rustbelt bass

Saturday, May 18, 2013

5 Celebs Who Should Offer Groupons Like Gwyneth Paltrow

If we told you Gwyneth Paltrow offered a Goop Groupon for $2,000, would you be interested? What if we told you the Groupon Experience would get you into a private Goop event and include two nights in a New York City hotel, spa treatments, dinner at the French restaurant Bistro La Promenade and private cooking lessons from the 40-year-old Iron Man 3 actress? Yeah, it sounds like a pretty good deal to us, too.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/gwyneth-paltrows-goop-groupon-5-celebrities-wed-pay-hang-out/1-a-536488?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Agwyneth-paltrows-goop-groupon-5-celebrities-wed-pay-hang-out-536488

whitney houston dead 2012 whitney houston passed away heartbreak hotel don cornelius whitney houston i will always love you breaking news whitney houston carmen

France opposes Syria conference if Iran to attend

By Darya Korsunskaya

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - France spelled out on Friday that it would oppose a peace conference for Syria if Bashar al-Assad's regional ally Iran is invited, clouding the prospect for a U.S.-Russian initiative to end the two-year-old war.

No date has yet been agreed for the international meeting, which appears to face growing obstacles. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and said the conference should take place as soon as possible.

U.N. officials announced that the number of refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria had exceeded 1.5 million. The war has claimed the lives of at least 80,000 people, the U.N. says.

Western leaders have been cautious about the prospects of the talks achieving any breakthrough, and Russia's desire that Iran should attend could complicate matters.

"As far as we are concerned, not Iran," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot told reporters in Paris, discussing who should attend. "What's at stake is regional stability and we can't see how a country that represents a threat to this stability could attend this conference."

Apart from the question of which countries will attend, it is also far from clear whether the Syrian foes would accept it. The main Syrian opposition, expected to decide its stance next week, has previously demanded President Bashar al-Assad's exclusion from any future government as a precondition to talks.

After months of diplomatic stalemate, Washington and Moscow have been pushed to convene the conference by the rising death toll and atrocities, signs of escalation across Syria's frontiers and suspicions that chemical arms may have been used.

"We should not lose the momentum," Ban said of the conference proposal. "There is a high expectation that this meeting should be held as soon as possible," he said after talks in Sochi with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov agreed: "The sooner the better," he said.

A Western diplomat at the United Nations in New York said the target date for the conference was June 10-15, but it depended on the readiness of the Syrian parties. An alternative plan would be to hold an international conference and then have the Syrians meet at a later date when they are prepared.

Putin also spoke by telephone with the British prime minister. David Cameron's office said he told the Russian president that he supported the U.S.-Russian initiative.

INNER CIRCLE

Russia has made clear it believes Iran should attend the conference.

"Moscow proceeds from the position that all the neighboring countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the participants of the first Geneva conference, must be invited," Lavrov said, referring to an international meeting on Syria held a year ago.

The Geneva talks on June 30 produced an agreement that a transitional government should be created in Syria, but the United States and Russia disagreed over whether that meant Assad must leave power.

Moscow says his exit must not be a precondition for a political solution, but most Syrian opposition figures have ruled out talks unless Assad and his inner circle are excluded from any future transitional government.

Lavrov said opposition participation would be crucial.

"The main thing now is to understand who, from the Syrian sides, is ready to take part in this conference - without that, nothing will happen at all," he said.

The United States said on Thursday that it was not ruling anyone in or out of the conference.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Pressure has grown on Western countries to act after reports that Assad's forces used chemical weapons, which U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders have described as a "red line". The White House says it believes Syrian forces probably used poison gas but the evidence is not certain.

Assad and the rebels both have accused each other of using chemical weapons in Aleppo in March and in Homs in December. Syria is not a party to international treaties banning poison gas but says it would never use it in an internal conflict. The rebels say they have no access to it.

A team of U.N.-led chemical weapons experts has been ready for more than a month to investigate the rival allegations, but has been held up by diplomatic wrangling and safety concerns. Ban urged Syria on Friday to give the experts unfettered access.

Syria wants the U.N. team to probe only the Aleppo attack, but Ban wants the inquiry to cover both incidents.

"It is regrettable that this investigation team has not been able to visit and enter Syria to have an on-site investigation," Ban said. "I have a mandate to conduct an investigation whenever there are allegations and wherever there are allegations."

The team's leader, Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom "has been gathering information from various sources, including certain government sources, but it is important - crucially important - that he would be able to conduct an on-site investigation", Ban said, adding that the team was ready to deploy at any time.

Lavrov said Russia believed Syria could agree to inspections of other sites after a probe of the incident near Aleppo.

Atrocities committed by both sides in Syria have made headlines in recent weeks. Human Rights Watch said on Friday it had been shown evidence of torture devices used by government forces against detainees in a jail now in rebel hands.

Obama said he reserved the right to resort to either diplomatic or military options to pressure Assad but U.S. action alone would not be enough to resolve the crisis.

The West has supported the opposition but is also increasingly concerned about the behavior of rebel fighters from an Islamist group allied to al Qaeda.

Russia, with China, has opposed sanctions against Syria and blocked three Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed to increase pressure on Assad during the conflict, which began in March 2011 with a crackdown on demonstrations.

Russia has flexed its muscles in the eastern Mediterranean since the start of the Syria conflict and military officials say it has begun implementing plans for the permanent deployment of a naval task force in the Mediterranean for the first time since shortly after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Russia staged naval exercises in the area in January and warships have frequently called at Russia's naval supply and maintenance facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.

The New York Times cited U.S. officials as saying Russia had sent advanced Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria. A spokesman for Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport declined to comment.

Lavrov repeated that Russia is fulfilling existing contracts to deliver defensive weapons to Syria but would not comment on whether Russia has sent upgraded Yakhonts or an advanced air defense system which Israel has asked Moscow not to deliver.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Andrew Osborn in London; Writing by Steve Gutterman, Giles Elgood and Peter Graff; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hold-syrian-peace-talks-soon-says-u-n-112323626.html

news channel 4 radar weather morosini death jacoby ellsbury jacoby ellsbury lionel richie kenny rogers

US eases natural gas glut with second export terminal

The Energy Department authorizes a second US terminal to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), ending months of speculation. LNG exports boost the prospects for domestic natural gas drillers and should help key allies, but they're also likely to boost prices for US consumers and manufacturers and they raise environmental concerns.

By David J. Unger,?Correspondent / May 18, 2013

The Excelsior arrives at the Freeport liquid natural gas terminal in Houston. Natural gas exports have been the subject of much debate in Washington and across the country as policymakers and industry analysts weigh the pros and cons.

Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle/AP/File

Enlarge

The US Department of Energy approved Friday the country's first?liquified?natural gas (LNG) export terminal since 2011.

Skip to next paragraph

Why It Matters

Energy: A boom in US energy production, thanks largely to the development of shale gas resources, allows the US to export natural gas.

Environment: Natural gas exports will encourage more hydraulic fracturing in the US and boost greenhouse gas emissions, albeit in lower amounts than other fossil fuels.

Most Beautiful Items: May 11 - May 17, 2013

Another week on the books means another week's worth of beautiful items. From structures made out of salt to Venice's beautiful beachfront facades, here are some of our favorite architecture and design posts from the past seven days.

WHO says single yellow fever shot is enough

GENEVA (AP) ? The World Health Organization says a yellow fever booster vaccination given 10 years after the initial shot isn't necessary.

The U.N.'s global health agency said Friday that its expert group on immunization believes a single dose of vaccination is sufficient to confer lifelong immunity against the disease.

The Geneva-based body says only 12 known cases of yellow fever after vaccination have ever been identified. Some 600 million doses have been dispensed since yellow fever vaccination began in the 1930s.

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes that is endemic to 44 countries in tropical areas of Africa and the Americas.

There are an estimated 200,000 cases of yellow fever and up to 15,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-05-17-UN-Yellow%20Fever/id-4eec0c48faac4a85936030c7f7868a09

ray lewis alicia keys randy moss randy moss superbowl commercials OJ Brigance What Time Does The Superbowl Start 2013

How should geophysics contribute to disaster planning?

May 16, 2013 ? Earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters often showcase the worst in human suffering -- especially when those disasters strike populations who live in rapidly growing communities in the developing world with poorly enforced or non-existent building codes.

This week in Cancun, a researcher from Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS) College in Singapore is presenting a comparison between large-scale earthquakes and tsunamis in different parts of the world, illustrating how nearly identical natural disasters can play out very differently depending on where they strike.

The aim of the talk at the 2013 Meeting of the Americas, which is sponsored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), is to focus on the specific role geoscientists can play in disaster risk reduction and how their work should fit in with the roles played by other experts for any given community.

"To reduce the losses from these disasters, a diverse group of researchers, engineers, and policy makers need to come together to benefit from each other's expertise," said Brian McAdoo, professor of science at Yale-NUS College. "Geophysicists play a crucial role in natural hazard identification and determining the key questions of, how often does a geophysical hazard affect a given area and how big will it be when it hits?" McAdoo said. "We need to be aware of how this information is incorporated into the disaster planning architecture."

San Francisco, Haiti, and New Zealand

In his talk, McAdoo will present case studies that he and his colleague Vivienne Bryner compiled comparing death counts and economic fallout following geophysical events of similar magnitude in areas with different levels of economic development.

What their analysis shows is that deaths tend to be higher in poor countries exposed to severe natural disasters because of existing socioeconomic, environmental, and structural vulnerabilities. At the same time, economic losses tend to be higher in developed nations, but developing countries may be less able to absorb those economic losses that do occur.

As an example, he points to the earthquakes that hit Haiti, San Francisco, and Christchurch and Canterbury, New Zealand, in 2010, 1989 and 2010-2011. While the quakes were nearly identical in magnitude, the consequences of these natural disasters were remarkably different.

Some 185 people died in the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, which was preceded by the larger Christchurch quake in 2010 in which nobody died. Both quakes and their aftershocks cost New Zealand about $6.5 billion, which was approximately 10-20 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The 1989 San Francisco earthquake killed 63 people, and it cost $5.6 billion (the equivalent of about $10 billion in 2010 dollars). The U.S. economy is so large, however, that it only caused a one-tenth of one percent drop in U.S. GDP. The 2011 earthquake in Haiti, on the other hand, killed some 200,000 people and resulted in economic losses approaching an estimated $8 billion, which is more than 80 percent of Haiti's GDP.

To address such disparities, McAdoo advocates what is known as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) decision making -- a framework for finding solutions to best prepare for natural disasters, lessen their impact, and sensibly engage in post-disaster reconstruction. For such planning to work, he said, it must be broad-based.

"We won't ever be able to prevent disasters," he said. "The only way we will effectively minimize the effects of hazards is to collaborate across academic disciplines, businesses, governments, NGOs, and perhaps most critically the exposed community."

"Planning for any sort of natural disaster takes insight into what may be expected, which necessarily includes the important perspective of scientists," added Philip ("Bo") Hammer, Associate Vice President for Physics Resources at the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and co-organizer of the session in which McAdoo is speaking. "One reason why we organized this session in the first place was to encourage the sharing of such perspectives within the context of how geophysicists can build local capacity, not only for dealing with acute issues such as disasters, but also longer term challenges like building capacity for economic growth."

The talk, "Building Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction," will be presented by Brian G. McAdoo and Vivienne Bryner on Friday, May 17, 2013, at the 2013 Meeting of the Americas in Canc?n, Mexico. McAdoo is affiliated with Yale-NUS College in Singapore, and Bryner is at University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/iFOebLANeMA/130516182002.htm

anguilla gone with the wind checkers imbibe msg network ray j anthony shadid

Security risks found in sensors for heart devices, consumer electronics

May 16, 2013 ? The type of sensors that pick up the rhythm of a beating heart in implanted cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers are vulnerable to tampering, according to a new study conducted in controlled laboratory conditions.

Implantable defibrillators monitor the heart for irregular beating and, when necessary, administer an electric shock to bring it back into normal rhythm. Pacemakers use electrical pulses to continuously keep the heart in pace.

In experiments in simulated human models, an international team of researchers demonstrated that they could forge an erratic heartbeat with radio frequency electromagnetic waves. Theoretically, a false signal like the one they created could inhibit needed pacing or induce unnecessary defibrillation shocks.

The team includes researchers from the University of Michigan, University of South Carolina, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota, University of Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School.

The researchers emphasize that they know of no case where a hacker has corrupted an implanted cardiac device, and doing so in the real world would be extremely difficult.

"Security is often an arms race with adversaries," said Wenyuan Xu, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina. "As researchers, it's our responsibility to always challenge the common practice and find defenses for vulnerabilities that could be exploited before unfortunate incidents happen. We hope our research findings can help to enhance the security of sensing systems that will emerge for years to come."

This is not the first time vulnerabilities have been identified in implantable medical devices. But the findings reveal new security risks in relatively common "analog" sensors -- sensors that rely on inputs from the human body or the environment to cue particular actions.

Beyond medical devices, analog sensors are also used in microphones in Bluetooth headsets and computers in web-based phone calls. In those places, too, the researchers discovered vulnerabilities.

"We found that these analog devices generally trust what they receive from their sensors, and that path is weak and could be exploited," said Denis Foo Kune, U-M postdoctoral researcher and visiting scholar in computer science and engineering, who will present the findings May 20 at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in San Francisco.

uAlthough these medical systems and consumer electronics have security mechanisms, the information the analog sensors receive bypasses their safety layers. The devices convert the input from the sensors directly into digital information that they use to make quick decisions.

In the category of medical devices, the researchers tested cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers in open air to determine which radio waveforms could cause interference. Then they exposed the medical devices to those waveforms in a both a saline bath and a patient simulator. The experiments suggest that the human body likely acts as a shield, protecting the medical devices to a large degree, the researchers said.

They found that in the saline bath and the patient simulator, a perpetrator would need to be within five centimeters -- about two inches -- away to cause interference. Current guidelines instruct patients to keep potential sources of interference at least 27 centimeters, or 10.5 inches, away from their chest.

"People with pacemakers and defibrillators can remain confident in the safety and effectiveness of their implants," said Kevin Fu, U-M associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. "Patients already protect themselves from interference by keeping transmitters like phones away from their implants. The problem is that emerging medical sensors worn on the body, rather than implanted, could be more susceptible to this type of interference."

The team proposes solutions to help the sensors ensure that the signals they're receiving are authentic. Software could, in a sense, ping the cardiac tissue to determine whether the previous pulse came from the heart or from interference. If the source was not the heart, the software could raise a red flag.

The researchers also found pathways to tamper with consumer electronics. They were able to use specific radio signals to convince the mic on a phone paired with a Bluetooth headset that a caller was dialing touch-tone selections at an automated banking line. They demonstrated this by changing the call language from English to Spanish.

Foo Kune said the technique could conceivably enable more harmful scenarios such as fraudulent money transfers. In another experiment, they canceled out speech on one side of a web-based phone call and replaced it with a song (Weezer's "Island in the Sun").

"The microphone was receiving the song even though the room was silent," Foo Kune said.

"This type of interference can be prevented with shields and filters like those seen today in military-grade equipment," said Yongdae Kim, professor of electrical engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. "Safety critical systems, such as smart grids and automated vehicles, rely more and more on sensing technology for their accurate operation. Malicious input signals with improved antenna and power may cause serious safety problems."

Last week, the Archimedes Center for Medical Device Security at U-M held a private briefing and problem solving session for medical device manufacturers and trauma centers. The paper is called "Ghost Talk: Mitigating EMI Signal Injection Attacks against Analog Sensors."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/kUQetuFIXgQ/130516123920.htm

night at the museum pope shenouda bolton muamba crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day brandon lloyd

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Why It Matters

Recent posts

Friday, May 17, 2013