Earlier today Microsoft announced that Google is graciously extending the Exchange ActiveSync cut-off deadline to July 31st for Windows Phone users. Microsoft was reportedly begging Google to extend the?deadline, and it appears that it paid off. This is good news in itself, but a long term solution is still needed.
Microsoft has confirmed that they are indeed working on a Windows Phone update that will include support for CardDAV and CalDAV, the new protocols that Google is using for contacts and calendar info. Unfortunately Windows 8 users won?t be getting the same good news. Microsoft says that Windows 8 users simply won?t be able to use Google accounts for Calendar after today. They will instead have to add it to their Microsoft?account?first. A real bummer.
Microsoft did not give a time frame for when the update will arrive, but as long as they beat the July 31st deadline we should be okay.
1. I just spoke to Moshe who is with one of his Attorney Clients in Wellesley and he?s preparing for his two topics tonight: How to make your Rental property stand out from all the other rentals in your area! and Screening Tenants: How to do it the right way.
2. Attorney Jim is in court, as we speak, filing several motions. He?s ready for tonight, where he?ll help us decide whether or not to file a Real Estate Tax Abatement (based on your actual value?) or not and How he can help with it!
3. I?m working on several Offers to Purchase and Funding others.
Tonight 5:30 ? 6:30 PM Premeeting for Investors that have taken an Investing Course. (see details below **) 6:30 ? 7:00 Buy, Sell, Networking 7-9 Property Management, Tax Abatements, Update on Current RE Market ?Sweet Spots?, Funding Market, Will it last? Benefit of having an Appraisal! 9:00 PM Recap and Adjourn!
See you there, Mike Hurney, Director MassRealEstate.net PO Box 307, Marblehead, MA 01945 781-639-8616 office We meet tonight at the SpringHill Suites, 43 Newbury Street (Route 1 North) Peabody, MA 01960 Members always FREE, only $25. for guests, only $99./year to join.
** Tonight?s PreMeeting 5:30 ? 6:30 is restricted to folks who have purchased my course: ?How to Become a Real Estate Investor in 12 Easy Lessons? by Mike Hurney or If you have purchased anyone elses course (must bring a receipt!) and you are plateaued/stuck and would like to network or learn what your next move should be.
We're all waiting for someone to sell that fancy orb docking station for the Nexus 4. In the meantime, ingenuity never rests and this 3D printed dock would make an awesome substitute. It uses a standard USB cable for charging, and an NFC sticker to trigger the NFC Task Launcher app to drop it into dock mode.
If you have access to a 3D printer, be sure to give this one a good look. And if you make any extra ones, give me a yell so I can throw my money at you.
We're lucky enough to live on a planet where it's comparatively easy to design and build airplanes that work: our atmosphere and the Earth's gravitational pull are kind in that respect. But what would happen if you tried to fly a regular plane around another planet or moon? More »
When the Journal News caused a national uproar and endangered the lives of its staff to create a Google Map of gun permit holders in New York, it was justified for the cause of transparency and civic dialog. Unfortunately, it now appears that the map was woefully inaccurate, possibly implicating citizens who had died, ditched their guns, or moved. ?Nobody ever called and verified the address,? said Mike Smith, who was surprised to see his address on the map, and apparently was marked after his brother had used his address when he applied for a handgun licence. Whoops!
My first dog, Jack, was an American Eskimo. He had a thick undercoat that kept him toasty warm through even the coldest winter blast. Most of my dogs have been large with warm coats, and I never thought much about winter coats for dogs until my two Jack Russell Terrier mixed siblings, Sophie and Kelly, got older. Our Midwest winters can be harsh, with snow and subzero temperatures. Both Sophie and Kelly took the cold in stride when they were young, but as they aged I discovered they got cold when we were outside. Some dogs do need winter coats to help keep them warm!
Winter coats, sweaters or booties are to some people nothing more than an owner pampering their pet. I?ve had people stop me and actually complain because I had a winter coat on my dogs. Some people think dogs don't need anything on because they already have a perfectly good, natural winter coat. Sometimes, however, a dog's natural coat isn't enough to protect them from winter weather. There are reasons why you may need to put warm clothes on your dog.
Older Dogs
I had an older dog, Rex, who would get so cold his teeth chattered. He loved playing outside with the other dogs, and putting both a sweater and coat on him helped to keep him warm and made it possible for him to enjoy being outside ? without shivering so hard his teeth chattered. Older dogs can have a harder time generating and holding body heat. Putting a sweater and/or coat on your dog when he's outside is a practical way of dealing with colder weather. It's important to keep an eye on an older pet to make sure the cold isn't bothering him.
Another consideration to keep in mind is even inside the house, an older dog can become chilled. If you need a sweater because your thermostat is turned down to conserve energy or there's a chill in the house just before the furnace comes on, your older dog may also need a sweater.
Medical Conditions
Dogs with arthritis can be helped with a warm winter coat to help protect their joints when they are outside. Wearing a sweater or light jacket inside the house can also give them more comfort. Cushing's disease, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, hypoglycemia, respiratory problems, diabetes, a thinning coat, or recovering from surgery, as well as other conditions can contribute to how well a dog is able to maintain his own body heat and handle cold weather.
Smaller Dogs, Toy Breeds, or Dogs with Short Coats
I use to laugh when I'd see little dogs dressed up in fancy coats and booties. I changed my tune when I discovered that my small dogs got cold, and they loved wearing their winter coats. They understood the coats made them warmer, and waited patiently for me to dress them.
Some dog breeds don't have a heavy enough coat to keep them warm. Obviously, hairless dogs need coats, inside and outside, when it's cold. The Greyhound, Whippet, Chihuahua or any breed with a short single coat may need something on to stay warm in winter. A good combination is to layer a sweater, T-shirt, sweatshirt or lightweight coat under a fleece lined outer coat for maximum warmth. When it's really cold or snowing, a waterproof/windproof coat or dog blanket will keep your dog toasty and dry. A lightweight coat or sweater works well for keeping a chilly dog more comfortable inside.
Consider the Dog's Natural Coat
Even dogs with an appropriate natural coat can benefit from a winter coat that helps keep them dry. Hypothermia is a winter danger that can affect humans, pets and wildlife. It's important to stay dry to keep body heat trapped where it's needed. Dogs with a warm undercoat, like Huskies, can do well in extreme winter weather, as long as they stay dry.
Proper grooming is an important part of keeping a dog warm, as well. A wet, dirty or matted coat loses its ability to properly insulate the body, and it can't trap body heat. Along with grooming is a proper diet. A premium quality dog food like CANIDAE helps your dog maintain a healthy coat which will keep him warmer.
Dog Booties
Dogs lose body heat through their paws and ears. Winter can be hard on a dog's paws, and winter paw care can help keep your dog's feet healthy. A good pair of booties can not only help keep your pet warm by keeping his feet dry, they also keep dangerous deicers used on roads and sidewalks off your dog's feet.
If your dog is shivering, that's a sure sign he's cold. Sometimes a dog really does need a winter coat to stay warm.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) ? African leaders met in the Ethiopian capital Sunday for talks dominated by the conflict in Mali as well as lingering territorial issues between the two Sudans.
The African Union says it will deploy a force in Mali, where French troops are helping the Malian army to push back Islamist extremists whose rebellion threatens to divide the West African nation.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is attending the two-day summit in Addis Ababa, where Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn took over from President Yayi Boni of Benin as chairperson of the African Union.
"We are determined to do what we can to help the people of Mali in their time of need," Ban said. "Humanitarian agencies are helping suffering civilians. The United Nations has also sent specialists on the military and political tracks. This is a moral imperative for all in the international community. I have presented to the Security Council my recommendation on the logistics support package for (the Mali force)."
With Mali at the top of the agenda, African leaders hope they can make quick progress in deploying a substantial number of African troops there. As the African leaders met, French special forces fighting alongside Malian troops were pushing farther north into the Malian desert in an offensive against al Qaida-linked Islamists who took control of northern Mali more than nine months ago.
Africa's economic boom is threatened by violent conflicts across the continent, African Union officials said at the summit.
"While we are proud of the progress made in expanding and consolidating peace and security on the continent, we also acknowledge that much still needs to be done to resolve ongoing, renewed and new conflict situations in a number of countries," said African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Dlamini-Zuma said the Peace and Security Council of the African Union will report to the summit on efforts to resolve conflicts in countries ranging from Mali to Madagascar.
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union said in a statement Saturday that it wanted "the early operationalization of the African Standby Force" in Mali. The council also said it fully supports Mali President Dioncounda Traore but urged him to put in place a roadmap to free and fair elections. It also said the African Union is committed to preserving the unity of Mali and would "spare no efforts" to safeguard the country's territorial integrity.
A number of African countries have pledged to send troops to Mali, and on Tuesday the African Union will hold a conference of donors with hopes that money will be raised for the Mali force. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union urged member states to "seize the opportunity of the donors' conference ... to meaningfully contribute toward the mobilization of the necessary resources."
The council also urged the international community to contribute generously to the Mali force.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan met at the summit in Addis Ababa, although African Union officials said they did not expect them to make much headway. South Sudan President Salva Kiir and Sudan President Omar al-Bashir earlier this month agreed to "the unconditional and speedy" implementation of deals they had reached back in September. But a subsequent meeting of the two countries' negotiating teams that should have outlined timetable for the deal's implementation ended in disagreement.
Ban urged the two Sudans to resume direct talks and spoke of the "dangerous humanitarian situation in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states."
"In Sudan and South Sudan the parties have taken positive steps to resolve outstanding issues," Ban said. "But they should make more progress in meeting their agreements."
Mediators led by former South African leader Thabo Mbeki have until July to push the two sides to agree on the status of the disputed Abyei region as well as other contested border areas.
SEVARE, Mali (AP) ? The boy sits with his knees tucked under his chest on the concrete floor of the police station here, his adolescent face a tableau of fear. He's still garbed in the knee-length tunic he was ordered to wear by the Islamic extremist who recruited him.
It's these same clothes, styled after those worn by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, which gave him away when he tried to flee earlier this week. They have now become his prison garb.
Adama Drabo is 16, and his recruitment into the ranks of a group designated as a terrorist organization, followed by his violent interrogation at the hands of the Malian army, underscores the obstacles faced by France as it tries to wash its former West African colony clean of the al-Qaida-linked fighters occupying it.
"In terms of the rules of engagement, you have to think to yourself, what will you do if a child comes up to you wearing an explosive vest? What do you do if a 12-year-old is manning a checkpoint?" says Rudolph Atallah, former director of counterterrorism for Africa at the Pentagon during the Bush administration. "It's a very difficult situation."
France, which now has around 2,500 troops on the ground, plunged headfirst into the conflict in Mali two weeks ago, after the Islamist groups that have controlled the nation's northern half since last year began an aggressive push southward. The French soldiers are equipped with night vision goggles, anti-tank mines and laser-guided bombs. However, their enemy includes the hundreds of children, some as young as 11, who have been conscripted into the rebel army.
Among those the French will have to fight are boys like Adama, the uneducated, eldest child of a poor family of rice growers, who until recently spent his days plowing fields with oxen near the village of N'Denbougou. Living just 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the central Malian town of Niono, which has become one of the frontlines in the recent war, Adama fits the profile of the types of children the Islamists have successfully recruited. His village has a single mosque, and unlike the moderate form of Islam practiced in much of Mali, the one he and his family attended preached Wahabism.
"We have observed a pattern of recruitment of child soldiers from villages that for many years have practiced a very strict form of Islam, referred to as Wahabism," says Corinne Dufka, senior researcher for West Africa at Human Rights Watch. "We estimate that hundreds of children have been recruited."
The groups allied with al-Qaida started recruiting children soon after they seized control of northern Mali last April. Rebel leaders quoted verses from the Quran which they claim describe children as the purest apprentices. Since then witnesses have described seeing children staffing checkpoints, riding in patrol vehicles, carrying out searches of cars stopped at roadblocks, as well as preparing tea and cooking food for the fighters in the towns controlled by the insurgents, says Dufka.
The United Nations children's agency said late last year that it had been able to corroborate at least 175 reported cases of child soldiers in northern Mali, bought from their impoverished parents for between $1,000 and $1,200 per child. Malian human rights officials put the total number of children recruited by the Islamists considerably higher at 1,000 ? and that was before the French intervention.
Adama, who is now being held at the Sevare gendarmerie, was hired as a cook two weeks ago by Islamist fighters in Douentza, a city controlled by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad, or MUJAO. Its members have been linked to the recent terrorist attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria, which ended in the death of at least 37 hostages, according to the Algerian government.
The teenager claims he didn't know he was working for a terrorist group, even though the insurgents who ate the macaroni he cooked carried guns, wore beards and dressed in the unfamiliar Gulf-style clothes they gave him. He says he joined them only for the money they promised they would pay at the end of each month. The police holding him say he was promised around $200 a month, several times the average monthly salary here.
Adama explains that his friends in Niono said they knew people in Sevare who would give them work. So they took a Peugeot 207 taxi to reach the town.
"It was there in the town that we met some people and they hired us to cook for them," he says. "They said that at the end of each month we would get paid. ... And so we started cooking for them."
He says that even though some of the fighters in their entourage went to fight in the Niono area, he was unaware of their battle plans. The men spoke Arabic and Tamashek, a Tuareg language, which he did not understand.
One day, when he went to the corner store, the shop owner told him a war was on, he says.
"I told my friend, 'Even if the month isn't over yet, we need to get out of here.' We walked to the next village, where we found an old man there, and we asked him if he could please give us some water? The old man said he couldn't give us any water, because we're rebels. We said, 'We're not rebels. Give us some water.' It was then that a man on a motorcycle came by. The motorcyclist said that we are wearing the clothes of the Islamic fighters."
The boys tried to run.
The friend got away. Adama was handed over to the Malian military, which in recent days has been accused of executing dozens of suspected Islamists, including a group of six men who arrived in Sevare without identity cards. Adama may have been saved by the international outcry that followed the reported executions this week, says Atallah, putting immense diplomatic pressure on Mali's ill-trained and often incompetent army to respect human rights conventions.
"I was frightened," says Adama. "They said they were going to kill me. ... They said this several times."
During the interrogation, especially on the first day, the soldiers threatened to execute Adama if he did not tell the truth, he says. They hit him, he says, and slapped him across his face. It was only on Friday, according to Adama, that the soldiers told him they would not kill him.
"For four days, they kept me in jail with two big people," he says. "I feel somewhat reassured now, but not totally reassured. Because I am still not free."
Child soldiers have been part of the fabric of African conflicts for decades now. In Liberia's civil war more than 10 years ago, drugged 12- and 13-year-olds were famously photographed toting automatic weapons and teddy bears. However, the standoff this time is between a Western army bound by the Geneva Convention and Western values on human rights, and an enemy that includes hundreds of children. One of the most active groups in northern Mali is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the terror network's affiliate in Africa, which originated in Algeria. In 2008, the group released a video showing a cheerful 15-year-old in Algeria who was suffering from a terminal illness, Atallah says. The Islamists convinced the boy that the best thing he could do with what remained of his life was to die for Allah, according to Atallah, who saw the recording.
"The video shows him smiling," he says. "They taught him how to drive a van. And then they filmed the van as it left, just before he detonated himself. I wouldn't put it past them to do this again."
___
Associated Press writer Krista Larson contributed from Mopti, Mali.
HIV-like viruses in non-human primates have existed much longer than previously thought
Friday, January 25, 2013
Viruses similar to those that cause AIDS in humans were present in non-human primates in Africa at least 5 million years ago and perhaps up to 12 million years ago, according to study published January 24 in the Open Access journalPLOS Pathogens by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Until now, researchers have hypothesized that such viruses originated much more recently.
HIV-1, the virus responsible for AIDS, infiltrated the human population in the early 20th century following multiple transmissions of a similar chimpanzee virus known as SIVcpz. Previous work to determine the age of HIV-like viruses, called lentiviruses, by comparing their genetic blueprints has calculated their origin to be tens of thousands of years ago.
However, other researchers have suspected this time frame to be much too recent. Michael Emerman, Ph.D., a virologist and member of the Human Biology Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Alex Compton, a graduate student in the Emerman Lab, describe the use of a technique to estimate the extent to which primates and lentiviruses have coexisted by tracking the changes in a host immunity gene called APOBEC3G that were induced by ancient viral challenges.
They report that this host immunity factor is evolving in tandem with a viral gene that defends the virus against APOBEC3G, which allowed them to determine the minimum age for the association between primates and lentiviruses to be around 5 or 6 million years ago, and possibly up to 12 million years ago.
These findings suggest that HIV-like infections in primates are much older than previously thought, and they have driven selective changes in antiviral genes that have incited an evolutionary arms race that continues to this day. The study also confirms that viruses similar to HIV that are present in various monkey species today are the descendants of ancient pathogens in primates that have shaped how the immune system fights infections.
"More than 40 non-human primate species in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with strains of HIV-related viruses," Emerman said. "Since some of these viruses may have the potential to infect humans as well, it is important to know their origins."
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Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org
Thanks to Public Library of Science 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.
Nearly the entire genetic landscape of the most common form of brain tumor can be explained by abnormalities in just five genes, an international team of researchers led by Yale School of Medicine scientists report online in the Jan. 24 edition of the journalScience. Knowledge of the genomic profile of the tumors and their location in the brain make it possible for the first time to develop personalized medical therapies for meningiomas, which currently are only managed surgically.
Meningioma tumors affect about 170,000 patients in the United States. They are usually benign but can turn malignant in about 10 percent of cases. Even non-cancerous tumors can require surgery if they affect the surrounding brain tissue and disrupt neurological functions.
Approximately half of the tumors have already been linked to a mutation or deletion of a gene called neurofibromin 2, or NF2. The origins of the rest of the meningiomas had remained a mystery.
The Yale team conducted genomic analyses of 300 meningiomas and found four new genetic suspects, each of which yields clues to the origins and treatment of the condition. Tumors mutated with each of these genes tend to be located in different areas of the brain, which can indicate how likely they are to become malignant.
"Combining knowledge of these mutations with the location of tumor growth has direct clinical relevance and opens the door for personalized therapies," said Murat Gunel, the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery, professor of genetics and of neurobiology, and senior author of the study. Gunel is also a member of Yale Cancer Center's Genetics and Genomics Research Program.
For instance, two of the mutations identified ? SMO and AKT1 ? have been linked to various cancers. SMO mutations had previously been found in basal cell carcinoma and are the target of an already approved drug for that form of skin cancer. Another, KLF4, activates a suite of genes and is known for its role in inducing stem cell formation, even in cells that have fully differentiated into a specific tissue type. Mutations in a TRAF7, a gene not previously associated with cancer, were found in approximately one-fourth of tumors. Meningiomas with these mutations are found in the skull base and are unlikely to become cancerous. In contrast, NF2 mutant tumors that flank the brain's hemispheres are more likely to progress to malignancy, especially in males.
Doctors may be able to use targeted chemotherapy on patients with non-NF2 mutations, especially those with recurrent or invasive meningiomas and those who are surgically at high risk. Individualized chemotherapies could also spare patients irradiation treatment, a risk factor for progression of these generally benign tumors. Gunel said it may also be possible to extend these approaches to more malignant tumors.
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Yale University: http://www.yale.edu
Thanks to Yale University 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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AAA??Jan. 25, 2013?9:08 AM ET Lawyer: No proof to charge Romanians for art theft AP
Doina Lupu, lawyer of Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, not seen, is surrounded by the media in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Lawyers for three Romanians Mihai Alexandru Bitu, Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, charged with stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands last year, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse say there is insufficient evidence to charge them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Doina Lupu, lawyer of Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, not seen, is surrounded by the media in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Lawyers for three Romanians Mihai Alexandru Bitu, Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, charged with stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands last year, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse say there is insufficient evidence to charge them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Doina Lupu, lawyer of Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, not seen, is surrounded by the media in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Lawyers for three Romanians Mihai Alexandru Bitu, Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, charged with stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands last year, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse say there is insufficient evidence to charge them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Daniela Dede, left, lawyer for Mihai Alexandru Bitu, not seen, speaks to media in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Lawyers for three Romanians Mihai Alexandru Bitu, Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, charged with stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands last year, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse say there is insufficient evidence to charge them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Daniela Dede lawyer for Mihai Alexandru Bitu, not seen, speaks to the media in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Lawyers for three Romanians Mihai Alexandru Bitu, Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie, charged with stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands last year, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse say there is insufficient evidence to charge them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
BUCHAREST, Romania BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) ? A lawyer for three Romanians accused of stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands insisted Friday there was insufficient evidence to charge them.
At a court hearing in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, defense lawyer Doina Lupu urged that the three men not be extradited to the Netherlands for allegedly stealing seven works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, among others.
"There is no evidence that this was an organized criminal group," she said. "The arrests were based on assumptions and on simple declarations and these are not enough. "
All three men deny any links to the Oct. 16 theft at Rotterdam's Kunsthal gallery.
A prosecutor told the court Friday that suspect Radu Dogaru took two paintings ? one each by Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin ? to be evaluated by Maria Dragu, the curator for foreign paintings at the Romanian National Art Museum.
Dogaru denied this and Dragu is on leave, the Romanian museum said Friday.
The other two suspects, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie, also denied being involved in the theft. Darie did tell the court he had visited the Kunsthal gallery twice to look at its bronze sculptures.
The Bucharest Court ruled Friday that the men should be kept in custody pending an investigation.
The thieves broke in Oct. 16 through a rear emergency exit at the gallery, grabbed the paintings off the wall and fled, all within two minutes.
The stolen paintings came from the private Triton Foundation, a collection of avant-garde art put together by multimillionaire Willem Cordia, an investor and businessman, and his wife, Marijke Cordia-Van der Laan. Willem Cordia died in 2011.
The stolen paintings were: Pablo Picasso's 1971 "Harlequin Head;" Claude Monet's 1901 "Waterloo Bridge, London" and "Charing Cross Bridge, London;" Matisse's 1919 "Reading Girl in White and Yellow;" Gauguin's 1898 "Girl in Front of Open Window;" Meyer de Haan's "Self-Portrait," around 1890; and Lucian Freud's 2002 work "Woman with Eyes Closed."
The gallery said it had a "state-of-the-art" automated alarm system.
Associated PressNews Topics: Arts and entertainment, General news, Theft, Visual arts, Painting, Museums, Crime, Recreation and leisure, Lifestyle, Leisure travel, Travel
An eleventh-hour compromise in Congress pulled the nation back from the brink of the fiscal cliff?at least for the time being?just after we had slipped over the edge. Now the ?American Taxpayer Relief Act? is the law of the land. For the most part, this sweeping legislation preserves and extends existing tax breaks?on a permanent basis in some cases?but also imposes higher taxes on upper-income individuals. Here?s a roundup of 16 key tax-saving opportunities in the new law. ?
1. Sidestep higher income taxes. The new law wipes out across-the-board individual tax rate increases slated for 2013. Instead of making wholesale changes, the new law re?tains the prior income tax rate struc??ture for most individual tax??payers?permanently. However, a top rate of 39.6% is added for single filers with taxable income above $400,000 and joint filers with taxable income above $450,000. ?
Tip:When possible, use tax strategies throughout t...(register to read more)
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False beliefs persist, even after instant online correctionsPublic release date: 24-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett Garrett.258@osu.edu 614-247-7414 Ohio State University
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It seems like a great idea: Provide instant corrections to web-surfers when they run across obviously false information on the Internet.
But a new study suggests that this type of tool may not be a panacea for dispelling inaccurate beliefs, particularly among people who already want to believe the falsehood.
"Real-time corrections do have some positive effect, but it is mostly with people who were predisposed to reject the false claim anyway," said R. Kelly Garrett, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
"The problem with trying to correct false information is that some people want to believe it, and simply telling them it is false won't convince them."
For example, the rumor that President Obama was not born in the United States was widely believed during the past election season, even though it was thoroughly debunked.
The prospect of correcting falsehoods like this online before they have a chance to spread widely has obvious appeal, Garrett said.
In fact, it has already been attempted: A team from Intel and the University of California, Berkeley, developed Dispute Finder, a plug-in for web browsers that was released in 2009 and would alert users when they opened a webpage with a disputed claim. That project has ended, but Garrett said similar efforts are under way.
"Although the average news user hasn't encountered real-time correction software yet, it is in the works and I suspect it will see more widespread use soon," he said.
But will it work? In order to find out, Garrett conducted a study with Brian Weeks, a graduate student in communication at Ohio State. Their study (available here), which they will present Feb. 26 in Austin, Texas, appears in the 2013 Proceedings of the Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing conference.
Participants in the study were a diverse group of 574 adults from across the country who participated online.
The experiment was designed to see what would happen when participants read false statements copied from a "political blog" (actually text prepared by the researchers) about the issue of electronic health records.
While some of the information, collected from news stories and government sources, was correct, the researchers also inserted several false statements about who was allowed access to these records. For instance, the message falsely claimed that hospital administrators, health insurance companies and even government officials had unrestricted access to people's electronic health records.
The participants were divided into three groups - some were presented with an immediate correction, saying that FactCheck.org, an independent fact-checking organization, had concluded this blog post contained factual errors. Inaccurate statements were italicized, enclosed in brackets and displayed in red, and a detailed correction appeared at the bottom of the page.
Others read the blog post with the errors, followed by completing an unrelated three-minute task, and then were presented with the exact same correction.
The final group was presented only with the inaccurate message during the study.
Afterwards, all participants were asked how easy or difficult it would be for several groups (including hospital administrators, government officials and others) to access electronic health records. Participants were graded based on the accuracy of their answers.
In general, those who received the immediate correction were just slightly more likely to be accurate than those who received the delayed correction. Those who received no corrections were, not surprisingly, the least accurate.
But the most interesting results came when the researchers analyzed who was influenced by each kind of correction.
The real-time correction worked well with participants who indicated at the beginning of the study that they supported electronic health records, also called EHRs.
"But for those who opposed EHRs, the effect of the immediate correction was essentially the same as if they had received no correction at all," Garrett said.
The reason appears to be that opponents of EHRs discounted the credibility of the source of the correction, Garrett said. On the other hand, the more favorably an individual felt about EHRs, the more credible the correction was perceived to be.
Although this pattern was also evident among those who received the delayed correction, the effect was significantly weaker.
Garrett said the results of this study cast doubt on the theory that people who believe false rumors need only to be educated about the truth to change their minds.
"Humans aren't vessels into which you can just pour accurate information," he said.
"Correcting misperceptions is really a persuasion task. You have to convince people that, while there are competing claims, one claim is clearly more accurate."
Garrett noted that, while instant corrections were slightly more effective than delayed corrections, the problem is that instant corrections actually increase resistance among those whose attitudes are supported by the falsehood.
"We would anticipate that systems like Dispute Finder would do little to change the beliefs of the roughly one in six Americans who, despite exhaustive news coverage and fact checking, continue to question whether President Obama was born in the U.S.," he said.
Garrett said it may be better to find a way to deliver corrections later, when people may not be so defensive about their beliefs.
###
The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett
Written by Jeff Grabmeier
614-292-8457 Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
False beliefs persist, even after instant online correctionsPublic release date: 24-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett Garrett.258@osu.edu 614-247-7414 Ohio State University
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It seems like a great idea: Provide instant corrections to web-surfers when they run across obviously false information on the Internet.
But a new study suggests that this type of tool may not be a panacea for dispelling inaccurate beliefs, particularly among people who already want to believe the falsehood.
"Real-time corrections do have some positive effect, but it is mostly with people who were predisposed to reject the false claim anyway," said R. Kelly Garrett, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
"The problem with trying to correct false information is that some people want to believe it, and simply telling them it is false won't convince them."
For example, the rumor that President Obama was not born in the United States was widely believed during the past election season, even though it was thoroughly debunked.
The prospect of correcting falsehoods like this online before they have a chance to spread widely has obvious appeal, Garrett said.
In fact, it has already been attempted: A team from Intel and the University of California, Berkeley, developed Dispute Finder, a plug-in for web browsers that was released in 2009 and would alert users when they opened a webpage with a disputed claim. That project has ended, but Garrett said similar efforts are under way.
"Although the average news user hasn't encountered real-time correction software yet, it is in the works and I suspect it will see more widespread use soon," he said.
But will it work? In order to find out, Garrett conducted a study with Brian Weeks, a graduate student in communication at Ohio State. Their study (available here), which they will present Feb. 26 in Austin, Texas, appears in the 2013 Proceedings of the Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing conference.
Participants in the study were a diverse group of 574 adults from across the country who participated online.
The experiment was designed to see what would happen when participants read false statements copied from a "political blog" (actually text prepared by the researchers) about the issue of electronic health records.
While some of the information, collected from news stories and government sources, was correct, the researchers also inserted several false statements about who was allowed access to these records. For instance, the message falsely claimed that hospital administrators, health insurance companies and even government officials had unrestricted access to people's electronic health records.
The participants were divided into three groups - some were presented with an immediate correction, saying that FactCheck.org, an independent fact-checking organization, had concluded this blog post contained factual errors. Inaccurate statements were italicized, enclosed in brackets and displayed in red, and a detailed correction appeared at the bottom of the page.
Others read the blog post with the errors, followed by completing an unrelated three-minute task, and then were presented with the exact same correction.
The final group was presented only with the inaccurate message during the study.
Afterwards, all participants were asked how easy or difficult it would be for several groups (including hospital administrators, government officials and others) to access electronic health records. Participants were graded based on the accuracy of their answers.
In general, those who received the immediate correction were just slightly more likely to be accurate than those who received the delayed correction. Those who received no corrections were, not surprisingly, the least accurate.
But the most interesting results came when the researchers analyzed who was influenced by each kind of correction.
The real-time correction worked well with participants who indicated at the beginning of the study that they supported electronic health records, also called EHRs.
"But for those who opposed EHRs, the effect of the immediate correction was essentially the same as if they had received no correction at all," Garrett said.
The reason appears to be that opponents of EHRs discounted the credibility of the source of the correction, Garrett said. On the other hand, the more favorably an individual felt about EHRs, the more credible the correction was perceived to be.
Although this pattern was also evident among those who received the delayed correction, the effect was significantly weaker.
Garrett said the results of this study cast doubt on the theory that people who believe false rumors need only to be educated about the truth to change their minds.
"Humans aren't vessels into which you can just pour accurate information," he said.
"Correcting misperceptions is really a persuasion task. You have to convince people that, while there are competing claims, one claim is clearly more accurate."
Garrett noted that, while instant corrections were slightly more effective than delayed corrections, the problem is that instant corrections actually increase resistance among those whose attitudes are supported by the falsehood.
"We would anticipate that systems like Dispute Finder would do little to change the beliefs of the roughly one in six Americans who, despite exhaustive news coverage and fact checking, continue to question whether President Obama was born in the U.S.," he said.
Garrett said it may be better to find a way to deliver corrections later, when people may not be so defensive about their beliefs.
###
The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett
Written by Jeff Grabmeier
614-292-8457 Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Christopher Kennedy Lawford, nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, is calling for improvements in the nation's treatment of addiction and mental illness in a new book.
"We've de-institutionalized the mentally ill in this country, our treatment now is in prisons and on the streets, and it's not working, " says Lawford, author of Recover to Live: Conversations with 100 of the World's Top Treatment Experts.
Lawford is no stranger to addiction. Not only did he once struggle with a substance abuse himself, but he watched his cousin, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., publicly battle with addiction during his time in Congress. Patrick Kennedy wrote the forward for the book.
"My cousin Patrick talks about a check up from the neck up; we need to start treating mental illness the way we treat physical illness. Get it early, get it fast, pay attention to it as a society," Lawford says. "Otherwise, we're going to suffer the consequences."
Lawford says he is proud to carry on the Kennedy legacy of advocacy, saying that his uncle, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., "would be very mad at me if I turned my back" on this issue.
A senate seat in Massachusetts is about to open up, and there is a lot of talk of Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Sen. Kennedy?s widow, filling the post on a temporary basis.
?It always good to have a presence in Washington,? says Lawford. ?I love to see members of my family down here.?
To hear more about Lawford's advice for dealing with addictions, and to learn what Norman Mailer once said of the author, check out this week's Top Line.
False beliefs persist, even after instant online correctionsPublic release date: 24-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett Garrett.258@osu.edu 614-247-7414 Ohio State University
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It seems like a great idea: Provide instant corrections to web-surfers when they run across obviously false information on the Internet.
But a new study suggests that this type of tool may not be a panacea for dispelling inaccurate beliefs, particularly among people who already want to believe the falsehood.
"Real-time corrections do have some positive effect, but it is mostly with people who were predisposed to reject the false claim anyway," said R. Kelly Garrett, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
"The problem with trying to correct false information is that some people want to believe it, and simply telling them it is false won't convince them."
For example, the rumor that President Obama was not born in the United States was widely believed during the past election season, even though it was thoroughly debunked.
The prospect of correcting falsehoods like this online before they have a chance to spread widely has obvious appeal, Garrett said.
In fact, it has already been attempted: A team from Intel and the University of California, Berkeley, developed Dispute Finder, a plug-in for web browsers that was released in 2009 and would alert users when they opened a webpage with a disputed claim. That project has ended, but Garrett said similar efforts are under way.
"Although the average news user hasn't encountered real-time correction software yet, it is in the works and I suspect it will see more widespread use soon," he said.
But will it work? In order to find out, Garrett conducted a study with Brian Weeks, a graduate student in communication at Ohio State. Their study (available here), which they will present Feb. 26 in Austin, Texas, appears in the 2013 Proceedings of the Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing conference.
Participants in the study were a diverse group of 574 adults from across the country who participated online.
The experiment was designed to see what would happen when participants read false statements copied from a "political blog" (actually text prepared by the researchers) about the issue of electronic health records.
While some of the information, collected from news stories and government sources, was correct, the researchers also inserted several false statements about who was allowed access to these records. For instance, the message falsely claimed that hospital administrators, health insurance companies and even government officials had unrestricted access to people's electronic health records.
The participants were divided into three groups - some were presented with an immediate correction, saying that FactCheck.org, an independent fact-checking organization, had concluded this blog post contained factual errors. Inaccurate statements were italicized, enclosed in brackets and displayed in red, and a detailed correction appeared at the bottom of the page.
Others read the blog post with the errors, followed by completing an unrelated three-minute task, and then were presented with the exact same correction.
The final group was presented only with the inaccurate message during the study.
Afterwards, all participants were asked how easy or difficult it would be for several groups (including hospital administrators, government officials and others) to access electronic health records. Participants were graded based on the accuracy of their answers.
In general, those who received the immediate correction were just slightly more likely to be accurate than those who received the delayed correction. Those who received no corrections were, not surprisingly, the least accurate.
But the most interesting results came when the researchers analyzed who was influenced by each kind of correction.
The real-time correction worked well with participants who indicated at the beginning of the study that they supported electronic health records, also called EHRs.
"But for those who opposed EHRs, the effect of the immediate correction was essentially the same as if they had received no correction at all," Garrett said.
The reason appears to be that opponents of EHRs discounted the credibility of the source of the correction, Garrett said. On the other hand, the more favorably an individual felt about EHRs, the more credible the correction was perceived to be.
Although this pattern was also evident among those who received the delayed correction, the effect was significantly weaker.
Garrett said the results of this study cast doubt on the theory that people who believe false rumors need only to be educated about the truth to change their minds.
"Humans aren't vessels into which you can just pour accurate information," he said.
"Correcting misperceptions is really a persuasion task. You have to convince people that, while there are competing claims, one claim is clearly more accurate."
Garrett noted that, while instant corrections were slightly more effective than delayed corrections, the problem is that instant corrections actually increase resistance among those whose attitudes are supported by the falsehood.
"We would anticipate that systems like Dispute Finder would do little to change the beliefs of the roughly one in six Americans who, despite exhaustive news coverage and fact checking, continue to question whether President Obama was born in the U.S.," he said.
Garrett said it may be better to find a way to deliver corrections later, when people may not be so defensive about their beliefs.
###
The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett
Written by Jeff Grabmeier
614-292-8457 Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
False beliefs persist, even after instant online correctionsPublic release date: 24-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett Garrett.258@osu.edu 614-247-7414 Ohio State University
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It seems like a great idea: Provide instant corrections to web-surfers when they run across obviously false information on the Internet.
But a new study suggests that this type of tool may not be a panacea for dispelling inaccurate beliefs, particularly among people who already want to believe the falsehood.
"Real-time corrections do have some positive effect, but it is mostly with people who were predisposed to reject the false claim anyway," said R. Kelly Garrett, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
"The problem with trying to correct false information is that some people want to believe it, and simply telling them it is false won't convince them."
For example, the rumor that President Obama was not born in the United States was widely believed during the past election season, even though it was thoroughly debunked.
The prospect of correcting falsehoods like this online before they have a chance to spread widely has obvious appeal, Garrett said.
In fact, it has already been attempted: A team from Intel and the University of California, Berkeley, developed Dispute Finder, a plug-in for web browsers that was released in 2009 and would alert users when they opened a webpage with a disputed claim. That project has ended, but Garrett said similar efforts are under way.
"Although the average news user hasn't encountered real-time correction software yet, it is in the works and I suspect it will see more widespread use soon," he said.
But will it work? In order to find out, Garrett conducted a study with Brian Weeks, a graduate student in communication at Ohio State. Their study (available here), which they will present Feb. 26 in Austin, Texas, appears in the 2013 Proceedings of the Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing conference.
Participants in the study were a diverse group of 574 adults from across the country who participated online.
The experiment was designed to see what would happen when participants read false statements copied from a "political blog" (actually text prepared by the researchers) about the issue of electronic health records.
While some of the information, collected from news stories and government sources, was correct, the researchers also inserted several false statements about who was allowed access to these records. For instance, the message falsely claimed that hospital administrators, health insurance companies and even government officials had unrestricted access to people's electronic health records.
The participants were divided into three groups - some were presented with an immediate correction, saying that FactCheck.org, an independent fact-checking organization, had concluded this blog post contained factual errors. Inaccurate statements were italicized, enclosed in brackets and displayed in red, and a detailed correction appeared at the bottom of the page.
Others read the blog post with the errors, followed by completing an unrelated three-minute task, and then were presented with the exact same correction.
The final group was presented only with the inaccurate message during the study.
Afterwards, all participants were asked how easy or difficult it would be for several groups (including hospital administrators, government officials and others) to access electronic health records. Participants were graded based on the accuracy of their answers.
In general, those who received the immediate correction were just slightly more likely to be accurate than those who received the delayed correction. Those who received no corrections were, not surprisingly, the least accurate.
But the most interesting results came when the researchers analyzed who was influenced by each kind of correction.
The real-time correction worked well with participants who indicated at the beginning of the study that they supported electronic health records, also called EHRs.
"But for those who opposed EHRs, the effect of the immediate correction was essentially the same as if they had received no correction at all," Garrett said.
The reason appears to be that opponents of EHRs discounted the credibility of the source of the correction, Garrett said. On the other hand, the more favorably an individual felt about EHRs, the more credible the correction was perceived to be.
Although this pattern was also evident among those who received the delayed correction, the effect was significantly weaker.
Garrett said the results of this study cast doubt on the theory that people who believe false rumors need only to be educated about the truth to change their minds.
"Humans aren't vessels into which you can just pour accurate information," he said.
"Correcting misperceptions is really a persuasion task. You have to convince people that, while there are competing claims, one claim is clearly more accurate."
Garrett noted that, while instant corrections were slightly more effective than delayed corrections, the problem is that instant corrections actually increase resistance among those whose attitudes are supported by the falsehood.
"We would anticipate that systems like Dispute Finder would do little to change the beliefs of the roughly one in six Americans who, despite exhaustive news coverage and fact checking, continue to question whether President Obama was born in the U.S.," he said.
Garrett said it may be better to find a way to deliver corrections later, when people may not be so defensive about their beliefs.
###
The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
Contact: R. Kelly Garrett
Written by Jeff Grabmeier
614-292-8457 Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In a bid to reach scale and with it reap the benefits that network effects bring, Tradeshift, the free e-invoicing and business interactions platform, has partnered with Intuit, along with taking a strategic investment from the legacy accounting software maker. The amount isn?t being disclosed ? said only to be ?multi-million? and at an increased valuation than Tradeshift?s most recent funding round.
The deal will also see Tradeshift?s platform integrated with Intuit?s QuickBooks, giving it access to a 5 million-strong customer base and potentially expanding Tradeshift?s current numbers well beyond the 150,000 SMBs it stands at today ? creating what it says will be ?one of the largest networks of connected suppliers?.
The use of the word network is significant, an e-invoicing and broader business B2B trading platform is only as useful as its ubiquity and/or standards support, thus removing the friction of doing business electronically. To that end, if Intuit?s customers can be brought on board, it?s a big win for the SMBs that already use Tradeshift as well as the company itself.
Writing on the company blog, CEO and co-founder, Christian Lanng, giddily sums it up best:
Why does this matter? Scale. The value of any communications network increases directly in proportion to number of users ? and when it reaches a point where it includes most of the businesses you want to interact with, something amazing happens. Skype, Facebook, Linkedin; all these platforms are successful because they have critical mass.
Specifically, today?s partnership will see Intuit?s accounting and payments products integrated with Tradeshift?s electronic trading network so that it will be easier for SMBs using QuickBooks to comply with their enterprise customers? e-invoicing mandates. Likewise, says Tradeshift, large enterprises should find that more of their suppliers will be willing to use e-invoicing etc. via the platform due to ?the reduced cost and friction enabled by the planned integrations?. You get the idea.
QuickBooks customers in the UK are said to be the first to benefit via a free app that connects their Tradeshift and QuickBooks accounts. A platform play in the proper sense, Tradeshift is also talking up what today?s announcement does for app developers who?ll also benefit from increased scale.
Note:?An earlier draft press release that has since been retracted pegged Intuit?s investment at $10 million.?Tradeshift are keen to stress that the figure is ?an old number and factually not accurate.?
Tradeshift is the fastest growing, global business network designed to help companies, large and small, transact, communicate and conduct business electronically and efficiently. The vision of Tradeshift is quite simple: Connect every business on the globe in a single network to help all companies interact more easily, securely and efficiently by taking their commercial relationships online. Tradeshift is used by over 120,000 businesses in 190 countries. At the enterprise level Tradeshift provides a unique and powerful platform to connect corporations with...
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Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks?, Quicken? and TurboTax?, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries? and Lacerte? are Intuit?s leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. The company?s financial institutions division, anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help...
When the Journal News caused a national uproar and endangered the lives of its staff to create a Google Map of gun permit holders in New York, it was justified for the cause of transparency and civic dialog. Unfortunately, it now appears that the map was woefully inaccurate, possibly implicating citizens who had died, ditched their guns, or moved. ?Nobody ever called and verified the address,? said Mike Smith, who was surprised to see his address on the map, and apparently was marked after his brother had used his address when he applied for a handgun licence. Whoops!
An eleventh-hour compromise in Congress pulled the nation back from the brink of the fiscal cliff?at least for the time being?just after we had slipped over the edge. Now the ?American Taxpayer Relief Act? is the law of the land. For the most part, this sweeping legislation preserves and extends existing tax breaks?on a permanent basis in some cases?but also imposes higher taxes on upper-income individuals. Here?s a roundup of 16 key tax-saving opportunities in the new law. ?![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vEA9jmVW_OjFOlNM558Bnk2AP4EY8zcJu73vNW5-Z2Bf4N9stkbNtaItB_JJAtGJcO1jV2QrDrvZ76WZdJuqsvxxQCRO7pVAy0GBms_BA=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 24-Jan-2013
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