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Agricultural Dispersals in Mediterranean and Temperate Europe
Aurélie Salavert
Along with ceramics production, sedentism, and herding, agriculture is a major component of the Neolithic as it is defined in Europe. Therefore, the agricultural system of the first Neolithic societies and the dispersal of exogenous cultivated plants to Europe are the subject of many scientific studies. To work on these issues, archaeobotanists rely on residual plant remains—crop seeds, weeds, and wild plants—from archaeological structures like detritic pits, and, less often, storage contexts. To date, no plant with an economic value has been identified as domesticated in Western Europe except possibly opium poppy. The earliest seeds identified at archaeological sites dated to about 5500–5200
The Neolithic pioneers settled in an area that had experienced a long tradition of hunting and gathering. The Neolithization of Europe followed a colonization model. The Mesolithic groups, although exploiting plant resources such as hazelnut more or less intensively, did not significantly change the landscape. The impact of their settlements and their activities are hardly noticeable through palynology, for example. The control of the mode of reproduction of plants has certainly increased the prevalence of Homo sapiens, involving, among others, a demographic increase and the ability to settle down in areas that were not well adapted to year-round occupation up to that point. The characterization of past agricultural systems, such as crop plants, technical processes, and the impact of anthropogenic activities on the landscape, is essential for understanding the interrelation of human societies and the plant environment. This interrelation has undoubtedly changed deeply with the Neolithic Revolution.
Agricultural Subsidies and the Environment
Heather Williams
Worldwide, governments subsidize agriculture at the rate of approximately 1 billion dollars per day. This figure rises to about twice that when export and biofuels production subsidies and state financing for dams and river basin engineering are included. These policies guide land use in numerous ways, including growers' choices of crop and buyers' demand for commodities. The three types of state subsidies that shape land use and the environment are land settlement programs, price and income supports, and energy and emissions initiatives. Together these subsidies have created perennial surpluses in global stores of cereal grains, cotton, and dairy, with production increases outstripping population growth. Subsidies to land settlement, to crop prices, and to processing and refining of cereals and fiber, therefore, can be shown to have independent and largely deleterious effect on soil fertility, fresh water supplies, biodiversity, and atmospheric carbon.
Conservation in the Amazon
Marc Dourojeanni
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. Please check back later for the full article.
In 1945, the Amazon biome was still mostly intact. The scars of ancient cultural developments in Andean and lowland Amazon had healed, and the impacts of rubber and other resource exploitation were reversible. Very few roads existed, and only in its periphery. In the 1950s and especially in the 1960s, Brazil and other Andean countries launched ambitious road building and colonization projects, largely driven by Brazilian geopolitical concerns. Interest in the Amazon became much more intense in the 1970s as forest loss began to raise worldwide concern. Construction of more and better roads continued at an exponentially growing pace in each following decade, multiplying correlated deforestation and forest degradation everywhere in the Amazon. A point of no return was reached when interoceanic roads crossed the borders of Brazilian-Andean countries in the 2000s, exposing the remaining safe havens for indigenous people and nature. It is commonly estimated that today no less than 18% of the forest has been replaced with agriculture and that more than 50% of the remaining forests are significantly degraded. Most deforested land, especially in Andean countries, is wasted or scarcely used. Oil, mining, and intense urban development, as well as intensive agriculture, spread serious water and soil contamination throughout the region. Logging, fisheries, and hunting gave rise to the successive commercial extinction of valuable species.
Theories regarding the importance of biogeochemical cycles had already been in development since the 1970s, however, in the late 1980s the dominant popular view on the environmental value of the Amazon "lungs of the planet" emerged. The confirmation of the role of the Amazon as a carbon sink added some international pressure for its protection. But, in general, the many scientific discoveries regarding the Amazon have not been helpful in improving its conservation. Instead, a combination of new agricultural technologies, anthropocentric philosophies, and economic changes has strongly promoted forest clearing.
From the 1980s to the present day, Amazon conservation efforts have increasingly diversified, and now consist of five theoretically complementary strategies: (1) the creation of more, larger and better managed protected areas, including biological corridors; (2) the protection of more and larger indigenous territories; (3) the promotion of a series of "sustainable use" options such as "community based conservation," sustainable forestry, and agroforestry; (4) the financing of conservation through debt swaps and related financial mechanisms for mitigating climate change and; (5) the use of better legislation, monitoring, and control. Five small protected areas have existed in the Amazon since the early 1960s but, in response to the road building boom of the 1970s, several larger patches of forests were set aside with the aim of conserving viable samples of biological diversity. Today, around 25 % of the Amazon is designated as protected areas, but almost half of these areas are categorized in a way that allows human presence and resource exploitation, and there is no effective management. Another 25.3% is designated to indigenous people who may or not conserve the forest. Excluding areas of overlap, both types of protected areas cover 41.2% of the Amazon. Neither strategy has fully achieved its objective, alone or together, and development pressures and threats grow as road construction and deforestation continue relentlessly with increasing funding by multilateral and national banks and pressure from transnational enterprises.
The future will be directed by unprecedented agricultural expansion and the corresponding intensification of deforestation and forest degradation. Additionally, the Amazon basin will be impacted by new, larger hydraulic works. Mining will increase and spread. Policy makers of Amazon countries still view the region as the future for expanding conventional development, and the population continues to be indifferent.
The Early Anthropogenic Hypothesis
William Ruddiman
Throughout the 1900s, the warmth of the current interglaciation was viewed as completely natural in origin (prior to greenhouse-gas emissions during the industrial era). In the view of physical scientists, orbital variations had ended the previous glaciation and caused a warmer climate but had not yet brought it to an end. Most historians focused on urban and elite societies, with much less attention to how farmers were altering the land. Historical studies were also constrained by the fact that written records extended back a few hundred to at most 3,500 years.
The first years of the new millennium saw a major challenge to the ruling paradigm. Evidence from deep ice drilling in Antarctica showed that the early stages of the three interglaciations prior to the current one were marked by decreases in concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) that must have been natural in origin. During the earliest part of the current (Holocene) interglaciation, gas concentrations initially showed similar decreases, but then rose during the last 7,000–5,000 years. These anomalous ("wrong-way") trends are interpreted by many scientists as anthropogenic, with support from scattered evidence of deforestation (which increases atmospheric CO2) by the first farmers and early, irrigated rice agriculture (which emits CH4).
During a subsequent interval of scientific give-and-take, several papers have criticized this new hypothesis. The most common objection has been that there were too few people living millennia ago to have had large effects on greenhouse gases and climate. Several land-use simulations estimate that CO2 emissions from pre-industrial forest clearance amounted to just a few parts per million (ppm), far less than the 40 ppm estimate in the early anthropogenic hypothesis. Other critics have suggested that, during the best orbital analog to the current interglaciation, about 400,000 years ago, interglacial warmth persisted for 26,000 years, compared to the 10,000-year duration of the current interglaciation (implying more warmth yet to come). A geochemical index of the isotopic composition of CO2 molecules indicates that terrestrial emissions of 12C-rich CO2 were very small prior to the industrial era.
Subsequently, new evidence has once again favored the early anthropogenic hypothesis, albeit with some modifications. Examination of cores reaching deeper into Antarctic ice reconfirm that the upward gas trends in this interglaciation differ from the average downward trends in seven previous ones. Historical data from Europe and China show that early farmers used more land per capita and emitted much more carbon than suggested by the first land-use simulations. Examination of pollen trends in hundreds of European lakes and peat bogs has shown that most forests had been cut well before the industrial era. Mapping of the spread of irrigated rice by archaeobotanists indicates that emissions from rice paddies can explain much of the anomalous CH4 rise in pre-industrial time. The early anthropogenic hypothesis is now broadly supported by converging evidence from a range of disciplines.
Early History of Animal Domestication in Southwest Asia
Benjamin S. Arbuckle
The domestication of livestock animals has long been recognized as one of the most important and influential events in human prehistory and has been the subject of scholarly inquiry for centuries. Modern understandings of this important transition place it within the context of the origins of food production in the so-called Neolithic Revolution, where it is particularly well documented in southwest Asia. Here, a combination of archaeofaunal, isotopic, and DNA evidence suggests that sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs were first domesticated over a period of several millennia within sedentary communities practicing intensive cultivation beginning at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Resulting from more than a century of data collection, our understanding of the chronological and geographic features of the transition from hunting to herding indicate that the 9th millennium
The Emergence of Environment as a Security Imperative
Felix Dodds
The emergence of environment as a security imperative is something that could have been avoided. Early indications showed that if governments did not pay attention to critical environmental issues, these would move up the security agenda. As far back as the Club of Rome 1972 report, Limits to Growth, variables highlighted for policy makers included world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion, all of which impact how we live on this planet.
The term environmental security didn't come into general use until the 2000s. It had its first substantive framing in 1977, with the Lester Brown Worldwatch Paper 14, "Redefining Security." Brown argued that the traditional view of national security was based on the "assumption that the principal threat to security comes from other nations." He went on to argue that future security "may now arise less from the relationship of nation to nation and more from the relationship between man to nature."
Of the major documents to come out of the Earth Summit in 1992, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development is probably the first time governments have tried to frame environmental security. Principle 2 says: "States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national."
In 1994, the UN Development Program defined Human Security into distinct categories, including:
• Economic security (assured and adequate basic incomes).
• Food security (physical and affordable access to food).
• Health security.
• Environmental security (access to safe water, clean air and non-degraded land).
By the time of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in 2002, water had begun to be identified as a security issue, first at the Rio+5 conference, and as a food security issue at the 1996 FAO Summit. In 2003, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan set up a High-Level Panel on "Threats, Challenges, and Change," to help the UN prevent and remove threats to peace. It started to lay down new concepts on collective security, identifying six clusters for member states to consider. These included economic and social threats, such as poverty, infectious disease, and environmental degradation.
By 2007, health was being recognized as a part of the environmental security discourse, with World Health Day celebrating "International Health Security (IHS)." In particular, it looked at emerging diseases, economic stability, international crises, humanitarian emergencies, and chemical, radioactive, and biological terror threats. Environmental and climate changes have a growing impact on health. The 2007 Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified climate security as a key challenge for the 21st century. This was followed up in 2009 by the UCL-Lancet Commission on Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change—linking health and climate change.
In the run-up to Rio+20 and the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals, the issue of the climate-food-water-energy nexus, or rather, inter-linkages, between these issues was highlighted. The dialogue on environmental security has moved from a fringe discussion to being central to our political discourse—this is because of the lack of implementation of previous international agreements.
The Environmental History of Russia
Stephen Brain
Russian environmental history is a new field of inquiry, with the first archivally based monographs appearing only in the last years of the 20th century. Despite the field's youth, scholars studying the topic have developed two distinct and contrasting approaches to its central question: How should the relationship between Russian culture and the natural world be characterized? Implicit in this question are two others: Is the Russian attitude toward the non-human world more sensitive than that which prevails in the West; and if so, is the Russian environment healthier or more stable than that of the United States and Western Europe? In other words, does Russia, because of its traditional suspicion of individualism and consumerism, have something to teach the West? Or, on the contrary, has the Russian historical tendency toward authoritarianism and collectivism facilitated predatory policies that have degraded the environment? Because environmentalism as a political movement and environmental history as an academic subject both emerged during the Cold War, at a time when the Western social, political, and economic system vied with the Soviet approach for support around the world, the comparative (and competitive) aspect of Russian environmental history has always been an important factor, although sometimes an implicit one. Accordingly, the existing scholarly works about Russian environmental history generally fall into one of two camps: one very critical of the Russian environmental record and the seeming disregard of the Russian government for environmental damage, and a somewhat newer group of works that draw attention to the fundamentally different concerns that motivate Russian environmental policies. The first group emphasizes Russian environmental catastrophes such as the desiccated Aral Sea, the eroded Virgin Lands, and the public health epidemics related to the severely polluted air of Soviet industrial cities. The environmental crises that the first group cites are, most often, problems once prevalent in the West, but successfully ameliorated by the environmental legislation of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The second group, in contrast, highlights Russian environmental policies that do not have strict Western analogues, suggesting that a thorough comparison of the Russian and Western environmental records requires, first of all, a careful examination of what constitutes environmental responsibility.
Environmental History of the Mississippi River and Delta
Christopher Morris
The Mississippi River, the longest in North America, is really two rivers geophysically. The volume is less, the slope steeper, the velocity greater, and the channel straighter in its upper portion than in its lower portion. Below the mouth of the Ohio River, the Mississippi meanders through a continental depression that it has slowly filled with sediment over many millennia. Some limnologists and hydrologists consider the transitional middle portion of the Mississippi, where the waters of its two greatest tributaries, the Missouri and Ohio rivers, join it, to comprise a third river, in terms of its behavioral patterns and stream and floodplain ecologies.
The Mississippi River humans have known, with its two or three distinct sections, is a relatively recent formation. The lower Mississippi only settled into its current formation following the last ice age and the dissipation of water released by receding glaciers. Much of the current river delta is newer still, having taken shape over the last three to five hundred years.
Within the lower section of the Mississippi are two subsections, the meander zone and the delta. Below Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the river passes through Crowley's Ridge and enters the wide and flat alluvial plain. Here the river meanders in great loops, often doubling back on itself, forming cut offs that, if abandoned by the river, forming lakes. Until modern times, most of the plain, approximately 35,000 square miles, comprised a vast and rich—rich in terms of biomass production—ecological wetland sustained by annual Mississippi River floods that brought not just water, but fertile sediment—topsoil—gathered from across much of the continent. People thrived in the Mississippi River meander zone. Some of the most sophisticated indigenous cultures of North America emerged here. Between Natchez, Mississippi, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at Old River Control, the Mississippi begins to fork into distributary channels, the largest of which is the Atchafalaya River. The Mississippi River delta begins here, formed of river sediment accrued upon the continental shelf. In the delta the land is wetter, the ground water table is shallower. Closer to the sea, the water becomes brackish and patterns of river sediment distribution are shaped by ocean tides and waves. The delta is frequently buffeted by hurricanes.
Over the last century and a half people have transformed the lower Mississippi River, principally through the construction of levees and drainage canals that have effectively disconnected the river from the floodplain. The intention has been to dry the land adjacent to the river, to make it useful for agriculture and urban development. However, an unintended effect of flood control and wetland drainage has been to interfere with the flood-pulse process that sustained the lower valley ecology, and with the process of sediment distribution that built the delta and much of the Louisiana coastline. The seriousness of the delta's deterioration has become especially apparent since Hurricane Katrina, and has moved conservation groups to action. They are pushing politicians and engineers to reconsider their approach to Mississippi River management.
Mark V. Barrow
The prospect of extinction, the complete loss of a species or other group of organisms, has long provoked strong responses. Until the turn of the 18th century, deeply held and widely shared beliefs about the order of nature led to a firm rejection of the possibility that species could entirely vanish. During the 19th century, however, resistance to the idea of extinction gave way to widespread acceptance following the discovery of the fossil remains of numerous previously unknown forms and direct experience with contemporary human-driven decline and the destruction of several species. In an effort to stem continued loss, at the turn of the 19th century, naturalists, conservationists, and sportsmen developed arguments for preventing extinction, created wildlife conservation organizations, lobbied for early protective laws and treaties, pushed for the first government-sponsored parks and refuges, and experimented with captive breeding. In the first half of the 20th century, scientists began systematically gathering more data about the problem through global inventories of endangered species and the first life-history and ecological studies of those species.
The second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries have been characterized both by accelerating threats to the world's biota and greater attention to the problem of extinction. Powerful new laws, like the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, have been enacted and numerous international agreements negotiated in an attempt to address the issue. Despite considerable effort, scientists remain fearful that the current rate of species loss is similar to that experienced during the five great mass extinction events identified in the fossil record, leading to declarations that the world is facing a biodiversity crisis. Responding to this crisis, often referred to as the sixth extinction, scientists have launched a new interdisciplinary, mission-oriented discipline, conservation biology, that seeks not just to understand but also to reverse biota loss. Scientists and conservationists have also developed controversial new approaches to the growing problem of extinction: rewilding, which involves establishing expansive core reserves that are connected with migratory corridors and that include populations of apex predators, and de-extinction, which uses genetic engineering techniques in a bid to resurrect lost species. Even with the development of new knowledge and new tools that seek to reverse large-scale species decline, a new and particularly imposing danger, climate change, looms on the horizon, threatening to undermine those efforts.
Fisheries Science and Its Environmental Consequences
Jennifer Hubbard
Fisheries science emerged in the mid-19th century, when scientists volunteered to conduct conservation-related investigations of commercially important aquatic species for the governments of North Atlantic nations. Scientists also promoted oyster culture and fish hatcheries to sustain the aquatic harvests. Fisheries science fully professionalized with specialized graduate training in the 1920s.
The earliest stage, involving inventory science, trawling surveys, and natural history studies continued to dominate into the 1930s within the European colonial diaspora. Meanwhile, scientists in Scandinavian countries, Britain, Germany, the United States, and Japan began developing quantitative fisheries science after 1900, incorporating hydrography, age-determination studies, and population dynamics. Norwegian biologist Johan Hjort's 1914 finding, that the size of a large "year class" of juvenile fish is unrelated to the size of the spawning population, created the central foundation and conundrum of later fisheries science. By the 1920s, fisheries scientists in Europe and America were striving to develop a theory of fishing. They attempted to develop predictive models that incorporated statistical and quantitative analysis of past fishing success, as well as quantitative values reflecting a species' population demographics, as a basis for predicting future catches and managing fisheries for sustainability. This research was supported by international scientific organizations such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Both nationally and internationally, political entanglement was an inevitable feature of fisheries science. Beyond substituting their science for fishers' traditional and practical knowledge, many postwar fisheries scientists also brought progressive ideals into fisheries management, advocating fishing for a maximum sustainable yield. This in turn made it possible for governments, economists, and even scientists, to use this nebulous target to project preferred social, political, and economic outcomes, while altogether discarding any practical conservation measures to rein in globalized postwar industrialized fishing. These ideals were also exported to nascent postwar fisheries science programs in developing Pacific and Indian Ocean nations and in Eastern Europe and Turkey.
The vision of mid-century triumphalist science, that industrial fisheries could be scientifically managed like any other industrial enterprise, was thwarted by commercial fish stock collapses, beginning slowly in the 1950s and accelerating after 1970, including the massive northern cod crisis of the early 1990s. In the 1980s scientists, aided by more powerful computers, attempted multi-species models to understand the different impacts of a fishery on various species. Daniel Pauly led the way with multi-species models for tropical fisheries, where the need for such was most urgent, and pioneered the global database FishBase, using fishing data collected by the FAO and national bodies. In Canada the cod crisis inspired Ransom Myers to use large databases for fisheries analysis to show the role of overfishing in causing that crisis. After 1980 population ecologists also demonstrated the importance of life history data for understanding fish species' responses to fishery-induced population and environmental change.
With fishing continuing to shrink many global commercial stocks, scientists have demonstrated how different measures can manage fisheries for species with different life-history profiles. Aside from the need for effective scientific monitoring, the biggest ongoing challenges remain having politicians, governments, fisheries industry members, and other stakeholders commit to scientifically recommended long-term conservation measures.
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 1st Feb 2013 18:25 UTC
A few days ago, Microsoft released the long-awaited Windows Phone 7.8 update for all those users who will be stuck on Windows Phone 7 forever because there's no upgrade path to Windows Phone 8 other than buying a new phone. Now that it's here, what, exactly, does WP7.8 to the table?
Thread beginning with comment 551169
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What did you expect?
by Ultimatebadass on Fri 1st Feb 2013 22:56 UTC
RE: What did you expect?
by cdude on Sat 2nd Feb 2013 09:49 in reply to "What did you expect?"
I do remember that when WP 7 launched Microsoft promised at least 2 big updates. That was back then part of there argumentation. Windows Phone is supported and receives updates for a long time to come unlike Android.
Mango was huge and very much needed but that was it. I don't count 7.8 as the second big update, really not. What stays from that promise is that Windows Phone is not different from Android (excluding Nexus and CyanogenMod) when it comes to updates. What I blame them for is that central marketing message for Windows Phone was very different from how it played out. If they do not want or can not keep such promises then just not promise.
Edited 2013-02-02 09:51 UTC
RE[2]: What did you expect?
by Nelson on Sat 2nd Feb 2013 20:19 in reply to "RE: What did you expect?"

subset: commoncrawl


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- WWE had a business meeting on March 31st in Miami with major executives. It was described as an easy going meeting where they were pushing social media. R-Truth and Brodus Clay were brought in to dance.
At the meeting, Vince McMahon was talking about how they had rapper Flo Rida performing at WrestleMania 28. It sounds like Vince was high on Flo Rida which could explain his backstage segment with Heath Slater on the pay-per-view.
- As noted before, word is that Brock Lesnar's one-year deal with WWE is for $5 million. Word of Lesnar getting a $5 million offer for multiple appearances with WWE was floating around UFC and MMA circles in late 2011, before his last fight against Alistair Overeem.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Subscribe to The Wrestling Observer by clicking here. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus history pieces. New subscribers can also receive free classic issues.


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On the women's club football scene, the leaders in two of Europe's strongest leagues proved they have every right to be top of the pile. After successfully booking their places in the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-finals, VfL Wolfsburg and Olympique Lyon maintained their imperious progress in their domestic leagues. Torres Calcio and UPC Tavagnacco continue to battle it out at the top in Italy, while in the early-season skirmishes in Japan, INAC Leonessa have started to hit form.
FIFA.com reviews the latest action in the world's top women's leagues.
Germany: Wolfsburg on a roll
These are productive times for the VfL Wolfsburg women's team. The Wolverines booked a date with Arsenal in the last four of the UEFA Women's Champions League thanks to a 2-0 success away to WFC Rossiyanka in the quarter-final return. Nor was there a hangover from the midweek trip to Moscow, as Wolfsburg continued on their winning ways in the Women's Bundesliga. In the 17th round of matches, the league leaders cruised to a 6-0 success over SGS Essen, with Nadine Kessler, Anna Blasse, Laura Vetterlein, Navina Omilade-Keller and Conny Pohlers (2) scoring the goals. FFC Frankfurt were also in goal-hungry mood, sweeping aside bottom club VfL Sindelfingen 7-0 and climbing to second place in the standings, making the most of Turbine Potsdam's 2-0 defeat away to Bayern Munich.
Top three: VfL Wolfsburg (38 points), FFC Frankfurt (34), Turbine Potsdam (31)
*France: The unstoppable Olympique Lyon *"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" was a number one hit for Starship back in 1987, but the main message of the synth-based stomp is just as applicable today to Olympique Lyon, as coach Patrice Lair's team look unstoppable on their way to another domestic championship. Three days after disposing of Malmo in the Champions League, OL saw off Montpellier HSC 4-0 courtesy of goals from Lotta Schelin (2), Elodie Thomis and Megan Rapinoe. Paris Saint-Germain kept up their chase for European football next season, cementing their grip on second spot with a 3-0 victory over Yzeure Allier. FCF Juvisy moved up to third thanks to a 2-0 success against EA Guingamp.
Top three: Olympique Lyon (72), Paris Saint-Germain (66), FCF Juvisy (58)
Japan: Leonessa shift up through the gears
In the second round of matches in the Nadeshiko League, INAC Kobe Leonessa showed they are slowly but surely finding their range. After a narrow 2-1 victory on opening day, Leonessa moved to the top of the nascent standings with a comprehensive 6-1 demolition of Albirex Niigata. Just like last season, NTV Beleza are settling into second spot behind Leonessa, continuing a promising start to the campaign with a 3-1 victory over Takatsuki. Vegalta Sendai, the team from the disaster-hit area in the north of the country, were held to a 1-1 draw by promoted Kibi University.
Top three: INAC Leonessa, NTV Beleza (both 6), Vegalta Sendai (4)
Italy: Neck-and-neck race for the crown
In contrast to the situation in Germany and France, the title race in Italy's Serie A is a real thriller, with Torres Calcio and UPS Tavagnacco swapping positions at the top on an almost weekly basis. In the wake of events on Matchday 26, the pair are now back to level-pegging on points. Torres comfortably beat ACF Firenze 4-0 with goals from Patrizia Panico, Sandy Ianella, Raffaella Manieri and Giulia Domenichetti, but Tavagnacco were held 1-1 by ASD Napoli and slipped back behind Torres on goal difference.
Top three: Torres Calcio, UPC Tavagnacco (both 68), Brescia (60)


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Fifty dead bodies have been discovered over the past two days in western Mexico, victims of a fierce war waged between the government and the nation's powerful drug cartels.
The bodies of 26 young men were dumped in three vehicles near a busy intersection in Guadalajara. It bore the signs of a drug vendetta and a chilling message of more to come in Mexico's second city, set to host an international book fair this weekend.
The gruesome find came the day after 24 bodies were discovered in the city of Culiacan, in northwestern Sinaloa state.
A message found with the latest bodies said the peace enjoyed by the states of Jalisco and Sinaloa, allegedly as a result of agreements between local authorities and the Sinaloa cartel, was over.
"There were 26 corpses altogether, all male and aged from 25 to 35 years," Fernando Guzman, a top official in Jalisco state, of which Guadalajara is capital, told a news conference Thursday.
Most of the men had been asphyxiated, some were naked and some marked with the words Milenio and Zetas — the names of drug gangs — in oil, Guzman said.
The Zetas — set up by ex-army officers turned hitmen in the 1990s — are blamed for extortion, kidnappings and murders in ever-increasing areas of Mexico.
The Milenio gang is known to operate in the region and media reports recently suggested it had joined forces with the Zetas.
"The Zetas are present in the north of Jalisco and they could have aligned with the Milenio gang … to fight for the plaza (drug trafficking area) of Guadalajara," said Dante Haro, an investigator at the University of Guadalajara.
Jalisco state, known as a stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel of fugitive billionaire druglord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has seen drug violence increase in recent months, including shootouts and roadblocks early in the year.
Governor Emilio Gonzalez said on his Twitter account he was "outraged" by the discovery of the bodies and called for a probe.
The spectacular act of dumping bodies on a busy highway echoed another in September in which 35 bodies were tipped out of trucks under a busy overpass in the eastern port of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.
"It looks like a copy of what happened in Veracruz," said Jose Reveles, author of several books on drug trafficking. But he said it was necessary to wait for the results of an inquiry.
Authorities blamed the Veracruz killings on the New Generation drug gang, which has suspected ties to the Sinaloa gang and also calls itself the Zeta Killers.
The vehicles found Thursday was close to the city's convention center, which will host the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the most important event of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world, starting this weekend.
Scores of authors, including Nobel laureates Mario Vargas Llosa and Herta Muller, were expected to attend.
Locals said that federal security forces deployed to secure the recent Pan American games in the city had only left on Wednesday.
A survey released this week found few Mexicans believe the government can defeat drug cartels as its military crackdown on organized crime enters its sixth year.
The poll, by the Mitofsky agency, showed 14 percent believed President Felipe Calderon?s strategy was succeeding, compared with 23 percent in a poll in March 2010.
The latest poll, of 1,000 people interviewed in October, showed 44 percent thought the situation would not improve during Calderon's last year in office, which ends in December 2012.
Some 45,000 deaths have been blamed on rising drug violence since the start of the crackdown, which includes tens of thousands of security forces.
On Monday, a Mexican police commander and two other officers were found shot to death execution-style in Ciudad Acuna, in the northern border state of Coahuila.


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Sage Software
Sage North America announces the release of new mobile time collection and project file capabilities in Sage Construction Anywhere, a cloud-based collaborative solution.
Sage Construction Anywhere integrates with Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (Sage Timberline Office) to provide construction professionals with anytime, anywhere access to the project information needed to keep their jobs moving forward, and will soon also integrate with Sage 100 Contractor (formerly Sage Master Builder). The solution's initial release last spring gave Sage 300 customers the ability to access Sage 300 project reports anywhere, anytime on any mobile device or personal computer.
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Mitsubishi Electric
The new meView app, the latest in a series of mobile applications from Mitsubishi Electric, provides homeowners and professionals with a customized virtual view of how a Mitsubishi Electric split-ductless system would look in their homes. Available for use with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, meView allows the homeowner or contractor to take a picture of the room, then drag and drop various styles of Mitsubishi Electric systems into the space. The app can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store. mehvac.com circle168
Embraco introduces a new mobile application for Android phones and iPhones that helps troubleshoot mechanical and electrical problems in the refrigeration system in less time while on the job. By entering the current system problem, the app will provide possible origin scenarios to help pinpoint a solution. The app is for both household and commercial refrigeration systems regardless of the cooling capacity or compressor brand. embraco.com circle169
The HVAC Check & Charge mobile app from Emerson Climate Technologies provides an on-site refrigerant charge calculator for air conditioning applications. Based on historic sliding cardboard charge calculators, this app allows contractors to easily calculate correct system refrigerant charge for R-22 or R-410A. Contractors can simply choose subcooling, superheat, or airflow and enter the specified system temperatures along with the latent and sensible environmental loads.
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The Trane Tracer building automation system (BAS) operator suite mobile app for the Tracer SC controller provides peace of mind by allowing users to remotely operate a building's HVAC system and quickly respond to urgent calls and update requests. The building operator suite further enhances the system's industry-leading using interface and mobile capabilities.
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Bitzer launched a free refrigerant pressure-temperature application designed for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android. An intuitive saturated pressure temperature reference wheel focuses on the most common refrigerants found in air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Instead of scrolling through many refrigerants rarely used, this app provides users with the ability to customize the app by selecting the refrigerants that they most commonly use and arranging them in any order so each refrigerant table is just a swipe away. bitzer.de/eng/ circle 173
The Honeywell Total Connect Comfort mobile app allows users to remotely monitor and manage their heating and cooling system — at anytime, from anywhere. Total Connect Comfort works with Honeywell's Wi-Fi thermostats and with Prestige, Prestige IAQ, Wireless FocusPRO and EConnect Comfort Systems when used in conjunction with Honeywell's RedLINK Internet gateway.
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Lennox Commercial
Lennox Industries launched a mobile version of the Lennox Commercial website. This new, user-friendly platform is designed with the customer in mind, and provides quick access to the four most-searched categories: product content, technical documents, Lennox Parts- Plus store locator and a commercial contractor locator.
In addition to increased access to product information and technical documentation, customers can easily search for a Lennox PartsPlus store using the store locator.
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Nordyne has partnered with Add2Cart to bring HVAC contractors an in-home sales app. The new ComfortConsultant iPad app adds transparency to the sales process for a more engaged homeowner, a higher sales ticket and increased closing ratios, Nordyne sources say.
With ComfortConsultant, homeowners use the app to answer questions about what they desire out of their new HVAC system.
Six different branded versions of the app are available: Maytag, Broan, Frigidaire, NuTone, Tappan, and Westinghouse. nordyne.com circle 176
Rheem has introduced a new iPad app that gives contractors to all the product information they need. Features of the iPad app include:
• full access to all Rheem products
• new products coming from Rheem
• easy access to product spec sheets & other documents
• updates on the Rheem racing program
• quick access to HVAC Energy savings calculator
• quick access to EZ Spec (Tankless water heater sizing application)
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HVAC contractors and installers can remotely monitor, control and troubleshoot their commercial clients' ColorTouch thermostats using the free mobile app on their mobile devices. Available from Venstar, the mobile app gives contractors and installers remote access to their clients' ColorTouch thermostats from anywhere they have Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G, or Internet connections via Skyport Cloud Services.
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Daikin AC
The new app, Daikin eQuip, is designed for both smart phones and tablets, and places information in the hands of Daikin partners, dealers, engineers, architects or anyone interested in the Daikin product, quickly and easily for on-the-go needs. This app can be used to:
• send key information via email or text message (SMS) for immediate sharing
• retrieve instant updates for the most up-to-date news and information on Daikin AC.
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The Girls of Canada Day
The Fourth of July is celebrated as America's birthday and Independence Day, but did you know that July 1 is celebrated as Canada's Birthday? If you didn't, now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
Known generally as Canada Day (formally Dominion Day), it celebrates the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act of 1867. The Act united Canada as a single country of (then)four provinces. If you needed an excuse to celebrate something today, there you go. Wear your toque, play some ice hockey, toss in some "eh?"s and wish your neighbors to the north a happy birthday! To celebrate such an occasion, we present some of the finer women of Canada Day and this fine video which I strongly believe that you'll enjoy:


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The burden of the ACA, saving Social Security, lying government officials, and more.
100 percent sure
Regarding the letter, "Burdening us all" (Dec. 14): the hook, the federal government will pay 100 percent the first 3 years. I'm more interested in what can happen after the first three years of the Affordable Care Act.
First, the federal government comes up with a grandiose plan to provide everyone with affordable health care. I can't imagine anyone believing the federal government could add 30 million people to the health care rolls while simultaneously lowering the health care budget.
Before the ACA became law, Medicare and Medicaid were destined to be a budget buster for the federal government. Then Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi rammed through the ACA, with Pelosi saying first pass the bill, then find out what's in it. Seems to me the federal government mainly wanted to collect more money to pay for the grand health care plan.
The second part of the plan was to transfer more of the plan's cost to the states. Call me a cynic. The cost transfer allows the Congress to claim they didn't increase taxes to create the better health care plan. Then the states would have to increase taxes to cover the cost of the new plan, and the U.S. Congress's hands would be clean of the added cost.
I think the Florida Legislature made the correct call by turning down the ACA expansion. When the Feds come up with a grandiose health care plan, they should also be the ones that pay for 100 percent of the plan's cost for the life of plan.
Richard A Minzenberger
Saving Social Security
Star Parker opines that since low-income workers have too little in savings to successfully retire, the solution is to ... wait for it ... remove them from the Social Security program.
Yep, that's the ticket. Low-income people who don't have retirement programs or who can't afford savings accounts should be removed from the only program available to them that attempts to keep the wolf from the door.
Her reasoning? Damned if I know. But it seems to have something to do with Social Security needing more money — and Congress lacking the intestinal fortitude to raise withholding taxes to levels necessary to fix the problem.
It's a typical and telling difference between liberal thinking and what now passes for conservative. Ms. Parker says Social Security doesn't have enough money, so she suggests taking poor people off the books.
But my little liberal brain comes to a different conclusion. If Social Security is hurting, why don't we raise the cap on payroll taxes? Right now, if you make more than about $113,000, you don't have to pay the same payroll taxes as the rest of us. Yep. The notion that a worker making that princely amount will not want their Social Security check obviously doesn't take into account something the rest of us have figured out. A hundred grand ain't what it used to be.
So here's my idea. Instead of throwing low-income workers off the program invented to help people not starve to death after they can't work anymore, how about we acknowledge that $100,000 doesn't mean you won't need Social Security and are just as likely to file for your benefits as anyone else — and should, therefore, pay into the system just as everyone else does.
There. Glad I could help.
S.P. Clifton
Liar, liar who?
A week ago the Republican Party stooped to another new low. Our ex-vice president, Dick Cheney, called our elected president a liar in a TV interview.
Cheney the warmonger, with five draft deferments, should be the last person in the world to call ANYONE a liar. He continually lied during the build-up to the Iraq War. First it was Iraq acquired aluminum tubes to build centrifuges, then it was bricks of uranium from Africa — all lies. They never existed, just like the weapons of mass destruction.
Then he lied again by telling the American people that the Iraqi people would welcome the American army with open arms and the war that cost the American taxpayers $1.7 trillion would be over in a couple of days. Cheney should apologize for his lies to the families of the almost 5,000 troops killed and the 480,000 injured.
If you listen to Fox News you would think the world is going to end because the president lied about keeping your existing health insurance. However, if it was a big intentional lie it did not get thousands injured and maimed and spend billions of our dollars which in turn steered the country into a recession.
Right after Cheney, along comes Jeb Bush (a possible presidential candidate) taking another cheap shot at President Obama. He questioned why the president is closing our embassy at the Vatican, and he hoped it was not retribution because Catholic organizations were opposing Obamacare.
What a phony. Jeb Bush knows full well the State Department is moving the embassy from its standalone location to a larger compound shared with the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. This move is estimated to save $1.4 million a year. No, Jeb did not tell the American people that.
John Toner
Sweet music
In my 50-plus years in the retail industry, we lived in large and small cities all over the eastern USA. I was never so proud of a community as I was tonight. We attended the concert by the Ocala Youth Symphony and the Ocala Symphony. Wow! Not only was the performance incredible, the large crowd was really appreciative and showed how great a small city can be.
Ocala has plenty to be proud of, and the symphonies are the frosting on the cake!
Edward F. Garrepy


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Chrysler Group Executive Receives "Spirit of Leadership Award" from Women's Automotive Association
Primary tabs
Chrysler Group Executive Receives "Spirit of Leadership Award" from Women's Automotive Association
CAMPAIGN: Community and Education
CONTENT: Press Release
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Feb. 11, 2013 /3BL Media/ PRNewswire/ -
- Barbara Pilarski, Vice President, Business Development, Chrysler Group receives "Spirit of Leadership Award" from Women's Automotive Association International
- Award is presented annually "to professional women in the automotive industry in recognition of their significant accomplishments in their profession, community and family"
- During acceptance remarks, speaks of an automotive industry in transformation: "We've all made great stride to transform this vitally important industry into a diverse, vibrant and inclusive industry of leaders"
Barbara Pilarski, Vice President, Business Development, Chrysler Group LLC has received the "Spirit of Leadership Award" from Women's Automotive Association International (WAAI). The focus of the WAAI is on the development and retention of women leaders and the education and support of all persons, without prejudice, who have an interest in the automotive industry.
The Spirit of Leadership Award is presented annually "to professional women in the automotive industry in recognition of their significant accomplishments in their profession, community and family." The award was presented on Saturday, February 9, in Orlando, FL.
"This recognition is very meaningful to me. I want to express my sincerest appreciation to the leadership and members of the Women's Automotive Association International for choosing me to receive this honor," Pilarski said. "I've been fortunate throughout my life and career to have had outstanding support from both my family and friends which has helped to bring sanity and balance to 'the other side' of my life. This has been a key enabler in allowing me to remain focused in the right direction in my professional life."
Pilarski joined Chrysler Corporation in 1985 as a Financial Analyst and has held key positions in various areas, including Controlling, Treasury Mergers and Acquisitions. In 2010, Automotive News and Deloitte selected Pilarski as one of the "Top 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry."
As Vice President - Business Development, Pilarski is responsible for negotiating key strategic partnership arrangements for Chrysler Group globally and for managing the Company's alliance relationships. She reports to Sergio Marchionne, Chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group.
Previous to her current position, Pilarski served as Executive Director of Chrysler Group's Mergers and Acquisitions organization and was responsible for all aspects of merger, acquisition and divestiture activities affecting North and South American business operations for Chrysler, and formerly for DaimlerChrysler business units.
Pilarski earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Wayne State University and a master's of business administration from the University of Michigan, and has also participated in Chrysler Corporation's Advanced Degree Development Program.
Pilarski has several community interests. She is executive sponsor of the Chrysler Women's Forum, which is one of six employee resource groups that leverages input from diverse employees to improve Chrysler Group's overall product and service offerings to customers.
Pilarski is also active with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, serving both as a Steering Committee member for Chrysler Group's annual fundraising campaign, as well as a Board Member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society.
She is active supporter of the Girls and Boys Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, working to ensure that these young men and women in Southeastern Michigan have exposure to strong role models who can inspire them to make good life and career choices.
During her acceptance remarks, Pilarski spoke of an automotive industry in transformation.
"We've all made great stride to transform this vitally important industry into a diverse, vibrant and inclusive industry of leaders," she said. "But we still have a long way to go. I'm eager and proud to be with all of you on this important journey."
About Chrysler Group's Leadership Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
In 2012, the Detroit Free Press named Chrysler Group as one of the best places to work in the state of Michigan. Chrysler Group has been named one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" by Working Mother magazine 13 times, and has been recognized six times by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as one of the country's leading corporations supporting diversity and inclusion. Chrysler Group also has been named to HispanicBusiness magazine's annual Diversity Elite 60 list for implementing strategies to reach more Hispanic customers and to pursue more business with minority- and Hispanic-owned suppliers. In 2012, the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named Chrysler Group Corporation of the Year for its achievements in bringing more minority-owned businesses into its supply chain.
In 2011 and 2012, the editors of DiversityInc magazine named Chrysler Group to the magazine's list of "Top 50 Companies for Diversity." This coveted annual benchmark is comprised of companies the magazine's editors believe are diversity-management leaders.
Over the years, a long line of Chrysler Group employees have received important professional recognition from various diversity organizations, including Black Engineer of the Year, Women of Color, HENAAC Great Minds in STEM and others, reflecting the Company's strong commitment to attracting and developing a diverse, talented workforce.
About Chrysler Group LLC
Chrysler Group LLC, formed in 2009 to establish a global strategic alliance with Fiat S.p.A., produces Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Mopar, SRT and Fiat vehicles and products. With the resources, technology and worldwide distribution network required to compete on a global scale, the alliance builds on Chrysler Group's culture of innovation, first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925, and Fiat's complementary technology that dates back to its founding in 1899.
Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich., Chrysler Group's product lineup features some of the world's most recognizable vehicles, including the Chrysler 300 and Town & Country, Jeep Wrangler, all-new Dodge Dart, Ram 1500, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 and Fiat 500. Fiat contributes world-class technology, platforms and powertrains for small- and medium-size cars, allowing Chrysler Group to offer an expanded product line including environmentally friendly vehicles.
For more information, please visit the Chrysler media site at http://www.media.chrysler.com.
Copyright 2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved
CAMPAIGN: Community and Education
CONTENT: Press Release


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'Top Chef Masters'
The judges' table has finally turned -- and we'll see what happens when these top chefs are now on the other side. "Top Chef Masters" will pit 24 world-renowned chefs against each other. In each episode, money will be at stake for the chefs, with the winners of eliminations being awarded cash donations for their charities.The winning chef will receive $100,000 for the charity of their choice.
Copyright © 2018, Daily Press


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Kathryn Lopez
01/31/06: Equal rights for whom?
01/17/06: Trumping a modern-day slave trade
01/10/06: Media turns mining tragedy into a disaster
01/03/06: Alternatives to stem cell research
12/26/05: Let's not forget what Bush has done
12/20/05: Mitt Romney for president?
12/12/05: Don't be myth-understood at the office party
11/22/05: Factory-made children not a decision
11/15/05: The death of Rosa Parks' funeral
11/07/05: Dems selective memories on Iraq war
11/01/05: Trading political know-how with extremism
10/27/05: Attend a divorce party lately?
10/17/05: No mincing words in the war on terror
10/10/05: We've come a long way, baby?
10/03/05: Sometimes it is black and white
09/26/05: A lesson in politicizing education
09/20/05: Censuring Coburn just bad Rx
08/29/05: A mother lode of facts Left out
08/22/05: Backsliding: Hawaii's race-based nation
08/16/05: Britain's great schism, the Blairs
08/09/05: A news cycle without Amnesty? An outrage
08/03/05: Roberts elevates abortion debate
07/26/05: Washington's girl-crazy summer
07/12/05: Don't Estrada Bush's Supreme Court nominee
07/05/05: Danica Patrick's on a road less raced
06/28/05: Behind the Clinton legacy
06/13/05: Stemming AIDS in Africa simply
06/06/05: Time to make peace with France
05/30/05: The common sense of parental consent
05/24/05: The symbolic battle for Santorum's seat
05/16/05: Rafael Diaz-Balart's long fight for Cuba
05/04/05: Debate over the United Nations is often an exercise in the blind leading the blind
04/27/05: Getting beyond the arguments over stem cells
04/19/05: Mr. Moore, put your best face forward
04/05/05: How we should treat Iran
03/29/05: Tweaking Title IX
03/22/05: The ethics of infant euthanasia
03/15/05: W really is for women


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Original URL: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/06/hp_patents_see_through_screen/
HP patents teleprompter-esque transparent screen tech
Slat-tastic gear will mean you can never trust a window
Posted in Science, 6th July 2012 06:31 GMT
HP has bagged a US patent on its way of making a see-through screen, which will let users see stuff onscreen as well as whatever's behind it.
The tech biggun isn't saying that it came up with the idea of a see-through screen or it should be the only one to have one, it's just made sure that its solution for how to make one belongs to it.
HP's idea is to use light-reflective slats in between the front and back screens so that light from the image behind the device comes through as well as the images produced on the front screen.
The firm said that something similar is already used for teleprompters, so that news-readers can appear to be looking into the camera when they're actually reading. But that tech only works one way at the moment, so only on one display, and it's not very good for producing grayscale or full-colour imagery.
A flexible, see-through display is arguably the next great step for tech firms and Samsung is also working on a way to make it happen. See-through displays would allow data to be overlaid on real world so it has obvious augmented reality purposes.
The see-through screen is already showing up in movies, so naturally it's only a matter of time before we actually get one. HP has even provided concept designs of transparent screens for recent Hugh Jackman vehicle Real Steel, which was apparently a heart-warming tale of Jackman training a discarded robot to box (no, seriously).
The HP ThruScreen is a thin-film see-through monitor while the HP Flex is a transparent laptop used by Jackman to control the robot. HP's YouTube videos carry this teasy 360 view of Flex, just in case you're not sure you want to see the movie:


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Donegal Insurance Group
About Donegal
There When It Matters Most.
Our family of property and casualty insurance companies provides full lines of personal, farm and commercial insurance products across multiple regions of the United States. We're proud of our heritage, which spans more than 125 years in the insurance business. Use these links for more information about Donegal:


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Police believe they have located the body of a boy missing on the NSW north coast since Saturday.
The 15-year-old was last seen at his Bogangar home about 10am on Saturday, police said in a statement.
Police had carried out an extensive search for the boy earlier this week, but it had failed to locate him.
On Thursday, police said they found a body, believed to be that of the missing boy, near the Bogangar address about 10am on Wednesday.
The death is not considered to be suspicious.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
Just under 200 boats hit the water off the shore of Grand Island for the seventh annual Paddles Up Niagara.
Preregistration numbers for Paddles Up Niagara Saturday were at an all-time high, but inclement weather south of Buffalo held down the participation, said Rob Belue, executive director of the Niagara River Greenway Commission.
Belue said the preregistration total of 160 far exceeded the average of 100 for the event. With some boats carrying more than one paddler, between 200 and 300 left Beaver Island for a leisurely trip to the East Marsh of the Niagara River and back. "But unfortunately the weather this morning looks ominous," said Belue. "But we ended up with a good number. We're happy with it."
The event, the showcase of the Niagara River Greenway Commission, also sends a message to the region, said Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, vice chairman of the Greenway Commission.
"When the New York Power Authority was up for a 50-year relicensing in 2007, stakeholders from the grassroots level of the community came together and said some of the money from that power plant should go to help build a park system linking Lake Erie to Lake Ontario along the Niagara River," Dyster said. "By coming out here for your event today, you help to show that you're simpatico with the purposes and projects of the Niagara River Greenway, and we thank you."


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A 19-year-old suspected of stealing a big rig and driving out of control on Interstate 15, triggering a chain reaction crash that injured at least a half-dozen people, took the 18-wheeler because he thought "zombies" were chasing him, authorities said.
Jeremiah Clyde Hartline of Tennessee was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and receiving stolen property in connection with a multi-vehicle crash that occurred around 6 p.m. Saturday on northbound Interstate 15, near Temecula Parkway.
Reports that a second suspect was involved proved unsubstantiated, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Hartline allegedly stole the tractor-trailer when the driver of the rig stepped out to complete paperwork at the CHP's Rainbow Canyon commercial vehicle compliance station just off the interstate.
Officer Nathan Baer said the suspect, a transient, had hitched a ride with the northbound trucker and was apparently under the influence of an unknown substance when he began to hallucinate.
"He told our investigators that he thought he saw zombies chasing after him," Baer said.
According to the CHP, Hartline slid behind the wheel of the idling truck and stomped the accelerator, heading onto the freeway, but less than two miles into the ride encountered trouble steering the rig, which was loaded with strawberries.
The truck sideswiped a Toyota Tacoma, causing that vehicle to collide with a Toyota 4Runner, which hit a Mercedes-Benz, according to Baer.
The Tacoma overturned, while the Mercedes-Benz sedan and 4Runner spun into the center divider, Baer said.
The big rig veered to the left, out of control, striking a Ford Taurus and a Honda Accord before jackknifing and blocking all four traffic lanes, according to the CHP.
Baer said Hartline leapt from the semi and ran to a van that had stopped nearby, climbing inside and demanding that the driver take him away. The witness detained Hartline until CHP officers arrived.
Hartline was treated for minor injuries at a hospital and booked into Southwest Detention Center in French Valley where he remained held in lieu of $5,000 bail Tuesday, jail records show.
The occupants of the Tacoma -- Kyle Schlosser of San Jacinto and Sarah Small of Hemet -- were seriously injured.


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Our nation observed Veterans' Day this past Sunday.
Our nation observed Veterans' Day this past Sunday. It's an important day and fell the day following the 237th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Although it's vital to remember those who served on special occasions, I also believe we should honor our veterans every day.
My dad served in the Army and my grandfathers also served their country in two different world wars and two service branches. Other relatives served in both war and peace. Trace my family tree very far and you'll run into more veterans dating back as far as the American Revolution.
My latest release, "Devlin's Grace," due out this Saturday, Nov. 17, from Rebel Ink Press, has an Operation Iraqi Freedom Marine veteran as the hero. Devlin faces a very real issue many of our veterans face — post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. PTSD is an ugly reality and although "Devlin's Grace" is fiction, the issue is timely.
Here's the blurb:
When he rides out of the fog on his motorcycle, Gracie Alloway almost mistook him for a demon rising from the smoke and steam of hell. Except she's attracted to him from the first moment. Devlin's everything she's not — wild and a little wicked. But opposites attract because good girl college student Gracie wants more of this bad boy.
Devlin dreamed up a fantasy woman back in Iraq a lot like Gracie and she evokes a side he hasn't shown anyone in years. She also dares to enter his personal space and take liberties no other woman's dared. Although he struggles with PTSD and other issues, Gracie won't run and she refuses to abandon Devlin.
If she can just tame him and help him battle his demons. If he can teach her how to live a little bit more, they might just have a chance at a future together.
And here's a short excerpt:
"Her mother taught her proper manners, old-fashioned ones long out of style. Calling someone she just met by his last name only didn't seem correct. Gracie would rather use his first name but he hadn't shared it. 'Okay,' she said, chastised. 'I'm sorry. It's just I don't know your first name and…'
"Devlin reached out from his perch on the Honda and touched a finger to her lips, silencing her immediately. 'You don't need to apologize for everything. It's cool. If you want, call me Dev. It's that or Devlin or Devil. I don't use my first name.'
"In three sentences, he created a dozen questions, but Gracie wasn't sure what to ask first. Devil must be a nickname and if so, it explained his horned helmet and mirror but she wondered why. The question popped out before she considered he might not want to share the reason. 'Why do they call you Devil?'
"He never blinked, not once. 'I did a lot of evil things once, in Iraq.'
"'Oh.' Gracie couldn't find anything else to say and stood, silent and self-conscious. The light rain intensified but she failed to notice until the dampness of her thin blouse filtered into her consciousness. This man intrigued her in a way no one else had. She wanted to ask him up for coffee, talk to him for hours long into the night, and at the same time she longed to run away. She sorted through the options for something to call him and chose the simplest. 'Dev?'
"'It's raining harder. Do you want to come up to my apartment to dry off?'
"Dev shrugged as if he didn't care either way. 'I don't live very far.'
"His nonchalance increased her desire to have him come out of the rain. 'I can make coffee,' she offered. 'You're getting soaked.'
"Five seconds, then 10 passed before Devlin nodded. Although she didn't hear any more thunder, the rain increased with speed. 'All right, you talked me into a cup of coffee.'"
Devlin's Grace available beginning Nov. 17 wherever eBooks are sold.
Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy writes a weekly column for the Daily News.


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Click here to read our road test on the Genesis Coupe 2.0T Turbo.
C'mon, really? Hyundai? No pedigree. No racing history. No factory museum filled with dusty glory machines. Yet here's what Hyundai dares—dares!—to call the phosphorescent-Slurpee spill of paint on our Genesis coupe: Lime Rock Green.
Puh-leeze! Weren't these jokers riding around on donkeys when Bob Sharp was running 240Zs at Lime Rock? There's also Nordschleife Gray and Interlagos Yellow. On a Hyundai? They can't be serious!
Uh, they're serious. On sale since March, the Genesis coupe is a revelation, no pun intended. It's a genuine yardage gain for the yin-yang team and a serious kink in the law dictating that rear-drive hoots must cost big bucks.
Is it HUN-dye, hi-WON-dye, or hi-YOON-day? (Around the factory, at least, it's the latter). If we can't concur on a pronunciation, let's agree that Hyundai has come a long way. Lately, the workmanship has stood with that of the Japanese masters. The designs are fresh, and the dynamics have firmed up and flattened out.
Still, Korean culture works against a Hyundai sports car. Car guys are scarce in a homeland-come-lately to the auto age. Almost everyone drives thrift cubes—often white, always slow—and Korea only built its first racetrack, Everland Speedway about 35 miles south of Seoul, in 1993. In contrast, Japan has a high-performance heritage going back to the A6M5 Zero.
With Hyundai, it has always been about the price, and so it goes with the Genesis twins. The syrupy $33,000 sedan upon which the coupe is based dives for Lexus's knees. The four-seat coupe also aims below the waist at competitors, with a 210-hp, 2.0-liter turbo four starting at $22,750 and a 306-hp V-6 at $25,750. The standard-equipment list is decent and includes a six-speed manual, power locks and windows, cruise control, stability control, a trip computer, and stereo auxiliary jacks.
The 2.0-liter turbo Premium and V-6 Grand Touring are the middle models, with leather, sunroof, and hot stereo, while the loaded Track version comes with all that, plus a stiffer suspension, Brembo brakes, limited-slip diff, and trunk spoiler. The V-6 Track runs $30,250, right where the foreign rivals start.
The base Nissan 370Z opens at $30,625, a poverty-trim BMW 128i, at $30,225. Only a strip-o Mazda RX-8 swings lower, at $27,105. The Genesis coupe is the first Asian to move into the neighborhood ruled by Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers. As in the movie Gran Torino, we're expecting fireworks.
Considering the price—always considering the price—Hyundai has bull's-eyed the target, starting with specs that are right for enthusiasts. Firstly, it's rear drive, the ne-plus-ultra credential for a sporty car. Also, the base 2.0-liter turbo offers wiggle room for tuners, the V-6 enough horsepower to satisfy if not electrify with its 5.7-second runs to 60 mph (all on regular gas!).
And there's no shell game with the performance options. Six-speed manuals can be had with both engines, as can the Track equipment group. The V-6 gets a name-brand ZF six-speed automatic with paddle shifters (turbos get a five-speed auto made by . . . somebody). A harder-core R-Spec model is coming as basically a Track version cleansed of luxury bits. As you see, Hyundai is working to get this right.
Even after cutting 4.6 inches from the Genesis sedan's wheelbase, Hyundai still had a plus-size form to clothe. The wheelbase is 10.6 inches longer than the new Z's, and the body is 15.1 inches longer. There's enough capsule space for a pair of folding back seats with decent legroom, though Hyundai opted—wisely, we think—to favor a foxy roofline over adult-rated rear headroom. Quarter glass that sags down for extra visibility also gives the coupe some graphic identity, as do the two scimitars for headlights. The fenders bulge alluringly with their big Bridgestones. However, Hyundai couldn't resist pasting on a corporate Sonata grille that does little for cooling and even less for the coupe's cunning visage.
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Shepard Fairey Points Out That The AP Used His Image Without A License
from the getting-down-and-dirty dept
The doctrine of unclean hands and basic principles of equity prohibit The AP from contending that Counterclaim Defendants' Obama Works infringe The AP's copyrights when The AP itself exploits the copyrighted work of Fairey and other artists without permission and in a manner that is far less transformative than the Obama Works, as illustrated but not limited to, the photographs listed above.It seems this battle is getting nasty. Of course, while making these claims may feel good, it's hard to believe that they'll be all that compelling. The AP will clearly claim that its photos of these pieces of artwork were fair use, as part of news commentary. But, that's probably part of the point being raised by Fairey's legal team. It's unlikely to believe that the AP really abused Fairey's copyright or the copyrights of these other artists, but if it can get the AP defending its acts on fair use principles, then they can easily use the AP's words against it, in explaining why Fairey's image is also covered by fair use.


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The buzz over cloud computing has pushed stocks in that business past reasonable valuations, particularly Medidata Solutions, which is overpriced even after badly missing third-quarter expectations, a situation that has Charles Rotblut, editor of AAII Journal, tagging the stock as his "Sell of the Week."
Appearing on MoneyLife With Chuck Jaffe, Rotblut said Medidata "whiffed on earnings expectations," reporting earnings of 24 cents per share when analysts expected 31 cents. With a price-to-earnings ratio of 31 and a price-to-book ratio of 8.6 and revenues rising 21%, Rotblut said there is no denying that the company is going strongly, but noted that the growth rate is already priced into the shares.
"Everything in the market has a price, and that's the key point, that you always want to pay a reasonable price for a stock," Rotblut said, "and when you have a company that is missing analyst estimates – you're seeing analysts cut their estimates down by a significant margin – you don't want to pay a high premium for the stock.
"People are looking at the stock saying 'It's a cloud company, therefore I am going to pay more,'" Rotblut added, "but at the end of the day you are paying for growth and right now the stock is priced well above its growth prospects."
Rotblut noted that Medidata Solutions has enough momentum to hold off a downturn for awhile, but he noted that with the industry median P/E at 21, a downturn of 40% is possible if the stock lives up to the signs it is showing of reverting to the industry mean. At this point, he said, the downside risk is greater than the potential rewards in the stock.
"The market is never going to tell you that you are being left holding the hot potato," Rotblut said. "You are better off taking profits away than staying in the stock too long."
You can listen to the interview at www.moneylifeshow.com.
– Chuck Jaffe
Follow The Tell blog on Twitter @thetellblog


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Lakers' Matt Barnes out of jail after warrant arrest
Lakers' Matt Barnes out of jail after warrant arrest
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes has been released from jail after being arrested on suspicion of threatening a police officer who stopped him for a traffic warrant.
Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Paul Ford says Barnes posted $51,000 bail and was released shortly before 11:30 p.m. Monday, some three hours after his arrest.
The 32-year-old Barnes was walking in the Los Angeles suburb when he was stopped and arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for driving on a suspended license.
Ford says Barnes allegedly made a verbal threat to the officer and was arrested for that as well.
A call to the Lakers seeking comment wasn't immediately returned early Tuesday.
Barnes was the Lakers' top-scoring reserve this past season, averaging 7.8 points per game.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
The post Lakers' Matt Barnes out of jail after warrant arrest appeared first on theGrio.


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Gary Plant Rescinded Job Offer Because of Disability, Federal Agency Charges
HAMMOND, Ind. – United States Steel Corporation, a Pittsburgh-headquartered steel manufacturing company, violated federal law by denying a job to an applicant because of his disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.
According to the EEOC's suit, U.S. Steel's Gary, Ind., plant rescinded an offer of employment and refused to hire an applicant when it learned of his disability through a post-job-offer medical examination.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. United States Steel Corporation, Civil Action No. 2:09-cv-093, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.
"People in any workplace should be treated fairly and consistently," said Danny R. Harter, director of the EEOC's Indianapolis District Office. "Employees must be judged by their ability to do the job, not on discriminatory assessments related to disability or other non-job-related stereotypes."
The EEOC is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the company as well as other relief, including a permanent injunction to prevent the company from engaging in any employment practice that discriminates on the basis of disability.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov. The EEOC's Indianapolis Office is located at 101 W. Ohio Street, Suite 1900. The toll-free telephone number is (800) 669-4000.
This page was last modified on April 15, 2009.
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Wall Street Doesn't Encourage Big Technology Changes
Professor Mary Benner's Sunday Q&A with Susan Feyder of the Star Tribune.
Article by: SUSAN FEYDER , Star Tribune
It's been said that Wall Street doesn't like surprises. Does that go for game-changing innovation, too?
Recent studies by Mary Benner, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, concludes that's often the case for major players in their industries. She examined how analysts reacted when companies like Kodak and Polaroid shifted to digital photography or when telecommunications companies began pursuing Voice over Internet Protocol technology. Analysts showed a preference for incremental change rather than breakthrough innovation.
Benner came to the Carlson School last year from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She's a Minnesota native who earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the U of M and also held several management positions with Honeywell.
Read the interview here.


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CANTON, OHIO -- On black Friday, my 28 year old daughter and I purchased $200 of clothes at Ann Taylor Loft. We were impressed with the sale that was going on (50% off) and we also received discount cards to be used a week later for $25 off for every $50 spent. I went back when the discount period was in effect to purchase a dress that my daughter tried on, but we hadn't purchased at our last visit. I was so excited to get the dress with the discount card. Imagine my surprise when the clerk told me that the discount couldn't be used because the dress was on sale and the discount was not applicable on sale items.
I did not purchase the dress because I was so upset at being misled. The clerk should have clarified that information when we received the cards. Shame on Ann Taylor Loft for conducting a promotion that is not a promotion. During these tough economic times when stores are competing for the consumer's dollars Ann Taylor needs to be more aware. I'm looking for a new clothing store that doesn't mislead the customer.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA -- The sales staff and manager would not give me full refund with the receipts given, they would not honor the full return because they would not take the time or could not understand basic math or maybe reading. The receipts clearly indicated what the refund should be but all the staff and manager ganged up on me telling me I was wrong and refused to give me full refund. I had to drive across town to another Ann Taylor store the same day to get the full refund that should have been done to begin with. The staff is so arrogant, so rude, and condescending but they ended up to be wrong and I was right.
A few months ago I purchased several items online. One didn't fit correctly so I returned it to the Sacramento-Arden store. The clerk and her manager had a bad attitude because they thought I had worn it, plus it seems like they didn't like that I returned it. I went home angry and offended so I brought all the products back the next day. I don't like buying online because I sometimes have to return items, but there is never an adequate petite selection in stores.
I complained, via email, to the AT website, and I NEVER even received an apology. I continue to buy online at JCrew and the Gap. If I return the sales staff are SO nice. They realize that petites have no other choice, but to buy online and sometimes things just don't fit. I continue to resent their poor customer service, but I will not shop there again until I receive an apology.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- Do NOT purchase from Ann Taylor's online store if you wish to be greatly disappointed. First, their sizes aren't accurate to fit. Secondly, they offer discounted "final sale" items but NEVER in the purchasing process do they mention that the product can not be exchanged or returned. They do not CLEARLY post or define what final sale means. It is not until you receive your purchase and in the FINE legal print does it mention Final Sale items can not be returned or exchanged. Of course by now you have made a purchase and are out of luck.
They are misleading, uncooperative when you call customer service, which they have none – they make their policies benefit their company only and offer NOTHING to the consumer. BE warned, poor service, misleading purchases, in accurate fitting guides and poorly manufactured clothes is what you'll find at Ann Taylor (not to mention they are overly priced).
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- I have been an Ann Taylor shopper for years and every year, the quality of their clothing has gotten worse. This company has chosen to follow the latest trend in low quality disposable clothing that only holds up to a few wearings. Items are see through thin and look like they have been manufactured from cheese cloth rather than quality materials; I would gladly pay more for higher quality items that last. I will have to find a new retailer.
I'm disgusted with Ann Taylor's poor quality of clothes and their lack of concern about customer complaints all the way up to Kay Krill the president. Their Client Services are quick and polite and apologize a lot but they're not empowered to solve any problems. Bottom line: The clothes are beautiful but the quality is horrendous.
Almost all the Ann Taylor clothes I've purchased are poorly made. Here are a few of the major ones: Hems fallout of pants after 2-3 wears; Linings rip in suits after a few dry-cleans; Hole in pant pockets after 1 dry cleaning and returned to store; Suit wore once and seam split in pants with hole that needs sewn; Heel fell off shoes 1 week after purchase. How can Ann Taylor sell such poor quality clothes at such high prices in such premium store locations? Worse... and not care?


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Paul Drinkwater/NBC/AP
From marriage to the baby carriage, Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair sure do take their former Best Friends Forever roles seriously — even in the real world.
After tying the knot within one week of each other's nuptials — Parham, 36, wed Javier Guzman while St. Clair, 35, married Dan O'Brien in July 2006 — the two in-sync stars discovered they could add pregnancy pals to their long list of memorable BFF moments.
Parham and Guzman crossed the pending parenthood finish line first when they welcomed daughter Saraya on April 21, their rep confirms to PEOPLE exclusively.
And come fall St. Clair — whose due date is Oct. 1 — and her playwright husband O'Brien will welcome their own baby girl to their family, the rep adds.
But plunging into parenthood together isn't the end of the road for the dynamite duo.
In addition to cowriting and executive producing their upcoming series, Parham and St. Clair will costar on their new show Playing House, set to debut in 2014 on USA.
— Anya Leon


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ryan dell needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 71 designs submitted by 38 freelance designers.
Need simple and clever logo for an emerging technology that was just patented ---- the name of the product is 'Neptune' and it is an algorithm that is marketed with the tagline (EDIT): "putting the 'you' in GUI". Tag line not necessary, but may be interesting --- up to you. The name for the logo is Neptune. (Yanaboo is the company, fyi)
Yanaboo Enterprises offers high-priority, high-end, results driven technology
consulting to all industries for clients requiring sophisticated, reliable and
time-sensitive technological solutions. With operations in New York City
and Washington DC, Yanaboo saw its first client in the late days of 2002 and
now undertakes a considerable amount of for-profit and non-profit endeavors
(with a diverse portfolio upon request). Yanaboo specializes in Web Design,
Infrastructure Maintenance, Computer Consultation,
Software Consulting, Security Consulting and Purchasing Management.
- Crisp text
- Clever logo
- Yanaboo Neptune Ψ represents Yanaboo'sinnovative approach to existing web technologies. Most Yanaboo products and services are in some way powered by Neptune Ψ, and a full featured rollout as well as an API will be released in the near future. Neptune is U.S. Patent Pending 61/134542.
- encorporate into letters some sort of arrows indicating that it is 'self-evolving' and 'autonomous' and these ideas
- too many colors
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Bobbi Brown long-wear even finish foundation
Bobbi Brown
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Barile '90 G'93 Taps "The Walking Dead" for Student-Centered Learning
Longtime Revere High School English teacher Nancy Barile '90 G'93 is using the popular AMC show "The Walking Dead" to bring student-centered learning to her classroom.
What are the requirements to study abroad?
Where can I study?
Emmanuel works with program providers who have programs in over 70 countries. You can search Studio Abroad to find programs that offer courses in a particular field of study. We can work with you individually to find a program that is suitable. Additionally, Emmanuel faculty offer travel courses in a variety of destinations and disciplines.
What can I study?
To build a schedule, you will need to review the courses on offer at each program site. You will meet with an advisor to determine how classes will transfer back to Emmanuel and whether they will fulfill particular requirements.
What are the application deadlines?
The deadline for studying abroad in the Fall or Academic Year is April 15. The deadline for Spring semester programs is October 15, and for Summer programs is March 15.
What is the application process?
You will need to complete a COF study abroad application on our online system called Studio Abroad, and then additionally complete the program providers external application form. Detailed application instructions will be discussed when you meet with the Office of International Programs. To be considered for admission to our programs, students should have, at the time of application, a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.50 on a 4.00 scale, however some programs may require a higher GPA. Meeting or exceeding the minimum cumulative GPA requirement, however, does not guarantee admission to a program. Admissions decisions are based on a full review of the file, including the academic recommendation, the personal statement, and academic and disciplinary records. Once admitted, students who are not in good standing or determined by the College not to be in compliance with any academic requirement or other rule, requirement or procedure of the University may be precluded from participation in a study abroad program. All admission decisions are final.
How long can I go abroad?
Students can go abroad for one or two semesters, or a summer. Emmanuel travel courses may be as short as one week or many as 6 weeks.
Where will I live?
Housing options vary by program. Students are housed in either dormitories, shared apartments, or homestays. Not all housing options are available at every program and no housing preferences are guaranteed.
How much will it cost?
For semester and year-long programs, students pay program fees directly to the program provider and not Emmanuel College. Detailed fees for each program are available on the program providers' external websites. Costs for travel courses vary by destination and duration of program and may be found on the programs' brochure on Studio Abroad.
Can I use my financial aid?
Students are unable to take institutional aid abroad on any third party program. Federal and state aid are portable, but students are encouraged to speak with their financial counselor to determine exact amounts and the paperwork necessary to ensure portability of aid. Institutional aid can be applied to Emmanuel Spring and Fall travel courses, but not standalone Summer courses.
If I go to a country where the native language is not English, will I have to know how to speak the language?
The majority of program providers have a mix of course taught in English and the native language of the host country, but the number of courses available varies by location and program. Some require that you take a language course as part of your course load while abroad. While this is not required at all programs, we do recommend that you study the language while you are abroad.
Do I need a visa?
Most programs do require a visa, however this varies by program and by your own citizenship. Note that obtaining the visa is the responsibility of the student.
Can I work while I am abroad?
In most cases the answer is no. If you are not a citizen of the country you are studying in, and are on a visa, you usually are prohibited from working while you are abroad. Some countries do allow you to work while you are abroad, but the number of hours you can work is strictly limited. Check with the consulate of the country you will be studying in.
Learn more about studying abroad by reading stories from our program alumni.
Emmanuel is a place where students broaden their sense of what's possible and prepare for inspiring careers in an ever-changing world. Be here.