Saturday, October 19, 2013

Pusha T, Live In Concert


Pusha T's set was the culmination of a gradual separation from his brother, No Malice, with whom he performed as Clipse until three years ago. The Virginia native made his name as a writer of sharply observed scenes of the drug trade and a connoisseur of unsettling, emotionally raw production.


He was vulnerable up there on stage at Le Poisson Rouge, playing none of the hits he made as part of Clipse (the ones the crowd knew by heart), instead favoring his more recent work with Kanye West, and pulling from his solo mixtapes and debut album, My Name Is My Name. The songs are full frontal assaults dappled with graceful metaphors and harmonies that leave marks. Eyes wide, face open, Pusha doesn't shirk anything, rapping about dirt he's done, ugly facts, and praying. "I'm just talking to the world like it's you and I," he says during "Suicide."


He put the audience on his back, building trust and moving toward a moment between the first and second verses of his encore, "40 Acres." He shut his eyes, leaned on the mic stand and visibly gathered himself before hurling his meticulously drawn story out into the air, even though it hurt to say the words.


Set List

  • "King Push"

  • "Blocka"

  • "Millions"

  • "Hold On"

  • "Suicide"

  • "So Appalled"

  • "Mercy"

  • "Cook It Down"

  • "My God"

  • "Exodus 23:1"

  • "I Don't Like"

  • "New God Flow"

  • "Pain"

  • "Nosetalgia"

  • "Sweet Serenade"

  • "Numbers On The Board"

  • "40 Acres"

Credits

Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Robin Hilton, Frannie Kelley, Amy Schriefer; Event Coordinator: Saidah Blount; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Alex di Suvero, Becky Harlan, A.J. Wilhelm; Special Thanks: (Le) Poisson Rouge; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann


Source: http://www.npr.org/event/music/230520404/pusha-t-live-in-concert?ft=1&f=10005
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Microsoft Yanks Windows RT 8.1 Update “Temporarily” Following Discovery Of A “Situation”


If you are a Windows RT user looking forward to moving to Windows RT 8.1, you can’t, at least for a little while. Today Microsoft removed the update from the Windows Store following the uncovering of a “situation” that was “affecting a limited number of users updating their Windows RT devices to Windows RT 8.1.”


So, the code is now unavailable “temporarily” while Microsoft fixes whatever the heck is wrong. The issue appears to impact the booting cycle of some machines after they update.


Microsoft is likely pissed that it had to yank the update – it was hoping for a very smooth Windows 8.1 update cycle. Still, if the error had been present in the vanilla Windows 8.1 update, and not its RT flavor, the embarrassment would have been greatly magnified. Windows RT, of course, is a sliver when compared with Windows 8.


Aside from this error, the Windows 8.1 release cycle has been mostly smooth. There were reports of individual user problems, and a general meme was that the update process took longer than expected, but worked. Until today.


How many Windows RT users are there? I don’t know, but given that the majority are presumably Surface RT users, Microsoft is delaying those who both bought into its hardware efforts as well as its new software platform. That’s not a very good Saturday for the company.


Peter Bright of Ars Technica has the best analysis of the situation:



To call this embarrassing for Microsoft is something of an understatement. While x86 PCs have extraordinary diversity, in terms of hardware, software, and drivers—all things that can prevent straightforward upgrading—the Windows RT devices are extremely limited in this regard. Upgrading Windows RT tablets should be absolutely bulletproof. It’s very disappointing that it isn’t.



Precisely.


We’ll have preliminary market share numbers for Windows 8.1 upgrade cycle next week, though I don’t expect this specific bug to move those numbers too much.


Top Image Credit: Dell Inc.



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This Isn't Your Granny Smith's Harvesting Technology



In West Michigan, it's apple harvest time. That may conjure up images of picturesque orchards and old-fashioned fun: growers harvesting apples and then selecting them by hand.


Think again.


Robotic arms, computer vision and high-resolution photography are helping Michigan growers wash, sort and package apples at top speeds in the business — think 2,000 apples per minute.



With this modern technology, farmers are expanding production and getting Galas and Ginger Golds from Michigan orchards to grocery stores faster and more cheaply.


That's especially important during bumper crop years like 2013, when Michigan apple growers are expected to bring in a potentially record-setting 30 million bushels.


Rob Steffens, an apple grower on West Michigan's fertile "fruit ridge," has about 280 acres of orchards northwest of Grand Rapids. He packs 800 to a 1,000 apple trees into each acre, which is about three times as many trees as his father grew on the land.


With so many new trees, Steffens and other Michigan growers needed a way to process all those extra apples faster and more cheaply.


So Steffens pooled his resources with six other farmers to build a $7 million apple packing plant. It's where his apples are sorted, washed, waxed and readied for shipping to grocery stores.


Wooden crates with "Steffens" stamped on them stack up against one wall in the warehouse. A machine picks up the crates and dumps the apples onto a sort of water conveyor belt. The three-foot-wide river of bobbing apples moves quickly, as a machine sorts the fruit.



Then the apples go through a tunnel filled with flashing lights.


"Really, this is the brains of that," Steffens says, as he points to the tunnel. "This takes a picture of each apple — I think it's between 25 and 29 times a second."



The computer then forms a 3D model of each apple so it can figure out the fruit's size, color and quality. The apples are sorted by weight and color in a fraction of a second. Bruised or misshapen apples are rejected.


"See, and it's kicking out fruit like this," Steffens says as he points to a blemish no bigger than a dime on the skin of one of the rejected apples.



The high-tech machine means the growers can process and pack way more fruit with the same amount of workers. On a typical day, the machine can scan almost 2,000 apples a minute.



"It's processing at an astonishing rate," says horticulturist Randy Beaudry, at Michigan State University.


But this new technology, he says, is what Michigan apple growers need to compete with other states.


"If, for instance, a large box store says, 'OK, we want fruit that are between 2.5 and 2.75 inches.' And they want them 80 percent red with coloration. And they want zero defects — Michigan growers can get that fruit," he says. "And they can do it within a few hours time."


Each year, Michigan is typically only behind Washington and New York state in terms of apple bushels. That has a lot to do with good weather and luck. But it's also because growers have been changing their orchards. Growers have been ripping out older, taller apple trees and replacing them with smaller ones, Beaudry says.


"The trees are shorter. They're closer together," he says. "We create what we call fruiting walls. That's a relatively recent innovation, but it's part of a long-term trend to reduce the size of apple trees, so that they're harvested more easily and more efficiently. So we don't need as much labor."


More and more technology is needed to move labor-intensive agricultural products like apples efficiently to market, Beaudry says.


Fortunately for us, the end result still tastes like an old-fashioned Michigan apple in October.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/14/232235993/this-isnt-your-granny-smiths-harvesting-technology?ft=1&f=1008
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How to Start a Billion-Dollar Empire With a Laptop

Alexis Ohanian graduating from the University of Virginia in 2005.
Alexis Ohanian graduating from the University of Virginia in 2005.

Photo courtesy of Alexis Ohanian








The skills needed to be successful today are rapidly evolving, which is why education has never been more important—especially for those in the technology industry, where I'm lucky enough to work. Companies (at least the kind ambitious people want to work for) no longer look for someone to come in from 9 to 5 and uphold the status quo. They want resourceful and innovative employees who work hard and get their jobs done regardless of the circumstances.














To baby boomers, these trends are scary, eating away at the foundation of a steady job and life that they helped instill. But we millennials welcome these new paradigms because they instantly show who is resourceful and who isn't—who will go the extra mile and who will coast to the finish. For the people with the skills to succeed, life is good.










Unfortunately, college alone can’t give those skills, and the economy isn’t helping, as promising yet under- or unemployed young adults with six-figure student loan burdens can attest. Meanwhile, people like Bruce Nussbaum, a professor at Parsons and the author of Creative Intelligence, say that America is experiencing an innovation crisis. Meanwhile, higher education is under fire for its narrow focus on rankings and its insane cost.












So how can we nurture creative thought in a productive way?










Peter Thiel, the billionaire PayPal founder, thinks the answer is paying students to skip college altogether. He set up the Thiel Fellowship, which awards $100,000 each to 20 people under 20 to pursue their dreams. There are two problems with Thiel's education solution. First, the Thiel Fellowship isn't scalable. Helping 20 kids a year is great, but more than 21 million students enroll in college each year, so the Thiel Fellowship is only helping less than 0.00000095 percent of students. The second problem is that giving a select number of students the option of going to college or getting $100,000 to work on a business creates a false and harmful dichotomy.










The best way to incubate innovation and entrepreneurship is found at the intersection of college and supplemental education. If you sample where today's resourceful elite—the tech titans starting billion-dollar empires with laptops—got their skills, it's almost always a combination of college and supplemental education, like learning how to code with Codeacademy and taking practical classes at places like General Assembly. (Disclosure: I'm an investor in both companies.) The most promising businesses are either building programs for their employees or encouraging them to take supplemental courses to continue learning. These programs, especially in software development, don't offer accreditation—they offer the skills to make careers.










But this doesn’t mean skipping out on traditional higher education. Although no college is perfect, professors and fellow students teach you really important skills. These crucial four years can go a long way toward turning shy and inexperienced freshmen into well-rounded, connected, and inspired graduates.


















Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/10/alexis_ohanian_reddit_co_founder_on_solving_america_s_innovation_crisis.html
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Obama says it appears some progress in Senate toward averting default


By Roberta Rampton


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday it appears there has been progress in Senate fiscal impasse negotiations but that there is a good chance the United States will default on its debts if Republicans are unwilling to set aside some partisan concerns.


Obama emerged from the White House to visit Martha's Table, an organization that makes meals for low-income families where some furloughed government workers have been volunteering.


Obama, who is to meet congressional leaders at the White House at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), said he would be able to determine at that meeting whether the progress is real toward ending a government shutdown and avoiding a debt default ahead of a Thursday deadline.


"My hope is that a spirit of cooperation will move us forward in the next few hours," Obama said.


Obama warned "we stand a good chance of defaulting" unless real progress is made this week in the Senate and House of Representatives and if Republicans are not willing to set aside some aside some of their partisan concerns.


A debt default would send interest rates shooting up and the damage to the economy would be greatly magnified "if we don't make sure that the government's paying its bills and that has to be decided this week," he said.


(Reporting by Roberta Rapmpton; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)



Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-appears-progress-senate-toward-averting-default-171306391.html
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Samsung Smart Media Player: An Expensive Roku Alternative

Samsung Smart Media Player: An Expensive Roku Alternative

Samsung has just announced its Smart Media Player, a Roku or Apple TV alternative that runs the company's Smart TV interface to provide all the streaming you need. Sadly, though, it seems to have priced itself outta the market.

Read more...


    






Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/v3BN65Z5Xa8/samsung-smart-media-player-an-expensive-roku-or-apple-1447641512
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Friday, October 18, 2013

BenQ SH940


Most people don't need a data projector with 1,920-by-1,080 resolution. But for those who do, the BenQ SH940 , stands ready to fill the need. With more than twice as many pixels across and almost twice as many down as SVGA's 800 by 600, the SH940 can show a large spreadsheet with fully readable text in all the cells, an engineering drawing with clear detail, or four windows at once with each one showing roughly the same amount of data as a single SVGA screen. If that's the kind of resolution you need, the SH940 will be of more than a little interest.



With 1,920-by-1,080 pixels, the DLP-based SH940 is a step up in resolution from the Editors' Choice Canon REALiS SX80 Mark II. It's also a step up in rated brightness, at 4,000 lumens rather than 3,000. However, it doesn't offer the Canon SX80 Mark II's LCOS technology, which delivers better image quality than either DLP or LCD chips, and it doesn't offer the kind of color management that makes the SX80 Mark II such a good choice for showing photos at top quality. That said, the SH940 delivers on the most important issue for a data projector, with high-quality data images.



Basics
The SH940 weighs in at 15 pounds 14 ounces, making it most appropriate for permanent installation or for being mounted on a cart for room-to-room portability. Either way, as the 4,000-lumen rating makes clear, it's designed for a medium- to large-size conference room or classroom.


Using SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) recommendations, 4,000 lumens would be appropriate in theater dark lighting and with a 1.0 gain screen for roughly a 270-inch diagonal image at the projector's native resolution. Even with moderate ambient light, it would still be suitable for a 170-inch diagonal screen, which is easily big enough for a large conference room.


One nice touch for setup is a little extra convenience in finding the right spot for the projector. The 1.5x zoom lens gives you flexibility in how far you can put it from the screen for any given size image, while the vertical and horizontal lens shift adds flexibility for the position up, down, left, and right. I measured the vertical shift as roughly 60 percent of the screen height up or down from the midpoint, and the horizontal shift as roughly 20 percent left or right from the midpoint. Position the projector anywhere in this range, and you can move the image to center it on the screen.


Beyond that, setup is standard, with the usual HDMI, composite video, and VGA for a computer or three-input component video, plus the less common option of using five-input component video with BNC connectors.


Data and Video Image Quality
Data image quality for the SH940 is excellent, with the projector sailing through our standard suite of DisplayMate tests. Colors were fully saturated and vibrant in all preset modes and color balance was in the top tier for projectors, with suitably neutral grays at all levels from black to white in all modes.


More important for data images, the projector also did an excellent job with detail. Both black on white and white on black text, for example, were crisp and highly readable at sizes as small as 6.8 points. Even better, analog connections were as rock solid as you would expect from a digital connection. I didn't see any pixel jitter or moiré patterns, even on screens that are designed to bring those problems out.


The SH940's video quality, unfortunately, isn't in the same league as its data image quality. The key issue is noise. With DVDs, noise showed up in almost every solid area in the image, like walls or the sky, and was annoyingly obvious in enough scenes to make it impossible to ignore. With Blu-ray discs, the noise was far less obvious, but there was more than with most projectors.


In addition to noise, the SH940's video suffers from rainbow artifacts. These artifacts, with light areas breaking up into flashes of red, green, and blue, are a potential concern for any single-chip DLP projector. With the SH940 I saw barely a hint of them with data images, and only with test images designed to make them show. As with most DLP projectors, however, the artifacts show up more often in video.


The good news for the SH940 is that with video I saw the rainbows notably less often than with most DLP projectors. Even those who see the artifacts easily probably wouldn't find them bothersome enough to be an issue for a few minutes of video in a presentation. However, they show often enough that they could easily be an annoying problem for the same people for long sessions.


One other plus for the SH940 is its audio system. The 10-watt mono speaker delivers enough volume for a large conference room or classroom, and the quality is among the best I've run into in a built-in audio system in a projector. If you need stereo or still better volume or sound quality, you can connect an external sound system to the projector's stereo output.


If you need a projector in the 4,000-lumen class, but don't need the SH940's high resolution, there are less expensive choices available, including the Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 1880 MultiMedia Projector.


Similarly, if you need a projector that can show video reasonably well in addition to showing data images well, or you need one designed to let you tune the color just so, the Canon REALiS SX80 Mark II will be the better fit. But if you need a projector specifically for showing detailed data images at large enough size for a mid- to large-size conference room or classroom, and you don't need to show much video, the BenQ SH940 could be exactly the projector you want.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Tn65BD7nZyY/0,2817,2425944,00.asp
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Dell Venue 7 and 8 tablets now available online, starting at $150

Dell Venue tabletPowered by Clover Trail+ processors, these are very interesting budget tablets

Traditional PC maker Dell has released two new Android tablets, and starting today at their web shopping portal you can pick up the Dell Venue 7 for $150, or the Dell Venue 8 for $180.

Other than the screen size, the tablets are identical. Under the hood you have an Intel ATOM Z2580 processor, which is the high-end Clover Trail+ version that features Hyperthreading and VTx technology. This is paired with 2GB of RAM, and Intel HD graphics adapter, support for 802.11 b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth 4.0. The screen resolution is a mild 1200 x 800 on both the 7-inch Venue 7 and 8-inch Venue 8, and both tablets will ship with Android 4.2.2.

On paper, they appear to be solid consumer-grade offerings, which should have excellent battery life thanks to the Intel CPU. We've ordered one, and we'll have a look ourselves. At $150, it's certainly worth a good long look as the holiday shopping season approaches.

For more details and ordering information, see the source links.

Source: Dell. Thanks, Heath!


    






Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/vXme0TzGNGA/story01.htm
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GE posts strong third quarter backlog, profit margins; shares jump


By Lewis Krauskopf and Ernest Scheyder


(Reuters) - General Electric Co on Friday posted a record backlog of orders that the company said positioned it well for 2014, lifting shares and overshadowing a decline in quarterly profit and revenue.


Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt sounded an optimistic tone to end a week of economic uncertainty during the debt ceiling debate in Washington, saying the conglomerate's results were "very strong in an improving global business environment."


Its backlog for everything from jet engines to locomotives to turbines jumped nearly 13 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Earnings increased at six of GE's seven industrial businesses, and the company said it was on track to achieve its target for expanding profit margins for the year.


Shares rose nearly 3 percent to $25.40 in premarket trade.


"It's slow but steady progress at GE, and that's a good thing," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management, which owns GE shares.


Net income fell to $3.19 billion, or 31 cents per share, in the third quarter, from $3.49 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier.


Excluding one-time items, earnings of 36 cents per share topped the average estimate of analysts by a penny, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Revenue fell 1.5 percent to $35.7 billion. Analysts looked for nearly $36 billion.


Revenue was weighed down by its GE Capital finance arm, which the company is shrinking, and a $132 million toll from the negative impact of foreign currency translation.


Among GE's seven industrial segments, its oil and gas and aviation lines posted revenue increases of 18 percent and 12 percent, respectively, offsetting a 10 percent decline in its power and water unit that makes a variety of turbines.


Still, the power and water business, which has been a drag on results, recorded a 9 percent gain in earnings and performed better than several analysts expected.


"The turbine business is looking up," Ghriskey said. "It certainly has taken a hit. But that should improve next quarter and into 2014."


The company's accumulated backlog of service and equipment orders rose to $229 billion, up $6 billion from the second quarter. Equipment orders for its aviation division nearly doubled in the quarter, while transportation equipment orders jumped 65 percent.


GE pointed to a roughly $600 million order in the quarter to provide turbomachinery equipment to Russia's Yamal liquefied natural gas project and an order from Air Asia for 528 engines.


GE said it was on track to reach its target of expanding operating profit margin for its industrial businesses by 0.7 percent -- to 15.8 percent this year from 15.1 percent in 2012. In the third quarter, the profit margin improved by 1.2 percent from a year ago.


"Industrial margins, which is really an earnings driver, were much stronger than expected," said Jack Degan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp, which owns GE shares.


(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jeffrey Benkoe)



Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ge-third-quarter-net-profit-falls-103942769--sector.html
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AMD reports Q3 profit after reducing reliance on PCs


Reduced reliance on the PC market helped Advanced Micro Devices turn a profit in the third quarter, with the company looking for faster growth in the quarters ahead.


AMD reported net income of US$48 million for the quarter ended Sept. 28, better than its loss of $157 million in the same quarter last year.


[ For quick, smart takes on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. | Find out what topics and issues affect tech's biggest names and news makers in the IDGE Insider CEO interview series. | Read Bill Snyder's Tech's Bottom Line blog for what the key business trends mean to you. ]


Revenue was $1.46 billion, an improvement from $1.27 billion a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast sales of $1.42 billion for the quarter.


The revenue growth was driven by AMD's semi-custom chip business, which was established this year to make chips for gaming consoles and other non-PC products. AMD's chips will be used in Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4, for example, which will ship later this year.


AMD shipped millions of processors to Sony and Microsoft for their consoles, CEO Rory Read said during a call to discuss the earnings.


"We have several strong semi-custom designs moving through the pipeline," Read said.


Semi-custom-chip business revenue grew by more than 26 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013. That business will account for about 50 percent of revenue "from high-growth markets over the next two years," Read said in a statement.


As semi-custom revenue flourished, PC revenue declined. Revenue for the Computing Solutions unit, which deals in PC chips, was $790 million, declining 15 percent year over year. The company also recorded growth in revenue from graphics chips.


AMD earlier this year projected it would record a profit in the third quarter. The company "continued to successfully execute the strategic transformation plan we outlined a year ago," Read said.


AMD has been going through years of restructuring under a new management team led by Read. The company laid off 15 percent of its workforce last October and cut costs by trimming its chip offerings and selling assets. It also forged relationships with more chip manufacturers to cut production overhead.


The company is now expecting a larger chunk of its future revenue to be from its custom chip business as the PC market fades away. AMD has a negligible presence in the tablet market and does not make products for smartphones.


Diversification into new areas will help the company grow through 2016, Read said. Besides custom chips, revenue will also be driven by low-power laptops, tablets, graphics products and dense servers, Read said.


"Two years ago, 90 to 95 percent of our business centered around PCs," Read said. "We see it as an important business, but times are changing."


Read estimated PC shipments will fall by 10 percent both this year and next. The company will keep its PC chip plans modest and manage the product line to match market trends.


AMD expects its revenue to grow 5 percent sequentially in the current quarter and for the company to be "profitable at the net income level," CFO Devinder Kumar said on the call.


AMD has been trying to shed its image as an Intel clone. The company licensed the ARM architecture, which it will use in server chips due for shipment to server makers early next year. The company will make processors based on ARM designs for embedded devices as well.


However, the company has not lost sight of the PC market, which remains its bread-and-butter business. Around midyear, AMD started shipping the latest PC chips, code-named Kabini, which are selling well, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research.


Its next PC chip, code-named Kaveri, will ship to motherboard and PC makers by the end of the year, Read said. PCs with the chip will likely appear next year.


Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com.


Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/amd-reports-q3-profit-after-reducing-reliance-pcs-229046
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Small Amount Of Money From Pink NFL ... - Business Insider

NFL Breast Cancer Awareness

Getty Images

It's October and the NFL is once again covered head-to-toe in pink accessories and equipment as part of the league's Breast Cancer Awareness initiative.

While fans can also purchase pink clothing and accessories to support the cause, a shockingly small amount of the fans' money is actually going towards cancer research.


According to data obtained from the NFL by Darren Rovell of ESPN, the NFL "takes a 25% royalty from the wholesale price (1/2 retail), donates 90% of royalty to American Cancer Society."


In other words, for every $100 in pink merchandise sold, $12.50 goes to the NFL. Of that, $11.25 goes to the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the NFL keeps the rest. The remaining money is then divided up by the company that makes the merchandise (37.5%) and the company that sells the merchandise (50.0%), which is often the NFL and the individual teams.


Then consider that only 71.2% of money the ACS receives goes towards research and cancer programs.


NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Revenue

BusinessInsider.com

In the end, after everybody has taken their cut, only 8.01% of money spent on pink NFL merchandise is actually going towards cancer research (see right).

According to the NFL, any money they take in, that is not donated to ACS, is used to cover the costs of their breast cancer awareness program, "A Crucial Catch." The NFL also told Business Insider they donated approximately $1 million per year to the ACS in the first three years of the program.


Still, there are unanswered questions about where the money is going and who is profiting.


The most popular place to purchase pink merchandise is at the NFL's online shop, official team stores, and at the stadiums. In these cases, the NFL and the individual teams are acting as the retailer.


It is unclear how much of the 50% markup for items being sold directly by the NFL and the teams is going to the ACS, if any at all.


Of course, in addition to money, the NFL is also raising awareness for breast cancer and it is hard to put a value on that.


If fans want to show support for their team and for breast cancer awareness, that is great. But if the point is to actually help fight cancer, fans would have a much bigger impact if they skipped the NFL and donated directly to the ACS or other organizations working to fight cancer.






Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/small-amount-of-money-from-pink-nfl-merchandise-goes-to-breast-cancer-research-2013-10
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Apple retains multitouch patent thanks to Patent Office ruling, forces competition to seek alternatives

Sorry, anonymous Apple multitouch patent challenger -- your victory isn't only temporary, it's also short-lived. The US Patent Office has decided to uphold patent No. 7,479,949 after tentatively invalidating it in December of 2012, which could mean bad news for many of Cupertino's competitors. If ...


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/pfdWweRJFgg/
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Thursday, October 17, 2013

Tedeschi Trucks Band On World Cafe





Mark Seliger/Courtesy of the artist


Tedeschi Trucks Band.


Mark Seliger/Courtesy of the artist





  • "Made Up Mind"

  • "Do I Look Worried"

  • "It's So Heavy"

  • "Misunderstood"

  • "Part of Me"

  • "The Storm"



Two of the best roots rock musicians of their generation make an appearance on a special episode of World Cafe, which is hosted in NPR's Studio A at the organization's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Singer Susan Tedeschi and her husband, guitarist Derek Trucks, joined forces in 2010 and formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band.


During this session, listeners will hear a soulfully enchanting performance of songs from the group's new record, Made Up Mind, in front of an enthusiastic audience. Host David Dye also uses today's show to introduce the "Not-So Newlywed Game," as he quizzes the couple about life together.



Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/WorldCafe/2013/10/17/236247932/tedeschi-trucks-band-on-world-cafe?ft=1&f=1039
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Disbelief to relief: World greets US budget deal

President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Lawmakers Wednesday voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)







President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Lawmakers Wednesday voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)







From left, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., wind up outlining their approach to tackling the nation’s debt problems in the Senate Reception Room at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. With last-minute legislation passed in Congress that reopened the government and averted a national default, bipartisan budget conferees from both houses of Congress emerge from an initial meeting in the Capitol. (AP Photo/ Scott Applewhite)







Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks to the chamber for the vote on a Senate-passed bill that would avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. The end to the rancorous standoff between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House was hastened by the imminent deadline to extend the debt ceiling to avoid a national default. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)







In this image from House Television, with partial voting totals on the screen, a woman, at the rostrum just below the House presiding officer, seen between the "yea" and "nay" wording, is removed from the House chamber after she began shouting during the vote for the bill to end the partial 16-day government shutdown and to fund the government. The woman was described by lawmakers and aides as a long-time House stenographer. (AP Photo/House TV)







(AP) — The world's disbelief at the political impasse in the U.S. turned to relief Thursday as the country stepped back from the brink of default. But experts and foreign officials warned that Washington's credibility had been damaged — a point President Barack Obama echoed.

The deal may assure only a few months of financial order, and the prospect of another possible crisis early next year when the agreement lapses leaves many wondering about the stability of U.S. global leadership.

Nicholas Kitchen, a political scientist at the London School of Economics, said the shutdown had tarnished the reputation of the U.S.

"In showing itself to be unable to even run its own affairs competently the U.S. in some sense surrenders claims to global leadership," he said. "It's difficult to tell other people how to run their affairs when you can't keep your own house in order."

He said that when countries look successful, other countries look to follow their lead.

"The U.S. is not doing a very good job at the moment in showing itself to be a model of good governance," he said.

Still, he said the crisis isn't likely to have a long-term impact on U.S. influence, despite the embarrassment of Obama having to cancel a long-planned trip to Asia to deal with the impasse at home.

British Labour Party legislator Ann Clwyd said she and other members of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee were watching closely because of a planned official trip to Washington in two weeks' time — they wouldn't be traveling if the government remained shuttered.

She said her time in the European Parliament, where budget shutdowns have happened more than once, convinced her that a last-minute settlement was likely. But she feared that Obama's health care plan might be gutted as part of a deal with the Republicans.

"The fact that that didn't happen is very positive," she said. "I very much hoped that would survive."

Clwyd said the credibility of the U.S. was only slightly damaged by the prolonged shutdown, since it was resolved in time to avert financial disaster. But she said the U.S. has in recent months been failing to provide leadership on difficult Middle East issues, including Syria and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

There was also relief in Brussels at the heart of the European Union as the U.S. stepped back from the brink.

Simon O'Connor, spokesman for the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, said a "serious large shadow" that threatened both the global economy and the nascent recovery in Europe has been lifted with the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis.

"That's very good news which we strongly welcome," he said.

Many in Europe enjoyed poking fun at the apparently broken U.S. political system, but the pleasure of laughing at America's troubles seemed to fade as default neared.

The Tea Party movement got short shrift in many quarters, with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Munich, Germany suggesting that Obama was lucky to have such feeble adversaries.

"It is easy to remain the reasonable, serene statesman if you are dealing with concrete-headed , self-righteous nihilists like the Tea Party lawmakers," the influential newspaper said in a commentary. "It is easy to reject all negotiations if the other side acts like a crazy extortionist gang. Obama played the PR -game of guilt and innocence very cleverly. According to the polls, he wins hands down. But that is not the primary task of the president."

The newspaper said Obama had not handled his responsibility as president well despite his apparent victory over the Tea Party.

Xenia Dormandy, director of the Americas program at London's Chatham House, said the U.S. image had suffered a double blow, with both its economic and political credentials called into question

"There is a sense that the U.S. as a reliable ally is not necessarily the case anymore," she said, warning that both American allies and adversaries have reached this conclusion. But she, like others, said the damage is most likely short term.

Politics aside, there were individual signs of relief in many parts of the globe. In the South Korean capital, Seoul, 26-year-old college senior Lee Boo-gun said he thought the U.S. economy had been about to collapse — an event he believed would shortly be felt at his door.

"I thought it would affect Korea's economy," he said. "The U.S. would hit Europe and then it would affect Asia."

He expressed relief that reason had prevailed.

In Israel, a key American ally in the Middle East, commentators said the fight hurt America's overall image even though a deal had been reached before it was too late.

"There is no doubt that damage was done here to the image of American economic stability," Israel's economic envoy to Washington, Eli Groner, told Israel's Army Radio. "It's not good for the financial markets, not in the United States and not around the world."

In Brazil, a large holder of U.S. debt, there was certainly relief, but also concerns that it's just a temporary fix and more turbulence is ahead. Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the U.S. must come to a lasting answer to the "temporary solution" that was found. He added that as long as the threat of another shutdown exists, there will be "a sensation of insecurity, distrust and therefore damage to business in general."

Brazil's biggest newspapers carried headlines like O Globo's "Temporary Relief" and leading economic columnist Miriam Leitao summed up the mood in the daily.

"Nobody won. Everybody lost. The Obama government was held prisoner by blackmail. The Republican party allowed itself to be controlled by a radical minority and no longer represents the average American's way of thinking," Leitao wrote. "The government as a whole lost credibility and today there is more uncertainty surrounding the world economy."

___

AP Business Writers Joe McDonald in Beijing, Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong, Youkyung Lee in Seoul and Kay Johnson in Mumbai and AP Writers Robert Reid in Berlin, Peter Enav in Taipei, Tim Sullivan in New Delhi, Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem, Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo and Cassandra Vinograd and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-17-Budget%20Battle-World/id-97e8040d776d41f6b5bbbbcc54a3bd51
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Timbaland's Wife Files For Divorce -- What's Yours Is Mine!


Timbaland
Wife Files for Divorce
What's Yours is Mine!



Exclusive


1016-timbaland-monique-gettyTimbaland's wife has filed for divorce ... TMZ has learned ... and she's not only demanding that he foot the bill for their kid, she wants him to pay for a kid he didn't even father.

Monique Mosley says in her divorce docs -- obtained by TMZ -- that although she and Timbaland have been married for 5 years, they've been a couple for twice that time.  In addition to their 5-year-old daughter, Monique has a 10-year-old from another relationship.

So why, you ask, is she asking for child support for both kids?  Monique says Timbaland is the daddy by default, since he's "publicly and privately proclaimed this child as his own."

But that's not all.  Monique wants alimony, life insurance, private school, vacations, summer camp and other expenses.  She says she's so strapped for cash, she had to borrow money from a friend to pay her lawyer.  She wants Timbaland -- who's worth around $80 mil -- to foot the lawyer's bill.

One more thing.  She wants to get Timbaland coming and going.  In the alimony department, she says she wants money while divorce proceedings are pending, she wants a lump sum, she wants "rehabilitative alimony," and permanent alimony.

It's like she's trying to cut him down like a mighty tree in the forest -- TIMBA!

0710_split_independent_stars_footer_v2





Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/16/timbaland-divorce-alimony-child-support-monique-mosley/
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Kobe Fever Sweeps China as Lakers, Warriors Face Off in Beijing


BEIJING – China is officially a secular Communist state, but devotion to basketball is close to a religion, and fans here were positively ecstatic at the arrival of their idol, Kobe Bryant, in the world's most populous nation this week.



The Black Mamba's legions of fans trilled with ecstasy at his every move, even though he was consigned to the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers during their defeat to Oakland's Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.


STORY: Inside China's Hoop Dreams


Bryant was nursing a torn Achilles tendon, and was clearly missed, both by his team, who lost 105-95 in the preseason fixture, and by the Chinese fans, who chanted his name constantly throughout the game.


Injury or no injury, there is some serious love for Kobe in this part of the world.


"I love Kobe for his fortitude, his consistent effort and his unbreakable skills," wrote Shen Xiao 0828, on their Sina Weibo microblog. The name "Kobe Bryant" has had 60 million hits on Weibo, and he has 2.4 million fans on one fan site alone.


"I love his personality and his spirituality as much as I love his basketball. I think he is very strong and very manly," Shen xiao 0828 added in another post. 


The teams move on to Shanghai for a game on Friday, where more fans will be waiting.


"I really want to see Kobe. Nothing is more exciting than seeing Kobe. Shanghai fans, you are so lucky," wrote another Weibo user, Chen Tienan 400.


PHOTOS: 26 of Hollywood's Most Popular Athletes-Turned-Actors


Bryant himself has confessed to being somewhat overwhelmed by the reception.


"It's harder for me to walk around here than it is in the [United] States," he told the Los Angeles Times. "In the States, you get a lot of recognition -- 'hi,' and they want autographs and pictures and so forth and so on. Out here, it's uncontrollable. They really rush you and surround you and then it becomes something where you can't go out."


Basketball has been popular since missionaries first shot hoops here in the 19th century -- but the game's ascendance really took off when China's own 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets in 2002. Yao has retired now, though he remains a hugely popular figure in China, and his legacy is a powerful one.


Last year, the NBA’s Chinese website registered 3.3 billion page views; this year, that number rose by 34 percent to 4.5 billion page views, while during the 2012-13 regular season, total video streams for the NBA rose 169 percent over the 2011-12 season, from 1.2 billion to 3.2 billion.


Stephen Curry, who added 24 points for the Warriors, brought his family, including his wife, daughter and parents, to China, and said the Great Wall visit didn't disappoint them.


"It was an awesome trip. You see pictures of the wall and hear of it, but seeing it in person is a really cool opportunity. We had great pictures, and we all had good times."


Overall, NBA Global Games will feature 12 NBA teams playing 10 regular-season and preseason games in 10 cities in seven countries and territories, marking the most NBA teams to play internationally in a single season in league history. 


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HollywoodReporterAsia/~3/r_1aPc9-l2M/story01.htm
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Family Caregiving Can Be Stressful, Rewarding And Life-Affirming





Taking care of a family member can be a life-extending experience, a study finds.



iStockphoto.com

The stereotype of caring for a family member is that it's so stressful it harms the caregiver's health. But that's not necessarily so.


Studies are conflicted, finding that caregiving can harm or help the caregiver. Here's one on the plus side. A study finds that people who care for a family member live longer than similar people who aren't caregiving.


The scientists didn't ask the caregivers why they might be healthier and presumably happier than similar people who weren't caring for someone. But the 3,503 people who participated represented a broad swath of the American public, and may be a better representation of the caregiving experience overall.


Just 17 percent of the people surveyed said they had high levels of caregiving strain, and the majority put in less than 14 hours of care a week.


"The burden of caregiving certainly can be overwhelming and negative to health," says David Roth, director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the study, which was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. "But those are not necessarily the typical experience."


The study data was originally gathered for a big multiyear study on stroke risk, but the people being cared for in this study had broad range of health problems. The caregivers themselves were age 64 on average, more likely to be female and either white or African American.


Family caregivers were 18 percent less likely to die than non-caregivers over six years, the researchers found.



Something must have made life better for the caregivers. But what? To help find out, we called up Leah Eskinazi, director of operations for the Family Caregiver Alliance in San Francisco.


"There are people who find caregiving very rewarding," Eskinazi told Shots. "They feel really good that they can give back to Mom, for example, because Mom was really there for them when they were growing up. Maybe they weren't the best kid, but as they've aged they can have a more balanced healthier relationship and heal some of those wounds."


Context is everything, Eskinazi says. Caring for someone with dementia can be more stressful and depressing, because the person is facing a long inevitable decline. "You're caring for someone who can't voice their preferences," she says. "You're making decisions for another person and for yourself, and that can last for a long time. It's tough."


But only about 10 percent of family caregivers are tending someone with dementia, other studies have found.


Caring for someone after a stroke, by contrast, can be very positive. "There's a lot of energy going into helping that person recover," Eskinazi says.


And in many cases the person being cared for is in a position to be grateful. "To have someone stick by you, or a group of people stick by you, that's pretty cool," Eskinazi says. "It gives you an opportunity to say thank you."


Spouses typically expect to be taking care of their mate in old age, but adult children don't always prepare for that possibility — or try not to think about it.


People tend to avoid the Family Caregiver Alliance's booth at health fairs, Eskinazi admits. "People don't really want to think about it. It's time, it's emotion and it takes energy."


But this latest study points out that caregiving isn't all a big minus for the caregiver — something to prepare for, perhaps, but a normal, often rewarding part of life.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/16/235384054/family-caregiving-can-be-stressful-rewarding-and-life-affirming?ft=1&f=
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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Scott Disick Out Of Control Before Clubbing with Kylie and Kendall


Scott Disick
OUT OF CONTROL
Before Clubbing with Kylie, Kendall



Exclusive


101613_scott_disick_launchIf Scott Disick was the responsible adult last night when he took16-year-old Kylie and17-year-old  Kendall Jenner to a 21-and-over nightclub, Kris oughta be plenty worried, because he was off the hinges earlier in the night.

Scott was at a Style Fashion Week L.A. event earlier in the evening with Kylie and Kendall.  He was drinking and acting belligerent ... to the point where one of the models flipped him off.

1016-model-flipoff-fameflynet
At the end of the show, Scott grabbed the designer, Cedric Benaroch, and almost pulled him off the runway.

101613_disick_cedric_launchScott then started  freestyle rapping for Lil Twist and a random guy, ending with, "I drive f**king Bentleys!"

A true rolls model.





Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/16/scott-disick-kardashian-drinking-fashion-show-kylie-kendall-jenner-lil-twist/
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Researchers Uncover Holes That Open Power Stations to Hacking




A pair of researchers have uncovered more than two dozen vulnerabilities in products used in critical infrastructure systems that would allow attackers to crash or hijack the servers controlling electric substations and water systems.


The vulnerabilities include some that would allow an attacker to crash or send a master server into an infinite loop, preventing operators from monitoring or controlling operations. Others would allow remote code-injection into a server, providing an opportunity for an attacker to open and close breakers at substations and cause power outages.


“Every substation is controlled by the master, which is controlled by the operator,” says researcher Chris Sistrunk who, along with Adam Crain, found vulnerabilities in the products of more than 20 vendors. “If you have control of the master, you have control of the whole system, and you can turn on and off power at will.”


The vulnerabilities are found in devices that are used for serial and network communications between servers and substations. These products have been largely overlooked as hacking risks because the security of power systems has focused only on IP communication, and hasn’t considered serial communication an important or viable attack vector, Crain says. But the researchers say that breaching a power system through serial communication devices can actually be easier than attacking through the IP network since it doesn’t require bypassing layers of firewalls.


An intruder could exploit the vulnerabilities by gaining physical access to a substation — which generally are secured only with a fence and a webcam or motion-detection sensors — or by breaching the wireless radio network over which the communication passes to the server.


“If someone tries to breach the control center through the internet, they have to bypass layers of firewalls,” Crain said. “But someone could go out to a remote substation that has very little physical security and get on the network and take out hundreds of substations potentially. And they don’t necessarily have to get into the substation either.”


He points to a recent presentation at the Black Hat security conference that discussed methods for hacking wireless radio networks, which a lot of utility control systems use, including ways to crack the encryption.


“There are quite a few ways onto these networks, and utilities have to worry about this new attack vector,” Crain said.


Once in the network, an intruder can send a malformed message to the server to exploit the weakness.


“The device is supposed to throw that [malformed] message away,” says Sistrunk, “and in these cases it’s not and is causing issues.”


Neither Crain nor Sistrunk is a security researcher. Sistrunk is an electrical engineer at a major utility, but conducted the research independently of his employer and therefore asked that it not be identified. Crain recently launched a consulting firm called Automatak that focuses on industrial control systems. They began to examine the systems last April using a fuzzer that Crain created, and submitted their findings to the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control System-CERT, which helped them notify the vendors.


“We found vulnerabilities in virtually all implementations [of the protocol],” Sistrunk said. “Some of them are worse than others.”


Since then, ICS-CERT has published a number of advisories about the vulnerabilities, and vendors have distributed patches for nine of them, but the rest remain unpatched so far. Despite the distribution of patches, Crain and Sistrunk say that many utilities have not applied them because they’re unaware of the serious nature of the vulnerabilities.


The systems use DNP3, a protocol for serial communications that is used in almost all electrical utilities in the U.S. and Canada to transmit communication between servers located in data centers and field devices. Electric utilities generally have a data center with two or three servers that can each monitor and communicate with a hundred or more substations, depending on the size of the utility.


The servers communicate with programmable logic controllers and remote-terminal units in the field to collect status data from them in order to allow operators to monitor conditions and to allow them to trip breakers as needed or to increase or decrease the voltage.


Causing the server to crash or enter an infinite loop would blind operators to conditions in the field — something they might not initially realize since a crashed server in the data center doesn’t always register to operators, who work in other locations. Sistrunk says it would likely take operators a while to notice that the data they’re seeing on their screens, which is fed by the servers, hasn’t refreshed in a while. In the meantime, they might make bad decisions based on outdated data.


A lot of utilities also use the master servers for security purposes to control alarm systems, so crashing them would potentially disable alarms as well.


Sistrunk says a reboot of the server will generally resolve the issue, but an intruder could continue to send malicious messages to the server causing it to crash repeatedly. He also said that in some cases they found that the attack would corrupt the system configuration, which meant the system had to be reconfigured or restored from a backup before operations returned to normal.


Of the 25 vulnerabilities they uncovered the most serious was the buffer overrun vulnerability that would allow someone to inject arbitrary code into the system and own the server.


One of the vulnerabilities they found exists in the source code for a popular library from Triangle Microworks. It’s not known how many vendors and products have used the library and are therefore vulnerable, but Crain and Sistrunk say that the library is one of the most popular among vendors and is used by 60 to 70 percent of them for their products.


Crain says the standard for DNP3 is not the problem but that the vulnerabilities are introduced in the insecure ways that vendors have implemented it.


The problem is exacerbated by the fact that separate security standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation for how to secure power systems focus only on IP communications, overlooking the real vulnerabilities that serial communications also present.


The researchers plan to discuss their findings at the S4 security conference to be held in Florida in January.



Source: http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661370/s/3288c7bd/sc/11/l/0L0Swired0N0Cthreatlevel0C20A130C10A0Cics0C/story01.htm
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2 parties bicker over blame for parks shutdown

Tourists visit the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013, in New York. The Statue of Liberty reopened to the public after the state of New York agreed to shoulder the costs of running the site during the partial federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)







Tourists visit the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013, in New York. The Statue of Liberty reopened to the public after the state of New York agreed to shoulder the costs of running the site during the partial federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)







This image provided by the National Park service shows Arizona Governor Jan Brewer holding a check for $426,500 dollars presented to her by the town of Tusayan, Ariz., as partial payment to the park, Saturday Oct. 12, 2013 at Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. Also shown, from left, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga; Brewer; Tusayan, Ariz., Mayor Greg Bryan and Tusayan Councilman, Craig Sanderson, rear. The National Park Service announced that it has entered into an agreement with the State of Arizona that will allow Grand Canyon National Park to re-open and temporarily operate during the government shutdown. (AP Photo/ National Park Service, Michael Quinn)







Jackson Blendowski, 6, of New Hampshire, peers up at the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013, in New York. The Statue of Liberty reopened to the public after the state of New York agreed to shoulder the costs of running the site during the partial federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)







(AP) — As congressional leaders raced to seal a deal that would reopen the government, lawmakers from both parties jabbed at one another Wednesday over who was to blame for the most high-profile casualties of the 16-day shutdown: the national parks.

At a House hearing, members of Congress focused on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, where veterans were initially denied access after the government closed on Oct. 1. A crowd that included Republican lawmakers converged on the memorial Sunday, pushing past barriers to protest the site's closure.

The memorial and other national park units have become a political symbol as lawmakers bicker over blame for the park closings.

Republicans say many parks and open-air monuments did not need to be closed, but Democrats said the GOP had only itself to blame for the shutdown, after Republicans demanded that measures to defund the new health care law be included in bills to keep the government open.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., held up a mirror at the hearing and invited Republicans to look at it to find the cause of the shutdown.

Governors in at least five states have reopened national parks such as the Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty in recent days, but Republicans say the measures were too little, too late.

Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said the National Park Service appears to have intentionally made the shutdown "as painful and visible as possible."

Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis denied that, saying that turning away visitors "is not in our DNA."

Jarvis called the agreements with governors that have allowed some parks to reopen "a practical and temporary solution that will lessen the pain for some businesses and communities — a Band-Aid until Congress passes an appropriations bill."

Jarvis, who appeared at the hearing only after being issued a subpoena, urged Congress to reopen the government so his agency can reopen all 401 national park units.

Republicans, including Hastings and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the Park Service acted in a political and provocative manner when it set up barricades at open-air monuments such as the World War II Memorial and placed traffic cones along highway viewing areas outside Mount Rushmore and other parks.

Hastings heads the House Natural Resources Committee, while Issa leads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committees held the joint hearing.

Jarvis defended placement of barricades at the World War II Memorial and other sites, saying that all but a dozen park service employees who work at the National Mall have been furloughed. Given the limited staff resources during the shutdown, "prudent and practical steps were taken to secure life and property at these national icons where security has become increasingly complex in a post-9/11 world," he said.

Contrary to the assertion of several Republican lawmakers, Jarvis said the Park Service allowed veterans and their families to visit the World War II Memorial.

"We know that visits of America's World War II veterans to the memorial are pilgrimages that many of them will only make once," he said. "Throughout the shutdown, we have worked diligently to try and ensure that no Honor Flight group, veteran, or their family has been turned away from visiting the veterans' memorials."

An organization called the Honor Flight Network brings World War II veterans to Washington.

Other visitors also are allowed at the memorial under an exception that allows First Amendment activities, Jarvis said.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., was not impressed. He said Jarvis's decision to set up barricades at the Lincoln and World War II memorials was "wrong" and mean-spirited.

"You besmirched (the Park Service's) reputation and soured relations with Congress," Lamborn told Jarvis. "In my opinion you have failed."

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., denounced Lamborn's comment and called Jarvis an "exemplary" public servant. Connolly called the hearing a "theater of the absurd" and "an audacious attempt by the majority to deflect responsibility and blame for the real-world consequences of a government shutdown."

GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, along with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were among those at the World War II Memorial on Sunday. Cruz, Lee and other tea party-backed lawmakers refused to keep the government operating unless President Barack Obama agreed to defund the nation's health care overhaul.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-16-Shutdown-National%20Parks/id-5573dd33bc4c4d9387da516034ae0486
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McClatchy launches new political blog (Washington Bureau)

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