitration.html

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Government to scrap second rail franchise - Telegraph

LONDON (Reuters) - The government is to scrap the bidding process for train services in the west of the country, months after axing the contract for a different rail line, the Telegraph reported on Thursday.

Bidders are to be told that the First Group, which currently runs the Great Western line from London to Bristol and Cardiff, will retain the contract, according to the newspaper.

The department declined to comment on the report when approached by Reuters.

Britain tore up a deal in October awarding one of its biggest rail franchises to a private operator, in a humiliating U-turn that cast doubt over the government handling of the railways.

Virgins Trains, which lost the contract to First, is continuing to run services between London and Manchester, while the government fixes the bidding process.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/government-scrap-second-rail-franchise-telegraph-001822315--finance.html

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Abstract art of the visual and moving kind - Straight Dope Message ...

This sort of art seems to leave most people cold: http://eartfair.com/blog/wp-content/.../mondriaan.gif

On the other hand, one of the my has convinced me that people fucking love lava lamps: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=680195
As you can see, those who at least like lava lamps outnumber those who at most dislike them by nearly 8 to 1. I didn't expect that lopsided a result even with the risks associated with self-selecting polls. In any case, people are usually not shy to say when they dislike something, whether it's Windsor knots or eating pizza with utensils.

Fireworks also tend to be very much liked.

If you'll allow me to reuse an aside I made in that thread which is more apropros here:

Fireworks and lava lamps are two of the few common forms of non-representational dynamic visual stimulation.

Visual stimulation: It is based on what it looks like rather than sound, kinesthetics, mental concepts or imaginings. I hesitate to call them art but they're at least entertainment.

Non-representational: They are based on shapes and colors but does not actually depict anything. In this way, they're like abstract art.

Dynamic: Unlike most abstract visual art, they move.

I remember someone mentioning in an art thread about abstract art that classical music is usually non-representational yet a lot of people enjoy it. Even in non-classical music, the melody and accompaniment are usually non-representational and the lyrics are often chosen more for the way they sound than for their representational content. So most people have no problem with abstract audio art, it's usually abstract visual art that leaves them cold.

Then I thought that seeing visual art that doesn't move is a lot like listening to audio art that doesn't change chords or that keeps playing the same few notes.

I watched this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kCvUAcbriY and thought that even if all the representational video content were replaced with non-representational video content and the audio were taken out, it would still be stimulating.

Could abstract visual art be more potentially popular than is commonly thought? Could the reason it's not that actually popular is because most abstract visual artists limit themselves to static rather than dynamic art? If Mondrian were alive today and made the same kind of art, undertaking the same artistic project but by using animation/computer graphics, would it be more widely appreciated?

Last edited by MichaelEmouse; Yesterday at 05:04 PM.

Source: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=680543

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Researchers identify new target for rheumatoid arthritis

Monday, January 28, 2013

Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified a potential new target for drugs to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a protein known as IRHOM2. The finding could provide an effective and potentially less toxic alternative therapy to tumor necrosis factor-alpha blockers (TNF-blockers), the mainstay of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and could help patients who do not respond to this treatment. Efforts to develop drugs that hone in on this new target are underway.

"This study is an elegant example of the capacity of basic science cell biologists to work with translational rheumatologists to address a clinically relevant question at a basic level," said Jane Salmon, M.D., Collette Kean Research Chair and co-director, Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, and an author of the study. "We have identified a clinically relevant target that can be applied to patients in the near term." The study will appear online, ahead of print, on January 25, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and in the February 2013 print issue.

Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, is triggered, in large part, by TNF-alpha, a small signaling protein usually involved in launching protective systemic inflammatory responses. With excessive TNF production, however, immune cells can become activated inappropriately and cause tissue inflammation. This produces a number of diseases, including RA. While TNF-blockers help many RA patients, these treatments are very expensive, and some patients do not respond. For this reason, researchers have been searching for alternative targets in patients with inflammatory diseases against which drugs can be directed.

"TNF can be thought of as a balloon tethered to the surface of cells. To work, it must be cut loose by signaling scissors called TACE (TNF-alpha converting enzyme)," said Carl Blobel, M.D., Ph.D., program director of the Arthritis and Tissue Degeneration Program at HSS. While blocking TACE could be another way to treat rheumatoid arthritis, researchers know this strategy would likely have side effects since patients lacking TACE are prone to skin infections and intestinal lesions.

Earlier this year, HSS investigators demonstrated that the TACE scissors are regulated by molecules called IRHOM1 and IRHOM2, which are thought to wrap around TACE and help it mature into functional scissors. They also demonstrated that mice that are genetically engineered to lack IRHOM2 lack functional TACE on the surface of their immune cells and don't release TNF. Surprisingly, these mice are healthy, and do not develop skin or intestinal defects.

In the current study, HSS researchers set out to investigate why this paradox exists. After examining tissues of IRHOM2-deficient mice, they found that IRHOM2 regulates TACE on immune cells, whereas IRHOM1 is responsible for helping TACE mature elsewhere in the body, such as in brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung and spleen cells. "IRHOM2 appears to have a more restrictive and exclusive function in immune cells," said Dr. Blobel.

The researchers then set out to determine whether blocking IRHOM2 could be a strategy to treat RA. They used a mouse model that mimics human rheumatoid arthritis in mice genetically engineered to be deficient in IRHOM2. They found that these rodents did not develop inflammatory arthritis and were otherwise healthy.

"When we tested mice that don't have IRHOM2 in a model for inflammatory arthritis, we found they were protected and they were protected as well as mice that didn't have any TNF," said Dr. Blobel. "Because TNF is the driver of rheumatoid arthritis in human disease, as evidenced by how well anti-TNF drugs work, we feel that this provides a completely new angle on blocking TNF release. It would be wonderful to be able to inactivate TACE in a tissue-specific manner and IRHOM2 provides a unique mechanism for us to do so."

Using drugs that inactivate IRHOM2 in humans, clinicians will be able to block the function of TACE only in immune cells. "We can prevent the deleterious contribution of TACE to rheumatoid arthritis patients and preserve its protective function in skin and intestines," said Dr. Blobel. "With IRHOM2, we have a unique and unprecedented opportunity to inactive TACE only in certain cell types, and not in others, and there is currently no other effective way of doing that."

The researchers say the next step is to identify antibodies or pharmacological compounds that can be used to block the function of IRHOM2 and are safe in patients. These HSS investigators are currently working to identify and test such agents. "In theory, IRHOM2-targeted drugs will have less toxicity than TNF alpha blockers," said Dr. Salmon. "They block TNF release only from specific cells, those known to contribute to joint inflammation and damage."

###

Hospital for Special Surgery: http://www.hss.edu

Thanks to Hospital for Special Surgery 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 49 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126480/Researchers_identify_new_target_for_rheumatoid_arthritis

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when a relationship becomes a friendship | Ashalah

posted by Ashalah on Life

5 comments

I was 21 when I got into my first real relationship. His name was Brian and while the details of our beginnings are hazy since I have a shotty memory, I remember him bringing me wine, chocolates?truly courting me in a way that I?d always imagined a guy would. We spent weekends together, went on vacations together, confessed our feelings during a sunset at my parents lakehouse in New Hampshire and fought loudly while cooking meals at his condo I moved into. When we ended three years later in a surprisingly mutual understanding, he was still my best friend. We had been through a lot, he knew me better than almost anyone ever had and it was hard to disconnect from that (had the breakup been another round of screaming, it might have been a different story). When we broke up we continued the friendship and while we?ve drifted apart?him living with his new girlfriend in Connecticut, and me in Boulder making bad decisions with my love life, we still email every couple months, acquaintances ?now but no hard feelings.

I?ve dated a lot of boys in the past six years since I?ve been single and I?ve walked away from a lot of them with barely a word said afterwards but there are a few that I?ve stayed friends with, that I thought were worth keeping in my life. After all, I had dated them for a reason and while it didn?t work out and I felt wronged at the time, it didn?t make them a bad person. There was something I liked about them as a person that made me pursue them (and allow them to pursue me) and I?ve always believed that relationships are built on strong friendships. And sometimes, the relationship part just doesn?t work but the friendship still does. Case in point: one of my very good friends Chad happens to be a guy I dated briefly when I first moved here. I was sad when it ended, I probably cried a lot since crying apparently is my thing, but we?ve stayed friends and now we go see movies, play puzzles, drink beer and bitch about our dating lives. I?m even trying to set up with another of my good friends, that?s how platonic this friendship is.

I even stayed friends with Daniel, an ex I wrote about on another blog, whom I had quite the tumultuous relationship with?a constant back and forth and with, I?m sure, both of us feeling like the other was treating us badly. The fact of the matter is that, despite all the sadness and anger and toxicity that was our relationship, we still had a mutual respect of the other and when I took off for Europe, he was my biggest supporter and cheerleader that what I was doing was something great. After two years, we were in a good place to become friends. He remains one of the most inspirational and motivated human beings that I have ever met and I?m proud to call him a friend. I?m pretty sure none of my friends who witnessed that drawn out relationship would have guessed that we?d be on good terms today and that I?d be genuinely happy that he is in a relationship that seems to make him really happy. Some people are just meant to be in your life, and sometimes that purpose isn?t always clear in the beginning.

This weekend, in two separate scenarios, I was basically told I was not normal because I was friends with my exes. One person was a friend, the other a complete stranger. They could not fathom why I would ever stay friends with an ex.?Totally understandable but it still struck me: I had never been considered not normal because of this before. If people commented on it, it was usually how admirable it was to foster these friendships, but they couldn?t do it themselves. It?s not like I?m friends with all my exes; certain ones I can?t be friends with and lately, to be honest, I find it harder and harder to maintain a friendship or even want to.

But not normal?

Am I really that big of an?anomaly? Is it really that weird that I stay friends with some of my exes??Where do you fall on this spectrum? Do you stay friends with someone you?ve dated or do you sever all ties, what?s done is done?

Source: http://ashalah.com/2013/01/when-a-relationship-becomes-a-friendship/

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Brazil detains band, club owners after nightclub fire

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian police on Monday detained the owners of the nightclub where a fire killed 231 people as well as two band members whose pyrotechnics they say triggered the blaze as the focus turned to finding those responsible for the tragedy.

No charges were filed against the four men, but prosecutors said they could be held for up to five days as police pressed them for clues as to how the fire early Sunday morning could have caused so many deaths.

Stunned residents in the southern city of Santa Maria began attending a marathon of funerals in the pre-dawn hours of Monday. Many of the dead were university students who knew each other.

Coffins, many draped with flags of the victims' favorite soccer teams, lined a gymnasium that has been used as a makeshift morgue.

Most of the dead were suffocated by toxic fumes that rapidly filled the Kiss nightclub after the band set off a flare at about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, authorities said.

The club's operating license was in the process of being renewed after expiring last year, and witnesses said bouncers initially blocked the only functioning exit because they believed fleeing customers were trying to skip out on their bar tabs.

Tarso Genro, governor of the prosperous southern state of Rio Grande do Sul where the disaster occurred, said police had taken the men into custody to ensure "this will never happen again."

Genro said authorities' focus had shifted from rescue and taking care of the wounded to investigating the scene. "We're going to find out who was responsible," he vowed.

The death toll was revised down to 231 from 233 as officials said some names had been counted twice. Eighty-two people remained hospitalized, at least 30 of them in serious condition.

The tragedy came as Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and 2016 Olympics, putting its safety standards and emergency response capabilities in the international spotlight. President Dilma Rousseff visited the scene, visibly upset, on Sunday.

Relatives and friends of the dead demanded accountability, signaling the start of a wave of police probes, lawsuits and recriminations that could drag on for months or even years.

"We can't trust in the ability of city hall, or the police, or anybody who permits a party with more a thousand people under these conditions," said Erica Weber, who was accompanying her daughter to a funeral for one of her classmates.

Based on testimony from more than 20 witnesses, investigators are now certain that the band's pyrotechnics show triggered the blaze, said police official Sandro Meinerz. He added that initial reports that the club was operating beyond its capacity of 1,000 people were likely false.

"Witnesses said the club wasn't as full as it had been in previous weeks, which surely avoided an even greater tragedy," Meinerz said.

The band's guitarist, Rodrigo Lemos Martins, 32, said he doubted the band was responsible for the blaze. "There were lots of wires (in the ceiling), maybe it was a short circuit," Folha de S.Paulo newspaper quoted him as saying.

The band's accordion player, Danilo Jaques, 30, was among those killed but the other five members survived. Vocalist Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos and production engineer Luciano Bonilha, who police believed were responsible for firing the flare, were taken into custody, according to Brazilian media.

LAWSUITS COMING

It seems certain others will share the blame for Brazil's second-deadliest fire ever. The use of a flare inside the club was a clear breach of security regulations, fire officials said.

Some details may never be known. Meinerz said the club's internal video surveillance system had stopped working three months ago, according to the club owner.

Clubs and restaurants in Brazil are generally subject to a web of overlapping safety regulations, but enforcement is uneven and owners sometimes pay bribes to continue operating.

The investigation of the Kiss fire could drag on for years. After a similar fire at an Argentine nightclub in 2004 killed 194 people, more than six years passed before a court found members of a band criminally responsible for starting the blaze and causing the deaths.

That tragedy also provoked a massive backlash against politicians and led to the removal of the mayor of Buenos Aires.

Civil lawsuits stemming from the Brazil fire are likely to be directed at the government because the owners of the nightclub probably don't have much money, said Claudio Castello de Campos, a Brazilian lawyer who has handled big cases including the crash of a TAM Airlines jet in Sao Paulo in 2007.

Castello de Campos disputed some local officials' claims that the Kiss nightclub could have continued operating legally while it was waiting for its license to be renewed. "If the license was expired, that's an irregular situation," he said.

Valdeci Oliveira, a legislator in Rio Grande do Sul state, said he and his colleagues would seek to ban pyrotechnics displays in closed spaces such as nightclubs.

"It won't bring anybody back but we're going to introduce the bill," Oliveira said on his Twitter feed.

The Brazil fire is the worst to hit an entertainment venue since a fire on Christmas Day in 2000 engulfed a mall in Luoyang, China, killing 309 people.

(This story corrects lawyer's name in 22nd paragraph to Claudio, not Carlos)

(Additional reporting by Eduardo Sim?es in Sao Paulo; Writing by Brian Winter; Editing by Todd Benson, Kieran Murray and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/grief-turns-anger-brazil-club-fire-band-custody-141430117.html

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Engineers use evolution to improve solar cell design

23 hrs.

TechNewsDaily

Scientists are using principles of natural selection to evolve a more efficient solar cell.

Engineers at Northwestern University wrote a computer program that "mates" design elements and assesses the fitness of their "offspring" to come up with the most efficient possible organic solar cell. Organic solar cells are made with the so-called organic elements ? carbon, oxygen and nitrogen ? and are cheaper to make, lighter and more flexible than the traditional silicon cells available in solar panels today.

Organic cells aren't as efficient at turning the sun's energy into electricity as silicon cells, however. Many research groups are working to improve organic solar cells' efficiency. If they work well, such cells could go into? electricity-producing windows ?or clothes.

In their work, the Northwestern researchers focused on the top layer of an organic solar cell, called the scattering layer, which traps photons from sunlight. They wanted a scattering layer that would hold photos for a greater amount of time.

"We wanted to determine the geometry for the scattering layer that would give us optimal performance," Cheng Sun, a mechanical engineer and one of the creators of the new organic solar cell,? said in a statement. "But with so many possibilities, it's difficult to know where to start, so we looked to laws of natural selection to guide us."

Sun and his colleagues' program simulated more than 20 generations of matings to come up with their final design. The program also mimicked the biological processes of mutation and an exchange of traits called crossing over.

The resulting design traps photons for three times as long as the Yablonovitch Limit, which describes how long a photon is likely to stay in a semiconducting material. Researchers have only been able to reach and break the Yablonovitch Limit in the last few years.?

The engineers? published their work ?Jan. 3 in the journal Scientific Reports.

Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily, or on Facebook.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/engineersscientists-evolve-super-efficient-solar-cell-1C8124835

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Quotations of the day

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quotations-day-070627283.html

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Monday, January 28, 2013

This Is What a Gun Control March on Washington Looks Like

It was cold in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, but that didn't stop thousands of people from participating in a gun control march?on the nation's Capitol.?

RELATED: Joe Biden's Google Hangout Takes on Assault Weapons and the NRA

The march was organized by Molly Smith and?Shannon Watts. The two used social media for the most part to spread the word of the march. All things considered, the relatively inexperienced Smith was pleased with the result. "It's been a remarkable learning experience," Smith told CNN, "the realization that we're citizens and this is an active citizenship, and being a citizen isn't just sitting around and gassing about it."

RELATED: Meet the NRA's Power Circle Who'll Be Facing Off Against Obama's Proposals

Watts has a little more advocacy experience, though she is relatively green. After the Aurora mass shooting, Watts created the group?One Million Moms for Gun Control. She's been profiled in The New York Times, and?planned a few gatherings, though nothing on a scale like this.

RELATED: The First Annual 'Gun Appreciation Day' Is 48 Hours Before Obama's Inauguration

There were signs handed out that were simple, with things like "Stop NRA," or "Another _______ Against [Assault Rifles]" Some were a little more creative, like "What Would Jesus Pack?" or the long, pink, assault-rifle shaped signs that said "Ban Assault Rifles"

About 100 Newtown residents who made the trip for the march, organizers said.?

Education Secretary Arne Duncan was the featured speaker, urging the march was not about repealing the Second Amendment, but about getting more gun safety regulations. "This is about trying to create a climate in which our children can grow up free of fear," Duncan said. "This march is a starting point; it is not an ending point... We must act, we must act, we must act."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-control-march-washington-looks-231248040.html

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Daily Kos: Credit card processor no longer doing business with ...

Some gun dealers may be finding it more difficult to sell their wares online. ? A gun salesman near Nashville found out yesterday that Intuit Payment Solutions no longer wants to do business with online gun dealers.

"We go through all the hoops and all the steps and at the end of the day it's still a struggle to get the same services anybody else would," said Nick McMillan.
He owns Leiper's Fork Firearms. It is a small gun dealership McMillan runs out of his home.

"We're set up like a business, just like every other small business out there," he said.

McMillan is a has a federal firearms license and is heavily regulated by both the state and federal governments.

But McMillan received an email from Intuit Payment solutions informing him the company was no longer interested in processing his credit card sales.

"They either reviewed several accounts, or it was a company wide policy, because I wasn't the only federal firearms license dealer that got pushed out the other day," McMillan said.

According to the email McMillan and several other gun dealers got, Intuit is no longer willing to process payments for guns that aren't purchased face-to-face. ?McMillan thinks that Intuit simply doesn't want to deal with any bad publicity in the event of another tragedy.

Good for Intuit. ?Until we make it tougher for those who have no business having guns to get them, this more than makes sense. ?Hopefully other credit card processors will step up.

Originally posted to Shut Down the NRA on Sat Jan 26, 2013 at 03:31 PM PST.

Also republished by Three Star Kossacks and Repeal or Amend the Second Amendment (RASA).

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Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/26/1182376/-Credit-card-processor-no-longer-doing-business-with-online-gun-dealers

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Djokovic wins third successive Australian Open

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic became the first man to win three successive Australian Open titles in the professional era when he beat third seed Andy Murray 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2 in a battle of attrition on Sunday.

The Serb, who has now won four of his six grand slam titles in Melbourne, managed to win the important points as the Briton suffered from blisters on his right foot and problems at the top of his left hamstring.

Both players produced superb service games throughout the match with Djokovic the first to achieve a break in the eighth game of the third set, propelling him to the brink of the title after the pair had shared tiebreaks in the first two sets.

Djokovic then capitalized on a flagging Murray, who had battled to a five-set win over Roger Federer on Friday, breaking early in the fourth set and then holding on to clinch the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup for the fourth time.

"What a joy. It's an incredible feeling to win this trophy again," Djokovic said. "This is definitely my favorite grand slam. I love this tournament. I love this court.

"I have to congratulate Andy and thank him.

"We have played so many great matches in the last two years. Bad luck for tonight but I wish you best of luck for the season."

Djokovic was not the only man chasing a record.

U.S. Open champion Murray, who beat Djokovic in the New York final in September, was also hoping to become the first Briton to win the title since Fred Perry in 1934 and the first man to win his second grand slam immediately after winning his first.

Djokovic had the first opportunity to take an advantage when he held four break points in the sixth game, but Murray fought them all off and leveled at 3-3 with a kicking ace down the center line.

The world number one held another break point in the eighth game, but Murray again saved and forced a tiebreak, which he sealed 7-2 after he had jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked like giving it up.

MEDICAL TIMEOUT

Murray's first serve, which had caused him problems in the first set, was much better in the second and the Scot reduced the number of unforced errors though neither man looked likely to lose their serve.

The top seeded Djokovic seized the advantage in the tiebreak when Murray double faulted after he had been forced to stop his serve as a feather from birds in the roof fluttered down on court.

That point gave the Serb a 3-2 lead, which he capitalized on to win 7-3 when Murray hit a backhand into the net.

The Briton then took a medical timeout before the third set began to have sticking plaster and strapping tape applied to blisters around the big toe on his right foot and the momentum shifted to the Serbian world number one.

Djokovic, however, waited until the time was right to pounce on Murray's weakness, which he did in the eighth game when he claimed the first break of the match after almost three hours of play to take a 5-3 lead.

The Serb then blasted through his service game to love to take the third set in a relatively lightning 41 minutes after the first two sets had taken 68 and 65 minutes respectively.

Murray's foot continued to give him trouble in the fourth set as he was unable to stop abruptly, change direction, or push off properly to generate power.

Djokovic broke in the third game and sensing the finishing line was in sight, achieved a double break in the fifth and sealed the win when a Murray backhand return thudded into the net.

"I'd like to thank Novak," Murray said.

"His record here is incredible. There are very few people who have managed to do what he has done here.

"He's an amazing champion, so well done to him."

(Editing by Mark Meadows)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/murray-takes-first-set-australian-open-final-100522124--ten.html

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Chavez starting more medical treatment in Cuba

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defeated a respiratory infection and has begun additional medical treatment in Cuba after struggling with complications following cancer surgery more than six weeks ago, a government spokesman said Saturday.

Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that it remains unclear how soon Chavez could return home, and did not specify the kind of treatment he is receiving.

"Vice President (Nicolas) Maduro estimates that the time it could take President Chavez to return is within weeks. But we haven't wanted to fix an exact timeframe for the president's recuperation," Villegas told reporters on the sidelines of a 60-nation summit in Chile.

He read a statement that went beyond past government reports in providing additional information about Chavez's Dec. 11 surgery, but didn't describe the newest treatment. While refusing to release many details about the president's cancer, authorities in the past have reported on specific treatments, including radiation and chemotherapy.

"Forty-five days after carrying out a complex surgical intervention for the removal of a malignant lesion in the pelvis, with severe, acute complications, the patient's general evolution is favorable," Villegas said, reading the statement.

"At this time, the serious respiratory infection has been overcome, although a certain degree of respiratory deficiency persists and is being duly treated," Villegas said.

After that improvement, Villegas said, "systemic medical treatment for the fundamental illness began to be applied as a complement to the surgery."

Villegas also criticized Spain's leading newspaper El Pais, which was forced to reprint its Thursday edition after discovering that its front-page exclusive photograph supposedly showing an ailing Chavez being treated in Cuba was a fake.

The newspaper apologized to its readers for the mistake and said it was investigating how the photo made its way into the paper.

"But who has apologized to Chavez or his family?" Villegas said.

"In Venezuela we've seen a phenomenon where even the atheists are praying for Chavez," he said. "In Uruguay, President Mujica, who's not a believer, organized a Mass and prayed for Chavez."

Chavez hasn't appeared or spoken publicly since before the operation.

Maduro said early Saturday after meeting with Chavez in Cuba that the ailing president is now "in the best moment we've seen him in these days of struggle" following the surgery.

Maduro spoke on state television after returning from Havana to Venezuela, and before he traveled to Chile for the summit.

"We're taking a message prepared by the president, and we're going to turn it over to heads of state who attend the CELAC summit. He makes fundamental proposals," Maduro said, adding that the message was in Chavez's handwriting.

Maduro said Chavez also sent a message for Venezuelans, including that he was "very optimistic" about his treatment. Maduro said Chavez is "hanging on to Christ and to life."

Chavez has undergone repeated surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment for an unspecified type of pelvic cancer. He has undergone much of his treatment in Cuba.

The 58-year-old president won re-election in October, and lawmakers indefinitely put off his inauguration earlier this month in a decision that was condemned by opponents but upheld by the Supreme Court.

The vice president said that Chavez "has reviewed and evaluated reports on different areas and has made decisions."

He said Chavez evaluated the country's economic situation and budget and made decisions about gold reserves, funding for public housing projects and "social investments and economic development." Maduro didn't give more details but said the actions approved by the president were intended to "guarantee the country's economic growth, infrastructure, housing."

Maduro said that one of the documents signed by Chavez dealt with the selection of his socialist party's candidates for mayoral elections later this year. The vice president showed the signature in red ink on one of the documents.

___

Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Ian James in Caracas, Venezuela, and Chris Gillete in Santiago, Chile contributed to this report.

Luis Andres Henao is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-starting-more-medical-treatment-cuba-001038574.html

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St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Department of Psychiatry and - Mani's ...

St. Luke?s Roosevelt Hospital is an urban, not-for-profit, voluntary, teaching hospital of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons ? located on the upper west side of (St. Luke?s Hospital) and in midtown (Roosevelt Hospital) Manhattan. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary system, which includes two emergency rooms, two adult inpatient units, two outpatient clinics (child and adult), a therapeutic school and milieu for adolescents, community outreach services, intensive outpatient treatment programs, specialty clinics, a multi-service substance abuse facility, a behavioral science research unit, and a consultation-liaison psychiatry service. The Department is an active center of training, including: an APA-accredited Psychology Internship Program; ACGME-accredited Psychiatry Residency Training Programs in adult and child psychiatry; Psychology Fellowship Programs in Adult and Child Services; ACGME-accredited Fellowship Programs in Child Psychiatry and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry; psychology externships; medical student education; and practica in other mental health disciplines. (Please see www.slrpsych.org for information about the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health). St. Luke?s Roosevelt Hospital is an equal opportunity employer.

Adult Services Fellowship Programs

There are six positions in the Fellowship Program of the Adult Services of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health of St. Luke?s Roosevelt Hospital.

Clinical Activities

The basic clinical activities of all Fellowship positions include:

Intake
Evaluation and Assessment
Individual Psychotherapy
Group Therapy
Crisis Intervention
Supervision

Supervision

Fellows receive a combination of individual supervision, with Directors of Service and/or Supervising Psychologists; and group supervision.

Didactics

All Fellows participate in weekly didactics, within the Fellowship settings. In addition, all fellows participate in the following didactic seminars, under the leadership of Leora Heckelman, Ph.D., Associate Director, Adult Psychology Education & Training:

Case conference (viewing target cases from different theoretical/technical perspectives)
?Specialty didactic modules on newly evolving, evidence-based intervention modalities
?Intensive psychoanalytically-driven Psychotherapy Case Conference
?Supervision seminar ? including discussion of theories of supervision, an opportunity to supervise, and live supervision of supervision

Fellowship Terms

All Fellowships are one?year ? from July 1 ? June 30.

Fellows have benefits, vacation days, sick days, and personal days.

The Fellowship salary is competitive.

St. Luke?s Roosevelt ? p. 2

Fellowship Settings

The Fellowship settings are:

Psychiatric Recovery Center (PRC) is an intensive outpatient program offering services designed to meet the needs of individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. A work and recovery model informs the treatment, and supports the goal of engagement in vocational, pre-vocational, or educational activity, either on-site or outside of the program. PRC offers: intake evaluation; acute symptom management and crisis intervention; psychopharmacologic management; individual psychotherapy; group psychotherapy (i.e. respectively informed by CBT, DBT, process approach, and others); family therapy; vocational assessment and rehabilitation, social services and entitlements needs assessment, linkage and case management; medical assessment and treatment; and disposition planning, linkage and follow-up. Patients may receive psychodiagnostic assessment to help clarify diagnosis and level of functioning. This is a multidisciplinary environment ? in which interns work in terms with psychiatric residents, nurses, social workers, case managers, and occupational therapists. The psychologist Director, as well as other psychologists on staff provide supervision. There is one Fellowship position in the PRC.

The Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders (CITPD) is an intensive outpatient treatment program for adults who are in acute, often suicidal, crisis. The majority of patients have affective illness and/or axis II pathology. Treatment takes the form of various group and individual sessions aimed at helping patients resolve acute crisis and make the transition back into the community. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a treatment focus as well as psychodynamic and process work. CITPD offers: intake evaluation; acute symptom management and crisis intervention; psychopharmacologic management; individual psychotherapy; group psychotherapy; social services and entitlements needs assessment, linkage and case management; medical assessment and treatment; and disposition planning, linkage and follow-up. Patients may receive psychodiagnostic assessment to assist differential diagnosis, treatment planning and disposition planning or linkage. The psychologist Director, as well as other psychologists and professionals on staff, provide supervision. There is one Fellowship position in CITPD.

The Addiction Institute of New York (AI) is a comprehensive substance abuse treatment center ? which includes detoxification, intensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, outpatient treatment programs, residential treatment, methadone, buprenorphine and other pharmacologic treatment, and a consultation service for medical/surgical inpatient units. It includes specialty outpatient clinics ? such as: ?Crystal Clear? relapse prevention program for stimulant-using men who have sex with men; young adult program for individuals with various types of substance use; DBT-informed groups for dually diagnosed individuals with Axis II disorders, etc.). It also includes consultations with the medical/surgical services. The Psychologist Clinical Director, Assistant Director, Outpatient Treatment Programs, as well as other psychologists and professionals on staff, provide supervision.? There are two Fellowship positions in AI.

The Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic (Adult OPC) serves individuals with a broad range of psychiatric diagnoses, socioeconomic backgrounds, and ethnic, cultural and sexual identities, and life situations. The Adult OPC provides: intake assessment; individual psychotherapy (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, dialectical behavior, and supportive therapy); group psychotherapy; crisis intervention; and family therapy (i.e. delivered in front of one-way mirror, observed, with live supervision), all within multidisciplinary teams. The Fellow will have an opportunity to focus additionally on the psychological treatment of individuals with significant medical illnesses. Staff and adjunct, psychologists provide the majority of supervision, in addition to regular meetings with the psychiatrist Director. There is one Fellowship position in the Adult OPC.

St. Luke?s Roosevelt ? p. 3

The Trauma-Focused Programs (TFP) serve the mental health needs of survivors of trauma or abuse, many of whom are also in recovery from substance use. The Programs provide empirically supported individual and group psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy and case management. Clients may present with a range of mental health issues, including posttraumatic stress disorder, other significant anxiety or mood disorders, or dissociative disorders. The Women?s Health Project (WHP) and The Men?s Center For Healing and Recovery (MCHR) are separate to maintain a sense of safety and gender-specific support. Fellows provide individual and group psychotherapy and initial consultations. Training includes a weekly didactic seminar in the treatment of trauma and addiction and a weekly psychotherapy case conference in which students and staff present case material. Supervision is provided by psychologists and social workers with expertise in trauma and addictions. Fellows have the opportunity to supervise pre-doctoral candidates on clinical interviewing skills. There is one Fellowship position in the TFP.? (For further information, please visit whpnyc.org).

Qualifications

By July 1:

Completion of APA-accredited Psychology Internship Program
Completion of course of study and dissertation and dissertation defense ?

in an APA-accredited Ph.D. or Psy.D. doctoral program in clinical, counseling or combined clinical-school psychology

Application Process

Please email a cover letter, CV and two letters of reference (including at least one letter from a clinical supervisor) by February 11, to the following:

Psychiatric Recovery Center (PRC) Fellowship:

Susan Palmgren, Ph.D. at SPalmgre@chpnet.org

Trauma Focused Programs (TFP) Fellowship:

Lisa Litt, Ph.D. at LLitt@chpnet.org

Center For Intensive Treatment Of Personality Disorders (CITPD) Fellowship:

Andrew Twardon,? Ph.D. at ATwardon@chpnet.org

Addiction Institute (AI) Fellowship:

Paul Rinaldi, Ph.D. at PRinaldi@chpnet.org

Adult Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic (Adult OPC) Fellowship:

Paul Rosenfield, M.D. at PRosenfield@chpnet.org

In addition, please cc: all materials to:

Susan Tross, Ph.D.

Director, Psychology Education and Training

at stross@chpnet.org

Source: http://manigarcia.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2013/01/25/st-lukes-roosevelt-hospital-department-of-psychiatry-and-behavioral-health-adult-services-psychology-fellowship-programs/

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

American gets 35 years in Mumbai terror plot

Tom Gianni / AP

David Coleman Headley is shown in a courtroom sketch from May 2011.

By James B. Kelleher, Reuters

CHICAGO - David Headley, an American who admitted scouting targets for the 2008 Islamic militant raid on Mumbai and later agreed to testify against the plotters to avoid the death penalty, was sentenced on Thursday to 35 years in prison.

The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, was the maximum sought by federal prosecutors.

The attacks killed more than 160 people, including six Americans. Headley, a 52-year-old U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, admitted videotaping sites that were targeted by the Mumbai attackers.

He was arrested in 2009 and pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including conspiracy to bomb places of public use and commit murder and plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper.

After entering his plea in 2010, Headley cooperated with U.S. investigators and foreign intelligence agencies to avoid the death penalty and extradition to India, Pakistan or Denmark, agreeing to testify in foreign judicial proceedings, the government said.

In a memorandum filed with Judge Leinenweber earlier this week, the government said "there is little question that life imprisonment would be an appropriate punishment for Headley's incredibly serious crimes but for the significant value provided by his immediate and extensive cooperation."

Last week, Judge Leinenweber sentenced Pakistani-born businessman Tahawwur Rana to 14 years in federal prison for providing support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attacks.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/24/16681398-american-who-aided-mumbai-terror-plotters-gets-35-years-in-prison?lite

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Palestinian president wants Israelis to talk peace

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? The Palestinian president will invite Israeli politicians to the West Bank to try to make sure peacemaking is on the new government's agenda, a senior official said Thursday, as a top Israeli hard-liner proposed sidelining the polarizing issue.

Hoping to capitalize on the unexpected strength of moderates in Israel's incoming parliament, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants to sit down with representatives of Israeli parliamentary factions to discuss the possibility of settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict peacefully, senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo told The Associated Press.

"We invite the Israeli parties, particularly the new ones, for dialogue on future accords," Abed Rabbo said.

He did not say when the invitations would go out, but emphasized that Abbas wanted the meeting to take place before Israel forms its next government ? a process that is expected to take several weeks.

Tuesday's parliamentary vote ended in a surprise near deadlock between a hawkish, religious bloc that earned 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament and a camp of centrist, secular and Arab parties that earned 59, according to final results announced Thursday.

While Benjamin Netanyahu, as head of the largest single party in parliament, appears set to remain prime minister, he'll have a very hard time putting together a stable coalition without drawing in moderates beyond his traditional hardline and religious base. Technically, he could garner a 61-seat majority without reaching across the aisle, but such a coalition would be very difficult to maintain and would not be able to pursue reforms Netanyahu has pledged. He has already extended his hand to a new centrist party that advocates more serious efforts to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Peace talks reached an impasse before Netanyahu came into office four years ago and never resumed in earnest. The main obstacle during his tenure has been continued construction of Jewish settlements in areas captured in the 1967 war, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 but still controls access by land, sea and air.

Abed Rabbo said the Palestinians have not dropped two longstanding conditions for negotiations ? Israel must stop settlement building and the contours of the Palestinian state must be negotiated on the basis of the borders Israel held before 1967.

While opinion polls indicate a majority of Israelis back the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, peacemaking was barely mentioned as a campaign issue, reflecting widespread doubts that peace is possible after decades of violence and stop-and-go talks.

Still, the election's outcome defied forecasts that Netanyahu and his allies would steer a government with an even more hard-line makeup.

Instead, his top partner is likely to be Yesh Atid, a new party with moderate views on peacemaking that has emerged as Israel's new power broker.

Yesh Atid's leader, political newcomer Yair Lapid, has said he will not sit in a government that is not seriously pursuing peace with the Palestinians. But the focus of his campaign has been mostly on helping the needs of Israel's struggling middle class, raising questions about how hard he will push on the peace issue.

Lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman, a Netanyahu ally, told Israel Radio on Thursday that the next government must focus on domestic issues rather than peacemaking to avoid political paralysis, given lawmakers' sharply divergent views.

"If we want to founder from the outset, and embark upon endless internal struggles, then make foreign policy the top priority," he said.

"If we want the government to be effective and accomplish things, and leave a strong, significant imprint, I think everyone understands the need for domestic changes is dramatic, and that is the order of the day. So leave the foreign issues aside," he said.

Netanyahu has hinted that is the direction he is going in through the two brief statements he has given since the election results came in late Tuesday. Both statements have focused on the need to build a broad coalition to address pressing domestic issues.

Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party teamed up on a joint list with Netanyahu's Likud for Tuesday's election.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-president-wants-israelis-talk-peace-133342943.html

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SAG honoree Van Dyke glad he made someone smile

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Forget dishonest modesty. Dick Van Dyke seems nothing short of gobsmacked about receiving the life-achievement honor at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards.

"They must've gotten to the 'V's," he joked.

Though probably best known for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961-66) and Walt Disney's big-screen musical "Mary Poppins" (1964), the 87-year-old Van Dyke said that, with the SAG Award, "I kind of find a home. I've always been a bit of an orphan, because actors say, 'Well, he's more of a dancer.' And dancers say, 'No. He's really a singer.' And singers say, 'No. He's an actor.' So, now I've got a home. I can actually refer to these people as my peers."

His career has spanned eight decades, starting with work as a disc jockey and a standup comic in the late '40s. He even worked as a national television morning-show host, with no less than Walter Cronkite serving as his news anchor. But perhaps Van Dyke's most critical career break came in 1960, when director Gower Champion hired him as the male lead opposite Chita Rivera in the new Broadway-bound stage musical "Bye Bye Birdie."

Van Dyke had no professional dance experience, and out-of-town tryouts did not go well. "They were going to fire me in Philadelphia," Van Dyke recalled during a recent interview at the Screen Actors Guild headquarters. "I was still nervous and tight."

Nevertheless, Champion refused to terminate Van Dyke, who would go on to New York with Rivera, and win a Tony award for his performance.

Just about a year later, Van Dyke was starring on his own sitcom, in the role of a television-comedy writer on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Three prime-time Emmys for Van Dyke and more than 50 years later, the series remains revered by many critics as one of the earliest models of great workplace comedy.

"That whole show was the genius of (show creator and writer) Carl Reiner, who said he wrote Jewish comedy for gentile actors," Van Dyke said.

During the series' run, Van Dyke also enjoyed big-screen hits, including the 1963 "Birdie" movie and the 1964 all-star comedy, "What a Way to Go!" But biggest of all was "Mary Poppins," in which he introduced the Oscar-winning song "Chim Chim Cher-ee," but for which he also took, and still takes, serious ribbing, even from his leading lady and longtime pal Julie Andrews.

"She still kids me about my so-called Cockney accent," Van Dyke said, adding a line of defense: "I had an Irish coach ... so he wasn't any better than me."

The first sitcom and "Poppins" are likely to be his most enduring works, but Van Dyke has never stopped working, with other TV series (including a short-lived 1976 variety show, "Van Dyke and Company," which earned him a fourth prime-time Emmy), stage appearances and films. "My favorite unknown movie is 'The Comic,'" Van Dyke said, referring to the 1969 drama, which reunited him with "Van Dyke Show'''s Reiner, who directed. "We felt we actually captured the feel of the silent era." The film is loosely based on the life of silent legend Buster Keaton, who Van Dyke knew personally, adored, and at whose funeral he delivered the eulogy. The two funny men also shared a personal demon: alcoholism.

These days, Van Dyke sings with his vocal group, The Vantasix, and is enjoying life in Los Angeles with his new wife, makeup artist Arlene Silver, who he happened to meet seven years ago __ at the SAG Awards.

Van Dyke's favorite professional life achievement?

"That I made 'em smile," he replied, smiling himself. "And I think that's asking enough."

The 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards is set for Sunday in Los Angeles.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sag-honoree-van-dyke-glad-made-someone-smile-220711223.html

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Friday, January 25, 2013

A$AP Rocky On #1 Billboard Debut: 'The Proof Is In The Pudding'

Rapper tops album chart with sales of 139,000.
By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Rob Markman

A$AP Rocky's Long.Live.A$AP
Photo: Sony

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700653/asap-rocky-long-live-asap-album-billboard.jhtml

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Pavlov's rats? Rodents trained to link rewards to visual cues

Jan. 23, 2013 ? In experiments on rats outfitted with tiny goggles, scientists say they have learned that the brain's initial vision processing center not only relays visual stimuli, but also can "learn" time intervals and create specifically timed expectations of future rewards. The research, by a team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sheds new light on learning and memory-making, the investigators say, and could help explain why people with Alzheimer's disease have trouble remembering recent events.

Results of the study, in the journal Neuron, suggest that connections within nerve cell networks in the vision-processing center can be strengthened by the neurochemical acetylcholine (ACh), which the brain is thought to secrete after a reward is received. Only nerve cell networks recently stimulated by a flash of light delivered through the goggles are affected by ACh, which in turn allows those nerve networks to associate the visual cue with the reward. Because brain structures are highly conserved in mammals, the findings likely have parallels in humans, they say.

"We've discovered that nerve cells in this part of the brain, the primary visual cortex, seem to be able to develop molecular memories, helping us understand how animals learn to predict rewarding outcomes," says Marshall Hussain Shuler, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuroscience at the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

To maximize survival, an animal's brain has to remember what cues precede a positive or negative event, allowing the animal to alter its behavior to increase rewards and decrease mishaps. In the Hopkins-MIT study, the researchers sought clarity about how the brain links visual information to more complex information about time and reward.

The presiding theory, Hussain Shuler says, assumed that this connection was made in areas devoted to "high-level" processing, like the frontal cortex, which is known to be important for learning and memory. The primary visual cortex seemed to simply receive information from the eyes and "re-piece" the visual world together before presenting it to decision-making parts of the brain.

To monitor the vision-reward connection process, the team fitted rats with special goggles that let researchers flash a light before either their left or right eye. Thirsty rats with goggles were given access to a water spout inside a testing chamber. When they approached the water spout, a brief visual cue was presented to one eye.

If light was sent to the left eye, the water spout would have to be licked a few times before water came to the rat; if light was sent to the right eye, the rat would have to lick many more times before water came. After a few daily sessions of such "conditioning" (not unlike Pavlov's famous dog-bell-reward experiments), the rats learned how long they would have to lick before getting a water reward. If they didn't get the reward in the expected amount of time, they would give up and leave the spout.

Monitoring the pattern of electrical signals given off by individual nerve cells in the rat brains, the researchers found that the signals' "spikes" weren't just reflecting the visual cue alone. Rather, the signals seemed to relay the time of expected reward delivery through altered spiking patterns. They also saw that many nerve cells seemed to report one or the other visual cue-reward interval, but not both. In cells stimulated by a flash to the left eye, the electrical signal returned to its baseline after a short delay, in sync with the timing of the water reward; a cue to the right eye correlated with a longer delay, also in sync with the reward. According to the researchers, the amount of time that passed before nerve cells returned to their resting state was the brain's way of setting up a "timed expectation."

Knowing that the basal forebrain is implicated in learning, the researchers wanted to know if their observations could be explained by nerves from the basal forebrain delivering ACh to the vision-processing center. To remove those nerve cells from the equation, they paired a neurotoxin with a "homing device" that targets only ACh-releasing neurons coming from the basal forebrain. They then repeated their experiments in trained rats that received the neurotoxin and in those that didn't, and found that the nerve cell signals continued to relay the old time intervals, suggesting that ACh and the basal forebrain weren't needed to express previously learned time information.

The researchers next used those same rats to ask if ACh is necessary for nerve cells to learn new time delays. To do that, they switched the visual cues so that a flash in the left eye meant a long delay and one in the right eye meant a short one. Vision-processing nerve cells in the rats in which ACh delivery was left intact adapted their signals to the new associations; but those in the rats that no longer received ACh continued to relay the old associations, suggesting that ACh is necessary to make new associations but not to express old ones.

Hussain Shuler explains, "When a reward is received, ACh is sent throughout the brain and reinforces only those nerve cell connections that were recently active. The process of conditioning continues to strengthen these nerve connections, giving rise to a timed expectation of reward in the brain."

According to Hussain Shuler, studies have shown that Alzheimer's patients have low levels of ACh and have trouble forming new memories. Though medication may elevate ACh, alleviation of symptoms is limited. "Our research explains that limitation," he says. "Therapeutically, we predict that the problem isn't just low levels of ACh -- the timing of ACh delivery is key."

Other authors of the report include Emma Roach of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Alexander Chubykin and Mark Bear of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH084911), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (F31DA026687), the National Eye Institute (R01EYO12309), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD046943) and The Johns Hopkins University.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/rtJTFV9gCXA/130123195834.htm

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Honda Center expansion adds retail | store, team, ducks - Business ...

As the Ducks attempt to woo back fans after the NHL lockout, the Honda Center also will try to attract people to spend more at a new team store that's slated to debut midseason.

Called the Anaheim Ducks Team Store Powered by Reebok, the hockey franchise's retail venture with the athletic shoe manufacturer is a $1 million piece of the Grand Terrace project, an ongoing $20 million expansion that began last year.

The new Anaheim Ducks Team Store at the Honda Center will feature a custom jersey station where fans can order a custom jersey before the game starts and pick it up shortly afterward.

Courtesy of the Anaheim Ducks

Honda Center's Grand Terrace project

Size: 12,000 square feet

Design: Rengel+Co Architects of Tustin

Features: An indoor/outdoor entertainment space with an 80-foot bar on the upper level; an expanded store; a 250-seat full-service restaurant; and a new entrance to the arena on the lower level

Cost: $20 million

Access on game days: The retail shop and restaurant are open to all attendees. But membership and a home game ticket are required for access to the Grand Terrace entertainment space on the upper level. A membership costs $400 per season. All 1,000 initial memberships are sold out during the presale and there are hundreds of names on the waiting list.

Access during events and concerts: Available to ticket holders

Status of naming rights: Anaheim Arena Management LLC, the management company for the Honda Center, is in talks with various entities about a formal name of the Grand Terrace area.

Source: Anaheim Arena Management LLC

When completed, the two-story Grand Terrace will add an indoor and outdoor entertainment space that can be rented for events, a 250-seat full-service restaurant, the new store and a new entrance visible from Katella Avenue and the northbound 57.

With more than three times the space of the current store, the new 6,100-square-foot temple to all things Ducks will carry a much broader and deeper assortment in men's, women's and children's goods and exclusive items. It also will debut some features designed to provide an interactive and immersive shopping experience, said Aaron Teats, vice president and chief marketing officer.

The store is an ambitious effort that may do well when fans keep cash registers busy on home-game nights at the Honda Center, said Mark Francis, professor of sports business at the UCLA Center for Managing Enterprise in Media, Entertainment and Sports.

But the true test of the concept's success is if a team store with a lot of inventory and square footage to manage can generate enough revenue to be profitable in between home games and during the offseason, Francis said. This season, it's unclear whether some Ducks fans, already disgruntled by the recently concluded league lockout, will express their displeasure by cutting back on their spending on team merchandise, he said.

A fresh start

On Tuesday, four days before the Anaheim Ducks' first home game of the season, Adam and Rebecca Woods headed to Honda Center with 4-month-old son Dylan to get the family outfitted. After perusing the racks in the 1,800-square-foot team store, the Lake Elsinore couple decided on a cap for Adam, a T-shirt for Rebecca and three bibs for Dylan, totaling $91.

The men's clothing and accessories selection was decent and the array of women's merchandise, OK, Adam said.

"We were kind of disappointed with the baby sizes in the onesies," Rebecca said, adding that the store didn't have one that fit Dylan.

The need for a deeper inventory across all categories ? babies, kids, women's and men's ? is among many things the new store will address, Teats said.

Building a team store from scratch gave Ducks management an opportunity to consider new possibilities.

"One of the main differences between the current store and the new one is that we have enough space now to think about the shopping experience," Teats said. "In 1,800 square feet, we put as much product on the floor that people can see and get. With the bigger size, we can ask questions like what do we want the layout of the store to be and what sorts of things provide the retail experience that all of our fans are going to love."

In addition to stocking logo-laden merchandise, the store needed features that were "eye-catching and intriguing to look at that aren't for sale," he said. A life-size model of a player dressed in full gear will be set up in one area. Nearby, "a replica of the players' lockers will be stocked with game-use merchandise to create a pseudo-locker environment," he said.

A section of the store will pay tribute to the Stanley Cup-winning 2007 team in a nod to Ducks' history.

Some official team merchandise is readily available through the NHL website, so the Ducks needed to give the fans reasons to buy items at the team store. The additions include a custom jersey station in the middle of the store and exclusive lifestyle clothing not sold online, Teats said.

Shoppers can put in customized jersey orders before a home game starts and pick up finished jerseys a short time later. "It's immediate gratification for fans who are thinking, 'I want to wear this during the game,'" Teats said.

The Ducks management also has developed Top Line Threads, a small but upscale private label collection that includes long-sleeved T-shirts.

Because Reebok is a partner in this venture, Ducks-branded Reebok goods will be featured prominently during the regular season and playoffs, Teats said.

A small section of the store will be devoted to jerseys from other NHL hockey teams, and the shop is designed to readily accommodate merchandise for a possible local NBA team. Henry and Susan Samueli, owners of the Ducks, have been actively looking for several years to bring in an NBA franchise to the Honda Center.

The Ducks retail team batted around many ideas in conceptualizing the store, but some ? such as a radio studio and a video-centric man cave ? didn't make the final cut because they were not considered the best use of valuable retail space, Teats said.

The retail pulse

Providing jersey customization, giving fans a wide array of products and making the shopping experience more interactive are key trends in National Hockey League team stores, said Jim Haskins, NHL group vice president of consumer products licensing. "So much of this is about fan engagement ? connecting with the fans," he said.

Broadening the assortment to include higher quality, streetwear and accessories makes business sense for the Ducks, Haskins said. "The Ducks have always had more upscale fans. They do demand better products, such as use of better cotton, better-fitting garments and use of trendy fabrics in the women's clothing side of the business."

The alliance with Reebok is logical, Haskins said, given the brand's longstanding ties to the NHL. Since 2007, the NHL has had its own store in New York, which, like the Ducks store, is "powered by Reebok." That shop serves as a veritable lab and de facto barometer to help the league gauge which products, teams and players resonate with fans.

Will they come?

While the efforts to reinvent a team store and cater to fans is laudable, making a large shop a revenue-generating year-round destination for Ducks fans might be a "tough sell," in Orange County, Francis said. It's a common challenge facing team stores in California and other regions outside of the true winter states of the U.S. and Canada.

From a team store perspective, "it's hard to make a big impact in a relatively smaller market," Francis said. "Hockey is not indigenous" to Southern California.

The overhead to keep a team store open throughout the year is considerable, Francis said.

It's unclear whether there's enough fan support in between home games and during the offseason to sustain a larger retail operation, he said.

That's why great merchandise alone won't be enough, he said. "The store should be made as interactive as possible," he said.

"A hall of fame, for example is one of the very popular features that other team stores are integrating throughout their retail spaces, giving people a reason to drop by."

Teats is optimistic that the new Ducks team store has the elements of a successful retail concept ? one that he hopes fans will repeatedly visit.

"Whether you buy anything or not, we just want you to love what you see," Teats said. "We certainly want you to buy, but we want you to enjoy the experience."

Contact the writer: 714-796-7969 or lliddane@ocregister.com

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/news/store-408969-team-ducks.html

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