Boy battling cancer rocks out with Pantera singer

Music

Randee Dawn NBC News contributor

3 hours ago

When 13-year-old Peyton Arens, who is battling a rare form of terminal cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma, asked to have a particular dream fulfilled by the Make-A-Wish foundation, it wasn't your typical "I want to go to Disneyland" type request.?

The young man is a budding rock guitarist who idolizes Pantera singer Phil Anselmo, and just wanted to play with the heavy metal guitarist.?

And so it was: Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, on July 31 Arens took the stage at Philip H. Hanselmo & The Illegals' national tour kick-off show in Tulsa, Okla. He played "Walk," from Pantera's 1992 album "Vulgar Display of Power," and according to Anselmo's blog, the kid "had a blast tearing it up."?

Check out the performance, and if you want to learn more about Arens, here's a link to his web page.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/terminally-ill-boy-gets-wish-rock-out-pantera-singer-6C10842594

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'It will be beautiful again': Breezy Point couple returns home, and recovers through rebuilding

John Makely / NBC News

Christine and George Donley, both 63, are finally moving home after nine months of being displaced by Hurricane Sandy. All of their possesions that they could save are now piled up in one room on the second floor as workers finish repairing their home.

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- Half of their neighbors are gone, piles of sand occupy lots where homes once stood, and they?re living out of one room of the two-story house they?ve owned for 10 years. This is one couple?s life nine months after Hurricane Sandy.

Christine and George Donley, both 63, desperately wanted to get home after Sandy tore through their quiet corner of New York City last Oct. 29. But now that they?ve finally returned, being among familiar things offers just some?comfort.

?Sixty-three years old sleeping on a mattress on the floor is tough,? Christine said as she presented the single habitable room of their Breezy Point home. ?He sleeps on the couch, and this is where we live now.

?Everyone says, ?Oh, isn?t it great? You?re back in your house.? I say no, because, look how I'm living. This isn?t living.?

---

?Oh, it?s pretty close to it,? countered George. Christine admitted that he was the more optimistic of the two of them.

They have a mini fridge, a TV and a shower that doesn?t stream water at full capacity. Their former bedroom, at the other end of the house and facing the Atlantic Ocean, is what George now calls a storage room: it?s filled with items salvaged from the first floor ? a comforter, clothes, little mementos from life before.

Near the window, overlooking the sea, is a white chair with a foot rest.

?This used to be my little corner to sit and read. That was my reading corner and I'd look out onto the ocean, and life was peaceful,? said Christine, a retired school teacher. ?This is, this was, our beautiful bedroom.?

George gently told her: ?It will be beautiful again.?

Nearly 74,000 homes and apartments in New York and New Jersey, where Sandy made landfall, sustained damage, according to FEMA. Some 450 homes in New York were destroyed by the storm, while approximately 46,000 in New Jersey were destroyed or sustained major damage, the agency said.

The Donleys returned home July 20 after refuging in three different locations: the homes of two relatives (including one in the early days that housed 11 adults, two kids and a baby) and a rental apartment in Brooklyn.

Apart from dealing with the inconvenience of transient existence, the Donleys have spent untold hours wrestling with their insurance company over coverage, forcing them to take money out of their retirement savings for home. (They?re still challenging the firm?s decision not to pay $12,000 for foundation damage.)

They?ve watched their two daughters struggle, too, to get back to their damaged homes, helping them where they could with money, repairs and babysitting.

?It?s a loss of a year of your life, that?s what it?s like,? said George, a CPA who is mostly retired. ?It?s the loss of being near your friends and neighbors, and it?s because they?re suffering from the same loss that you don?t have contact with them.?

More than 75 percent of the homes in close-knit Breezy Point were damaged in the storm ? including nearly 130 that burned down in a fire triggered by Sandy?s surging waters (it was the largest blaze in New York City?s modern history).

In front of the Donley?s house is an empty lot, and another large one nearby is vacant.

?Four houses there,? George said, gesturing across the street. ?They floated up like an entire team, came up, and crashed into some of the houses here. So it was one, two, three, four.?

George said that observing the rebuilding of their house has given them a lift ? new appliances are waiting to be installed and they?ve ordered furniture just like their former pieces to make the downstairs feel homey. They?ve also figured out how to carve out a new room for the grandkids ? one, a grandson, who was born a little more than a week ago.

But the Donleys are still awaiting final word ? like many others across the city and in New Jersey ? from the federal government about new building requirements for homes situated in regional flood zones.

New, preliminary federal flood maps for the region mandate that people living in vulnerable areas like the Donleys will have to elevate their homes a certain number of feet ? about four in their case ? or face steep increases in their insurance. Some homeowners will have to get new kinds of foundations, too, among other adjustments.

John Makely / NBC News

Christine and George Donley, both 63, are finally moving home after nine months of being displaced by Hurricane Sandy.

The requirements could go into effect for all homeowners in the Breezy area, though some whose homes were significantly damaged or demolished will have to do the work sooner.

?We were living in the apartment and we?re saying, well, maybe we won?t go back in until we find out how high we have to go,? Christine said. Ultimately, ?we don?t have two to three years for them to decide how high we have to go. We can?t afford to pay the rent and pay a mortgage while they?re deciding.?

Elevating is an expense that can range from tens of thousands of dollars to more than $100,000 depending on the type of residence and foundation.

Returning to the Breezy community has made dealing with all of the uncertainty bearable.

?We?re able to see and spend time with our friends and neighbors who are here and we?re sharing (our) struggling stories with them,? he said. ?It?s good to see them.?

A neighbor and good friend, Catherine Palummeri, had tidied up the Donley home and put up a big sign reading, ?welcome home,? to greet the couple upon their return. ?I couldn't wait for them to come back,? she said.

?You need people, that?s it ? let?s get back to normal,? said Palummeri, who moved back in late March. ?The worst part was having no neighbors ? you had no interaction.?

Also giving the Donleys a boost: family time on the beach.

?The water has been beautiful. The beach has been great,? George said.

As she sat in a rocking chair on her new deck, where a city building department flyer was posted listing their home?s condition and new insulation clung to the outside walls, Christine said they would make it through the storm ? one that she said she would not ?honor? by calling it by its given name.

?We will get through this,? she said. ?I am stronger than the storm. I am. It took me a long time to say that, but I said it the other night. I am stronger.?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2f85eb91/sc/10/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A80C0A30C1983830A90Eit0Ewill0Ebe0Ebeautiful0Eagain0Ebreezy0Epoint0Ecouple0Ereturns0Ehome0Eand0Erecovers0Ethrough0Erebuilding0Dlite/story01.htm

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5 mobile marketing myths debunked - Luxury Daily - Columns

Lindsay Woodworth is director of marketing and pre-sales at Genesys I SoundBite

By Lindsay Woodworth

A growing number of marketers are experimenting with and leveraging the mobile medium, learning the best ways to expand their strategic marketing competency, although many have experienced a few bumps along the way.

While this does not cover every misconception out there, the five following myths are offered and debunked to provide marketers with insight around a few common assumptions that can impact how they interact with their customers via the mobile medium. A good starting point is to define the practice of mobile marketing and clarify what it is not.

Myth 1: Mobile marketing means mobile advertising
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) defines mobile marketing as ?a set of practices that enable organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.?

While technically that can include both marketing and advertising, it is critically important to distinguish mobile marketing from mobile advertising and approach your strategic use of them quite differently.

While mobile advertising includes ?paid? media, such as banner ads on another brand?s mobile Web site or paid mobile search campaigns in Google, mobile marketing is about ?owned? and ?earned? media.

It is more about your brand outlets and channels, your content and your desire to build long-term customer relationships than it is about creating ads. Think about the differences between public relations and advertising ? it is very similar.

While mobile advertising continues to make technology advances and provide more options for your ads, you are still using someone else?s Web site, application or channel.

With mobile marketing programs, you are enabling consumers to interact with your brand by delivering information to their mobile phones where you can control the experience.

Because of that, we believe that mobile marketing programs ? when done well ? are almost always going to be more insightful to consumer behavior and return better results.

This is not to imply that mobile advertising should not play a role in your overall marketing budget ? it probably should ? but if you are looking for a mobile marketing partner, simply engaging with one to develop an advertising program is a missed opportunity.

Myth 2: An iPhone app equals a mobile strategy
When we ask potential clients if their company is doing mobile marketing, many of them proudly say, ?Yes, we?ve launched both iPhone and Android apps.? That is a great start, but how are they reaching the other half of U.S. consumers?

ComScore reports that 58 percent of Americans own smartphones and 90 percent of smartphone owners have iOS or Android, so you are looking at reaching just 52 percent of Americans with your iOS and Android apps.

Smartphone apps are just one piece of your marketing puzzle in the way that mobile advertising is just part of the marketing picture.

Apps alone do not have wide enough reach. There is not a particular marketing channel ? digital or otherwise ? that offers the highest reach, engagement and ROI.

Your challenge as a marketer is creating the right recipe of mobile marketing programs ? for example apps, SMS, mobile Web, mobile-optimized email or QR codes ? with your other marketing channels.

Just as we would not advocate only using text message marketing, mobile touch points must be integrated across your organization and offer multiple opportunities for customer interaction and loyalty building for success in mobile marketing.

Myth 3: Mobile marketing is complicated
Admittedly, this one actually has some truth to it.

There is complexity around the carrier connections needed, the set of rules you need to follow, and the mobile technology options available, but the underlying use cases and common sense required to run effective mobile programs are similar to other marketing channels.

Ask yourself questions such as, ?Does this meet my customer?s needs?? and ?Am I adding value to the customer relationship?? and ?Is this an effective use of my marketing dollars??

If you can answer those questions positively and have a trusted mobile technology partner, implementing mobile marketing programs is not complicated. And that often means not rushing toward the latest and greatest marketing technology just because you can, such as augmented reality or a complicated user experience.

You can keep things simple with smart opt-in SMS communications, perhaps paired with a mobile microsite, and still see powerful results.

Myth 4: All mobile users are all the same
One of the reasons companies provide for not investing in mobile marketing is they believe it is not relevant to their demographic targets, that mobile only reaches Generation Y, or only reaches those with smartphones, or only those who are traveling.

Both third-party research and our direct experience supporting client programs debunks those assumptions.

Addressing the question of age, Google?s ?Our Mobile Planet? shows that 55 percent of Americans ages 30-49 and 25 percent of those over 50 owned smartphones.

As for mobile only reaching those on the go outside the home, Google reports that 52 percent of all smartphone users watch television while on their smartphones, and a study from Telef?nica?s O2 UK and Sony Mobile showed that 75 percent of the respondents used their phone while in the bathroom.

So while mobile users may be close to home or far away, as a marketer you should not make assumptions about them.

Myth 5: Mobile marketing is creepy
Do you worry about giving your mobile number to a company for fear of them sending you unwanted texts or calls? Do you think it is a bit intrusive to be walking by a store in the mall and get an instant alert on your phone that calls you by name to tell you the store is having a sale? You are not alone.

Mobile phone technology enables precise location tracking, which can be extremely helpful while using a mapping application but disconcerting when used without your knowledge or in ways you do not like.

But the reality is that when it comes to short code-based text messaging campaigns, the wireless carriers have in place strict consumer-focused opt-in guidelines, and Congress is bringing bills to the floor to discuss mobile privacy laws through applications and Web sites.

Those companies who do not obey have their programs shut off, are heavily fined, and are typically publicly dragged through the media for these practices.

Remember when online privacy concerns were a huge roadblock for ecommerce from taking off?

With $225.5 billion in retail ecommerce sales last year, it is fair to conclude that we are officially over that hurdle. ?The same can be expected regarding the trajectory of mobile privacy concerns.

There will still be a few unwanted text messages occurring and companies with unscrupulous practices, but it is unlikely that SMS spam will become widespread like it has with email and direct mail.

THE BOTTOM LINE is that companies have to earn consumers? express consent and must remain in compliance in order to take advantage of the benefits of mobile marketing. The industry is set up to ensure that.

Just as online privacy concerns are fading into the background, mobile consumers will learn to trust brands that have proven to be trustworthy.

Lindsay Woodworth is director of marketing and pre-sales at?Genesys / SoundBite, Arlington, VA. Reach her at lwoodworth@soundbite.com.

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Source: http://www.luxurydaily.com/5-mobile-marketing-myths-debunked/

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Senate seeks numbers from NSA on phone collection

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Exactly how many phone records of Americans does the National Security Agency collect in its massive surveillance program?

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, tucked a provision into the 2014 fiscal year defense spending bill that would require the NSA to report to Congress ? within 90 days after the legislation becomes law ? on the precise number of phone records collected, the total reviewed by NSA employees and all bulk collection activities, including how much they cost and when they began.

The NSA also would have to provide Congress with a list of potential terrorist attacks that have been thwarted due to the information obtained through the sweeping data collection program.

The Senate Appropriations Committee backed the report request on Thursday in voting for the overall bill. It first Senate effort aimed at the program since revelations two months ago that the NSA was collecting hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records as part of an effort to combat terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The disclosure has revived the debate ? in the nation and Congress ? over whether secret national security programs encroach on Americans' privacy rights. Skeptics wary of the program are pressing for changes though wholesale revisions are unlikely as surveillance efforts have the strong support of the Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.

The NSA has said that its two surveillance programs ? the other sweeps up Internet usage data ? have stopped at least 50 terror plots across 20 countries.

"We're talking about some changes in the program, some disclosure in the program that would still keep it in some form as a tool to fight terrorism but would also assure the American people about the limits of its use," Durbin said in a telephone interview on Friday.

The senator was one of several lawmakers ? proponents and critics ? who met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday to discuss the surveillance programs.

Durbin said the purpose of his measure is to obtain basic information about the program, which has largely emerged piecemeal.

"Just this last week, we did get some information from the NSA about the number of queries in a given year, which you can draw some conclusions about just how active is this effort, how many telephone numbers are being followed to find out if they have connections and what we do in the bill is to try to make this a more complete disclosure of the volume of collected information," said Durbin, chairman of the Appropriations defense subcommittee and a member of the Judiciary Committee.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding about what's collected, why it's collected and how much is being used," Durbin said.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that "almost everybody except for a few" understand that the NSA program is vital. The task in the coming weeks is to make Americans understand that constitutional rights aren't being trampled.

"What we have to do is educate the public and we have to make some changes to show that so that we can be more open but not give the information to the enemy," Ruppersberger told reporters in a brief interview.

The House Intelligence Committee likely will incorporate some changes in its authorization bill in late September or early October, he said. The counterpart Senate panel and House and Senate Judiciary committees also are likely to act this fall.

In a letter to Ruppersberger, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., pressed the committee to include several proposals circulating in Congress while insisting that "the government be more transparent in how these programs ensure national security and protect Americans' civil liberties."

Among them is requiring that the secret federal court that oversees the program publically disclose specific opinions and that the Senate confirm judges appointed to the court.

Last week, the House narrowly rejected a challenge to the program. Libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats had joined forces on a measure that would have canceled the statutory authority for the NSA program, ending the agency's ability to collect phone records and metadata under the USA Patriot Act unless it identified an individual under investigation.

"The vote in the House was amazing," Durbin said. "Within seven votes of basically putting an end to an intelligence program or changing it dramatically and that is unheard of."

He said it was a "call to action for those who want to maintain program to be more open about it and also to be open to changes that will make it more trustworthy."

Among potential changes are who should do the basic metadata collection, how they'll do it and how it will be used, Durbin said. Another possible change is an effort to demystify the secret court, creating greater opening without compromising national security.

___

Associated Press writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-08-02-US-NSA-Surveillance/id-b7eed598d411450885392107fae9179e

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Video: Cigna's CEO breaks down mixed results

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52641797/

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Couples celebrate legal same-sex marriage in Minn. in midnight ...

by Jon Collins, Minnesota Public Radio,
Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio

August 1, 2013

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ST. PAUL, Minn. ? Together for eight years, Kay Davis and Sandy Wimer never expected to see the day Minnesota would let them marry.

But after decades of political battles and a dramatic two-year swing in state politics, they stood at Minneapolis City Hall in the wee hours of Thursday morning with the law on their side.

"A lot of people came before us. A lot of people really suffered with not being accepted," said Davis of Eagle Lake. "Pioneers that had been together 30, 40 years and never were married legally in everybody's eyes -- so this is kind of a salute to them that it's legal."

Thursday's first-ever same-sex weddings capped an extraordinary seven months in Minnesota that began in November when Minnesotans rejected a plan to write the state's 40-year gay marriage ban into the Minnesota constitution. That vote's political momentum helped remake the Legislature, which in May changed the law, making Minnesota the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Click for more photos of the first Mpls. same-sex weddings

? Photos: Couple celebrates vows in Moorhead
? Couples exchange marriage vows
? Same-sex marriage foes say voters feel 'betrayed'
? Photos & stories: Same-sex couples share their wedding plans
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? Today's Question: Are you personally affected?
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? Details: The Minnesota same-sex marriage bill
? Survey: Where will the wedding bells ring?
? Video: Jack Baker and Michael McConnell predicted victory in 1970s
? Interactive: Deep roots of the marriage debate
? Special report: How the marriage amendment was defeated
? Profile: The general behind Minnesota's same-sex marriage law

Opponents have vowed to bring back the ban. The couples who married Thursday morning at City Hall, and the families and friends who celebrated with them, were focused on their new future, one where they have the same legal standing as other couples.

"For me, I just feel a certain amount of anxiety is gone," said Laura Migliorino, who married Mary Bahneman in the City Council chambers. "We probably weren't even aware of how much anxiety we lived with. We thought we'd be OK if something happened. It was like, maybe the doctor would be OK," said.

"We were always sort of at the mercy of everybody."

Gov. Mark Dayton, who signed the same-sex marriage law, stopped by city hall early in the night to applaud the couples about to wed.

"The real credit," he told them, "belongs to all your parents, grandparents who said, 'That's -- that's my daughter. That's my grandson that you're vilifying, that you're demonizing. We're not going to stand for that here in Minnesota'. We're better than that in Minnesota and we proved that over the last year."

Minneapolis launched more than three dozen weddings on Thursday, starting just after midnight with Margaret Miles and Cathy ten Broeke of Minneapolis. They stood on the center steps with their 5-year-old son, Louie.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak started a hair early and had to stretch the sentences a bit to make sure his marriage pronouncement to them came after midnight.

"By the power now finally vested in me, by the laws of the people of Minnesota, we do hereby declare that Margaret and Cathy are legally married. You may kiss the bride," Rybak said, as the crowd erupted in applause and some bystanders wiped away tears.

The two women kissed, and their five-year-old son Louie hugged his moms.

Rybak married couples in the rotunda long into the morning, while Hennepin County judges presided over ceremonies in the Minneapolis City Council chambers.

Kelly Frankenberg of Lakeville married Donna Nguyen at City Hall while wearing a long white dress with sparkly straps. They said they decided to marry now partly because Frankenberg is seven months pregnant, and legal marriage eliminates any legal wrangling that otherwise would have to take place for both of them to have legal custody of the child.

"It's just historically incredible. It gives me goosebumps every time I think about it, that this is really part of history, too," Frankenberg said. "It's just very overwhelming -- in a good way."

For many, the night was an occasion for celebration even if it wasn't their wedding night. Travis and Jerry Fladmark of Richfield were already legally married in San Francisco in 2008. The new law means Minnesota recognizes that marriage as legal.

"There are so many things left to be done but for us this is the big step," Jerry Fladmark said. "We are legit now and that feels pretty exciting, it feels like you're truly part of society in every way."

Amy Conrad and Demoya Gordon of Minneapolis were heading home at about 2 a.m. after taking their vows. Like many at the gathering, they were stunned by how quickly legalization happened in the state, which only last year was considering a constitutional ban of same-sex marriage.

"I'm so proud," Conrad said as she and her new wife walked arm in arm down 4th Street. "I couldn't be more happy."

Lynne Larsen of Minneapolis never expected to be able to marry her partner, Linda Alton, in her lifetime. After the marriage law passed in May, the 75-year-old Larsen posted a singing invitation to her wedding on YouTube.

Early Thursday morning, the couple wore white pants and the same colorful blouses for the occasion. The choice was accidental, said Alton, 68. She and Larsen had picked the same thing out in the store.

"We said, 'our families are going to die, our daughters are going to cringe,'" Alton said.

Daughters Christine and Kay Alton stood by, smiling. The outfits were forgiven. They were pleased their mom's 24-year relationship was now officially recognized by the state of Minnesota.

Jon Collins is an online reporter for MPR News.

Sasha Aslanian is a reporter with MPR News' Twin Cities metro reporting unit.

Source: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/08/01/news/same-sex-marriage-legal-minnesota

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Hulu follows in Netflix?s steps, will release its own original shows

Hulu Original Series The Wrong Mans

Hulu isn?t letting Netflix reap all the rewards for producing original content. Bloomberg reports that Hulu is planning to release its own original series that will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers, starting this fall with a show called The Wrong Mans that Bloomberg describes as ?a comedy about two office workers who become caught up in a deadly criminal conspiracy.? From there, the company plans to release ?20 exclusive and original series this year? with the goal of releasing 40 original series over the next two years. Netflix has shown that online content providers can have success with their own original shows, as House of Cards, Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black have been hits with critics and audiences.

[More from BGR: Motorola Moto X preview]

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hulu-follows-netflix-steps-release-own-original-shows-020046640.html

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Senate in prolonged vote over Obama ATF pick

FILE - In this June 11, 2013 file photo, B. Todd Jones of Minnesota, President Barack Obama's nominee for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate is ready for a showdown on President Barack Obama?s pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives in a battle that carries echoes of this year?s gun control fight. Democrats were forcing a vote Wednesday on ending Republican stalling tactics against B. Todd Jones? nomination to head the agency, which enforces federal firearms laws. They are hoping for a different outcome this time for Obama and his allies, who were defeated in April when the Senate refused to expand background check requirements for gun buyers. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - In this June 11, 2013 file photo, B. Todd Jones of Minnesota, President Barack Obama's nominee for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate is ready for a showdown on President Barack Obama?s pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives in a battle that carries echoes of this year?s gun control fight. Democrats were forcing a vote Wednesday on ending Republican stalling tactics against B. Todd Jones? nomination to head the agency, which enforces federal firearms laws. They are hoping for a different outcome this time for Obama and his allies, who were defeated in April when the Senate refused to expand background check requirements for gun buyers. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. nominee Samantha Power testifies at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Unexpectedly short on a crucial showdown vote, Democrats struggled Wednesday to secure confirmation for a new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Tobacco but succeeded in dramatic fashion in getting one Republican senator to switch her vote and help them.

Democrats had seemed about to lose an effort to clear President Barack Obama's nominee to head the agency, B. Todd Jones, for a vote on final passage.

But after Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted to support GOP delaying tactics aimed at derailing the nomination, she was swarmed by Democratic senators urging her to switch her vote.

In a prolonged spectacle played out largely in full view on the Senate floor, the scrum around Murkowski was quickly enlarged when Republican senators joined the group, trying to persuade her not to switch.

More than a dozen lawmakers spent nearly an hour imploring Murkowski, first on the Senate floor and then in a private cloakroom. After about 20 minutes of talks in the cloakroom, Murkowski emerged and switched her vote.

That still left Democrats one short of the 60 votes needed to end filibusters.

Democrats were waiting for one of their members, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, to return to the Capitol and cast the decisive vote for Jones.

Heitkamp was on her way back to Washington from North Dakota, a Heitkamp aide said.

Another aide said Heitkamp was expected back around 6 p.m.

While most Senate roll calls take about 20 minutes, the Jones vote already had lasted more than two hours by late afternoon.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-07-31-US-Senate-Nominees/id-5f385742d3414e71b71e879f0a50e846

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Giant mushroom found in China (+video)

Giant mushroom: This fungus has not yet been identified. But it's not big enough to dislodge Oregon's giant honey mushroom as the largest in the world.

By Marc Lallanilla,?LiveScience / July 30, 2013

China's Yunnan province is known as the "Kingdom of Mushrooms" for its rich diversity of more than 600 species of edible fungi.

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But even the hungriest of mushroom fans might find this monster mushroom, recently discovered in Yunnan, a little hard to swallow.

The mushroom, a species that has yet to be identified, measures 37 inches (93 centimeters) across the top and weighs about 33 pounds (15 kilograms), according to Science World Report. [Magnificent Microphotography: 50 Tiny Wonders]

Fungi, including mushrooms, are neither plants nor animals and instead form their own group of living organisms that generally reproduce by spores and contain nuclei with chromosomes. Perhaps surprisingly due to their plantlike appearance, fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants.

China's mushroom industry is a multimillion-dollar operation, with sales equivalent to $44 million in 2005, according to The Diplomat. And some of the finest and costliest specimens, such as the rare Tricholoma matsutake mushroom ? highly prized as a delicacy in Japan ? come from Yunnan.

The giant mushroom discovered in China might not be safe to eat; many mushrooms are poisonous. Two women in California were killed recently after eating a soup made of toxic mushrooms.

On the other hand, there may be some therapeutic benefits to certain mushrooms. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University believe the hallucinogen found in "magic mushrooms" might someday help treat a variety of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and addiction.

It remains to be seen whether the massive 'shroom discovered in China is a record-breaking fungus for its species, but it certainly won't be the world's largest mushroom: In 1998, a giant honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) was discovered growing underground in Oregon. The specimen is estimated to be some 2,384 acres (965 hectares) in size, and at least 2,400 years old.

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter?and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/lY3MapzHB8c/Giant-mushroom-found-in-China-video

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Lawrence Livermore engineering team makes breakthrough in solar energy research

Public release date: 30-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ken Ma
ma28@llnl.gov
925-423-7602
DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LIVERMORE, Calif. The use of plasmonic black metals could someday provide a pathway to more efficient photovoltaics (PV) --- the use of solar panels containing photovoltaic solar cells --- to improve solar energy harvesting, according to researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

The LLNL Materials Engineering Division (MED) research team has made breakthroughs experimenting with black metals. These nanostructured metals are designed to have low reflectivity and high absorption of visible and infrared light. The MED research team recently published their black metals research results in a cover-page article in the May issue of Applied Physics Letters titled "Plasmonic Black Metals in Resonant Nanocavities."

Authored by MED physicist and research team member Mihail Bora, the article details the work of the Nanophotonics and Plasmonics research team led by LLNL Engineer Tiziana Bond.

It describes the team's concept of black metals, which are not classic metals but can be thought of as an extension of the black silicon concept. When silicon is treated in a certain way, such as being roughened at the nanoscale level, it traps light by multiple reflections, increasing its solar absorption. This gives the silicon a black surface that's able to better trap the full sun's wavelength spectrum.

Similarly, black metals are produced by some sort of random nanostructuring -- either in gold or silver -- without guaranteeing a full, reliable and repeatable full solar absorption. However, Bond's team developed a method to improve and control the absorption efficiency and basically turn the metals as black as they want, allowing them to increase, on demand, the absorption of a higher quantity of solar wavelengths. Her team built nanopillar structures that are trapping and absorbing all the relevant wavelengths of the entire solar spectrum.

"Our article was picked for the cover story of Applied Physics Letters because it represents cutting-edge work in the area of plasmonics, the broadband operation obtained with a clear design and its implication for the photovoltaic (PV) yield," Bond said.

This new LLNL technology could one day be used in the energy harvesting industry such as PV. By incorporating metallic nanostructures with strong coupling of incident light, broad spectral and angular coverage, the LLNL team is providing a path for more efficient photovoltaics and thermovoltaics (a form of energy collection) by means of plasmon-exciton conversion, according to Bond and Bora.

###

The article can be view at this link: http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v102/i25/p251105_s1

The teams' black metal research will also be featured in the September issue of Nature Photonics.

Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provides solutions to our nation's most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

###

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 30-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ken Ma
ma28@llnl.gov
925-423-7602
DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LIVERMORE, Calif. The use of plasmonic black metals could someday provide a pathway to more efficient photovoltaics (PV) --- the use of solar panels containing photovoltaic solar cells --- to improve solar energy harvesting, according to researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

The LLNL Materials Engineering Division (MED) research team has made breakthroughs experimenting with black metals. These nanostructured metals are designed to have low reflectivity and high absorption of visible and infrared light. The MED research team recently published their black metals research results in a cover-page article in the May issue of Applied Physics Letters titled "Plasmonic Black Metals in Resonant Nanocavities."

Authored by MED physicist and research team member Mihail Bora, the article details the work of the Nanophotonics and Plasmonics research team led by LLNL Engineer Tiziana Bond.

It describes the team's concept of black metals, which are not classic metals but can be thought of as an extension of the black silicon concept. When silicon is treated in a certain way, such as being roughened at the nanoscale level, it traps light by multiple reflections, increasing its solar absorption. This gives the silicon a black surface that's able to better trap the full sun's wavelength spectrum.

Similarly, black metals are produced by some sort of random nanostructuring -- either in gold or silver -- without guaranteeing a full, reliable and repeatable full solar absorption. However, Bond's team developed a method to improve and control the absorption efficiency and basically turn the metals as black as they want, allowing them to increase, on demand, the absorption of a higher quantity of solar wavelengths. Her team built nanopillar structures that are trapping and absorbing all the relevant wavelengths of the entire solar spectrum.

"Our article was picked for the cover story of Applied Physics Letters because it represents cutting-edge work in the area of plasmonics, the broadband operation obtained with a clear design and its implication for the photovoltaic (PV) yield," Bond said.

This new LLNL technology could one day be used in the energy harvesting industry such as PV. By incorporating metallic nanostructures with strong coupling of incident light, broad spectral and angular coverage, the LLNL team is providing a path for more efficient photovoltaics and thermovoltaics (a form of energy collection) by means of plasmon-exciton conversion, according to Bond and Bora.

###

The article can be view at this link: http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v102/i25/p251105_s1

The teams' black metal research will also be featured in the September issue of Nature Photonics.

Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provides solutions to our nation's most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/dlnl-lle073013.php

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Grand Prix India 2014 kemungkinan batal

India menjadi tuan rumah GP pertama kali pada 2011.

Grand Prix India kemungkinan akan dihapus dari kalendar Formula Satu tahun depan, kata bos F1 Bernie Ecclestone.

"Apakah India akan dilaksanakan? Mungkin tidak," kata Bernie di Grand Prix Hongaria, seperti dikutip kantor berita Reuters.

Saat ditanya apakah ada masalah dengan ajang balap di Greater Noida, dekat New Delhi, Ecclestone menjawab, "Sangat politis."

Ecclestone, yang memimpin Formula Satu selama puluhan tahun, menyusun kalendar dan biasanya mempresentasikannya di hadapan Federasi Otomotif Internasional untuk meminta persetujuan mereka setiap bulan September.

Ia saat ini harus memilih maksimum 20 dari 22 balap untuk dimasukkan ke kalender.

Rusia, akan memulai debut mereka di Sochi, Laut Hitam, menjelang akhir tahun dan sebuah GP lain di New Jersey adalah dua even baru yang direncanakan untuk 2014.

GP Austria juga direncanakan kembali diadakan setelah absen selama 11 tahun.

India pertama kali menjadi tuan rumah GP pada 2011 dan mendapat ulasan positif dari komunitas Formula Satu.

Tahun ini GP India sebenarnya dijadwalkan untuk diadakan pada 27 Oktober tetapi setelah pernyataan Ecclestone, dunia balap masih harus menunggu kepastian.

Source: http://www.tribunnews.com/sport/2013/07/29/grand-prix-india-2014-kemungkinan-batal

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Giants Defensive Line Coach is Excited About What He?s Seen So Far

It is no secret that the Giants once-dominant defensive line fell off production-wise last year. Star defensive ends Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul combined for 10.5 sacks, way down from totals in years passed. However, defensive line coach Robert Nunn believes that his group of players is ready to get back to form in 2013.

Nunn started off by saying, ?Justin (Tuck) has probably had his best offseason since I?ve been here. I think he?s in the best physical shape and seems to be in a great state of mind.?

He also believes that injuries were a huge factor?for Tuck?s down production last year and that if he can stay healthy, he will be back to his 2011 form. Though he only missed one game in 2012 due to a shoulder injury, Tuck was nagged by the injury for the entire year. He put up his lowest sack total and second lowest tackle total (45) since becoming a full-time starter in 2006.

Another veteran Nunn had high praise for is Mathias Kiwanuka, who is making the switch back to defensive end full-time after being an outside linebacker hybrid for the past few season. Nunn praised Kiwanuka?s locker room presence, ?The toughness he brings, the leadership he brings to that group, we?re looking forward to that. We need toughness and he?s just that.?

Kiwanuka is coming off a season in which he totaled three sacks in limited pass rushing duty. However, he is returning to his natural position of defensive end, which he played throughout college and for the first three seasons as a Giants before moving to outside lineback. In 2008, Kiwanuka had a career high in sacks with 8, all as a defensive end.

A newcomer to the defensive line is making waves with Nunn as well.

Second round pick Johnathan Hankins has caught his coach?s attention while running with the second team during the summer. ?He?s really surprised me,? Nunn said. ?He?s gotten right with his body. He has worked, he has trimmed up, he?s gotten stronger. If he continues to do that, he is another young player I think can contribute to the this team. He?s looked good.?

Hankins, who was an All-American and an all Big-Ten member at Ohio State last year, has a lot of work to do to catch up to starting tackles Linval Joseph and Cullen Jenkins, but he has already beat veterans Marvin Austin and Shaun Rogers up the depth chart. On the second team he is playing alongside veteran newcomer Mike Patterson. It sounds like Nunn is not afraid to throw ?Big Hank? into the lineup if he can keep his weight down and conditioning up.

The Giants defensive line is looking to replace ten total sack from last year due to the departures of key contributers?like Christ Canty and Osi Umenyiora, along with defensive tackle Rocky Bernard. They will rely heavily on Jenkins, but there is no doubt that Hankins and draft classmate Demontre?Moore have the talent to step in and contribute to the team.

Source: http://insidefootball.com/blog/2013/07/giants-defensive-line-coach-is-excited-about-what-hes-seen-so-far/

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NBA note: Kurt Rambis returning to Lakers as an assistant

El Segundo, Calif. ? Kurt Rambis is returning to the Los Angeles Lakers? coaching staff as an assistant to Mike D?Antoni.

The Lakers hired former NBA head coaches Rambis and Johnny Davis on Monday to fill out D?Antoni?s coaching staff for his second season with the club.

Rambis was a key role player and a bespectacled fan favorite for the Lakers during the "Showtime" era. He has been associated with the team in various capacities for three decades, including a brief stint as the head coach.

He served as an assistant coach from 1994-99, 2001-04 and 2005-09, helping to guide the team to two NBA titles and four Finals appearances during coach Phil Jackson?s tenure. Rambis went 24-13 as the Lakers? head coach during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, and he spent two stints in the Lakers? front office.

"Kurt is a great basketball mind, extremely good at working with big men, and his experience as a head coach in this league is going to prove very helpful to our staff," D?Antoni said.

Rambis was thought to be a possible heir to Jackson before leaving to take over the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2009. Rambis was fired in 2011 after going 32-132 in two seasons with the rebuilding franchise.

Around the league

Unrestricted NBA free agent Daniel Gibson surrendered to police Monday to face a second-degree battery charge. Gibson is accused of breaking another man?s jaw with a punch during an argument at a nightclub on July 8, New Orleans Police spokeswoman Remi Braden said. Gibson?s wife, Keyshia Cole, sang at the Essence Festival on July 6. Online court records show he was released on $20,000 bond.

Mavericks ? Dallas has signed first-round pick Shane Larkin, who is likely out until training camp in October with a broken right ankle. Larkin is slotted to make $1.28 million in the point guard?s first season under the rookie salary scale. The Mavericks traded down twice in the draft and ended up with the rights to Larkin, the son of Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin. He was taken 18th by Atlanta.

story continues below

Rockets ? Houston has signed veteran free agent center Marcus Camby. It is the second stint for Camby in Houston after he played for the Rockets in 2012. The 39-year-old played 19 games for Houston that season and averaged 7.1 points and 9.3 rebounds. He was shipped to the New York Knicks by the Rockets in July 2012.

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/56661526-77/rambis-lakers-coach-nba.html.csp

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Sony, Panasonic promise 300-gigabyte discs by 2015

storage

Devin Coldewey NBC News

2 hours ago

Devin Coldewey / NBC News

A standard capacity DVD, like the one pictured, has a capacity of about 4.7 GB; a Blu-ray can have around 50GB; and the proposed format could have up to 300GB.

First there was the CD, which held 700 megabytes. Then the DVD, which held 5 gigabytes. Then the Blu-ray disc, with 50 gigs. What's next? Sony and Panasonic hope it will be a 300-gigabyte disc they're jointly researching that could hit in 2015. But might we have abandoned discs altogether by then?

Sony wrote up the joint-development agreement in a press release, citing the many strengths of optical media as justification for the project:

Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored.

However, both Sony and Panasonic recognized that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement.

For years, the companies that make discs like these have worked to make the lasers, materials, and other components more precise, and have added more recordable layers, improving capacity. Just this last November, TDK announced a 1-terabyte disc based on refined versions of today's technologies.

But reading between the lines and taking current trends into account, the companies' enthusiasm seems a little forced. After all, the most popular new devices in the world, tablets and smartphones, both rely exclusively on flash memory rather than spacious but cumbersome hard drives, let alone optical discs. And that's only when they're not streaming that data or downloading it from cloud storage.

Even full-on computers, desktop and laptop, are far less likely to have a disc drive than they used to. Apple took the lead in 2008 with the drive-less MacBook Air, and since then support for discs has become increasingly rare.

That's why the proposed format is being framed as more of a professional tool: a high-capacity medium for the companies' pro-level video cameras and backup archives. After all, Sony and Panasonic gear is deeply embedded in TV and film, and a big bump in capacity like this will be attractive to the many creatives who rely on those devices to store hours of HD video for shows and films.

Will there be a new format war in 2015 as these mega-discs come to market? Or will we have moved on to flash and cloud storage? Chances are a bit of both ? and by making sure that both will actually exist then, Sony and Panasonic are covering their bases.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f4f02a3/sc/23/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Csony0Epanasonic0Epromise0E30A0A0Egigabyte0Ediscs0E20A150E6C10A786435/story01.htm

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Tom Sarbeck commented on John Aultman's blog post Twenty Vile Quotes Against Women By Church Leaders from St. Augustine to Pat Robertson

Not to put to fine a point on it, but this comes as a surprise from the religious?! Their gods are born of virgins. You want a god-man? Just make sure his mother never experienced a?penis in her.

Because, women are vile, detestable, seductresses who lead men into temptation and take them away from the true path of enlightenment of YHWH, Jesus, Allah, Zeus, Quetzacoatl, Chango, etc., etc. Of course, it has nothing whatsoever to do with male hormones, and the desire to spread their DNA. Nooooooo. Men are pure as the driven snow. You see, all those rapes and sexual perversions inflicted on the weaker sex are all their fault. If they had a penis like us, all would be well with the world.?

Religion is MAN made.

Source: http://www.atheistnexus.org/xn/detail/2182797%3AComment%3A2277141?xg_source=activity

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PTT, navy insist oil slick safe

PTT Global Chemical Plc (PTTGC) and the Royal Thai Navy say the oil slick off Rayong province has been contained and is unlikely to cause environmental damage.

Locals along Mae Ramphung Beach of Muang district and nearby beaches said Sunday there was no longer an oil odour noticeable in the air, as there had been on Saturday.

The spill took place on Saturday about 20km southeast of the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong.

Locals did not spot any oil on the beach and said they believe the authorities could contain the spill.

Oil spill dispersants were deployed from a hastily assembled flotilla of ships and boats from the Royal Thai Navy and other sources, in an apparently successful effort to stop the slick from reaching shore. (Photo by Panumas Sanguanwong).

The spill resulted from a leak along a PTTGC pipeline that supplied crude to its refinery.

It took place about 6.50am on Saturday when a tanker was loading crude to the offshore pipeline.

About 50,000 litres of oil leaked into the sea.

The company said a naval plane surveyed the affected area in the sea and found the spill was noticeably shrinking and the remaining oil slick was thin.

The company confirmed the slick was contained and oil-spill dispersants were being sprayed.

Five company boats and five other vessels from the Royal Thai Navy, the Marine Department and IRPC Plc were deployed for the clean-up.

Oil Spill Response Co of Singapore also sent a plane, experts and dispersant spray equipment to Rayong Sunday.

PTTGC said it expected the mission would be completed Sunday.

It also deployed officials to monitor the quality of seawater along the beaches of Rayong to ensure the response mission prevented any adverse impact on the marine environment.

Rear Adm Thiwa Daramuang, chief-of-staff of the First Naval Area Command, said the area of the oil slick was contained to about 500m wide and 1km long.

The navy deployed its Samaesan ship to assist in the mission. It also deployed a C-130 transport airplane to pour chemicals that would help contain the oil.

The rear admiral said the oil slick was unlikely to reach the coast of Rayong and the ecosystem in the area should remain intact.

Map Ta Phut industrial estate director Pratheep Aeng-Chuan said the oil spill area Sunday morning had decreased to about 500 sq m, or about 15-20% of the original spill area on Saturday.

He sent staff to monitor the quality of seawater along the coast from Map Ta Phut to Khao Laem Ya hill near Samet island in the next two weeks.

He said the oil slick was about 10km from Khao Laem Ya Sunday.

Meanwhile, fishermen in Rayong demanded PTTGC compensate them and tourism operators for the environmental damage.

Chaturas Iamworaniran, president of an association of small-scale fishermen in Rayong, said the oil spill would certainly affect the fishing industry and could also threaten tourism.

He said the company had merely applied chemicals to sink the leaked oil, and this would have long-term environmental effects in the long run. He urged concerned parties to work out solutions.

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