Friday, November 30, 2012

Bailey set as women's league executive director

Associated Press Sports

updated 7:57 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2012

CHICAGO (AP) - Former U.S. women's national team general manager Cheryl Bailey will serve as the executive director of the new U.S. Soccer-led women's league that will begin play next year.

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced the appointment Thursday.

"Cheryl was a highly regarded employee for U.S. Soccer during her time with the women's national team and she has the perfect skill set and experience to help get this league up and running," Gulati said.

Bailey was the general manager of the U.S. women's national team from 2007-2011.

"It was a wonderful experience to be a part of the women's national team for five years and see firsthand the impact that women's soccer players can have as role models," Bailey said. "The new league is another extension of that and a vitally important part of the continued growth of the sport in the United States."

The eight-team league will have teams in Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, Portland, Seattle, Kansas City, western New York and Washington.

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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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PST: What a run. After Galaxy signed soccer superstar in 2007, everything changed for league ? more media exposure, franchise expansion and better players. A retrospective.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50018794/ns/sports-soccer/

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NLP Hypnosis ? Combining NLP and Hypnosis | OVIEW.NET

? posted on Friday, November 30th, 2012 at 1:35 pm by Oview

Though interrelated in many ways in which, NLP and hypnosis are 2 terribly totally different concepts. Hypnosis is more of an art while NLP is additional of a science. NLP or otherwise known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a method used by many psychotherapists to change folks behavioral patterns. This approach has been widely adopted within the sector of psychology.
Although NLP has been widely adopted inside the medical field, its usages have also unfold to the industrial sectors especially among the scope of human resources training. Many coaching experts these days use NLP to bolster their coaching methodologies. This can be to improve the quality of their training during their coaching sessions, workshops and seminars. By doing so, the trainers have a higher success rate in affecting positive behavioral changes with their participants.
Hypnosis is additionally a suggests that that is used to influence the mind and therefore the behavior of an individual, but this process is very unconventional, however none the less popular. Hypnosis generally targets the person?s subconscious. In this someone is commanded to perform actions, in an exceedingly state of 0.5 sleep. In such a frame of mind, the mind is additional conducive to the obeying and accepting external demands from a 3rd party. Unless recently, it was typically regarded that hypnosis was like addressing psychic. But currently this perception has entirely changed. Now hypnosis is treated with utmost scientific approach, in line with the new study, we have a tendency to face hypnotic trance almost daily in our lives. You yourself must have experienced hypnosis whereas watching scenes in a very movie or television.
Several consultants have questioned whether these 2 ideas can be merged along and if the solution is yes what would be the impact and significances of such the merger.

Trails have shown that such a merger of ideas and techniques is potential and this has lead to higher control over the disseminations of both data and skills particularly inside the realm of human resources training. Nowadays many training seminars adopted such approaches to attain most impact during their training sessions. When we combine both approaches, we tend to truly are managing each the acutely aware and subconscious mind thus giving the trainers higher management over the whole coaching sessions. The results of these combos have thus way being positive.
Hypnosis in contrast to NLP, encourage an individual to act out in an exceedingly sure manner and made to recall recollections that are buried deep inside our mind. It acts more on the subconscious mind.
It is vital that when you are planning a workshop using these techniques to consider only hiring professional who are consultants during this area. Hypnosis involves handling an individual?s sub acutely aware mind and as such is extraordinarily delicate matter to handle. This might call for additional investment

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Source: http://www.oview.net/self-improvement/nlp-hypnosis-combining-nlp-and-hypnosis.html

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NKorea preps rocket launch that would irk China

This Monday Nov. 26, 2012 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe and annotated by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies shows the Sohae Satellite Launch Station in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. According to analysis by SAIS, North Korea has moved two sections of a long-range rocket at the site in preparation for a launch that would alarm both its adversaries and lone ally China. SAIS says recent activity at the Sohae site suggests it could be ready to blast-off a three-stage rocket by the end of the first week in December. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe via SAIS)

This Monday Nov. 26, 2012 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe and annotated by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies shows the Sohae Satellite Launch Station in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. According to analysis by SAIS, North Korea has moved two sections of a long-range rocket at the site in preparation for a launch that would alarm both its adversaries and lone ally China. SAIS says recent activity at the Sohae site suggests it could be ready to blast-off a three-stage rocket by the end of the first week in December. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe via SAIS)

(AP) ? Satellite photos indicate North Korea has moved two sections of a long-range rocket in preparation for a launch that would alarm both its adversaries and lone ally China.

But North Korea has yet to announce its plans, leaving some uncertainty whether and when it will proceed with a launch that would be sure to draw international condemnation.

The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said Thursday the recent activity at the Sohae site on North Korea's northwest coast suggests it could be ready to launch a three-stage rocket by the end of the first week in December.

A commercial satellite photo taken Monday shows two long trailers, likely used to carry the first two stages of a rocket, according to an analysis written for 38 North, the institute's website. The trailers are parked near the main missile assembly building, where it says rocket stages would be checked before moving to the launch pad for takeoff about a half-mile away.

In April, North Korea fired a rocket from the same site in a failed attempt to launch a satellite into space, drawing U.N. censure as that technology can be easily converted into use for missiles. The launch dashed prospects for a resumption of international aid-for-disarmament talks.

South Korean officials confirmed Thursday there are signs of preparations at the rocket site. A launch in the next few weeks would be seen in Seoul as timed for South Korea's Dec. 19 presidential election.

Victor Cha, a former White House director of Asia policy, said Pyongyang has a track record of reacting to elections in both the U.S. and South Korea in provocative ways, most recently when President Barack Obama took office in 2009. North conducted a rocket and nuclear test within four months.

Another motivating factor for the North could be that South Korea recently won U.S. approval to expand its ballistic-missile range, and this week, was readying its own satellite launch. However, it scrapped those launch plans Thursday, citing technical problems.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and Washington says Pyongyang uses long-range rocket launches to develop missiles that could target the United States, although it is not yet believed to have miniaturized a nuclear device to mount on a missile.

A rocket launch would not only dismay the U.S. and its allies, but the North's chief ally and source of economic support, China, which is midway through a leadership transition.

"If North Korea does carry out a launch, Beijing will not be happy," said Evans Revere, a former senior U.S. State Department official and expert on East Asia. "It flies in the face of China's request for North Korea to reduce tensions in the region and not escalate them."

Past launches have happened in spring or summer when weather conditions are better, but according to the analysis on the institute's website 38 North, there are several telltale signs that one is being readied now.

As well as the trailers, the images show empty tanks in four locations suggest fueling preparations. There's work under way at an instrumentation site that would monitor a launch. Also, temporary structures for keeping the snow off cars have been erected near a building used to house visiting VIPs.

But any launch could still be weeks away. The analysis notes that North Korea has yet to provide notification for international flight and shipping of splashdown zones for the used rocket stages, as it did before the April launch. Nor has it filed a plan for a frequency for a signal that would be emitted by a satellite.

David Wright, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the launch preparation so soon after the April failure "calls into question whether the North could have analyzed and fixed whatever went wrong." North Korea has yet to successfully test a rocket with a range of more than 800 miles.

Another failure would embarrass young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, not yet a year in the job after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il, his father.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Sam Kim in Seoul, Seoul Korea, contributed to this report.

____

Online: http://38north.org/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-11-29-US-NKorea-Rocket%20Launch/id-18e8e8163e41446d995a2c268e97f2e3

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

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Android Juggernaut Slowed by iPhone 5, Returning Apple to Dominance

**Editor's note: Please click here for our list of October's hottest selling smartphones to see the showdown between the iPhone and its closest Android competitors..**

Google's Android operating system, estimated to control more than half of market share in many recent studies, will once again have to take a backseat to Apple and its iconic iPhone, at least for now.

Numbers from consumer researcher Kantar Worldpanel ComTech show that enormous sales of the iPhone 5 ? which went on sale in late September ? were enough to move the Apple mobile operating system (iOS) back into first place in the U.S. Its market share was 48.1 percent, compared to Android's 46.7 percent, in the 12-week period ending Oct. 28?? not bad when you consider that there's only one phone that runs on iOS and dozens, if not more, that use Android.?That leaves only 5 percent for BlackBerry, Windows Phone and others struggling to compete with the two most dominant operating systems in America ? and on the planet.

?The last time we saw iOS overtake Android in the U.S. was when the iPhone 4S was released and Apple managed to retain its lead for three consecutive periods," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "This time we predict that Apple will beat its previous high of 49.3 percent and achieve its highest ever share of the U.S. smartphone market within the next two periods."

Kantar Worldpanel says Android is still king in Europe, accounting for nearly 74 percent of sales in Germany and almost 82 percent in Spain during the period. Apple, however, is making gains in four of the five major European countries, with a particularly strong performance in Britain, where it holds almost a 33 percent share.

The researcher says the majority (62 percent) of iPhone 5 sales in the U.S. have been to existing owners wanting to upgrade. Apple also has benefited from Android users making the switch (13 percent).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/phoneplusNews/~3/7eisJ1A382I/android-juggernaut-slowed-by-iphone-5-returning-a.aspx

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Why did Obama invite Romney to lunch?

President Barack Obama is having Mitt Romney over for lunch on Thursday, and their meeting is already generating a lot of buzz. Here are five theories about the White House?s motives.

cspandebateObama and Romney were bitter rivals in the 2012 presidential campaign, with Obama getting a surprisingly big victory in the Electoral College.

Since then, Romney has stayed out of the spotlight, while Obama said he would invite Romney to the White House at some point.

The pair will have a private meeting for lunch, so there will be no press coverage or a photo opportunity.

So here are five theories that are floating around about the get-together.

1. Obama is extending a common courtesy

In 2008, President-elect Obama met with John McCain on November 17 in Chicago, and there was a photo op with the two men. McCain had lost to Obama, but he was still a U.S. senator.

At the time, McCain said he would ?obviously? help the incoming president, and the former foes issued a statement about bipartisanship.

Conditions are different in 2012, with Romney not holding a Senate position and Obama sitting in office as the incumbent.

We?re also not sure that there is a tradition of losing presidential candidates meeting with incumbent presidents.

The protocol for current presidents meeting with former presidents is entirely different.

You can read excerpts from a book called ?The President?s Club? for a look at how presidents interact.

2. Obama will offer Romney a Cabinet job

That doesn?t seem likely, since Romney is self-supporting financially and has a life outside politics, with 18 grandchildren.

If a job were forthcoming in the new Obama Cabinet, it would have to be approved by the U.S. Senate, with a majority vote.

Since the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, that could get interesting.

Also, as a Cabinet member, Romney would be reporting to Obama, which also would be interesting, given the mutual dislike between the candidates on the campaign trail.

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3. Obama will enlist Romney in the fiscal cliff debate

One issue where the candidates disagreed sharply on the campaign trail was on the fiscal cliff debate.

Romney was not in favor of raising taxes on higher income earners, because he believed it stunted the growth of business and hurt its ability to create jobs.

Obama was critical of Romney?s philosophy about the fiscal cliff, especially his attacks on entitlement spending.

However, one of Romney?s ideas on the campaign trail, a cap of income tax deductions for wealthier Americans, might become part of the negotiations in Congress in December.

Obama had floated out a similar plan in the past, but just after the election, Senate Democrats attached Romney?s name to it, as a way to get the Republicans to discuss it.

?Let?s just say there?s a renewed interest,? said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, as reported in The New York Times on November 13. ?Part of it is people reflecting on Obama?s proposal, but when Romney said what he said, it just added fuel.?

4. Obama wants Romney?s advice on business issues

That?s also a distinct possibility, since President Obama praised Romney?s business acumen after the campaign.

?He presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with. And so it?d be interesting to talk to him about something like that. There may be ideas that he has with respect to jobs and growth that can help middle-class families that I want to hear,? Obama said.

Of course, President Obama has scores of business advisers already, including friends in the private sector.

5. Obama wants closure on the 2012 presidential election, or something else?

President Obama said after the election that he was interested in talking with Romney about ways the two men could work together.

He used similar words about John McCain in 2008, after Obama easily defeated the Republican candidate. That didn?t come to pass.

One theory is that Obama could just want to be consistent in how he publicly handles his consecutive wins in 2008 and 2012, and it would be a slight to Romney if he didn?t extend a similar invitation for a sit-down meeting.

But in an editorial in Wednesday?s Washington Post, former Romney strategist Stuart Stevens paints a portrait of Romney as a good man who is a Washington outsider, who was never accepted by the GOP establishment.

?I appreciate that Mitt Romney was never a favorite of D.C.?s Green Room crowd or, frankly, of many politicians. That?s why, a year ago, so few of those people thought he would win the nomination,? Stevens said.

Given that some key Republican leaders criticized Romney for his post-election comments about Obama using ?gifts? to win the election, could Obama approach Romney about some kind of position related to bipartisanship or public service?

As odd as the idea sounds, Romney has made it clear he?s done running for public office, but has no plans to retire.

An Associated Press story earlier this month cited a Romney insider as saying the former candidate had an interest in philanthropic efforts or having a role in future Olympics efforts.

Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-theories-obama-meeting-romney-100811036.html

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Bank standards inquiry to question ex-HBOS CEOs

LONDON (Reuters) - Two former chief executives of HBOS will appear on Monday before British lawmakers conducting an inquiry into the bank's near collapse in 2008, as part of a wider review of banking standards.

HBOS had to be rescued in 2008 through a government-engineered takeover by Lloyds Banking Group which, weeks later, needed to ask for a 20 billion-pound government bailout to stay afloat.

Andrew Tyrie, the conservative MP who heads the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, said on Wednesday that the commission wanted to examine why HBOS failed and what lessons can be learnt to prevent future banking failures.

The commission will take evidence on Monday from James Crosby, HBOS chief executive between 2001 and 2005, and Andrew Hornby, who was CEO from 2006 until 2008. On Tuesday, it will hear from Lord Stevenson, HBOS chairman between 2001 and 2009.

"Two of these men were on the bridge when HBOS failed, when public money was needed to rescue it and when trust in our banking system - both within the industry and amongst the public - collapsed almost completely," Tyrie said.

HBOS's downfall was blamed upon the overly aggressive growth of its corporate division. Britain's financial regulator has said the bank failed to rein in high-risk loans at its Bank of Scotland unit even as rivals were scaling back.

The Financial Services Authority in September slapped a record fine on Peter Cummings, who was head of corporate lending at the bank, and banned him for life from working in the financial services industry. Cummings started running the corporate division in 2006 under Crosby and continued in the role when Hornby took over as CEO in July 2006.

Tyrie set up a sub-committee to examine the demise of HBOS because an ongoing FSA investigation into the bank will not be completed until after the banking standards commission is due to report its findings.

The HBOS sub-committee is using legal counsel for the first time in a public evidence-gathering session. It said on Wednesday it has appointed Rory Phillips as specialist adviser with the power to examine witnesses, along with existing counsel David Quest.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; editing by Larry King)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-bank-standards-inquiry-ex-hbos-ceos-125804739--finance.html

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Amazon's supply chain 'more admired' than Apple rival

A global poll of more than 1,000 supply chain executives has revealed that Amazon?s supply chain is ?more admired? than Californian rival Apple on almost all major supply chain attributes.

The research, conducted by SCM World, asked 1,136 executives to rate the two companies on four supply chain attributes; agility, collaboration, execution and innovation. Amazon came out top on three of the four attributes, with Apple leading on innovation alone.

Over half of respondents (58 percent) said they admired Amazon most overall for the way it operates its Supply Chain, compared with 37 percent who picked Apple. Five percent of respondents said neither.

These survey results are a reversal of the findings by Gartner Supply Chain?s Top 25 for 2012, which ranked votes of 173 practitioners and considered companies? financial performance to place Apple first and Amazon second.

Kevin O'Marah, Head of Faculty at SCM World and co-author of a new report,?Apple and Amazon: Lessons for the Rest of Us, said: "The purpose of our research was to establish which of these two leading companies is most admired by the global supply chain community for the way it manages its supply chain, and to understand what lessons they have to teach other companies.

"The results show clearly that the majority of supply chain professionals believe that Amazon - and not Apple - is the master of supply chain excellence," added O'Marah, a former Group Vice President for Supply Chain at Gartner and co-creator, in 2004, of the (then AMR Research) Supply Chain Top 25 annual ranking.

Amazon and Apple are currently locked in a high-profile battle in the fast-growing market for tablet devices and the digital content consumed on them. The companies' rival products, the Kindle Fire and iPad, are expected to be among the hottest purchases this Christmas. ?

Stats breakdown

On?agility?(defined as the ability to quickly and cost-effectively shift amounts and/or types of production and delivery to improve operational performance in volatile conditions),?62%?of practitioners in SCM World's poll voted for Amazon, compared with?33%who picked Apple.

On?collaboration?(the ability to work across organisational boundaries to solve systemic operational problems and create new value for both customers and partners),?59%?chose Amazon, versus?31%?for Apple.

And on?execution?(the consistent and reliable delivery against commitments and within budgeted expenses), practitioners backed Amazon by?57%?to?38%.

However, Apple won hands down on the fourth key characteristic of supply chain excellence -?innovation?- taking a massive 78%?of the vote, compared with just?19%?for Amazon.

Source: http://www.supplychaindigital.com/global_logistics/amazons-supply-chain-more-admired-than-apple-rival

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

194. UFO Filmmaker Paul Kimball on The Other Side of Truth ...

Interview with author and UFO filmmaker Paul Kimball.

Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with author and UFO filmmaker Paul Kimball. During the interview Kimball discusses the?hypocrisy?of belief in the paranormal:

Paul Kimball: ?Who?s the Paranormalist-In-Chief in the United States right now?? I had this dialogue with a friend of mine who?s a liberal Democrat in the United States who was going on and on about how we have to elect Barack Obama. I was going, ?Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I agree with you.?

But he was also a guy who continually would chide me about my interest in the paranormal. He would occasionally call it ?woo? and that sort of stuff. He was very big into the James Randi kind of stuff. So one day we?re sitting there and we?re talking about both of these things and I said, ?Well, wait a second now. You?re telling me that you?re going to go vote for a guy who has stated repeatedly that he believes in God, this telepathic being??

Alex Tsakiris:?? Hold on, Paul. I love that. It?s in the Introduction of your book and I have the exact quote that you include in the book and it?s really good. This is in a 2008 interview between Christianity Today and Barack Obama: ?I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.?

Paul Kimball:?? Right. So I asked my friend the next time I saw him after the election, ?Let me get this straight. You just voted in an election for the most powerful office in the world for a man who believes in the supernatural being with whom he communicates by telepathy. This supernatural being also sent his only Son to Earth to be tortured and executed and then brought Him back from the dead a couple of days later. All so a prophesy could be fulfilled. And of course, there?s the whole walking on water thing, not to mention the water to wine trick, the raising of the dead.? I could have mentioned the virgin birth, but I didn?t. And you think I?m a big goofy for having an interest in UFOs and ghosts??

And the point to me is in the materialistic world we live in now it has become very de rigueur to just dismiss all of this stuff and I understand why. Religion has gotten?and deservedly so?a bad name over the course of human history. But you should be able to separate organized religion from what?s actually out there. Call it spirituality; call it faith; call it philosophy, if you will.

Paul Kimball?s Website

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Today we welcome filmmaker Paul Kimball to Skeptiko. Paul has written a fascinating new book entitled, The Other Side of Truth, in which he takes us on a road trip of sorts through all sorts of questions about ghosts, extraterrestrials, reincarnation, and the afterlife. Quite a fascinating book.

Paul, welcome and thanks so much for joining me.

Paul Kimball:?? Hi, Alex. Good to be here. Long time listener, first-time guest as they say on some other sort of radio show, so great to be here talking to the Skeptiko audience.

Alex Tsakiris:?? That?s great to hear. As you know, I love the opportunity for the cross-fertilization, if you will, because I think there are so many opportunities when we look beyond the narrow field that we focus on. That narrowness is necessary, right?

To really understand something we have to focus on it but then it?s nice to back up and look at the bigger picture, which is certainly something that you?ve done in this book even though you?re probably best known as a documentary filmmaker?films like Best Evidence, film about UFOs and the best UFO cases and a bio pic that I really enjoyed titled, Stanton T. Friedman is Real. I love the way it starts out with him on the pulpit and you have almost like organ church music in the background. I thought that was really well done.

Paul Kimball:?? Well, thanks. I?ve been criticized actually by a number of people over the years. That was made almost 12 years ago. A number of people criticized me for the use of the organ music and I said, ?Well, you know, Stan Friedman is in many ways a Flying Saucer evangelist and that?s not necessarily a bad thing in a pejorative sense.? But that?s what he does. He goes out and he spreads the gospel of Flying Saucerdom as he sees it.

And so it was a little cheeky but you find out pretty quick that people on either extreme of any intellectual divide are singularly devoid of any sense of humor. So that was my first experience with the people who were on the far extremes of the UFO sub-culture. And yeah, they didn?t get it but most of the people in Canada and elsewhere who watched the film who are not particularly obsessed with UFOs but just wanted to see an interesting film?at least I think it?s interesting?about an interesting guy there?s no question.

Whether you agree with him or not, Friedman is a very interesting man who?s lived a very interesting life. Then they enjoyed the film. But the people that believe that aliens from Zeta Reticuli are coming here and harvesting our genetic material or whatever, they were less enthused. But fortunately filmmakers don?t make their films for particular audiences; they make them for everyone.

Alex Tsakiris:?? So from that you?ve ventured into something different with this book. Much broader, much more of this journey and encompassing a lot of different paranormal?that?s the term you always use?phenomena. What were you trying to accomplish here?

Paul Kimball:?? Well, the mistake a lot of folks have made?my mom?s sort of drilled it into me. When I was writing the book she said, ?You know, until you make a Spielbergian feature film hit (which I?m working on) you?re probably always going to be known for the UFO films you did,? despite the fact that the majority of my work as a filmmaker has had nothing to do with the paranormal.

I did two seasons of a television series for Bravo about classical music. I?ve done documentaries about music and art and all sorts of other subjects. But some of them had to do with UFOs and then I did a season of a show about ghosts. So, you know, my interests have always been far broader than the paranormal but I?m interested in the paranormal so I thought, ?Look, I?ve written this blog for years sort of about the paranormal but sort of about the world that I live in and my own views about various things. Why don?t I try and bring all those together and also bring together my own past??

Some of my own experiences but not just as it relates to the paranormal but as relates to my entertainment career. Before I was in the film industry I was a musician. Folks in the United States might or might not remember this but in Canada it was a big thing. We were known as the Seattle of the East Coast in the 1990?s Halifax. The Halifax pop explosion in Canada. So I was playing rock and pop music in the midst of that and like I said, a lot of my filmmaking has dealt with music. So I?ve always had this broad interest in art and music. In all sorts of things.

So I thought, ?Look, why don?t I just put them all into one big pot, stew it around, and see what comes out? See if there?s some sort of relationship between all of it?? And weirdly enough, as I figured out, to me at least there seems to be some sort of relationship to it, which is why the subtitle of the book is?I have to make sure I get this right?The Paranormal, The Art of the Imagination, and the Human Condition, which is something else that I?ve always been very concerned about even before I was into music and film.

My undergraduate degree is in history and political science and I have a law degree. So I was always very concerned about politics, about what was going on in the world around me. So all of those things. I mean, you talked at the very beginning about people having broad interests. It is good to focus but the book actually has a phrase that I take to heart and is a motto for my life which is ?The journey is the destination.?

I think people often get too focused on the destination. It?s like driving on an interstate from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and all you can do is think about getting to Las Vegas. Well, you miss some interesting things along the way, including a really good Greek restaurant. I think it?s in Barstow. But if you?re not willing to look at what?s around you as you?re focusing in on that destination, you?re going to miss everything else. And so what I wanted to do is create a book that didn?t just focus on a destination but actually looked at the journey.

Alex Tsakiris:?? So enjoy the journey. But I have to jump to the conclusion. What did you find out? What was the big take-away from the journey?

Paul Kimball:?? Yeah, this will probably drive people mad but the take-away from the journey, I guess, is that I?m still on the journey. But the over-arching theory which I hesitate to call a theory because I know that annoys people but I will. The over-arching theory is that there is an advanced non-human intelligence interacting with us, has been interacting with us through all of human history. I don?t say where it?s from. I don?t say what it is. I don?t even actually say that I firmly completely absolutely believe that this is true. I just say this is what I?m going to assume for the sake of argument and now I?m going to make the argument based on that.

There are three possibilities when you look at this advanced non-human intelligence interacting with us. It could either mean us harm; it could either mean us good in a positive sense; or it could mean benign neglect. I heard Michio Kaku give a lecture at the RSA in London in 2009, which I refer to in the book. He basically said that we are ants to any advanced non-human intelligences. That sort of relationship. So it?s not that they mean us harm; it?s not that they mean to do us any good. It?s just they don?t even really notice we?re here and we have no way of interacting with them. Just as ants really have no way of interacting with us?at least in his view.

Alex Tsakiris:?? Let?s go back to Michio Kaku because you have a great passage in the book?I think you really nailed this when you say that maybe the mistake that he?s made is in seeing us in this anthill and saying there?s no way that any message that this higher intelligence could be giving us could get through to us. It?s broken up into a million little pieces. You say in the book:

?The mistake that Kaku might have made, however, is seeing the message as something for us or about us or beyond us when it may well be that that message is us. Perhaps we are the information and slowly over the course of time the message is being reassembled into its whole.?

Pretty deep stuff there. Really great stuff but pretty deep. Talk about that for a second.

Paul Kimball:?? Well, there are two things that I take out of that. The first thing is?and I talk about this briefly in the book?humans actually do take an interest in ants. They can actually communicate with ants. I know because I do this myself and I talk about myself as a younger man sort of being the ants? Satan. I would fry them. I hate to admit it. I would fry them under the magnifying glass. I think all young boys might have done that at some point or another.

So if you?re an ant you would be looking up at me and going, ?Ahh, where is this coming from?? This is this horrible Ant?s Satan, not that they would phrase it that way. But I was bad. Now I?m more the God Scientist of ants. I?ll look down as I?m walking along. If I notice them I?ll watch their little behavior. I find them quite fascinating. So you know, in that sense I think Kaku was wrong that you can?t communicate. Even if you?re at that gulf you can?t communicate.

But then he continued on and he said, ?Well, look. We?re listening to them using steady radio signals. We?re trying to see UFOs or whatever it is that we?re trying to figure out. This is how we view extraterrestrials or an advanced non-human intelligence. But what if it?s something so much more interesting than that??

So they would be communicating. It could be thousands or millions of years in advance of us using technologies that we would call magic. It?s not even a science that we would understand. And so they?re communicating in all sorts of different ways. Then he broke it down and used the example of email. He said, ?Email was developed for military applications so that if there was a massive attack the information could be split up and reassembled.? And I didn?t really think of it at the time but I said, ?Wait a second now. What if we are the information??

At least to me this gets into the kinds of things that you?ve talked about about consciousness. About our relationship to ourselves but also to all the people around us. To the universe as a whole. I said, ?Well, Kaku might be right but for the wrong reasons.? He?s talking about it in terms of the very simplistic?if you want to look at it that way?just using the emails as an example. But what if you took that and you extended that even further and said, ?Wait a second. There is a form of communication going on. We?re a part of it. We are it.?

Alex Tsakiris:?? As you may know, I had a chance to talk with a fellow Canadian, Grant Cameron, a while back. He?s someone who?s dug deeply into UFO research and come out and said, ?Wow, it?s all about this consciousness thing.? He isn?t saying it from a theoretical basis; he?s saying, ?Hey, the evidence when I look at what I?ve uncovered, the insiders have told us that it?s about this consciousness thing.? Why is it so hard for many folks in the UFO community to approach these topics in a broader sense of consciousness?

Or even dare I say spiritual, because there is a certain spirituality that you bring to your book, as well, even though it doesn?t mention it explicitly very often. You have no problem weaving together transcendence, spiritual experiences from people like Christian mystic Henry Allen. You have no problem talking about people who have this belief in this relationship with God. You just very smoothly weave all that stuff together in a way that a lot of folks in the UFO community just can?t seem to get to. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Paul Kimball:?? Sure. I?ll preface it by saying I?ve never considered myself a UFO researcher nor have I any desire to ever be considered as a UFO researcher. You know, good for them but it?s just not where I?d like to be pigeonholed. I don?t like to be pigeonholed anywhere. You?ve read the book, Alex. I think that should be pretty clear.

Alex Tsakiris:?? Sure. But touch on that for a minute, Paul, before we move on. What about your experience as a filmmaker, as a presenter, pulls you back from saying you?re not a UFO researcher? There?s obviously a distinction there that I think is worth making and you?re making it but let?s be explicit about it. What?s the difference between you and a UFO researcher?

Paul Kimball:?? Two things; at least I think two things. I made a film about classical music. I don?t consider myself a classical musician. I?d like to. I?m just not that talented. So when I?m putting out films about folks who have researched, who have particular views, I?ve always believed the documentary.

Yes, you have a point of view. It?s impossible not to have this subjective point of view of the filmmaker drift into the film, no matter how hard you try not to do it. But I?ve always gone to great pains to be as objective as possible. To present both sides of the argument to the point where nobody I?ve interviewed?I?ve never had a complaint from anybody I?ve ever interviewed?what do you call them? Skeptics or disbelievers or true believers or whatever in the UFO stuff about how I presented their views. I?ve always given them a fair shake. So I think that?s part of it.

Also, I just don?t do that kind of research. I don?t dig through archives; I don?t go out and interview witnesses. I have talked to obviously people in the field but it?s not something that obsesses me. It?s just a very small part. When I step back from the actual work of doing films it might involve UFOs, what my life is. You know, UFOs is just a very small part of it.

So Grant, for instance, Grant it?s a very large part of his life and he?s dug through archives and made Freedom of Information Act requests and all that sort of stuff. Whether you agree with him or not, he can legitimately say he?s a researcher of the UFO subject like Stan Friedman can and some other people.

Then there?s the rest of us who are more commentaries or if you want to say bards in the sort of medieval way. We tell their stories. We give them the opportunity to present the research and then folks can make up their own minds. So yeah, that?s why I don?t consider myself a UFO researcher just because I?m not. But somebody like Grant Cameron is.

The difference is I think it does allow people like me or like my friends Nick Redfern and Gregg Bishop who are also writers and observers of the UFO scene and the paranormal scene to step back and view it more objectively, which I think gets back to the question that you had asked before about spirituality and stuff. I think it allows us to take a broader view.

For those who don?t know, Nick Redfern has written a wide range of books on everything from Bigfoot and sea monsters to UFOs. The UFO community hates the Bigfoot community in the sense that it?s like, oh, there can?t be any relationship between the two. There can?t be any relationship between ghosts. This is just within paranormal stuff. There can?t be any relationship between ghosts and UFOs. It?s all separate.

Then if you broaden it out and you say, ?Okay, let?s leave that part of the paranormal and let?s talk about spirituality or consciousness.?

?Oh, good heavens no. We don?t want to talk about Bigfoot or ghosts. We definitely don?t want to talk about consciousness. What we want to talk about?? The majority mean within the UFO subculture has been extraterrestrials coming to Earth from planet Zeta Reticuli or whatever in nuts-and-bolts flying saucers. It hasn?t really changed.

That narrative hasn?t really changed since the 1950s when it was very much informed by the sort of science fiction culture that people were living in at the time. Not just science fiction but also the science culture. You know, the advent of the Atomic Age and all that sort of stuff. So it?s very, very much rooted in something that happened 60 years ago and the majority of the people within the UFO subculture haven?t changed a great deal.

There are exceptions to that rule. Somebody like Jacques Vallee is a very good exception. Vallee began in the ?60s as a very much nuts-and-bolts UFOlogy kind of guy. He left that behind very quickly and he brought his scientific training and his very broad interests and looked at it in a much more holistic kind of way. So there are people like Vallee out there. I think there are more of them now than there used to be, but generally speaking those people don?t associate with the nuts-and-bolts crowd of UFO researchers because they just don?t find them very interesting.

The material that they cull to a point is interesting but actually getting into?it inevitably leads to fights and arguments and flame wars on the Internet or whatever. I think people who take a broader view?Call them Agnostics if you will?don?t have any time for that, whether it?s coming from the arch-disbeliever side or whether it?s coming from the arch-true believer side. Different sides of the same coin for those of us that sit where my friend Greg Bishop has called ?the excluded middle.?

Alex Tsakiris:?? I?m not sure on that point that I totally agree with you because I think that there?s a huge difference between accepting a reality to the UFO phenomena and rejecting and denying a reality to the UFO phenomena. I think there?s more of a parallel between deniers of different stripes, if you will, than there is between the two sides of the same coin, the radical UFO believer and the radical UFO denier. Do you know what I mean on that?

Paul Kimball:?? I do. For me, the spirituality thing is a good example. I?m an Agnostic when it comes to questions of faith or spirituality or whatever tag you want to put on it. I look at both sides. I could look at Tim LaHaye who wrote the horrible Left Behind novels about the post-apocalyptic end of the world on one hand and I can look at Richard Dawkins on the other hand. I can say, ?Well, you know what? Both of them have something that I can find remotely interesting.?

But to me when I deal with those folks it?s like walking into a bar. I apologize in advance if this sounds a little sexist but you can flip it around. I?m a guy so I?m going to use the guy example. A guy walks into a bar and sees a bar full of women. He sees two other guys standing in the bar and they are consistently looking at only that one woman and they?re both trying to get her. They?re both presenting their best case and they?re both arguing over her. They?re fighting and all that sort of stuff. I don?t care because there?s a bar full of other very interesting women. If you?re woman walking in you?d see a bar full of other interesting men.

So that?s what I look at and I see people on the extremes of other side. Honestly, I?ve spent enough time with the UFO true believers?Lord knows I?ve spent enough time with UFO true believers to know. And I?ve spent enough time talking to the James Randi types, the psi-cop types, the dis-believers. Once you talk to them at any length you realize that they are both exactly the same. They?re locked into this?it?s like the old Star Trek episode from the original series where Lazarus shows up and there?s the anti-matter Lazarus and the matter Lazarus.

Or Loki. Even a better example. The two guys with different colors on different sides of the face. Loki and whatever the police officer?s name was. They just can?t get beyond their fight that?s been going on for thousands of years. No matter how hard Kirk and the Enterprise crew try to tell them, ?Look, we?ll take you back. You can live in the Federation. You can have a great life. You can move beyond that,? they can?t. And it led to the eventual destruction of the world.

There?s nothing that I?ve ever experienced that you can profit from getting involved in those conversations. I get where you?re coming from; I absolutely understand. Frankly, if you put a gun to my head and said, ?Would you rather spend time with the true believers of any stripe, whether it?s UFOs or God or whatever, or the true dis-believers,? I?ll choose the true believers because at least I think they?re a little more fun. And they?re just less churlish.

Alex Tsakiris:?? Yeah, I hear you on that. But since the book title is The Other Side of Truth and you?re true to that in what you just said and I appreciate that, but I guess I want to get to nudging a little bit closer to The Truth. Of course, that always throws people off because there is no ?The? truth. There is no ultimate truth. I mean, that?s the reality that you?ve come to in your conclusion. It?s about the journey. It?s the reality that I?ve come to that it is really about the journey. It?s about our personal process.

At the same time, in this enterprise you and I are engaged in here, we?re going to play this game that there is a truth and we have to move a little bit closer to it. To that extent there?s this dialogue that?s going on that?s dominating our culture. It?s this dialogue about what we are, about who we are, and I think the UFO phenomena has a definite take on that. If there?s a reality to the UFO phenomena, it has a strong influence on our understanding of who we are and what we are.

I?d say the same thing about?I hear you on the Fundamentalist Christians. They can be a real pain but if we step back and we say, ?Gee, if we had to judge it looks like they are more right, more true, more real than our hardcore Atheist skeptics over here.? I mean, there?s useful information there that I want to take away and use for my personal journey.

Paul Kimball:?? Absolutely. And the interesting thing to me, and I point this out in the book at the very beginning, I say that I?m just going to talk about the hardline?they would call themselves skeptics. I really do like the term ?Fundamentalist disbelievers.? They look and they use terms like ?woomeister.? I hear that all the time. I think I?ve even seen that directed at you on occasion. You know, whatever sort of pejorative terms. I know it?s been directed at me. Whatever the pejorative terms, we?re in good company.

People are so focused on bringing people down. I step back and say, ?Whoa. Who?s the Paranormalist-In-Chief in the United States right now?? I had this dialogue with a friend of mine who?s a liberal Democrat in the United States. Being a Canadian I don?t have very many friends who are conservative Republicans, so all my American friends are liberal Democrats. But he was going on and on about how we have to elect Barack Obama. I was going, ?Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I agree with you.?

But he was also a guy who continually would chide me about my interest in the paranormal. He would occasionally call it ?woo? and that sort of stuff. He was very big into the James Randi kind of stuff. So one day we?re sitting there and we?re talking about both of these things and I said, ?Well, wait a second now. You?re telling me that you?re going to go vote. You?re going to mark an X or whatever?? I don?t know what his state does, hanging chads or whatever. ?You?re going to vote for a guy who has stated repeatedly that he believes in God, this telepathic being??

Alex Tsakiris:?? Hold on, Paul. I love that. It?s in the Introduction of your book and I have the exact quote that you include in the book and it?s really good. This is in a 2008 interview between Christianity Today (consider the source here) and Barack Obama.

What I?d love to do is since I read this quote in your book, I?ve always had this fantasy of walking up to people on the street with a camera?your kind of thing, a documentarian?and giving people this quote and not telling them who it?s from and then having them pick from the various candidates out there from the right wing-most ardent Christian to Barack Obama. No one would properly credit this to Barack Obama. But that?s too much of an aside. Here?s the quote that he gave to Christianity Today:

?I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.?

Paul Kimball:?? Right. I?m looking at it too and I?ll just read what my reaction was because I think it was much pithier at the time than I might remember now. I write:

?So I asked my friend the next time I saw him after the election, ?Let me get this straight. You just voted in an election for the most powerful office in the world for a man who believes in the supernatural being with whom he communicates by telepathy. This supernatural being also sent his only Son to Earth to be tortured and executed and then brought Him back from the dead a couple of days later. All so a prophesy could be fulfilled. And of course, there?s the whole walking on water thing, not to mention the water to wine trick, the raising of the dead.? I could have mentioned the virgin birth, but I didn?t. And on and on and on.

And so I remember the conversation very well. I paused for effect. My friend began to frown and I delivered the punch line.

?And you think I?m a big goofy for having an interest in UFOs and ghosts??

I think he finally got the point.?

And the point to me is in the materialistic world we live in now it has become very de rigueur to just dismiss all of this stuff and I understand why. Religion has gotten?and deservedly so?a bad name over the course of human history. But you should be able to separate organized religion from what?s actually out there. Call it spirituality; call it faith; call it philosophy, if you will.

Alex Tsakiris:?? Back to a point you mentioned a little bit ago. One of the things that you run into when you deal with the paranormal or when you try to wrap your arms around spirituality or whatever is beyond as you?re saying is, as you just mentioned, the extent to which it is intentionally obscured by our culture or by certain groups within our culture that see it as being in their benefit to direct things in a certain way.

I thought it was refreshing that you don?t seem to engage too much in that we?ve got to beat the skeptics and they?re out to get us kind of thing, which is great. But at the same time, as a filmmaker what do you think is your obligation to bring people closer to stripping away some of those preconceived ideas they may have to reveal a deeper truth that has been intentionally obscured from our view?

Paul Kimball:?? Absolutely. I think the obligation is to present the information. So take the Friedman film, for instance. In Stanton T. Friedman is Real you obviously have Stan telling his life story, talking about the things he believes and that he considers true. I give not quite equal time but I gave Vaughn Rees, who is with the Center for Scientific Inquiry which is part of CSICOP, Karl Pflock, who was a UFO researcher but who was also very much a skeptic to the point where they called him within the UFO community a dyed-in-the-wool debunker when it came to Roswell, which is of course Friedman?s big thing. That?s the one thing that he?s really hung his hat on for 35 years.

I gave them equal time but I?m actually a big believer that people are smart. I think?and this is will be my one poke at folks on either side of the intellectual divide, the arch-disbelievers and the arch-believers?that the Richard Dawkins? and the Tim LaHaye?s or whatever you want to call them?I think they have very little respect for the average human being and the ability of the average human being to look at as much information as you can give them from all different perspectives and come up with their own conclusions, which might actually be different than the one you hold.? That?s fine.

Alex Tsakiris:?? Tell us what else is going on with you, with the book, The Other Side of Truth. When is it officially going to be out? What other projects are you working on?

Paul Kimball:?? It?s officially out now, Alex. It?s available on Amazon.com; you can get it from my company?s website. It?s kind of a test run because after years of making films I decided, you know what? I love books. So I started a publishing company and I?ve been working on editing a series of new books that are going to be coming out over the next year.

I moved away from television and documentaries a couple of years ago and I?ve moved into something that I?d always wanted to do which was drama. Theatre, film. So I?ve actually started directing a feature film script that I wrote next month. Weirdly enough, the film is a psycho-sexual thriller with supernatural overtones. So even when I move into dramatic work I can?t quite get away from the paranormal or the supernatural.

Alex Tsakiris:?? Great. The book again is, The Other Side of Truth. Quite a fascinating journey, as you?ve talked about here. Best of luck with it. Thanks again for joining me, Paul.

Paul Kimball:?? Thanks for having me, Alex. Good talking to you.

?

Source: http://www.skeptiko.com/paul-kimball-on-the-other-side-of-truth/

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OCZ Vector SSD review roundup: consistently fast

OCZ Vector SSD review roundup consistently fast

When OCZ gave us a peek at its Vector SSD, we were curious as to how the drive would fare with a Barefoot 3 controller built through the team from its Indilinx buyout. Would it be the validation of a new strategy, or produce classic rookie mistakes? As long as you're fine with the OCZ badge, it's mostly the former. Reviews don't have the Vector winning outright in every benchmark, but it's one of the more reliably quick drives on the market; multiple sites point out that Barefoot 3's balanced approach to techniques like garbage collection (freeing up data blocks for future use) keeps the overall speed high. Write performance is the strong suit, staying closer to the ideal where others sometimes trail off quickly. Drawbacks most center around the less predictable factors -- Barefoot 3 doesn't have an established track record for reliability, and the pricing isn't always favorable against high-end peers like Samsung's SSD 840 Pro. That OCZ managed to do so well with its first in-house controller is still a positive sign, and those willing to give the Vector a shot may find it worth the initial uncertainty.

Read - HardOCP
Read - HotHardware
Read - Legit Reviews
Read - The Tech Report
Read - TechSpot
Read - Tom's Hardware

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/27/ocz-vector-ssd-review-roundup/

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Gift Guide: The 5th Generation iPod Touch

giftguide-1280px-ipod-touchApple's iPod touch is arguably among the last of a dying breed, being a standalone media player that isn't also a phone. But just because you're among a species on the verge of extinction doesn't mean you can't shine, and the 5th generation iPod touch brings a lot of goodness to the table for a connected mobile device that can't call anyone.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7b2SUFJ76qI/

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Segregation Is Legal ? LewRockwell.com Blog

Segregation Is Legal

The University of Colorado is segregating?the "no gun" and "have gun" students on campus, and media reports claim no one wants to live in the designated gun dorm. But the real question is, will the semi-auto folks discriminate against the revolver types? Or, since this is Colorado, will the revolver crowd shun the semi-auto city slickers? Follow me on Twitter @karendecoster.

Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/127089.html

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Monday, November 26, 2012

Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Hybrid 3D printer could fasttrack implantable cartilage

Most of the attention surrounding 3D printers in medicine has focused on patching up our outsides, whether it's making skin to heal wounds or restoring the use of limbs. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just detailed a technique that could go considerably deeper. By mixing natural gel put through an inkjet printer with thin and porous polymer threads coming from an electrospinner, researchers have generated constructs that could be ideal for cartilage implants: they encourage cell growth in and around an implant while remaining durable enough to survive real-world abuse. Early tests have been confined to the lab, but the institute pictures a day when doctors can scan a body part to produce an implant that's a good match. If the method is ultimately refined for hospital use, patients could recover from joint injuries faster or more completely -- and 3D printers could become that much more integral to health care.

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Via: Gizmag

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French hostage in Mali appeals for help from Paris

DAKAR (Reuters) - A French man kidnapped by Islamist rebels last week in southwest Mali said he blamed France's foreign policy for his abduction and urged Paris to respond to his captors' demands in a video shown on Monday.

Gilberto Rodriguez Leal, 61, was taken hostage on November 20 after crossing from Mauritania into Mali, where Islamist militants took advantage of the chaos surrounding a March coup to seize the northern two thirds of the country.

European leaders are growing increasingly anxious Mali could turn into a platform for militant attacks, and France is the most vocal Western backer of a plan for African troops to retake the country's north.

Six other French nationals are also in the hands of Islamist groups in the surrounding Sahara desert.

The video, published by Mauritanian news website Alakhbar, showed a bespectacled, unshaven man with white hair, flanked by two men carrying rifles and wearing beige uniforms.

"My name is Rodriguez Leal, Gilberto. I was kidnapped in Diema, between Nioro and Bamako, by MUJWA," he said, referring to one of the Islamist groups controlling northern Mali. "I ask that the French government responds quickly to their demands."

"I am not to blame for this kidnapping, it is the government's foreign actions that are to blame," he said, adding that he was being treated well by his captors. Alakhbar said it had received the footage from MUJWA.

It was not clear what MUJWA's demands were, but Islamist groups in the Sahara have routinely demanded ransoms of millions of dollars to release hostages, and MUJWA has said France has paid ransoms in the past.

A French foreign ministry spokesman confirmed it was Gilberto in the video.

"We are aware of the pictures of our compatriot. We are currently examining the video to verify its authenticity and we remain completely mobilised to help him," the spokesman said.

Mali's Prime Minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, arrived in Paris on Monday to hold talks with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday about the possible African military intervention.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-hostage-mali-appeals-help-paris-175045373.html

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

BAE may close major UK shipyard: paper

LONDON (Reuters) - British defense contractor BAE Systems may close one of its major shipyards in Britain as it looks to balance capacity with future workloads, a top executive has told a newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Nigel Whitehead, who is group managing director, programs and support, told the Sunday Telegraph that BAE, which operates a shipyard in Portsmouth and two in Glasgow, "anticipate(s) that there will be a reduction in footprint".

"We anticipate ... that part of that might actually be the cessation of manufacturing at one of the sites," he was quoted as telling the paper. "We will be making decisions this year, so we have a number of weeks in which to do that."

The company is facing a drop in work once work on the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers are completed.

The paper said industry insiders believe BAE's base at Portsmouth is most at risk, with an estimated loss of 1,500 jobs. It said the Royal Navy's base at Portsmouth, where BAE also does repairs, is not at risk.

The news comes just weeks after talks between BAE and EADS on the world's largest defense and aviation merger collapsed.

"We continue to work closely with the Ministry of Defence to explore all possible options to determine how best to sustain the capability to deliver complex warships in the UK in the future," a spokeswoman for BAE told Reuters.

"This work is ongoing and we are committed to keeping our employees and trade unions informed as it progresses."

(Reporting by Laurence Fletcher and Rhys Jones; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bae-may-close-major-uk-shipyard-paper-144718636--finance.html

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Bizarre Perpetual Sleepiness Explained

A new treatment may help people with a bizarre medical condition that makes them perpetually sleepy.

The findings, detailed Nov. 21 in the journal Science Translational Medicine, may provide relief for the people who sleep constantly and feel exhausted despite caffeine, other stimulants, and several alarm clocks.

People with hypersomnia need to sleep about 70 hours a week and have trouble rousing from sleep. When they are awake, they usually feel as if they've pulled an all-nighter, and describe it as walking around in a fog. Most people come to a diagnosis after conditions like depression, sleep apnea or thyroid problems have been ruled out, said study co-author David Rye, a sleep researcher at Emory University.

"You look for the typical causes, and then once you rule all those out, you're left with people who still sleep 12, 13, 14, 15 hours," Rye told LiveScience.

For obvious reasons, intense sleepiness can put a crimp in patients' work and social lives. While no one knows exactly how many people have this condition, Rye estimates that roughly 1 in 800 people might be afflicted. Doctors often prescribe patients stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall, but they don't usually work. [5 Things You Didn't Know About Sleep]

So Rye's team wondered whether brain chemicals could cause hypersomnia. Because spinal fluid provides a snapshot of the chemicals floating around the brain, the team took spinal taps from 32 patients with the disease and 16 healthy subjects.

When they put the spinal fluid in a dish with human cells, nothing happened.

So the researchers added a chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps the body shut down. The spinal fluid of the ultra-sleepy amplified the effects of GABA, making it bind much more often to the human cells. (Past research showed a link between GABA and sleep paralysis, or the phenomenon in which one wakes up while his or her muscles are still frozen.)

The sleepy patients were producing a brain chemical that kept them half-sedated all of the time, Rye said.

In a petri dish, adding a drug called flumenazil, which revives patients who have overdosed on sedatives such as Valium, reversed the effects of the sleepy peoples' spinal fluid.

They then tested flumenazil in the sleepy patients. Before taking the drug, hypersomniacs performed as well as the extremely sleep-deprived or slightly inebriated on a test of alertness.

"They're walking around essentially legally drunk all day," he said.

Afterwards, the sleepy cohort performed almost as well as healthy individuals.

The findings suggest that the drug could be an effective treatment for those with hypersomnia, but a follow-up study needs to prove that they actually sleep less at night, he said.

Currently, the drug is only used to treat drug overdoses or to awaken patients unconscious from anesthesia, so the amount of the drug currently produced could only treat a handful of patients. Production would need to increase before it could be widely used, he said.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.?

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bizarre-perpetual-sleepiness-explained-151531812.html

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Saturday, November 24, 2012

New 3-D movie technology: are viewers ready?

6 hrs.

When the?3-D version of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" debuts in movie theaters on Dec.?14, the film will likely wow viewers with its special effects. But audiences at select theaters will get even more bang for their buck: they?ll be the first to witness a new technology that displays images at a rate of 48 frames per second, twice as fast as the current standard.

The new display rate is sure to look different. Whether audiences will like it is less certain. So far, early reviews have been mixed, according to 3D Focus, a website that tracks changes in 3-D-viewing technology.?

BLOG: Is 3-D vision bad for you??

Some people think the effects look "too real." For others, eyestrain, headaches, nausea and other discomforts are as much of a hazard as they were with the older technologies. That's because most films that are designed to make images look like they are popping out of the screen work by showing each eye different pictures at different times. That forces the brain to merge conflicting messages -- an obstacle that 3-D studios are still working to overcome.

"People really differ," said Marty Banks, a vision scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. "Some people just don't get it and they're fine. Other people are fairly uncomfortable. The industry is really worried about this. They're listening to us?scientists and they?re taking our advice."

ll movies, whether "2-D" or "3-D" create the illusion of movement by flashing one still image after another onto the screen at a rate that is fast enough to fool our brains into seeing action. If the sequence of images is presented too slowly, the result is a shaky effect called "judder" that can sometimes look like a double image.

3-D technology (which Banks prefers to call stereo-3-D or S3-D because even "2-D" movies look three-dimensional) raises the risk for judder because these films usually show screen shots in an alternating sequence to one eye at a time. First the left eye sees an image, then the right eye sees one, then the left eye sees the next image, and so on.

With the latest generation of 3-D glasses, polarizing filters allow each eye to see light coming from just one direction, and screen shots are displayed so that a single lens is targeted at a time. When one eye is stimulated, the other eye is presented with darkness.

It's up to the brain to put everything together into a coherent picture. But with each eye seeing alternating flashes of brightness and darkness, jumpy judder can creep in, causing distraction or discomfort.

BLOG: Sony?s 3-D digital recording binoculars

To solve that problem, 3-D films that are shot at a standard 24 frames per second actually show the left eye a single image three times in a row with flashes of darkness in between. Then the right eye gets its image three times in a row, and that pattern continues for the entire film. This "triple flashing" allows the screen to display 72 frames per second, which reduces flicker effects.

For the new Hobbit, director Peter Jackson used new technology to film at 48 frames per second instead of 24. In real life, our visual systems take in information continuously, and some experts speculate that images will need to be captured at more than 100 or even 150 frames per second before a movie looks truly real. But with any increase in frame-rate speed, motion should look smoother and more realistic.

"As you increase the rate of new incoming data, you're getting closer and closer to the real world," Banks said. "At some rate, you will get to the point where you can?t tell the difference."

But first, moviemakers have some technical issues to deal with.

One question, Engle said, is whether the technological limitations of the projectors used by most theaters will require them to use fewer flashes for each eye before switching to the other eye?s image????a switch that could actually cause new stuttering problems.

NEWS: Underwater movie maker: Shaun MacGillivray

Some theaters use a dual-projector set-up that gets around that issue by showing images to both eyes at the same time, and in those cases, Engle said, the results should be spectacular. But theaters that use a single projector to display 3-D movies will have some new decisions to make, and audiences might not be universally happy about the final product.

"You have to be careful what you wish for," said Rob Engle, 3-D supervisor at a major film studio in Burbank, Calif. "If you have to make compromises in order to increase the frame rate by decreasing the flash rate, you start to run into trade-offs."

As higher frame rates lead to more realism, dismay is also cropping up among people who are used to seeing films that look like films rather than television or real life. Similar complaints have emerged whenever filmmaking technology has risen to a new level over the decades.

"Every time we've moved closer to reality by adding sound, adding color or getting rid of scratches, in the end, the audience has accepted it and there's no going back," Banks said. "I think the same is going to be true here.

"In the end, we all want immersion. We want to feel like we're in that scene and closer to reality. I think once people see it, they are going to go, 'Wow. I want that.'"

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/new-3-d-movie-technology-are-viewers-ready-1C7206887

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PFT: NFL could change red-flag rule during season

Atlanta Falcons v New Orleans SaintsGetty Images

It?s already been a busy week in the NFL and we?re only three games into the schedule.

There are 13 more slated for Sunday and the 26 teams taking part have handed in their injury reports for the week. Thankfully, there are no cases of trauma induced by wishbones or Black Friday shopping on any of them.

We?ve got a roundup of what injuries are worth watching for all the games right here.

Vikings at Bears

It doesn?t look good for Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin. He didn?t do anything but stretch at Friday?s practice and he?s been listed as doubtful to make his return from an ankle injury. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is waiting for clearance from an independent neurologist on Saturday. If he gets it he?ll almost certainly move from questionable to probable. Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is out after having his knee scoped.

Raiders at Bengals

It?s another week without running back Darren McFadden, defensive tackle Richard Seymour and running back Mike Goodson for the Raiders. Running back Taiwan Jones is also questionable in the injury ravaged Oakland backfield. Wide receiver Andrew Hawkins and tight end Richard Quinn are doubtful for the otherwise healthy Bengals.

Steelers at Browns

Steelers quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich are out, leaving the job to Charlie Batch. Tackle Marcus Gilbert and wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery have also been ruled out by Pittsburgh. Safety Troy Polamalu is doubtful after a long-awaited, limited return to practice on Friday and wide receiver Antonio Brown is questionable. Cornerback Joe Haden plans to play for the Browns, who ruled out cornerback Dimitri Patterson and safety Raymond Ventrone.

Bills at Colts

There are 16 probable Bills, including running backs Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller. Spiller?s getting the start on Sunday, though. The Colts could get tight end Coby Fleener back after the rookie was listed as questionable, but cornerback Vontae Davis is likely to miss his fourth straight game after drawing a doubtful tag.

Titans at Jaguars

The Titans have a group of questionable players, although none of them play major roles for the team. Running backs Maurice Jones-Drew and Greg Jones will miss another Jaguars game. Safety Dwight Lowery and cornerback Rashean Mathis could return after landing questionable designations.

Broncos at Chiefs

With cornerback Tracy Porter cleared to return, the Broncos are light on injury issues to watch. The Chiefs may be soliciting volunteers on the offensive line with tackle Branden Albert doubtful and guards Jon Asamoah and Ryan Lilja questionable for Sunday. Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe is probable, however.

Seahawks at Dolphins

Seven Seahawks are probable, including running back Marshawn Lynch, and all are expected to be healthy enough to play. The Dolphins are in pretty much the same shape, outside of tagging linebacker Austin Spitler as questionable.

Falcons at Buccaneers

Wide receiver Julio Jones, cornerback Asante Samuel and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon are listed as questionable for the Falcons, although all three players were able to practice this week. Safety Charles Mitchell is out. The Buccaneers don?t have much to report on their injury report. Safety Cody Grimm is out and cornerback Eric Wright is questionable with an Achilles injury.

Ravens at Chargers

Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith will miss another game after sports hernia surgery. Cornerback Chris Johnson is doubtful, defensive end Pernell McPhee is questionable and 13 Ravens are probable on an injury report made more comprehensive following their fine for not reporting safety Ed Reed?s shoulder injury. The Chargers hope to get defensive tackle Aubrayo Franklin back this week as he?s listed as questionable after missing last week?s loss to the Broncos. Linebacker Larry English and wide receiver Eddie Royal are out, while guard Tyronne Green and tight end Dante Rosario are doubtful.

Rams at Cardinals

Linebacker Mario Haggan is out for Arizona and wide receiver Danny Amendola is doubtful after missing practice all week with an injured foot. Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb is questionable, but rookie Ryan Lindley gets the start for Arizona. Defensive end Calais Campbell and running back LaRod Stephens-Howling are both questionable while running back Beanie Wells is probable to make his return from a stint on injured reserve.

49ers at Saints

The 49ers aren?t saying who will start for them at quarterback, which makes Alex Smith doubly questionable. New Orleans could be in trouble at right tackle with Charles Brown out and Zach Strief questionable. Defensive end Junior Galette and cornerbacks Elbert Mack and Corey White have been ruled out.

Packers at Giants

Linebacker Clay Matthews, safety Charles Woodson, cornerback Sam Shields and linebacker Terrell Manning are all out for the Packers. Wide receiver Greg Jennings is questionable after making a return from a torn abdominal muscle at practice this week. The Giants have ruled out wide receiver Domenik Hixon and linebacker Jacquian Williams. Safety Kenny Phillps is questionable, although he has predicted a return to action this week.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/23/after-detroit-debacle-nfl-could-change-red-flag-rule-during-season/related/

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