Dassault Falcon supports Abu Dhabi Air Expo 2013 ... - AME Info

Dassault sees the market for business jets recovering across the Middle East, helped by new regional operators and the increased globalization of regional commerce.

The company will deliver six Falcons to Middle East customers over the next coming months. More than 60 Falcon business jets already operate in the region.

Saudia Private Aviation, which owns and operates four Falcon 7X business jets, is one of the world's largest Falcon 7X operators.

"2012 proved to be another positive year for the company, concluding with an order from the prominent Middle East general aviation company, Wallan Aviation, for two Falcon 900 business jets," said John Rosanvallon, President and CEO of Dassault Falcon.

"The Middle East business jet market is maturing. The region has world class infrastructure including magnificent new airports. The economy is growing. The future remains promising."

The Abu Dhabi Air Expo comes at a time when Dassault starts celebrating its Falcons' 50th anniversary. Five decades ago, Dassault conceived and launched the Myst?re-Falcon 20 - the first true purpose-built business jet that first flew on May 4 th 1963. Twenty different models have followed in the years since, each with the same sleek lines, smooth handling and peerless reliability and efficiency displayed by that first Falcon.

Today, more than 2,000 Falcons are in operation in 80 countries around the world and aggregate fleet flight time has surpassed 16 million hours - testimony to the reputation for quality and performance that the Falcon family has acquired within the executive aviation community.

"Our company has always been a leader in this industry and we will continue to set the pace in the years ahead," says John Rosanvallon. "Moreover, the best is yet to come."

"Falcons meet the demands of Middle East owners, offering long range and large, roomy cabins which are ideal for work or rest," says Renaud Cloatre, Dassault Falcon's sales director for the Middle East.

"Increasingly important is the fact that Falcons burn 20-40% less fuel and offer up to 50% lower operating costs than some aircraft in their class."

The Falcon 7X is Dassault's best-selling aircraft and accounts for about 40% of all Dassault Falcon's Middle East business jet sales. Its 5,950 nm range allows the Falcon 7X to serve more than 90% of the city pairs demanded by the typical business aviation traveler. The airplane can connect New York to Jeddah, Abu Dhabi to Perth or Cape Town to London City. The Falcon 7X also offers unparalleled flexibility of operation. It is the only business jet in its category able to operate from short runways like La Mole St Tropez in France or to meet the demanding requirements of London City Airport, with its steep approach and noise restrictions.

The 3,350 nm Falcon 2000S was shown for the first time at the NBAA in Orlando, USA, in October 2012 and is set for certification in the first quarter of 2013. Flight test performance is better than figures announced when the aircraft was unveiled in May 2011.

The Falcon 2000S can fly from Abu Dhabi to Paris or Riyadh to London City Airport. The 4,000 nm Falcon 2000LXS, introduced in 2012, combines the short field performance of the 2000S and the climb and cruise capabilities of the 2000LX. The Falcon 2000LXS can fly from Abu Dhabi to London City or Hong Kong.

Dassault Falcon continues to expand its Middle East sales and support network in order to serve this dynamic market. In addition to the Dubai office, the network includes Authorized Service Centers in Dubai and Jeddah, a spares distribution center in Dubai and a technical office in Jeddah.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/dassault-falcon-supports-abu-dhabi-air-331512

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Gunplay: Off the Hook in Armed Robbery Case

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/gunplay-off-the-hook-in-armed-robbery-case/

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Dozens killed in Damascus car bombing

The headquarters of Syria's ruling party was reportedly targeted in what the government once again described as a terrorist attack.

By Albert Aji and Ben Hubbard,?Associated Press / February 21, 2013

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows first responders working after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said.

SANA/AP

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A car bombing near Syria's ruling party headquarters in Damascus killed 53 people on Thursday, according to state media, while mortar rounds exploded near the army's central command in the city.

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It was the third straight day of attacks on the center of the capital, among the deepest and fiercest on the heart of Bashar Assad's seat of power during the civil war.

The car bombing was the deadliest attack inside Damascus in nine months and within hours, two other bombings and a mortar attack on the military compound followed.

While no one group has claimed responsibility, the attacks suggest that rebel fighters who have gotten bogged down in their attempts to storm the capital are resorting to guerrilla tactics to loosen Assad's grip on the capital.

The day's deadliest attack struck a main street on the edge of central Mazraa neighborhood, near the headquarters of Assad's Baath party and the Russian Embassy, as well as a mosque, a hospital and a school.

TV footage of the blast site showed firemen dousing a flaming car with hoses. The state news service, SANA, published photos showing a large crater in the middle of the rubble-strewn street and charred cars.

Witnesses at the scene said a car exploded at a security checkpoint between the Russian Embassy and the central headquarters of Assad's ruling party.

"It was huge. Everything in the shop turned upside down," one local resident said. He said three of his employees were injured by flying glass that killed a young girl who was walking by when the blast hit.

"I pulled her inside the shop but she was almost gone. We couldn't save her," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution for speaking with foreign media.

Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast, which shattered windows and sent up a huge cloud of smoke visible throughout much of the city, witnesses said.

State TV called it a "terrorist" attack by a suicide bomber. It said at least 53 people were killed and more than 200 wounded.

The Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 people were killed, most of them civilians. Some members of the Syrian security forces were also killed, it said.

There was no way to immediately reconcile the differing death tolls.

The bombing appeared to be the second most deadly in the Syrian capital since the uprising against Assad began 23 months ago. Fifty-five people were killed in the first, a double suicide bombing outside of an intelligence building in May, 2012.

The most extreme of Syria's rebel groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, claimed responsibility for that and other bombings that have struck targets associated with the regime but also killed civilians.

Such tactics have galvanized Assad's supporters and made many other Syrians distrustful of the rebel movement as a whole, most of whose fighting groups do not use such tactics.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attack.

Russia's state owned RIA Novosti news agency quoted a Russian Embassy official as saying the Embassy building had been damaged in the blast but no one was hurt.

Among those wounded by flying glass was Nayef Hawatmeh, the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical Damascus-based Palestinian group.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/yoggZScv2UE/Dozens-killed-in-Damascus-car-bombing

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Sarah Jessica Parker?s Horrifying Chinese Harper?s Bazaar Cover Is the Stuff of Nightmares (PHOTO)

A lot of people give Sarah Jessica Parker a hard time when it comes to her looks.

Say what you want about her, but there?s absolutely no way she looks as bad in real life as the Chinese edition of Harper?s Bazaar made her look on its most recent cover.

This is ? by far ? the most screwed up, horrific, terrifying, incompetent Photoshop disaster of all time.

It looks like they used every Photoshop tool in the book to twist, contort, and reshape her face into some sort of barely-recognizable Star Trek alien (we vote for Balok, see comparison photo below).

Someone seriously needs to be fired over this.? This is what happens when you horse around with Photoshop too much.

?Sex and the City Fans? are already complaining about the photo, which is enough to keep small children awake at night cowering under their blankets.

Check out the full cover below.

What do YOU think?? Is it a total train wreck or what?

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Source: http://www.blippitt.com/sarah-jessica-parker-harpers-bazaar/

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How To Deal With the Pressure of Being a Business Founder ...

Being the founder of a business is one of the most pressure-filled endeavors one could ever take on. As Sean Percival, an LA-based entrepreneur and co-founder, points out in a recent blog post, ?Having a start-up today is not about crushing it. It?s about not getting crushed.?

In recognition that being a founder isn?t without serious difficulties, SimplifyThis asked our friends at Noomii: the professional coach directory to provide some advice for dealing with the pressures that founding a business can bring.

Photo: Sebastian Fissore, www.sebafissore.com.ar

Check your reality

? How someone views pressure can be worked with,? according to Paul Strobl a Houston based executive, life and entrepreneurship coach. ?New perspectives can help ease pressures.? Pressure is a perception, not a fact,? he says.? If you?re looking to cut down on the feeling of pressure at work, Strobl suggests asking yourself a few questions including, what can you do to delegate, systematize, or outsource?? How do you know when you?ve done enough for the day?? How do you know when you?ve had ?enough? success?? Additionally he encourages people to consider what the worst case scenario looks like. ?When you know you can deal with anything that comes, you have no fear.? No fear equals no pressure.? You keep doing what you?re doing and the outcome doesn?t mean anything about you. A project can be a failure.? A person cannot unless he/she decides to stop trying,? he adds.

Don?t be a lone wolf

According to Dan Weigold, a Colorado based leadership coach, for many entrepreneurs there is a sense of having to do it alone and many founders lack someone whom they can talk to objectively to help them deal with all the issues of running a business.? ?The founder faces the full weight and responsibility of getting the business to be successful, that means marketing, sales, product development, and producing results and it can be overwhelming,? Weigold says. For him the solution includes working with a coach or finding a mentor through SCORE or the Small Business Development Community (www.sba.gov) to develop plans to help reduce the stress of managing a business. ?The idea is not to go it alone,? Weigold says.? ?It means finding someone to provide some positive support and encouragement and a dose of validation to the founder so they don?t feel overwhelmed.?

Take renewal breaks

According to Sean D. Stewart an entrepreneurship, life and career coach based in Hawaii, disengaging from your day to day consistently throughout the day, week, month, quarter and year is a way to manage the pressures of being a founder. For Stewart, it?s about ?Not falling into some God complex that it?s all about you and your business, and trusting in the process that is bigger than you.? Some other tips on Stewart?s list: ?Patience.? A supportive and loving peer group.? Not taking failures or losses as losses but being grateful for them for what they teach you. Meditation, spirituality.? Family time.? A sound business strategy that doesn?t allow for over-commitment.? Under promising, over delivering.? Balance.?

Practice gratitude

Patricia Reynolds-Meade, a California based life and christian coach says having a gratitude practice is one of the biggest tools she utilizes for creating ease, grace and manifestation in her life. ?When things get chaotic in my life or business, I use my gratitude practice to consciously shift my focus away from what is not working to what I am grateful for (what is working),? she says. ?Moving my thoughts from a place of lack, loss, anger, frustration or despair to counting all the amazing blessings in my life, gives me the power to receive more goodness that is meant to come my way.?

According to Reynolds-Meade, in order to connect to your gratitude count your blessings at night. ? It takes your attention away from work thoughts and prepares your mind for a peaceful and happy sleep,? she says. She also suggests writing in a daily gratitude journal to help you remember all the positive things that happened throughout the day. ?It?s easy to look at your to-do list and see all that did not get done; however, when you take the time to write down what you are grateful for, you begin to see your life as more enriched and fulfilling,? she says.

Get out of the pressure cooker

Ed Britton a leadership, career and executive coach in Xiamin, suggests that there aren?t any ?best techniques for dealing? with life perpetually in the pressure cooker. ?This kind of life style and business practice is fundamentally wrong. Living your life that way simply won?t work. It is not to be admired. Don?t tolerate it in yourself or others,? Britton suggests. ?A person has to get out of the pressure according to their needs. Others have to be trusted to step in and assume the burden for a period of time. If that can?t happen, then, at some level, the system is sick and people will end up getting hurt, he says. ?Systems that require this kind of behavior, and people who engage in it, simply cannot be tolerated regardless of short term yet unsustainable benefits.?

__________________

SimplifyThis provides solo professionals and small business owners an online appointment scheduling system with invoicing and account management features. Streamline administrative tasks so that you can focus on what you do best.

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Source: http://www.simplifythis.com/blog/small-business/how-to-deal-with-the-pressure-of-being-a-business-founder-and-entrepreneur/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-deal-with-the-pressure-of-being-a-business-founder-and-entrepreneur

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3 British men convicted in terrorist bomb plot

LONDON (AP) ? They were very ordinary would-be terrorists, with big plans but bad luck.

On Thursday, a jury convicted three young British men ? including an unemployed pharmacy graduate nicknamed Chubbs ? of being ringleaders of an al-Qaida-inspired plot to explode knapsack bombs in crowded parts of Birmingham, England's second-largest city.

The men had pleaded not guilty, but were recorded discussing plans for attacks that one said would be "another 9/11."

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London found 27-year-old Ashik Ali; Irfan Khalid, also 27; and 31-year-old Irfan Naseer ? nicknamed Big Irfan, or Chubbs ? guilty of multiple counts of preparing for terrorism.

Judge Richard Henriques told the men they face life in prison when sentences are imposed in April or May. "It's clear that you were planning a terrorist outrage in Birmingham," the judge said.

But the men failed ? thanks in part to official surveillance and their own incompetence.

Prosecutors said Naseer and Khalid traveled to Pakistan for terror training, where they learned details of poisons, bomb-making and weaponry and made "martyrdom videos" justifying their planned attacks.

On their return to England in July 2011, they began to recruit others to the plot and to raise money by posing as street collectors for Muslim charities. They also began experimenting with chemicals, the prosecutor said, aided by Naseer's university degree in pharmacy.

But many of the group's plans soon went awry. Four other young men dispatched by the plotters to Pakistan for terrorist training were sent home within days when the family of one man found out. The four have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related offenses.

Rahin Ahmed, an alleged co-conspirator described in court as the cell's "chief financier," tried to increase the group's budget by trading the money it made from bogus charity fundraising on the financial markets. Instead, he lost the bulk of the terror cell's money through his "unwise and incompetent" trading, prosecutor Brian Altman said.

Among the pieces of evidence at the four-month trial was a sports injury cool pack, which prosecutors said Naseer had mistakenly believed would contain ammonium nitrate, a key bomb-making ingredient.

The group also considered other outlandish attacks, including tying sharp blades to the front of a truck and driving it into a crowd. Naseer was heard talking about the possibility of mixing poison into creams such as Vaseline or Nivea and smearing them on car handles to cause mass deaths.

Despite the amateurish nature of some of their efforts, officials said the group was serious about spreading terror.

The men were "the real deal" and, if successful, would have perpetrated "another 9/11 or another 7/7 in the U.K.," said Detective Inspector Adam Gough, the case's senior investigating officer.

Among evidence found by investigators was a partially burned note written by Naseer detailing how to make what an expert witness said would have been a viable bomb ? although no evidence of such an explosive was recovered.

The jury agreed with prosecutors that the trio were the senior members of a home-grown terror cell inspired by the anti-Western sermons of U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen in a U.S. drone strike in September 2011.

Prosecutors said the men ultimately gravitated toward a plan to detonate up to eight knapsack bombs ? either on timers or in suicide attacks ? in a bid to cause carnage on a scale larger than the July 7, 2005, London transit bombings, which killed 52 commuters.

Police said the terrorist conspiracy was the most significant uncovered in Britain since a plot to blow up airliners in mid-air was foiled in 2006. However, no targets had been chosen and no bombs built when the men were arrested in a police swoop in September 2011 in Birmingham, central England. Twelve suspects were arrested in all, several of whom have pleaded guilty to terrorism offenses.

Fatally for the plot, by mid-2011 the men were under surveillance by police and the intelligence services. Their car was followed and their safe house bugged.

Naseer was recorded plotting about knapsack bombs going "boom, boom, boom everywhere," while Khalid said the attack would be "revenge for everything, what we're doing is another 9/11."

On the recordings, the trio spoke of themselves as martyrs and jihadi warriors ? but also, tellingly, compared themselves to the hapless would-be bombers of British comedy film "Four Lions."

Ali was recorded saying to his ex-wife: "Oh, you think this is a flipping 'Four Lions.' We're one man short."

Raffaello Pantucci, a terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said the foiled plot bore the hallmarks of a decentralized al-Qaida, in which local cells operate independently, often after receiving rudimentary training.

He said that "the time spent training foreign fighters by al-Qaida or affiliated networks is now being constrained because there is the threat of drone strikes" on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

"The command and control element is drawing back," he said. "It has a negative impact on their capacity to launch attacks because people aren't being trained as well. There is sometimes a clownish element to it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-british-men-convicted-terrorist-bomb-plot-131529518.html

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New technology in the magnetic cooling of chips

Feb. 20, 2013 ? Luis Hueso, the CICnanoGUNE researcher, together with researchers from the University of Cambridge, among others, has developed a new technology in the magnetic cooling of chips based on the straining of materials. Compared with the current technologies, this advance enables the impact on the environment to be lessened.

The work was recently published in the journal Nature Materials.

Current cooling systems, be they refrigerators, freezers or air conditioning units, make use of the compression and expansion of a gas. When the gas is compressed, it changes into a liquid state and when it expands it evaporates once again. To evaporate, it needs heat, which it extracts from the medium it touches and that way cools it down. However, this system is harmful for the environment and, what is more, the compressors used are not particularly effective.

One of the main alternatives that is currently being explored is magnetic cooling. It consists of using a magnetic material instead of a gas, and magnetizing and demagnetizing cycles instead of compression-expansion cycles. Magnetic cooling is a technique based on the magnetocaloric effect, in other words, it is based on the properties displayed by certain materials to modify their temperature when a magnetic field is applied to them. However, the applying of a magnetic field leads to many problems in current miniaturized technological devices (electronic chips, computer memories, etc.), since the magnetic field can interact negatively owing to its effect on nearby units. In this respect, the quest for new ways of controlling the magnetization is crucial.

Magnetism without magnetic fields

The researchers Luis Hueso, Andreas Berger and Odrej Hovorka of nanoGUNE have discovered that by using the straining of materials, they can get around the problems of applying a magnetic field. "By straining the material and then relaxing it an effect similar to that of a magnetic field is created, thus inducing the magnetocaloric effect responsible for cooling," explains Luis Hueso, leader of the nanodevices group at nanoGUNE and researcher in this study.

"This new technology enables us to have a more local and more controlled cooling method, without interfering with the other units in the device, and in line with the trend in the miniaturization of technological devices," adds Hueso.

20-nanometre films consisting of lanthanum, calcium, manganese and oxygen (La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃) have been developed. According to Hueso, "the aim of this field of research is to find materials that are efficient, economical and environmentally friendly."

"The idea came about at Cambridge University and among various groups in the United Kingdom, France, Ukraine and the Basque Country we have come up with the right material and an effective technique for cooling electronic chips, computer memories and all these types of applications in microelectronics. Technologically, there would not be any obstacle to using them in fridges, freezers, etc. but economically it is not worthwhile because of the size," stresses Hueso.

Today, most of the money spent on the huge dataservers goes on cooling. That is why this new technology could be effective in applications of this kind. Likewise, one of the great limitations that computer processors have today is that they cannot operate as fast as one would like because they can easily overheat. "If we could cool them down properly, they would be more effective and could work faster," adds Hueso.

Dr Hueso stresses that this is a very interesting subject with respect to future patents.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Basque Research.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. X. Moya, L. E. Hueso, F. Maccherozzi, A. I. Tovstolytkin, D. I. Podyalovskii, C. Ducati, L. C. Phillips, M. Ghidini, O. Hovorka, A. Berger, M. E. Vickers, E. Defay, S. S. Dhesi, N. D. Mathur. Giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films due to strain. Nature Materials, 2012; 12 (1): 52 DOI: 10.1038/NMAT3463

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/matter_energy/technology/~3/c9_7dwGQtok/130220084446.htm

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Hallmark Skittish Over Hospice Cards

During the two months that Regina Holliday's husband, Fred, was hospitalized with cancer, he received a tower of "Get Well Soon" cards, each a reminder of the friends and family who cared about him. But when all hope for recovery was gone and he entered hospice care, the cards stopped coming.

"You get cards and messages when you are fighting the good fight, but the minute you are done fighting, people don't know what to do," Holliday said. "Once they hear the word hospice, they tend to shut down."

Holliday is now lobbying Hallmark, the world's largest distributor of greeting cards, to offer a line of cards specifically for those entering hospice.

Holliday, an artist who became a health care advocate after her husband died three years ago, said she wanted to help people find ways to talk about important end-of-life issues. Last year, when she was asked on a tweet chat about ways to encourage these kinds of conversations, she said the answer was for Hallmark to create hospice cards.

Join the ABC News Tweet Chat About End of Life Issues Today at 1 p.m. ET

"They have an amazing reach into every corner of America. If they create a card on this topic, they will open up the conversation nationwide," she said.

As Holliday views it, everyone dies, and about 1.6 million people enter hospice each year. Impending death represents a phenomenal marketing opportunity for Hallmark, she said.

But how to get Hallmark interested in a line of "Have a Nice Death" cards? It took Holliday a year to engage the greeting card distributor on the topic.

At first she called Hallmark directly, navigating unsuccessfully through several layers of customer service, she said. Next, she tried reaching Hallmark through personal connections and back channels, all to no avail, she said. Finally, she created an online petition on change.org and began to tweet about her campaign on Twitter.

Hallmark, a privately held company based in Kansas City, Mo., quickly responded to Holliday's tweets last week in two ways.

The Hallmark internal search engine now recognizes the word "hospice" and the phrase "end of life," and suggests cards to match. Before Holliday's campaign, the first search term returned no matches and the latter brought up a slew of Bat Mitzvah cards for celebrating a Jewish girl's rite of passage into womanhood.

The company also released a statement on its website titled: "Viewpoints: Greeting Cards for People in Hospice Care," which says, in part, "Hallmark offers nearly 100 cards to help people share words of support for a range of life situations, including cancer treatment, serious or terminal illness, grief support, recovery/rehab and other difficult times, as well as cards for caregivers."

While Holliday applauded both moves, she continued to push Hallmark to create cards that addressed end-of-life issues head on. She said current cards with sayings such as "Cancer Is Tough, but "You Are Tougher," are nice, but miss the mark.

"This is the last thing a hospice patient with cancer wants to hear," she said. "Too often they have been told that this is a fight, cancer is a battle. What is hospice? Losing?"

Linda Odell, a spokeswoman for Hallmark, said the company was not ruling out developing a line of greetings to address end of life but pointed out that many of the company's current offerings, including blank and customizable greetings, could be used as a jumping-off point for starting tough conversations about virtually any situation or relationship in life.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hallmark-end-life-cards/story?id=18532301

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Half the Sky Facebook game to create awareness about sex slave trafficking

Pulitzer-Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn announced today that they?ll launch the latest installment of the Half the Sky Movement web-based Facebook game on March 4.

The title is an adventure game targeted at making mainstream audiences aware about the trafficking of girls and women as sex slaves ? and other issues facing females in the third world. The New York Times writers want to raise charitable donations to empower girls and women around the world. Half the Sky debuted in November.

Executive produced by Games for Change, the title has support from Zynga.org, Ford Foundation, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, The Rockefeller Foundation, Pearson Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the United Nations Foundation. All of the proceeds will benefit The Fistula Foundation, GEMS, Heifer International, United Nations Foundation, ONE, Room to Read, and World Vision.

Half the Sky introduces ?direct virtual-to-real-life translation,? which is achieved by inviting players to move through a series of quests and stories related to real-world challenges that women and girls face. The issue-specific solutions come from seven nonprofits: The Fistula Foundation, GEMS, Heifer International, ONE, Room to Read, United Nations Foundation, and World Vision. The game invites players to make an impact on the real world.

“We want to reach a broader audience for these issues we care deeply about,” said Kristof and WuDunn in a statement. “We hope that a Facebook game that is fun and viral can be a way to do that, reaching people who aren’t now interested in women’s empowerment. This is an experiment because we’re not sure that there has ever been a social-purpose game with as much collective effort, and we’re hoping it is going to make a difference for the players ? and for women and girls around the world.”

The game is part of a cross-media campaign for the Half the Sky Movement, which includes the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, published in 2009. It chronicles the problem of human sex trafficking around the globe. It also inspired a PBS television series, produced by Show of Force, which features celebrities America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, Olivia Wilde, and George Clooney. The first part of the series aired Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, and the next installment airs on PBS on March 8 at 10 pm. That day is International Women?s Day.

Inspired by the book and TV series, the game invites players to become part of the solution and make real-world impact through play. The idea for it arose when the authors participated in the 2009 Games for Change Festival. The next event will be held in New York from June 17 to June 19.

“Around 300 million people play games on Facebook across the globe on a monthly basis,? said Games for Change co-presidents Asi Burak and Michelle Byrd. ?If we’re able to inspire a portion of this group of players to spend 15 or 30 minutes of their time with this game, the ripple effect of players’ actions will result in significant and much-needed funding for this critical cause.?

The story takes players on a global journey that begins in India and moves on to Kenya, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, ending in the U.S. The more you play, the more you help unlock charitable donations for the cause.

Filed under: Games, VentureBeat

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Venturebeat/~3/WdoSKf35Dls/story01.htm

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Origins of alcohol consumption traced to ape ancestor

Eating fermented fruit off the ground may have paved way for ability to digest ethanol

Eating fermented fruit off the ground may have paved way for ability to digest ethanol

By Erin Wayman

Web edition: February 18, 2013

BOSTON ? The taste for alcohol may be an ancient craving. The ability to metabolize ethanol ? the alcohol in beer, wine and spirits ? might have originated in the common ancestor of chimpanzees, gorillas and humans roughly 10 million years ago, perhaps when this ancestor became more terrestrial and started eating fruits fermenting on the ground.

Chemist Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., reached that conclusion by ?resurrecting? the alcohol-metabolizing enzymes of extinct primates. Benner and his colleagues estimated the enzymes? genetic code, built the enzymes in the lab and then analyzed how they work to understand how they changed over time.

?It?s like a courtroom re-enactment,? said biochemist Romas Kazlauskas of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Benner ?can re-enact what happened in evolution.?

Benner proposed the idea February 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Today, humans rely on an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase 4, or ADH4, to break down ethanol. The enzyme is common throughout the esophagus, stomach and intestines, and is the first alcohol-metabolizing enzyme that comes into contact with what a person drinks. Among primates, not all ADH4s are the same ? some can?t effectively metabolize ethanol.

Enlarge

The ability to metabolize ethanol might have arisen in the common ancestor of chimpanzees (shown), gorillas and humans as this ancestral ape became more terrestrial and started to eat fermenting fruits on the ground, a chemist proposes.

Credit: Ikiwaner/Wikimedia Commons

To see how ADH4 evolved, Benner?s team read the stretches of DNA that make ADH4 in 27 modern primate species, including lemurs, monkeys, apes and humans. Then they mapped the DNA sequences on a primate family tree and inferred what the genes might have looked like long ago at points on the tree where evolutionary branches separated. The branching points represent extinct primate ancestors.??

Most primate ancestors wouldn?t have been able to metabolize ethanol, the results showed. But at the branching point leading to gorillas, chimps and humans ? which represents an ancestor that lived roughly 10 million years ago ? the enzyme becomes a powerful alcohol digester. Compared with earlier enzymes, this one was 50 times as efficient, Benner reported, and was nearly capable of breaking down the level of ethanol found in modern alcoholic beverages.

Because gorillas, chimps and humans all spend at least some time on the ground, Benner thinks a terrestrial lifestyle arose in these primates? common ancestor around 10 million years ago. Being on the ground, the ancestor would have come across fruit that had fallen from trees. With a damaged husk or skin, yeast could have invaded the fruit and fermented its sugars into ethanol. Thus, individuals who could digest ethanol would have survived better than those who couldn?t. This would also explain why the ability to metabolize ethanol didn?t evolve in tree-dwelling primates like orangutans that rarely encounter fermented fruit.

But it may be too soon to link metabolizing ethanol with living on the ground, said Jeremy DeSilva, a biological anthropologist at Boston University. ?There?s very little fossil evidence from the general time period when humans, gorillas and chimpanzees last shared a common ancestor.? Scientists still debate whether this ancestor was strictly arboreal or split its time between the ground and the trees. ?This is cool work,? he said. ?We?ll be able to evaluate it with better evidence as we find more fossils from that time period.?

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348385/title/Origins_of_alcohol_consumption_traced_to_ape_ancestor

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NFL Draft 2nd rnd. Geno, Wilson, Barkley, Glennon gone...

In Tomahawk's scenario he hasn't been taken. That's the direction I would go if things shake down that way.

__________________
?We want players who are big, strong, smart, fast, tough and disciplined,? ***** said, finally bringing an end to the era of Chiefs executives who searched desperately for players who are small, weak, stupid, slow, fragile and unruly.

Source: http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=270124&goto=newpost

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How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP

First let me thank Timecop for discovering this process. He started a
thread a long time ago that became just too long and confusing so hopefully this will help.

This method should work for most 1394/Firewire enabled tuners. It has been tested on the Mitsubishi Integrated TV's, SA3250HD, Motorola 620X (with firmware 7.10 or higher), and the Samsung T165. *Please list your tests and I will update* This method will not allow you to capture 5C encrypted content, *see below for details* This method captures the original Transport stream sent by your provider, so if it is sent with DD 5.1 then you will capture DD5.1. This method only works with Digital channels, analogue cable channels will not work.

This method does not allow you to transfer shows already recorded on your HD DVR only live TV.

You will need some drivers. Follow the link and Download firestb.msi.
If the link is bad, PM me and I'll fix it.
First device drivers. There are more MCE specific items included in the package, if you are using using XP then you only need the driver. You may also want to play with the channel changing software, which works on both XP and MCE. There is now a beta Vista Driver as well.
http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/w...0Firewire.html

For drivers only, there is a driver package that is continually updated to support new STBs, and there are some differences in how the drivers are loaded. If you have issues install the firestb drivers, it can be used with firestb instead of the drivers included with its installer.
http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire/

There are a few pieces of software that I know of that can capture using these drivers, Capdvhs, DCTrecord and MCE using the included software.
http://www.yamabe.org/soft/CapDVHS0306e.zip
http://home.comcast.net/~brzez2/dctrecord.html

Now that you have everything you need.
Install firestb.msi, if you are using MCE, install the components you want. If you are running XP then at the very least install the "Firewire Drivers" component, you won't be able to double click on it, you will have to use a different command to skip the MCE required screen. Now you can just choose the driver.

Code:

 MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0 

Click continue anyway a the signed driver screen.

Plug in the 1394 cable.
Found new hardware wizard will come up.

Keep hitting cancel until you see "Tuner AV/C Device" or "Tuner AV/C Panel" as the hardware that was found. Install both like any other device.
Then Choose Install the software automatically (Recommended).
Click Next
Keep clicking Next.
Then click Finished.

Click cancel on any other devices that are automatically detected.
I would go back into Device manager and disable the other devices so windows doesn't keep looking for drivers on reboot.

Now open CAPDVHS and a device should be listed under capture device.

Under settings I have the following boxes checked.
Convert 188 bytes
Check PTS
Delete to SyncByte

I use .ts for all my file extensions and I left the file name format to the default.

Select the "Data Info." tab and hit the "Rec" Button.
You should see the info populated.
Hit stop and check your file.
Elecard works well for playback or Sasem OnAir Editor or VLC
or http://theatertek.com/
To play with zoomplayer check this thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=395039

**Now you change the channel via 1394 and use with MCE see the readme for complete directions.
http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...ssageID=104152

**Attention this is a recording thread. For playback issues please check out the home theater PC forum . **
For conversion help check out this guide.
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html
The files captured from this process are the same as from most HD PC recording techniques and playback issues are the same. Please don't post in here asking how to get smooth playback. There are plenty of discussions in the correct area on that topic. Also please don't ask how to convert to DVD, or any other conversion question. There are plenty of thread dedicated to that topic also. This thread is already too long to read, and I appreciate everyone helping out by staying on topic.

**Added 5/26/04 **
To watch live HD without capturing first.
Open VLC v7.2 *might work with other versions.
Choose "File" > "Open Capture Device"

To the right of "Video device name" click "Refresh List" Then choose "Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Sub" from the drop down.
Click "OK"

Just a word of advice if I hit "Configure" or "Advanced Options" It blue screens my computer.
This seems to be much more resource intensive than watching a captured file. My AMD 2600 works at ~83% if I don't resize or any other effect. Any effect drives it to 100%.

You can also setup a shortcut to run VLC with the parms for picking up the stream automatically.

Target:

"C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe" "dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device" :dshow-adev="" :dshow-size="" :no-dshow-config "

Start In:

"C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC"
*Thanks to E Jackson*

Troubleshooting

If you can't load the driver, go over the directions again and again, make sure you don't miss any steps. It does require you to force XP to accept the drivers.

If the driver is loaded but the files are 0bytes after recording. Then you may have the driver loaded improperly or your cable company may have copy protection(5C) enabled. Try a different channel or search the original thread for someone who lives near you to see if they are having the same problem. You may also be able to reboot the Tuner. It is impossible to record content marked copy once, because it is protected from multiple copies. Typically if your provider is encrypting, than the only channels you would be able to record are the channels that are also available over the air.

**Added 2/6/06**
Changed drivers to the above. Added channel chaning support.

**Added 3/18/05**
If you have XP SP2 and you can't get it to work see this post.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...13#post5315313

**Added 2/22/05**
If you have a Motorola 620x Check this post to see if that channel is 5C protected. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...86#post3855086

If you have a SA DVR with Passport
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...80#post4617480

If you have a SA DVR with SARA
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...67#post4613067

You may also have the wrong firmware version for the Motorola 620x, to check this.
To check firmware on Moto 6200:
Menu- Setup- Cable Box- See Configuration- one of the entries on that page is Firmware. * Thanks drbenson*

If you are using a Motorola 620X with an older firmware you may need to replace your Meitape.inf from the zip file with this one. Try the original one first.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~balaz...es/Meitape.inf

**Updated link to firestb.zip** 7/12/07

This is V.04 of this document please post corrections and suggestions.

Source: http://www.avsforum.com/t/403695/how-to-record-via-ieee-1394-firewire-to-windows-xp

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Smarter Stand hits Kickstarter, a kickstand and ear bud untangling solution for iPhone

The Smarter Stand has arrived on Kickstarter and it looks like a great solution for anyone who suffers from the annoying problem of constantly tangled ear buds or the need to prop your device up at an angle to use it hands free or in a more comfortable way. Yes the Smarter Stand offers a solution to both of these problems and is looking for help on Kickstarter.

Ever tried to prop-up your iPhone to watch a video, read email, do a video call, follow a recipe? It never stays up! And let's face it: the iPhone kickstand options out there are clunky at best. The Smarter Stand is the first iPhone / iPod touch kickstand that can be used with or without a case AND also keeps your earbuds tangle free.

How much time do you spend every day fighting with tangled-up earbuds? Life's too short! You just casually roll-up your earbud cord around the Smarter Stand, tuck the buds in and you're done! It won't come undone even if it's tossed around in your pocket or handbag all day.

The Smarter Stand clicks into the iPhone?s 3.5mm headset jack and uses it as an anchor point. It can then offer an angled stand for your device which makes it much easier to use than flat on a table. Because of the way it works, it can be used with any iPhone or iPod touch, with or without a case.

If you like the look of the Smarter Stand for iPhone or iPod touch you can back it over at Kickstarter. Pledges starting from just $9 will get you one when or if they make production. The Smarter Stand for iPhone has already blasted through its pledge goal of $15,000 and currently sits at just over $18,000. The project still has 54 days to run so plenty of time if you would like to get involved.

What do you think of the Smarter Stand for iPhone? Could you see yourself using a product like this?

Source: Kickstarter

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/ITfZDlF1Jqg/story01.htm

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