Criminal lawyer courts UK charts in her alter ego as pop star

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian lawyer who for years has traded her staid court robes and wig for fur and lycra to sing pop tunes in her off hours now stands only a step away from every musician's dream - breaking into the top 10 on the music charts.

"Luv Bomb", the debut single by "Bowie Jane", the 27-year-old's musical alter ego, has climbed to No. 11 on the UK Pop Club Charts in the high point of a double life she has kept secret for more than four years.

"Of course my close friends were aware ... but generally it hasn't been too hard to keep the two separate," said Bowie Jane, declining to reveal her real name, in an email to Reuters.

"I dress differently in court and I don't have a fringe. On stage you wouldn't pick it was the same person."

Passionate about music all her life, she originally wanted to pursue it as a career but went to university and became a lawyer to please her parents, who wanted her to have something practical to fall back on.

A typical day involved arriving at court, meeting with clients and preparing a case before racing off in the evening for her shows. Once, she had to leave early to get to her performance on the main stage at the Australian Open tennis.

"I'd perform, then go home with a husky voice, rest and get up and do court the next day," she said.

The hectic double life occasionally has led to her wearing her stage costumes under her legal robes.

"I really have to flick my mind from one mode to the other. I am very serious in court and on stage I am the complete opposite," she said.

(Reporting By Thuy Ong; Editing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/criminal-lawyer-courts-uk-charts-her-alter-ego-065919582.html

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Pakistan's Musharraf flees court as judge orders his arrest

By Matthew Green

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was forced to flee a courtroom on Thursday moments after judges ordered his arrest, dealing a fresh blow to hopes of reviving his political career at next month's general elections.

Musharraf's hasty exit from the Islamabad High Court seemed to symbolize the diminished influence of a former army chief who once dominated Pakistan's political landscape, but whose bid to stage a triumphal comeback has garnered widespread scorn.

The order pushed Pakistan's increasingly audacious judiciary into uncharted territory, challenging a long-standing, unwritten rule that the top ranks of the army, which ruled Pakistan for decades, are untouchable.

"Islamabad High Court has canceled Musharraf's bail and ordered his arrest," Mohammad Amjad, secretary-general of Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party, told Reuters.

Amjad added that Musharraf's lawyers would lodge an appeal against the arrest order at the Supreme Court later in the day.

Despite Taliban death threats and a host of legal challenges, Musharraf returned from almost four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai last month in the hope of winning a seat in the National Assembly at the May 11 polls.

But his arrival has placed him at the mercy of judges whose memories are still raw of a showdown in 2007 when he sacked the chief justice, placed his colleagues under house arrest, and lawyers fought running battles with police.

Musharraf's hopes of standing in the elections were dashed earlier this week when election officers barred him from standing, in part due to the various legal challenges he faces.

On Thursday, a judge ordered he be detained in connection with allegations he committed treason during his 2007 confrontation with the judges when he declared emergency rule, a move which violated the constitution.

HUMILIATING SPECTACLE

Pakistani television repeatedly broadcast footage of Musharraf dashing from the court in a black SUV as several disgruntled lawyers made half-hearted attempts to pursue his vehicle - a scene that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago when Musharraf was at the height of his powers.

Police made no immediate move to arrest Musharraf, who retreated to a farm in an exclusive residential estate on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Some commentators believe it is unlikely Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and resigned in 2008, will be arrested since the military would be unlikely to tolerate such a humiliating spectacle for a retired chief.

"I don't think the military establishment would support any move against him," said Mehdi Hasan, a newspaper columnist.

Although Musharraf's legal battles have provided an electrifying sideshow in the election race, he commands scant popular support and the outcome of the drama is unlikely to have much impact on the final results.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, is seen as the frontrunner to win the premiership.

Pakistan's military has ruled the nation for more than half of its 66-year history, through coups or from behind the scenes. It sets foreign and security policy even when civilian administrations are in power.

Pakistan's judiciary has, however, taken an increasingly assertive stance in recent years in confrontations with both the government and the army, and the arrest order against a former army chief is sure to rankle some in the military.

Musharraf's decision to return has mystified many Pakistanis, with commentators questioning whether he misjudged the degree of popular support he might be able to muster.

He faces charges of failing to provide adequate security for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before she was assassinated in late 2007.

Musharraf also faces accusations in connection with the death of a separatist leader in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. He denies any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-court-orders-arrest-former-president-musharraf-055350712.html

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Poop in paradise: The smell of (environmental) success?

A swanky beach enclave seeks relief from the stench of bird poop, but environmentalists say the guano shows local birds have been brought back from the brink of extinction.

By Julie Watson,?Associated Press / April 9, 2013

Pelicans and cormorants gather on the cliffs above the cove in the affluent La Jolla section of San Diego, April 2. The birds have turned the cliffs white with their droppings and caused a stench in an area full of affluent tourists.

Lenny Ignelzi / AP

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La Jolla's jagged coastline is strictly protected by environmental laws to ensure the San Diego community remains the kind of seaside jewel that has attracted swanky restaurants, top-flight hotels and some of the nation's rich and famous, including billionaire businessman Irwin Jacobs and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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Tourists flock to the place. So do birds. Lots of birds. And with those birds comes lots of poop.

So rather than gasping in amazement at the beautiful views, some are holding their noses from the stench coming from the droppings that cake coastal rocks and outcroppings near its business district.

"We've had to relocate tables inside because when people go out to the patio, some are like 'Oh my God. I can't handle the smell,'" said Christina Collignon, a hostess at Eddie V's, a steak and seafood restaurant perched on a cliff straight up from the guano-coated rocks.

On a recent afternoon, tourists on spring break walked along the sea wall. Some scrunched up their faces in disgust.

"It smells like something dead," said Meghan Brummett as she looked at the birds with her husband and children. The family was visiting from Brawley, a farming town two hours east of San Diego.

Biologists say the odor is the smell of success: Environmental protections put in place over the past few decades have brought back endangered species.

Cormorants and brown pelicans nearly became extinct in the 1970s because of the pesticide DDT. The brown pelican was taken off the federal endangered species list in 2010, and its population, including the Caribbean and Latin America, is estimated at more than 650,000. The total U.S. cormorant population is about 2 million.

La Jolla is a state-designated area of "special biological significance." That means California strictly regulates its waters to protect its abundant marine life, which also attracts birds.

"We're kind of a victim of our own success," said Robert Pitman, a marine biologist at the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla. "We've provided a lot of bird protections so now we're getting a lot of birds. I think we're going to be seeing more of these conflicts come about, and I think we'll have to deal with them on a case-by-case basis. I think there'll have to be compromises all around."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/lzeeFgXntYM/Poop-in-paradise-The-smell-of-environmental-success

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China's struggle to measure economy clouds outlook

BEIJING (AP) ? After China reported quarterly economic growth of 7.7 percent this week ? far above anemic U.S. and European performance ? global markets reacted by falling, wiping billions of dollars off stock prices.

The reason? Growth came in under the 8 percent expected by private sector forecasters who relied on Chinese trade and other data.

The market plunge highlighted complaints about the possible inaccuracy of Beijing's official data and the intense, possibly excessive importance traders attach to a handful of Chinese economic indicators.

What matters more than a difference of a few tenths of a percentage point in growth from quarter to quarter is whether Chinese leaders are allowing the private sector to flourish by reducing the role of state industry in the economy, said Ben Simpfendorfer, managing director of Silk Road Associates, a consulting firm in Hong Kong.

"There is an obsession with these GDP numbers, and what really matters at this point is reform," said Simpfendorfer, a former Royal Bank of Scotland economist.

China is watched especially closely because it is a major market for foreign goods from iron ore to smartphones and is relatively healthy, fueling hopes Chinese demand can help offset weakness in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Confusion about how fast China is growing can hamper foreign and private companies in industries from construction to chemicals to consumer goods as they make plans for business and investment.

Beijing's problems in keeping track of its economy stem in part from the fact that while it is surpassed only by the United States in size, China is growing and changing much faster than any rich country.

An understaffed bureaucracy inherited from the era of central planning is struggling to keep up with changes in trade, finance, manufacturing and city growth. Chinese companies have an incentive to avoid taxes or boost export rebates by misreporting sales and profits. Secrecy surrounding the collection and processing of official statistics leaves open the possibility they might be altered for political reasons.

Foreign and private companies look at government data with skepticism. Many rely on watching their own industries and markets more closely. The government still is the only source for most nationwide data, but a growing number of banks and research firms are developing their own based on surveys of companies and consumers.

"I think everyone doing business in China is skeptical of the data," said analyst Alistair Thornton of IHS Global Insight.

Thornton said three of China's most closely watched yardsticks are rife with potential problems ? exports, real estate sales and credit.

Export data have gotten the most attention lately after some analysts suggested companies might be inflating values on customs declarations. That might be intended to let them evade currency controls and move money into China. Reporting rising prices while exporting the same amount of goods might give a false impression of higher production.

The customs agency defended itself this month, saying its reports were based on goods that really were exported. However, that would not prevent exporters from submitting inflated values for them.

March exports were "substantially lower than reported numbers," which might have helped lead to the discrepancy between GDP forecasts and the government report, said RBS economists Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu in a report.

Monday's unexpected decline in reported growth from 7.9 percent in the final quarter of 2012 was severe enough that economists responded by cutting their growth outlook for China this year.

JP Morgan economist Hongbin Qu scaled back his forecast from 8.2 percent to a still-healthy 7.8 percent, while Kuijs and Qiu at RBS reduced theirs from 8.4 percent to 7.8 percent.

Data showing rising bank loans and other credit, another key indicator, also might be inflated, according to Thornton. He said official figures might mistakenly count the same money two, three or more times as credit is extended from one company to another and then to a third.

Government figures on home sales also might give a false picture of the strength of the housing market because they rely on seller-reported prices without independent measurement.

Chinese economic growth figures are, like those of other countries, estimates that are often revised later.

Unlike other countries, though, China's revisions can be huge. In 2009, Beijing raised its official 2007 growth rate from an already eye-popping 11.9 percent to 13 percent. That suggested its earlier estimate failed to take account of tens of billions of dollars in economic activity.

Economists also note that even where Chinese data are reliable, they can be pumped up by investment or government spending that might do little for long-term prosperity.

Chinese leaders are trying to nurture more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption rather than exports and investment. That will drag down the overall growth rate in the short run.

The World Bank and other advisers have warned that to keep growth strong, Beijing needs to curb the dominance of state industry and encourage free-market competition ? a factor that isn't reflected in the headline numbers.

On Monday, China's surprise growth hiccup triggered selling in Western and Asian stock markets. The Dow ended at 14,648, a drop of 1.4 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 slumped 1.9 percent to 1,559.

Thornton noted that last week, global stocks rose after China's report of stronger March trade, even though analysts said the data probably were inaccurate and exports weaker than they appeared.

"We all know markets are not particularly rational and overshoot or undershoot and wipe billions of dollars off market cap off indices over what we think is a misreading of various data points," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-struggle-measure-economy-clouds-outlook-103639051--finance.html

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Appeals court to hear challenge to gay therapy ban

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A federal appeals court is to hear arguments Wednesday on whether a first-of-its-kind law that prohibits licensed mental health professionals in California from offering therapies aimed at making gay and lesbian teenagers straight violates the civil rights of practitioners and parents.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering two legal challenges to the ban on "sexual orientation change efforts" that was passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall.

The ban, which was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, was put on hold by the 9th Circuit pending resolution of the closely watched cases. It spurred similar legislation still being considered by lawmakers in New Jersey,

The law states that therapists and counselors who treat minors with methods designed to eliminate or reduce their same-sex attractions would be engaging in unprofessional conduct and subject to discipline by state licensing boards. The activities of pastors and lay counselors who are unlicensed but provide such therapy through church programs would not be covered.

The cases before the appeals court ? brought by professionals who practice sexual orientation change therapy, two families who say their teenage sons benefited from it and a national association of Christian mental health counselors ? argue that the ban infringes on their free speech, freedom of association and religious rights, and in the case of the counselors, jeopardizes their livelihoods.

"The state has determined that the only permissible message (is that) same-sex attractions, behavior or identity are to be accepted, supported and understood, thus suppressing all other viewpoints to the detriment of licensed professionals and their vulnerable minor clients," lawyers for the families, several practitioners and the professional group said.

"The viewpoint of counselors who in their professional judgment determine that same-sex attractions conflict with the religious and moral beliefs of clients and are not desired, is silenced by SB 1172. This raises a serious constitutional question."

Supporters, including the governor and Attorney General Kamala Harris, say the prohibition on "reparative" and "conversion" therapy is necessary to protect children from a coercive practice that can put them at increased risk of suicide and whose efficacy has been questioned or rejected by every major mental health professional association.

Harris has argued that the law "is based on a scientific and professional consensus reached decades ago that homosexuality is a normal expression of human sexuality and not a disease, condition, or disorder in need of a 'cure.'"

Reflecting the competing issues before the appeals court, the two Sacramento-based trial judges who handled the lawsuits in December reached differing conclusions on whether the ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

One refused to block the law after ruling that the plaintiffs were unlikely to prove the prohibition unfairly tramples on their civil rights and should therefore be overturned. The other said he found the First Amendment issues presented by the ban to be compelling and ordered the state to temporarily exempt the three people named in the case before him.

The panel hearing the cases Wednesday consists of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Judge Susan Graber, a 1998 appointee of Bill Clinton's, and Judge Morgan Christen, a 2012 appointee of President Barack Obama. The judges do not have a deadline for issuing a decision.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-hear-challenge-gay-therapy-ban-073913241.html

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Kerry: China must do more to resolve North Korean missile crisis

Wrapping up his six-nation tour, Secretary of State John Kerry told NBC's Andrea Mitchell he's open to direct talks between the U.S. and North Korea, if Pyongyang stops testing nuclear weapons and issuing threats.

By Andrea Mitchell and Ian Johnston, NBC News

TOKYO -- Secretary of State John Kerry has called on China to do more to help resolve the North Korean missile crisis, saying the country provided the Pyongyang regime with a ?lifeline.?

In an interview with NBC's TODAY that aired on Monday, Kerry also said any deal with the rogue state would need to be structured so that Pyongyang could not later renege on its terms.

In Beijing, John Kerry tried to persuade China's President Xi Jinping to lean on his ally, North Korea - arguing that Pyongyang's erratic young leader is now threatening the stability of the entire region. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

The crisis developed after North Korea threatened to carry out a pre-emptive nuclear strike against its enemies in response to United Nations sanctions imposed because of an underground nuclear test in February and a rocket test in December.

In recent days the North Koreans have readied missiles for launch and some speculated this would happen on Monday, when the nation celebrates the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, current leader Kim Jong Un?s grandfather.

In an interview in Tokyo before flying back to the U.S. on Monday, Kerry said that if the missiles were not fired ?that would mean perhaps we're turning a corner and there's a possibility of moving in a better direction.?

?Everybody understands the negative side of what happens if there is a shoot.? And my hope is that we can move in a different direction here. China, I think, is serious about this,? he said. ?They understand the instability this is creating.?

Kerry said it was ?very important? for the United States to make clear to North Korea that there would be ?consequences for their action? and to reaffirm its security agreements with its allies in the region.

?That done, I think it is very important to the Chinese to focus on the fact that ... if they're not prepared to put the pressure on the North -- and they have the greatest ability to have an impact on the North -- then this can become more destabilizing,? he said. ?And that instability is not in China's interest, certainly. It's not in anybody's interest in the region.?

?So if we're going to operate according to what's in people's interest, China's and everybody else's, I believe China needs to become more engaged in this effort,? he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry opened the door to direct disarmament talks with North Korea, but there is still no sign Kim Jong Un is prepared to stop testing nuclear weapons. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

?It is obvious that China is the lifeline to North Korea. Everybody knows that China provides the vast majority of the fuel to North Korea.? China is their biggest trading party, their biggest food donor and so forth,? he added.

When asked about a comment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that North Korea had a history of breaking diplomatic deals, Kerry replied: "John is absolutely correct, that has been the pattern. And I have raised that issue with the Chinese ? There has been a history of ... just playing this game and then ultimately there's cheating or a complete reneging. We are determined, I am determined to try to find if there is a different formula.? And that is a ? conversation that I specifically had with the Chinese.?

On Sunday, Kerry said the United States was prepared to ?reach out? to North Korea?s leadership.

The United States has offered talks, but on the precondition that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea deems its nuclear arms a "treasured sword" and has vowed never to give them up.

On Monday, North Korean state media made hardly a mention of conflict in contrast to weeks of tirades against its enemies in what some saw as good sign.

"South Korea and the United States have sent a message for dialogue, so for now the North is switching to that mode," Yang Moo-jin, of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Reuters. "The North's strategic intention has been to try to get some kind of response from the United States and South Korea and now they have that. They won't be brushing away the suggestions to enter dialogue lightly."?

'Bright faces'
In Pyongyang on Monday, residents spilled into the streets in apparent celebration, The Associated Press reported. Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and parents pushed strollers with babies bundled up against the chill.

"Although the situation is tense, people have got bright faces and are very happy," Han Kyong Sim, a drink stand worker, told the AP.?

The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

North Korea's state-controlled KCNA news agency reported that Kim Jong Un had received a letter from the Central Committee of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front that praised his grandfather.

?The life of Kim Il Sung was an epic-like one of an invincible hero who clarified the truth that arms are a lifeline of the nation and guarantees the victory of revolution, restored the country by leading to victory the hard-fought battles against the Japanese and the U.S. imperialists,? the letter said.

The letter ?pledged to join the all-people resistance to frustrate the frantic moves of the hostile forces for a nuclear war and make positive contribution to bringing about a fresh turn in the efforts for national reunification,? KCNA said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it remained on guard against any missile launch to coincide with Kim Il Sung?s birth, Reuters reported.

"The military is not easing up on its vigilance on the activities of the North's military with the view that they can conduct a provocation at any time," a ministry spokesman said.?

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Kerry in Japan: US ready to 'reach out' to North Korea

China urges peaceful resolution of North Korea nuclear standoff

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:01 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2abb7348/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C150C177577420Ekerry0Echina0Emust0Edo0Emore0Eto0Eresolve0Enorth0Ekorean0Emissile0Ecrisis0Dlite/story01.htm

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Three Questions for Roosevelt U Grad Student & Midwest Real ...

Last weekend an imaginative group of Roosevelt University students from the school's Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate beat out competitors from other nearby colleges like DePaul, Marquette, and University of Illinois in this year's Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation Midwest Real Estate Challenge. Their first-place plan addressed this year's assignment to reimagine the 38-acre Sears Holdings Corporation site at 62nd and Western. The proposal was built around provision of retail, health facilities, educational facilities, and community sports spaces in a development they called the Marquette Park Promenade. Second-year graduate student and team leader Chase Morris told us about the winning experience:

Curbed: Where did your team get the idea for the Park Promenade proposal?

The idea evolved from several interviews with the City of Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Greater Southwest Development Corporation, Chicago Lawn business owners, and various real estate professionals. In addition, we performed a thorough real estate market analysis which also heavily influenced our final development proposal.

Curbed: What would you say you and your team learned from this challenge?

As a team we learned the value in addressing the needs of community stakeholders coupled with strong research and analytical methods. We also gained practical experience with every stage in the real estate development process, from zoning to site selection/assemblage, architecture, market analysis, and public-private financing.

Curbed: How did you and your team celebrate your victory?

With Chicago pizza and local beer while discussing graduation, new employment opportunities, summer plans, and our victory.
?Roosevelt students win Eisenberg Foundation Midwest Real Estate Challenge [RU]
?Three Questions [Curbed Chicago]

Source: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2013/04/15/three-questions-for-roosevelt-u-grad-student-midwest-real-estate-challenge-winner-chase-morris.php

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Governor Names John Wendt to Minnesota Amateur Sports ...

In addition to an extensive background in sports and law, John Wendt, pictured from the lower mezzanine overlooking the pool in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, has an extensive background in swimming and water polo. He was inducted into the University of Minnesota Aquatics Hall of Fame in 2007, and he was a teammate of St. Thomas swim coach Tom Hodgson. (Photo by Mike Ekern '02)

A good sport for good sports?

John Wendt has been named by Gov. Mark Dayton to the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission. Wendt teaches in the Department of Ethics and Business Law in the university?s Opus College of Business.

The Minnesota State Legislature created the commission in 1987 ?to promote the economic and social benefits of sports.?

The personable Wendt brings an extensive background in sports and law, nationally and internationally, to the position. He is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland; there are less than 300 CAS arbitrators in the world. Arbitrators are chosen for their specialist knowledge of arbitration and sports law. CAS has authority over all Olympic international federations and national Olympic committees.

He also served on the Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport for soccer?s FIFA World Cup in 2010.

Wendt has taught sports law at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota, and he has written more than 25 articles on sports, risk management and law. He is a member of the Centre d?Estudis Ol?mpics (Center for Olympic Studies) at the Universitat Aut?noma de Barcelona.

Locally he has served on the bid committees for the Olympic Games, the International Special Olympics and?the Olympic Sports Festival; in addition, he served as?inside counsel for the United States Olympic Sports Festival ?90, for which he received the governor?s Certificate of Commendation for Service to the state of Minnesota.

For the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission, he has served as a planning member for the Council on Physical Fitness and Sport, on the committee of the ?Olympic Wall of Fame,? on the Sports Ethics Committee, and he was co-author of the Minnesota Amateur Sports Congress Charter.

?The governor?has given me an?incredible opportunity to serve the people and state of Minnesota,??Wendt commented. ?The Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission has a lot of good people working there and the commission has a very positive impact on the state.?

The Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission oversees 11 facilities in Minnesota, including the National Sports Center in Blaine, the John Rose Oval in Roseville, the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, the Ole Mangseth Memorial Ski Jump in Coleraine, and the National Volleyball Center in Rochester.

Wendt has taught at St. Thomas since 1983. He was a Professor of the Year Award nominee in?2011.?In the?Opus College of Business, he was a Julie Hays Outstanding Teacher Award nominee in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and?a Susan E. Heckler Research Excellence Award nominee in 2012 and 2013.

Source: http://www.stthomas.edu/news/2013/04/15/wendt-amateur-sports-commission/

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A Healthy Sense of Self! - The Self Improvement Blog

By Linda Hancock ?

So many people live their lives as though they are hot jello. When it is poured out, it flows into all the cracks! They are so busy trying to fix other people or do what others demand that they either never develop a healthy sense of self or lose it in the process of putting others first.

They never allow themselves to ?set? and therefore can?t handle the shake-ups of life without running all over the place ? physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally and financially.

Sometimes they blame their upbringing and state that they were raised in an abusive or bullying environment where they were required to meet the needs of everyone else while neglecting their own. Some people, who have low self-esteem, claim that the only way they will feel good about themselves is if they put all their time and effort into pleasing others. A third group is just petrified that if they express their own opinions or ask to have their needs met, they will be viewed as selfish.

Well, before you take off in an airplane, the flight attendant provides excellent safety advice for both your travel and your everyday life. ?If there is an emergency, a mask will fall from the ceiling. Put it on yourself FIRST, and then help the person beside you.?

But you don?t have to wait for an emergency and actually shouldn?t leave it that long before ensuring that your needs are met.

I often tell my clients that I am just like a baby. If I don?t eat right and don?t sleep ? I cry! On the other hand, I am a better mother, therapist and friend when I am rested. I am more interesting when I take time to do interesting things. I have more self-respect when I take care of the things that I value.

Imagine what a bowl of jello is like after it is set. It has some flexibility and wiggles a bit when shaken but it stays together and doesn?t slide into all the cracks. That is a good image for a healthy lifestyle. You need to be somewhere between being too fluid and too rigid.

Metacognition is an interesting word that means ?knowing about knowing?. When you know yourself ? your values, needs, and boundaries ? and behave in a manner that honours them, you do better than if you just wander through life letting everyone else tell you what to do!

So, begin by writing down all the things that are important to you ? not to your children, or relatives or neighbours or friends ? but to you. And then start creating a plan that will allow you to meet your needs and bring joy into your life.

Then you will be set for pretty well anything ? just like jello!

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to a complimentary list of 10 Steps to Making Your Life an Adventure when you visit http://lindahancock.com

From Dr. Linda Hancock, Registered Psychologist and Registered Social Worker

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Linda_Hancock
http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Healthy-Sense-of-Self!&id=7634378

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Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/featured/a-healthy-sense-of-self/

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Rubio's Evolves on Immigration, Qualifies Support for Senate Bill ...

Shark Tank Media

By JAVIER MANJARRES

Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is now the official ?tip-of-the-spear? for the illegal immigration reform bill that is expected to come out of the U.S. Senate. Rubio appeared on NBC?s ?Meet the Press? with host David Gregory, where he got right into the weeds of the immigration reform debate.

?Rubio?s evolution on immigration reform continues, as the Senator is now using the term ?undocumented? instead of illegal to identify immigrants who have come here illegally.

?This bill once introduced as agreed to, I think, will show a broad base of enforcement measures unlike this country has ever seen. And what it does is create a way for us to address millions of people that are here undocumented , in a way that is compassionate, but also in a way that is responsible.-Senator Marco Rubio

?He then qualifies his support of the ?immigration bill, by stating that these illegal immigrants who are granted the chance to get on the pathway to citizenship, will not be awarded any special privileges, once they have applied.

It (the bill)will allow them to ultimately earn access to our legal immigration system, they will still have to apply, it doesn?t award them anything, but it does give them access to our legal immigration system to a process that will not encourage people to come here illegally in the future and though a process ?that isn?t unfair for people who have done it the right way.

?The status quo is horrible for America. The only people benefiting from the Status quo ?are in immigration today, are the people trafficking human beings across the border and the people hiring illegal labor for purposes.

?Amnesty is the forgiveness of something, and there will be consequences for having violated the law, and their will be reasonable consequences, but the type of consequences that ensure there is no incentive to do it this way again.

?Rubio reiterates his point that those who are already waiting in line to enter the US legally, that ?no one who has done it the wrong way will get it before you.?

?But then Rubio?s own words are used to put him in a bit of a bind. Host David Gregory asked Rubio what has changed in his immigration messaging since ?his 2010 Senatorial campaign. Gregory reminded Rubio that during one of the Senatorial debates, Rubio stated that to earn a pathway to citizenship, ?you have to leave this country if you are here illegally, go back home and then come back.?

?Rubio answered that during his campaign, he was against ?blanket amnesty? and this bill is not blanket amnesty, because ?you pay serious consequences for having violated the law.?

?The existing law does not prohibit someone who has violated the immigration laws from getting a green card it simply says you have to leave the US and wait ten? years. ?What we have done is created an alternative to that.

?Forces you to wait more than ten years, forces you to pay an application fee, forces you to pay a significant fine, forces you to not qualify for any federal benefits of any kind. Rubio then says that there would be ?no access to anything until there is a universal E-Verify system in place.?

?Gregory then asked Rubio what we here at the Shark Tank have also asked of Rubio, in respect to the almost certain possibility that this immigration bill will eventually morph into a bill that would force him to back off.

?Rubio said that if the bill changed for the worse and abandoned his principles, he ?would not support it, but doesn?t think that will happen.

?Again, when President Obama, who is in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants, is the biggest cheerleader for this immigration bill, expect his agenda to be addressed.

Share and ?Like? the story below. ??Follow The Shark Tank on?Twitter?and?Facebook

// ]]>

Source: http://shark-tank.net/2013/04/14/rubios-evolves-on-immigration-qualifies-support-for-senate-bill/

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Former President George W. Bush A Grandfather! (Photos)

Former President George W. Bush A Grandfather! (Photos)

Former President George W. Bush is a grandpa, after his daughter Jenna Bush Hager gave birth to a daughter on Saturday night in New York. The former president announced the happy news of the arrival of Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager in a statement over the weekend. Jenna Bush Hager, who is a correspondent for the ...

Former President George W. Bush A Grandfather! (Photos) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/former-president-george-w-bush-a-grandfather-photos/

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Pakistani Taliban target secular party, kill 1

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) ? Pakistani Taliban attacked two leaders of an anti-militant political party on Sunday in northwest Pakistan, killing one and wounding another in the latest attack targeting members of secular-leaning parties during their campaigns for next month's parliamentary election.

In the first incident, Mukarram Shah was killed in an explosion as he entered his car in the village of Banjot, said Abdullah Khan, police chief of the nearby city of Mingora. The explosives appeared to have been set off by remote control, he added.

In the other attack, a blast hit the convoy of provincial assembly candidate Masoom Shah as he was returning from a campaign meeting, police officer Zahir Khan said. He said Shah and three of his aides suffered wounds from the roadside bomb.

Both Shahs are from the secular Awami National Party, which supported military operations against militants in the region.

The ANP is among three secular-leaning political parties that the Pakistani Taliban have threatened to attack during campaigns for the May 11 parliamentary elections. The other two parties are the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The Taliban have warned people in a video message to stay away from rallies held by the three political parties they consider their enemies.

The three dominated Pakistan's last government, which was dissolved in preparation for the elections. The ANP also headed the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the main province of the northwest, a stronghold of the Taliban.

The latest two assaults follow three similar attacks since the Taliban issued their threat several weeks ago. Two ANP candidates have survived bomb attacks in the northwest, and a Taliban shooter killed an MQM candidate in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for both the bomb attacks. "The three parties are on our hit list," he told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Right-leaning and religious parties not being targeted by the Taliban have been holding their election campaign rallies without fear.

Also on Sunday, gunmen attacked a NATO supply convoy in the Khyber tribal region, killing a truck driver and wounding another, said a local government administrator Iqbal Khan. The Khyber Pass is one of the two main routes in Pakistan for NATO supplies headed to neighboring Afghanistan.

___

AP writers Rasool Dawar and Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistani-taliban-target-secular-party-kill-1-132902281.html

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Exclusive: Thermo Fisher nears $13 billion Life Tech deal

By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc is nearing a deal to buy genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies Corp for close to $13 billion, according to four people familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the year's biggest corporate takeovers.

The acquisition would catapult Thermo Fisher into the hot field of genetic sequencing, where researchers, drugmakers and doctors are uncovering the genetic factors underpinning diseases to better tailor treatments to the patients.

Life Technologies' board met on Saturday to review three takeover offers. It chose Thermo Fisher over Sigma-Aldrich Corp, a maker of chemicals for research laboratories, and a private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group LP, KKR & Co LP and Temasek Holdings, the sources said on Sunday.

The final price being negotiated is in the region of $75 per share, valuing Life Technologies at close to $13 billion, one of the sources added. A deal could come as soon as Monday, though negotiations could yet fall apart as terms are being finalized.

Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher, Sigma-Aldrich and the private equity consortium did not respond to requests for comment.

Analysts have previously said the combination of Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher and Carlsbad, California-based Life Technologies would create an unparalleled life sciences company and put Thermo on the road to $20 billion in revenues.

Life Technologies would be Thermo Fisher's biggest acquisition since the $12.8 billion merger in 2006 of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific International that created the world's largest maker of scientific equipment and laboratory instruments.

A deal at $75 per share would represent a premium of 36 percent on Life Technologies' closing share price on January 17, the day before it announced it had mandated Deutsche Bank AG and Moelis & Co to assist in a strategic review.

The stock closed at $68 on the Nasdaq on Friday, up 39 percent so far this year on speculation about a possible deal. The S&P 500 Index is up just 11.4 percent in the same period.

PERSONALIZED MEDICINE

Life Technologies, which has a market value of $11.6 billion and debt of about $2.4 billion, explored a sale after previous attempts by Chief Executive Gregory Lucier to boost the value of the company's shares and capture more market share from rival Illumina Inc proved unsuccessful.

Illumina had already demonstrated the appeal of gene-sequencing companies that help analyze a person's genetic blueprint to develop personalized medical treatment. Drugmaker Roche Holding AG had made a $6.8 billion hostile offer for Illumina last year but walked away when the company demanded a higher price.

Life Technologies had also attracted interest from Roche and industrial and healthcare conglomerate Danaher Corp, sources previously told Reuters. Yet in the end it was only Thermo Fisher and Sigma-Aldrich that saw enough synergies to pursue a merger.

Thermo Fisher's products range from the most basic scientific equipment, such as test tubes, to advanced mass spectrometry equipment used to determine the chemical structure of molecules. It also sells chemicals, agents and antibodies used in the manufacturing and research of biotech medicine, and has enhanced its portfolio of environmental safety products for testing air and water quality and food safety in recent years.

The Life Technologies deal would boost Thermo Fisher's presence in scientific research, genetic analysis and applied sciences. Thermo Fisher has been quite acquisitive in recent years, buying Phadia for $3.5 billion in 2011 and Dionex for $2.1 billion in 2010.

Life Technologies had sought a higher price from bidders after receiving committed offers last Tuesday, the people familiar with the matter said. They asked not to be identified because the matter is not yet public.

The private equity consortium also raised its offer on Friday from $65 to about $67 per share, short of Thermo Fisher's bid, one of the people said.

The price and structure of the offer from Sigma-Aldrich, which has a $9.2 billion market value and has been working with Morgan Stanley on the offer, could not be determined. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

At 15.2 times projected 12-month earnings, Life Technologies already trades at a premium to its peer group, which averages 13.9 times projected 12-month earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Life Technologies is also the product of the combination of two companies - Invitrogen, a maker of cultures used in the manufacture of biotech medicines, and the genetic testing company Applied Biosystems.

Paulson & Co, a top Life Technologies shareholder which has a stake in the company of more than 8 percent, would be supportive of a deal at $75 per share as it stands to make a profit of about $400 million, according to two people familiar with the hedge fund manager. Paulson declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrott in New York; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-thermo-fisher-nears-12-billion-life-tech-183127434--sector.html

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This Week's Top Downloads

Every week, we share a number of downloads for all platforms to help you get things done. Here were the top downloads from this week.

Clean Master Frees Up Space on Your Android Device

Android: If you're running low on space on your Android device, Clean Master makes it easy to identify what's hogging your storage, and helps you get rid of it. More ?

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Now Playing is a Free, Fast, Good-Looking Music Player for Android

Android: Now Playing is a new Holo-themed music player that's fast, looks great, and comes with just the features you actually want in a music player without a ton of the bloat that you don't need. More ?

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The Alfred 2 Workflow List Showcases User Submitted Alfred Workflows

The Mac automation app Alfred has a new workflow system that's great for creating hotkeys for all your favorite programs, but they're a little hard to make yourself if you don't know what you're doing. Alfred Workflow is a web site that collects together user created workflows so you don't have to do the work. More ?

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Burner Brings Disposable Phone Numbers to Android for Private Calls, Texts, and More

Android/iOS: Previously mentioned Burner, an app for throwaway, disposable phone numbers that can be used for private calls and texts with anyone you might not want to have your real contact info, used to be iPhone only. Now the app is available for Android too, and both versions have new features like customizable voicemail greetings for each number and better notifications. More ?

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MLPostFactor Installs Mountain Lion on Older Macs

Mac: When Mountain Lion was released last summer it dropped support for older generation Macs from 2006-2008. There were workaround to get it to work, but they were far from user-friendly. MLPostFactor is a utility that makes the process of getting Mountain Lion installed on an older Mac a bit simpler. More ?

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Daily Helps You Form Habits with a Simple Interface and Tracking Method

Getting started with a new habit is never easy, but if you're looking for a simple way to track what you're doing and get reminders, Daily is an app that keeps it simple. More ?

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Wakelock Detector Shows You the Apps that Keep Your Phone Awake

Android: If you've ever set your phone down and waited ages for it to go to sleep, or turned the screen off only to see it come back to life, you know there's some app keeping it awake?the trouble is figuring out which one it is. That's where Wakelock Detector for Android comes in. More ?

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Bluetooth and Wifi Unlocker Turns Off Android Passwords Near Familiar Devices

Android: There are handy apps to disable your Android password when connected to certain Wi-Fi networks, but this app lets you go a bit further, based on connections to Bluetooth devices. More ?

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Popup Widget Makes Space-Saving Icons Out of Android Widgets

Android: Popup Widget turns any Android widget into a popup window that can be launched from a single icon on your home screen. Best of all, you don't need to make room for it?just tap the icon, and the widget opens up on top of everything else. More ?

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Twilight for Android Changes Your Screen Brightness by Time of Day

Twilight is an Android app that automatically adjusts your device's brightness (or really, color temperature) over the course of the day, reducing the harsh whites and blues as the day progresses. We've talked about how to avoid eyestrain at the computer, but when you're not staring at a computer screen, you're probably looking at your phone or tablet, and Twitlight can help. More ?

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/KeK6s0DTsoY/this-weeks-top-downloads

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Verizon to extend phone-upgrade waiting period

Peter Svensson , The Associated Press ? ? ? 15 hrs.

Verizon Wireless, the country's largest cellphone carrier, on Friday said that it is extending the time it takes to earn a subsidized phone upgrade from 20 months on contract to 24 months.

The move will save Verizon money, since it subsidizes each new smartphone by as much as $400 to get the price down to $199 or lower. With less frequent phone upgrades, it will pay out less in subsidies.

In a statement on its website, Verizon said the move aligns its policy with the typical length of a phone contract, and with the way people buy new phones. The change takes effect with contracts expiring in January.

The change also reflects the growing popularity of expensive phones. Verizon subsidized upgrades after just 13 months until January 2011, when it introduced the 20-month period just before it started selling the iPhone, which is one of the most expensive smartphones.

Verizon sold 9.8 million smartphones in the last three months of 2012, up 27 percent from same period the year before. Of those, two-thirds were iPhones.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of New York-based phone company Verizon Communications Inc., which owns 55 percent, and British cellphone company Vodafone Group PLC, which owns the rest.

Customers at No. 2 carrier AT&T Inc. are eligible for upgrades after 20 months.

Breaking with industry practices, No. 4 wireless carrier T-Mobile USA ditched its service contracts and phone-upgrade waiting periods two weeks ago in favor of selling phones on installment plans.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2aa85d67/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Cverizon0Eextend0Ephone0Eupgrade0Ewaiting0Eperiod0E1C9329635/story01.htm

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Scientists map elusive 3-D structure of telomerase enzyme, key actor in cancer, aging

Apr. 11, 2013 ? Like finally seeing all the gears of a watch and how they work together, researchers from UCLA and UC Berkeley have, for the first time ever, solved the puzzle of how the various components of an entire telomerase enzyme complex fit together and function in a three-dimensional structure.

The creation of the first complete visual map of the telomerase enzyme, which is known to play a significant role in aging and most cancers, represents a breakthrough that could open up a host of new approaches to fighting disease, the researchers said.

"Everyone in the field wants to know what telomerase looks like, and there it was. I was so excited, I could hardly breathe," said Juli Feigon, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a senior author of the study. "We were the first to see it."

The scientists report the positions of each component of the enzyme relative to one another and the complete organization of the enzyme's active site. In addition, they demonstrate how the different components contribute to the enzyme's activity, uniquely correlating structure with biochemical function.

The research appears April 11 in the print edition of the journal Nature.

"We combined every single possible method we could get our hands on to solve this structure and used cutting-edge technological advances," said co-first author Jiansen Jiang, a researcher who works with Feigon and the study's co-senior author, Z. Hong Zhou, director of the Electron Imaging Center for Nanomachines at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA and a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics. "This breakthrough would not have been possible five years ago."

"We really had to figure out how everything fit together, like a puzzle," said co-first author Edward Miracco, a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow in Feigon's laboratory. "When we started fitting in the high-resolution structures to the blob that emerged from electron microscopy, we realized that everything was fitting in and made sense with decades of past biochemistry research. The project just blossomed, and the blob became a masterpiece."

The telomerase enzyme is a mixture of components that unite inside our cells to maintain the protective regions at the ends of our chromosomes, which are called telomeres. Telomeres act like the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces, safeguarding important genetic information. But each time a cell divides, these telomeres shorten, like the slow-burning fuse of a time bomb. Eventually, the telomeres erode to a point that is no longer tolerable for cells, triggering the cell death that is a normal part of the aging process.

While most cells have relatively low levels of telomerase, 80 percent to 90 percent of cancer cells have abnormally high telomerase activity. This prevents telomeres from shortening and extends the life of these tumorigenic cells -- a significant contributor to cancer progression.

The new discovery creates tremendous potential for pharmaceutical development that takes into account the way a drug and target molecule might interact, given the shape and chemistry of each component. Until now, designing a cancer-fighting drug that targeted telomerase was much like shooting an arrow to hit a bulls-eye while wearing a blindfold. With this complete visual map, the researchers are starting to remove that blindfold.

"Inhibiting telomerase won't hurt most healthy cells but is predicted to slow down the progression of a broad range of cancers," said Miracco. "Our structure can be used to guide targeted drug development to inhibit telomerase, and the model system we used may also be useful to screen candidate drugs for cancer therapy."

The researchers solved the structure of telomerase in Tetrahymena thermophila, the single-celled eukaryotic organism in which scientists first identified telomerase and telomeres, leading to the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology. Research on Tetrahymena telomerase in the lab of co-senior author Kathleen Collins, a professor of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley, laid the genetic and biochemical groundwork for the structure to be solved.

"The success of this project was absolutely dependent on the collaboration among our research groups," said Feigon.

"At every step of this project, there were difficulties," she added. "We had so many technical hurdles to overcome, both in the electron microscopy and the biochemistry. Pretty much every problem we could have, we had, and yet at each stage these hurdles were overcome in an innovative way."

One of the biggest surprises, the researchers said, was the role of the protein p50, which acts as a hinge in Tetrahymena telomerase to allow dynamic movement within the complex; p50 was found to be an essential player in the enzyme's activity and in the recruitment of other proteins to join the complex.

"The beauty of this structure is that it opens up a whole new world of questions for us to answer," Feigon said. "The exact mechanism of how this complex interacts with the telomere is an active area of future research."

"The atmosphere and collaboration at UCLA really amazes me, and that is combined with some of the most advanced facilities around," Zhou said. "We have a highly advanced electron microscopy facility here at UCLA that even researchers without a strong background in electron microscopy can learn how to use and benefit from. This will be really useful as we move forward."

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Equal contributions to the publication were made by co-first authors Jiang and Miracco, postdoctoral researchers at UCLA with Zhou and Feigon. Members of Kathleen Collins' UC Berkeley laboratory who contributed to this research included technician Kyungah Hong, postdoctoral researcher Barbara Eckert and former graduate researcher Bosun Min. Other co-authors included Henry Chan and Darian D. Cash, UCLA graduate student researchers in Feigon's laboratory.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Jiansen Jiang, Edward J. Miracco, Kyungah Hong, Barbara Eckert, Henry Chan, Darian D. Cash, Bosun Min, Z. Hong Zhou, Kathleen Collins, Juli Feigon. The architecture of Tetrahymena telomerase holoenzyme. Nature, 2013; 496 (7444): 187 DOI: 10.1038/nature12062

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_environment/~3/l0ZTVVQifyc/130412132430.htm

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Ice cloud heralds fall at Titan's south pole

Friday, April 12, 2013

An ice cloud taking shape over Titan's south pole is the latest sign that the change of seasons is setting off a cascade of radical changes in the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon. Made from an unknown ice, this type of cloud has long hung over Titan's north pole, where it is now fading, according to observations made by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

"We associate this particular kind of ice cloud with winter weather on Titan, and this is the first time we have detected it anywhere but the north pole," said the study's lead author, Donald E. Jennings, a CIRS Co-Investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The southern ice cloud, which shows up in the far infrared part of the light spectrum, is evidence that an important pattern of global air circulation on Titan has reversed direction. When Cassini first observed the circulation pattern, warm air from the southern hemisphere was rising high in the atmosphere and got transported to the cold north pole. There, the air cooled and sank down to lower layers of the atmosphere, where it formed ice clouds. A similar pattern, called a Hadley cell, carries warm, moist air from Earth's tropics to the cooler middle latitudes.

Based on modeling, scientists had long predicted a reversal of this circulation once Titan's north pole began to warm and its south pole began to cool. The official transition from winter to spring at Titan's north pole occurred in August 2009. But because each of the moon's seasons lasts about 7-1/2 Earth years, researchers still didn't know exactly when this reversal would happen or how long it would take.

The first signs of the reversal came in data acquired in early 2012, which was shortly after the start of southern fall on Titan, when Cassini images and visual and infrared mapping spectrometer data revealed the presence of a high-altitude "haze hood" and a swirling polar vortex at the south pole. Both features have long been associated with the cold north pole. Later, Cassini scientists reported that infrared observations of Titan's winds and temperatures made by CIRS had provided definitive evidence of air sinking, rather than upwelling, at the south pole. By looking back through the data, the team narrowed down the change in circulation to within six months of the 2009 equinox.

Despite the new activity at the south pole, the southern ice cloud hadn't appeared yet. CIRS didn't detect it until about July 2012, a few months after the haze and vortex were spotted in the south, according to the study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters in December 2012.

"This lag makes sense, because first the new circulation pattern has to bring loads and loads of gases to the south pole. Then the air has to sink. The ices have to condense. And the pole has to be under enough shadow to protect the vapors that condense to form those ices," said Carrie Anderson, a CIRS team member and Cassini participating scientist at NASA Goddard.

At first blush, the southern ice cloud seems to be building rapidly. The northern ice cloud, on the other hand, was present when Cassini first arrived and has been slowly fading the entire time the spacecraft has been observing it.

So far, the identity of the ice in these clouds has eluded scientists, though they have ruled out simple chemicals, such as methane, ethane and hydrogen cyanide, that are typically associated with Titan. One possibility is that species X, as some team members call the ice, could be a mixture of organic compounds.

"What's happening at Titan's poles has some analogy to Earth and to our ozone holes," said the CIRS Principal Investigator, NASA Goddard's F. Michael Flasar. "And on Earth, the ices in the high polar clouds aren't just window dressing: They play a role in releasing the chlorine that destroys ozone. How this affects Titan chemistry is still unknown. So it's important to learn as much as we can about this phenomenon, wherever we find it."

###

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127729/Ice_cloud_heralds_fall_at_Titan_s_south_pole

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Jay-Z releases 'Open Letter' about trip to Cuba

By Anna Chan, NBCNews.com

Rapper Jay-Z is using his art to respond to criticism about his and wife Beyonce's recent trip to Cuba on their fifth anniversary. The tune released Thursday, "Open Letter," includes lines such as "I done turned Havana to Atlanta" and?"I'm in Cuba, I love Cubans. This Communist talk is so confusing when it's from China, the very mic that I'm using."

The song also includes lines that imply the White House had a hand in giving him and his wife the clearance to travel to Havana. For example: "Boy from the hood, but got White House clearance" and "Obama said, 'Chill, you gonna get me impeached.' "

During Thursday's White House briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney denied the song's suggestion that there was any White House involvement in Jay-Z and Beyonce's trip.

"I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury, because Treasury offers and gives licenses for travel, as you know, and the White House has nothing to do with it," he said in response to a reporter's question. "The White House, from the president on down, had nothing to do with anybody's personal -- anybody's travel to Cuba. ... The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip."

"Open Letter" is available online at?LifeAndTimes.com. (Warning: The song is not for those with ears sensitive to curse words.)

On Tuesday, the Department of the Treasury confirmed that the superstar couple's trip to Cuba was sanctioned. "It is our understanding that the travelers in question traveled to Cuba pursuant to an educational exchange trip," the Treasury's assistant secretary for legislative affairs wrote.

While in Havana, the famous pair dined at La Guarida, walked through colonial Old Havana and took photos with schoolchildren.?

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Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/11/17709423-jay-z-releases-open-letter-about-trip-to-cuba?lite

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Rep. Steve Cohen Claims He Punked Press While Excusing Latest Deleted Tweets

Rep. Steve Cohen, who made headlines earlier this year when his errant tweets during the State of the Union ultimately revealed he had a secret daughter, is back in the news for tweets he published and deleted after a White House event on Memphis Soul Tuesday.

Cohen, who represents Memphis, missed votes in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening to attend the event that included singer-actress Cyndi Lauper.

The next morning, the four-term Democrat reacted to the performance on Twitter: "Cyndi, Wow what a night! See you next Tuesday and Try a little tenderness again! Wow! What a special night. Thanks Steve."

The tweet was sent at 10:31 a.m. and was deleted within 34 seconds.

About eight hours later, Cohen, who has never married, tweeted directly at Lauper, expressing disbelief at "how hot" she was during her performance the previous night.

" @cyndilauper great night,couldn't believe how hot u were.see you again next Tuesday.try a little tenderness," Cohen, D-Tenn., tweeted. About 21 minutes later, that tweet was deleted without explanation, setting off the blogosphere.

Lauper has apparently been silent on the matter.

As the news began to spread today, Cohen, 63, called a press conference in his Capitol Hill office where he claimed his tweets, which were archived on the Internet by Politwoops, were part of a scheme to pay back the media for hurting him and his family with reports on his daughter, Victoria Brink.

"They affect real people, and when they wrote about me and my daughter in a salacious manner, they hurt my daughter, they hurt my family and they hurt me," Cohen said, lecturing reporters from behind his desk. "People should be more circumspect in what they write and be more concerned when they write something suggesting something of a nefarious or salacious nature without having some understanding."

Asked how he'd react to anyone who challenged that he was being truthful today, Cohen said, "They can call [Reps.] John Yarmuth and Joe Courtney who I talked about it on Monday on the floor and said, 'Boys wait till you see what I do this week with the press.'"

The House was not in session Monday, and spokespeople for both Yarmuth and Courtney said Cohen did not tell either of them about his scheme until Wednesday during votes, after he had deleted the first Lauper tweet, but before his second tweet about the singer.

Marilyn Dillihay, the congressman's chief of staff, says that Cohen meant to tell reporters today that he told his congressional colleagues of his plans on Wednesday during votes. But that timeline still indicates that Cohen only told Yarmuth and Courtney about it once he had already put his bizarre playbook into motion.

"The fact is, I tweeted exactly what I wanted to tweet and I deleted exactly what I wanted to delete because in this age, I discovered that the best way to get a message out is to 'Tweet and Delete,'" Cohen said. "The press will instantaneously assume the worst, something nefarious, something salacious and jump on."

Cohen said that he conjured up the scheme with the hope of gaining viral publicity for the White House Memphis Soul event. He added that he did not believe that the media attention has distracted his constituents or taken away any focus from the event, which will broadcast on PBS next Tuesday.

"I've publicized my district every chance I can, and that's what I wanted to do, and I think it's been very successful," Cohen said. "My constituents will love this. It's promoting Memphis music."

Cohen said he has not heard from Lauper, who is married, but he intends to write her a note explaining himself because he believes "this is all-good for her."

"If I had said it about Justin Timberlake, you all would have written that I was gay, and his performance was hot too," he added. "So was Eddie Floyd's and so was the Alabama Shakes, and if it was the Alabama Shakes you might have thought I was trying to get into a group scene."

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rep-steve-cohen-claims-punked-press-while-excusing-214129462--abc-news-politics.html

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