Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy settled in Canada: reports

A 14-year-old Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy has fled to Canada with her family, according to reports.

Rimsha Masih, a Christian, was charged last year with burning pages of the Qur'an.

The case against her was dismissed in November after it sparked international outrage -- she could have faced execution under Pakistan's blasphemy law despite her young age and reported mental problems.

A cleric was detained in September in her case on suspicion of planting evidence to fan resentment against Christians.

Despite the dropped charges, the girl and her family were reportedly forced into hiding after receiving death threats.

Rimsha has settled in Canada with her family, the BBC reports.

"They feel free," a Christian activist told the broadcaster. He said that Rimsha was learning to speak English and enjoying school.

?

Source: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2013/06/29/20939651.html?cid=rssnews

Tim Samaras speech jammer Jean Stapleton Matt Smith Summer Jam 2013 the killing grant hill

Inter-county communications - The RadioReference.com Forums

I remember when I was monitoring in Missouri 25 years ago, that when counties needed to communicate with each other, they would use the point-to-point frequency of 155.370. I think that here in Arkansas they used 37.240, correct?

Anyway, obviously they still communicate with each other, but not via radio. Are they using teletype? Email? How do counties communicate information with each other?

Source: http://forums.radioreference.com/arkansas-radio-discussion-forum/269552-inter-county-communications.html

Richard Engel Daniel Inouye steelers scarlett johansson peter frampton Sandy Hook Elementary School Colors Victoria Soto

Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack dies at 91

ROME (AP) ? Margherita Hack, an astrophysicist who explained her research on the stars in plain language for the public and who championed civil rights in her native Italy, died on Saturday in the Adriatic Sea town of Trieste, where she had headed an astronomical observatory. She was 91.

President Giorgio Napolitano's condolence message hailed her as a "high-level personality in the world of scientific culture."

"At the same time, she represented a strong example of civil passion, leaving a noble fingerprint in public debate and in the dialogue with citizens," Napolitano said.

The Italian news agency ANSA quoted family friend Marinella Chirico as saying Hack died in a hospital after being treated for heart problems.

Hack headed the observatory in Trieste, the first woman to hold that post, from 1964 to 1987, and was a popular and frequent commentator in Italian media about discoveries in astronomy and physics.

The current director of the observatory, Stefano Borgani, told Sky TG24 TV that Hack was one of the first astronomers to "have the intuition" that the future of astronomical observation lay in using space satellites.

An atheist who decried Vatican influence on Italian politicians, Hack helped fight a successful battle to legalize abortion in Italy. She unsuccessfully lobbied for the right to euthanasia and also championed gay rights. Among her victories was a campaign against construction of nuclear reactors in Italy.

A vegetarian since childhood, she also was an advocate for animal protection and lived with eight cats and a dog.

Hack, an optimist with a cheerful disposition, studied the heavens in the firm belief there was no after-life.

"I have no fear of death," Hack once said in a TV interview. "While we are here, death isn't" with us.

"When there is death, I won't be here," she said.

Among the many Twitter comments about her passing was one from an admirer who wrote that Hack was "so great and nice that God will pretend not to exist so as not to upset her," the Italian news agency LaPresse noted.

She liked to joke that the "first and last" time she was in a church was for her marriage to fellow native Florentine Aldo De Rosa, in 1944. She agreed to a church ceremony only because the groom's parents were very religious. Hack dressed simply in life, including for her own wedding, when she wore an overcoat-turned-inside out for a bridal gown. She and her widower, 93, had no children.

Hack enrolled at the University of Florence as a student of literature, but after one class, switched to physics. By the early 1950s, she was an astronomer at the Tuscan city's astronomical observatory.

She was also an athlete, excelling in track. Specializing in the long jump and high jump from 1939 to 1943, she won national university championships and placed high in national championships.

Hack was active in left-wing politics, including most recently supporting the governor of southern Puglia, Nichi Vendola, one of Italy's few openly gay politicians.

"With Margherita Hack's passing, we lose an authoritative voice in favor of civil rights and equality," said Fabrizio Marrazzo, a spokesman for a gay advocacy group, Gay Center. "More than once, Hack came out in favor of gay rights, civil unions and the dignity of gay families."

Italy's foreign minister, Emma Bonino, who as a leader of the tiny Radical Party helped wage battles to legalize divorce and abortion in Italy, said Hack was "an extraordinary figure."

"With her vanishes not only a great scientist but a free spirit, deeply intellectually honest," ANSA quoted Bonino as saying.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-astrophysicist-margherita-hack-dies-91-144510808.html

dark knight trailer delmon young dallas mavericks washington capitals amare stoudemire tallest building in the world the pitch

Riders start on Corsica for 100th Tour de France

Britain's sprinter Mark Cavendish, second right, rides in the pack along the coast line of the Mediterranean Sea during the first stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France cycling race over 213 kilometers (133 miles) with start in Porto Vecchio and finish in Bastia, Corsica island, France, Saturday June 29, 2013.(AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Britain's sprinter Mark Cavendish, second right, rides in the pack along the coast line of the Mediterranean Sea during the first stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France cycling race over 213 kilometers (133 miles) with start in Porto Vecchio and finish in Bastia, Corsica island, France, Saturday June 29, 2013.(AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

The pack passes a flag featuring a Moor's head, the Corsican emblem, during the first stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France cycling race over 213 kilometers (133 miles) with start in Porto Vecchio and finish in Bastia, Corsica island, France, Saturday June 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Ryder Hesjedal of Canada gives a thumbs up as he waits to take the start of the first stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France cycling race over 213 kilometers (133 miles) with start in Porto Vecchio and finish in Bastia, Corsica island, France, Saturday June 29, 2013.(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PORTO VECCHIO, Corsica (AP) ? Riders set out Saturday on stage one of the 100th Tour de France with British sprinter Mark Cavendish among the favorites to take the first yellow jersey and race favorite Chris Froome overcoming an early technical problem.

Starting from the harbor town of Porto Vecchio, the flat 132-mile stage first took riders inland before snaking along the Corsican coast to finish in Bastia.

The race has usually started with a short prologue stage where riders raced against the clock. But in a break with tradition, this year's opener favors sprinters like Cavendish and rival Peter Sagan of Slovakia.

With defending champion Bradley Wiggins not competing, Froome of Britain and Spaniard Alberto Contador start as the main favorites for the three-week, 2,115-mile race.

Froome, the most highly regarded climber in the Tour, stopped to get a new rear wheel after a mechanical incident about five kilometers (3 miles) into the race. He then stopped for a second time to get a new bike shortly after before his Sky teammates helped him rejoin the main pack.

It is the first Tour since disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven straight Tour titles from 1999 to 2005 for doping.

Armstrong still managed to hog the headlines on the eve of the race, though, infuriating riders both past and present by talking at length in a newspaper interview about doping in the sport and sparking a media frenzy that organizers could have done without as they desperately try to turn the page on doping and restore credibility and trust.

In answering questions from Le Monde, a newspaper he scorned when he was still competing, Armstrong said it was impossible to win the Tour during his era without doping, echoing what he already told U.S. television talk show host Oprah Winfrey in January when he finally confessed to years of drug cheating after denying it for so long.

Before the stage started, French Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron met with a delegation of riders unhappy about pre-race media reports that they thought focused too heavily on doping stories.

Earlier this week, French media reported that a Senate investigation into the effectiveness of doping controls pieced together evidence that a urine sample provided by long-beloved French rider Laurent Jalabert contained EPO, cycling's designer drug, at the Tour of 1998.

Meanwhile, two-time champion Contador returns to the race following a doping ban that saw him stripped of his 2010 title. He has always denied doping.

It is the first time since 1966 that the first stage has been tailor-made for sprinters, with the prologue introduced to the race in '67.

With Wiggins pulling out about a month before the race because of a knee injury, Froome is the odds-on favorite to become the second Briton to win the showcase race.

The 28-year-old has had a great run-up to the Tour, winning four of five races he started.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-29-CYC-Tour-de-France/id-d426b86d390d4483a1eca6187a83531d

Olga Korbut Usain Bolt 2012 Olympics Katie Ledecky Aaron Ross Sikh temple Nastia Liukin Gabby Douglas hair

Bonus Quote of the Day (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315672759?client_source=feed&format=rss

Reeva Steenkamp rubio Affenpinscher Dorner Banana Joe state of the union fat tuesday

Kat Von D and Deadmau5 reveal split over Twitter

Celebs

Ashley Majeski TODAY contributor

11 hours ago

Albert L. Ortega / Getty Images file

After their split, Kat Von D and Deadmau5 both took to their social media accounts to tell their sides of the story.

Kat Von D and Deadmau5's engagement started over Twitter, so it's only appropriate that they would discuss their break up on the social network site.

The couple, who have been engaged since December when the DJ sent a proposal to Von D via Twitter, have called it quits over allegations that he cheated.

Von D posted a cryptic tweet on Wednesday, and later followed it up with a second tweet that gave her more than 1 million Twitter followers a bit more detail on her current situation.

For his part, Deadmau5 (real name Joel Zimmerman) is denying he ever cheated, offering his Facebook fans and Twitter followers his own version of what went down:

At the end of June, it was clear that the relationship was not working and we mutually ended the engagement. I was not, at any point, unfaithful to Kat during our time together.

In the Facebook post, Deadmau5 admits that he did have "relations" with another woman before he proposed to Von D, but claims that it happened while he and the former reality personality were broken up.

Von D certainly hasn't been lucky in love. This is the third failed engagement for the tattoo artist in two years. She was previously engaged -- twice! -- to motorcycle builder and reality star Jesse James. Before that, she was married to fellow tattoo artist Oliver Peck from 2004 to 2007.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/kat-von-d-deadmau5-reveal-split-over-twitter-6C10472870

nate mcmillan clooney arrested southern miss rod blagojevich rod blagojevich uconn vcu

Huhne, hubris and home improvement: the failure of the 'green deal'

All politicians want some kind of legacy. They seek a footnote in the annuls, just to prove that all those compromises and disappointments were not in vain. Chris Huhne?s legacy is that his name is synonymous with the criminal act of passing off your speeding points to someone else. It?s a legacy of a sort.

Huhne wanted his legacy to be, not an entry into the dictionary of urban slang, but as a great reforming energy secretary. At the heart of his programme was the ?green deal?, a scheme to insulate homes and businesses, thus cutting their heating bills and more importantly, their carbon emissions. It was broadly similar to a scheme Labour had been piloting, and to one which appeared in Labour?s 2010 manifesto as ?Pay as You Save?.

Here?s what Chris Huhne told the Liberal Democrat conference in 2010, in the first flush of coalition amour:

?The Green Deal will be a revolution. The first scheme of its kind in the developed world. The most ambitious energy-saving plan ever put forward. A once-and-for-all refit that will make every home in Britain ready for a low-carbon future. No more half-measures going off at half-cock.?

Most ambitious ever. Every home. No more half-measures. When the Greeks invented hyperbole, they meant it to be used for emphasis, not literally. Huhne was not being hyperbolic; he meant it. His audience of Liberal Democrat activists clapped like seals as the man most them had voted for in the leadership contest declared the End of Global Warming

A few weeks later he told an audience at the London School of Economics: ?Over the next two years we expect to insulate 3.5 million homes?. He went on: ?The number of people employed in insulation alone could soar from 27,000 to 100,000 by 2015. That could eventually rise to a peak of 250,000.?

It couldn?t be clearer: 3.5 million homes insulated by 2012, and 100,000 jobs by 2015. And lest you think this was merely Chris Huhne?s vaunting ambition and loose grip of reality getting the better of him, the rhetorical baton was picked up by his fellow ministers. Energy Minister Greg Barker has declared the Green Deal will be ?transformational?. In March this year, Barker told BBC Radio 4: ?I wouldn?t be sleeping if we didn?t have 10,000 at the end of the year.?

Yesterday, we had the first proper analysis of how the Green Deal is doing. I?ve sat in a few meetings where ministers are given bad news by their officials. I imagine the conversation went something like this:

Official: ????????? ?Minister, there?s good news and there?s bad news on the Green Deal. The good news is that people are taking up our offer of finance schemes to insulate their homes. The Green Deal is up and running. Congratulations, Minister.?

Minister: ??????? ?And the bad news??

Official: ????????? ?ah yes, the bad news is that he haven?t quite hit our targets. Still, it?s early days. Rome wasn?t built in a day. Nil desperandum.?

Minister: ??????? ?How many??

Official: ????????? ?Four?

Minister: ??????? ?Just four? That?s terrible. I promised millions. Four thousand is a dreadful start.?

Official: ????????? ?not 4,000, minister, just four. We have their names and addresses here on this post-it note.?

Four households have had insulation under the Green Deal. Not one single household has fully completed work under the Green Deal. Most of the money allocated ? ?250,000 out of a potential pot of millions ? has been for boiler upgrades, mostly for people who could have afforded it anyway.

Greg Barker told the Guardian that ?Eight million solid wall homes have had no affordable solution to insulate. The green deal will change that.? How many solid walls have had insulation under the Green Deal? One. Strictly speaking, going from zero to one does count as ?change?, but it?s not quite eight million.

It?s a catastrophic cock-up on a grand scale. A failure of Titanic proportions. It is the R101 of public policy. It also suggests that even ministers, their advisers and officials have failed to take up the Green Deal. Making Lib Dem MPs do it would have boosted the numbers. Even they consider it a waste of time.

It may look like farce, but the tragedy is that it needn?t have been like this. Labour?s front-bench energy team have consistently and loudly warned that the policy was badly-conceived and likely to fail. At Labour?s 2011 conference, shadow energy secretary Meg Hillier warned of a ?green deal that promises the earth, but few have even heard of.? Her successor as shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint has consistently warned that the scheme would fail. Shadow energy minister Luciana Berger has harried ministers over the details of the scheme: the failure to secure business backers, the high interest rates on repayments, and the failure to adequately restrict con artists and cowboys.

So three years on from Huhne?s ridiculous speeches about the ?step change? in home insulation, we are left with fewer homes and businesses than ever with adequate insulation, no new job opportunities and Britain even further away from meetings its international obligations on climate change.

A serious piece of work needs to be done on what went wrong, perhaps by the Institute for Government, or some such independent body. It?s a case study in public policy failure. But the real job now is for Labour to outline an alternative programme. We will inherit a mess, but we will need to clear it up quick. A new, fair, affordable finance regime, less reliance on private suppliers, more use of local authorities, a bigger marketing budget: whatever the answers are, we need to articulate them quickly. Shadenfreude doesn?t win any votes; a practical scheme to insulate peoples? homes and save them cash, delivered without any Huhne-esque hubris, will.

Source: http://labourlist.org/2013/06/huhne-hubris-and-home-improvement-the-failure-of-the-green-deal/

jay leno Brian Banks amber alert LucasArts Finding Dory Chaz Ebert Mike Rice

New brain imaging study provides support for the notion of food addiction

June 26, 2013 ? Consuming highly processed carbohydrates can cause excess hunger and stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, according to a Boston Children's Hospital research team led by David Ludwig, MD, PhD director, New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center. These findings suggest that limiting these "high-glycemic index" foods could help obese individuals avoid overeating.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on June 26, 2013, investigates how food intake is regulated by dopamine-containing pleasure centers of the brain.

"Beyond reward and craving, this part of the brain is also linked to substance abuse and dependence, which raises the question as to whether certain foods might be addictive," says Ludwig.

To examine the link, researchers measured blood glucose levels and hunger, while also using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to observe brain activity during the crucial four-hour period after a meal, which influences eating behavior at the next meal. Evaluating patients in this time frame is one novel aspect of this study, whereas previous studies have evaluated patients with an MRI soon after eating.

Twelve overweight or obese men consumed test meals designed as milkshakes with the same calories, taste and sweetness. The two milkshakes were essentially the same; the only difference was that one contained rapidly digesting (high-glycemic index) carbohydrates and the other slowly digesting (low-glycemic index) carbohydrates.

After participants consumed the high-glycemic index milkshake, they experienced an initial surge in blood sugar levels, followed by sharp crash four hours later.

This decrease in blood glucose was associated with excessive hunger and intense activation of the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain region involved in addictive behaviors.

Prior studies of food addiction have compared patient reactions to drastically different types of foods, such as high-calorie cheesecake versus boiled vegetables.

Another novel aspect of this study is how a specific dietary factor that is distinct from calories or sweetness, could alter brain function and promote overeating.

"These findings suggest that limiting high-glycemic index carbohydrates like white bread and potatoes could help obese individuals reduce cravings and control the urge to overeat," says Ludwig.

Though the concept of food addiction remains provocative, the findings suggest that more interventional and observational studies be done. Additional research will hopefully inform clinicians about the subjective experience of food addiction, and how we can potentially treat these patients and regulate their weight.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/abl9M9AB9ZE/130626153922.htm

Staten Island Trick or Treat Amy Weber Happy Halloween! Star Wars Episode 7 jfk airport faith hill

S?o Miguel scops owl was wiped out after arrival of humans in the Azores

June 27, 2013 ? On S?o Miguel Island in the Azores, there used to exist a small, nocturnal bird of prey, related to the European scops owl, named Otus frutuosoi, which was very probably driven to extinction with the arrival of the first settlers in the 15th century. An international study, in which Spanish researchers participated, has for the first time identified fossils of this species endemic to the island.

On 28 August 2011 researchers Juan Carlos Rando, from the University of La Laguna (Tenerife), and Josep Antoni Alcover from the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca unearthed some small fossil bones buried not far below the ground of the ?gua de Pau cave (S?o Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal).

Two years later, an article published by the journal Zootaxa has revealed that the remains found belong to an extinct species of scops owl which has been given the name Otus frutuosoi in honour of the 16th-century Azorean historian Gaspar Frutuoso.

Carbon dating the fossils indicates that they are from 1,970 years ago. The hypothesis entertained by the researchers is that the arrival of human beings to the archipelago in the 15th century changed its ecosystem and caused the extinction of the species.

"Humans have a history of changing island ecosystems. When humans arrived on the island mice started to appear and laurisilva -- a type of humid forest -- was destroyed. This surely played a large part in the extinction of the S?o Miguel scops owl," Alcover explains.

Scops owls are nocturnal birds of prey, and this new species in particular is phylogenetically related to the Otus scops, or European scops owl, which with a length of 20 cm is the smallest nocturnal bird of prey on the Iberian Peninsular.

It is calculated that the wing surface of the Otus frutuosoi measured a maximum of 114 cm2, at least 33% less than the European scops owl, and although its legs were 11.6% longer, "the appearance of its body was more squat," according to the experts.

"The body of the extinct scops owl of the Azores was shorter and wider than that of its modern-day European relatives. Its beak was short and small, similar to that of the nightjar. Having long legs and very short wings, it must have been a very poor flyer and thus more of a land-dwelling bird," the scientist points out.

The second extinct scops owl on North Atlantic islands

A year ago, the same team of scientists documented another extinct bird of the same genus, although bigger, in Madeira: the Otus mauli.

Due to its anatomical features, the scientists believe that the Otus frutuosoi was an insectivore and must have lived on the ground of the laurisilva, where it would have found food and protection.

Otus frutuosoi remains have only been found on S?o Miguel Island in the Azores, therefore it is considered endemic to the island, although the authors do not discount the possibility of finding more fossils of the same species or other similar ones in various parts of the archipelago.

"The discovery of endemic scops owls in Azores and Madeira indicates that on occasions atmospheric conditions have occurred that have dragged these birds with them. Some reached safe land, where they survived and developed in isolated conditions, and new species formed," concludes Alcover.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/phbEXUJ2L_8/130627083044.htm

Hollister old navy walmart black friday walmart black friday Target Black Friday PacSun apple store

Al-Qaida said to be changing its ways after leaks

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. listens to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, by National Security Agency (NSA) Gen. Keith B. Alexander during the committee's hearing regarding NSA surveillance. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. listens to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, by National Security Agency (NSA) Gen. Keith B. Alexander during the committee's hearing regarding NSA surveillance. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. intelligence agencies are scrambling to salvage their surveillance of al-Qaida and other terrorists who are working frantically to change how they communicate after a National Security Agency contractor leaked details of two NSA spying programs. It's an electronic game of cat-and-mouse that could have deadly consequences if a plot is missed or a terrorist operative manages to drop out of sight.

Two U.S. intelligence officials say members of virtually every terrorist group, including core al-Qaida, are attempting to change how they communicate, based on what they are reading in the media, to hide from U.S. surveillance ? the first time intelligence officials have described which groups are reacting to the leaks. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak about the intelligence matters publicly.

The officials wouldn't go into details on how they know this, whether it's terrorists switching email accounts or cellphone providers or adopting new encryption techniques, but a lawmaker briefed on the matter said al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoot, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has been among the first to alter how it reaches out to its operatives.

The lawmaker spoke anonymously because he would not discuss the confidential briefing by name.

Shortly after Edward Snowden leaked documents about the secret NSA surveillance programs, chat rooms and websites used by like-minded extremists and would-be recruits advised users how to avoid NSA detection, from telling them not to use their real phone numbers to recommending specific online software programs to keep spies from tracking their computers' physical locations.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said there are "changes we can already see being made by the folks who wish to do us harm, and our allies harm."

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Tuesday that Snowden "has basically alerted people who are enemies of this country ... (like) al-Qaida, about what techniques we have been using to monitor their activities and foil plots, and compromised those efforts, and it's very conceivable that people will die as a result."

At the same time, NSA and other counterterrorist analysts have been focusing their attention on the terrorists, watching their electronic communications and logging all changes, including following which Internet sites the terrorist suspects visit, trying to determine what system they might choose to avoid future detection, according to a former senior intelligence official speaking anonymously as a condition of discussing the intelligence operations.

"It's frustrating. You have to start all over again to track the target," said M.E. "Spike" Bowman, a former intelligence officer and deputy general counsel of the FBI, now a fellow at the University of Virginia's Center for National Security Law. But the NSA will catch up eventually, he predicted, because there are only so many ways a terrorist can communicate. "I have every confidence in their ability to regain access."

Terror groups switching to encrypted communication may slow the NSA, but encryption also flags the communication as something the U.S. agency considers worth listening to, according to a new batch of secret and top-secret NSA documents published last week by The Guardian, a British newspaper. They show that the NSA considers any encrypted communication between a foreigner they are watching and a U.S.-based person as fair game to gather and keep, for as long as it takes to break the code and examine it.

Documents released last week also show measures the NSA takes to gather foreign intelligence overseas, highlighting the possible fallout of the disclosures on more traditional spying. Many foreign diplomats use email systems like Hotmail for their personal correspondence. Two foreign diplomats reached this week who use U.S. email systems that the NSA monitors overseas say they plan no changes, because both diplomats said they already assumed the U.S. was able to read that type of correspondence. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss their methods of communication publicly.

The changing terrorist behavior is part of the fallout of the release of dozens of top-secret documents to the news media by Snowden, 30, a former systems analyst on contract to the NSA.

The Office of the Director for National Intelligence and the NSA declined to comment on the fallout, but the NSA's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, told lawmakers that the leaks have caused "irreversible and significant damage to this nation."

"I believe it will hurt us and our allies," Alexander said.

The leaks revealed that the NSA was scanning the worldwide use of nine U.S.-based Internet service providers, including Google, Yahoo, Skype and YouTube.

"After the leak, jihadists posted Arabic news articles about it ... and recommended fellow jihadists to be very cautious, not to give their real phone number and other such information when registering for a website," said Adam Raisman of the SITE Intelligence Group, a private analysis firm. They also gave out specific advice, recommending jihadists use privacy-protecting email systems like TOR, also called The Onion Router, to hide their computer's IP address, and to use encrypted links to access jihadi forums, Raisman said. While TOR originally was designed to help dissidents communicate in countries where the Internet is censored, it is facing legal difficulties because criminals allegedly have used it as well.

"Criminals are doing well without things like TOR," said Karen Reilly, a spokeswoman for TOR. "If TOR disappeared tomorrow they would still have secure, anonymous access to the Internet. ... Their victims would not."

Other analysts predicted a two-track evolution away from the now-exposed methods of communication: A terrorist who was using Skype to plan an attack might stop using that immediately so as not to expose the imminent operation, said Ben Venzke of the private analysis firm IntelCenter.

But if the jihadi group uses a now-exposed system like YouTube to disseminate information and recruit more followers, they'll make a gradual switch to something else that wasn't revealed by Snowden's leaks ? moving slowly in part because they'll be trying to determine whether new systems they are considering aren't also compromised, and they'll have to reach their followers and signal the change. That will take time.

"Overall, for terrorist organizations and other hostile actors, leaks of this nature serve as a wake-up call to look more closely at how they're operating and improve their security," Venzke said. "If the CIA or the FBI was to learn tomorrow that its communications are being monitored, do you think it would be business as usual or do you think they would implement a series of changes over time?"

The disclosure that intelligence agencies were listening to Osama bin Laden drove him to drop the use of all electronic communications.

"When it leaked that bin Laden was using a Thuraya cellphone, he switched to couriers," said Jane Harman, former member of the House Intelligence Committee and now director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center. "The more they know, the clearer the road map is for them."

It took more than a decade to track bin Laden down to his hiding place in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by following one of those couriers.

___

Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-26-US-NSA-Surveillance-Al-Qaida/id-2a49d23069b04a11919499f59860bde9

Fox News Live Boston lockdown jennifer love hewitt 4/20 boston Cnn Live Logan airport

National Journal's New Communications Director Has 'Boundless ...

This just in from The Atlantic?s Linda Douglass: an internal memo detailing changes on National Journal?s communications team. As most of you know, Douglass is leaving her role but will continue on in a more advisory position. The memo was not from Douglass, but someone who leaked it to us.

Hi all?

I wanted to let you know about a couple of exciting changes on the communications team. First, our uber-Editorial Booker, Emma Angerer, is being promoted to the position of Communications Director for National Journal, effective today.

See the rest of the memo?for what it?s worth, we hear Angerer has quite the fan club inside National Journal?s newsroom.?

Emma joined us nearly three years ago and single-handedly built an extremely successful booking operation?from scratch. Thanks to her sophisticated understanding of our content and knowledge of our talent, writers and editors from both National Journal and The Atlantic now appear regularly on television and radio every week. Emma has a reputation for credibility and great news sense among producers in DC and New York. She has boundless energy, is deeply loyal to our brands and is always brimming with smart ideas?qualities that will make her an excellent communications director for NJ.

And there is more good news: We have found someone great to step into Emma?s old job. Our new Editorial Booker is the 2012-2013 communications Fellow Kori Anderson, who has been working closely with Emma and learning from her for the last year. Kori has done a terrific job during her fellowship, helping the comms team with press releases, media lists, story pitches and producing some of our live TV and radio hits. She has proved herself to be a very quick study and already is doing an impressive job in her new position, booking writers from National Journal and The Atlantic on programs where they can showcase their work. Kori will be working on the 4th floor near Emma.

Emma and Kori will report to Emily Lenzner, the incoming VP of Global Communications, when she joins the company on July 8. Please welcome all of them to their new positions.

Best,

Linda

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/national-journals-new-communications-director-has-boundless-energy_b108706

New Orleans Pelicans chris brown hillary clinton apple stock Pro Bowl 2013 Kick Ass Torrents jamarcus russell

World Bank urged to stop ranking countries on ease of doing business

LONDON (Reuters) - An independent panel set up by the World Bank to look at the validity of one of its highest profile country rankings said on Monday the Bank should stop producing it because it may be misleading.

The Bank's annual "Doing Business" report judges 185 countries on 10 criteria and compiles an index on the ease of doing business, assigning each country a rank. The rankings can carry huge weight with governments.

But a panel initiated by the Bank's new president, Jim Yong Kim, found that the rankings could too easily be affected by small factors and were sometimes not objective.

"The panel believes the Bank should make a clean break with this practice," it said in a report. The panel was headed by South Africa's planning minister Trevor Manuel.

"It is important to remember that the (Doing Business) report is intended to be a pure knowledge project. As such, its role is to inform policy, not to prescribe it or outline a normative position, which the rankings to some extent do," the report added

Singapore topped last year's rankings while Central African Republic was bottom. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year declared a policy objective of raising Russia's ranking to 20th by 2018 from the current 120th place.

According to several sources, China has pushed for modifying the report and getting rid of the ratings system, arguing that the World Bank should not rank its members.

China was ranked number 91 in the most recent report, prompting suspicions that its opposition was motivated by the low ranking.

Instead of a ranking, the panel suggested assigning scores for each of the indicators for each country.

(Reporting by Sujata Rao; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-bank-urged-stop-ranking-countries-ease-doing-113919594.html

greg smith catamount mike dantoni bulls heat goldman sachs brandon carr knicks coach

Socialists ahead in Albanian election count

TIRANA, Albania (AP) ? The Socialists appeared to hold an early lead as counting in Albania's election got under way Monday, a day after a deadly shooting outside a polling station.

Despite the shooting, international election monitors noted overall improvements ? seen as key test for the country's aspirations to forge closer ties with the European Union.

With less than a quarter of Sunday's votes counted, the Central Election Commission said the Socialists' coalition was taking 52 percent of the vote, while the Democrats had 37 percent. The Democrats, who are led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha, won 48 percent of the popular vote in 2009.

In Albania, parliamentary seats are awarded on a party's share of the vote in each of 12 districts. For example, a party which won 50 percent of the vote in a 12-seat district could expect to win six seats. There are 140 seats in parliament.

Turnout was 54 percent of some 3.3 million registered voters, according to CEC estimates. Sunday's election was the eighth since the fall of communism in 1990.

Election observers from the Vienna, Austria-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said an overhaul of voting procedures last year had helped improve the country's election standards, but expressed disappointment at a pre-election dispute over the make-up of the election commission.

"Voting proceeded well, but with technical irregularities, and counting was delayed in many areas," said Roberto Battelli, head of the monitoring mission.

Confident of winning, the Socialist leader Edi Rama said his opponent had a role to play in Albania's future.

"This is the moment in politics when losers should take part in the victory of their country ... Albania should hold its head high after these elections," Rama said.

Full results were not expected until Tuesday, and the Democrats insisted the early returns were misleading.

"When all the ballots are counted we shall be the winners," party official Gerti Bogdani said, calling for a "peaceful, calm and regular" vote-counting process.

Although the election campaign was highly acrimonious, it was generally considered peaceful until Sunday's shooting in the north Albanian city of Lac.

A police spokesman said Gjon Gjoni, 49, died after being shot in an exchange of fire that also wounded Mhill Fufi, 49, a candidate for Berisha's governing Democratic Party, and a relative of Fufi.

The violence drew condemnation from an EU official.

"Violence is simply not acceptable and cannot be tolerated," Ettore Sequi, the EU ambassador to Tirana, told Associated Press television." These elections are a crucial test for the democratic maturity of the country a test for the smooth functioning of the Albanian institutions."

In 2009, three people were killed in politically motivated attacks during the campaign. They Socialists boycotted the parliament for a long time in protest to what it called manipulation from the governing Democrats.

Albania, now a NATO member despite a rocky road to democracy, has been denied EU candidate status twice since 2009 because of criticism that it has not done enough to fight corruption and proceed with democratic reforms that include its ability to hold elections that comply with international and European standards.

Last month, parliament held an extraordinary session to pass the last three laws in a series of 12 key recommendations required by the EU as part of the country's quest for eventual membership.

___

Associated Press writer Nebi Qena in Tirana contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/socialists-ahead-albanian-election-count-160651501.html

Geminid meteor shower right to work Clackamas Town Center 12 12 12 Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction Adrienne Maloof Telemundo

Major Nelson takes Xbox One questions, says banned users will 'absolutely not' lose games

E3 is over, but Microsoft still has a long way to go to answer questions from gamers about its new Xbox One console, particularly when it comes to the effects of DRM. Director of Programming of Xbox Live Larry Hryb aka Major Nelson takes on the most upvoted ones from posters in Reddit's games section in this video interview with Chloe Dykstra. One question that seems to have a clear answer is whether banned users will lose access to any games they've activated, as he stated "Absolutely not, you will always have access to the games you purchased." That goes against a previous response from the Xbox Support twitter account, although that may have been the result of confusion between the Xbox One and Xbox 360 policies. A question with no satisfying response yet however, is what gamers can expect years down the road if Xbox One's authentication servers are shut down. Major Nelson followed up with a response in the comment thread that "I'll get the real answer, I just don't know it yet."

Interestingly, the question he wished more people would have asked is about the "family package" and, we assume game sharing with a single account, after previously bringing up its cloud library as one upside to the new DRM setup. Tracking back to the original debut's focus on the console's HDMI input and TV overlays he mentioned using snap mode to watch TV while gaming, or getting Xbox Live notifications and jumping "instantly" to a game while watching TV. A similar crowdsourced interview was planned with the PlayStation team, but cancelled. Major Nelson says he will address more questions leading up to launch and is planning an ask me anything session later, so keep your (many) inquiries at the ready.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft

Comments

Source: Reddit, YouTube

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/N9APR7ugTEM/

Prince Harry Vegas Melky Cabrera Mayim Bialik Rich Kids of Instagram felix hernandez julia child Ron Palillo

Heartbreak on his birthday for Mickelson in Open

Phil Mickelson tips his hat to fans as he makes his way up the 18th fairway during the final day of the U.S. Open Sunday, June 16, 2013 at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/The Express-Times, Matt Smith)

Phil Mickelson tips his hat to fans as he makes his way up the 18th fairway during the final day of the U.S. Open Sunday, June 16, 2013 at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/The Express-Times, Matt Smith)

Phil Mickelson reacts after missing a shot on the 18th hole during the fourth round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Phil Mickelson reacts after missing a shot on the 18th hole during the fourth round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Phil Mickelson reacts after a shot on the 18th hole during the fourth round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Phil Mickelson reacts after hitting an eagle in the 10th hole during the fourth round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Sunday, June 16, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) ? This wasn't the way it was supposed to end, not on Phil Mickelson's birthday and not at Merion Golf Club, where history will record with little fanfare outside of England that Justin Rose won his first major championship.

When the rain began falling on the back nine Sunday after Mickelson pitched in for an eagle on the 10th hole to take the lead in the U.S. Open, you half expected a rainbow to appear amid the clouds with a trophy at the end of it and bearing Mickelson's name.

He probably expected it, too, if only because the law of averages would seem to demand it. Five times before he had been runner-up in this tournament and no bookie in Vegas would offer odds of any player finishing second in the national championship six times.

But golf is a cruel game and the Open seems even crueler to Mickelson, though some of the fault lies within. He desperately chased the best birthday present of all, only to kick it away once again in a way only Mickelson seems to lose golf tournaments.

Two bad wedges from one of the greatest short game players ever. One more huge disappointment in a tournament Mickelson seems destined never to win.

If he didn't cry, surely some of his many fans did. This wasn't so much a loss as it was a career encapsulating moment, and though Mickelson handled it with his usual grace that didn't make it any easier to stomach.

He began the week by flying all night to make his tee time just so he could watch his daughter speak at her eighth-grade graduation. He ended it by wondering why at he keeps being tortured by a tournament he loves but doesn't love him back.

"Heartbreak," Mickelson said when asked what he would take from this one, and it was a word he used more than once.

The fans who crowded into old Merion came expecting something special from a century-old golf course where history seems to come alive. So, too, did Mickelson on a day he hoped to remember for far different reasons than it being both his birthday and Father's Day.

Ben Hogan famously won here in 1950 after a near fatal car accident and Bobby Jones capped off his Grand Slam here 20 years before. Who among the thousands lining the fairways and greens didn't expect Mickelson's first Open win to write a new chapter in Merion lore?

It was just 18 holes of golf, but it seemed much more than that. It could have been the story of his career, with Good Phil, Bad Phil, Unlucky Phil and Jubilant Phil all making cameos at some point during the round.

When he pitched in from 75 yards on the 10th hole to retake the lead he leapt in the air with both arms raised high, much like he did in 2004 when he shook off the critics and his own self-doubt to win his first Masters, cradling his daughter on the side of the green and telling her, "Daddy won! Can you believe it?"

This one would have been almost as good, except there would be cake instead of a green jacket. All Mickelson had to do was play even par coming in to win and, though that's a tough order in any Open, he had the easy 121-yard 13th hole that he would almost surely birdie as insurance against any bogeys down the stretch.

But he hit a pitching wedge instead of a gap wedge to the hole, flying the green and leaving himself with a pitch from the rough he had no way of getting close to the hole. He made bogey, then compounded his error on No. 15 by quitting on a gap wedge and leaving it so short he had to chip from the front of the green for another bogey.

This from a guy who had studied Merion so carefully that he carried five wedges in his bag and not one driver.

"Thirteen and 15 were the two bad shots of the day that I'll look back on where I let it go," Mickelson said.

What made it hurt even more was that Merion was Mickelson's kind of course, a place where he could work the ball both ways and use his short game magic to trump the field. He knew it from the time he first played it, and became even more convinced of it the more he studied his notes and course pictures in the days ahead of the Open.

He opened with a 67 on little sleep and had a one-shot lead going into the final round. Everything was going according to plan ? you could almost see the newspaper headlines of "PHIL-a-del-phia" ? but anyone who has ever seen Mickelson play knows that even his best plans sometimes have a way of unraveling with little warning.

"This could have been the big ? a really big turnaround for me on how I look at the U.S. Open and the tournament that I'd like to win after having so many good opportunities," Mickelson said. "Playing very well here and really loving the golf course, this week was my best opportunity I felt, heading in, certainly the final round, the way I was playing and the position I was in."

There was still a chance at the end, though it wasn't a good one. With no driver, Mickelson had to hit his 3-wood on the 511-yard finishing hole immortalized by Hogan's 1-iron and he put it in the left rough with no chance of reaching the green.

The crowd serenaded him with choruses of "Happy Birthday" as he came to the green needing to hole a pitch shot to force a playoff, but there would be no happiness this time.

"This one's probably the toughest for me because, at 43 and coming so close five times, it would have changed the way I look at this tournament altogether and the way I would have looked at my record," Mickelson said.

"Except I just keep feeling heartbreak."

A word he kept repeating. A feeling he knows all too well.

____

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or http://twitter/timdahlberg

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-16-Tim%20Dahlberg/id-4ecfabc2c786410991393bf790dc6e79

French Open 2013 dunkin donuts NBA 2K14 Roland Garros bay news 9 today show George Karl

Fla. sports bar deck collapses, dozens into water

MIAMI (AP) ? A packed outdoor deck behind a popular Miami-area sports bar partially collapsed during the NBA Finals on Thursday night, sending dozens of patrons into the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay.

Miami Dade Fire Chief David Downey said 24 people were transported to area hospitals, and that two people were in serious condition.

Authorities said about 100 people were on the deck of Shucker's Bar & Grill in North Bay Village, north of Miami Beach, when it gave way.

Bar customers and rescuers pulled people from the bay amid a chaotic scene. One witness, Martin Torres, 42, of Los Angeles, said he heard a loud explosion and though a boat had struck the deck. He said he looked out from the restaurant and saw people staring up from the water, and then he and others started helping pull patrons out of the water.

"It was shock," said Torres. "People were yelling. Nobody knew. People came out all wet. They were crying. For a while, nobody knows what was going on."

There was initially some concern that people might have been trapped in the water beneath the crumpled deck. But divers searched the waters as helicopters shined spotlights onto the scene, and Downey said later that crews had completed their search and everyone was accounted for.

"According to witnesses, a lot of people jumped in to help," Downey said. "Those efforts can make a lot of difference sometimes."

The accident occurred around 9:45 p.m. as customers were watching the Miami Heat play the San Antonio Spurs.

WSVN-TV news director Tom Tuckwell told the news station that he had his back to the bay when he heard an enormous roar. When he turned around, he saw people disappeared beneath them.

Heat player Dwayne Wade said after the game, "I'd like to share our concerns as an organization and our gratitude to our fans back in Miami, but share our concerns for all that were injured tonight at Shucker's restaurant."

___

AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski contributed from San Antonio. AP photographer Alan Diaz in Miami and writer Bill Cormier in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fla-sports-bar-deck-collapses-dozens-water-043218319.html

kathy ireland brooke mueller all star weekend undercover boss tupelo honey limp bizkit stations of the cross

Toddler cries at meeting Downey, not Iron Man

Celebs

Randee Dawn NBC News contributor

10 hours ago

Heather Denno / Heather Denno via Splash News

Jaxson Denno, Robert Downey Jr.

Fans can be so demanding! Particularly if they're only 18 months old and haven't quite figured out yet that the hero on the screen is a fictional construct played by an all-too-human actor.

Welcome to Jaxson Denno's world. When the toddler's mom Heather discovered Robert Downey Jr. was filming "The Judge" near their Western Massachusetts hometown, she brought her son to the set and told him he was going to meet Iron Man.

And then he met a guy in jeans and a V-neck short-sleeved shirt -- who had actually shaved.

Denno told Boston.com, "I said to my son, 'Hey, here's Iron Man,' but he didn't have the red suit on so Jaxson put his hands over his face and got upset."

Click! went Mom's camera, and an iconic photo was created.

Still, Downey didn't take it too hard, said Denno. "He was amazing," she said. "You could tell he was a father. He was so sweet and nurturing."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/robert-downey-jr-makes-toddler-cry-not-being-iron-man-6C10321667

dystonia tourettes rosie o donnell soda bread recipe vanderbilt evan mathis staff sgt. robert bales

Inspector of collapsed Philadelphia building commits suicide: reports

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The city building inspector who checked a Philadelphia building before it collapsed last week, killing six people, has died of an apparent suicide, local media reported.

The inspector died of a gunshot wound to the chest on Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, citing law enforcement sources. He was found dead inside his vehicle in a wooded section of Shawmont Avenue in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, the report said.

Police confirmed to Reuters that a suicide had taken place at that location but said they could not confirm the identity of the person who died.

Local affiliates for the ABC, CBS and NBC television networks also reported that the suicide victim was a city inspector who had inspected the building before it collapsed.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced plans to convene a grand jury to investigate the extent of responsibility for last week's building collapse, which killed six people and injured 13 others.

Sean Benschop, who was operating the crane when the Market Street building in Center City fell, is the sole person charged so far in the case. He is being held without bail on charges of involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, causing a catastrophe and risking a catastrophe.

The scope of the grand jury may include a look at the role of city agencies and their policies, Williams said.

The four-story building was being demolished and collapsed onto a Salvation Army Thrift Store next door.

The building had been issued a demolition permit on February 1 and later that month passed a check by the inspector who is now dead, the Inquirer said.

(Reporting by Dave Warner; Editing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/inspector-collapsed-philadelphia-building-commits-suicide-reports-130838493.html

bobby abreu 2012 draft colt mccoy arbor day mike adams janoris jenkins john edwards trial

University of the Body launches crowd funding campaign to ...

LONDON, 10 June 2013: University of the Body, the first product in the world to deliver a year-long gym fitness training programme in HD video, has launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo (http://bit.ly/12JgBrm). The feature length films are compatible with any smart phone and are made to provide gym goers with real-time personal training throughout their entire workout sessions.

University of the Body has been developed by a team of certified fitness trainers, app developers and a professional film crew, who aim to revolutionise the fitness industry. Videos will be delivered directly to subscribers? smart phones and will cover all aspects of a workout, from basic training guidelines to high level performance coaching through weights training, cardio circuits and flexibility programmes. Personal training is proven to significantly enhance performance and results. In fact, 90 per cent of gym members who say they are ?achieving their fitness goals? have a personal trainer. However, just 12 per cent of gym goers can afford a professional training, leaving a major gap in the market.

Peter Rodwell, founder of University of the Body, explains: ?We are making consistently high quality coaching readily available at a fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. Developments in technology and a dramatic uptake of smart devices have created new channels to deliver personal training and while there are plenty of apps available, none has been developed to simulate a personal training session, let alone progressive workouts with a certified coach.?

?Routine is boring. University of the Body will equip gym users with a mixed and creative set of workout videos which they can combine to suit their specific goals each week, and new progressive workouts every month. We want to make the gym fun, safe and rewarding for all.?

University of the Body has been designed for maximum ease of use. Videos are downloaded directly onto a smart device each month. Once at the gym, users only have to press play! They watch a brief demo video before the audio soundtrack coaches them through every rep and set and are even instructed how to set up for their next exercise during their timed recovery.

Every client is also fully supported online with exercise theory videos and live weekly Q&A with trainers.
There is a wide range of rewards on Indiegogo, including early bird prices, limited edition T-shirts and hugely discounted corporate packages. Filming of the programme will take place at exciting international locations including centres of excellence and will feature the likes of Swedish bikini models, Scottish strongmen and German sports scientists.

?Gone are the days of cowboy, steroid freak personal trainers! This programme raises the whole of the industry?s standards,? concludes Peter Rodwell.

STATISTICS AND KEY FEATURES:
? Only 12% of US and UK gym members have a personal trainer
? University of the Body is the first full length fitness coaching programme in the world
? University of the Body will cost 90 per cent less than a regular personal trainer
? Since the explosion in the gym industry fitness related injuries have shot up

A press pack with product images, video and high resolution logos is available here: http://www.universityofthebody.com/#!press/cfpe

Source: http://www.prfire.co.uk/fitness/university-of-the-body-launches-crowd-funding-campaign-to-revolutionize-health-and-fitness-industry-140527?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=university-of-the-body-launches-crowd-funding-campaign-to-revolutionize-health-and-fitness-industry

ufc 145 jones vs evans marian hossa philip humber red sox white sox chuck colson

Health Star of the Week: Ravi Wadhawan's Yoga - Diet Way for ...

').appendTo('#' + img_div); $(this).appendTo('#' + img_div); } }); } catch (error) { Console.log(error.message); } });

?

?

?

39 year old Ravi Wadhawan weighed a quintal for almost ten years, until his best friend dragged him stand in the mirror and look at himself closely. For then on Ravi single-handedly fought food temptations, practiced yoga and kept raising the bar for himself. ?His next goal is to get six pack abs!

?

Name: Ravi Wadhawan

Age: 39 years

Profession: Employed at Jindal Steel and Power Limited

Weight before (Sep-12): ?114 kg ?

Weight after (May-13): 84 kg?
?

When did you realise that you were over weight? Was it a ?Happy realisation? or a medical issue??

For the last ten years my weight swayed between 110 kgs to 120 kgs, so the realisation was always there. ??Losing weight someday? was always in the back of my mind but I always had a lot of other things to think about (that very moment), and so the though always went on the backburner.?

I was always pointed out for my extra kilos by every second person I met and it start affecting my confidence and self esteem very silently and firmly. It was in August 2012 a close friend of mine, Madhu grilled me into understanding that I was an acute hogger and that I need to stop that for my own good. Till that day I always thought I was ate moderately. I was so wrong! This was a game changer for me. No exercise, yoga, running, skipping or anything will work if you are not eating right. In my case instant weight loss might lead to health fallout - illness, muscular pains, and weakness, so I had to go slow and with the right guidance. I started visualising myself without extra kilos and was highly motivated by the changes expected.

?

How did you begin your weight loss? Tell us about the baby steps that you look, like avoiding junk, alcohol or if you started to take a walk after lunch etc?

I primarily focused on my diet. The most important step was to list out what I love to eat and what I hate. The five top liked items like paranthas, sweets, ice ? cream, butter and junk food were out of my diet. These were replaced by fruits, oats, nuts, vegetables and salads. Yoga gave me enough strength to do all this. I gave up non-veg and eggs completely. Trust me this was very difficult.?

My next step was joining a gym. I promised myself ?I will never miss gym, even if I workout for less than 35 minutes. It is matter of attitude, the day you comprehend your mistake completely no further advise or knowledge is required. I never consulted any specialist, dietician, physician or anyone for weight loss. My friend Madhu was a guiding force for me. I was totally dependent on him for any inclusion or exclusion in my every meal.

?

Tell us about your exercise regime? How difficult was it in the beginning to exercise? What were your biggest concerns??

I am a Yoga lover; I practice yoga asanas regularly for an hour in the morning and in the evening. In October 2012, I started fast running for 25 minutes (4 Kms) in evening for one month and in November 2012 I replaced running by gym for 40 minutes including cardio exercise, no weight training at all. Cardio included cycling for 10 minutes, tread mill for 10 minutes and standing cycling for 10 minutes with 2 minutes break. By November 2012 end I had knocked off 10 Kgs in three months which gave a great boost to my confidence. But even after reducing 10 kgs it was not noticeable. I realised that your expectation and the actual result can vary at times, I just needed to be regular.?

Week offs from the gym or even in case of minor illnesses I dint give myself the liberty to miss workouts. After losing 10 kgs I came face to face with the fact that I had to maintain this weight loss and try for more. That was another task.

?

Tell us about your diet? What type of changes did you do? Did your family help you or join you in your efforts?

I tried to educate myself a lot about health and healthy food. I replaced cold water with luke warm for drinking. I started my day with 5 glasses of warm water with honey and lemon along with four soaked almonds. I fixed my meal quantities and timings and used to strictly abide by it.

?

Tell us about your diet in detail??

Breakfast: ?Four almonds (soaked in water full night) four pieces of bread or two chapattis with any vegetable or two Idlis or two sada dosa or ?one bowl poha or ?Cornflakes (one bowl) with 2 pieces of ?bread.

Lunch: Fruits and lassi (salty) after 10 min two chapattis with dal and seasonal vegetable.

Evening snack: Namkeen with puffed rice, two pieces of almond or walnut

Dinner: ?Only four spoons of Oats (sweet) with a cup of milk boiled for four minutes with any one piece of seasonal fruit.

?

Tell us about the happiness or achievements post weight loss

The boost in self-esteem and moderation in physical activities gives you immense ease and confidence. Acknowledgement of hard work is the best reward you get. Increase in numbers of friends is an added advantage. My wife is the happiest. My kids are surprised at the change. Every close acquaintance has complimented me and some were shocked at the sea of change. In fact words can?t express my happiness, I am ecstatic!

?

P.S:?If you have an inspiring weight loss story and you wish to share it with us, please mail us at: sobiya@healthmeup.com or contact us on?Facebook?or?Twitter.

?

Source: http://healthmeup.com/news-weight-loss/health-star-of-the-week-ravi-wadhawans-yoga---diet-way-for-weight-loss/22072

nicki minaj celebrity apprentice Jodi Arias Trial Live Bay to Breakers Andrea Rebello wfaa prince

Apple's App Store Hits 50 Billion Downloads, 900K Apps, $10 Billion Paid To Developers; iTunes Now With 575M Accounts

One of the more interesting metrics to regularly emerge from Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is the one illustrating the growth of its app ecosystem. Today, the company revealed the latest figures, announcing a total of 50 billion total downloads from the Apple App Store, up from the 30 billion to date it announced last June, and still just ahead of Google Play’s recently touted 48 billion. There are now 900,000 iOS applications available for download for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, with 375,000 designed specifically for iPad. In June 2012, Apple said there were then 650,000 iOS applications, 225,000 built for iPad. And that was up from 425,000 iOS apps in 2011, when just 90,000 were iPad-ready. Apple also announced today there are 575 million paid customer accounts on iTunes, from people who can buy those apps. Again the company made the point today that the app ecosystem is a financial boon to its developer community, too, saying that it has now paid out over $10 billion to third-party app developers.?Apple paid developers $5 billion in 2012,?$2.5 billion in 2011?and?$1.5 billion in 2010?(to date), to give you an idea of the growth in years past. Apple is still credited as being the leader when it comes to app developers’ abilities to monetize their creations. App analytics firm?App Annie?found that?Apple mobile app developers earned around 2.6 times more revenue than Android developers in the first quarter of this year, for example. Competitor Distimo confirmed similar trends, including also Google Play’s steady growth on this front. And in the U.S. market in particular, that report found Apple’s lead was strong — among the top 200 grossing apps in both stores, Google Play applications brought in $1.1 million in daily revenue, compared with $5.1 million in the Apple App Store in April 2013. That being said, the growth of the Apple app ecosystem has been a double-edged sword for many developers. Though the opportunity is there, it’s increasingly becoming a winner takes all market, where only 2 percent of the top iPhone publishers in the U.S. are newcomers, for example. It would be interesting to see how much of that $10 billion is going to those at the top of the charts, these days. To the long tail of app developers, the announcement of app store growth and revenues to be gained may sound like a missed or out-of-reach opportunity. With app

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BDsrrSc3og4/

Dominique Dawes Gabby Olympic Gymnast Robyn Lawley Gore Vidal mlb trade rumors Misty May And Kerri Walsh Jake Dalton

Pure Adrenaline: Boston Action Sports ? Recreation and Sports

We have a list with the top extreme sports in Boston. Check it out:

Skydiving in Boston

Any person brave enough to try skydiving in Boston can experience falling two miles at speeds up to 120 mph. The U. S.? First sport parachute center, Jumptown, is located a short way from Boston in Orange, Mass. Visitors can skydive alone or try tandem sky-diving with an instructor. Jumps could be videotaped for showing off to buddies and family. Skydivers can also become licensed through the US Parachute Association by taking Jumptown?s Sped up Free Fall student programme. In addition to the program, skydivers must also complete at least 25 free fall skydives to become certificated. Jumptown also features a campground, picnic tables, fire pits and gas griddles.

Skate Parks in Boston

Anyone trying to find action sports in Boston will without doubt come across the assorted indoor and outdoor skate parks in the Boston area. Although there are many skate parks in Boston, the Boardwalk Skate Shop is Boston?s biggest facility. The indoor park is open everyday and houses skaters of any age group and levels. The Boardwalk Skate Shop offers skate hospitals to enhance skills and options for birthday parties and non-public events. Visitors may get an one-day pass or passes for one week, month or year. The Boardwalk Skate Shop has a seven-member skate team as well.

Boston Extreme Sports

Boston has a loyal following of acute sports fans. Sports for individual fans and team players are popular in the Boston area. Laser tag, paintball and trampolines are only some of the fast paced extraordinary sports to choose from. Teams and individual players can compete in games of laser tag at 1 or 2 locations in the bigger Boston area. Boston Paintball has indoor and outdoor fields hosting competitions for paintball teams and individual players. For an indoor acrobatic experiences, SkyZone in Boston has large trampolines for exhibiting tricks like somersaults. It has also got team dodge ball events.

Snowboarding in Boston

Massachusetts has a variety of ski locations for snow-boarding, including 1 or 2 huge areas right outside of Boston. The closest area for snow-boarding is the Nashoba Valley Ski Area just 25 miles from Boston. Nashoba is New England?s biggest tubing park. It hosts events like a United States of America Snowboard Association competition in March. They offer individual and group snowboarding lessons, season passes and corporate snowboarding events.

Boston Motocross

Massachusetts has several motocross tracks visited by motocross stars like Dick Bettencourt, Jo Jo Keller, Jim Meenan and John Dowd. Although the tracks are spread out round the state, the Capeway Rovers Motocross Track is just 40 minutes outside of Boston in Carver, Mass. Every heavy motocross fan visits this 60 acre lot. Motocross champion Keith Johnson gives lessons at the Keith Johnson MX School at Capeway Rovers.

Mandie Robinson has been interested in Boston sports for a few years. She has written op-eds and editorial pieces for many online publications. For more info about skydiving in Boston feel free to visit her site.

Tags: Boston Extreme Sports, Skate Parks in Boston, Skydiving in Boston, Snowboarding in Boston

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 1st, 2013 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Source: http://recreationandsports.deadale.com/uncategorized/pure-adrenaline-boston-action-sports/

Columbine shooting Ryan Lanza Facebook Connecticut shooting Nancy Lanza school shootings Jenni Rivera Adam Lanza Facebook