Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Australian DJs break silence over UK royal prank tragedy

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Two Australian radio announcers who made a prank call to a British hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate broke a three-day silence on Monday to speak of their distress at the apparent suicide of the nurse who took their call.

The 2DayFM Sydney-based announcers, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, said the tragedy had left them "shattered, gutted, heartbroken".

Greig and fellow presenter and prank mastermind Christian have been in hiding since nurse Jacintha Saldanha's death and the subsequent social media outrage at their prank.

Their show, "Hot 30," has been terminated, the station's parent company, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), said in a statement on Monday. SCA also announced a company-wide suspension of prank calls.

Greig told Australian television her first thought when told of Saldanha's death was for her family.

"Unfortunately I remember that moment very well, because I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened," she said, amid tears and her voice quavering with emotion. "I remember my first question was 'was she a mother?'"

"I've wanted to just reach out to them and just give them a big hug and say sorry. I hope they're okay, I really do. I hope they get through this," said a black-clad Greig when asked about mother of two Saldanha's children, left grieving their mother's death with their father Ben Barboza.

Saldanha, 46, was found dead in staff accommodation near London's King Edward VII hospital on Friday after putting the hoax call through to a colleague who unwittingly disclosed details of Kate's morning sickness to 2DayFM's presenters.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said news of the Saldanha's death was "shocking".

"I just feel incredibly sorry for her and her family. It's an absolute tragedy this has happened, and I'm sure everyone will want to reflect on how it was allowed to happen," he said.

The hospital at which Saldanha worked told the BBC it had not disciplined her for taking the prank call. Police said a post-mortem examination would be conducted on Tuesday.

FIRESTORM

A recording of the call, broadcast repeatedly by the station, rapidly became an internet hit and was reprinted as a transcript in many newspapers.

But news of Saldanha's death sparked the Internet firestorm, with vitriolic comments towards the DJs on Facebook and Twitter.

Christian said his only wish was that Saldanha's grief-stricken family received proper support.

"I hope that they get the love, the support, the care that they need, you know," said Christian, who like Greig struggled to talk about the tragedy.

Both Greig, 30, and Christian were relatively new to the station, with Greig joining in March and Christian having been in the job only a few days before the prank call after a career in regional radio.

Greig said she did not think their prank would work.

"We thought a hundred people before us would've tried it. We thought it was such a silly idea and the accents were terrible and not for a second did we expect to speak to Kate, let alone have a conversation with anyone at the hospital. We wanted to be hung up on," she said.

Christian drew headlines only two weeks before the royal prank call by angering fellow passengers with a harmonica playing stunt aboard pop star Rihanna's private jet.

SCA, 2Day's parent company, has received more than 1,000 complaints from Australians over the actions of the popular presenters, who have both been taken off air during an broadcasting watchdog investigation.

"SCA and the hosts of the radio program have also decided that they will not return to the airwaves until further notice," SCA said in a statement.

Shares in SCA fell 5 percent on Monday after two major Australian companies pulled their advertising with the radio station in protest and other advertising was suspended.

The station said it had tried to contact hospital staff five times over the recordings.

"It is absolutely true to say that we actually did attempt to contact those people on multiple occasions," said SCA chief executive Rhys Holleran.

"No one could have reasonably foreseen what has happened. I can only say the prank call is not unusual around the world," he said.

The fallout from the radio stunt has brought back memories in Britain of the death of William's mother Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 and threatens to cast a pall over the birth of his and Kate's first child.

Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy sought to deflect calls for more media regulation, telling journalists that a looming investigation by Australia's independent regulator should be allowed to happen without political interference.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/australian-djs-break-silence-over-royal-prank-tragedy-075254630--finance.html

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Sunday, December 9, 2012

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Related posts:

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  3. Mobile Phones Make Your Communication Easy And Cheap!!
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Source: http://www.hugohosting.com/mobile-voip-calls-effective-and-cheap-communication.html

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South Africa at crossroads as Mandela hospitalized

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Inside a Catholic church that once served as a major rallying point for anti-apartheid activists, the image of a gray-suited Nelson Mandela appears in stained-glass window that also features angels and the cross.

Worshippers here prayed Sunday for the hospitalized 94-year-old former president, who remains almost a secular saint and a father figure to many in South Africa, a nation of 50 million people that has Africa's top economy.

Mandela's admission to the hospital this weekend for unspecified medical tests sparked screaming newspapers headlines and ripples of fear in the public that the frail leader is fading further away.

And as his African National Congress political party stands ready to pick its leader who likely will be the nation's next president, some believe governing party politicians have abandoned Mandela's integrity and magnanimity in a seemingly unending string of corruption scandals. That leaves many wondering who can lead the country the way the ailing Mandela once did.

"When you have someone that's willing to lead by example like he did, it makes things easier for people to follow," said Thabile Manana, who worshipped Sunday at Soweto's Regina Mundi Catholic church. "Lately, the examples are not so nice. It's hard. I'm scared for the country."

Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. The Nobel laureate later retired from public life to live in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

On Saturday, the office of President Jacob Zuma announced Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital for medical tests and care that was "consistent for his age." Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday morning at the hospital and found the former leader to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

Mandela has had other health problems. He contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. In 2001, Mandela underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

While South Africa's government has offered no details about where Mandela is receiving treatment, the military has taken over his medical care since the 2011 respiratory infection. At 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on Sunday, the facility that previously cared for Mandela in February, soldiers set up a checkpoint to search vehicles heading into the hospital's grounds. A convoy of cars with flashing lights and sirens entered the hospital grounds Sunday afternoon.

Mandela's hospitalization quickly dominated news coverage in South Africa, where most have been focused on the upcoming ANC national convention later this month in Mangaung. There, the party that has governed South Africa since Mandela's election will pick either pick a new leader or re-elect Zuma to helm the organization. Becoming leader of the ANC means a nearly automatic ticket to becoming the president in post-apartheid South Africa.

Zuma, 70, faces increasing criticism as the nation's poor blacks, who believed the end of apartheid would bring economic prosperity, face the same poverty as before while politicians and the elite get richer. Meanwhile the economy continues to struggle amid slow growth and the aftermath of violent unrest in the country's mining industry.

Zuma also faces criticism over millions of dollars of government-paid improvements made at his private homestead. But that's merely the tip of the corruption allegations swirling around the party, which critics say is increasingly tarnished. Textbooks have gone undelivered to rural schools, while local ANC officials have been arrested and convicted of corruption charges. Others have been attacked or killed in politically tinged violence as the party's convention draws closer.

"It's becoming corrupt every day ... and it's growing worse," said Sidney Matlana, a worshipper at Regina Mundi. "Things are getting worse than it was before."

Yet Zuma remains a charismatic leader and still gets widespread support from Zulus, South Africa's largest ethnic group. He appears likely to hold onto power as provincial nominations ahead of the national meeting largely have supported him.

Despite that, those leaving worship Sunday at Regina Mundi stressed the need for South Africa's politicians to follow Mandela's example.

It was here that anti-apartheid crusaders gathered to plan, pray and to mourn their dead, a church Mandela himself once called a "battlefield between forces of democracy and those who did not hesitate to violate a place of religion with tear gas, dogs and guns."

Mandela's stained-glass image stands just right of another portraying a man carrying the corpse of 13-year-old Hector Pieterson, who was gunned down by police in Soweto in a peaceful 1976 student protest.

Worshippers acknowledged Sunday they didn't know which politician would be able to live up to Mandela's legacy.

"Every person has got his time," churchgoer Lerato Mhlala said. "Someone must come in and take his place as well."

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-crossroads-mandela-hospitalized-181604625.html

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Messi back on pitch after knee injury

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:40 a.m. ET Dec. 8, 2012

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Barcelona's Lionel Messi has recovered from a knee injury and will attempt to surpass Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old record for most goals in a calendar year when Barcelona plays Real Betis.

Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova included Messi in his squad for the Spanish league match at Betis on Sunday, saying the forward will play barring a setback.

"(Messi) feels fine, he isn't bothered (by the knee)," Vilanova said Saturday. "If he is traveling, it's because he's in condition to play. It there existed even the smallest risk, he wouldn't travel with the team."

Vilanova said he didn't know yet if he would start Messi or bring him off the bench.

Messi was carried off the field after a late collision with the opposing goalkeeper in Barcelona's 0-0 draw against Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday. He hasn't missed a game because of injury since September 2010.

The 25-year-old Messi is trying to match Mueller's record of 85 goals for Bayern Munich and West Germany in 1972. Messi has 84 goals this year for Barcelona and Argentina.

Forward Alexis Sanchez and defender Dani Alves also have recovered from injuries and made the squad. Barcelona leads the league after a record start of 13 wins and one draw in the opening 14 rounds.

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


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van Persie shows no mercy

A pair of first-half goals by Wayne Rooney and a stoppage-time winner from Robin van Persie handed Manchester United a 3-2 win in?Sunday's Manchester Derby.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46715106/ns/sports-soccer/

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essre802: jamesbond: Internet and Businesses Online: SEO Article ...

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Saturday, December 8, 2012

Severe morning sickness patients get relief from anti-seizure drug

Dec. 7, 2012 ? Good news may be on the horizon for Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, and other women stricken with severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, thanks to the work of a University at Buffalo professor who is conducting research on a drug that is showing success treating pregnant women with this condition.

Thomas Guttuso Jr., MD, assistant professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been studying the drug gabapentin, an anti-seizure and anti-pain drug that he previously had studied in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

"I became interested in this drug for hyperemesis gravidarum (an extreme form of morning sickness) because I saw how effective it appeared to be in treating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients who had failed treatment with conventional anti-emetics," says Guttuso. Anti-emetics are drugs currently approved for treating nausea and vomiting.

In 2010, he published in the journal Early Human Development the results of an open-label pilot study that enrolled seven women from Western New York examining the drug's safety, tolerability and effectiveness in treating hyperemesis gravidarum.

"It was really exciting to see how quickly the women responded," says Guttuso. None of the women had seen any improvement on any other anti-emetic medications they had tried.

"But when they started with gabapentin, all of them showed a dramatic improvement," he says. "Within two hours of taking the first pill, most of the patients were feeling much better and several were able to start eating and drinking again. It was a pretty amazing thing to see.

"The study showed that after two weeks of gabapentin therapy, the seven women experienced an average 80 percent reduction in their nausea and a 94 percent reduction in their vomiting and near normal levels of eating and drinking," Guttuso says. After this study was published, Guttuso knows of five more women with hyperemesis gravidarum that tried gabapentin and all experienced excellent relief.

The women needed to take gabapentin on average until about half way through their pregnancies before they could stop it without recurrent nausea and vomiting.

One of the potential concerns with gabapentin was that two of the babies born to patients in the UB study were found to have congenital defects. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration placed the study on clinical hold in April 2011 until further safety data was available on the use of gabapentin during pregnancy.

By May 2012 several pregnancy registries and other studies had reported that the rate of congenital defects among a total of 258 infants born to women taking gabapentin early in their pregnancies was about the same as the rate of congenital defects in the general population. After reviewing these findings, the FDA removed the clinical hold allowing Guttuso to resume his research on the effects of gabapentin on hyperemesis gravidarum. Although the results of the small pilot study were very encouraging, Guttuso emphasizes that a placebo-controlled study among many more patients needs to be conducted in order to know if gabapentin truly is effective for hyperemesis gravidarum. "The evidence right now is still very preliminary," he states.

Early next year, Guttuso plans to submit a new grant proposal to the National Institutes of Health in order to support such a study with enrolling sites both at UB and at the University of Rochester. Guttuso is hopeful that the study will be funded.

"This is a study that really needs to be done because currently there are no effective treatments for hyperemesis gravidarum," Guttuso says. "Women end up having to keep going back to the hospital for intravenous fluids because of dehydration from their persistent nausea and vomiting."

Guttuso is a Western New York neurologist and UB professor whose practice focuses primarily on patients with movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. He originally became interested in gabapentin when he accidentally discovered that it appeared to be effective in treating hot flashes in postmenopausal women. Soon thereafter, another patient with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy informed him that gabapentin appeared to fully resolve her chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

After observing the marked improvements in nausea and vomiting that many cancer patients experienced from gabapentin, he thought that it should be tried with patients suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. He then teamed up with several Buffalo obstetricians to do the pilot study on pregnant women.

"I think a lot of people don't appreciate just how sick and disabled these women can be," Guttuso says. He notes that 15 percent of women with this condition end up having abortions even though they really want to have children.

"Some of the most severely affected end up having abortions because they have no hope of getting better," he says. "Ending the pregnancy is currently the only effective treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum. These women are so sick. They often retch every 15 to 30 minutes and it can go on all day and often at night as well."

Two of the women in Guttuso's small pilot study were planning to have abortions. One of them was scheduled for one the next day out of desperation. Once she went on gabapentin, her symptoms abated and she was able to continue with her pregnancy to term. Since then, she has had a second healthy child while taking gabapentin throughout her pregnancy, during which she had only mild and rare nausea and vomiting.

"I think this research has great potential to provide relief to many women suffering with hyperemesis gravidarum," says Guttuso.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University at Buffalo, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Thomas Guttuso, Luther K. Robinson, Kofi S. Amankwah. Gabapentin use in hyperemesis gravidarum: A pilot study. Early Human Development, 2010; 86 (1): 65 DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2009.11.003

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/Iu8okliR3UI/121207132801.htm

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Obama: Republicans blocking middle-class tax cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Saturday that Republicans in the House are blocking a bill that would prevent a tax increase on the first $250,000 of income earned by all Americans.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has approved the measure, but Obama said House Republicans have "put forward an unbalanced plan that actually lowers rates for the wealthiest Americans." Obama supports a plan to raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said "the math just doesn't work" on the GOP plan.

Obama's comments mark the fourth time since his re-election that he has used the radio address to push for middle-class tax cuts as part of a plan to avert a looming fiscal cliff ? and his most sharply partisan tone.

Obama said his plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans should come as no surprise to Republicans or anyone else.

"After all, this was a central question in the election. A clear majority of Americans ? Democrats, Republicans and independents ? agreed with a balanced approach that asks something from everyone, but a little more from those who can most afford it," Obama said.

His plan is "the only way to put our economy on a sustainable path without asking even more from the middle class," Obama said. It also is the only plan he is willing to sign, the president said.

Obama's comments came as House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff," a combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in January.

Boehner said the White House has wasted another week and has failed to respond to a GOP offer to raise tax revenues and cut spending. Obama and Boehner spoke privately by phone on Wednesday. Boehner described the conversation as pleasant, "but just more of the same."

Obama said in his address that he stands ready to work with Republicans on a plan that spurs economic growth, creates jobs and reduces the national deficit. He said he wants to find ways to bring down health care costs without hurting seniors and is willing to make more cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said in the Republican response Saturday that tax increases will not solve the nation's $16 trillion debt. Only economic growth and reform of entitlement programs will help control the debt, Rubio said.

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

___

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-republicans-blocking-middle-class-110943856.html

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Friday, December 7, 2012

Python bounty hunters are latest tool in Florida eradication effort

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida wildlife officials are looking for a few good snake slayers as they enlist the public to combat a proliferation of pythons that have invaded the Florida Everglades.

Combating a surge of pets turned predators, state officials have placed a bounty on the Burmese python in an attempt to eradicate the species from the environmentally sensitive marshy region known as the River of Grass.

The latest attempt will enlist the help of professional python hunters and weekend enthusiasts, who will compete beginning January 12 for the cash in what has been dubbed the "2013 Python Challenge."

The goal of the month-long event is to reduce the number of non-native reptiles that are gobbling up indigenous wildlife at an increasing rate. Winners will receive up to $1,500 for the longest snake, while $1,000 will be awarded to the serpent killer who brings in the largest haul.

"Part of the goal of the Python Challenge is to educate the public to understand why non-native species like Burmese pythons should never be released into the wild and encourage people to report sightings of exotic species," said Kristen Sommers, head of exotic species programs for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Burmese pythons became established in 2000 in the state, which has one of the world's worst invasive reptile and amphibian problems. The problem is believed to have been caused by pet owners who released their snakes into the wild after they grew too large and became too difficult to manage at home.

Federal wildlife officials in January banned the importation of certain species of python, but snakes already released into the wild are wrecking havoc as they have no natural predators.

A Burmese python found in August set a record as the largest such snake ever captured in the state at 17-feet, 7-inches and carrying a record load of 87 eggs, according to researchers at the University of Florida.

The federal ban affects four species - the Burmese python, the yellow anaconda and the northern and southern African pythons.

The challenge is being supported by several environmental groups.

"They are wiping out entire populations of wildlife in portions of the Everglades," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida. "Having a hunting season is a start, but wildlife officials need to be doing a lot more."

Among other efforts are catch and release programs that track pythons via radio collar and GPS to find out where they breed. "It's only a matter of time before they move from the Everglades into areas farther north," Draper said.

The hunt is unlikely to stem the reptile invasion, but may help scientists learn more about python migration, said Kristina Serbesoff-King, a director of the Nature Conservancy in Florida.

"From a science point, it's data gathering, it's more information," she said. "But in terms of addressing the expanding population of Burmese pythons, it's not going to solve that problem."

(Additional reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by David Adams and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/python-bounty-hunters-latest-tool-florida-eradication-effort-031930576.html

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Egypt braces for protests despite Morsi talks offer

By NBC News wire services

CAIRO -- Egypt braced for fresh protests after Friday prayers as the opposition coalition planned to meet to review President Mohammed Morsi?s call for dialogue to resolve a crisis triggered by his decision to expand his powers.

In a televised speech late Thursday, Morsi proposed a meeting Saturday with political leaders, "revolutionary youth" and legal figures to discuss the way forward after a referendum on a new constitution set for Dec. 15.

Seven people were killed and hundreds injured this week in clashes around the presidential palace.

They were sparked by Morsi's Nov. 22 decree awarding himself extra powers and his decision to rush through a new constitution, written by an Islamist-dominated assembly that was opposed by liberals and others.

"We have decided to meet this afternoon (Friday) and discuss the whole issue and the proposal and speech by the president. We want a collective stand on that," the National Salvation Front?s Amr Moussa, a presidential candidate and former Arab League chief, told Reuters, adding the precise time had yet to be finalized.

Analysis: Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point

Opposition groups have called for protests Friday against Morsi and his decree. One prominent protest movement has already rejected the president's offer of talks.

Among the demands of the liberal-leaning National Salvation Front, Moussa said the opposition coalition believed a referendum on a draft constitution should be delayed.

'Men don't have to worry about being caught': Sex mobs target Egypt's women

The Front would also consider Morsi's comments suggesting he was ready to reconsider elements of his decree. "The mood is still very solid on the demands that we have expressed and stressed," Moussa said.

The Front has previously demanded Morsi scrap his decree, postpone the referendum and redraft the constitution.

Obama calls Morsi
President Barack Obama called Morsi on Thursday to express his deep concern about the deaths and injuries of protesters in Egypt, the White House said in a statement.

On the doorstep of Egypt's presidential palace, angry protesters accuse Mohamed Morsi of stealing power and imposing a constitution they consider illegal. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

?The President emphasized that all political leaders in Egypt should make clear to their supporters that violence is unacceptable,? the statement read. ?Obama welcomed President Morsi's call for a dialogue with the opposition but stressed that such a dialogue should occur without preconditions.?

The United States has also urged opposition leaders to join the dialogue without preconditions.

More Egypt coverage from NBC News

The large scale and intensity of this week?s fighting marked a milestone in Egypt's rapidly emerging schism, pitting the Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-conservative Islamists in one camp, against liberals, leftists and Christians in the other.

It was the first time supporters of the rival camps have fought each other since last year's uprising that toppled authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/07/15749164-egypt-braces-for-protests-as-opposition-weighs-morsis-talks-offer?lite

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Design Q's - advice sought - Techtalk Speaker Building, Audio ...

  1. Default Design Q's - advice sought

    Hi,

    I'd appreciate some input on a couple of ideas I'm noodling through.

    Basic premise is an MTM based on Lou's LECBOS. I already own the drivers.

    1. The woofer has a truncated frame, but the curved edge is beveled where as the truncated edge is not. I'm thinking these should be mounted with the curved beveled edge facing the tweeter. However the LECBOS has the truncated edge facing the tweeter. What should I expect for crossover adjustments?

    2. Rather than a slot port on the bottom, I'm thinking of two smaller slot ports on either side of the tweeter, for aesthetic purposes. A commercial with slots like this is a Genelec HT206B. Any thoughts on spacing from the tweeter, location, or other means to manage diffraction?

    Thanks and regards,

    Rob


  2. Default Re: Design Q's - advice sought

    The main thing that is going to happen with mounting the round sides adjacent to the tweeters is you're going to increase the CTC spacing. If the existing xo is low enough, that won't be a problem. If it isn't, you'll pretty much need a whole new xo, since Lou does all of his work based on in box measurements of the drivers, in their mounted positions.

    I shudder at the thought of ports flanking tweeters. I can't imagine what diffraction effects that would have, or how to model it in order to deal with it. I wouldn't do that.

    LECBOS sounds awesome just the way it is, I would use veneer, or other finishes to individualize your build.

    But, maybe that's just me.

    Mark

    You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools,
    But that's the way I like it baby,
    I don't wanna live forever,
    And don't forget the joker!

    ~Lemmy




  3. Default Re: Design Q's - advice sought

    ...1. The woofer has a truncated frame, but ...the LECBOS has the truncated edge facing the tweeter. ...
    2. Rather than a slot port on the bottom, I'm thinking of two smaller slot ports on either side of the tweeter... Any thoughts on spacing from the tweeter, location, or other means to manage diffraction?...

    As Mark noted, these two work at crossed purposes. What's interesting is that you didn't see it...

    Perhaps you're familiar with Zaph's test of the effect of driver flush mounting on frequency response? The key conclusion was to flush mount the tweeter, because the round flange caused all the diffraction in every direction to occur at the same frequency, resulting a large peak/dip. Woofer flush mounting had a very subtle effect as the distance from tweeter axis to driver edge varies with angle, spreading any diffraction effect out and resulting in very little FR shift. You're working the latter case here, with a low straight lip that will diffract over a range of frequencies and so not be audible.

    The ports are kind of the opposite of a low straight lip. Ports are deep, so the diffract strongly. Frame a tweeter with a sharp-edge port and you're far worse off than any tweeter flange. There's a thread somewhere about modifications to Behringer B2030 speakers (ports on both sides of tweeter) to reduce port-induced distortion. It's a real effect....

    HAve fun,
    Frank


  4. Default Re: Design Q's - advice sought

    On most of my designs, I would say OK, but the LECBOS crosses higher than most, I wouldn't mess with the CTC spacing. Ports can go in the back, out the sides, top or bottom. Tube port equivalents are spec'd on the page. I noted the crossover frequency, too. But, from the photo on your website it seems like it might be possible to rotate the driver 90 degrees without changing the CTC distance. If I flush mount the tweeter, I might be able to have the woofer overlap the tweeter a small amount. Sound OK, or am I out of space?

    Thanks,

    Rob


  5. Default Re: Design Q's - advice sought

    I can also attest that the LECBOS sounds plenty good as designed, and paired with his sub they make a really phenomenal system in his garage. If I were going to do any "improvements" I would use a thicker front baffle maybe do a 3/4 inch round-over and MAYBE recess the tweeter, or put some of that super ugly felt surrounding the tweeter to deal with the edge refraction...I put improvements in quotes because while these seem like sane things to do from a theoretical standpoint, Lou's designs just kinda work...even without them (having a horn loaded tweeter helps too I think :P)

    That's part of the plan. Flush mount the tweeter. If I can't rotate the woofers, then I might need some felt to soften the diffraction at that edge. At least I think I do.


  6. Default Re: Design Q's - advice sought

    I just took a look at mine and I don't think you can rotate the woofers w/o overlapping the tweeter flange, which would be the worst of the alternatives. You really should just build it as is. What little diffraction that may result from the surace mounted woofers is certainly not audible.

    I actually don't think overlapping the tweeter flange is the worst option out there, and, as Frank noted, would actually improve the diffraction signature *OF THE RAW DRIVER RESPONSE*. Thing is, as I pointed out earlier, Lou designs his xo's based on in box and on baffle measurements, so the diffraction has already been accounted for in the xo. If you change the diffraction signature, you will change the sound. Whether that is unpleasant, or even audible, remains to be seen. If you can measure, you can build it the way you want to, measure, then tweak it to taste. But in the end, it might not be the LECBOS.

    But guess what? That's okay.

    If the changes are significant enough, I would say that at that point it becomes "Rob's Design X, inspired by LouC's LECBOS". And nothing at all wrong with that, IMHO.

    But I reiterate, the ports flanking the tweeter is probably a bad idea. How about a pair of side "wedge" ports, like Wolf's "Max"?

    Mark

    You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools,
    But that's the way I like it baby,
    I don't wanna live forever,
    And don't forget the joker!

    ~Lemmy


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    Thursday, December 6, 2012

    iPad Users More Likely To Buy Games Via Ads, But iPhone Users Still The Most Desirable Audience

    tumblr_memft69zp51r8wnsrA new report from mobile ad network Chartboost suggests that while the iPad is the best platform in terms of getting return on advertising spend for mobile game developers, the iPhone is still seen as the marquee iOS platform for mobile games, since it commands an impressive 61 percent of all gaming time spent on iOS devices. So despite lower acquisition costs on iPad, advertisers are still willing to pay more to gain access to the much broader audience of iPhone gamers.

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QX-zEwYCaG0/

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    Homeless man arrested in deadly NYC subway push

    NEW YORK (AP) ? A homeless man was arrested Wednesday in the death of a subway rider who was pushed onto the tracks and photographed just before a train struck him.

    Naeem Davis, 30, was taken into custody for questioning Tuesday after security video showed a man fitting the suspect's description working with street vendors near Rockefeller Center. Police said Davis made statements implicating himself in Ki-Suck Han's death.

    Davis was arrested on a second-degree murder charge. He was in custody, and it wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer. It also wasn't clear when he would appear in court.

    Witnesses told investigators they saw a man talking to himself Monday afternoon before he approached the 58-year-old Han of Queens at the Times Square station, got into an altercation with him and pushed him into the train's path.

    The New York Post published a photo on its front page Tuesday of Han with his head turned toward the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time. It was shot by freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who was waiting to catch a train.

    Abbasi told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that he was trying to alert the motorman to what was going on by flashing his camera.

    He said he was shocked that people nearer to the victim didn't try to help in the 22 seconds before the train struck.

    "It took me a second to figure out what was happening ... I saw the lights in the distance. My mind was to alert the train," Abbasi said.

    "The people who were standing close to him ... they could have moved and grabbed him and pulled him up. No one made an effort," he added.

    Trains generally arrive at the stations going 25 mph, but it's not clear how fast the train was going when it struck Han. The waiting area is a narrower than other subway stations, but the platform is still about a dozen feet wide.

    In a written account Abbasi gave the Post, he said a crowd took videos and snapped photos on their cellphones after Han was pulled, limp, onto the platform. He said he shoved them back as a doctor and another man tried to resuscitate the victim, but it was no use. The man died in front of Abbasi's eyes.

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that it appeared the suspect in Han's death had "a psychiatric problem."

    The mayor said Han, "if I understand it, tried to break up a fight or something and paid for it with his life."

    Subway pushes are feared but fairly unusual. Among the more high-profile cases was the January 1999 death of Kendra Webdale, who was shoved to her death by a former mental patient.

    Straphangers on Wednesday said that they were shocked by Han's death but that it's always a silent fear for many of the more than 5.2 million commuters who ride the subway on an average weekday.

    "Stuff like that you don't really think about every day. You know it could happen. So when it does happen it's scary but then what it all comes down to is you have to protect yourself," said Aliyah Syphrett, 23, who sat on a bench as she waited at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan.

    Diana Henry, 79, a Long Island resident, was waiting for a train at 34th Street. She stood as far from the platform as possible ? about a dozen feet back, leaning against the wall.

    "I'm always careful, but I'm even more careful after what happened," she said. "I stand back because there are so many crazies in this city that you never know."

    Many said they didn't know what they would do in the same situation ? if they'd try to help or if they'd be able to act fast enough.

    In 2007, Wesley Autrey jumped onto the tracks when a train was approaching, saving the life of a man who fell unconscious off the platform. Autrey laid on top of the man as the train rolled over them barely above their heads. Autrey was hailed as a hero.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik, Karen Matthews and Tom Hays contributed to this story.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/homeless-man-arrested-deadly-nyc-subway-push-200933581.html

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    Planning on tax refund next year? Good luck

    6 hrs.

    Most financial experts advise that year-end is a good time to do a little tax planning by estimating how big a bite Uncle Sam is going to take next April 15.

    This year, about the only advice they can give is: ?Good luck with that.?

    With Congress and the White House locked in the final throes of an epic, two-year budget battle, estimating your taxes this year?is roughly equivalent to playing golf at night under a new moon.?

    Not only are Democrats and Republicans playing chicken with the Jan.1 deadline to avoid the so-called ?fiscal cliff,? the terms of their conflicting proposals are shifting as the debate drags on.?

    That means the tax code?s dozens of exemptions, deductions and exclusions ? each of which hits millions of taxpayers in different ways ? have created a geometric level of complexity to a process that already flummoxes the vast majority of Americans.

    The biggest land mine looming at the bottom of the fiscal cliff is the so-called Alternative Minimum Tax, originally designed to minimize deductions for the wealthiest taxpayers. Because Congress forgot to include a provision that raised the dollar definition of ?wealthy? over time, the AMT is on course to rip a new financial hole through some 28 million tax returns for the first time this year.

    ?That would come as a big shock to some people because it?s not reflected in their 2012 withholding at all,? said?Tax Foundation?analyst Nick?Kasprak. ?So if you expect a $2,000 refund, suddenly you?ll owe $3,000 if you haven?t paid the AMT before.?

    The rest of the tax increases now being haggled over would apply to 2013 income, which will be reported on your return in April 2014, and due then. But some provisions, like the possible increase in payroll taxes, would hit in January as those payments are deducted from your paycheck.

    You may also voluntarily decide to increase the amount withheld from your earnings if it looks like other provisions will increase your final tax bill in 2014.? How do you know how much to withhold? You don?t. And you can?t know until the tax law is finalized, which may not happen until well into next year.

    If a deal on the new law drags?on that long, anyone trying to file a return early next year?and get a refund runs the risk of having to go through the process twice. In a good year, it takes the IRS a couple of months to get set up to begin sifting through the more than 140 million returns. The further the talks drag on into next year, the bigger the delay in processing claims.

    ?They?re not going to process returns or issue refunds or do anything (until the law is written) because they?re going to have to adjust all their computers,? said Ian Cominsky, a tax attorney at Blank, Rome in Philadelphia. ?They may have to re-issue forms. They may have to extend the April 15 deadline.?

    Financial planners and tax advisers say the prospect of a tax increase next year has upended much of the?advice they typically dispense. In past years, if you had investments that did well, for example, you might have deferred some or all of those capital gains ? to see if you had possible losses the following year to offset them. But with a capital gains tax hike on the table, you may be better off selling now at the lower rate.

    Or not. If there's no deal by Dec. 31 (a Monday), ?you'll just have to guess what?the capital gains rate will be next year.?

    Even in a good year, it?s all but impossible to generalize about the impact of changes in a tax system that includes six different rates based on?income brackets and five different filing statuses. It?s no surprise that if you give your financial data to a half-dozen accountants, the odds are pretty low that they?ll all come up with the same amount owed.

    Now, add roughly 20 different ?scenarios? representing tax changes currently on the table. Do you have young kids? You?ll want to keep a close eye on political dickering over the child care tax credit. Older kids? You?ll have to wait to see what happens with education credits.?

    Live in a state with high income and property taxes that you usually deduct on your federal return? You're a good candidate for the dreaded?AMT treatment. Usually take deductions for home mortgage interest, charitable donation or business expenses? Watch for a cap on how much they?re worth. Thinking about donating to your grandkids? college fund? You may want to do so this year to avoid a possible increase in gift taxes.

    Even when a deal is reached, you?ll need an accountant ? or at least a good computer ? to figure out what it means for your individual return. There are a number of tax calculators that have popped up on the Web as the ?fiscal cliff? spectacle grinds on.

    One of them, recently launched by the Tax Foundation at mytaxburden.org, lets you do a quick snapshot of the basic impact or drill down and compare the impact of dozens of?specific provisions. The app also creates a comparison between the current law (if nothing is done), along with?the broad outlines of the Republican proposal and the White House?s basic plan.

    Both of which will likely change as the real horse trading begins.

    Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/planning-tax-refund-next-year-good-luck-1C7425955

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    Wednesday, December 5, 2012

    Putting Charities to the Test - NYTimes.com

    Fixes looks at solutions to social problems and why they work.

    December is giving season. According to Charity Navigator, charities surveyed reported that 41 percent of their annual contributions from individuals arrives between Thanksgiving and New Year.

    How do you decide where to give? People want to give where their money will be used effectively, of course. For many, that means researching on Charity Navigator or the Better Business Bureau?s Web site to see which charities are well run and take only a small percentage of donations for administration or fund-raising needs.

    Calculating efficiency is important, but some charities do useful things the numbers can?t capture.

    Overhead does matter. But it is dwarfed by a different question: Is this group?s work effective?

    ?When people think of giving, they look at the issue of whether a charity has a 10 or 20 percent administration cost, and that makes the difference for them,? said Toby Ord, a researcher in moral philosophy at Oxford University and founder of an organization based there called Giving What We Can. ?But in reality some things they could be funding are hundreds or thousands of times more effective than other things. People never guess there could be such large discrepancies. Instead of a 20 percent difference, there can be a 1,000 percent difference.?

    In an essay called ?The Moral Imperative Towards Cost Effectiveness,? Ord poses the example of helping the blind. Surely everyone would agree that a charity that trains guide dogs for the blind is a worthy charity. According to Guide Dogs of America, the cost of training a dog is around $42,000. So if you had $42,000 to give, you could greatly improve the life of one blind person.

    But what if instead, you spent that $42,000 on eye surgeries for people with trachoma in Africa? Helen Keller International, which works to prevent blindness, says trachoma surgery costs as little as $25 per person and is 80 percent effective. That same money, then, could restore the sight of 1,344 people. If you value all lives equally ? and in a minute I?ll get to the fact that we certainly don?t ? then if you are training a guide dog, you might as well be giving to a charity that wastes 99.93 percent of its money. (Actually even more, as a guide dog does not restore sight.)

    Ord?s point is that if we care about what our money is doing, we should look for the most effective charities. (His group asks people to pledge to give 10 percent of income to the places where it will be most effective. He has decided he can live comfortably on $18,000 pounds (a little less than $30,000) per year and will give away everything he earns above that.)

    What are the ?most effective charities?? Ones that:

    ? Aim to solve the most serious problems (in the normal calculus, this means that providing bed nets to save children from malaria ranks above helping public radio stations or art museums).

    ? Use interventions that work.

    ? Employ cost-effective strategies (trachoma surgeries, rather than training guide dogs, to help the blind).

    ? Are competent and honest. The percentage of donations spent on overhead is one measure of these qualities.

    ? Can make good use of each additional dollar. This is the hardest point to assess, but it asks whether the group has the program on the ground to use your money well, and whether your donation will make something happen that otherwise wouldn?t.

    Most individual donors lack the resources or training to determine which charities meet these requirements. So does Ord, for that matter, so he relies heavily on the research of a like-minded Brooklyn-based organization called GiveWell.

    GiveWell was started by a couple of hedge fund masters of the universe who wanted to apply their skills in quantitative analysis to figure out how best to give their money away. Its researchers look at hundreds of charities to identify the most effective ones. GiveWell is part of a new and very welcome trend toward rigorous evaluation of social change programs. Most such evaluations are led by academics ? two institutions leading this work are the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at M.I.T. and Innovations for Poverty Action, founded by the Yale professor Dean Karlan.

    Evaluating a program with randomized controlled trials is expensive but straightforward ? we know how to do it. But GiveWell?s evolution since its founding in 2007 shows how complicated it is to put that information to use. ?Our early concept was to go out there getting a lot of data from charities ? spreadsheets with outcome data ? crunching a lot of numbers,? said Alexander Berger, a research analyst at GiveWell. (Berger can match Ord on the Extreme Altruism scale ? a year ago he donated a kidney to a stranger, starting a chain of donations that ended with six people getting kidneys. He was 21.) ?But we found that charities don?t have a lot of information available about the impact of their work. Over time we?ve come to rely on academic evidence for basic case outcome work, and then basic data from the charity to indicate they are carrying out the intervention correctly.?

    In other words, GiveWell examines academic research and finds, for example, that there is excellent evidence that giving out insecticide-treated bed nets prevents malaria. Then it looks for organizations that can prove through an independent evaluation that they do this work well. Its top overall rating goes to the Against Malaria Foundation, which finances the purchase and distribution of bed nets.

    This is hardly surprising, given GiveWell?s criteria. It will always choose charities that work in the poorest places, as money goes further there. A tiny amount can do a lot (try getting eye surgery for $25 in the United States) and basic interventions are still desperately needed. ?Nobody in the West needs a bed net,? notes Berger. ?We?ve eradicated malaria. But a lot of problems we?ve solved continue to exist in other places.?

    GiveWell also emphasizes health charities. Health work is indisputably important, and it?s also relatively easy to measure. Ord uses a metric called QALY ? Quality Adjusted Life Years. (If you do something that allows someone to have a full year of good health, or two years of 50 percent health ? whatever that is ? you?ve provided one QALY.) Because health gains are measurable, health programs are easier to evaluate. Independent evaluation can cost a lot of money, and it?s not something donors like to finance. So very few programs can provide credible evidence of success ? but that?s another requirement for GiveWell. In addition, when we do health projects we usually know what we are doing. We?ve had huge successes, such as smallpox eradication, vaccination, malaria control, AIDS therapy.

    Following the numbers, however, is not always wise. The numbers measure service delivery, but charities sometimes do very useful things the numbers can?t capture. Partners in Health, for example, piloted the use of accompagnateurs in Haiti ? community members hired to help people on AIDS therapy to take their medicines. That system is now being used all over the world, producing value that goes far beyond its measurable impact on the Haitian patients. And sometimes charities invest a lot of money and time in creating a system that will eventually become self-sustaining. Early failure is often part of the process. The Grameen Bank, the famed microcredit pioneer, took nearly two decades to become a self-sustaining business. Early on, it probably didn?t look very cost-effective ? but it still would have been a great investment.

    GiveWell is feeling its way through this. Its No. 3 charity this year is another group that works on children?s health in Africa, the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative. (It?s not a United States tax-deductible charity, but you can get a deduction by giving through GiveWell.) But in between malaria and schistosomiasis on GiveWell?s list is a peculiar surprise: GiveDirectly, a new charity with the radical mission of simply giving away cash to poor people in Kenya (GiveWell?s argument for why it considers GiveDirectly to be the second most effective charity it studies ? which is too complicated to get into ? is here.)

    Even if you define effectiveness very broadly, it?s far from the only consideration in choosing a charity. ?People care about what they care about,? said Katherina Rosqueta, the executive director of the Center for High-Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, which helps philanthropists make more effective donations. ?If someone cares deeply about closing the achievement gap in the U.S., they won?t be convinced to finance health care in the third world. It would be foolish to think that the only way a donor can do good is to go to the top-ranked, most efficient nonprofits.?

    Some people use charity as a way to increase their social standing ? for example, to get onto the board of a prestigious cultural institution. Some give as repayment ? to an alma mater, for example. Some give to organizations that we benefit from, such as our churches and our kids? schools. Fine, but don?t count it toward your real charitable giving, wrote GiveWell?s co-founder and co-executive director Holden Karnofsky. (Before you write that angry comment, yes, many churches do use the money for helping the poor.)

    When we do give completely altruistically, we often give nearby ? to our local soup kitchens or to help the victims of disasters like Hurricane Sandy. It is normal to value what happens near us more than what happens across the world. But Ord has an interesting response: how much more value do we put on a neighbor?s life than that of someone in Kenya or India? Is it worth 10 times more? Twenty? It?s surely not worth 1,000 times more ? so put your money into bed nets.

    Perhaps the most relevant point for most people is that whatever cause moves us, we should be looking for effectiveness. Rosqueta argues, for example, that if you want to help the hungry in America, don?t give to canned food drives. Instead, give money. Food banks can use it to buy in bulk ? they can pay 10 cents a pound for food you?d pay $2 a pound for in a can. (And someone has to pay to ship the can.) Charities are often complicit ? they will sometimes choose ineffective strategies like canned food drives because they are more attractive to donors. The solution is to be an educated donor. Charities now publish the percentage of donations they spend on fulfilling their mission. We should demand evidence that they?re spending it right.

    Join Fixes on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/nytimesfixes.


    Tina Rosenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her book ?The Haunted Land: Facing Europe?s Ghosts After Communism.? She is a former editorial writer for The Times and the author of, most recently, ?Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World? and the World War II spy story e-book ?D for Deception.?

    Source: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/putting-charities-to-the-test/

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    "The Walking Dead": 4 things networks can learn from the cable show that's beating them

    NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - TV's top drama is a grisly, sometimes sorrowful series that kills off characters as fast as it introduces them and almost never slows down to explain what's happening.

    Networks could learn a lot from "The Walking Dead."

    The AMC series, which ended the first half of its third season Sunday, currently has an average 5.32 rating in the key 18-49 demo. That's better than the rating for any show on television except for NBC's "Sunday Night Football."

    Factoring in a whole week's ratings - as networks do to account to DVR viewing - "Walking Dead" slips behind "The Big Bang Theory" and "Modern Family" - but just barely.

    Maybe network shows should just have more zombies, or violence. "The Walking Dead" has definitely benefited from a national fascination with the undead and must show more intestines per episode than any show in TV history.

    But zombies and guts aren't the only reasons "Walking Dead" has a shot at finishing the season as TV's top series - and will almost definitely be its top drama. Some viewers tune in for gruesome spectacle, while others watch through their fingers.

    Successful new network dramas are rare - NBC's "Revolution" and CBS's "Elementary" are among the few this season. Those that take the most risks, like ABC's "Last Resort," are often quickly canceled. Dramas are especially big gambles for networks because they are much more expensive than reality shows and comedies.

    But "The Walking Dead" makes the case for taking risks anyway - from letting major characters die, to letting viewers sometimes turn to online friends for answers.

    Here are four things network shows could learn from AMC's hit.

    1. Surprise us.

    Asked for the main reason "The Walking Dead" is thriving, showrunner Glen Mazzara points to its unpredictability.

    "The show feels grounded, it feels accessible. But it's also unpredictable, and it has a fast pace," he told TheWrap. "There was an article I read about the speed of storytelling on shows like 'Homeland' and 'The Walking Dead.' The things that usually would be saved and built to are being pulled up and sort of happening before the audience is ready.

    "That's something that I learned on 'The Shield' - a type of accelerated storytelling. Especially when you have a very hungry audience like this. We've had other versions of the show in the past that weren't as accelerated, and I think that led to a lot of audience frustration. I think that the pace of the storytelling is right now able to keep up with the audience's expectations."

    The most unpredictable thing about "The Walking Dead"? Who lives and who dies. A willingness to kill major characters is perhaps the biggest difference between cable and network dramas. While networks may occasionally kill someone in a season finale, cable shows like "The Sopranos," "The Walking Dead," "Game of Thrones" and "Boardwalk Empire" have killed the characters we least expected, when we least expected.

    2. Skip the backstory.

    Nothing slows down a story like too much explanation - especially when it's repeated episode after episode, for viewers who haven't been watching or paying attention.

    On "The Walking Dead," we don't even know what created walkers. And we don't need to know. This season, "The Walking Dead" provided some basic background in its season premiere - and then kept moving.

    "The beginning of the season reestablished all the characters and all the dynamics really quickly and gave everybody an entry point," Mazzara said. "I did anticipate that we would have new audience joining us. I thought maybe people would catch up on DVDs over hiatus or something like that. But now the train's running, and you just need to catch up. We're not going to keep going back and reestablishing the rules. I believe that the audience is on board."

    3. Keep it simple.

    This one's tricky because, if anything, networks are too fond of simple, self-contained stories.

    Networks are wary of serialized dramas like "Lost," "The Wire" and "Breaking Bad," which are most rewarding to those who watch every episode. It's incredibly satisfying to watch stories unspool over weeks or years. But it's harder for heavily serialized shows to draw in new viewers, or to play in syndication.

    The self-contained nature of "CSI" episodes is one reason the show sells so well all over the world. But at their worst, sealed-off episodes limit character development and change.

    "Walking Dead" is the rare show that successfully manages both self-contained and long-term stories, in part by surprising us and skipping needless backstory. It benefits from a simple setup - people are trying to stay ahead of the zombies - that lends itself to both small dramas (will they make it over the fence?) and big ones (should they bring a child into this world?)

    "We never want to confuse things, and we certainly don't have a very complicated mythology," Mazzara said. "Part of what I like to do is to make sure every episode has a very clear mission and a very clear objective. ?. Even though it is a serialized drama, every episode is hopefully satisfying within itself. ... I'm not interested in filler episodes that just connect this episode to that."

    4. Leave room for debate.

    Shows dream of sparking the kind of online debates that make non-viewers want to join the fun. At the same time, shows are afraid of alienating new viewers with scenes that may require interpretation. "The Walking Dead" takes it as a given that viewers will go online for answers.

    "Our audience communicates with each other," Mazzara said. "And they have access to all the actors through Twitter.

    For example, in episode our guys are running through and they came across a cabin. And there's a guy suffering from some type of dementia in the cabin. Some of our audience thought that that guy was like Rip Van Winkle and was not aware that there zombies outside. Other people understand that he did suffer from dementia and was very confused that suddenly these people were in his house.

    "So there were debates online: Who was this guy, what was this? We didn't need to explain it. The audience in a sense communicated and talked about it, and they were part of a community and they worked it out. I don't need to explain every single scene to people. Let people talk about it, let people discuss it. And maybe that scene works for some people, maybe it doesn't work for some people. We happen to like the scene and thought it was interesting.

    "The audience figures things out. They're smart. They don't need to be spoon-fed."

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/walking-dead-4-things-networks-learn-cable-show-191503215.html

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    Factbox: Defectors from Assad government in Syria

    (Reuters) - Some prominent defectors from Bashar al-Assad's Syria in 2012, after foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi left the country this week.

    * Brigadier-General Adnan Qassem Farzat announced in March he had joined rebel forces in protest at the shelling of his home town.

    * Abdo Hussameldin, deputy oil minister, announced his defection in March, the first by a senior civilian official since the start of the uprising.

    * Jordan granted political asylum to Colonel Hassan Hamada, a Syrian pilot who flew his MiG-21 fighter to the kingdom in June.

    * Syria's charge d'affaires in London, Khaled al-Ayoubi, defected in July. He said he was no longer willing to represent a regime that had committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people.

    * Nawaf al-Fares, Syria's ambassador to Iraq, defected in July in protest at Assad's military crackdown.

    * Brigadier-General Manaf Tlas, who went to military college with Assad, fled to Turkey in July and then France.

    * In August, Prime Minister Riyad Hijab defected from the government and joined the opposition to Assad's rule.

    (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-defectors-assad-government-syria-122458361.html

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    Deceptive robots mimic squirrels and birds for potential military use

    Deceptive robots mimic squirrels and birds for potential military use

    The military has come up with a multitude of ways to utilize robotics, from bomb disposal and recon bots to Avatar-like surrogates. But a robot that takes its cue from squirrels and African birds to deceive its enemies is decidedly novel territory. Researchers from Georgia Tech, who are also working on a MacGyver bot with AI smarts, are making inroads into developing just such a robotic trickster. The Office of Naval Research led by Professor Ronald Arkin discovered that squirrels often deceive competing squirrels by visiting fake stash locations while their real acorn collection lies elsewhere, and have developed a robotic model that utilizes the same strategy. The programmed deceptive behavior was successful, as demonstrated in the video after the break.

    Another lesson from nature is from the African babbler, a species of bird that flocks and crowds around a predator without actually attacking it, with the assumption that it'll back away from the harassing mob. Based on their simulations, the team concluded that deception of this sort is often the right move when pushed against the wall, especially in military operations. "Being honest about the robot's abilities risks capture or destruction," said Arkin. However, he recognizes there is a real ethical quandary when it comes to deceptive robot behavior -- do we really want robots that can lie to us? It's a question that conjures up memories of Battlestar Galactica and brings chills down our spine. Here's hoping we can restrain the robotic deception to the good of mankind.

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    Source: Georgia Tech, Phys.org

    Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/03/deceptive-robots-mimic-squirrels-birds/

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    How To File A Cheap Bankruptcy : Texas Bankruptcy Blog

    Bankruptcy is a federal legal process that consists, at minimum, of filing a court petition, attending credit counseling classes, and meeting with a bankruptcy trustee. In every consumer bankruptcy case there are three categories of fees: (1) bankruptcy filing fees; (2) credit counseling fees; and (3) attorney fees. Filing a bankruptcy case does not have to be expensive or unaffordable. Below are some tips and tricks to keep costs low.

    Bankruptcy Filing Fees
    Because bankruptcy is a federal legal process, court filing fees are the same throughout the country. For a Chapter 7, an erase-your-debts-start-fresh bankruptcy case, the filing fee is $306. For a Chapter 13, a repayment plan, the filing fee is $281. These fees must be paid to the clerk of the court upon filing. However, with the court's permission individual debtors may pay in installments. The final payment cannot be later than 120 days after you file the petition. In some rare cases the filing fee may be waived altogether for debtors who earn less than 150% of the poverty level. Bankruptcy filing fees are the same whether a debtor files a single or joint husband and wife bankruptcy.

    Credit Counseling and Financial Management Courses
    The federal Bankruptcy Code requires each consumer debtor to receive credit counseling from a nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency approved by the United States Trustee within 180 days prior to filing a bankruptcy. This counseling fee is around $50.00 per household and is available in-person, by telephone, or over the internet. After filing, the debtor must complete an "instructional course concerning personal financial management." This class is also available in-person, by telephone, or over the internet for a fee around $50.00 per filer.

    The Bankruptcy Code directs approved providers of the credit counseling and financial management courses to provide services without regard to your ability to pay. If you can?t afford the counseling, the agency may waive the fee or require you to pay a lesser amount.

    Attorney Fees
    Attorney fees are negotiated between the debtor and the attorney. Attorney fees are paid up-front in Chapter 7 cases. In Chapter 13 cases, the attorney may elect to receive attorney fees in equal monthly installments. The attorney is paid from the debtor?s monthly payment to the trustee, and makes the entire process more affordable. A few not-for-profit agencies and private attorneys provide free bankruptcy representation to indigent individuals.

    If you are in need of debt relief, but are afraid that you cannot afford the bankruptcy fees, speak with an experienced bankruptcy attorney and discuss your options. There are strategies that you and your attorney can employ to make the process fit your budget.
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    Source: http://www.txbankruptcyblog.com/2012/12/articles/bankruptcy-news/how-to-file-a-cheap-bankruptcy/

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