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Archive for the 'Real Estate' Category
Latest on Zillow.com
Posted January 10, 2008on:
Latest News on Zillow
TechCrunch Reports:
Real-estate site Zillow has added 10 million homes to its Website, bringing the total to 80 million (out of 91 million homes in the U.S.). Of those, the properties it has enough information on to calculate a "Zestimate" is now 67 million, up from 53 million before. Zestimates and comparable-sales data are the two biggest draws to the site, says president Lloyd Frink, who dropped by my office on Wednesday.
I gave Frink a hard time because I always find the Zestimates for properties in New York City to be way off base. "New York is tough," he admitted. But Zillow has tweaked its algorithm and improved the accuracy of its Zestimates by 12 percent (as measured by the actual sale price versus the last Zestimate on the day of the sale).
The algorithm improved by diving deeper into the data. "We went from having a model for each county to 20 models for each county," says Frink. The Zestimates also now take into account more than one million corrections and facts added by home owners. The margin of error is now 8.8 percent. That is an average for the entire country. You still can't trust the Zestimates on New York City apartments. But Frink notes that a third of the site's Zestimates across the country fall within five percent of the selling price, and that half are within 10 percent. Still, he cautions that "the Zestimate is just a starting point."
You'd think that real-estate sites would be hurting right now, given the severe correction in the housing market. But Frink argues that in a down market research is more important than ever and says that Zillow is still benefiting from the overall shift in real estate activities to the Web. Zillow's ad model certainly benefits from various targeting capabilities-geographic, demographic, and behavioral. Each action on the site is zipcode-specific. Frink notes that the EZ Ads Zillow sells itself go for $10 CPMs, versus $3 to $5 CPMs for backfill ads from ad networks.
Zillow is trying to create a database of all homes in the U.S., which is a different approach than other real-estate sites. "It is the database of all homes, not just homes on the market," notes Frink. This is both a strength and a weakness. On the downside, Zillow lists only 400,000 homes that are for sale, out of about 4 million nationwide. A deal with real-estate publisher Network Communications will bring that total to 900,000. On the upside, Zillow has a lot more comparable data than most sites. (Although, I think Cyberhomes has better data). And since Zillow lists all existing homes, it makes it easy to provisionally put your house on the market through its "Make Me Move" feature. About 100,000 Make-Me-Move homes are on the site. And in some markets, it is a pretty significant number. For instance, in Seattle (where Zillow is based), there are 30,000 homes officially for sale and another 6,000 Make-Me-Move listings, or 20 percent of the number on the market.
The other big news is that Zillow is joining Yahoo Real Estate, Trulia, Oodle, Homes.com, Realestate.com, Vast.com and others in adopting a standard way for brokers and multiple listings services (MLSs) to send in their real estate listings in a feed format. That way brokers can use the same data format for all the different real estate search engines and Websites. It is called the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS). That should make it easier for brokers to propagate their listings everywhere.
Zillow is a website started in early 2005 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink focused on providing free home valuations called Zestimates. "Zestimates" are home valuations computed using their proprietary formula. Around their Zestimates service, Zillow has built a marketplace for home buyers and sellers to list their homes.
The site and service launched February 8th, 2006, and within two days they had served their millionth visitor. Over the course of the year Zillow set out to expand their site's features, incorporating a heat map and 3D view into their service. Zillow was facing other competition at time with the launch of Real Estate ABC and the existing housing search site Trulia.
On July 18th, 2006, Zillow landed a big deal with Yahoo to serve as a data point on Yahoo's real estate and search sites.
Toward the latter half of 2006, Zillow added the ability to claim and correct your home valuation, a much needed feature as the service grew in relevance. In one month, over 100,000 homes were claimed. The period also saw the site opening up its services with the release of a mobile application, API, "Make Me Move" price, and the ability to post listings on the site for free.
In 2007, Zillow relaunched with more social features, including a questions and answer feature, and user posted photos of their homes.


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European reaction to the Gabrielle Giffords Arizona shooting is seen strongly through the lens of the tea party rhetoric and as symptomatic of a superpower in decline and at the mercy of "radical" politics.
With significant play in London, Berlin, and Paris, the actions of alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner are seen as typically American and not surprising in Arizona, where citizens can carry concealed handguns without a permit, something considered unthinkable here.
The Giffords story in Europe today mirrored questions in US media about the degree to which anger, conspiracy theories, and intemperate talk show rhetoric is to blame for the context of the shooting.
France's daily Le Monde asked if Ms. Giffords' shooting "is the tea party's fault?" and Le Figaro's Washington correspondent opined that "The political climate in the US is sick." The London-based Economist asked today "Are Words to Blame?" Agence France-Presse described "Hate rhetoric is in target sights," in the US.
Much of the German editorial position on Giffords was strongly accusatory of the political climate in the US in recent years.
The conservative Die Welt stated today that: "This murderous attack came from an atmosphere of discord and self-doubt, because America is experiencing the limits of its power on a daily basis, whether it be on distant fronts or with dissatisfaction at home. It has never been like this. There always was the motto: 'Yes, we can.' Today, widespread pessimism prevails, because of the financial crisis, and because of Iraq and Afghanistan, lost battles ..."
Resonance in rise of anti-immigration, anti-Islamic rhetoric
If there is a "resonance point" with Europe in the Giffords shooting, it may be in the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic rhetoric and right-wing sentiment on the Continent and fears that have been steadily raised about them. However, much of the overall style and direction of those new European anti-immigration politics has been to "mainstream" them in ways considered reasonable for centrist and middle-class voters.
The Netherlands in 2002 and 2005 witnessed the killing of politicians Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh in the context of an often lurid anti-Islam rhetoric promoted by those individuals. Their mantle has been taken up by the recently successful Geert Wilders, who in Holland, rightly or wrongly, is often compared with the American Tea Party impulse, and who has compared the Koran to Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf.
"People in Holland as in the US are concerned about the tone of our debate, the sharper rhetoric, and especially since for the first time TV news anchors are following the Fox [News] style of figures like Bill O'Reilly," says Peter van Os, a former Washington correspondent for De Groene Amsterdammer who writes on Dutch politics from The Hague. "The phrase 'angry electorate' is now used often here ... and we are having debates about what Bill Clinton recently called 'fact free' news."
British media on the weekend immediately seized the importance of the story, the first attempted assassination of a US politician in 30 years; the BBC and Sky News followed it live for most of Saturday evening and it was Page 1 on Sunday.
Europeans have paid attention to numerous stories on former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and her pro-tea party website that "targets" Giffords and includes the comment "Don't retreat … reload" – as a symptom of the tone in US politics.
A guest column in the German Der Spiegel today warned that vitriolic attacks against Mrs. Palin from the left were themselves a manifestation of intemperate anger, and warned they could backfire by making her a victim of political elites.
Many French bloggers on the right-leaning Figaro site objected to Mr. Loughner being characterized as conservative, on the basis of his reported fascination with such writings as Das Kapital as well as Mein Kampf.
Mr. van Os notes that, "When I heard about the Arizona shooting, I remembered American friends after the killing of Fortuyn and Van Gogh, who told me that political assassinations were 'so 60s.'"
IN PICTURES: Arizona shooting vigils
(This story was edited after posting to correct the spelling of the last name of the Arizona shooting suspect).

subset: commoncrawl


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Actually, in at least this case there was a U.S. subsidy. Billions of dollars of it.billvon wrote: ↑Dec 01 2017 12:16pm
Agreed; which is why I don't pay much attention to solar power purchase contracts in the US as a sign of how cheap solar is getting overall. However, outside the US:
-there are no US subsidies involved
-there is not as much pressure to use renewables or to play accounting tricks
-there is more financial pressure to perform, since most other economies aren't as strong as ours
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/30/obama ... taxpayers/


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'Should digital euthanasia be applied in this case?' asks the gateway page of Eugenio Tisselli's recently-launched 'degenerative' project. Not afraid to push a hot button issue into new territory, the artist is here refering to the mindless text-noise yielded by the logic that he has built into his project: the 'degenerative' page--a field of text featuring such questions as, 'is visual culture a ritual of cannibalism and rebirth?' and 'does everything contain the seed of its own destruction?'--is programmed to atrophy by one character each time a visitor views it. The site offers the option of seeing the current state of the project or reviewing a log that charts the decay yielded by traffic to the site on each day subsequent to its launch. Already, the process has progressed to the point where the excitement is essentially past. Finally, whereas the state of ambiguous mental stasis that makes 'non-digital' euthenasia cases so agonizing provokes hard, human questions, the swift and predictable logic of 'degenerative' seems more to allegorize how digital efficiency saps such questions of their gravity. - Ben Davis
Interfacing the City
For the most part, 'ubiquitous computing'--the growing trend of imbedding computers in our everyday surroundings--seems to encourage connecting with things we enjoy or need (or the things marketers think we enjoy and need) and avoiding pretty much anything else. iPods allow us to walk around in our own imaginary music video and GPS navigation systems in cars take you directly from point A to point B on the most direct and efficient route. But this tendency to isolate social experience within the known and familiar is not going unchallenged. Many designers, engineers and artists are creating other uses for the ubiquitous networks of communications devices being built around us--uses that attempt to focus attention outward rather than inward. 'The Interactive City,' one component of next year's ISEA and Zero One festival, will feature projects that expand participants' knowledge and experiences of their surroundings. Set in San Jose, CA--the 'Spirit of Silicon Valley'--organizers are currently looking for submissions for 'urban-scale' works that foster novel relationships between the city and its inhabitants. The deadline for proposals is 22 April. - Ryan Griffis
Bundle up for Spring!
Multiple domains causing a headache? Projects, blogs, and e-commerce side jobs running here, there, and everywhere? Why not simplify our online livelihood by administering all your websites through one, single hosting plan? New for spring, through May 9, Broadspire Hosting has arranged a special Bundle Pack for Rhizome members that includes up to five separate accounts for one monthly payment. Each account may take its own domain name and includes an individualized email account and web traffic stats. A total of 500MB storage space is to be divided among the five, however you like, and there's a roomy 10GB limit to monthly transfers. Daily data backups and 24/7 technical support as well! All for a $50.00 setup fee and $29.95 per month, plus the peace of mind of having everything under one roof, not to mention of keeping Rhizome healthy, active and multivalent. - Rhizome.org
Dying for Non-Corporeal Art
Dragan Zivadinov doesn't have great hopes for his actors' longevity; he's confident that by 2045, the 16 performers in 'One versus One' will have all died and been replaced by robotic models, which will utter digital melodies in place of dialogue. First presented on April 20th, 1995, the performance will be repeated every ten years on the same day until 2045, by which point the cast should have transformed into mechanical ghosts. Zivadinov's own death is scheduled for May 1st, 2045, when he will fly into the geostatic orbit and place the robots at 16 points around the earth, before realising his dream to become 'empty-bodied in the absolute nothing with my instinctive physicality' (the fate of his collaborator, Dunja Zupancic, is not stated). This 50-year action is intended to finally abolish mimetic theatre and establish the rule of non-corporeal art. A founder of the Neue Slovenische Kunst (NSK: New Slovenian Art) experimental art movement, Zivadinov's work comprises a series of 'farewell rituals' exploring faith, death and the end of the world through performance art. This decade's performance takes place on April 20th, 2005 in Moscow, where he has previously staged a performance in zero gravity. - Helen Varley Jamieson
A Gift of the Self
Tamara Lai's (FR) previous provocations include 'Art-Death,' asking 'How beautiful are we?' and proposing 'To make a portrait of God.' Now, Lai is offering a gift of herself with 'Sacrifice.' Everyone who contributes online work to 'Sacrifice'--classified as either a 'gift of the self' or 'a gift of the other'--before May 31st will receive a signed slice of the artist's virtual body. Gifts so far include portraits of artists as martyrs, meditations on the state of the world, a broken doll on the street, a broken child in a morgue, a paper boat on a wire mesh, two men debating on the choice of the sacrificial lamb--texts, images, animations and interactive works. Lai's own contribution employs explosive pop-up windows and links to sites discussing terrorism and free media. The collected offerings invite contemplation of all aspects of the concept of 'sacrifice;' who is making the sacrifice, what is being sacrificed, and why? A blog, 'BLOG HOST 'pour petits & grands sacrifices / for little & big sacrifices' is 'coming back soon' (I hope it hasn't been sacrificed! ) - Helen Varley Jamieson.
What's Eating Gilbert and Grape?
Courtship between two periods in history customarily leads to each sharing the other's things, like tastes for fashion, art and home decor. But, perhaps it is the impossibly bridged distance between flirting times and aesthetics that keeps history perpetually romancing itself. GilbertandGrape (hopefully their singing namesakes would enjoy being conflated with a Leonardo DiCaprio movie) are two New Europeans who describe their art practice as 'performance journalism.' Helen Pritchard (UK) and Anne-Marte Eidseth Rygh (Norway) have set out on a stubborn three-year journey called 'Lone Ranging Romance,' during which they will travel by Volvo through their homelands, with an iconic 20-kilo moose head, conducting interviews around the subject of nostalgia with the 'heroes' they meet along their way. These found respondents will be subsequently mythologized into the epic voyage, and the interviews will be posted to GilbertandGrape's blog every second Thursday of the month. 'Lone Ranging Romance' will conclude when the aforementioned moose head, 'The Lone Ranger,' reaches Nordkapp, Norway, 'where the midnight sun never sets.' This will occur in 2008, timed with the UK and Norway each hosting European Capitals of Culture, and thus becoming sites for historic and arbitrary convergence. - Kevin McGarry
I Blog, Therefore I Curate
One could cogently argue that blogging, a daily ritual for millions, is an essentially curatorial act. To blog is, after all, to stage--through selective inclusion, exclusion, and recontextualization--a performance of individual identity, to imaginatively order an inchoate universe through the re-centering lens of subjectivity. The blogger can reincarnate her- or himself as an authoritative and consequential presence, with a voice and purpose. Unflattering as the analogy may be to many curators of fine art, it holds, and Liverpool-based curator Michael Connor has playfully evoked it with what may be the first blogged art exhibition, 'Raiders of the Lost ArtBase.' Commisioned by Rhizome, Connor has delved into the platform's ArtBase--a nearly six-year-old online archive of more than 1,500 new media artworks--to excavate its 'buried treasures' in weekly blog postings. Connor's commentary is refreshingly de-jargonized and entertaining ('OK, turn the techno off, put Rod Stewart back on, and get back to work'), giving this curatorial project a wonderfully personal and decidedly non-institutional feel. There's an earnestness to Connor's manner that underlines and celebrates the ways in which curators have become visible pundits with personalities and agendas--or bloggers, if you will. - Andy Comer
Rhyme Star's Roadmap
With online assistance galore, speaking one's mind is no longer a chore. These days all you need is an internet connection. HTTP In Tha House will give your flows a dot-org inflection. Plasma Studii's Judson developed the site to 'shout out some dope rhymes,' and the battle-worthy bot delivers, time after time. Type in a URL (on your Dell?) and HITH produces a holla for your homies to yell. This site reads your site's script all dramatic, and assembles 16 lines, automatic. HITH only needs a hundredth of your words, so 'it hacks them down and reassembles' for all the hip hoppin' nerdz. Bits and bytes are run through a rhyming dictionary, and results greatly vary. So try your URL again and again, subject yourself to an HTTP spin. Observe the cut-up given to Net Art News' home, Rhizome: 'class fresh object positioning hack// href http yack // agonistics a language game// http rhizome maim.' Judon's engine sifts your digital silt, assembles patchwork quilt, remixed to tha hilt. So bring some thesaurus to your chorus, or just reorganize your code. HTTP In The House brings fresh flows to your node. - Marisa S. Olson
Baring It All
The newly available Fifth Sarai Reader, takes its title from the term 'Bare Acts,' the name for Indian legislation presented in its 'bare' form, free of interpretive explanations. The collection of creative and critical texts in 'Bare Acts' reveals how legal systems are negotiated and confronted in the processes of daily life and creative activity. Organized in chapters with titles like 'Disputations,' 'Trespasses' and 'Records,' the articles included address these conflicts from positions of geographic and subjective specificity, where abstract laws (like copyright) meet the concrete and flesh of cities and the people living in them. Sarai has made all of their readers available for free browsing and download, so you can chart their ongoing engagement with the collisions between local and global new media scenes. - Ryan Griffis
You Can Feel It in the Air
At some point in our lives, we notice ourselves lugging around an overload of ideas and information. How is it that we continually play the role of unwitting receiver to a barrage of loaded transmissions? 'Transmission' is a series of exhibitions presented by the New Museum of Contemporary Art, which profiles artists and scholars exploring the concept of 'transmission' in and through new media, radio, sound and broadcast media. 'Airborne,' the second show in the series, takes on the 'aesthetic, sonic and socio-political' aspects of these cunningly concealed wireless transmissions. Curated by Anne Barlow and Defne Ayas, in collaboration with www.free103point9.org, the exhibition features seven works by New York-based artists that aim to give substance to intangible electronic signals and to the interests they power. Take Paul Davies 'Prayer Antenna,' which wittingly transforms viewers into supplicants as they kneel to insert their head into an ordained helmet covered with antennas; or Mendi and Keith Obadike's '4-1-9,' which invites one to compose an individualized email money transfer scam. Airborne will be at the New Museum until June 4, with performances on May 4 at 6:30PM. - Ophra Wolf


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News - September 2012 - College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
|September 2012
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Monday, September 10, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
»Eva Nunez, World Languages and Literatures faculty, presented her research, "Text Analysis of the Sephardi Spanish Jew Narrative Poetry in the XV Century" at the International Conference of History of the Spanish Language held at University of Cadiz, Spai
»Tom Potiowsky, Economics faculty and Northwest Economic Research Center, presented "The Morning After: How Long Will the Oregon Economy Nurse This Recession Hangover?" as the keynote speech at The Oregon Community Foundation Statewide Leaders Gathering, C
»Heejun Chang, Geography faculty, and graduate student Madeline Steele authored a paper titled "Spatial Patterns of March and September Streamflow Trends in Pacific Northwest Streams" published in Geographical Analysis, Vol. 44.
»Paul Collins, English faculty, had an essay, "Vanishing Act," which originally ran in Lapham's Quarterly, selected for Best American Essays 2012, which is to be released next month by Houghton Mifflin.
»Susan Kirley, English faculty, authored "Rendering Technology Visible: The Technological Literacy Narrative" published in Computer and Composition, Vol. 29, 2012.
»Timm Menke, World Languages and Literatures faculty, authored "Arno Schmidt: Leviathan" and "Arno Schmidt: Brand's Haide" published in The Literary Encyclopedia, London, 2012.
»Lee Shaker, Communication faculty, co-authored a piece with colleagues at Princeton and BYU, "Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation" published in the American Political Science Review.
»Kenneth M. Ames, Anthropology emeritus faculty, has been awarded a three-year, National Science Foundation grant for a project titled "Settlement Pattern Dynamics and the Evolution of Social Complexity on the Northern Northwest Coast," which looks at shif
»Linda George, Environmental Science and Management faculty, is on an intergovernmental assignment as program officer with the National Science Foundation - Atmospheric and Geospace Science Division until September 2013. Her portfolio will be Interdiscipli
»Teresa Bulman, Geography faculty and Oregon Geographic Alliance, has received a $200,000 grant from the John and Betty Gray Geography Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to improve geography education in Oregon's K-12 schools. The grant will support O
»Steven Bleiler, Mathematics and Statistics faculty, presented "Modeling with Computational Probability" at the 13th International Pure Mathematics Conference, Islamabad, Pakistan, Sept. 1-3.
»Marek Elzanowski, Mathematics and Statistics faculty, gave an invited talk, "Modern Mathematical Theories of Defective Elastic Crystals," at the University of Ostrava, Czech Republic.
»Elise Granek, Environmental Science and Management faculty, presented a co-authored paper, "Growing Cities Depend on Ecosystem Services," at the National Science Foundation's 2012 Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Principal Investiga
»John Hall, Economics and International Studies faculty, presented the lecture "Die Ursprung und Verwendungen des Evolutionaer Theorie: Kants Erschleichung, Veblens Subreption, und die Soziale Analyse von Dugger, Mills, und Galbraith" (The Origins and Appl
»Eric Mankowski, Psychology faculty, presented a paper, "Assessing Proximal Outcomes in Batterer Intervention Programs" at the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, in Portsmouth, N.H., July 9. His co-author was graduat
»Leerom Medovoi, English faculty, presented "Religion, Secularism, and Political Belonging in a Global Age: An International Research Initiative" at the annual meeting of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, National University of Australia
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
»Leni Zumas, English faculty, presented "Working the Hole: Notes on Scavenging" at the Tin House Writer's Workshop, Portland, July 11.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
»Donald Truxillo, Psychology faculty, presented a workshop, "Age in the Workplace: Myths, Realities, and Emerging Questions for Employers and Society," at the 19th annual Oregon Diversity Conference in Salem, Sept. 12-13.
»Richard Lycan, Urban and Public Affairs; Mark Sytsma and Rich Miller, Center for Lakes and Reservoirs; Will Garrick and Morgan Harvey, Academic Research and Computing; and Dave Banis, Geography, co-authored an article, "Developing the On-Line Atlas of Ore
»Leerom Medovoi, English faculty, authored "Dogma Line Racism: Islamophobia and the Second Axis of Race" published in Social Text, Vol. 30, No. 2, Summer 2012.
»Lee Shaker, Communication faculty, authored "Local Political Knowledge and Assessments of Citizen Competence" published in Public Opinion Quarterly.
»Margaret Everett, Graduate Studies and Sociology faculty, was awarded a $23,000 grant from the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund for a study, Healing and Gender in Urban Oaxaca: A Medical Anthropology Study of Mexico's Pentecostal Movement. The award is
»Jodi Lapidus, Mathematics & Statistics adjunct faculty and OHSU faculty, presented an invited talk, "A Variable Selection Method for Logistic Regression Models Based on the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve" at the Seminar on Applied Statistics spon
»Eva Nunez and Raven Chakerian, World Languages and Literatures faculty, authored an article, "A Comparative Linguistic Study Between Sicilian and Spanish," published in International Journal of Literature and Linguistics, (2012) Vol. 25: 249-274.
»Harry Anastasiou, International Peace and Conflict Studies faculty, was invited by the U.S. Department of State to present an up-to-date analysis of the Cyprus conflict and the effect of regional developments on the country. The event took place in Washin
»Jon Holt, World Languages and Literatures faculty, presented "'Thus Have I Heard': the Auditory Hallucination Poetry of Miyazawa Kenji" at the 2012 Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Sept. 21.
»Marek Elzanowski and Serge Preston, Mathematics and Statistics faculty, organized the session Geometric Methods in Mechanics and Thermodynamics at the Algebra Geometry Mathematical Physics 8 meeting at the Technical University of Brno, Brno, Czech Republi
»Eric Mankowski, Psychology faculty, delivered a keynote address, "Better Practice in Batterer Intervention: What Does Research Tell Us?" at the annual conference of the Northwest Association of Domestic Violence Treatment Professionals, Vancouver, Wash.,
»DeLys Ostlund, World Languages and Literatures faculty, presented "La prueba de los ingenios: En defensa del ingenio femenino" at the Grupo de Estudios sobre la Mujer en España y las Américas, pre-1800 2012 Conference in Portland, Sept. 13-15.


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WATCH the debate live at 9 p.m. ET.
The man famous for getting in Hillary Clinton's face during the campaign that launched her political career has some debate advice for Donald Trump.
Stay at his lectern.
U.S. & World
Rick Lazio should know. The former Republican congressman didn't — and paid the price for a performance that has become a textbook example of what not to do when your opponent is a woman.
Lazio, today a partner with the Jones Walker law firm, ran against Clinton in 2000 for the U.S. Senate. At their first debate in Buffalo, New York, he crossed the stage to Clinton's lectern, pointing his finger as he urged her to sign a pledge about limiting the funding of their race. He was seen as hectoring, his campaign faltered and she went on to win.
Lazio's misstep is being recalled as Clinton and Donald Trump prepare for their debate on Monday, pitting the first woman to run as a major party presidential candidate versus the former reality TV star who has made browbeating opponents a key to his success. "Little Marco," "Lyin' Ted" and "Low-energy Jeb" have given way to "Crooked Hillary," but will he fling insults at her when they meet at New York's Hofstra University? Will Clinton goad him to try to show he is not suited for the presidency?
Trump said that he would curb his disparaging tone at the debate, to be moderated by NBC News' Lester Holt. The 90-minute debate will be televised by NBC and streamed on this site at 9 p.m. ET Monday.
"I'm going to be very respectful of her," he told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "I think she deserves that and I'm going to be nice. And if she's respectful of me, that'll be nice."
That hasn't stopped him from mocking her on Twitter.
"Hillary is taking the day off again, she needs the rest," he tweeted Tuesday about her bout with pneumonia. "Sleep well Hillary — see you at the debate!"
For Clinton's part, she zeroed in on Trump's derisive comments when she spoke on Steve Harvey's radio show.
"I am going to do my very best to communicate as clearly and fearlessly as I can in the face of the insults and the attacks and the bullying and bigotry that we have seen coming from my opponent," Clinton said. "I can take it, Steve. I can take that kind of stuff. I have been at this, and I understand it is a contact sport."
Lazio, who said that neither Trump nor Clinton had earned his support, has several suggestions for Trump: Present a positive vision, be aware of non-verbal communication and don't go for the knock-out punch, but rather, amplify Clinton's negatives. Demonstrate enough knowledge of policy details to establish his credibility as president without trying to duel with someone who has been in and around Washington for nearly 25 years. And with nearly two-thirds of the public feeling that the country is on the wrong track, distinguish himself as the change agent and Clinton as more of the failed and uninspiring status quo.
"Have your team prepared and on high alert afterward to drive your debate message," he wrote. "There are two debates — as I well discovered — the actual event and what gets covered by the media and watched by the public afterward.
"And finally....stay at the podium!"


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We live in a 1 bedroom apartment and we're on a queen bed, I don't think it's safe for us to put the baby beside us, especially because my DH (dear husband) moves a lot in his sleep. I can't sleep well either if I'm beside a baby, somehow my mind is always awake.
Other than that, I noticed all my friends that didn't use their cribs are having problems putting their babies to sleep because they always want to be beside them, and they don't want the crib anymore, not a problem for me because my friends are ok with it, but I want to be able to put my child somewhere without crying. if I needed to do something.
How about you guys?


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Baby dreams: What will little bundle be?
DRAWING BY DEBORAH DERR McCLINTOCK
Q. You just learned you're pregnant. How might this "dream come true" affect you at night– in your dreams? –M. Esselman
A. First trimester, dreams often deal with issues of accepting the pregnancy– you notice people staring at you, then you look down and see that you're pregnant, says psychiatrist Arthur D. Colman in Pregnancy: The Psychological Experience. Or you may dream of giving birth to an idealized baby like in a baby-food ad, or even to a cute, cuddly animal. Second trimester tends to focus on family dreams– your own Mom and Dad, siblings, etc.
Finally, as the big event nears, anxieties may erupt over what the new baby will be like, says Charlottesville researcher Robert L. Van de Castle, author of Our Dreaming Mind. Will it be stillborn? Or "Rosemary's baby"? Fears are that something may be developing that was not detected by the doctors. Or the dream baby may be distorted in a charming way, such as walking and talking at birth.
There are joyous dream realms as well, says Dr. Colman, where the baby comes out all sparkling, like a god or messiah, or wearing a halo, amid marvelous strangeness. "Such dreams can be awe-inspiring."
Q. Around the world, what are a few of the weirdest foods people eat as regular fare? –T. Burgess
A. "As a Brit who hasn't totally adapted to American food culture, I'd say toasted marshmallows and Fatburgers are both pretty weird," comments University of Edinburgh social anthropologist Francesca Bray. However if you're looking elsewhere, consider:
* Deep-fried Mars bars (Scotland): a common item on the lists of fish and chips bars, the chocolate bar is coated in batter, then fried.
* "Mar i muntanya" (Catalonia): a tasty stew combining ingredients from the mountains and the sea, including snails, pigs' feet, cuttlefish, shrimp and saffron. It is said the Inquisition used to present converts to Christianity with this traditional dish to see if they had truly repudiated Jewish or Muslim dietary laws.
* Stewed elephant trunk or stewed giant forest snails (forest regions of Ghana and other West African countries): the toughness of the meat can be somewhat reduced by rubbing with papaya leaves, but this is definitely not for the toothless.
* Budu (Kelantan, Malaysia): made by sun-drying tiny fish like anchovies, then putting them in big wooden tubs of water set out in the sun behind the house to ferment. "You can smell it from a mile away from the fishing village as you drive in on your motorbike. The Kelantanese use budu in everything to add flavor. They take great delight in challenging foreigners to try it. Most people refuse because it smells so revolting, provoking hearty laughter, but if you like the budu and ask for more, you will be considered a friend of Kelantan forever."
Q. When does wool become so valuable that it must be shepherded to auction by armed guards, with a single bale fetching more than half a million dollars? –L.B. Peep
A. When it's "Primerino" wool from merino sheep at the famous Goodrich family ranch in Warroo Station, Australia, says Photonics Spectra magazine. Said to be the finest, softest wool in the world, against which even cashmere might seem coarse, Primerino fibers measure a bare 11.9 micrometers in diameter– about 1/5th that of a human hair, half that of average wool and 2/3 that of cashmere!
So fine is it that it is graded via an Australia- designed optical fiber diameter analyzer, capable of testing 1200 fleece per day, profiling wool diameter and length, thick and thin places, as well as curliness (curvature). The device even de-greases the stuff. The state-of-the-art Goodrich shed has been dubbed the "Wooldorf Astoria," from which "the wool-world-rocking bale came, containing 90 kilos of the luxurious stuff, or enough to make about 300 suits."
Send Strange questions to brothers Bill and Rich at email@example.com.


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Gaming, Entertainment, Hollywood and Celebrity News: Sydney casino, Spider-Man movie, movie ratings, The Wolverine, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, James Bond 007 in Skyfall, Highest paid actors includes "The Rock" and more...
Movies Hollywood Entertainment Marvel Entertainment Amazing Spider-Man The Wolverine Marvel Games James Bond Casinos Affiliate Programs Advertising
Australia's Lend Lease: development could host small-scale casino...
A planned $6 billion development on Sydney Harbour does not have space for a large casino but could cater for smaller-scale VIP gaming, developer Lend Lease said on Monday, which would suit a proposal put forward by billionaire James Packer.
Packer outlined a plan for an international hotel and casino at Barangaroo, on Sydney's waterfront, after his company Crown Ltd doubled its stake in its main rival, Echo Entertainment, which owns Sydney's sole casino.
Crown wants to raise its stake in Echo to 25 percent from 10 percent, as part of its plans to lobby for a second Sydney casino licence to attract more Asian high-rollers.
The developer of the site, Lend Lease, said on Monday it could focus more on plans for the hotel after announcing it has secured A$2 billion ($2.04 billion) funding for the first two commercial towers at its flagship project, including A$1 billion committed by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Lend Lease chief executive Steve McCann said the site did not have the capacity for a mass-market casino.
"If there was going to be anything in the tower with any gaming capacity, it would be VIP-style gaming," he told analysts on a conference call.
The New South Wales state government would need to approve any gaming licence, since Echo currently holds Sydney's exclusive casino licence until 2019. The state government previously welcomed Packer's proposal as a boost to tourism.
Lend Lease has said it is in talks with a number of hotel groups for the site, including Crown.
Shares in Crown gained 1.5 percent in morning trade and Lend Lease was up 0.3 percent, against a broader market down 0.8 percent. (Reuters)
'Amazing Spider-Man' Tops Box Office, Snares $140 Million Over Six Days...
After a record-setting opening day, "The Amazing Spider-Man" remained strong through the weekend, helping the Sony/Columbia production earn $140 million in less than a week in theaters. Oliver Stone's "Savages" also opened with a decent $16 million in revenue, though music documentary "Katy Perry: Part of Me" struggled to find an audience and racked up just $7 million. Seth MacFarlane's "Ted" also continued to hit with its target demographic, hauling in $32 million and pushing its 10-day total to an enormous $120 million in domestic revenue.
With a $230 million production budget and a very large built-in fan base, expectations were understandably high for "The Amazing Spider-Man." The Sony/Columbia reboot didn't take long to find its audience, racking up $35 million in revenue on Tuesday alone and putting up solid numbers throughout the rest of the week. "The Amazing Spider-Man" ended up with $65 million in weekend revenue, helping it to hit the lofty industry expectations.
Globally, "The Amazing Spider-Man" also got off to a good start by bringing in more than $200 million in revenue outside of the U.S. After already eclipsing $340 million worldwide, "The Amazing Spider-Man" will easily cruise past $500 million in worldwide revenue in the coming weeks, though it's still unclear whether it will be able to challenge the franchise-best $890 million that "Spider-Man 3" brought in. Without any major new competition until "The Dark Knight Rises" opens in a couple weeks, "Spider-Man" should remain a box office stalwart and continue to put up some big overall numbers throughout the rest of the month.
As mainstream action audiences came out in droves to see the new version of "Spider-Man," older audience members turned up for Oliver Stone's thriller "Savages." Backed by some decent critical reviews, "Savages" ended up with a decent $16 million in opening revenue - a strong total for a $45 million production. "Savages" also doesn't have to worry about too much new competition next weekend, opening the door for another decent revenue haul.
While "Spider-Man" and "Savages" mainly hit with their target demographics, "Katy Perry: Part of Me" wasn't quite as fortunate. "Katy Perry" managed just $7.15 million over the weekend and $10.25 million in its first four days following its Thursday release. Though these are unimpressive numbers for a release of more than 2,700 total venues, "Katy Perry" also comes with a slender production budget of just $12 million. "Katy Perry" won't end up as one of the most lucrative music documentaries released in recent years, but it should end up as an overall success for distributor Paramount.
Aiming at a much different demographic than "Katy Perry" this weekend was "Ted," which headed into its second weekend with plenty of buzz. After dominating the box office a week ago and posting $54 million, "Ted" dipped just 40% from its opening totals and finished the weekend with $32 million. Now with $120 million domestically in just 10 days in theaters, "Ted" is easily the top R-rated hit of the year and might even challenge $200 million in the U.S. if it can remain strong in the coming weekends.
Also continuing to hit with its intended audience was Pixar/Disney's "Brave." "Brave" earned $20 million in its third weekend in theaters, pushing it to a very solid $174 million in its first 17 days. Foreign numbers have been slow so far for "Brave," though that should also change as it gets released in its biggest overseas markets in the coming weekends. The only real problem for "Brave" is the impending release of "Ice Age: Continental Drift," which opens this weekend with an enormous built-in family audience.
Next weekend, the release schedule will slow down, as "Ice Age: Continental Drift" is the only new title slated to hit theaters in wide release. Though not as touted as some other animated franchises, "Ice Age" has been a great success for Fox, with enormous worldwide revenues despite production budgets roughly half the size of Pixar releases. The following weekend, Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" brings a similar amount of hype as "The Avengers" and is a lock to dominate the box office well into August.
Early Studio Box Office Estimates for 7/6/12 - 7/8/12 (In Millions):
1. The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony/Columbia): $65 [$70]
2. Ted (Universal): $32.59 [$32]
3. Brave (Disney): $20.16 [$18]
4. Savages (Universal): $16.16 [$13.5]
5. Magic Mike (Warner Brothers): $15.61 [$21]
6. Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (Lionsgate): $10.20 [$11.5]
7. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (Paramount/Dreamworks): $7.70 [$6.4]
8. Katy Perry: Part of Me (Paramount): $7.15 [$13]
9. Moonrise Kingdom (Focus): $4.64 [$2.6]
10. To Rome with Love (Sony Classics): $3.50 [N/A]
Hugh Jackman Joined By Six Additions to Cast of The Wolverine...
If director James Mangold's (3:10 to Yuma) The Wolverine hadn't been beset by weather, script and scheduling problems — title star Hugh Jackman opted to star in the musical version of Les Miserables rather than wait for those issues to be sorted out — the movie would currently be in post-production, with potentially enough edited footage to offer at least a teaser at this week's San Diego Comic-Con. As it is, Mangold is spending his time in the casting room, rather than the editing room, as he tries to put together a cast to support Jackman. In the last several days, six actors have joined the cast of The Wolverine, which takes Logan (Jackman) far away from his X-Men teammates and his wilderness retreat in Canada to Japan, where he must fight against the Silver Samurai and the deadly Hand ninjas at his command.
Written by Chris McQuarrie (Valkyrie), with rewrites by Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard), The Wolverine is based on the classic Marvel Comics limited series Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, creator of Sin City and 300. The series stripped away Wolverine's superhero trappings and thrust him into a Japanese underworld brimming with feudal warriors and mystical ninjas. According to the list compiled by Empire from various sources, the cast will include: Hiroyuki Sanada (Speed Race) as Japanese crimelord Shingen Harada, leader of Clan Yashida; Tao Okamoto as Shingen's daughter and Wolverine's love interest, Mariko Yashida; Will Yun Lee (Total Recall remake) as Mariko's mutant half-brother, Kenuichio Harada, a.k.a. the Silver Samurai; Rila Fukushima as Yukio, an assassin who drugs Wolverine before his duel with Shingen; Hal Yamanouchi (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) as Yashida; and Brian Tee (Wedding Palace) as Noboru Mori, a corrupt minister of justice betrothed to Mariko.
The Wolverine is set to begin shooting next month. It will primarily be filmed in Jackman's native Australia, but will also shoot on location in Japan.
Next Showing:The Wolverine is slated to open July 26, 2013 (Reelz)
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson In Highest Paid Actors List...
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was listed at #4 on the Forbes annual list of the highest paid actors in the world over the past year. Johnson was reported as earning $36 million this past year, behind only Tom Cruise ($75 million), Leonardo DiCaprio ($37 million) and Adam Sandler ($37 million).
Bwin.party warns over 'predictable' Euro 2012 results...
Bwin.party digital entertainment, the world's largest listed online gaming company, said a run of "predictable" results in the Euro 2012 football championships marred an otherwise "solid" second quarter performance.
The football tournament, in which all of the favourites progressed to the later stages, is believed to have hit the betting industry hard this summer.
Bwin said customer numbers and activity rose during the tournament but gross margins were "lower than expected".
Despite this, the online gambling group said its casino and bingo products helped offset the weakness in sports betting and "continued pressures" in poker.
Bwin had been in negotiations with Shuffle Master (NasdaqGS: SHFL - news) to offload Ongame, its poker network, but talks were aborted at the end of last month after the two sides failed to reach agreement.
In a pre-close trading update on Tuesday, bwin said several parties were interested in buying Ongame.
The group claims it has reached a top three market position in Spain, where online gaming was recently opened up by authorities.
Looking ahead, the company warned gaming taxes in Germany and an investment in social games games that are played through sites such as Facebook would impact its performance in the second half. (News Corp)
Zynga is "all in" to acquire Bwin.party-owned poker business Ongame: Report...
Social gaming juggernaut Zynga is poised to take over online poker provider Ongame Network from its current owner, Internet gambling powerhouse Bwin.party.
An exclusive report from eGaming Review (eGR) – behind a paywall – says Zynga is 'leading the race' to acquire Ongame, although there are four other unnamed bidders at the table (poker pun intended).
Zynga has made a 'verbal offer', according to eGR's sources, and have reportedly visited Ongame's Stockholm headquarters last Friday.
Gambling table and slot machine maker Shuffle Master had already agreed and announced that it would be purchasing for up to $38.9 million in cash in February 2012, but it dropped those plans last week.
Interestingly, Shuffle Master said it would pay out 10 million euros ($12.6 million) of that total purchase price within five years of the transaction closing, provided that real-money online poker would be legal in the United States within such period – something that will happen eventually but is taking time.
Not familiar with Ongame? Here's what they do, according to their website:
Ongame is the world's leading B2B online poker provider, serving partnes including bwin, Betfair, Betsson and Unibet. Reaching over 20 million customers in more than 25 markets, with an international network licensed in Gibraltar, as well as regional networks in Italy and France.
Ongame is the premier choice for sportsbook operators, providing a poker environment optimized for recreational players and a proven track record of increasing partner revenues.
Ongame claims P5, the game engine powering its poker offering, is the 'most advanced poker engine ever designed'.
The company is owned by Bwin.party as a result of an earlier merger, and has been dubbed by the latter as a 'surplus asset'.
Zynga of course offers a wildly popular poker game called – wait for it – Zynga Poker, which can be played on Zynga.com, Facebook, iOS and Android devices.
In fact, Zynga Poker was the company's very first game.
It certainly makes a lot of sense for them to buy Ongame Networks, even if it's to keep it out of the hands of other players looking to move online with poker games as soon as it becomes legal in the US, and the company certainly has the cash on hand to make this kind of acquisition.
'Amazing Spider-Man' finishes weekend with $62M...
LOS ANGELES (AP) "The Amazing Spider-Man" had a slightly slower start at the box office than initially estimated, taking in $62 million domestically over opening weekend.
The final numbers Monday came in $3 million lower than the $65 million that distributor Sony had projected a day earlier, but it still was a healthy start for the new take on the Marvel Comics superhero.
Since opening last Tuesday, "The Amazing Spider-Man" has taken in $137 million domestically. Its worldwide total is about $340 million since it began rolling out overseas the previous week.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:
1. "The Amazing Spider Man," Sony, $62,004,688, 4,318 locations, $14,360 average, $137,022,258, one week.
2. "Ted," Universal, $32,202,395, 3,256 locations, $9,890 average, $119,849,740, two weeks.
3. "Brave," Disney, $19,612,370, 3,891 locations, $5,040 average, $173,969,341, three weeks.
4. "Savages," Universal, $16,016,910, 2,628 locations, $6,095 average, $16,016,910, one week.
5. "Magic Mike," Warner Bros., $15,642,337, 3,120 locations, $5,014 average, $72,829,107, two weeks.
6. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection," Lionsgate, $10,177,029, 2,161 locations, $4,709 average, $45,822,984, two weeks.
7. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," Paramount, $7,520,690, 2,861 locations, $2,629 average, $195,905,126, five weeks.
8. "Katy Perry: Part of Me," Paramount, $7,138,266, 2,730 locations, $2,615 average, $10,240,213, one week.
9. "Moonrise Kingdom," Focus Features, $4,519,195, 884 locations, $5,112 average, $26,780,989, seven weeks.
10. "To Rome with Love," Sony Pictures Classics, $3,104,328, 806 locations, $3,852 average, $4,863,538, three weeks.
11. "People Like Us," Disney, $2,194,535, 2,055 locations, $1,068 average, $9,190,902, two weeks.
12. "The Avengers," Disney, $2,168,124, 1,125 locations, $1,927 average, $611,127,884, 10 weeks.
13. "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," Fox, $1,944,534, 1,657 locations, $1,174 average, $34,050,910, three weeks.
14. "Prometheus," Fox, $1,815,500, 1,105 locations, $1,643 average, $122,390,274, five weeks.
15. "Snow White & the Huntsman," Universal, $1,768,355, 1,152 locations, $1,535 average, $149,756,565, six weeks.
16. "Men in Black 3," Sony, $1,680,714, 879 locations, $1,912 average, $173,089,690, seven weeks.
17. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," Fox Searchlight, $741,091, 359 locations, $2,064 average, $41,991,873, 10 weeks.
18. "Rock of Ages," Warner Bros., $639,406, 701 locations, $912 average, $36,974,619, four weeks.
19. "That's My Boy," Sony, $621,656, 400 locations, $1,554 average, $36,100,833, four weeks.
20. "Bol Bachchan," FIP, $561,996, 98 locations, $5,735 average, $561,996, one week.
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
Broker snap: Taxing times for bwin.party, says Peel Hunt...
Peel Hunt has pared its target price for online gaming group bwin.party digital entertainment from 140p to 124p and maintained its 'hold' rating on the stock.
'The H1 pre-close held few surprises and no real catalyst to get the shares moving. At the current point the rating reflects concerns about Germany and a lack of visibility in many of the group's markets,' said analyst Nick Batram.
'This is unlikely to change in the short term and further downgrades reflect the uncertain margin environment.'
The broker says that the uncertain regulatory backdrop continues to hit the bottom line, with federal sports taxes in Germany set to reduce EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) by EUR5-10m.
Peel Hunt has reduced its clean EBITDA forecast by EUR10m to EUR165m for the year ending December 2012. The 2013 EBITDA estimate has been cut from EUR196m to EUR175m.
'While regulation is the main factor, the business's underlying performance is also a growing concern, particularly the rate at which poker is going backwards,' Batram said.
Shares were down 3.25% at 104.3p by 10:56 on Tuesday.
Roger Moore croons 007 birthday song...
PARIS — One-time 007 Roger Moore has teamed up with a former Bond Girl to record a song marking 50 years of the spy's on-screen adventures, a James Bond fan club said on Wednesday.
The 84-year-old British actor took over Bond film duties from Sean Connery in 1973, making his debut in "Live and Let Die" before completing the sequence with "A View to a Kill" 12 years later.
He teamed up with Irka Bochenko, his co-star in the 1979 film "Moonraker", for the anniversary duet titled "Happy Birthday Mr. Bond!", the spy's French fan club told AFP.
Extracts will be posted online at www.jamesbond007.net ahead of the record's release in September.
Hundreds of items -- from tuxedos to bikinis and vodka martinis -- went on show at London's Barbican Centre last week to mark 50 years since Bond made the jump from Ian Fleming's novels to the silver screen with the 1962 "Dr No".
The next Bond movie, "Skyfall", directed by Sam Mendes with Daniel Craig as the glamorous spy, will hit world screens from October.
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A friend alerted me to a fantastic article that continues to connect the violent jihadi movement to YouTube. (H/T Andrea.) The article is very thorough, and details how the terrorists use YouTube to spread their cult of violence and what types of groups are using it. This nugget, to me, was extremely interesting…
From MEMRI via Tolerant No More ~ Counter Jihad Knights:
November 2011: MAC Banned In U.K., MAC Website and Twitter Accounts Are Shut Down – But MAC YouTube Channels Continues
On November 9, 2011, the U.K. Home Office banned MAC; membership, holding meetings, or wearing clothing or "articles" to show support for the organization are now criminal offenses punishable by up to 10 years in jail. The official announcement of the ban, on the Home Office website, read: "Terror organisation proscribed: The Home Secretary Theresa May today laid an Order proscribing Muslims Against Crusades effective from midnight tonight. She said: 'I have today laid an Order which will proscribe Muslims Against Crusades from midnight tonight. This means being a member of or supporting the organisation will be a criminal offence. I am satisfied Muslims Against Crusades is simply another name for an organisation already proscribed under a number of names including Al Ghurabaa, The Saved Sect, Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK. The organisation was proscribed in 2006 for glorifying terrorism and we are clear it should not be able to continue these activities by simply changing its name. "
Following this official announcement, the MAC's website and Twitter account were shut down. However, the MAC YouTube page (youtube.com/user/MACrusaders) as well as the YouTube page of its leader Anjem Choudary (youtube.com/user/anjemchoudary) remain active.(emphasis mine)
Now how is it that Twitter can act so quickly to shut down the terrorists, but Google/YouTube just pussyfoots around the subject? Maybe Twitter needs to teach the folks over at Google/YouTube a thing or two.
I'm also curious as to where MAC's website was hosted. Surely not Blogger or it would most likely still be around as well. According to the Jawa Report, it was hosted in Canada – we may all Stable Hand & the Jawa Report readers to thank for the fact that MAC's site is no longer there rather than the U.K.'s Home Office. But who's keeping score?


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The Ferris Wheel, Volume 4, Number 9, Saturday, November 7, 1896
Description: Weekly newspaper contains local, national and world news, stories, poetry, jokes, church directory, and advertisements. This issue includes local, regional and national results of the election of November 3, 1896--[p.1,2,3].
Date: November 7, 1896
Creator: Ezzell, Frank
Partner: Ferris Public Library


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FDA OKs test to predict mental disability in infants
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared a first-of-a-kind blood test that can help predict intellectual disabilities in infants by analyzing their genetic code.
The laboratory test from Affymetrix detects variations in patients' chromosomes that are linked to Down syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome and other developmental disorders.
About 2 to 3 percent of U.S. children have some sort of intellectual disability, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The test, known as the CytoScan Dx Assay, is designed to help doctors diagnose children's disabilities earlier and get them appropriate care and support. It is not intended for prenatal screening or for predicting other genetically acquired diseases and conditions, such as cancer.
Affymetrix Inc. is based in Santa Clara, Calif.


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'horsey' is an attachable bicycle ornament/accessory which makes one's bicycle look horsey!
via the Presurfer
I have previously mused on one's childhood imaginings that would make one's bicycle look horsey, linking it to one's fondness for the TV show, National Velvet.
Which suggests that nothing much changes in blogging, but youtube keeps on giving.
Because now there's more data from one's childhood viewing habits, with part of this particular episode appearing:
One found this episode frightening. As did one's friends.


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We ship all items worldwide from our office in BALI (Asia).
Please do not send any payment until you receive our invoice via eBay, as possibly over-paid shipping charges can not be refunded.
In our invoice we will provide the cost for two shipping options or state free shipping if applicable. Even free shipping we always offer a second or faster shipping option.
International Economy Shipping = Registered Airmail is cheap but VERY VERY SLOW and less secure. It can take 10 working days up to usually 30 working days to arrive, often it can take much longer (sometimes even 45 up to 60 working days)!
If you select SLOW economy shipping via Registered Airmail you automatically accept the very long delivery time. Registered Airmail does not have any insurance and there is NO tracking number available! We can not take any responsibility for Registered Airmail shipments. In case of lost or damage there is no insurance. If you need your purchase secure and fast please use EXPEDITED Shipping only!
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The Jeep Twitter Feed Has Been Hacked by the Same People Who Hacked Burger King Yesterday
Yesterday, hackers presumably from the DFNCTSC hacking crew took over Burger King's Twitter feed and turned it into an advertisement for McDonald's. Today it appears those same hackers have now overtaken the Jeep Twitter feed and are running a similar game, claiming that Jeep has been sold to Cadillac and shouting out not-very-Jeepy entities like Worldstar Hip Hop and Chief Keef.
If it's any consolation for Jeep, getting hacked ended up earning Burger King about 30,000 new followers.


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Design and Construction
Design and Construction Responsibilities:
- Represent the fiscal interests for GSA on issues concerning codes and standards.
- Achieve an acceptable level of safety by developing and consulting on GSA's fire protection engineering policy and practices related to new construction and building renovation projects.
- Develop Fire Protection research initiatives to minimize safety risks and to ensure state-of-the-art, cost-effective fire protection and life safety features in our buildings.
- Liaison with public- and private-sector associations (e.g., AIA, BOMA, Federal Fire Forum, etc.) to address similar code and safety issues that impact all parties to achieve an acceptable level of safety at best value.
- Provide technical advice to project manager teams involved in new construction and renovation projects to manage risk appropriately.
- Ensure that consistent and appropriate fire protection requirements are included in all design guides and related policies to support mission continuity, etc.
- Develop and promote GSA policy, business practices, guides and regulations to positively affect GSA building construction and renovation projects.
- Develop a "knowledge center" for codes and standards to maximize limited resources.
Fire Protection and Life Safety design and construction criteria can be found in GSA's Facilities Standards P-100.


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Galveston man bites woman's neck, claims to be vampire
GALVESTON — A man claiming to be a vampire was in the Galveston County jail today after attacking a woman over the weekend.
"He was begging us to restrain him because he didn't want to kill us," Galveston Officer Daniel Erickson said. "He said he needed to feed."
Lyle Monroe Bensley, 19, of Galveston, is being held on a charge of burglary with intent to commit assault after forcing his way early Saturday into the apartment of a woman he did not know, police spokesman Capt. Jeff Heyse said.
Bensley, covered with tattoos and wearing only boxer shorts, forced his way into the apartment on Seawall Boulevard and made his way into the bedroom of a woman whose name has not been released, Heyse said.
Bensley made growling and hissing noises while biting and hitting the woman in her bed, Heyse said. Bensley then dragged her out of the apartment and she broke free.
She ran into the parking lot where she got into a car driven by a neighbor. Bensley beat on the car before it sped away, Heyse said.
Police received a call at 6:50 a.m. Erickson said he and another officer were in the woman's apartment when they heard shrieking and growling sounds and saw Bensley in the parking lot. They arrested him after a short chase.
"I'm a vampire, and I've been alive for over 500 years," Bensley said, according to Erickson.
Emergency medical personnel determined that Bensley did not appear to be under the influence of drugs, Erickson said.
A mental health hold was placed on Bensley and his bond was set at $40,000.


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Mariely Hassey
The Lady Flames tennis team closes out a three-match home stand on Friday at 1 p.m. with a contest versus UNC Asheville indoors at the Sports Racket. Liberty will then play a road match on Sunday at Presbyterian College at 1 p.m. Live scoring for tomorrow's match will be available on LibertyFlames.com by clicking on the live stats link on the women's tennis schedule/results page.
Liberty split a pair of Big South matches last week, defeating Gardner-Webb, 5-2, before falling to No. 63 Winthrop, 6-1. Nicola Wellman posted a 2-0 record during the week in singles play, while Cameron Richard and Valerie Thong teamed up to capture a pair of doubles wins during the week.
The Lady Flames are 8-8 overall and 3-2 in conference matches. Liberty is currently in fourth place in the conference standings, while UNC Asheville is fifth and Presbyterian College stands in 10th.
For the season, Wellman has a team-best singles mark of 10-4, while a pair of Lady Flames, Brittany Yang and Maria Khval, have nine victories apiece. In doubles play, Yang and Belen Rivera have a team-leading 6-3 record, while Rebekah Jenkins and Khval also have six doubles wins.
Liberty is riding three-match winning streaks versus both UNC Asheville and Presbyterian College. The Lady Flames are 10-4 all-time against the Bulldogs and 5-1 versus the Blue Hose. In last season's contests, Liberty downed UNC Asheville on the road, 4-3, and ousted Presbyterian College, 7-0, in Lynchburg.
UNC Asheville (10-5, 2-2 Big South) is coming off a 7-0 loss against conference leader Charleston Southern. The Bulldogs have dropped two out of their last three matches and come to the Hill City with a 2-3 record away from home. Zoe Hamel is tied for second in the league with nine wins in the No. 1 singles position, while No. 2 player Erica Rivero's nine singles victories is also good for a second place tie in her respective position. In doubles play, Hamel and Rivero have nine victories in the No. 1 position, which ranks the duo in second place in the top position in the Big South.
Presbyterian College (7-11-1, 0-5 Big South) is coming off losses versus Campbell, 6-1, and Charleston Southern, 7-0, last weekend. The Blue Hose host Wofford today before welcoming the Lady Flames on Sunday. In home matches, Presbyterian College is 2-4 this season. The Blue Hose No. 1 doubles team of Courtney Gardiner and Greer Ransom rank fourth in the Big South with eight wins.
The Lady Flames continue Big South play on Wednesday at Radford. Match time versus the Highlanders is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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BEIJING (AP) - The Chinese president visits Central Asia this week amid concerns that a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan could mean a destabilizing exodus of foreign radical fighters from the war zone to homelands closer to China's borders.
BEIJING (AP) � The Chinese president visits Central Asia this week amid concerns that a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan could mean a destabilizing exodus of foreign radical fighters from the war zone to homelands closer to China's borders.
With the pullout deadline just 16 months away, China's leaders share widespread concerns that Kabul's own forces won't be able to maintain security or that foreign fighters who were focused on fighting U.S. troops will now head elsewhere, including other fragile Central Asian nations or even northwestern China.
Xi Jinping's trip, starting Tuesday, also is seen as an attempt to shore up China's trade and relationships with governments in the region, extending Beijing's influence in an area traditionally dominated by Russia.
"It's vitally important for China's development to have prosperity, peace and stability in Central Asia," said Li Xin, a Russia and Central Asia specialist at the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Studies. "The worry is the withdrawal of U.S. troops will have a spillover effect."
Xi's visits to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are his first to the region since taking office as president in March. He'll end the trip in Kyrgyzstan where he will attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Russian- and Chinese-dominated grouping that Beijing hopes will boost its diplomatic influence in the region to better match its already considerable economic clout.
China surged past the EU as Central Asia's biggest trading partner in 2010, and did $40 billion in commerce with the five-nation bloc in 2011. Much of that comes in the form of oil and gas, with two pipelines carrying supplies to China from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
China, for its part, provides economic assistance and much-needed investment to meet the desperate infrastructure needs of the region and its 66 million people, helming projects such as the 2.3-kilometer (1.4-mile) Shar-Shar Tunnel linking Tajikistan to China.
Ensuring energy supplies and protecting its investment rank high among China's reasons for wanting to ensure Central Asian stability. Even more important is its desire to block support for anti-government radicals among the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group that is native to China's vast northwestern region of Xinjiang and whose members share religious, cultural and linguistic ties to the people of Central Asia.
Uighurs have been fighting a low-level insurgency in China, fired by resentment of ethnic Han Chinese dominance and a form of imported radical Islam that cuts against the grain of their region's traditional moderate sufi beliefs. Their hardline Islamic sentiments are shared by Central Asian groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan, some of which preach violent overthrow of their governments.
This year has been particularly bloody in Xinjiang, with scores killed and hundreds arrested in raids, attacks and riots. It isn't clear what is fueling the spike in bloodshed, but authorities have shown their unease by boosting security in the region.
"Beijing is consumed by insecurity," said Andrew Scobell, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation in Arlington, Virginia. "China's greatest fear is linkups between internal challenges and external threats, notably the Uighur diaspora that spills across national borders."
China believes strong economies and markets in neighboring states are a key to stability in Xinjiang, said Raffaello Pantucci, a terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in England.
"The government believes that economic development is at the heart of resolving the region's ethnic tensions, and in order for the region to succeed it needs to have a prosperous region adjacent to trade with," Pantucci said.
China has invested much of its aspirations for bringing stability to Central Asia in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, pushing to expand the grouping's activities to include joint anti-terrorism exercises and intelligence sharing. Russia favors its own Collective Security Treaty Organization, but Beijing has nonetheless managed to involve Moscow in SCO as an alternative to U.S. influence in region following the 2014 drawdown.
China has been conflicted over the U.S. presence in Central Asia. It has argued against a long-term American footprint in the region and urged Kyrgyzstan to close the Manas Transit Center air base, which supplies troops in Afghanistan. Beijing sees such facilities as part of a strategy to hem in China's growing power and influence.
At the same time, China has relied on U.S. troops to create the conditions for pursuing its own interests in Afghanistan, including plans to extract vast amounts of copper and coal. Beijing signed a strategic partnership last summer with the war-torn country and in September sent its top security official to Kabul, the highest level Chinese official to visit in 46 years. Beijing also announced it would train 300 Afghan police officers as part of its continuing, low-key aid program for the nation.
Now that U.S. troops are leaving, Beijing has been hesitant to make new commitments, possibly because it is waiting to see how stable the Kabul government will be, analysts say.
"China considers Afghanistan to be the epicenter of Islamic extremism in the region," Scobell said.
"China has a high degree of concern about instability in Afghanistan and considerable alarm that the draw-down could spill over into adjacent countries, including western China," he said.