German opposition parties warn each other: don't team up with Merkel

By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's two main opposition parties traded warnings on Sunday against joining forces with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after September's election if they fail to win their own left-of-center majority.

The leaders of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens party issued unusually shrill messages to each others' supporters about the risk their votes might end up going to a party that could join forces in a coalition with Merkel.

The SPD and Greens want to form a center-left government after September's election but opinion polls show they will fall short of the needed margin. Surveys show Merkel's best chances of serving a third term could be to lure either the SPD or the Greens into a coalition with her Christian Democrats (CDU).

SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel, alarmed about flirtations between the Greens and CDU, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that Greens voters should be aware that the pro-environmental party could end in bed with the CDU if the SPD and Greens failed to achieve a majority on September 22.

"That can't be ruled out and Greens voters should know about that," said Gabriel. The Greens, he said, had turned into Germany's "new liberal party" as they were chasing voters who had earlier backed the CDU and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

"There is a lot of overlap between the CDU and the Greens now," Gabriel said, trying to deter hard-core Greens voters who have traditionally viewed the conservatives as the party's arch political enemy.

'HOT AIR MERCHANT'

Greens co-chairman Cem Oezdemir, one of the party's most eloquent proponents of an opening to the CDU, quickly shot back.

"Gabriel is a hot air merchant," Oezdemir told Die Welt newspaper. "He knows that we want to defeat the center-right government together with the SPD. But it's not enough to rely only on SPD-Greens voters. If we were to do that, the SPD would quickly end up turning to Merkel for another 'grand coalition'."

Opinion polls show neither Merkel's ruling center-right coalition nor the center-left opposition command enough support to win a majority to lead Europe's biggest economy.

An Emnid poll in Bild am Sonntag showed Merkel's conservatives at 39 percent and their Free Democrat allies at five percent for a combined 44 percent. The SPD was at 26 percent and the Greens at 15 percent for a total of 41 percent.

The SPD and Greens governed together in a coalition from 1998 to 2005. After that the SPD joined forces with Merkel as junior partners in an awkward "grand coalition" until 2009.

The Greens' support in polls has doubled in recent years to levels around 15 percent thanks in part to fears about nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but also their growing appeal to conservative and rural voters.

The Greens, once famous for their unpredictable and self-destructive party congress battles, have become a serious and united party eager to return to power.

At the state level, the Greens ruled in a harmonious coalition with the CDU in Hamburg for three years until 2011, earning them national respectability as a fiscally responsible party. They have also ruled the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg with the SPD as their junior coalition partners since 2012.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-opposition-parties-warn-other-hands-off-merkel-122723047.html

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Two letters from Steve Jobs

David Gelphman, former software engineer at Apple, shares a very personal, very human interaction with the late Steve Jobs:

In March 2010, just a couple of weeks before the iPad was due to be released publicly, I had a reason to contact Steve. A friend of mine was dying of liver disease and I was going to San Francisco to hopefully see and communicate with her while it was still possible. She was a friend from my Adobe days and was very much into technology. I thought it would be a treat for her to see an iPad. And I had one. But until the product was officially released I could not show it to anyone without permission from Apple management. [...]

So I wrote Steve:

Read to the end.

Source: David Gelphman

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

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MSI Slidebook S20 review: MSI's flagship Windows 8 Ultrabook has a flawed design

If you've been following our reviews of Windows 8 laptops, you know we haven't been too kind to the slider form factor. It's not like we set out to pan these machines, but time and again we've found that the propped-up display ruins the typing experience. Keep that in mind as we begin our review of the Slidebook S20, MSI's flagship Win 8 device, priced at $1,200 in the US. It's a bold move from a company whose bread and butter is not ultraportables, but gaming systems. In fact, the 11.6-inch S20 is the outfit's only high-end Windows 8 Ultrabook. So the company must have quite a bit of confidence in that form factor, then, if it didn't bother with dockable tablets or some other kind of convertible design. Could that mean the S20 has something all the others don't?

Gallery: MSI Slidebook S20 review

Filed under: Laptops

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/msi-slidebook-s20-review/

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Picking apart photosynthesis: New insights could lead to better catalysts for water splitting

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Chemists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory believe they can now explain one of the remaining mysteries of photosynthesis, the chemical process by which plants convert sunlight into usable energy and generate the oxygen that we breathe. The finding suggests a new way of approaching the design of catalysts that drive the water-splitting reactions of artificial photosynthesis.

"If we want to make systems that can do artificial photosynthesis, it's important that we understand how the system found in nature functions," says Theodor Agapie, an assistant professor of chemistry at Caltech and principal investigator on a paper in the journal Nature Chemistry that describes the new results.

One of the key pieces of biological machinery that enables photosynthesis is a conglomeration of proteins and pigments known as photosystem II. Within that system lies a small cluster of atoms, called the oxygen-evolving complex, where water molecules are split and molecular oxygen is made. Although this oxygen-producing process has been studied extensively, the role that various parts of the cluster play has remained unclear.

The oxygen-evolving complex performs a reaction that requires the transfer of electrons, making it an example of what is known as a redox, or oxidation-reduction, reaction. The cluster can be described as a "mixed-metal cluster" because in addition to oxygen, it includes two types of metals -- one that is redox active, or capable of participating in the transfer of electrons (in this case, manganese), and one that is redox inactive (calcium).

"Since calcium is redox inactive, people have long wondered what role it might play in this cluster," Agapie says.

It has been difficult to solve that mystery in large part because the oxygen-evolving complex is just a cog in the much larger machine that is photosystem II; it is hard to study the smaller piece because there is so much going on with the whole. To get around this, Agapie's graduate student Emily Tsui prepared a series of compounds that are structurally related to the oxygen-evolving complex. She built upon an organic scaffold in a stepwise fashion, first adding three manganese centers and then attaching a fourth metal. By varying that fourth metal to be calcium and then different redox-inactive metals, such as strontium, sodium, yttrium, and zinc, Tsui was able to compare the effects of the metals on the chemical properties of the compound.

"When making mixed-metal clusters, researchers usually mix simple chemical precursors and hope the metals will self-assemble in desired structures," Tsui says. "That makes it hard to control the product. By preparing these clusters in a much more methodical way, we've been able to get just the right structures."

It turns out that the redox-inactive metals affect the way electrons are transferred in such systems. To make molecular oxygen, the manganese atoms must activate the oxygen atoms connected to the metals in the complex. In order to do that, the manganese atoms must first transfer away several electrons. Redox-inactive metals that tug more strongly on the electrons of the oxygen atoms make it more difficult for manganese to do this. But calcium does not draw electrons strongly toward itself. Therefore, it allows the manganese atoms to transfer away electrons and activate the oxygen atoms that go on to make molecular oxygen.

A number of the catalysts that are currently being developed to drive artificial photosynthesis are mixed-metal oxide catalysts. It has again been unclear what role the redox-inactive metals in these mixed catalysts play. The new findings suggest that the redox-inactive metals affect the way the electrons are transferred. "If you pick the right redox-inactive metal, you can tune the reduction potential to bring the reaction to the range where it is favorable," Agapie says. "That means we now have a more rational way of thinking about how to design these sorts of catalysts because we know how much the redox-inactive metal affects the redox chemistry."

The paper in Nature Chemistry is titled "Redox-inactive metals modulate the reduction potential in heterometallic manganese-oxido clusters." Along with Agapie and Tsui, Rosalie Tran and Junko Yano of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are also coauthors. The work was supported by the Searle Scholars Program, an NSF CAREER award, and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. X-ray spectroscopy work was supported by the NIH and the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Synchrotron facilities were provided by the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, operated by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Kimm Fesenmaier.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Emily Y. Tsui, Rosalie Tran, Junko Yano, Theodor Agapie. Redox-inactive metals modulate the reduction potential in heterometallic manganese?oxido clusters. Nature Chemistry, 2013; 5 (4): 293 DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1578

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/zABlV4-Gj0A/130329125305.htm

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Sweet 16 for FGCU Eagles: Will 'dunk city' see long-term benefits?

The FGCU Eagles have found their way into the Sweet 16, putting the tiny, new college on the map. As they gear up to face the Gators in their Sweet 16 matchup, will their success yield lasting benefits?

By Schuyler Velasco,?Staff writer / March 28, 2013

Sherwood Brown (25) of Florida Gulf Coast University drives past and shoots over Georgetown's Jabril Trawick (55) and Georgetown's D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (4) during the first round of the NCAA tournament last week in Philadelphia.

Michael Perez/AP/File

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There are Cinderella teams. And then there are the FGCU Eagles, who are gearing up to face the University of Florida Gators Friday night at 10 p.m. on TBS.

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By its very nature, the NCAA tournament, a 68-team, single-elimination free-for-all, has seen its fair share of unlikely squads making deep runs, thrusting their home schools suddenly into the national consciousness. Butler, George Mason, and VCU are a few recent examples.

But before last Friday, it was a safe bet that most Floridians didn?t know where Florida Gulf Coast University was, let alone most Americans. That changed over the weekend, when the Eagles, in only their second season as a Division I basketball program, rattled off decisive victories against No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7-seed San Diego state, respectively, to become the first 15-seed ever to make it to the Sweet 16. Their rise caught everyone by surprise.

Really, everyone. Nearly 8.2 million NCAA brackets were submitted last week to ESPN?s Tournament Challenge; After the first round, there wasn?t a single perfect bracket left, thanks in large part to the Fort Myers upstarts.?

The New York Times repeatedly called the school ?Gulf Coast College? in a recap of the Friday win over Georgetown; Sunday, San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher called the team that defeated his Aztecs ?Florida State? (though he may have been joking). LeBron James congratulated the team on Twitter, but called the school "Florida Golf Coast" (incorrect, but not totally inaccurate. The school offers a "Golf Management" major). When asked by NPR where FGCU is, and how big it is, Tampa Bay Times journalist John Woodrow Cox replied, ?I didn?t know the answer to any of those questions until Friday.?

Millions of people know the answer to those questions now. Financially, that means a boost for the basketball program that could have lasting benefits for the young college.?

FGCU?s tournament success won?t yield huge bucks directly, especially by the standards of major Division I college sports. Part of the reason: Their winnings have to be shared equally with the other eight members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. If the Eagles lose to the Gators on Friday, they will have played three games in this year?s tournament, earning a $250,000 payout for each, says Victor Matheson, a sports economist and professor at The College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Mass. ?They get those three tournament shares every year for six years. That?s $3 million in the pocket of the Atlantic Sun Conference, when normally, they get their one automatic bid [and $250,000] every year and that?s it.??

It won?t be exactly rolling in for head coach Andy Enfield, either. Mr. Enfield?s salary from FGCU is a respectable $157,000. According to ESPN?s Daren Rovell, Enfield got an additional $5,000 bonus for making the tournament, a $10,000 bonus for making the round 16, and would make another $25,000 for winning the entire thing.

Compared to the high end of the college coaching pay scale, that?s tiny potatoes: John Calipari, last year?s tournament winner with Kentucky, made $100,000 for making the Sweet 16, $150,00 for making the Final Four, and another $350,000 for winning the title, all on top of his then-$3.8 million annual base salary.?

But a successful basketball program can yield more intangible benefits for universities in terms of revenue, recruitment, and alumni relations. For one, the NCAA tournament is all upside for participating teams, which don?t have to pay for travel expenses or sell tickets. That?s not true of college football?s bowl system, which requires teams to buy up hotel rooms and eat the cost of any unsold tickets, a huge problem for small schools forced to travel far for a postseason berth.

The TV contracts for March Madness are worth about $600 million annually, Mr. Matheson says, and allows the league to pay teams? expenses from the tournament, as well as fund ?every team in every sport across all divisions."

FGCU is enjoying a meteoric boost in visibility and school spirit, at least for now. The school?s athletics website crashed under the weight of unprecedented traffic over the weekend, and much of the school apparel sold online was back-ordered. AP reported phone lines jammed with people seeking tickets to Friday?s game.

It will definitely help the Eagles in Florida?s tough athletic recruiting landscape: The University of Florida, Florida State, and the University of Miami are among the most storied college sports programs in the country, so any little bit of spotlight helps. Academically, the advantages are less clear.

After its 2011 Final Four appearance, Butler saw its application rates jump 41 percent. FGCU, which culls 92 percent of its students from Florida, could see a similar jump and a more varied pool of applicants, though Matheson warns. ?You may get a lot more shoppers but no more buyers, and you may not get any better students. Those who would choose based on that probably aren?t? better students.

There?s some evidence that sports success increases alumni giving, and FGCU has everything to gain in that department: The school has only been up and running since 1997, and its annual endowment is around $50 million (UF?s, meanwhile, is about $1.3 billion). But Matheson warns that donations inspired by the basketball program will probably end up there, and won?t result in any extra money for academics.

Still, he says, athletics are a good way for small colleges like FGCU to build an identity and better reach out to their student body and the community at large. At the very least, the Eagles? high-flying tournament run, full of dancing, dunks, and decisive victories, have given the school and the city of Fort Myers a personality that, to the rest of the nation, looks like a whole lot of fun. Indeed, Fort Myers has fully embraced the Eagles, even putting #dunkcity below the city's name on every page of its tourism website, cityftmyers.com.?

Coach Enfield, meanwhile, can probably expect a pay raise. According to naplesnews.com, FGCU officials have already met to discuss doubling his salary, and his name is being bandied about for the vacant head coaching job at UCLA.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/IJS29H35ZYE/Sweet-16-for-FGCU-Eagles-Will-dunk-city-see-long-term-benefits

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10 Superstars who were ahead of their time

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/classics/classic-lists/10-superstars-who-were-ahead-of-their-time

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Antimatter's magnetic charge revealed

Katie Bertsche

Antimatter refers to sub-atomic particles that have properties opposite normal sub-atomic particles.

LiveScience

Scientists say they've made the most precise measurements to date of the magnetic charge of single particles of matter and its spooky counterpart antimatter.

A better understanding of the characteristics of these particles could help scientists solve one of the most baffling mysteries in physics: Why is the universe made of matter and not antimatter?

"According to our theories, the same amount of matter and antimatter?was produced during the Big Bang," Harvard physicist Gerald Gabrielse explained in a statement. "When matter and antimatter meet, they are annihilated. As the universe cools down, the big mystery is: Why didn't all the matter find the antimatter and annihilate all of both? There's a lot of matter and no antimatter left, and we don't know why."

Gabrielse and his team captured individual protons and antiprotons in a trap created by electromagnetic?fields that keep these particles suspended in one spot for several minutes, ensuring the two don't annihilate each other before measurements are made. For some of their experiments, the team turned to the extensive tunnels of the Geneva-based CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) laboratory, where antiprotons can be created in high-energy collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Inside the LHC, protons zip at near light speed around a 17-mille-long (27 kilometers) underground loop on the border between France and Switzerland. Head-on particle collisions between protons can give rise to exotic particles, including the elusive Higgs boson, the particle theorized to explain how other particles get their mass. [LHC Photos: The World's Largest Atom Smasher]

By looking at the oscillations of the protons and antiprotons created, the scientists measured the size of the magnetic charge of both types of particles more accurately than ever before, boosting the precision of the?antiproton?measurement by a factor of 680.

"What we wanted to do with these experiments was to say, 'Let's take a simple system ? a single proton and a single antiproton ? and let's compare their predicted relationships, and see if our predictions are correct," Gabrielse said.

Theory suggests that protons and antiprotons should be virtually identical in their mass and magnitude of charge but that they should have opposite charges. While the new measurements fit within this model, better measurements of protons and antiprotons could shed light on why matter came to dominate in the universe.

"What's also very exciting about this breakthrough is that it now prepares us to continue down this road," Gabrielse said. "I'm confident that, given this start, we're going to be able to increase the accuracy of these measurements by another factor of 1,000, or even 10,000."

The research was detailed Monday in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Follow us @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/29f9e601/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C250C174584760Eantimatters0Emagnetic0Echarge0Erevealed0Dlite/story01.htm

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Chicago Apartment Hunters, a zombie rental service

A tipster emailed us last week, suggesting that ?something smells fishy ? over at Chicago Apartment Hunters? (CAH).

At its website CAH bills itself as ?Chicago?s premier locating service.? Well, you?ll need to look at many rental service websites before you?ll find an apartment locator that isn?t number one or the largest or the leading or the most professional or the most knowledgeable or the premier instance of its kind. In a universe of equals, the best are also the worst.

Reading on, CAH ?prides itself on staffing the most knowledgeable and professional leasing agents in Chicago.?

CAH?s managing broker?s real estate license is in Inoperative status and there?s no indication that the person who lists himself as the company?s owner has ever held a real estate license. No other agents are named on the site.

CAH?s real estate brokerage license expired last October and was not renewed. The corporation has been dissolved.

Rather than a fishy smell, I detect the scent of a rotted corpse ? a zombie brokerage. CAH is dead with regard to its ability to do business legally, but lives on at its website and phone number, and in hundreds of ads offering units for rent at Zillow.

In addition to zombie brokerages, I?m seeing a number of new, unlicensed rental services advertising on Craigslist and at other rental venues. Major landlords will not allow unlicensed companies to show their apartments, even though the companies are advertising them. Responding to an ad from one of these companies is a virtual guarantee of being played for a sucker. In my opinion, responding to an ad from any of Chicago?s predatory rental services puts you at high risk of becoming their victim.

Related posts:

1. A Chicago rental service predator is still preying
2. Rental service pirates invading the suburbs
3. On Zillow, Trulia and hotpads, almost every rental service ad is illegal
4. Rat out a Chicago rental service to the IRS and make big bucks
5. Zillow purges illegal Chicago rental service ads

Tagged as: Advice, Apartment finders, Apartment locators, Apartments, Chicago Apartment Hunters, Craigslist, Rental services, Rentals, Tips, Zillow

Source: http://yochicago.com/chicago-apartment-hunters-a-zombie-rental-service/29798/

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US stocks fall on broad concern about Europe

Stocks reversed an early rise on Wall Street Monday as traders returned to worrying about the European economy.

Optimism about a deal to prevent financial collapse in Cyprus had briefly pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 index to within a quarter-point of its record closing high, but stocks soon turned negative.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite index both closed down 0.3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.4 percent.

Stocks turned negative about an hour into the trading day Monday as the initial euphoria about Cyprus' deal to secure 10 billion euros in emergency funding was overshadowed by renewed concerns about the European economy.

The fear intensified after a top European official indicated that investors in struggling banks may be forced to take losses ? an element of the Cyprus agreement that had previously been seen as unique to that country.

All ten industry groups in the S&P 500 closed lower, with industrial and materials companies posting the biggest losses. Network technology company VMware Inc. dove after the website Business Insider reported that PayPal and eBay will remove its software from 80,000 servers. The stock fell $3.65, or 4.6 percent, to $76.50.

Among the biggest drags on the S&P 500 index were software maker Red Hat Inc., online marketplace eBay Inc. and Textron Inc., an aerospace and defense contractor.

Europe still needs a long-term economic fix, said David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. Business activity in the 17 nations using the euro has declined continually since September 2011, according to research by Markit, a data provider. The region's economy shrank 0.6 percent in 2012, according official government statistics.

Business activity in nations that use the euro contracted more quickly in March, according to Markit's closely-watched survey of purchasing executives, which was published Thursday. The index had its worst decline in four months.

European policy makers have avoided a financial crisis by flooding the market with cash, but they haven't addressed economic hardship on the ground, Kelly said. In granting Cyprus' emergency rescue, for example, lenders demanded economic reforms, debt payments and a banking overhaul that will result in heavy losses for bank bondholders and shareholders. In addition, people with more than 100,000 euros in their accounts will lose up to 40 percent of their deposits.

Kelly said that's tough to swallow for people facing high unemployment and government cutbacks in Greece, Italy, Spain and other countries that received bailouts.

"If they're going to end up broke anyway," Kelly said, it will be "harder and harder for people to make the sacrifices that Europe is demanding of them." That could lead voters in bailed-out countries to resist lenders' terms, increasing political and economic instability in Europe and weighing on global markets, he said.

That concern intensified Monday after a key official indicated that the Cyprus rescue may serve as a model in other nations with struggling banks.

"If the bank can't do it, then we'll talk to the shareholders and the bondholders, we'll ask them to contribute in recapitalizing the bank, and if necessary the uninsured deposit holders," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs meetings of finance ministers from nations that use the euro, in an interview with the Financial Times and Reuters. Dijsselbloem's office confirmed the remarks.

Wall Street had opened higher, following gains in Europe and Asia. Traders were relieved that international lenders agreed early Monday to release emergency rescue funds for Cyprus. The European Central Bank will continue to support the nation's foundering banks. In exchange, Cyprus will take major steps to shrink its troubled banking industry and cut its budget.

At first, the deal to save Cyprus' banks erased the latest source of anxiety for investors, who have traded for more than three years under the cloud of a debt crisis in Europe. The fear is that a heavily indebted country will default on its financial obligations and be forced to exit the shared currency. That could cause the eurozone to unravel, deepening the recession there and roiling international financial markets.

Concern about Cyprus last week pushed U.S. stock indexes to only their second weekly loss this year. Investors watched closely as the small, Mediterranean island scrambled to satisfy its lenders and prevent its banks from collapsing.

Traders expect more turbulence from Europe before the crisis has been resolved, said Anthony Conroy, head trader at ConvergEx Group, which provides technology to support big traders like investment advisers and hedge funds. Given the uncertainty, it's not surprising that stocks would veer between positive and negative, he said.

"When you have concern, you have volatility, and you're seeing volatility in here," Conroy said.

European stocks were up when Wall Street opened Monday, but turned lower shortly after Wall Street's gains evaporated. France's CAC-40 closed down 1.1 percent, London's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent and Germany's DAX lost 0.5 percent.

Earlier, Asian stocks closed mostly higher on optimism about the Cyprus deal.

The S&P 500 closed down five points at 1,551.69. The loss was offset in part by big jumps for Apollo Group Inc. and McGraw-Hill Cos. Computer maker Dell Inc. also supported the index as a bidding war broke out among investors who want to take the company private.

The Dow fell 64 points to 14,447.75. The Nasdaq dropped nine to 3,235.30.

As the final week of trading this quarter kicks off, the indexes are holding onto most of the gains built during the long rally earlier this month. The Dow is up 10 percent, the S&P 500 nearly nine percent.

Conroy expects stocks to maintain their recent gains as short-term dips draw more traders into the market. Kelly agreed, noting that stocks typically decline in the last week of a strong quarter, as investors seek to lock in their gains.

Among the companies making big moves:

? Apollo Group soared after the for-profit education company said its quarterly net income exceeded Wall Street's expectations. The stock rose $1.21, or 7.1 percent, to $18.25.

? Dollar General's quarterly net income rose as the operator of discount stores attracted more customers and sold more goods. The stock rose $1.01, or 2 percent, to $51.08.

? Dell rose 37 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $14.51. The company received competing bids from activist investor Carl Icahn, who offered $15 per share for a majority stake; and buyout firm Blackstone Group, which proposed a deal worth $14.25 per share. Founder Michael Dell had been in talks to take the company private for about $13.65 per share.

? McGraw-Hill Cos. rose strongly after it said it will resume an accelerated share buyback program capped at $500 million. The media company will use cash generated by the recent sale of its education business. Its stock rose $1.66, or 3.4 percent, to $50.03.

___

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-stocks-fall-broad-concern-europe-173923435--finance.html

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Airport control towers closed in budget cuts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it will close 149 air traffic control towers beginning on April 7 to meet required automatic spending cuts.

Another 40 towers previously slated for closure will remain open, the agency said in a statement.

"We heard from communities across the country about the importance of their towers and these were very tough decisions," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. "Unfortunately we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration."

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said the agency would work with affected airports and operators to ensure procedures are in place to maintain a high level of safety.

In early March, the FAA proposed closing 189 contract air traffic control towers as part of its plan to meet the $637 million in cuts required under budget sequestration.

The agency said on Friday it had decided to keep 24 of the towers open because closing them would have a negative impact on the national interest.

Another 16 towers under a "cost-share" program were spared because the required 5 percent cut to that portion of the budget did not require the towers to be closed.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/faa-says-close-149-control-towers-meet-budget-191202567.html

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BlackBerry 10 reaches the 100,000 app mark, adds Amazon Kindle today

While it's still got some distance to make up, BlackBerry has swiftly reached a milestone of sorts -- its first 100,000 apps. According to the announcement, BB10 has notched up over 30,000 new games and apps over the last seven weeks, all before it's even entered the USA. Notable new additions include the Kindle reader, available today, which Amazon confirmed back in January. There's also apps from The Wall Street Journal and OpenTable, with the promise of eBay, CNN, Rdio, Skype, Viber and more arriving "in the coming weeks."

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Amazon, Blackberry

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/21/blackberry-10-100-000-apps-kindle/

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Tomorrow marks 100-year anniversary of deadly Ohio flooding ...

COLUMBUS ? State officials are using the 100th anniversary of a devastating and deadly flood to encourage Ohioans to prepare for potential high water emergencies by reviewing their response plans and insurance coverage.

On the heels of the state and national Flood Safety Awareness Week, Saturday marks the centennial of the 1913 storms that rolled through the Midwest and hung over the Ohio Valley for several days, creating the state?s worst weather disaster.

Several days of rain flooded all of Ohio?s rivers and streams and more than 35,000 homes and left at least 400 people dead in the state, or perhaps 600 by some estimates. It washed away or damaged docks, bridges, railroads and trains, wreaking havoc from Cincinnati to Portsmouth to Cleveland and hindering efforts to get aid to damaged areas. Levees broke, drenching various cities and leaving parts of Dayton and Columbus with 10 feet of water or more.

?There?s nothing to prevent a storm like this from occurring again,? said Sarah Jamison, a hydrologist with National Weather Service. ?Mother Nature has her own way of dealing with things, so it?s our role to try to be prepared and react appropriately to that.?

The system, which led to significant flooding in more than a dozen states, from Illinois through Connecticut, stands out not just because of how much rain fell but also because it encompassed such a large geographic area, said Jamison, who studied the flood and found many Ohioans know little about it.

?It?s really fascinating to think, ?How did the collective mindset really not remember this event?? It?s an answer I don?t have,? said Jamison, part of the Ohio Silver Jackets, a group of local, state and federal representatives focused on flood control.

In hard-hit southwest Ohio, the disaster spurred a regional pursuit of solutions to area flood problems and eventually led to the Miami Conservancy District, which focuses on flood protection, water quality and promoting recreation along waterways in the Great Miami River Watershed. The area?s flood protection system was designed to protect against flooding even more severe than what happened in 1913.

Angela Manuszak, the district?s special projects coordinator, calls it a tale of resilience and sacrifice for the benefit of the larger community and says many families in the area have passed down stories about the flood. She has one, too ? a tidbit about how her grandfather helped with the cleanup as part of the Ohio National Guard out of Toledo and later kept in his home a ?very uncomfortable Victorian chair? supposedly taken from the floodwaters.

The district, historical organizations, libraries and other groups are commemorating the centennial with a variety of events, some hopeful, others more somber. In Dayton, an exhibit about the flood is being unveiled Saturday at Carillon Historical Park.

Members of the Silver Jackets acknowledge the conditions that led to the 1913 flood are rare but say it?s important to remember the possibility of similar rainfall still exists, albeit in an environment with greatly improved measures to prevent flooding, protect property and warn residents.

Some of those improvements began with the public outcry over the 1913 flood, which started a larger-scale conversation about flood mitigation, Jamison said.

That conversation continues as state officials use the anniversary to bring up that topic.

?Whether 100 years ago or today, flooding can be devastating on a personal and material level,? Department of Insurance Director and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor said in a statement urging Ohioans to re-evaluate whether they might need flood insurance, which is not part of traditional homeowner?s or renter?s insurance.

The annual cost of residential flood insurance policies, which are purchased through private insurers but administered by the government?s National Flood Insurance Program, can range from less than $200 to $500 or more depending on the extent of the coverage, up to $250,000. Such insurance is available in communities that participate in the program and meet certain guidelines, such as agreeing to adopt measures that reduce flooding risks.

About 42,000 Ohio households have insurance through the federal program, according to government data, and about 1,500 claims totaling $29.6 million were closed in Ohio in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The mapped flood plain areas in Ohio include about 280,000 structures, and about 10 percent of those are covered by flood insurance, according to the government.

Online:

Source: http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2013/03/22/tomorrow-marks-100-year-anniversary-of-deadly-ohio-flooding/

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Medical marijuana facility partners with rapper

OTISVILLE, Mich. (AP) ? A Michigan medical marijuana facility is partnering with a member of the Grammy-winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to cultivate and distribute a new strain of medical marijuana.

The Green Oasis and Stanley "Flesh-N-Bone" Howse have agreed to work together on "Phifty Caliber Kush," which they say has a noticeable floral taste and is an effective pain reliever.

The Flint-area dispensary's owner, Anthony Butler, calls the new pot strain "the best of the best."

Flesh-n-Bone Global executive Michael "Tony B." Bernardi tells The Flint Journal (http://bit.ly/14bKODM ) that Howse hopes the product can provide relief for any qualified, verified patient.

In addition to distributing "Phifty Caliber Kush," The Green Oasis could begin selling merchandise and possibly host a visit from Howse.

Michigan voters approved marijuana for some chronic medical conditions in 2008.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-20-US-Rapper-Medical-Marijuana/id-4175c6936fec46be888021d45d6a9c3d

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Sanford advances in SC race, Colbert's sister wins

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford addresses supporters in Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, after advancing to the GOP primary runoff in a race for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat. Sanford, trying to make a political comeback, was one of 16 Republicans running in Tuesday's primary. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford addresses supporters in Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, after advancing to the GOP primary runoff in a race for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat. Sanford, trying to make a political comeback, was one of 16 Republicans running in Tuesday's primary. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

Elizabeth Colbert Bush, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, shares a laugh with reporters after voting in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Colbert Bush is one of two Democrats running Tuesday in the Democratic primary in a special election to fill South Carolina's vacant 1st Congressional District seat. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith).

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford addresses supporters in Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, after advancing to the GOP primary runoff in a race for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat. Sanford, trying to make a political comeback, was one of 16 Republicans running in Tuesday's primary. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Mark Sanford says he believes in "a God of second chances," and now the former South Carolina governor has taken the first step toward reviving a political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, always dreamed of a career in politics ? and now she has a chance to realize that dream.

As Sanford advanced Tuesday night to an April 2 GOP runoff for an open congressional seat in a southern coastal district, Colbert Busch easily won the Democratic primary to earn a spot on the May 7 general election ballot.

The race has drawn national attention because of Sanford's well-known fall from grace and Colbert Busch's relationship to Steven Colbert, who parodies a conservative political commentator as host of TV's "The Colbert Report."

Colbert Busch swamped perennial candidate Ben Frasier on Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination for the seat vacated by Tim Scott, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace fellow Republican Jim DeMint, now head of The Heritage Foundation.

She says she's long dreamed of a career in politics. She remembers watching the 1968 funeral of slain U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy on television with her younger brother Stephen sitting in her lap. That's when she promised herself that one day she would run for office.

Colbert Busch now faces the winner of the GOP primary runoff in the 1st Congressional District.

"I understand your frustrations and your aspirations. I will never stop listening to you and I am ready to be your voice in Washington," Colbert Bush told her supporters Tuesday night.

"My pledge is to you. You are my only cause. I will fight to improve your lives and the lives of your children," she added.

Sanford, trying to mount a political comeback, easily outdistanced the other 15 Republicans in the field Tuesday. But with only 37 percent of the vote, he finds himself in a runoff.

Former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic appeared to be in second place following the voting, but the margin is so narrow ? less than 1 percent over state Sen. Larry Grooms ? that it will trigger an automatic recount this week. Teddy Turner, the son of media mogul Ted Turner, finished fourth.

Tuesday was Sanford's first run for office since a 2009 scandal in which he acknowledged an affair. After disappearing and telling his staff he was out hiking the Appalachian Trail, he returned to the state to reveal that he was in Argentina with his mistress. Sanford and his wife Jenny divorced, and he is now engaged to the Argentine woman.

"Are you ready to change things in Washington?" Sanford, flanked by his four sons, asked a boisterous crowd at a restaurant in Charleston's historic district. "I'm incredibly humbled by the outpouring of support we have seen tonight."

Earlier Tuesday, Sanford said it was "a treat and a blessing" to be back on the ballot. He represented the district in Congress for three terms before he was elected governor, serving two terms.

"We all hope for a second chance. I believe in a God of second chances," Sanford said after voting Tuesday.

Whether against Sanford, Grooms or Bostic, Colbert Busch would appear to have an uphill battle in the May 7 special election in the strongly Republican district.

Last fall, Mitt Romney won the conservative district by 18 percentage points, although he only beat President Barack Obama by 10 statewide.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-20-1st%20District%20Primary-South%20Carolina/id-9be00a59b8f5491f80235cc927769d76

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Historic quake unleashed surprising energy

USGS

The well-known Owen Valley Fault and the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.

By Becky Oskin
LiveScience

The rugged hills where Cary Grant sought his fortune in the 1939 film "Gunga Din" were also the scene of one of California's biggest earthquakes.

The Alabama Hills stood in for the Himalayas in "Gunga Din." Their massive boulders pop out of a long, narrow valley between the towering Sierra Nevada mountains to the west and the Inyo Mountains to the east.

The Owens Valley fault runs just east of the Alabama Hills. On March 26, 1872, around 2:10 a.m. local time, a massive earthquake on the fault shook the West from San Diego to Salt Lake City. The quake's energy was comparable to the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, according to a 2008 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Now, a new study of the historic quake reveals an intriguing difference between the two great temblors. The Owens Valley fault broke along 70 miles (113 kilometers) of fault, less than one-half to one-third of the sections ruptured by the San Andreas Fault's biggest earthquakes, said Colin Amos, a geologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.,?and lead study author.

"Despite its short length, the Owens Valley quake seemed to have very energetic shaking," Amos said. The findings appear in Wednesday's?issue of the journal Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

Continental quakes
On first principle, geoscientists assume the length?of?a fault break relates to the energy of an earthquake. So the short but powerful Owens Valley temblor presents a quandary. Perhaps the stronger continental rocks transmit shaking more easily, or the longer interval between earthquakes there means more energy is released with each quake, Amos said.

The discrepancy also highlights a growing awareness among geoscientists of the difference between earthquakes along plate boundaries, such as the San Andreas, and within continents, or so-called intraplate earthquakes, such as the Owens Valley quake.

The San Andreas Fault marks the boundary between two of Earth's tectonic plates, triggering massive earthquakes every couple hundred years. But in Eastern California, big earthquakes seem to link up several smaller faults when they strike, instead of staying on one fault. The quakes also repeat much less frequently, on the order of tens of thousands of years.

"There are a lot of faults out there that we don't know how they connect up in an earthquake rupture," Amos told OurAmazingPlanet. "Owens Valley is a historical example of that."

Amos and his colleagues dug trenches across the possible fault south of the Owens Valley rupture, to test if the fault broke farther than previous workers had thought. The researchers found no evidence of faulting in 1872, but they did see signs of a huge earthquake about 25,000 years ago. [13 Crazy Earthquake Facts]

"We certainly don't rule out the possibility that other faults nearby were active, but at least the biggest, more likely candidate does not appear to have rupture," Amos said.

The team is now scanning the Owens Valley fault with lidar, a laser-scanning technique that measures the surface elevation to within a few inches. This will reveal more detail about the fault's rupture.

"If we have to worry about lots of different smaller fault segments that could link up and if the energetics are really strong, that gives us more impetus to know more about them," Amos said.

Memories by Muir
A memorial along U.S. Highway 395 stands near a mass grave for the victims of the 1872 Owens Valley quake near the town of Independence. There were some 60 fatalities in total, mainly from collapsed adobe buildings.

Naturalist John Muir felt the earthquake waves pass through Yosemite Valley and wrote about the shaking's effect on the steep cliffs.

"The Eagle Rock on the south wall, about a half a mile up the Valley, gave way and I saw it falling in thousands of the great boulders I had so long been studying, pouring to the Valley floor in a free curve luminous from friction, making a terribly sublime spectacle ? an arc of glowing, passionate fire, fifteen hundred feet span, as true in form and as serene in beauty as a rainbow in the midst of the stupendous, roaring rockstorm."

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us?@OAPlanet, Facebook?or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

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

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/20/17389748-historic-california-quake-unleashed-surprising-energy?lite

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Artists take over the Bains-Douches | The Velib blog

The legendary nightclub of the 80s, closed since 2010 for safety reasons, opens its doors exceptionally to Street-Art artists. Every day until April 30, twenty renowned graphic and urban artists will show their work on the walls of this historic site. Exclusively on the web, discover live the process of the evolution of a their work.

Marcel Proust liked to come here for a shower and a calva coffee. You could bump into ?Depeche Mode, Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld or Joy Division in the 70?s and 80?s. Cathy and David Guetta were resident in the 90s. The list of celebrities who frequented this institution is long. A meeting point between the world of entertainment, media and arts is legendary. And despite a history that dates back over 130 years, the famous Bains Douches in the capital almost disappeared in 2010 for health and safety reasons due to illegal work. Because supporting ?walls have weakened, inviting the public to this temporary artistic residency is no longer possible. This is why the works presented are posted on a dedicated online site.

The Restoration of les Bains

To keep this icon of Paris, the historical owners of the site created Corporation Des Bains in 2011. The complete restoration of the building is directed by Vincent Bastie and the interior decoration is managed by Denis Montel. The baths will be reborn in 2014 in a new form while preserving the spirit of place? A private house, a club, a hotel? Before discovering this, the place is now vacant for the first time in 128 years.

Artist residency

Why not make the most of the site by creating a giant canvas? Commissioned by Magda Danyz, a new generation of international talent creates an ephemeral work on the walls. Among them, the golden class of Street Art: Ash (Netherlands), Atlas, Futura (USA), Space INVADER, SOWAT, Sten Lex (Italy), Vhils (Portugal), G?rard Zlotykamien? For nearly four months, ?these pioneers will pay tribute to the artistic DNA of Bains.

Day by Day: One day, an artist

Do you want to see in real time the evolution of an artist?s work? Until April 30, the event reveals works exclusively on the web. From the start to finish, this visual tracking of ?work in progress? provides a detailed update on the artistic development of each participant. An interactive view of 360 ?. Then, the temporary exhibition platform and works disappear.

Parole

Sten Latex

Ludo

www.lesbains-paris.com

Source: http://blog.velib.paris.fr/en/2013/03/19/artists-take-over-the-bains-douches/

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Giant squid family secrets revealed

20 March 2013 Last updated at 07:53 By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

Giant squid around the world are "basically identical" despite looking very different, say scientists.

The super-sized cephalopods live deep in the oceans and are little-known by the scientific community.

An international team of researchers investigated rare samples of the elusive animals' DNA to reveal their family secrets.

They discovered that there is just a single species of squid with no population structure.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The giant squid has been a source of fascination both before and beyond its formal description in 1857 by Danish biologist Japetus Steenstrup.

Its deep-dwelling lifestyle is largely unknown but specimens have been found globally, with the exception of Arctic and Antarctic waters.

Inspiring tales of sea monsters such as the ship-destroying Kraken, giant squid are rumoured to reach 50m in length but scientists say an 18m estimate is more appropriate according to studies.

A further debate about the mysterious animals relates to how many species there are, with researchers suggesting there could be as many as eight based on differences in appearance and where they have been found.

"Your general [giant] squid is a long, scrawny beast: it's got a long thin body and long thin arms," said Professor M. Thomas P. Gilbert, from the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

"But off [the coast of] Japan for example, they're much shorter and stubbier. Their arms are fatter and much shorter."

Prof Gilbert worked with colleagues from the University of Copenhagen and researchers from Australia, Japan, France, Ireland and Portugal to understand how the seemingly diverse squid are related.

The team took 43 tissue samples from a variety of sources: stranded animals, remains found in the stomachs of beached sperm whales and accidental by-catch. They then used DNA sequencing techniques to understand the genetic makeup of the squid.

'Very weird'

Results revealed that the squid are all one species.

Genetic diversity was also found to be very low, meaning that the squid are genetically very similar despite being found all over the world and varying greatly in appearance.

"There's normally local distinction between [animals] genetically," Prof Gilbert told BBC Nature.

"Things that live in one area eventually become different from things in other areas but [giant squid] are basically identical everywhere."

Prof Gilbert described the findings as "very weird" but suggested that migration could be the key reason specimens from as far apart as Japan and Florida, US are genetically so similar.

"We speculate the larval stage must drift globally in the currents then dive to the nearest dark, deep spot when they are large enough, thus stopping any [population] structure appearing," he explained.

"Instead of the adults and their young living in the same place, the young distribute to a completely new place on the Earth every time."

Judging by their size and remarkable adaptations for the environment, scientists believe the giant squid have a substantial population. Another theory to explain the large numbers of identical animals is the possibility of a rapid and recent population boom.

According to Prof Gilbert, this expansion could have been caused by either a decrease in predators or an increase in prey numbers of the giant squid.

"This year is the 200th anniversary of Steenstrup... So on his 200th birthday we can say we know more about it!" he told BBC Nature.

The evolutionary biologist commented that although the team had succeeded in answering one question about the mysterious squid, they have uncovered many more.

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21829711

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Pentax SMC D FA 645 55mm F2.8 AL (IF) SDM AW

• Pros

  Very sharp. Standard-angle field of view. Weather sealed. Fast aperture. Minimal distortion.

• Cons Expensive.
• Bottom Line

  The Pentax SMC D FA 645 55mm F2.8 AL (IF) SDM AW is likely the first lens you'll get with the 645D?and it's a good one.

By Jim Fisher

The Pentax SMC D FA 645 55mm F2.8 AL (IF) SDM AW ($1,199.95 direct) was the first lens that Pentax released with the 645D digital medium format camera, and with good reason. It's a standard-angle design, which is an excellent lens for general use, and it's quite sharp. Like the 645D, it's weather-sealed, so you can take it out and shoot in rain and shine alike. The $1,200 price tag is a bit on the high side?Mamiya's similar lens for its digitial medium format system can be found for around $800. But even though the 645D is now priced $1,200 below its original $10,000 asking price, getting into digital medium format photography is not an inexpensive proposition.

The lens itself is fairly squat when you consider the big image sensor it's designed to cover. Even though the 645D's 40-megapixel CCD sensor is a bit smaller than a 6 by 4.5cm film frame, this lens produces an image circle that lets you pair with your 645N film camera if you choose to do so. It measures 3.2 by 2.7 inches, weighs about 14.7 ounces, and supports 67mm filters. A reversible lens hood is included. When paired with the 645D its field of view is roughly equal to a 43mm lens?a focal length that Pentax 35mm SLR shooters are familiar with in the form of the legendary SMC FA 43mm f/1.9 Limited lens. If you opt to use it with film, it's a bit wider, acting more like a 35mm wide-angle lens.

I used Imatest to check and see just how sharp this lens can get, and the results were impressive. Even at f/2.8 it exceeds the 1,800 lines per picture height that we use to classify an image as sharp. At f/2.8 it scores 2,325 lines, which increases a bit as you stop the lens down. Edges are a little softer than the center wide open?but still quite sharp?but you get more even scores by f/5.6, where the average is 2,462 lines. It peaks at f/11, scoring 2,544 lines there. Distortion is a nonissue. You should feel free to shoot the lens at any aperture in order to get your shot, as the image quality throughout its range is excellent.

If you're interested in the 645D system, the Pentax SMC D FA 645 55mm F2.8 AL (IF) SDM AW is a good lens with which to get started. It's very sharp, sealed against the elements, and it can be used on film, if that is still part of your workflow. If you already have a stable of 645 lenses from your analog days, you may feel that you can skip it, especially if your work is restricted to the studio. But if you plan on shooting with the 645D outdoors and want to take advantage of its sealed design, pairing it with a similarly sealed lens is a necessity.

By Jim Fisher Analyst, Digital Cameras

Jim Fisher is the digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team. He is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really...

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Oculus Rift won't come bundled with Doom 3, credit or refund offered instead

This news is likely to be a bit disappointing to some Oculus Rift backers. Project supporters were set to be rewarded with a copy of Doom 3: BFG Edition, which was to arrive bundled with each development kit. Unfortunately, it turns out that the device won't support the game at launch, so the team is offering some alternative compensation instead. You can opt for a $20 Steam Wallet credit, $25 Oculus Store credit or a full refund of your original pledge, if you so desire. Log in to make your pick by April 5th -- if you miss that deadline, you'll automatically receive the $25 credit to the Oculus Store. Kickstarter backers can hit up the source link to make their pick.

Filed under: Gaming, Software

Comments

Via: GameSpot

Source: Oculus Rift (Kickstarter), Oculus VR (compensation selection)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/18/oculus-rift-doom-3/

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The TSA Is Auctioning Off Confiscated Knives for Cheap

Government entities need to get rid of excess junk too, and they often do it through a site called GovDeals.com. It's like Ebay for the federally-funded set. For the next hour, there's an auction going on for a lot of 40 Gerber knives. The current price is $276—a mere $7 a knife. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/QhcrC4T2FOQ/pennsylvania-is-auctioning-tsa+confiscated-knives-for-cheap

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Ohio city official: Community backs rape inquiry

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, right, answers questions about the successful prosecution of two juveniles in a rape case during a news conference Sunday, March 17, 2013, at the Jefferson County Justice Center in Steubenville, Ohio. Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter and Prosecutor Brian Deckert joined DeWine. Judge Thomas Lipps ruled Sunday that Steubenville High School students Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, were guilty of raping a 16-year-old Weirton, W.Va., girl after an alcohol-fueled party in August 2012. (AP Photo/Steubenville Herald-Star, Michael D. McElwain, Pool)

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, right, answers questions about the successful prosecution of two juveniles in a rape case during a news conference Sunday, March 17, 2013, at the Jefferson County Justice Center in Steubenville, Ohio. Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter and Prosecutor Brian Deckert joined DeWine. Judge Thomas Lipps ruled Sunday that Steubenville High School students Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, were guilty of raping a 16-year-old Weirton, W.Va., girl after an alcohol-fueled party in August 2012. (AP Photo/Steubenville Herald-Star, Michael D. McElwain, Pool)

Trent Mays, 17, left, gets a hug from his father after Trent and co-defendant Ma'lik Richmond, 16, were found delinquent on rape and other charges after their trial in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, Sunday, March 17, 2013. Mays and Richmond were accused of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl in August 2012. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, Pool)

Ma'lik Richmond covers his eyes and cries as his attorney Walter Madison, standing, asks the court for leniency after Richmond and co-defendant Trent Mays, lower left, were found delinquent on rape and other charges after their trial in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, Sunday, March 17, 2013. Mays and Richmond were accused of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl in August 2012. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, Pool)

Defense attorney Walter Madison, right, holds his client, 16-year-old Ma'lik Richmond, second from right, while defense attorney Adam Nemann, left, sits with his client Trent Mays, foreground, 17, as Judge Thomas Lipps pronounces them both delinquent on rape and other charges after their trial in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, Sunday, March 17, 2013. Mays and Richmond were accused of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl in August 2012. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, Pool)

FILE - This Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 file photo shows Steubenville City Manager Cathy Davison during a news conference in Steubenville, Ohio. Behind her is Steubenville Police Chief Bill McCafferty. Davison says the community, already reeling from the conviction of two high school football players in the rape of a 16-year-old girl, will back a wide-ranging probe that could target adults, including coaches, who failed to report the allegation initially. (AP Photo/Steubenville Herald-Star, Michael D. McElwain, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? A city reeling from the convictions of two high school football players in the rape of a 16-year-old girl will back a wide-ranging probe that could target adults, including coaches, who didn't initially report the allegations, the city's top official said Monday.

Residents of Steubenville want to see justice done, and the city will be better off going forward because of the investigation, city manager Cathy Davison said.

"Football is important in Steubenville, but I think overall if you looked at the community in and of itself, it's the education process, the moral fiber of our community, and the heritage of our community, that is even more important," Davison told The Associated Press in her first comments since a judge on Sunday convicted the players.

The announcement of the guilty verdict was barely an hour old Sunday when state Attorney General Mike DeWine said he was continuing his investigation and would consider charges against anyone who failed to speak up after the summertime attack. That group could include other teens, parents, school officials and coaches for the high school's beloved football team, which has won nine state championships.

Investigators interviewed the owners of a Steubenville house where a picture was taken of the girl being carried by her ankles and wrists, DeWine's office confirmed Monday. That picture, Exhibit No. 1 at the trial, generated international outrage.

The house is the same residence where later that night one student filmed a 12-minute video of another drunken student laughing and joking about the rape. There is no phone listing for the home.

A grand jury will meet in mid-April to consider evidence gathered by investigators from dozens of interviews, including with the football team's 27 coaches.

Text messages introduced at the trial suggested the head coach was aware of the rape allegation early on. Reno Saccoccia "took care of it," defendant Trenton Mays said in one text introduced by prosecutors.

DeWine said coaches are among officials required by state law to report suspected child abuse.

The attorney general, Ohio's top law enforcement official, also said the rape was not an isolated problem specific to Steubenville. Sexual assaults occur every Friday and Saturday night across the country, DeWine said, calling it "a societal problem."

Steubenville schools Superintendent Mike McVey released a statement Monday reiterating his position that the district was waiting until the trial ended to take action. He declined to address the grand jury investigation.

"What we've heard so far is deeply disturbing," McVey's statement said. "At this time, we believe it is important to allow the legal process to play out in court before we as a school district make any decisions or take action against any of the individuals involved with this case."

It's unclear what could happen to the school's sports programs if any coaches were to be charged. Sanctions against teams or programs typically involve violations of rules related to playing, such as improper recruiting of student-athletes or playing ineligible athletes, said Tim Stried, spokesman for the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

"The incident that happened was not during a contest, was not even at school. No playing rules were violated, and it didn't have anything to do with eligibility or recruiting," Stried said.

Mays, 17, and Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile prison in a case that has rocked this Rust Belt city of 18,000 and led to allegations of a cover-up to protect the Steubenville High School football team. Mays was ordered to serve an additional year for photographing the underage girl naked.

They can be held until they turn 21.

The two broke down in tears after the judge delivered his verdict. They later apologized to the victim and the community, Richmond struggling to speak through his sobs.

"My life is over," he said as he collapsed in the arms of his lawyer.

The crime, which took place after a party, shocked many in Steubenville because of the seeming callousness with which other students took out their cellphones to record the attack and gossiped about it online. The case came to light via a barrage of morning-after text messages, social media posts and online photos and video.

"Many of the things we learned during this trial that our children were saying and doing were profane, were ugly," Judge Thomas Lipps said.

Mays and Richmond were charged with penetrating the West Virginia girl with their fingers, first in the back seat of a moving car after a mostly underage drinking party on Aug. 11, and then in the basement of a house.

"They treated her like a toy," prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter said.

Prosecutors argued that the victim was so intoxicated she couldn't consent to sex that night, while the defense contended the girl realized what she was doing and was known to lie.

The girl testified she could not recall what happened but woke up naked in a strange house after drinking at a party.

"It was really scary," she said. "I honestly did not know what to think because I could not remember anything."

She said she believed she was assaulted when she later read text messages among friends and saw a photo of herself naked, along with a video that made fun of her and the alleged attack.

Three other boys, two of them on the football team, saw something happening that night and didn't try to stop it but instead recorded it with their cellphones. Granted immunity to testify, they confirmed the girl was assaulted and said she was so drunk she didn't seem to know what was happening.

Evidence at the trial also included sexually explicit text messages sent by numerous students after the party.

In sentencing the boys, Lipps urged parents and others "to have discussions about how you talk to your friends, how you record things on the social media so prevalent today and how you conduct yourself when drinking is put upon you by your friends."

After the arrests, the case was furiously debated on blogs and social media, with some people warning of conspiracies and conflicts of interest. On Sunday, Hemmeter, the prosecutor, criticized efforts by the hacker collective Anonymous to publicize the case, saying the attention had a chilling effect on those willing to testify.

After the verdict, the accuser's mother rebuked the boys for "lack of any moral code."

"You were your own accuser, through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on," she said. She added that the case "does not define who my daughter is. She will persevere, grow and move on."

Echoing that, the judge said that "as bad as things have been for all of the children involved in this case, they can all change their lives for the better."

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-18-Football%20Players-Rape%20Charges/id-9b57ae4a33bc496db00b5dfca2740e10

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