Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/290076446?client_source=feed&format=rss
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By Rob Walker
It?s Friday, and of course you?ve done all your work for the week, because that?s how you roll. Still, you need to look busy until quitting time. Let me help.
Please enjoy: A 47-second video in which a robot called BigDog chunks a cinder block across the room. BigDog is a surprisingly appealing military robot with four legs, being developed by a company called Boston Dynamics. When it picks up the object, it starts to prance a bit, as if trying to keep its balance. But even after hurling the cinder block, it?s still kind of skittering or prancing?like it?s worked up or excited. Unnerving fun!
Object of the week: Minecraft Pickaxe Touchscreen Stylus. This requires no particular explanation, but I will note in passing that maybe it?s what Sergey Brin needs?
Study up: I?m a fan of the PBS Web video series "Off Book," which offers brisk, entertaining overviews of various topics in the realms of technology and creativity. Each episode usually clocks in around seven minutes, built around tightly edited interviews with various experts. So if you?ve been hearing a lot about 3D printers and don?t really get it, for instance, check out the latest "Off Book" episode about 3D printers. (Via BoingBoing.)
Visuals: Photographer Yao Lu?s ?New Landscapes? are quite lovely, and sneakily provocative. At first they resemble ?old Chinese paintings of misty mountains, green hills, and choppy brown rivers,? says PetaPixel. In fact, they show huge hills of garbage, covered with some sort of industrial green netting. Beautiful and depressing.
Heh: Digital Rights Management may not be your idea of an amusing topic, but this video of the DRM Chair is a clever comment on the so-called ?six strikes? Copyright Alert System: It?s designed to collapse into an unusable pile of junk after a limited number of sits. (Via The New Aesthetic.)
The future of sitting: Speaking of chairs, a set of drawings of new sitting/leaning/lounging/slumping postures, supposedly the sedentary fallout of smartphone and tablet use, made the rounds a week or two ago. I did not realize at the time that they are connected to research by Steelcase on how to better accommodate the way we swipe-and-pinch now. An irritating know-it-all design guy condescendingly explains how this research has led to a new chair called Gesture, apparently available later this year. (Via Core77.)
The end: I love reading the obits, because there?s always a fun?and completely untimely?fact I?d have no other reason to encounter. Case in point: The guy who designed the Edsel passed away this week, and his New York Times obit casually mentions that despite being one of the most notorious engineered commercial object flops in history, the car has been ?revered as a collectible for decades.? Then there?s a quote from a guy who ?brokers Edsels and sells Edsel parts online at Edsel World.? A community of fans of something that?s practically a metaphor for product failure: awesome.
The Times failed to link to Edsel World, and that?s its readers' loss. The photo gallery is enjoyable, but wow, look at these gorgeous Edsel manuals. I?d display one, proudly.
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More than 20 eateries are continuing Restaurant Week prices for another week
Since Atlantic City Restaurant Week started, it has been such a success, some restaurants decide to extend the event beyond the scheduled final day, which this year is Saturday, March 9. So far, 20 restaurants have announced extending the Restaurant Week fixed price three-course menu.
?Although Restaurant Week is officially over after Saturday, many of our restaurants have experienced tremendous business during what is traditionally a slow period and have decided to extend that success by offering their three-course meals beyond Restaurant Week.? says Jeff
Vasser, president of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority (ACCVA), which produces Restaurant Week.? ?We?re happy to have provided an opportunity for them to build their business.?
Participating restaurants provide three-course lunches priced at $15.13 and three-course dinners priced at $33.13, not including beverage, tax and tip.
Restaurants who are extending their 2013 menus as of this date for one week (or longer as noted) are:
6ix Bistro at Bally?s
800 Bay by Philippe
Arturo?s at Bally?s,
Assaggio!,
Atlantic City Country Club, through March
Atlantic Grill at Caesars
Back Bay Ale House
Casa Di Napoli at Showboat,
Crossroads at House of Blues/Showboat
Fin at Tropicana, March 10-15
Fred & Ethel?s, 1 week
Girasole Ristorante & Lounge, 1 week
Il Verdi at Tropicana, March 10-15
King?s Lounge
Latz?s Lunch, Tues.-Sun.; Dinner, Thurs.-Sat.
Luke Palladino, Northfield, March 10-15.
Melting Pot
Mia at Caesars
Nanking at Bally?s
Nero?s at Caesars
Scarduzio?s at Showboat
Smithville Inn
Sugar Hill Inn
The Palm at Tropicana, Sun.-Fri. for lunch and dinner
The Reserve at Bally?s
Comments 1 - 2 of 2
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Mandy Moore is pretty smokin. I wish I was cool enough to date her. Does anybody know how I can get her number?
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WASHINGTON -- To avoid problems landing in the nation?s capital, the Panthers left South Florida on their charter plane a few hours early Wednesday.
On Thursday, they checked out of their game in Washington early as well.
Washington chased goalie Jacob Markstrom to the bench with two goals on two shots then kept the party going by beating down the Panthers 7-1 at Verizon Center.
The Panthers, who played their final game in Washington as a division rival for some time Thursday, found themselves down 4-0 in the first.
By the time Alex Ovechkin scored to make it 5-0 in the second, well, it meant little more than to pad his stats.
?You give up two goals on two shots,? said Panthers coach Kevin Dineen, whose team?s 19 points are fewest in the entire league.
?I don?t like to leave anyone out to dry, but obviously I don?t think Jacob Markstrom was ready to play tonight and the ball started to roll.?
Said Markstrom: ?I felt like I let the team down. I didn?t stop pucks. It wasn?t good enough.?
The Panthers are probably happy to get away from Washington when the league reconfigures its divisions next year. Florida has lost seven in a row in Washington and six in a row to the Caps overall.
?They?re a good team in their building,? said Jack Skille, who ended Braden Holtby?s shutout bid with 9:11 left. That made it only 6-1.
?I think they smell blood when we come in here and they can get a couple early,? Dineen said. ?We can talk about pushback, but we got spanked 7-1. It?s unacceptable.?
Scott Clemmensen was brought in and didn?t fare much better. On Washington?s sixth shot, John Carlson fired a long-range missile that skipped though. Mike Ribeiro made it 4-0 two shots later.
The biggest news could come Friday when it will be determined whether the league takes disciplinary action against defenseman Tyson Strachan for his open-ice hit on Jason Chimura.
Chimura hit the ice hard after Strachan?s hit and stayed down on the ice before returning. Strachan was hit with a major penalty and an ejection. Ovechkin scored 20 seconds later.
The Panthers? defensive depth is tapped as they have already used 11 different defensemen this season.
Strachan declined to comment after the game.
?I?ll have to take a good look at it,? Dineen said. ?It?s a moot point whatever the coach says because that?s going to be handled on a different level. I have a strong amount of respect when the league makes those decisions. We?ll see how it plays out.?
Realignment
The days of the Panthers and Capitals battling it out for the Southeast Division title are probably over ? because this is the last season the two will share the same division at least for the next two years.
The NHLPA approved the NHL?s realignment plan, one that puts the Panthers in a new division with the Lightning and six other teams (all north of New York City).
Florida?s new division rivals: Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Boston, Toronto, Montreal and Detroit. With the realignment comes a playoff format change, with teams within the division playing each other in the postseason.
The other three teams in the Southeast (Winnipeg, Washington and Carolina) are moving elsewhere, with the setup being examined after two seasons.
?This is the hand we?ve been dealt, and there?s nothing we can do about it,? Skille said. ?This was the league?s choice, and we just have to win some games in that division. There?s a lot of Canadian people who live in Florida, so we?ll have the barn packed.?
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/08/3273390/washington-capitals-punish-florida.html
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Contact: Rob Dawson
rob.dawson@bbsrc.ac.uk
01-793-413-204
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has launched a bioscience response to ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea), a devastating fungus that threatens our third most common broadleaf tree (after oak and birch).
2.4M of fast-track research funding has been awarded to gather an in-depth understanding of the ash dieback fungus and to provide genetic clues about some ash trees' natural resistance to attack. Computer models will also be built to develop monitoring plans for the distribution and spread of the fungus, as well as charting how the disease might progress. This knowledge will help to fight the fungus and replace lost trees with those more able to survive.
BBSRC Chief Executive Professor Douglas Kell said: "This agile funding response will ensure we improve our understanding of this devastating tree disease as quickly as possible. Little is known about the fungus, why it is so aggressive, or its interactions with the trees that it attacks. This prevents effective control strategies. These grants will enable the UK's world-leading bioscience community to speed up the response to tackling the disease directly. It will also help us to understand and harness the ways in which some ash trees can defend themselves naturally."
Genetic answers
Funding has been awarded to the Nornex consortium that brings together tree health and forestry specialists with scientists working with state-of-the-art genetic sequencing, biological data and imaging technologies to investigate the molecular and cellular basis of interactions between the fungus and ash trees.
Led by Professor Allan Downie at the John Innes Centre (JIC), the consortium includes: The Sainsbury Laboratory, East Malling Research, the University of Exeter, The Genepool at the University of Edinburgh, The Genome Analysis Centre, the Food and Environment Research Agency, Forest Research, the University of Copenhagen and the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute. The research will also complement a project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) at Queen Mary University of London to decipher the ash tree's genetic code.
Genome sequences of up to 30 samples of the fungus from the UK and Europe will rapidly help to acquire in-depth genetic information to shed light on the infection process. These data will reveal clues to the origins of the disease and provide genetic 'markers' to allow the spread of different strains of the fungus to be followed. Genetic data will also provide direct insights into the nature of the fungus.
The consortium will obtain information about how the disease spreads by studying infection in climate-controlled growth facilities, tracking the fungus as it colonises the plant. This vital information will help to develop effective disease control strategies.
The project will also uncover how some ash trees can partially resist attack. About 2% of Danish trees appear to ward off the disease but little information on the genetic basis for this is known. Genetic data from these trees will be compared to susceptible trees to find variations in their genetic codes. By identifying these differences, genetic makers can be developed to help breeders produce more resistant trees.
The Nornex consortium, named for the three Norns who tend the ash tree of life 'Yggdrasil' in Norse mythology, will upload its data to an open-access website. This crowd-sourced, data-sharing approach will share the genetic data to exploit the expertise of plant and fungal research communities internationally.
Charting the disease
In addition to the consortium, Professor Christopher Gilligan with Dr Nik Cunniffe at the University of Cambridge and Dr Frank van den Bosch Rothamsted Research, have been awarded funding to develop and test mathematical, computer-based models to predict the spread of ash dieback in the UK, to improve strategies for surveillance and monitoring of the disease, and to inform ways to stop or delay the spread.
The models will build on preliminary work by the Cambridge group to model the initial incursion of ash dieback and other diseases. Models of the patterns, causes, and effects of the disease will link with geographical information systems to predict the spread of disease across the UK landscapes. The modelling will be closely linked to the Nornex project so that the epidemiological models evolve as knowledge of the fungus unfolds and our understanding of the biology of the disease, and the trees it affects, improves.
The research will help to answer key questions about where the disease is most likely to occur, where it will spread most rapidly and cause most damage, and where and when mitigation strategies should be most effectively used to slow or halt the spread.
The research will help to answer key questions about monitoring the disease, such as: how to detect the disease in new areas early enough to control it; where to sample to find new outbreaks efficiently; and how we know if the disease is absent from an area.
The project will also look at how diseases might spread due to industries and trades involving trees and through atmospheric dispersal.
###
?
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.
Contact: Rob Dawson
rob.dawson@bbsrc.ac.uk
01-793-413-204
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has launched a bioscience response to ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea), a devastating fungus that threatens our third most common broadleaf tree (after oak and birch).
2.4M of fast-track research funding has been awarded to gather an in-depth understanding of the ash dieback fungus and to provide genetic clues about some ash trees' natural resistance to attack. Computer models will also be built to develop monitoring plans for the distribution and spread of the fungus, as well as charting how the disease might progress. This knowledge will help to fight the fungus and replace lost trees with those more able to survive.
BBSRC Chief Executive Professor Douglas Kell said: "This agile funding response will ensure we improve our understanding of this devastating tree disease as quickly as possible. Little is known about the fungus, why it is so aggressive, or its interactions with the trees that it attacks. This prevents effective control strategies. These grants will enable the UK's world-leading bioscience community to speed up the response to tackling the disease directly. It will also help us to understand and harness the ways in which some ash trees can defend themselves naturally."
Genetic answers
Funding has been awarded to the Nornex consortium that brings together tree health and forestry specialists with scientists working with state-of-the-art genetic sequencing, biological data and imaging technologies to investigate the molecular and cellular basis of interactions between the fungus and ash trees.
Led by Professor Allan Downie at the John Innes Centre (JIC), the consortium includes: The Sainsbury Laboratory, East Malling Research, the University of Exeter, The Genepool at the University of Edinburgh, The Genome Analysis Centre, the Food and Environment Research Agency, Forest Research, the University of Copenhagen and the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute. The research will also complement a project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) at Queen Mary University of London to decipher the ash tree's genetic code.
Genome sequences of up to 30 samples of the fungus from the UK and Europe will rapidly help to acquire in-depth genetic information to shed light on the infection process. These data will reveal clues to the origins of the disease and provide genetic 'markers' to allow the spread of different strains of the fungus to be followed. Genetic data will also provide direct insights into the nature of the fungus.
The consortium will obtain information about how the disease spreads by studying infection in climate-controlled growth facilities, tracking the fungus as it colonises the plant. This vital information will help to develop effective disease control strategies.
The project will also uncover how some ash trees can partially resist attack. About 2% of Danish trees appear to ward off the disease but little information on the genetic basis for this is known. Genetic data from these trees will be compared to susceptible trees to find variations in their genetic codes. By identifying these differences, genetic makers can be developed to help breeders produce more resistant trees.
The Nornex consortium, named for the three Norns who tend the ash tree of life 'Yggdrasil' in Norse mythology, will upload its data to an open-access website. This crowd-sourced, data-sharing approach will share the genetic data to exploit the expertise of plant and fungal research communities internationally.
Charting the disease
In addition to the consortium, Professor Christopher Gilligan with Dr Nik Cunniffe at the University of Cambridge and Dr Frank van den Bosch Rothamsted Research, have been awarded funding to develop and test mathematical, computer-based models to predict the spread of ash dieback in the UK, to improve strategies for surveillance and monitoring of the disease, and to inform ways to stop or delay the spread.
The models will build on preliminary work by the Cambridge group to model the initial incursion of ash dieback and other diseases. Models of the patterns, causes, and effects of the disease will link with geographical information systems to predict the spread of disease across the UK landscapes. The modelling will be closely linked to the Nornex project so that the epidemiological models evolve as knowledge of the fungus unfolds and our understanding of the biology of the disease, and the trees it affects, improves.
The research will help to answer key questions about where the disease is most likely to occur, where it will spread most rapidly and cause most damage, and where and when mitigation strategies should be most effectively used to slow or halt the spread.
The research will help to answer key questions about monitoring the disease, such as: how to detect the disease in new areas early enough to control it; where to sample to find new outbreaks efficiently; and how we know if the disease is absent from an area.
The project will also look at how diseases might spread due to industries and trades involving trees and through atmospheric dispersal.
###
?
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/2013-03/babs-btb030613.php
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The price of oil rose above $91 a barrel Thursday on a positive signal from the U.S. jobs market. Natural gas rose 3 percent as supplies dropped more than expected.
Benchmark oil for April delivery gained 65 cents to $91.08 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas futures jumped 11 cents to $3.58 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The four-week average for applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week to its lowest level in five years, the Labor Department said Thursday. A government report Friday is expected to show that employers in the U.S., the biggest consumer of oil and petroleum products, added 152,000 jobs last month.
Some support for crude came from a weaker dollar, which makes oil cheaper and a more enticing investment for traders using other currencies. On Thursday, the euro was up to $1.3087 from $1.2974 late Wednesday in New York.
Oil is still down about 6 percent over the past three weeks, a drop that has been showing up at the gas pump. The average price for a gallon of gasoline is now $3.72 after falling 6 cents in the past week. That's given drivers some relief after pump prices spiked around 50 cents from Jan. 1 to the end of February.
Meanwhile the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas in storage shrank by 146 billion cubic feet to 2.083 trillion cubic feet in the week ended March 1. Analysts expected a draw of 130 billion to 134 billion cubic feet. Natural gas supplies are now 15 percent below year-ago levels, a sign that the U.S. is whittling away at a surplus that pushed natural gas prices down to decade lows a year earlier.
Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, fell 5 cents at $111.01 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
- Wholesale gasoline dropped 2 cents to $3.11 a gallon.
- Heating oil was unchanged at $2.97 a gallon.
___
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.wafb.com/story/21545414/oil-rises-on-positive-sign-for-us-jobs
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Senator Rand Paul took to the floor of the Senate on Wednesday to filibuster John Brennan?s nomination to the position of CIA chief. He decided to engage in a ?talking? filibuster because he believed Attorney General Eric Holder had not given a clear and unequivocal answer to the question of whether a US citizen suspected of terrorism, who posed no immediate threat, could be killed by a drone strike on US soil.
In the first hour, this author?s writing was cited:
PAUL: Kevin Gosztola who writes at FireDogLake, writes the mere fact that the President?s answer to this question, whether you can kill an American on American soil, that the President?s answer was yes is outrageous. However, it fits the framework for fighting a permanent global war on terrorism without any geographic limitations, which the present administration, President Obama?s administration has maintained that it has the authority to wage. What?s important here is that we?re talking about a war without geographic limitations, but we?re also talking about a war without temporal limitations. There is no limit, no limit in time to this war. When will this war end? It?s a war that has, I think, an infinite timeline. So if you?re going to suspend your rights, if there is going to be no geographic limits to killing, which really means we?re not at war in Afghanistan, we?re at war everywhere and everybody that pops up is called al-Qaida now, whether they have ever heard of al-Qaida or not, whether they have any communication with some kind of network of al-Qaida, everybody is al-Qaida, but there is a new war or an ongoing war everywhere in the world, there is no limitations.
What Paul read was from a post I had written the day before on a letter Holder sent to Paul ?answering? his question as to whether it would be permissible for the president to authorize a drone strike on a US citizen on US soil. He received an answer that was not a clear ?yes? or ?no? but, when read, it was clear Holder had said there are cases where we could use a drone to target and kill a US citizen.
Paul continued to read from the post I had written. Later, in his filibuster, he read articles or posts from?Guardian?writer Glenn Greenwald, The Atlantic?s Conor Friedersdorf,?Wired?s Spencer Ackerman?and Noah Schachtman, The Esquire?s Charles Pierce, Council on Foreign Relations? writer Micah Zenko and the Center for Constitutional Rights? Vince Warren. He read from Greg Miller of The?Washington Post?s series on the development of a ?disposition matrix? and a counterterror ?playbook? for drones.
The citation of the work of journalists and writers led The?Nation?s Jeremy Scahill, who has produced remarkable work on drones, to say on Twitter that Paul was demonstrating the ?public service of journalism.?
There were parts of the filibuster where Paul, along with colleagues like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, were going on about conservative, libertarian or free market ideas that seemed to have little to no connection to the issue of the president?s claimed authority to execute and kill people without charge or trial. During the final hours of the filibuster, it seemed Cruz was filibustering Rand Paul?s filibuster, as he spoke from the floor for at least an hour about Texas standing up to a world court and his adoration for Barry Goldwater. But, when Paul was referencing writers who have spent hours upon hours considering the implications of the Obama administration?s drone policy, the points he was making about the use of drones and why Americans should be concerned were cogent and clear.
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