Heart healthy lifestyle may cut kidney disease patients' risk of kidney failure

May 23, 2013 ? Maintaining a heart healthy lifestyle may also help protect chronic kidney disease patients from developing kidney failure and dying prematurely, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The findings suggest that patients with kidney disease should be encouraged to improve their heart health.

Poor kidney health puts people at risk of developing heart problems, but it's unclear whether the opposite is true. Does heart health also affect kidney health?

To investigate, Paul Muntner, PhD (University of Alabama at Birmingham) and his colleagues used the American Heart Association's recently published tool (Life's Simple 7) that helps individuals assess their heart health. Life's Simple 7 lists seven domains including not smoking, being physically active, following a heart healthy diet, having a normal weight, and maintaining low blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. "Scores on the Life's Simple 7 tool have been associated with risk for having a heart attack but it was unclear whether a worse profile would be associated with an increased risk for developing kidney failure," said Dr. Munter.

The investigators looked for a link between Life's Simple 7 components with both kidney failure and death among 3,093 individuals with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease. During an average follow-up of four years, 160 participants developed kidney failure and 610 participants died.

Among the major findings:

• Compared with individuals who had zero or one of the Life's Simple 7 components in the "ideal" range, those with two, three, and four ideal factors had progressively lower risks for kidney failure. People with four ideal factors cut their risk by nearly half.
• No participant with five to seven ideal factors developed kidney failure.
• Participants' risk of dying during the study followed similar trends, with those having four ideal factors cutting their risk by more than 40%.
• The relationship between ideal levels of Life's Simple 7 components and kidney failure and death was explained by individuals' kidney function levels, suggesting that kidney disease may confound or mediate the link between health behaviors and health.

"This study highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, not just on patients' risk for developing heart disease but also for the prevention of kidney failure," said Dr. Muntner. People who wish to evaluate their heart health can go to http://mylifecheck.heart.org/PledgePage.aspx?NavID=5&CultureCode=en-US to see how they can improve their heart health.

In an accompanying editorial, Andrew Chin, MD and Lorien Dalrymple, MD (University of California, Davis) noted that "this study provides an opportunity to reconsider and reevaluate our approach to modifying health behaviors and factors in individuals living with CKD." They added that whether a combination of health behavior changes in conjunction with optimal management of health factors alters the progression of CKD remains a topic worthy of continued study.

Study co-authors include SuzanneJudd, PhD, Liyan Gao, PhD, Orlando Guti?rrez, MD, Dana Rizk, MD, William McClellan, MD, Mary Cushman, MD, and David Warnock, MD.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/fdZtX-5ZAqU/130523181340.htm

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Jison Case Unveils Luxurious, Fashion-Forward Collection of Cases for Apple and Android Devices at CTIA

Los Angeles, CA, May 21, 2013 --( PR.com )-- Jison Case, premier manufacturer of high-end, fashion-forward cases for Apple and Android devices, has announced its presence at CTIA in Las Vegas. The company, which is internationally...

Los Angeles, CA, May 21, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Jison Case, premier manufacturer of high-end, fashion-forward cases for Apple and Android devices, has announced its presence at CTIA in Las Vegas. The company, which is internationally renowned for its premium lines of handcrafted products, will be located at CTIA Booth 2063.

?We are excited to attend and exhibit at CTIA 2013,? said Arden Deng, CEO of Jison Case. ?We are experiencing tremendous growth in the U.S. market and it is very important that we continue to connect our ideas and values with key industry players.?

Jison Case?s presence at CTIA is perfectly timed with its recent launch into the U.S. marketplace. Jison Case?s elegant product line is reputed for luxury, innovation and premium materials coupled with elevated designs that stand apart from competitors? cases. Each product is meticulously designed to create a fully functioning, one-of-a-kind case that increases mobility and enhances the user experience. From lightweight folio cases and sleek leather executive covers, to elegant quilted leather styles and premium iPhone cases made from ostrich leather, Jison Case products inspire confidence, professionalism, creativity and uniqueness.

Jison Case is an industry leader when it comes to creating premium cases for tablets, iPads, iPhones and other devices. The product line offers elegant, clever and fun styles that let users express their unique personalities.

About Jison Case
Jison Case is a premier manufacturer of high-end, fashionable cases for Apple and Android devices. Each case has been handcrafted from a selection of the finest genuine leather, sourced and imported from regions across the world, including Italy and Australia. Driven by a passion for design and craftsmanship, Jison Case is dedicated to creating premium products that enhance and protect the technology that is essential to our daily lives. Jison Case has offices in Los Angeles, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Jisoncase.com

About CTIA
CTIA?The Wireless Association? (www.ctia.org) is an international organization representing the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products. CTIA advocates on behalf of its members at all levels of government. The association also coordinates the industry's voluntary best practices and initiatives, and sponsors the industry's leading wireless tradeshows. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C.

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Read the full story here: http://www.pr.com/press-release/492630

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Source: http://news.brothersoft.com/jison-case-unveils-luxurious-fashion-forward-collection-of-cases-for-apple-and-android-devices-at-ctia-67620.html

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National Council For Adoption: Advocates Educate Congress on ...

by Jamel Rowe, NCFA's Legal Fellow

As May is National Foster Care month, it seems only fitting that Congress evaluate the status of youth involved in the child welfare system. A subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing titled ?Letting Kids be Kids: Balancing Safety with Opportunity for Foster Youth.? Led by Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA) of the Subcommittee on Human Resources, the hearing examined how the emphasis on the safety of children often deprives them of their sense of normalcy. Typical adolescent experiences such as participating in afterschool athletic programs, attending prom, acquiring a driver?s license, or gaining summer employment are extremely difficult for those in foster care. Talitha James, former foster child and CCAI Foster Youth Fellow, relayed her personal encounters with obstacles that prevented her from leading a normal life. She, like most children, wanted to spend the night at her best friend?s house. In such instances, hosting families must undergo a criminal background check, home assessment, and agree that they will not ?run off? with the foster child. Even though the parents of Talitha?s friend passed the background check, Talitha?s caseworker would not approve the sleepover because the family?s pool was unfenced.

Sadly, Talitha?s experience is not uncommon. Florida State Senator Nancy Detert testified that in her home state only 46% of children are permitted to spend the night with friends. In addition, 44% of youth are allowed to attend school events, movies, shopping, and other unsupervised activities with friends and only 2% of adolescents had a driver?s license. Some states prohibit sports involvement because away games would cause the youth to be out past the curfew set by the state for youth in care. Others bar children from accompanying their foster family on vacation and, as a result, children are sent to respite care in the interim. Given the ease at which I was able to participate in these activities as a teenager, I was startled to realize that so many of America?s youth face stringent and frivolous rules that prevent them from living a normal life.

By holding this hearing, legislators signaled that they heard the desperate pleas of foster children seeking change. Representatives from state governments, non-profit organizations, and national foundations offered recommendations on how to fix the problems foster children face on a regular basis. One witness stated that the first step is to change the mindset of child welfare agents into shifting the emphasis from safety to permanency and normalcy. NCFA agrees that our first priority should be to find permanency for every child. However, in the interim, we need laws that remove the numerous barriers to normalcy; practitioners must be able to promote opportunities that will allow children to participate fully in life and take advantage of the experiences that will help them have a sense of belonging and develop the special skills available through extra-curricular activities no matter who is caring for them at the time.

I?m sure some people think this hearing is unnecessary and that there are other more important issues deserving of our elected officials? attention. Detractors may ask themselves, ?Why should I care whether a teenager has a driver?s license? They should be happy they are clothed and fed.? To that, Lynn Tiede from Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative would point out that having a driver?s license makes it easier for foster care youth to get a job. ?In fact, research has shown that teenagers in foster care who have early employment experiences are much more likely to be employed by age 24,? meaning that they are less likely to rely on public assistance in adulthood.

Despite the sentiments of skeptics, Congress will hopefully continue forward and find a way to bring normalcy to the foster youth of America.

To learn more about NCFA's program designed to encourage people to adopt, foster, or mentor children in foster care, visit Families For All.

Source: http://www.adoptioncouncilblog.org/2013/05/advocates-educate-congress-on-lack-of.html

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Weekends are the best time to buy airline tickets, study finds

May 22, 2013 ? While folk wisdom has its place, the "folks" may not be so wise when it comes to shopping for airline tickets, say researchers at Texas A&M University.

"There's been this industry folk wisdom that says Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the best days to purchase airline tickets," says Steven Puller, an associate professor of economics at Texas A&M who specializes in industrial organization. "But we couldn't find any systematic analysis to back that up."

Rather, he says, the weekend is the best time to book airline tickets because airlines are more likely to discount fares on Saturday and Sunday.

In the study "Price Discrimination By Day-Of-Week Of Purchase: Evidence From The U.S. Airline Industry," published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Puller and co-author Lisa Taylor, a former Texas A&M graduate student, found that tickets purchased on the weekend were, on average, 5 percent cheaper than similar tickets purchased on weekdays.

"We find that when you control for a large set of factors -- the day-of-week of travel, whether the ticket was refundable, the number of days in advance that the ticket was purchased, how full the flights were, and other factors -- that tickets purchased on the weekends were sold, on average, for a 5 percent discount," Puller explains.

The study further finds this weekend purchase discount is greatest on routes with a mix of both business and leisure customers. There is not much of this type of discount for leisure destinations such as Orlando or Las Vegas, Puller notes.

The researchers suggest, although do not definitively conclude, that this weekend purchase effect reflects a common practice known as "price discrimination."

This happens when the same service is sold at different prices to different buyers, in this case, based on the day of the week that an airline ticket is purchased.

Puller says the airlines try to play the odds when deciding how to price flights.

"Take a route that serves both business and leisure travelers," he explains. "If the business travelers primarily purchase tickets on weekdays, then the typical traveler buying on the weekend is more likely to be a price-sensitive leisure traveler than a business traveler. There is an incentive for the airlines to lower fares on the weekends to try to entice the price-sensitive leisure traveler to buy a ticket."

But how do the airlines know if a particular buyer is travelling for leisure or business? "They don't," Puller contends. "They're playing the odds."

The researchers conducted the study by looking at a historical archive of actual tickets purchased on all major airlines. Puller says the study compared tickets with similar characteristics rather than simply looking at the cheapest fare available.

"If you're a traveler who just wants to get from point A to point B for the cheapest price possible, then these findings may not apply to you," he notes. "But many people do care about these factors."

The researchers only studied round-trip flights with nonstop service. The study did not examine first-class airfare or the holiday travel periods around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Puller says these results could have implications for other industries that have the ability to change prices daily based on the types of customers who purchase on a specific day. "The software systems that are used in airline pricing are used in other industries such as cruises, hotels, car rentals," he explains. "We've only analyzed airline pricing, but I wouldn't be surprised if similar pricing practices are used in these other industries as well."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/consumer_behavior/~3/UxDQmQOiHAk/130522160301.htm

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Pakistan arrested American who was killed by drone

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? An American citizen killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2011 was arrested by Pakistani authorities three years earlier but escaped after being released on bail, officials said Thursday.

The Obama administration revealed Wednesday that Jude Kenan Mohammad died in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region, making him the fourth American citizen killed by unmanned aircraft in Pakistan and Yemen. The confirmation came as President Barack Obama is expected to deliver a speech in Washington on Thursday that will focus in large part on the administration's expanded use of drones to kill hundreds of people in those two countries and other places where terrorists have taken refuge.

U.S. officials didn't provide details, but Pakistani security officials said Mohammad was killed in late 2011 in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area.

Mohammad was part of an eight-member group based in North Carolina accused of planning terrorist attacks. He was indicted by federal authorities in 2009 as part of an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. The other seven members were arrested, but authorities said Mohammad fled the U.S. to join Islamic militants in Pakistan's tribal region.

Pakistani intelligence officials arrested Mohammad on Oct. 15, 2008, after he tried to enter Mohmand, a tribal area considered a sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban militants, without the permission required for foreigners to travel to the tribal region.

Mohammad, who was 20 years old at the time, was carrying a laptop, a dagger, Islamic books and DVDs, a map of Pakistan and an American passport, the security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Mohammad's family said at the time that he was abroad visiting his Pakistani father. U.S. consular officials in Pakistan visited the American and provided him with consular assistance.

Mohammad appeared in court in the town of Shabqadar in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Oct. 17, 2008, wearing the long tunic and baggy trousers common among Pakistani men. Police said they were interrogating the American to determine why he had come to the area, but gave no indication at the time that they suspected he had links with militants.

Police officials said Thursday that Mohammad was not cooperative during their interrogations and claimed he was being mistreated.

Mohammad was eventually booked on charges of weapons possession and traveling without proper documents, but was released on bail. He failed to show up for a court hearing on Sept. 5, 2009, bolstering suspicions that he was on the run.

It's unclear what Mohammad did in the time between when he was arrested in Pakistan and killed in a U.S. drone strike.

CIA drone attacks have been a source of tension between Pakistan and the U.S. Pakistani officials regularly criticize the strikes in public as a violation of the country's sovereignty, although the government has been known to support at least some of the attacks in the past in secret. Pakistani officials have also claimed that the drones kill large numbers of civilians, an allegation the U.S. says is exaggerated.

U.S. officials rarely speak in detail in public about the drone program in Pakistan because of its covert nature.

The White House said Obama's speech coincides with the signing of new "presidential policy guidance" on when the U.S. can use drone strikes, though it was unclear what that guidance entailed and whether Obama would outline its specifics in his remarks.

The president is expected to talk generally about the need for greater transparency in the drone strikes and may allude to the desire to give greater responsibility for those operations to the military. But he is likely to tread carefully on an issue that involves classified CIA operations.

In a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders, Attorney General Eric Holder said only one of the U.S. citizens killed in drone strikes beyond war zones ? Anwar al-Awlaki, who had ties to at least three attacks planned or carried out on U.S. soil ? was specifically targeted by American forces. He said Mohammad and the other two Americans were not targeted in the U.S. strikes.

Pakistan's incoming government, which will be led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is under pressure from the public and the courts to stop U.S. drone strikes. Sharif said shortly after his party won the May 11 election that the drones violate Pakistan's sovereignty.

Some analysts have questioned how hard Sharif would push the U.S. since the number of strikes has fallen precipitously from a peak of more than 120 in 2010 to close to a dozen so far this year. It could depend on how much he needs the U.S. in other areas.

Even if Sharif wanted to shut down the U.S. drone program, he would have to contend with the wishes of the Pakistani army, which is believed to guide the country's policy toward the strikes.

___

Associated Press writers Sebastian Abbot and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-23-Drone%20Strikes-Pakistan/id-70eea5a0c88b4a5f92d5b21f79dbce5e

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Strength Of OK Twister Upgraded, Search For Survivors Continues

Cars lie around the northeast corner of Plaza Towers Elementary school after it was damaged by a tornado May 21, 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma. (credit: Brett Deering/Getty Images)

OKLAHOMA (CBSDFW.COM) ? Just after 3:00 p.m. (CST) officials with the National Weather Service?upgraded the classification of the deadly tornado that struck in Moore, Oklahoma to an EF-5, the strongest storm rank on the enhanced Fujita scale.

According to Keli Pirtle, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Norman, Oklahoma, the intensity of the storm was deemed even stronger after teams assessed damage on the ground. Initial estimates had the tornado strength at EF-4. The now EF-5 ranking means the Oklahoma tornado has winds in excess of 200 mph.

As of Tuesday afternoon the revised death toll from the state medical examiner?s office stands at 24 people killed ? nine of those children. Estimates had the number killed as high as 91 but apparently, in the heat of search and rescue, some victims were counted twice.

Tuesday morning President Obama addressed the country concerning the devastation the moved across the midsection of the Sooner state. ?In an instant, neighborhoods were destroyed.? Dozens of people lost their lives. Many more were injured.? And among the victims were young children, trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew ? their school,? he said.

Homeowners in south Oklahoma City and in the city of Moore will continue to sift through what?s left of their property. A tornado with winds of more than 200 miles per hour tore a path through the area that in parts is estimated to have been as much as 1.3 miles wide and 17 miles long.

The tornado that hit Moore, a city of some 56,000 people just 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, is believed to have been on the ground for some 40 minutes. Devastation from the storm left interstates and side streets blocked by downed power lines, dead livestock and debris that included cars, trees, and entire sections of homes and businesses.

One of the hardest hit buildings was the Moore Medical Center. There were reportedly some 30 patients inside when the twister hit ? all survived. Dan Halyburton, with the American Red Cross, is in Moore near the hospital and said, ?That building is made out of steel and concrete, and metal two-by-fours and it just looks like it was completely raked by a giant rake. In the middle of the parking lot there are about 25 cars. It looks like they boxed them together with a bulldozer and then dropped five or six on top of that pile.? In addition to patients at the 46-bed acute care hospital, no medical staff or hospital workers were injured.

The search and rescue effort, which continued through the night, has first responders searching for survivors, both children and adults. The storm path sent the massive twister over two elementary schools.

Teachers and students at Briarwood Elementary took cover as the storm caused severe damage to the building. Part of the roof was tore off of the school and debris littered the area around it, but no one was killed at the location.

It was a far worse situation one-mile away at Plaza Towers Elementary. Officials in Oklahoma say fallen walls at Plaza Towers basically fell one on top on another and were ?pancaked?. Once rescuers arrived they formed a human chain and passed survivors from the school to a triage area in the parking lot. On Tuesday, a spokesperson with the Oklahoma City medical examiner?s office said of the 24 confirmed dead seven of them were children found at the school.

Gas leaks are still a concern as teams search by hand and with heavy equipment. At daybreak new search-and-rescue teams arrived, taking over for the estimated 200 people who searched all night. Halyburton said the Red Cross is helping first responders as best they can. ?When they?re in there working they don?t want to leave, so the Red Cross trucks come in, we stop by with water, Gatorade, [and] a sandwich. It?s gratifying to be able to provide that kind of service.?

Interestingly, Oklahoma residents with storm shelters are required to register them, so officials have exact GPS locations to search and hopefully find residents safe, but trapped inside by debris.

Monday evening President Obama issued a disaster declaration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security?s Federal Emergency Management Agency has made federal disaster aid available to the State of Oklahoma.

Unfortunately this isn?t the first time the city of Moore has dealt with a devastating twister. Another EF-5 tornado tore through the city on May 3, 1999. Thirty-six people were killed in that storm and hundreds were injured. That storm had the highest winds ever recorded near the earth?s surface, at 318 miles per hour.

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Source: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/05/21/search-for-survivors-continues-after-deadly-oklahoma-twister/

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TripIt for iPhone and iPad review: Track flights, flyer miles, car rentals, and more in one place

If you're planning on taking a vacation anytime soon or in the near future, you're probably already aware that there are typically lots of documents and information involved. Everything from boarding passes to rental car reservations to hotel reservations to anything else you may be planning. Keeping all of it straight can be a headache.

That's where TripIt comes in to help you stay organized and keep everything all in one place.

TripIt is basically an all in one travel planner directly on your iPhone and iPad. Not only do you have the ability to enter your flight information, but TripIt will actually auto-fill info upon arrival to your airline. Outside of just tracking flights, you can also track reservations for things such as car rentals and hotel reservations. Therefore, you eliminate some clutter from your life and gain the ability of entering all your information into one place for easy reference anytime you need it.

Creating a trip in TripIt is dead simple. Just enter some basic details like where you're going and when you're returning and you're already started. From there you can enter as much or as little information as you want. Outside of organizing actual travel details, you can also enter meeting information and receive notifications when events are coming up with TripIt Pro. This makes TripIt not only good for vacations, but for business trips as well.

TripIt offers a premium subscriptions called TripIt Pro as an in-app purchase for $49 a year in order to track other things such as frequent flyer miles on your credit cards. You can then view when your miles expire and how many you have at any given time. TripIt Pro is an add-on and not require but definitely a must have for anyone who travels semi-frequently to frequently.

The good

• Easy to use interface that makes entering information quick and painless
• Push notifications for upcoming flights, events, reservations, and more with TripIt Pro
• Pro option allows you to track even more things such as frequent flier miles
• Inner Circle feature allows anyone you'd like to have automatic access to your travel plans (requires Pro membership)

The bad

• No complaints

The bottom line

If you travel frequently or find yourself overwhelmed with keeping track of flight information and reservations for vacations, TripIt is a must have. For those who travel constantly, TripIt makes mapping out your trips painless and is well worth the $49 a year price tag to track virtually everything you'd need as well as receive notifications on the go.

Before planning your next vacation, definitely give TripIt a look when it comes time for keeping track of all those bookings and reservations.

• $0.99 (ad based version available for free) - Download Now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tVhEVTyaHzg/story01.htm

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Xbox OneGuide brings HDMI in/out, overlays for live TV

Today Microsoft revealed the Xbox One, and confirmed rumors that its new game console is ready to take over as the heart of your home theater. The new box features HDMI in and out for passthrough with your cable or satellite box. It's even able to control connected devices with Kinect 2.0-detected voice and gesture commands thanks to IR blasters and HDMI-CEC. On stage, executives showed off the Xbox OneGuide, demonstrating a way to pull up information including trending programming or fantasy sports stats while watching live TV. There's also a live TV show for Halo in the works, and Microsoft brought NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on stage to talk about integration with the number one pro sports league. There's no word on exactly which cable, telco or satellite TV systems this will integrate with, but Microsoft's PR states it "is committed to bringing live TV through various solutions to all the markets where Xbox One will be available" and mentions HDMI is required for the feature to work. It's supposed to be available at launch in the US, with "global scale" anticipated over time. Check after the break for a few pics of the guide and the back of the Xbox One showing its IR output.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-hdmi-passthrough/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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AP photographer sees kids pulled from Okla. school

A woman carries a child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. The relationship between the woman and the child was not immediately known. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A woman carries a child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. The relationship between the woman and the child was not immediately known. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A child calls to his father after being pulled from the rubble of the Tower Plaza Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Rescue workers dig through the rubble of a collapsed wall at the Plaza Tower Elementary School to free trapped students in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A boy is pulled from beneath a collapsed wall at the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A fire burns in the Tower Plaza Addition in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

MOORE, Okla. (AP) ? I left the office in Oklahoma City as soon as I saw the tornado warnings on TV. I had photographed about a dozen twisters in the past decade, and knew that if I didn't get in my car before the funnel cloud hit, it would be too late.

By the time I reached Moore, all I could see was destruction. I walked toward a group of people standing by a heaping mound of rubble too big to be a home. A woman told me it had been a school.

I expected chaos as I approached the piles of bricks and twisted metal where Plaza Towers Elementary once stood. Instead, it was calm and orderly as police and firefighters pulled children out one by one from beneath a large chunk of a collapsed wall.

Parents and neighborhood volunteers stood in a line and passed the rescued children from one set of arms to another, carrying them out of harm's way. Adults carried the children through a field littered with shredded pieces of wood, cinder block and insulation to a triage center in a parking lot.

They worked quickly and quietly so rescuers could try to hear voices of children trapped beneath the rubble.

Crews lifted one boy from under the wall and were about to pass him along the human chain, but his dad was there. As the boy called out for him, they were reunited.

In the 30 minutes that I was outside the destroyed school, I photographed about a dozen children pulled from the rubble.

I focused my lens on each one of them. Some looked dazed. Some cried. Others seemed terrified.

But they were alive.

I know that some students were among those who died in the tornado, but for a moment, there was hope in the devastation.

___

AP Photographer Sue Ogrocki has worked in Oklahoma for more than 10 years where she has covered about a dozen tornadoes.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-21-US-Oklahoma-Tornado-Photographer/id-f19dee2dd2a64114b3e1de80cf7b1a71

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Bluer than blue: Jennifer Lawrence shows skin

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Jennifer Lawrence in costume as Mystique for the "X-Men: Days of Future Past."

Baby, it's cold outside. Well, maybe, but that's not why Jennifer Lawrence is sporting a full-on blue-skinned look. The "Hunger Games" star, 22, is taking a break from playing Katniss to step back into the skin of Mystique from the "X-Men" series.

Director Bryan Singer tweeted a photo of Lawrence in Mystique's blue skin, yellow eyes and red hair, taken during the filming of 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past."

Singer tagged his photo, "First look: #JenniferLawrence as a vengeful #Mystique. #XMen #DaysOfFuturePast."

Lawrence is reprising the role she played in 2011's "X-Men: First Class."

The film is a sequel to both that 2011 film and to the 2006 film "X-Men: The Last Stand," in which Rebecca Romijn played Mystique.

Both Romijn and Lawrence had to be in tip-top shape for the films, as nothing is hidden. An early interview with Romijn back when she played the role reveals that Mystique wears only prosthetics designed to cover certain area for modesty and practicality purposes -- though it's hard to use the word "modesty" in connection with so little clothing.

Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry also have roles in the film, which is scheduled for release July 18, 2014.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/bluer-blue-jennifer-lawrence-shows-some-skin-upcoming-x-men-6C10017091

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Papa's Pilar Rum: The Launch Party | Florida Keys Girl

Check out the cool bottle, complete with (non-working) compass on top!

There are a few keys to having a good party: good food, good drinks and entertaining people. I am happy to report that the launch party for the new Papa?s Pilar rum had all three.

The far end of Sunset Pier at the Ocean Key Resort was closed off Friday evening for the party. Papa?s Pilar is a new brand of rum with

The menu from the Cuba station

blonde and dark versions, named, of course, after Ernest Hemingway?s fishing boat, Pilar. The Hemingway family worked with marketing and branding people to create the blended rums. First impressions: the blonde rum, is light but flavorful and stands up well on its own, or in a cocktail; the dark rum is more complex, and is better on its own than in a cocktail. Both are delicious. The rums are blended, and aged in bourbon and port wine barrels and finished in Spanish Sherry casks, making these complex spirits.

Daiquiri-like, make you pucker, yumminess

The launch party was a blast. With several stations serving a cocktail, pass around hors d?oerve and main dish each inspired by a period in Ernest Hemingway?s life, there was plenty to eat and drink. From his big game hunting safaris in Africa come the inspired mojito made with coconut water, maraschino liqueur and grapefruit bitters in addition to the requisite lime, syrup and rum. (This was the most popular station for cocktails, as there were people gathered by that bar all evening.) ?It was paired with a fig and blue cheese crostini pass-around, as well as Jamaican jerk chicken with a black bean salsa as a main dish.

Even the main dishes were easy to eat, as both the chicken and ceviches were served on spoons. (There were

FKGuy having a good time at the party

plenty of those adorable spoons, so party-goers may have had several of one dish. ?I may have been one of those party-goers.) The roast pork (inspired by Papa?s Cuba days) was carved and served with black beans. That one necessitated a plate and fork. One of my other favorite drinks was from that same station. The daiquiri-inspired E. Hemingway Special, with blonde rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur was tangy, light and refreshing. I had several of those.

Mahi mahi ceviche, from the Key West station

Several members of the Hemingway family were on hand to help launch this tasty product, as well as give some insight into the Hemingway Family Foundation charitable?endeavors. Overall, it was an evening not soon forgotten.

If you are in your local liquor shop and see Papa?s Pilar, I highly recommend picking up a bottle. Or three. Have you had this yet? Let me know what you think!

Source: http://floridakeysgirl.com/2013/05/papas-pilar-rum-the-launch-party/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=papas-pilar-rum-the-launch-party

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Top figures barred from Iran's June ballot

In this picture taken on Saturday, May 11, 2013, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to media as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, while his daughter Fatemeh, right, looks on, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. A hardline news website says Iran's election overseers have rejected a pair of powerful and divisive figures from running in next month's presidential election. Tasnimnews.com say Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been barred by the Guardian Council. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

In this picture taken on Saturday, May 11, 2013, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to media as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, while his daughter Fatemeh, right, looks on, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. A hardline news website says Iran's election overseers have rejected a pair of powerful and divisive figures from running in next month's presidential election. Tasnimnews.com say Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been barred by the Guardian Council. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

FILE -- In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 file photo, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 78, waves to media, as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. Iran?s election overseers say they will bar physically weak hopefuls from running in next month presidential election, a direct hint at Rafsanjani. Iran's Constitution doesn't set any age limit for presidential candidates. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 photo, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks with journalists, during a press conference after registering his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry, in Tehran, Iran. A hardline news website says Iran's election overseers have rejected a pair of powerful and divisive figures from running in next month's presidential election. Tasnimnews.com says Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been barred by the Guardian Council. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.

Their exclusion from the June 14 presidential ballot gives establishment-friendly candidates a clear path to succeed Ahmadinejad, who has lost favor with the ruling clerics after years of power struggles. It also pushes moderate and opposition voices further to the margins as Iran's leadership faces critical challenges such as international sanctions and talks with world powers over Tehran's nuclear program.

The official ballot list, announced on state TV, followed a nearly six-hour delay in which the names were kept under wraps. That raised speculation that authorities allowed some time for appeals by the blackballed candidates and their backers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say in all matters.

But the official slate left off two prominent but divisive figures: former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad protege Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The decision also appeared to remove many potential surprise elements in the race, including whether Rafsanjani could revitalize the reform movement or if Ahmadinejad could play a godfather role in the election with his hand-picked political heir.

Instead, the eight men cleared by the candidate-vetting Guardian Council included high-profile figures considered firm and predictable loyalists to the ruling Islamic establishment, such as former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

Just one approved candidate, Mohammad Reza Aref, might draw some moderate appeal because of his role as vice president under former reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

The rest of the choices, at the very least, would create a possibly seamless front between the ruling clerics and presidency after years of political turmoil under Ahmadinejad, who tried to challenge the theocracy's vast powers to make all major decisions and set key policies. Iran's presidency, meanwhile, is expected to convey the ruling clerics' views on the world stage and not set its own diplomatic agenda.

Mashaei called the decision unfair and said he will appeal to Khamenei. "God willing this will be resolved," semiofficial Fars news agency reported late Tuesday.

Rafsanjani did not comment, but his supporters denounced the decision on social media.

While the election is not expected to bring major shifts in Iran's position on its nuclear program ? which Tehran insists is peaceful despite Western fears it could lead to atomic weapons ? it could open opportunities to renew stalled talks with a six-nation group that includes the U.S.

On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said Iran's nuclear stance will "not change either before or after the election."

The ballot rejection of Mashaei brought little shock.

He has been badly tarnished by Ahmadinejad's feuds with the ruling clerics. Hard-liners have denounced Mashaei as part of a "deviant current" that seeks to undermine the country's Islamic system ? which made ballot approval highly unlikely.

This leaves Ahmadinejad politically orphaned going into the final weeks in office. He still has significant public support and could try to bargain with other candidates or break away and start his own political movement.

Few powerful voices came to Mashaei's defense in a sign of Ahmadinejad's fallen fortunes. But the case for Rafsanjani was more complicated.

His unexpected decision for a comeback bid ? 16 years after leaving office ? jolted hard-line foes and was cheered by beleaguered reformists and liberals after years of crackdowns.

Rafsanjani faced a barrage of attacks in the past week from powerful critics who suggested the 78-year-old does not have the stamina for the presidency and is disgraced for criticizing the heavy-handed tactics used to crush protests following Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.

Rafsanjani's youngest daughter, Faezeh, was released from jail in March after serving a six-month sentence in connection with the postelection chaos. His middle son, Mahdi, also is to stand trial in coming weeks for his alleged role in the riots.

Late Monday, authorities closed down the Tehran headquarters of Rafsanjani's youth supporters.

But Rafsanjani still carries a legacy with a sweeping reach.

Moderates see him as a pragmatist who can deal deftly with the West and use his skills as patriarch of a family-run business empire to help repair Iran's economy, battered by sanctions and mismanagement. Others, even ideological foes, respect his high-profile role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution as the closest confidant of its spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In a sign of possible lobbying on Rafsanjani's behalf, he received apparent support from some influential members of the Assembly of Experts ? the only group with the power to dismiss the supreme leader. Rafsanjani was pushed out as the group's chairman after failing to get enough support to leverage possible concessions from Khamenei on the 2009 postelection clampdowns.

One member, Ayatollah Mohieddin Haeri Shirazi, sent a letter to Khamenei saying "omitting a prominent figure from the election was incompatible" with giving wide choices to voters, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

Another assembly member, Ayatollah Mohammad Vaez Mousavi, told the semiofficial ILNA news agency that Rafsanjani's age is not a weak point and many Iranian leaders "accepted responsibilities when they were quite old."

Prominent political analyst Saeed Leilaz said the "intensified defamation campaign" suggested worry among hard-liners that Rafsanjani had a real potential to rally moderates and others and win the election.

"What matters today is who can save the country's economy," he said, "Who has a plan to take Iran away from isolation and improve living conditions."

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran also contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-21-ML-Iran-Election/id-0a78b71aa84f49c0812d1f4df9d96961

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Andrew Garfield: Balling with Kids as Spider-Man?

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Oil price down to near $96 as traders wait for Fed

The price of oil fell to near $96 per barrel Tuesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's latest views on the U.S. economy.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for June delivery was down 60 cents to $96.11 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 69 cents to close at $96.71 on Monday.

On Wednesday, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before Congress and the central bank will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting. Traders will be looking for hints on what the Fed might be preparing to do in light of recent data that has pointed toward a sustained economic recovery.

There is ongoing speculation that the Fed might want to scale back or modify its super-loose monetary policy and its massive, $85 billion-a-month program of bond purchases intended to keep interest rates low and prop up the recovery.

"We hear some testimony from Big Ben Bernanke this week and we can only think that he's going to stick to his mantra. Meaning that he's status quo; the economy is moving along well, we would like to see it move faster, but we're doing all we can," said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions in an email commentary.

Investors will also be monitoring fresh information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.

Data for the week ending May 17 is expected to show draws of 1.2 million barrels in crude oil stocks and of 200,000 barrels in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later Tuesday, while the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration ? the market benchmark ? will be out on Wednesday.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, was down 76 cents to $104.04 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline fell 2.9 cents to $2.8634 a gallon.

? Heating oil lost 1.28 cents to $2.9283 a gallon.

? Natural gas added 3 cents to $4.12 per 1,000 cubic feet.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-price-down-near-96-traders-wait-fed-120752087.html

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Opera's WebKit-Based Android Browser Exits Beta To Battle Apps For Users' Attention

Browser maker Opera's first WebKit browser has exited beta. The full launch for the browser previously code-named Ice adds a few additional minor updates to the meaty feature-set demoed at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow back in February. The Android browser represents a huge shift for Opera as it moves away from its own Presto framework to the de facto standard WebKit engine, plus Chromium.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jbC5AluzffQ/

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CA-NEWS Summary

Hezbollah steps up Syria battle, Israel threatens more strikes

AMMAN (Reuters) - Lebanese Hezbollah militants attacked a Syrian rebel-held town alongside Syrian troops on Sunday and Israel threatened more attacks on Syria to rein the militia in, highlighting the risks of a wider regional conflict if planned peace talks fail. Activists said it was the fiercest fighting in Syria's two year-old civil war involving Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran which they said appeared to be helping President Bashar al-Assad secure a vital corridor in case Syria fragments.

North Korea fires short-range missiles for two days in a row

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on Sunday, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions have raised concerns about the region's security.

Canadian prime minister's top aide quits over expenses scandal

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper abruptly resigned on Sunday over his role in an mounting expenses scandal which is threatening to undermine the Conservative government. Nigel Wright, Harper's chief of staff, quit after secretly giving a C$90,000 ($87,000) check in February to Mike Duffy, a member of the upper Senate chamber, to help him cover living expenses he had improperly claimed. News of the gift leaked late on Tuesday.

Exclusive: Bangladesh factory banned by Wal-Mart still makes Wrangler shirts

GAZIPUR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - A Bangladesh factory where Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Inditex SA inspectors spotted cracks in the wall this month is still making Wrangler shirts for the world's largest apparel maker, U.S.-based VF Corp. VF confirmed on Saturday it was still using Liz Apparels to make its clothing following an inspection ordered by the factory owner, Nassa Group, on May 12. VF, whose other clothing brands include North Face, Timberland and Nautica, said its philosophy was to "stay and improve" working conditions.

Israel demands French TV correct 13-year-old report on boy's death

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel demanded a French television station on Sunday correct a report from nearly 13 years ago which helped fuel anger across the world and ignite a bloody uprising against the Jewish state. Twelve-year-old Mohammed al-Dura and his father, Jamal, were filmed crouching in terror by a wall in the Gaza Strip in September 2000, bullets whizzing around them, as Israeli forces battled Palestinian gunmen days into an uprising that erupted after failed peace talks.

Insight: Despite curbs, China's vast hot money triangle flourishes

ZHUHAI, China/HONG KONG (Reuters) - In an underground mall just a stone's throw from China's teeming border with Macau, a row of 30 small shops with identical golden plaques does a brisk, though shadowy trade with mainland Chinese visitors, many of them bound for the gambling hub. "Good rates. Better than the banks," shout salespeople jostling to usher clients into shops where thick wads of Chinese 100 yuan ($16.31) and HK$1,000 ($130) bank notes change hands and shuffle noisily through electronic cash-counting machines. Licensed as liquor and dry goods stores with stacked shelves of rice wine and cigarettes, many conduct their real business in back rooms - as underground bankers and remittance agents.

India gripes over border, trade woes on Li's first foreign trip

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told visiting Chinese President Li Keqiang on Sunday a recent military standoff in the Himalayas could affect relations between the two countries as they looked to boost bilateral trade. At a meeting shortly after Li arrived in India on his first foreign trip, Singh said relations were affected when "peace and tranquility" on the border was impacted, a senior government official with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

Nigeria offers amnesty to insurgents who surrender

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria offered an amnesty on Sunday to Islamist militants who surrender and said 17 people had been killed on the fifth day of a military operation to try to crush the Boko Haram insurgency in the country's northeast. In their biggest offensive since the insurgency began in 2009, Nigerian forces are trying to chase well-armed militants out of territory they control in remote semi-deserts around Lake Chad, along the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Tunisian Islamist protester killed in clash with police

TUNIS (Reuters) - One protester died and several were injured when Tunisian Islamists defied a ban on their demonstration and clashed with police on Sunday. The 27-year-old man was killed in the violence in the capital Tunis which continued into the evening, the state news agency said. A Reuters witness saw several others injured at the protest in support of the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia group.

Protesting Egyptian police block Israel border crossing

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police enraged by the kidnapping of seven of their colleagues by Islamist gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula blocked a commercial border crossing with Israel on Sunday to pressure the Cairo government to help free the men, security sources said. A video posted online on Sunday showed seven blindfolded men, who said they were the hostages, begging President Mohamed Mursi to free political detainees in Sinai in exchange for their own release.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-005241860.html

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Moon hit by boulder-size meteoroid, causing 'explosion' visible from earth (+video)

If you had been looking up at the moon at the right moment on March 17, you could have seen a one-second burst of heat caused by the impact of a large meteoroid.

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / May 18, 2013

Hundreds of meteoroid impacts on the moon, detected by NASA's lunar monitoring program, are pictured in this undated NASA handout photo. The brightest, detected on March 17, 2013, in Mare Imbrium, is marked by the red square.

NASA/Handout/REUTERS

Enlarge

If you had been looking up at the moon at the right moment on March 17, you could have seen an unusual flash of light ? a one-second burst of heat caused by the impact of a large meteoroid.

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NASA researchers who monitor the Moon for meteoroid impacts have detected the brightest explosion in the history of their program.

No telescope required.

?For about one second, the impact site was glowing like a 4th magnitude star,? NASA said in reporting the news Friday.

This meteoroid was the size of a small boulder, and was travelling very fast. NASA estimates the size at 0.3 to 0.4 meters wide, and the speed at 56,000 m.p.h.?

The resulting explosion^? delivered a force equal to 5 tons of TNT.

NASA puts a footnote on the word ?explosion.? The bright light wasn?t combustion, since the moon has no oxygen atmosphere. Rather, it was the glow of molten rock and hot vapors after an impact of large kinetic force.

That said, this was the biggest such ?explosion? in eight years of close monitoring of the moon?s surface.

And it?s not that meteoroids on the lunar surface are rare.

The moon lacks a protective atmosphere like Earth?s, in which meteoroids typically burn up. Lunar meteor showers have turned out to be more common than expected, with hundreds of detectable impacts per year.

On March 17, the pyrotechnics on the moon coincided with an active night for meteors in Earth?s atmosphere as well.

NASA?s Space Exploration Policy eventually calls for extended astronaut stays on the moon, so tracking meteor activity has long-term relevance.

?Identifying the sources of lunar meteors and measuring their impact rates gives future lunar explorers an idea of what to expect,? the space agency said in announcing the bright explosion Friday. ?Is it safe to go on a moonwalk, or not?? The middle of March might be a good time to stay inside.??

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Ece6X8b38F0/Moon-hit-by-boulder-size-meteoroid-causing-explosion-visible-from-earth-video

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TheTravelPro Travel News and Opinion: Viking Cruises launches ...

Viking Cruises, long a
purveyor of cruises along inland rivers in Europe, Russia, Egypt and Asia, has
announced its expansion into the arena of ocean cruises. The launch of Viking
Ocean Cruises, announced May 17 marks the introduction of the travel industry?s first new cruise line in nearly
a decade.

The new cruise line, which will launch in May 2015, will focus on substance over size.

?In the race to build bigger ships, many cruise lines have lost sight of the destinations to which they sail,? Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking Cruises, said in a statement announcing the new venture. ?With our new ocean cruises, we are applying the same principles behind our award-winning river cruises to our itinerary.?

Ship design, privileged-access excursions and onboard experiences will make destinations the true focus, he said.

Viking Ocean Cruises will inaugurate its service with its first vessel, the 928-passenger, all-verandah Viking Star. A ?small ship? at slightly over 750 feet in length, the Viking Star is engineered at a scale that allows direct access into most ports, so passengers will have easy and efficient embarkation and debarkation.

Holland America?s ms Volendam, for example, is considered a ?mid-sized? ship. At slightly over 781 feet in length, it carries nearly 1,500 passengers. Royal Caribbean?s Oasis of the Sea and Allure of the Sea, currently the world?s largest cruise ships, are nearly 1,200 feet (three football fields) long and carry 6,000 passengers. That?s more than an aircraft carrier. But I digress.

The Viking Star?s maiden voyages will be in Scandinavia and the Baltic, and the Western and Eastern Mediterranean.

Boasting what the company calls ?understated elegance,? the ship has an all-verandah
design and offers passengers a choice of five stateroom categories from 270 square feet to 405 square feet. All staterooms have king-size beds, large showers, and LCD televisions in addition to private verandahs.

The Viking Star also offers 14 Explorer Suites, which are two-room suites ranging from 757 square feet to 1,448 square feet. Located at the bow and the aft, Explorer Suites offer sweeping views from wrap-around private verandahs as well as additional amenities and privileges not available in other on-board categories.

Itineraries are curated for maximum time in port, often with late evenings or overnights, allowing guests the option of experiencing local nightlife or taking in evening performances. Ports are selected to appeal to those with an interest in history, art and culture.

Prices area all-inclusive, with every cruise fare including a veranda stateroom, shore excursions in each port of call, all onboard meals, and all port charges and government taxes. Passengers also enjoy many complimentary amenities as part of their fare, including beer and wine with lunch and dinner service, wi-fi, self-service laundry and 24-hour room service?a value of more than $2,400 per couple for an average cruise, according to the company.

The Viking Ocean Cruises approach to ocean cruising will no doubt serve to attract travelers who have been put off by the current state of the cruise industry, including my wife and me.

I have taken only one cruise to date: a repositioning cruise on which I had an outside cabin with a window but no outside space. Although it was only three days, I decided then and there that it was too claustrophobic and that I would not take another cruise unless I could secure at least a verandah suite. Viking Ocean Cruises? approach overcomes that hurdle.

The second facet that has kept us from cruising is the price. Given my self-imposed limitation on our accommodations, we have not been able to find a cruise to a location and at a time we want to travel for less than $1,000 per day per couple. At least when one takes advantage of the early-booking two-for-one special, Viking Ocean Cruises overcomes that hurdle as well.

The shortest cruise ? the 10-day ?Empires of the Mediterranean? from Istanbul to Venice or vice versa ? can currently be booked for a fare as low as US$2,999 per person, or about $6,000 for a 10-day cruise. Of course that doesn?t include tax or airfare, but it does include all the items previously mentioned, which can add a fair amount to the base fare quoted by other cruise lines.

The early-booking fares expire?Jul 31. Go to www.VikingCruises.com/oceans for more details, and ask for EBD (early-booking discount) when booking.

Bon voyage!

Photos courtesy Viking Ocean Cruises
Click on photos to view larger sizes images.

Source: http://tptnews.blogspot.com/2013/05/viking-cruises-launches-ocean-cruise.html

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Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.2.2 firmware leaked with Galaxy S4 features

Lock screen widgets, re-vamped settings, driving mode and more

Samsung has a track record of bringing key software features to older phones with major firmware upgrades, and it seems last year's Galaxy S3 is about to see such an update along with Android 4.2.2. Leaked firmware obtained by SamMobile brings the international Galaxy S3 -- the quad-core Exynos-powered GT-i9300 -- up to Android 4.2.2, and adds many features previously reserved for the Galaxy S4.

New features include a familiar array of lock screen widgets and unlock effects, new display modes, a re-tooled quick settings area in the notification pull-down, a new driving mode and an updated version of the S Voice assistant app. Some of the headline Galaxy S4 features like "Air view" hover-touch abilities aren't included -- that's because they're dependent on the S4's internal hardware.

SamMobile has published the new -- and very much pre-release -- firmware version I9300XXUFME3 online, and it comes with all the usual warnings associated with using unfinished software on your phone. In addition, it'll increase your binary counter (the difficult-to-reset counter telling you how many unofficial ROMs you've installed) by one, even though it's marked as an official Samsung firmware.

If you want to live dangerously, you can find the download and installation details over at the source link. If not, you'll find video after the break.

Source: SamMobile

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/mRw3NWGVP8s/story01.htm

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Wave of attacks kills at least 86 in Iraq

An Iraqi woman passes by the scene of a car bomb attack in Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

An Iraqi woman passes by the scene of a car bomb attack in Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad?s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

Iraqi security forces and civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad?s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. A wave of car bombings across Baghdad?s Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed and wounded dozens of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqi security force members gather at the site of a car bomb attack in front of a crowded popular restaurant in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013. Two car bombings in the southern city of Basra, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. Iraq has seen a spike of attacks, including bombings hitting both Sunni and Shiite civilian targets over the last week. (AP Photo/ Nabil al-Jurani)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A wave of attacks killed at least 86 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, pushing the death toll over the past week to more than 230 and extending one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.

The bloodshed is still far shy of the pace, scale and brutality of the dark days of 2006-2007, when Sunni and Shiite militias carried out retaliatory attacks against each other in a cycle of violence that left the country awash in blood. Still, Monday's attacks, some of which hit markets and crowded bus stops during the morning rush hour, have heightened fears that the country could be turning back down the path toward civil war.

Sectarian tensions have been worsening since Iraq's minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23.

Iraq's Shiite majority, which was oppressed under the late dictator Saddam Hussein, now holds the levers of power in the country. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks.

But the renewed violence in both Shiite and Sunni areas since late last month has fueled concerns of a return to sectarian warfare. Monday marked the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months, and raised the nationwide death toll since last Wednesday alone to more than 230 people, according to an AP count.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused militant groups of trying to exploit Iraq's political instability to exacerbate sectarian tensions at home, and also blamed the recent spike in violence on the wider unrest in the region, particularly in neighboring Syria. At the same time, he pledged Monday that insurgents "will not be able to bring back the atmosphere of the sectarian war."

Many Sunnis here contend that much of the country's current turmoil is rooted in decisions made by al-Maliki's government, saying his administration planted the seeds for more sectarian tension by becoming more aggressive toward Sunnis after the U.S. military withdrawal in December 2011.

The worst of Monday's violence took place in Baghdad, where ten car bombs ripped through open-air markets and other areas of Shiite neighborhoods, killing at least 48 people and wounding more than 150, police officials said. In the bloodiest attack, a parked car bomb blew up in a busy market in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, killing 14 and wounding 24, police and health officials said.

The surge in bloodshed has exasperated Iraqis, who have lived for years with the fear and uncertainty bred of random violence.

"How long do we have to continue living like this, with all the lies from the government?" asked 23-year-old Baghdad resident Malik Ibrahim. "Whenever they say they have reached a solution, the bombings come back stronger than before."

"We're fed up with them and we can't tolerate this anymore," he added.

The predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq was also hit Monday, with two car bombs there ? one outside a restaurant and another at the city's main bus station ? killing at least 13 and wounded 40, according to provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul-Karim al-Zaidi and the head of city's health directorate, Riadh Abdul-Amir.

In the town of Balad, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing 13 Iranians and one Iraqi, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the fact that they all occurred in Shiite areas raised the suspicion that Sunni militants were involved. Also, Sunni insurgents, particularly al-Qaida in Iraq, are known to employ such large-scale bombings bear.

Monday's violence also struck Sunni areas, hitting the city of Samarra north of Baghdad and the western province of Anbar, a Sunni stronghold and the birthplace of the protest movement.

A parked car bomb in Samarra went off near a gathering of pro-government Sunni militia who were waiting outside a military base to receive salaries, killing three and wounding 13, while in Anbar gunmen ambushed two police patrols near the town of Haditha, killing eight policemen, police and army officials said.

Also in Anbar, authorities found 13 bodies dumped in a remote desert area, officials said. The bodies, which included eight policemen who were kidnapped by gunmen on Friday, had been killed with a gunshot to the head.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

___

Associated Press writer Nabil Al-Jurani in Basra contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-20-Iraq/id-6579c0af5ab445a8b4764bb4633c7358

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