Friday, February 22, 2013

Kentucky Inmate Charged With Threatening President, First Family

A Kentucky inmate has been charged with threatening the life of President Barack Obama, the first lady and their two daughters.

A grand jury in Louisville today charged Kentucky State Penitentiary inmate Anthony D. Holliman with threatening the president and a second count of threatening the president's family.

The indictment says Holliman, who?s serving decades in prison for rape and other convictions, wrote a threatening letter addressed to Obama in May. ?It says Holliman used racial epithets in the letter.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Holliman wrote a second letter to first lady Michelle Obama, threatening her and the Obamas' two daughters.

Holliman faces up to five years in prison on each charge if he?s convicted.?

Source: http://wfpl.org/post/kentucky-inmate-charged-threatening-president-first-family

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

NCAA has botched Miami case

2 cents

To borrow from former President Richard Nixon's White House Counsel, John W. Dean III: There is a cancer on the NCAA.

Why NCAA president Mark Emmert can't see that its case against Miami is terminal, I have no idea.

Emmert said Monday the NCAA is continuing its investigation into Miami. Huh?

Despite a credibility-crippling report issued Monday, Emmert says only about 20 percent of the evidence gathered against Miami has to be tossed out. Oh, only 20 percent, OK.

What a farce.

The NCAA seemed to have a foolproof case on its hands when former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro admitted to supplying Miami players and recruits with impermissible benefits. However, the NCAA investigative unit grossly overstepped its bounds by hiring an attorney representing Shapiro to subpoena witnesses not related to his bankruptcy case in order to gain testimony from uncooperative subjects.

The NCAA itself admits the investigation is marred by a "very severe issue of improper conduct."

Emmert calls the situation an embarrassment.

How can it possibly continue further?

After all, it's not like Miami is getting off without any punishment. The school suspended players involved, passed on two bowl games, as well as a spot in this past season's Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game. Miami has also self-imposed scholarship reductions and decreased its number of official visits.

Miami president Donna Shalala says the school has been wronged by a flawed probe. She's right.

Any further punishment from the NCAA would be a joke.

This debacle needs to end. Miami probably deserved a harsher sentence, but the NCAA is in no credible place to issue one.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JacksonvillecomsNewsSportsAndEntertainment/~3/4vBsMYENmhE/ncaa-has-botched-miami-case

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Thursday, February 14, 2013

That "zombie apocalypse" warning in Montana? It was fake

(Reuters) - You survived December's much-heralded Mayan apocalypse, but now fear the "zombie apocalypse" and its deadly attacks? Don't worry. It was a fake, the artwork of hackers in Montana.

Hackers infiltrated the emergency broadcast system of local station KRTV in Great Falls, Montana, a CBS affiliate, and issued the zombie alert, the station said on Tuesday.

Viewers were warned of a so-called zombie apocalypse and advised not to tangle with the monstrous creatures, the station said.

Engineers at the station were investigating the incident, which occurred during a Monday afternoon broadcast, said Jon Saunders, vice president of the station's parent company, Cordillera Communications.

Video posted to the Internet shows the transmission interrupted a local broadcast of the Steve Wilkos talk show.

No images flashed across the screen during the hoax. But a male voice told viewers: "Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from the grave and attacking the living." The voice warned not "to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous."

Saunders said early reports suggest similar but separate attacks were launched in the past 24 hours against emergency alert systems for TV stations elsewhere, including Michigan.

"It appears to be more widespread than we thought," he said.

The hoax caused several humorous-minded residents in Great Falls to call authorities to inquire if guns were an adequate defense against zombie hordes.

"We didn't get any serious calls on it," Great Falls Police Department spokesman Bill Hunter said.

Local law enforcement has not been asked to investigate the hack into the Montana station, he said. Hunter said it was not immediately clear why hackers had sought to get a rise out of a zombie scare.

"It's been a real chuckle," he said.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis, Cynthia Johnston and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zombie-apocalypse-warning-montana-fake-213906363.html

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

It Takes a Village - Retirement Income Designs

Baby boomers are giving new meaning to an established term. ?It takes a village? ? used in the title of Hillary Clinton?s 1996 book ? comes from the African proverb ?it takes a village to raise a child.? The idea behind the phrase is that people beyond the family unit have influence over a child?s well-being.

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With 75 million baby boomers on the cusp of retirement, the phrase is being retooled. Now it pertains to the formation of networks and communities designed to provide aging seniors with the resources and connections they need to ?age in place? (at home).

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[CLICK HERE to read, "Village People: Community Networks Help Boomers 'Age in Place'," at Bloomberg, January 24, 2013.]

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Villages are cropping up all over the United States. According to the Village to Village network, a website that lists contact information for villages nationwide, 93 villages are currently up and running with another 125 in development.

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These membership-driven establishments charge an annual fee for access to volunteers and support services (including a vetted rolodex of plumbers, roofers, electricians, maids, handymen, etc.), and even planned social activities. The organizations also can serve as the local emergency contact for members if grown children and/or other family members live far away.

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[CLICK HERE to visit the Village to Village Network website, 2013.]

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Another way to plan for aging in place is to take advantage of a low interest rate loan to retrofit your home for senior living. Most people don?t even think about this until they suffer some type of debilitating accident or illness. Once it?s time to think about leaving the hospital, many people realize they won?t be able to climb stairs or step into a deep tub when they get home. That?s how a lot of seniors end up in a rehabilitation or assisted living facility.

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You might as well find out ahead of time if it?s even possible to widen doors and hallways (for potential wheelchair use) and eliminate any raised step-ups inside your house. Even if you hadn?t considered it before, downsizing to a smaller, one-story residence may help your chances of being able to grow old at home in lieu of a facility.

?

[CLICK HERE to read, "Remodeling as Retirement Planning," at Bloomberg, November 29, 2013.]

?

[CLICK HERE to view the video, "Are Communities Prepared for Aging?" at UC Berkeley's Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services, February 2, 2008.]

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Deciding where to live ? and what that might cost ? is just as important as creating a plan for how you want to live in retirement. Please contact us to discuss the myriad of strategies available for a comprehensive retirement plan.

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The information and opinions contained herein are provided by third parties and have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed by our firm. Content is provided for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation to buy or sell the products mentioned. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual?s situation.?

Source: http://blog.retirementincomedesigns.com/2013/02/12/it-takes-a-village/

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Obama to revive populist message in Tuesday speech

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Reviving his populist re-election message, President Barack Obama will press a politically-divided Congress to approve more tax increases and fewer spending cuts during a State of the Union address focused on stabilizing the middle class and repairing the still-wobbly economy.

The agenda Obama will outline Tuesday before a joint session of Congress will include more money for infrastructure, clean energy technologies and manufacturing jobs, as well as expanding access to early childhood education.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would outline "his plan to create jobs and grow the middle class" as the nation struggles with persistently high unemployment.

Some of Obama's job ideas will be repackaged versions of proposals he made during his first term, though aides say there will be some new initiatives, too. All of the economic proposals are expected to echo themes from Obama's re-election campaign, which focused on using increased spending to generate jobs, protecting programs to help the middle class, and bringing down the deficit in part by culling more tax revenue from the wealthiest Americans.

Obama has called for raising more revenue through closing tax breaks and loopholes, but he has not detailed a list of targets. He and his aides often mention as examples of unnecessary tax breaks a benefit for owners of private jets and tax subsidies for oil and gas companies. Such measures are modest, however. Ending the corporate plane and oil and gas breaks would generate about $43 billion in revenue over 10 years.

Republicans have shown little sign of falling in line behind the president as he starts his second term, particularly when it comes to taxes.

"Clearly the president wants more revenue for more government," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in an interview. "He's gotten all the revenue he's going to get. Been there, done that."

The backdrop for Obama's address will be a March 1 deadline for averting automatic across-the-board spending cuts, known as the sequester. The president wants lawmakers to push that deadline back for a second time to create space for a larger deficit-reduction deal, one he hopes would include a balance of targeted cuts and increased tax revenue. Republicans want to offset the sequester with spending cuts alone.

As he addresses lawmakers and the American people, Obama is expected to say that government entitlement programs should be on the table in deficit reduction talks. But he will also make the case that programs that help the middle class, the poor and the elderly must be protected.

In keeping with that approach, the White House said Monday that Obama would not consider increasing the Medicare eligibility age as a way to reduce spending.

The president's focus on the economy and deficit reflects the top concerns of many Americans. A Quinnipiac University poll out Monday showed than 35 percent of registered voters are most interested in hearing the president during the State of the Union address the economy, more than any other issue. The federal deficit came in second, with 20 percent saying that was the issue they were most interested in hearing Obama discuss.

The poll also suggested that the slow but steady economic gains throughout Obama's first term may not be trickling down to many Americans. More than 50 percent of registered voters said they thought the economy was still in a recession and 79 percent described the economy as "not so good" or "poor."

Obama will also press Congress to support his proposals for overhauling the nation's immigration laws and tighten gun measures, though his remarks on both issues are expected to break little new ground and largely reflect his previous statements.

Still, the White House and some lawmakers will aim to use the atmospherics of the annual address to Congress to rally support for stricter gun laws.

Some lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are bringing victims of gun violence and their families as their guests Tuesday. And Michelle Obama will be sitting with the parents of slain 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teenager killed by gunfire days after performing in the inaugural parade.

Foreign policy will take a backseat to domestic issues, though Obama may discuss next steps for drawing down U.S. troops from Afghanistan and reducing the nation's nuclear stockpile.

The administration has developed a consensus around cutting down to between 1,000 and 1,100 deployed weapons. While Obama is not expected to outline a specific number during his address, the administration wants to emphasize that it wants to work with Russia on mutually supporting moves toward weapons reductions below the ceiling of 1,550 set in the New START accord that took effect in 2011. The State Department's point person on nuclear arms control, Rose Gottemoeller, is in Moscow this week to consult on possible next steps.

The president will follow up his State of the Union address with three days of travel around the country. He'll start Wednesday in Asheville, N.C., where he'll visit Linamar Corp., a supplier of engine and transmission components that has expanded its manufacturing operations.

Obama is expected to reiterate his calls for revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing sector, perhaps reviving his campaign pledge to create 1 million new manufacturing jobs during his second term. Following a sluggish 2012, manufacturing grew at a faster pace last month, driven by an increase in new orders and more hiring at factories.

On Thursday, Obama will press for expanded early childhood education, perhaps going so far as to call for universal pre-school, when he travels to the Atlanta area. He'll speak at the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, which offers programs for infant, toddler, preschool, and pre-kindergarten students.

The president will also speak about the economy and gun violence Friday in his hometown of Chicago.

___

Associated Press National Security Writer Robert Burns and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-revive-populist-message-tuesday-speech-225620516--politics.html

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Monday, February 11, 2013

Baltimore mayor tackles fiscal forecast

Responding to projected budget deficits that could bankrupt the city government, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has proposed ending pensions for newly hired civilian employees and moving to a hybrid pension plan for newly hired police officers.

The proposed pension reforms are part of a broad package of cuts that Rawlings-Blake was scheduled to announce Monday in her State of the City address. The Democratic mayor also wants to cut the city workforce by at least 10 percent over eight years and increase the number of hours firefighters work.

The city faces $750 million in budget deficits over the next decade, according to a forecast from an outside consultant hired by the Rawlings-Blake administration. The report concluded that major reforms are needed to prevent bankruptcy.

Click to read more.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50774077/ns/local_news-baltimore_md/

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Phobos Academy

Phobos Academy

Phobos Academy for the kids with phobias is a wonderful place. It's far out on the ocean. With wonderful staff and students where we help them overcome there phobias and live life like any normal student!

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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Phobos Academy?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Phobos Academy"

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Close your eyes and il be there. To light the night and open air.
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User avatar
CookieCupcake
Member for 1 years



I'm not sure if we have to reserve or not, but I'm going to be making a boy and a girl. :3 If that's okay? Maybe two girls. o.o I don't know yet, seriously.

"She offered herself to the big, bad wolf and didn't scream when he took the first bite."

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bandgeek
Member for 1 years




Glad to see people are interested >w< I made my two character there brother and sister and both pretty interesting if I do say so myself~ You can check em out.

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CookieCupcake
Member for 1 years



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Friday, February 8, 2013

Poor in cages show dark side of Hong Kong boom

HONG KONG - For many of the richest people in Hong Kong, one of Asia's wealthiest cities, home is a mansion with an expansive view from the heights of Victoria Peak. For some of the poorest, like Leung Cho-yin, home is a metal cage.

The 67-year-old former butcher pays 1,300 Hong Kong dollars ($167) a month for one of about a dozen wire mesh cages resembling rabbit hutches crammed into a dilapidated apartment in a gritty, working-class West Kowloon neighborhood.

The cages, stacked on top of each other, measure 1.5 square meters (16 square feet). To keep bedbugs away, Leung and his roommates put thin pads, bamboo mats, even old linoleum on their cages' wooden planks instead of mattresses.

"I've been bitten so much I'm used to it," said Leung, rolling up the sleeve of his oversized blue fleece jacket to reveal a red mark on his hand. "There's nothing you can do about it. I've got to live here. I've got to survive," he said as he let out a phlegmy cough.

Some 100,000 people in the former British colony live in what's known as inadequate housing, according to the Society for Community Organization, a social welfare group. The category also includes apartments subdivided into tiny cubicles or filled with coffin-sized wood and metal sleeping compartments as well as rooftop shacks. They're a grim counterpoint to the southern Chinese city's renowned material affluence.

Forced by skyrocketing housing prices to live in cramped, dirty and unsafe conditions, their plight also highlights one of the biggest headaches facing Hong Kong's unpopular Beijing-backed leader: growing public rage over the city's housing crisis.

Photoblog: Living in a cage - and paying rent too?

Leung Chun-ying took office as Hong Kong's chief executive in July pledging to provide more affordable housing in a bid to cool the anger. Home prices rose 23 percent in the first 10 months of 2012 and have doubled since bottoming out in 2008 during the global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund said in a report last month. Rents have followed a similar trajectory.

The soaring costs are putting decent homes out of reach of a large portion of the population while stoking resentment of the government, which controls all land for development, and a coterie of wealthy property developers. Housing costs have been fuelled by easy credit thanks to ultralow interest rates that policymakers can't raise because the currency is pegged to the dollar. Money flooding in from mainland Chinese and foreign investors looking for higher returns has exacerbated the rise.

In his inaugural policy speech in January, the chief executive said the inability of the middle class to buy homes posed a threat to social stability and promised to make it a priority to tackle the housing shortage.

"Many families have to move into smaller or older flats, or even factory buildings," he said. "Cramped living space in cage homes, cubicle apartments and sub-divided flats has become the reluctant choice for tens of thousands of Hong Kong people," he said, as he unveiled plans to boost supply of public housing in the medium term from its current level of 15,000 apartments a year.

His comments mark a distinct shift from predecessor Donald Tsang, who ignored the problem. Legislators and activists, however, slammed Leung for a lack of measures to boost the supply in the short term. Some 210,000 people are on the waiting list for public housing, about double from 2006. About a third of Hong Kong's 7.1 million population lives in public rental flats. When apartments bought with government subsidies are included, the figure rises to nearly half.

Rising anger
Anger over housing prices is a common theme in increasingly frequent anti-government protests. Legislator Frederick Fung warns there will be more if the problem can't be solved. He compared the effect on the poor to a lab experiment.

"When we were in secondary school, we had some sort of experiment where we put many rats in a small box. They would bite each other," said Fung. "When living spaces are so congested, they would make people feel uneasy, desperate," and angry at the government, he said.

Leung, the cage dweller, had little faith that the government could do anything to change the situation of people like him.

"It's not whether I believe him or not, but they always talk this way. What hope is there?" said Leung, who has been living in cage homes since he stopped working at a market stall after losing part of a finger 20 years ago. With just a Grade 7 education, he was only able to find intermittent casual work. He hasn't applied for public housing because he doesn't want to leave his roommates to live alone and expects to spend the rest of his life living in a cage.

His only income is HK$4,000 ($515) in government assistance each month. After paying his rent, he's left with $2,700 ($350), or about HK$90 ($11.60) a day.

"It's impossible for me to save," said Leung, who never married and has no children to lean on for support.

Leung and his roommates, all of them single, elderly men, wash their clothes in a bucket. The bathroom facilities consist of two toilet stalls, one of them adjoining a squat toilet that doubles as a shower stall. There is no kitchen, just a small room with a sink. The hallway walls have turned brown with dirt accumulated over the years.

While cage homes, which sprang up in the 1950s to cater mostly to single men coming in from mainland China, are becoming rarer, other types of substandard housing such as cubicle apartments are growing as more families are pushed into poverty. Nearly 1.19 million people were living in poverty in the first half of last year, up from 1.15 million in 2011, according to the Hong Kong Council Of Social Services. There's no official poverty line but it's generally defined as half of the city's median income of HK$12,000 ($1,550) a month.

Awaiting public housing
Many poor residents have applied for public housing but face years of waiting. Nearly three-quarters of 500 low-income families questioned by Oxfam Hong Kong in a recent survey had been on the list for more than 4 years without being offered a flat.

Lee Tat-fong, is one of those waiting. The 63-year-old is hoping she and her two grandchildren can get out of the cubicle apartment they share in their Wan Chai neighborhood, but she has no idea how long it will take.

Lee, who suffers from diabetes and back problems, takes care of Amy, 9, and Steven, 13, because their father has disappeared and their mother ? her daughter ? can't get a permit to come to Hong Kong from mainland China. An uncle occasionally lends a hand.

The three live in a 50-square-foot room, one of seven created by subdividing an existing apartment. A bunk bed takes up half the space, a cabinet most of the rest, leaving barely enough room to stand up in. The room is jammed with their possessions: plastic bags filled with clothes, an electric fan, Amy's stuffed animals, cooking utensils.

"There's too little space here. We can barely breathe," said Lee, who shares the bottom bunk with her grandson.

They share the communal kitchen and two toilets with the other residents. Welfare pays their HK$3,500 monthly rent and the three get another HK$6,000 for living expenses but the money is never enough, especially with two growing children to feed. Lee said the two often wanted to have McDonalds because they were still hungry after dinner, which on a recent night was meager portions of rice, vegetables and meat.

The struggle to raise her two grandkids in such conditions was wearing her out.

"It's exhausting," she said. "Sometimes I get so pent up with anger, and I cry but no one sees because I hide away."

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/poor-cages-show-dark-side-hong-kong-boom-1B8287394

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Czech Republic beats Turkey 2-0 in friendly

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:28 p.m. ET Feb. 6, 2013

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -First-half goals by Ladislav Krejci and David Lafata on Wednesday gave the Czech Republic a 2-0 victory over Turkey in a friendly.

Krejci opened the scoring in the fourth minute from a quick attack led by Tomas Rosicky and Vladimir Darida.

In the 28th, Lafata guided Darida's fierce shot into the net to double the lead.

Turkey came close to scoring in the 30th with a free kick that was tipped over the bar by Czech goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka.

The home team came out with far more resolve in the second half and had several near misses, with a shot by Umut Bulut cleared off the line in the 70th.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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US drops Hex opener to Honduras

PST: The United States lost 2-1 to Honduras in the first game of the final round of 2014 World Cup qualifying. It isn't time to panic yet, but the pressure is mounting.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50721664/ns/sports-soccer/

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Carbon (Twitter) update fixes bugs and adds Nexus 7 "support"

Android Central

Carbon (the Twitter client) has just received its first notable update since release in the Play Store, and it fixes a whole bucket of bugs. Notifications have been improved, fixing crashes and duplicate notifications. Several other crashes have been fixed related to avatar loading, deleting DMs, message long presses, account selection when tweeting and duplicate tweets. That's quite a few crashes being fixed for one update.

One other item that wasn't part of the changelog is "support" for the Nexus 7. We put support in quotes because although the app can now be downloaded on Nexus 7 devices, it's just the same phone UI as before. We reached out to the developer to ask why this was done and received this response pertaining to the Nexus 7 inclusion:

... it does [support the Nexus 7]. It's not a UI that we're designing exclusively for tablets, but the only reason it is now available on tablets is to avoid the 1-star reviews that it's been causing on Play Store. A full fledged tablet app with a UI designed from scratch for tablets is in the works.

The app will warn users at startup and informs users that the UI is not optimized for tablets yet.

We knew from before that the developer planned to release a separate tablet app that properly scales and takes advantage of larger screens in the near future. It's unfortunate that his hand has seemingly been forced into adding Nexus 7 support on the current version, which is obviously a suboptimal experience, just because of a barrage of 1-star reviews. 



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Uez60slIX2Y/story01.htm

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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

ThinkGeek has the perfect Valentine?s Day gift for your Companion

Does your SO own or want one of those European-style bracelets with the slide-on beads and charms? ?(I’m talking about Pandora, Chamilia, and Biagi.) ?Adding a charm to her bracelet is a great gift for Valentine’s Day, and these charms from ThinkGeek are designed to remind her of her favorite gadget lover or of her [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/02/06/thinkgeek-has-the-perfect-valentines-day-gift-for-your-companion/

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Republican leader Cantor seeks to rebrand his unpopular party

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eric Cantor, the combative second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, launched a major rebranding of his party on Tuesday, saying he hoped Republicans and President Barack Obama could "set differences aside" in the interest of helping ordinary Americans.

While not endorsing comprehensive immigration reforms backed by Obama, he did express openness on the subject in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, saying he favored providing "an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home."

That appeared to represent a reversal for Cantor, who in 2010 voted against the Dream Act, which would have cleared the way for such young people to remain in the United States.

"I'm pleased that many of my colleagues in both chambers of Congress on both sides of the aisle have begun work in good faith to address these issues," Cantor said.

Cantor gave little ground on any of the other differences between House Republicans and Obama in his speech, which his office billed as a major policy address.

Indeed, even as Cantor was speaking, Republican leaders and Obama were exchanging barbs in their latest standoff over deficit reduction, one likely to lead to $85 billion in damaging across-the-board budget cuts in March.

But the change in tone from one of the most partisan leaders of the House, who has helped lead the Republican charge against virtually everything Obama has proposed since taking office in 2009, was striking.

It followed months of rethinking among Republicans about their image among Americans following Obama's victory in the November election and their recent retreat from a battle they had looked forward to over the nation's borrowing limit.

Cantor made only passing reference to the bitter fights with Obama over "cliffs, debt ceilings and budgets" in which he has played such a visible role.

It is time, he said, to focus on "what lies beyond" them, including education, jobs, healthcare and innovation.

"Over the next two years, the House Majority will pursue an agenda based on a shared vision of creating the conditions for health, happiness and prosperity for more Americans and their families," Cantor said.

"....It is my hope that I can stand before you in two years and report back that our side, as well as the president's, found within us the ability to set differences aside, to provide relief to so many millions of Americans who simply want their lives to work again," Cantor said.

LEADERSHIP TENSIONS?

A Washington Post-ABC News/Washington poll last month found that 67 percent of Americans say that Republicans are doing "too little" to work with Obama.

The survey gave Republicans in Congress an approval rating of 24 percent, compared to a 37 percent rating for Democrats. Obama's approval recently hit a four-year high of 60 percent.

Cantor, 50, is widely seen as a possible successor to John Boehner, 63, as House Speaker, the chamber's top job.

While the two insist that they have a close working relationship, at times they have offered competing visions. On Tuesday, however, Boehner said they were on the same page.

Speaking with reporters after a meeting with House Republicans, Boehner said, "As I told the members, Eric's giving a very important speech."

"While there's a lot of focus on the deficit and debt, there are a lot of other things that Republicans plan to do over the course of this year," Boehner said.

"And if we're going to connect with the American people, it's important that they see, not only that we're serious about solving our debt problem, but we're serious about addressing issues like energy, like education, to show really the breath of the effort that we're involved in," Boehner added.

During the past two years, the White House has tried to make Cantor the face of congressional Republicans, and has made it clear that Obama prefers working with Boehner.

In an apparent effort to present a softer personal image, Cantor punctuated his prepared speech with references to a long lineup of people, including his wife and three children, his dad, a Baltimore nurse and a police officer from his hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

He spoke of visiting an inner-city school this week, and introduced a student from the school and his father to illustrate his interest in finding new solutions in education.

(Editing by Fred Barbash and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-leader-cantor-seeks-rebrand-unpopular-party-191027590--business.html

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Myanmar's graffiti artists test edges of emerging democracy

Graffiti artists are on the frontline of an ongoing debate over where freedoms begin and?end as Myanmar continues its transition.

By Jason Motlagh,?Correspondent / February 4, 2013

Graffiti artist Arker Kyaw stands in front of a current mural project, last week, in Yangon, Myanmar.

Susie Taylor

Enlarge

When he first got word of President Obama?s historic trip to Myanmar this fall, street artist Arker Kyaw stayed up through the night spray-painting a mural of the US leader smiling against a backdrop of American and Burmese flags.??

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?It was not political, just a way of showing the public new art,? says the lanky 19-year-old. ? ?

But in a nascent democracy experiencing a flush of civil freedoms, self-expression and politics are inseparable. The next day, Mr. Arker Kyaw returned to see his mural scratched out. A week later, the government decreed a nation-wide ban on street art.

After more than five decades of oppressive rule, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is awash in free speech on fronts where none was permitted. Breakneck reforms, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners?and an end to direct media censorship?have allowed stifled voices to emerge in newspapers, art galleries, and theater houses where plain-clothes security agents used to eavesdrop for signs of dissent.

But the government does not yet have a?mechanism that grants artists access to work on public spaces, putting them at the frontline in the ongoing debate over where freedoms begin and?end as the country continues its transition.?

"It's certainly a good thing that young artists are testing the limits,"?says Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia?division. It?s not unlike the tests of democracy that have been seen by graffiti artists across the world. At the same time, he warns, "it seems there is a narrowing?of tolerance for expression in some areas ... and now the government?is going after graffiti artists. One wonders: Is this a backlash, or?is this political opening as sincere as [Myanmar's] leaders would have?us believe?"

The ban has not stopped dozens of artists steeped in the renegade spirit of American hip-hop culture from working in the shadows. Fresh graffiti, spanning flying television to stencils copied from British street legend Banksy, seem to pop up every other morning under bridges and on construction projects that are tearing up entire blocks and intensifying traffic snarls.?

Myanmar's graffiti culture?

?Of course we?re gonna paint anyway; We just have to be more careful,? says Soe Wai Htun, noting that his crew has plans to a do ?an even bigger public exhibition? in the wake of the defaced Obama mural.?

Smug defiance toward authorities is one standard practice that Burmese street culture has adopted from the United States; tribalism is another.?

When Arker Kyaw heard that his Obama mural had been attacked, he initially suspected the hand of municipal authorities, as had been done before. Only later did he learn that a rival graffiti crew was responsible for the defeatist phrases ?We Quit? and ?This is Not Message, Do Not Reply.?

While he is affiliated with a larger crew, Arker Kyaw insists that he stands for the individual and paints alone. ?I?m interested in expanding the art form, not revenge,? he says. ?I want to be the best.?

Others counter that ?battling? is fundamental to graffiti culture, wherever it is practiced, and an affront to stale notions of ownership. ?We battle each other like real street artists do, in America,? says one rival, who goes by the nickname Marshall.

'It's evolving'?

While the vanguard Yangon?s art scene generally welcome what they?re seeing as an antidote to old taboos and the crass modern development that is cropping up around the city, some say it understandably lacks the technique and conceptual originality that has elevated street art in cities like New York and Tokyo.

?It?s evolving but there?s not yet enough originality, ? says Aung Soe Min, a prominent gallery owner who works with more than 200 artists in Myanmar, just a handful of them graffitists. But, he adds, the quality of public art is ?evolving quickly? and ?has symbolic value in a country that always thinks of law and order first.?

In these still uncertain times, a growing number of street artists are organizing private exhibitions as a platform to introduce Burmese urban art to new audiences.??

In December, curator Moe Satt hosted a festival entitled, ?Beyond Pressure,? featuring the works of top graffiti artists from Yangon and Mandalay. ?Rendezvous,? a new exhibition that begins this week, includes work from as far away as the UK in a bid to raise Myanmar?s street art profile in Southeast Asia and promote homegrown artists alongside more established talent, according to organizers, who say it?s the largest urban art event ever held here.

Fine line between legal and illegal

Until public art is embraced in the new Myanmar, Arker Kyaw and company say they plan to walk the line between legal and illegal, alternating between spot-lit galleries and sidewalks by night. Then there are those who prefer to work within the spaces that are permitted ? and shout?as loudly as they can about their grievances with the new government

On a recent afternoon, Lailone,?a some-time street artist with an engineering degree, held his first solo exhibition in the lobby of a tattoo parlor across the street from a five-star hotel. A mixed crowd of Burmese and foreigners enjoyed donuts and coffee, while taking in cartoons under the theme ?Not For Sale?: a not-so-subtle indictment of the surge of land grabbing being perpetrated by powerful business interests with ties to the military. ??

One of his pieces depicts a lawyer asking a poor farmer if he?s reading an agricultural guidebook. The farmer replies, ?No, I?m studying land laws ahead of the confiscation that?s coming.? Another piece depicts a farmer hanging from the top of a flagpole, singing the national anthem as foreign companies raze all the land beneath him.?

?I?m afraid for my culture, for the environment,? says Lailone.

At least he?s no longer afraid of speaking his mind, say analysts. Looking around at his room full of politically charged creations, he adds, with a wide grin: ?Now I can drown [the authorities] with my humor.?

* Susie Taylor contributed to this report from Yangon.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/dXV1vxSw4Og/Myanmar-s-graffiti-artists-test-edges-of-emerging-democracy

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Dash of Sass ? Tutto Pasta ? The Dish

By: Lexie Winiecke

With finals just around the corner, you may find yourself wondering how you?re going to survive the month of December. Although it may seem rough now, winter break will be here before we know it, and it is still important to remember to relax every now and then. Venturing out on to State Street on a Friday night is a great way to de-stress, and I have found the ideal restaurant that will be sure to melt your troubles away and help you celebrate the end of the semester.

When I?m stressed I generally turn to comfort food (i.e. pasta, chocolate) to help me feel better, which may explain why I quickly found myself walking into Tutto Pasta on State Street. Upon admittance, I immediately felt like I was in an authentic Italian restaurant. On the left there is a wide selection of wine that is surrounded by a counter and booths where customers can sit and enjoy a drink. A quick warning to those who come during the dinner rush: expect that you will not be seated right away because this is a popular spot for couples on date night. If you?re in the mood to try something fun and need to kill some time before you?re seated, I would recommend sampling the cosmopolitan.

Luckily, I did not have a long wait and was seated in another large room that was directly facing State Street. It was the perfect spot for people watching, and I was given a basket of bread along with various oils for dipping. It was an interesting combination of flavors that I did not entirely care for, but it was a light appetizer that did not fill me up before the main course.

Photo By Jennifer Beth

The waitress promptly asked for my order, and within twenty minutes or so I could see my Penne Quattro Formaggi approaching. It was absolutely mouthwatering, and for the amount I paid, I did receive a lot of food. If you have a small stomach like me, you will be happy to know that there will be leftovers in the fridge.

If you find yourself over break with a group of friends and nowhere to go, I would highly recommend coming to Tutto Pasta. That way, you all can enjoy an evening in Italy. The walls are finished in a sponge-like texture that gives the restaurant an authentic feeling.

Being who I am, I could not leave Tutto Pasta until I explored what sweets were offered. Instead of looking at a menu, the waitress brings a sweet cart to the table that features tiramisu and other various cakes. Inevitably, you will be fairly full after finishing the main course (or trying to finish it) so the dessert may have to be devoured later in the evening.

Whether you come with a date or a group of friends, this restaurant is what you make of it. Celebrate the end of another semester, enjoy spending time with friends and family, and eat some delicious food along the way.

Source: http://www.thedishmadison.com/2013/02/05/dash-of-sass-tutto-pasta/

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