Thursday, February 28, 2013

EUR/USD: Euro buoyed on Italian bond auction; trading lower this ...

GCI Forex News - EUR/USD: Euro buoyed on Italian bond auction; trading lower this morning
EUR USD

EURUSD Movement

For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, EUR rose 0.67% against the USD and closed at 1.3156, after Italy saw its borrowing costs rise less than had been feared. Moreover, upbeat European economic data also helped buoy the single currency.

Yesterday, Italy sold ?4 billion worth of ten-year debt at an average yield of 4.83%, up from 4.17% at a similar auction last month and ?2.5 billion of five-year government bonds at an average yield of 3.59%, up from 2.94% in January. Markets had feared that yields could rise above 5%.

In the Euro-zone, the economic sentiment index rose to a reading of at 91.1 in February, while the industry confidence index improved to a reading of -11.2 for the same month. Also services confidence index and business climate indicator rose in February. Moreover, the M3 money supply advanced 3.5% (YoY) in January, slightly faster than the 3.4% rise recorded in the previous month.

Separately, Germany?s consumer confidence index rose to a reading of 5.9 in March, in line with market expectations and from 5.8 in February. Also, consumer confidence in France stood unchanged at 86.0 in February, in line with market expectations.

Further adding to positive tone, US pending home sales rose 4.5% to a reading of 105.9 in January, marking the highest level since 2010. However, durable goods orders in the US dropped 5.2% in January, compared to an upwardly revised 3.7% growth in December.

Additionally, yesterday late night, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, stated that the central bank has no intention of tightening the monetary policy deployed to help the ailing Euro-zone economy. He also indicated that the financial markets in Euro-zone are still not functioning well.

In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.3141, with the EUR trading 0.11% lower from yesterday?s close.

The pair is expected to find support at 1.3074, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.3007. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.3185, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.3229.

In the Euro-zone, the consumer price index (CPI) scheduled for release later in the day, would generate market interest. Traders foresee a drop in January CPI data. Meanwhile, Germany?s unemployment change and the CPI data are expected to record a drop in February. In the US, the GDP and initial jobless claims data are awaited.

The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.

Source: http://forexnews.gcitrading.com/currencies/eurusd/eurusd-euro-buoyed-on-italian-bond-auction-trading-lower-this-morning.htm

jermaine jones hbo luck unc asheville stephen jackson ncaa tournament marchmadness mike d antoni

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Green Blog: On Our Radar: The Last Coal-Fired Steamship

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to rule soon on whether to allow a car ferry called the Badger to continue to dump ash into Lake Michigan. It?s the last coal-fired steamship operating in American waters. [Associated Press]

Students from over 70 schools gather at Swarthmore College to confer on strategies for persuading their institutions to divest of their shares in fossil fuel companies. The authorities at Swathmore are not enamored of the idea, the college?s board chairman says, although they do want to take steps to help arrest global warming. [French Tribune]

The across-the-board federal spending cuts scheduled to go into effect on Friday are likely to cause further delays in weather and climate satellite programs, potentially reducing the government?s ability to issue accurate early warnings of extreme weather. [Climate Central]

Bad news for minnows: giant nonnative goldfish have invaded Lake Tahoe, seemingly damaging the habitat of small native fish. [University of Nevada, Reno]

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/on-our-radar-the-last-coal-fired-steamship/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Chad Everett London Olympics Kristen Stewart Rupert Sanders Photos 2016 Olympics TD Bank mountain lion hanley ramirez

3 dead in Swiss workplace shooting

MENZNAU, Switzerland (AP) ? A longtime employee opened fire at a wood-processing company in central Switzerland on Wednesday, leaving three people dead, including the assailant, in the country's second multiple-fatality shooting in two months, police said.

Seven other people were wounded, six of them seriously, in the shooting at the premises of the company Kronospan, in the small town of Menznau, Lucerne criminal police chief Daniel Bussmann told reporters.

The incident occurred as the Swiss parliament prepares to consider tightening some aspects of the country's famously lax gun legislation.

The assailant, a 42-year-old Swiss male, arrived at the premises shortly after 9 a.m., drew a pistol and started firing. Police spokesman Kurt Graf said the shootings took place in the building's canteen area.

Officials didn't immediately have further details on the weapon or how the assailant acquired it. They also did not know how the assailant was killed.

"A lot of things are unclear at this stage," said Ida Glanzmann-Hunkeler, a Christian Democrat lawmaker who lives near the scene of the shooting.

Glanzmann-Hunkeler said a proposal will be put before parliament in the coming weeks that would require greater exchange of information between the gun registries kept by Switzerland's 26 cantons. Authorities would also record whether a person is considered mentally fit to own a gun, and increase officials' powers to confiscate weapons if they aren't.

But the shooting is unlikely to immediately revive calls for ex-soldiers to store their military-issued firearms in secure army depot. The country has a long-standing tradition for men to keep their military rifles after completing compulsory military service.

This partly accounts for the high rate of gun ownership in the country, where some 2.3 million firearms are owned by a population of about 8 million.

A referendum to tighten the laws was defeated at the ballot box in 2011. At the time, opponents pointed to Switzerland's relatively low rate of gun crime, with just 24 gun killings in 2009, which works out to a rate of about 0.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. The U.S. rate that year was about 11 times higher.

Still, there have been several high-profile incidents over the years, including the killing of 14 people at a city council meeting in Zug, not far from Lucerne, in 2001. And in early January, a 33-year-old man killed three women and wounded two men in a southern Swiss village.

Critics and advocates of gun rights doubted the latest shooting would lead to drastic law changes beyond the proposal now before parliament.

"If we demanded another referendum now, many people would say we already dealt with this two years ago," said Tobias Estermann, a member of the anti-weapons group Switzerland Without an Army.

Peter Schilliger, a Lucerne lawmaker, said the popularity of shooting clubs in Switzerland means there is strong grassroots support for gun ownership.

"And anyway, it will always be possible to come by a weapon somehow," he said.

Kronospan Chief Executive Mauro Capozzo said that the suspected assailant had been "with us for more than 10 years ? a quiet man, no other incidents involving him are known." Graf said the man was still with the company at the time of the shooting.

According to the local town council, Kronospan has some 450 employees. There was no immediate word on a possible motive; Capozzo said the company hasn't laid anyone off recently.

___

Moulson reported from Berlin. Frank Jordans in Berlin also contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-dead-swiss-workplace-shooting-123315497.html

larry brown thomas kinkade pat summit brewers matt cain adastra holocaust remembrance day

One corner of Manhattan still a ghost town months after Sandy

NEW YORK (AP) -- The historic cobblestone streets and 19th-century mercantile buildings near the water's edge in lower Manhattan are eerily deserted, a neighborhood silenced by Superstorm Sandy.

Just blocks from the tall-masted ships that rise above South Street Seaport, the windows of narrow brick apartment buildings are still crisscrossed with masking tape left by their owners before the storm. Store interiors are stripped down to plywood and wiring. Restaurants are chained shut, frozen in time, saddled with electrical systems that were ruined by several feet of salt water that raced up from the East River and through their front doors.

"People have no clue that this corner of Manhattan has been hit so badly," said Adam Weprin, manager of the Bridge Cafe, one of the city's oldest bars that sits on a quiet street near the seaport. "Right now, it's a ghost town and a construction site."

Nearly four months after the storm, roughly 85 percent of small businesses near the South Street Seaport are still boarded up. It could be months before some reopen, while others may never return. On Fulton Street, the wide tourist-friendly pedestrian walkway that comprises the seaport's main shopping district, not a single one of the major chain stores ? which include Coach, Ann Taylor and Brookstone ? has reopened.

Among local business owners, there is a pervasive sense that their plight has been ignored by the rest of the city. A state senator who represents the area estimates at least 1,000 jobs were lost in lower Manhattan ? 450 of them in the seaport neighborhood alone.

From its red wood-frame building in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bridge Cafe has dealt with its share of changes over the last two centuries, including stints as a Civil War-era brothel and a bootlegging speakeasy during Prohibition. It has endured economic slumps, nor'easters and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But after the basement was flooded to the rafters and water destroyed the building's wood foundation, Weprin faced the prospect of shutting its doors for good.

"The neighborhood's been beaten," Weprin said. "You walk around here and it's like Chernobyl. At night, it's vacated."

The small businesses of the seaport were far less resilient than the neighboring skyscrapers that house many of lower Manhattan's large financial companies.

Some corporations were displaced for weeks after the storm, forced to relocate to temporary office space farther uptown while flood-damaged skyscrapers fixed their infrastructure and moved electrical systems to higher floors. Con Edison said 10 major buildings remained without power as of Feb. 13, most operating on emergency generators.

At 110 Wall St., a 27-story office tower that occupies a full block near the New York Stock Exchange, all leases were terminated because the building was so badly damaged by flooding. It remains empty while its management company comes up with a long-term plan for weathering future storms.

"How do we protect the lobby?" said William Rudin, the company's CEO. "How do we protect the retail spaces?"

Spotty phone and Internet service also hampered business activity after underground copper cables operated by Verizon, the area's largest network provider, were wrecked by flooding. By mid-February, Verizon said 10 percent of its customers still had little or no service.

It's unclear how many residents of lower Manhattan fled the neighborhood after Sandy. But 2 Gold St., a flood-damaged luxury residential skyscraper with nearly 1,000 residents, did not allow tenants to start moving back in until last week.

"These offices, these high-rise apartments, they need to be reoccupied," said Lee Holin, who owns Meade's Restaurant, which sits on the edge of the seaport a few blocks from Sandy-damaged skyscrapers on Water Street. "All of our customers who live there have not been here in a long time."

Meade's was only able to reopen thanks to a $25,000 grant that Holin received from the Downtown Alliance, a neighborhood association that has doled out 100 grants to small businesses totaling about $1.5 million.

The grant program was so popular that it was suspended two weeks after its debut in mid-November.

"We don't have a lot of traffic," said Nicole Osborne, who was tending the bar at Meade's on a weekday afternoon. "It's like we've been forgotten."

In the darkened window of Stella Manhattan Bistro, an Italian restaurant on Front Street, hung an American flag reminiscent of those displayed all over the city after Sept. 11. Alongside it, someone had posted a sign that said: "Thank you for all your support. Stay strong."

Most of the Front Street buildings had a geothermal heating and cooling system that was destroyed in the flood, said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the developer, The Durst Organization, Inc. The repairs, which include moving the mechanical systems to the roof, are expected to drag on for months.

"We hope that they will come back," Barowitz said of the shuttered businesses. "It's very challenging."

The future of the South Street Seaport is equally uncertain. Howard Hughes Corp, which controls the former 19th-century counting houses that are home to the retail chains, said it does not yet know which ? if any ? of the major retailers will come back. The hope is to have Fulton Street in working order again before Memorial Day, when the summer season kicks off and the seaport will desperately need an influx of visitors.

But in a case of unfortunate timing, Pier 17, the shopping mall housed inside a rustic wooden building on the pier, is slated to close for a long-planned renovation in June that will transform it into a modern glass-walled structure with a rooftop plaza. The impending renovation has only added to the misery of shop owners who lost so much revenue since the storm and haven't recouped their losses.

Milad Doos, an immigrant from Egypt, is planning to close his jewelry and collectibles store for good.

"Like you see, there's nobody," said Doos, who earned just $5 on a recent afternoon. "After the storm, this whole place has become dead place."

At the Bridge Cafe, most of the wood foundation will be gutted, sparing only two pillars and a wall behind the bar that are part of the original building. Repairs will cost around $400,000.

Weprin, who has no flood insurance, launched a fundraising page online to appeal for financial help from the restaurant's many loyal patrons. To his astonishment, many of them didn't even realize the place was closed.

That's because nobody has frequented the neighborhood for weeks.

"During the day, you have tourists who are coming to look at the carnage," Weprin said. "That's about it. Before Sandy, it was a neighborhood."

___

Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-seaport-ghost-town-months-074608566.html

santa Capital STEEZ George Bush After Christmas Sales 2012 Charles Durning Webster Ny Mcdonalds

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bees use the 'force' to choose the best flowers, study finds

Bees can alter the electrical charge of the flowers they touch. A new study finds that bees use these electrical cues to help them choose flowers with the most nectar and pollen.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / February 22, 2013

Bees learn to use electrical clues to choose which flower is the most promising target, according to a new study.

Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters/File

Enlarge

If you're a bee having a hard time finding that flower trying to tell you it's loaded with nectar and pollen, use the force, bee, use the force.

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'; // -->

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that the interaction of charges that can build up naturally on bees and plants plays a role in helping the insects find the best flowers to nourish themselves and the hive.

Bees have long been known to use color, shape, patterns, and odor to identify their their floral targets. The new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol in Britain, suggests that bees also use electrical cues. Based on the results, the researchers suggest that if bees approach a flower and sense a disturbance in the "force," they know another bee has beat them to the blossom.

From a bee's perspective, electrical cues are another tool that enables more-efficient foraging. The flower also benefits, according to University of Bristol biologist Daniel Robert, who oversaw the study.

"The last thing a flower wants is to attract a bee and then fail to provide nectar," he said in a prepared statement. Bees quickly learn which flowers are productive and which aren't. The ones that aren't are less likely to get visits and have their pollen spread to other flowers for reproduction. The electrical cues they receive from the flowers may represent a "come back later" signal.

Bees' ability to sense and respond to plants' electrical fields "is a remarkable finding, " says Mark Winston, a biologist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., and the author of a book on bee biology.

It represents another method "by which bees perceive the world around them and it adds another wonderful story that continues to deepen our understanding the co-evolved relationship between bees and flowers," he says.

For 30 years, some researchers have posited that electrostatic charges that can build up on bees play a role in the bees taking up and transporting pollen ? a kind of small-scale static cling. They also found that the voltage associated with a flower changes as it's pollinated.

But the experiments by Dr. Robert and colleagues suggest that electricity represents a medium for conveying information between flower and bee before the bee lands.

Previous studies had indicated that bees carry a positive electrical charge with voltages that in some cases can reach as high as 200 volts. They build up the charge as they fly. With their roots in the earth, plants tend to carry a negative charge.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/8TgV6CvU7ss/Bees-use-the-force-to-choose-the-best-flowers-study-finds

google stock google stock china gdp dont trust the b in apartment 23 johnny damon kirk cameron news 10

Iran scoffs at Oscar-winning 'Argo'

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian officials on Monday dismissed the Oscar-winning film "Argo" as pro-CIA, anti-Iran propaganda, but some young, moderate Iranians welcomed it as a fresh view of recent history.

The movie, based on the escape of six American hostages from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, has not been screened in any Iranian theaters.

But many Iranians have seen it nevertheless. In downtown Tehran, bootleg DVDs of "Argo" sell for about 30,000 rials, or less than $1.

The movie has set off a spirited debate that exposed a generational divide.

Iranians who took part in the 1979 Islamic Revolution picked apart the portrayals of Tehran at the time. But those too young to recall the events had a different view.

"I want to know what the other side is saying," said Shieda, a 21-year-old University of Tehran student, who gave only her first name for fear of a possible backlash for speaking with foreign media.

Tehran City Council member Masoomeh Ebtekar ? who was one of the students who occupied the U.S. Embassy and acted as the spokeswoman for the captors? says the film exaggerates the violence among crowds that stormed the compound in November 1979.

Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, but a handful of Embassy staff were sheltered by the Canadian ambassador. Their escape, using a fake movie as a cover story, is recounted in "Argo."

Ebtekar insists the hostage-takers were mostly students. But other accounts suggest militants and members of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard were involved.

Iranian Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini criticized the film.

"The movie is an anti-Iran film. It is not a valuable film from the artistic point of view. It won the prize by resorting to extended advertisement and investment," he said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He said Hollywood has "distorted history" as part of what Iranian officials call a "soft war."

Iran's state TV called the movie "an advertisement for the CIA."

The semiofficial Mehr news agency called the Oscar "politically motivated" because first lady Michelle Obama at the White House joined Jack Nicholson via video link to Los Angeles to help present the best picture prize.

In contrast, retired teacher Reza Abbasi who saw the Revolution first hand, said the film was realistic.

"I know Hollywood usually changes reality to make it attractive for movie lovers, but more or less it was close to the realities then."

Others said "Argo" shows the need for Iranian filmmakers to deal more with issues from the Revolution.

The moderate Hamshahri newspaper said the movie "targeted the culture and civilization of Iran," but it is worthwhile for Iranians to see a different perspective of the events that led to the collapse of relations between the U.S. and Iran.

"Iranian audiences are seeing a new version of the events for the first time," said a commentary in the newspaper. "This has been a weak point for our TV and cinema industry, which has not produced anything about the (U.S. Embassy takeover) after more than three decades."

Behnam Farahani , 28, a student in Tehran Art University said, he thought competing films "Django" and "Lincoln" were better than "Argo" in terms of structure and theme.

"They deserved more attention. Argo was just a political movie, it was a narration of a political event."

Mohammad Amin Sharifi, a movie fan in Tehran, was less harsh.

"In my opinion, it's a nice movie from technical aspects, and it was on the scale of Hollywood movies. But I don't think it was worth a nomination for Oscar and other awards," he said.

Iran's state-run film industry boycotted this year's Oscars in the wake of an Internet video clip made in the U.S. denigrating the Prophet Muhammad that set off protests across the Muslim world.

The affair was not related to "Argo."

Last year, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the Oscar for best foreign film for "A Separation," Iran's first Oscar.

A month before it won, Iranian authorities ordered the closure of the House of Cinema, an independent film group that operated for 20 years and counted Iran's top filmmakers, including Farhadi, among its members.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-scoffs-oscar-winning-argo-094025276.html

dick cheney hcg drops reason rally mad hatter azerbaijan ryan howard ps i love you

Monday, February 25, 2013

Oscars 2013 Wrap-Up: 7 Missed Opportunities

By Drew Taylor By and large, Sunday's Oscar telecast was amiable, inoffensive entertainment and not, like last year, a flaming heap of twisted WTF. Seth McFarlane proved to be a toothy, totally game host, and there were enough oddball surprises both in terms of the winners (say what, two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz?) and [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/25/oscars-2013-wrap-up-missed-opportunities/

Pepco erin andrews erin andrews tour de france Magic Mike Anderson Cooper Gay NBA draft 2012

"I Got A Name: The Jim Croce Story" - Baby Boomer's artist struggle ...

MH900289776_edited-1Reviewers of Jim Croce's music frequently commented that his art clearly showed his pain.? The ordeals he sang about, they speculated, he had experienced directly.?

And Baby Boomers from ethnic families will recognize that much of that suffering had been rooted in Croce's father's inability to accept that his son wasn't going to take the road more traveled.? Even later when he became famous, his mother decried his living like a gypsy as he toured the country singing.

Ingrid Croce, Jim's widow, chronicles that history in the biography "I Got A Name: The Jim Croce Story," which she wrote with her second husband Jimmy Rock.? Even into his young adulthood, Jim would have his face slapped by his Italian father who wanted his son to get a secure job, live at home until he married, and sit around the table consuming the huge meals the mother prepared.? The father would send Jim those zinger letters we Baby Boomers remember receiving from our ethnc parents when our lives weren't conforming with their marching orders.

But unlike many of his peers, Jim couldn't shake off the intrusions of his family.? He remained tormented, shut down, and incapable of enjoying his success.? No surprise, he turned to drugs and destroyed his marriage.? Had he not been killed in a plane crash, he likely would have gone the way of passive suicide.

Ingrid captures the hold families used to have on our generation and how too many of us spent our lives running from their values.? Only now in my 60s am I finally healing from my own family's shame that one of their daughters was "different."

Source: http://speechwriting-ghostwriting.typepad.com/speechwriting_ghostwritin/2013/02/i-got-a-name-the-jim-croce-story-baby-boomers-artist-struggle-with-traditional-italian-family.html

hand sanitizer obama on jimmy fallon google drive pilar sanders andrew young real life barbie zipper

The News of the World (and the Fake Sheikh) are back in business ...

Sun on Sunday

The Sun's Sunday splash was written by Mazher Mahmood

The Sun on Sunday has morphed over the past month into the News of the World. The seventh day Sun has returned to the agenda of News International's late, unlamented title.

Three weeks ago the splash was a celebrity "confession" about a pop star's "wild night with a stripper". Two weeks ago, the lead was a kiss and tell (a woman telling tales about Manchester United footballer Patrice Evra).

Last week, a page one blurb headlined "My love for Ashley by topless bisexual nympho" alerted readers to an inside spread in which a woman told of her relationship with footballer Ashley Cole.

But they were mere pointers to today's confirmation of the new News of the World: a classic sting by the Fake Sheikh (aka Mazher Mahmood).

Billed as a "world exclusive" (though I can't imagine anyone fighting to get it), the story is given five pages. It claims to have exposed a former world heavyweight boxing champion, Herbie Hide, "as a drug Mr Fixit ready to throw a title fight for ?1 million."

It is a cut-and-paste Mahmood "investigation." Hide, now 41, who last fought three years ago, was "approached" by NoW (sorry SoS) reporters posing as businessmen "interested in organising exhibition bouts in the Middle East."

He was secretly taped and filmed agreeing, in return for ?1 million, to throw a fight. He was also persuaded to procure four grams of cocaine "when our reporter suggested that cocaine was not readily available in Norwich."

According to the Mahmood article, Hide called a friend who turned up with the drug (which turned out to be a mixture of cocaine and mephedrone).

And in classic fashion, the last couple of paragraphs tell how the NoW (sorry again, the Sun) has "passed its dossier" to the police.

The rest of the SoS content was remarkably similar to that of the old News of the World, which was closed down on Rupert Murdoch's orders in July 2011 following the confirmation of its phone-hacking activities.

On page 3 were pictures of a celebrity in a bikini on a Caribbean beach, one of which showed her two children (isn't that against the editors' code?). There was an "exclusive" spread about Katie Price (aka Jordan) being pregnant. A serious spread, with editorials and Guido Fawkes's political gossip column, featured a lengthy "exclusive" article by the chancellor George Osborne explaining away the significance of Britain losing its AAA rating.

And on it went, through a couple more celebrity spreads, an odd tale of woman alleged to be "tanorexic" (don't ask), and a spread about a woman, now 43, telling of abuse by her stepfather when she was 13, a continuation of Sara Payne's former NoW anti-paedophilia campaign.

Gradually, in a post-Leveson environment, the paper has become indistinguishable from the News of the World. The advantage for Murdoch is that it's much, much cheaper to produce and, of course, it's hacking-free.

PS: Memo to Sue Douglas, hopeful of acquiring The People in order to turn it into the News of the People, your USP has just disappeared.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/feb/24/sun-on-sunday-newsoftheworld

student loan forgiveness ufc 145 weigh ins record store day 2012 detroit red wings jose canseco zimmerman derek fisher

Mathematics After The Fall ? Blog Archive ? Relentless Pursuit

Unlike the fall 2012 reading list, Perspectives from the Age, my spring 2013 reading list concentrates on two groups I find generally positive: Teach For America and Knowledge is Power Program. I think they practice social justice. As those two words, ?social justice?, mean very different things to different people, I should state my interpretation. I believe in the Roman Catholic definition, unsurprisingly, in the tradition of Rerum Novarum. I own a book of selections by Monsignor John Augustine Ryan, PhD, whose 1906 doctoral dissertation was published as A Living Wage. I don?t think my dissertation of teacher knowledge of conditional probability will have anywhere near that influence, by the way. It?s a different age. And I wonder what the Occupy movement would say if they knew the development of their term, which didn?t just burst forth from John Rawls? head like Athena from Zeus.

The first book, Relentless Pursuit by Donna Foote, is about Teach For America, which burst forth from the mind of Wendy Kopp, Princeton class of 1989. The book includes history, which can be found elsewhere. I want to focus on the original material of the text, the chronicle of Locke High School in Los Angeles. Originally built in 1967, by 2005 things had degenerated to the point where three employees had full time jobs painting over graffiti taggers (p. 92). About two-thirds of students were Black and one-third Hispanic, with major racial tension.
The main story focuses on four TFA teachers during the first year, Rachelle, Phillip, Hrag, and Taylor, plus their TFA supervisor Samir. Other people, including principal Dr. Frank Wells, also appear in the narrative. The TFA college graduates were part of the 12% accepted in 2005 from an applicant pool that included 8% or more of the students from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Amherst. Looking through my book notes, there are a lot of small records:

  • TFA has a belief-based structure like the army or missionary work. Teachers comprise the Corps, for example. There are lots of acronyms.
  • TFA engages in corporate style marketing. They advertised Millenial style like ?An Army of One?, with lots of pictures of TFA Corps members in classrooms. Then they switched to look a little less corporate, because their surveys pointed to desires for positive impact and ?giving back? along with challenge and personal growth. Potential corps members worried about their own ability, TFA?s organization, and individual issues of lack of money and sidetracking their own careers.
  • TFA members tended towards Battlefield relationships, including Ms. Kopp, who married a founding staff member at TFA. Rachelle begins to date another Locke teacher. Taylor and Hrag become at least BFFs, if not FWBs. (Internet slang counteracts my earlier reference to Rerum Novarum.)
  • Principal Wells thought that 35% of the teachers at Locke did not have the skills to be in a classroom, as cited on page 211. Even worse, better teachers tended to leave Locke for safer, better organized environments. The book describes one group?s departure for a Green Dot charter school. Students cried. Locke got worse. Green Dot charters took over the school three years later, in 2008. According to recent news, things have improved relative to other nearby poor schools, but overall achievement remains low.
  • Samir, as TFA supervisor, has a cold unsupportive demeanor with his charges. He definitely followed the word of Matt Kramer, former McKinsey consultant and eventual TFA President. On page 189, Kramer downplays being nice: ?Civility and humility are there, but that?s not the same thing as nice. Nice is saying it matters more how people feel than how they perform, and whether they deliver results. ? It?s not about you, it?s about delivering results. You don?t let your personal emotions get in the way of results.?
  • Sharita?s story on pages 159 and 160, well, is bleak. Cold cold bleakness. ?The earth may just as well have opened up and swallowed her whole.? I?ve reached a point in life, through personal effort, that I don?t show outward effects from such tales. That doesn?t mean I ignore them.

After reading this book, I realized that the Teach for America organization and I do not share a vision of social justice. I detest the term ?give something back? because it implies that TFA Corps members do not share community with those around Locke High. That?s not the preferential option for the poor; that?s not the righteous of Matthew 25.

I don?t oppose Teach for America, unlike much of the ?Educational Community?. The book mentions Linda Darling-Hammond, now at Stanford. Reading her writing, it makes me happier that I didn?t apply to Stanford. In her 1994 argument against TFA, she claims ?in 1990 graduates of teacher education programs had higher levels of academic achievement than the average college graduate.? (Phi Delta Kappan, September 1994, p. 24) Evaluating evidence becomes crucial. Looking at footnote 17 on page 34, support comes from one study, where ?50% of newly qualified teachers earned a grade-point average of 3.25 or better, as compared to 40% of all graduates.? What?s insufficient about this claim?

I?ll go watch a Harlem Shake meme video to give you 30 seconds.

Grade-point averages are set by faculty. They?re not comparable across departments or schools. I have little idea how an education faculty member awards an A, though I suspect it?s at a much lower level than how Statistics, Mathematics, and other Science faculty do.

TFA was making the same error, as described on page 294. They defined mastery as 80% scores on teacher-developed and teacher-scored exams. I could make and score a test where almost everyone got 80%, or I could make and score a test where almost nobody got 80%. Neither shows much of anything. TFA eventually decided to determine performance against state tests, a metric outsiders could evaluate.
TFA administration showed other instances of improvement. For instance, this book shows how new teachers suffered from lack of support. They were not given lesson plans or much lesson guidance. After complaints, new teachers now receive toolkits and curriculum binders. As Ms. Foote writes on page 326, ?New CMs were still being taught how to fish; the difference was, now they were being served some, too.? This helped address one of TFA?s problems, the lack of experience of its members. It wasn?t a permanent solution, though.

Perhaps the most important quote comes from TFA dropout Dave, on page 140. ?The TFA lifestyle is not sustainable,? he said as he left Locke to return closer to his betrothed after several months with four class preps. It?s not. It?s a stopgap to address the severe lack of teachers in bad areas, particularly in math and science. Unsurprisingly, the book notes that TFA had no problem placing people in math and science positions, but much more resistance in the over-staffed and academically easier elementary ranks.
An ideal world doesn?t need Teach For America. Monsignor Ryan?s world doesn?t, given the Catholic church?s extensive education structure. Maybe even Linda Darling-Hammond?s world doesn?t. But that?s not the current world, and as long as persons capable of high school math want to sign up, even for a little while, I want groups like TFA to find places to use them. For a potential longer term solution, perhaps my next topic, KIPP, will yield an answer.

Source: http://mathematicsafterthefall.twelvefruits.com/archives/473

Clinton speech Michael Strahan Griselda Blanco Michelle Obama Speech eva longoria Michael Clarke Duncan Nazanin Boniadi

Sunday, February 24, 2013

God's Name on Israel's Mountains

View Postyour friend Jacob, on 23 February 2013 - 11:21 PM, said:

But to add to the discussion, is there biblical reference to this???


What Do You Think?

And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 2 Kings 21:4

But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. 2 Chronicles 6:6

Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. 2 Chronicles 33:4

And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 2 Chronicles 33:7

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. Revelation 3:20

Source: http://www.worthychristianforums.com/topic/162348-gods-name-on-israels-mountains/

robert griffin iii dontari poe space shuttle nyc monkeypox nick perry 30 rock live nfl draft picks 2012

Learn Math 4th Grade for Android

Learn Math 4th Grade - Android
'; var s = ''; if (!ad_total) { return; } var end_prefoto = 0; /* banner prefoto */ if ($('#bannerUp_prefoto').length) { s += sCap; var end_prefoto = max_ads_prefoto; for (ad_seguent; ad_seguent 1) { s = ''; s += sCap; if (end_prefoto == 0) { var end_postfoto = end_prefoto+max_ads_prefoto+max_ads_postfoto; } else { var end_postfoto = end_prefoto+max_ads_postfoto; } for (ad_seguent; ad_seguent ' + '' + ga.line1 + '' + ' '+ ga.visible_url + '' + '

' + ga.line2 + ' ' + ga.line3 + '

' + ''; } google_ad_client = 'pub-7897364620851203'; google_ad_channel = '1440044427+1937719618+2071285907'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = 11; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_feedback = 'on'; $(document).ready(function () { //show / hide embed widget var embedVisited = false; $('.buttonEmbed').click(function() { if ($('.embedCode').is(':visible')) { $('.embedCode').hide(); $(this).removeClass('hover'); } else { if (!embedVisited) { $('.embedResult').html($('.embedCode > textarea:first').val()); embedVisited = true; setTimeout("$('.embedCode').show();", 250); } else { $('.embedCode').show(); } $(this).addClass('hover'); $('a.close').click(function () { $('.embedCode').hide(); $('.buttonEmbed').removeClass('hover'); }); } }); }); //]]>???? Learn Math 4th Grade A simple and nice math method to learn the basic of math for the 4th Grade. It's about counting, substracting, dividing and multiplying.

The program has 3 levels and when you have succeeded this then the goal is achieved to simply calculate complexer math.

There is also a counter for the number of good and wrong answers. You can only go to the next math when the answer is correct. So the student discovers himself which errors he makes again and again.

Good luck with it!



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AndroidZoomLastGamesAndApplications/~3/KbL1SrO4e48/learn-math-4th-grade_fmdnr.html

Fred Willard Emmy nominations 2012 Ramadan 2012 Michelle Jenneke batman Colorado Shooting News joe paterno

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Article: India's rice revolution: Chinese scientist questions claim of massive harvests

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2013/02/article-india-rice-revolution-chinese.html

south carolina debate lauren scruggs william shatner seattle weather skier sarah burke gingrich wife cheryl burke

Facebook pictures of baby manatee lead to arrest

A tourist faces jail time after playing with an endangered baby manatee. State and federal laws make it a crime to disturb wild marine mammals, including manatees.

By Live Science / February 21, 2013

A man was arrested after posting photos on Facebook that showed him picking up a manatee.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Enlarge

A man has been arrested in Florida after posting pictures on Facebook that showed him harassing a baby manatee, authorities announced this week.

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'; // -->

The incriminating images show Ryan William Waterman, 21, and his two children petting a manatee calf at Taylor Creek in Fort Pierce last month, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). In one shot, Waterman is holding the calf partially out of the shallow water, and in another image, one of his young children is sitting on top of the animal as if riding it.

While the family's actions might look playful, biologists said such contact could be deadly for a manatee calf.

"This was a young manatee, which was likely still dependent on its mother for food and protection. Separating the two could have severe consequences for the calf," FWC manatee biologist Thomas Reinert said in a statement.?

"The calf also appeared to be experiencing manatee cold-stress syndrome, a condition that can lead to death in extreme cases," Reinert added. "Taking the calf out of the water may have worsened its situation."

Waterman faces charges under the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, which makes it illegal to molest, harass or disturb manatees, classified as an endangered species in the state. His offense also violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which makes it illegal to hunt or get up close to manatees as well as all other marine mammals, such as whales, seals and walruses.

These laws, however, have not prevented some recent close encounters in Florida, perhaps due to a lack of awareness. (Waterman, in fact, told local television station WPEC-TV that he meant no harm and didn't know it was illegal to touch a manatee.)

In December, a woman snapped pictures at Pompano Beach, on Florida's Atlantic coast, of swimmers who might have been trying to ride a sickly sperm whale. The 35-foot (10.6-meter)-long creature was reported to be flapping its tail at the time of the incident and eventually washed ashore dead.

And last October, a woman turned herself in after photos surfaced showing her riding a manatee at Florida's Fort DeSoto Park near Tampa. At the time, reports suggested she could have faced up to 60 days in jail and a possible fine of $500 for her crime.

There are estimated to be just 3,800 manatees in Florida, and each year, about 87 are killed by humans, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, most of them dying in boat collisions. Coastal development, which has altered and destroyed manatee habitat, also threatens the species.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/rRtTpL-S2Pc/Facebook-pictures-of-baby-manatee-lead-to-arrest

bobby petrino fired buffett rule lollapalooza lineup joss whedon ronnie montrose melissa gilbert dancing with the stars dandelion wine

Ranking the 10 Best NFL Scouting Combine Performances of All Time

What is in the water in Maryland??

This is the second big time player from the Terrapins who had a ridiculously good combine.

Finishing the last 20 yards of his 40 in 1.75 seconds means he went 23.4 miles per hour on the back half of his 40-yard dash.

At 210 pounds, posting the second fastest time in combine history by just 0.01 seconds despite weighing 13 pounds more than the combine record holder, Chris Johnson, was extremely impressive.

Even more impressive is his leaping ability. As a receiver, he'll be using it quite a bit.

When a guy is 6'1-5/8" and he can jump another 38.5", it shows that he can give his quarterback the ability to throw it above almost any defender in the NFL.

Out-running and out-jumping defenders is something that makes guys like the late Al Davis?who loved workout warriors?select players like Heyward-Bey in the top due to great performances like this one.

?

Test? Result?
40-yard dash? 4.25 seconds
20-yard dash 2.50 seconds
10-yard dash 1.44 seconds
Short Shuttle 4.18 seconds?
3-cone Drill 6.80 seconds
Bench Reps 16 reps
Vertical Jump? 38.5"
Broad Jump 10'6"

?

All stats used are either from?Pro Football Focus's Premium Stats,?ESPN,?CFBStats?or the?NFL.?All contract information is courtesy?Spotrac?and?Rotoworld. All recruiting rankings come from?247Sports.com.

Scott Carasik?is a Featured Columnist?for?Bleacher Report.?He covers the?Atlanta Falcons, NFL and NFL Draft. He is also the Falcons analyst at?Drafttek, runs the NFL Draft Website?ScarDraft.com?and hosts?Kvetching Draftniks Radio.

Follow @ScottCarasik

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1531523-ranking-the-10-best-nfl-scouting-combine-performances-of-all-time

bubba masters winner instagram facebook mike wallace mike wallace chicago cubs split pea soup recipe

HBT: Bobby V will be Sacred Heart AD

Ex-Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine got the gig he was aiming for: he?ll be named the new Athletic Director of Sacred Heart University in a press conference scheduled for Tuesday, CtPost?s William Paxton reports.

It?s another odd turn for the former big-league infielder and three-time major league manager. Besides managing the Rangers, Mets and Red Sox and commentating for ESPN, Valentine also spent seven years managing in Japan, served as Director of Public Safety & Health for?Stamford, Connecticut and popularized the wrap sandwich.

Sacred Heart University is a Catholic school located in Fairfield, Connecticut and apparently is a Northeast Conference powerhouse in baseball and golf. The baseball team went 25-32 last season, but still won the NEC for a second straight season with a 19-13 conference record.

Following a disastrous lone season in Boston, it?s doubtful that the 62-year-old Valentine will ever surface in a major league dugout again. Still, he does have a winning record in 16 years as a major league manager, going 1,186-1,165.

Where this leaves Valentine and NBC is unclear. Valentine was hired last month to serve as a co-host on a weekday talk show for NBC Sports Radio. That gig was due to begin in April.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/21/bobby-valentine-is-the-athletic-director-for-sacred-heart-university/related/

encyclopedia britannica pi white lion mike d antoni resigns holes ncaa brackets 2012 odd

Friday, February 22, 2013

Interactive: Predicting GOP's demographic problem

By Chris Wilson

Just to get out ahead of the pack a little, I?m go ahead and call 2020 election for the Democrats.

I'm less sure about 2016, though at the present this next election is not looking good for the GOP either. This forecast is based on extremely simple math: Take the current rates of turnout and party preference for the four major racial and ethnic groups and plug them in to the Census Bureau?s population projections for the 18-and-over population in the next half-century.

If you simply project the present into the future, then it?s pretty clear that Democrats have this thing in the bag--"thing" referring to the future of democracy. We can assume that the future will not look exactly like the present, which is why this widget allows you to manipulate the percentages of each group that turn out to vote and who they vote for. It?s when you start messing with the dials in this interactive that you realize the massive amount of trouble the GOP faces if it does not change its image with minority voters.?or, as well soon be calling them, ?plurality voters.? Here, you can try it yourself:

You will notice that turnout is very low for Hispanic and Asian Americans. This is because we?re measuring voter turnout for the entire voting age population, including those who are not citizens or are otherwise ineligible to vote. Going forward, a significantly larger proportion of both demographics will have been born in the United States. As the Pew Hispanic Center wrote in a study of the Hispanic electorate published shortly after the 2012 election, ?That vast majority (93%) of Latino youths are U.S-born citizens and thus will automatically become eligible to vote once they turn 18.? The report was titled ?An Awakened Giant.?

Even a few ticks upward in Hispanic turnout have major benefits for the Democratic Party, which stands to draw less than half its support from non-Hispanic white voters by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, the Republicans don?t have a tremendous amount of ground left to gain among white voters, who will shrink both in total numbers and as a share of the electorate in the coming elections.

Predictions fail on account of a failure of imagination on the part of those making them. In recent elections, however, partisanship by racial and ethnic background has remained highly predictable in the face of countless calamities. The demographics of the electorate are going to change so rapidly in the next eight years that politics will seem unrecognizable, but these party loyalties may very well be intact. This is a fact that itself is not difficult to recognize whatsoever.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/predict-presidential-elections-by-demographic-interactive-widget-225441066.html

the notebook duke basketball miranda july joe paterno near death joepa sc primary bill moyers

BRIT Awards 2013: Taylor Swift, One Direction & Justin Timberlake ...

What else but awards season could get us through the dead of winter? Keeping us warm right now are all the stunning pictures from the 2013 BRIT Awards, which took over London?s O2 Arena on Wednesday night (February 20). Before we can hear the acceptance speeches, see the stellar performances (including Mr. 20/20 Experience?Justin Timberlake) and watch Taylor Swift, once again, enjoy her very own sing-along?? we first get to relish in the?pageantry?of the red carpet. Check out the handsome fellas of One Direction, JT in his suit and tie, Jessie J?s daring dress and Tay rocking a sexy?Elie Saab gown (after all, Harry Styles needs to see what he?s been missing.)

Which pop star was dressed the best at this year?s BRIT Awards? Tell us below!?

Source: http://idolator.com/7442447/brit-awards-2013-taylor-swift-one-direction-justin-timberlake

Indianapolis explosion jay cutler applebees jeff gordon veterans day mike brown bcs rankings

Haunting, rare images depict WWI devastation

TORONTO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canada's Rebecca Marino, a rising star in women's tennis, stepped away from the sport in search of a normal life on Wednesday, weary of battling depression and cyber-bullies. Ranked number 38 in the world two years ago, the 22-year-old admitted she had long suffered from depression and was no longer willing to make the sacrifices necessary to reach the top. "After thinking long and hard, I do not have the passion or enjoyment to drive myself to the level I would like to be at in professional tennis," Marino explained in a conference call. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/haunting-rare-images-depict-wwi-devastation-slideshow/

russell westbrook horsetail falls ice t president day new york knicks lin j.r. smith

Thursday, February 21, 2013

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Softball camp

The Livonia Churchill Chargers Fundamental Camp for girls in grades 3-8 will be from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, March 2 at the high school fieldhouse.

The cost is $35 (pre-registration required).

For more information, call or email Churchill head coach Steve Gentilia at (734) 776-1716; or churchillsoftball@gmail.com.

Senior softball

A newly formed team in the 65-and-over Western Wayne County Suburban Softball League is seeking slow-pitch players the summer season, which runs from May through August.

Games will be played at 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in the Livonia, Canton and Westland areas.

The league is governed by ASA senior slow-pitch rules. A nominal fee will be assessed to cover incidental team and league expenses.

For more information, call Bob Mosher (734) 502-7477 or Doug Curry at (248) 767-0828.

Source: http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20130221/SPORTS10/302210521/1054/rss42

tim lincecum ryan oneal file taxes online tupac shakur sledge hammer tax day freebies madison bumgarner

Four dead, including gunman, in California shooting frenzy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A gunman on a shooting rampage in southern California killed three people on Tuesday in an attack at a home and three carjackings, before killing himself with a shotgun as officers closed in, police said.

The rolling spate of violence, which included at least one execution-style killing, spanned several miles across a number of communities in suburban Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, including the cities of Tustin and Santa Ana.

The violence occurred just a week after a massive manhunt for a fugitive former Los Angeles policeman wanted in a series of shootings targeting officers and their families ended in a fiery stand-off in the mountains above Los Angeles.

In Orange County, authorities first received a call on a shooting before dawn at a home in Ladera Ranch, 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Officers arrived to find a woman shot to death. The gunman, who was in his 20s, fled the scene in a sport utility vehicle and headed to the city of Tustin, about 15 miles away, Amormino said.

The gunman committed his first carjacking in Tustin, near the 5 Freeway, where he shot and wounded a person, police said. That person is expected to survive, Amormino said.

Blocks away at an off-ramp for the 55 Freeway, on the border between Tustin and Santa Ana, he targeted a man with a BMW vehicle in a second carjacking, police said.

"He orders him out of the vehicle, walks him to the side of the curb and then executes our victim," said Santa Ana police spokesman Corporal Anthony Bertagna.

Behind the wheel of the BMW, the gunman drove back into Tustin where he committed another carjacking, killing one person and wounding another, police said.

At one point, the gunman also opened fire on a freeway, causing minor injuries to one person and damaging two cars, Tustin police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Garaven told reporters near a command post in his city.

Authorities said they were still investigating the motive of the gunman, who killed himself with a shotgun after officers pulled him over in his stolen vehicle in the nearby city of Villa Park, police said.

Police said they were still seeking to determine any possible relationship between the gunman, whose name has not been released, and the woman at the home in Ladera Ranch. None of the gunman's other victims knew him, Garaven said.

"We're still investigating how many victims we might have," Garaven said. He added that some more people or cars may have been hit when the gunman opened fire on the 55 Freeway.

Despite early reports that he was using two so-called "long guns," which include weapons such as rifles, only the shotgun has been recovered so far and police said it was unclear if the attacker had another firearm.

(This story has been corrected to fix name of Santa Ana police spokesman in paragraph 8 and location where suspect died in paragraph 11)

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Andrew Hay and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/four-dead-including-gunman-california-shooting-spree-175518393.html

the patriot hall of fame occupy dc ufc 143 fight card my fair lady conversion disorder the chronicle

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Oscar Pistorius trial: Is it South Africa's version of the OJ Simpson trial?

Since Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody on Valentine's Day, accused of murdering his girlfriend, South Africa has seemed to have spoken of little else.

By Kenichi Serino,?Contributor / February 20, 2013

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands inside the court as a police officer looks on during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 20. A South African judge says defense lawyers will need to offer 'exceptional' reasons to convince him to grant bail for Oscar Pistorius, when a hearing resumes Wednesday.

Themba Hadebe/AP

Enlarge

Johannesburg, South Africa

The court case of Olympian and double-amputee Oscar Pistorius, accused of shooting and killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp early Valentine?s Day morning, is still in early stages. But the fame of the accused and the media frenzy surrounding the bail hearing today has many dubbing it ?South Africa?s OJ Simpson trial.?

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'; // -->

The media were immediately aflame with reports of the killing inside Mr. Pistorius?s house, located in an exclusive, high-security housing community. And South Africa has since seemed to have spoken of little other than the ?Blade Runner? ? so named for the high-tech carbon-fiber prosthetic legs he uses when competing.

The instant infamy of the case recalled for some in South Africa the ?Trial of the Century? in the US ?when Mr. Simpson, a former football star, was accused of killing his wife. His trial almost two decades ago riveted America for months.

One commentator on the SABC, the South African public broadcaster, argued that the South African case could be even bigger, as Pistorius was already world-famous while Simpson, who broke records in American football and was well known in the US, only gained global infamy after his criminal trial.

?It?s an obvious comparison, but we're at an early stage. I mean, are South Africans as interested in the minutiae of the story as the OJ case? Yes, possibly,? says Indra de Lanerolle of the University of Witwatersrand?s Journalism department.

The killing comes six months after Pistorius returned home to a hero?s welcome following his success in the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. One local magazine featured him on their cover with the headline ?Man of the Future.?

Pistorius claimed that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder behind a bathroom door and, not realizing that Ms. Steenkamp was not in bed, opened fire with a licensed 9 mm he took from under his pillow.

But details quickly emerged that neighbors complained of shouting from the house leading up to the shooting, and police officials said they had been called to the Pistorius home for ?previous incidents of a domestic nature.?

Media circus

Outside the Pretoria courthouse Tuesday, before his bail hearing started, television news trucks from both local and international media outlets set up shop while journalists battled to get inside.

An image that captures the media frenzy is a widely circulated video of Pistorius standing alone before the court, while more than a dozen photographers stand close by, cameras pointing at him, clicking away madly.

Already, Sunday papers had been filled with opinions and columns and articles tackling the story from every angle. Journalists cited anonymous sources detailing the crime scene, reporting that Steenkamp was shot multiple times. Local weekly City Press created an elaborate graphic to describe how authorities believe the killing unfolded.

The Pistorius defense team responded, criticizing the investigation, arguing that it had not yet even been given access to the crime scene to conduct their own investigation ? and appeared to be working to cast popular doubt about the state?s case against their client.

The glove, the cricket bat

In what hearkens back to Simpson?s iconic bloody glove ? a? bloody cricket bat found at the crime scene was the topic of discussion in many articles.

Also similar is the status of the lawyers involved: Well-known criminal defense lawyer Barry Roux will represent Pistorius. The even more famous Gerrie Nel ? who successfully prosecuted South Africa?s former police chief for corruption ? will lead the prosecution.

As the media has scrambled for access or any details of the case in an effort to feed the insatiable?public appetite for details, there remains a major difference between the two trials: ?the existence of social media. The constant tweeting has given South Africa?s growing social media public unprecedented access to the Pistorius trial where live television coverage is forbidden.? ??

Journalists inside the courtroom have competed to tweet as often as possible, giving their followers up to the second, play-by-play of the proceedings.

?I had to turn off half the journalists I follow because of the volume,? said Mr. de Lanerolle. ?It was 20 or 30 tweets an hour. It's almost like live TV.?

Because of wide disparities between rich and poor in South Africa, only a minority have Internet access. However, among those that do, Twitter is enormously popular.

Technology research company WorldWideWorx found that Twitter was the fastest growing social networking site in South Africa, with 1.1 million users in mid-2011, a 20-fold increase from the previous year.

?I think the thing about Twitter in South Africa is that it?s very popular out of the community of Internet users,? says de Lanerolle. ?It really picked up especially among journalists, so it has a very strong news bent.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/R1MOnidCwUI/Oscar-Pistorius-trial-Is-it-South-Africa-s-version-of-the-OJ-Simpson-trial

21 jump street illinois primary results acapulco mexico hines ward alex smith alex smith robert deniro

ARPA-E Funding for Energy Storage System Development ? Apply by March 21, 2013

February 20th, 2013

The Robust Affordable Next Generation Energy Storage Systems (RANGE) program seeks to improve EV range and reduce vehicle costs by re-envisioning the total EV battery system, rather than working to increase the energy density of individual battery cells.?

RANGE projects will focus on developing robust battery chemistries and architectures that would improve vehicle driving range and overall battery robustness. RANGE projects will also focus on multifunctional energy storage designs that use these robust storage systems to simultaneously serve other functions on a vehicle, thus further reducing an energy storage system?s effective weight and overall electric vehicle weight.

ARPA-E is encouraging outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams for RANGE applications and projects. ARPA-E believes that interdisciplinary and cross-organizational collaborations can facilitate scientific and technological discoveries that a single group alone would not be able to achieve.

If you are interested in forming a RANGE team within Oregon, Drive Oregon may be able to help you connect with potential partner researchers or companies. ?Email emmaline@driveoregon.org to get that conversation started.

Details

The submission deadline for RANGE Concept Papers is 5 p.m. ET on March 21, 2013.

To view the full RANGE Funding Opportunity Announcement, find more information on?RANGE Teaming Partner arrangements or apply for RANGE funding, please visit the?ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Exchange.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DriveOregon/~3/qv0jCJ1DEg8/

dwts sean hannity bobby petrino fired buffett rule lollapalooza lineup joss whedon ronnie montrose