Sunday, June 23, 2013

Massive protests hit Brazil's cities

Protesters gesture to riot police as they stand in front of a burning barricade during an anti-government protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million ... more?Protesters gesture to riot police as they stand in front of a burning barricade during an anti-government protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 Brazilian cities Thursday in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes happening in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the seaside city's central area. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano) less?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/massive-protests-hit-brazil-s-cities-slideshow/

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Jon Stewart appears on Egyptian satirical TV show

CAIRO (AP) ? Jon Stewart took the guest's seat Friday on Egypt's top satirical TV show, modeled after his own program "The Daily Show."

Stewart was brought to the set wearing a black hood and introduced by host Bassem Youssef as a captured foreign spy.

Stewart, wearing a scruffy beard, spoke briefly in Arabic as the studio audience gave him a raucous welcome.

"Please sit down, I am a simple man who does not like to be fussed over," he said in Arabic to laughter.

Youssef, host of the show "Al-Bernameg" and one of Egypt's most popular TV presenters, has been questioned by prosecutors on accusations of blasphemy and insulting the president. Stewart defended his counterpart and friend in one of his monologues after Youssef was interrogated earlier this year, and Youssef has appeared as a guest on the popular New York-based show.

Stewart, who is on a summer-long break from anchoring the Comedy Central fake newscast is in the Middle East making his first movie. He expressed admiration for Youssef in Friday's episode, which was recorded earlier this week during a visit to Cairo.

"Satire is a settled law. If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke, then you have no regime," Stewart said, adding that Youssef "is showing that satire can be relevant."

True to form, Youssef began the weekly show with a series of jokes about Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's appearance and address at a rally last weekend hosted by his hard-line Islamist backers.

The president, Egypt's first freely elected leader, announced at the rally a complete break of diplomatic relations with the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Youssef, however, criticized Morsi for remaining silent and wearing a stone face while one of the rally's organizers denounced as non-believers opposition protesters planning massive, anti-government demonstrations on June 30, the anniversary of the start of the president's term.

Stewart said he was overwhelmed with the generosity of Egyptians but took a jab at Cairo's horrendous traffic. "I flew in three days ago and I have just arrived to do the show," he joked.

Youssef ? known as Egypt's Jon Stewart ? was interrogated in April for allegedly insulting Islam and the country's leader. His questioning drew criticism from Washington and rights advocates. A trained heart surgeon, Youssef catapulted to fame when his video blogs mocking politics received hundreds of thousands of hits shortly after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

Unlike other local TV presenters, Youssef uses satire to mock fiery comments made by ultraconservative clerics and politicians, garnering him a legion of fans among the country's revolutionaries and liberals. He has 1.4 million fans on Facebook and nearly 850,000 followers on Twitter.

During his hiatus, Stewart will be directing and producing "Rosewater" from his own script, based on a memoir by Maziar Bahari. This Iranian journalist was falsely accused of being a spy and imprisoned by the Iranian government in 2009 while covering Iran's presidential election.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jon-stewart-appears-egyptian-satirical-tv-show-211910354.html

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Iowa man selling coffin gets questions about bones

(AP) ? An Iowa man's online classified ad offering an oak coffin for sale neglected to mention the full skeleton inside, so police interrupted the deal and seized the bones.

The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reported (http://bit.ly/14eMNn6 ) that the coffin belonged to the now-defunct Council Bluffs chapter of the International Order of Odd Fellows, which promotes anonymous giving to the poor.

Dave Burgstrum placed the ad on the Craigslist website to sell the coffin for $12,000 because he's trying to raise money to pay the property taxes on the fraternal organization's hall.

Burgstrum said the coffin was made in the 1900s and had been used in the group's rituals to represent death. The bones had been in there for years.

"They were just there as long as anyone could remember," said Burgstrum, who is one of a handful of remaining members of the Council Bluffs chapter of the Odd Fellows.

Burgstrum said lodge records suggest the skeleton was donated by a doctor who retired in the 1880s.

But Council Bluffs Police detective Michael Roberts said human remains cannot be sold without proper identification.

"If they had papers of origination, then they would be OK to own," Roberts said.

The skeleton was sent to the Iowa State Medical Examiner. Pottawattamie County forensic investigator Karen Foreman said it's unlikely the skeleton will be identified, but the race and gender can be determined. And if the skeleton is Native American, federal law requires that it be returned to the tribe.

Burgstrum said the laboratory is welcome to keep the skeleton. His interest has always been in selling the coffin.

"I'm ready to wheel and deal on it," he said. "I'd like to get those taxes paid."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-06-22-Coffin%20Classified/id-ecf2c7e9cb1e4990887ca2a4804105d9

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Nevada's governor shows GOP strength in states (The Arizona Republic)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314323361?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Book Talk: The dark doubts in the heart of a Mormon missionary

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) - They're a familiar sight around the world, whether in northern Japan or southern Argentina: a pair of men in dark suits, with nameplates, often riding bicycles as they go about their job preaching the Mormon religion.

"Elders", Ryan McIlvain's debut novel, illuminates the lives of one such pair, American Elder McLeod and his Brazilian counterpart Elder Passos, through their frustrating daily round of knocking on doors and missionary work, the service that all adult Mormons must perform.

McIlvain, a former Mormon who went to Brazil on his mission, spoke about his book and basing fiction on his own life.

Q: How did this book get going?

A: It's something I know a lot about just by virtue of the fact that I was a Mormon missionary. More broadly, I thought it would be interesting to pay very close attention to the interior lives of two Mormon missionaries, people that we see almost exclusively from the outside ... They're so lonely, the pressures they face on a daily basis are so tremendous. Because of the nature of their work, they're seen as annoying at best and predatory at worst.

Q: Are a lot of the events in the book your own?

A: I gave some of my own experiences to McLeod and Passos, particularly mental experiences, to the extent that McLeod doubts and Passos feels a worldly longing for success. But the behavior themselves was where the fiction started to take over.

The experience of being a missionary is the experience of being a permanent foreigner, you wear this nametag and uniform that is meant to mark you out as different so you never feel that you can just blend in or have a lazy afternoon. You always feel on call and in fact, you are. Mormon missionaries are told to believe that they've received a call from God and that involves certain responsibilities. So instead of going to parties or football games or whatever your average 19 to 20-year-old does, they go out and preach the Gospel for two years.

Q: What was it like to put the fictional stamp on some of your own experiences and take it to the next level?

A: If a memory or an image surfaced and it felt like it would serve the story well, I'd put it in there ... The fiction kind of existed in its own world with its own set of needs and its own expedient rhythms that were different from the reality and that would be different from the needs of a non-fiction writer. Now it's funny, as I look back, I started to confuse what was real and what I'd embellished onto the real. There's something sad about that. I've now muddied the waters of my memories a little bit, I've kind of lost hold of that time.

Q: People talk about "the great Mormon novel"? What do you think about that idea?

A: I came to the material a little hesitantly, because I was nervous about being seen as a Mormon writer or someone that could be pigeon-holed. But I think that fear is almost universal. I remember reading Roth or Bellow as I was growing up ... They would very much bristle if someone tried to describe them as Jewish writers even though the vast majority of their protagonists were Jewish. People don't want to be labeled for fear of being dismissed or marginalized, maybe. So I don't identify as a Mormon writer - but then again, I'm not sure who would. You just want to be a writer who happens to take up this subject and that subject.

Q: In this book, there's a lot of questions the characters face about their beliefs. Is it common to be thrown into your mission experience and have a lot of questions?

A: Yes, I think it is. First of all, it's such a formative time. Young men serve at 19, typically, and young women at least until very recently served their missions at 21. Whether it's 19 or 21, your mind is still in its formative stages and especially when you're taken out of the comfort zone of your country and language, things get shaken up. I served in Brazil at the same time as I set the story, as the United States was revving up to the war with Iraq. It was really formative to see that political theatre from an outsider's perspective. I came back to the United States much more tentative in thinking about my country's role in the world. When I left I was pretty cocksure and confident that America was more just than not in the way it dealt with other countries. I came back without any of that certainty. It wasn't just doctrinal uncertainty that the mission gave me, it was a sort of national uncertainty as well.

Q: In terms of writing, did having grown up as a Mormon have any influence?

A: Well, I'll say yes, though of course I've only lived one life. Having grown up Mormon, I can say that it's a people of the book. In some corners, a somewhat anti-intellectual strain, but certainly in the corners that I felt drawn to, Mormons read a lot and they read closely. Every morning during high school I would wake up early and go to seminary, an hour of scripture study and Bible before school. Those pitch-black, cold Massachusetts mornings, my twin sister and I would flip a coin to see who had to go start the car, and let it warm up. We'd drive the twenty minutes to church and sit there and pay very close attention to those wonderful, rich Biblical texts. So yes, I do think that the prose of particularly the King James Bible has been an influence, and I've tried to take the best of that and update it for a contemporary prose style. Also just the economy and the really magical arcs that those Biblical stories manage to accomplish in such a short amount of space really influenced me?.I did imbibe some of that.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/book-talk-dark-doubts-heart-mormon-missionary-141748796.html

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A Few Search Engine Optimization You Need To Know About ...

SEO can be hard to understand if you are new at it, but it is essential for a online business. With appropriate tools and information, you have the ability to implement SEO so that your website attracts more visitors and gets better rank in search results.

Keyword density is important when optimizing an internet page for various search engines. Any keyword content on an optimized web page should not exceed 20 percent of the total page.

You should be patient when increasing the SEO for your website. You can not build up huge traffic overnight. Rather, it may take many weeks, even months, especially if your website is brand new. Just like any company, time is needed to build a reputation with an online business.

Register a domain that is both related to your product and is easy to recall. Memorable domain names that are easy to pronounce are advantageous for Internet users who locate your content through YouTube.

Try creating a robots. txt file and putting it in the root of your directory. What this does is it disallows the search engine from accessing certain files on your website.

Try to market yourself as a subject matter expert in lots of areas. This tactic will maximize internet marketing efforts. You can do this by starting a website focused around your niche. You can additionally implement search engine optimization strategies to attract as much targeted traffic as possible. Always remember to give the customers what they want, not what you think they want.

Title Tags

Search engines are more likely to correctly grasp the content in your website if you use descriptive title tags appropriately. Limit your title tags to sixty characters. Search engines usually only preview the first few words. This also holds true for keywords appearing at the end of longer tags.

Hosting your blog on your own site can actually improve your search engine ranking. Then, more visitors will visit your website.

Do keyword research first. Search for ways to implement keywords in your website and titles. Keyword research will allow you to understand what search terms people use to navigate in your particular categories. Highlight these items throughout your site to rise in the rankings of the major engines.

Site Map

Create a site map that includes your keywords. A good site map helps your viewers by acting like an index of all your site?s pages. Search engines also use these to place websites higher on their search lists, because ease of access is important to their ratings.

Image links are a rarity on websites that have undergone thorough search engine optimization. Pictures only contain the image?s URL, which crawlers aren?t as adept at handling.

Orienting your business to search engine optimization allows you to achieve higher rankings and more web traffic. Unfortunately, some online businesses still underestimate the importance of their search engine rankings.

The title tag in your page?s HTML code is an important place to put keywords to maximize your site?s SEO. The title tags have more weight than any other words that appear on the page. Use your best keywords in your page titles to bring in the visitors!

Using relevant links to trusted reference sites will also improve your search engine ranking. Choice linking is an extremely significant part of SEO. When you have relevant external links, search engines value them more than internal links that connect different areas of your site. Be sure to look for options that allow links back to your website, so you can maximize the effects of your rank.

Keyword Stemming

Earn more search hits by using longer or plural versions of keywords. Keyword stemming is a popular technique of some search engines. For example, if your keyword is ?accountant,? searches for ?accountants? or ?accounting? may not lead users to your site. Use the longer form when it comes to using keyword stemming for your advantage. For example, if you use accounting, then you have your site returned with accountant search results.

Try basing your articles on keywords to help improve SEO of your articles. Putting the right keywords in your articles will make search engines respond positively to them. It will be easier to draw new readers into your site. Your focused keyword should be repeated several times in the article?s text, and in its summary and title, too.

As mentioned earlier in the article, if you are looking to earn your income via the Internet, then SEO is critical for you. Keep a copy of this article, and refer to it while you are putting its secrets to use. As long as your website is of high-quality, you will be more likely to receive a lot of traffic, which will lead to more profits.

Freddy Gandarilla

This Post Was Written By Freddy Gandarilla

Freddy Gandarilla has written 1354 posts in this blog.

Founder of this Website ? Some would say that I?m a weird alien from a mysterious planet ? and I came here to blog and help the world become a better place. I have been online since 2011 and it has been a long journey so far but I?m just getting started and I will motivate you and help you achieve success in your life. If you truly want to learn how to earn money online ? pursue financial freedom and help others achieve the same ? then join me today. ? Learn how I make money online by just Blogging every day ? Do what I do and earn 100% commissions right into your bank account! ? CLICK HERE!

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Christian group apologizes to gay community

The leader of Exodus International, a Christian ministry that worked to help people repress same-sex attraction, has apologized to the gay community for inflicting "years of undue suffering." He plans to close the organization while launching a new effort to promote reconciliation.

"The church has waged the culture war, and it's time to put the weapons down," Alan Chambers told The Associated Press on Thursday, hours after announcing his decision at Exodus' annual conference and posting his apology online.

"While there has been so much good at Exodus, there has also been bad," Chambers said at the conference. "We've hurt people."

Based in Orlando, Fla., Exodus was founded 37 years ago and claimed 260 member ministries around the U.S. and abroad. It offered to help conflicted Christians rid themselves of unwanted homosexual inclinations through counseling and prayer, infuriating gay rights activists in the process.

Exodus had seen its influence wane in recent years as mainstream associations representing psychiatrists and psychologists rejected its approach. However, the idea that gays could be "converted" to heterosexuality through prayer persists among some evangelicals and fundamentalists.

The announcement that Exodus would close was not a total surprise. Last year, Chambers ? who is married to a woman but has spoken openly about his own sexual attraction to men ? said he was trying to distance his ministry from the idea that gays' sexual orientation can be permanently changed or "cured."

In his statement Thursday, Chambers said the board had decided to close Exodus and form a new ministry, which he referred to as reducefear.org.

He told the AP that the new initiative would seek to promote dialogue among those who've been on opposite sides in the debate over gay rights.

"We want to see bridges built, we want peace to be at the forefront of anything we do in the future," he said.

Gay rights activists welcomed Chambers' apology, while reiterating their belief that Exodus had caused great damage.

"This is a welcome first step in honestly addressing the harm the organization and its leaders have caused," said Sharon Groves, director of the Human Rights Campaign's religion and faith program. "Now we need them to take the next step of leadership and persuade all other religious-based institutions that they got it wrong."

Chambers said the decisions announced this week had been under consideration by Exodus' board for a year. Regarding the timing, he said it was not linked to rulings from the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage that are expected within the next week.

"I hold to a biblical view that the original intent for sexuality was designed for heterosexual marriage," he said. "Yet I realize there are a lot of people who fall outside of that, gay and straight ... It's time to find out how we can pursue the common good."

He said there were many influences on his personal decision. Among them, he said, was the interfaith work overseas of the U.S.-based Christian relief group World Vision, which he praised for its cooperation with Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist groups to aid at-risk children.

Truth Wins Out, another group that had been harshly critical of Exodus, praised Chambers for "integrity and authenticity."

"It takes a real man to publicly confront the people whose lives were destroyed by his organization's work, and to take real, concrete action to begin to repair that damage," said the group's associate director, Evan Hurst.

However, Hurst noted that some of Exodus' former followers ? disenchanted by Chambers' evolution ? had formed a new group called the Restored Hope Network, which calls itself an "ex-gay ministry" and continues to promote the idea that gays can be converted to heterosexuality.

That group's board members, gathering in Oklahoma City for their annual meeting, issued a statement saying they "grieved" Chambers' decision.

"It feels like the unnecessary death of a dear friend," said the board, vowing to carry on with Exodus' original mission.

Chambers was criticized by Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays. Her group had been a member of Exodus before resigning four years ago, and it's now part of the Restored Hope Network.

Griggs said Chambers was entitled to decide what was best for himself, but shouldn't be discrediting the efforts of others to help people who were uncomfortable with same-sex attraction.

"We do not owe an apology to the gay community," she said. "Nobody's ever forced to change. That's an individual's right."

Among those commending Chambers was California state Sen. Ted Lieu, author of a recently passed law seeking to ban licensed counselors from trying to turn gay teens straight. The law has been put on hold by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pending resolution of lawsuits challenging it.

"In the past, Exodus International practiced the quackery known as reparative therapy or various versions of gay conversion therapy," Lieu said. "Exodus International's mea culpa and shut-down puts another nail in the coffin for reparative therapy."

___=

Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/craryap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christian-group-apologizes-gay-community-143320199.html

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Photoful Improves On iOS 7?s Photo Gallery With A More Open, Gesture-Based App

PhotofulPhotoful, a new mobile application which is the rebranding and relaunch of the earlier app known as PhotoSocial, is hoping to attract iPhone users who want the Photos experience the new iOS 7 mobile operating system will offer…and then some. As with iOS 7′s re-imagined Photos app, Photoful will also sort your photo collection into smart groupings like iOS 7′s “Moments,” but it will allow users to do more, too, including photo tagging and advanced editing, printing, and sharing with several third-party services, as well as navigating through, selecting, and discarding photos using gestures. As with PhotoSocial, which somewhat mimicked?the original Apple Photos app, but then added capabilities on top, Photoful takes its inspiration from the redesigned version of iOS. It has the iOS 7 look-and-feel, making it one of the first to transition to the new mobile experience Apple recently debuted at WWDC. Often, it’s apps like this that eventually blaze the trail for Apple’s own native applications, which is a precarious position for a startup. For this model to work, the company has to continually stay ahead of whatever Apple is building itself. (Case in point: the new iOS 7 Photos app has taken its own “inspiration” from a number of photo app makers, including Everpix, Moment.me, flayvr, Tracks, Cluster, Story, Flock and more.) That being said, Photoful establishes itself as a fairly robust alternative to the native Photos app. And with some of the options it will add in the near future – like support for other third-party services such as Flickr and Tumblr and photo printing – it will get even better. “You need to start with beating what they have today and rounding out the corners,” explains Photoful founder?Jeff Bargmann. “[Apple's Photos app] is a closed ecosystem – that’s the big problem I see here. No other application can rope into this, and that’s a position that Apple isn’t really going to move from…That’s an opportunity for us.” Bargmann’s background is in designing utilities that augment the features and functions available on the native OS. He previously created Windows desktop utilities like Stardock’s Fences?and?ObjectDock, 1UP Industries’?Bins, and was project lead on Stardock’s Impulse, which later sold to GameStop. Afterwards, he wanted to expand his skill set, and learned iOS development to build PhotoSocial, now Photoful. Among the new app’s long list of extras, including Aviary-powered filtering and editing tools, a collage builder, a slideshow maker,

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KFv8PBn4HDA/

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Mothers Support: Researching Motherhood ? The Summer MC ...

Welcome to the Mothers Central Blog. We currently put a new post up every Thursday! If you enjoy our blog, be sure to subscribe via email, share your comments, and check out our MC Voices Page . Thanks for visiting!

We inadvertently become researchers of life and motherhood when we study our own as well as other mothers? experiences and journeys.

This is the concept behind our Summer MC Voices Spotlight Series on Mothers Central. Once a month we are honored to share an interview with an NAMC member who is part of our MC Voices community in hopes that you ? our readers ? will research motherhood through your own lens and uniquely applying?others? experiences and journeys to your life.

Last month we welcomed NAMC Advocacy Coordinator Valerie Young as our spotlight interview. This month we are excited to introduce you to Heather Polifka-Rivas, a mother of two who shares her stories as a writer for the Burlington VT Moms Blog.

Heather Polifka-Rivas Researching Motherhood

Q: What 3 words do you think best describe you and why?
A: (Three words, huh? In full disclosure, it depends on when you ask me this question.) At this moment in life I?d say:
Thoughtful. Resilient. Witty.

Q: What are some of your personal passions, hobbies and interests.
A: I?m a self-proclaimed foodie. I jump at any chance to visit a restaurant with interesting dining options. I also enjoy hosting dinners at our house (certainly not an easy feat with two young children running around the house, but I?m always up for the challenge). The word ?flow? is a term I use to describe when I?m absorbed in something I love. For me, cooking and preparing food is my ?flow? activity and often makes me lose all track of time.

With all the food I manage to eat, I actually do exercise. I have a torrid love affair with running ? which I?ve done on and off since high school. I ran the Chicago Marathon two years in a row and will be running the NYC Marathon in November. (This one is particularly challenging because I am 8 months post-partum and still breastfeeding. I still haven?t figured out how I?ll swing my long runs and nursing my little one ? lucky me, she still won?t take a bottle!)

Q: How did you become involved with the NAMC?
A: I heard about the NAMC while visiting my family?s lake house. One lazy afternoon my aunt (an NAMC member herself) and I were laying in the lake on inner tubes and began talking about mothering and the journey women take as they learn about parenthood and their ?selves.? She suggested I look into the NAMC. There was no active Mothers? Center Group in Burlington (where I live), however several months later when I began writing for the Burlington VT Mom?s Blog my aunt connected me with Terry ? a NAMC board member. Eventually I became an individual NAMC member. The power of networking and connecting with other women and mother?s has been so important to me over the last few years.

Q: When did you start blogging?
A: I began my own blog a few years ago but had a hard time staying disciplined enough to publish on a regular basis. I formally started blogging last September. After becoming friends with a founder of the Burlington VT Mom?s Blog, she approached me about blogging for them after reading some of my Facebook status updates (which in general reflect my tone of writing ? a mixture of humor, self-deprecation, honesty and wit).

Q: What topics/stories are you most passionate writing about.
A: I try to balance humor with topics that are both insightful and honest (which sometimes can be ?heavy? in nature). Blogging has been a way for me to process much of what motherhood means to me, whether it be through telling stories of my children?s growth or my own growth.

Q: What is your favorite blog post?and why?
A: Play Dates: The good, the bad, and the ugly. I wrote this post during winter in Vermont. As a stay at home mom I was lonely, barely had any friends and was fed up with the play date scene.

Q: What is one of your favorite memories as a parent?
A: (Trying to narrow all my memories down into one is difficult!) If I had to choose one that includes both my children it would be something that happened just the other day. I was sitting with Ruby (my 8-month-old) and Henry (my 5-year-old) eating lunch when I started singing a silly, goofy song in order to get both kids to eat. It sent them in to hysterics. Genuine kiddie giggles. (You know those kind of laughs? They are intoxicating!) I looked at both of my kids as they were looking at each other and laughing together ? it was just one of those moments where we were all connecting.

HeatherAndFamily

Q: What is one of your biggest challenges as a parent?
A: (Where do I begin?! Kidding? sort of.) The biggest challenge I?ve had is learning to be more flexible. I truly couldn?t comprehend all the stages kids go through before having my own family. Right when I think I?ve got something figured out, the kid changes and enters a new and different stage. I?m learning to be more comfortable with not always having the answer for why they behave a certain way. I?m also learning to be comfortable with saying that ?I?m doing the best I can for them, and that?s all they ask of me.?

Q: How has having children changed you?
A: There are some obvious things that change when you have children:

  • Your body changes
  • Your relationship with your partner changes
  • You can?t sleep in on a Saturday morning anymore or go out for an impromptu dinner.
  • Weekend excursions to somewhere warm, beachy and full of sun are nearly impossible.

These things are constant reminders of how you?ve changed after having kids. What has been really hard to pinpoint are the subtle shifts in your everyday outlook. Such as waking up and feeling sick, yet knowing you have two kiddos depending on you for everything so you have to make the best of your day. Or the realization that everything is not about ?me? anymore. With that being said, I put my children and their needs first, but I?m also very keen on making a little part of myself a priority every once in awhile too. A healthy woman, is a healthy mother.

Q: Do you think your views of what motherhood would be like were unrealistic before having children?
A:? I?ll be completely honest? I knew I wanted to have children, but that is all I knew. I really didn?t sit and daydream what it would be like to have a cooing baby or envision my child attending preschool for the first time. Going into motherhood, I had no preconceived notions of what I wanted it to be like.

I will tell you that {motherhood} has been the most life-changing event and journey I?ve ever embarked upon.

It was really hard for me at first. I wasn?t prepared to drop everything and attend to a baby ? every day and every minute. Don?t get me wrong, I?m completely in love with my two children, I just didn?t realize how hard it would be. This is something no one told me about. (And frankly, if someone told my very pregnant self 5 years ago, ?Heather, congrats, you?re going to have a baby. By the way, having a kid is one of the hardest things you?ll do,? I probably wouldn?t have believed them.)

~

Thank you Heather, for bravely sharing your thoughts and memories as a woman and a mother.

Continue to research motherhood through your own lens by reading more of of Heather?s words. Visit Heather on the Burlington VT Moms Blog through the Mothers? Central MC Voices Page.

Leave a Comment: Please help us give a warm welcome to Heather. Do you have additional question for her? Share them in the comments section below!

~

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Click here for more information and to submit your blog.

I am a staff member of the National Association of Mothers' Centers and a longtime member of the Mothers' Center of Greater Toledo in Ohio. My husband and I are busy raising 3 children ages 2-9. I have a professional background as a graphic designer in the creative and education industry. Since 2005, I have been using my professional skills by actively volunteering with the Mothers' Center of Greater Toledo in various leadership positions.

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Source: http://www.motherscenter.org/blog/2013/06/researching-motherhood-the-summer-mc-voices-spotlight-series-featuring-heather-polifka-rivas/

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Friday, June 21, 2013

Google ordered by French regulators to revamp privacy policy or face fines

Google ordered by French regulators to revamp privacy policies or face fines

Google has been under the gun in the EU for a while now about its privacy policies, particularly in France, which is fairly hardcore about such matters. In fact, the nation's CNIL computer watchdog has just ordered Mountain View to change its practices or face an initial maximum fine of €150,000 (around $200,000), followed by a penalty of up to €300,000 for further non-compliance. Google has just three months to fall in line, and the French regulator's ruling could just be the beginning; it investigated the search giant at the EU parliament's behest, meaning nations like Italy, Spain and the UK could follow suit. For its part, Google -- which is no doubt very sensitive to such matters at the moment thanks to the NSA saga -- said it "respects European law" and will continue to work with French and EU authorities on the matter.

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Source: Reuters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/20/google-ordered-by-french-regulators-to-revamp-privacy-policy/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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FAA says it is likely to relax electronic device rules

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Puig dazzles for Dodgers in Game 2 of day-night

By HOWIE RUMBERG

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:45 p.m. ET June 19, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) - Yasiel Puig kicked back in his chair, his well-worn uniform streaked in red clay, and calmly answered questions in Spanish. Then, suddenly, he threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Pow!"

In any language, he's about as unpredictable off the field as he is on it, and everyone in baseball is riveted.

Puig homered to complete a dazzling debut in New York, helping Los Angeles beat the Yankees 6-0 Wednesday for a split of their day-night doubleheader. The Dodgers salvaged manager Don Mattingly's return to the Bronx after a 6-4 loss in the opener.

Hanley Ramirez capped a six-hit day with a pair of RBI singles in the nightcap. Still, he looked quizzically at a group of reporters when they gathered to talk about perhaps his best day of an injury-marred season.

"It's all about Puig," he said.

Not quite, but Mattingly thinks adding the Cuban with just 15 major league games of experience to a lineup along with Adrian Gonzalez and Ramirez may key the Dodgers getting out of the NL West cellar.

"Hanley, for me, I've said it since he came over. I think he's one of the best hitters in the game," Mattingly said. "The way Yasiel's swinging the bat, if Adrian continues to swing the bat the way he's capable of, that's a pretty potent trio of guys."

Chris Capuano (2-5) pitched three-hit ball for six innings in his comeback from the disabled list. The Dodgers rebounded from a sloppy loss to former teammate Hiroki Kuroda (7-5) in a matchup between injury-ravaged teams with $200 million payrolls.

"Would've been better to get two, but we'll take one," Mattingly said. "It felt good."

In the first meeting between the teams in New York since the Dodgers clinched the 1981 World Series title with a Game 6 victory at old Yankee Stadium, Ichiro Suzuki homered, drove in three runs and made a spectacular catch on the warning track for the Yankees.

New York got help from reliever Ronald Belisario's two errors on the same play in a three-run seventh.

The clubs played a split doubleheader because of a rainout Tuesday night. The announced attendance for both games between the old October rivals who've met in a record 11 World Series topped a total of 80,000, although there were many empty seats.

The Dodgers started out quickly against Phil Hughes (3-6), who allowed a season-high 10 hits and five runs in six innings.

"You've got to hit your spots," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You can mix some good pitches and try to do some of that, too, but it comes down to not making mistakes and he made some mistakes."

The first four batters reached on singles with Puig bunting for a hit and Ramirez getting his fifth hit of the day - an RBI single. Gonzalez also drove in a run but Tim Federowicz grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the rally.

Gonzalez doubled in the third and scored on Andre Ethier's two-base hit after Ramirez made an out for the first time.

Ethier helped quash a Yankees rally in the fourth, throwing out Robinson Cano trying for a double with none out to the delight of 85-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, who was making his first foray into Twitter.

"I think Andre Ethier has done a really good job in Center Field. Especially for someone who has played Right Field for years. (hash)VinScully," he tweeted.

Puig homered to right field leading off the seventh to make it 6-0.

In the opener, Puig tried throwing out a runner at first on a single to right field. He was also caught trying to turn a routine single into double in the first inning - then made it work on a ball hit into only a slightly better spot in the eighth, eliciting an ovation from the very vocal Dodgers fans, who out-hollered Yankees fans on many occasions.

The cheers were especially loud from all fans for Mattingly in his return - even if he was wearing the wrong shade of blue.

The Bleacher Creatures chanted "Donnie Baseball!" during each game, and fans cheered a video tribute in the opener and a live shot of Mattingly in the visitor's dugout in the nightcap. The 1985 AL MVP tipped his cap in appreciation.

In the second game, Puig bunted for a hit, was hit by a pitch, stole a base to help manufacture a run and hit his fifth homer.

"You can recognize the tools right away," Girardi said after Game 1. "There's an awful lot to like about this kid."

Ramirez went 4 for 4 with a two-run homer in the eighth in the day game, and drove in Puig twice to help make Capuano's return from a strained upper back muscle easy. He entered 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA in eight games - six starts - and has been on the DL twice. But he was nasty Wednesday in his first scoreless start since August 2012.

"I was a really happy with the way I felt," Capuano said.

Kuroda gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings to outpitch South Korean rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) in the afternoon. Ryu allowed a two-run double to Lyle Overbay and a homer to Suzuki in the sixth.

With runners on first and second in the seventh, Belisario let Vernon Wells' meek pop in front of the mound drop for an error. Jayson Nix advanced to third on the drop and scored when Belisario threw the ball into center field trying to get Cano at second base. Belisario hit Thomas Neal with a pitch, then Suzuki greeted Paco Rodriguez with a blooped two-run single to make it 6-2.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Preston Claiborne after Suzuki robbed Gonzalez of an extra-base hit in the eighth to pull the Dodgers to 6-4. But Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth and struck out Puig to end it for his 25th save.

"I felt so happy to face the best, not only the best pitcher in the league but the best closer," Puig said through a translator. "I wanted a base hit off him but he beat me like he beat everybody in the big leagues."

NOTES: New Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the second game. Before the game he talked with Rivera in the dugout. ... The Dodgers optioned outfielder Alex Castellanos to Triple-A Albuquerque. Castellanos went 0 for 2 in the opener.

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


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Yankees top Dodgers in Mattingly's Bronx return

NEW YORK (AP) - Yankees fans showed Don Mattingly the love from the moment he took the lineup card to home plate Wednesday. Hiroki Kuroda, though, wasn't feeling nostalgic when facing his old team.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/52259686/ns/sports-baseball/

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Outreach (Balloon Juice)

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Author Cliff Adelman shares what inspired him to write The Russian ...

Russian EmbassyOne of the great joys of my current job is meeting and speaking to many authors. I am always interested and amazed to hear their stories of what inspired them to write and by their willingness to help other writers in the journey to?get published.

At Book Expo America?in May, ?I had the opportunity to meet?Cliff Adelman, author of The Russian Embassy Party, which he self-published with Archway Publishing.? Here?s a summary of the story from the web site:

A ride on the edges of history, with all its unanticipated connections, from the 1963 March on Washington to the 1993 chaos of Yeltsin?s Russia. When an ex-CIA agent convinces a bumbling law student to write a term paper on international rights on the high seas, the student and his roommates in Washington wind up with the whole Soviet Embassy coming to dinner. This happened on August 10, 1963, and has never been marked in the history books. Out of this encounter spins a story of revenge, counterpoint, and rollicking foolishness, ending on a railroad platform by the Russian-Finnish border in September, 1993. The Russian Embassy Party follows its sort-of-ordinary people in a not-so-ordinary web through the edges of history (the set for ?I Have a Dream,? watching the fall of the Berlin Wall, revelations of the Katyn Forest Massacre, the last gasp failed Soviet coup of August 1991, stumbling attempts to shore up democracy in Yelstin?s Russia) until . . . Well, let?s say only that there is a good dose of history in the story, and a larger dose of realism in the minds, environments, and conversations of both American and Russian protagonists and supporting cast. At the same time, the echoes of the 1963 Russian Embassy Party itself (when the students behaved and talked like the late-adolescents they were) cut veins through the story, linking its participants in ways they realize, bit by bit, as adults.

According to his bio on the Archway Publishing website:

Cliff started making trouble in grade school in the Boston area, made it constructive trouble at Brown and the University of Chicago, and brought the construction to a head in a string of influential monographs that demonstrated how tractable and smart both governments and foundations can be. Not exactly a wall-flower.

As you can tell by his bio, Cliff is an interesting character in his own right so I asked him to share about his book. Here are?my questions and his answers to an interview I conducted with him. I think you will find it an enjoyable read.

What inspired you to write the book?? For years, I?had three stories I wanted to tell.? I chose The Russian Embassy Party for my first novel.? Why?? First, because I started writing the 1963 portion of the novel as a memoir in 1973.? It didn?t go anywhere then, and certainly wasn?t a story in and of itself.? So it slept.? Thirty years later, I meet a Finn on a train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg whose business is hauling out industrial waste sludge from Russia to extractors that could pull precious metals from the glop.? It took nearly 20 years more for me to put the two poles together and say, ?You know?? There?s a good story here. Now, can I do it??? That 2013 is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which plays a revelatory role in the 1963 portion of the novel, was push enough to get this thing done in 2012.

?.let your characters talk, and their talk should become the engines of the story.

What do you think gain by reading your book???They will squirm a little with the 1963 late adolescents talking and experiencing life like?late adolescents; they will come to appreciate the underside of Soviet/Russian life as experienced by more-or-less ordinary people, who also tell bad Russian jokes; they will learn perhaps more than they ever knew of the way advertising works in international contexts; and will come to see how they, too, are bounced along the edges of history. And they
will have a good deal of fun along the way.

?.have a marketing platform spelled out for yourself before you try to sell the finished product,

How did writing [non-fiction] for?your job help you when writing this book?? I wrote monograph-length pieces in ways that,as people said, ?made data sing,? and asked how the hell the U.S. government let me get?away with?that kind of colorful writing, let alone titles such as Women at Thirtysomething, Tourists? in Our?Own Land, Answers in the Toolbox, and Moving Into Town?and Moving On.? Gradually, these got longer, so I knew I could sustain the prose.? Whether I could build and sustain characters and a plot that did not depend on underlying data was another story, and whether I could have the characters and story emerge principally through dialogue (as opposed to an auctorial voice) was a significant challenge that, as it turned out, was less difficult than I anticipated.

Archway logoWhat tips would?you to ?give aspiring writers???First, never write about places you have not visited???As Orwell said, the physical memories?sounds, smells, surfaces of things?come first.? Second, let your characters talk, and their talk should become the engines of the story.? Don?t tell the reader what some character is thinking or feeling: let the character do it!? Third, if you have an international environment, use languages other than English and put the translations in brackets.? You may need help for this.? I did with the Russian (not the German, in which I am half-conversant; but you will notice that, even there, I had the bi-lingual German character translate for his American listeners in the natural rhythms of conversation).? Fourth, have a marketing platform spelled out for yourself before you try to sell the finished product, whether you wind up with an agent (highly unlikely), publisher directly (even more unlikely), or engage a self-publishing platform.

What has been the most satisfying aspect of publishing a novel? (I had published three non-fiction books with commercial publishers previously, so fiction was the issue) Easy: it opened the door to putting the next novel together.? It said: you can do this, so do it again

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Source: http://indiebookwriters.com/2013/06/20/author-cliff-adelman-shares-what-inspired-him-to-write-the-russian-embassy-party/

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Markets are roiled by prospect of Fed exit

Specialists Gregg Maloney, left, and Anthony Matesic confer on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialists Gregg Maloney, left, and Anthony Matesic confer on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Michael Urkonis, center, squeezes through a crowd on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

(AP) ? Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year.

U.S. stocks fell sharply in midday trading and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to the highest point since August 2011. Gold led a rout in commodity prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 209 points, or 1.4 percent, at 14,902 in midday trading Thursday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 25 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,603. The Nasdaq composite fell 51 points, or 1.5 percent, to 3,392 points.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 2.41 percent.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday the central bank could end its bond purchases by mid-2014.

Global markets also fell.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-20-Wall%20Street-Midday/id-abb906235be945b48d6fdc5cb195a215

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Is the future of clean energy a pond of algae in every backyard?

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New Android apps worth downloading: eBay update, The Car Connection, Rage of the Gladiator

Today's apps worth downloading start with a couple that might help you save, or make, some money. First is an update to eBay, the online auction site whose app has gotten lots of new features and refinements for sellers to make their stuff available to buyers. Up next is The Car Connection, an app with tons of info for finding the right car for you. Finally, Rage of the Gladiator puts you in the shoes of a warrior fighting off monsters, magicians and more in a first-person action game.

eBay update (Free)

eBayWhat?s it about? Get access to online auction site eBay and all its features for buyers and sellers with its Android app.

What?s cool? eBay is a great way to buy and sell stuff that's harder to come by in traditional stores (or just that you want or don't want, as the case may be), and its Android app makes the process easy even if you're away from your computer. You can search for items, make bids, complete transactions and do anything else you might as a buyer, including messaging sellers. On the sales side, eBay lets you monitor your auctions, interact with buyers, and post listings easily with photos from your Android device. The app's new update adds tablet support and brings a new layout to the seller experience, and throws in new preview options and the like for when you're setting up your listings.

Who?s it for? If you ever use eBay for buying and selling, the Android app is a must to keep on top of all your auctions.

What?s it like? Get eBay's RedLaser app for barcode comparison capabilities.

The Car ConnectionWhat?s it about? Research and shop for cars wherever you are with The Car Connection, which brings the experience of its website to your Android device.

What?s cool? If you're in the market for a new car, The Car Connection is an app that can help you. It's filled with information about different brands of cars, including reviews that give you an idea as to their quality and specs. The Car Connection includes info about tons of car brands, makes and models, and includes full reviews as well as snapshot information to help you make your decisions, and images to help as well. The app also pipes in news coverage from the auto industry and can connect you with local dealerships when you're ready to go shop.

Who?s it for? Anyone in the market for a new car who wants to make an informed decision should check out The Car Connection.

What?s it like? Grab Autotrader.com and Cars.com for more info, reviews and comparisons.

?

Rage of the GladiatorWhat?s it about? First-person action game Rage of the Gladiator sees players battling against a host of enemies in the arena, taking down each with a number of different kinds of attacks.

What?s cool? Rage of the Gladiator sees you step into an arena armed with your wits, a warhammer and a shield, and tasked with beating back various foes of a magical persuasion. Each battle throws a new foe your way, and you'll need to make use of your defenses and tactical movements in order to defeat them. As you play, you'll gain new abilities and moves, like magic spells and high-powered attacks to use against your enemies.

Who?s it for? Fans of action games with high-quality graphics and production values will enjoy Rage of the Gladiator.

What?s it like? Other solid action games include Wild Blood and The Dark Knight Rises.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/13540-new-android-apps-worth-downloading-ebay-update-the-car-connection-rage-of-the-gladiator

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Environmentally friendly battery made from wood

June 19, 2013 ? Taking inspiration from trees, scientists have developed a battery made from a sliver of wood coated with tin that shows promise for becoming a tiny, long-lasting, efficient and environmentally friendly energy source. Their report on the device -- 1,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper -- appears in the journal Nano Letters.

Liangbing Hu, Teng Li and colleagues point out that today's batteries often use stiff, non-flexible substrates, which are too rigid to release the stress that occurs as ions flow through the battery. They knew that wood fibers from trees are supple and naturally designed to hold mineral-rich water, similar to the electrolyte in batteries. They decided to explore use of wood as the base of an experimental sodium-ion battery. Using sodium rather than lithium would make the device environmentally friendly.

Lead author Hongli Zhu and other team members describe lab experiments in which the device performed successfully though 400 charge-discharge cycles, putting it among the longest-lasting of all sodium-ion nanobatteries. Batteries using the new technology would be best suited for large-scale energy storage applications, such as wind farms or solar energy installations, the report indicates.

The authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation and the University of Maryland NanoCenter.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Hongli Zhu, Zheng Jia, Yuchen Chen, Nicholas Weadock, Jiayu Wan, Oeyvind Vaaland, Xiaogang Han, Teng Li, Liangbing Hu. Tin Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries Using Natural Wood Fiber as a Mechanical Buffer and Electrolyte Reservoir. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130618094632004 DOI: 10.1021/nl400998t

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/SRMZbis3nxM/130619122205.htm

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Bonus Quote of the Day (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Not the Pats' way

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. ? Police officers stationed at the end of your driveway. An armada of media on your placid little street. Detectives marching out your front door with a box. The words ?questioning? and ?homicide investigation? finding their way into sentences alongside your name.
?
That?s where Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez found himself Tuesday. Tough spot. Not where one would want to spend the early part of his June-to-July vacation, the little window of opportunity on the NFL calendar when players are out from under the iron thumb of their bosses.
?
But a helluva lot better than the spot just down the road from Hernandez?s house where a 27-year-old Boston man was reportedly found by a teen jogger on Monday afternoon. Who the deceased is, how he got there and how he got dead hasn?t yet been divulged by authorities but police are obviously trying to find out what Hernandez knows about all this and whether he?s tangentially involved.
?
A rented Chevy Suburban with Rhode Island plates is one piece of evidence investigators want information about, according to the Attleboro Sun Chronicle. Hernandez?s name is reportedly tied to the rental.
?
How the Suburban is tied to the body and how deeply ? if at all ? Hernandez is in this nasty piece of business will be fleshed out in short order, if the Bristol County district attorney's office can help it.
?
Still, even if Hernandez was playing Madden and drinking Mountain Dew all weekend, the whole situation is a bad look.
?
Sports Illustrated reported Hernandez was questioned Monday. Tuesday evening, things got busy at Hernandez?s home. After three hours of media massing on the street and North Attleboro policemen positioned at the end of Hernandez? driveway, two men emerged from the house but were stopped by police who spirited the men away in separate cruisers then searched the car.
?
Around 7:35 p.m., police escorted a woman into Hernandez? house. State police left the home more than two hours later with a box. Hernandez, it was confirmed by New England Cable News, is in the house.
?
For what?s supposed to pass for the quiet time of year, the Patriots have been anything but quiet over the past eight days.
?
Last week, the team signed the NFL?s Anna Kournikova, Tim Tebow. On Friday, owner Robert Kraft praised Tebow saying, ?We like to collect people of good character. He's the real deal and we have a lot of other players [like that]."
?
Over the weekend, Kraft found himself backstroking away from a purported joke about Russian president Vladimir Putin pocketing one of Kraft?s Super Bowl rings against Kraft?s wishes.
?
Hernandez?s fellow tight end, Rob Gronkowski, figured to be the focal point of Tuesday media attention as he underwent his fifth operation since last November (this one on his back). But Hernandez kicked Gronkowski off the front page.
?
Now, ownership letting its knickers twist because Gronkowski had his picture taken with Bibi Jones while wearing in a Patriots jersey seems laughable

For the always ?brand-conscious? Patriots, Tuesday was really a bad day. Same for Hernandez.
?
But a very bad Tuesday is better than having than no Tuesday at all.

Source: http://www.csnne.com/blog/patriots-talk/curran-hernandez-case-adds-pats-problems

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Fiber-optic pen helps see inside brains of children with learning disabilities

June 18, 2013 ? For less than $100, University of Washington researchers have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that helps scientists see inside the brains of children with learning disabilities while they read and write.

The device and research using it to study the brain patterns of children will be presented June 18 at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting in Seattle. A paper describing the tool, developed by the UW's Center on Human Development and Disability, was published this spring in Sensors, an online open-access journal. "Scientists needed a tool that allows them to see in real time what a person is writing while the scanning is going on in the brain," said Thomas Lewis, director of the center's Instrument Development Laboratory. "We knew that fiber optics were an appropriate tool. The question was, how can you use a fiber-optic device to track handwriting?"

To create the system, Lewis and fellow engineers Frederick Reitz and Kelvin Wu hollowed out a ballpoint pen and inserted two optical fibers that connect to a light-tight box in an adjacent control room where the pen's movement is recorded. They also created a simple wooden square pad to hold a piece of paper printed with continuously varying color gradients. The custom pen and pad allow researchers to record handwriting during functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to assess behavior and brain function at the same time.Other researchers have developed fMRI-compatible writing devices, but "I think it does something similar for a tenth of the cost," Reitz said of the UW system. By using supplies already found in most labs (such as a computer), the rest of the supplies -- pen, fiber optics, wooden pad and printed paper -- cost less than $100.The device connects to a computer with software that records every aspect of the handwriting, from stroke order to speed, hesitations and liftoffs. Understanding how these physical patterns correlate with a child's brain patterns can help scientists understand the neural connections involved.

Researchers studied 11- and 14-year-olds with either dyslexia or dysgraphia, a handwriting and letter-processing disorder, as well as children without learning disabilities. Subjects looked at printed directions on a screen while their heads were inside the fMRI scanner. The pen and pad were on a foam pad on their laps.

Subjects were given four-minute blocks of reading and writing tasks. Then they were asked to simply think about writing an essay (they later wrote the essay when not using the fMRI). Just thinking about writing caused many of the same brain responses as actual writing would.

"If you picture yourself writing a letter, there's a part of the brain that lights up as if you're writing the letter," said Todd Richards, professor of radiology and principal investigator of the UW Integrated Brain Imaging Center. "When you imagine yourself writing, it's almost as if you're actually writing, minus the motion problems."

Richards and his staff are just starting to analyze the data they've collected from about three dozen subjects, but they have already found some surprising results.

"There are certain centers and neural pathways that we didn't necessarily expect" to be activated, Richards said. "There are language pathways that are very well known. Then there are other motor pathways that allow you to move your hands. But how it all connects to the hand and motion is still being understood."

Besides learning disorders, the inexpensive pen and pad also could help researchers study diseases in adults, especially conditions that cause motor control problems, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

"There are several diseases where you cannot move your hand in a smooth way or you're completely paralyzed," Richards said. "The beauty is it's all getting recorded with every stroke, and this device would help us to study these neurological diseases."

The work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Other UW collaborators on the project are Peter Boord, Mary Askren and Virginia Berninger.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/vPfw-iUUi70/130618131852.htm

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