মঙ্গলবার, ১৬ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 specs leak ahead of rumored summer launch

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-galaxy-tab-3-10-1-galaxy-tab-003057763.html

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Ohio gas prices dip as work week begins

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-gas-prices-dip-week-150354043.html

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সোমবার, ১৫ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Plots/Ideas

well as the name states here is where you shall display your thoughts on what the plot could be. it can be anything as long as everyone can partake it, even story arcs may be seen here:)

I wish for your happiness while watching the stars.
Hang on to your hopes, my dear.
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Now, please. Won't you smile for me?
Don't cry. I'll wipe the tears form your eyes.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/IZmKPXgOMrk/viewtopic.php

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Where have you gone, Melvin Frohike? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. (Unqualified Offerings)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/298974377?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Should you download Facebook Home?

The Facebook Home suite of apps and the HTC First ? the first smartphone to come prepackaged with Home ? both launch today. Whether or not you should pick them up may depend on how chained you are to Facebook.?

By Matthew Shaer / April 12, 2013

Call it Home-coming day.?

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Facebook Home, a new suite of Android apps, debuted today on the Google Play store ? and assuming you've got one of the phones capable of running the software (The Verge has a good list) and Android 4.0 or higher,?you can download the whole package right now.

Meanwhile, along with the Facebook Home software, today is also the launch day for the mid-range HTC First handset, the first phone to come prepackaged with Facebook Home.?

So should you download the Facebook Home software? It depends on what kind of user you are. Casual Facebook users ? the kind of folks who sign on every couple of days, for instance ? are likely not going to be that interested in turning their entire interface into a gigantic Facebook feed. But if you're a regular Facebook user (and that's probably a lot of you), you may like having all those Facebook functionalities right at your finger tips.?

Over at The Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg calls home "the?boldest attempt by any non-hardware company to alter a phone?s native user interface."?

Mr. Mossberg found some downsides to the software ? for instance, it blocks or otherwise obscures some key Android apps, including the one-step camera icon ? but in general, his write-up was a favorable one, as were most reviews.?

"I found Facebook Home to be easy to use, elegantly designed and addictive," he writes. "Although I?m a regular Facebook user, I found that, with Home, I paid more attention than ever to my news feed, Liked items more often and used Facebook?s Messenger service more often. So, if you are a big Facebook fan, Facebook Home can be a big win."

As for the HTC First phone, reactions have been a little more mixed. It's worth noting that the First is not a high-powered phone ? with its $99 list price (with a contract, of course), dual-core processor, and 5-megapixel camera, the First lags well behind its top-of-the-line competitors. The Verge calls the camera on the device "muddy" and Ars Technica points out that, in terms of speed, the First is best compared to older handsets such as the LG Optimus G.?

The HTC First, notes Alex Colon of PC Mag, is "a decent choice for the money, and a decent choice if you can't be bothered to load the Facebook Home suite onto a different Android phone. But you can get the?Samsung Galaxy S III?for the same price as the First, and that gets you a bigger screen, a microSD card slot, a better camera, and Samsung's TouchWiz UI layer."?

For?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/uE5QeymC4NU/Should-you-download-Facebook-Home

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রবিবার, ১৪ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Review: 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid | Digital Trends

car-reviews

Oh how we love firsts: Our first steps, our first car, our first time having? well never mind that.

With the 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid, we celebrate two milestones. ?ILX? is a brand-new nameplate for Honda?s luxury division and it?s also the first hybrid the Acura brand has ever offered.

And while it shares much with its corporate cousin, the Honda Civic, the ILX Hybrid burst onto the scene with a smarter drivetrain, a more stylish exterior, and greater level of sophistication both in regards to its onboard tech and aesthetically enhanced interior.

Will Acura?s newest baby become the luxury segment?s equivalent to the Honda Civic? Or will it suffer the same identity crisis many Acuras of late have undergone?

The tech option

Most automakers have turned to cramming their hybrid models with all the latest tech features (especially in the luxury segment) by default. Meaning, you don?t get the option to opt out, you just automatically get to pay more for the hybrid drivetrain and all the extra goodies thrown in as ?standard.?

Acura has driven down a slightly different road with the ILX, offering both a base hybrid model ($28,900) and an upgraded version that?s equipped with a technology package ($34,000).

Our review car had the tech package and sported a decent number of welcome features that certainly add up to make the 2013 ILX Hybrid a strong choice for drivers hoping to get a large serving of digital goodness to go along with that fuel-sipping, earth-saving drivetrain.

2013 acura ilx hybrid tech console

The ILX Hybrid prominently sports a hard drive-based navigation system that projects out of an eight-inch display recessed atop the center stack.

In addition to touchscreen controls, which prove only mildly reliable, the nav system can also be controlled by Acura?s voice recognition technology. Voice recognition is fairly intuitive and is operated by a pressing the ?talk? button on the steering wheel. Here, we were able to enter in addresses hands-free, and the system even allows for voice control over climate and audio controls.

Audio controls are particularly nifty and allowed us to easily connect our iPod to the car and search for music by song, artist, album, or genre.

The navigation system also pipes real-time weather and traffic conditions straight to the driver. Traffic information is aggregated every 90 seconds by Nokia-owned NAVTEQ, which itself gathers the information from a multitude of sources, including transportation departments and highway patrol incident reports.

Both weather and traffic reports are bundle free of charge for 90 days with the ILX?s XM subscription service, however these can be subscribed to a la carte as well.

We only had a few major beefs with Acura?s systems during testing.

First, the voice recognition technology is a little lackluster. It works well most of the time, but had trouble understanding our prompts on many occasions.

Second, Acura?s interface simply doesn?t look premium enough. Were we to blindfold you and throw (or gently place) you into a Honda, followed by an Acura, with just the interface to look at, you?d find it difficult to distinguish between the two, which is pretty unacceptable when making the jump to a premium brand.

Admittedly, we?re more picky when it comes to these things but why else buy a luxury car if not to get that ego boost that comes along with it? Were he alive, we?re sure?Freud?would have a great deal to say about this.

Finally, Acura?s interface designers continue to implement a crowded button layout around a central controller dial.

Even as techies, we had trouble getting comfortable with the confusing layout so we imagine drivers stepping into ILX for the first time will have the same issues. And while it?s admittedly more intimidating at first, it did become more intuitive as time progressed. However, it?s still feels extremely cluttered.

2013 acura ilx hybrid tech bluetooth audio

It was also hard to gauge button prompts. For example, the rearview camera provides multiple viewing angles, which we appreciated. These include a normal, wide angle, and top-down view, but it took some time to figure out we actually had to press down on the selector dial to switch between them. We imagine others will have the same problem so we?d like to see Acura make these types of interface complications less of an issue in the future.

The ILX tech package includes Acura?s ELS premium sound system. Ten speakers are littered throughout the cabin, including one per door, two tweeters, one center mid-range, two rear surround, and an eight-inch subwoofer. A 410-watt amplifier is also on board and the system can even manage high-resolution audio playback of up to 96 kHz.

We don?t have anything negative to say about the ELS system. Sound quality is sharp with rich tones and deep basses standing out in particular. And we didn?t have to tinker too much with the settings either.?The ELS system even sports a built-in 15GB hard drive?(about 3,600 songs worth)?so you can load your own media directly to the car, complete with shuffle and playlist creation options, too.

Hear a song you love on the radio but can?t whip out your phone in time to Shazam it? A Note function that ties into the car?s XM Radio allows you to record a 10-second snippet to listen to and tag later.

Hope you (really) like the color black

What truly distinguishes an Acura from the Civic isn?t just the badge on the car but the overall quality and design of its interior.

Here the ILX boasts a sharply-penned design that checks all the appropriate boxes in order to provide a pleasant, stylish cabin. We just hope you like really like black, because other than tan colored ?Parchment?, it?s your only option.

2013 acura ilx hybrid interior driver side

Material quality is good, with plenty of soft plastics on board. It?s certainly not the most luxurious cabin but the standard perforated leather seats certainly help matters and the overall design layout is sharp and sensible, with a handy hidden compartment located beneath the center dash, two cupholders, and a wide enough armrest to support both passenger and driver. Did we mention it was all black?

Up front, eight-way driver and four-way passenger adjustable power seats help make finding a comfortable position a cinch, while heated front seats ensure tushes stay toasty on chilly mornings.

Backseat brigadiers don?t have much room to complain though ? literally. The second row keeps the same entry-level luxury aesthetic but doesn?t offer much in the way of shoulder, leg, and waist room.

And while the standard ILX boasts a modest 12.4 cubic feet or cargo space, our Hybrid model measures in with a less than stellar 10 cubic feet due to its onboard lithium-ion battery pack soaking up some of the space.

Handsome, but still too humble

Outside, there isn?t much to distinguish the ILX Hybrid with the non-hybrid models save for two blue hybrid badges to the side and rear of the vehicle.

Overall, the design is handsome if not a little unassuming. It?s not as dramatic or refined as we?d come to expect from an entry-level luxury car but we?ll take it all the same. And to be fair, it?s not the weakest-looking model in Acura?s lineup ? that honor goes to the TSX?s annoying mug.

It?s as if the ILX showed up to a soir?e dressed all ?business casual? when everyone else is rocking a suit or cocktail dress (people still wear cocktail dresses, right?). The ILX?s exterior doesn?t look bad but it doesn?t exactly stand out either.

We?d really like to see some more drama from Acura?s design team but we?ve been barking up this tree to Honda and Acura for some time now and we?ve all but given up.

A Honda hybrid at heart

The 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid is outfitted with a 1.5-liter, eight-valve i-VTEC four-cylinder engine, which produces a modest 111 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which we?ll go into more depth about in a bit.

Because of its hybrid setup, the ILX also features a lithium-ion powered electric motor that churns out a further 23hp and 78 lb-ft of torque.

Unlike other hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and even the Honda Civic Hybrid, the ILX is unable to operate on electricity alone; however it does employ a regenerative braking system that traps the kinetic energy created during braking and converts it to electricity in order to give the lithium-ion battery a little more zap.

2013 acura ilx hybrid exterior right motion

If that sounds familiar, that?s because the ILX shares the same powertrain and transmission as the Civic Hybrid (surprise!) and thus incorporates Honda?s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system.

Honda?s IMA technology has been around for what seems like an eternity (since 1999 to be precise), debuting in the original Insight. IMA essentially acts as a kick-starter (not the kind that asks for money) for the gasoline engine as well as an engine balancer. Because inline four-cylinders have a tendency to be asymmetrical, the IMA helps offset unwanted vibrations.

Because the bulk of an engine?s power is typically reserved for hard acceleration and on steep inclines, the ILX?s electric motor makes an appearance when the ILX needs a boost. It?ll also kick in while traveling at steady cruising speeds but its primary design is to alleviate the workload for the gasoline engine.

The incorporation of Honda?s IMA system also allows for a start-stop feature. Pressing on the brake and bringing the car to a complete stop shuts off the engine, while releasing the brake starts it back up again.

2013 acura ilx hybrid exterior front right motion

Two things to mention here: We appreciate the fuel-saving intentions behind such a system, but the fact that the ILX does not allow us to disable the engine start-stop feature completely feels like a large oversight.

This fuel-saving gimmick is made even worse by the fact that Acura?s system is more sensitive than a teenager getting de-friended on Facebook.

The engine turning back on took a little longer than it should and left us to feel stranded for a second when we needed to get up and go with some quickness. And there were multiple instances when the feature kicked in too early, particularly when sizing up a parking space and trying to squeeze in with caution.

Apparently, Acura?s designers are a lot braver than we are and while its sensitivity calibration is certainly not a dealbreaker, it does become a nuisance.

Of course the whole purpose of a hybrid is improved fuel economy. Part of this endeavor is aided by vehicles ECON mode, a large (surprisingly not green) button located to the left of the steering wheel.

2013 acura ilx hybrid interior vent econ button

When engaged, ECON mode helps improve the ILX Hybrid?s fuel efficiency by greatly limiting throttle response, requiring drivers to press harder on the pedal to push it off the line. It also widens the operating window of the automatic start-stop feature and keeps acceleration in check when engaging the ILX?s cruise control function.

Interestingly, ECON Mode also minimizes the activation of the air conditioning compressors, so the threshold for maintaining a preset cabin temperature when automatic climate control is turned on is slightly increased.

Sadly, the ILX doesn?t return the same numbers as its working-class Honda cousin. Indeed, it certainly puts up some crowd-pleasing numbers (39 mpg in the city, 38 mpg on the highway, and 38 mpg combined) but the ILX can?t match the Civic Hybrid?s 44 mpg in all categories.

The engine note is also an issue. It sounded perfectly balanced during the bulk of our drives but thrust down on the gas and prepares to hear the CVT wheeze like a chain-smoking asthmatic attempting a marathon.

A great first go

They say you rarely get it right the first time but despite the fact that ILX Hybrid is the first hybrid-electric vehicle ever produced by Acura, it?s not a bad start.

The underpinnings are based on the current Civic so the ride character is inherently smooth ? if a little numb. With Macpherson struts up front and a multilink setup in the back the Acura admirably conducts itself during corners and soaks up road discrepancies well, but the CVT makes its feel more anemic than animated when called on in a pinch.

Balance in the ride is maintained well during corners and despite its front-wheel drive setup the ILX keeps its grip on the road, although the lack of side bolstering in the seats lets drivers and passengers drift around a bit during cornering.

2013 acura ilx hybrid exterior rear left motion

Dropping into S mode and utilizing the ILX?s paddle shifters help shake things up ? but again the CVT puts a?damper?on the fun.

We?ve already written in detail about the benefits of CVT transmissions but suffice it to say the use of it in the ILX greatly restricts the feel and excitement of Acura?s first hybrid. It?s meant to optimize the fuel economy but in truth it also minimizes excitement. In an era where fuel economy now seems to trump fun, that amounts to something both good ? and sort of bad.

And truthfully, that?s ok. The ILX Hybrid isn?t meant for Le Mans but it will get you to Lamaze class comfortably. Remember: just keep breathing.

Finish Line

The 2013 ILX Hybrid is a mixed bag and with a number of alternatives on the market, it?s hardly the top choice for a hybrid ? luxury or not.

It doesn?t achieve the gas mileage of the 2013 Civic Hybrid but it is a step up in styling, luxury, and tech features. It also costs a great deal more: a fully loaded Civic Hybrid will price in at just under $30,000.

There is also a fully loaded Prius V to consider, which after all gussied-up with every option available (including a more inclusive safety tech package) stickers for $35,860. It, too, sports better fuel economy, netting crazy numbers like 51 mpg in the city, 48 mpg on the highway, and 50 combined. Well, it is a Prius.

And if you?re resolute in sticking with a luxury brand, the 2013 Lexus CT 200h is also a viable option, although prepare to pay even more for that luxury lineage.

Still, if what you desire is a smooth, even-handed ride then the 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid won?t disappoint. It will happily escort you on your daily commute with minimal fuss. It?s just a shame it?s not a wee bit livelier and more economical.

?Highs

  • Nimble handling, especially during hard corners
  • Ride quality is smooth and comfortable?
  • Interior design is (mostly)?sensible?

Lows

  • Lacking a number of safety tech features
  • Fuel economy isn?t as efficient as some of the competition
  • A little overpriced for what you get

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/review-2013-acura-ilx-hybrid-mixes-honda-hybrid-mpg-with-upmarket-goodies/

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Page Not Found - Yahoo!

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

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/weightloss

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শনিবার, ১৩ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Down The Gullet: A Guided Tour Of Your Guts

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

FLORA LICHTMAN, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Flora Lichtman. Most of us probably don't give much thought to what happens to our food after we swallow it. But my next guest certainly has. In her new book, "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal," she investigates phenomena like intestinal stirring and paradoxical sphincter contraction.

Open to a random page and you might read: President James Garfield was the poster boy of rectal feeding. Or, quote, if you must spend time in a digestive organ, I recommend the penguin's stomach. And of course every good investigation includes a bit of experimentation. She's centrifuged her saliva, dropped gastric acid on her arm and even got a colonoscopy without painkillers just to see what it's like in there. We'll hear all about it.

Mary Roach is the author of "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal." And you may also know her as the author of "Stiff." And you can read an excerpt from her new book at sciencefriday.com/saliva. She joins us today from Minnesota Public Radio. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Mary.

MARY ROACH: Thank you, Flora.

LICHTMAN: So on your adventures through the alimentary canal, what was your favorite stop?

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: My favorite stop - I have to say I was pretty blown away by the interior of my own colon, I guess partly because it's mine and you don't really get to wander around inside yourself very often. And I was just - it's very pretty in there. For the organ that we kind of most despise and fear, I think, because of what's in there, it's beautifully pink, and the walls are kind of shiny and glistening, kind of like Saran Wrap.

It's a very - obviously it's been cleaned out. When I'm - when I was visiting, the janitors had been in there for some hours before I got a glimpse. But the colon, it's really a beautiful - and it's very different than the small intestine, which kind of looks velvety, kind of like terrycloth, which makes sense because it is almost - it's like terrycloth, it's very absorbent, a lot of surface area.

Right, that's - right, that's where a lot of the nutrients are absorbed, right?

ROACH: Yeah, the preponderance of nutrients are absorbed through these little finger-like sort of Dr. Seussy projections, little finger - villi, they're called villi, yeah.

LICHTMAN: So I've heard you do some other interviews, and often the interviewer will do this disclaimer that this is a little gross, but at SCIENCE FRIDAY, because, you know, fecal transplants are practically our bread and butter on this show...

ROACH: Me too.

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: We're not going to make any apologies. But I was curious what you think about this. Why do you think we're so grossed out by our own bodies?

ROACH: I think by and large humans prefer to think of themselves as minds, from the neck up. We don't really like to think of ourselves as another animal, another digesting, excreting, mating, snoring, sleeping kind of sack of guts. I don't think we like that. I think we'd rather not be reminded of it.

And we love food, but we don't like to think about what happens to it once it leaves the plate. And I'm here to encourage people to think about it a little bit because it's fascinating and really not that scary at all.

LICHTMAN: Did your ick factor change as you wrote this book, or were you always interested in this?

ROACH: I have always, well, at least since I'm - I don't really remember as a kid. But I've always been someone whose sense of curiosity trumps any feelings of revulsion or disgust, and this is true going back to "Stiff," you know, when I spent some time at the body farm, this is a book about cadavers.

And that was a situation where while it was overwhelming in terms of what you're seeing and smelling and just what I was learning and the kind of contagious enthusiasm and passion of the scientists who were showing me around completely distracted me. So I don't - I'm not troubled by the ick factor at all.

LICHTMAN: If you want to get in on this conversation, ask Mary Roach a question. Our number is 1-800-989-8255, 1-800-989-TALK. One of the scientists that seemed really passionate about her work was working on saliva. I didn't even know that we produce different kinds of saliva. Tell me about this.

ROACH: No, I didn't either. There are two kinds: stimulated and unstimulated. Stimulated saliva, when you chew, and it doesn't matter what you're chewing, you could chew on a cotton plug, which I did, which is a way to collect saliva for experimentation, for measuring it, you start to chew on something, and no matter what it is, your body starts producing this saliva, just readying the material for the big swallow.

So, you know, it's kind of a - like whatever you're going to try and swallow, we're here to help you. So your parotid glands are - and it's very - it's not just to help you swallow, it's also stimulated by - if you take in something acidic - wine, citrus juice, vinegar, even cola, that is in the range of, the acid range, pH, which is going to - it can dissolve tooth enamel, can actually literally soften it.

So if you take a sip of wine, and I was doing this for a while, going wow, you take a sip, and you feel this gush of saliva in your mouth. And if you're paying attention, which I never did before, but when I had visited Dr. Saletti(ph), I became sort of a crusader for the miraculousness of saliva, but you get this gush of saliva coming in to dilute the acid and bring the pH to a safer level and protect your teeth.

The other kind of saliva, unstimulated saliva, is kind of a background. That's the more traditionally gross mucoid, kind of like what you see in "Alien," the stuff hanging out of the mouth, that ropey - it's an unpleasant looking substance. But...

LICHTMAN: That the loogie, right?

ROACH: The loogie, yeah, the unpleasant kind. Stimulated saliva, you centrifuge that out of the little plug - sort of cotton wad you're chewing, it just looks - it is essentially water. It has a few other, you know, it's got minerals and some other enzymes and things in it, but it's basically water.

But try to get anybody to drink that water, once it's outside the mouth, and not even Erica Saletti(ph) will drink it.

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: Well, why would it be a good detergent?

ROACH: Detergents contain enzymes, and they break down - in the mouth you have amylase, which breaks down starch, a little bit of lipase, babies have a lot more lipase, it breaks down fat, and because babies can't chew their food, they're doing some digesting in the mouth, as it were. So there's higher levels of lipase in baby drool. But we have a little as well.

So when you think about it, the same foods that you're putting into your mouth, you're also dropping in your lap onto your clothes. So you - and I do this...

LICHTMAN: If you're me, yeah.

ROACH: If you're me, too, and I kind of use saliva as a laundry presoak. And in fact laundry detergents, when they say enzymatic action, what they're talking about are digestive enzymes. There's amylase, lipase, proteinase, not taken from human digestive tracts, they're manufactured, they get bacteria to produce them, but they're basically - laundry detergent is a digestive tract in a box in some ways.

LICHTMAN: Have you tried this out? I'm sure I have stains on my clothes right now, maybe now...

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: Have you tried it?

ROACH: I spilled coffee. The first day of my book tour I dribbled coffee onto, you know, one of the few skirts that I have. And so yes, I think I looked a little strange, but I was dabbing saliva. I wasn't actually spitting in my lap.

(LAUGHTER)

ROACH: I was just taking - you know, wetting my finger and dabbing it. And I think it works well, perhaps not as well as a Tide stain pen, but my belief is that it works pretty well.

LICHTMAN: Well, you're always carrying it, so that...

ROACH: You always have it with you, yes.

LICHTMAN: Does saliva have antibacterial properties?

ROACH: Saliva has antibacterial properties. It also has things called nerve growth factor, skin growth factor, histatins which help with wound closure. So when you see an animal licking a wound or even a mom kissing a child's boo-boo, there's some, there's some good science behind why one might do this.

I mean, it's an old, old sort of old wives' remedy. Saliva, you see it in medical texts from, you know, the 1500s and 1600s that saliva would be a therapeutic agent. And there have been studies on rodents where they've - one rodent was prevented from licking the wounds, and the wounds took longer to heal. So it seems to - yes, it - that's a very long-winded way of saying yes, it has antibacterial properties.

LICHTMAN: That doesn't surprise me because I was - you see little kids all the time (unintelligible) in their mouth. I was in a caf? the other day, and a little kid was just sort of vacuum cleaning the floor. I think a man's shoe ended up in her mouth. And I was thinking you must have - there must be protection in there.

ROACH: Yes, yeah, and also the stomach acid, one of its main roles is to kill bacteria. People just think of stomach acid as helping you digest, but it's also, it's also there to keep bacteria - to kill potentially harmful bacteria.

LICHTMAN: We have a lot of callers who want to talk to you and ask questions. Let's go to the phone. Rianne(ph) in Dover, you're on the air.

RIANNE: Yes. Hi. Thank you.

LICHTMAN: Sure.

RIANNE: I was wondering if your poo smells the same as when you're a baby as when you're an adult.

ROACH: If your poo smells the same when you're a baby as when you're an adult. No, poo is very much diet-dependent. So you're going to have a very different - if you're on a 100 percent dairy diet, it's going to be different from vegetarian, versus omnivore. So there's really a - just a direct correlation between the smell and what you eat. In fact, Dr. Alan Kligerman, who was at the Beano company and has a digestive disease research center, had this wonderful quote. He said - I'm going to - I know I'm going to botch his lovely quote, but he said: "A gas smell is as unique - an individual's gas smell is as unique as a fingerprint."

RIANNE: There you go.

ROACH: Yeah.

LICHTMAN: Thank you for calling.

RIANNE: Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

LICHTMAN: On that topic, I'm hoping that Bart Simpson can introduce my next question.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")

NANCY CARTWRIGHT: (as voice of Bart Simpson) Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot.

LICHTMAN: That's Bart getting kicked out of school for that.

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: Why is this so? Does science have an answer for why beans are the musical fruit?

ROACH: Yes. Beans contain a lot of - it's a complex carbohydrate called oligosaccharides, and your small intestine is not so good at breaking that down, and you don't absorb it in the small intestine. It makes its way into the colon, where lots of bacteria have a go. And they break it down, and in the process, produce a lot of hydrogen, which is one of the main components of flatus. So your legumes and beans are quite efficient at producing large volumes - not necessarily smelly, that's coming from - that's a different component. But in terms of the volume of flatulence, beans are way up there.

LICHTMAN: I was wondering if you have a few chapters - I think three chapters in the book on digestion - yes...

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: ...on flatus, we use the clinical term.

ROACH: Yes.

LICHTMAN: I was wondering if you might read a little for us from one of those chapters. Do you have your book with you?

ROACH: I do. Sure. Yes.

LICHTMAN: And so I'll give a little - and you can add to my intro, here. But one of the scientists you write about is a real character, Michael Levitt. And there's a passage in the book where you described his quest to discover the ingredients of passed gas.

ROACH: Yes. Specifically, he was trying to figure out which ingredients are responsible for noxious flatus, the unpleasant smell that we all know so well. So I'll start reading here.

(Reading) Curious as to which olfactory notes the different sulfur gases contributed to the overall bouquet of flatus, Levitt purchased samples of the three gases from a chemical supply house.

And he had already - I should say he had already determined that sulfur gases were the culprits, that those correlated most highly with what was judged to be very offensive flatus. So...

LICHTMAN: Before you go on...

ROACH: OK.

LICHTMAN: ...I'm going to give an ID break, just so we get it done. This is Flora on - SCIENCE - on SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR, talking with Mary Roach.

ROACH: OK.

LICHTMAN: Go ahead.

ROACH: All right. Sure.

(Reading) Curious as to which olfactory notes the different sulfur gases contributed to the overall bouquet of flatus, Levitt purchased samples of the three gases from a chemical supply house. The judges agreed on the following descriptors: rotten eggs for hydrogen sulfide - the gas with the strongest correlation to stink - decomposing vegetables for methanethiol, and sweet for dimethyl sulfide. Though lesser players, like methylmercaptan, contribute as well, it is for the most part these three notes, in subtly shifting combinations and percentages, that create the intimate - the infinite olfactory variety of human flatus. To quote Alan Kligerman: "A gas smell is as characteristic of a person as a fingerprint."

See, I didn't botch it too bad.

(LAUGHTER)

ROACH: (Reading) The great variety of flatus smells from person to person and from meal to meal presented a quandary for the second phase of Levitt's study, the evaluation of various odor-eliminating products. Which and whose wind should represent the average American's? No one's, as it turned out. Using mean amounts from chromatograph readouts as his recipe and commercially synthesized gases as the raw ingredients, Levitt concocted a lab mixture deemed by the judges to have, quote, "a distinctly objectionable odor resembling that of flatus." He had reverse-engineered a fart.

LICHTMAN: I hope that every child in the backseat of the car is thanking SCIENCE FRIDAY for that passage.

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: So you actually write that hydrogen sulfide, which is an ingredient in flatus, is...

ROACH: Yes.

LICHTMAN: ...as lethal as cyanide.

ROACH: Yes. Hydrogen sulfide, it's all in the concentration. Hydrogen sulfide, the human nose is exquisitely sensitive, able to detect less than one part per million. And a noxious fart would have in the neighborhood of two or three parts per million. But when you take it up to about 1,000 parts per million, hydrogen sulfide is fatal. It causes respiratory paralysis, and it kills people quite swiftly.

LICHTMAN: This is related to dung lung, isn't it?

ROACH: Yeah. Dung lung is a - yeah. I don't think it's used widely.

(LAUGHTER)

ROACH: I saw this in a paper. And what amazed me is what - with the dung lung, this term for people who work with - say, on pig farms where there's large concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, and occasionally, they inhale it and are killed. Dung lung - the person who wrote this paper was Dr. C-R-A-P-O, Crapo.

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: That is amazing.

ROACH: You think he would cease to find this sort of thing amusing. But, anyway, yeah, dung lung is a - yeah. This is a - it's an occupational hazard, if you work around - if you're in a sewer business, or you work with - on pig farms, somewhere the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide can reach dangerous levels.

LICHTMAN: But I read in your book that cows don't burp. So there's no sort of flammable danger there.

ROACH: Yeah, cows. That was interesting to me. You hear a lot about methane produced by cows and its effect in the environment, et cetera. And I wondered why there's methane. About a third of us produced methane when we - in our flatus. And I wondered about cows and how they - because they produce a lot of gas, because they're doing - they're fermenting. They've got big composters inside them. And I thought, well, why do you never hear them belch? You never - because it's the rumen. It's much higher up the digestive tract. And an agriculture professor at UC Davis explained to me that cows - what they do - they're in - they're not - it's not coming out their rear. They have a way of shifting around their internal tubes so that they simply exhale. They don't belch it. They - it just becomes exhaled, the methane. So they sort of quietly off gas through the mouth, yeah.

LICHTMAN: Well, lots more to come with Mary Roach. Stay with us.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LICHTMAN: This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LICHTMAN: This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Flora Lichtman. We're taking a tour of our guts this hour with my guest, Mary Roach. Mary is the author of "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal." And you may know here also as the author of "Stiff." And we have tons of people calling, so I'm going to the phones. Dean in South Field, Michigan. He might not be there, it sounds like. We also had a tweet that I thought you might have something to say about. Susan Deary(ph) asks: Why isn't corn digested, and why is it visible in fecal matter?

ROACH: Oh, great question. I love this question. Corn - the corn kernel has a very tough envelope, exterior, and the body doesn't manage to break it down. So it just travels along largely intact. The kernels sometimes are broken, you know, into bits and pieces, but it is so hardy that corn can be used as a marker food. And that means you can - and this is a cool thing you can do. You can time your own intestinal transit time. You can, you know, make note of when you ingest the corn, and then keep an eye out for it when it emerges on the other end, and the amount of time that has elapsed will be your own personal intestinal transit time. So peanuts are also marker foods. Peanuts have a very tough sort of - the matrix of the peanut doesn't completely break down, so you have little chunks of it. You could use dye, also, but that's not as much fun.

LICHTMAN: There you go: a citizen science project for the weekend.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ROACH: Yeah.

LICHTMAN: One of the...

ROACH: Parents everywhere will go like, oh, no, no.

LICHTMAN: No.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LICHTMAN: One of the parts I love about your book is that you dive into these fascinating and bizarre histories of how we learned about our guts, and one was this guy William Beaumont. Tell us more about him.

ROACH: Yes. William Beaumont was a physician who - well, he was an army surgeon, and he was posted on Mackinac Island, where there was a fur trading company, a trading post. So trappers would come in with the pelts and, you know, get supplies and things. And he was - there was also a military outpost there. And one of the trappers was accidentally shot in the side, blew a hole open on his side, which opened up the stomach. And so Beaumont came to help him, thought that he would die. The man, Alexis St. Martin, recovered. The wound healed as a fistula, which is an unintended passageway. So it went from the stomach, straight to the outside. A gastrocutaneous fistula, I believe, is the terminology. Anyway, it's a hole that never healed properly.

And Beaumont quickly realized what this - what opportunity this presented for him to study human digestion, because no one had really ever seen human digestion in action. And he commented that he could - that when St. Martin lay on his side, he could peer through the hole and actually see what was going on and watch and observe digestion. And he began doing a series of experiments, hundreds of experiments, putting foods, different foods in a little mesh bag on a silk string, putting it into the stomach. And then after intervals, pulling it back out, seeing what was digested, how quickly, and then took some of the gastric juice out of the stomach to see would it work on its own, did it need to be at a center temperature. He'd have Alexis St. Martin walking around the house with a test tube of his own gastric juices strapped under his armpit to see, you know, would this work outside the body? Lo and behold, it did. So - and then he wanted to figure out what it was.

And so he did a series of - he was really the first American physician to study human digestion, the - and specifically looking at, was it chemical or was it mechanical. There had been a debate as to whether the contractions of the stomach were responsible for breaking foods down, or was there some chemical process. And so he - and this spanned - Beaumont was a bit of an obsessive. This went on for 30 years. And St. Martin would sometimes tire of it, take off, disappear. Someone else - someone would run into him, send a note to Beaumont and say, hey, I found your patent digester out here. And how much do you want to offer to get him back? And so Beaumont would offer more and more money. It was kind of game of Coyote and Roadrunner back and forth over the years, but a fascinating and kind of odd relationship the two had.

LICHTMAN: It did seem pretty intimate, with all the stomachs there.

ROACH: It was very...

(LAUGHTER)

ROACH: Yeah, there was a moment when Beaumont was describing, you know, putting his tongue to the mucus layer and tasting it and just a very - and St. Martin - his letters were always - he didn't - we were right that he would dictate to someone. And they were always very polite and with love to the family and that kind of thing. But they were a kind of a - it was a bit of an adversarial relationship. But a mutual dependency on and off over the years.

LICHTMAN: Let's go to the phones. David in Arlington, Virginia, welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

DAVID: Hi. I listen to your show when I can on Friday afternoons.

LICHTMAN: Thanks.

DAVID: I've wanted to share a piece of digestive trivia. I read a review of Ms. Roach's book the other day. Didn't see anything about it, but when I was in college studying - I took a physiology course, and in the chapter about the digestive tract, it touched on the subject of whether having fecal matter in your body for an extended period of time was harmful. And it mentioned an anecdote about a guy who hadn't been able to defecate for about a year.

And he had a hundred extra pounds of poop in his body that didn't go away. And I would mention this to friends and they would say, you got to be crazy. It can't possibly be true. And I would show them in the book and as long as I had the book, it always impressed them. So I thought you might be interested in that.

ROACH: I'm mighty impressed by that. But - and that leads me to make mention of one of the body's many protective mechanisms, which is if you have a blockage and you're not able to evacuate your bowels, as they say, if you - if there's a blockage somewhere down the line, at a certain point everything shuts down. I mean, the hundred - that story, the hundred guy with a hundred pounds backing up, is very hard for me to believe.

But I do believe that you saw this - the article and that somebody seems to have documented it. But they'll - the whole - the process, the peristalsis by which the waste and the things are moved along, everything will sort of shut down. And this happens - drug mules will sometimes get pulled out of line and detained for suspicion of alimentary canal smuggling.

And they have - there was a case of one man who for - I think it was 20-some days - did not empty his bowels. Because they were - and the people at the airport, or wherever - I think it was in an airport - they're waiting. They are just - it's like, well, we're going to keep you here until we see what you've got. And he's like, well, I'm not going to let it go.

And it went on for a remarkable number of days. And to keep the intestines from bursting, the body will just short of shut - stop, sending it further on down the line. So that you don't have such a big log jam that you have a rupture. So the hundred pounds guy, that would seem to be - I don't know how it is that his - he must have had a mega colon, that's a genetic problem.

LICHTMAN: Didn't Elvis have a mega colon?

ROACH: Elvis did have a mega colon. And he probably had an undiagnosed case of Hirschsprung, which is where the end of the - the colon doesn't have nerves. The nerves that create the peristaltic contractions that move the material along, so you get this log jam. And he had a - and the colon stretches out, it becomes - in the case of the one specimen in the Mutter Museum, eight - 28 inches around. That's my pants' size.

So I would imagine this dude with a hundred pounds of material was one of those cases. The one - the mega colon in the Mutter Museum, I believe, 40 pounds of fecal matter, old, dried, hard, was - sorry. I hope no one's...

LICHTMAN: No. It's okay. You can see it in our website. We've actually covered this in the past, Mary.

ROACH: Oh, you have.

LICHTMAN: Yes. We have a video about the Mutter Museum which features an image of the...

ROACH: Okay. Yeah. So...

LICHTMAN: So we promised in the billboard that we would talk about eating through the other mouth, as you write in the book. And we only have a few minutes left, but I just wanted to make sure that we delivered on that. Tell us about this.

ROACH: Yes. Well, rectal alimentation is the term that was used. It's not done so much anymore now that you can see directly into the stomach or through an IV. But in the 1800s and 1700s, I think, even, but mostly in the 1800s, they're - doctors realized if you - that you could do something that's called a nutrient enema.

And that is you take - it was often like a beef broth with some beef peptonoids to sort of - to do the digesting that would be happening further on up the alimentary canal and the small, you know, sort of the small intestines. So there would be some digestive materials actually in the substance that you were putting in.

But if there was a - if there was - a person couldn't keep the food down or there was a blockage - President Garfield was sort of the - as you - I think you read earlier, the poster boy for that. And he was fed that way for some time. You know, he ultimately died. It was an assassination attempt and his - he'd been shot in the abdomen. And - but the - his doctor, Dr. Bliss, was quite impressed with the body's ability to take in nutrients that way.

Though it's very limited. You know, there are a lot of nutrients that the large intestine, the colon, can't absorb. Most of the absorption goes on in the small intestine. And you can't pass - the ileocecal valve is a one-way valve. It's very tough to get material up through the large intestine, into the small. So it's not a very efficient way to eat. I don't really recommend it to anybody.

(LAUGHTER)

LICHTMAN: There you have it, folks. That's about all we have time for. But do you have your next book picked out? Do you know - what will we...

ROACH: No. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what that's going to be yet. But I'm open to ideas.

LICHTMAN: Well, we're looking forward to it. Mary Roach is the author of "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal," and you may also know her as the author of "Stiff." Thanks for joining us today.

ROACH: Thanks so much, Flora, for having me on.

LICHTMAN: It was fun.

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/12/177029249/down-the-gullet-a-guided-tour-of-your-guts?ft=1&f=1007

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বুধবার, ১০ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Social Media Marketing ? 50 Ways To Get More Shares On Social ...

50 Plus Ways To Get More Shares On Social Media MarketingSo the Holy Grail of social media marketing is to ?go viral? and get millions of views of one of your posts, videos, etc. What about instead if you tried to get more shares on the general posts you send out there?

I am not good at math but I am good at marketing and having one post that ?goes viral? is much less effective than having 100 posts that get shared at a much lower level but have a much broader reach. Some people who have had a message go viral spend the rest of time trying to duplicate that to no avail.

So what should you do? Try to get a broader reach by having people like, share or otherwise interact with your content. For each interaction, your social reach goes up and you have more and more chance that new and different people will share your ?stuff?.

So let?s get started!

Blatantly ask for the like or share

  • ?Like? if you agree, then ?Share? with others.
  • Pass this wonderful XXX on to all your family and friends!!
  • Check it out and ?Like? the page
  • Please share?
  • please everyone share !!!!!!
  • Do give-a-ways that require sharing using tools like Raffle-Copter or GroSocial
  • Share our page with your friends by 10pm tonight, for a chance to win XXX!!!
  • Like and share ? ? don?t know if the little heart made any difference but it did stand out.
  • Feel free to share and tag pictures! ? seems to be encouraging people to share on their wall, crowdsourcing content!
  • To win your chance to win XXX all you have to do is like our page, and like and share this post. Winner will be announced when this post has 100 likes.
  • Please share this page with Ashford Oaks Neighbors. ? I like the specificity of this one!
  • LIKE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, SHARE & POST!!!!
  • Let?s have some input and I will make it happen. Please SHARE this so that lots see it and comment.
  • Why not share our page. We?ll be posting up some yummy recipies soon!
  • Like if you agree, Ignore if you disagree!
  • (LIKE & SHARE)

Asking questions to get comments

  • Caption this?
  • Anyone interested?
  • Comment with your thoughts: should we?.?
  • What is your favorite holiday?
  • What is your favorite?.?
  • ?other ?> Comment below.
  • This ring true for you?
  • Yes or no? gets good feedback because easy for your friends and fans
  • True or false?
  • What could you do with??
  • Why do you??
  • Ask multiple choice questions (pick A, B, or C)
  • Can you give me your feedback on this?
  • Where do you go to?.?
  • What is your best tip for?
  • What is the best?
  • What do you think of all the?
  • What is the strangest thing you have ever done to?
  • Do you like?
  • Which is better?

Post what people want

Now I am not a huge proponent of posting ?stuff for stuff?s sake?, but if you are here, you are probably trying to get a foothold of more likes, follows, connections or something else important and posting ?popular? content in and among your normal postings can help that!

  • Quotes from famous people
  • Quotes with pictures you make (these work great for me as I can use them on the Facebook AND Pinterest!)
  • Cats, everyone likes kitties!
  • Celebrities
  • Happy things ? I did a search to see if happy things are shared more than sad things, no results yet, could someone mathy please research this and get back to me?:)
  • Industry related INTERESTING information ? just found a great post for our Realtors to share that was houses made out of unusual things like an airplane!
  • Smart things ? my favorite place to find smart AND funny things is the ?I fucking love science? page on Facebook. With over 4 million likes, it renews my faith in humanity that smart, clever humor is okay too!

Post when it matters

Unless you are targeting Mountain time people (like I sometimes do), you should post all content at a relevant time for Eastern folks. In addition, I use these times as a guide not a hard and fast rule as sometimes you can be too cute for your own good and jump in when EVERYONE is doing it and miss out on the slower times? opportunities.

  • Twitter appears to like the afternoon the best with 5pm being the optimal time to get retweets, that said, noon and 6pm are also good times to tweet!1
  • On the Facebook, good times to post are noon and 7pm and one post every other day will increase sharing opportunities (I think this is because FB doesn?t show EVERY post you have to EVERY person who could see it. Because of this, you increase your chances of being shared more if you post less often.1

Don?t be shy

  • You should tweet out your blog posts at least 4 times for maximum exposure and sharing opportunities. I recommend using Hootsuite for this so that you can schedule them for the day you post, later the following day, a couple of days later and a week or so later, mixing up the times.2

Common courtesy

  • Sometimes it is hard to figure out who has shared your ?stuff? but if you see that someone has, make sure to acknowledge them by liking their page or profile, sending a message to thank them and sharing something of theirs!

Some places I used to research this article?

One final note, this is an article about legitimate ways to get more interaction with your friends and fans. It is intended to help my small business owners with their social media marketing and should in no way be confused for ?like farming? which a pox on society and a scammers dream.

Incoming search terms:

  • marketingartfully com social-media-marketing-50-ways-to-get-more-shares-on-social-media
  • social media marketing

Source: http://marketingartfully.com/2013/04/09/social-media-marketing-50-ways-to-get-more-shares-on-social-media/

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AT&T announces plans for 1Gbps fiber service in Austin, Texas; Google gets immediate competition

AT&T announces plans for 1Gbps fiber service in Austin, Texas Google gets immediate competition

First thought: "Ha!" Second thought: "Oh, wait -- competition is an excellent thing." While it's highly probable that AT&T is looking to both overshadow Google's launch party and maintain a foothold in one of its most prized states, the outfit's terse announcement of an impending 1Gbps fiber network should honestly be seen as nothing but excellent news for residents of Austin. Merely hours after Google and the city of Austin jointly made clear that Google Fiber would be hitting up local homes in mid-2014, Ma Bell has made public its "intent" to built a 1 Gigabit fiber network in the same area.

AT&T's expanded fiber plans in Austin anticipate it will be granted the "same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives." Of course, it's seriously unlikely AT&T will offer up basic fiber connections for free in the way that Google's doing, but on a macro level, we certainly hope this type of one-upping continues in more towns across the country. And, more specifically, that AT&T continues to roll out fiber networks on its own accord in various locales; with FiOS expansion indefinitely paused, we sure need someone to step up and keep the dream alive.

Filed under: ,

Comments

Source: AT&T

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/uU6SLTrvkpc/

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শুক্রবার, ৫ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

?Keeping it to Themselves? and the Defense of Homophobia ...

Jamaicans often purport, in defense of their homophobia, that as long as gays and lesbians keep ?it? to themselves, they have no problem with homosexuality. According to this logic, if a gay person affirms and accepts his or her sexual orientation, he or she is forcing ?it? on others. What exactly constitutes ?forcing? is quite subjective, and barely anything can be deemed as such.

As a consequence, the vast majority of gays and lesbians in Jamaica live their lives in secret for reasons that include fear of discrimination, violence or harassment, fear of unemployment or eviction from their homes, or even the fear of simply ??offending? someone with their homosexuality.

The ironic thing is that these gays and lesbians (many of whom finally decide that being open about their sexuality is not necessarily important) are routinely scrutinized and policed as they go about their daily lives?by the very same people who asked them to keep ?it? to themselves.

The whispers among neighbors, co-workers and church brethren are deafening as they chit-chat in the most disparaging ways about their LGBT colleagues. But it doesn?t stop there. They can?t keep it to themselves, so they marvel and make use of every opportunity to ask: ?Why do you dress/walk like that?? ?Why are you so soft spoken and/or eloquent?? ?Why are so many girls (or boys, in the case of a man) visiting you?? ?Do you have a girlfriend (or boyfriend, in the case of a woman)?? ?Why don?t you have a child??

Why are people so preoccupied with policing gays and lesbians? Of what relevance are the private lives of others to them? Even when LGBT people try to go about their business privately?in deference to heterosexual privileges and prejudices?their neighbors make it their duty to be informed about gay peoples? daily lives. Wherever a gay or lesbian person goes, there are eyes piercing and chatter tip-toeing behind them to find out their next move.

It is important to note that Jamaicans often use the word ?it? when they are talking about homosexuality, as though using the word ?homosexuality? somehow acknowledges or indirectly endorses gay and lesbian relationships as a natural feature of human existence.

A homosexual person has very little right to privacy and there is no respect for his or her space and personhood, yet political and religious leaders fail to recognize the desperate need to address rampant prejudice. Lawmakers must recognize the important role they have in facilitating this.

One can only hope that at some point along the trajectory of our next fifty years of independence, Jamaicans will recognize the importance of respecting their LGBT neighbors, coworkers, family, and friends.

Source: http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/5023

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PFT: Stallworth feared death during balloon crash

Ta'amuGetty Images

Last year, Steelers rookie defensive lineman Alameda Ta?amu was involved in a DUI incident that extended far beyond the run-of-the-mill drunk driving arrest.

A fourth-round pick in 2012, Ta?amu allegedly evaded the police, crashing his vehicle into other cars after nearly running over an officer whose gun was drawn.? He was charged with felony counts of fleeing police, aggravated assault while driving drunk, and three counts of aggravated assault, along with 10 misdemeanors including resisting arrest, attempting escape, drunk driving, and failure to obey traffic laws.

Ta?amu allegedly ran past two other officers who also had their guns drawn.

In other words, Ta?amu is lucky he?s alive.? He?s also lucky he?s not going to prison.

According to the Associated Press, Ta?amu has pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, and drunk driving.? For his sentence, he?ll spend four days in a ?DUI hotel? and serve 18 months probation.

?I know what I?ve done is wrong,? Ta?amu said.? ?I?d do anything to make it right.? What I did affected my whole family.? I?ve got to keep learning from my mistakes.? So far, I think I?ve done a good job of staying away [from alcohol].?

The Steelers suspended Ta?amu for two games after the arrest, which arguably prevents the NFL from imposing another suspension.? He later was cut but then re-signed to the practice squad.? Ta?amu currently is a member of the team?s offseason roster.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/03/donte-stallworth-recalls-hot-air-balloon-accident/related/

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Jailed beard-cutting Amish fight for release

CINCINNATI (AP) ? Attorneys for a group of Amish men and women found guilty of hate crimes for cutting the hair and beards of fellow members of their faith are arguing that the group's conviction, sentencing and imprisonment in separate facilities across the country violates their constitutional rights and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, according to recent court filings.

The filings in federal court in Akron seek the release of seven of 16 Amish convicted in September in the 2011 eastern Ohio attacks, which were meant to shame fellow Amish they believed were straying from strict religious interpretations.

Although six of the requests were denied by the trial judge, one is pending, and the judge could at any time order any of them released as they await the outcomes of their appeals, expected to be filed this summer. Defense attorneys may also appeal denials of the release requests to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

The Amish group's leader, Samuel Mullet Sr., was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while the rest of the group got sentences ranging from one to seven years.

The Amish have been sent to different prisons across the country, placing an overly harsh burden on their relatives, who, because of their religion, cannot travel by plane and have to hire drivers for car travel, the group's attorneys argue.

For instance, for Mullet's wife to visit him and three sons convicted in the case, she'd have to travel to Oklahoma, Louisiana and two prisons 160 miles apart in Minnesota.

The Amish "are being treated much more harshly than the typical federal prisoner, including those with much worse criminal histories and offense conduct," Mullet's attorney, Edward Bryan, wrote in a March 29 filing. "The manner in which their sentences are being carried out by the Bureau of Prisons is cruel and unusual."

Prosecutors, in their response filed on Friday, pointed out that Mullet has unsuccessfully argued to be released five times throughout the case, and they cited comments from federal Judge Dan Polster that Mullet showed no remorse for the attacks and "enjoyed receiving prompt reports about the violent assaults, and even received a bag of hair as proof that one such assault was successful."

The prosecutors also said that as recently as Feb. 8, the judge noted "Mullet's dangerous hold" on his community and that Mullet had shown "a blatant disregard for the law."

They rejected that the Amish's placement in different prisons is cruel and unusual and said moving him would be a waste of taxpayer money.

The prosecution's filing does not address other arguments being put forth by the defense that are far broader, largely uncharted territory in the courts and could eventually land in the U.S. Supreme Court, according to attorneys involved in the case and constitutional law professors contacted by The Associated Press.

Defense attorneys for the Amish are attacking the group's prosecution under the federal hate crime statute, passed in 2009. The statute stipulates that to constitute a federal violation, the crime has to involve crossing state lines or using "an instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce."

In this case, government prosecutors successfully argued that the scissors and hair clippers were an instrumentality of interstate commerce.

That argument is an abuse of federal power and is unconstitutional, the defense attorneys argue.

Bryan pointed to last year's landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court over President Barack Obama's federal health care law. The court found that the individual insurance mandate at the heart of the law was not enforceable under Congress' power over interstate commerce but rather as a tax.

Bryan said that case, decided after the Amish were indicted, shows a willingness by the nation's highest court to narrow Congress' authority over interstate commerce, and could guide the 6th Circuit in its consideration of the Amish group's appeal.

Bryan and the other defense attorneys in the case also argue that the assaults didn't amount to a hate crime under the federal statute, arguing that the law wasn't meant to prosecute a given religious group's dispute among its own members.

Two constitutional law professors agree that the new filings contain interesting arguments that could eventually make it to the Supreme Court.

Vikram Amar, a constitutional law professor at the University of California-Davis, said that largely depends on how prosecutors argue that taking scissors across state lines to commit a crime amounts to a violation of the federal hate crime statute.

For instance, if the scissors were bought 20 years ago, "I could see a lot of appellate judges and Supreme Court judges say, 'That's too loose a test and gives Congress too much power.'"

Noah Feldman, a professor of international law at Harvard Law School, said the defense's argument is plausible, although he "wouldn't put the odds in their favor."

The argument that Feldman finds most interesting is that the prosecution of the Amish for a hate crime is an overly broad interpretation of the federal statute.

"If you accept the interpretation that this is a hate crime, then any dispute within a religious group could be called a hate crime," Feldman said. "If I think my wife should obey me and my religion teaches me so and I take a swing at her, then I've committed a hate crime," rather than domestic violence.

Before trial, the Amish all rejected plea agreements that offered leniency, with some young mothers turning down a chance to avoid prison altogether.

Prosecutors argued that the group cut the beards and hair of other members because hair carries spiritual significance, hence the hate crime. The Amish argued that they're bound by rules guided by their religion and the government should never have gotten involved in what amounted to a family or church dispute.

___

Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-amish-beard-cutting-case-fight-release-220728457.html

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Texas Family Sells Porsche For Bitcoins - Business Insider

Blane

A father and son from Austin say they've just sold their 2007 Porsche Cayman S for approximately 300 Bitcoins.

That's $39,000 (not including a 0.99 percent processing fee).

Blane, an IT specialist and software engineer, and his father say they sold the car last night to an anonymous buyer who cashed out his Bitcoins using the site Bitpay. (They asked us not to use their last name.)

We stumbled upon their claim in a Bitcoin discussion forum, and were able to reach out to them directly via email.

Blane emailed us two screenshots he says prove the transaction took place:

Blane

And the page they'd set up showing the car, as well as a Harley, on offer:

Blane

According to Blane,?his father created a Cragslist ad for the car a couple of months ago, and there was immediate interest:

... we received a few offers on the way up, one for 1000 bitcoins when they were $26 apiece, and interest really spiked once we started nearing $100 a coin. In the end, we had four potential buyers ready to pick up the car at around 400 BTC, the first user to make their way to Austin got the car.

Reached by phone, Blane's?father said the buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a "young businessman" not from Texas who "does a number of things, from construction to running services in the food and beverage industry."?

He sent a surrogate to complete the transaction. From Blane:?

... all four of us were on the phone, me, father, buyer, and surrogate while he sent the coins. We watched the transaction make its way through the network over a span of about 30 minutes, then he signed a bill of sale and passed on the title. ?

Blane and his father described the deal as a watershed moment both for themselves and Bitcoin in general. They say?they're now considering opening an online business devoted to selling cars for bitcoins. ?

The Porsche had 8,200 miles on it.?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-family-we-sold-this-porsche-last-night-for-300-bitcoins-2013-4

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Wall Street edges lower after service sector data?

Stocks added to losses Wednesday, following a report that showed private employers added less jobs than expected in March and the U.S. services sector showed the weakest growth in seven months.

(Read More: Retail Investors Are Back! But Don't Hit 'Sell' Just Yet)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined, led by Bank of America and General Electric, after hitting fresh intraday and closing highs in the previous session.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also traded lower. If the S&P 500 closes lower, it will have alternated between gains and losses for the 10th consecutive session. The last time the index saw such a pattern was in April 2002.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded below 13.

Most key S&P sectors turned lower, led by financials and energy.

On the economic front, the rate of growth in the services sector slowed in March to the lowest level since August. The Institute for Supply Management said its services index fell to 54.4 last month from 56 in February, falling short of economists' forecasts for 55.8. A reading above 50 indicates a sector expansion.

U.S. private employers added 158,000 jobs in March, falling short of economists' expectations for a gain of 200,000, according to payrolls processor ADP. February's private payrolls figure was revised up to an increase of 237,000 from the previously reported 198,000.

The ADP report comes ahead of the widely-followed government non-farm payrolls report, due Friday. Economists expect to see a gain of 200,000, with the unemployment rate steady at 7.7 percent, according to a Reuters poll.

Earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that home loan applications dipped 4 percent last week due mainly to a decline in refinancing.

European markets were lower as Italy's political impasse continues and President Giorgio Napolitano's team of "wise men" attempted to formulate reform measures that can gain cross-party consensus.

(Read More: Italy's Bersani Drops Leadership Bid)

Vodafone slumped after Verizon Communicationsdenied earlier reports that it is looking to partner with AT&T to acquire British cellphone company Vodafone. However, the Dow component said it would be a willing buyer of Vodafone's current 45-percent share of Verizon's wireless venture.

Zynga soared after the social gaming company said it would begin offering real-money poker and casino-style games in the UK in the next few days.

Among earnings, ConAgra declined after the packaged foods company reported a 57 percent drop in earnings, hurt by costs related to its acquisition of Ralcorp.

Meanwhile, Monsanto gained after the seed company boosted its full-year profit guidance after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results thanks to strength in its global corn business.

Late on Tuesday, one of the Federal Reserve's most hawkish officials publicly locked horns with one of its most dovish, in a debate over the risks posed to inflation by the central bank's bold steps to spur growth. Policy dove Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said the Fed was still "missing tremendously" on the employment side of its dual mandate, while inflation remains well under its 2 percent goal.

(Read More: Fed Hawk Lacker and Dove Evans Face Off Over Inflation)

Crude oil inventories will be released at 10:30 am ET.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 surged 3 percent on hopes that aggressive monetary stimulus measures will be announced at the Bank of Japan's policy meeting on Thursday. Central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda is expected to substantially boost asset purchases,as well as buy longer-dated government bonds and commit to the open-ended purchase of assets.

?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a4bd75a/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cwall0Estreet0Eedges0Elower0Eafter0Eservice0Esector0Edata0E1C91960A67/story01.htm

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