Deal of the Day: 46% off Incipio FAXION Case for iPhone 5

Today Only: Purchase the Incipio FAXION Case for iPhone 5 and save $15.99!

Slim, chic and durable, the Faxion case is an interfusion of soft and hard materials crafted into one form factor. Combining shock absorbing NGP material with a rigid Plextonium exterior, the Faxion?s form-fitting design offers superior protection for your iPhone 5. The gloss finish on the Faxion case gives a cutting-edge vibe to the design and is available in a variety of color combinations.

List Price: $34.99???? Today Only: $19.00

Learn More and Buy Now

Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/etXVMR-4Irk/story01.htm

brown recluse spider wiz khalifa taylor allderdice eddie royal iditarod nfl free agents 2012 encyclopedia brittanica nfl free agency

Stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice

Apr. 21, 2013 ? For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember.

A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first to show that human stem cells can successfully implant themselves in the brain and then heal neurological deficits, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology.

Once inside the mouse brain, the implanted stem cells formed two common, vital types of neurons, which communicate with the chemicals GABA or acetylcholine. "These two neuron types are involved in many kinds of human behavior, emotions, learning, memory, addiction and many other psychiatric issues," says Zhang.

The human embryonic stem cells were cultured in the lab, using chemicals that are known to promote development into nerve cells -- a field that Zhang has helped pioneer for 15 years. The mice were a special strain that do not reject transplants from other species.

After the transplant, the mice scored significantly better on common tests of learning and memory in mice. For example, they were more adept in the water maze test, which challenged them to remember the location of a hidden platform in a pool.

The study began with deliberate damage to a part of the brain that is involved in learning and memory.

Three measures were critical to success, says Zhang: location, timing and purity. "Developing brain cells get their signals from the tissue that they reside in, and the location in the brain we chose directed these cells to form both GABA and cholinergic neurons."

The initial destruction was in an area called the medial septum, which connects to the hippocampus by GABA and cholinergic neurons. "This circuitry is fundamental to our ability to learn and remember," says Zhang.

The transplanted cells, however, were placed in the hippocampus -- a vital memory center -- at the other end of those memory circuits. After the transferred cells were implanted, in response to chemical directions from the brain, they started to specialize and connect to the appropriate cells in the hippocampus.

The process is akin to removing a section of telephone cable, Zhang says. If you can find the correct route, you could wire the replacement from either end.

For the study, published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology, Zhang and first author Yan Liu, a postdoctoral associate at the Waisman Center on campus, chemically directed the human embryonic stem cells to begin differentiation into neural cells, and then injected those intermediate cells. Ushering the cells through partial specialization prevented the formation of unwanted cell types in the mice.

Ensuring that nearly all of the transplanted cells became neural cells was critical, Zhang says. "That means you are able to predict what the progeny will be, and for any future use in therapy, you reduce the chance of injecting stem cells that could form tumors. In many other transplant experiments, injecting early progenitor cells resulted in masses of cells -- tumors. This didn't happen in our case because the transplanted cells are pure and committed to a particular fate so that they do not generate anything else. We need to be sure we do not inject the seeds of cancer."

Brain repair through cell replacement is a Holy Grail of stem cell transplant, and the two cell types are both critical to brain function, Zhang says. "Cholinergic neurons are involved in Alzheimer's and Down syndrome, but GABA neurons are involved in many additional disorders, including schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression and addiction."

Though tantalizing, stem-cell therapy is unlikely to be the immediate benefit. Zhang notes that "for many psychiatric disorders, you don't know which part of the brain has gone wrong." The new study, he says, is more likely to see immediate application in creating models for drug screening and discovery.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. The original article was written by David Tenenbaum.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Yan Liu, Jason P Weick, Huisheng Liu, Robert Krencik, Xiaoqing Zhang, Lixiang Ma, Guo-min Zhou, Melvin Ayala, Su-Chun Zhang. Medial ganglionic eminence?like cells derived from human embryonic stem cells correct learning and memory deficits. Nature Biotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2565

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Dn4FJ19YaLw/130421151613.htm

oolong tea survivor one world lil kim progeria what will my baby look like gary carter died cmas

Runtastic branches out with two new biking apps

From amateurs to professionals, you now how have two more biking exercise options

Runtastic, best known for its high-quality running, fitness and health apps, is branching out to include biking fitness apps to its catalog on Google Play. The two new apps, Runtastic Road Bike and Runtastic Mountain Bike, provide all of the great tracking and fitness features you come to expect from Runtastic, tailored to those who prefer to get their workout on two wheels. New biking-specific features like climb rates, live tracking, weather data and offline maps should compliment your rides well. The apps are also highly customizable, so you'll always have the data you want most in view.

As Runtastic tends to do, each of the new apps has both a free and paid version. We've linked to the free Road Bike app at the Play Store link above, but you can also find the Mountain Bike app right here. The paid versions each ring in at $4.99, and have extra features available. 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/YswzZLXYITE/story01.htm

tax day april 17 tu pac hologram shuttle pippa middleton space shuttle discovery spacex

Google Play revenue surges, but still far short of Apple: data

By Somang Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) - Google's app store revenues are growing much faster than those of Apple Inc, but Apple still dominates overall sales, market research data taken from the first three months of the year shows.

The app stores collectively raked in $2.2 billion in the first three months of 2013, according to Canalys, a market researcher.

The firm says Apple's App Store generated $1.48 billion of revenue, accounting for 74 percent of $2.2 billion earnings that the app stores collectively made in the January-March period. Revenue generated from Google Play amounted to 18 percent.

Separate data from App Annie, an analytics firm, showed Google's app store revenues were 38.5 percent of Apple's, a big gain from a year ago when it was worth just a tenth of Apple's, as its free Android mobile operating system helped it win nearly 70 percent of the global mobile market.

Fuelled by roaring growth of Android mobile devices, largely manufactured by Samsung Electronics and up-and-coming rivals, Google Play revenues jumped 90 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, according to App Annie.

Apple's app store revenues grew by a quarter in the same period, compounding worries for the firm, whose share price has fallen 11.8 percent so far in April on fears about weakening demand for its hardware staples, the iPhone and iPad.

"Although Google is catching up, Apple has such a head-start in revenues that, on present trends, we would not expect Google to overtake Apple until sometime in 2016," Adam Daum, chief analyst at Canalys, told Reuters in an email interview.

Apple's continued dominance in revenues, despite the popularity of Android-propelled devices, was largely due to its simpler payment system.

"In terms of downloads, Google Play has caught up to 90 percent of Apple's, and will close the gap soon, but this hasn't translated to revenues," said Oliver Lo, a Beijing-based Vice President at App Annie.

Lo said that a higher percentage of iPhone or iPad users, usually more affluent than the average smartphone user, had registered their credit cards on their Apple accounts, making it easier and more likely for them to purchase apps.

Google, on the other hand, relies on more varied payment methods including Google Wallet, credit card purchases and carrier billing.

Spending on games in Japan and South Korea, Android's top markets, helped Google Play's earnings, a trend that is seen continuing this year.

"There's plenty of room for growth in Japan which will add new users as the smartphone penetration rates are only about 30 percent," said Rim Ho-won, an analyst at CIMB Securities in Seoul.

He added that South Korea, which boasts one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world at 80 percent, would also see robust growth on the back of its mobile game-craze.

Games account for 90-95 percent of revenues from Japan and South Korea, which are the most heavily game-skewed markets.

App market operators such as Google and Apple generally take 30 percent of the revenues, and the remainder goes to the app developers.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-play-revenue-surges-still-far-short-apple-060326228--finance.html

no child left behind neurofibromatosis steve jobs fbi file suge knight obama birth control mortgage settlement macauly culkin

Reese Witherspoon charged with disorderly conduct

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband, James Toth, was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows James Joseph Toth. Oscar-winning Actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth, her husband, was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

FILE - In this Friday, March 8, 2013 file photo, actress Reese Witherspoon and her husband, Jim Toth, watch the Toronto Raptors take on the Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles. Police in Georgia say that Witherspoon has been arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a traffic stop involving her husband in Atlanta. A Georgia State Police incident report says that Witherspoon was arrested early Friday, April 19, 2013, and charged with disorderly conduct. The report says a state trooper observed that a car driven by Toth was failing to stay in its lane. The officer writes that Witherspoon disobeyed multiple orders to stay in the car while he performed a field sobriety test on Toth. After she refused to return to the car, she was handcuffed and arrested. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta.

Witherspoon was released from jail after the Friday morning arrest and was in New York Sunday night for the premiere of her new film "Mud." She posed for cameras on the red carpet but did not stop to talk to reporters.

The trooper noticed the car driven by her husband wasn't staying in its lane early Friday morning, so a traffic stop was initiated. Her husband, James Toth, had droopy eyelids, watery, bloodshot eyes, and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol, according to the report.

Toth told the trooper he'd had a drink, which Witherspoon said was consumed at a restaurant two hours before the traffic stop, the trooper writes.

Before the field sobriety test began, the 37-year-old Witherspoon got out of the car, was told to get back in and obeyed, the report said. After the "Walk the Line" star got out a second time, the trooper said he warned her that she would be arrested if she left the car again.

As the test continued, "Mrs. Witherspoon began to hang out the window and say that she did not believe that I was a real police officer. I told Mrs. Witherspoon to sit on her butt and be quiet," Trooper First Class J. Pyland writes.

Toth, 42, was then placed under arrest. He was charged with driving under the influence and failure to maintain the lane.

At that point, the report says, Witherspoon got out and asked the trooper what was going on. After being told to return to the car, she "stated that she was a 'US Citizen' and that she was allowed to 'stand on American ground,'" the report states.

The trooper then began to arrest Witherspoon. The report says Witherspoon was resistant at first but was calmed down by her husband.

"Do you know my name?" Witherspoon is quoted as asking the trooper. She also said: "You're about to find out who I am" and "You're about to be on national news," according to the report.

Toth and Witherspoon were then taken to jail.

A message left at the office of Witherspoon's publicist, Meredith O'Sullivan Wasson, wasn't immediately returned Sunday.

News of the arrest broke shortly before Witherspoon arrived on the "Mud" red carpet.

"I can't say anything because I don't know," said director Jeff Nichols. " I literally ? the first guy on the press line to say something was the first time I heard about it so I gotta go figure it out."

Matthew McConaughey, who plays the lead role in "Mud" and is represented by Toth, said "I'm not going to comment on that because it's too fresh."

__

AP reporter Lauri Neff contributed to this report from New York.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-21-Reese%20Witherspoon%20Arrest/id-ffbcc35b0fc64fc198fab266dea58f0b

anne hathaway Castel Gandolfo Silver Linings Playbook daniel day lewis Life of Pi Christoph Waltz Quvenzhané Wallis

NFL Draft '13: When will Te'o be selected?

FILE - In this March 26, 2013, file photo, linebacker Manti Te'o eases up after running the 40-yard dash during Notre Dame's pro day for NFL football scouts in South Bend, Ind. Combine the good, bad and bizarre, and when Te'o gets selected might be the most intriguing part of the NFL draft that starts Thursday, March 25, in New York. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

FILE - In this March 26, 2013, file photo, linebacker Manti Te'o eases up after running the 40-yard dash during Notre Dame's pro day for NFL football scouts in South Bend, Ind. Combine the good, bad and bizarre, and when Te'o gets selected might be the most intriguing part of the NFL draft that starts Thursday, March 25, in New York. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

NEW YORK (AP) ? When it comes to the NFL draft, getting tricked into an online relationship with a girl that didn't exist ended up being the least of Manti Te'o's problems.

That stinker of a game he played against Alabama? Now that's an issue. Same goes for that less than blazing 40-yard dash he ran at the combine.

Considering all the news involving Te'o since the calendar flipped to 2013, it seems like forever since he was leading Notre Dame to the national title game, playing linebacker like an All-American and cleaning up on the college football awards circuit.

Combine the good, bad and bizarre, and when Te'o gets selected might be the most intriguing part of the NFL draft that starts Thursday in New York.

"There's no doubt he'll be one of the story lines of the night," said former NFL player personnel executive Phil Savage, who works as the executive director of the Senior Bowl.

It's unlikely that Te'o, who turned down a chance to attend the draft, will be off the board during the first 15 or so picks, but come the back-half of the first round, expect plenty of Te'o talk.

Te'o figured to be a highly scrutinized player heading into this draft even before he became a tabloid news and daytime talk show fixation.

The 6-foot-1, 240-pound middle linebacker was the unquestioned leader of a Notre Dame defense that ranked among the best in the country and propelled the Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season.

Te'o led the team in tackles and made seven interceptions, more than any linebacker in the country. He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, and took home a trophy case-full of other awards.

At his best, Te'o was being touted by some draft prognosticators as a high first-round pick.

Then Notre Dame played Alabama for the national championship.

The Crimson Tide crushed the Irish 42-14 in South Florida and Te'o looked overwhelmed facing Alabama's array of future NFL draft picks along the line and in the backfield.

You could practically hear Te'o tumbling down draft boards with every missed tackle.

"No question he played poorly against Alabama," NFL draft consultant and former Dallas Cowboys general manager Gil Brandt said.

Then things got weird. It was revealed that Te'o's girlfriend, who supposedly died during the season, never existed. He had been the victim of an elaborate hoax. Catfished.

Aside from being publicly humiliated, the episode called into question Te'o's character, which until then had seemed exemplary. It was another hit to his draft stock.

The final blow came at the combine, where Te'o ran the 40-yard dash in 4.82 seconds, making him one of the slowest linebackers there. He did better at Notre Dame's pro day about a month later, but the damage was done.

Te'o had seemingly gone from surefire first-rounder to maybe a second-round pick. Or at least that's the way it might have looked to those who follow the around-the-clock draft coverage on the Internet and TV these days.

Not so for Brandt, who has Te'o rated as the 20th-best player available.

"I wish he was just a little faster," Brandt said. Though his scouting report of Te'o also includes, "plays faster than his times."

Te'o's lack of straight-line speed could be a problem in man-to-man coverage, but both Brandt and Savage agree Te'o has shown good enough instincts to hold up well in zone coverage. As long he isn't limited to playing only running downs, Te'o can warrant a first-round selection.

"I think in some respects he's going to end up being drafted in the range that would have been expected regardless of what had transpired after the regular season," said Savage, who was general manager of the Browns from 2005-08 and also worked with the Ravens and Eagles.

"The vast majority of player personnel people saw him as a good player, but not as a great player."

Savage compared Te'o to D'Qwell Jackson of the Browns and DeMeco Ryans of the Eagles. Both were drafted early in the second round.

"(Te'o) did not have the explosive burst and hitting ability that you saw in Ray Lewis, Jon Beason, Jonathan Vilma or Luke Keuchly," Savage said.

Keuchly was taken ninth overall last season by Carolina and went on to become the defensive rookie of the year.

As far as character questions related to the fake girlfriend hoax, Brandt said that issue was put to rest when Te'o answered dozens of questions from reporters at the combine.

Brandt said he spent time with Te'o at the combine and came away impressed.

"I thought he was a very bright guy, quality individual. Everything about him I thought was upscale," Brandt said.

Savage said he didn't get a chance to meet Te'o, who turned down an invite to the Senior Bowl, but heard that his interviews with team officials at the combine went well ? and that teams did plenty of digging into his background.

Bears GM Phil Emery told the Chicago Tribune: "I found Manti to be a very good person, a very squared-away guy."

Savage figures there will be an initial media "circus" for whatever team drafts Te'o, and that team needs a plan to deal with it. Some teams might not feel it's worth the hassle, but ultimately the decision on whether to draft Te'o won't be much different from any other prospect.

"The majority of teams have evaluated him," Savage said, "and if he is the next best player on their board when it's their pick, they'll take him."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-22-FBN-NFL-Draft-Te'o/id-777ca199fd5b4b6e9d9300b8405de68c

university of louisville louisville ky lotto winners mega ball winning numbers baltimore county current tv megamillions

Will Teachers Unions Kill Virtual Learning?

A mishmash of state laws and regulations means that battles to make room for online schooling will have to be fought over and over.

Photo by Eric Thayer/Reuters

In 2012, education technology firms attracted $1.1 billion from venture capitalists, angel investors, corporations, and private equity?an order of magnitude more than the industry was pulling in 2002. Startups Coursera and Udacity, which offer high-quality online college courses to the masses, have each received more than $20 million from investors. Big corporations are buying their way into the industry, with Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp. leading the way in 2010 by dropping $360 million to acquire ed-tech firm Wireless Generation and luring education superstar Joel Klein away from his gig as the head of New York City schools.

But will the rush of cash translate into a radically transformed education landscape? When this kind of money flowed into tech companies in other sectors of the economy, we saw radical improvements in everyday transactions, as well as some dramatic booms and busts. Think Amazon instead of the mall, iTunes instead of the record shop, Expedia instead of a travel agent. But also think Pets.com and Full Tilt Poker, where intense competition and bad politics squelched what looked like good bets. There has been a flowering of good ideas in online education, like hybrid learning, in which kids still head off to school every morning but receive the bulk of their instruction from an infinitely patient piece of software instead of a harried, overworked teacher. Yet education, particularly K?12, has remained mostly immune to the improving and empowering forces of the Internet, leaving millions of kids stuck in offline backwaters for six hours a day. Per-pupil spending on public education has more than doubled over the past three decades, while student performance has flatlined.

As the parent of a toddler, I?d love to start banking on my daughter?s virtual elementary school matriculation. I want more choices than just the neighborhood public school or an exorbitantly priced private school offering pretty much the same curriculum in nicer facilities. Personalized learning and highly specific feedback appeal to me as a parent. But while Wall Street?s interest in online education may bode well for entrepreneurs and students, bullish investors and parents would do well to listen to war stories from weary education policy wonks.

At the university level, MOOCs and other forms of virtual schooling are cheaper alternatives to a wildly overpriced product. But at the K?12 level, companies looking to break into that market have to make a choice: compete with the traditional educational system, which parents think of as free, or jump through the hoops required to get your product integrated into public schools?which will mean satisfying at least 50 different sets of standards, plus watering down, rejiggering, and generally accommodating your product to a system that wasn?t designed for tech-driven plugins in the first place.

Every few years, Washington goes through a spasm of education reform. Some of the highlights include 1983?s ?A Nation at Risk,? which encapsulated the Reagan-era push to eliminate federal involvement in public education. The Goals 2000 Act, signed by Clinton in 1994, looked to boost graduation rates with extra tutoring. The bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 focused on testing and rankings and is long overdue for a makeover. Washington can?t make up its mind about education, which means the industry faces a significant amount of political risk. If pols turn against online education, pushing into an area so thoroughly dominated by public institutions may become even trickier. And laws designed to shoulder online ed companies out of the public sector could easily spill into the private side of the equation, creating a hostile regulatory environment or overly specific standards for state-certified graduation.

At the state level, a mishmash of laws and regulations means that battles to make room for online schooling will have to be fought over and over. Long-standing rules requiring that students sit in desks looking at a teacher for a certain number of hours a day?so-called seat time and line of sight requirements?could kill online learning in the cradle. Requirements for specific teacher-student ratios are tough to translate in a world where a single school day might have a student chatting with a friendly avatar online, getting tech support from an in-person teacher?s aide, and emailing with a subject-specific tutor, all while having her tests graded by a team of data-center workers in India.

In states where online education has made headway, often via laws that make room for charter schools, local and state teachers unions have filed lawsuits and pushed legislation to place strict caps on charter school enrollment, close virtual schools altogether, and?in a rather spectacular display of purposeful obtuseness about how the Internet works?to limit enrollment to students who live in the district in which the online school is based.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=bc60f4191ce8228eef091747b5d275a7

Justin Timberlake Grammys adam levine mumford and sons prince jessica biel Lena Dunham elton john

South Korea increases surveillance as North moves missiles

By Daum Kim and Phil Stewart

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korea said on Wednesday there was "very high" probability that North Korea, engaged in weeks of threats of war, would launch a medium-range missile at any time as a show of strength despite diplomatic efforts to soften its position.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said South Korea had asked China and Russia to intercede with the North to ease tension that has mounted since the U.N. Security Council imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea after its third nuclear arms test in February.

But all was calm in the South Korean capital, Seoul, long used to North Korean invective under its 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-un. Offices worked normally and customers crowded into city-center cafes.

Seoul stocks edged up 0.77 percent from a four-and-a-half-month low hit earlier in the week, though trading was light with threats from the North still clouding the picture. The won currency gained 0.3 percent.

Other officials in Seoul said surveillance of North Korean activity had been enhanced. Missile transporters had been spotted in South Hamgyong province along North Korea's east coast - a possible site for a launch.

North Korea observes several anniversaries in the next few days and they could be pretexts for displays of military strength. These include the first anniversary of Kim's formal ascent to power, the 20th anniversary of rule by his father, Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011, and the anniversary, next Monday, of the birth of the young Kim's grandfather, state founder Kim Il-Sung.

The near-daily threats to South Korea and the United States of recent weeks were muted in the North's state media on Wednesday, with the focus largely on the upcoming festivities.

State television showed mass gatherings, including women in traditional flowing robes, listening to addresses, laying flowers at monuments and taking part in a culinary competition.

The North's KCNA news agency said people were "doing their best to decorate cities". Another dispatch reported a "production upsurge" in the coal, steel, iron and timber industries, with figures showing a quarterly plan set by authorities had been "overfulfilled".

In Washington, Admiral Samuel Locklear, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific region, said the U.S. military believed North Korea had moved an unspecified number of Musudan missiles to its east coast.

The trajectory of the missile, if launched, is unclear as the North has failed to inform international bodies - as it did in previous instances - of the path it is expected to take. But it is unlikely to be aimed directly at the South.

The Musudan has a range of 3,500 km (2,100 miles) or more, according to South Korea, which would put Japan within range and may even threaten Guam, home to U.S. bases. South Korea can be reached by the North's short-range Scud missiles.

LAUNCH POSSIBLE "AT ANY TIME"

Foreign Minister Yun told a parliamentary hearing: "According to intelligence obtained by our side and the U.S., the possibility of a missile launch by North Korea is very high."

North Korea, he said, could launch a Musudan missile "at any time from now".

The U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command in Seoul raised its "Watchcon 3" status, a normal condition, by one level to boost monitoring and increase the number of intelligence staff, a senior military official told the South's Yonhap news agency.

Yonhap also reported that South Korea, which has not joined a U.S.-led global missile defense system, was planning to develop a system of its own. It quoted an unidentified senior military official as saying this would involve early warning radars, ship-to-air and land-based systems, to be used in conjunction with U.S. early warning satellites.

Yun said he was coordinating with China and Russia "to make efforts to persuade North Korea to change its attitude".

China is North Korea's sole major ally, although its influence over Pyongyang is open to question and Beijing has, in any event, endorsed the new sanctions. Moscow backed North Korea in Soviet times, though its influence has waned.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a fresh appeal for restraint and said nothing about any possible effort to bring about a change in the North's policy.

Patricia Lewis, research director at the London-based Chatham House think-tank, said that strictly on the basis of the North's vast conventional forces, caution was required.

"The conventional military capabilities of North Korea are all too real and all too close to Seoul," she wrote in a paper. "Any incursion could escalate involving the U.S. and Japan, China, perhaps Russia and others."

The North has tested short-range Scud missiles. The longer-range Musudan and Nodong missiles are an unknown quantity.

"If the missile was in defense of the homeland, I would certainly recommend that action (of intercepting it). And if it was defense of our allies, I would recommend that action," Locklear told a Senate hearing in Washington.

Pyongyang has threatened a nuclear strike on the United States - something it does not have the capacity to carry out - and "war" with "puppet" South Korea - threats that appear to be aimed at least in part at boosting internal support for Kim.

WEEKS OF EXERCISES

The North is also angry about weeks of joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises. About 28,000 U.S. forces are permanently based in South Korea.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Seoul this week.

On Tuesday, the North told foreigners in South Korea to leave to avoid being dragged into a "thermonuclear war". It previously warned diplomats in Pyongyang to prepare to leave.

The North closed a money-spinning industrial park it operates with South Korean companies this week, putting at risk a venture that is one of its few sources of hard cash.

Officials said 292 South Koreans remained in the complex just inside the North Korean border, apparently waiting for clarification over Pyongyang's plans.

In China's northeast region of Dandong, tour operators said they had been told by authorities to halt overland tourism to North Korea and some tourists were turned away. Other tours, including those involving air travel, were operating as usual.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim and by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Max Duncan in Dandong; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-increases-surveillance-north-moves-missile-000022927.html

celebrity apprentice grizzlies bronx zoo crash april 30 wwe extreme rules 2012 vontaze burfict jimmy kimmel

Ford Focus is the world's best-selling auto

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau ? ? ? 6 hrs.

Ford's increasing focus on global small cars apparently is paying off. Make that the Ford Focus which was the world?s best-selling automobile overall last year, according to new data from R.L. Polk & Company.

The Detroit maker?s compact model rang up more than 1 million sales last year, almost 17 percent more volume than Toyota recorded for its traditional sales leader, the compact Corolla model. Ford also scored at the other extreme, its big F-Series pickups collectively coming in third on the global sales list. In all, Ford landed three different models in the Top 10, including the sixth-ranked Fiesta subcompact.

Toyota and Honda each had two models on the Polk chart, while Volkswagen and General Motors? Chevrolet brand each had one. But the Top 10 list also included a new name likely not recognizable to most Westerners: China?s Wuling Zhiguang which generated 768,870 sales, landing just behind the F-Series in fourth place.

?Focus and Fiesta represent the culmination of our One Ford global product strategy,? said Jim Farley, Ford executive vice president for global marketing, sales and service and the head of its Lincoln brand.

The Detroit Bureau: Maserati Goes for the Mainstream with New 4-Door Ghibli

While Focus saw a 40 percent jump in U.S. demand last year, Ford?s late push into China helped Focus surge to the top of the sales charts last year, with volume of 1,020,410. It only went on sale in what is now the world?s largest automotive market in March 2012. Yet that market snapped up 300,000 of the Ford compacts last year ? where it is sold in both the current version and as a prior-generation model known as the Focus ?Classic.?

Looking forward to Ford?s aggressive Chinese expansion plans, said Farley, ?With additional manufacturing capacity added last year, we now have a tremendous opportunity to further strengthen our global small car sales in 2013, with sales off to a very strong start already.?

The Detroit Bureau: Chinese to be First to Build Detroit's Radical New, High-Mileage OPOC Engine

Toyota?s second-place finish, with sales of 872,774, still underscores the power of its Corolla model, especially considering it is set for a complete redesign later this year. A prototype, dubbed the Furia, was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January and Toyota officials recently hinted that the production version will be introduced before the Los Angeles Auto Show next autumn.

(For more on the next Toyota Corolla, Click Here.)

The fact that the Ford F-Series only came in third might surprise some Americans considering its continued strength in the U.S., where it has routinely heads the sales charts as both best-selling truck and best-selling vehicle overall for decades. But the U.S. was responsible for the vast majority of the full-size pickup?s volume of 785,630 last year.

(Redesigning an Icon: the secret concepts behind the next-gen Ford F-Series, Click Here.)

The F-Series is a real standout on the Polk Top 10 sales chart as the only classic truck on the list. In fact, the vast majority of the top-selling products are compacts and subcompacts, with the Toyota Camry, ranked fifth, the only midsize offering.

The Detroit Bureau: Honda and Acura Have Big Plans to Reveal at Shanghai Auto Show

As for the Wuling Zhiguang, it?s a pintsized people-mover barely the size of some of the sedans and hatchbacks on the Top 10 chart. Wuling is part of a joint venture between General Motors and its Chinese partner, Shanghai-based SAIC. '

Here?s the complete Top 10 list:

1. Ford Focus ? 1,020,410
2. Toyota Corolla ? 872,774
3. Ford F-Series ? 785,630
4. Wuling Zhiguang ? 768,870
5. Toyota Camry ? 729,793
6. Ford Fiesta ? 723,130
7. VW Golf ? 699,148
8. Chevrolet Cruze ? 661,325
9. Honda Civic ? 651,159
10. Honda CR-V ? 624,982

Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a849ca7/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cford0Efocus0Eworlds0Ebest0Eselling0Eauto0E1C9275876/story01.htm

Kevin Krim Autumn Pasquale ann coulter minecraft Ben Wilson Latest Presidential Polls trump

Student charged in college stabbings

CYPRESS, Texas (AP) ? A student who told police he'd fantasized for years about stabbing people to death was charged Tuesday with carrying out a building-to-building attack at a Texas community college that wounded at least 14 people, many of whom were stabbed in the face and neck, authorities said.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that 20-year-old Dylan Quick used a razor-type knife, and that he told investigators he'd been planning the attack at the suburban Houston campus for some time. Two people remained in critical condition late Tuesday.

Pieces of the blade were found in at least one victim, according to the sheriff's office. Broken blade pieces also were found in the area where the stabbing occurred, and the handle was discovered in a backpack that Quick was carrying when he was arrested.

Quick was charged Tuesday night with three counts of aggravated assault. It wasn't immediately clear if additional charges would be filed.

Authorities were seen entering Quick's parents' home in a middle-class neighborhood of Houston late Tuesday. No one answered the door or the phone at the red brick house, where two vehicles were parked in the driveway, including a Honda Accord with a license plate that said "DYLAN." It was not immediately known if Quick had an attorney.

"I can't imagine what would have happened to that young man to make him do something like this. He is very normal," said Magdalena Lopez, 48, who has lived across the street from the Quick family for 15 years.

Quick, she said, would always say hi to her and her family when she would see him outside taking out the trash or working on his family's front lawn. Quick is deaf, she said, and a street sign, "Deaf Child In Area," was posted on the block of brick, ranch-style homes warning drivers of his condition.

"I can't believe he would do it," Lopez said.

The stabbing spree began around 11:20 a.m., and students described a bloody scene.

Diante Cotton, 20, said he was sitting in a cafeteria with some friends when a girl clutching her neck walked in, yelling: "He's stabbing people! He's stabbing people!"

Cotton said he could not see the girl's injuries, but when he and his friends went outside, they saw a half-dozen people with injuries to their faces and necks being loaded into ambulances and medical helicopters.

Michelle Alvarez told the Houston Chronicle that she saw the attacker running toward other students and tried to back away. She said she didn't even feel it as he swiped at her.

"He came running and swinging at my neck, as I tried to get out of the way," she said.

Harris County Sherriff Adrian Garcia said that when emergency calls came into the department, there were indications that "students or faculty were actively responding to work to subdue this individual."

"So we're proud of those folks, but we're glad no one else is injured any more severely than they are," Garcia said.

Media and police swarmed the quiet neighborhood about 10 miles from the campus after the attack. Some neighbors described him as quiet, and noted that he didn't appear to have many friends, staying indoors most of the time unless his parents were outside working in the yard.

Michael Lincoln, who lives next door to the Quick family, described the suspect as friendly.

"If he's outside, he speaks to me, 'Hey neighbor, how you doing?'" Lincoln said.

He added that Quick had never been aggressive, which makes the accusations against him shocking.

"He stayed inside most of the time unless they were doing yard work," he said.

Elva Garcia, 46, who lives two houses down from the Quicks, described him as a nice young man who stayed out of trouble and only came outside with his parents. She saw him, she said, just this past weekend, working with his parents in the front yard.

"We can't even believe it. What motive would he have?" Garcia said.

The attack came three months after a different Lone Star campus was the site of a shooting in which two people were hurt. The suspected gunman in that incident is charged with aggravated assault.

___

Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant, Terry Wallace and David Warren in Dallas contributed to this report.

___

Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/student-charged-texas-college-stabbing-attack-023613093.html

Grammys 2013 2013 Grammy Winners abraham lincoln Chris Dorner 1800 Flowers walking dead The Pope

Paper Towel Dispensers, Firefox Downloads, and iOS Camera Gestures

Readers offer their best tips for using automatic paper towel dispensers, bringing back the old Firefox Downloads window, and a handy gesture in iOS.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons?maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in?the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.

Get Better Control Over an Automatic Paper Towel Dispenser

Platypus Man avoids wasting paper towels:

Okay, so maybe I'm just behind the times, but I recently discovered something interesting. In my office we use the automatic paper towel dispensers in the bathroom. Unfortunately, one paper towel usually isn't enough to fully dry my hands, but two is too much. At least here, I've found that giving the paper towel a very slight tug as it's coming out stops it from dispensing any further, so you can get as much smaller than a regular towel as you want.

Photo by Nick Gray.

Get Firefox's Old Download Manager Back

Vampyrbyte discovers a trick to get a real Downloads window back:

Firefox recently updated their download manager. You can get the old manager window back by changing browser.download.useToolkitUI to true in about:config.

Re-Lock Your iOS Screen After Using the Camera

Iamdesi shares a handy gesture for iOS users:

iOS: Some people (like me) prefer to shoot photos from the lock screen using the camera icon. It's quick and easy; you just gesture to open camera from lock screen is swipe up holding the camera icon.

Now the tip: To re-lock the phone, you can use the same thumb to lock the iOS device, by swiping down from the top of the screen with camera open (just like you do for notifications) and wham! The phone is locked!

You could, of course, use the lock button on the top, but you already have your thumb out for opening the camera and shooting photos, so this is faster.

Get Notifications of Every Transaction Through Your Bank's Online System

Craig Lloyd discovers a workaround for better notifications from his bank:

So, I really like Simple's way of notifying you of every transaction that happens with your bank account, but I've noticed that Chase doesn't offer that (or at least I haven't discovered such a feature yet). However, they do offer alerts for certain types of transactions, so if you want to be notified of all activity, simply put a check mark on every alert, and put "$0.00" in the textbox where it asks for a minimum.

This could work for other banks too; you'll have to log in and check it out for your particular bank.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/HlQsJtT_qTU/paper-towel-dispensers-firefox-downloads-and-ios-camera-gestures

Ed Sheeran Fun ll cool j Presidents Day 2013 jack white wiz khalifa 2013 Grammys

Keep an Apple Power Supply's Detachable Plug Handy with Sugru and a Paper Fastener

The detachable plug that comes with Apple power supplies is handy when you don't need the full extension cord, but they're incredibly easy to lose if you're not careful. To keep the plug from getting lost, you can use a bit of Sugru and a paper fastener to attach it to the brick.

All you need is a paper fastener that fits in the slot of the detachable plug and a bit of Sugru. Once you find a fastener that fits, secure it to the power supply grip with a bit of Sugru, and you're all set. You should be able to slide the plug right on and store it on the power supply itself so you don't lose it when the extension cord is attached.

Keep the detachable plug on an Apple power cube safe | Sugru via WonderHowTo

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/VTrp39jGnQs/keep-an-apple-power-supplys-detachable-plug-handy-with-sugru-and-a-paper-fastener

Karen Klein Colorado fires supreme court summer solstice Summer Solstice 2012 Waldo Canyon fire nba finals

Church: Pastor Rick Warren's son commits suicide

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2010, file photo, Pastor Rick Warren acknowledges audience members during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Service in Lake Forest, Calif. Saddleback Valley Community Church said in a statement Saturday, April 6, 2013, that Warren's 27-year-old son, Matthew Warren, has committed suicide after struggling with mental illness and deep depression. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2010, file photo, Pastor Rick Warren acknowledges audience members during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Service in Lake Forest, Calif. Saddleback Valley Community Church said in a statement Saturday, April 6, 2013, that Warren's 27-year-old son, Matthew Warren, has committed suicide after struggling with mental illness and deep depression. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) ? The Southern California church headed by popular evangelical Pastor Rick Warren said his 27-year-old son committed suicide on Saturday.

Warren's Saddleback Valley Community Church near Los Angeles said in a statement that Matthew Warren had struggled with mental illness and deep depression.

"Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many," the church's statement said. "Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thoughts. Despite the best health care available, this was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life."

Warren, the author of the multimillion-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life," said in an email to church staff that he and his wife had enjoyed a fun Friday evening with their son. But Matthew Warren took his life Saturday after "a momentary wave of despair at his home."

Over the years, Matthew Warren had been treated by America?s best doctors, medication, counselors and prayers for healing, Warren said.

"You who watched Matthew grow up knew he was an incredibly kind, gentle, and compassionate man," he wrote. "He had a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room. He'd then make a bee-line to that person to engage and encourage them."

Saddleback's website says that about 20,000 people attend weekend services at the Orange County church.

In 2008, the church sponsored a presidential forum with Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney had been invited to a similar forum last fall, but Warren canceled it, saying the campaign had become too uncivil.

Warren was named the top newsmaker of the year for 2009 by the Religion Newswriters Association, gaining attention with his invocation at Obama's first inauguration and comments in the aftermath of California's Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage.

Warren also has made headlines for his fundraising abilities, raking in more than $2.4 million after making a plea for donations in 2010 to fill a $900,000 deficit at his Southern California megachurch.

The evangelical pastor made similar pleas after Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Asian tsunami, raising $1.7 million and $1.6 million from Saddleback parishioners.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-06-Rick%20Warren's%20Son/id-1cfbc959f38847cea2aa19b684a438a6

Aj Mccarron Girlfriend linkedin linkedin CES 2013 joe budden notre dame notre dame football

Elastic energy for soft robotics

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.energyharvestingjournal.com/articles/elastic-energy-for-soft-robotics-00005319.asp?rsstopicid=0

nascar michigan basketball chelsea handler final four kurt cobain halle berry hannibal

China bird flu virus found in more markets

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have found traces of a new bird flu virus that has killed six people in more areas in Shanghai, state media reported, after authorities slaughtered over 20,000 birds at a large poultry market in the city.

State-run Xinhua news agency said samples of the H7N9 virus were found at two markets selling agricultural products in the Minhang district of Shanghai, a city of 23 million people that is China's financial hub.

The markets were near the Huhuai live poultry market where infected pigeons were discovered earlier in the week and where the culling was carried out.

The new strain of bird flu has infected 16 people in China, all in the east of the country. Six people have died, and the outbreak has spread concern overseas and sparked a sell-off in airline shares in Europe and Hong Kong.

The strain does not appear to be transmitted from human to human, but authorities in mainland China and Hong Kong said they were taking extra precautions.

Shanghai has banned all live poultry from other parts of the country from entering the city, and has now closed three markets to stem the spread of the virus, Xinhua said.

Hong Kong's government said it is intensifying surveillance of travelers and poultry coming into the city.

China and Hong Kong were badly hit by the 2002-2003 epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that started in China and killed about one-tenth of the 8,000 it infected worldwide.

(Reporting by Adam Jourdan in SHANGHAI and Farah Master in HONG KONG; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-bird-flu-virus-found-more-markets-shanghai-031011386.html

dancing with the stars cast kristen stewart Shirley Bassey adele Oscars 2013 barcelona vs real madrid renee zellweger

Google Says Facebook Home Demonstrates Android's Openness, Framing Apple As Restrictive

Google’s statement on Facebook’s introduction of “Home” was short and sweet, but very telling, so let’s dissect it a little bit. As we noted earlier, Facebook went with Android first because of its flexibility, basically it’s easy to customize. Other platforms, not so much. Zuckerberg even mentioned that Windows Phone might be a bit easier to work with, calling it out as “somewhere in the middle” of Android and iOS. Here’s what Google said to us a little while ago: The Android platform has spurred the development of hundreds of different types of devices. This latest device demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Android so popular. You’ll notice that the first thing that the company says is that there are “hundreds” of different types of devices running its mobile operating system. In the past, that’s been seen as a bad thing, due to fragmentation. Here, Google is clearly positioning this as an advantage, that is has more choices for consumers than say, Apple has. Secondly, “this latest device,” being the HTC First, which is pre-installed with Facebook Home, demonstrates flexibility. There’s that word again. Clearly, Google is firing a rocket at its competitor Apple, which is notoriously very stiff when it comes to customization. In Apple’s mind, its users don’t know what they want to see until it shows it to them. By letting a company like Facebook take over the first experience a user has when it wakes up their phone, they are giving away pretty much everything. Again, Google points this out as a competitive advantage. In an extended version of the statement to VentureBeat, Google made sure to pump up its own products at the same time: And it?s a win for users who want a customized Facebook experience from Google Play ? the heart of the Android ecosystem ? along with their favorite Google services like Gmail, Search, and Google Maps. In this added bit, Google makes sure to bring the attention back to its baked-in Android services, like search, email and maps. Is that Google getting a little bit jealous of all of the fuss over Facebook? Not at all. These companies are competitive in the sense that they’re both after eyeballs, but when it comes to social interactions, they couldn’t be more different. Forget the Google+ argument here, it wasn’t built to be a competitor to Facebook. Google owns search and email

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yNcSrDQvL3M/

jennifer hudson jennifer garner jennifer garner daytona 500 national margarita day Ronda Rousey PS4

Northridge kidnapping suspect Tobias Dustin Summers believed to be in Mexico

The principal suspect in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northridge girl was spotted in a video crossing to Mexico and Los Angeles officials said Friday they are working with Mexican authorities and the FBI to track him down.

Tobias Dustin Summers, 32, was seen on the video crossing a footbridge into Tecate, Mexico, Police Chief Charlie Beck said Friday.

Beck would not disclose the day the video was taken. He said officials are uncertain if Summers returned to the United States.

"We are working with the FBI and Mexican authorities to try to locate him," Beck said. "In the end, we believe it will be a citizen who turns him in. "

Beck said it was not known if he was still in Tecate or elsewhere in Mexico.

"We think he is holed up somewhere because he doesn't really blend in," Beck said.

Summers is the prime suspect in the kidnapping and sexual assault of the girl on March 27 in what was believed to have started as a burglary. The girl was released about 12 hours later in the Woodland Hills area with bruises.

She was believed to have been taken to an abandoned house where the attacks occurred.

"We have a problem with abandoned and foreclosed houses throughout the city because of the mortgage crisis," Beck said.

An accomplice, Daniel Martinez, 30, was arrested on Sunday. He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and burglary charges. Beck would not say what has linked the two men to the crime

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22962841/northridge-kidnapping-suspect-tobias-dustin-summers-believed-be?source=rss

evans vs davis fast times at ridgemont high fast times at ridgemont high soylent green phil davis george st pierre aldon smith

Weston finance board votes tonight on budget | The Weston Forum

The Weston Board of Finance? is scheduled to make a decision tonight, Thursday, April 4, on the final town, school, and capital budgets to send to the public for a vote.

The finance board meets at 8 p.m. in the Meeting Room at town hall.

A public hearing on the budget proposals was held Wednesday, April 3. Coverage of that meeting, as well as of the finance baord?s deliberation meeting, will be in next week?s April 11 edition of The Weston Forum.

On the table are a town operating budget of $11,690,441 (a 3.32% increase over the current year), a $46.29-million school budget (a 1.55% increase), and a combined $1,128,728 town and school capital budget (a 30.2% decrease).

The Board of Selectmen approved the town, capital, and debt service requests and recommended a $100,000 reduction to the school budget request. The selectmen?s school budget recommendation puts it at a 1.31% increase from the current operating budget.

More school reductions

However, the school board met last week, on Thursday, March 28, and discussed making even more reductions to its already-approved budget request. As a result, the school board is expected to ask the finance board for an even lower school budget: $45,765,418 ? $528,250 less than originally requested, and $178,226 more than the current budget. The new request is a 0.39% increase from the current budget.

A press release from the school district said, ?This lower budget was based on aggressive re-bidding of the employee health benefits and several other cost saving strategies? since the school board voted on its budget proposal.

When it voted Feb. 1, the district was estimating the cost for health insurance because insurance bids had not yet come back. The bid results, however, led the schools to change carriers, resulting in a $438,307 savings.

Other changes that have occurred since Feb. 1 and their corresponding savings include:

? An additional retirement ($44,576).

? Reduction of a full-time teaching position to a 0.6 full-time equivalent, or FTE, ($24,730).

? A change in the technology lease ($15,294).

? Received quote on liability, auto, and property insurance ($5,343).

Finance board authority

The finance board has the authority to reduce or increase the town and/or the school budgets, but it has line item control only over the town budget; it is up to the school district to decide how the money ultimately approved is spent.

The amounts approved will go before voters at the Annual Town Budget Meeting (ATBM), set for Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. in the Weston High School auditorium.

According to the new town charter, the budgets may not be increased by the ATBM. Also, a minimum of 2% of all the town?s qualified voters must be present at the ATBM in order to reduce any portion of the budget; if that quorum exists, reductions must be approved by a majority present at the ATBM.

The budgets approved at the ATBM go to a machine referendum vote for final approval.

Machine votes may be cast at the high school immediately following the ATBM, as well as the following Thursday, May 2, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Weston Middle School gymnasium.

Source: http://www.thewestonforum.com/9613/weston-finance-board-votes-tonight-on-budget/

secret service scandal shea weber greystone sidney crosby at the drive in alternative minimum tax modeselektor

There has been an error of some kind. Ack!

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/googlemoneyscam

Gabby Douglas hair Kayla Harrison Mars landing Gabby Douglas John Orozco Garrett Reid shawn johnson

Study: Dementia tops cancer, heart disease in cost

Cancer and heart disease are bigger killers, but Alzheimer's is the most expensive malady in the U.S., costing families and society $157 billion to $215 billion a year, according to a new study that looked at this in unprecedented detail.

The biggest cost of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia isn't drugs or other medical treatments, but the care that's needed just to get mentally impaired people through daily life, the nonprofit RAND Corp.'s study found.

It also gives what experts say is the most reliable estimate for how many Americans have dementia ? around 4.1 million. That's less than the widely cited 5.2 million estimate from the Alzheimer's Association, which comes from a study that included people with less severe impairment.

"The bottom line here is the same: Dementia is among the most costly diseases to society, and we need to address this if we're going to come to terms with the cost to the Medicare and Medicaid system," said Matthew Baumgart, senior director of public policy at the Alzheimer's Association.

Dementia's direct costs, from medicines to nursing homes, are $109 billion a year in 2010 dollars, the new RAND report found. That compares to $102 billion for heart disease and $77 billion for cancer. Informal care by family members and others pushes dementia's total even higher, depending on how that care and lost wages are valued.

"The informal care costs are substantially higher for dementia than for cancer or heart conditions," said Michael Hurd, a RAND economist who led the study. It was sponsored by the government's National Institute on Aging and will be published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Dementia also can result from a stroke or other diseases. It is rapidly growing in prevalence as the population ages. Current treatments only temporarily ease symptoms and don't slow the disease. Patients live four to eight years on average after an Alzheimer's diagnosis, but some live 20 years. By age 80, about 75 percent of people with Alzheimer's will be in a nursing home compared with only 4 percent of the general population, the Alzheimer's group says.

"Most people have understood the enormous toll in terms of human suffering and cost," but the new comparisons to heart disease and cancer may surprise some, said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the Institute on Aging.

"Alzheimer's disease has a burden that exceeds many of these other illnesses," especially because of how long people live with it and need care, he said.

For the new study, researchers started with about 11,000 people in a long-running government health survey of a nationally representative sample of the population. They gave 856 of these people extensive tests to determine how many had dementia, and projected that to the larger group to determine a prevalence rate ? nearly 15 percent of people over age 70.

Using Medicare and other records, they tallied the cost of purchased care ? nursing homes, medicines, other treatments ? including out-of-pocket expenses for dementia in 2010. Next, they subtracted spending for other health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or depression so they could isolate the true cost of dementia alone.

"This is an important difference" from other studies that could not determine how much health care cost was attributable just to dementia, said Dr. Kenneth Langa, a University of Michigan researcher who helped lead the work.

Even with that adjustment, dementia topped heart disease and cancer in cost, according to data on spending for those conditions from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Finally, researchers factored in unpaid care using two different ways to estimate its value ? foregone wages for caregivers and what the care would have cost if bought from a provider such as a home health aide. That gave a total annual cost of $41,000 to $56,000 per year for each dementia case, depending on which valuation method was used.

"They did a very careful job," and the new estimate that dementia affects about 4.1 million Americans seems the most solidly based than any before, Hodes said. The government doesn't have an official estimate but more recently has been saying "up to 5 million" cases, he said.

The most worrisome part of the report is the trend it portends, with an aging population and fewer younger people "able to take on the informal caregiving role," Hodes said. "The best hope to change this apparent future is to find a way to intervene" and prevent Alzheimer's or change its course once it develops, he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-03-US-MED-Alzheimer's-Toll/id-6d05c45596474a4c8b420a33e34653a3

paulina gretzky paulina gretzky david bowie elvis presley elvis presley Pretty Little Liars Rob Parker