propelling cairn: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Require bilingual skills? Document why - Business Management Daily

Many organizations serve ?customers who speak languages other than English, and thus they require em???ployees to have specific bilingual skills. If that describes your organization, make sure you can defend the language requirement.

As one employer recently learned, that may mean having to disclose other??wise confidential information in court, including client data.

Recent case: Donna was fired from her loan manager job with a California housing agency. The reason: poor performance and lack of Spanish-language skills, said the agency.

Donna, who is white, sued, claiming the real reason for her firing was a clear preference for Hispanic workers. She alleged that the language requirement was bogus.

As part of the lawsuit, Donna?s lawyers demanded access to the em??ployer?s loan documents showing the borrower?s ethnicity of its borrowers. The goal: prove Spanish language skills was not a legitimate job requirement.

The housing agency complained, but the court said it had to cough up the records. If the records showed few borrowers were His?panic, that might show that Donna really didn?t need to know much Spanish to do her job.

In the end, rather than turning over confidential loan documents, the em??ployer dropped the defense that Spanish skills were required. (Allen v. Neighborhood Housing Services Sili??con Valley, No. 12-1656, ND CA, 2012)

Final note: If your job an??nouncement lists language skills as a requirement, your HR files should document why the requirement is necessary.

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Shoe tosser sorry for Harry Styles groin hit

By Alexis L. Loinaz, E! Online

The sole culprit behind Harry Styles' shoe shenanigan is making amends.?A Twitter user by the name of Jade Anderson has taken responsibility for clocking him in the groin when she threw her shoe onstage at a One Direction show Tuesday in Glasgow, and she's now apologizing to the boy bander for the ballsy move.

The 14-year-old, who hails from Scotland's East Kilbride town, took to Twitter shortly after the incident, writing, "tonight i threw my shoe and it hit harry in the balls then security came and took me out the concert then i got my shoe back hahahaha."

Ouch! Harry Styles hit in the groin by fan-flung shoe at One Direction show

She apparently didn't stay booted out of the show for long: Apparently, security later allowed her to return to the concert.

"The only reason the security let me back in is cos harry told them too," she said.

Anderson then apologized directly to the 19-year-old singer. "@harry_styles im the one that threw my shoe at you, i never meant to hurt you :-(," she wrote, adding, "Feel sooo ill now."

Watch Taylor Swift's supposed Harry Styles diss during Grammys performance

She also tried to make light of the situation, noting, "and the police were telling me that i 'commited a criminal assult' and i couldve killed him hahaha."

Well, her aim was at least good enough to literally bowl him over: After getting hit, Styles immediately keeled over in pain and curled up on the stage floor while cupping his crotch.

But proving that you can't keep a good man down for long, Styles quickly rebounded, got up and jokingly started doing some lunges.

Nice recovery there!

A look back at Harry and Taylor during happier times

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Boehner Hopes Senate 'Gets Off Their Ass'

House Speaker John Boehner used some choice words to pressure Senate Democrats to avert the looming sequester - $85 billion of arbitrary across-the-board cuts - insisting that "the House has done its job" and the burden to offer an alternative before the cuts strike Friday is on the president's party.

"We have moved the bill in the House twice," Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something."

Hours later, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the speaker needs a reality check about who is sitting idly by as the impending sequester cuts prepare to take hold at the end of the week.

"He should understand who is sitting on their posterior," Reid told reporters at a Capitol news conference Tuesday. "We're doing our best here to pass something. The speaker's doing nothing to try to pass anything over there. He's falling back onto what he said they did last Congress.

"Well, we have something called the constitution that you have to start over again every two years and the reason he's not bringing something up over there is because he cannot pass it. He can't get his caucus to agree on anything as we learned last year," Reid continued. "So he can't say to us, 'Why don't you get something done' when he hasn't even been trying to get anything done."

Reid used the word "ass" twice when describing Boehner's earlier remarks.

"I was raised in a little town that had 13 brothels in it so I'm used to some pretty salty language as you know," Reid said before repeating Boehner's use of the profane language. "The speaker today said - he's not that category for sure - but Boehner hopes [the] Senate gets off their ass. And it's quite interesting, we should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something."

House Republicans voted twice during the 112 th Congress to narrowly pass legislation to offset sequestration with alternative savings, but those measures languished in the Senate and expired with the end of the session.

Reid suggested the $85 billion in across the board cuts should go into effect if Republicans won't agree to increasing taxes as a means of averting the sequester.

"Until there's some agreement on revenue, I believe we should just go ahead with the sequester," Reid said.

Read More About Sequestration

Boehner criticized President Obama for taking a Virginia road trip "to use our military men and women as a prop in yet another campaign rally to support his tax hikes."

"I don't think the president's focused on trying to find a solution to the sequester," he said. "For 16 months, the president's been traveling all over the country holding rallies, instead of sitting down with Senate leaders in order to try to forge an agreement over there in order to move the bill."

Considering Republicans have not acted in the current session of Congress on any legislation to replace the sequester, House Democrats question whether there is sufficient support to pass the old GOP proposal.

"I don't think I need to give the Speaker a lesson in legislating or how government runs, but whatever was done last year that didn't get signed into law has evaporated. It is gone. It does not exist," California Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said today. "This is a new year, a new session of Congress and it's time for everyone to get to work."

Boehner deflected a question whether he believes his weakened majority could pass the Republican bill again, and returned his attention to pushing for a vote in the Senate.

"It's time for the Senate to act. It's not about the House," he responded. "We've acted."

Related: Sequester Timeline - When Will Cuts Kick In?

"Where's the president's plan to avoid the sequester? Have you seen one? I haven't seen one," Boehner added. "All I've heard is that he wants to raise taxes again. Where's the president's plan? Where's the Senate Democrat plan? I want to see it."

Republican senators held strong on their view that the president needs to agree to spending cuts in order to avert the looming sequester, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he's willing to provide the president with the "flexibility" to find those cuts.

"Senate Republicans do not believe that it's a good idea to walk away from that commitment to cut spending," McConnell said. "My own view is I'd be happy to provide the president with the flexibility to do that differently than the way it's mandated in the sequester."

Related: States Prepare for Sequester

"This is not an issue or problem that needs to be solved or attempted to be solved by raising taxes again," Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, added following lunch with his GOP colleagues in the Capitol. "The president got his pound of flesh in the fiscal cliff negotiation, $600 billion in additional taxes over 10 years. Now it's time for the balanced part of that equation which means we have to rein in federal spending."

McConnell also told reporters Republicans may present several alternatives to the Democrats' sequester proposal later this week, but Reid said he would not allow multiple Republican bills to be considered.

"The agreement was they'll have a bill. We'll have a bill. That's fair enough," Reid said.

Senate leaders are expected to introduce and vote on their respective plans later this week, perhaps by Thursday.

Reid accused Congressional Republicans of being "part of the problem" in finding a solution to the upcoming cuts, pressing for new tax increases to help offset the sequester.

"We want to work with Republicans to come to a balanced responsible way to reduce this sequester, the impact of it. My republican colleagues are standing in the way," Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor. "They only want cuts and more cuts."

Although McConnell has said he is not interested in a last-minute deal, Boehner said "If the Senate acts, I'm sure the House will act quickly."

The House is meeting for legislation business today, although no action to avert the sequester is expected. The House also meets Wednesday and Thursday, but is currently not expected to be in session on Friday.

Reid suggested the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts should go into effect if Republicans won't agree to increasing taxes as a means of averting the sequester.

"Until there's some agreement on revenue, I believe we should just go ahead with the sequester," Reid said.

This post was updated Tuesday afternoon to incorporate the latest developments in the Senate.

As pope departs, still no timescale for 'contentious' conclave

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

The final hours of Pope Benedict XVI?s papacy, including his scheduled departure on Thursday from the Vatican by helicopter, have been planned in detail. But major questions remain over the timing of the choice of his successor, which some experts fear ?could go on a while.?

A date for the start of the secret papal conclave may not be chosen until the world?s cardinals formally meet on Monday for the first time since Benedict?s departure.

When Pope Benedict XVI steps down, he will head to the sleepy town of Castel Gandolfo, used by popes as a quiet sanctuary for 400 years, where he will await the completion of construction on his new home. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports.

Observers say the Vatican?s leaden bureaucracy, the curia, could act as a brake on the election mechanism despite Benedict?s attempt to accelerate progress on Monday by amending ancient church laws.

Timing is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Easter Sunday March 31. To have a new pope in place for the church's most solemn liturgical period, the chosen candidate would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17.

The decision itself may also be drawn out as cardinals struggle to overcome deep divisions and rivalries over who is best placed to get a grip on the Vatican and move the church forward from an era of scandal and intrigue.

?My sense is this could go on a while,? said NBC?News' Vatican?expert,?George Weigel. ?There?s no clear front-runner. There is also a serious concern at the way in which the bureaucracy is operating amid all of this. It could be a very contentious conclave.?

Thomas Groome, professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, Mass., said the timing and duration of the conclave remained ?anyone's guess.?

?With modern technology, it is faster now to conduct a round of balloting than before,? he said. ?However, my guess is that it will be a long one - certainly far longer than the previous. There is no front runner and a lot of issues to be weighted, most especially how to respond - finally and effectively - to the clergy sex abuse scandal.?

Church officials could be forgiven for being nervous: The longest papal election in history dragged on for two years and three months, lasting so long that three cardinals died and a fourth resigned before a decision was reached, in 1271.

Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

The pope delivers his final audience in St. Peter's Square as he prepares to stand down.

The most recent conclave, in 2005, lasted only 24 hours ? not least because the death of Pope John Paul II was not unexpected and cardinals had been positioning to take over for many years.

In contrast, Benedict's decision to abdicate appears to have taken most of the Catholic hierarchy by surprise.

Matthew Bunson, general editor of the Catholic Almanac and author of 45 books, including a biography of Benedict, said much would depend on the length of the ?general congregations? ? Vatican meetings that discuss issues facing the church prior to the start of the conclave itself.

?If the cardinals are able to come to a consensus on a candidate or a few candidates, then the conclave will be relatively short,? said Bunson. ?If there is disagreement about the potential candidates, then the conclave may be a protracted one.?

He added: ?There does seem to be a general agreement that the new pontiff must be in a position to assume the challenges of the office quickly. Combined with the sense of urgency because of the looming events of Holy Week, that would give the cardinals some incentive to enter quickly and reach a conclusion in a relatively short time.?

That sentiment was echoed by the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church,? who said: ?I don't expect them to take more than three days. Last time it went over five days was in 1831.?

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told the Catholic News Service on Wednesday that it is possible the world's cardinals will not begin meeting at the Vatican until Monday, and a conclave start date cannot be set until they have met.

Leading historian Michael Walsh discusses the impact of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, his legacy and whether there's a chance that the next pontiff will be a non-European.

Lombardi said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, will send out letters Friday formally informing the world's cardinals that the papacy is vacant and calling them to meet at the Vatican.

Many Vatican insiders believe the timing now points to a conclave starting Monday, March 10.

The number of cardinals eligible to take part has already been reduced by two, from 117 to 115, after ?Britain?s most senior Roman Catholic, Cardinal Keith O?Brien, stepped aside over allegations from priests of ?inappropriate behavior,? and an Indonesian cardinal recused himself because of ill health.

The conclave process, in which cardinals are locked into their rooms until reaching a decision, was a tradition that began in 1271 following frustration at the failure of the church to agree on a replacement for Pope Clement IV, who died in 1268. Eventually, cardinals were locked inside the papal palace in Viterbo by exasperated magistrates.

Pope John Paul II changed the conclave rules in 1996, allowing cardinals to leave the Sistine Chapel during conclaves to eat and sleep if necessary.

Related:

Inside the Vatican: The $8 billion global institution where nuns answer the phones

Vatican history of 'cover-ups and disarray' will challenge new pope

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:44 PM EST

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17119320-as-pope-benedict-xvi-departs-still-no-timescale-for-very-contentious-conclave?lite

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Kelly wins Dem. nod for ex-Rep. Jackson Jr.'s seat (cbsnews)

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Bernanke defends Fed's low-interest-rate policies

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facing criticism from Republican lawmakers, Chairman Ben Bernanke stood behind the Federal Reserve's low-interest-rate policies Wednesday and sought to reassure members of Congress that the central bank has a handle on the risks.

In his second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee that the Fed's bond purchases are needed to boost a still-weak economy and that they have helped create jobs for average Americans.

The bond purchases are intended to lower long-term interest rates. That encourages more borrowing and spending, which generates growth.

Still, some Republicans warned that by continually pumping more money into the financial system, the bond purchases could eventually ignite inflation.

"We have gone too far in monetary policy and the monetary easing, and it is in this member's opinion time to pull back," said Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif.

Bernanke said the Fed is weighing the costs and benefits of its bond purchases. He noted that the Fed has a dual mandate: to both maximize employment and maintain low inflation.

His remarks during his semiannual monetary report to Congress largely repeated comments he made a day earlier to a Senate panel.

The Fed chairman argued that the Fed's low-interest-rate policies are giving crucial support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment. He also acknowledged the risks of keeping rates low indefinitely. But he expressed confidence that such risks pose little threat now and gave no signal that the Fed might shift away from those policies.

The aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds had kept borrowing costs low, he said. And that, in turn, has helped strengthen sectors such as housing and autos, he said. Still, unemployment remains high at 7.9 percent.

Bernanke rejected a suggestion by Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., that the Fed's policies were mainly helping the federal government with its borrowing needs and big banks and foreign governments.

"This is very much focused at the average American citizen," Bernanke said. "Our estimates are that we've helped create many private-sector jobs. ... People are able to buy houses at very low mortgage rates, refinancing at low mortgage rates. People are able to get car loans at low rates."

The low borrowing rates have boosted demand, Bernanke said, and that has helped to lift home prices, making home owners feel more financially secure.

"In a lot of dimensions, we have, I think, benefited Main Street and that's certainly our objective," Bernanke said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bernanke-defends-feds-low-interest-180917382.html

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Stocks up on Wall Street; led by retailers

NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. stocks are rising in midday trading because of strong earnings from discount retailers and more evidence that housing is recovering.

Dollar Tree earnings rose 22 percent as shoppers spent more. The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January to the highest level in almost three years.

At midday Wednesday the Dow Jones industrial average rose 97 points to 13,997. The Dow jumped 116 points Tuesday after strong U.S. home sales and earnings from Home Depot.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 13 points at 1,509. The Nasdaq rose 31 points to 3,161.

Home builders rose for a second straight day. PulteGroup rose 2 percent, a day after climbing 5.7 percent after new home sales jumped to the highest level since July 2008.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-wall-street-led-retailers-145456493--finance.html

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Spider-Man's web would be strong enough to stop train

John Roach , NBC News ? ? ? 8 hrs.

In "Spider-Man 2," the superhero uses his webbing to stop a runaway train from plunging off its track. The feat seems improbable, but the toughest of spider silks really are up to the task, according to a group of British college students.

James Forster, Mark Bryan and Alex Stone, fourth-year physics students at the University of Leicester, took it upon themselves to model the forces upon the webbing in such a situation and compared it to measured values on the stiffness and strength of real spider?s webbing.

Given a fully loaded train carrying nearly 1,000 passengers barreling down the track at top speed, they found that a spider web would have to stand up to 300,000 Newtons of force. This figure then allowed them to calculate the toughness of the web at 500 megajoules per cubic meter.

The students said this toughness is in line with the web from a Darwin?s Bark Spider ? an orb weaver with the strongest known webbing of any spider.

?Having determined these parameters, it can be stated that Spider-Man?s webbing is a proportional equivalent of that of a real spider,? the trio conclude in a paper published in the University of Leicester?s Journal of Physics Special Topics.

The journal is published once a year by the university and is filled with short papers written by students in the final year of their physics degree program. It is an exercise meant to teach them about publishing and the peer-review process.

"Spider-Man has always been claimed to have the scaled up abilities of a spider and spiderweb has oft been quoted to be stronger than steel," Stone told NBC News via email. "We wanted to see whether or not Spider-Man's web, when pushed to its limits, was a reasonable facsimile of a real spider's web."

"In so doing, we also show what real spider's webs would be capable of if used on a larger, human scale," he added, noting that humans have recently gained the ability to produce spider-silk-like material at scale.

The three are far from the first physicists to get tangled up in the science of superheroes. James Kalkalios, a professor at the University of Minnesota, for example, recently created a new algorithm for cell regeneration that appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man." He served as a science consultant for the film, released last year.

?Hollywood creators appreciate our contributions, for they realize that when the audience is questioning the physics of what they are watching or the authenticity of the laboratory set, that's a moment when they are not paying attention to the story,? he explained in an article for NBC News.

?The goal is not to ensure that everything on the screen is 100 percent scientifically accurate ? which would, after all, defeat the purpose of the escapist fantasy we have paid our money to watch ? but rather to get it just right enough to maintain the audience?s suspension of disbelief.?

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/fact-checked-spidermans-web-would-be-strong-enough-stop-train-1C8543810

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Video: Hillary Clinton?s name still on the table for 2016

>>> no country for old men. let's play "hardball."

>>> good evening. i'm chris matthews up in new york. let me start with today's democratic party . if you want to be president you better be young because you have some waiting to do. if hillary clinton runs in 2016 and runs again in 2020 , that means the job is not open for you until 2024 . it gets worse. if there's a president hillary clinton , that means 16 years of democrats in the white house , the longest run since fdr and truman. if anyone now in politics can wait that long. so the big question looming as democratic governors meet in washington right now, what other career goal makes sense it there's no real shot at the presidency? or is there a lingering hope that secretary clinton won't make the run? or if she does, that she could be beaten? is that what has governor cuomo and governor o'malley and vice president biden dreaming of sitting behind that presidential desk? the outside thought of what might be? joan walsh is editor-at-large or salon and david corn is washington bureau chief for mother jones . both are msnbc political analysts. let's take a look at this story leading politico. the headline reads dems 2016 , will hillary clinton clear the field? let's look at the contenders we see as being in the waiting room . you know the people all have signs or have shown sign that is point to them running if hillary clinton doesn't. vice president joe biden , of course. new york governor andrew cuomo . martin o mall, massachusetts governor deval patrick and perhaps chicago mayor rahm emanuel . let me go to david corn on this question. are these people all moving around having cocktail parties like o'malley had the other day, little snacks, little nunchys for people at the governors mansion, at the marriott the other day, are they all doing this because they think hillary is beatable, she's not running, or what? or they think what? i don't know what they're thinking? year all thinking she's probably going to run.

>> these guys, i don't know, maybe a couple senators and they look in the mirror they all see a potential president. they're not going to start acting on this. they want to make sure they're going to, first off, do no harm. not do anything that would prevent them from running down the road .

>> but there is no down the road if hillary runs and wins.

>> that's right. that's why i'm not convinced yet that hillary is going to run because she'll be 69. the last three presidents we've had been 46, 54 and 47 when he took office. america has turned to younger, more vigorous people, but, you know, politics is a game for risk takers. there will be somebody if you look at those numbers you put up beginning of the show, they will do the math and they'll say it's now or never, and she will have competition from either those people on the screen or somebody else who won't want to wait and who will wonder if america is ready again to elect somebody that old.

>> well, let's go to joan walsh and try to talk about how gentlemen used to behave. there was a time when men would not ask a woman her age. now we have what we just heard actually giving her age and making a knock about it. what happened to decent standards? i'm serious here. i'm serious about this. and here is my question. same one to you joan as a pro. why are those other professionals to do this as a living begin planning for a race that may never happen for them unless they're going it shoot the moon and go up against a very difficult challenge?

>> well, first of all, david is a friend of mine so i'm not going to really rap him for that. i'm just going to stick to this. i would match hillary clinton 's sense of being capable of keeping a very vigorous schedule against anyone's. the pace she's kept in the last four years, in the last eight years would tire any of us, including you and me, david . so let's just leave it there. and leave aside questions of age. look, i don't think anybody has the -- either the resume or the star power that hillary clinton brings to this. what i think these guys are doing though, chris , is what david says. you know, she's not decided. i kind of think she will, but none of us are sure, and so if they want to be president, they've got to be active. they've got to be out there. they can't be too obvious at this point. the gentlemanly thing or the smart political thing, whichever you want to call it, is to wait and give her a little space and respect and see what she does. but if she decides to run, i don't think you see any of those guys that you mentioned in the race.

>> you don't see -- let me get back to you on that same question, david . i think some people really are born to be president from the time they run for student council in high school and they run again in college and they're sort of born to be campus politicos. they never stop running. do you think cuomo will step accede. let's get to the vice president. if he heard hillary , she called him up and said, joe, i'm going for it, would he stay in the race?

>> my guess is that he won't because, you know, i'll keep coming back to the age issue despite what my good friend joan says, he's five years older than she is. i don't think he would. he doesn't have i think --

>> are you the grim reaper ? is this your new role here?

>> i don't think he says the same incentive to run that she says or the same claim on the democratic base. these are all very ambitious people. i don't say that as a knock on them. they'll be there in case -- listen, last time around she didn't run a good campaign. she's been very --

>> we're going to get to that. i am going to get to that.

>> and she's in a different place now.

>> let's take a look at hillary 's ratings. the public really is on hillary 's side to run. the last quinnipiac poll has her at 61% favorable. i just wonder whether that in itself isn't going to be a nudge, joan , when she looks at those numbers and says i could be the first woman, i could be on the supreme court if i wanted it, but i could be firths ever woman president of the united states and there aren't many waiting behind me that would get it fairly soon either. it's either me or nobody perhaps for a number of cycles perhaps. and so she may feel the responsibility. as a woman, what do you think? do you think she feels the responsibility to take that opportunity? not just out of personal ambition but gender equality reasons?

>> yes, i do. i think first and foremost she's a very dutiful person, a very disciplined person. she has both a sense of her own history but a sense of her own obligations, and i think if she starts to feel, you know, to get her rest in, to read some good books, to spend some time with her family, she may look at those numbers, she may look at the history, she may look at the bench and say, you know, i ought to do this. she's going to be hearing from a lot of women around the country and around the world frankly who are going to say you can do this. you are the front-runner, male or female. and, you know, david and i, we've all looked at the fact that she ran a terrible campaign and so i'm really reluctant to say she's the front-runner again because she was the front-runner in 2007 and we saw what happened. but this is different. i'm not saying anything is certain, but i think to go to the question you asked me, chris , i think she's got to look at those numbers and she's got to look at the chance and say, i will make history and i will make a lot of women and little girls very, very proud.

>> you can always learn from the other side, guys. always try to learn from both sides in this business of analysis and ron nld reagan ran a pretty good campaign in '76 and almost knocked off an incumbent president, jerry ford . he came back as a supply sider with a totally different approach and fired his campaign manager after winning in new hampshire. so you can make radical changes in strategy and really prove yourself to the game. last month on "60 minutes" steve kroft , he's good at this, asked the president about secretary's clinton's prospects four years hence.

>> i have to ask you, what's the date of expiration on this endorsement.

>> oh, steve , you know, i know --

>> i have to ask that question. come on. you're sitting here together. everybody in town is talking about it already, and this is taking place.

>> you know, steve , i got to tell you, you guys in the press are incorrigible. literally inaugurated four days ago and you're talking about elections four years from now.

>> yeah. and i am, as you know, steve , i am still secretary of state so i'm out of politics and i'm forbidden from even hearing these questions.

>> that's already out of date. she's no longer secretary of state. i want you to go back to this question because i think we are not ahead of the calendar here right now. you two guys know and i know that the decision about whether hillary clinton is runs for president is several months off, not several years off. for the simple reason of courtesy. if she doesn't make the move these other guys are going to make it and she jumps in and it will cause all kinds of mayhem. i'll leave it open, david and then joan , when does she really have to make a move to signal she's going to run for president?

>> i think she has at least a good year here.

>> a year.

>> to do that. i think she can rest up. i spoke to a real good friend --

>> rest for a year?

>> i think she needs it after the last four.

>> other people have hard jobs, too, you know. they don't get a year to rest.

>> we'll see how vigorous she is in the next year. i talked to a good friend --

>> have you ever rested for a year?

>> no.

>> i don't know how you do that. how about two days in a row eight hours a night.

>> chris , i poke to a good friend of hers about a month ago and she said hillary would like to be president, thinks she obviously can do a good job, and would like to give it a run, but she is, indeed, worried about the process and all the hatred that will be thrust at her once again. we know it's coming, and she doesn't relish the idea of campaigning for two years straight for the job.

>> joan ? could she make an adjustment like reagan did and run a different kind of campaign that deal was the knowledge she gained from the first try effectively?

>> that's a really good question. i think she can. i agree with david . i'm not saying she's going to rest for a year. she's not going to a spa, chris , owe are a cloister, but i think she could afford to give speeches, read, talk. she wants to write another book for a year. by early next year she probably has to be out of courtesy out of a sense of decency to the party and other people who want to start assembling a team and run, she probably has to give a pretty serious indication of her intent. now, i think if she runs again, she really can't run as that front-runner. it cannot be that inevitability campaign she ran in 2007 and she knows that. she's got to be about the future.

>> if you're watching a madam secretary, all three of us have brilliant ideas.

>> we do.

>> great ideas. and i especially put myself in that group with joan and david . we know how to do this, people get you in there. thank you very much, david , and thank you, joan .

>>> coming up, did president obama miscalculate the republicans preferred defense cuts or more national debt . apparently they're happy to take the whacks at the pentagon in the interest of cutting spending overall. who would have expected this? apparently the president didn't. and can the republicans get away with it? republicans in two key states are up to something now they're not giving up on schemes to rejigger the electoral college . they're out to help their candidates next time. republicans figure if they can't win in the system they're just out to change it. they're flag grant about it.

>>> last in the os carries is about all of us. america is back in a winning mood.

>>> finally in case you didn't realize it, michelle obama has got moves. that cross dresser there on the left of course is jimmy fallon . the first lady's evolution of mom dancing with jimmy fallon . that's tonight in the "sideshow." and this is "hardball," the place for politics. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50947693/

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Adult home takes unusual approach to elderly care

CHESTNUT RIDGE, N.Y. (AP) ? At the Fellowship Community's adult home, workers are paid not according to what they do, but what they need; aging residents are encouraged to lend a hand at the farm, the candle shop or the pottery studio; and boisterous children are welcome around the old folks.

It's a home for the elderly in a commune-like setting, 30 miles from Manhattan, that takes an unusual approach, integrating seniors into the broader community and encouraging them to contribute to its welfare.

"It's a great place to live, and I think there's probably no better place in the world to die," says Joanne Karp, an 81-year-old resident who was supposed to be in her room recovering from eye surgery but instead was down the hall at the piano, accompanying three kids learning to play the recorder.

The 33-bed adult home is at the center of Fellowship Community, a collection of about 130 men, women and children founded in 1966 that offers seniors ? including the aging baby boom generation ? an alternative to living out their final years in traditional assisted-living homes or with their grown sons and daughters.

At most adult homes, a resident in decline would eventually have to go to a hospital or nursing home. But Fellowship has an exemption from state law that allows dying residents to stay there because "people have wanted to stay, and we have wanted to keep them," said administrator Ann Scharff, who helped found the community.

"We provide a space in which people can prepare to die in a way that is accepted and nourishing to them and fraught with meaning," Scharff said. "It's not something you run away from, but it's part of the whole spectrum of life, just as birth is part of life and is prepared for."

Situated on a hilltop in suburban Rockland County, Fellowship looks a bit like a village out of the past. Besides the farm and the pottery and candle shops, there are a dairy barn with 10 cows, a print shop, a metal shop, a "weavery" and a wood shop.

The 33-acre farm goes beyond organic, running on "biodynamic," or self-sustaining, principles, as much as a small farm can, said Jairo Gonzalez, the head gardener. Solar panels sparkle on the barn roof, and cow manure becomes compost.

Most of the adult home workers live in buildings surrounding it, as do about 35 independent seniors who don't yet need the services but plan to live out their days in the community. At meals, elders, workers and children dine together.

"We don't subscribe to 'Children should be seen and not heard,'" Scharff said.

Caring for the elderly is the main activity, but all the workers also have other responsibilities.

"In a typical work week, someone will be inside helping the elderly, meaning bringing meals, bathing, meds," said Will Bosch, head of the community's board of trustees. "But they'll also be doing building and grounds maintenance, planting, harvesting, milking."

Organizers decline to call it a commune but concede the spirit is similar. The philosophy behind it is called anthroposophy, "a source of spiritual knowledge and a practice of inner development," according to The Anthroposophical Society in America.

Elder care is practiced in somewhat similar fashion in at least two other anthroposophy-inspired communities: Camphill Ghent in Chatham, N.Y., and Hesperus Village in Vaughan, Ontario, near Toronto.

The area around Fellowship has several other organizations with ties to anthroposophy, including a private school, a bookstore and a co-op grocery that sells some of the community's crops. Fewer than half the adult home residents at Fellowship Community have any connection to anthroposophy, at least when they enter, Scharff said.

"We're an age-integrated community built around the central mission of care of the elderly," Bosch said. "The members want to be of service. They come because they know this is a place where they can contribute."

So Karp, the 81-year-old, teaches music and entertains the community at the piano.

"I think the reason people really appreciate this place is because they can be active and they can contribute and there's always something that needs doing," Karp said. "And it's nice when kids are glad to see you."

Other residents, or members, as they're called, have found similar niches.

Gwen Eisenmann, 91, a retired poet, leads poetry discussions and also likes to set the table before meals. Larry Fox, 74, a psychologist, treats patients at the Fellowship's medical office and said, "Where could I be at my age and be so happy to get up in the morning and look forward to the day?"

It's difficult, Bosch said, to find people to sign up for the communal life and work. It appeals to "people who are dismayed with the materialism of the world and are trying to get above it," he said. "People who are interested in an alternative lifestyle , not based on pocketing the most money they can for the least amount of work."

When elders come in, they pay a "life lease" of $27,500 to $50,000, depending on the space they will occupy in the adult home or the "lodges" surrounding it. In addition, they pay $700-$1,500 per month in rent, and up to $3,000 a month for care, depending on what they need.

Revenue from the adult home provides 60 percent of the nonprofit Fellowship Community's $3 million operating budget, with the rest coming from donations and the sale of produce, milk and crafts, home officials said. Donations completely fund the capital budget, make up any annual shortfall and subsidize the adult home.

The adult home is licensed and inspected by the state and is in good standing. It doesn't accept federal or state aid. Workers are paid according to need, and their housing, food and transportation ? there are community cars ? are included.

"Two people doing the same job might get very different stipends," Bosch said. "One might have children, one might not."

Matt Uppenbrink, 44, a former businessman in the fashion world who now lives at Fellowship with his wife and two children, is on the community's "financial circle" but also does his bit in the adult home.

"When I got my MBA, I didn't think I'd be helping somebody to go to the toilet," he said. "But years ago, with Grandma and Grandpa in the house, that's how it was done. What we do here is like helping a friend or helping a loved one. My dad is in a nursing home, and I wish he had this instead."

Rachel Berman, a 47-year-old former New York City teacher, lives at the community with her 10-year-old daughter.

"We cook, we farm, we care for the elderly," Berman said. "I was in the Peace Corps, and I lived for a while on a kibbutz in Israel, so community life was important to me."

The workers "get to see the stages of an elder's journey, different approaches to the end of life," Uppenbrink said. "You get to see the process happen. It gives you something to work with in terms of your own future."

___

Online:

Fellowship Community: http://www.fellowshipcommunity.org

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Aging America is a joint AP-APME project examining the aging of the baby boomers and the impact of that so-called silver tsunami on society.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aging-commune-alternative-ny-183008588.html

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Wi-Fi in your car? Coming to GM in 2014.

General Motors has announced a deal with AT&T that will bring mobile internet service to millions of GM vehicles next year, if not sooner, Read writes.

By Richard Read,?Guest blogger / February 26, 2013

The General Motors logo is seen outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Mich. GM has said that wi-fi features be available on all four of its product lines starting in 2014, Read writes.

Jeff Kowalsky/Reuters/File

Enlarge

If you work with Ray LaHood, you might want to stay out of his way this morning -- not because he lost any Oscar bets (though he might've, we don't know), but because General Motors has announced a deal with AT&T that will bring mobile internet service to millions of GM?vehicles?next year, if not sooner.?

Skip to next paragraph The Car Connection

High Gear Media?s flagship website offers news, reviews, and the latest shopping tools for the cars that matter to US consumers. For more expert insights from Car Connection editors and opinions from around the Web,?click here.

Researchers devise new image sensor that could meld screens with cameras

CCD sensors have long ruled the digital imaging roost, but a team of researchers at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria have concocted flat, flexible and transparent image sensors that could eventually change things up. Made from a flexible polymer film suffused with fluorescent particles, the prototypes catch only a specific wavelength of light and shoot it to an array of sensors that surround the sheet's edge. At that point, the rig calculates where light entered the polymer by measuring how much it has diminished during its travel time, and then composes an image from that data. It's said the process is similar to how a CT scan functions, but uses visible light instead of X-rays. Not only is the membrane relatively inexpensive and potentially disposable, but the solution is a world's first, to boot. "To our knowledge, we are the first to present an image sensor that is fully transparent - no integrated microstructures, such as circuits - and is flexible and scalable at the same time," said Oliver Bimber, co-author of the group's paper.

As of now, the setup only snaps black and white images with a resolution of 32 x 32 pixels, but there are plans to boost its fidelity by leveraging higher quality photodiodes (or even composite photos). Also, color photographs could be achieved by using several sheets that capture different hues of light. So, what's this all mean for practical applications? Researchers believe its prime use lies in layering the film on TV screens and other displays to offer gesture controls without pesky, additional cameras. In addition, objects can be imbued with sensor capabilities if wrapped with the layer, and even CCD's could benefit from having a slice of the polymer slapped on them to take photos at different exposures. Hit the second source link for the scientific nitty-gritty, or head past the break for a glimpse at the setup's photos.

Filed under: Cameras, Alt

Comments

Via: Gizmodo

Source: The Optical Society, Optics InfoBase

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8vl2RinzI7w/

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Sinopec to buy stake in Chesapeake assets for $1.02 billion

(Reuters) - China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) will buy half of Chesapeake Energy Corp's Mississippi Lime oil and gas properties in Oklahoma for $1.02 billion to increase its presence in the booming North American shale gas industry.

Output from shale fields in the United States and Canada has jumped over the last three years due to the advent of drilling methods such as hydraulic fracturing.

Companies in China, which has the largest shale reserves in the world, are keen to get the know-how of drilling in such unconventional fields.

China's state-owned CNOOC Ltd has struck a deal to buy Canadian oil and gas company Nexen Inc for $15.1 billion, while Pioneer Natural Resources Co said last month it would sell a stake in its assets in the Wolfcamp shale field of Texas to Sinochem Group for $1.7 billion.

Sinopec, Asia's largest oil refiner, will buy 50 percent of Chesapeake's 850,000 acres of net oil and natural gas leasehold properties in the Mississippi Lime shale field in northern Oklahoma, the companies said.

The Mississippi Lime assets will be bought by Sinopec International.

"The deal is about $200 million below our modeled assumption for similar acreage but (with) more production," analysts at investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co said.

Chesapeake shares were down marginally at $20.40 in premarket trading on Monday. The stock has risen about 23 percent this year.

However, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Neal Dingmann. said the deal was very positive for Chesapeake.

"The price based on all metrics appears better than what myself or the Street expected, especially the $2,400 per acre metric," he said.

Chesapeake has about 2.1 million net acres of leasehold in the Mississippi Lime region, which straddles northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas.

Chesapeake's production from the Mississippi Lime region jumped 208 percent to an average of 32,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter, the company reported this month.

About 45 percent of the total output was oil, 46 percent was natural gas and the rest was natural gas liquids.

Sinopec's deal with Chesapeake, the second-largest gas producer in the United States, will help the Oklahoma City-based company cut down its debt, which stood at $12 billion as of December 31.

Chesapeake, which closed $12 billion of asset sales last year, is targeting asset sales of $4 billion to $7 billion in 2013, the company said in a presentation earlier this month.

Chesapeake said in December it would sell most of its natural gas processing and gathering assets for $2.16 billion to Access Midstream Partners LP .

The company's board and big shareholders are trying to rein in spending, pay down debt and increase production of more profitable oil.

Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon, who co-founded the company in 1989, is stepping down on April 1 following a tumultuous year during which the company faced a liquidity crunch and a governance crisis.

Sinopec struck a deal with Devon Energy Corp in January 2012 to buy a third of the U.S. oil and natural gas producer's interest in five developing fields for about $2.2 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sinopec-buy-stake-chesapeake-assets-1-02-billion-114944716--finance.html

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Nokia Lumia 520 hands-on (update: video!)

Did you think the Nokia Lumia 620 was a solid enough smartphone to shake up emerging markets, thanks to its low cost? Say hello to the Lumia 520, which at an estimated cost of $183 will be one of the (if not the) least expensive Windows Phone 8 devices once it comes out later this quarter. It's attracted a commitment from T-Mobile in the US (timeframe not yet specified) and other carriers around the world, so we're likely going to see a lot more of this little beaut in the future. Naturally, it's time for a face-to-face introduction.

The Lumia brand as a whole is very consistent in its overall design language, so it's not difficult to tell that the 520 fits perfectly in the lineup. It will be offered in five of Nokia's usual colors: cyan, red, black, yellow and white. If you're interested in swapping covers, snap-on backs will be available -- but beware, the actual back of the device itself isn't removable. The right side of the phone houses three buttons: the volume rocker, power and the dedicated shutter button. A 3.5mm jack sits on top, whereas the micro-USB charger is on the bottom.

While it felt a little cheaper (as one would expect with such a low-end handset), it still seemed to be held together quite solidly. Interestingly, the phone's weight wasn't distributed across the device like we saw on the 720, but instead the middle of the device seemed pretty hollow, even though it held its fair share of circuitry and other components. Take a peek below if you're interested in a full photo tour of the 520, and continue reading for more impressions and specs.

Gallery: Nokia Lumia 520 hands-on