Authorities Investigate Envelope Containing White Powder Sent To Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio

In this May 24, 2011 file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announces at a news conference that a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy and two detention officers have been arrested in drug and human smuggling cases in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Exxon selling Japan unit for $3.9B to cut refining

Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining, right, speaks as Philippe Ducom, lead country manager of ExxonMobil Japan Group, left, and Jun Mutoh, representative director of TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., listen during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 . Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a deal valued at $3.9 billion as the energy giant seeks to shed some of its refining operations globally amid declining oil demand in Japan's mature market. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining, right, speaks as Philippe Ducom, lead country manager of ExxonMobil Japan Group, left, and Jun Mutoh, representative director of TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., listen during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 . Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a deal valued at $3.9 billion as the energy giant seeks to shed some of its refining operations globally amid declining oil demand in Japan's mature market. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining, right, and Philippe Ducom, lead country manager of ExxonMobil Japan Group, left, shake hands with Jun Mutoh, representative director of TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., center, during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a deal valued at $3.9 billion as the energy giant seeks to shed some of its refining operations globally amid declining oil demand in Japan's mature market. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining, right, and Philippe Ducom, lead country manager of ExxonMobil Japan Group, left, shake hands with Jun Mutoh, representative director of TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., center, during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a deal valued at $3.9 billion as the energy giant seeks to shed some of its refining operations globally amid declining oil demand in Japan's mature market. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Representative Director of TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. Jun Mutoh speaks as Philippe Ducom, lead country manager of ExxonMobil Japan Group listens during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a deal valued at $3.9 billion as the energy giant seeks to shed some of its refining operations globally amid declining oil demand in Japan's mature market. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining, right, and Philippe Ducom, lead country manager of ExxonMobil Japan Group, left, shake hands with Jun Muto, representative director of TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a deal valued at $3.9 billion as the energy giant seeks to shed some of its refining operations globally amid declining oil demand in Japan's mature market. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO (AP) ? Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. in a $3.9 billion deal that reflects a long-term decline in Japan's demand for fuel and a global strategy to refocus on exploration.

TonenGeneral Sekiyu will buy 99 percent of the shares of Exxon Mobil Yugen Kaisha, which refines and sells fuel and lubricants, the Japanese refiner said about the deal, announced Sunday. Exxon Mobil's stake in TonenGeneral will drop to 22 percent from 50 percent.

Large oil and gas companies have been shedding refining operations in recent years and turning to oil exploration and production in the hope of bigger profits. Tighter rules for car and truck fuel efficiency are expected to weigh on growth in demand for fuel in developed countries for years to come.

Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining, told a press conference Monday in Tokyo that it was a restructuring move amid a changing global energy market, but said the company remained "very committed" to its refining ? or downstream ? operations.

"What we continue to do is try to restructure ? in some cases invest, in some cases divest and in some cases restructure ? to make it a strong group of operations in our downstream" business, Glass told reporters.

Exxon has a "long-term strategy of moving away from refining, where the margins are wafer thin, and into exploration," said Nicholas Smith, a strategist at CLSA in Tokyo. "Refining is something that anybody can do. You can buy the tech off the shelf."

TonenGeneral said the move would give it more flexibility and competitive in a challenging environment.

"The Japanese market is getting tougher," said Jun Mutoh, the company's managing director. "The decision-making within the company will be more effective in the newly integrated production-distribution operation."

TonenGeneral will continue to deliver products and services under the Esso, Mobil and General brands and continue to rely on Exxon Mobil's technology and technological support in the refining and petrochemicals businesses.

Other major oil companies are making similar moves.

Marathon Oil spun off its refining operations last July. This summer ConocoPhillips also plans to split itself in two, separating its refining operations from its more profitable oil and gas exploration and production business. BP and Shell are selling refineries in the U.S. and Western Europe.

Exploring and producing oil and gas offers investors a chance for faster growth. Also, oil prices are high and are expected to remain so, which has helped producer profits and funded a boom in new exploration.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-30-AS-Exxon-Japan/id-5b6ea289c9e344fb9b259a8a8c5010db

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সোমবার, ৩০ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Gingrich says he's in till GOP convention (AP)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. ? On the weekend before the pivotal Florida primary, Newt Gingrich vowed Saturday to stay in the race for the Republican presidential nomination until the national convention this summer even if he loses Tuesday's vote. Front-runner Mitt Romney poured on the criticism of his rival in television ads airing across the state.

Gingrich's pledge, in a race defined by unpredictability, raised the prospect of an extended struggle inside the party as Republicans work to defeat President Barack Obama in the fall. "You just had two national polls that show me ahead," he said. "Why don't you ask Gov. Romney what he will do if he loses" in Florida.

The former Massachusetts governor countered a few hours later while in Panama City. "I think we are going to win here, I sure hope so," he said.

As the two rivals made their appeals to Hispanic, Jewish and tea party voters, veterans of the armed forces and others, all known indicators pointed to a good day for Romney in the primary.

He and his allies held a 3-1 advantage in money spent on television advertising in the race's final days. Robust early vote and absentee ballot totals followed a pre-primary turnout operation by his campaign. Even the schedules the two men kept underscored the shape of the race ? moderate for Romney, heavy for Gingrich.

Campaigning like a front-runner, Romney made few references to Gingrich. Instead, he criticized Obama's plans to cut the size of the armed forces. "He's detached from reality," the former Massachusetts governor said.

"The foreign policy of `pretty please' is not working terribly well," he added. Romney said he wants to add 100,000 troops, not cut them.

If his personal rhetoric was directed Obama's way, the television commercials were trained on Gingrich, whose victory in last Saturday's South Carolina primary upended the race for the nomination. A new ad released as the weekend began is devoted to the day in 1997 when Gingrich received an ethics reprimand from the House while serving as speaker and was ordered to pay a $300,000 fine.

Nearly the entire 30-second ad consists of NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw's nationally broadcast description of the events on the evening news. "By an overwhelming vote, they found him guilty of ethics violations; they charged him a very large financial penalty, and they raised ? several of them ? raised serious questions about his future effectiveness," Brokaw said that night, and now again on televisions across Florida.

Both NBC and the former newsman registered objections. The network called on the campaign to stop using the footage and Brokaw said in a statement, "I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."

A Romney adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the campaign wasn't likely to stop running the ad. "We believe it falls within fair use," he said. "We didn't take the entire broadcast; we just took the first 30 seconds."

Whatever its impact, the ad represented part of a barrage that Gingrich could not match.

A second Romney ad said Gingrich had "cashed in" as a Washington insider while the housing crisis was hitting Florida particularly hard.

Figures made available to The Associated Press showed Romney was spending $2.8 million to air television commercials in the final week of the Florida campaign. In addition, a group supporting him, Restore Our Future, was spending $4 million more, for a combined total of $6.8 million.

By contrast, Gingrich was spending about $700,000, and Winning Our Future, a group backing him, an additional $1.5 million. That was about one-third the amount for the pro-Romney tandem.

Officials said the total of absentee and early vote cast approached 500,000, about 200,000 of them before Gingrich won in South Carolina last weekend.

Gingrich seemed in good humor during the day, despite the obstacles in his way. He joked with reporters that they had missed an example of his grandiosity ? a charge that one rival, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, had used in a recent debate ? when they didn't see him hold a golf trophy on display at the PGA Library.

Gingrich also turned aside one opportunity to criticize Romney, answering a question by saying, `I want to talk about defeating Obama."

But his tone seemed to change after he said he wasn't happy with his performances in a pair of debates during the week, and was asked to explain.

"You cannot debate somebody who is dishonest. You just can't," he said, referring to Romney.

Referring to one answer the former Massachusetts governor had given, Gingrich said it was not true that Romney had always voted for a Republican when one was on the ballot.

"That in fact he could have voted for George H.W. Bush or Pat Buchanan the same day and he chose the Democratic primary, he voted Paul Tsongas, the most liberal candidate. The same year he gave money to three Democrats for Congress," he added, referring to the 1992 campaign.

"Now there's no practical way in a civil debate to deal with somebody who is that willing to say something that is just totally dishonest."

Romney poked fun at Gingrich's debate performances.

"This last one Speaker Gingrich said he didn't do so well because the audience was so loud. The one before he said he didn't do so well because the audience was too quiet. This is like Goldilocks, you know, you've got to have it just right.

"When I debate the president, I'm not going to worry about the audience, I'm going to make sure that we take down Barack Obama and take back the White House."

The two other contenders, Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, have conceded Florida and did not campaign in the state during the day.

___

Associated Press reporter Steve Peoples in Panama City contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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রবিবার, ২৯ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Mobile Miscellany: week of January 23, 2012

This week may not have been incredibly packed with news in the mobile world, but it was still easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of January 23, 2012:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of January 23, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of January 23, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8-NtQ1qAAcI/

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Baby on the Way for Simon Helberg

Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz on the hit sitcom, and wife Jocelyn Towne are expecting their first child this spring, their rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/Kaw6jT_pvEw/

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শনিবার, ২৮ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

(AP)

Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system.
Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components.

Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called ?religious rights.?
When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to ?the reasonable? Muslim demands for their ?religious rights,? they also get the other components under the table. Here?s how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007)).
As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:

United States ? Muslim 1.0%
Australia ? Muslim 1.5%
Canada ? Muslim 1.9%
China ? Muslim 1%-2%
Italy ? Muslim 1.5%
Norway ? Muslim 1.8%

At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:

Denmark ? Muslim 2%
Germany ? Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom ? Muslim 2.7%
Spain ? Muslim 4%
Thailand ? Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population.
They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves ? along with threats for failure to comply. ( United States ).

France ? Muslim 8%
Philippines ? Muslim 5%
Sweden ? Muslim 5%
Switzerland ? Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands ? Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad &Tobago ? Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world.
When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions ( Paris ?car-burnings). Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats ( Amsterdam ? Mohammed cartoons).

Guyana ? Muslim 10%
India ? Muslim 13.4%
Israel ? Muslim 16%
Kenya ? Muslim 10%
Russia ? Muslim 10-15%

After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:
Ethiopia ? Muslim 32.8%

At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:

Bosnia ? Muslim 40%
Chad ? Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon ? Muslim 59.7%

From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:

Albania ? Muslim 70%
Malaysia ? Muslim 60.4%
Qatar ? Muslim 77.5%
Sudan ? Muslim 70%

After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:

Bangladesh ? Muslim 83%
Egypt ? Muslim 90%
Gaza ? Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia ? Muslim 86.1%
Iran ? Muslim 98%
Iraq ? Muslim 97%
Jordan ? Muslim 92%
Morocco ? Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan ? Muslim 97%
Palestine ? Muslim 99%
Syria ? Muslim 90%
Tajikistan ? Muslim 90%
Turkey ? Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates ? Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of ?Dar-es-Salaam? ? the Islamic House of Peace ? there?s (supposed) to be peace because everybody is a Muslim: we know however that this isnt true is it...?

Afghanistan ? Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia ? Muslim 100%
Somalia ? Muslim 100%
Yemen ? Muslim 99.9%

Of course, that?s not the case. To satisfy their religiously ordained blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons...and they are coming to a neighborhood near you...so keep thinking they are not going to harm you and they "accept" you.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_apnewsalert

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The future of Egypt's 'unfinished' revolution: 4 predictions (The Week)

New York ? A year after the Tahrir Square protests began, the uprising's end game is still in doubt. What's next for Egypt?

Cairo's Tahrir Square was teeming on Wednesday when thousands of Egyptians gathered to mark the first anniversary of the revolution that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. In the year since the protests began, the military leaders who took control after Mubarak's government fell have promised to hand over authority to an elected president by summer, and Islamist parties have won a majority in the parliament that will write the country's new constitution. What happens next? Here, four predictions:

1. Islamists will rule Egypt... for now
It looks like "we must brace ourselves for forms of Islamist rule for several terms," says Ed Husain at the Council on Foreign Relations. The Muslim Brotherhood won nearly half the seats in the new parliament, and more fundamentalist Salafists are the next most powerful bloc. If Egypt's secularists take the easy route, and simply rail against Islamists, their future is bleak. But if they "undertake the political hard grind necessary to win hearts and minds" away from the Brotherhood with "coherent messages of economic development and political freedom," they might eventually gain power.

SEE MORE: Egypt's vote: A mandate for Islamists?

?

2. Egypt will be plagued by economic woe
A year of turmoil has left Egypt facing a financial crisis that "could undermine its political transition," say David D. Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh in The New York Times. Egypt has "mounting debts, negligible economic growth, and dwindling foreign reserves." Its new leaders will almost certainly have to further devalue their currency, which could cause food prices to soar. Egypt might even be forced to accept a "financial lifeline" from the International Monetary Fund, a bitter pill "after eight decades of denouncing Western colonialism and Arab dependency."

3. The newly awakened population will demand results
Many activists have been "disappointed with the pace of progress," says Ben Gittleson at?Salon. "Thousands of civilians languish in military prisons, substantive police reform has yet to materialize, and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has repeatedly extended its rule despite promises to step down." But Egyptians have now had a taste of political freedom, however imperfect, in the "relatively free and fair" parliamentary elections ? a big change after growing up with rigged votes under Mubarak. They're not likely to turn back now, however long the battle lasts.?

SEE MORE: 4 reasons to view Egypt's Islamists without fear

?

4. The military and Muslim Brotherhood will have it out
"Mubarak's downfall wasn't the triumph of popular protest," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. He fell because the military turned on him and forced him out. The generals have "been the constant in Egyptian politics and society" for 60 years, and they won't yield that position easily now. Military leaders "spent the last year consolidating" power while allowing only "the rudimentary appearance of democratic institutions." The country's "unfinished" revolution is heading toward a "confrontation between the military and Brotherhood," which the military would win. "And the people of Egypt will still be screwed."

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20120126/cm_theweek/223673

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শুক্রবার, ২৭ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Exiting watchdog sees flaws in SEC's rulewriting (Reuters)

WASHINGTON, DC (Reuters) ? In his final act before departing the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the agency's inspector general, David Kotz, criticized how the agency analyzes the economic impact of some of its Dodd-Frank rules.

Kotz's criticism, contained in a report, could have ramifications for the SEC, which has lost several court battles over the years because of flaws in how it demonstrates that the benefits of a rule outweigh its costs.

"We found that the extent of quantitative discussion of cost-benefit analyses varied among rulemakings," Kotz wrote in his report. "Based on our examination of several Dodd-Frank Act rulemakings, the review found that the SEC sometimes used multiple baselines in its cost-benefit analyses that were ambiguous or internally inconsistent."

Last year, U.S. business groups successfully convinced a federal appeals court to overturn one of the SEC's Dodd-Frank rules that aimed to empower shareholders to more easily nominate directors to corporate boards.

In rejecting the rule, the court said the agency failed to properly weigh the economic consequences.

Some of the business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have since raised similar concerns with other rulemakings pending before the SEC.

Congress passed the Dodd-Frank act in 2010 to more closely police financial markets and institutions after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The legislation gives the SEC responsibility to write roughly 100 new rules.

Although the SEC is not subject to an express statutory requirement to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of its rules, other laws do require the agency to consider the effects of its rules on capital formation, competition and efficiency.

In addition, the SEC must also follow federal rulemaking procedures, such as providing the public with an opportunity to comment on its proposals.

This is the second report Kotz has issued looking at the quality of the SEC's cost-benefit analysis.

Both reports were issued after certain members of the Senate Banking Committee, including ranking Republican Richard Shelby, voiced concerns about whether regulators were adequately examining the economic impact of Dodd-Frank rules.

To determine how well the SEC is faring, Kotz's office retained Albert Kyle, a finance professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, to help carry out the review.

Friday's report covered a sample of Dodd-Frank rulemakings, including a rule allowing shareholders a non-binding vote on compensation, several asset-backed securities rules and two proposals pertaining to the reporting of security-based swap data.

Kotz's report was critical of the agency in a number of areas.

In one instance, the report cites a memo in which former General Counsel David Becker gave his opinion that the SEC should do thorough cost-benefit analyses on rules that are not explicitly required by Congress.

Rules mandated by Congress, however, generally would not need the same level of cost-benefit research, the memo said.

The report suggested that the agency should reconsider these guidelines, or else it risks "not fulfilling the essential purposes of such analyses."

SEC management, in a written response to the report, disagreed with that point.

"We believe Professor Kyle's opinion fails to appreciate both the practical limitations on the scope of cost-benefit a regulator can conduct, and the distinct roles of Congress and administrative agencies," they said.

"We think it is entirely sensible ... for the staff to focus its attention and the commission's limited resources on matters that the commission has the authority to decide."

Kotz made other recommendations, including using a single consistent baseline in the cost-benefit analysis process and having economists provide more input.

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment beyond the SEC comments in the report.

(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_sec_inspector_general

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President Obama Boosts Al Green's Sales Almost 500 Percent

Obama's 'Let's Stay Together' upped Al Green's sales.
By Gil Kaufman

Al Green performs at President Obama's Victory Fund 2012 Concert
Photo: WireImage

Sure, clean energy, the return of manufacturing, a boost in education spending
 and saving the domestic car industry are awesome ways to revive the American economy. But another tactic President Obama might consider is more singing.

Because a week after the falsetto singer-in-chief unleashed his version of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" at an Apollo Theater fundraiser, sales of the good Rev.'s most iconic hit have taken off.

According to Billboard magazine, the viral video of the President singing the first line of the #1 hit from 1972 boosted sales of the song by 490 percent. In fact, the tune had its best week since SoundScan began tracking digital sales in 2003, with 16,000 downloads. The YouTube video of the impromptu recital has been viewed more than 4 million times.

It was likely the second surprise this week for Green, who was present at the Apollo event where Obama acknowledged the soul singer's presence in the room from the stage.

"Those guys didn't think I would do it," Obama laughed while pointing to his staffers at the side of the stage. "I told you I was going to do it. The Sandman did not come out."

Fans also rushed out this week to snatch up music by Etta James, the soul legend who passed on January 20. According to The Hollywood Reporter, James' sales were up 378 percent over the past week. One compilation, The Best of Etta James -- 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection shot up from #162 to #46 on sales of 8,000, giving James her highest chart position ever. For the week ending January 22, James' overall catalog sold 30,000 copies, a jump of nearly 378 percent over the previous week when her collected album sold just over 6,000.

Related Artists

• Al Green

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678013/al-green-lets-stay-together-barack-obama.jhtml

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Twitter to censor tweets in individual countries

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis.

The additional flexibility is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening. It comes as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.

But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or "tweets," remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a maze of different laws around the world.

Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweets containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-26-Twitter-Censorship/id-d3741cbf56a04d6eaca6521ec6fa8645

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৬ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

FYI: How Long-Running Is the Longest-Running Lab Experiment?

Link Information - Click to View

FYI: How Long-Running Is the Longest-Running Lab Experiment?
Eighty-five years so far. The pitch-drop experiment?really more of a demonstration?began in 1927 when Thomas Parnell, a physics professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, set out to show his students that tar pitch, a derivative of coal so brittle that it can be smashed to pieces with a hammer, is in fact a highly viscous fluid.

Source: POPSCI
Posted on: Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012, 9:39am
Views: 28

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117042/FYI__How_Long_Running_Is_the_Longest_Running_Lab_Experiment_

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Lucy Hale and Ashley Benson Are The New Faces Of Bongo (Photos, Video)

Pretty Little Liars stars Lucy Hale and Ashley Benson have been named the new faces of Bongo! These ladies look amazing in new photos and a video for the fashion line, which you can take a little glimpse at below. Bongo, the fashionable line aimed at teens, has two brand new beauties representing them, the lovely Ashley Benson and Lucy Hale. These two girls may play tormented girls on the ABC Family hit show but in these new ads they look just like two girls from next door. Lucy and Ashley will be featured in the Spring 2012 ad campaign for the line that can be found at Kmart. The two beautiful ladies teams up to show off the lines new fringe tops, colorful denim and killer feather accessories. The ad is being called “Sweet and Sexy” and boy do these girls ooze both of that. I mean just look at these adorable pictures, they make me want to run out and buy all sorts of Bongo clothing for my nieces. I might actually do that come to think of it. In case you aren?t entirely sure about the Bongo line let me fill you in on it. Bongo is [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/NG1DhhGOSXg/

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Dutch court rejects Apple appeal, says Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is legal

A court in the Hague has just cleared the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for sale in the Netherlands, rejecting Apple's requests for a nationwide ban. As NU.nl reports, a different Dutch court had already issued a similar ruling in October, which Cupertino promptly appealed, claiming that Sammy's slate was too similar to its own iPad 2. Today, though, the Court of the Hague shot down Apple's arguments, determining that there are enough differences between the two products to legally justify their coexistence. Granted, this is only one of many patent battles that the two companies are currently waging, but for today, at least, it looks like Samsung has come out on top.

[Thanks, Rolfski]

Dutch court rejects Apple appeal, says Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is legal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Could the cure for cancer be found by a team of video gamers? (Yahoo! News)

Players of an online game were able to crowdsource an enzyme 18-times more reactive than a team of biochemists'??

A team of scientists at the University of Washington have turned protein research into an addicting computer game. So addicting, in fact, that the amateur players have become more skilled at protein design than the scientists themselves.

The game, called?Foldit, was released to the public in 2008. After solving a few tutorial puzzles, players are given a massive, complex protein that they're able to bend, twist, and shake. The players' goal is to use their toolbox to fold the protein chain to make it more stable. The more stable the protein chain, the more points are awarded.?(If you're interested in giving the game a try, point your browser at?fold.it and download the client.)

The most recent puzzles given to players involved an enzyme that university?biochemists had created. Using the nearly 180,000 molecular blueprints submitted by players, the biochemists were able to create an enzyme 18-times more powerful than the scientists had been able to create themselves. A?paper on the crowdsourced enzyme was published Sunday in the journal?Nature Biotechnology.

While that particular enzyme doesn't have any practical real-world applications, the current puzzle being solved by gamers involves a protein designed to block the flu?virus that caused the 1918 pandemic. Solutions to that puzzle could lead to new drugs capable of treating the disease.

Scientific American via?Gizmodo

[Image source:?Foldit]

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120124/tc_yblog_technews/could-the-cure-for-cancer-be-found-by-a-team-of-video-gamers

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৪ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Interpol faces legal threat over hunt for dissidents

Interpol has issued a "red notice", above, for Benny Wenda, a tribal leader who campaigns for independence for the West Papua region from Indonesia. Wenda has been granted asylum in the U.K. on political grounds, according to Fair Trials International.

By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

LONDON -- A landmark lawsuit alleging?that dictatorships and other oppressive regimes are using Interpol's alert system to harass or detain political dissidents is being planned by rights?activists and lawyers.

Campaigners allege?that rogue states have fabricated criminal charges against?opposition activists who have been given refuge in other countries and then sought their arrest by obtaining "red notices" from the global police body.

---

There are currently about 26,000 outstanding red notices. While they are only designed to alert other nations' police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, some countries will take suspects into custody based on the red notice alone.

In one case, Rasoul Mazrae, an Iranian political activist recognized by the United Nations as?a refugee, was arrested in Syria in 2006 as he tried to flee to Norway after a red notice was issued.

Mazrae was?deported back to Iran, where he was tortured, according to a report by Libby Lewis, of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. He was later jailed for 15 years, Amnesty International says.

'Torturers and murderers'
In one of the latest cases, a red notice has been issued for Benny Wenda, a tribal leader who campaigns for independence for the West Papua region from Indonesia. He was granted asylum in the U.K. after claiming he had been tortured and prosecuted for inciting people to attack a police station. Wenda says he was in a different country at the time of the incident.

Mark Stephens, a leading British human rights lawyer, told msnbc.com that the red notice system can allow Interpol to unwittingly become "an aider and abettor of torturers and murderers in oppressive regimes."

Amid mounting anger within the legal community, the U.K.-based rights campaign group Fair Trials International is now seeking people who allege their red notices are politically motivated to take part in a class action lawsuit against Interpol.

If successful, the case would potentially make France-based?Interpol subject to the rulings of a court for the first time.

That would have implications not just for political dissidents, but?could also create an extra legal hurdle for any?country seeking to extradite alleged terrorists, murderers, international fraudsters, and other criminals based in another country.

Jago Russell, the chief executive of Fair Trials International, highlighted that Interpol's 190 member states include "countries that routinely abuse their criminal justice systems to persecute individuals."

Despite this, there is no independent court?where someone can challenge a notice and "no remedy for the damage that notices can cause," he said.

Iran, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Belarus and Zimbabwe?? all widely condemned for human rights abuses by their governments?? are members of Interpol and each country currently has red notices listed on its website.

"Powerful international organizations with the ability to ruin lives have to be accountable for their actions," Russell wrote in an email.

"Interpol's own credibility relies on proper accountability mechanisms to weed out cases of abuse, but if Interpol refuses to put its own house in order it could ultimately be up to the courts to step in and demand action," he added.

There have been legal challenges to Interpol's decisions heard in some countries' courts in the past, but these have?failed "to hold the organization to account," Russell wrote.

Russell hopes that a court with jurisdiction over a number of countries, such as the European Court of Human Rights,?will take a different view.

"This would no doubt be a long, hard process but with thousands of people affected by red notices every year and, with the rule of law at stake, it would be worth the fight," he said.

Political persecution
Fair Trials International is currently highlighting Wenda's case in particular and trying to help get his red notice removed.

He escaped from prison before being sentenced and fled Indonesia in 2002. Wenda traveled to the U.K., where he was granted asylum?due to?Indonesia's persecution of him on political grounds, according to Fair Trials International.

Wenda then?renewed his campaign, meeting politicians and others as he traveled the world. He also has a website highlighting the West Papuan cause.

Leon Neal / AFP ? Getty Images

Benny Wenda, leader of the West Papuan Independence Movement, attends a protest in London on April 15, 2010.

In 2011, he became aware that Interpol had issued a red notice. According to?those details of the notice that have been made public by Interpol, Wenda is wanted for "crimes involving the use of weapons/explosives" by the Papua Regional Police.

According to Wenda, he was charged with inciting an attack on a police station and burning buildings that resulted in the deaths of a number of people even though he says he was not in Indonesia at the time.

Wenda says he was tortured, held in solitary confinement, and the judge and prosecutor requested bribes among other irregularities during the trial.

Wenda believes the red notice was sought partly to try to prevent him from traveling outside the U.K. to highlight the plight of West Papuans.

A?report by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at the Yale Law School in 2003 found that "the West Papuan people have suffered persistent and horrible abuses" at the hands of the Indonesian government since the area was annexed in 1969. It also accused?Indonesian military and security?forces?of engaging in?"widespread violence and extrajudicial killings."

The research team concluded that?historical and contemporary evidence "strongly suggests that the Indonesian government has committed proscribed acts with the intent to destroy the West Papuans?... in violation of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."

'My people are crying'
Wenda says that his people continue to be "killed, raped and tortured."

"I think Indonesia is just trying to stop me and my campaign. I think that's the reason. I think this is just political motivation," Wenda told msnbc.com. "I'm not terrorist, I'm not criminal. Who's real terrorist or criminal? It's Indonesia itself.?

"My people are crying ... That's why I am up and down the country, traveling the world, telling the truth."

Human Rights Watch's World Report 2012?also highlights that?the U.S. provides "extensive military assistance to Indonesia" and adds that "impunity for members of Indonesia?s security forces remains a serious concern, with no civilian jurisdiction over soldiers who commit serious human rights abuses."

Jennifer Robinson, a?London-based human rights lawyer?and member of International Lawyers for West Papua, told msnbc.com in an email that "the charges that form the basis of the Interpol warrant are the very same politically motivated charges brought against Benny in 2002 -- and the very same charges that were the basis of the UK's decision to grant him political asylum."

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

London-based human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson arrives at a hearing for U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning's at Fort Meade, Md., on December 20.

"I attended his trial in West Papua on these charges, heard the evidence and witnessed the flagrant breaches of due process at that trial. I am witness to the fact the charges are without evidential basis," she added. "This was recognised by the U.K. in granting Benny refugee status for the political persecution he suffered in Indonesia. Now Indonesia is seeking to abuse the Interpol system to extend its political persecution across borders, undermining the protection afforded to Benny under the U.N. Refugee Convention."

In addition to the threat of arrest in the country of refuge, Fair Trials International?says?that a red notice makes international?travel risky ? partly because countries tend to deal with each one on a case-by-case?basis.

And even if a court in one country decides not to extradite the wanted person, the red notice remains and another country could take a different decision.

The stigma of being wanted for an alleged crime can also make everyday life difficult -- by making it hard to get a bank account, for example, due to background checks.

Michelle Estlund, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based lawyer who writes a blog focusing red notices, told msnbc.com that there should be some kind of quasi-judicial proceedings to level the "playing field" between an Interpol member state and?an individual. Part of the issue, she said, is that?Interpol initially assumes that red notice applications are properly submitted.

"If you are I are playing basketball and I haven't followed the rules and I haven't told you where the hoop is, it's going to be very hard for you to win, especially if the referee is presuming everything I do to be right," Estlund said.

Little transparency?
It is possible to complain about red notices but critics say the procedure suffers from a lack of transparency.

Complaints to Interpol that red notices are issued because of politically motivated charges are considered internally at first and then by a specially created body called the Commission for Control of Interpol's Files (CCF).

However, the panel -- which consists of?five unpaid commissioners and three members of staff -- holds its discussions in private and does not have to give any reasons for its decisions.

There are few successful challenges. According to statistics published in the commission's latest?annual report, 16 percent (or 32) of 201 requests that it received in 2010 raised questions about "the application of Article 3 of Interpol's constitution." Article 3 prohibits Interpol from activities of a "political, military, religious or racial character."

The CCF dealt with 170 requests in 2010 and 26 percent (or 44) of those cases resulted in the deletion of an Interpol file. Assuming 16 percent of those were Article 3 complaints, then just seven people had red notices removed in 2010 after claiming they were being prosecuted for political or other such unjustified reasons.

Billy Hawkes, the CCF's chairman, said the body examined complaints "very thoroughly."

"We recognize the dangers of red notices being used inappropriately for political objectives," he told msnbc.com from Dublin, Ireland. "Obviously we must all be concerned about the rights of individuals and dangers of abuse of the red notice system."

Hawkes warned, however, that adding judicial oversight of Interpol's red notices could hamper its ability to help catch criminals.

"We must remember that the object of a red notice is to have fugitive criminals stopped as quickly as possible, so they can face trial in the country they have committed the crime," he added.

One potential obstacle to taking legal action against Interpol is a deal it made with the French government that gives it immunity from some French laws. It is unclear how a European court would regard that deal.

'Unfairness'
Anand Doobay, a U.K.-based lawyer, confirmed to msnbc.com that he was?"investigating the possibility of some kind of legal challenge on behalf of clients who are affected by politically motivated prosecutions which have resulted in Interpol red notices being issued."

"The unfairness which is caused by having an unwarranted Interpol red notice is very difficult to address," he said.
"What we are looking at is ways of trying to deal with the unfairness."

Estlund, the Florida-based lawyer, said oppressive regimes should not be expelled from Interpol because they might become "safe havens for people who have committed real crimes."

Instead she argued?that red notice requests from countries with a record of corruption should be subject to greater scrutiny. "I do think Interpol is capable of doing that," she added. "I don't think it's too much to hope that that will happen."

A?statement emailed to msnbc.com by an Interpol spokeswoman on Jan. 11 said there were 26,051 valid red notices at that time, including 7,678 issued in 2011.

It listed three ways?people "can?challenge a red notice and/or the national arrest warrant upon which the request was submitted":

• argue their case before the national authorities of the requesting country;
• contact the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files;?
• or request their country to take the case itself and protest against the red notice.

The statement?added that the "issuance of a red notice is not a judicial decision." "Each Interpol member country decides for itself what legal value to give red notice within their borders," it said.

"Interpol's role is not to question allegations against an individual, nor to gather evidence, so a red notice is issued based on a presumption that the information provided by the police is accurate and relevant," the statement added.

Follow msnbc.com's Ian Johnston on Twitter.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10167327-interpol-faces-legal-threat-for-helping-oppressive-regimes-hunt-dissidents

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Video: Business & Sports: Secret Indicator?

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46101809/

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সোমবার, ২৩ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Generation 88 activists back Myanmar's reform path (AP)

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Obama sings a tune, steals the online show (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama stole the online show on Friday after singing a tune during a campaign fundraiser at New York City's famed Apollo Theater.

After Rev. Al Green warmed up the audience for Obama on Thursday night, the president surprised the audience -- and his staff -- by crooning the opening bars of Green's soul classic "Let's stay together."

"I'm - so in love with you," he sang, earning rapturous applause from the 1,400 people who each had paid between $100 and $200 to attend the Democratic fundraiser ahead of the presidential election in November.

"Don't worry Rev., I cannot sing like you. I just wanted to show my appreciation," Obama added, as he stood on a stage at the theater that helped launch the careers of Michael Jackson, James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald.

The video of Obama singing was a hit online on Friday and Al Green was one of the top ten topics trending on Twitter.

"I have worked for President Obama for 5 years and until last night, I had no idea that he could sing," said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer in a tweet.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, editing by Michelle Nichols)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/pl_nm/us_obama_singing

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রবিবার, ২২ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Video: Kodak files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

>>> 877-242-usaa. declining fortunes of kodak , a household name in america for generations. upstate new york landmark. today, the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . they'll continue to operate as they restruck your. for ages it was the maker of cameras and film. despite it was a kodak man who invented the digital camera , kodak failed to embrace the digital era from the start.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46063669/

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Wildfire near Reno destroys more than 20 homes (AP)

RENO, Nev. ? A brush fire fueled by 82 mph wind gusts burned more than 20 homes Thursday and forced thousands of people to evacuate their neighborhoods before firefighters stopped the flames' surge toward Reno.

About 2,000 people remained under evacuation orders late Thursday as 250 firefighters battled the blaze, said Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez, who warned that a full assessment might reveal even more damage.

There was one fatality in the fire area, Hernandez said, but he declined to provide more details, saying an autopsy would be needed to determine the cause of death.

The fire, of unknown origin, broke out shortly after noon in a valley along U.S. Highway 395. Soon, more than 10,000 people were told to flee their homes.

The blaze quickly grew to nearly 6 square miles and was eerily similar to another unusual winter fire that destroyed 30 homes in southwest Reno two months ago.

By nightfall, the fire had burned to the city's southern outskirts. Flames were visible from the downtown casino district, about 10 miles away.

"The area burned is absolutely devastated," Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said.

The wind died down after nightfall and rain started falling, much to the delight of fire crews who stopped the flames' forward progress at Galena High School, where Vice President Joe Biden had been speaking just a few hours earlier.

The strong winds coming across the Sierra ahead of a winter storm had already delayed Biden's visit to the school on the south end of town.

With the smell of smoke in the air, Biden was about 25 minutes into his address when aides summoned him off stage. He told the audience he would have to move onto a question-and-answer period before officials "made me get out of here."

Hernandez later held a briefing at the high school, but it was evacuated along with surrounding neighborhoods shortly afterward.

About 300 elementary school students were taken to an evacuation center, and deputies went door to door asking people to leave their homes in Pleasant Valley, Old Washoe Valley and Saint James Village, Washoe County sheriff's Deputy Armando Avina said.

Erika Minnberry, 28, said she didn't become concerned at first because smoke from the fire appeared far enough away.

"Probably 30 minutes later, it was up to our house because of the high winds," she said. "I felt pure survival adrenaline. When we drove away, the smoke was so thick, we could barely see ahead of us. Now I feel anxiety. I couldn't find my two cats at the time and I hope they're OK."

With zero containment, firefighters were concentrating on using crews and trucks to protect homes in the path of the flames, Hernandez said earlier Thursday.

He estimated firefighters had saved about 1,000 structures and said another 80 to 120 firefighters were expected to arrive to help before midnight.

"To say we are in the thick of battle is an understatement," he told reporters.

Hernandez said the fire was "almost a carbon copy" of a huge wild fire on the edge of the Sierra foothills that destroyed 30 homes in southwest Reno in November. It burned about 3 square miles and also forced the evacuation of 10,000 people.

"It's inconceivable that this community has been struck by tragedy again," said Gov. Brian Sandoval, who declared a state of emergency Thursday afternoon.

As with the November fire, which was sparked by downed power lines, strong winds and dry conditions helped fuel the latest blaze. The Reno area had gone a winter-record 56 days without any precipitation until light snow fell earlier this week.

"There's a lot of dry trees," Avina said. "We're battling with Mother Nature and these winds."

More wet weather was forecast Friday, and snow was forecast Friday night. But high winds were expected to continue, with gusts up to 40 mph.

About 2,300 homes in the area were without power Thursday night.

Thomas Young, 48, a freelance writer, said he had just gotten out of the shower at his Pleasant Valley home when the power went out. Draped in only a towel, he looked out a window and saw his barn on fire and flames up to his backyard.

"Right away the flames went up a power line, and I said, `We have to get out of here,'" Young said. "We put two dogs and two kids in the car and drove away about three minutes later. Unfortunately, I think my house is burned down from what I saw."

The flames, up to 40 feet high, raced through sage brush, grass and pines in an area where small neighborhoods are dispersed among an otherwise rural landscape. Washoe County animal services officials helped round up horses and other livestock for evacuation.

Part of U.S. 395 was closed as heavy smoke reduced visibility to zero, and an 11-mile stretch of the highway would remain closed indefinitely, Hernandez said.

___

Associated Press writers Martin Griffith in Reno and Sandra Chereb in Carson City contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_us/us_reno_brush_fire

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শনিবার, ২১ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

W a n d e r l u s t [private]

Somewhere beyond the boundaries of this tenebrous place, forces well beyond Vonuxsan?s imagination clashed. In the hinterlands which he had taken as a refuge of sorts, there was not but silence and stillness. The eternal nature of that place was what held so much allure for this stoic. In its foliage, in its trees and their creeping branches, and in its lack of conventional wildlife? There was an eerie serenity.

The constant conflicts of life were lost here, swept away when nature turned her lively gaze from that spot. Now death thrived among those trunks, accompanied by the smooth cloak of mist which swirled a foot above the parched, darkening earth. The thick and chilling tide washed over the world as far as the eye could see in that clearing, swallowing up the smaller vegetation which had no chance of growing to adulthood in such a harsh environment. The trees had long since seen their days of lush glory sundered by the barren forces of the world. Frost, an unfortunate absence of light and a waning population of inhabitants necessary to maintain the longevity of the biome were all contributing factors to the grand, withering trees and their malnourished children.

There Vonuxsan rested, his back pressed into the cushion of the throne he was perched upon. His long legs were stretched out before him and spread apart a few inches beyond shoulder width. Presently, his head was resting on his left hand, the knuckles of his fingers pressed against his temple. Greying eyes peered into the fog which twisted and turned around his inordinate footwear. The talons that capped his boots appeared to dig into the sterile soil, though one could not be certain through the obstruction collecting above them. When otherwise the mists were towed along by the wind, here their chaotic pattern was cast into greater chaos.

The observation aroused a concise piece of philosophy; peace was an illusion. Kin in that regard to truth and time, peace was a thing of no physical merit. Patterns truly existed in so few things beyond the delusions of man. In this universe, imagination was likely the only thing that separated sentience from insanity. So the silence which he perceived? Was it another illusion? He wondered if his home was but an elaborate weave of dreams that he had designed for himself. Vonuxsan inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring with the comfortable effort, before releasing the contents of his lungs. The heat of his breath added to the fog that was his only company, rising up and into the night sky above.
The boy?s lids slid away and revealed the peeking ornaments of the heavens to his conscious mind. At this point in his life, the distance between his lesser known refuge and the entities punctuating the night sky was incredibly short. To a being who traversed realms at will and found himself so at home within that mode of transit, a jump from one galaxy to the next seemed so? Minute. Even gazing into that vast vacuum, Vonuxsan was aware of something far more colossal.

A looming leviathan of virulent energy burned in a place impossibly distant. Whether or not he wanted to feel that disturbance battering his senses was irrelevant, for a sensitive creature such as himself was doomed to notice an aberration so impressive. It was as if reality was falling apart, he realized with a sigh, as battles raged and brewed at that very moment. With his brethren, Vonuxsan still pursued the illusive wraith that was what remained of Cedric Tokai. As if that wasn?t enough to churn the waters, now two gargantuan entities opposed each other.

Corporeal, they were but men enveloped by the surging powers they commanded, but the will of each being was a towering, imposing thing which reached out and corrupted too much space to be ignored. For many agonizing days, Vonuxsan had been plagued with not only the sensation of that brutal confrontation but by knowledge of it as well. Both combatants were known to him, as he had spent time in each God?s presence. He would be prideful to say that he had taken many things away from each encounter, but in truth not even he was up to the task of fully comprehended the words of immortals of their significance.

Vonuxsan still picked through some of his conversations with the pair even now, as he listened to the soundless torture of their energies. It was likely that their personal war had migrated beyond the borders of the universe he currently resided in. For all the upheaval their actions evoked in him, there was no physical thing that they disturbed. The clearing was still silent, dark and still. The wind whispered through the skeletal fingers of the rotting trees, speaking of a calm retreat from the fevered thoughts that assailed the wayward young man. Vonuxsan drew in another deep breath, filling his lungs with clean, moist air. A moment passed before another contraction forced the warmed air from his breast.
Dark clouds were blowing in from the north, the flashing tendrils which streaked across their bleak bulk telling of the coming storm. From some great distance, thunder erupted. The winds hastened through the dying trees, pitching the trees southward with much creaking protest from the stiff lumber. Vonuxsan observed lightning lash the earth in the distance, that destructive facet of weather whipping the planet in a brief flash. Odin?s hammer continued to strike at random intervals, once again demonstrating a theme of universal chaos in its irregularity.

The flash of that lightning shattered the darkness that had once shielded the brooding young man in its featurelessness. Now, his pale skin shone in the ephemeral lighting. His grey eyes were housed in a visage of smooth, blemish less flesh. The face of the young man bore a strong but slightly narrow jaw and was crowned by a short mop of black hair that stood in simple contrast to his light skin. His lips were thin and pressed into a hard line as he stared at what that lightning revealed.

In another transient moment of illumination, a grim scene was displayed. The featureless expression of Vonuxsan ? shadows on his face deepened by the intense, directional light ? and the hanging corpse of a man appearing to be a few years his elder. The corpse was also heavily shadowed, but even through the distortion the identity of the man would be obvious to any who had known him. It was the leader of the Black Mist Society and son of Cedric, Damien Tokai. The deathblow which Vonuxsan had dealt to the Seeker prodigy had roughly bisected the male and severed him into two lifeless halves.

Now, hanging from the tree nearest the thrones, the corpse had been bound together at several points with various lengths of rope to try and preserve the appearance of the victim. The aim of that intrusion was achieved, for the attire, stature and mutilated face conveyed the message quite well. Damien did not stand as a trophy, but as a sign.
Something was changing in the flow of time. With that thought in mind, Vonuxsan submitted to the wanderlust exhibited by his mind. His thoughts drifted from his anxieties and his hardships. Rest was necessary, and recalling his most recent efforts with the Triumvirate did nothing to relax the adolescent. As the approaching storm paused to rest, so did the lone observer. Silence crept back into the clearing and it was a silence of many parts.

The first part was the silence born of solitude. Though Vonuxsan breathed and moved in his seat, these sounds were muted by the loneliness that engulfed him. This is not to be mistaken, for loneliness is a word warped by its application to social creatures. In this sense, loneliness is but the absence of others, of company, not the desire for it. The lack of conversation, of the noises produced by the congregation of numerous conscious minds, composed the first silence.

Reaching below the surface, we find the second part. If one stops to listen ? to stray from the hum of deliberation and reverie ? they may hear the world on which they stand. This is a gestalt of a kind. For the world?s silence cannot be described by the summation of its parts, to quote the proper definition for the term. It was in the hushed sounds of life, in the shift of the land and the muted hiss of the winds, chaotically flowing through the atmosphere. Vonuxsan could feel that silence in his own chest as his heart pumped blood through his veins.

The final silence which he found in his meditation was the silence of death. So close to him, branches groaned under the weight of the man he had slain. The cold vessel was silent in its bindings. Its blood did not flow and its lungs did not pump air into his chest. Still, something stirred within that remnant. It was as if echoes of the consciousness once ordered into that shell still emanated from the flesh it had ruled. Vonuxsan knew that he had destroyed Damien?s consciousness ? his soul ? but he could still not shake the tidings of regret which reached his own mind.

The God had been corrupt and needed to be dealt with, - this was true - but even still? No matter how many times Vonuxsan ended life he would always feel the pangs of guilt. Hardened as he was, he was confronted constantly by the morals that the harsh truths of existence forced him to abandon. It was in this realization that Vonuxsan could finally name the third and last silence.

It was the silence that bred in the wake of destruction. After such violence everything paused and the universe held its breath, waiting to see if it was finally over. It was the silence in the eye of the storm?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/8hirjTkXp2c/viewtopic.php

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মঙ্গলবার, ১৭ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Poland slaps fine on singer for bashing Bible

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2011 file photo Polish pop singer Dorota "Doda" Rabczewska is photographed in Warsaw, Poland. A Polish court slapped a fine on Rabczewska who bad-mouthed the Bible, the latest episode in which authorities grapple with religious defamation in a traditionally Catholic country that is growing increasingly secular. Doda said in a 2009 interview that she doubted the Bible "because it's hard to believe in something that was written by someone drunk on wine and smoking some herbs.". (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2011 file photo Polish pop singer Dorota "Doda" Rabczewska is photographed in Warsaw, Poland. A Polish court slapped a fine on Rabczewska who bad-mouthed the Bible, the latest episode in which authorities grapple with religious defamation in a traditionally Catholic country that is growing increasingly secular. Doda said in a 2009 interview that she doubted the Bible "because it's hard to believe in something that was written by someone drunk on wine and smoking some herbs.". (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? A Polish court slapped a fine on a popular singer who bad-mouthed the Bible ? the latest episode in which authorities grapple with religious defamation in a traditionally Catholic country that is growing increasingly secular.

Dorota Rabczewska, a singer who uses the stage name Doda, said in a 2009 interview that she doubted the Bible "because it's hard to believe in something that was written by someone drunk on wine and smoking some herbs."

A Warsaw court ordered her Monday to pay a fine of 5,000 zlotys ($1,450) for offending religious feelings.

The case comes months after another Polish court let off a death metal performer, Adam Darski, who tore a Bible during a 2007 performance. It deemed his act artistic expression.

Darski and Rabczewska once dated.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-16-EU-Poland-Bible-Bashing/id-5e653c2d543447d88bd4170861762847

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Your iPhone Was Built, In Part, By 13 Year-Olds ... - Business Insider

We love our iPhones and iPads.

We love the prices of our iPhones and iPads.

We love the super-high profit margins of Apple, Inc., the maker of our iPhones and iPads.

And that's why it's disconcerting to remember that the low prices of our iPhones and iPads ? and the super-high profit margins of Apple ? are only possible because our iPhones and iPads are made with labor practices that would be illegal in the United States.

And it's also disconcerting to realize that the folks who make our iPhones and iPads not only don't have iPhones and iPads (because they can't afford them), but, in some cases, have never even seen them.

This is a complex issue. But it's also an important one. And it's only going to get more important as the world's economies continue to become more intertwined.

Last week, NPR's "This American Life" did a special on Apple's manufacturing. The show featured (among others) the reporting of Mike Daisey, the man who does the one-man stage show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," and The NYT's Nicholas Kristof, whose wife is from China.

You can read a transcript of the whole show here. Here are some details:

• The Chinese city of Shenzhen is where most of our "crap" is made. 30 years ago, Shenzhen was a little village on a river. Now it's a city of 13 million people ? bigger than New York.
• Foxconn, one of the companies that builds iPhones and iPads (and products for many other electronics companies), has a factory in Shenzhen that employs 430,000 people.
• There are 20 cafeterias at the Foxconn Shenzhen plant. They each serve 10,000 people.
• One Foxconn worker Mike Daisey interviewed, outside factory gates manned by guards with guns, was a 13-year old girl. She polished the glass of thousands of new iPhones a day.
• The 13-year old said Foxconn doesn't really check ages. There are on-site inspections, from time to time, but Foxconn always knows when they're happening. And before the inspectors arrive, Foxconn just replaces the young-looking workers with older ones.
• In the first two hours outside the factory gates, Daisey meets workers who say they are 14, 13, and 12 years old (along with plenty of older ones). Daisey estimates that about 5% of the workers he talked to were underage.
• Daisey assumes that Apple, obsessed as it is with details, must know this. Or, if they don't, it's because they don't want to know.
• Daisey visits other Shenzhen factories, posing as a potential customer. He discovers that most of the factory floors are vast rooms filled with 20,000-30,000 workers apiece. The rooms are quiet: There's no machinery, and there's no talking allowed. When labor costs so little, there's no reason to build anything other than by hand.
• A Chinese working "hour" is 60 minutes ? unlike an American "hour," which generally includes breaks for Facebook, the bathroom, a phone call, and some conversation. The official work day in China is 8 hours long, but the standard shift is 12 hours. Generally, these shifts extend to 14-16 hours, especially when there's a hot new gadget to build. While Daisey is in Shenzhen, a Foxconn worker dies after working a 34-hour shift.
• Assembly lines can only move as fast as their slowest worker, so all the workers are watched (with cameras). Most people stand.
• The workers stay in dormitories. In a 12-by-12 cement cube of a room, Daisey counts 15 beds, stacked like drawers up to the ceiling. Normal-sized Americans would not fit in them.
• Unions are illegal in China. Anyone found trying to unionize is sent to prison.
• Daisey interviews dozens of (former) workers who are secretly supporting a union. One group talked about using "hexane," an iPhone screen cleaner. Hexane evaporates faster than other screen cleaners, which allows the production line to go faster. Hexane is also a neuro-toxin. The hands of the workers who tell him about it shake uncontrollably.
• Some workers can no longer work because their hands have been destroyed by doing the same thing hundreds of thousands of times over many years (mega-carpal-tunnel). This could have been avoided if the workers had merely shifted jobs. Once the workers' hands no longer work, obviously, they're canned.
• One former worker had asked her company to pay her overtime, and when her company refused, she went to the labor board. The labor board put her on a black list that was circulated to every company in the area. The workers on the black list are branded "troublemakers" and companies won't hire them.
• One man got his hand crushed in a metal press at Foxconn. Foxconn did not give him medical attention. When the man's hand healed, it no longer worked. So they fired him. (Fortunately, the man was able to get a new job, at a wood-working plant. The hours are much better there, he says ? only 70 hours a week).
• The man, by the way, made the metal casings of iPads at Foxconn. Daisey showed him his iPad. The man had never seen one before. He held it and played with it. He said it was "magic."

Importantly, Shenzhen's factories, as hellish as they are, have been a boon to the people of China. Liberal economist Paul Krugman says so. NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof says so. Kristof's wife's ancestors are from a village near Shenzhen. So he knows of what he speaks. The "grimness" of the factories, Kristof says, is actually better than the "grimness" of the rice paddies.

So, looked at that way, Apple is helping funnel money from rich American and European consumers to poor workers in China. Without Foxconn and other assembly plants, Chinese workers might still be working in rice paddies, making $50 a month instead of $250 a month (Kristof's estimates. In 2010, Reuters says, Foxconn workers were given a raise to $298 per month, or $10 a day, or less than $1 an hour). With this money, they're doing considerably better than they once were. Especially women, who had few other alternatives.

But, of course, the reason Apple assembles iPhones and iPads in China instead of America, is that assembling them here or Europe would cost much, much more ? even with shipping and transportation. And it would cost much, much more because, in the United States and Europe, we have established minimum acceptable standards for the treatment and pay of workers like those who build the iPhones and iPads.

Foxconn, needless to say, doesn't come anywhere near meeting these minimum standards.

If Apple decided to build iPhones and iPads for Americans using American labor rules, two things would likely happen:

• The prices of iPhones and iPads would go up
• Apple's profit margins would go down

Neither of those things would be good for American consumers or Apple shareholders. But they might not be all that awful, either. Unlike some electronics manufacturers, Apple's profit margins are so high that they could go down a lot and still be high. And some Americans would presumably feel better about loving their iPhones and iPads if they knew that the products had been built using American labor rules.

In other words, Apple could probably afford to use American labor rules when building iPhones and iPads without destroying its business.

So it seems reasonable to ask why Apple is choosing NOT to do that.

(Not that Apple is the only company choosing to avoid American labor rules and costs, of course ? almost all manufacturing companies that want to survive, let alone thrive, have to reduce production costs and standards by making their products elsewhere.)

The bottom line is that iPhones and iPads cost what they do because they are built using labor practices that would be illegal in this country ? because people in this country consider those practices grossly unfair.

That's not a value judgment. It's a fact.

So, next time you pick up your iPhone or iPad, ask yourself how you feel about that.

SEE ALSO: The Shocking Conditions Inside Foxconn [PHOTOS]

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-child-labor-2012-1

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