The Ocean Is Safe from Swarms of Man-Sized Robo-Jellyfish?For Now

While there's still a debate over whether the world's real jellyfish population is exploding or not, a team at Virginia Tech is working hard to supplement the prehistoric blobs' numbers with robotic monsters of their own. Huzzah? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/57YDLGRjokQ/the-ocean-is-safe-from-swarms-of-man+sized-robo+jellyfishfor-now

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Tonawanda Coke Corporation Pollution Trial Heads To Jury Deliberation In New York

By Neale Gulley
BUFFALO, N.Y., March 27 (Reuters) - Jury deliberations were set to begin on Thursday in the federal trial of Tonawanda Coke Corp, which has been charged with fouling the air for years, and whose environmental manager is accused of hiding plant deficiencies from U.S. regulators.
Chief U.S. District Judge William Skretny issued instructions to the jury for several hours on Wednesday and told the panel to begin deliberations on Thursday morning.
The western New York company faces a 19-count indictment that lists numerous violations of the federal Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and obstruction of justice for an alleged cover up of emissions prior to a 2009 investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency. If found guilty, the company faces fines for each count.
The company, which has operated for 30 years in the Buffalo suburb of Tonawanda, produces a coal-based additive called coke that is used to make steel.
Prosecutors said the company's air permit application did not mention a pressure relief valve emitting noxious coke oven gas. Other violations of federal law, they said, include the failure to install required emission control devices called baffles.
"Time and again, the defendants chose to deceive, not comply, all in an attempt to put profit above all else," Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Mango said in closing arguments on Tuesday.
"Money drove this business into deception," he added.
The cost of installing baffles was estimated at $125,000, prosecutors said. However, defense attorneys said that sum would not have made compliance cost-prohibitive had the plant been aware that baffles were an issue.
"This is not a substantial cost that reasonably and rationally would drive criminal acts," defense attorney Gregory Linsin said during his closing argument.
Instead, Linsin took aim at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which he said had granted the plant an exception to the baffles in one area of the plant. While the agency knew the devices were not installed elsewhere as required, he said, it failed to enforce the issue.
Of the relief valve, Linsin said the apparatus was in a "clear and obvious location" and that DEC inspectors were well aware of it for decades.
Linsin said DEC officials failed to take action even though they had granted exceptions and knew of other violations.
"The conduct that is the subject of this indictment was known, at least tacitly if not explicitly, to the DEC for years," he said.
Linsin accused DEC officials of entrapment - the company's primary defense - saying they led plant managers to believe the facility was in compliance. The state officials, he said, allowed problems to linger for years before EPA investigators conducted their own review in 2009.
Linsin said the plant passed inspections for a long time and worked hard to comply with state and federal regulations.
"The only thing that changed, ladies and gentlemen, in 2009, was a new sheriff came to Tonawanda Coke in the form of the EPA," he said.
The surprise weeklong investigation by the state and EPA led to the indictment.
Previously, nearby residents had formed a coalition because they were concerned about high cancer rates in the area.
A state Department of Health study released this year found "statistically significant elevations" of cancer and birth defects among Tonawanda residents. But health officials say the study does not prove local industry caused the health problems.
Mark Kamholz, the environmental manager named in the indictment, could face prison if convicted of the lone obstruction charge against him.
Prosecutors accuse Kamholz of using "his position of control to manipulate and deceive investigators from identifying areas of non-compliance." (Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Lisa Von Ahn and Ellen Wulfhorst)

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/tonawanda-coke-corporation-pollution_n_2966819.html

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Back To The Border (The Note)

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

THE PROOF IS IN THE POLLING: Popularity of the U.S. Congress, while weak overall, has gained sharply among Hispanics, likely reflecting its current efforts on immigration reform, a new ABC News-Washington Post poll has found. ABC News Pollster Greg Holyk notes that Congress by far is the least popular of the three, with just 30 percent of Americans viewing it favorably. But that jumps to 56 percent among Hispanics, up by a steep 21 percentage points from November 2011 - the only group in which it reaches majority popularity. Congress' favorability rating is up by 7 points from late 2011, but well off the majority popularity it enjoyed in the late 1980s. http://abcn.ws/XdnimV

BORDER GANG: A comprehensive immigration overhaul bill is not expected until mid-April at the earliest, but four members of the Senate Gang of Eight - the team of bipartisan senators tasked with creating an immigration bill - will visit the Arizona-Mexico border today, reports ABC's Jim Avila and Serena Marshall. The two Arizona senators - both Republicans and Gang of Eight members, Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake - will host Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York and Michael Bennet of Colorado for a tour along the border in Nogales, part of the Tucson sector. The location for the tour sits in rural Arizona, a trouble spot on the border because of a funneling-effect resulting from tougher controls in cities like El Paso, Texas and San Diego, Calif. The visit comes in advance of the pending immigration legislation to bring 11 million undocumented on a possible path to citizenship. http://abcn.ws/13wBlrx

MCCAIN'S STRAIGHT TALK: At a Monday town hall meeting, Sen. McCain said the team has made progress in "a number of areas" that he is "encouraged" by, but there are still areas on which the team has been unable to come to agreements. "I don't know if we can achieve agreement or not," he said. "We have been working, literally, night and day. We may not succeed." http://abcn.ws/13wBlrx

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Nobody likes Congress, basically ever - except Latinos, right now. The most interesting piece of the new ABC News/Washington Post favorability poll is that 56 percent of Hispanics say they view Congress favorably, an astounding 21-point jump since the last time the question was polled, in late 2011. No other demographic group shows a similar spike. The only plausible explanation is optimism around immigration reform, whether justified or not (though certainly colored by the tone of coverage in American Spanish-language and other Latino-geared media). It adds to the urgency around comprehensive reform, on a day that members of the Senate's Gang of Eight tour the US-Mexican border. This optimism will turn into something less than pretty, if Latino voters feel like their voices aren't heard, and relatively soon.

ABC's MATTHEW DOWD: The acceptance of gay marriage has come a long way in only a few short years mainly because we now have a generation of voters who have come of age in a time of their friends and acquaintances being openly gay their whole lives. And this generation of folks each has parents like myself who have watched their children bring friends who are openly gay into their homes, and have also learned a more compassionate way. It has just taken our leaders a while to catch up where the country is already headed on this issue. Whenever we have a decision in life and the choice boils down to one of reacting to fear or following love, the divinely inspired journey we are each on demands that we follow love if we desire a soulful and compassionate society. It seems the average citizen out there understands this much better than our leaders, and gay marriage is a perfect example of this in today's politics. More of my reflections on the topic of leadership and motivation in light of the gay marriage debate: http://abcn.ws/ZVcAA2

ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE: With prominent women running in mayoral races in cities around the country like Los Angeles, Houston and Albany, N.Y., a front-page New York Times profile yesterday of perhaps the most well-known of the bunch, New York City Council Speaker and mayoral contender Christine C. Quinn, sparked intense reactions. The story, by The Times' Michael M. Grynbaum and David W. Chen, listed example after example of Quinn's temper and verbal tirades over the years - directed at both colleagues and enemies alike. "She has threatened, repeatedly, to slice off the private parts of those who cross her," the reporters noted. One former city official described being on the receiving end of one of her outbursts: "It's just old-fashioned screaming, in a way that you just don't hear that much." More than a few have called the article sexist, pointing out that many a male politician has engaged in similar - and even worse - behavior. But others took a different view. For example, gender scholar Peggy Drexler offered her take in the Daily Beast: "In the end, the question shouldn't be, 'Is this piece sexist?' but whether the qualities that have made Quinn an effective, and thus far successful, leader will serve her going forward." Notably, Quinn, herself, is on the record taking responsibility for her leadership style: "I don't think being pushy or bitchy or tough, or however you want to characterize it, is a bad thing," she told The Times. "New Yorkers want somebody who's going to get things done."

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

ROB REINER: MEATHEAD COULD HELP GET ARCHIE BUNKER TO BACK GAY MARRIAGE. Meathead says even his bigoted, cantankerous father-in-law Archie Bunker would be on the side of gay marriage if the sitcom "All in the Family" were still on the air today. "Oh absolutely, and I think we'd be screaming at each other pretty good," says actor and film director Rob Reiner, who played the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic. "I would think Archie would be convinced if one of his friends or one of his daughters, not the daughter I was married to, but if he had a child who was gay, I think he might be convinced, yes." Reiner spoke to ABC's Rick Klein and Terry Moran on the steps of the Supreme Court after the Court heard oral arguments on the case weighing California's Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Reiner has been a key player in fighting Proposition 8 ever since it passed in the 2008 election. He co-founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group that has steered the legal battle against the ballot initiative all the way to the nation's highest court. WATCH: http://yhoo.it/15TIjSQ

TODAY AT THE SUPREME COURT: DOMA DAY

Today the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that defines marriage as between one man and a woman. The law denies federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married in their states. DOMA was passed in 1996 with wide majorities in both the House and the Senate. ABC's Ariane De Vogue outlines the key issues in the case: http://abcn.ws/Yf1wPe

JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES: Because the government believes that DOMA is unconstitutional, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) led by House Republicans, stepped in to defend the law. Paul D. Clement is BLAG's lawyer. The DOMA case presents two jurisdictional questions. Because both the government and BLAG believe the justices should reach the merits in the case, the Supreme Court appointed a Harvard Law professor Vicki Jackson to argue the jurisdictional questions. The first question is whether the Court has the jurisdiction to hear the case given that the United States government agrees with the challengers to DOMA that it is unconstitutional. The second jurisdictional question before the Court involves whether BLAG has the legal right to bring the case. While BLAG argues that it has an interest in defending the enforceability of statutes the House has passed, Jackson says there has to be a concrete threat against institutional prerogatives. She says that to allow BLAG to have "standing" violates the separation of powers akin to transferring to the House the executive's power to take care that laws are faithfully executed.

THE MERITS: Similar to the arguments of supporters of Prop 8, Clement argues that in passing DOMA, Congress had a good reason to support traditional marriage. He targets the "tendency" of opposite-sex relationships to produce "unintended and unplanned offspring." Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group lawyer Paul D. Clement says that Congress was acting rationally when it passed DOMA: "Government from time immemorial has had an interest in having such unintended and unplanned offspring raised in a stable structure that improves their chances of success in life and avoids having them become a burden on society." But the government argues that DOMA violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. "The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples," writes Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli.

Live Updates from ABC News: Day 2 of Gay Marriage at the Supreme Court http://abcn.ws/WVDYhc

BUZZ

DAVID PETRAEUS APOLOGIZES FOR AFFAIR. David Petraeus apologized in front of an audience of about 600, who welcomed him with a standing ovation, for an extramarital affair with his biographer in his first public speech since resigning as the head of the CIA, reports ABC's ANTHONY CASTELLANO. "Needless to say, I join you, keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago," Petraeus said Tuesday night to an audience of mostly veterans at the University of Southern California's annual ROTC dinner at a hotel in Los Angeles. "I am also keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing. So please allow me to begin my remarks this evening by reiterating how deeply I regret - and apologize for - the circumstances that led to my resignation from the CIA and caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters," Petraeus said. The decorated war hero and former four-star general has remained out of the public eye since his affair with writer Paula Broadwell was revealed in November. http://abcn.ws/WVEb40

MORE FROM TODAY'S ABC NEWS-WASHINGTON POST POLL. Fifty-five percent of Americans overall hold a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court, which is hearing arguments on gay marriage, a major civil rights issue, this week. That's despite some less-than-popular recent opinions; the public divided on the court's ruling on health care reform in 2012 and broadly opposed its 2010 decision on political campaign financing. Obama, for his part, is seen positively by 57 percent of Americans, near his more than three-year high, 60 percent, in January. That's despite the fact that his job approval slipped from a three-year peak of 55 percent in January to 50 percent earlier this month. The two assessments can differ; the first measures basic goodwill while the latter is more performance-based. http://abcn.ws/XdnimV

OBAMA NAMES FIRST FEMALE SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR. President Obama is appointing veteran Secret Service agent Julia Pierson as the agency's first female director, reports ABC's MARY BRUCE. Pierson will take over the helm from Mark Sullivan, whose leadership came under intense scrutiny after the agency became mired in a prostitution scandal last year. During preparations for a presidential visit to Cartagena, Colombia, last April, more than a dozen agents and officers allegedly solicited prostitutes, raising serious questions about the agency's male-dominated culture. "Julia is eminently qualified to lead the agency that not only safeguards Americans at major events and secures our financial system, but also protects our leaders and our first families, including my own," President Obama said in a written statement. "Julia has had an exemplary career, and I know these experiences will guide her as she takes on this new challenge to lead the impressive men and women of this important agency." http://abcn.ws/10LZOoP

"WHAT WOULD THE SENATE'S BUDGET LOOK LIKE WITH ALL 500-PLUS AMENDMENTS?" by Yahoo! News Columnist Chris Wilson. "The federal budget the U.S. Senate passed in the raw hours of Saturday morning contained so many proposed amendments that some of its amendments had their own amendments. The chamber voted on only a few dozen of the 572 amendments that were filed to the 94-page bill, consigning the rest to the congressional equivalent of Bartleby's dead letter office. Legislation is the source code for America, written out by Congress as commands that the executive branch executes. Like any sufficiently complex program, a lot of proposed edits never make the final version. In that spirit, this interactive version of the Senate budget includes almost every amendment at the exact place in the bill where it proposes to make a change. Think of it like Microsoft Word's track changes feature applied to legislation." Check it out: http://yhoo.it/YCmyXu

WHAT WE'RE READING

"PROGRESSIVES MUST FOCUS OUTSIDE D.C.," a Politico Op-Ed by Democracy for America Chairman Jim Dean. "The only way progressives can overcome this clear Republican advantage is by applying the same shoe leather we've used for years to win national races and take these state legislatures back. That's why Democracy for America is launching its Purple to Blue project, a national, multi-year effort to win state House and Senate chambers across the country by making so-called 'purple' state legislative seats decisively Democratic. And we're starting right here in Virginia. Forget about the 'Republicans are dead' stuff. If we allow the status quo to continue, the consequences for our country will be dire. And, honestly, the situation in the states right now is deeply troubling already. ? We're not the first group to focus on state legislatures, and even victory in all five of our targeted districts won't flip Virginia's House of Delegates. However, that's why our Purple to Blue project is so important: It gives us a chance to figure out what works ahead of the critical state races happening in Michigan, Pennsylvania and elsewhere in 2014. It is also a critical step in preparing for the big fight in 2015 for the Virginia State Senate." http://politi.co/108hloX

WHO'S TWEETING?

@dennisrodman: My foreign policy advisor @Ivan_Eland latest column on US foreign policy. He is very smart. http://ow.ly/jsCMb #WormInNorthKorea

@CPHeinze: If Dem donors commit to non-Hillary candidates at this point, "the former president would take that very personally." http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/hillary-clinton-president-2016-campaign-money-omalley-cuomo ?

@etchaStech: Year of the Woman Mayor continues: @emilyslist backs Kathy Sheehan for Albany. #ladymayors http://blog.timesunion.com/localpolitics/14319/pro-choice-group-emilys-list-backs-sheehan-for-mayor/ ?

@Heritage: Who has been the most consequential conservative of the past four decades? http://herit.ag/10P2dPn

@DonGonyea: Every single person on my crowded red line train car this AM looked hung over. It's only Wednesday.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/back-border-note-131809138--abc-news-politics.html

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Oil extraction wastewater caused Oklahoma's biggest quake

USGS

This map shows the shaking intensity from the magnitude 5.6 earthquake that hit Oklahoma on Nov. 6, 2011.

By Tia Ghose
LiveScience

The largest-ever recorded quake in Oklahoma was caused by the injection of wastewater, a byproduct of oil extraction, into the ground, new research confirms.

On Nov. 6, 2011, a series of earthquakes, including a 5.6-magnitude temblor, struck the rural town of Prague, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) east of Oklahoma City, crumbling homes in the area and damaging a federal highway. The quake could be felt as far away as Milwaukee.

"We don't normally feel earthquakes, it was shocking," said study co-author Katie Keranen, a seismologist at Oklahoma University.

Now, a new study published Tuesday in the journal Geology confirms that wastewater injected into the ground after oil extraction caused the quake. The quake is the largest wastewater-induced earthquake ever recorded. The wastewater was from traditional drilling, not the controversial hydraulic fracturing method.

Ever since wastewater injection was linked to a series of small quakes around Denver, Colo., in the 1960s, scientists have known that oil extraction could trigger temblors. When oil is extracted from the ground, lots of water, dubbed "wastewater," comes up as well. So oil companies sometimes pump the water back into the well, where it fills porous spaces within the rocks, Keranen said.

"It's almost a lubrication, it can push the fault apart," Keranen told LiveScience. "When you do that you lower the stress that's holding a fault together and you can cause it to slip."

But in the past, scientist thought the resulting quakes would be fairly benign: most of these triggered temblors are typically in the 3s and 4s on the magnitude scale, Keranen said.

In theory, however, these man-made earthquakes could get even bigger ? an especially worrisome possibility if they occur near population centers. [Image Gallery: Deadly Earthquakes]

"We don't know what the maximum size of earthquakes?could be that we could trigger from disposal," Keranen said.

Whether or not an area is prone to such tremblers depends on the permeability of the local rock: If water can't seep through the rock easily, meaning it's not very permeable, pressure builds up and makes an earthquake more likely. Earthquake risk also depends on the presence and angle of faults in relation to the water-injection site.

Though the process that caused the Oklahoma earthquake didn't involve hydraulic fracturing, fracking often involves injecting spent water into the ground, which carries the same risks. In fracking, water, sand and other substances are injected into a well under high pressure in order to fracture the rock, creating fissures that help natural gas flow out.

There hasn't been much oil extraction on the East Coast, but as fracking takes off in areas like Pennsylvania, the risk of big quakes in the region needs to be considered, Keranen said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter @tiaghose.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

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

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a10b8bd/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174891330Eoil0Eextraction0Ewastewater0Ecaused0Eoklahomas0Ebiggest0Equake0Dlite/story01.htm

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Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference #RIMC13 ? Day 1

Duane Forrester?from Bing ? Overlap between Search and Social

Photo credit Thos003

Duane has 12 years in the industry, one of the the first SEOs to be hired by a search engine.

?following best practices then you are onto a good thing?

• 1 in 4 queries deliver successful result
• 42% of sessions require further refinement
• 44% of session lasting day or more

Important for businesses to understand what a ?session? is.

The move from query to session

• query is a single action, whilst a session is a collection of related actions over time.

What is in the consumer?s mind when they are actually using a query.

Important to understand the consumer better

Query ? Dog

• Session ? Dog Beds, Dog accessories, dog toys etc
• understanding the intent is critical
• are they planning to make a purchase, moving towards the sales funnel ?

presenting the right form of content to engage the consumer more.

understanding why the consumer if engaging with you allows to deliver a greater ROI

• 50% of all time spent searching in on sessions > 30 minutes
• almost 50% of queries are returning to previous tasks

presenting the user with what they are actually looking for

?best new york hotels?

• understanding user intent ? what is the best for each individual user.
• Web, Online Services and vertically integrated areas
• again presenting the user with the most relevant app, social platform or whatever best suits the users intent.

Duane loves the Nokia City Lense?and it pulls in suggestions for what is near that person?s location.

?When i type in the name of a famous singer who is also a friend, is my friend not the more important and relevant result ??

• policing the system ? example of child having smartphone playing a game, clicking an advert for a gambling site and having access as it is linked to your credit card ? hard to police

Reinventing across 3 dimensions

Information architecture ? creation of new information via social graph and geospatial index

Interaction Model ? not just mouse and keyboard ? now include voice, touch, gesture and vision

entry points ? not just browser, but also devices, services and social networks ? people no longer just rely on a search box

Real-time firehose

• ?dealing with information from a number of different services and trying to enhance the users experience
• tablets are changing the way in which people consume data.

Schema.org

marking up data to provide the search engine with more information

links, social annotations all help to ensure the search engines produce the best results for the users.

Duane says ?Mark up your content?

Deliver knowledge by computationally understanding users intent

user -> Query -> Intent Detection -> Task Derivation

• Linda
• Home Gym
• Intent Detection -> who, where, others, semantic & research
• Task derivation -> purchase, install, sell, set fire to & impress friends

This allows for refined results

everytime we get it wrong allows Bing to refine and improve results in the future.

9 billion mobile devices in the world in use today

25 billion in use by 2021

Google and Bing suggest the move away from m.domains for websites

people are expecting an enriched mobile experience

?the ability of these devices to feed in real time signals help us handle intent better?

Gone are the days of focussing on basics

Working out why people with a number of followers on Twitter are in demand, this allows for Understanding topical authority

Taking care of customer is ensuring they can engage with you socially, not just delivering basic customer service.

• there will always be a social space for every niche ? allows for businesses to go and engage with people who are looking for your brand.

?

80% of people wait to make a purchase online until they have spoke with a friend/family.

Social Search helps the user see their friend?s opinion faster.

?

• Personalised search in Bing integrates Facebook discussing a particular subject based on what you have searched.

?

Social graph and patterns

Photo credit BBC

Like farm

• search engines are great at visualising patterns of likes
• natural patterns are what the algorithm is looking for.
• ?stay away from shortcuts?

Usability is the most important thing to Duane

SEO and LinkBuilding have a low priority as it should be more about the user.

If you want to become a topical authority ? wow people when they come onto your website

6 major investment areas for SEO used by Duane for approaching SEO for MSN

• crawl-ability
• site structure
• On-page
• Content
• Links
• Social

• every area of your site has a value
• determine what the value is
• sort your site by value to see what really matters

Content Development

• Engines respond to unique and useful content
• how do you define content
• match content to your audience
• different mediums for different jobs

Keyword Research

• creating share of voice reports are far better than ranking reports
• ?please stop doing ranking reports as it costs Bing money for each query?
• don?t rely on rankings as only the engine has full control over these.

Encourage more sharing

• create lists ? people love lists
• use hooks ? be careful
• participate in communities ? ?valued member of community
• share others information ? people love when what they share gets shared

Building Efficiencies

• look for ways to streamline your time
• identify a customer need and fill in the blanks
• look to identify patterns

use Bing Webmaster Tools as its better !!

Shari Thurow?from?- Site Architecture the Right Way

Photo credit Nordic eMarketing

?

Anne Kennedy introduces Shari Thurow with a story from 1998 ? Shari was presenting and described how engines see 2 things ? content and crap.

covering 3 things:

• SEO, Architecture and the User Experience

SEO

optimizing a website for search engines

optimizing a website for people who use search engines

?in the long-run, technology centered design is generally counterproductive to project and business goals?

SEOs are concerned with :

• labelling website content so that is is easy to find
• organizing website content so that it is easy to find
• ensuring search engines have access to desired content

SEO is not about algorithms

The Big Picture

keywords and labels/architecture and design/ link development & social/searcher goals

=

aboutness/infrastructure & scent/ validation & credibility/ searcher goals

people dont type ?add to cart? into a search engine, but they expect to see it on the page

on-page and off-page criteria balanced allow for long term successes

Site Architecture

a blending of humans and technology

information architects help make website content easier to find

if your credibility goes down, people are less likely to interact with your site

a site will rank better over time if the architecture is right

findability ? query, browsing and asking

querying

- people scan web pages for trigger words to validate their search

people expect works to appear in a subsequent page

as information scent gets stronger, users/searchers get more confident

browsing

different types of navigation

• global
• formal/local
• supplemental- page interlinking
• headings

all these things need to work together

Technical architecture

refers to hardware and software used for serving web content

information architecture has a big bearing on SEO ? eg. sitelinks show a navigational query

• benefit of IA ? +30% increase in CTR on 2-line sitelinks
• affects rankings and conversions
• searchers are happy with both the site and the search engines provide the most accurate result

expectancy test ? what do you think you are going to see if you click a link (never do in a group)

usability is not testing the human it is testing the interface.

once you have lost a user, you have almost always lost him for good?

Information architecture is good when people can complete theirs tasks

• IA decisions have a clear impact on SEO
• organisations consantly skip the IA process
• technical staff need to take direction and advice from IAs

Problem with technical seos

content can be arranged :

• by task/process
• topic/subject
• target audience
• type
• alphapbetical
• chronological
• spatial/geographical
• attributes

only SEOs organise something via Keyword Tool

using the right tools but for the wrong reasons

usability test ? show someone a page and take it away after 8 seconds ? user should be able to tell you what is most important part of the site.

Be proactive rather than reactive ? not the algoholic approach

Dont skip the IA process ? will cost you a lot of money to fix.

Shari takes a mirror to meetings so you can explain to the client that they are not creating a site for a mirror of themselves

How human?s think

can i eat it, can it eat me ? can i have sex with it

relates to website architecture

eye tracking ? considering where people are actually looking on your site

how would you organise and label content for adults and children

organise your content for your target audience

interpretation of labelling by different audiences

GAS ? how it was interpreted by different audiences

petrol, flatulence, natural Gas

KEEP DATA IN CONTEXT

how + why = ROI

?

Photo credit : Twitter

We are in a constant evolving industry where what was current 6 months can be now outdated.

Website strategy is as simple as it is complex

Defining strategies ? what, who, where, why and how

If you cannot answer why you are creating your website ?- STOP !!!!

Spending money and effort creating something that will be worthless.

Who are my users ??

• technologies and devices
• geolocation
• gender
• age
• income
• education
• browsers & platforms

Biggest mistake site owners make is build a website for a user that is like them.

?

Pinterest ? 90% of users are women ? KNOW your users !!!

Geolocation -looking at where users are when they visit and interact with your site. ?Consider whether they are at work, travelling, shopping or at home ? this changes the way they use your site.

Our strategy is not based on guesswork and hunches, but data & fact & understanding our users.

Don?t design your tablet site like a mobile site, users use them like a desktop.

?

90% of people who hate a website never return to the site. ?They decide within 1-3 seconds whether they are going to interact with the site.

• Homepage pathing ? you have 3 clicks to get someone on the journey. ?Once you have them, you should be able to keep them.
• Site Architecture ? should limit to 6/7 dropdowns as this is all the user can handle.
• Content Development ? maintaining it and who is in charge of it ???
• Social Media Strategy ? what is your voice ? who is your voice ?
• Usability -? this will become an Algorithm check

Technology?

The most overlooked part of the site is the technology.

• non www?s and www?s resolving differently
• robots.txt
• sitemap ? updated every week
• page speed
• page weight
• url construction
• use of scripting where important content is concerned

?If it is good for users, it is good for search?

Where is the SEO ?

Everything we do is SEO now, if you run a website your SEO team is essential. ?They should be involved from Day One !!!

Search ?Experience? Optimisation ? hint from Google about where SEO is going ? less about the engine, more about the user.

?

• search engines ? authorship and subjectship to improve results
• social media integration ? facial recognition theory by Kristine in relation to Facebook and Bing
• Device Chaos ? responsive design
• Mobile vs Everything Else

• mobile seo
• mobile design
• schema
• content
• social

If you arent doing any of the above, then you are already a long way behind.

where is strategy going ?

• Identity ? Google+ will impact on this
• Search without Search
• Device entropy
• non-website based data presentation
• content APIs
• identity for SEO
• True Linguistic Search

The Holy Grail of Search is integrating all of the above and making it happen.

Responsive Design ? so important right now due to device recognition no longer being possible.

Shrinking your site until it becomes ugly and then review with responsive design.

Authorship is important ? it builds up rank over time. ?When hiring authors be aware of their background (bad history could hurt your site) and also be aware that if an strong author leaves then you will have to replace them with an equally strong author.

El?sabet Gr?tarsd?ttir ? Head of Marketing at Arion Bank

Online gaming ?platform with as of February 2013 had over 500,000 subscribers.

Users of the platform developed an interest in the game, meet like-minded people and gradually it becomes a part of their lifestyle. ?This includes people getting EVE tattoos or naming their children ?Eve?.

El?sabet?has translated working for a gaming company into her new role now working for a bank. ?Going from videos about frozen corpses in space to a video promoting the bank with a family theme. ? Not all the time do they speak the same language but there is an element of crossover.

Going from a platform where players may be online for 8 hours, through to people relying on the service of banking although very different, still has the element of people developing an infinity with brand.

• 40% of YouTube views in 2012 were on mobile devices ? shows where the future is going.

• The changing face of the Music Industry, with the introduction of platforms such as Spotify.

• TV as we know it is now dead, more people using streaming services such as Netflix

The Internet is so segmented with language barriers, the recognition of speech and machine translation is something we have been trying to overcome for 60 years.

• Ericsson estimates 50 Billion connected devices in 2020

Hello, this is the future calling. is someone there ??

El?sabet?s hope for the future is that we can learn how people behave through their connections, and how people mistreat each other. ?Can we learn to make things better ?

Fixing a broken society through the changes that are coming. ?It is important that the connections that happen are beneficial rather than detrimental.

Big Media & Content Consumption Through Social ? The Power of We?

Todd Wilms ? leads strategy for Digital, Social and Communities at SAP

Our Content Problem

Content Pollution ? what happens in an Internet Minute ?

How to Solve It ?

Need ? empathize with your audience

• Most of us think about what we want as humans

?As content creators that is the wrong approach, we are trying to connect with others through our content.

Creation ? ?connect not pollute?

start thinking about being the mentor to your audience to create better content.

Connection ? actually connecting with your audience

The 3 c?s

Content

Channel

Context

?Apply these to your content creation.

Rob Garner ? ?Independent Consultant

• Your audience, your customers are always addressable ? through many different channels.

• You are publishing to an audience that expects a real-time response.

• You have to think like a scientist ? listen to your customers and remove any bias

Search and Social are linked through Natural language, to not only speak to them but understand your audience.

Looking at trends and buzzes allows you to see what people are talking about and where a conversation is going.

Integrating Search and Social to work the initial spike achieved in social to benefit the SEO in the long term.

Social signals reveal high velocity content and interests, including shared links and content.

Passive content distribution vs Active content distribution

• sharing starts in the active phase ? your Facebook friends share with their friends
• Search Engines perform deep network analysis ? Bing and Google have placed a value on every website.
• Search data provides market research and show your audience?s tastes. ?The Bing Ad Intelligence Tool provides great feedback for your campaigns.

The social signals that impact SEO include :

• likes
• retweets
• linkedin share
• number of subscriptions
• ratio of followers to those followed

Google+ Authorship ? the manifestation of true social search

They are not looking at your website, they are looking at your identity

Google+ is not a destination ? it?s a platform

Understand the bigger picture, dont just publish content

Craig Kannalley ? Huffington Post Senior Editor

Craig started a blog called Breaking Tweets for fun, chasing news stories as they happened. ?For one particular story based on Madagascar, he noticed he had a glut of traffic from Madagascar despite writing for a US audience.

• Crowd-sourcing he was able to break news faster than the mainstream sites such as CNN on big stories

He wrote an email to Arianna Huffington after googling her name to try and get a partnership. ?By reaching out and impressing her, it led to a job.

Overall a great day?s conference here in Reykjavik and another packed day tomorrow, with an early start at 8am.

Source: http://www.holisticsearch.co.uk/2013/03/21/reykjavik-internet-marketing-conference-day-1/

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Scientists discover 'lubricant' for Earth's tectonic plates: Hidden magma layer could play role in earthquakes

Mar. 20, 2013 ? Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have found a layer of liquefied molten rock in Earth's mantle that may be acting as a lubricant for the sliding motions of the planet's massive tectonic plates. The discovery may carry far-reaching implications, from solving basic geological functions of the planet to a better understanding of volcanism and earthquakes.

The scientists discovered the magma layer at the Middle America trench offshore Nicaragua. Using advanced seafloor electromagnetic imaging technology pioneered at Scripps, the scientists imaged a 25-kilometer- (15.5-mile-) thick layer of partially melted mantle rock below the edge of the Cocos plate where it moves underneath Central America.

The discovery is reported in the March 21 issue of the journal Nature by Samer Naif, Kerry Key, and Steven Constable of Scripps, and Rob Evans of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The new images of magma were captured during a 2010 expedition aboard the U.S. Navy-owned and Scripps-operated research vessel Melville. After deploying a vast array of seafloor instruments that recorded natural electromagnetic signals to map features of the crust and mantle, the scientists realized they found magma in a surprising place.

"This was completely unexpected," said Key, an associate research geophysicist in the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps. "We went out looking to get an idea of how fluids are interacting with plate subduction, but we discovered a melt layer we weren't expecting to find at all -- it was pretty surprising."

For decades scientists have debated the forces and circumstances that allow the planet's tectonic plates to slide across Earth's mantle. Studies have shown that dissolved water in mantle minerals results in a more ductile mantle that would facilitate tectonic plate motions, but for many years clear images and data required to confirm or deny this idea were lacking.

"Our data tell us that water can't accommodate the features we are seeing," said Naif, a Scripps graduate student and lead author of the paper. "The information from the new images confirms the idea that there needs to be some amount of melt in the upper mantle and that's really what's creating this ductile behavior for plates to slide."

The marine electromagnetic technology employed in the study was originated by Charles "Chip" Cox, an emeritus professor of oceanography at Scripps, and in recent years further advanced by Constable and Key. Since 2000 they have been working with the energy industry to apply this technology to map offshore oil and gas reservoirs.

The researchers say their results will help geologists better understand the structure of the tectonic plate boundary and how that impacts earthquakes and volcanism.

"One of the longer-term implications of our results is that we are going to understand more about the plate boundary, which could lead to a better understanding of earthquakes," said Key.

The researchers are now seeking to find the source that supplies the magma in the newly discovered layer.

The National Science Foundation and the Seafloor Electromagnetic Methods Consortium at Scripps supported the research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - San Diego. The original article was written by Mario Aguilera.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. S. Naif, K. Key, S. Constable, R. L. Evans. Melt-rich channel observed at the lithosphere?asthenosphere boundary. Nature, 2013; 495 (7441): 356 DOI: 10.1038/nature11939

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/KD-c3XwEr80/130320142705.htm

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10 Things to Know for Wednesday

People evacuate the body of a car bomb victim following an attack near the municipal building in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. A wave of apparently coordinated bombings rumbled across the Iraqi capital Tuesday morning, killing and wounding scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

People evacuate the body of a car bomb victim following an attack near the municipal building in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. A wave of apparently coordinated bombings rumbled across the Iraqi capital Tuesday morning, killing and wounding scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

In this March 13, 2013 file photo, Sandra Layne testifies in the Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Mich. The 75-year-old Detroit-area woman was convicted of second-degree murder on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, for shooting her 17-year-old grandson six times during an argument last spring. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, file)

Sheldon Stephens speaks at a news conference, in New York, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Stephens, 24, of Harrisburg, Pa., has filed suit against Kevin Clash, former voice of the "Sesame Street" character Elmo, claiming the entertainer lured him into drug-fueled sex when he was 16. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

1. HOPES DIM FOR AN ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

Sen. Reid decides that including the divisive assault weapons provision might effectively block passage of any gun control bill at all.

2. IN IRAQ, DEADLIEST DAY THIS YEAR

A wave of bombings kills at least 65 ? and demonstrates how dangerously divided Iraq remains a decade after the U.S.-led invasion.

3. WHO'S ALLEGING A CHEMICAL ATTACK IN SYRIA

The Assad regime and rebels trade accusations of a chemical attack ? which would be a first in the civil war.

4. SEVEN MARINES KILLED IN BLAST

An exploding mortar shell is blamed for the deaths during mountain warfare training in Nevada.

5. WHY THE CRISIS IN CYPRUS IS DEEPENING

Lawmakers reject a plan to seize up to 10 percent of people's savings deposits to help pay for a bailout ? and keep banks from collapsing.

6. ADJUSTING EXPECTATIONS IN THE MIDEAST

As Obama prepares to reinsert himself in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his best hope may be a partial peace deal.

7. GRANDMOTHER FACING LONG PRISON TERM

Jurors reject a self-defense claim and convict a suburban Detroit woman of murder for killing her teenage grandson. She shot him six times.

8. FULL TRANSPARENCY

Yoga pants made of see-through fabric selling for $100 anger customers of Lululemon, whose name kind of sums it all up.

9. HOW TO TWEET YOUR WAY TO PRISON

While the judge in the Ohio rape case advises caution in using social media, texts, tweets and a shocking video made convictions of two football players possible.

10. LAWSUIT TARGETS ELMO ACTOR

A man claims the former puppeteer of the "Sesame Street" character lured him into drug-fueled sex when he was 16.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-19-10-Things-to-Know-Wednesday/id-98970ddf5c9947bfa5d2f37e926e353d

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Tourist-fed stingrays change their ways

Mar. 18, 2013 ? Stingrays living in one of the world's most famous and heavily visited ecotourism sites -- Stingray City/Sandbar in the Cayman Islands -- have profoundly changed their ways, raising questions about the impact of so-called "interactive ecotourism" on marine wildlife, reports a new study published March 18 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Researchers from Nova Southeastern University's Guy Harvey Research Institute in Hollywood, Fla. and the University of Rhode Island studied the southern stingray population of Stingray City -- a sandbar in the Cayman Islands that draws nearly a million visitors each year to feed, pet and swim with its stingrays -- to assess how the intensive ecotourism has affected the animals' behavior.

"Measuring that impact is important because there's a lot of interest in creating more of these interactive ecotourism operations, but we know little about the life histories of the animals involved or how they might change," said study co-author Guy Harvey, who initiated the project.

The researchers found that Stingray City's stingrays show distinctly different patterns of activity than their wild counterparts, who don't enjoy daily feedings or close human contact.

"We saw some very clear and very prominent behavioral changes, and were surprised by how these large animals had essentially become homebodies in a tiny area," said study co-author Mahmood Shivji, director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and NSU Oceanographic Center professor, who led the study.

Wild stingrays are active at night and solitary -- they forage through the night over large distances to find food, and rarely cross paths with other stingrays. To see if Stingray City's fed stingrays stray from this behavior, Mark Corcoran, lead author of the study who did the research as part of his graduate work at NSU, and the research team tagged and monitored both wild and fed stingrays over the course of two years and compared their patterns of movement.

They found that fed stingrays swapped their normal nighttime foraging for daytime feeding, and in contrast to their wild counterparts, began to rest at night. They also didn't mind rubbing shoulders with their neighbors: At least 164 stingrays abandoned the species' normal solitary behavior, crowding together in less than a quarter square mile of space at Stingray City. They even formed schools and fed together. The fed stingrays mated and became pregnant year-round, instead of during a specific mating season, and also showed signs of unusual aggression, biting each other more frequently than their wild counterparts.

These results suggest that human-provided food can dramatically change how even large, highly mobile ocean animals behave -- with potentially serious consequences, the researchers conclude.

"There are likely to be some health costs that come with these behavior changes, and they could be detrimental to the animals' well-being in the long term," Shivji said. Stingray City means big business in the Cayman Islands, where each stingray generates as much as $500,000 annually in tourism income, Harvey said. The team plans to continue to monitor Stingray City's population to track its health -- and the industry's impact -- over time.

"Right now, these animals have no protection at all," Harvey said. "Without more studies like these, we won't know what that means for the wildlife or if we need to take action. It's unclear how much of the stingray's daily diet comes from tourism provided food, but the good news is we have seen the animals forage when tourists are absent suggesting that these animal are not completely dependent on these handouts."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nova Southeastern University, via Newswise.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Mark J. Corcoran, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Mahmood S. Shivji, Matthew D. Potenski, Demian D. Chapman, Guy M. Harvey. Supplemental Feeding for Ecotourism Reverses Diel Activity and Alters Movement Patterns and Spatial Distribution of the Southern Stingray, Dasyatis americana. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e59235 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059235

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/~3/YW0B8idmRkk/130318202914.htm

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NYC plan would keep tobacco products out of sight

NEW YORK (AP) ? A new proposal would require New York City retailers to keep tobacco products out of sight under a first-in-the-nation proposal aimed at reducing the youth smoking rate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.

The legislation would require stores to keep tobacco products in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in other concealed spots. They could only be visible when an adult is making a purchase or during restocking.

Bloomberg said similar prohibitions on displays have been enacted in other countries, including Iceland, Canada, England and Ireland.

"Such displays suggest that smoking is a normal activity," Bloomberg said. "And they invite young people to experiment with tobacco."

Stores devoted primarily to the sale of tobacco products would be exempt from the display ban.

The mayor's office said retail stores could still advertise tobacco products under the legislation.

"We have made tremendous strides in combatting smoking in New York City but this leading killer still threatens the health of our children," said Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the health commissioner.

Farley said the city's comprehensive anti-smoking program cut adult smoking rates by nearly a third ? from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 14.8 percent in 2011 ? but the youth rate has remained flat, at 8.5 percent, since 2007.

Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death among New Yorkers, Farley said.

The legislation, to be introduced in the City Council on Wednesday, is comprised of two separate bills that Farley called "logical, important next steps to further protect our teens from tobacco."

The second bill, called the "Sensible Tobacco Enforcement" bill, strengthens enforcement of discounted and smuggled cigarettes. It would prohibit the sale of discounted tobacco products, impose packaging requirements on cheap cigars and create a price floor for cigarette packs and small cigars. The city would have the authority to seal premises where there are repeat violations.

The bill would also increase penalties for retailers who evade tobacco taxes or sell tobacco without a license.

Bloomberg has backed a number of public health measures, including a crackdown on large sizes of sugary drinks and adding calorie counts to menus. A judge blocked the drinks ban but the city is appealing.

"People always say, 'Oh, you're doing these health things to raise money,'" Bloomberg said. "No, that is not the reason. We're doing these health things to save lives."

The bill would also prohibit retailers from redeeming coupons for tobacco products.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-03-18-Anti-Smoking-NYC/id-de8d5cc6242441e381a7067267189358

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Navy sends new ship to Singapore amid budget cuts

ABOARD THE USS FREEDOM (AP) ? The U.S. Navy's hottest new ship and the centerpiece of its renewed focus on Asia isn't its largest vessel, or its most technologically advanced. But it has advantages that its bigger siblings lack.

The 388-foot USS Freedom is small enough to move among the many islands and shallow waters of Southeast Asia, a trait that allows the Navy to train alongside similar-sized vessels in the region's navies and build relationships with them.

All this, the Navy believes, will help it make sure the region's critical waterways stay open to the trillions of dollars in oil and other trade that passes through each year. It's an objective so important the Navy is sending the Freedom to Singapore this month even as automatic federal spending cuts carve into its budget.

"We hold our commitment to them, to our area, our theater, so highly that this deployment has not been affected," said Rear Adm. Hugh Wetherald, the U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy chief of staff for plans, policies and requirements.

"The Navy and the Pacific Fleet are still on watch," he said.

Freedom on Monday sailed to Pearl Harbor, into the prime mooring spot the Navy often reserves for ships it wants to show off. The blue and gray camouflage painted on its sides ? designed to confuse hostile small boats and make it less visible from shore ? stood out amid the plain gray hulls of the other surface vessels in port.

Until now, most U.S. ships visiting Southeast Asia have been aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers and other large boats well equipped for jobs like firing cruise missiles or defending against fighter jets.

But they dwarf smaller ships U.S. partner navies from other countries ? such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand ? use for missions like patrolling the seas, catching pirates and stopping human and drug trafficking.

The larger vessels are also too big to pull into shallower ports, forcing them to sometimes anchor offshore while in the region.

The Freedom is equipped with guns and a helicopter and is designed to defend against small boats and other threats. The Navy will later have the option of swapping out its surface warfare equipment with so-called modules for hunting submarines and finding and disabling mines.

When he commanded ships moving through the region, Wetherald remembered, his counterparts from other countries would tell him that they'd like to work with smaller U.S. vessels.

"Their flag officers would say, 'Hey, I'm glad you're here, I love your big ship, but can you send us smaller ships? Can we exercise with smaller ships because your ship is very big,'" he recalled.

The littoral combat ship weighs less than half as much as a typical U.S. destroyer and carries a crew of fewer than 100 sailors. It measures about the length of one football field ? a scale that will allow the U.S. to join countries as a partner.

"It's a whole different world," Wetherald said.

The Navy plans to keep the Freedom in the region for eight months, though its San Diego-based crew will rotate out after four. Another crew will serve the rest of the deployment and take the ship back home to California.

Wetherald said the Freedom will spend its deployment practicing basic naval skills in bilateral exercises with partner nations. Some drills will involve practicing responses to disasters and providing humanitarian assistance.

In a few years, the Navy aims to have the ships participate in multilateral exercises.

The U.S. is building two dozen littoral combat ships in all. It eventually plans to use some of them to replace minesweepers operating out of Bahrain and Japan.

Singapore has agreed to allow the Freedom and its crew to refuel, restock on food and get other supplies while it's deployed. In a couple of years, the Navy plans to send another so it will have two littoral combat ships in the region at a time. It ultimately hopes to have as many as four in the area.

The U.S. says it's emphasizing Asia and the Pacific because it's such an important part of the global economy. Though U.S. officials don't like to advertise the point, Washington is also responding to China's growth as a military power.

China is on the minds of countries in the region as well.

Tim Huxley, Asia executive director for the International Institute for Security Studies, said accommodating the deployments is a way for Singapore to encourage the U.S. to stay involved in Southeast Asia as a counterweight to China.

This adheres to the small city-state's long-held strategy of ensuring its own security by keeping major powers involved in the neighborhood and balancing them off each other, Huxley said.

Huxley said the deployment comes at a time when regional security is "becoming more complex and potentially more dangerous."

There are active territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where six governments ? China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan ? have overlapping claims. Insurgencies are brewing in the southern Philippines and southern Thailand. And the regional power balance, especially between the U.S. and China, is "in a state of flux," he said.

He suspects the arrival of the littoral combat ship will add stability instead of complicating the situation further.

"It sends a tangible signal that the U.S. is determined to remain deeply involved in regional security. And at a time of change, I think that's a useful message to send," Huxley said by telephone from in Singapore.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/navy-sends-ship-singapore-amid-budget-cuts-070408552.html

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Washington D.C. sinkhole draws jaded jokes

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington is used to being the brunt of jokes, particularly those centered around the action, or lack of it, on Capitol Hill.

But on Tuesday, the focus moved to the Adams Morgan neighborhood, where some saw a symbol of Washington - a gaping sinkhole in the middle of a bustling sidewalk.

Unlike the fatal sinkhole that swallowed a man as he slept in his Seffner, Florida, home on February 28, or the one a golfer fell into on an Illinois fairway earlier this month, the Washington sinkhole is more on the order of a large pothole. Surrounded by yellow tape, it is about a yard (meter) square, as deep as 10 feetand sits a few miles from the White House, another frequent source of late-night television humor.

But the sinkhole quickly took on larger proportions as chatter erupted on social media.

"A sinkhole has opened in Washington D.C. Last to push their congressman in is a rotten egg," tweeted Bill O'Keefe.

"25 ft deep sinkhole in DC today and it's expanding. Seems like I got out at the right time. It was nice knowing you, Washington," tweeted T.C. Sottek.

Metropolitan Police were dispatched to the sinkhole site, and local residents said the problem might be due to a new sewer that had just been installed.

"If that is the case, it would be typical of this kind of sinkhole collapse," said Jim Kaufmann, a research physical scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey.

Sinkholes are not uncommon, Kaufman said, because about 20 percent of the United States sits atop what is known as karst terrain, regions where rock below the surface can be naturally dissolved by groundwater. Hot areas for sinkholes are Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

In a city like Washington, they can be traced to something as innocuous as a leaking pipe that erodes sediment below the surface, Kaufmann said by phone from Rolla, Missouri. They also are common after long dry spells followed by rainy periods.

Even Kaufmann initially saw the humor in Washington's encounter with the phenomenon.

"It's not on Capitol Hill, is it?," he asked.

(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sinkhole-opens-washington-jaded-humor-emerges-233107269.html

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Sony Xperia L Smartphone Details Leaked

Sony has a new smartphone coming to the market and its just been leaked online. Users looking for a more mid range type smartphone may be pleased with the specifications with the Xperia L smartphone. Find out the latest leaked details on the Xperia L or?code named?TaoShan smartphone right now.

Looks like Sony is adding on to their line of the Xperia smartphone. This smartphone will be known as the Xperia L but its been?code named?online to be called the TaoShan. What we know right now from the online leaks is that the Xperia L is expected to feature a 4.3? FWVGA display that will have a resolution of about 480?854. Running the Xperia L will be a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon chip with Adreno 305 graphics.

Other features include the latest Exmor RS sensor with an 8 megapixel camera. When it comes to the internal storage you?ll find that the Xperia L will only have about 8GB. However, you?ll also find that the device will have an microSD card slot in case you wish to add more storage into your smartphone. Lastly, for the operating system, we?re seeing an Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. These are supposed leaks so until the official word comes out we can only assume that these specifications and features will remain the same.

Source: Phone Arena

Source: http://www.akascope.com/2013/03/07/sony-xperia-l-smartphone-details-leaked/

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Man arrested in 'dog flipping' case | Fox 59 News ? fox59.com

A joint investigation involving Indianapolis Animal Care & Control (IACC) and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department resulted in charges against a man accused of ?dog flipping.?

According to investigators, it works much like house flipping. A person acquires a dog and then tries to sell the pet at a higher price to make a profit. According to IACC, there are no laws regulating the practice in regards to pets. In many cases, the pets live in puppy mill-like conditions with no food or water. Animals that can?t be sold for a profit are then dumped to fend for themselves. Many dog flippers use Craigslist to find their targets.

The investigation started in January when a couple contacted authorities to report that their dog, a German Shepherd named Ceazer, had been stolen in a Craigslist scam.

According to investigators, an Indianapolis man named Johnny Jones, Jr., was an expert at it. For years, they said, he?s acquired dogs by searching for owners on Craigslist. Jones looked for people who were down on their luck and needed to part ways with their pets for one reason or another. He specifically looked for German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and other purebred, unaltered breeds.

In a recent case, investigators said Jones contacted a woman who needed to give up her German Shepherd. To gain her trust, Jones talked to her, told her his dog had died and spent an hour getting to know the dog. After he bought the dog, Jones posted the German Shepherd on Craigslist with his phone number. The former owner saw the ad two days later. After that, the woman found the dog on eBay Classifieds with a different phone number.

Investigators said Jones also ran a dog obedience and ?personal protection? training facility in his living room. They believe he bred dogs from his clients? purebred dogs without their knowledge or consent and profited from selling the resulting litters.

Since the investigation began, IACC has received several reports of stolen dogs. One victim bought back a purebred puppy after seeing it on Craigslist and immediately had the dog micro-chipped.

As for Ceazer?the dog whose disappearance sparked the investigation?Jones ended up dumping him before investigators closed in. Someone found Ceazer, had his microchip analyzed and made arrangements with his owner to have him returned.

Investigators served an arrest warrant at Jones? east side home in February, recovering firearms and four dogs, including two purebred German Shepherds. He?s charged with theft and being a serious violent felon in possession of firearms.

Johnny Jones

Source: http://fox59.com/2013/03/05/man-charged-in-dog-flipping-case/

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Theater Review: ?The Audience,? in London, Stars Helen Mirren

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Wednesday, March 06, 2013
?The Audience? is a sort of starched-bosomed nanny of a play, offering the artistic equivalent of nursery food and equally digestible history lessons. ...

Source: http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/theater/reviews/the-audience-in-london-stars-helen-mirren.html

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Push grows to blacklist Spain over digital pirating

Spain, with one of the world?s worst online piracy track records, is hoping that plans to pass new antipiracy legislation this year will be enough to convince the US government to keep it off its infamous blacklist, despite the Spanish and American entertainment industry demands to relist it.

After five consecutive years on a ?priority watch list? curated by the US office of trade, Spain was delisted in 2012 following its implementation of a more muscular antipiracy code. But the powerful International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a coalition of US trade associations, recommended in February that Spain be included on this year's list of countries that do not do enough to protect copyright laws.

?Contrary to the expectations that led to Spain?s removal from the Special 301 Watch List last year, Spain saw no positive developments in 2012,? the IIPA said in its influential annual report released last month.

?Internet piracy has continued to grow at a tremendous rate. After years of difficulty, many in the copyright industries see not a hint of optimism for the levels of piracy in the country,? the report said.

A spot on the blacklist would carry the threat of sanctions and scare away investors, which could further damage Spanish efforts to rebuild its economy amid the euro crisis.

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Spanish officials, though, say they don?t expect Spain to be blacklisted again, because they have only had one year to implement their 2012 legislation, and given the forthcoming laws, expected to be passed by the end of the year.

While acknowledging limited success in the fight against online piracy, the government trusts the US will recognize it just needs more time, officials say.

?The IIPA?s request to have Spain included [on the US government's priority watchlist] doesn?t mean that we will,? says a high ranking official in the Culture Ministry, which is charged with protecting copyright content in Spain. ?US authorities are aware of the Spanish government?s commitments and plans for more ambitious legislation. We trust we won?t be included,? says the official who asked not to be named because she is not permitted to speak publicly on the matter.

PRESSURE

Spain is one of 33 countries blacklisted by the IIPA in its 2013 annual report, including usual suspects like China, Russia, and India. But the IIPA has also recommended that the US government include countries like Italy, Canada, Israel, and Brazil on the 301 list that will be released in April. Ukraine was the worst offender last year, according to IIPA.

Spain's rate of piracy is increasing and reached 74 percent for the film industry, costing 1.4 billion euros, according to IIPA. More than 90 percent of downloaded music and 44 percent of software is pirated and illegally downloaded video games have ?completely overtaken? the legitimate ones.

The pressure is not just coming from IIPA. On Jan. 22, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy agreed to a private meeting with former US Senator Chris Dodd, who is the chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, to discuss Spain?s antipiracy progress. Days later, the US ambassador to Spain also criticized Spain?s track record.

Under Spanish law, downloading unlicensed content is not illegal, but distributing it is. The new codes were supposed to make it easier to target peer-to-peer websites, a favorite source for online piracy. But these have ?produced remarkably few results in the fight against online piracy,? the IIPA said.

In 2012, IIPA members filed 87 complaints after the codes went into effect, of which only 16 were initiated into cases, and none resulted in a blocked website. The lengthy process is not a ?deterrent? to piracy, the IIPA said. Many sites are legally shielded because they don?t technically distribute copyright content, instead they simply act as middlemen linking uploaders to downloaders.

The entertainment industry wants the government to criminalize downloading pirated content, and it has recommended several ways to streamline forcefully shutting down websites and prosecuting their owners. However, European privacy laws and the need to harmonize them, coupled with the worsening economic and political Spanish crisis, limits how much the government can do.

?We realize we need to make [our laws] more effective,? the Culture Ministry source says. ?But it?s a new process that needs more time to improve. You can?t expect this to change in one year of one administration.?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/push-grows-blacklist-spain-over-digital-pirating-183017090.html

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Duval & Stachenfeld LLP Announces the Addition of Cooley LLP ...

NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duval & Stachenfeld LLP announced today the addition of leading real estate attorneys, Tom O'Connor and Alan S. Cohen, as partners in its New York office. Mr. O'Connor was formerly the chair of Cooley LLP's National Real Estate Practice Group and Mr. Cohen was a senior partner in the Group.?Both partners worked out of Cooley's New York office.

"This is an exceptional acquisition for us," stated Bruce M. Stachenfeld, co-founder and managing partner of the Firm.?"Tom and Alan are very well-known as top practitioners in the New York real estate community and their addition adds tremendous breadth and depth to our already leading real estate practice, particularly in the areas of structured real estate finance, construction and development and Latin America transactions."

"We are very excited to be joining Duval & Stachenfeld and its nearly 50 attorney real estate practice in New York," stated Tom O'Connor.?"The reservoir of talent here is just incredible and will enable us to continue to practice at the highest level and deliver high quality, cost-effective legal services," added Mr. O'Connor. "This move is a win-win for both us and our clients," noted Alan Cohen. "We will now be able to offer our clients additional services, a deeper and broader bench, as well as new clients and contacts with whom to network and partner in transactions," added Mr. Cohen.?

Tom O'Connor's practice focuses in the area of commercial real estate with particular emphasis on real estate finance, including the origination, workout and sale of debt and preferred equity at all levels of the capital stack and the acquisition, restructure, and disposition of distressed debt, both on a one-off and portfolio basis. He is well known as a "lender's lawyer," but also has extensive experience on the borrower side.?

Prior to joining Duval & Stachenfeld LLP, Tom was a partner at Cooley LLP in New York, and formerly chaired its National Real Estate Practice Group for nearly 6 years.?Tom started his career as an associate attorney at Weil Gotshal.

Alan Cohen has handled all aspects of complex real estate transactions for over 25 years, with a particular emphasis on acquisitions and dispositions, construction and development, real estate finance and hospitality matters.?His clients include mortgage REITs, banks and other financial institutions, real estate companies and developers, and institutional investors, both domestic and foreign-based.

Prior to joining Duval & Stachenfeld LLP, Mr. Cohen was a partner at Cooley LLP, a partner at Morrison Cohen LLP (where he chaired its Real Estate Practice Group) and an associate at Shearman & Sterling in New York.

Mr. Cohen currently serves as Corporate Secretary and a member of the Board and Executive Committee of the New York chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP).

Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Cohen are joined by their former Cooley LLP colleagues, Maureen Hannon and Michael Estreicher.?Ms. Hannon will be of counsel to Duval & Stachenfeld and Mr. Estreicher will be a senior real estate associate in the Real Estate Practice Group.

Background on Duval & Stachenfeld LLP

Duval & Stachenfeld LLP is a 15-year old law firm based in Manhattan that focuses on complex real estate transactions, litigation and arbitration, tax, corporate and M&A, bankruptcy, structured finance strategies, environmental, and tax exempt organizations. With approximately 50 attorneys, the Duval & Stachenfeld Real Estate Group has the largest real estate legal team in New York City.? For more information, visit www.dsllp.com.

The Duval & Stachenfeld LLP logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=17362

Caitlin Velez, Director of Marketing and Client Relations Duval & Stachenfeld LLP Ph: (212) 672-3747

Source: http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/02/27/526748/10023375/en/Duval-Stachenfeld-LLP-Announces-the-Addition-of-Cooley-LLP-Real-Estate-Partners-Thomas-O-Connor-and-Alan-S-Cohen.html

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