workroom antonin: June 2012

Sunday, June 24, 2012

BREAKING (talking-points-memo)

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Travel Canada: The Rock is on a roll in Newfoundland

ST. JOHN?S?These are heady days in this oft-beleaguered town. The oil industry has brought a boom. There are new condo projects downtown and restaurants serving blistered Naples-style pizzas and Japanese fusion cuisine. New shops on Water St. sell the sort of trendy goods you?d find on Queen West or Ossington.

Yet there are still those quintessential St. John?s experiences, including pubs that would make you swear you?re in Dublin, endless ocean views from steep, craggy cliffs, gaily painted ?jelly houses? and cars that screech to a stop so pedestrians can jaywalk on the busiest streets. Here?s how you can spend a great 2 days in this fabulous Canadian city.

FRIDAY

5 p.m. SIGNAL YOUR INTENTIONS

Signal Hill is just two minutes from downtown by car. But you?ll feel a world away, with sweeping vistas out to sea and back into town and ? depending on the famous fog ? down to Cape Spear.

This is where Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic message, back in 1901. If your timing is right, you might see a parks worker dressed in 19th-century military gear firing volleys to salute a departing cruise ship as it slips through the rugged narrows. There are tours and military tattoos and all sorts of events in season. pc.gc.ca

8 p.m. INVENTIVE CUISINE, SANS FOAM

Situated in an old house with small rooms, there?s plenty of traditional cuisine done up with surprising flair at Bacalao. The caribou in partridgeberry sauce is lean and tasty with perfect gnocchi and roasted vegetables. They also have fresh cod, of course. Seal flipper pie comes with red wine and spices that resemble a mince tart. The honey brown ginger cake is made with local beer and topped with scalded cream. The menu is inventive, but this is, thankfully, not nouvelle cuisine. Says owner Andrea Maunder: ?Foam belongs in cappuccino, not on a plate.? 65 Lemarchant Rd., 709-579-6565. bacalaocuisine.ca

10 p.m. GEORGE ST. HIGHJINKS

When I was there, Bridie Molloy?s featured an old-timer with long, stringy grey hair and a cool-looking guitar playing traditional Irish tunes. There?s frosted glass and warm wood and fireplaces.

O?Reilly?s has a cool balcony area and lots of live music, as well as local Yellow Belly beers.

At Kelly?s, you might get ?The Wild Rover? followed by a singalong ?Sweet Caroline.? When I was there, an old-timer got up to do a jig as his wife (I think) danced and pretended to unbutton her blouse. The young staff howled with laughter. I jokingly turned to a young woman behind the bar and asked if the old guy was her boyfriend. ?I wish,? she said. ?He?s adorable.? And that is why you should go to St. John?s. georgestreetlive.ca

SATURDAY

8 a.m. WAKE UP TIME

Top-notch coffee, fabulous baked bread and inventive sandwiches are among the fabulous treats at Rocket, a bright and cheery spot that feels like country store meets Ossington. Try the croissants with lemon curd or the cranberry chocolate almond loaf. The sitting room next door has tables and chairs painted in the same deep pastels you?ll find on the city?s nearby ?jelly houses.? For lunch, try the pulled pork sandwich with a bottle of ginger and lemon grass cordial. 272 Water St., 709-738-2011. rocketfood.ca

9 a.m. A PERFECT FISHING VILLAGE

The name of a small lake with a great walking/jogging/biking trail around it, it also refers to the tiny, quaint, fishing village on the shores of the rocky bay, which is enclosed by giant, brooding dark cliffs topped with scraggly evergreens. The Quidi Vidi Brewery draws crowds for an array of fresh beers, including an Iceberg beer and Eric?s Cream Ale. 15 Barrows St., 709-738-4040. quidividibrewery.ca

10 a.m. A TASTE OF WILD NEWFOUNDLAND

Take a leisurely drive past fine, country homes on your way out to the coast near Middle Cove Beach. Parts of the area look like southern Ontario?s rolling hills, but the scenery quickly gives way to stark cliffs and wild ocean. In late spring or early summer, small fish called capelin move in and spawn. Locals gather them up and puffins and whales come for the free picnic.

Head to Flatrock, which looks like a smaller version of Gaspe, and check out the pretty Our Lady of Lourdes grotto, with its Catholic monuments. Pope John Paul II came here in 1984. townofflatrock.com

NOON, WATER STREET WATERING HOLE

At Celtic Hearth, they?ve taken a series of old shops and converted the space into an Irish-style pub. There are elements from the shops that used to occupy the premises: old-time candies, funky hardware and cigars alongside bright red fire trucks and dolls outfitted in frilly lace. Ask for the lobster macaroni and cheese; with huge chunks of fresh seafood. Wash it down with a Quidi Vidi beer. 298-300 Water St., 709-576-2880. Part of Bridie Molloy?s, which is upstairs.

2 p.m. A LITTLE CULTURE

The Rooms is a fine place to learn about the history of this magic ? and sometimes tragic ? place. You?ll find old-time photos of guys in swim trunks on top of an iceberg or fun shots such as ?Mrs. Howell and the girls on a picnic in 1943.?

Especially touching are stories about Irish immigrants coming over on crummy boats during horrific Atlantic storms. One exhibit talks about a trip of six weeks on a ship where the mast broke on Day 3 and waves poured over the deck. ?You may be sure that there is not a saint in the calendar that was not invoked.?

There?s also cool, modern art, displays on the cod fishery and Basque whalers from Spain, plus exhibits on native Beothuk and Inuit (from Labrador).

The building is bright and airy and there are killer views of downtown and the harbour. Adult admission is $7.50, with reduced rates for students, children and seniors. 9 Bonaventure Ave., 709-757-8000. therooms.ca

5 p.m. JELLY TIME

Brilliant blue. Autumn gold. Deep cranberry. Cape Cod grey. Avocado. And colours the crayon people have never discovered. This city?s ?jelly houses? are something to behold; brilliant displays of wild, fog-repelling (okay, maybe not) paint with a ton of character. You?ll find some of the best on Gower Street. Check the former Cochrane Hotel at Cochrane and Gower. It?s said to have housed everyone from Marconi to Leon Trotsky in its day.

8 p.m. WATER STREET DINING

Bianca?s does a tremendous cod served over tender gnocchi with bacon and a spicy rose sauce with broccolini and asparagus. Also try the pork belly, which is tender and rich, or the shrimp and lobster bisque. Owner Bianca Tzanov, who came from Bulgaria, says it took a few months for Newfoundlanders to catch on to her different menu, billed on the website as regional-based but also avant garde with Mediterranean roots. 171 Water St., 709-726-9016. biancas.net

10 p.m. DUCK INTO THE DUKE

This pub on Duckworth Street is a favourite of Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo and is featured on the Republic of Doyle. The fish and chips are plentiful, with a crunchy exterior. Be aware that often in this town you?ll be offered dressing (kind of a powdery, turkey-like stuffing sprinkled on top), plus gravy. There?s homey wallpaper and stained-glass light fixtures and scarves from soccer clubs around the world. Nothing fancy but just right. 325 Duckworth, 709-739-6344. dukeofduckworth.com

SUNDAY

10 a.m. RECHARGE YOUR BATTERY

You can?t really do St. John?s without a stroll out to the Battery; the impossibly colourful (there?s that word again) collection of ramshackle homes that line the rocky entrance to the harbour. Head out Duckworth, turn right on Battery Road and look for a place to park, or just make a 10- to 15-minute walk from downtown.

There are welcome signs everywhere you go and the trail is well-marked. You?ll zag past blue, orange and pale green homes and artist studios. Finally, just before you enter the North Head Trail below Signal Hill, you?ll cross over somebody?s front deck, about a metre from their front door. One can only surmise they get dressed before picking up the morning paper. The trail can be a tad slippery but the views of the narrows, the surging surf, the boats, the gulls and abandoned military posts are tremendous.

NOON, A TASTE OF NAPLES

Piatto is an upscale Italian place on Duckworth, with the de rigeur Vespa in the window, a wood-fired pizza oven and a fun, bistro-like feel. My salumi appetizer was $14 and came with roasted, sweet peppers, prosciutto, speck and sliced salami, plus focaccia bread, a few olives, two small slices (not the good, crumbly stuff) of parmesan and two wedges of, um, brie. There was a half-ton of meat on my Sicilian pizza; spicy sausage and prosciutto and roasted peppers but the crust was a tad thick for real Neapolitan pie. 377 Duckworth, 709-726-0909. piattopizzeria.com

2 p.m. QUEST FOR ICE

There may not be icebergs this far south in July but, in May, there were still plenty out and about. The folks at Iceberg Quest will take you out for a couple of hours and show you some of nature?s most sublime sights.

If the bergs aren?t around, and some years they simply don?t appear near St. John?s, you can get close-up views of puffins or take a whale-watching trip. One of my tour guides, Nathan, says he knows some of the whales by sight. ?Two of them we call Mutt and Jeff. Whatever one does, the other does the same. It?s great. They sometimes get within a couple feet of the boat.? The ticket booth is at Pier 6 at Harbourfront, near The Keg. Tours are $60 for adults, $55 for seniors and $28 for kids 12 and under. 866-720-1888. icebergquest.com

5 p.m. CAPE CRUSADERS

Cape Spear, a national historic site, can be stunningly lovely. Or not. Troops stationed here during World War II complained of being cold, clammy and miserable. There are two lighthouses and a great boardwalk and old battlements from the war. It?s the easternmost point of North America, far closer to Ireland than to Vancouver, and a lot of folks come for the sunrise. There?s a big sign down near the water that tells folks that Canada either begins here or ends here, depending on your perspective. It?s a great place to say hello to St. John?s. Or goodbye.

jbyers@thestar.ca

JUST THE FACTS

SLEEPING Murray Premises is an old warehouse that?s been converted into a boutique hotel on the waterfront. Almost all rooms have Jacuzzi tubs of various sizes, plus free wi-fi, fireplaces and flat-screen TVs. Many rooms have exposed-brick walls and wood pillars. The back door empties out 70 or 80 steps from the bars on George St., making this an ideal location. Rooms for July 15 and 16 recently ranged from $189 for a queen to $239 for an executive suite with a two-person Jacuzzi and a king bed. 5 Beck?s Cove, 866-738-7773. murraypremiseshotel.com. The Chef?s Inn is a cozy B&B owned by local chef Todd Perrin and run by his parents, Bill and Wanda. My room had an ensuite bath, a small TV and a view of the harbour. Cute as a proverbial button. Wanda will leave out lemon cake for your breakfast if you have an early-morning flight. 29 Gower St., 877-753-3180. thechefsinn.ca

WEBSURFINGnewfoundlandandlabrador.com, stjohns.ca

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Syria forms new government; key posts unchanged

This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN and taken on Thursday, June 21, 2012, purports to show smoke from shelling rising up from buildings in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood of Homs province, central Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree forming a new government Saturday, but it will be headed by a key loyalist and the foreign, defense and interior ministers kept their jobs.

The move comes as fears mounted that the conflict was aggravating regional tensions. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Saturday his country would take "necessary" action against Syria after Syrian forces shot down a Turkish military plane.

Syria's new government is headed by Riad Farid Hijab, a former agriculture minister and a loyalist member of the ruling Baath Party.

A deadly uprising has convulsed Syria for more than a year, and Assad has promised to enact political reforms. He vowed after the May 7 parliamentary elections to make the government more inclusive to politicians from other parties.

But the appointment of Hijab and the decision to keep the key posts unchanged raised questions about the commitment to that pledge.

The opposition boycotted the parliamentary elections, saying they were designed to strengthen Assad's grip on power.

Parliament is considered little more than a rubber stamp in Syria, where the president and a tight coterie of advisers hold the real power.

Activists estimate that more than 14,000 people have been killed since the start of the uprising against Assad's regime in March 2011.

In a sign of how the conflict is bleeding outside its borders, Syria said Friday it shot down a Turkish military plane that entered Syrian air space. It was the clearest and most dramatic escalation in tensions between the two countries, which used to be allies before the Syrian revolt began. Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of the Syrian regime's response to the uprising.

Gul said his country would take action against Syria but suggested that the aircraft may have unintentionally violated the Syrian airspace.

The plane, an unarmed F-4, went down in the Mediterranean Sea about eight miles (13 kilometers) away from the Syrian town of Latakia, Turkey said.

During a news conference Saturday in Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the incident showed how explosive the Syrian conflict could be for the region.

"This is a serious escalation," he said. "It is a security matter for Europe. It is a concern for the region and that is why we called for a calculated, well-drawn, democratic political transition. We do not want to see chaos in the region."

Associated Press

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PM leaves Pretoria for home after attending summits in Mexico, Brazil

PRETORIA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today left for home after attending two international summits in Mexico and Brazil.

The Prime Minister had a night halt here in South Africa and is due to return home tonight to conclude his eight-day foreign tour.

Singh attended the G20 summit in Mexico before travelling to Brazil for the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development.

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?The Ascent?: Levitating in Brooklyn

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Part art installation, part adventure ride, part spiritual journey, ?The Ascent? claims to let users harness their brain?s own electrical impulses to levitate themselves.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Petersen looks into the wind for aerodynamics exhibit | Hemmings ...

Photos courtesy Mercedes-Benz Classic

Aerodynamics is a key component of a car?s performance, as well as a key component of design, but you rarely hear people bragging about their car?s drag coefficient. A new exhibit, Aerodynamics: From Art to Science at the Petersen Automotive Museum, aims to help change that.

The exhibit, open through May 27, 2013, attempts to highlight some of the landmarks of aerodynamic design from the early days of motoring to the present. ?The timing for an exhibition of aerodynamic vehicles has never been better,? said Petersen Curator Leslie Kendall. ?Now that most automakers have turned their attention to perfecting the aerodynamic qualities of their cars, museum visitors will be fascinated to learn that the pursuit of sleeker, more efficient shapes actually began during the early 1900s. Not every visitor will find all of these early cars attractive, but they will certainly find them interesting.?

More than a dozen vehicles will be featured in the exhibit to illustrate how the art of streamlining evolved into the science of aerodynamics ? among them the 1940 BMW 328 Mille Miglia, a 1928 Martin Aerodynamic from the Lane Motor Museum, a 1938 Delahaye, a 1941 Tatra T-87, a 1979 Ford Probe design study, a 1937 Airomobile, a 1935 Chrysler Airflow and the 1992 Oldsmobile Aerotech.

The cars in the Peterson exhibit are some of the more radical examples of aero, but not every slippery car in history looked like a science experiment. Mercedes-Benz Classic recently rolled some of its more historically pleasing shapes into the wind tunnel to see how they would fare.

Up for consideration were a few million dollars? worth of classic Benzes from the 1950s: a 1952 W194 300 SL race car, a 1954 W198 300 SL production car and a 1951 W188 300S coupe. The results were interesting. The race car weighed in with a drag coefficient of .376 (wind speed 80.77 MPH) the production 300 SL was a close second at .389 while the 300S had a drag coefficient of .670.

Those numbers put the 300 SL race car in the league of a 1999 BMW Z3 coupe or a 1996 Ferarri F50; the production 300 SL in the neighborhood of a 1989 Mazda Miata or a 1978 Nissan 280ZX; while the 300S actually has a higher drag coefficient than a Mercedes G-Wagon which has a Cd of .54.

For the full details from the M-B wind tunnel test visit Daimler.com.

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P&G earnings growth trimmed by exchange rates

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

New union chief to face war over benefits

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - When the largest national union for public-sector employees elects its first new president in a generation, it will be a watershed moment. The new chief will be running an organization whose members are fighting almost unprecedented cuts in jobs, benefits, bargaining rights - and increasingly angry taxpayers who question the size of their pension and healthcare benefits.

With many states, cities and counties struggling to balance their budgets and facing big pension and health care funding deficits, employee costs are the obvious target. Underlining its problems, the labor movement was defeated in a recall election in the state of Wisconsin earlier this month when voters sided with Republican Governor Scott Walker, who had taken bold moves to limit union collective bargaining powers.

The struggle is evident even a few blocks from the site where more than 3,500 delegates of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) delegates is due to meet in downtown Los Angeles this week. Last Friday, the Los Angeles Superior Court announced that it was laying off 157 workers and cutting the salaries of another 250. And earlier in June, voters in the second- and third-largest California cities after LA, San Diego and San Jose, supported imposing curbs on the pensions of city government workers.

Delegates, who are gathering at the Los Angeles Convention Center, are due to vote on June 21 for a successor for outgoing President Gerald McEntee who is due to speak later Monday in opening remarks.

The new president will not only have to help the union's 1.6 million members battle to protect their jobs and standards of living but also try to convince a skeptical public - many of whom have seen their own benefits under siege in the financial crisis and its aftermath -- that calls for reduced benefits for public sector workers are undeserved.

The public perception is "that public employees are overpaid, that the public sector itself is overstaffed and that the only victims here are the taxpayers," said Marick Masters, a labor historian at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Labor experts say the contest between Lee Saunders, who is currently secretary-treasury, and Danny Donohue, who is head of the union's New York branch, could be critical as the union decides on how it is going to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment. The current president, McEntee who backs Saunders and with whom he co-authored a book on how the American dream of equal opportunities is fading away for a middle class hit by the financial crisis, is stepping down after 30 years - 30 years in which union membership has become less popular in the United States, especially in the private sector.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic the percent of workers who were members of a union in 2011 was 11.8 percent, dramatically down from 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available.

At the same time there are fewer public workers - down to a total of 20.4 million in 2011 from 21.3 million in 2008.

"I think (the election) is tremendously important," said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Chaison said the outcome would affect AFSCME, public sector unions and ultimately the entire labor movement.

The contest could be close. Saunders beat Donohue only narrowly to get his current position in a 2010 election. Saunders, who was not immediately available to comment for this story, is stressing the need for the union to grow. He plans to work with both political parties, aims to make local chapters stronger, and leverage new technologies.

"We've got to continue to grow our union in order to build power within our union," he says in a campaign video. Saunders would be the union's first African-American president.

Donohue is casting himself as the outsider and reformer who will take AFSCME out of the cocktail circuit in Washington, D.C., and back to its grass roots of organizing and mobilizing. He has also been more willing to work with Republican leaders in local authorities.

"We've become checkbook unionists. We can give checks to people, we can contribute to politicians," he said in an interview. "We can win the White House and end up losing our members."

Reports that the union will spend upward of $100 million to help President Barack Obama win re-election are not officially confirmed. "AFSCME has pledged to significantly invest into the next election cycle" spokesman Chris Fleming told Reuters, adding that two thirds of any spending will go to state and local campaigns.

The right-wing National Institute for Labor Relations Research said that AFSCME spent $66.5 million on 2010 political campaigns.

Donohue said that the union has been too focused on national politics to the detriment of local and state contests. He supports Obama, because "the alternatives are nightmarish," but he believes in building relationships with state legislators, governors and city leaders of either party.

Recently, Donohue suspended the local union's endorsement of Andrew Cuomo, when the Democratic New York governor made pensions less generous.

"On the national level, the Republican party is not friendly to labor. On the local level you have to look at everyone," he said.

NOT MORTALLY WOUNDED, BUT A PRIME SCAPEGOAT

The Wisconsin defeat and the San Jose and San Diego voter outcome were seen as major setbacks to the labor movement, but in particular it was seen as a big blow to the public sector unions such as AFSCME. While private sector unions were bleeding members in their traditional base in the U.S. manufacturing sector over the past 40 years, the local government-focused unions were relatively unscathed.

But the financial crisis, the housing downturn and the 2007-09 recession combined to create a revenue collapse for almost all U.S. states and local governments. States have saved money by cutting staff and providing less funding to cities and counties, which, in turn are laying off thousands of teachers and other workers.

From May 2011 to May 2012, the private sector gained 1.9 million non-farm jobs, U.S. labor department data shows. Over that same year, state governments shed 14,000 jobs and other local governments 97,000 jobs.

Also, after years of short-changing retirement systems, many states and cities are short billions of dollars to cover future benefits.

Adding insult to injury, the stock market declines triggered by the financial crisis devastated the investments used to provide the bulk of the funds' revenues. Estimates put the national gap at anywhere between $660 billion and $3 trillion, depending on how investment targets and liabilities are measured.

Taxpayers are worried that dwindling dollars will be pulled from vital state services to pay for pensions seen by some as too rich when compared to the private sector's retirement accounts.

Both candidates pledge to protect pensions. AFSCME, whose origins date back to 1932 when a group of Wisconsin state professionals gathered together in defense of civil services, says that its average member earns less than $45,000 per year and receives a pension benefit of approximately $19,000 a year after retirement.

In the election, McEntee has come under attack for using private jets, with Donohue saying he would end the practice as president, following the protocol of most other unions that require officers to fly commercial. He has also said he would cut the president's salary, which is near $400,000, by $100,000.

"Are they mortally wounded? I don't think so. Not yet. But there is a growing awareness across the country of this issue. Wisconsin was the first engagement in the war," said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the National Right to Work Committee, which aim "to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism."

Now, he said, political leaders, even Democrats who have traditionally enjoyed organized labor's support, will "be able to say to the unions, 'Hey you guys have to cut me some slack on some things. If you don't give me some slack, I'm going to start to push. Where else are you going to go?'"

Masters, labor historian, said that to a large extent the unions are being blamed for doing a good job for their members.

"Public employee unions have worked very hard to make government a model employer," he said.

"They have pushed to make them professional, service oriented, well trained, well-educated and well-compensated for the jobs they do," he added. "Today, public employees are a prime scapegoat for the ails affecting government. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington and James B. Kelleher in Chicago. Editing By Martin Howell, Tiziana Barghini and Bernard Orr)

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Coca-Cola Security Camera Ad - Business Insider

Coca-Cola is known as much for its warm, bubbly ads as it is for its chilled, bubbly sodas.

Since 1971, Coca-Cola has been launching ad after ad associating the word 'happiness' with the soft drink brand.?

Coke's most recent attempt at making the world smile features security camera footage of people stealing kisses, helping the homeless, performing acts of kindness, and just enjoying life.

Sure, this viral video was created for a multinational corporation, which figures to earn tons more money through increased sales of its product because of this ad. But if this video doesn't put a smile on your face, then who knows what will?

Watch Coke's smile-inducing ad and find out what other videos dominated YouTube this week.

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Fire rages for second day near Greek capital

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Chinese spacecraft en route to orbiting module

Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China sent its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, bottom, waves during a sending off ceremony as she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China's first female astronaut Liu Yang salutes during a sending off ceremony as she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP) ? A spacecraft carrying China's first female astronaut and two male crew mates made a planned course change Sunday en route to docking with an orbiting module, state television reported.

The Shenzhou 9 capsule was launched Saturday on China's most ambitious space mission yet in a step toward building a permanent space station.

The spacecraft carried out the first of five planned orbit changes early Sunday, state television said. The capsule is to dock Monday with the Tiangong 1 module 343 kilometers (213 miles) above Earth.

Liu Yang, a 33-year-old air force pilot who is China's first female space traveler; mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45; and crew mate Liu Wang, 43, are to spend at least 10 days in space.

"The astronaut crew are in good shape and everything is going according to plan," China Central Television said in its midday news program.

Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module while the third remains in the capsule in case of emergency. The astronauts are to conduct medical tests and other experiments before returning to Earth.

China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintained space stations into orbit. It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own.

Another manned mission to the module is planned later this year, while possible future missions could include sending a man to the moon.

The space program is a source of national pride, reflecting China's rapid economic and technological progress and ambition to be a global leader.

The selection of the first female astronaut is giving the program an additional publicity boost.

The Tiangong 1 is due to be replaced by a permanent space station around 2020. That station is to weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station.

China has only limited cooperation in space with other nations and its exclusion from the ISS, largely on objections from the United States, was one of the key spurs for it to pursue an independent space program 20 years ago.

China first launched a man into space in 2003 followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008 that featured the country's first space walk.

In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 successfully docked twice with Tiangong 1 by remote control.

Shenzhou 9 is to dock with the module by remote control, then separate and dock again manually to test the system's reliability.

Associated Press

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Egypt military says parliament dissolved

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New law to keep booze flowing for Dem convention

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Personal Finance ? Some Background Questions | Pregnancy ...

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When it comes to investing, we shouldn?t put all your eggs in to the single basket. The tenure ?investment portfolio? is used for the reason! You should have the accumulation of investments which will be means to good we in the series of ways. This will assure which we won?t remove out upon your nest egg if the single marketplace turns sour.

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Man shot multiple times on Chestnut Street (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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NCAA: CWS Opening Ceremonies Cancelled

Due to potential severe weather in the Omaha area, NCAA officials with the College World Series have cancelled Thursday's opening ceremonies at TD Ameritrade Park.

A scaled-down, private version of the event will take place for the teams this evening.

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Phones gain ability to learn by touching

NEW YORK (AP) ? There's a form of extra-sensory perception called psychometry, whose practitioners claim to learn things about objects by touching them. Smartphones set to be released this month by Samsung and Sony will have some of that ability: they'll learn things when you touch them to pre-programmed "tags."

For example, you can program a tag with your phone number, and stick it on your business card. When someone taps the phone to the card, the phone would call you. Or you can put a tag on your night stand. Place the phone there, and it goes into "alarm clock" mode, holding your calls until the morning.

Samsung Electronics Co. announced this week that it will be selling these tags in the form of stickers it calls "TecTiles" ? $15 for 5 of them. They'll work with its new flagship Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, set to launch in a few weeks, and several others already in the market, including the HTC EVO 4G LTE sold by Sprint Nextel.

Sony Corp.'s Xperia Ion, to be released June 24, will come with the ability to read different coin-like plastic tags that read "Home," ''Office" and so forth. The tags cost $20 for four, and the phone can be programmed to react differently to each tag. The "Car" tag can launch a navigation application, for instance. Tapping "Home" can send a text message to the rest of the family that you're home, and set the ringer volume to maximum.

The big push behind the technology, which is known as Near-Field Communications, comes from companies that see the phone as the wallet of the future. When touched to payment terminals, NFC-equipped phones can act as credit or debit cards.

But turning phones into credit cards is a tall order. Mobile payments already work with a few phones, but broad adoption is being held up while cellphone companies, banks, payment processors and retailers work out who pays for what and who benefits.

This ability to sense things close by is made possible by a new type of communications hardware in phones, complementing long-range cellular radios, medium-range Wi-Fi and short-range Bluetooth.

The latest version of Google Inc.'s Android software, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, comes with the ability to use NFC to communicate from phone to phone. When the backs are tapped together, the owners can trade information like contacts.

Samsung takes this one step further with the Galaxy S III. Tap two phones together, and they set up a connection via Wi-Fi. That means the owners can walk away from each other, and as long as they're in the same room or so, they can transfer photos and even hefty video files between their phones.

There are issues to work out. The Samsung tags can be read by any phone running "Ice Cream Sandwich," but that doesn't include the Sony phone. Samsung and HTC phones won't recognize the Sony tags.

Apple Inc., whose iPhones are trendsetters in many ways, hasn't built NFC into them ? yet. Its patent filings hint at an interest in NFC, but they've given no clue when the technology might show up in iPhones.

Nick Holland, an analyst with Yankee Group, believes NFC will shine first in non-payment applications, because they're easier to sort out, and the technology has many uses. There have been NFC trials in Sweden, using phones as hotel room keys, he points out. Another compelling use case would be Wi-Fi hotspots. A cafe that wants to limit access to the local hotspot might let patrons tap their phones against a tag instead of having them laboriously enter a password.

"There's been an over-focus on the wallets," Holland said. "It's a technology that's not designed purely for payments."

For advertisers, NFC tags could replace the so-called "QR" codes ? two-dimensional bar codes that need to be photographed with specially downloaded software to be deciphered, so they can send a consumer to the advertiser's website or earn them a coupon for a discount. QR codes work at a distance, unlike NFC tags, but have significant drawbacks.

"Someone described them as 'digital vomit' recently. You can't make them look pretty," Holland said.

Each NFC tag includes a tiny chip, which explains the relatively high prices Samsung and Sony are charging. Those prices will come down, Holland said, as adoption rises. QR codes, of course, have the advantage of being very cheap, since they can be created on a simple printer.

The big makers of NFC chips are NXP Semiconductors N.V., a Dutch company, and Inside Secure, a French one. But competition is looming, Holland said, from bigger chip companies like Broadcom Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc.

"Basically, anyone who's making chips is looking at NFC as a new area they could move into," Holland said.

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Friday, June 15, 2012

It?s Not Just About Price: Nokia?s Elop Says They?re Not Getting The Retail Traction They ?Prefer?

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and CFO Timo Ihamuotila took to an early morning conference call to shed some light on the dramatic announcements that the company made today, and in doing so the pair let slip some details about the future of the company's Lumia smartphone line. Among Nokia's plans were to go even lower than their recently-released Lumia 610 in terms of price, something that the Finnish company has apparently been mulling for quite some time. Elop also revealed that Microsoft was giving Nokia "specific support" to go even lower than they had planned.

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NYU study: Family dynamics heavily impact oral health

A recent study conducted by Richard Heyman, PhD, and Amy Smith Slep, PhD, co-directors of the Family Translational Research Group at the New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD), is part of an ongoing effort at the school to understand how mental health impacts oral health. The researchers found that the more verbal or physical aggression that occurred between parents, the more oral health problems a child in the home had.

"Behavior seen in parents correlated to child's decay rate," Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, a professor and the chair of the NYUCD Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care and the associate dean for predoctoral clinical education, told DrBicuspid.com. "We found that poor oral health was related to lax parenting -- not a big surprise -- but the permissive parent had high decay."

Interestingly, lax parenting may be more likely to lead to tooth decay than a child witnessing violent behavior from the parent.

"This was tagged to something that we could dissect out -- it also turned out not to be socioeconomic," said Dr. Wolff, noting that even well-educated parents can be guilty of allowing their children to have a high-sugar diet.

Fundamental behavior issues

While the connection may seem obvious, the relationship between oral health and family dynamics has not been explored systematically, according to Heyman and Slep.

?The next big gain in oral health will be associated with how we manage patient behaviors.?
? Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, New York
?????University College of Dentistry

"Very likely that the next big gain in oral health will be associated with how we manage patient behaviors," Dr. Wolff said. "One of the things as a cariologist that has struck me is that we've developed different means of affecting decay, such as fluoride, but there still a huge population that has it. Part of the process is understanding the fundamental behavior issues responsible."

Previous research had shown that couples' conflict can lead to increases in blood pressure, lower immunological functioning, and slower wound healing. Heyman, Slep, and their group had collected data on how family and environmental factors affect children's and adults' physical and psychological health, and they felt it wasn't a stretch to ask whether these factors would also impact oral health. In 2009, the team was awarded a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a study.

"Professors Slep and Heyman had been doing family violence research and had this cohort of families on hand," Dr. Wolff said. "Could we study certain parameters, like amount of decay, inflammation, periodontal disease ... does it correlate to something we can assess in them?"

For the study, the researchers gathered data on nearly 150 families, using blood and saliva samples, physical exams, and questionnaires, and found a correlation between the amount of oral health problems a child had and how much verbal or physical aggression took place between parents. They presented their preliminary data to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Council, a part of the NIH, in September 2011.

"This does not include child abuse," Dr. Wolff explained. "The parents are not beating the child, but the study notes appropriate or inappropriate behavior such as a child yelled at by a parent, undisciplined raising, or arguing in front of the child. It all goes on a scale classified as family violence."

There were other interesting results. "Family violence was directly related to the amount of decay in the male parent, but not in the female parent," Dr. Wolff said.

Two hypotheses, future research

There are two hypotheses regarding parental discord and oral health, according to Heyman. The first is that lax supervision -- an outgrowth of discord -- affects the dietary habits of children, who favor sugary foods, and whether they brush their teeth. The second is that family conflict and stress, which has been shown to affect the immune system, is eliciting a biological response from children.

With an improved understanding of the psychological causation of tooth decay, the researchers are now trying to prevent it.

"What we're doing now is interventions," Dr. Wolff explained. "Can we train folks out of this to make them want to maintain their oral health, or remove them from the environment of permissive behaviors?"

With funding from a NIDCR clinical trial planning grant, the team has embarked on a new study to learn how early education can reduce the likelihood of decay and periodontal disease in at-risk children. The study is focusing on new parents, since the birth of a new baby is a good time to intervene with families, a time when couples are the most open to changes in their relationship, Heyman noted.

The researchers are recruiting up to 30 families from maternity wards at Bellevue Hospital Center and Stony Brook University Hospital, seeking families whose newborn children are in low-income households, have parents with no more than a high school education, and have at least one non-European-American parent. Participating couples will view DVD segments on conflict resolution and healthy parenting. A coach will guide them to improved conflict-resolution and parenting skills. In addition, they'll complete a workbook that reinforces those messages with exercises.

The intervention consists of eight sessions planned around the developmental stages of their child, from age 3 months to 12 months, covering the period of tooth eruption and transition to recommended dental visits. Then the children will have dental exams at 15 months.

The researchers will be looking for early childhood caries and contributing factors such as bacteria and saliva hormones related to stress.