Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295605377?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Locate the Best HiFi Shop
Getting the best hifi system for your home is obviously a daunting task. For some, the sound that a hifi system produces brings mood to the environment, while for audio aficionados a hifi system is panacea. Not everyone can afford these expensive products as they may overburden your monthly budget. However, for true music lovers, spending money on such premium products is not a big deal. Speaking of music maniacs, many teenagers also come into the list for whom spending this big amount is practically not possible. Hifi systems are undeniably high performers, but they can cost you as much as a luxury car. However, companies these days come up with many hifi products that are designed as such to meet the requirements of music lovers. These also come in a broad price range, making it possible for everyone to afford this amazing audio appliance.
Before you start shopping your ideal hifi system, you need first have a fair idea of your music preferences and the features you need in the hifi system. The next step is to locate the best hifi shop in your locality. Almost all electronics stores in the market have the latest hifi models displayed in their shop. At times, this can lead to confusion as from where to purchase your dream product. Finding the best hifi shop amidst this crowd can certainly baffle you. However, before getting done with a dealer, check out for all available options. Speak with your peers as from where they had bought their hifi. This will give you a rough idea of the shops where all you can get the best deals in the town. Make a list of these shops and do a further bit of research before stepping inside a particular store. Check the web as most stores have their dedicated websites. You can read customer reviews and rating about the deals and services that these shops provide. This will help you a lot in finding the best hifi shop among all in the list.
A best hifi shop is not only best because it gives you the most competitive and attractive deals, but also it gives you the best customer support service. Apart from pricing competencies, service is what matters the most when you spend loads of bucks on these expensive products. Taking home a hifi system is easy, but in case you don't get a proper service from your store, you will really face a hard time handling these exotic products. A good service not only ensures that you are taking home the best product, aptly suiting your needs, but also makes sure that customer service executives are always there for your help whenever you need them. This is also a stand out point of a best hifi shop. A best hifi shop if also where you get personalized attention to your needs. Most electronics stores these days have created many shopping guides for buying the best hifi. They also have product catalogues uploaded in their website for your convenience. You also can check out the best deals that these shops offer in their website itself before you decide and land up in a shop.
Before you start shopping your ideal hifi system, you need first have a fair idea of your music preferences and the features you need in the hifi system. The next step is to locate the best hifi shop in your locality. Almost all electronics stores in the market have the latest hifi models displayed in their shop. At times, this can lead to confusion as from where to purchase your dream product. Finding the best hifi shop amidst this crowd can certainly baffle you. However, before getting done with a dealer, check out for all available options. Speak with your peers as from where they had bought their hifi. This will give you a rough idea of the shops where all you can get the best deals in the town. Make a list of these shops and do a further bit of research before stepping inside a particular store. Check the web as most stores have their dedicated websites. You can read customer reviews and rating about the deals and services that these shops provide. This will help you a lot in finding the best hifi shop among all in the list.
A best hifi shop is not only best because it gives you the most competitive and attractive deals, but also it gives you the best customer support service. Apart from pricing competencies, service is what matters the most when you spend loads of bucks on these expensive products. Taking home a hifi system is easy, but in case you don't get a proper service from your store, you will really face a hard time handling these exotic products. A good service not only ensures that you are taking home the best product, aptly suiting your needs, but also makes sure that customer service executives are always there for your help whenever you need them. This is also a stand out point of a best hifi shop. A best hifi shop if also where you get personalized attention to your needs. Most electronics stores these days have created many shopping guides for buying the best hifi. They also have product catalogues uploaded in their website for your convenience. You also can check out the best deals that these shops offer in their website itself before you decide and land up in a shop.
Source: http://www.artipot.com/articles/1546435/locate-the-best-hifi-shop.htm
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Outdoor Track & Field Opens With Ram Relays at Clarkstown North ...
The spring track and field season kicked off on Saturday for a number of local teams, as they competed in the Ram Relays at Clarkstown North High School.
The competing schools were North, Clarkstown South, Nanuet, Nyack, North Rockland, Suffern and Tri-Valley.
Boys Results:
- 100 meters: Billy DeLay (Clarkstown North)
- 110 meter hurdles: Tom Flannery (Nanuet)
- 300 meter hurdles: Zach Nilsen (Tri-Valley)
- 1,600 meters: Vinny Vazquez (North Rockland)
- 800 meter relay: Clarkstown North (Billy DeLay, Aidan Devin, Jeremy Job, Dennis O?Connor)
- 1,600 meter relay: Clarkstown South (Najee Taylor, Sammy Abdallatif, Mike Guglielmo, Nick Jung)
- 3,200 meter relay: Suffern (Allan Bowen, Derek Mohunlal, Connor Gulick, Tim Boston)
- High Jump: Jeremy Job (Clarkstown North)
- Long Jump: Dennis O?Connor (Clarkstown North)
- Triple Jump: Chris McKiever (Suffern)
- Discus: Guido Porcelli (Clarkstown North)
- Shot Put: Eric Favors (North Rockland)
- Pole Vault: Justin Leanza (Suffern)
Girls Results:
- 100 meters: Nicole Dodrill (North Rockland)
- 110 hurdles: Mareena DiMilia (Tri-Valley)
- 300 hurdles: Sydney March (North Rockland)
- 1,600 meters: Ifetayo Tyler (Nyack)
- 800 meter relay: Clarkstown South (Bianca Boiano, Dana Rokicsak, Brianna McMahon, Tajai Kirkland)
- 1,600 meter relay: North Rockland (Wilvlyne Lauredent, Victoria Mevs, Aliyah Coley, Sheila Ramos)
- 3,200 meter relay: Suffern (Amrita Persaud, Ursula Svoboda, Angelica Matwiejczuk, Kristen Costantin)
- High Jump: Naomi Costabile (North Rockland)
- Long Jump: Kathleen Ellsworth (Suffern)
- Triple Jump: Wilvlyne Lauredent (North Rockland)
- Discus: Mareena DiMilia (Tri-Valley)
- Shot Put: Mareena DiMilia (Tri-Valley)
- Pole Vault: Heidi Tannhauser (North Rockland)
Source: http://newcity.patch.com/articles/photos-spring-track-field-season-opens-with-ram-relays
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Charleston, W.V., Worst for Well-Being, Gallup Poll Finds
Mar 30, 2013 7:00am
Charleston, W.V. ranks last for well-being. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Despite its slogan ? Hip, Historic ? Almost Heaven ? Charleston, W.V., comes in last on Gallup?s latest well-being poll.
The city scored a meager 60.8 points on the pollster?s well-being index ? a 100-point scale measuring physical and emotional health, work environment and access to basic necessities.
The nearby Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area scored 61.2, landing in the bottom two for the third year in a row.
Mobile, Ala., Utica-Rome, N.Y., Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C., and Fort Smith, Ark.-Okla., round out the roster of frequent bottom dwellers.
Topping the list was Lincoln, Neb., which scored 72.8, landing in the top 20 cities for the third year in a row. Honolulu came in first for emotional health, and Charlottesville, Va., ranked No. 1 for physical health, according to the poll.
Top 10 Metropolitan Areas for Well-Being
- Lincoln, Neb. ? 72.8
- Boulder, Colo. ??72.7
- Burlington-South Burlington, Vt. ??72.4
- Provo-Orem, Utah ??71.7
- Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo. ??71.6
- Barnstable Town, Mass. ??71.5
- Honolulu, Hawaii ??71.5
- Ann Arbor, Mich. ??71.4
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C., Va., Md., W.V. ??71.3
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif. ??71.2
Bottom 11 Metropolitan Areas for Well-Being
- Charleston, W.V. ??60.8
- Huntington-Ashland, W.V., Ky., Ohio ??61.2
- Mobile, Ala. ??62.4
- Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas ??62.5
- Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C. ??62.7
- Fort Smith, Ark., Okla. ??62.9
- Bakersfield, Calif. ??63.0
- Evansville, Ind., Ky. ??63.1
- Rockford, Ill. ??63.1
- Spartanburg, S.C. ??63.4
- Utica-Rome, N.Y. ??63.4
Click here to see how your city stacks up.
SHOWS: Good Morning America
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/03/30/charleston-w-v-worst-for-well-being-gallup-poll-finds/
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Pope refers to "Muslim brothers" on Good Friday
ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.
The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.
With torches lighting the way, the faithful carried a cross to different stations, where meditations and prayers were read out recalling the final hours of Jesus' life and his crucifixion.
This year, the prayers were composed by young Lebanese, and many recalled the plight of minority Christians in the region, where wars have forced thousands to flee their homelands. The meditations called for an end to "violent fundamentalism," terrorism and the "wars and violence which in our days devastate various countries in the Middle East."
Francis, who became pope just over two weeks ago, chose, however, to stress Christians' positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony.
Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Francis recalled Benedict XVI's 2012 visit to Lebanon when "we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others."
"That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world, a sign of hope," he said.
Friday's outreach followed Francis' eyebrow-raising gesture a day earlier, when he washed and kissed the feet of two women, one a Muslim, in the Holy Thursday ritual that commemorates Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.
Breaking with tradition, Francis performed the ritual on 12 inmates at a juvenile detention center, rather than in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica, where in the past, 12 priests have been chosen to represent Jesus' disciples.
Before he became pope, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio long cultivated warm relations with Muslim leaders in his native Argentina. In one of his first speeches as pope, he called for the church and the West in general to "intensify" relations with the Muslim world.
The Vatican's relations with Islam hit several bumps during Benedict XVI's papacy, when he outraged Muslims with a 2006 speech quoting a Byzantine emperor as saying some of Prophet Muhammad's teachings were "evil and inhuman." And in 2011, the pre-eminent institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world, Cairo's Al-Azhar institute, froze dialogue with the Vatican to protest Benedict's call for greater protection of Christians in Egypt.
However, Francis' past outreach to the Muslim community in Argentina seems to have changed that. Al-Azhar's chief imam, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, sent a message of congratulations to Francis on his election and said he hoped for cooperation.
The Vatican's efforts to reconcile with the Islamic world have not been welcomed by all. Italy's most famous Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, announced last week he was leaving the church because of its "soft" stance on Islam. Allam was baptized by Benedict XVI in 2008 during the high-profile Easter Vigil service when the pope traditionally baptizes a handful of adults. There has been no Vatican comment on his about-face.
Thousands of people packed the Colosseum and surrounding areas for the nighttime procession, holding candles wrapped in paper globes as Francis sat in silent prayer as a giant torch-lit crucifix twinkled nearby. Some in the crowd had Lebanese flags around their shoulders in an indication of the special role Lebanese faithful played in this year's procession.
Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East ? nearly 40 percent of the country's 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. As civil war has raged in neighboring Syria, Lebanon's Christian community has been divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Overall, Christians in the Middle East have been uneasy as the Arab Spring has led to the strengthening of Islamist groups in most countries that have experienced uprisings. Thousands of Christians have fled the region ? a phenomenon that the Vatican has lamented, given Christianity's roots in the Holy Land.
"How sad it is to see this blessed land suffer in its children, who relentlessly tear one another to pieces and die!" said one of the Good Friday meditations. "It seems that nothing can overcome evil, terrorism, murder and hatred."
Francis picked up on that message, saying Christ's death on the cross is "the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us."
"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," he said.
At the end of the ceremony, a male choir sang a haunting Arabic hymn, a reflection of the Eastern rite influence that infused the ceremony.
On Saturday, Francis presides over the solemn Easter Vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica and on Sunday, he celebrates Easter Mass and delivers an important speech. Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.
In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Friday "we'll have to see" what Francis does with the multilingual greetings.
The Good Friday procession was conducted entirely in Italian, whereas in years past the core elements recounting what happens at each station would be recited in a variety of languages.
___
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-refers-muslim-brothers-good-friday-001145243.html
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No end to Italy deadlock despite president's efforts
By James Mackenzie and Barry Moody
ROME (Reuters) - Italy remained in political deadlock on Friday after a new round of talks led by President Giorgio Napolitano failed to break the stalemate created by elections last month that left no group able to form a government alone.
Napolitano, 87, conducted a swift round of talks with the three main forces in parliament on Friday after the failure of a week of efforts by center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani to win support for a new government.
But all the parties remained in the same entrenched positions they have occupied since the February 24-25 election, with no sign of movement from any of them.
Bersani won the largest share of the vote in the election but fell short of a majority in parliament.
The third biggest force, Beppe Grillo's populist 5-Star Movement, which holds the balance of power, on Friday again rejected backing a Bersani government or any administration not led by them.
The center-left in turn reiterated that it would not enter a coalition with Berlusconi, which the 76-year-old billionaire media magnate said after his talks with Napolitano was the only way out of the crisis short of a snap new election.
Bersani's deputy, Enrico Letta, said after meeting Napolitano that a coalition with Berlusconi's center-right, "would not be the choice of change the country has asked for."
Berlusconi and 5-Star both ruled out backing a technocrat government like the one led by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, whom they both blame for pushing Italy into recession.
This had been seen as a possible alternative way to give Italy the government it needs to address a deep economic crisis.
"Our position has not changed. We expressed it with absolute clarity to the president," Berlusconi told reporters after the meeting with Napolitano.
Grillo on Friday scornfully rejected any idea of giving support for a government not led by his movement.
"Give them a vote of confidence? Those are swear words in the mouths of people like them," Grillo said in a live video broadcast on his popular blog. "They should all just go home."
Bersani says Berlusconi is untrustworthy and also rejects the latter's demand to nominate a successor to Napolitano, whose mandate expires in May.
PRESIDENT'S OPTIONS LIMITED
The refusal by Berlusconi and his allies in the Northern League, as well as Grillo, to back a technocrat government reduces Napolitano's options greatly and makes it much less likely that an independent figure will be able to lead a non-political administration.
"We were against the Monti government and if there is to be another government of that type it's a thousand times better to have new elections," League leader Roberto Maroni said.
The political gridlock has fed growing worries about Italy's ability to confront a prolonged economic crisis that has left it in deep recession for more than a year, with a 2-trillion-euro ($2.6-trillion) public debt and record unemployment, especially among the young.
Rumors have been circulating for days that ratings agency Moody's is preparing to cut its rating on Italy's sovereign debt, which is already only two notches above "junk" grade, partly due to the uncertain political outlook.
Napolitano has made clear that he does not want Italy to go back to new elections immediately, not least because the widely criticized election law is likely to just repeat the deadlock.
He made no announcement after the end of the talks on Friday and officials said he was considering his options. After the failure of the latest round of talks it is not clear what he can do to avoid a quick return to the polls.
Many are already preparing to vote again, with Berlusconi's center-right confident that the momentum created by his surge towards the end of the last campaign will continue.
A poll by the SWG company on Friday showed the center-right had pushed Bersani's bloc into second place since the vote.
(Additional reporting by Naomi O'Leary; Editing by Barry Moody and Michael Roddy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-president-seeks-way-political-deadlock-091517168.html
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Gene Simmons says music can save a child's life
Gene Simmons, the lead singer of the rock band Kiss, makes an unannounced appearance at a fundraiser concert at the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy, Saturday, Mar. 30, 2013, in Sioux Falls, S.D. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers)
Gene Simmons, the lead singer of the rock band Kiss, makes an unannounced appearance at a fundraiser concert at the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy, Saturday, Mar. 30, 2013, in Sioux Falls, S.D. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers)
Gene Simmons, the lead singer of the rock band Kiss, makes an unannounced appearance at a fundraiser concert at the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy, Saturday, Mar. 30, 2013, in Sioux Falls, S.D. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ? Kiss frontman Gene Simmons made a surprise appearance at a Sioux Falls benefit concert Saturday, where he spoke of music's power to positively shape children's lives.
Simmons's appearance came on the final day of a week of concerts to benefit the music academy for Sioux Falls Boys & Girls Clubs members.
"This is about kids. We've had our chance. We've got to give them a chance. Anything that gets them off the street is a good thing," Simmons said.
Music, Simmons said, is self-empowering.
"It doesn't matter if you become a star. If you don't believe in yourself and get up on stage, everybody is watching. You can feel the power ... and it helps you get through life, especially when you're impressionable."
He said getting involved in music ? whether it's learning to play an instrument or sing karaoke ? improves social skills, too.
Motley Crue singer Vince Neil was also at Saturday's show, and he, too, expounded on the positive benefits of music.
"Say you finish your first song, it could be 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' it doesn't matter, but at least it's something you've played," Neil said. "And I think for kids, they could go into a whole other direction because they accomplished something."
Neil said he was 10 when he first started taking guitar lessons.
"I was terrible," he said laughing. "That's why I'm not a guitarist. I went into the other direction."
___
Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kristieaton .
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High court poised to upend civil rights policies
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Has the nation lived down its history of racism and should the law become colorblind?
Addressing two pivotal legal issues, one on affirmative action and a second on voting rights, a divided Supreme Court is poised to answer those questions.
In one case, the issue is whether race preferences in university admissions undermine equal opportunity more than they promote the benefits of racial diversity. Just this past week, justices signaled their interest in scrutinizing affirmative action very intensely, expanding their review as well to a Michigan law passed by voters that bars "preferential treatment" to students based on race. Separately in a second case, the court must decide whether race relations ? in the South, particularly ? have improved to the point that federal laws protecting minority voting rights are no longer warranted.
The questions are apt as the United States closes in on a demographic tipping point, when nonwhites will become a majority of the nation's population for the first time. That dramatic shift is expected to be reached within the next generation, and how the Supreme Court rules could go a long way in determining what civil rights and equality mean in an America long divided by race.
The court's five conservative justices seem ready to declare a new post-racial moment, pointing to increased levels of voter registration and turnout among blacks to show that the South has changed. Lower federal courts just in the past year had seen things differently, blunting voter ID laws and other election restrictions passed by GOP-controlled legislatures in South Carolina, Texas and Florida, which they saw as discriminatory.
"Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes," Justice Antonin Scalia said in oral arguments earlier this year, suggesting that it was the high court's responsibility to overturn voting protections overwhelmingly passed by Congress in 2006.
The legal meanings of "equality," ''racism" and "discrimination" have been in flux since at least 1883, when justices struck down a federal anti-discrimination law, calling it an unfair racial advantage for former black slaves. Today, justices face the question of whether the nation has reached equality by a 1960s definition or some new standard.
By some demographic measures, America has reached a new era. But the latest census data and polling from The Associated Press also show race and class disparities that persist.
EDITOR'S NOTE _ "America at the Tipping Point: The Changing Face of a Nation" is an occasional series examining the cultural mosaic of the U.S. and its historic shift to a majority-minority nation.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-poised-upend-civil-rights-policies-090040095.html
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EPA Proposes New Rule To Clean Up Gasoline And Reduce Smog
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Friday a rule to clean up gasoline. The new lower sulfur gas is already what California uses to reduce air pollution, and the EPA wants it to be used nationwide. The agency estimates that it would save lives while adding a penny a gallon to the cost of gas. The oil industry fears it will cost more.
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And I'm Robert Siegel. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule to clean up gasoline. The regulation would reduce ozone and other air pollutants by close to 30 percent. That would benefit 100 million people who now live in areas that at times have unhealthful air. NPR's Richard Harris reports.
RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: Even though automobile emissions have improved a lot in recent decades, cars are still a major source of the compounds that create smog, so the EPA has been working on new regulations to reduce those emissions more. The main target now is to reduce sulfur in gasoline. Sulfur hampers catalytic converters, so they aren't as effective as they could be in eliminating pollution. Bill Becker, who heads the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, says this would play a critical role in helping regions meet health-based air quality standards.
BILL BECKER: We know of no other air pollution strategy that will achieve as substantial, as immediate and as cost-effective emission reductions as lowering sulfur in fuel. We can do this for less than a penny. It can be done literally overnight, and it is cost-effective compared to other strategies.
HARRIS: But the American Petroleum Institute is arguing against the new regulation saying that modifying the refineries to reduce sulfur would add 6 to 9 cents to the price of a gallon of gas. EPA rules are designed to minimize that cost by giving the industry flexibility to meet the target. California already requires gas to meet this new standard, along with Japan and the European Union. Richard Harris, NPR News.
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
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Russia's MTS acquires stake in parent's bank
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's top mobile phone operator MTS said on Friday it has acquired a 25.1 percent stake in MTS Bank for 5.1 billion roubles ($164 million) by buying additional shares issued by the bank.
The deal was concluded in accordance with the terms of an indicative offer between MTS, MTS Bank and their majority shareholder Sistema that were announced in October 2012.
MTS now owns around 27 percent of MTS Bank, Sistema has a 65.3 percent stake, while the balance of shares is held by other minority shareholders, MTS said in a statement.
($1 = 31.0844 Russian roubles)
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russias-mts-acquires-stake-parents-bank-122859415--sector.html
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Pirate perch probably use chemical camouflage to fool prey
Mar. 28, 2013 ? It?s a nocturnal aquatic predator that will eat anything that fits in its large mouth.
Dark and sleek, it hides beneath the water waiting for prey. A Texas Tech University researcher says the target will never know what hit them because they probably can?t smell the voracious pirate perch.
After careful investigations, William Resetarits Jr., a professor of biology at Texas Tech, and Christopher A. Binckley, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Arcadia University, found that animals normally attuned to predators from their smell didn?t seem to detect the pirate perch. It could be the first animal discovered that is capable of generalized chemical camouflage that works against a wide variety of prey.
The team published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal The American Naturalist.
Thankfully, at five-and-a-half inches long, only insects, invertebrates, amphibians and other small fish need worry about the danger hiding near the bottom among the roots and plantlife, Resetarits said.
?We use the term ?camouflage,? because it is readily understandable,? he said. ?What we really are dealing with is some form of ?chemical deception.? The actual mechanism may be camouflage that makes an organism difficult to detect, mimicry that makes an organism difficult to correctly identify, or cloaking where the organism simply does not produce a signal detectable to the receiver.?
Resetarits said pirate perch aren?t really perch at all, but related to the Amblyopsid cave fish family. Fossils from this fish date back about 24 million years ago.
They make their homes in freshwater ponds and streams in the Eastern United States. Once considered for the aquarium market, the fish got its name because of its penchant for eating all tank mates.
?Pirate perch have some unique aspects to their morphology and life history, but they are generalist predators, and so should have been avoided by prey animals like all the other fish tested,? he said. ?For some reason, they weren?t avoided at all.?
To test their theory, Resetarits and Binckley ran a series of experiments in artificial pools housing 11 different species of fish, including pirate perch.
The fish were kept at bay at the bottom of the pools with screens so that they could not prey on the beetles and tree frogs that colonized the water.
When it came to choosing a pool, the beetles and frogs consistently steered clear of the water with other fish species in them, most likely because they could smell the presence of fish in the water. However, they had no qualms about moving into pools containing the pirate perch.
?We were incredibly surprised,? Resetarits said. ?It took a while for us to pull this all together. When we first observed it with tree frogs, we were very surprised and puzzled. But when the same lack of response was shown by aquatic beetles, we were quite literally flabbergasted. We continued to do experiments with other fish and always got the same results. All fish except pirate perch were avoided.?
Exactly what the pirate perch is doing to hide isn?t yet known, he said. Researchers want to determine how the pirate perch are either scrambling chemical signals or masking their odor. Once they have identified chemical compounds that might explain the behavior, they will return to the field to test with the same tree frogs and beetles as well as other organisms known to respond to fish chemical cues, such as mosquitoes and water fleas.
?We will also test whether this chemical deception works against the pirate perch?s own predators,? Resetarits said. ?Of course, other critical questions that we are working on include just how much advantage in terms of prey acquisition do pirate perch gain as a result of chemical deception. Does this phenomenon occur in closely related species, such as cavefish? Are there prey species that have found a way around the chemical deception? There are many questions now, and I think we have just scratched the surface.
?I think the most important aspect is not the bizarre, just-so story, but the fact that there is no reason to believe that chemical camouflage is less common than visual camouflage. Humans? sense of smell is just not very sophisticated, so we can?t simply ?notice? examples of chemical camouflage the way we do visual camouflage. I think chemical camouflage is likely quite common. We are starting pursuit of the larger question, starting with close relatives of pirate perch.?
Find Texas Tech news, experts and story ideas at www.media.ttu.edu and on Twitter @TexasTechMedia.
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Journal Reference:
- William J. Resetarits, Christopher A. Binckley. Is the Pirate Really a Ghost? Evidence for Generalized Chemical Camouflage in an Aquatic Predator, Pirate PerchAphredoderus sayanus. The American Naturalist, 2013; : 000 DOI: 10.1086/670016
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/c5NbMbTJghI/130329085941.htm
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AAHA Conference Provides Expert Answers to Pet Questions | Steve ...
PHOENIX, AZ -- These reader questions were answered by veterinary experts attending the annual American Animal Hospital Association Conference March 14-17, attended by over 2,100 veterinary professionals. AAHA is the only organization that accredits small animal hospitals throughout the U.S. and Canada. AAHA-accredited hospitals are evaluated regularly on approximately 900 quality-of-care standards defining excellence in veterinary medicine. Learn more HERE.
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Q: I've begun to notice that our 10-year-old Shih Tzu's leg quivers when she lifts it to go to the bathroom. Is this a warning that something is wrong? -- R.M., Fort Lauderdale, FL
A: "Your observation is astute," cheers Dr. Kate Knutson, AAHA President. "Anytime, there is a change in your pet's behavior, contacting your veterinarian is the right thing to do. In this case, the leg quivering could be an indication of pain."
Since your dog isn't likely to replicate this particular behavior at the veterinary clinic, try to capture it on video, suggests Knutson, of Bloomington, MN If indeed your dog is in pain, the next step, of course, is to determine why, which can only be done with a thorough examination.
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Q: We took home a sweet kitten and nursed her back to health. She didn't even have a tail. However, when my grandson brought another kitten home a month later, the "sweet" kitten began attacking people. She became so mean that all the pets in the neighborhood are afraid of her. Could her meanness come from being spayed, or is this just her nature? -- C S., Mechanicsville, VA
A: "It's wonderful you took in these kittens, and spaying is the right thing to do," says feline veterinarian Dr. Ilona Rodan, of Madison, WI, past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. "Spaying doesn't cause a cat to become mean. However, pain related or unrelated to the procedure might cause aggression. Some cats just don't like to be held and restrained. And most cats don't like to be forced to do anything they don't want to do. Cats prefer to be in control of their environments."
Depending on how the second kitten was added to the household, the first kitten may have taken offense. This first kitten may also be persistently on edge or anxious, leading to the aggressive behavior.
A medical checkup seems prudent, and you may need to consult a certified cat behavior consultant (www.iaabc.org), a veterinarian interested in behavior (www.avsabonline.org), or a veterinary behaviorist (www.dacvb.org) to pinpoint what's going on, or at least hear a more detailed description.
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Q: Our 15-year-old Basenji-Labrador mix eats well, and seems lively in the morning, but he becomes sluggish later in the day. I'm also concerned that he's losing gobs of hair. What might be causing this? -- J.M., New Haven, CT
A: "It's hard to say for sure what's going with this dog, but definitely ask your veterinarian about a thyroid panel," says AAHA Board Member Dr. Aman Sukhija, of Ormond Beach, FL. "Hypothyroid dogs may lose hair, as you describe, and often do slow down during the day. Other possibilities include diabetes or kidney disease (which blood tests can also help determine). The sluggishness could also be attributed to arthritis and/or cardiac disease.
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Q: We got Bunny, our long-haired cat, from a rescue organization. She's not as shy as when we first adopted her (after working with her), and we're proud of that because she was originally found in a home with about 100 other cats. We think her unusual eating habits are the result of being in that environment, as she gorges herself. We've begun to feel her a quarter cup of food twice a day. Any advice about this problem? -- S.B., St. Paul, MIN
A: "You're right, there has always been competition for food," says Dr. Elizabeth Colleran, past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. "Do attempt to slow down her eating."
For starters, if there are other cats in the home, start feeding each one individually. If possible, feed Bunny three to five times a day (smaller meals, the same total amount of food). Also, speak with your veterinarian about gradually introducing moist food into her. Also, place the food on plastic food lids at different locations (above dog level, if there's a dog around). When you feed your cat kibble, put it on a plastic dinner plate (so the food is scattered) or in an egg carton (dropping some kibble into each hole). The idea is to slow down Bunny's eating.
Also, a wide variety of food-dispensing toys are available online and in pet stores. Examples include the Play 'n Treat Ball, Eggsercizer and the Slim Cat. One or two pieces of kibble fall from the toys at a time, forcing cats to eat slower. Some cats also enjoy ?working? for their meals.
??Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services
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Filed under: American Animal Hospital Association, cats, dogs, pet behavior, pets, veterinary health
Tags: AAFP, AAHA, agressive cat, American Animal Hospital Association, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, AVSAB, cat eats fast, cat throws up, certified cat behavior consultant, dog's leg quivers, Dr Ilona Rodan, Dr. Aman Sukhija, Dr. Elizabeth Colleran, Dr. Kate Knutson, hypothyroid dog, International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, Steve Dale archives
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Lawmakers tighten belts amid automatic budget cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Members of Congress are traveling less and worrying more about meeting office salaries. Their aides are contending with long lines to get inside their offices and fewer prospects of a raise. Such are the indignities thrust upon the men and women who brought the country $85 billion in government spending cuts this month.
There probably won't be much sympathy for a senator or congressman making $174,000 a year who is in no danger of being furloughed or laid off, at least until the next election. Still, there has been an effort, especially in the Republican-led House, to show that no one should be exempt from sacrifice.
"As those who are charged with the care of taxpayers' dollars, we need to lead by example," Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., who chairs the House Administration Committee, said last week in promoting a bill to slash the budgets of House committees by 11 percent.
Earlier in March ? after Congress and the White House failed to come up with an alternative to across-the-board cuts in most federal programs ? the House imposed an 8.2 percent reduction in lawmakers' personal office budgets. That came on top of 11 percent cuts to members' office budgets during 2011-2012.
"We've drastically reduced travel both for myself and my staff," said Republican Rep. John Campbell, who must cross the country to visit his southern California district. He said he tends to stay in Washington on two-day weekends rather than return home. "I'm more productive here when I'm not rushing to get home," he added.
Campbell said other "little things" he is doing to economize include reducing the office phone bill, cutting off magazine and newspaper subscriptions and using email rather than letters to communicate with voters.
Rep. Luke Messer, a freshman Republican from Indiana, said he hired fewer people when he came to Washington because "we essentially began the term knowing there was a high possibility of a sequester"? Washington-speak for the automatic spending cuts.
So far, congressional staffers appear to have escaped the furloughs that are likely to send thousands of public servants home without pay for several workdays over the next six months and disrupt some government services. "I hope to avoid that," said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., "but we will take any steps to ensure we don't exceed our budget." Under House rules, a lawmaker must pay for excess spending out of his or her own pocket.
The fiscal pressures are weaker in the Senate, where senators have staff budgets about double the amount of the $1.3 million average in the House and where the office cuts ordered because of the sequester were limited to 5 percent.
While staffers still have their jobs, they may have a harder time getting to them. Security officials have cut costs by closing 10 entrances and several side streets around the Capitol complex, creating long lines to get through screening stations. People "have started to adjust to those changes at the entrances," although it is still a challenge on busy days, said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer.
Gainer, who oversees nearly 1,000 security and administrative employees, said he hopes to abide by the 5 percent sequester cut without layoffs by enlisting 70 or 80 people for a voluntary retirement program.
Some House members also are feeling the pinch during the two-week Easter break, a prime time for foreign "fact-finding" tours. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced last month that members must book commercial flights rather than make use of more convenient but more expensive military aircraft.
Some Democrats have complained the GOP enthusiasm for frugality has come at too high a cost.
"At a time when most members of this body are representing newly formed congressional districts with a need to open new offices or move to new locations, we find ourselves with an 8.2 percent decrease in the very operating budgets that support constituent services," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
Wasserman Schultz, who also is the Democratic Party's chairwoman, criticized House Republicans for cutting budgets while spending some $3 million for the legal defense of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
"We are past the point of cutting what we want, and we are now into cutting what we need ? our ability to attract and retain expert staff," said Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, the senior Democrat on the House Administration Committee.
Brad Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to improve congressional operations, said it's still possible that House members will have to resort to furloughs or layoffs. So far, he said, they have been able to cope with the cuts of the past three years with less drastic steps, such as reducing the size of their staffs through attrition, making more use of interns and using email rather than mass mailings.
At the end of 2011, Fitch's group recommended 46 possible ways for members to cut $90,000 from their 2012 budgets, ranging from pay freezes, holding more town hall meetings by telephone, delaying purchases of new computers, eliminating Washington staffers' visits to district offices, closing district offices, eliminating bottled water from offices and reviewing spending on food and beverages for constituents.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-tighten-belts-amid-automatic-budget-cuts-165316275--politics.html
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Head-on collisions between DNA-code reading machineries accelerate gene evolution
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Bacteria appear to speed up their evolution by positioning specific genes along the route of expected traffic jams in DNA encoding. Certain genes are in prime collision paths for the moving molecular machineries that read the DNA code, as University of Washington scientists explain in this week's edition of Nature.
The spatial-organization tactics their model organism, Bacillus subtilis, takes to evolve and adapt might be imitated in other related Gram-positive bacteria, including harmful, ever-changing germs like staph, strep, and listeria, to strengthen their virulence or cause persistent infections. The researchers think that these mechanisms for accelerating evolution may be found in other living creatures as well.
Replication -- the duplicating of the genetic code to create a new set of genes- and transcription -- the copying of DNA code to produce a protein -- are not separated by time or space in bacteria. Therefore, clashes between these machineries are inevitable. Replication traveling rapidly along a DNA strand can be stalled by a head-on encounter or same-direction brush with slower-moving transcription.
The senior authors of the study, Houra Merrikh, UW assistant professor of microbiology, and Evgeni Sokurenko, UW professor of microbiology, and their research teams are collaborating to understand the evolutionary consequences of these conflicts. The major focus of Merrikh and her research team is on understanding mechanistic and physiological aspects of conflicts in living cells -- including why and how these collisions lead to mutations.
Impediments to replication, they noted, can cause instability within the genome, such as chromosome deletions or rearrangements, or incomplete separation of genetic material during cell division. When dangerous collisions take place, bacteria sometimes employ methods to repair, and then restart, the paused DNA replication, Merrikh discovered in her earlier work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
To avoid unwanted encounters, bacteria orient most of their genes along what is called the leading strand of DNA, rather than the lagging. The terms refer to the direction the encoding activities travel on different forks of the unwinding DNA. Head-on collisions between replication and transcription happen on the lagging strand.
Despite the heightened risk of gene-altering clashes, the study bacteria B. subtilis still orients 25 percent of all its genes, and 6 percent of its essential genes, on the lagging strand.
The scientist observed that genes under the greatest natural selection pressure for amino-acid mutations, a sign of their adaptive significance, were on the lagging strand. Amino acids are the building blocks for proteins. Based on their analysis of mutations on the leading and the lagging strands, the researchers found that the rate of accumulation of mutations was faster in the genes oriented to be subject to head-on replication-transcription conflicts, in contrast to co-directional conflicts.
According to the researchers, together the mutational analyses of the genomes and the experimental findings indicate that head-on conflicts were more likely than same-direction conflicts to cause mutations. They also found that longer genes provided more opportunities for replication-transcription conflicts to occur. Lengthy genes were more prone to mutate.
The researchers noted that head-on replication-transcription encounters, and the subsequent mutations, could significantly increase structural variations in the proteins coded by the affected genes. Some of these chance variations might give the bacteria new options for adapting to changes or stresses in their environment. Like savvy investors, the bacteria appear to protect most of their genetic assets, but offer a few up to the high-roll stakes of mutation.
The researchers pointed out, "A simple switch in gene orientation ?could facilitate evolution in specific genes in a targeted way. Investigating the main targets of conflict-mediated formation of mutations is likely to show far-reaching insights into adaptation and evolution of organisms."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Sandip Paul, Samuel Million-Weaver, Sujay Chattopadhyay, Evgeni Sokurenko, Houra Merrikh. Accelerated gene evolution through replication?transcription conflicts. Nature, 2013; 495 (7442): 512 DOI: 10.1038/nature11989
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/S-XGYhm7TK4/130329125307.htm
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The final OUYA retail console is ready, we go hands-on
It's been a long time coming, and now the Android-powered, Kickstarter-funded OUYA video game console is finally heading to backers. Sure, the final retail units for non-backers won't be available until June, but around 50,000 lucky folks who pledged over $99 to OUYA's massively successful campaign will be receiving their units in the coming days. We've already heard what developers have to say about it, but this week we got our first hands-on with the miniature, Tegra 3-powered game console we've been hearing so much about since last summer.
Is it the "best Tegra 3 device on the market," as OUYA's claimed? Let's find out!
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/zDxGq1-6584/
US stealth bomber as messenger: what it says to China, North Korea
The B-2 stealth bomber's history of hitting China's Belgrade embassy in 1999 makes it's training mission over South Korea an even more pointed message to North Korea's Kim Jong-un.
The Pentagon sent its distinctive bat-wing-shaped B-2 stealth bombers, pictured here in 2003, flying low over the Korean Peninsula this week, making it's training mission over South Korea.
Courtesy of Rebeca M. Luquin/U.S. Department of Defense/Reuters/File
EnlargeThe Pentagon sent its distinctive bat-wing-shaped B-2 stealth bombers flying low over the Korean Peninsula this week ? dropping munitions over a remote South Korean island ? in what US military officials initially described as a routine training exercise.
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But the B-2 bomber runs ? along with the US military?s unusually frank announcement of this fact ? were designed to send a far more pointed warning to North Korea, and more precisely to the country?s young dictator, Kim Jong-un, who lately has been increasingly bellicose in his words and actions, say senior US officials.
Kim?s ?provocative actions? and ?belligerent tone? have ?ratcheted up the danger, and I think we have to understand that reality,? Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday afternoon in his first joint press conference with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey.
This danger includes the nation?s third nuclear test in February and threats to aim long-range artillery and rockets at US and allied troops.
The B-2 bomber can fly some 6,500 miles, drop smart bombs, and is nuclear-capable.
It is also the same US aircraft that infamously hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1999.
While this was described as an accident at the time, conventional wisdom among many defense analysts today is that China?s Peoples Liberation Army forces in the embassy basement were sending out intelligence?information to President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia, whose military was committing atrocities.
The B-2 bomber does, after all, have the most precisely targeted munitions in any military arsenal, accurate to within two meters, the defense analysts point out.?
Yet regardless of whether this theory about the 1999 B-2 bombing is true, the point is that the Chinese and North Korean government believe it to be true, says Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
For that reason, the training run involving the B-2 bombers ?is a subtle signal to China and North Korea to say ?Look, war can really happen. We?re not going to be deterred, and we?re going to go after high-value target sites.? ?
But does the US know enough about Kim?s rationality to bring out the B-2 bombers, which could further provoke North Korea?
?There are a lot of unknowns here,? Mr. Hagel conceded Thursday. ?But we have to take seriously every provocative, bellicose word and action that this new young leader has taken so far since he?s come to power.?
Given those unknowns, then, is it wise to eye-poke an unpredictable ? possibly irrational ? new dictator?
?I don?t think we?re poking,? Hagel said. ?I don?t think we?re doing anything extraordinary, or provocative, or out of the orbit of what other nations do to protect their own interests.?
The point, both General Dempsey and Hagel reiterated, is not just to flex US military muscles for North Korea?s benefit, but more importantly to reassure US allies that the Pentagon has their back.
?The reaction to the B-2 that we?re most concerned about it not necessarily the reaction that it might elicit in North Korea,? Dempsey said Thursday. ?Those exercises are mostly to assure our allies that they can count on us to be prepared.?
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The Nutrition Twins: Four Simple Tricks to Get Motivated to Exercise ...
- Staying motivated can be the hardest part about getting or staying in shape.
- The Nutrition Twins offer four simple tricks to use to get in gear.
- Splashing cold water on your face can be a workout wake-up call.
- Use peppermint oil to get a burst of inspiration and energy.
- Keep a hot picture of yourself nearby for inspiration.
Your plan is to exercise. The problem? You lack the motivation to get started.
We?ve all been there. We have the best intentions to get healthy. Yet as much as we want to do it, when the time comes to pull the trigger, we?re too tired, too lazy, or just simply can?t get motivated to get started. The truth is that if you can get started, chances are you?re going to get a decent workout in. Even if you can muster up a little bit of umph, you?ll burn calories and feel much better about yourself after the fact.
Here are four easy ways to get your rear in gear to get started. If one doesn?t work for you, try another. All of these have worked for us and have worked for many of our clients.
1. Splash cold water on your face.? It sounds simple, but often when we lack motivation, we?re feeling tired or lazy. There?s nothing like a good ole? cold kick (or splash) in the face to get us going.? The key is to do this with intent to get motivated.? As you splash your face, tell yourself that this is your exercise wake-up call.
2. Go for a stroll outside.? Outdoor air is a natural refresher.? If it?s cold outside, there?s nothing that invigorates you like a burst of cool, crisp air. If it?s warm outside, moving around (even if it?s slow) is still beneficial because it gets your blood flowing throughout your body and helps you feel energized. Even if you do this for only 5 minutes, chances are you?ll be motivated to take the plunge and continue on in your exercise routine.? Worst case scenario?? You burn a few extra calories on your stroll.
3. Take a whiff of peppermint oil.? Peppermint oil is a natural stimulant that can help alleviate jet lag and boost your energy levels.? It also has mood boosting properties and can decrease stress or irritability?and we?re all more likely to be motivated to exercise when we feel better!? You can put a few drops on your temples so you continue to breathe in the stimulating scent and feel refreshed throughout your workout.? You may be surprised by the natural high you get and how invigorated you?ll feel.
4. Keep a hot picture of yourself nearby for inspiration and a list of 5 things you did to get that way.? You may have heard that you should keep a picture of yourself from a time when you looked your best in a bathing suit (or in some other outfit that shows how fit you were) on your refrigerator. ?Many people find that this encourages healthy eating, but in order to use it to help you get motivated to exercise, we recommend keeping the picture with a list of five things you did to get in shape to look that way.? Use the list below as an example, and keep a similar one nearby your photo:
These are the things I did when I looked this way:
- I did 40 minutes of cardio exercise every day.
- Once a week I did intervals when I jogged.
- I lifted weights three days a week.
- I did yoga on the weekends.
- I only had one dessert a day.
Now that you have these simple tricks, it?s time to put them in action! Do you have your own tips? Let us know what you do to stay motivated?
Source: http://www.drvita.com/blog/the-nutrition-twins-four-simple-tricks-to-get-motivated-to-exercise/
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Gartner slightly cuts 2013 IT spending outlook
(Reuters) - Industry research firm Gartner trimmed its tech spending outlook for 2013 because concerns about the U.S. budget and Cyprus' debt burden are expected to temporarily weigh on financial plans.
It now expects spending on information technology ranging from smartphones to data storage to grow 4.1 percent or $3.8 trillion this year instead of the previously forecast 4.2 percent, Gartner said on Thursday.
By comparison in 2012, IT spending rose 2.1 percent.
The research firm said it had changed its forecast because federal budget cuts in the United States and Cyprus' debt issues had "netted out any benefit" from positive developments such as the U.S. avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and deep spending reductions at the end of last year.
However, Gartner said, the concerns are expected to be short-lived.
"The market is already in a pessimistic state," said Gartner analyst John Lovelock. "This hasn't changed the dial much but there will likely be a pause in some spending."
That could mean delaying the purchase of new mobile devices for example but it would not impact strategic initiatives such multi-year contracts or basic functions such as software and hardware maintenance.
In enterprise software Gartner expects spending to reach $297 billion, up 6.4 percent this year compared with 3.5 percent growth in 2012.
"There's a big jump in certain base functionalities around data," Lovelock said.
IT services, which can include outsourcing, maintenance or consulting, will see growth of 4.5 percent to $918 million versus 1.5 percent in 2012.
Worldwide devices spending -- including PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers -- is forecast to reach $718 billion in 2013, up 7.9 percent from 2012
"Despite flat spending on PCs and a modest decline in spending on printers, a short-term boost to spending on premium mobile phones has driven an upward revision in the devices sector growth for 2013 from Gartner's previous forecast of 6.3 percent," the firm said.
(Reporting By Nicola Leske; editing by Andrew Hay)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gartner-slightly-cuts-2013-spending-outlook-180607096.html
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Mate choice in mice is heavily influenced by paternal cues
Friday, March 29, 2013
Mate choice is a key factor in the evolution of new animal species. The choice of a specific mate can decisively influence the evolutionary development of a species. In mice, the attractiveness of a potential mate is conveyed by scent cues and ultrasonic vocalizations. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Pl?n investigated whether house mice (Mus musculus) would mate with each other even if they were from two populations which had been separated from each other for a long time period. To do this, the researchers brought together mice from a German population and mice from a French population. Although to begin with all the mice mated with one another randomly, the hybrid offspring of French and German parents were distinctly more choosy: they showed a definite preference for mating with individuals from their father's original population. According to the researchers, this paternal imprinting accelerates the divergence of two house mouse populations and thus promotes speciation.
In allopatric speciation, individuals of a species become geographically isolated from each other by external factors such as mountains or estuaries. Over time, this geographic separation leads to the sub-populations undergoing various mutations, and thus diverging genetically. Animals from the two different sub-populations can no longer successfully reproduce, so two new species evolve.
To find out what role partner selection plays in such speciation processes, Diethard Tautz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology and his colleagues conducted a comprehensive study on house mice ? the classic model organisms of biology. "To investigate whether there are differences in the mating behaviour of the mice in the early stages of speciation, we caught wild house mice in southern France and western Germany. The two populations have been geographically separate for around 3,000 years, which equates to some 18,000 generations," says Diethard Tautz. Due to this geographical separation, the French and German mice were genetically different.
The Pl?n-based researchers created a semi-natural environment for their investigations ? a sort of "Playboy Mansion" for mice. The research enclosure was several square meters in size and was divided up using wooden walls, "nests" made out of plastic cylinders, and plastic tubes. It also featured an escape tube with several entrances, which led into a cage system nearby. "We constructed the enclosure in such a way that all animals had unimpeded access to all areas, but thanks to the structural divisions were also able to create their own territories or retreat into nests," explains Tautz. "The escape tube was a control element. If the mice retreated to it only very seldom ? as was the case in our experiment ? then we could be sure there was no overpopulation in the central enclosure."
In this central enclosure, the French and German mice had both time and space to mate with each other and reproduce. "At first, all the mice mated with each other quite randomly. But with the first-generation offspring, a surprising pattern emerged," says Tautz. When the first-generation hybrid offspring of mixed French and German parentage mated, they showed a specific preference for pure-bred mates whose "nationality" was that of their father only. "There must be some kind of paternal influence that prompts the hybrid mice to choose a mate from a specific population, namely that of their father," concludes the biologist, based on the results of his study. "This imprinting must be learned, however, meaning that the animals must grow up in the presence of their fathers. This was not the case for the original mice, which were kept in cages for a time after being caught."
"We know that mice use ultrasonic vocalizations to communicate with each other and that particularly in the case of male mice these vocalizations can reveal signals of individuality and kinship. We believe that, like birdsong, the vocalizations of the males have a learned component and a genetic component," says Tautz. Therefore, French and German mice really could "speak" different languages, partly learned from their fathers, partly inherited from them. Individual mice thus have a mating preference for mice that speak the same language as they do.
The French and German mouse populations had evidently been geographically separated long enough for preliminary signs of species differentiation to be apparent as regards mating preferences. In addition, another aspect of mating behavior also sped up the speciation process.
Although mice have multiple mates, the researchers found evidence of partner fidelity and inbreeding. The tendency to mate with relatives fosters the creation of genetically uniform groups. When both occur together, this accelerates the speciation process.
In a next step, Diethard Tautz wants to find out whether the vocalizations of the mice play the decisive role in paternal imprinting, or if scent cues are also involved. Furthermore, the biologist wants to identify the genes that are involved in mate selection.
###
Inka Montero, Meike Tesche and Diethard Tautz: "Paternal imprinting of mating preferences between natural populations of house mice (Mus musculus domesticus)", Molecular Ecology (2013), doi: 10.111/mec.122271;
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: http://www.mpg.de
Thanks to Max-Planck-Gesellschaft for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127520/Mate_choice_in_mice_is_heavily_influenced_by_paternal_cues
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Boston mayor to announce he won't seek re-election
BOSTON (AP) ? Boston's longest-serving mayor, Thomas Menino, confirmed Thursday he does not plan to seek re-election for an unprecedented sixth term.
The popular Democrat said in an emotional impromptu news conference outside his home before heading to City Hall that it was "a very difficult decision."
A formal announcement is scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT Thursday.
Menino has been mayor since 1993 and said he's lived the job "24-7."
"It's a changed city, and I'm glad to be a small part of this changed city," he said, crediting his staff and cabinet. He said the city is more tolerant, vital and with a younger population than when he took office.
The 70-year-old mayor was hospitalized for eight weeks in the fall after a respiratory infection and a blood clot that was complicated by a spinal fracture and diabetes. He said his health played a minor role in his decision.
He told WBZ-AM that he plans to go "full tilt" until his last day in office.
After that, his plans are unclear. He said he's looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren, but insisted he is not retiring. He told the station he'd like to stay involved with the city's public schools.
His decision not to run again is expected to trigger a political scramble to replace him as a new generation of political figures eye the mayor's office.
City Councilor John Connolly announced his mayoral intentions last month, regardless of Menino's decision. But Menino had been considered a heavy favorite had he opted to run.
As recently as January, Menino delivered an upbeat assessment of the city during his annual state of the city address.
Menino used a cane to walk to the podium and spoke vigorously about his plans for Boston. At the time, Menino gave no indication of whether he'd decided to seek a sixth term this year.
"Our progress is real. Our future is bright. The state of our city is striking, sound and strong," he said in prepared remarks that cited progress on economic development and crime reduction.
On Tuesday, Menino appeared at a rally at Boston City Hall plaza to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The previous day, he delivered a speech to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau in which he said he had never been more confident about the city and announced several new development projects and initiatives.
Menino became acting mayor after his predecessor, Raymond Flynn, left office in 1993 after being named ambassador to the Vatican. Menino, then president of the City Council, was automatically elevated to the mayor's job.
The circumstances prompted some critics to label him the "accidental mayor," a charge the sometimes-thin-skinned Menino was quick to reject. But he was elected mayor in his own right in November 1993 and won re-election by wide margins in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009.
The city's previous longest serving mayor, the late Kevin White, was in office for four terms, from 1968 to 1984.
Menino's longevity also exceeded the legendary Mayor James Michael Curley, who also served four terms, but not consecutively.
Menino built his reputation by focusing on the unglamorous nuts and bolts of running a major metropolitan city ? fixing potholes, cleaning streets, even curbing the practice of saving a shoveled-out parking space by putting folding chairs or trash cans along the curb.
It's everyday commitments like those that earned him the nickname of the "Urban Mechanic."
The 2004 Democratic National Convention put Menino's political and negotiating skills to the test when the city's main police union threatened to picket over an unresolved contract.
It was only with the last minute help of other politicians, including Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, that a contract was reached in the early morning hours the day before the convention opened in the city.
During his years in office, Menino also became a vigorous national voice in favor of stricter gun control measures.
He co-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and criticized the National Rifle Association's call for more armed guards at schools after the Connecticut school shooting in December.
"That is crazy," Menino said. "Every victim of gun violence and their families knows that's crazy."
Menino also built a reputation for creating an impressive political machine that handily defeated challengers.
Last year, Menino also played a crucial role in helping elect U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, campaigning with her at stops across the city.
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Associated Press writer Bob Salsberg contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-mayor-announce-wont-seek-election-064142290--election.html
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