John: Semester by Numbers (Reality 101: CEC's blog for new ...

I decided to give a recap of the semester in numbers for my last post of the year.

1. Number of successful teacher evaluations completed.?
I passed my preliminary evaluation for my professional teaching certificate. I have to pass the final evaluation next semester to earn my professional teaching certificate.

2.?Number of students arrested.?
While only two students have been officially arrested, sometimes I feel like a special education degree should be accompanied by a minor in criminal justice. I have learned more about the legal system this semester by trying to answer questions and help my students navigate the courts than I ever cared to.

3.?Number of Special Olympics field trips I lead.?
I have a love/hate relationship with field trips. I love going on them and having a change of pace for the day, but they can be a pain to prepare for. And sometimes that change of pace is a shift into high gear at full speed.
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4.?Number of preseason soccer practices.?
I am the assistant soccer coach for the Dorman men?s soccer team and head coach for a middle school soccer team in my district. Next semester, I have 31 games in eight weeks between the two teams plus daily practices. Busy semester ahead.
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5.?Number of school events I attended to watch my students participating.?
Many times students with disabilities are not very involved in extracurricular activities. Whenever I do have students involved in school activities, I do my best to attend.
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6.?Number of different drinks my students sold at the coffee shop.?
Tea, hot chocolate, coffee, mocha freeze, lemonade freeze and strawberry smoothies are the base drinks we sell. We mix it up with new flavors sometimes, but these six are our staples.
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7.?Number of times I have said I?m never coming back to school again.
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8.?Number of times I showed up the next day.?
Teaching can be extremely tiring, taxing and sometimes downright terrible. Like ?my Reality 101 colleague Charmelle pointed out, trying to avoid burnout is a very real concern for teachers. Varying statistics are out there to illustrate this point, but I like an article by Joiner and Edwards in the Journal of Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives in Education. In the article they reference studies that suggest half of all teachers leave the profession within the first five years and 30 percent leave within the first three. That?s staggering to me.
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I don?t have a solution to teacher retention problems across the nation. My personal solution is to come back for another day. Keep coming back. Keep learning. The days turn into weeks, weeks into semesters, failures into lessons, and before you realize it, you decide you might just stick it out with this teaching thing.
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?A wise man falls seven times, and rises up again.?- Proverbs 24:16
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9.?Number of IEP meetings I have attended this semester.?
The number is probably higher, but I lost track. IEPs are easily what I work on for half of my time at school.
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10.?Number of students on my IEP caseload that still need to pass the South Carolina exit exam.?
In South Carolina, all sophomores take an exit exam in order to earn a high school diploma. Students take the exit exam during the second semester of the sophomore year and continue taking it each semester until they pass or ?graduate.? However, if you ?graduate? without passing the exit exam, you don?t really graduate. You get a certificate of completion and best wishes on your future without a high school diploma.
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Last year, I had to tell a set of parents that their child would not graduate with a diploma. I cannot express how difficult it was to console them in their tears. I?m hoping I don?t have to do that again this year.
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14. Number of blog posts for Reality 101 I have written.
I have loved writing for Reality 101, documenting the life of a young special education teacher and interacting with other professionals from across the country. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue next semester!

Source: http://www.cecreality101.org/2012/12/john-semester-by-numbers.html

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Study reveals a remarkable symmetry in black hole jets

Friday, December 14, 2012

Black holes range from modest objects formed when individual stars end their lives to behemoths billions of times more massive that rule the centers of galaxies. A new study using data from NASA's Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope shows that high-speed jets launched from active black holes possess fundamental similarities regardless of mass, age or environment. The result provides a tantalizing hint that common physical processes are at work.

"What we're seeing is that once any black hole produces a jet, the same fixed fraction of energy generates the gamma-ray light we observe with Fermi and Swift," said lead researcher Rodrigo Nemmen, a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Gas falling toward a black hole spirals inward and piles up into an accretion disk, where it becomes compressed and heated. Near the inner edge of the disk, on the threshold of the black hole's event horizon -- the point of no return -- some of the material becomes accelerated and races outward as a pair of jets flowing in opposite directions along the black hole's spin axis. These jets contain particles moving at nearly the speed of light, which produce gamma rays -- the most extreme form of light -- when they interact.

"We don't fully understand how this acceleration process occurs, but in active galaxies we see jets that have operated so long that they've produced trails of gas extending millions of light-years," said Sylvain Guiriec, an NPP fellow at Goddard and a co-author on the study, which was published in the Dec. 14 issue of Science.

At the other end of the scale are gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the universe. Astronomers believe that the most common type of GRB heralds the death of a massive star and the birth of a stellar-mass black hole. When the star's energy-producing core runs through its store of fuel, it collapses and forms a black hole. As the star's overlying layers cascade inward, an accretion disk forms and the black hole launches a jet.

The particles in some GRB jets have been clocked at speeds exceeding 99.9 percent the speed of light. When the jet breaches the star's surface, it produces a pulse of gamma rays typically lasting a few seconds. Satellites like Swift and Fermi can detect this emission if the jet is approximately directed toward us.

To search for a trend across a wide range of masses, the scientists looked at the galactic-scale equivalent of GRB jets. These come from the brightest classes of active galaxies, blazars and quasars, which sport jets that likewise happen to point our way.

To match the amount of energy given off by a typical blazar in one second, the sun must shine for 317,000 years. To equal the energy a run-of-the-mill GRB puts out in one second, the sun would need to shine for another 3 billion years.

Ultimately, the team examined 54 GRBs and 234 blazars and quasars. The gamma-ray brightness obtained with Fermi, Swift and other observatories told the scientists how much light the jets radiate. Radio and X-ray observations allowed them to determine the power of the particle acceleration in each jet. By analyzing how these two properties related to each other, the researchers discovered that the GRB and blazar samples both exhibited the same relationship.

"Here we have a situation where the mechanism that launches material from a black hole either has to be very similar on both ends of the mass scale -- from a few to a billion solar masses -- or we need different mechanisms that manage to produce very similar efficiencies," explained co-author Eileen Meyer, a post-doctoral researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

The finding simplifies astronomers' understanding of black holes by showing that their activity is governed by the same set of rules -- whatever they happen to be -- independent of mass, age, or the jet's brightness and power. The jets tap into similar fractions -- between 3 and 15 percent -- of the energy wrapped up in the motion of their accelerated particles to power the emission of gamma rays and other forms of light.

"It's a bit like a poor man and a billionaire spending the same percentage of their incomes on their heating bills," said team member Markos Georganopoulos, an associate professor of physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The authors hope to extend the research to other black-hole-powered events that launch jets, such as the tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes.

"One especially useful outcome of this research will be to foster greater communication between astronomers studying GRBs and those working on active galaxies, which in the past we've tended to regard as separate areas of study," said co-author Neil Gehrels, the principal investigator on NASA's Swift.

###

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125938/Study_reveals_a_remarkable_symmetry_in_black_hole_jets

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Today Is The Day

The effectiveness of life coaching is common knowledge today. It has become synonymous with words like self-improvement and motivational training. The possibilities for positive change in your life is limitless with the assistance of a life coach.

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What is life coaching and life coaching training?

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Life coaching is an approach or method in which clients are assisted to reach for their goals. The client defines his own goals in any life dimension that he chooses to focus on. Contrary to popular belief, life coaching should only be conducted by trained professionals. An array of carefully formulated strategic thinking and prompting methods are employed by the life coach to guide the client in effective thinking processes to bring about positive change ?you are what you think?. Necessary characteristics of a good life coach include: genuine compassion, a non-judgemental attitude, the ability to analyse situations and insight to see the big picture.

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How to find a life coach?

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Finding a life coach is not a difficult task. There are many organisations which offer life coaching services. To become a life coach, a person had to undergo a certified training program. Then the life coach can work on his own or associated with a firm. It?s easy to find a life coach in your area. One way is to look for advertisements in newspapers. The search for a life coach is made simple through the use of internet as every life coach is bound to have a website. Or else you can inquire around your neighbourhood or at work about life coaches. Since life coaching is done only on person to person to basis, the only way to undergo life coaching is through a life coach.

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What does a life coach do?

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A life coach is more or less like a companion who will patiently listen to your problems without criticising you. He has great insight into the problems that his client faces and offer concrete solutions.

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A life coaching program could involve either a single client or a group of individuals. Group life coaching sessions has been identified as a useful exercise by many corporate organisations.

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Steps involved in life coaching program

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? The life coach establishes a rapport with his client. After listening to the client?s issues the life coach decides upon the areas for improvement. The client and the life coach together decide the goals that the client wants to achieve.

? In the sessions following the first, the life coach devices certain plans to help the client achieve his goals.

This step involves awareness of blockages and the elimination thereof in order to attain identified goals.

? The life coach remains and as an assessor to his client?s progress and advises him on issues. He will make sure that his client attains the goals in time by providing support and motivation.

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Who can benefit from life coaching?

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Life coaching is not restricted to any specific areas. Any one from business man to a housewife could make use of the amazing results that life coaching offers. This is particularly useful for creative people like artists, writers and singers. Life coaching can bring dramatic changes to one?s life by an approach based on motivation and positive thinking.

For more info, visit Mental Combat.

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Source: http://jaucoandassociates.com/7625/today-is-the-day/

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NHL files unfair labor charge against union

NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL and its locked-out players might turn up in a courtroom before they find their way back onto the ice.

In a wild week in which the fighting sides had two fruitless sessions with a federal mediator and another round of bargaining via conference call, the most significant event occurred Friday night when the NHL brought its ongoing dispute with the players to federal court after the league anticipated a possible antitrust suit.

The league filed a class action suit Friday in U.S. District Court in New York, seeking to establish that its now 90-day lockout is legal. In a separate move, the NHL filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the players' association has bargained in bad faith.

The NHL said it believes the union's executive board is seeking authorization to give up its collective bargaining rights, a necessary step before players could file an antitrust lawsuit.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly declined to comment on the league's legal actions. The moves were made after the sides held a bargaining teleconference, following two days of talks that included federal mediators.

Players' association special counsel Steve Fehr, meanwhile, declined to comment on the lawsuits or to confirm the union's plans regarding a so-called disclaimer of interest. But the union issued a statement Friday night to address the NHL's actions.

"The NHLPA has just received a copy of the National Labor Relations Board charge and has not yet been served with the lawsuit," the statement said. "However, based on what we've learned so far, the NHL appears to be arguing that players should be stopped from even considering their right to decide whether or not to be represented by a union. We believe that their position is completely without merit."

Fehr, who took part in the conference call earlier Friday, told The Associated Press in an email that the league didn't make its legal plans known during that day's discussions.

If players choose to pursue a disclaimer of interest, the union would essentially stop being a collective group to negotiate a labor deal with the NHL. The Canadian Press, citing unidentified sources, said that the union's executive board requested a vote from its membership on Thursday night that would give it the authority to file a disclaimer.

Such a move wouldn't necessarily doom the entire hockey season that has already been long-delayed and shortened.

During the NBA lockout last year, the basketball union made a similar move. But negotiations continued anyway and a tentative agreement was reached within a couple of weeks.

The union then reformed in time for players to ratify the new deal and begin a shortened season. NFL players took the same route last year, as well.

By filing the complaint in New York, the NHL guaranteed that the legality of the lockout would be decided in a court known to be sympathetic toward management. The league is concerned that if the union dissolves and seeks to have the lockout deemed illegal, players could be due triple their lost salaries if they are successful.

The sides had spent Wednesday and Thursday in talks with mediators in New Jersey. On the first day, union officials and league brass spoke separately to mediators and not with each other. There were face-to-face talks between the sides on Thursday, but no progress of note was achieved.

Without the presence of mediators on Friday, a small group of negotiators ? four aside without Commissioner Gary Bettman or union executive director Donald Fehr taking part ? got on the conference call.

The NHL is looking for an even split of revenues with the players. When it agreed last week to increase an offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million ? a package aimed at making the lower percentage of revenue easier for the union to take ? it was part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the players' association accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.

All games through Dec. 30 have been canceled, 43 percent of the season, along with the New Year's Day Winter Classic and the All-Star game.

A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January. Bettman said he wouldn't have a shorter season than that. The 2004-05 season was lost completely to a labor dispute.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nhl-files-unfair-labor-charge-against-union-101828006--nhl.html

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Take Advantage Of Web Marketing With These Tips

TIP! A great tip is to ensure your web page stands out. The web is inundated with business, so you need to become innovative in order to set yourself apart from the pack.

Marketing on the Internet is already a huge industry and growing all the time. It is definitely here to stay. Follow these tips and you will be on your way to owning a successful business.

TIP! In the world of Internet marketing, always keep an eye on the competition. Find out what steps they are taking and what is working and not working for them.

Change your content around so your customers feel like they are controlling things. Do not spam your readers with information they do not want or need. Be clear that their participation is optional and you will increase your credibility.

TIP! Make sure to have detailed records and statistics. You need to monitor your traffic, sales and outreach.

Email marketing is an important, beneficial tool. Ensure that your emails are protected! For instance, try to avoid those services out there offering you mail for free. There?s always something buggy about those particular services that will bite you in the end, such as deleting old messages. Consider making your own email archiving arrangements, especially if you conduct sensitive communications with customers and consultants via email.

TIP! Provide your frequent customers or visitors with a reward of some kind for making purchases from your site. Your business will earn an excellent reputation, and you will be more likely to keep your customers coming back over the long haul.

The more you know about your competition, the more successful you will be. Know what they are offering compared to what you are offering, and make the superior quality and value of your products obvious. This is an essential part of Online marketing.

TIP! Are you searching for an effective way to market yourself online? If visitors are motivated to give you their email addresses, you can end up with a very impressive opt-in list. Have a contest or give away something for free in exchange for their email address, as you can use this down the road to market to them.

Make sure you have a slogan and a logo, no matter how big your company is. This is a way to help your customers recognize your brand. A catchy slogan stays in the customer?s mind for a long time. A customer might remember your slogan when deciding to make a purchase, which will increase your likelihood of making a sale.

TIP! This business may be one of the exceptions to the commonly held belief that you should not mix business and pleasure. The reason being, that this can be viewed as more of a lucrative hobby rather than a high-pressure situation.

Think about including a subscription service; give customers the chance to sign up for such a service when they are ordering from you. An example for this would be offering customers who buy bulk computer paper the option of getting it shipped monthly at a large discount.

TIP! Make your advertising more personal. In correspondence and advertisements, use your actual name.

Try to incorporate words like ?fast? that emphasize the speed of the shopping experience at your website. Time is given a monetary value in the minds of consumer, so fast service may allow you to increase your profits.

TIP! To produce your sales, real-time leads are a necessity. Leads that occur in real time are fantastic because the customer wants your product now.

A game could be a great way to get more traffic. Customers are constantly looking for online games and adding a simple one can keep them coming back. Try to carefully and subtly incorporate advertising of your products within the game design. For example, if you sell hair products, you could create a hair styling game that features the goods you sell.

TIP! Find some type of service that you can provide free to users of your site. Offering something free will give folks incentive to visit your site.

You might want to package similar products together and then sell them together at a discounted price. In your advertisements, make sure to thoroughly explain the details of your offer.

TIP! Make sure your Internet marketing contains updated content on a consistent basis to help create more interest for customers. Figure out which tone would be more effective for you to represent your business and stick with that throughout your site.

Remember that knowledge is key to developing good Online marketing strategies. Hopefully this article has given you new insights and ideas about how to improve your web marketing strategies. Integrate the tips in this article and watch your internet marketing campaigns take off and your profits continue to grow.

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Source: http://coreyotten.com/take-advantage-of-web-marketing-with-these-tips.html

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Twinkies again by spring? It could happen

19 hrs.

Martha C. White , NBC News

It?s not even Christmas, but Twinkies fans may be able to start looking forward to an Easter present.

Bankrupt Hostess Brands has received a number of bids from companies interested in buying the maker of Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Wonder bread, including retail heavyweights such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co, Bloomberg News reported Friday, quoting an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

The person asked not to be named because of the confidentiality of the bidding process, Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg reported that around two dozen possible buyers had emerged, including Wal-Mart , Kroger ?Mexican bakery giant Grupo Bimbo SAB and Alpha Baking Company.?

Wal-Mart, Kroger and Grupo Bimbo declined to comment ; Alpha did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.?

?Hostess does possess several iconic American brands,? said Erin Lash,?an equity analyst at Morningstar. Despite concerns about obesity, the snack business is fast-growing, she said. ?We?re not surprised there?s interest in those brands.?

Anthony Michael Sabino, a bankruptcy attorney and a professor at St. John's University, said bankruptcy judge Robert Drain was motivated to move quickly. Bidding will likely take place by early January, since the assets ? if not the treats themselves ? could become stale.?

?I think this will move a at a fairly decent pace. He knows what?s at stake here.?

?You could very well see the sale closing by Valentine?s Day or early March,? he said. ?There?s a very good chance that, by Easter, there are going to be Twinkies on the shelves again.?

Bloomberg said the liquidation sale could yield up to $1 billion. Sabino said it was more likely that the company would be broken up and purchased by more than one buyer, with the snack cakes viewed as the most valuable division. Besides Twinkies, Ho Hos and Wonder bread,?Hostess made its eponymous cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Sno Balls and the Drake?s line of snack cakes.

It?s too early to tell which bidder will end up as the new owner of the Twinkie. Wal-Mart, in the middle of its busiest quarter, has the advantage from a cash-flow standpoint, Sabino said. ?In terms of ability to crank out the best offer, that might be Kraft or Grupo Bimbo.?

Lash said Kraft didn?t seem to be a likely buyer, though. ?Kraft has been more focused on divestitures,? she said. She also said two other companies speculated to be potential bidders, the Campbell Soup Company and Kellogg?s, were still digesting recent acquisitions and unlikely to add another so soon.?

Hostess shut down its operations last month, laying off most of its 18,500 workers, after failing to come to an agreement with its bakers? union as it tried to emerge from its second bankruptcy in a decade.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/twinkies-again-spring-it-could-happen-1C7615012

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Urban Radish Market Now Under Construction in Arts District -- Grub ...

Urban RadishPhoto: Creative Space

A new warehouse-sized space named Urban Radish is now under construction in Downtown, intended as The Arts District's premier specialty foods market. The 8,200-square foot space is overtaking the former glass factory on Matteo Street by the firm Linear City (responsible for the Biscuit Lofts and Toy Factory lofts), designed by Creative Space as a farm, ranch, and artisan-supplied grocery for Downtowners' meat, seafood, and produce needs. The building, recognizable to passersby by Peter Roa's massive chipmunk murals on its metal flanks, is being kept mostly intact, with coming additions like an outdoor seating section for meals made on site and an landscaped exterior of native plants to provide shade to the interior.

Urban Radish's entranceLinear City

Geared for the Tesla Motors set seething green with Whole Foods envy, the parking lot will feature one of the country's largest electric car stations, while a preview of products includes California Olive Ranch's oils, Creminelli's cured meats in a deli section, and gourmet pet foods. Urban Radish plans to open in March 2013.

Urban Radish, 660 Mateo St. Downtown.

Source: http://losangeles.grubstreet.com/2012/12/urban-radish-market-downtown.html

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Shopular?s New App Alerts You To Nearby Deals, No Coupon Clipping Required

Shopular, a mobile shopping startup coming out of Y Combinator's Winter 2012 batch, is today formally launching its smart couponing application on both iOS and Android. Founded by two former Shopkick engineers, Shopular soft-launched its app a few weeks ago, but with today's update, it now offers national coverage at retailers and malls across the U.S.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/r1zlflMvaxc/

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U.S. agency gives RIM another shot, tests new BlackBerry

TORONTO (Reuters) - A U.S. federal agency that recently ditched Research In Motion's BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone confirmed on Thursday it will trial RIM's new BB10 smartphones, fueling a fresh spurt in the Canadian company's share price ahead of the launch of the new devices.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will early next year begin a pilot program to test the new devices and RIM's software that will allow it to manage mobile devices on its network, RIM told Reuters late on Wednesday.

The news sent the shares up more than 5 percent on Thursday afternoon. It came a day after RIM's shares rallied to their highest close in seven months as the make-or-break BB10 line appears to be gaining some traction with RIM's bread-and-butter customers in the weeks before its January 30 launch.

RIM, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, has lost market share in recent years to Apple's iPhone and devices powered by Google's market-leading Android operating system even among the business audience who once used BlackBerry devices almost exclusively.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM aims to persuade both corporations and government users to stick with its smartphones, long valued for their strong security features. It promises the new line, powered by the BlackBerry 10 operating system, will perform more smoothly and with more speed than previous BlackBerry phones.

RIM's success though may well depend on the response from enterprise customers, many of whom have recently begun to flee to rival platforms.

ICE is one such example. The agency in October announced plans to end a long relationship with RIM, saying that its now aging line-up of BlackBerry devices could "no longer meet the mobile technology needs of the agency." At the time, ICE said it would buy iPhones for about 17,600 employees.

A spokeswoman for the agency said on Thursday ICE is not backing away from either Apple or RIM.

"Given the nature of a rapidly evolving marketplace for mobile computing and the rising expectations of our users ... the pilot with RIM is a prudent technology management practice," said Barbara Gonzalez, the agency's press secretary.

Gonzalez said the agency is developing mobile applications for law enforcement and it is looking into how BlackBerry 10 may be able to provide mobility solutions in the future.

"ICE and RIM have had a long and good relationship, and we plan to continue that relationship," she said.

SECURITY ADVANTAGE

Last month, RIM said it had won a much-coveted U.S. government security clearance for its BlackBerry 10 devices and its new enterprise management platform.

The company said it was the first time a BlackBerry product had won Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification ahead of launch.

The certification, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is one of the minimum criteria for products used by U.S. government agencies and other regulated industries that store, transfer, share and disseminate sensitive information.

The stamp of approval gives many of RIM's security-conscious enterprise clients confidence that data on smartphones running BlackBerry 10 can be properly secured and encrypted.

RIM, which has begun beta testing BES 10 with a handful of its key enterprise customers, said ICE will be one of the first government organizations to pilot the BlackBerry 10 devices.

SHARES SURGE

RIM shares rose 80 cents to $14.11 in midday trading on the Nasdaq, while its Toronto-listed shares rose 76 Canadian cents to C$13.90.

A day earlier RIM shares rallied after Eric Jackson - a long-time bear on RIM's stock - penned an opinion piece on his now bullish stance on the company.

In his article, published on Wednesday on the TheStreet.com, Jackson contends that RIM's new BlackBerry 10 devices have much better odds of success than Palm's Pre device, which failed to capture a following despite positive reviews on the device and its operating system.

Jackson, who had a short position in RIM's stock for an extended period - betting that it would drop - said the positive sentiment building in RIM's stock ahead of the BB10 launch is unlikely to dissipate in a hurry. He said a large portion of RIM's 80 million subscribers are likely to upgrade to when the new devices are launched. Jackson said he now has a long position in RIM.

Shares of RIM rose 5.6 percent to close at $13.31 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday - their highest close since May 1. Its Toronto-listed shares rose 5.8 percent to close at C$13.14.

The stock has more than doubled in price since September 24, when RIM's shares were trading slightly above the $6 level.

(Editing by Dan Grebler, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-federal-agency-test-rims-blackberry-10-051750117--finance.html

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Talks on Internet treaty fail as US bloc won't sign

16 hrs.

Matt Smith and Joseph Menn , Reuters

DUBAI/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An attempt by national governments to establish a worldwide policy for oversight of the Internet collapsed on Thursday after many Western countries said a compromise plan gave too much power to United Nations and other officials.

Delegates from the United States, UK, Australia and other countries took the floor on the next to last day of a UN conference in Dubai to reject revisions to a treaty governing international phone calls and data traffic.

"It's with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that the U.S. must communicate that it's not able to sign the agreement in the current form," said Terry Kramer, the U.S. ambassador to the gathering of the UN's International Telecommunication Union.

While other countries will sign the treaty on Friday, the absence of so many of the largest economies means that the document, already watered down to suit much of the West, will have little practical force. "It will bring some legal concerns between countries that have and haven't signed the treaty," said a South American delegate who declined to be identified.

Though technologists who had raised alarms about the proceedings preferred no deal to one that would have legitimized more government censorship and surveillance, the failure to reach an accord could increase the chance that the Internet will work very differently in different regions.

"Maybe in the future we could come to a fragmented Internet," delegate Andrey Mukhanov, a top international official at Russia's Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, told Reuters. "That would be negative for all, and I hope our American, European colleagues come to a constructive position."

Delegates from the United States and other holdout countries said they would continue to press at other international gatherings in support of what they call a "multi-stakeholder model," in which private industry groups set standards and play a large role in the development of the medium.

Countries that had been seeking an expansion of the ITU role reacted with some bitterness to the failure to reach a consensus.

Tariq al-Awadhi of the United Arab Emirates, head of the Arab States' delegation, said his group had been "double-crossed" by the U.S. bloc after it had agreed to a compromise deal that moved Internet issues out of the main treaty and into a nonbinding resolution saying the ITU should be part of the multi-stakeholder model.

"Unfortunately, those countries breached the compromise package and destroyed it totally," said Awadhi. "We have given everything and are not getting anything."

Awadhi said the treaty should have covered all forms of telecommunications, including voice over Internet protocol and Internet-based instant messaging services. "They are using telecom network and using telecom services," he said.

Kramer told reporters that the United States had negotiated in good faith but that there were several issues that made agreement impossible, including the resolution's recognition of an ITU role.

He said a section on reducing the unwanted emails known as spam, for example, opened the door toward government monitoring and blocking of political or religious messages.

One of the last major sources of U.S. objection, a clause that might have given countries the right to administer website addresses, was struck from the treaty during attempts to salvage the deal.

The turnabout was a defeat for ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Tour?, who had previously predicted that "light-touch" Internet regulation would emerge from the conference.

But he said the 12-day meeting "has succeeded in bringing unprecedented public attention to the different and important perspectives that govern global communications."

Among the countries that said they could not sign, at least without consulting officials in their capitals, were most nations in Western Europe along with Canada, Philippines, Poland, Egypt, Kenya and Czech Republic.

The U.S. bloc's coordinated snub followed a vote that approved an African proposal to add a sentence in a treaty relating to human rights.

Western delegates said that effectively reintroduced a contentious proposal that had said no country should be allowed to unilaterally deny another country access to communications networks, which they said stretched too far into the political realm.

"We prefer no resolution on the Internet at all, and I'm extremely concerned that the language just adopted opens the possibility of Internet and content issues," Simon Towler, head of the UK delegation, said after the African proposal was passed.

The treaty is scheduled to be signed at 1330 GMT on Friday.

(Reporting by Matt Smith in Dubai and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Editing by Leila Abboud, Nick Zieminski, Leslie Adler and Phil Berlowitz)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/talks-internet-treaty-fail-us-bloc-wont-sign-1C7602597

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Don't Go It Alone-Tips For Effective Internet Marketing

Online marketing is very important for online businesses. The need to successfully promote your website online has risen. Now is the time more than ever to get your business done. This article will give you help on how you should begin Web marketing.

Internet marketing is both the same and drastically different than other areas. One example is search engines might stop using title tags in their algorithms. If things get changed up, you should be willing to change your approach as well, like putting an effort into marketing via videos.

Copying others will get you nowhere in marketing. Not only is unique content more effective with site visitors, but it also ranks better in search results. You need to know how to innovate.

TIP! Your Internet marketing efforts do not only have to be done on the Internet. For instance, you may want to host in-person gatherings or conferences for bloggers with whom you regularly interact.

Provide incentives for referrals. One sale can easily be turned into many by the referral process when you give your customers good incentives. People love free gifts, and this can increase sales!

If a customer has a complaint handle it yourself. Even though you may want to consider hiring another firm to deal with these types of situations, you should instead handle these things by yourself because you are likely to achieve better results. You should personally reply to any emails from people that are unhappy.

Always keep an eye on exactly what kind of content you are giving your customers when you use the internet to promote your business. Individualize your content, and make it relevant. You want people who visit your site to learn something about your business and you also want to make sure that you keep the information updated regularly.

TIP! When you send out correspondence to members of your mailing list, be sure to personalize it. A colorless, bland email is easy for a customer to ignore and delete.

Complement your online marketing campaign with direct marketing techniques. Contact customers by fax, phone, or email and tell them about your specials and services. You can gather tons of information that you require by looking at phone books and online phone books.

Make a public relations site for your company as an Online marketing strategy. It would contain all current events, news and information about your business and industry. It is a simple, yet very effective, strategy to generate more publicity for your business.

TIP! Making sure to include captions in your images is a great tip to employ. Search engines always look at the text surrounding a picture to see if the image is relevant to what the person is searching for.

Affiliate marketing thrives on capitalizing on advancement in modern technology. If you fall behind the technology, your clients may doubt your abilities. Show them that you stay current with it, and they will respect your products and decisions.

It is essential that you find the right places to advertise your business online. For instance, if you?re trying to sell electronics, the Amish crowd isn?t going to be your primary target. People will look for what they need in areas that offer exactly what it is that they are looking for. Be sure to market according to what your niche is, unless you have two different niches.

Try getting interviews with knowledgeable people in the industry. Before you publish anything, be certain of getting permission. You don?t want to suffer legal problems. Following this, have the interviews transcribed to become articles, which you can submit to online article directories. This will help drive traffic and sales to your site as well as boost your credibility.

TIP! You need to decide which target audience your are searching for, and what information you will need to bring them to your page. Knowing your target audience will help you located or create content that will be attractive to it.

By now you should understand the importance of Internet promotion. With so many possible approaches, it will be easy to find on to suit your needs. There is also a lot of information about getting started on the road to success. If you implement this advice, you can begin your journey to success as an Internet marketer.

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Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/dont-go-it-alone-tips-for-effective-internet-marketing

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New NIST document offers guidance in cryptographic key generation

Public release date: 13-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Chad Boutin
boutin@nist.gov
301-975-4261
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Protecting sensitive electronic information in different situations requires different types of cryptographic algorithms, but ultimately they all depend on keys, the cryptographic equivalent of a password. A new publication* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aims to help people secure their data with good keys no matter which algorithm they choose.

NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-133 offers guidance on generating the cryptographic keys that are needed to employ algorithms that provide confidentiality and integrity protection for data. Even if adversaries know what algorithm is used, they cannot gain access to the data unless they also have the proper key. SP 800-133 will be helpful to anyone who needs the specifics on how to generate these keys successfully, whether for secure data transmission or storage of sensitive information, to give two examples of their use.

SP 800-133 is primarily a high-level document that refers readers to other documents that contain details on generating the various types of keys. However, it does offer specific details for one type of key generation: the keys used in symmetric-key algorithms, in which the same key is used, for example, to both encrypt and decrypt data. Symmetric-key algorithms operate quickly, and the keys must be kept secret. These algorithms are used to protect sensitive information, including other keys, for which the algorithm is iterated as many times as needed to protect the information.

Another type of algorithman asymmetric-key algorithmuses two keys: a public key that may be known by anyone, and a private key that is known by only one party and must be kept secret. Asymmetric-key algorithms are generally slower than symmetric-key algorithms and are used in cases where only a single operation of the algorithm is required, such as the generation of a digital signature or the encryption of a key to be used later with a symmetric-key algorithm. Details on the generation of keys for asymmetric-key algorithms are not offered in SP 800-133, but the document references others containing the key generation specifications.

###

The publication is part of a group of documents concerning cryptographic key management, namely SP 800-57 (parts one, two and three), SP 800-130, SP 800-152, and the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 186 Digital Signature Standard.

Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-133/sp800_133.pdf.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 13-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Chad Boutin
boutin@nist.gov
301-975-4261
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Protecting sensitive electronic information in different situations requires different types of cryptographic algorithms, but ultimately they all depend on keys, the cryptographic equivalent of a password. A new publication* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aims to help people secure their data with good keys no matter which algorithm they choose.

NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-133 offers guidance on generating the cryptographic keys that are needed to employ algorithms that provide confidentiality and integrity protection for data. Even if adversaries know what algorithm is used, they cannot gain access to the data unless they also have the proper key. SP 800-133 will be helpful to anyone who needs the specifics on how to generate these keys successfully, whether for secure data transmission or storage of sensitive information, to give two examples of their use.

SP 800-133 is primarily a high-level document that refers readers to other documents that contain details on generating the various types of keys. However, it does offer specific details for one type of key generation: the keys used in symmetric-key algorithms, in which the same key is used, for example, to both encrypt and decrypt data. Symmetric-key algorithms operate quickly, and the keys must be kept secret. These algorithms are used to protect sensitive information, including other keys, for which the algorithm is iterated as many times as needed to protect the information.

Another type of algorithman asymmetric-key algorithmuses two keys: a public key that may be known by anyone, and a private key that is known by only one party and must be kept secret. Asymmetric-key algorithms are generally slower than symmetric-key algorithms and are used in cases where only a single operation of the algorithm is required, such as the generation of a digital signature or the encryption of a key to be used later with a symmetric-key algorithm. Details on the generation of keys for asymmetric-key algorithms are not offered in SP 800-133, but the document references others containing the key generation specifications.

###

The publication is part of a group of documents concerning cryptographic key management, namely SP 800-57 (parts one, two and three), SP 800-130, SP 800-152, and the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 186 Digital Signature Standard.

Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-133/sp800_133.pdf.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/nios-nnd121312.php

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"Adults and Three-Years-Olds Are Very Similar, in that as Soon as We Have to Do Something, We Start to Resent It."

Rarely do we like doing anything we have to, but we tell ourselves it's a necessary part of daily life. That's the difference between adults and children when it comes to unwanted tasks. But as Tim Ferris points out, the kids may make the smarter choices:

If you wake up on Saturday morning and go surfing to decompress for the week, that is different from having to wake up at six every morning Monday to Friday and take investment bankers out to surf. One is elective and one is mandatory. Adults and three-years-olds are very similar, in that as soon as we have to do something, we start to resent it. For instance with me, I don't like to do a lot of speaking engagements like a lot of authors do. I just find it really boring. I now only do two types: it's either top price or free. If you realize that income is intended to ultimately improve your quality of life in some fashion, then it makes it easier to forgo some the fleeting, high-maintenance opportunities.

Basically, Tim suggests you ought to do what offers the most reward?be it money or personal satisfaction. You may not be able to turn down the things you'll end up resenting every single time, but if you focus on the opportunities that offer more to you in one way or the other you'll at least minimize the bad stuff.

Tim Ferriss: On The Creative Process And Getting Your Work Noticed | The 99u

Photo by Poznyakov (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/8bAThYpFphk/adults-and-three+years+olds-are-very-similar-in-that-as-soon-as-we-have-to-do-something-we-start-to-resent-it

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The Brightest Distro Stars of 2012

Well the year is rapidly drawing to a close, so naturally it's time for the requisite stream of "looking back at 2012" and "looking ahead at 2013" story headlines on the news wires. The Linux blogosphere, needless to say, is no exception. Case in point: "Best Distro 2012" was the topic of a TuxRadar poll under way earlier this month, and now the results are in.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/2690e4ac/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C768390Bhtml/story01.htm

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Verizon Offering $5 Shared 4G Plan for Samsung Galaxy Camera

Imagine the powerful Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, except that it can't make phone calls and its backplate has been replaced by a digital camera -- handgrip, zoom lens, and all. That's basically the Samsung Galaxy Camera in a nutshell, and whether it's a small, awkwardly-shaped Android tablet or a digital camera that you can play Modern Combat 3 on depends on how you look at it.

When the Galaxy Camera launched last month, it was only available in white, and cost $499 on AT&T's network with a month-to-month data plan. But on Dec. 13, it launches on Verizon's network, in both white and black. The Verizon Galaxy Camera costs $50 more up front, but in return it has 4G LTE instead of HSPA+, and Verizon is offering a "promotional price" for the monthly charge: Only $5 to add it to a Share Everything plan, instead of the usual $10 tablet rate.

A 4G digital camera

While it's capable of functioning as an Android tablet (or game machine), the biggest reason for the Samsung Galaxy Camera's 4G wireless Internet is so it can automatically upload photos it takes. Apps such as Dropbox, Photobucket, and Ubuntu One offer a limited amount of online storage space for free, where the Galaxy Camera can save photos without anyone needing to tell it to. Those photos can then be accessed at home, or on a tablet or laptop.

Most smartphones are able to do this already, but few (with the possible exception of the Windows Phone powered Nokia Lumia 920) are able to take photos as high-quality as the Galaxy Camera's.

Not as good of a deal as it sounds

Dropbox is offering two years' worth of 50 GB of free online storage space for photos and videos, to anyone who buys a Samsung Galaxy Camera from AT&T or Verizon. (The regular free plan is only 2 GB.)

The problem is, you may need that much space. The photos taken by the Galaxy Camera's 16 megapixel sensor take up a lot more space, at maximum resolution, than ordinary smartphone snapshots do. Those camera uploads can eat through a shared data plan, and with Verizon charging a $15 per GB overage fee (plus the $50 extra up-front on top of what AT&T charges) it may make up for the cheaper monthly cost.

On top of that, the Galaxy Camera's photos are basically on par with a $199 digital camera's -- you pay a large premium to combine that kind of point-and-shoot with the hardware equivalent of a high-end smartphone.

It does run Android, though, right?

The Galaxy Camera uses Samsung's custom software for its camera app, and lacks a normal phone dialer app. Beyond that, though, it runs the same Android operating system found on smartphones, and can run all the same games and apps.

Some apps don't work the same on the Galaxy Camera as they do on a smartphone, however. Apps which only run in portrait mode, for instance, require you to hold the camera sideways to use them (especially unpleasant when they're camera apps). And while it can make voice and even video calls over Skype, it lacks a rear-facing camera or the kind of speaker you hold up close to your ear. So you may end up making speakerphone calls and filming the palm of your hand.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/verizon-offering-5-shared-4g-plan-samsung-galaxy-163500605.html

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wlbt breaking news: Eye Tests Made Simple ? Health and Fitness

When is the most suitable time to have your glasses or lenses modified? We often never focus on our curative glasses or lenses we are wearing. Actually we want to check our eyes frequently every year or at the very least as soon as we feel inconvenient with our contemporary glasses or contact lenses.

Eye Vision Testcan be done by your physician or optometrist to determine whether you want a less or more correcting glasses or lenses. New prescribed glasses or lenses will be made according to your test result.

Generally the doctor will do easy test to examine your eyes as follow:

1. Retinoscopy. It is usually the first eye exam that doctor will give you to make approximation of your prescription.

2. Refraction. In this test, doctor will be in a position to identify your precise prescription by using phoropter in front of your eyes and shows you series of lenses decisions. Here you will find the right combination of lenses which may make you see clearly.

3. Autorefractors and aberrometers. With this test, your doctor can instantly define your prescription. Your chin need to rest stable on both devises while you look at an identify of light or other image.

4. Cover test. This is the most straightforward and the most common test among the others to establish how your eyes work together.

5. Slit-lamp examination. It's also called a biomicroscope which will grant the doctor to gain magnified picture of the structures of the eyes so as to totally evaluates them for the sign of disease of infection,

6. Glaucoma test.

7. Visual field testing.

8. Dilation.

Eye Vision Testcan essentially be simple to do as everything you need is generally available on the internet at this time. There are many sorts of eye tests which can on occasion be found online since they are basically have been introduced long time ago. You must pick one of them which is suitable according to your eyes problem. Here are some of the tests:

• Eye test chart ? This is a very simple optometrist?s chart you'll be able to find online. Any difference in the vision of both of your eyes can be examined by using this test.
• Eye vision test
• Snellen eye test
• Alzheimer?s eye test

Snellen and Alzheimer?s eye tests are conducted to diagnose if there is specific problem related to your visual acuity. Eyes are crucial for humans, that is why you have got to look after them properly. After you feel something weird to your vision, take a quick eye test either online or by making appointment with your optometrist. With the advance technology there's nothing not possible to get a solution.

If you're troubled at all then contact your local optician in Leeds.

Julian Berson Opticians provide their patients with elevated levels of buyer care and service that is simply not found in the high st today, offering designer yet reasonable prescription glasses in an immaculate practice in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

For more information about our services, please drop by our site with this link:

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Tags: eye test, eye tests, sigh test, sight tests

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2012 at 7:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Source: http://healthandfitness.russiacourse.com/uncategorized/eye-tests-made-simple/

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Source: http://wlbt-breaking-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/eye-tests-made-simple-health-and-fitness.html

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12-12-12: Most Superstitious Day Ever!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/12-12-12-most-superstitious-day-ever/

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Obama, Boehner hold "frank" meeting amid "fiscal cliff" frustration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner held a "frank" face-to-face meeting on Thursday in an effort to break an impasse in talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" of steep tax increases and spending cuts.

With an end-of-year deadline looming, the two leaders talked at the White House as frustration mounted over the recent lack of progress in negotiations that had become bogged down in a daily round of finger-pointing.

Aides on both sides used similar language to describe the 50-minute meeting, calling it "frank" and repeating that lines of communication remained open.

The meeting, also attended by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was announced after frustration broke out on both sides at a lack of progress and U.S. stocks turned negative due to fears the economy could dip into recession again if politicians fail to break the gridlock in Washington.

At times raising his voice, Boehner criticized Obama earlier in the day for putting jobs and the economic recovery at risk by insisting on raising tax rates for the wealthiest 2 percent.

White House spokesman Jay Carney responded by reaffirming Obama's commitment to raising the top rates and complaining there had been no movement from Republicans on that crucial topic.

"What we have not seen from the Republicans is any movement at all on the fundamental issue," Carney told reporters. "Republicans need to accept the fact that rates will go up on the top 2 percent."

In an interview with a Minnesota CBS television affiliate, Obama said he was hopeful of getting a deal and willing to make more spending cuts as long as revenue from higher tax rates for the rich was part of the deal.

"I'm willing to do a lot more cuts in spending. We also need to pair it up with a little more revenue," he told WCCO television.

At a meeting earlier on Thursday, Obama's top economic adviser, Gene Sperling, delivered a downbeat message to Democratic senators about the status of the fiscal cliff talks.

A Democratic aide described the presentation as "bleak," saying Sperling told the group of senators that "we don't have anywhere to go until Republicans move on (income tax) rates."

Republicans offered similar gloom. "Based on the White House's current approach, it looks like we're in for a protracted conflict until the snow melts," Illinois Representative Peter Roskam said in an interview. "They (the White House) are pushing us over the cliff," said Roskam, a member of Boehner's leadership team.

RECESSION FEARS

Economists say failure to reach an agreement before January 1 could push the country back into recession. The main hurdle is the expiring tax cuts, which Obama wants extended for all but the rich and Boehner wants extended for everyone.

But with positions seeming to harden, both sides also emphasized their differences on Obama's request for permanent authority to increase U.S. borrowing as part of a fiscal-cliff agreement and on Republican calls for an increase in the eligibility age for recipients of the Medicare healthcare program.

At a news conference, Boehner occasionally raised his voice in criticism of Obama's bottom-line insistence on raising tax rates on the rich.

"Raising tax rates will hurt small businesses at a time when we're expecting small businesses to be the engine of job creation in America," said Boehner, who used a chart to illustrate his point that curbing spending increases was the key to deficit reduction.

If Obama persisted on a path of higher spending and higher taxes, he said, "this chart is going to look a lot worse."

Afterward, his spokesman said Boehner would return to his home state of Ohio on Friday for the weekend, but was available if there were more talks. "Ohio has both cell phone service and airports," spokesman Michael Steel said. "It won't be a problem."

A seven-day rally in world shares came to a halt and commodity prices slipped on Thursday after negotiations over the fiscal cliff appeared to stall.

Today there's a certain sense that both sides are still apart," said Gordon Charlop, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York, describing trading as "tweaking" while investors watch Washington's back-and-forth drama.

While Republicans fumed, Obama planned to continue his public-relations offensive with a round of interviews with anchors from local television stations. He was interviewed by ABC's Barbara Walters two days ago.

A flurry of new polls showed strong support for Obama's position. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC survey, three-quarters of Americans said they would accept raising taxes on the wealthy to avoid the cliff. Even among Republicans, some 61 percent said they would accept tax increases on high earners.

'REALITY SHOULD SET IN'

A Pew Research Center poll showed Obama's approval rating rising and 55 percent saying he was making a serious effort to engage in the fiscal talks, while just 32 percent said Republicans were serious about a deal.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, citing the polls, said Boehner "can't ignore the people forever" on the tax issue. "At some point, reality should set in," he told reporters.

The polls have put Republicans in a difficult negotiating position, and pressure has grown on Boehner in recent weeks from the right and left. Some Republicans have expressed a willingness to give in on higher tax rates in exchange for deeper spending cuts, while conservatives have demanded that Boehner stand firm.

"I'm not concerned about my job as speaker," Boehner, who faces re-election to the leadership post in January, told reporters.

Boehner also dismissed any notion that Republicans would agree to giving Obama more authority on the debt ceiling.

"Congress is never going to give up our ability to control the purse," Boehner said. "The debt limit ought to be used to bring fiscal sanity to Washington."

A group of 72 House Democrats urged Obama to reject Republican calls to raise the Medicare eligibility age.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, told reporters he was told by the White House that raising the eligibility age for qualifying for Medicare benefits was not in the mix anymore.

He said that raising the eligibility age "creates some serious issues for a lot of people who may be caught in the gap between retirement and eligibility. Where are they going to get health insurance? Many of them are sick people."

(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon and Rachelle Younglai; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-boehner-hold-frank-meeting-amid-fiscal-cliff-003405700--business.html

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Was life inevitable? Piecing together metabolism's beginnings

Dec. 12, 2012 ? Describing how living organisms emerged from Earth's abiotic chemistry has remained a conundrum for scientists, in part because any credible explanation for such a complex process must draw from fields spanning the reaches of science.

A new synthesis by two Santa Fe Institute researchers offers a coherent picture of how metabolism, and thus all life, arose. The study, published December 12, 2012, in the journal Physical Biology, offers new insights into how the complex chemistry of metabolism cobbled itself together, the likelihood of life emerging and evolving as it did on Earth, and the chances of finding life elsewhere.

"We're trying to bring knowledge across disciplines into a unified whole that fits the essentials of metabolism development," says co-author Eric Smith, a Santa Fe Institute External Professor.

Creating life from scratch requires two abilities: fixing carbon and making more of yourself. The first, essentially hitching carbon atoms together to make living matter, is a remarkably difficult feat. Carbon dioxide (CO₂), of which Earth has plenty, is a stable molecule; the bonds are tough to break, and a chemical system can only turn carbon into biologically useful compounds by way of some wildly unstable in-between stages.

As hard as it is to do, fixing carbon is necessary for life. A carbon molecule's ability to bond stably with up to four atoms makes it phenomenally versatile, and its abundance makes it suitable as a backbone for trillions of compounds. Once an organized chemical system can harness and manipulate carbon, it can expand and innovate in countless ways.

In other words, carbon fixation is the centerpiece of metabolism -- the basic process by which cells take in chemicals from their environments and build them into products they need to live. It's also the link between the geochemistry of Earth and the biochemistry of life.

In a paper earlier this year, Smith and Santa Fe Institute Omidyar Fellow Rogier Braakman mapped the most primitive forms of carbon fixation onto major, early branching points in the tree of life (PLoS Computational Biology, April 18, 2012). Now, the two researchers have drawn from geochemistry, biochemistry, evolution, and ecology to detail the likeliest means by which molecules lurched their way from rocks to cells.

Their 62-page "Logic of Metabolism" paper presents a new, coherent picture of how this complex system fits together.

What started as wonky geochemical mechanisms were sequentially replaced and fortified by biological ones, the authors believe. "Think of life like an onion emerging in layers, where each layer functions as a feedback mechanism that stabilizes and improves the ability to fix carbon," says Braakman.

Carbon fixing and other chemical sub-processes that together constitute metabolism each comprise dozens of steps; some are quick and easy turnkey reactions with simple molecules, others require highly specific chemical helpers, or catalysts.

The parts of metabolism that guide carbon fixation through its unstable intermediate stages fall into the latter category, requiring help. But these seemingly unlikely reactions are remarkably consistent across all living systems. In fact, says Braakman, their ubiquity and the difficulty with which they are forged make them the chemical constraints within which all living systems operate -- in a sense, the scaffolding for the tree of life.

It's these dependable regularities of hierarchy and modularity, amid the panoply of reactions comprising metabolism, that stabilize the system and enable its complexity.

Braakman and Smith describe specific features of metabolism and sub-divide helper metabolites by their functions. For example, vitamin B9, a complex molecule in the 'cofactor' class, facilitates the (otherwise unstable) incorporation of one-carbon compounds into metabolism.

In mapping the chemical pathways to life's emergence, the researchers touch on a more existential question: How likely was it for life to have developed at all? Extraordinarily so, says Braakman. "Metabolism appears to be an 'attractor state' within organic chemistry, where it was likely to be selected regardless of earlier stages of chemical evolution" in the chaotic, high-energy conditions of prebiotic Earth, he says.

Can it happen elsewhere? Possibly, even probably, he says. Rocky planets usually have cores chemically similar to ours, so if a planet is volcanically (and perhaps tectonically) active and has an ocean, it will probably have hydrothermal vents that spew chemicals, creating the potential conditions for life, Braakman says. In fact, the physics of star and planet formation make the chances of such conditions pretty reasonable.

Smith cautions, however, that we still have much to learn about the chemical and physical conditions that might lead to life-like organization, but he hopes their paper will at least "lead to experimental questions that focus more directly on the key functions that link metabolism to geochemistry."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Santa Fe Institute.

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

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Journal References:

1. Rogier Braakman, Eric Smith. The compositional and evolutionary logic of metabolism. Physical Biology, 2013; 10 (1): 011001 DOI: 10.1088/1478-3975/10/1/011001
2. Rogier Braakman, Eric Smith. The Emergence and Early Evolution of Biological Carbon-Fixation. PLoS Computational Biology, 2012; 8 (4): e1002455 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002455

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_science/~3/T2qcl1klVX4/121212130709.htm

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U.N. launches review of Congo force with battered reputation

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday it had launched a comprehensive review of its Congo peacekeeping mission, which suffered a severe blow to its image last month after it stood aside and let rebels seize control of a major eastern city.

But U.N. Security Council diplomats and officials said any changes in the U.N.'s largest peacekeeping force would matter little if authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not improve their own army, and neighboring Rwanda and Uganda continued to finance, equip and train rebel groups in mineral-rich eastern Congo.

U.N. officials have defended the U.N. Congo force, MONUSCO, for not preventing the well-equipped M23 rebels from taking the eastern city of Goma last month.

They said any attempt to have done so would have put Goma's civilian population at risk. But they are painfully aware of the damage to the image of the mission, which U.N. officials say has been quite effective over the years, in Congo and across Africa.

"MONUSCO's reputation has been severely damaged in the DRC and the region," a U.N. diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "The U.N. is looking closely at MONUSCO now to consider whether there can be changes."

U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer said the United Nations was launching a comprehensive assessment of MONUSCO, and diplomats said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would present the results to the Security Council early next year.

"The United Nations is starting a strategic review of the organization's engagement in the DRC, including MONUSCO's configuration," Dwyer said. "Our objective is to determine how we can better assist the Congolese people to avoid the recurring cycles of violence in the East."

He said that the United Nations would be looking at the idea of an "international neutral force" to be deployed along the border with Rwanda. That proposal has been discussed within the African Union and regional African organizations.

Diplomats said that if the Security Council backed Ban's recommendations for changes in the structure and mandate of the more than 20,000-strong MONUSCO force, the 15-nation council might travel to the region to marshal support for the proposals.

One idea U.N. officials are considering is the creation of an "enforcement wing" of MONUSCO, that would take a more robust approach to dealing with insurgents in eastern Congo, U.N. diplomats and officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"The idea would be to create a wing of MONUSCO that would do more than simply support the FARDC (Congolese army) but could take on more difficult battlefield tasks," an envoy said.

Details are sketchy, since the review has just begun. But the idea is that the enforcement wing and the international neutral force could deploy along the Rwandan border, possibly with a separate, beefed-up mandate from the rest of MONUSCO, though they would all be part of the same overall mission.

Diplomats said the idea would have to be approved by troop-contributing countries and the Security Council.

'LET DOWN BY MONUSCO'

A U.N. panel of experts has said M23 rebels are getting money, sophisticated equipment, training and reinforcements from Rwanda, as well as some additional support from Uganda. Analysts, diplomats and U.N. officials say Rwanda and Uganda have been interfering in eastern Congo for many years.

Rwanda and Uganda deny the charges.

Local residents were deeply disappointed when MONUSCO did nothing to stop M23 rebels led by Bosco Ntaganda, a renegade general known as the "terminator" who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, from seizing Goma. Amid international outrage, the rebels left Goma after 11 days.

"We feel so let down by MONUSCO," Constant, an unemployed electrician in Goma, told Reuters. "When MONUSCO says they are capable of protecting the people, it is false. They protect their own interests. They are not capable of guaranteeing our security."

"When M23 entered Goma they just stood by," he added. "Many here in this town oppose MONUSCO's presence."

Tariq Riebl, Oxfam's humanitarian coordinator in Congo, said "MONUSCO's performance has fallen way short of what anyone would expect, particularly over the past few months."

"Their presence is not preventing militias from operating in eastern Congo, and they don't seem able to protect civilians from daily atrocities taking place across eastern DRC. In a recent Oxfam survey in three provinces, some people told us MONUSCO had a lower approval rating than the government army."

It is not the first time Goma residents have felt let down by blue-helmeted U.N. troops. In 2008, the Security Council increased the size the peacekeeping force by 3,000 troops to help Congo's weak army confront Tutsi rebels in eastern Congo.

At that time, angry displaced people and residents rioted and hurled stones at the peacekeepers, accusing them of failing to protect them from raping and pillaging Tutsi rebels led by renegade General Laurent Nkunda.

Despite recent setbacks sparked by the M23 rebellion and political instability in Congo, U.N. officials and diplomats say MONUSCO has done much good in Congo, which has seen five different peacekeeping forces over the last five decades.

John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project anti-genocide group and the Satellite Sentinel Project, told Reuters that MONUSCO was now "largely irrelevant," but could focus more attention on non-military problems.

"Its civilian component ... could be beefed up significantly," Prendergast said. "MONUSCO could do much more in exposing human rights abuses, mediating localized conflicts, supporting conflict-free mine sites, and pressing for the holding of local elections."

One problem in eastern Congo is that the army itself is in shambles. Not only is it widely seen as incapable of providing security in the region, it routinely faces accusations of rape and other atrocities.

Another problem is the weakness of President Joseph Kabila's government, which has virtually no control over eastern Congo, an area the size of France. U.N. officials have spoken of Rwanda's de facto annexation of Congo's eastern provinces.

"Kabila might want to blame all his problems on MONUSCO, but at the end of the day, it's Congo that has to accept responsibility and solve the problem," a Western diplomat said.

Another envoy echoed that view, saying it was time to "end the illusion that MONUSCO is there to prop up the government."

(Additional reporting By Richard Lough in Goma; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-launches-review-congo-force-battered-reputation-195715244.html

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