Saturday, June 30, 2012

Goodell sends memo on LA stadium guidelines

By BARRY WILNER

AP Pro Football Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 8:25 p.m. ET June 29, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) - Sensing for the first time in years that stadium issues are solvable in Los Angeles, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has established guidelines for a franchise's potential move to the area.

In a memo sent by the commissioner Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, Goodell said no single team has any "presumptive right" to play in Los Angeles and that only the league as a whole can make a decision on relocation. The league is satisfied with its current 32-team setup, although expanding to include one - or two - teams in LA is still possible.

Any franchise interested in relocating there for the 2013 season must apply between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15 of that year, and prove it has exhausted all attempts to remain in its current location. No plans are yet in place if no teams apply for 2013.

If a team applies to relocate, it should not expect a league-wide vote on the application before the NFL's annual meetings in late March.

Goodell emphasized that any new stadium must be capable of hosting two franchises. Two groups currently are competing to develop a stadium complex, one downtown and one in City of Industry.

"Given that simultaneous league-wide investment in two stadiums in the same community is unlikely," Goodell wrote, "we believe that the best approach will be a single site where an iconic facility could credibly both host two teams and provide ancillary entertainment and development opportunities."

Los Angeles has not had an NFL team since the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders went back to Oakland in 1995.

The Los Angeles Times first reported details of the memo.

Any new stadium in the LA area would be attractive to franchises that struggle at the gate, are located in a smaller metropolitan area or are saddled with a bad lease in an outdated stadium. Among the teams mentioned as potentially moving have been the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Buffalo Bills, St. Louis Rams and the Raiders.

The NFL itself would love a showcase stadium where it could regularly hold Super Bowls.

Goodell even mentioned in the memo a Hall of Fame, studios for NFL Network and youth football facilities accompanying a stadium.

Any team seeking to move to LA must show it "has secured a long-term stadium solution that is financeable and preserves the league's option for use as a two-team facility."

That team also must have a viable interim stadium plan while the new building is being built; a marketing plan with respect to personal seat licenses, premium seating, and naming rights; and must give certain financial guarantees to the league.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44691531/ns/sports-nfl/

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Hong Kong Bonds With China Delta

HONG KONG?Hong Kong and its neighboring Pearl River Delta?south China's industrial hub in Guangdong province?are moving toward tighter integration, aided by new transportation links and efforts by both sides to bolster stronger economic ties.

For the former British colony, the push for tighter relations reflects the need to boost competitiveness and to better capture booming domestic demand in the world's second-biggest economy. Meanwhile, markets in China, as with other parts of Asia, are racing to catch up to Hong Kong's well-established financial institutions and sound regulatory regimes.

Proponents of greater integration say better linkages will allow the region to capitalize ...

HONG KONG?Hong Kong and its neighboring Pearl River Delta?south China's industrial hub in Guangdong province?are moving toward tighter integration, aided by new transportation links and efforts by both sides to bolster stronger economic ties.

For the former British colony, the push for tighter relations reflects the need to boost competitiveness and to better capture booming domestic demand in the world's second-biggest economy. Meanwhile, markets in China, as with other parts of Asia, are racing to catch up to Hong Kong's well-established financial institutions and sound regulatory regimes.

Proponents of greater integration say better linkages will allow the region to capitalize ...

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304830704577496653519396144.html?mod=fox_australian

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Energy companies push for carbon market bailout

With a turnover of some ?90 billion in 2010, the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) is the world's largest carbon market. Around 80% of it is traded in futures markets and 20% in spot markets.

The ETS aims to encourage companies to invest in low-polluting technologies by allocating or selling them allowances to cover their annual emissions. The most efficient companies can then sell unused allowances or bank them.

After a series of VAT "carousel" and "phishing" frauds in 2009, the European Commission proposed tighter security measures. But a number of member states declined to implement them because they said they could not afford to.

One Commission official pointed out that tens of thousands of euros spent on security could prevent millions of euros in losses.

Source: http://www.euractiv.com/climate-environment/momentum-builds-14-carbon-allowa-news-513598

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brittanylathan: Asked ab #SCOTUS ruling, Mayor Adam West said: "Box, toaster, aluminum, maple syrup-no I take that one back. I'm gonna hold on to that one"

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

Source: http://twitter.com/brittanylathan/statuses/218355137360568322

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Diet of early human relative Australopithecus shows surprises, says Texas A&M researcher

Diet of early human relative Australopithecus shows surprises, says Texas A&M researcher [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Keith Randall
keith-randall@tamu.edu
979-845-4644
Texas A&M University

Australopithecus sediba, believed to be an early relative of modern-day humans, enjoyed a diet of leaves, fruits, nuts, and bark, which meant they probably lived in a more wooded environment than is generally thought, a surprising find published in the current issue of Nature magazine by an international team of researchers that includes a Texas A&M University anthropologist.

Darryl de Ruiter, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, says the new findings are in contrast to previously documented diets of other hominin species and suggests that Australopithecus sediba had a different living environment than other hominins in the region. Previous research had shown that the australopiths of South Africa lived in the vicinity of grassy and open savannah-like areas, though it was unclear whether they actually occupied a savannah habitat, or if they lived in forested margins near the grasslands.

The team examined teeth from skeletal remains of a group of newly discovered hominins found several years ago in a South African cave about 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg and dated to about 1.98 million years old. The team, comprised of researchers from the United States, Africa, Europe and Australia, named the new species Australopithecus sediba and demonstrated that it displayed a mosaic of both human-like and ape-like characteristics shared both with other forms of Australopithecus and with modern-day humans.

"By examining material recovered from their teeth using diverse tools ranging from dental picks and laser ablation devices, we were able to determine precisely what they were eating," de Ruiter explains.

"This gives us a very clear picture of their diet, and it was surprising. It shows that they ate more fruits and leaves than any other hominin fossil ever examined, more like what a chimp might eat. There was no evidence of them eating native grasses of the area at that time, which is what we see in other australopiths in the region."

Australopithecus is a genus of hominins that is now extinct. Ape-like in structure, yet walking bipedally similar to modern humans, they are considered to have played a significant role in human evolution, and it is generally held among anthropologists that a form of Australopithecus eventually evolved into modern humans.

The Texas A&M anthropologist says the analysis of phytoliths structures found in plants that often get trapped in plaque on teeth alongside examination of the chemical makeup of the hominin teeth, suggests that they had a varied diet, and diet of early Australopithecus is a key component central to the study of human origins.

"It shows they had a diet more similar to that of a chimp than anything else," he notes, "though we cannot yet say how much overlap existed between the diets of hominins and chimps.

"They ate fruits, tree bark, nuts, leaves, and sedges, plants such as papyrus or cypress. They might also have consumed some type of animal protein, perhaps in the form of insects or meat, but a lot more research will be required before we can say for sure one way or the other.

"Our findings clearly show they had access to more food sources than we had previously established," he notes.

###

The team's work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the Ray A. Rothrock '77 Fellowship in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M and the Max Planck Society.

Media contact: Darryl de Ruiter at (979) 845-5242 or deruiter@tamu.edu or Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Diet of early human relative Australopithecus shows surprises, says Texas A&M researcher [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Keith Randall
keith-randall@tamu.edu
979-845-4644
Texas A&M University

Australopithecus sediba, believed to be an early relative of modern-day humans, enjoyed a diet of leaves, fruits, nuts, and bark, which meant they probably lived in a more wooded environment than is generally thought, a surprising find published in the current issue of Nature magazine by an international team of researchers that includes a Texas A&M University anthropologist.

Darryl de Ruiter, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, says the new findings are in contrast to previously documented diets of other hominin species and suggests that Australopithecus sediba had a different living environment than other hominins in the region. Previous research had shown that the australopiths of South Africa lived in the vicinity of grassy and open savannah-like areas, though it was unclear whether they actually occupied a savannah habitat, or if they lived in forested margins near the grasslands.

The team examined teeth from skeletal remains of a group of newly discovered hominins found several years ago in a South African cave about 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg and dated to about 1.98 million years old. The team, comprised of researchers from the United States, Africa, Europe and Australia, named the new species Australopithecus sediba and demonstrated that it displayed a mosaic of both human-like and ape-like characteristics shared both with other forms of Australopithecus and with modern-day humans.

"By examining material recovered from their teeth using diverse tools ranging from dental picks and laser ablation devices, we were able to determine precisely what they were eating," de Ruiter explains.

"This gives us a very clear picture of their diet, and it was surprising. It shows that they ate more fruits and leaves than any other hominin fossil ever examined, more like what a chimp might eat. There was no evidence of them eating native grasses of the area at that time, which is what we see in other australopiths in the region."

Australopithecus is a genus of hominins that is now extinct. Ape-like in structure, yet walking bipedally similar to modern humans, they are considered to have played a significant role in human evolution, and it is generally held among anthropologists that a form of Australopithecus eventually evolved into modern humans.

The Texas A&M anthropologist says the analysis of phytoliths structures found in plants that often get trapped in plaque on teeth alongside examination of the chemical makeup of the hominin teeth, suggests that they had a varied diet, and diet of early Australopithecus is a key component central to the study of human origins.

"It shows they had a diet more similar to that of a chimp than anything else," he notes, "though we cannot yet say how much overlap existed between the diets of hominins and chimps.

"They ate fruits, tree bark, nuts, leaves, and sedges, plants such as papyrus or cypress. They might also have consumed some type of animal protein, perhaps in the form of insects or meat, but a lot more research will be required before we can say for sure one way or the other.

"Our findings clearly show they had access to more food sources than we had previously established," he notes.

###

The team's work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the Ray A. Rothrock '77 Fellowship in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M and the Max Planck Society.

Media contact: Darryl de Ruiter at (979) 845-5242 or deruiter@tamu.edu or Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2012-06/tau-doe062712.php

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

No Lungs Required: Injected Oxygen to Keep Patients Alive

Because of pneumonia, the patient?s lungs were filling with blood. There was only one option to save the little girl, and so the team including cardiologist John Kheir?who was in training at the time, in 2006?raced to get her hooked up to a heart?lung machine, an external device that oxygenates and pumps blood around the body. But connecting a patient to the machine takes time, and the girl?s blood oxygen levels were dropping fast. She suffered severe brain damage and died before the team could even connect her to the machine. "I was pretty frustrated that we were unable to support her oxygen delivery, even though she was already in intensive care," Kheir tells PM. But that frustration was the germ of a potential breakthrough: "I thought that maybe we could get rid of the need for the lungs to provide oxygen, by injecting it into the bloodstream."

Beginning in World War I, doctors attempted to inject oxygen gas straight into patients? bloodstreams, but to no avail. Instead of raising the patients? blood oxygen levels, the gas gathered in air bubbles that fatally blocked blood flow. But this week, in a paper published in Science Translational Medicine, Kheir and his colleagues at the Boston Children?s Hospital say they have found a way to package oxygen inside of microscopic shells. Once injected, the flexible coatings can pass the oxygen directly to the red blood cells before the gas has a chance to form bubbles. The oxygen microparticles may one day allow doctors to safely inject oxygen directly into patients who can?t breathe through their nose or mouth.

The oxygen microparticles haven?t been tested on humans yet, so it would be years before they entered the ER. But "the notion that one could have an intravenous agent to deliver oxygen to the bloodstream, without gas bubbles, is pretty exciting work," says David Wessel, a critical care specialist at Children?s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. When a patient suffers a blocked airway or damaged lungs, "the measures to try to establish an airway can be pretty extreme," Wessel says. Doctors may have to cut a small hole through the neck and windpipe (in a procedure called a tracheostomy), or put the patient into a heart?lung machine, which can be labor intensive and high risk. Without oxygen, the body may go into cardiac arrest or suffer brain damage.

A Few Minutes More


The researchers started by creating tiny (4-micrometer-wide) air bubbles by filling a chamber with oxygen, a kind of molecule called phospholipids, and a fluid similar to blood plasma. They fired sound waves at the chamber so that the gas and fluids would mix. During that process, the fatty phospholipids encircled the oxygen gas?similarly to the bubbles that form when you shake up a bottle of oil and water mixture?and the phospholipid shells hold the oxygen in suspension. When mixed with blood, the oily bubbles readily give up their oxygen to the hungry red blood cells. "The chemistry basically does all the work," Kheir says.

In a preliminary experiment, the researchers anesthetized rabbits and gave them a paralyzing medication so that they could not breathe on their own. They cut off each rabbit?s air supply for 15 minutes. Seven rabbits received injections of the oxygen microparticles, which kept their blood oxygen levels above the danger zone. Rabbits in this group fared well. But the control group didn?t receive oxygen of any kind; all six suffered cardiac arrest and organ failure.

Notably, though, one rabbit injected with the oxygen microparticles suffered cardiac arrest, apparently because of a buildup of carbon dioxide. That?s the concern with these particles, according to Warren Zapol, an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who doubts their practicality: If an animal is unable to exhale CO2, the gas fuses with water in the blood to form carbonic acid, which can lead to organ failure. "Obviously [this treatment] doesn?t remove carbon dioxide so it?s only doing half the job," he says. "You can live with your carbon dioxide going up, but you won?t be a happy person. Can you buy a few minutes with this? Maybe."

Stephen Trzeciak, an emergency medicine and critical care specialist at Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey, disagrees. "I don?t see carbon dioxide as even being an issue. Having a high carbon dioxide level isn?t what kills people. It?s the lack of oxygen."

It?s true that the oxygen microparticles would not sustain a person indefinitely. "I think it?s conceivable that [the treatment] could keep someone alive for 20 or 30 minutes," Kheir says. But in the emergency room, Trzeciak says, even a few extra minutes can be a precious resource. "You could infuse the oxygen intravenously, to get enough oxygen into the blood while you get a definitive fix on whatever is wrong." He says that the treatment could keep oxygen levels stable while doctors perform a tracheostomy or hook the patient up to a heart-lung machine?perhaps providing the stopgap solution that Kheir needed back in 2006.

Scaling Up


Because humans are much larger than rabbits, keeping a person?s blood oxygen levels up during an emergency would require injecting much larger volumes of the oxygen microparticles continuously. Kheir estimates that to keep an adult alive for ten minutes, doctors would need to inject 2 liters of oxygen microparticles into the patient?s body. Imagine trying to empty a 2-liter soda bottle into your blood stream in just a few minutes.

Fortunately, he says, your hemoglobin picks up oxygen quickly and the empty phospholipid shell collapses, so the actual volume added to the bloodstream is closer to 600 or 700 milliliters. Kheir would like to decrease that volume even more by increasing the concentration of microparticles, but the team has its work cut out. Although Kheir and colleagues managed to create a substance that contained 90 percent oxygen microparticles and only 10 percent fluid, the substance had the consistency of shaving cream and couldn?t be injected effectively. The mixture that they tested in rabbits was closer to 65 percent oxygen.

The team also must determine any long-term risks of the treatment, and figure out how the body breaks down the phospholipids shell once it releases its oxygen, before a drug like this makes it to the hospital. "There?s a lot of obstacles that would have to be dealt with," Wessel says, "but this represents a very novel idea with potentially enormous benefits."

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Saturn moon Titan may harbor ocean below surface

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Texas man gets 40 years in stand-your-ground case

A man who claimed Texas' version of a stand-your-ground law allowed him to fatally shoot a neighbor after an argument about a noisy party was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years for murder.

Raul Rodriguez, 46, had faced up to life in prison for the 2010 killing of Kelly Danaher.

Rodriguez, a retired Houston-area firefighter, was angry about the noise coming from a birthday party at his neighbor's home. He went over and got into an argument with 36-year-old elementary school teacher Danaher and two other men at the party.

In a 22-minute video he recorded on the night of the shooting, Rodriguez can be heard telling a police dispatcher "my life is in danger now" and "these people are going to go try and kill me." He then said, "I'm standing my ground here," and fatally shot Danaher and wounded the other two men.

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Rodriguez's reference to standing his ground is similar to the claim made by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who is citing Florida's stand-your-ground law in his defense in the fatal February shooting of an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin. Rodriguez's case, however, was decided under a different kind of self-defense doctrine.

Prosecutors called Rodriguez the aggressor who took a gun to complain about loud music and could have safely left his neighbor's driveway in Huffman, an unincorporated area about 30 miles northeast of Houston, any time before the shooting. Defense attorneys argued Rodriguez was defending himself when one of the men lunged at him and he had less than a second to respond.

At trial, prosecutors tried to show Rodriguez had a history of not getting along with Danaher and other neighbors.

One neighbor testified that Rodriguez, who had a concealed handgun license, bragged about his guns and told her a person could avoid prosecution in a shooting by telling authorities you were in fear of your life and were standing your ground and defending yourself. During the trial's punishment phase, neighbors, former co-workers and Rodriguez's ex-wife testified that Rodriguez was abusive, a bad neighbor and that he once shot a dog.

Rodriguez's attorneys did not present any witnesses before the jury convicted him on June 13. But during the punishment phase, they called more than a dozen witnesses, including his wife and sons. They and other family members testified that he was not abusive, always stressed the importance of gun safety and that he was not cavalier with his weapons. One son said Rodriguez shot the dog because it was attacking his family.

Texas' version of a stand-your-ground law is known as the Castle Doctrine. It was revised in 2007 to expand the right to use deadly force. The new version allows people to defend themselves in their homes, workplaces or vehicles. It also says a person using force cannot provoke the attacker or be involved in criminal activity at the time.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dad charged with assault for tossing McDonald?s fries at stepdaughter

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Man's mission: Promote Chinese patriotism

BEIJING ? With more than 1.3 billion people, China has a plethora of views on the United States and its influence on the global stage.

Some see America as over-controlling, trying all the time to force its influence across the globe, while others see it as a beacon of individual freedom unheard of in China. And many are in between those views.

In an effort to check the pulse on the current Chinese take on the U.S., NBC News in Beijing spoke to two men with very different views on the country.

Rao Jin has made it his life?s work to channel Chinese patriotism in the face of what he sees as a Western media onslaught. On the other hand, fellow Beijinger Ye Nan can?t wait for his next trip back to Disneyland in the U.S. and thinks the Chinese and American public?s views aren?t that far apart.


Not happy with the ?world police?
Rao first made a name for himself in China in the spring of 2008, when news of one of the biggest riots in Tibet spread around the?world. ?

China?s official news outlets routinely blamed the exiled Dalai Lama and his refugee government as the ?instigators,? while most of the Western media took a sympathetic stand and attributed the riots to long-term persecution and dominance by China.

During the peak of the riots, quite a few foreign broadcasters, including CNN and the BBC, became targets of intense Chinese criticism and threats for allegedly biased coverage of the protests in Tibet. CNN in particular came under fire for using inaccurate photos and for remarks made by commentator Jack Cafferty, who referred to China's leaders ? not the Chinese people ? as a "bunch of goons and thugs." ??

Mood turns ugly in Beijing

That outraged Rao, then a 24-year-old who had just graduated from the engineering physics department at Tsinghua University, one of the top educational institutions in China.

Rao, who already had his own IT company, created a website called ANTI-CNN that spread criticism of Western news reporting and soon gained wide support from Chinese citizens.

The website continued to draw millions of hits daily during the chaotic pre-Olympic torch relay when pro-Tibet protesters interrupted several legs of the torch run in America and some European countries. (One particularly egregious incident was when a Chinese Paralympian in a wheel chair was attacked by pro-Tibetan protesters while she bravely guarded the torch).

NBC News speaks with citizens from around the globe, asking the question, 'What Does America Mean to You?'

Originally from the southern coastal province of Fujian, Rao has since become a quasi-spokesman for those in China?s population who are unhappy about how China is viewed and reported in the West. He has been interviewed by many foreign media in China, as well as being invited to events by embassies and NGOs in Beijing.

?I don?t think we represent the whole young generation, but we do represent some,? said Rao at his office in a high-rise in northern Beijing, where 30 employees concentrated on their computers.

Rao?s original ANTI-CNN website became April Media in 2010, named after a month he likes for its symbolism of power and rejuvenation.?He said the website??represents a generation of youth who are familiar with Western culture and have international views as well as a sense of patriotism.?

Aiming to become a cross between a Chinese Huffington Post and a think-tank, April Media now has about 200 columnists and almost one million registered members.

On the left side of the homepage, next to a small photo of the Statue of Liberty, there are a few U.S.-related articles, including ?American truth: leader of wasting energy,? ?Is property expensive in the U.S.?? ?Do American minorities get preferential treatment?? ?Americans really don?t wear long underwear?? ?What is an American green card??

Rao toured the United States from the West Coast to the East Coast in late 2010. He was impressed by the natural scenery, but didn?t find the real America to be too different from his pre-conceived notions and what he saw in Hollywood movies.

?In aspects of the economy, politics and culture, the U.S. has shown an admirable spirit of innovation,? Rao told NBC News in his office, but he argued that America is ?a world leader that failed to perform well.?

?The U.S. has always imposed its own values on others and acted as a hegemonic state and as the world police,? he said. ?It has fought too many wars it shouldn?t have fought.?

Ye Nan, a digital business manager in Beijing, describes how he views America.

America ?fights for justice?
A short drive from Rao?s office, 42-year-old Ye Nan, a business director of another influential news portal, has a completely different view of the U.S. ?

?The U.S. is just like a strong, robust, but brusque, next-door neighbor,? said Ye in a garden next to his office. ?He fights for justice and gets himself involved when there?s a problem. He gives everyone else the impression of being warm-hearted, and having a sense of justice. Some people are afraid of him, but most like him.?

Ye?s family story is like a condensed version of China?s own tumultuous history.?

His grandfather was one of the earliest Chinese students to study in the United States, graduating from Johns Hopkins University in the 1920s and being trained at the West Point Military Academy. After he went back to China, he fought shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in Burma and India during World War II.

But by the time Ye?s father came of age during China?s Cultural Revolution, Chinese-U.S. relations had changed. During Chairman Mao?s ?Young Intellectuals Go Down to the Countryside? campaign in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he and other privileged youth were forced to learn from workers and farmers. He was forced to leave Beijing and died in an accident in Tibet when Ye Nan was only five.

?I?m sure he was told to write those communist posters criticizing America since he was educated,? said Ye in looking back at his father?s life during the Cultural Revolution.

Ye first set his foot on American soil last year to visit his wife, who was a visiting psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley.

His impressions were positive, ?The air was much better, people were friendly, cars would wait for pedestrians,? he said. He was also happy to be able to surf any websites ? quite a different from his experience in China, where many sites are blocked, including Twitter and Facebook.

What really amazed Ye, though, was the prompt reply from Johns Hopkins University when his wife emailed them and asked?if they could help find Ye?s grandfather?s files. The university sent a 10-page file, including letters and academic documents. Such free and quick service is almost impossible in China, he said.

?Freedom is in American people?s blood,? Ye said. ?Individual freedom is the basis of everything, while China values collectivism that stresses personal sacrifice for the group.?

He thinks, though, that the differences are narrowing.

?In my grandfather?s generation, America and China were friends who fought together in World War II. In my father?s generation, they were enemies. The young generation now is greatly influenced by America. They all drink Coca-Cola and watch Hollywood movies. They agree more than they disagree. The world is flat and the two countries will gradually come to a consensus on many matters.??

Ye said his next trip to the U.S. will probably include a visit to Disneyland that he promised his 8-year-old son. And like many Chinese parents, Ye and his wife hope to send their son to study in the U.S. one day.?

This story is part of a series by msnbc.com and NBC News "What the World Thinks of US". The series aims to check the pulse on current perceptions of America's global stature during the election year and ahead of our annual Independence Day. Share your thoughts about this story and our series on Twitter using #AmericaMeans??

Stories in the series: What the World Thinks of US?

For many Pakistanis, 'USA' means 'drones'

?

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HEALTH & FITNESS: Losing the Baby Weight ? Easy Exercise Tips ...

As mentioned earlier, this blog is more than just about me or my team?s experiences and more in sports, health and fitness. Its a blog for the people, BY the people. And I?m pleased to share with you this amazing article by one of our readers, Katie, on tips which would benefit our female readers and friends. :)

Photograph by Jennifer Bradford

After giving birth, you can begin to shed the pounds you gained during your pregnancy without ever?having to set foot in a gym. There are many ways that you can get exercise at home and around your?neighborhood, which will give you more time and flexibility to attend to your newborn. Taking care of a?baby is a full time job, so having the freedom to squeeze in a workout at any available time of day right in?the comfort and privacy of your living room is both convenient and easy.

Before you begin an exercise routine, be sure that you listen to your body signals so you don?t overwork?it. Right after you give birth, your body needs some time to adjust and recover from pregnancy and being?in labor. Your immediate goal should be to incorporate healthy habits into your lifestyle, rather than trying?to reach a certain goal on the scale. Even though many celebrities are able to shed the baby weight at?an incredibly fast rate doesn?t mean that this is ideal, so don?t worry about trying to match their standards.?Gradually you?ll be able to increase the duration and intensity of your workouts as you get stronger and?fitter, and the results will start to show in a healthy way.

For most women, light exercise can be incorporated into your post-pregnancy lifestyle within several?weeks of getting birth, and usually after six weeks or more for C-section births. Always consult with?your doctor and discuss your plans for exercise and weight loss after giving birth. Your doctor answered?all of your questions concerning labor and delivery and provided advice on options like cord blood and?immunizations, and your doctor can do the same for you concerning your lifestyle habits and different diet?and exercise options. Once you?ve gotten your doctor?s approval, it?s time to burn some calories!

MOVE AROUND

To start out, try moving more during your day by walking and doing light activities around the house, like?cooking, cleaning, and gardening. Taking walks around the neighborhood while pushing your baby in its?stroller is a nice way to spend time together while getting some good exercise. Eventually you can also?switch to a running or jogging routine several times a week. Wear a pedometer so you can keep track?of your steps each day. This will help motivate you to move more, and it helps you to see the progress?you?re making ?throughout the day. Set a reasonable daily goal, and try to meet it, or even surpass it if
you have extra energy.

SWIM

If you have a pool, try swimming laps or treading water to burn calories. Swimming and water aerobics?are great calorie burners because you have to engage so many different muscle groups to keep yourself?afloat and move through the water. You?ll work your core, legs, glutes, and arms, and it doesn?t take?much time to get a good calorie burn. Visit a local community center with a pool if you don?t have your?own.

AT HOME EXERCISES

At home, you can turn your living room into a mini home gym. Roll out a mat and do sets of push-ups,?crunches, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, punches, kicks, leg lifts, and some stretching. Try lifting light?weights or using a resistance band to add toning and sculpting moves to your workout, which will burn?calories and build muscle to help you burn more fat all day long. Yoga and Pilates are other great ways to?firm your body and lengthen your muscles, increasing flexibility and giving you a long, lean look. You can?either create your own routine, or follow along with a workout DVD. Some are even designed especially?for new mothers!

Overall, try to keep your workouts fun so that you?ll stay motivated. Listen to fun, upbeat music while you?exercise, or try a dance-based routine like Zumba or belly-dancing (great for toning up your midsection!).?Don?t worry if you don?t have time to do a long workout every day. Even making small changes, like going?up and down the stairs more often during the day, will help you to burn extra calories. Take advantage?of your baby?s naptime to squeeze in some exercise, and before you know it, the pounds will start to?melt away.

As long as you stay committed, you?ll get back to your pre-pregnancy weight again and you?ll?increase your levels of fitness and energy along the way; making you a happier, healthier mom! :)

This article was written by Katie Moore. Katie is an active writer within the blogging community who?discusses maternity, motherhood, prenatal health, childbirth and other topics within this niche. If you?have any questions or would like to connect with Katie please contact by visiting her blog, Moore From?Katie or her twitter @moorekm26.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Google Confirms Jelly Bean Platform By Adding Delicious Statue to Campus Lawn

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Condors threatened by 'epidemic' lead poisoning from hunters' bullets

A review of more than 1,154 blood samples taken from wild California?condors?and tested from 1997 to 2010 found that 48 percent of the birds had?lead?levels so high, they could have died without treatment.

By Paul Rogers,?San Jose Mercury News (MCT) / June 26, 2012

A two-year old male California condor soars in the Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary, in April, 2001, near Big Sur, Calif.

Ben Margot/AP/File

Enlarge

California?condors, one of the world?s most endangered species, are poisoned by?lead?from hunters? bullets ?at epidemic levels,? and will not recover unless more is done to prevent it, a study released Monday concluded.

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A review of more than 1,154 blood samples taken from wild California?condors?and tested from 1997 to 2010 found that 48 percent of the birds had?lead?levels so high, they could have died without treatment.

So far, a ban on?lead?bullets in the birds? habitat appears to have had little effect, the study found.

?Lead?poisoning is preventing the recovery of California?condors,? said Myra Finkelstein, a research toxicologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was a?lead?author of the study. ?The population is not self-sustaining.?

Condors?? the birds with the largest wingspan in North America ? are scavengers. They eat dead deer, pigs and other animals, often that hunters have shot. They ingest bullet fragments and are poisoned.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law in 2007 to ban hunting with?lead?bullets, slugs or buckshot in the?condors? range, which extends from Los Angeles to San Jose, where the birds have been seen atop Mount Hamilton. But it hasn?t worked. Birds analyzed before the law took effect had blood levels the same as birds analyzed afterward.

The reason, said Finkelstein, is that a?condor?eat 75 to 150 dead animals a year.

?If just one has a?lead?bullet fragment, that can be enough to kill the bird,? she said.

Condors?once ranged from British Columbia to Mexico. But because of habitat loss, hunting and?lead?poisoning, the population dwindled to just 22 nationwide by 1982.

Federal biologists captured all remaining wild?condors?in 1987 and began breeding them in zoos. The birds? offspring have been gradually released back to the wild.

Today the California?condor?population has grown to 386. Of those, 213 live in the wild at Big Sur, Pinnacles National Monument in San Benito County, Southern California, Arizona, Utah and Mexico. The other 173condors?live in captivity, at places such as the Los Angeles Zoo.

Although the population growth has been impressive, it is deceptive because it is highly dependent upon human intervention, the researchers said in Monday?s study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Every free-flying?condor?has a radio or GPS collar to track it. Nearly all of them are captured twice a year and tested for?lead. A few chicks have been born in the wild, but biologists still put out out food, such as stillborn calves, for the birds to eat so their population can have a chance to grow.

Monday?s study, which also looked at?lead?levels in?condor?feathers, confirmed that?lead?in the birds is coming from bullets, rather than other sources such as old paint chips, by matching isotope levels of?lead?in bullets tolead?in the?condors.

Researchers were surprised, Finkelstein said, by the extensive poisoning.

For example, 30 percent of all?condors?captured every year have?lead?levels that, while not potentially fatal, can block reproduction and cause immune system problems.

And 20 percent of the birds captured every year have levels that could kill them if not treated with chelation, a process where?condors?are fed calcium-based drugs that bind to the?lead?and help them pass it naturally. But the process also strips nutrients, and can cause the birds to be hospitalized a month or more.

In California, the state Department of Fish and Game and some hunting and environmental groups have worked to promote the?lead?ban in?condor?habitat. Some surveys show high compliance rates. But there is little enforcement, and ranchers or hunters can still use?lead?bullets and shot, which are cheaper and more readily available than other types of ammunition, such as copper, with little risk of getting caught.

Tthe Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group based in Tucson, Ariz., and six other conservation groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this month to force the agency to institute controls or bans on?lead?ammunition.

?We?ve removed toxic?lead?from gasoline, paint and most products exposing humans to?lead?poisoning, now it?s time to do the same for hunting ammunition to protect America?s wildlife,? said Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Supreme Court Narrows Arizona Immigration Law - The BLT: The ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected key provisions in Arizona's tough anti-immigration law, but let stand controversial police checks of immigration status.

In Arizona v. U.S., a divided Court, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, held that three of four provisions in the law challenged by the Obama Administration were preempted?or blocked?by federal immigration law. Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the case.

Kennedy said the following three provisions were preempted because they either conflicted with federal law or because Congress has "occupied the field" with federal regulation and "even complementary state regulation" is impermissible:

Section 3 of what has become known as S.B. 1070 created a new state misdemeanor: willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration document.

Section 5(C) also created a misdemeanor penalty for an illegal alien to apply for, solicit or perform work as an employee or independent contractor.

Section 6 authorized a state officer to make a warrantless arrest if the officer has probable cause to believe the person had committed a removable offense.

The majority held that Section 2(B) was not preempted?at least not until there has been experience with its application. Under that section, state officers are to make a "reasonable attempt" to determine the immigration status of any person they stop, detain or arrest on some other legitimate basis if reasonable suspicion exists that the person is unlawfully in the country. Anyone who is arrested also must have his or her immigration status determined before being released.

"There is a basic uncertainty about what the law means and how it will be enforced," wrote Kennedy. "At this stage, without the benefit of a definitive interpretation from the state courts, it would be inappropriate to assume Section 2(B) will be construed in a way that creates a conflict with federal law."

After Kennedy summarized the decision from the bench this morning, Justice Antonin Scalia delivered a lengthy summary of his dissent in which he used as evidence of the majority's error the Obama Administration's recent decision to allow the children of illegal aliens to remain temporarily in this country.

"The President said at a news conference that the new program is `the right thing to do' in light of Congress' failure to pass the Administration's proposed revision of the Immigration act," wrote Scalia. "Perhaps it is, though Arizona may not think so. But, to say, as the Court does, that Arizona contradicts federal law by enforcing applications of the immigration Act that the President declines to enforce boggles the mind."

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Dragon ball: Your story

Dragon ball: Your story

When Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr are adults a group of pure blood saiyans arrive this is their story

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Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Dragon ball: Your story?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.


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Spain's banks, government co-dependent on debt

FILE-In this June 16, 2012, file photo, a demonstrator holds a life saver in front of the headquarters of Bankia bank during a protest against the Spanish bank in Madrid, Spain. Europe's finance ministers meeting Thursday will try to find common ground on whether to soften Greece's austerity terms, possibly clear a bank bailout request from Spain and discuss new ways to boost confidence in the 17-country eurozone. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

FILE-In this June 16, 2012, file photo, a demonstrator holds a life saver in front of the headquarters of Bankia bank during a protest against the Spanish bank in Madrid, Spain. Europe's finance ministers meeting Thursday will try to find common ground on whether to soften Greece's austerity terms, possibly clear a bank bailout request from Spain and discuss new ways to boost confidence in the 17-country eurozone. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

(AP) ? The Spanish government and Spanish banks are perilously co-dependent.

The financial strength of one hinges on the other, and right now both are struggling for survival.

The Spanish economy, the fourth-largest among the 17 countries that use the euro, is suffering from the aftershocks of a real estate bust that has devastated banks and families. Unemployment is nearly 25 percent and the economy is forecast to shrink 1.7 percent in 2012.

At the request of the Spanish government, euro countries offered up to ?100 billion ($125 billion) in rescue loans for Spanish banks on June 9.

Spain made the formal petition for the aid on Monday, but the terms of the loans ? including the size and interest rates ? have yet to be agreed. They are expected to be made public by July 9 and will likely be discussed at a key European leaders' summit that starts Thursday in Brussels.

The intentions of the bailout are good but the bank bailout has only made investors more nervous about the country's financial condition.

Although Spanish banks will agree to pay back the loans with interest, it is the Spanish government that is on the hook if they cannot. In effect, the bank loans will be treated as government debt. And as the country's debt load rises, so does the interest rate it pays to borrow money, a sign that the pool of investors hungry for Spanish bonds is shrinking.

One group of investors that isn't shying away from Spanish government bonds is Spain's banks. The amount of Spanish government debt owned by Spanish banks ? yes, the same banks that are about to receive billions in emergency loans ? is rising fast.

"It is as if the government were buying its own debt," says Alejandro Varela of Renta4, a Madrid-based brokerage. "It is like a dog chasing its own tail."

With Spain's economy enduring its second recession in just three years, analysts say the odds are rising that the government will need a bailout of its own. The yield on the country's 10-year bonds surpassed 7 percent last week, the level that pushed Ireland, Portugal and Greece to the breaking point, although it now has fallen back to a still alarming 6.5 percent or so.

Here are some questions and answers about the tight relationship between the Spanish government and its troubled banks:

HOW DEPENDENT IS THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT ON SPANISH BANKS?

Two-thirds of Spain's government bonds are owned by the country's banks, pension funds and insurance companies. That's up from 50 percent at the end of last year. By comparison, only 38 percent of French government bonds are held by domestic banks and other financial firms.

In Spain the sharp increase in such a short period signals that foreign demand is falling fast as the country's economic outlook worsens.

Spain has issued ?50 billion in bonds since the start of the year. It plans to issue another ?36 billion by the end of 2012, bringing its total debt to ?608 billion. The economy ministry notes that demand has been strong at recent bond auctions. However, the Treasury has been careful to issue debt in small increments ? about ?2 billion at each auction. And it knows the takers will include those trusty Spanish banks.

WHY ARE SPANISH BANKS BUYING SO MUCH GOVERNMENT DEBT?

They are attracted to the high interest rate on Spanish government bonds. The interest rate, or yield, on 10-year Spanish bonds has of late been the highest it has been since the country joined the euro in 1999. It means financial markets consider Spanish bonds to be a risky investment.

The European Central Bank is making Spanish bonds even more attractive for banks. To help ease the continent's financial crisis, the ECB has provided European banks ?1 trillion in three-year loans carrying an interest rate of 1 percent. Spanish banks, which have borrowed tens of billions of euros under the ECB program, can make a tidy profit simply by pocketing the spread between the interest rates on ECB loans and Spanish bonds.

Analysts say there is another reason Spanish banks keep buying their government's debt: survival. If Spanish banks were to stop buying Spain's bonds at a time when foreign money is fleeing, the government's borrowing costs would rise even higher and so would the threat of default ? on the very bonds held by the banks.

"If something does go wrong, it is Spanish banks that will be hardest hit by that," says Jennifer McKeown of Capital Economics in London.

HOW DOES THE BAILOUT OF SPANISH BANKS ALTER THE EQUATION?

The eurozone's $125 billion package of rescue loans for Spain's troubled banks is supposed to help them deal with huge losses on real estate investments and promote economic growth by making it easier for them to lend money to companies and individuals.

But the rescue package hasn't eased jitters about the country's financial system ? it's worsened them.

Bond investors have reacted to the deal by driving the (country's) government's borrowing rates higher. That increases the likelihood that the government itself will need help from the rest of Europe to get out from under its rising debt burden.

Spain's debt as a proportion of its annual economic output was forecast to be 80 percent this year before the bank bailout existed. With the bank bailout included, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio rises to 90 percent or more, according to some private analysts. When a country's debt burden exceeds 90 percent, it's generally considered bad for an economy's health.

Spain's total debt includes bonds issued by the central, regional and local governments, plus other liabilities, such as unpaid bills to state suppliers.

Spanish banks have also been hurt by the bailout. As the interest rate on government bonds rises, the value of the bonds already owned by banks falls.

HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT DEBT DO INDIVIDUAL BANKS OWN?

Banco Santander, the largest bank by market capitalization in the euro region, holds about ?35 billion in Spanish debt, or about 3 percent of its total assets. It is considered a relatively healthy bank that will not need to tap the $125 billion emergency loan package.

Bankia, SA, which crumbled under the weight of bad real estate loans and was recently nationalized, holds almost ?17 billion in state debt, or 5.5 percent of its total assets. It is one of several big banks that will need billions in rescue loans. CatalunyaCaixa, another bank that needs rescue loans, owns ?3.9 billion in Spanish bonds, or 5 percent of its total assets.

WHAT IS THE LIKELY OUTCOME FOR SPAIN?

The tight link between the Spanish government and its banks is sustainable, but just barely, says Varela of Renta4. The interest rates on Spanish government bonds are high but manageable ? for a short while longer, he says.

Spain's bond yields were even higher before it joined the euro, but back then the economy was growing and tax revenue was increasing. Today Spain's economy is lifeless.

But the government must keep selling bonds. It needs money to finance its budget deficit and repay maturing debt.

If confidence were to drop sharply, and borrowing costs went to 8 or 9 percent, then the appetite for Spanish bonds could evaporate, even among its loyal banks.

"At some point, if people stop financing you, you default," Varela says.

But Varela is betting on a different outcome. Because of Spain's size ? it is the fourth-largest economy in the euro zone ? he believes the ECB will eventually step in to buy Spanish bonds and break the co-dependency of banks and the government.

Associated Press

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