Saturday, December 31, 2011

New satellites to extend China's military reach (Reuters)

HONG KONG (Reuters) ? China this week reached a milestone in its drive to master the military use of space with the launch of trials for its Beidou satellite global positioning network, a move that will bring it one step closer to matching U.S. space capabilities.

If Beijing can successfully deploy the full 35 satellites planned for the Beidou network on schedule by 2020, its military will be free of its current dependence for navigation on the U.S. global positioning network (GPS) signals and Russia's similar GLONASS system.

And, unlike the less accurate civilian versions of GPS and GLONASS available to the People's Liberation Army (PLA), this network will give China the accuracy to guide missiles, smart munitions and other weapons.

"This will allow a big jump in the precision attack capability of the PLA," said Andrei Chang, a Hong Kong-based analyst of the Chinese military and editor of Kanwa Asian Defense magazine.

China has launched 10 Beidou satellites and plans to launch six more by the end of next year, according to the China Satellite Navigation Management Office.

Chinese and foreign military experts say the PLA's General Staff Department and General Armaments Department closely coordinate and support all of China's space programs within the sprawling science and aerospace bureaucracy.

As part of this system, the Beidou, or "Big Dipper," network will have an important military role alongside the country's rapidly expanding network of surveillance, imaging and remote sensing satellites.

China routinely denies having military ambitions in space.

Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun on Wednesday dismissed fears the Beidou network would pose a military threat, noting that all international satellite navigation systems are designed for dual civilian and military use.

CATCHING UP WITH THE U.S.

China accelerated its military satellite research and development after PLA commanders found they were unable to track two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups deployed in 1996 to the Taiwan Strait at a time of high tension between the island and the mainland, analysts say.

The effort received a further boost when it was shown how crucial satellite networks were in the 1991 Gulf War, the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

While China still lags the United States and Russia in overall space technology, over the last decade it has rapidly become a state-of-the-art competitor in space-based surveillance after deploying a range of advanced satellite constellations that serve military and civilian agencies.

With the launch of more than 30 surveillance satellites over the last decade, according to space technology experts, the PLA can monitor an expanding area of the earth's surface with increased frequency, an important element of reliable military reconnaissance.

That coverage gives PLA commanders vastly improved capability to detect and track potential military targets.

Real-time satellite images and data can also be used to coordinate the operations of China's naval, missile and strike aircraft forces in operations far from the mainland.

"What we are seeing is China broadly acquiring the same capabilities in this area as those held by the U.S.," said Ross Babbage, a Defense analyst and founder of the Canberra-based Kokoda Foundation, an independent security policy unit.

"Essentially, they are making most of the Western Pacific far more transparent to their military."

In a recent article for the Journal of Strategic Studies, researchers Eric Hagt and Matthew Durnin attempted to estimate the capability of China's space network using orbital modeling software and available data on satellite performance.

China's most basic satellites carried electro-optical sensors capable of taking high resolution digital images in the visible and non-visible wavelengths, wrote the authors.

More advanced satellites launched in recent years carried powerful synthetic aperture radars that could penetrate cloud and cover much bigger areas in high detail.

Added to that, China was now deploying satellites that could monitor electronic signals and emissions, so-called electronic intelligence or ELINT platforms, the authors said.

"Next to China, only the United States possesses more capable tactical support systems in space for tactical operations," they wrote.

(Editing by Don Durfee and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111229/wl_nm/us_china_military

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Dos Pueblos Theater to Audition Children for ?Tarzan? Production

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Complete index of articles and resources

Sharing her passion for art education, longtime volunteer inspires at-risk students to work creativity into their futures

Santa Barbara Unified School District backs accelerated implementation of additional grade

$20,000 grand prize helps student-run organization meet its fundraising goal and will support its efforts to improve lives locally and around the world

One Santa Barbara area student will be recognized for his or her leadership and community service

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10th most popular story: Joplin tornado 2011 by PRonlineNews

Tornado on the Ground

More than 1,500 police and firefighters from four states worked in a pouring rainstorm Monday afternoon, combing the wreckage of central Joplin for survivors of one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.

The Sunday night tornado chewed through a densely populated area of the southwest Missouri city, killing at least 89 as it tore apart homes and businesses, ripped into a high school and caused severe damage to one of the two hospitals in the city.

Hospital Destroyed

?Everybody?s going to know people who are dead,? said CNN iReporter Zach Tusinger, who said his aunt and uncle died in the tornado. ?You could have probably dropped a nuclear bomb on the town and I don?t think it would have done near as much damage as it did.?

The tornado ? the fourth-deadliest since the National Weather Service began keeping count in 1950 ? caused significant damage to as many as a quarter of the buildings in Joplin, fire and emergency management officials said.

Parts of the city of 50,500 were unrecognizable, according to Steve Polley, a storm chaser from Kansas City, Missouri, who described the damage as ?complete devastation.?

17 U.S.C. ?512 compliance: read the entire article here at CNN

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Friday, December 30, 2011

john_keim: #Redskins notes: Pro Bowl fallout, Grossman's confidence | NFL | Washington Examiner http://t.co/CHDw2HOY

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IJ Takes on Mississippi?s Campaign Finance Laws (Theagitator)

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

David Lee Roth to Reunite with Van Halen & Hit the Road

Some thought it would never happen (again), but it looks like David Lee Roth is honestly and truly back with Van Halen for a special 2012 reunion tour.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/david-lee-roth-reunite-van-halen-and-tour/1-a-414045?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Adavid-lee-roth-reunite-van-halen-and-tour-414045

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DigiTimes : Google'?n tablet modeli di?er Android 4.0 tablet modellerinin sat???n? etkileyebilir

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Source: www.donanimhaber.com --- Monday, December 26, 2011
Google'?n Android i?letim sistemi ile ilgili en ?nemli geli?melerden birisi ge?ti?imiz hafta ?talya'da y?netim kurulu ba?kan? Eric Schmidt'in 2012'nin ilk yar?s?nda ??karmay? d???nd??? tablet a??klamas?yd?. ...

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PSA: Verizon experiencing nation-wide data outage?

That phone on Big Red having problems with data? Apparently you're not alone, as the carrier appears to be having issues again judging by the metric ton of emails we've gotten from you experiencing LTE, and in some cases CDMA, blackouts across the country. Our Galaxy Nexus in New York is chugging along with 1xRTT while a Thunderbolt in Washington DC is doing just fine with CDMA. We've just pinged Verizon and will update if we hear back.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

PSA: Verizon experiencing nation-wide data outage? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/psa-verizons-data-outage-across-the-us/

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

GOP's Santorum fighting to contend in leadoff Iowa

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Rick Santorum isn't going down without a fight. In fact, that fight might be lifting him up.

The Republican presidential candidate who may have logged more miles than any other this year is more likely these days to be grinding it out on the campaign trail than trumpeting the buzz he's stirring among Iowa's conservative voters a week before the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses.

"We feel good," Santorum, a long-overlooked candidate in the GOP race, said with a thin smile as he left a midday campaign stop Tuesday in Mason City, seemingly hesitant - at least publicly - to buy into the notion that he's on the rise.

There are hurdles. His cash-strapped campaign has only just started running TV ads, and his organization is small in a state whose contests rely on the ability of campaigns to turn out a slew of supporters.

Still, there's evidence that Iowa Republicans, many of whom are still undecided and looking for a conservative candidate, may be starting to give the former Pennsylvania senator a look at just the right time.

"Rick Santorum could be a real surprise," said former Dallas County GOP Chairman Rob Taylor.

In recent days, Santorum's crowds have started growing as he rallies conservatives with a pit bull's pugnaciousness, and just a touch of anger.

He has earned the support of a number of key backers of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Republican caucuses. They include former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, conservative Sioux City radio host Sam Clovis and some influential evangelical pastors.

He landed the endorsement Tuesday of evangelical conservative activists Alex and Brett Harris, founders of Huck's Army, a national group that supported Huckabee's 2008 campaign.

"He's the only candidate in this race I trust," said Chuck Laudner, a veteran Iowa GOP operative who introduced Santorum to more than 100 party activists on Santorum's fourth trip to Mason City. "And he's a fighter."

As if to prove the point, Santorum launched into a speech filled with pokes at the national media and his rivals. For 90 minutes, he tore into President Barack Obama, Hollywood and moderate Republicans - and, by implication, rival Mitt Romney.

While Santorum's profile in Congress as a social-issues crusader bought him entree with influential evangelical conservatives in Iowa, it's his unhesitating attack on liberals that seems to be fueling his rise in internal polls by rival campaigns.

"Let's look at colleges and universities," Santorum said in the ballroom of the restored Frank Lloyd Wright Park Inn Hotel on Mason City's town square. "They've become indoctrination centers for the left. Should we be subsidizing that?"

Santorum tossed out Harvard University's motto, "Veritas," Latin for truth. "They haven't seen truth at Harvard in 100 years."

Santorum refers to Obama as a "radical." Just as easily, though, he calls his own party's leaders "the good old guys you can count on to sell out in the end."

Even in entertaining questions from voters, he is frank and at times pointed.

"No, you're missing my point," he told Mason City Republican Julia Jones, a retired factory worker, as he tried to explain Social Security.

Jones, who walked into the event weighing Santorum and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, liked what she heard - and decided to support Santorum.

"He doesn't soften the edges, but he doesn't talk down to you either," Jones said. "He's just in-depth."

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SANTORUM_THE_FIGHTER?SITE=AZPHG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

lulucrumble: @steve_x @DawnHFoster and those with a PhD only available at Oxbridge college dining halls.

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Kim Jong Il's son strengthens power with new post

In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, by the Korea News Service, Kim Jong Un, center, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's youngest known son and successor, visits at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, to pay respect to his father. At far left front is Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, by the Korea News Service, Kim Jong Un, center, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's youngest known son and successor, visits at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, to pay respect to his father. At far left front is Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 by the Korea News Service, North Koreans pay respects to their late leader Kim Jong Il in front of his portrait in Chagang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

In this Friday, Dec. 24, 2011 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 by the Korea News Service, Kim Yong Nam, president of Presidium of North Korea's parliament, center, and other officials lay wreaths to mark the 94th anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong Suk, mother of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

Visitors stand beside banners hanging on the wire fence, wishing for reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of the Panmunjom (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

Visitors look at a map of demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the Imjingak Pavilion, near the border village of the Panmunjom (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

(AP) ? North Korea identified Kim Jong Il's son as head of a top ruling party body Monday, a post that gives him authority over political matters in addition to the military control attributed to him in recent days.

Kim Jong Un has rapidly gained prominence since the death of his father on Dec. 17, with the state media showering new titles on him almost daily.

On Saturday, state media referred to the younger Kim as "supreme leader" of North Korea's 1.2 million-strong armed forces and said the military's top leaders had pledged their loyalty to him. On Monday, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper described him as head of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party ? a post that appears to make him the top official in the ruling party.

Kim Jong Il, who ruled North Korea for 17 years, wielded power as head of three main state organs: the Workers' Party, the Korean People's Army and the National Defense Commission. His father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung remains the nation's "eternal president" long after his 1994 death.

The Kim family has extended its control over the country of 24 million people to a third generation with Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was revealed last year as his father's choice among three sons for successor.

He was named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, but was expected to ascend to new military and political posts while being groomed to become the next leader.

Monday's reference to his new title was in commentary in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Workers' Party, urging soldiers to dedicate their lives "to protect the party's Central Committee headed by respected Comrade Kim Jong Un." The editorial called on the people to become "eternal revolutionary comrades" with Kim Jong Un, "the sun of the 21st century."

The language echoed slogans used years ago to rally support for Kim Jong Il, and made clear the son is quickly moving toward leadership of the Workers' Party, one of the country's highest positions, in addition to the military.

North Korea refers to Kim Il Sung as the "sun" of the nation and his birthday is celebrated as the "Day of the Sun," and state media have sought to emphasize Kim Jong Un's role in carrying out the Kim family legacy throughout his succession movement.

His titles are slight variations of those held by his father, but appear to carry the same weight. It was unclear whether the nation's constitution had been changed to reflect the transfer of leadership as when Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death.

A day earlier, state TV showed footage of Kim Jong Un's uncle and key patron, Jang Song Thaek, in a military uniform with a general's insignia. It was the first time that Jang, who was promoted last year to vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party along with Kim Jong Un, was shown on state TV in military garb.

Mourning continued, meanwhile, despite frigid winter weather, in the final days before Kim Jong Il's funeral is set to take place Wednesday and a memorial Thursday.

People continued lining up Monday in central Kim Il Sung Square, where a massive portrait that usually features Kim Il Sung has been replaced by one of Kim Jong Il, to bow before his smiling image and to lay funereal flowers. Heated buses stood by to give mourners a respite from the cold, and hot tea and water were distributed from beverage kiosks.

South Koreans were among the mourners in Pyongyang. The widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, who held a landmark summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000, and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, whose late husband had ties to the North, each led delegations that drove across the heavily fortified border to Pyongyang.

They were greeted by North Korean officials during a stop at a factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, according to footage from AP Television News in North Korea. North Korea sent delegations to Seoul when the women's husbands died.

Meanwhile, a South Korean activist was also in Pyongyang to pay respects to Kim Jong Il but without South Korean government permission, her colleagues said in a statement. For South Koreans, making unauthorized trips to North Korea is punishable by up to three years in prison, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the three-year Korean war ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim and Jiyoung Won in Seoul, South Korea, and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee, contributed to this report. Follow AP's Korea coverage at twitter.com/newsjean and twitter.com/APKlug.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-26-AS-Kim-Jong-Il/id-7270b423aaab4135b8bdacc367aaf67f

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Mulally: Continuous Improvement is 'at the Centerpiece of the Entire Ford Transformation'

With a focus on communication, collaboration and accountability, Alan Mulally has led Ford from the brink of bankruptcy to profitability -- without government bailout funds -- and has positioned the automaker for global growth.

In the process, Mulally has become the face of the U.S. auto industry's renaissance, and has earned a spot in the 2011 IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame.

In a conversation with IndustryWeek earlier this month, Mulally reflected on his career at Ford and Boeing, and talked about the challenges and opportunities on the horizon for America's No. 2 automaker.

IW: Which of your achievements at Ford make you the proudest?

AM: Well I think I'd start with the products.

We now have arguably one of the finest complete product lines of any vehicle manufacturer worldwide -- and we're serving the customer with a complete lineup of very safe and efficient and wonderful cars and trucks and utilities. Another thing that we all feel very good about is the fact that we are now serving all of our customers around the world -- in the Americas, in Europe, Russia, Asia Pacific, India, China -- we're bringing all of these wonderful Ford products to so many customers around the world. Another one is that we're really creating a strong business. We've been growing. We've paid back the money that we borrowed. We're investing for the future -- we're going to add 12,000 jobs in the United States over the next couple of years, and they're great jobs, great careers. We are fighting for the soul of American manufacturing. We're competing with the best in the world, and we're actually exporting our vehicles now around the world based on our U.S. competitiveness. And the third one would be that we are all so proud to be contributing to a better world. What we are doing on petro and diesel engines and powertrains, on lightweight materials, on electrification, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, all-electric, hydrogen, natural gas -- we really are contributing to a better world. IW: What are the core values and leadership principles that have driven your success at Ford? AM: I'd start with the fundamental principle of people working together.

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Syrian opposition calls for UN role to end crisis

Mourners wave Syrian flags and a photo of President Bashar Assad as they chant slogans at a mass funeral Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 for 44 people killed in twin suicide bombings that targeted intelligence agency compounds in Damascus, Syria. Mourners carried coffins draped in the red, white and black Syrian flags into the eighth-century Omayyad Mosque, where they were placed on the ground for prayers. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Mourners wave Syrian flags and a photo of President Bashar Assad as they chant slogans at a mass funeral Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 for 44 people killed in twin suicide bombings that targeted intelligence agency compounds in Damascus, Syria. Mourners carried coffins draped in the red, white and black Syrian flags into the eighth-century Omayyad Mosque, where they were placed on the ground for prayers. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Mourners bow in prayer at a mass funeral Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 for 44 people killed in twin suicide bombings that targeted intelligence agency compounds in Damascus, Syria. Mourners carried coffins draped in the red, white and black Syrian flags into the eighth-century Omayyad Mosque, where they were placed on the ground for prayers. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

(AP) ? With violence continuing, the leader of Syria's main opposition group is urging the Arab League to push for U.N. involvement in seeking an end to the bloodshed.

Burhan Ghalioun, the Paris-based leader of the Syrian National Council, made the plea in a televised speech marking Christmas.

The Arab League has begun sending observers into Syria to monitor its compliance with a plan demanding an end to the regime's crackdown on political opponents. The 22-member bloc has warned that it could turn to the U.N. Security Council to help stop the violence that began in March.

The Arab League plan demands the government remove its security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Thousands of mourners carrying Syrian flags and pictures of the dead took part in a mass funeral Saturday for 44 people killed in twin suicide bombings that targeted intelligence agency compounds in Damascus.

The government of President Bashar Assad said a preliminary investigation pointed to al-Qaida and that the bloodshed and destruction in the capital bolstered its argument that terrorists, rather than true reform-seekers, were behind the anti-government revolt.

The opposition, meanwhile, grew fearful that the regime was taking advantage of the distraction caused by the bombings to move in military reinforcements and prepare for a massive assault on key activist areas in central Syria. Shelling in the city of Homs on Saturday killed at least three people in the Baba Amr district and set several homes and shops ablaze, activists said.

"We believe this is in preparation for a large-scale attack," said Bassam Ishak, secretary-general of the Syrian National Council opposition group.

In Damascus, mourners carried coffins draped in the red, white and black Syrian flags into the eighth-century Omayyad Mosque, where they were placed on the ground for prayers.

"Martyr after martyr, we want nobody but Assad," they shouted in support of the embattled Syrian president.

The government linked Friday's bombings to the uprising against Assad's autocratic rule. They were the first suicide bombings since the unrest began in mid-March, adding new and ominous dimensions to a conflict that has already brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Striking just moments apart, the attackers used powerful car bombs to target the heavily guarded compounds. The explosions shook the capital, which has been relatively untouched by the uprising, and left mutilated and torn bodies amid rubble, twisted debris and burned cars.

Besides the dead, 166 people were wounded.

The opposition has questioned the government's account and hinted the regime itself could have been behind the attacks, noting they came a day after the arrival of an advance team of Arab League observers investigating Assad's bloody crackdown of the popular revolt.

Ishak said he feared the bombings "were orchestrated to distract attention from a massive assault today in Homs."

He said his group reported the information they got from Homs to the Arab League and urged the monitors to head to Homs. "The regime is keeping them in their hotels and delaying their departure for Homs," he told The Associated Press on the phone from Amman, Jordan.

An Arab League statement from its Cairo headquarters on Saturday said Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby condemned the attacks in Damascus but also expressed particular concern for Homs.

"The secretary-general expresses concern over reports that violent acts are on the rise in Homs city and calls for an immediate cessation of such acts," the statement said, warning that the violence will affect the success of the fuller observer mission set to arrive in Damascus Monday.

The government has long contended that the turmoil in Syria this year is not an uprising by reform-seekers but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.

Sheik Said al-Bouti, a prominent pro-Assad clergyman in Damascus, blamed the opposition squarely for the attacks.

"This gift has been sent to us by Burhan Ghalioun and his friends," he said in his funeral sermon Saturday, referring to the head of the Paris-based Syrian National Council.

Women dressed in black wailed Saturday during the funeral procession, which was aired by state-run Syrian TV. Some blamed the emir of Qatar, seen by supporters of Assad as leading the campaign against the regime.

"Those terrorists are funded by the emir of Qatar to kill innocent people, but they won't succeed," cried Fawakeh Shaqiri, 56, who was dressed in black and carrying a Syrian flag.

All the coffins Saturday held the names of the bombing victims, except for six coffins carrying the remains of people who had not been identified.

Syrian officials said a suicide attacker detonated his explosives-laden car as he waited behind a vehicle driven by a retired general who was trying to enter a military intelligence building in Damascus' upscale Kfar Sousa district Friday morning. About a minute later, a second attacker blew up his SUV at the gate of the General Intelligence Agency, the officials said.

Government officials took the Arab League observers to the scene of the explosions and said it supported their accounts of who was behind the violence.

"I wonder, have the covers been removed from the eyes of the Arab League representatives so that they can see who is the real killer and who is the victim?" al-Bouti asked.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed since March, when the uprising began and the regime responded by deploying tanks and troops to crush protests across Syria.

In addition to the deaths in Baba Amr Saturday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bodies of four people were found dumped on the streets in Houla, also in Homs province. They showed signs of torture on their bodies, it said.

A fifth person was still alive but in critical condition, according to the group.

They had been detained a day earlier by security forces and pro-government thugs.

"The Observatory calls on the Arab League observers to go immediately to the city of Houla to document this flagrant violation of human rights," the group said in a statement.

___

Karam reported from Beirut. AP writer Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-25-ML-Syria/id-ced3f64c63044d9692ee00e475dcc44d

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Internet Changes How We Remember

Head Lines | Mind & Brain Cover Image: January 2012 Scientific American MagazineSee Inside

Knowing we can retrieve facts online later alters memory

Image: Mike Kemp/Corbis

Four years ago Columbia University psychologist Betsy Sparrow turned to her husband after looking up some movie trivia online and asked, ?What did we do before the Internet?? Thus, Sparrow set out to investigate how Google, and all the information it proffers, has changed how people think. Four psychology experiments later Sparrow has her answer, which was published in Science this past August. ?[The Web] is an external memory storage space, and we make it responsible for remembering things,? she says.

In one of Sparrow?s experiments she presented two groups of undergraduates with trivia statements. Individuals in one group, who were told they could retrieve the information later on their computer, had worse recall than subjects in the other group, who knew in advance they could not do so. Together with the rest of her results, this finding suggests that Internet users have learned to remember how to find a fact rather than the fact itself.

Does this mean the Web is dumbing us down? Certainly not, she says: ?Memory is much greater than memorizing.? Our brain may simply be adapting to present circum?stances, Sparrow points out. ?We?re in an Internet world.?


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=bf33f20af2554caa96dcf49fff5deca3

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Official: Libya to hit full oil output be mid-2012

(AP)? CAIRO ? There is a "gentlemen's agreement" between OPEC members to accommodate increasing output from Libya, the North African country's oil minister said Saturday.

The comments by Abdul-Rahman bin Yazzah indicate that while there is no formal deal among members of the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output, the producer group is willing to take the step as Libya's production ramps up to pre-civil war levels of 1.6 million barrels per day.

"If the situation calls for it, they will meet," bin Yazzah said, adding that the decision is dictated by supply and demand. But "there is a gentlemen's agreement to accommodate Libya's production," he told reporters after a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OAPEC, in Cairo on Saturday.

OPEC agreed Dec. 14 to raise its production ceiling to about 30 million barrels per day. The decision marked an increase from its earlier output target and was the first time it changed the ceiling in three years.

The producer bloc has grappled for years with noncompliance by member with their allotted quotas. The situation became further muddled over the past year as Libya's civil war ground production from that nation to a near standstill. To offset the drop, other OPEC members, most notably Saudi Arabia, stepped with additional barrels.

Libya is currently producing slightly more than 1 million barrels per day, the chairman of the National Oil Corp. Nouri Berruien said. The country expects to return to full production by mid -2012, he said ? much quicker than analysts had anticipated.

Aside from accommodating increased oil from Libya and Iraq, OPEC must also deal with an economic crunch in Europe where sovereign debt worries are squeezing growth forecasts and, in turn, dampening demand for oil.

If OPEC overproduced, or fails to curb its members' production to adjust for Libya's return to the market it could see prices fall below the $100 per barrel level favored by price hawks like Iran and Venezuela. Others like bloc kingpin Saudi Arabia favor prices between $80-85 per barrel.

The US benchmark crude futures contract on Friday settled at $99.68 per barrel in New York, while it's North Sea counterpart, Brent, settled at $107.96 a barrel in London.

Separately, Syria's oil minister said that international sanction had affected oil production in the country.

Sufian Allaw said that production was down by about 35 percent, reaching 255,000 barrels per day. Allaw said Syria was no longer exporting crude and that European oil companies like Shell and Total had halted their operations in the country because of EU sanctions.

"We have no ability to export now" because of the sanctions, he said.

The measures were imposed as Syria's government comes under tremendous criticism for its deadly approach to dealing with protesters demanding the end of President Bashar Assad's regime. The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed since March, when the uprising began and the regime responded by deploying tanks and troops to crush protests across Syria.

Allaw said that current oil production effectively covered domestic refining capacity and that Syria still needed to import refined fuels.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/EV08OyDApXE/

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Biden: Romney content with limited success stories (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney favors economic policies that would help some succeed but leave most others behind. Romney countered that Biden and President Barack Obama are living in a "fantasyland" if they think policies their policies are helping the economy.

Biden made the claims in an opinion piece published Friday in The Des Moines Register. The vice president singled out Romney in Iowa, where the first votes will be cast in the GOP caucuses in less than two weeks.

For his part, President Barack Obama largely has refrained from counterattacking Republicans, saying he will wait until there is a nominee. But Obama's re-election campaign has not, and Biden's column is the latest sign the Obama team believes Romney will emerge from the field.

Biden said Romney's economic proposals "would actually double down on the policies that caused the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression and accelerated a decades-long assault on the middle class."

"Romney also misleadingly suggests that the president and I are creating an `Entitlement Society,' whereby government provides everything for its people without regard to merit, as opposed to what he calls an "Opportunity Society," where everything is merit-based and every man is left to fend for himself," Biden wrote.

Romney, campaigning in New Hampshire, said Biden and Obama don't "understand from fantasyland what it's like in real America."

The former Massachusetts governor said Obama's policies have made it harder for entrepreneurs to start businesses and create jobs.

Biden's message underscored the major theme of Obama's re-election bid, as the president spelled out in a speech earlier this month in Kansas: The middle class is at a make-or-break moment. The president, saddled with high unemployment, has to make the case that his is the better vision for an ongoing economic recovery for all.

Earlier this week, Romney said Obama was deepening the economic crisis and backing policies that would redistribute wealth instead of creating equal opportunity for people to do well. Romney said his policies would turn the U.S. into an "opportunity society" while Obama's vision for an "entitlement society" would make more people dependent on government welfare.

Biden responded in the op-ed: "The only entitlement we believe in is an America where if you work hard, you can get ahead."

___

AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_on_el_ge/us_biden_romney

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Cricket-South Africa seek ruthless approach

DURBAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - South Africa have to become more ruthless in their approach as they seek to secure a series-winning victory in the second test against Sri Lanka, captain Graeme Smith said on Friday.

South Africa have not won a home series since beating Bangladesh in 2008. They have lost and drawn two series against Australia and drawn series against England and India.

The hosts are coming off a comprehensive innings and 81-run win over Sri Lanka in the first test in Centurion and have the chance to win the three-test series when the second test starts at Kingsmead in Durban on Dec. 26.

"We are in the process of improving certain facets of our game. Being more ruthless, being able to string three sessions together in a day is something that we are really trying to do. We haven't been able to do that consistently and that is where we have been costing ourselves so we want to improve on that," Smith told a news conference.

South Africa's skipper went on to say that it was important that his team did not lose their focus during the Christmas break.

"The preparation is going to be important. Making the most of our time at this time of year is crucial. During Christmas it is important that you maintain your focus. Our preparation is a key factor to that," he explained.

South Africa have had a mixed start to their home international season this year drawing a two-test series against Australia before the heavy win over Sri Lanka.

Smith said that he felt that his team had shown improvement, partly down to the fact that the same XI had taken to the field in three consecutive tests.

"We have got better as the season has gone on. There was a more settled nature within the squad during the Centurion test against Sri Lanka because of the confidence shown in players," he said.

"That stability around the team, having not played a test match since January, is crucial and it's good to see that the players have taken that on board and performed."

Smith's opposite number, Tillakaratne Dilshan, has a completely different set of problems as he tries to lift his players after a run of 15 tests without a win.

"We have had a lot of meetings over the last two days about what areas we need to improve on. I feel everybody is mentally strong at the moment. They know what their roles are and they will give 100 percent," said Dilshan.

"One thing that we can do is that our batting unit has to stand up and get some runs on the board because then we can try and put some pressure on them (South Africa).

"We have an experienced batting line-up in Mahela (Jayawardene), Kumar (Sangakkara), Thilan Samaraweera and myself. We need to apply ourselves out in the middle. We are preparing well but we have not clicked at as a unit and that is the main reason we have not done well."

Source: http://thestar.com.my.feedsportal.com/c/33048/f/534557/s/1b3a4043/l/0Lthestar0N0Bmy0Csports0Cstory0Basp0Dfile0F0C20A110C120C240Csports0C20A1112240A917320Gsec0Fsports/story01.htm

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One to one computing in Ethiopia | eLearning Africa News Portal

One to one computing in Ethiopia | eLearning Africa News Portal.

Detailed commentary about OLPC in Ethiopia, Africa more generally. Disputes Negroponte?s claim that children are becoming programmers; notes instead that children are playing games and teachers are distracted. ?The costs remain prohibitive and neglects basic needs like textbooks. ?A comment lists three criteria for success:

1. Rigorous, appropriate training of teachers in the use, intergration and benefits of the laptops
2. Public-private partnerships to ensure that funding is injected into the programme from outside of limited state coffers
3. Open source textbooks are integrated into the software offerings of the laptops.?

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Source: http://fargoxo.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/one-to-one-computing-in-ethiopia-elearning-africa-news-portal/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

'Real Housewife' Teresa Giudice's Husband Indicted

Life hasn't been easy for Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice or her husband Joe recently. Not only did the couple go through a pretty rough bankruptcy last year (they've since withdrawn the claim), Joe now faces up to 11.5 years in prison.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/teresa-giudices-husband-joe-indicted-fraud-charges/1-a-412944?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ateresa-giudices-husband-joe-indicted-fraud-charges-412944

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Sinaloa cartel OK's Mexico's newest drug ballads (AP)

NAUCALPAN, Mexico ? Trumpets and trombones blast across a rodeo ring where women in miniskirts dance with men in cowboy hats and gold chains. Some fans try to climb onto the stage while others whoop to the deafening music and sing along to an outlaw ballad about one of the most-wanted criminal suspects in North America, an alleged drug kingpin.

"We take care of El Mayo

"Here no one betrays him...

"We stay tough with AK-47s and bazookas at the neck

"Chopping heads off as they come

"We're bloody-thirsty crazy men

"Who like to kill."

At the microphone is Alfredo Rios, whose stage name is "The Komander." He's a singer of Movimiento Alterado ? "Altered Movement" in English ? a new commercial brand of "narcocorrido" ballads that bluntly describe drug violence to the oompah beat of Mexico's norteno music.

The songs are filled with unusually explicit lyrics about decapitations and torture, and praise for one drug gang in particular: the Sinaloa cartel and its bosses, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The increasingly popular music is banned on radio stations in parts of Mexico but is heavily promoted over the Internet. It is the brainchild of twin brothers based in Burbank, California, who have long turned to the Sinaloa cartel for artistic inspiration. They won a Grammy award in 2008 for producing an artist who goes by the name of "El Chapo de Sinaloa."

Omar Valenzuela says the music not only tells of the violent world of the Sinaloa cartel, but has received its blessing at least once, when the producers worried about the group's reaction to a song about Manuel Torres, allegedly a top hit man for Zambada.

"We looked for them and asked for permission," Valenzuela said. "We sent them the song and they told us it was OK to release the song. We were afraid. They told us through their people that we were authorized to release any song. Sometimes people can get offended. We didn't want any problems."

The song since then has been downloaded 5 million times from the company website, Valenzuela said, and the accompanying video, which tells of how much gunmen working for Torres enjoy killing, has been watched more than 13 million times on YouTube.

Rios and Valenzuela deny any direct relationship with any cartel, and say they don't receive any money from the gangs. "I wish they were putting in money to promote (the music)," Valenzuela said with a laugh.

For Jose Manuel Valenzuela, an expert on narcocorridos at Mexico's College of the Northern Border, the success of the Movimiento Alterado's music shows that drug traffickers have become more socially acceptable in many circles.

"The social presence of drug trafficking helps this music circulate, and this is also made easier by the easy access to it through the Internet," said Valenzuela, who is not related to the twins.

The new music was born in Culiacan, capital of the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. The fact that the bands Valenzuela promotes sing exclusively about the Sinaloa cartel has mostly to do with geography, he said.

"In Culiacan, you can't sing about anyone else because they are from here," he said referring to the Sinaloa cartel. "Singing about the Zetas it's not even something you think about. Someone could complain. Nobody wants any trouble."

The Zetas gang, which had its beginning in the border state of Tamaulipas, across the border from Texas, is fighting the Sinaloa cartel for control of drug traffic routes. The battle has caused many of the roughly 40,000 drug war deaths since Mexican President Felipe Calderon ramped up the military offensive on cartels as he took office in 2006.

Some Movimiento Alterado musicians wear camouflage and bulletproof vests on stage and some have names clearly alluding to the Sinaloa cartel, such as Los Mayitos, referring to Zambada's nickname, or The Buchones, as the new rich who made their fortunes in drug trafficking are called in Sinaloa.

That identification can bring dangers.

Gunmen attacked the car of one of the Movimiento's singers, Gerardo Ortiz, in March in the western state of Colima. He survived but his representative and driver were killed.

Valenzuela said the violent lyrics merely describe the times.

The narcos "are cutting heads, and they are more bloodthirsty," he said. "It's in the news every day. If (the ballads) didn't speak about that, they would sound false. If a ballad doesn't express today's language it sounds old."

That's not a new phenomenon: Popular singers from early English troubadours to American gangsta rappers have treated violent outlaws sympathetically.

Movimiento Alterado's boom began in 2009 when the Valenzuela brothers recorded songs by two bands and released them on the Internet because radio stations wouldn't play them. In the states of Sinaloa and Baja California, it's illegal to play songs that advocate drug trafficking on the radio. In May, Sinaloa state Gov. Mario Lopez Valdez went further and banned them at bars and public places. In Chihuahua state, radio stations agreed not to play them.

But on the Internet, the songs are downloaded by the tens of thousands and Movimiento Alterado bands fill dirt-floor rodeo rings and swanky auditoriums across Mexico and the United States.

"The biggest market for this music is in Los Angeles because there we still sell CDs," Valenzuela said.

They also have greater media exposure there. The bilingual Mun2 cable channel of NBCUniversal Inc. ran a reality series, Los Twiins, about the brothers last year. It showed them developing new artists, such as Rios, and featured a guest appearance by Snoop Dogg.

Most of the albums are recorded in Los Angeles at Twiins Enterprises studios, though the Valenzuelas say some are recorded in Culiacan.

Back at the rodeo ring in Naucalpan, on the northwest edge of Mexico City, it was 3 a.m. and the crowd was getting impatient waiting for the star of the night. Finally, the MC announced "the king of the Movimiento Alterado."

Dressed in a black shirt and black pants, Rios looked the part of a pop singer. He invited the audience "to drink solid." The women cheered, and men offered him a drink from their whiskey bottles. The music went on until close to dawn.

Rios doesn't sing about drug traffickers. He sings as if he is one.

"Honestly, I don't like guns, in the first place because I'm not very good at using them," he said. "What I like is playing a role, like in a video game called 'The Executioner.' I play the executioner."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_en_mu/lt_mexico_drug_ballads

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Wayne State Football Championship Bid Special For Two Hartland Area Residents - Hartland, MI Patch

Hartland Patch:

Hartland area resident David Lee remembers marching across Wayne State University's campus in his football jersey with his teammates to beg the school's president not to shut down the program.

In the late 1980s, the program had funding problems and wasn't successful on the field, he says, but it had given Lee, who was 5-foot-7 and 135 pounds, a chance to play college football as a wide receiver.

Read the whole story: Hartland Patch

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/17/wayne-state-football-cham_n_1155326.html

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Kelp-like structure sways underwater to harness energy from the ocean?s waves (Yahoo! News)

What's the best way to harness?wave energy? Australian company BioPower Systems asked?nature for the answer, and came up with?bioWAVE ? a system that harnesses wave power by imitating the movement of kelp.

Kelp are large seaweeds that grow vertically from the ocean floor, and constantly sway in the water. The bioWAVE system is designed to mimic these plants with its floats that keep the structure upright, and a pivot near the bottom that makes back-and-forth motion possible. This movement is then used to spin an onboard generator that produces electricity delivered to shore by a cable.

One of the good things about bioWAVE is that it's designed to survive even extremely powerful waves. In case a?tsunami or a typhoon arrives, the floats are flooded so the structure falls flat on the ocean floor, protecting it from destruction.

The company recently received a $5.1 million funding from the Australian government that will be applied toward its $14 million, 250 kilowatt pilot demonstration unit currently being built on one of the country's coasts. If successful, BioPower hopes to build a commercial scale wave farm that can offer consumers competitively-priced electricity.

[via?Gizmodo]

This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20111216/tc_yblog_technews/kelp-like-structure-sways-underwater-to-harness-energy-from-the-oceans-waves

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[OOC] Draco's Side of the story..

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Facebook, Greenpeace in truce over data centers (AP)

NEW YORK ? Facebook and Greenpeace have called a truce over a clean energy feud that had the environmental group using the social network's own platform to campaign against it.

Greenpeace and Facebook said Thursday that they will work together to encourage the use of renewable energy instead of coal. Last year, Facebook opened a data center in Prineville, Ore., using the area's cool nights and dry air to save energy while keeping its systems from overheating. It also received generous tax breaks for adding jobs to the economically struggling region.

But Greenpeace wasn't happy that Facebook picked site for its data center that's served by a power company that generates most of its electricity from coal. It started a campaign to get the social network operator to use renewable energy. It attracted some 700,000 supporters on Facebook. Greenpeace said it was ending the campaign and declared victory on its "Unfriend Coal" Facebook page, which was still up Thursday morning.

The page has more than 180,000 followers.

Facebook says it will work with the group to promote clean, renewable energy and encourage other technology companies to do the same. The company said it will now state a "preference for access to clean and renewable energy" when choosing where to build its data centers. But it stopped short of saying it will only build on such sites.

Clean energy has also been big issue for Facebook's Silicon Valley Google Inc. The online search leader has been trying to prove that its business model is environmentally friendly and recently revealed exactly how much electricity it uses (2.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity last year, about the same as what 207,000 U.S. homes would use in a year). It has also invested nearly $1 billion in renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar projects.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_facebook_greenpeace

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