Saturday, June 29, 2013

Large-scale quantum chip validated: Prototype quantum optimization chip operates as hoped

June 28, 2013 ? A team of scientists at USC has verified that quantum effects are indeed at play in the first commercial quantum optimization processor.

The team demonstrated that the D-Wave processor housed at the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center behaves in a manner that indicates that quantum mechanics plays a functional role in the way it works. The demonstration involved a small subset of the chip's 128 qubits.

This means that the device appears to be operating as a quantum processor -- something that scientists had hoped for but have needed extensive testing to verify.

The quantum processor was purchased from Canadian manufacturer D-Wave nearly two years ago by Lockheed Martin and housed at the USC Viterbi Information Sciences Institute (ISI). As the first of its kind, the task for scientists putting it through its paces was to determine whether the quantum computer was operating as hoped.

"Using a specific test problem involving eight qubits we have verified that the D-Wave processor performs optimization calculations (that is, finds lowest energy solutions) using a procedure that is consistent with quantum annealing and is inconsistent with the predictions of classical annealing," said Daniel Lidar, scientific director of the Quantum Computing Center and one of the researchers on the team, who holds joint appointments with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Quantum annealing is a method of solving optimization problems using quantum mechanics -- at a large enough scale, potentially much faster than a traditional processor can.

Research institutions throughout the world build and use quantum processors, but most only have a few quantum bits, or "qubits."

Qubits have the capability of encoding the two digits of one and zero at the same time -- as opposed to traditional bits, which can encode distinctly either a one or a zero. This property, called "superposition," along with the ability of quantum states to "tunnel" through energy barriers, are hoped to play a role in helping future generations of the D-Wave processor to ultimately perform optimization calculations much faster than traditional processors.

With 108 functional qubits, the D-Wave processor at USC inspired hopes for a significant advance in the field of quantum computing when it was installed in October 2011 -- provided it worked as a quantum information processor. Quantum processors can fall victim to a phenomenon called "decoherence," which stifles their ability to behave in a quantum fashion.

The USC team's research shows that the chip, in fact, performed largely as hoped, demonstrating the potential for quantum optimization on a larger-than-ever scale.

"Our work seems to show that, from a purely physical point of view, quantum effects play a functional role in information processing in the D-Wave processor," said Sergio Boixo, first author of the research paper, who conducted the research while he was a computer scientist at ISI and research assistant professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Boixo and Lidar collaborated with Tameem Albash, postdoctoral research associate in physics at USC Dornsife; Federico M. Spedalieri, computer scientist at ISI; and Nicholas Chancellor, a recent physics graduate at USC Dornsife. Their findings will be published in Nature Communications on June 28.

The news comes just two months after the Quantum Computing Center's original D-Wave processor -- known commercially as the "Rainier" chip -- was upgraded to a new 512-qubit "Vesuvius" chip. The Quantum Computing Center, which includes a magnetically shielded box that is kept frigid (near absolute zero) to protect the computer against decoherence, was designed to be upgradable to keep up with the latest developments in the field.

The new Vesuvius chip at USC is currently the only one in operation outside of D-Wave. A second such chip, owned by Google and housed at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, is expected to become operational later this year.

Next, the USC team will take the Vesuvius chip for a test drive, putting it through the same paces as the Rainier chip.

This research was supported by the Lockheed Martin Corporation; U.S. Army Research Office grant number W911NF-12-1-0523; National Science Foundation grant number CHM-1037992, ARO Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant W911NF-11-1-026.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/4cI-LVzkB_4/130628131027.htm

december 21 2012 norad 12/21/12 winter solstice Jabari Parker 2012 australia

Eminem admits drug abuse almost killed him

Celebs

37 minutes ago

IMAGE: Eminem

Jason DeCrow / AP file

Eminem in 2010

Rapper Eminem admits in a new documentary that his abuse of prescription drugs almost killed him. "My bottom was going to be death," the rapper said in an interview in "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," a 2013 documentary.

(Warning: The film excerpt is expletive-filled.)

The musician talks about how his first Vicodin was a revelation for him since it made him feel "mellow" and also took away his pain.

Friends tried to warn him that he was in trouble, Eminem said, but he pushed them away since he didn't view prescription drug abuse as the same as using crack or heroin.

?I would say, ?Get that (expletive) person outta here,? ? he said in the film. ?I can?t believe they said that (expletive) to me. ... I literally thought I could control (my drug problem)."

Soon the specific drugs didn't matter. "You're taking things that people are giving you that you don't even know what the (expletive) they are," Eminem said. "Xanax, Valium, tomato, to-mah-to."

The drugs caught up to the rapper and he had to be hospitalized. "Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died," he recalls in the film. "My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were gonna have to put me on dialysis, they didn?t think I was gonna make it. My bottom was gonna be death."

After leaving the hospital, Eminem relapsed within a month. "I remember just walking around my house and thinking every single day, like, I'm gonna (expletive) die." The rapper said he didn't sleep for three weeks, "not even for an (expletive) minute," and had to regain the ability to walk and speak.

"I just couldn?t believe that anybody could be naturally happy or naturally function or be just enjoying life in general without being on something," he said. "So I would say to anybody, ?It does get better.'"

"Entourage" star Adrian Grenier is one of the producers of the film, which includes interviews with Susan Sarandon and Woody Harrelson.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/eminem-drug-use-my-bottom-was-going-be-death-6C10486210

bats hunger games review jeff saturday jason smith jon corzine austin rivers austin rivers

Friday Afternoon Was Made for In-Browser Orcas

Friday Afternoon Was Made for In-Browser Orcas

It's Friday, and you're just about in the home stretch. Well, assuming you're not on Pacific Time, that is, in which case stop reading right now because your entire day is about to go pleasantly bobbing down the drain. Bobbing. Always bobbing. Just like our new whale friend here.

Bestowed upon us by a friend of a friend of a friend, this mysterious site sends the giant sea mammal following your cursor wherever it may go. We have no idea from whence it came nor who made it. All we know is that we may have just found our new best friend. Whaley, Shamu, Tad, whatever your name might be?we love you.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/friday-afternoon-was-made-for-in-browser-orcas-611902288

American Airlines Carlos Arredondo Pat Summerall Martin Richard friends awkward awkward

Friday, June 28, 2013

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

You spend a lot of time in your car. While a raucous engine note is all well and good, sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy some music over the long haul. These are the best in-car sound systems you can buy.

Whether it's Madonna or Motorhead, we all have our favorite driving songs. In certain cars they sound like crap, but others are an orchestral experience. Jalopnik readers know the best sound systems to enjoy the Fugees or Total Eclipse Of The Heart or whatever.

10) Acura ELS

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

Rumor has it that Acura's ELS system is one of the most capable in-car audio systems ever designed. It was designed by Elliot Scheiner, a Grammy award winning recording engineer and producer.

It has six independent channels of discrete audio, so there are dedicated channels of audio from nearly every corner of the car. I haven't heard it personally, but I imagine this makes for a pretty great listening experience.

Suggested By: GameCat235

9) Viper Harman Kardon

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

The new SRT Viper is available with an 18 speaker Harman Kardon sound system. You better believe it's a powerful system, since you have to hear it over the simply demonic roar of that V10 up front.

Now, you're probably saying that you want to hear that V10. And you do. But on a long haul trip, like when we drove the Viper from North Carolina to Texas, a quality stereo came in handy to cover up that V10 drone at highway speeds.

Suggested By: KyleN20

8) Audi B&O

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

In a lot of situations, the Bang and Olufsen experience is design first, sound second. Audi's B&O systems in the A6, A7, and A8 aren't the full fledged, cock of the wock, B&O system, but they are some of the best sounding stereos you can get in a luxury sedan today.

Complaints? Every B&O I've listened to in an Audi doesn't get loud enough. Maybe this is to protect the driver's very delicate ears. But if I want to blow my ears out to the Backstreet Boys, that's my prerogative.

Suggested By: Dwhite

7) Maybach Bose

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

A Maybach is as big as a concert hall. That's why XX-cchannel-M says that hearing the Maybach Bose system is like having the Rolling Stones in your backseat, performing while you sip champagne.

Usually, Bose seems to be just a name, and a bass-heavy name at that. In this case though, Bose is quality. At least that's what I've heard, since I don't get chauffered to work in a Maybach every day.

Suggested By: X-cchannel-M

6) Mark Levinson Lexus

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

Continuing the collaboration of car companies and amazing home audio systems, Mark Levinson and Lexus collaborated on some of the most celebrated in-car audio systems of recent memory.

Levinson systems are meant to sound like a concert hall, it's the philharmonic of sound systems.

Suggested By: teampenske3

5) Lexus LF-A Yamaha

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

While Mark Levinson takes care of the music part of the experience, Yamaha has a huge part in the in-car acoustics of the LF-A.

In order to get that sweet, sweet, V10 sound in the cabin, Yamaha created a complicated ducting and acoustic system that naturally amplifies the sound and brings it into the cabin. This isn't simulated like the BMW M5. This is real. And it looks like it's amazing.

Suggested By: SuperCharger Heaven

4) Maserati Bowers and Wilkins

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

Bowers and Wilkins makes some of the greatest in-home and headphone audio systems in the world. Maserati has one of the most orchestral exhaust notes ever.

Put them together, and you get a symphony of V8 grunt and screaming vocals.

Suggested By: lightsout565

3) Porsche Burmester

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

Porsche offers three tiers of audio excellence in the Panamera. The top rung is Burmester, and in the Panamera it's 16 speakers of audio delight.

This was my favorite car stereo that I've ever heard, until I heard number two.

Suggested By: Adam Spano

2) Aston Bang & Olufsen

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

Audi's B&O system is pretty good. But Aston's is on a different level. The stereo in the V12 Vantage is unbelievably good. Crisp highs, solid mids, banging bass, the range of the stereo is from another world.

At cruising speeds, I found myself pumping the stereo even louder than the engine at times, and that engine is truly one of the all time greats.

Suggested By: Victorious Secret

1) Bentley Naim

The Ten Most Unbelievable In-Car Audio Systems

Naim is a British maker of ultra high end audio systems. Bentley is a British maker of ultra high end luxury cars. The Bentley Mulsanne has a 20 speaker, 2,200 watt system which has to be simply unreal.

Even the lesser system in the Continental GT is one of the most incredible audio experiences I've ever had. Although I expect nothing less from a car that is basically a rolling living room.

Suggested By: In A Mini

Source: http://jalopnik.com/the-ten-most-unbelievable-in-car-audio-systems-597594908

mickael pietrus heart transplant the international preppers geraldo obama trayvon martin pietrus

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Future magazine focuses on interacting and experiencing

Future magazine focuses on interacting and experiencing [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Anu Seisto
anu.seisto@vtt.fi
358-405-471-609
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Media business becomes increasingly service-oriented

The Internet has a major impact on the consumers' media habits. The market situation for magazines is changing in line with the continuing increase of online media content. Success will require a completely new business approach. A recent study conducted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland highlighted value and experientiality perceived by the consumer as the starting point and prerequisite for service development of future magazines.

The digitalisation of the media has led to fragmented audiences and the rise of social media to adopt the role of an information filter alongside conventional information channels. Digital content and services continue to gain in popularity as smartphones and tablets become more common.

Genuine interaction required to commit readers

The magazine of the future will be a visible brand in printed, electronic and mobile media, and form a tight community created around a media brand. It will be essential that magazine services are accessible to consumers through several channels, both in printed and digital format. This includes reader communities that allow service users to become co-creators of content. The publisher will act as the coordinator of the community.

Emphasis will be on the readers' central role as customers of the magazine service. The readers must feel that their opinion counts and that they have an opportunity to influence. This will require genuine interaction that is honest and open the foundation of customer loyalty. It will be important to answer questions quickly and to show that media/the company values its customers.

The new service model offers consumers improved opportunities for choosing the most suitable content for themselves in whichever format they find most convenient at the time. If the best possible account is taken of the needs and experiential aspects of different consumer segments, then consumers will have an important role to play, and the magazine service will feel tailored.

Existing business models and audience metrics no longer suffice

In the digital environment, business risks are high. Advertisers react both to the changing economic climate and to burgeoning online media content. The transformation of the media business into a service business will demand a new approach that of a service-oriented business model.

The media business revolution has rendered existing business models and audience metrics obsolete. The Internet can be used to obtain information via a multiplicity of channels. This poses great challenges for publishers, and thus also for value chains.

Future magazines must take a more painstaking account of the various consumer groups, their needs, how they perceive different forms of media and what constitutes value for them in each media format, and how all this can be turned into profitable business in the years ahead. It is vital to understand consumer needs and build strong brands that meet these needs in various channels. The crux will lie in generating benefit and making it pay.

Paper supplier becomes publisher's partner

Digitalisation and the declining use of printed products are also pressuring change in the forest industry.

According to VTT, the new role of paper manufacturers will cover not only the production of raw material for the printed product's value network, but consultation to provide information and support for customers' processes. Paper manufacturers would be wise, therefore, to expand their role from enhancing the publication process towards enhancement of the magazine business.

Printed products will retain their place in the hearts of consumers, but the kind of experiential significance they embody will be rather more difficult to discern. Here the paper manufacturer can easily support the publisher. Understanding of the business logic and needs of a publisher-customer will be an advantage, and open dialogue with the customer of vital importance. The goal is to establish a good relationship based on mutual trust, a relationship with the potential of becoming a partnership.

The paper manufacturer would benefit from knowing the operators of the printed product's value network and other networks of the magazine service, and above all, the end-users of the service the readers.

In the future magazine project Fumaga, VTT searched for new service models by means of four case studies: hybrid media applications in magazines, new title launch, brand experience and service concepts for customers' processes.

###

Aalto University also took part in the project. Fumaga was funded by Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation; Viestinnn Tutkimussti (a communications research foundation); pulp and paper company group Sappi; and biofore company UPM.

The publication can be found online at http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/technology/2013/T83.pdf


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Future magazine focuses on interacting and experiencing [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Anu Seisto
anu.seisto@vtt.fi
358-405-471-609
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Media business becomes increasingly service-oriented

The Internet has a major impact on the consumers' media habits. The market situation for magazines is changing in line with the continuing increase of online media content. Success will require a completely new business approach. A recent study conducted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland highlighted value and experientiality perceived by the consumer as the starting point and prerequisite for service development of future magazines.

The digitalisation of the media has led to fragmented audiences and the rise of social media to adopt the role of an information filter alongside conventional information channels. Digital content and services continue to gain in popularity as smartphones and tablets become more common.

Genuine interaction required to commit readers

The magazine of the future will be a visible brand in printed, electronic and mobile media, and form a tight community created around a media brand. It will be essential that magazine services are accessible to consumers through several channels, both in printed and digital format. This includes reader communities that allow service users to become co-creators of content. The publisher will act as the coordinator of the community.

Emphasis will be on the readers' central role as customers of the magazine service. The readers must feel that their opinion counts and that they have an opportunity to influence. This will require genuine interaction that is honest and open the foundation of customer loyalty. It will be important to answer questions quickly and to show that media/the company values its customers.

The new service model offers consumers improved opportunities for choosing the most suitable content for themselves in whichever format they find most convenient at the time. If the best possible account is taken of the needs and experiential aspects of different consumer segments, then consumers will have an important role to play, and the magazine service will feel tailored.

Existing business models and audience metrics no longer suffice

In the digital environment, business risks are high. Advertisers react both to the changing economic climate and to burgeoning online media content. The transformation of the media business into a service business will demand a new approach that of a service-oriented business model.

The media business revolution has rendered existing business models and audience metrics obsolete. The Internet can be used to obtain information via a multiplicity of channels. This poses great challenges for publishers, and thus also for value chains.

Future magazines must take a more painstaking account of the various consumer groups, their needs, how they perceive different forms of media and what constitutes value for them in each media format, and how all this can be turned into profitable business in the years ahead. It is vital to understand consumer needs and build strong brands that meet these needs in various channels. The crux will lie in generating benefit and making it pay.

Paper supplier becomes publisher's partner

Digitalisation and the declining use of printed products are also pressuring change in the forest industry.

According to VTT, the new role of paper manufacturers will cover not only the production of raw material for the printed product's value network, but consultation to provide information and support for customers' processes. Paper manufacturers would be wise, therefore, to expand their role from enhancing the publication process towards enhancement of the magazine business.

Printed products will retain their place in the hearts of consumers, but the kind of experiential significance they embody will be rather more difficult to discern. Here the paper manufacturer can easily support the publisher. Understanding of the business logic and needs of a publisher-customer will be an advantage, and open dialogue with the customer of vital importance. The goal is to establish a good relationship based on mutual trust, a relationship with the potential of becoming a partnership.

The paper manufacturer would benefit from knowing the operators of the printed product's value network and other networks of the magazine service, and above all, the end-users of the service the readers.

In the future magazine project Fumaga, VTT searched for new service models by means of four case studies: hybrid media applications in magazines, new title launch, brand experience and service concepts for customers' processes.

###

Aalto University also took part in the project. Fumaga was funded by Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation; Viestinnn Tutkimussti (a communications research foundation); pulp and paper company group Sappi; and biofore company UPM.

The publication can be found online at http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/technology/2013/T83.pdf


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/vtrc-fmf062713.php

will ferrell coachella zack greinke zack greinke jackie robinson Coachella 2013 Scary Movie 5

Chimps or humans: Who's the better baseball pitcher?

June 26, 2013 ? Little leaguers and professional baseball players alike have our extinct ancestors to thank for their success on the mound, shows a study by George Washington University researcher Neil Roach, which is featured on the cover of the June 27 edition of the journal Nature.

Of course, the ability to throw fast and accurately did not evolve so our ancestors could play ball. Instead, Dr. Roach's study proposes that this ability first evolved nearly 2 million years ago to aid in hunting. Humans are unique in their throwing ability, even when compared to our chimpanzee cousins.

"Chimpanzees are incredibly strong and athletic, yet adult male chimps can only throw about 20 miles per hour -- one-third the speed of a 12-year-old little league pitcher," said Dr. Roach, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral scientist in GW's Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Roach and colleagues from Harvard University set out to discover how humans throw so well, and when and why this ability evolved.

Using a 3-D camera system, like those used to make video games and animated movies, they recorded the throwing motions of collegiate baseball players, finding that the human shoulder acts much like a slingshot during a throw, storing and releasing large amounts of energy.

"When humans throw, we first rotate our arms backwards away from the target. It is during this 'arm-cocking' phase that humans stretch the tendons and ligaments crossing their shoulder and store elastic energy," Dr. Roach said. "When this energy is released, it accelerates the arm forward, generating the fastest motion the human body produces, resulting in a very fast throw."

Dr. Roach and colleagues also found that certain anatomical features in the torso, shoulder and arm that evolved in our hominin ancestors made this energy storage possible. These features that allow humans to throw so well first appeared in the species Homo erectus approximately 2 million years ago.

"We think that throwing was probably most important early on in terms of hunting behavior, enabling our ancestors to effectively and safely kill big game," Dr. Roach said. "Eating more calorie-rich meat and fat would have allowed our ancestors to grow larger brains and bodies and expand into new regions of the world -- all of which helped make us who we are today."

Dr. Roach's study may also have important modern-day implications for some athletes. Baseball pitchers, for example, throw much more frequently than our ancestors probably did.

"At the end of the day, despite the fact that we evolved to throw, when we overuse this ability it can end up injuring us," Dr. Roach said.

The next step for Dr. Roach and his colleagues is researching what humans were throwing so long ago, especially since stone projectile points don't appear in the archaeological record until much more recently. The likely weapons of choice? Rocks and sharpened wooden spears.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/dwGRxlC2hNo/130626142710.htm

abc bradley cooper channing tatum Jennifer Aniston naomi watts Oscar Nominations 2013 Beasts of the Southern Wild

Realistic robot carp created: First robot fish with autonomous 3-D movement in Asia

June 26, 2013 ? A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering has developed a robot fish that mimics the movements of a carp. This robot which is essentially an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is ready for applications, as it can be programmed to perform specific functions, for example, for underwater archaeology such as exploring nooks and corners of wreckage -- or sunken city which are difficult for divers or traditional AUVs to access. Other applications include military activities, pipeline leakage detection, and the laying of communication cable.

The team comprises Professor Xu Jianxin, Mr Fan Lupeng, graduating Electrical Engineering student and Research Fellow, Dr Ren Qinyuan. Mr Fan worked on the project for his final year which won the High Achievement Award at the Faculty's 27th Innovation and Research Award. It will also be featured at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, a top international conference on intelligent robots, in Tokyo on 3-7 November 2013.

Said Prof Xu, "Currently, robot fish capable of 2-D movements are common, meaning that these models are not able to dive into the water. Our model is capable of 3-D movements as it can dive and float, using its fins like a real fish. Compared to traditional AUVs, they are certainly more mobile, with greater manoeuvrability. If used for military purpose, fish robots would definitely be more difficult to detect by the enemy."

Fish robots are also quieter and consume less energy, compared to traditional AUVs. Said Mr Fan who studied the movements of real life carps for three months, in order to develop their robot, "We chose to study carps because most fish swim like them. There is no literature at all on designing a mathematical model on the locomotion of fish and so we had to start from scratch. We used a camera to capture all the possible movements of a carp and then converted the data mathematically so that we could transfer the locomotion of real carp to our robot using different actuators."

This has been most challenging as fish use a lot of different muscles to move, and many actuators are required to enable the robot to move in the same manner.

Added Dr Ren, "Some fish can achieve almost 180 degree turning in a small turning radius through bending their body while traditional underwater vehicles have a much larger turning radius. Hence it is quite a feat for us to achieve this movement in our robot fish."

Other challenges included waterproofing the fish body, the motor and the control box. The fins and tails also need to be flexible and the team decided to use very fine (1mm) acrylic board for these. Buoyancy and balance for the robot is maintained by using plastic foams attached to both sides. For the diving mechanism, their robot fish is equipped with an internal ballast system to change density. The system is sophisticated enough to enable the fish to dive suddenly, as well as to the precise depth intended.

The team has constructed two fish robots. The larger prototype is about one and half metres in length, weighing about 10kg and it can dive to a depth of 1.8 metres. The smaller robot is about 60 centimetres long and weighs a mere 1.5kg. It is developed for investigation on 2D motion control and motion planning in a small place, and it can only swim at water surface.

"To my knowledge, the world's smallest fish robot is one about 12.7 centimetres (5 inches) in length. It was designed by MIT for specific military purpose and could go to a depth of 1.5 metres," said Dr Ren.

Moving forward

Underwater vehicles have long gone past the days of the submarines, said Mr Fan. Fish robots, besides being a micro submarine, can also be fully autonomous and can be programmed to perform many difficult and dangerous tasks.

The team hopes to make their robot fish even smaller and more realistic. Said Mr Fan, "We intend to equip it with more sensors like GPS and video camera to improve autonomous 3-D movement. We also intend to test out our fish with more challenging tasks such as object detection."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/Hexvc4gQL0o/130626113027.htm

giada de laurentiis howard hughes nationwide race wanderlust gone tyler perry good deeds pretty in pink

This topic is gasoline, and I?m missing a match (Unqualified Offerings)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315414133?client_source=feed&format=rss

bent new york jets etch a sketch romney sean payton saints bounty program toulouse france ny jets

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Michael Jackson's son testifies singer was unhappy with promoter

By Brandon Lowrey

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's eldest son testified on Wednesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family against AEG Live that the late pop star was unhappy with the concert promoter in the run-up to his "This Is It" concert series in 2009.

Prince Jackson, 16, said he saw his father often get upset on the phone with AEG Live Chief Executive Officer Randy Phillips, but was unable to stand up for himself in disagreements.

"He would get off the phone, he would cry sometimes," Prince told jurors in a Los Angeles courtroom about his father. "He would say, 'They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me.' ... He was like my grandma. He was too kind to fight anybody."

Small parts of a video recording of Prince and younger sister Paris' deposition recorded months earlier had been played in court last week, but Prince was the first Jackson family member to testify in person at the trial.

Prince, who took the stand four years and one day after his father's death, was 12 when Jackson died at age 50 in Los Angeles from an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol ahead of a series of comeback concerts in London in 2009.

The "Thriller" singer's mother, Katherine, is suing privately held AEG Live, which was promoting Jackson's "This Is It" concerts, for negligence in hiring Dr. Conrad Murray as his personal physician.

Murray was caring for the singer as he prepared for the shows and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering the propofol that killed Jackson.

Prince, wearing a dark suit and tie, showed little emotion while testifying until he described his father's death, which was the first time any of Jackson's children have spoken publicly about it.

The teenager said he and his two younger siblings - sister Paris and brother Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket - were at their rented Los Angeles home when they heard a scream from the home's second level.

"I ran upstairs and I saw Dr. Conrad doing CPR on my dad on the bed," he said. "My dad was hanging halfway off the bed, and his eyes were rolled back in his head."

He added: "My sister was screaming the whole time, saying she wants her daddy. I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, crying, waiting for the ambulance."

'IT HURT A LOT'

Prince, his voice cracking with emotion, said Murray told them in a hospital waiting room that Jackson had a heart attack.

"Sorry kids, your dad's dead," Prince remembered Murray telling him.

AEG Live has said it did not hire or supervise Murray and argues that Jackson had prescription drug and addiction problems for years before entering into any agreement with the company.

AEG Live also has said they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.

Katherine Jackson, 83, along with the singer's three children are listed as plaintiffs in the case. The trial began in late April and is expected to last for another month.

Earlier witnesses for the plaintiff have testified that Jackson had grown so weak he had difficulty executing dance moves and recalling song lyrics, and that Murray's monthly salary from AEG Live would be a conflict of interest in his care of the singer.

Prince also testified that Jackson's death has taken an emotional toll on the children.

"I have a hard time sleeping," the teen said. "I became emotionally distant from a lot of people."

Paris, 15, who has been hospitalized after an apparent suicide attempt earlier this month, has taken the loss of her father the hardest, Prince said.

"I think out of all of our siblings, she was probably hit the hardest because she was my dad's princess," he said. "It hurt a lot and she definitely is dealing with it in her own way."

Following Prince's testimony, the Jackson family's attorney, Brian Panish, said at a news conference outside the courthouse that Prince had answered questions consistently and credibly.

"He is a nice, bright young man who has a great future and I think that's because of the father who raised him," Panish said.

The attorney added that Jackson's youngest son, Blanket, will not be summoned in this case, and a decision is still being made on whether Paris will be called up to testify.

(Writing by Eric Kelsey, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michael-jacksons-son-testify-singers-wrongful-death-trial-013036116.html

nbc sports morgan freeman Survivor Philippines Fashion Island shooting Victor Cruz nfl standings Vicki Soto

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Justices Send Affirmative-Action Case to Lower Court (WSJ)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314845962?client_source=feed&format=rss

ashley greene marquette university Chris Porco cbs sports ncaa tournament kids choice awards Miley Cyrus Twerk

93% The Sapphires

All Critics (125) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (116) | Rotten (9)

The harmonies they strike in this reality-inspired charmer are sweetly sublime.

You could drive an Abrams tank through the film's plot holes, but you'll likely be too busy enjoying yourself to bother.

"The Sapphires" feels like a movie you've already seen, but it's nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable, like a pop song that's no less infectious when you know every word.

"The Sapphires" sparkles with sass and Motown soul.

Sapphires is hardly a cinematic diamond mine. But this Commitments-style mashup of music and melodrama manages to entertain without demanding too much of its audience.

Quite possibly the least original movie you'll see this summer -- and one of the most enjoyable.

The mood is so charming and the music so inspiring that you continually cut it a break.

By-the-numbers in every sense of the word, the film tracks a tried-and-true sort of triumph while featuring renditions of soul classics so bursting with energy and joy you won't care that the originality meter is leaning on empty.

Even when it seems contrived The Sapphires is a feel-good movie in the most positive meaning of that term, thanks to the Motown music and O'Dowd's cheeky charm. Like the Four Tops, I loved every sugar pie, honey bunch moment. I can't help myself.

Unfortunately, it has been turned into a routine and uninspiring movie, following a tired, old formula the entire way.

A surefire crowdpleaser with all the ingredients for the type of little-movie-that-could sleeper success that Harvey Weinstein has nurtured in years and award seasons past.

You've seen this story before, but never pulled off with so much joie de vivre.

They can put a song across just like the Dreamgirls. What's not to like?

Exuberant but fairly formulaic.

Doesn't always mix its anti-prejudice message and its feel-good nostalgia with complete smoothness. But despite some ragged edges it provides a reasonably good time.

Director Wayne Blair -- another veteran of the stage show -- finds his footing during the film's many musical numbers.

Despite the prosaic plot and reserved approach taken by Blair, Briggs, and Thompson, it's tough to get cynical about such a warmhearted picture that strives to tell so uplifting a story.

A movie with enough melody and camaraderie to cover up its lack of originality.

No quotes approved yet for The Sapphires. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_sapphires_2012/

Fathers Day Quotes Stevie J mothers day 2012 osama bin laden death spinal muscular atrophy brooklyn nets may day protests

Monday, June 24, 2013

Ecuador: Snowden would be protected on our soil

Reactions were split in Ecuador today over news Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who is wanted on espionage charges by the US, had requested asylum from the South American nation.

For supporters of leftist President Rafael Correa, recently reelected in a landslide victory, there was immense pride that Ecuador was once more demonstrating its credentials for "protecting freedom and fighting imperialism," following its decision to grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange one year ago.

"We do not just protect the rights of Ecuadoreans but the universal rights of all citizens of the world, we are so happy the world can see this," said Congressman Bairon Valle.

RECOMMENDED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz.

For others, such comments were further proof of government hypocrisy, coming soon after the passing of a sweeping new media law allowing even greater government control of an already restricted press.

According to press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders, the new law contains good principles but attempts to enforce them with "questionable or dangerous provisions" that fail to outline the criteria for which news reports will be considered acceptable, and hand the government too much power. Ecuador was ranked 119 out of 179 countries in its 2013 World Press Freedom Index, slipping 15 places from its position the previous year.

SAVING SNOWDEN FROM PERSECUTION?

At a press conference in a Vietnam hotel this morning, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Pati?o compared Mr. Snowden's case to the "persecution" of soldier Bradley Manning, accused of passing thousands of classified US documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

"We will take a decision in due time?. Human rights principles will always be placed above any other interest," said the minister.

The comments followed a dramatic day of developments Sunday as it emerged Snowden had managed to leave Hong Kong on a commercial flight to Russia with the help of WikiLeaks' legal team, despite reportedly having had his US passport revoked.

"WikiLeaks has assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum in a democratic nation," said the group on Twitter, later releasing a statement elaborating, "He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador." Minister Pati?o confirmed that Ecuador had received an asylum request, and the country's ambassador to Russia, Patricio Chavez, reportedly met Snowden at a hotel in Moscow.

Russian media reported Sunday that Snowden was expected to fly to Venezuela via Cuba this morning, but at the time of publication he was believed to still be in Russia.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has just marked the one year anniversary of his stay at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has sought refuge from deportation to Sweden where he faces questioning over sexual assault allegations that he says are part of a plot to extradite him to the US. The UK has refused to allow him safe passage to the South American nation, insisting that if he sets foot outside the embassy he will be arrested.

Mr. Assange claimed Sunday that WikiLeaks had worked with Snowden to get him a special refugee travel document from Ecuador which allowed him to leave Hong Kong, accompanied by members of the website's legal team.

Ecuador does have an extradition treaty with the US, but it does not apply to people charged with political crimes. Assange ? should the US instigate criminal proceedings against him ? would likely be exempt, and Ecuador may argue Snowden should also be protected on the same grounds.

CORREA AS ANTI-IMPERIALIST

Assange's asylum bid propelled the small Latin American nation into the global spotlight and allowed President Correa, who has styled himself as an anti-imperialist crusader, to boast of Ecuador's determination to protect fundamental rights from threatening Western superpowers. Snowden will provide yet more welcome publicity.

But critics accuse him of hypocritical opportunism, pointing to the stifling of rights within Ecuador itself ? most notably the threatening and curtailment of the press, members of which Correa has called "rabid dogs" and "assassins with ink."

Press freedom groups fear harassment of journalists will get even worse following the approval of a media law earlier this month that will create a government watchdog to regulate newspaper and television content.

Dr. Blasco Pe?aherrera Padilla, Ecuador's vice president between 1984 and 1988 with the conservative Social Christian Party, said, "This law will without doubt eliminate any investigative journalism that seeks to uncover official wrongdoing, and it is simply ridiculous that a government that has just imposed it will then try to justify the possible asylum of a citizen accused of grave crimes against US public security as a defense of free speech."

Mark Weisbrot, an analyst at the think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, says claims of media restriction are exaggerated. "I'm not defending everything Correa has done but there are criminal libel laws just as strict in France and Germany, but if I accused France of trying to suppress dissent no one would take me seriously," he says. "If you've been to Ecuador you know there is a free press where you see more fierce criticism of the government than you do here in the US."

Almost any country in South America would have accepted Assange's asylum request as it was "clear-cut," says Weisbrot, and he expected Ecuador would soon approve Snowden's.

RECOMMENDED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz.

Related stories

Read this story at csmonitor.com

Become a part of the Monitor community

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-snowden-protected-soil-204922650.html

Espn Bracket First Day Of Spring 2013 Bates Motel Michelle Shocked ncaa bracket bracket Jason Terry

Stuntwoman, pilot killed in Ohio air show crash

CINCINNATI (AP) ? A budget analyst with a daredevil streak, Jane Wicker knew she was taking a risk when she signed up to entertain thousands of spectators at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton.

She said in a TV interview she felt confident of her ability and said on her website that lots of practice makes her signature stunt a "managed risk." She planned to hang underneath the plane's wing by her feet and sit on the bottom of the airplane while it was upside-down.

It wasn't clear Saturday what went so wrong. The biplane glided through the sky, rolled over, then crashed and exploded into flames, killing the wing walker and the pilot, authorities said. No one else was hurt.

A video posted on WHIO-TV shows the small plane turn upside-down as the performer sits on top of the wing. The plane then tilts and crashes to the ground, erupting into flames as spectators screamed.

Ian Hoyt, an aviation photographer and licensed pilot from Findlay, was at the show with his girlfriend. He told The Associated Press he was taking photos as the plane passed by and had just raised his camera to take another shot.

"Then I realized they were too low and too slow. And before I knew it, they hit the ground," he said.

He couldn't tell exactly what happened, but it appeared that the plane stalled and didn't have enough air speed, he said. He credited the pilot for steering clear of spectators and potentially saving lives.

"Had he drifted more, I don't know what would have happened," Hoyt said. He said he had been excited to see the show because he'd never seen the scheduled performer ? wing walker Jane Wicker ? in action.

The show was canceled for the rest of the day, but organizers said events would resume Sunday and follow the previous schedule and normal operations. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash.

On the video, the announcer narrates as the plane glides through the sky and rolls over while the stuntwoman perches on a wing.

"Now she's still on that far side. Keep an eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker, sitting on top of the world," the announcer said, right before the plane makes a quick turn and nosedive.

Federal records show the 450 HP Stearmans was registered to Wicker, who lived in Loudon, Va. A man who answered the phone at a number listed for Wicker on her website said he had no comment and hung up.

One of the pilots listed on Wicker's website was named Charlie Schwenker. A post on Jane Wicker Airshows' Facebook page announced the deaths of Wicker and Schwenker, and asked for prayers for their families.

A message left at a phone listing for Charles Schwenker in Oakton, Va., wasn't immediately returned.

Dayton International Airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes and Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Anne Ralston confirmed that a pilot and stunt walker had died but declined to give their names. The air show also declined to release their identities.

Another spectator, Shawn Warwick of New Knoxville, told the Dayton Daily News that he was watching the flight through binoculars.

"I noticed it was upside-down really close to the ground. She was sitting on the bottom of the plane," he said. "I saw it just go right into the ground and explode."

Thanh Tran of Fairfield said he could see a look of concern on the wing walker's face just before the plane went down.

"She looked very scared," he said. "Then the airplane crashed on the ground. After that, it was terrible, man ... very terrible."

Wicker's website says she responded to a classified ad from the Flying Circus Airshow in Bealeton, Va., in 1990, for a wing-walking position, thinking it would be fun. She was a contract employee who worked as a Federal Aviation Administration budget analyst, the FAA said.

She talked to WDTN-TV in an interview this week about her signature stunt.

"I'm never nervous or scared because I know if I do everything as I usually do, everything's going to be just fine," she told the station.

Wicker wrote on her website that she had never had any close calls.

"What you see us do out there is after an enormous amount of practice and fine tuning, not to mention the airplane goes through microscopic care. It is a managed risk and that is what keeps us alive," she wrote.

In 2011, wing walker Todd Green fell 200 feet to his death at an air show in Michigan while performing a stunt in which he grabbed the skid of a helicopter.

In 2007, veteran stunt pilot Jim LeRoy was killed at the Dayton show when his biplane slammed into the runway while performing loop-to-loops and caught fire.

Organizers were presenting a trimmed-down show and expected smaller crowds at Dayton after the Air Force Thunderbirds and other military participants pulled out this year because of federal budget cuts.

The air show, one of the country's oldest, usually draws around 70,000 people and has a $3.2 million impact on the local economy. Without military aircraft and support, the show expected attendance to be off 30 percent or more.

___

Thomas reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press writers Kerry Lester in Chicago and Randy Pennell in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Raw video of crash: http://bit.ly/11Vf7JA

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stuntwoman-pilot-killed-ohio-air-show-crash-073948128.html

bolton muamba crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder

Italy court finds Berlusconi guilty on sex charges

By Silvia Aloisi

MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan court sentenced Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday to seven years in prison after convicting him of paying for sex with a minor but he will not have to serve any jail time before he has exhausted appeals.

With two appeals possible, it could be years before a verdict is final and Berlusconi lawyers announced they would file an appeal against what his counsel Niccolo Ghedini called a "completely illogical" verdict.

The verdict against the flamboyant 76-year-old media tycoon added to the complications facing Prime Minister Enrico Letta, whose fragile left-right coalition is supported by Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party.

Berlusconi was found guilty of paying for sex with former teenage nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known under her stage name "Ruby the Heartstealer", during alleged "bunga bunga" sex parties at his palatial home near Milan.

The panel of three judges, all women, also convicted him of abuse of office by arranging to have El Mahroug released from police custody when she was detained in a separate theft case. As a result, the judges banned Berlusconi from public office.

The verdict closes a two-year trial that has mesmerized Italy with its accounts of "bunga bunga" parties at the billionaire's private villa outside Milan while he was premier in 2010.

Several PDL members have urged Berlusconi to withdraw his backing for the government, and he may be more tempted to do so if he decides it is giving him no legal protection.

"It's disgusting, a disgrace," one of his most faithful lieutenants, senior party official Daniela Santanche, told reporters in front of the Milan court. But she said it would not impact the functioning of the government.

"We want this government to act to do the things Italians need, so this ruling has nothing to do with the ruling."

Berlusconi always denied wrongdoing and says he is being persecuted by left-wing prosecutors. He says the purported sex parties were elegant dinners where the female guests performed "burlesque" shows. El Mahroug denies having sex with Berlusconi.

CALL TO POLICE

In May 2010, the then-prime minister called a Milan police station to instruct officials to release El Mahroug, who was being held on suspicion of stealing a bracelet.

A Brazilian prostitute who lived with El Mahroug had called the premier on his mobile phone to tell him she had been arrested, prosecutors said.

Berlusconi's lawyers have said he made the call to avoid a diplomatic incident because he believed that El Mahroug, who is actually Moroccan, was the grand-daughter of Hosni Mubarak, then the Egyptian president. The prosecution says he was anxious to cover up the relations he had with her at his sex parties.

The media magnate has recently used his own television stations to promote his version of events, with his flagship Canale 5 channel broadcasting a prime-time documentary on the so-called "Ruby Trial".

The verdict is only part of Berlusconi's legal problems. Last month an appeals court upheld a four-year jail sentence against him for orchestrating a tax fraud scheme in his business dealings - leaving him just one more appeal, at the Supreme Court, which could come within a year.

Despite Berlusconi's professions of loyalty to Letta, many analysts believe he will eventually prefer to gamble on another election, in which he could potentially become prime minister once again, rather than risk a definitive sentence.

Even if Berlusconi opts to keep backing the government, a guilty verdict would make parts of Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) highly uneasy and increase the coalition's instability, according to Giovanni Orsina, professor of contemporary history at Rome's Luiss University.

"The PD would be in the same majority with a person who has been condemned in the first degree for juvenile prostitution, which is not a trivial issue," he said. "It would add up to a difficult situation."

(Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-court-finds-berlusconi-guilty-sex-charges-153729068.html

eric holder eric holder carole king crystal renn matilda cab calloway melissa gilbert

Sunday, June 23, 2013

For those who leave the Hasidic world, new life starts slowly

By Alissa Figueroa
Rock Center

In the heart of New York City, a deeply religious community has created its own secluded island, where Yiddish is the primary language, men wear towering black hats and long robes even on the most sweltering summer day, and mothers lead broods of eight or 10 children.

They are Hasidic Jews - the descendants of a small group of ardent followers whose Eastern European villages were all but decimated during the Holocaust. For the better part of the last century they've been building their own communities in Brooklyn, maintaining the dress, language and traditions of their ancestors.

There?s an estimated 300,000 people living in various Hasidic communities in New York City, and they're poised to become the largest Jewish denomination in the city in the next two decades.

"There's a conviction that their way of life is special, unique, authentic," says Samuel Heilman, professor of Anthropology at Queens College. "It's a belief that what comes from the past is superior to what is in the present."

Much of the secular world is off-limits, including television, non-religious books and most websites.

Instead, religious study is emphasized, as is devotion to God and family. Most Hasids are wedded in arranged marriages while in their teens or early 20s. In a few years, they?re expected to be on their way to building a large family.

Avraham Berkowitz is a rabbi in the Lubavitcher Hasidic community. He says that this focus on family and religion is worth preserving.

?The modesty in the dress, the language in the house, standing up for parents, not interrupting when adults are speaking. That kind of protected lifestyle, that is what we have today,? says Berkowitz.

?You have to be able to pick and choose what to bring in and what to keep out that's negative.?

LEAVING THE COMMUNITY

But that seemingly simple life, while comforting and fulfilling for some, can feel oppressive for others.

?Most of the individuals that are coming to us, what we're seeing is they just want to learn. They want to study physics.? And they want to study how atoms work.? And they want to study math.? says Lani Santo, executive director of Footsteps, the only organization in New York that helps people leave Hasidic communities.

Sam Katz is a Footsteps member. A yearning for knowledge drew him away from the Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn where he was raised and into Manhattan. He describes sneaking into the Museum of Natural History, where the dinosaur skeletons caught his imagination like nothing in his religious books.

?There was something so connected about standing next to a dinosaur, something so-- universally harmonious-- for lack of a better word,? says Katz. ?It was just a feeling of this fantasy world.?

Katz?s secular education stopped when he reached middle school, when he, like other Hasidic boys, began focusing exclusively on religious study.?Yet, he?s managed to earn a bachelor?s degree in biochemistry, and is headed to Berlin in the fall on a Fulbright scholarship.

Hindy Sabel, who also left her Hasidic upbringing with the help of Footsteps, says she started questioning the Hasidic way of life as a child. She wanted to ride bikes around the neighborhood, says Sabel, like the boys could. And she wasn?t ready to get married before finishing college.

?I couldn?t be a leader in that community and I wanted to do something with my life,? says Sabel. That?s when she came to Footsteps with an older sister. Today, she?s working full time and studying for an MBA at New York University.

But picking up and leaving behind everything they?ve ever known isn?t easy. The process can take years of catching up.

?Footsteps members are very much like immigrants,? explains Santo. ?But they're immigrants to a country that they're citizens in.?

CONFRONTING PROBLEMS WITHIN

For Judy Braun, 31, getting out was particularly difficult.

Braun grew up strictly Hasidic in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and recalls a happy childhood filled with summer camping trips in the Catskills.

But when she was 12, Braun says she had a terrifying experience that would haunt her the rest of her life ? she found her friend trying to hang herself in the bathroom, and learned she?d been sexually abused.

Braun says the adults she told about the attempted suicide turned a deaf ear. She says she saw firsthand how the community refused to acknowledge that one of its own could abuse a child.

?Our rules and our laws will keep us pure, will keep these things from happening. Coming to terms with the fact that they will happen regardless undermines the entire idea of the truth,? says Braun. ?If our way of life doesn't prevent our men from turning into beasts, then what's the point of our way of life??


Feeling trapped by tradition, Braun ultimately got married and had children.? But in her mid-twenties, she started secretly writing about what she saw as a child.

That fictionalized account of her ordeal, "Hush," was published anonymously in 2010. While some supported her efforts, when her real name leaked out as the author, she said threats started coming in.? She received a copy of her book covered in fake blood, her car windows were smashed, and threatening messages were left on her phone.

?When you're an author of a book and you publicly shame the community, there is a full-out campaign against you at every level,? says Braun.

Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz says people are now acknowledging sexual abuse is happening.

?These type of crimes have to be eradicated,? He says. He insists, though, that the community can handle the problem internally.? ?We have to do it within the way the community knows how to solve its problems.? Cause sometimes when you come banging with drums from the outside, the community becomes more insular.?

In the last two years, Braun has come out publicly as the author of "Hush"? and started speaking out against abuse in the community. She recently divorced her husband and moved her children outside the boundaries of her old Hasidic neighborhood.

?It gives you more psychological safety,? says Braun. ?Even though it's not that far a drive, but you?re in a different place.?

?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2da1685b/l/0Lrockcenter0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C210C190A80A2780Efor0Ethose0Ewho0Eleave0Ethe0Ehasidic0Eworld0Enew0Elife0Estarts0Eslowly0Dlite/story01.htm

the ten commandments charlton heston moses tulsa shooting doug fister the perfect storm mickelson

With access to airwaves shrinking, Venezuela's opposition turns to the Web

Venezuela's opposition leader Capriles says he's losing space on the airwaves, so he's turned to the Internet to get his voice heard.

By Andrew Rosati,?Correspondent / June 21, 2013

Henrique Capriles (c.), Venezuela's opposition leader and governor of Miranda state, greets supporters during a visit to the community of San Francisco de Yare, 45 miles south of Caracas, May 31. Capriles aired the second episode of his Internet program this week as part of his ongoing efforts to maintain coverage.

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Enlarge

Claiming he's been increasingly ignored by local media outlets, former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles aired the second episode of his Internet program this week as part of his ongoing efforts to maintain coverage.?

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; // google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

"Some are interested in blocking information and making us invisible, but here we are," Mr. Capriles told the nearly 37,000 viewers of his hour-long, weekly Web-streamed program Venezuela Somos Todos, or All of Us are Venezuela.

Capriles is the first Venezuelan politician on the national stage to follow in the footsteps of former President Hugo Ch?vez in creating his own show. Mr. Ch?vez was famous for his rambling, marathon broadcasts on his talk show Al? Presidente (Hello Mr. President), a staple of his presidency.

Despite his gift for gab, the charismatic president often clashed with private media. Dozens of radio stations and a handful of cable channels were closed following the 2002 coup attempt, as Ch?vez largely blamed these outlets responsible for his brief ousting.

In addition to a shrinking media market, several important outlets have recently changed hands. Venezuela's opposition leader claims he's losing space on the airwaves and has since turned to the Internet to ensure his voice is heard. Capriles may now be making headlines as Twitter's most popular Latin American politician (second only to the late Ch?vez); however, analysts fear that social media and Web streams may struggle to compete with TV and radio news programming dominated by the state-run media, essentially keeping opposition media in an echo chamber.

Sale of Globovisi?n

Globovisi?n, widely considered to be the last standing television station to aggressively criticize the Ch?vez regime, was sold last month to a group of businessmen believed to be friendly with the government.

"It's a huge loss," says Mariana Bacalao, a media expert and professor at the Central University of Venezuela. Ms. Bacalao says options are shrinking for messages that don't walk the government line.

Observers say a narrow media market is a threat to freedom of information. "Clearly, when the [media] spectrum is only filled with official voices, the public loses diversity," says Carlos Laur?a, senior Americas program coordinator at the Center to Protect Journalists in New York.

Since the string of closures,?Globovisi?n was the only Venezuelan news network to regularly broadcast the opposition party's speeches live. Especially during the most recent presidential campaign.

Underscoring the quick change in editorial line after the sale, one outspoken Globovisi?n talk show host, Francisco "Kiko" Bautista, claimed he was fired for airing Capriles' speeches on his show shortly after the channel changed ownership.

But concerns go beyond just losing valuable airtime. Media group, Cadena Capriles ? which owns Venezuela's largest circulated print daily, ?ltimas Noticas ? was sold to an unidentified buyer earlier this month. The sale of the conglomerate, who's founder is said to be a distant relative of Capriles the politician, has led many to fear that Venezuelan newspapers will relegate opposition coverage to the back page.

'Alternative means'

"[We've been] forced to develop alternative means to expand access to our message," Capriles told reporters in his studio following Tuesday's broadcast.

Capriles fielded questions from a panel of journalists and responded to inquiries sent to his twitter feed during the hour-long show.

"The majority of Venezuelans still rely on traditional media [print and television] for their news and information,? Bacalao says. So, though the young Miranda State governor currently boasts about 3.5 million Twitter followers, his audience is likely to be specifically seeking him out. The Venezuelan Chamber of Electronic Commerce estimates that as much as half the public lacks Internet access.

Election season

At present, the opposition may be more concerned with upcoming municipal elections than pushing back against the government for space on the airwaves. Elections were recently announced for December 2013. The opposition is now gearing up for a renewed campaign, even developing a smart phone app to help connect voters to its candidates.

Marianela Balbi, executive director of Venezuela's Institute of Press and Society, says the opposition's efforts are part of greater media shift in the country in response to the closure of many outlets. "In [Venezuelan] elections there's a push away from traditional media," Ms. Balbi says.

Pointing to polarization in the media, and utilization of social media by the entire political spectrum ? Ch?vez started the twitter trend, constantly sending out endorsements of his party's candidates ? Balbi argues that, "We're moving away from a just few outlets, to greater participation by the electorate."

She says Venezuelans are now turning more to Twitter and Facebook to form their political opinions.

While it's too soon to tell if tweets and web streams can try to compete with the presence and accessibility to Venezuelan television, Balbi says that, given its options, the opposition's Internet-based efforts "are necessary."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/2TMAlC6Z15s/With-access-to-airwaves-shrinking-Venezuela-s-opposition-turns-to-the-Web

daughtry lakers trade ann arbor news nick young south dakota state long beach state beasley