Becker Mexico 7948 Automotive GPS Receiver ... - LTR450HQ.com

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BECKER CAR RADIO MEXICO FULLSTEREO R107 SL W123 (USED) .......... $700
Ferrari Becker Europa Radio_Cassette Player_Amplifier (USED)............ $500
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Source: http://www.ltr450hq.com/forums/non-atv-related-classifieds/44376-becker-mexico-7948-automotive-gps-receiver-1900-a.html

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Planes swoop in to help air pollution satellites

NASA

A NASA research plane flies over a tethered rheostat balloon in Huron, Calif., during a flight to help monitor air quality.

By Becky Oskin
LiveScience

Anyone who's ever driven down Interstate 5 in central California's Kern County knows about the smell. The one that penetrates cars despite closed vents and windows. Wafting from an adjacent cattle ranch, the largest on the West Coast, the well-known odor comes from the ammonia all those cows produce.

California's Central Valley, which spans I-5, regularly has some of the worst air pollution in the United States because of its unfortunate combination of geography and agriculture. It is ringed by mountains that trap bad air like water in a bathtub, and it is lined with fertile soils that produce much of the country's vegetables, fruits, nuts and meat, along with pollutants.

The region's unique pollution profile drew the attention of NASA scientists, who recently sent two research planes on swooping arcs from Bakersfield to Fresno on a mission to improve air-quality monitoring in the United States.

Tight lid traps pollution
The Central Valley bathtub has a shallow lid, the flights revealed, and this contributes to the region's poor air quality. "All of the pollution is confined to a very shallow boundary layer, about 1,500 feet (450 meters) and as shallow as 500 feet (150 m)," said Luke Ziemba, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center. "We would spiral down into this muck and get very clean air above the boundary and very polluted air below."

Farm Sanctuary

A cattle ranch in California's Central Valley.

The region's shallow, thin boundary layer, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, confounds both satellites monitoring the pollutants and the atmospheric models that predict the occurrence of these pollutants, Ziemba said. "Models in the San Joaquin Valley get the composition wrong, and when satellites try to retrieve the properties of the aerosols, it can be difficult," he said.

Ammonia from dairy farms is part of the problem, Ziemba said. The ammonia creates chemical droplets called aerosols that accumulate in the valley's stagnant air. Aerosols and other tiny particles confuse satellites. From space, the instruments can't distinguish between pollution located high in the atmosphere and that found at the surface, where people live.

"Near-surface pollution is one of the most challenging problems for Earth observations from space," said Jim Crawford, the mission's principal investigator. "To look at ground level, you still have to look through the whole atmosphere."

Nor can satellites readily detect the difference between liquid and frozen droplets. "Basically, we have to make an educated guess as to the type of aerosol we're looking at," said David Starr, a NASA project scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Better tracking
To better monitor aerosols and other pollutants, such as ozone?and small particulates, NASA has launched a five-year, $30 million mission called DISCOVER-AQ, for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. "The most tortured title in all of our Earth Ventures," said NASA program manager Hal Maring.

DISCOVER-AQ will use the airplane missions to help improve air-quality monitoring on the ground and from space, Crawford said. Researchers will use the information for a planned 2017 pollution-monitoring satellite, called TEMPO. The data will also give scientists the opportunity to compare the view of satellites from space with that from stations on the ground, as well as from aircraft. [Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas]

NASA

Two NASA planes tracked pollution in Callifornia's Central Valley in January and February.

"Even in urban areas, there's a fairly sparse (monitoring) network," Crawford said. "What's really happening there is a difficult question to answer. If you could learn to use satellites to diagnose what's happening, we could begin to broaden our understanding of what's driving air quality," he said.

The Central Valley is the second of four stops for the researchers. The first was Baltimore, in 2011, and the next two are Houston and Colorado.

Improving satellites
In the Central Valley, one plane, a P-3B, spiraled in the atmosphere below 15,000 feet (4,500 m), skimming as low as 100 feet (30 m) over local airports to capture pollution levels near the surface. Because the boundary layer was so low, the researchers also launched a tethered balloon to record surface pollutants.

At the same time, a B200 King Air plane flew as high as 26,000 feet (8,000 m). The plane's instruments looked down at the surface like a satellite, measuring particulates and gaseous air pollution along agricultural and traffic corridors.

The flight paths of the two planes passed over air-quality ground stations, as well as underneath a fleet of eight Earth-observing satellites, called the Afternoon Constellation or "A-train," that soar over California every afternoon within 15 minutes of each other. [Satellites Gallery: Science from Above]

"They come over at 1:30 p.m., which is the worst time of day as far as emissions are concerned. Emission are concentrated in the morning, but these satellites were not launched with air quality in mind," Crawford said. "That's what this observing strategy is looking forward to in the future. We hope these experiments make them better."

Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16975368-planes-swoop-in-to-help-air-pollution-satellites?lite

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Charlie Sheen Pays for Florida Teen's Therapy Dog

A Florida teenager who plummeted 100 feet from a Wisconsin amusement park ride in 2010 is getting some help from actor Charlie Sheen.
?
Teagan Marti suffered brain, spine, pelvis and internal injuries when nets and air bags that were supposed to catch riders on the free-fall ride were not raised. She was paralyzed initially but through physical therapy is now able to walk with a walker.

Florida Teen Finally Heads Home After Carnival Ride Fall
?
A Marti family friend in Eau Claire asked Sheen for $6,000 to cover therapy dog training, and Sheen wired $10,000 on Thursday.
?
Sheen said he found it impossible not to help after getting the request and he likes to "pay it forward."
?
The 15-year-old said she didn't really know much about Sheen before but now thinks he's kind and generous.

Fundraiser for Paralyzed Teen Who Fell From Carnival Ride

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50824361/ns/local_news-miami_fl/

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Germany:church buildings become art centers, rock climbing playgrounds,dance halls, Islamic centers

It should go without saying...but i wouldn't want it to... that since this blog is a Spiritaneous place to throw out thoughts/feelings/articles "in process," it does not represent any of the fine institutions you see by my profile that I am affiliated with (Heck, it may not even represent me! (:........). The blog is merely an attempt to subvert subversion and "push toward the unobvious" (Thanks, Tim N. for that phrase) on the six hot topics listed at the top of the page....Welcome, engage it, and don't be offended (for the wrong reason, anyway!)

Source: http://davewainscott.blogspot.com/2013/02/germanychurch-buildings-become-art.html

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Carnival Cruise Tells Passengers They Can Keep The Bathrobes In Total PR Fiasco

They may have been stranded aboard a busted cruise ship for five days with little food, broken sewage systems and no heat or air conditioning, but at least they'll get to keep the bathrobe.

On Friday morning, as more than 3,000 tired and dirty customers finally disembarked from the stranded cruise ship Triumph, @CarnivalCruise tweeted, "Of course the bathrobes for the Carnival Triumph are complimentary."

It was a remarkably tone-deaf finish to a week-long public relations fiasco that began Sunday night when an engine fire crippled the Caribbean-bound ship and set it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. Nonstop news coverage and social media chatter brought the public vivid images of the fetid conditions aboard the Triumph. Reports from passengers included details about overflowing toilets, hours-long waits to get food and flooded rooms during the five days they were stranded at sea.

Even as Carnival deployed a host of communications strategies to do damage control as news from the Triumph spread, its efforts did more harm than good, according to public relations and travel experts reached by The Huffington Post.

"I can't think of a worse way they could have handled it, whether as a maritime issue or as a PR issue," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of CruiseCritic.com, a leading consumer resource website for travel cruises.

Carnival Cruise did not immediately respond to request for comment from The Huffington Post. Carnival Cruise Lines CEO Gerry Cahill on Friday told CNN, "We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case."

The timeline for the company's crisis communication plan appeared flawed the start. Two days after the engine fire took place and conditions aboard the ship deteriorating for passengers, Carnival's Chairman Micky Arison was seen at a Miami Heat basketball game rather than responding to the snowballing disaster. (He is a part owner of the team.)

"The moment it happens, don't wait two seconds to get the CEO out," said Chuck Mardiks, a managing director at MMGY Global, a travel public relations firm that has represented cruise companies in the past. "They should have helicoptered the CEO to the situation."

Carnival also was slow to communicate with the press or provide detailed information to passengers about the status of the breakdown and the rescue, raising questions about how well the company and industry at large are prepared to deal with ship breakdowns at sea -- both operationally, and from a communications perspective.

The cruise industry experts suggested budget-trimming -- or a reluctance to spend huge amounts of money to deal with a crisis at the outset -- was at fault, as Carnival opted for cheaper ways to handle the crisis, such as social media. The company used its Twitter account to post frequent updates about the progress of the Triumph's return to port. However, any social media missteps were quickly seized on both by frustrated passengers and the public, who watched the disaster unfurl in real time on television and the Internet.

As compensation for their trouble, Carnival promised to return Triumph passengers' fares -- ranging from $800 to several thousand dollars per person-- plus $500 and a credit for another cruise, along with those complimentary on-board bathrobes. The very same garments had already become iconic ware for passengers, who used them as impromptu white boards to complain about the lack of food and unsanitary conditions aboard the ship.

The largest cruise line company in the world, Carnival had a revenue of $15.8 billion in 2011. It owns 10 different cruise line brands, including Princess and Cunard. The Triumph mess comes just a little more than a year after another Carnival-owned ship, the Costa Concordia, sank off the coast of Italy, killing 32 passengers. The fallout from the recent mess could affect the entire cruise industry, as customers looking for a pleasure ride increasingly feel wary of taking their chances at sea.

"It's starting to build up that cruising is not safe," CruiseCritic.com's Brown said. "Everybody out there who has ever thought about taking a cruise is having second thoughts. It's a train wreck. There has to be an impact."

Mardiks, the travel PR expert, said that the increasing popularity of cruises and the frequency of cruise-related accidents has simply lowered passenger expectations. "The industry will rebound because unfortunately it's commonplace," he said. "People assume this could happen and hope it won't."

Ernest DelBuono, a senior vice president at Levick Strategic Communications, a crisis management firm with clients in the cruise industry said the damage would be shorter-term. "As for the impact on the cruise line, passengers were safe. Horrible conditions of course, but they were safe and systems on the ship worked like they were supposed to," he said.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/carnival-mexico-disaster_n_2690277.html

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Inklings : Crunching the Numbers: Does a Passion For Math and ...

Home > News > Crunching the Numbers: Does a Passion For Math and Science Create a Numerical Advantage?

High school is an anomaly, a distortion, an alternate universe. A piece of weekend gossip travels at warp speed, a 7-hour school day is scheduled down to each second. Having no friends in free: the end of the world. It is a bubble.

Thus it is no surprise that matters such as GPA?s, AP?s, and the magic that unites the two?that .67 AP weight that conjures a B+ into an A?can be magnified to epic proportions when let loose within high school corridors.This extra GPA weight, an alchemy that no other school in Westport?s district?s reference group uses, is designed to reward students for the hard work and academic challenges they encounter in college-level courses.

However, due to the number of AP?s offered, as well as the grading policies within each class, humanities students (students who favor English and social studies) at Staples High School are currently at a disadvantage to their engineering-focused peers (students who favor math and science).

The facts are that Staples offers five AP science classes, five AP math courses and five AP social studies classes (one of which is AP Macro/Microeconomics, a course described in the course catalog as one that requires ?excellent mathematics skills,? thus making it more of an engineering class than a humanities class).

With unanimous ?fives? across the various disciplines, English arrives as a clear loser. Staples offers only two AP English classes: AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature. It?s not as if it?s anyone?s fault. That?s all that the College Board offers.

But while the addition of AP U.S. History for sophomores and A.P. European History (on a fast-track to BOE approval for the 2013-2014 school year) has narrowed the gap, it remains true that a student who excels in the engineering departments has more opportunities to take AP classes at Staples, and benefit from the weighting system in place than a student who excels in the humanities.

In fact, the divide is born even before high school. Math class leveling and advanced tracking begins as early as 6th grade. This acceleration allows students to take more AP classes sooner in their high school careers, and thus, potentially, boost their GPA?s?something that doesn?t exist in the humanities.?

While some say this advanced curriculum is possible because of the sequential nature of mathematics, others argue that the addition of a new engineering elective soon to be offered at the middle schools in the absence of any equivalent English or social studies options suggests inattention to talented humanities students.

The Convenience of

Natural Talents

The lack of diversity within the College Board curriculum has led students to question whether a high GPA is more easily achieved by a math/science driven student.

Just how significant the advantage is can be seen with a look at the eight students who were either valedictorian or salutatorian in the last four years. Of the eight, six responded to an interview request, and every single one of the six said they would consider themselves math-science students at Staples, having taken a preponderance of math and science at Staples. High-achieving students currently at Staples say the GPA advantage continues to play an important role. Additionally, they say, math-science students are offered many more opportunities.

Mrinal Kumar ?14, a self-described ?math/science person,? is confident that his preferred discipline is the most rewarding. ?It?s much easier to get recognized for math/science talent within the school than it is to be recognized for English/social studies talent,? he said.

According to Kumar, countless competitions, such as Bio Olympiad, Chem Olympiad, Physics Olympiad, Moody?s, Siemens, Intel and AMC 12, are designed for high schoolers to show off their engineering talents. While similar competitions may be available for students interested in reading, writing or history, Kumar believes they are much less publicized.

?The school encourages extracurricular math/science efforts much more than it does English/social studies efforts,? said Kumar.

Kumar offers his personal math achievements as validation for his beliefs. Since 5th grade, he has been working his way through a series of challenges which have gradually funneled him into the most competitive math level in the school: next year he will be taking Differential Equations, a math class nonexistent at Staples prior to Kumar?s mathematical success.

This kind of an advanced track and leveling of classes is not available within the English or social studies department, which Kumar believes is evidenced by the large amount of students who take AP Language simply because that?s the only advanced English option for juniors.

Blythe Lewis ?13 agrees that humanity-channeled students have less outlets to define their talent within the AP curriculum. ?Excepting a few very talented students, I think most science and math track students are challenged much more than an average English-track kid like myself, which is sad,? said Lewis.

The argument that the College Board only offers two AP English courses and thus Staples only offers these two courses is undermined by such courses as Multivariable Calculus and the proposed Differential Equations, which are not offered by the College Board but have been introduced into the Staples curriculum to accommodate the needs of students like Kumar who are excelling within the mathematics department. These courses have no AP test in May, yet students receive AP weight from the classes in their GPA?s.

Lisabeth Comm, Director of Secondary Education, and former chair of the English department, says that the English department does have the capability to design a college level course beyond that which is already offered but questions the purpose of doing so.

?Are we just trying to inflate grade averages of some humanities students?? Comm asked. ?Or is there a real need for more advanced English courses beyond the two AP English courses that are offered??

Such a need is tangible in math, explains Frank Corbo, Mathematics Department Chair, since more advanced math classes are a necessity because of the successive nature of the curriculum.

?[Math] is sequential. Once you take course ?n? you have to take course ?n+1,? said Corbo.

Learning by Numbers

Some students said they are feeling disserviced by more than just a couple of decimal points. Lewis, who has a passion for English, feels as though she simply has fewer opportunities to challenge herself in the humanities, especially English. A junior strong in the sciences might take AP Chem, AP Environmental, AP Bio. A junior strong in English could take AP Language and Composition and Honors Myth and Bible, and the next year, just AP Lit.

?I want to be a writer. I love reading more than most everything,? said Lewis. ?The most important thing to me academically is to better my ability to read and write well, and I think Staples could do more to challenge kids like me with similar goals,? she added.

Many believe the solution to this would be to do away with the differentiation between AP and honors, and instead put the focus on learning and development in every class.

As mentioned before, Staples is unique among surrounding towns in its system of weighting AP courses higher than honors. Furthermore, many schools do not differentiate between the GPA weight of A and B classes. D?Amico supports a possible move away from this system of grading.

?Whatever ways we can come up with to move the conversation away from points and toward understanding is the way we need to go,? said D?Amico. ?When we start nitpicking GPA, nobody wins,? he added.

English teacher Christine Radler leans in a similar direction, favoring the abolishment of all weighted grades at Staples.

?Students view grades as currency,? said Radler, adding that ?the challenge of the course should be a reward in and of itself. I truly believe that.?

Adding and Subtracting Versus Editing and Revising

??????? Inherent differences in content and grading between each department may also pose an obstacle for humanities students. Is it harder to get higher grades in humanities classes simply because of the nature of the subject? Perhaps. Curves, and generous ones at that, are much more common in math and science classes; they?re actually not permitted in nearly every social studies class. In addition, it may take a lot more sustained work to get an A or higher in the humanities..

Radler, for example, says that she will give an A+ on an AP English essay ?if someone meets a 9 on the rubric? just like a math teacher would give an A+ if a student answers the question correctly. But? essays take a lot of revisions, many more than students estimate, before they are fully ?polished.? ?Good writing is labor intensive,? she said.

By contrast, Steven Sobel ?14, a self-described ?math/science person,? explains, math and science grades are almost entirely self-evident, with set point values given for set answers.

?There is always something to improve in an essay, but if you do a math problem right, then you did as well as possible,? said Sobel.

English Teacher Michelle Scheck further described the reasons an A+ essay is rare.

?What is a ?perfect? essay?? said Scheck.? ?An ?A? on an essay means that not only? is it technically close to perfect (mechanics, usage, etc) but the ideas are outstanding, unexpected, and original.? That?s really hard to do.? You really, really have to intellectually ?bring it? on an essay to produce something ?outstanding,?? Sheck added.

This, as Kumar sees it, makes it ? significantly more difficult to get an A+ in an English class,? he said.

??In math and science courses, perfection is objective and tangible,? Kumar added.

?

Source: http://www.inklingsnews.com/news/2013/02/15/crunching-the-numbers-does-a-passion-for-math-and-science-create-a-numerical-advantage/

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Fish in drug-tainted water get munchies

Bent Christensen / AP file

Calling their results alarming, the Swedish researchers who did the study suspect the little drugged fish could become easier targets for bigger fish because they are more likely to venture alone into unfamiliar places.

By Jeff Donn, Associated Press

BOSTON ?? What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.

It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.

The findings, published online Thursday in the journal Science, add to the mounting evidence that minuscule amounts of medicines in rivers and streams can alter the biology and behavior of fish and other marine animals.

"I think people are starting to understand that pharmaceuticals are environmental contaminants," said Dana Kolpin, a researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey who is familiar with the study.

Calling their results alarming, the Swedish researchers who did the study suspect the little drugged fish could become easier targets for bigger fish because they are more likely to venture alone into unfamiliar places.

"We know that in a predator-prey relation, increased boldness and activity combined with decreased sociality ... means you're going to be somebody's lunch quite soon," said Gregory Moller, a toxicologist at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. "It removes the natural balance."

Researchers around the world have been taking a close look at the effects of pharmaceuticals in extremely low concentrations, measured in parts per billion. Such drugs have turned up in waterways in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere over the past decade.

They come mostly from humans and farm animals; the drugs pass through their bodies in unmetabolized form. These drug traces are then piped to water treatment plants, which are not designed to remove them from the cleaned water that flows back into streams and rivers.

The Associated Press first reported in 2008 that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans carries low concentrations of many common drugs. The findings were based on questionnaires sent to water utilities, which reported the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and other drugs.

The news reports led to congressional hearings and legislation, more water testing and more public disclosure. To this day, though, there are no mandatory U.S. limits on pharmaceuticals in waterways.

The research team at Sweden's Umea University used minute concentrations of 2 parts per billion of the anti-anxiety drug oxazepam, similar to concentrations found in real waters. The drug belongs to a widely used class of medicines known as benzodiazepines that includes Valium and Librium.

The team put young wild European perch into an aquarium, exposed them to these highly diluted drugs and then carefully measured feeding, schooling, movement and hiding behavior. They found that drug-exposed fish moved more, fed more aggressively, hid less and tended to school less than unexposed fish. On average, the drugged fish were more than twice as active as the others, researcher Micael Jonsson said. The effects were more pronounced at higher drug concentrations.

"Our first thought is, this is like a person diagnosed with ADHD," said Jonsson, referring to attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. "They become asocial and more active than they should be."

Tomas Brodin, another member of the research team, called the drug's environmental impact a global problem. "We find these concentrations or close to them all over the world, and it's quite possible or even probable that these behavioral effects are taking place as we speak," he said Thursday in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Most previous research on trace drugs and marine life has focused on biological changes, such as male fish that take on female characteristics. However, a 2009 study found that tiny concentrations of antidepressants made fathead minnows more vulnerable to predators.

It is not clear exactly how long-term drug exposure, beyond the seven days in this study, would affect real fish in real rivers and streams. The Swedish researchers argue that the drug-induced changes could jeopardize populations of this sport and commercial fish, which lives in both fresh and brackish water.

Water toxins specialist Anne McElroy of Stony Brook University in New York agreed: "These lower chronic exposures that may alter things like animals' mating behavior or its ability to catch food or its ability to avoid being eaten ? over time, that could really affect a population."

Another possibility, the researchers said, is that more aggressive feeding by the perch on zooplankton could reduce the numbers of these tiny creatures. Since zooplankton feed on algae, a drop in their numbers could allow algae to grow unchecked. That, in turn, could choke other marine life.

The Swedish team said it is highly unlikely people would be harmed by eating such drug-exposed fish. Jonsson said a person would have to eat 4 tons of perch to consume the equivalent of a single pill.

Researchers said more work is needed to develop better ways of removing drugs from water at treatment plants. They also said unused drugs should be brought to take-back programs where they exist, instead of being flushed down the toilet. And they called on pharmaceutical companies to work on "greener" drugs that degrade more easily.

Sandoz, one of three companies approved to sell oxazepam in the U.S., "shares society's desire to protect the environment and takes steps to minimize the environmental impact of its products over their life cycle," spokeswoman Julie Masow said in an emailed statement. She provided no details.

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

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/14/16964242-fish-in-drug-tainted-water-become-hyper-get-munchies

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Obama wraps post-State of Union tour in Chicago

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://politomix.com/foxnews/163451/obama-wraps-post-state-of-union-tour-in-chicago/

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Tamagotchi celebrates its super sweet 16 with an Android app, Ferrari cake nowhere in sight

In celebration of 16 years of Tamagotchi, Namco Bandai has cooked up a new mobile app based on the brand's original virtual pet. Free to download from Google Play, this piece of '90s nostalgia has been re-imagined with new features like color, improved image resolution and Facebook sharing. Fancy new bells and whistles aside, you'll still need to feed and discipline your digital pet in order for it to thrive. So, if your device is running Android 2.3 or higher and you're ready to clean up some pixelated poop, head on over to the Play Store to download your household's newest edition.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets

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Via: Droid-Life

Source: Google Play

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Renault wipes out auto debt for first time in Nissan tie-up

Renault SA, France's second-largest carmaker, eliminated debt at the auto-manufacturing unit for the first time in its 14-year tie-up with Nissan Motor Co. as it held back on spending and refrained from cutting vehicle prices.

Renault jumped to a two-year high in Paris trading after saying the automotive unit's net cash position was 1.49 billion euros ($2 billion) at the end of 2012 compared with net debt of 299 million euros a year earlier, the first time the figure was positive since the Boulogne-Billancourt-based carmaker set up the alliance with its Japanese partner in 1999.

The French manufacturer, which reported earnings for 2012 that beat analyst estimates, said it's planning on sustaining earnings and cash by adding to its model lineup to take a larger share of a shrinking European car market. Profit was also helped as Renault and Nissan tightened ties last year with Russian carmaker OAO AvtoVAZ.

"It's clearly positive to have a net cash position as it should have a positive impact on refinancing rates which is crucial in the automotive industry," Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank AG, said Thursday in an e- mail. "In addition, it increases the likelihood of dividends from the core business at some point."

Backed by the revamped Clio subcompact and budget Dacia Logan, the French automaker forecast that its global deliveries will rise this year. It's also targeting positive automotive- division earnings and operational cash flow in 2013. Even with a contraction in Europe of at least 3 percent, the worldwide car and light-truck market will expand 3 percent this year, with growth of as much as 11 percent in India, it said.

The Nissan-Renault alliance is proceeding with creating a small-car platform in India targeting first-time auto buyers, Rachel Konrad, a spokeswoman for the partnership, said today in an e-mail. Gerard Detourbet, who helped lead the Logan's development, will lead the project, she said. The Economic Times reported that investment in the platform will total 20 billion rupees ($371 million) and annual capacity will amount to 300,000 vehicles. Konrad declined to comment on figures.

Renault's worldwide deliveries last year fell 6.3 percent to 2.55 million cars and light vehicles. Sales in Europe tumbled 19 percent, the steepest decline by a large manufacturer in a market that contracted 7.8 percent.

The drop in Europe was "much worse" than Renault expected, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn told analysts on a conference call. Even so, "we didn't want to go into a price war" in the region, he said at a press conference in Boulogne- Billancourt. The Spanish and Italian auto markets will probably be at 30-year lows in 2013, he said.

The French carmaker is forecasting a weaker first half of 2013 than in the final six months of this year, the CEO said. Russian operations are the most profitable for the company, the CEO said, and he's "bullish" on the market and the partnership with AvtoVAZ.

Nissan, Renault and Milan-based UniCredit SpA are setting up a bank in Russia specializing in auto loans, the three companies said today in a separate statement. The two car manufacturers will have a 60 percent stake in the financing venture, which is set to be operational by the end of this year, and the Italian bank will own the rest.

Renault's automotive operations posted a loss of 25 million euros in 2012 compared with profit of 330 million euros a year earlier. The positive net cash position at the unit was helped by a 924 million-euro gain from the sale of Renault's remaining 6.5 percent holding in Volvo in December, it said. Operational free cash flow at the division was 597 million euros.

The carmaker hopes that eliminating debt at the manufacturing unit will improve credit ratings for the parent company and its RCI Banque financing unit, Chief Financial Officer Dominique Thormann said in an interview. Renault's debt is one step below investment grade at Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.

The carmaker's earnings-recovery strategy includes plans to eliminate 7,500 jobs through 2016 in France, and the company is in talks with labor unions on raising worker productivity. Renault is also trying to broaden its product range by reviving the Alpine sports-car label and developing the Initiale Paris insignia into a full-fledged luxury brand.

Renault is sticking to a "medium-term" target of earnings at 5 percent of sales, though it won't reach that figure this year, Ghosn said.

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130214/AUTO0104/302140426/1148/rss25

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Choosing the Right Dog For You | Steve Dale's Pet World

Choosing the right breed and the right individual dog to match your lifestyle is important, equally important is then to provide for the needs of that dog

One of the big time reasons dogs land at shelters is that people choose the wrong breed, or wrong individual dog to match their lifestyle and their personalities. While most dogs would give their lives for members of their immediate ?families (and love isn't too strong a word to describe the relationship), a pawful spend a lifetime trying ?but are terminally living with people unsuited for them. It's just not a good match. Or families just can't meet a dog's individual needs. For example, an elderly family may not have the ability to take a Labrador Retriever to water for a good swim, or to the park for a good run. And/or that dog may be just too strong for them. Where if that same family had a Yorkshire Terrier, it wouldn't be an issue.

Making the right choice in the first place is?imperative? How do you know what type of dog, or for that matter individual dogs, ?is right for you? Dog trainer Sarah Hodgson offers this hugely fun quiz , "What breed of dog are you?" ?While her quiz has no scientific foundation, it's just for 'entertainment purposes.' Still, if?the?quiz starts people thinking about making the right match, that's a very good thing and will save lives.

Let me offer some examples, I frequently see exasperated owners with Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. They wonder how these "crazy dogs" can ever be calm therapy dogs or lead the visually impaired without dragging them down the street, much less simply be a suitable pet. With any breed think of what they were?originally?bred to do. These guys were bred to run on hunts, and to keep running and into water to?follow?the downed birds. Some Golden and Lab genetic lines are incredibly energetic (other pet lines not so much), and they may be especially wacky as "teenagers." Still, when properly socialized, these dogs are famously wonderful. Some must love them. For 21 years Labradors top the list of popular dogs in America. But it doesn't mean they're for every family.

If you're live in an apartment, are active but older - and still seek a dog to "assist" your hearing when someone's at the door, a?Yorkshire?Terrier might be one of many great choices.

That's the thing, there are many great choices. The choices aren't always necessarily pure bred dogs, they may be shelter dogs. Shelter workers and adoption counselors, who see the dogs in their care daily, are your best resource for describing an?individual?dogs' personality.

Always adopt or purchase an dog with all family members present. And be honest about your lifestyle, how often you are home (or not home), your willingness to exercise the dog, how you feel about barking, etc. Understand that breed generalities are just that - all dogs are individuals.

Now once you have the dog home, it's important to provide to meet the needs of the newest family member. That means providing appropriate play time, appropriate socialization (particularly for puppies), appropriate attention and the appropriate diet.

As for diet - feed to the dog's age. Puppy food for pups, as an example. Also, these days, you may be more targeted. For example, Royal Canin offers some breed specific foods. For example, for Labradors the kibble is shaped like a donut (to slow down the ravenous vacuum inhaling dogs, so they chew their food), and is high in protein (to meet energy needs) and contains lots of L-Carnitene (to burn fat).

?

Filed under: dogs, pet food

Tags: breed specific diets, choosing the right dog, Dog breeds, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, Royal Canin, Sarah Hodgson, Steve Dale, Steve Dale archives, What dog breed are you, Yorkshire Terriers

Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/steve-dales-pet-world/2013/02/choosing-the-right-dog-for-you/

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To Win Cheap One Direction Tickets Search Online - ArticlesWide.com

One Direction as a band has made considerable progress since it made its debut single. There are huge expectations from the second album Take Me Home. A group of five talented men have taken the music industry by storm. This British Irish band shows great talent. Hence, as a music lover one will love the idea of watching them perform live. However, for that to materialize one will have to keep an idea of their show scheduling and more importantly get hold of one direction concert tickets on that particular date when the show will be held.

The process is easy. Popular bands such as them perform almost every day. Here two things will have to coincide. Firstly, it must be at an appropriate date when one is free. Secondly, if it is nearby then there is simply nothing like it. Agreed, one can always catch the flight to any destination, however that is bound to be costly. Now the all-important question is where does one get all this information? It is simple and easy. With the advent of internet, one can avail all information sitting in the cozy confines of home. Every piece of information regarding their show timings is there online.

Now is the ticket booking part. Here too gone are the days of standing in long queues. For cheap one direction tickets, net perceptive people can always search online. Here, one will come across minute details to make sure everything is hassle free. Along with the show dates, venue and timing the ticket prices are also mentioned. Thus, booking is hassle free. One can always pay via plastic money. In fact, on instances there may be people who have extra tickets. Some near or dear one has not come due to some problems. On such instances, again one can look at sell those extra tickets online.

This is a band, which has huge fan following. Therefore, if there are some extra tickets one need not panic. They will disappear in quick time. In fact, as a diehard One Direction fan one can always sign up for the latest news regarding them. Here one will be updated regarding their latest releases and their latest concert venues. In this modern busy world, this form of update is helpful. One hardly gets time to surf the net after a hard day of work. Updates are important medium together information about anything a person would like to know. It helps to stay in touch.

For more information on tickets for one direction, check out the info available online; these will help you learn to find the one direction tour

Source: http://www.articleswide.com/article/16549-To_Win_Cheap_One_Direction_Tickets_Search_Online.html

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Obama, business groups differ on minimum wage plan

President Barack Obama speaks to workers and guests at the Linamar Corporation plant in Arden, N.C., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, as he travels after delivering his State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

President Barack Obama speaks to workers and guests at the Linamar Corporation plant in Arden, N.C., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, as he travels after delivering his State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Chart shows states with minimum wages higher than the Federal wage

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour and tying future increases to inflation will boost the incomes of millions living in poverty and spur job growth by pouring more money into the economy. But business groups are not so sure.

They complain that increasing the federal rate from $7.25 an hour would discourage employers from hiring new workers, hurting the very people Obama aims to help.

Obama pointed out in his State of the Union address Tuesday that 19 states and the District of Columbia already have minimum wages set above the federal rate of $7.25, creating a vast wage disparity across the country.

And 10 of those states make annual cost-of-living adjustments, including Washington state, where workers earn at least $9.19 an hour, the highest minimum in the country.

The plan faces certain hurdles in Congress, as top Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner, wasted little time dismissing the proposal.

More than 15 million workers earn the national minimum wage, making about $15,080 a year. That's just below the federal poverty threshold of $15,130 for a family of two.

Selling his plan to a crowd in Asheville, N.C., on Wednesday, Obama said it's time to increase the minimum wage "because if you work full time, you shouldn't be in poverty."

Advocates say a minimum wage increase can lead to even broader economic benefits.

"These are workers who are most likely to spend virtually everything they earn, so it just pumps money back into local economies," said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group.

That will trigger spending at small businesses in their communities, stimulating consumer demand and driving economic growth, Owens said.

Economists have long disputed the broader impact of setting a minimum wage. A major 1994 study by labor economists David Card and Alan Krueger found that a rise in New Jersey's minimum wage did not reduce employment levels in the fast-food industry. Krueger now is chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Yet that study has come under fire from other economists, who argue that comparing different states over time shows that raising the minimum wage hurts job growth.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said a higher minimum wage would boost incomes for some poorer workers. But it would also discourage employers from hiring more of them.

"So on net, I am not sure it helps," he said.

William Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the increase would hit businesses hard and only hurt low-wage workers by reducing demand for their services.

"The higher the price of anything, the less that will be taken, and this includes labor," Dunkelberg said. "Raising the cost of labor raises the incentive for employers to find ways to use less labor."

The government first set a minimum wage during the Great Depression in 1938. It has been raised 22 times since then ? the last increase went into effect in 2009 ? but the value has eroded over time due to inflation.

Obama's latest plan would raise the hourly minimum to $9 by 2015 and as well as increase the minimum wage for tipped workers, which has not gone up for more than two decades.

As for states that have already set minimum wages above the federal rate, they range from $7.35 in Missouri to the high of $9.19 in Washington. In 10 of those states ? Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington ? the minimum wage is automatically adjusted every year to keep pace with the rising cost of living.

Women represent nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers, while black and Hispanic workers represent a higher share of the minimum-wage workforce than whites, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

The last federal minimum wage increase was signed into law by President George W. Bush, when it increased from $5.15 to $7.25 in a three-step process between 2007 and 2009.

The last recession began in the middle of that process and took an especially heavy toll on middle-wage positions, which accounted for 60 percent of jobs lost in the crushing downturn. Most of the job growth since the 2010 recovery has been in low-wage jobs. Owens, for one, contends, "There's no compelling case to be made that raising the minimum wage triggered job losses."

Doug Hall, director of the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that raising the minimum wage to $9 would pump $21 billion into the economy and lead to the creation of 120,000 jobs.

But Randel Johnson, vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for labor issues, said the increase would come "on the backs of employers," who would hire fewer people and cut overtime.

"You don't put new burdens on employers when they are trying to recover in a tough recessionary time," he said.

Johnson also warned against tying wage increases to inflation.

"Employer profits are not magically indexed somehow to always go up," Johnson said. "Congress needs to look at the validity of raising the minimum wage in the context of the economic times in which it's being proposed."

That concern is expected to drive Republican opposition in Congress. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who delivered the GOP response to Obama's State of the Union address, said Wednesday that raising the minimum wage is the wrong way to help workers increase wages.

"I don't think a minimum wage works," Rubio said on "CBS This Morning." ''I want people to make more than $9 dollars an hour. The problem is you can't mandate that."

Boehner, the House speaker, told reporters Wednesday: "When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it."

The Obama administration points to companies such as Costco, Wal-Mart and Stride Rite that have supported past minimum wage increases. The White House says higher wages help build a strong workforce and lower turnover, improving profitability over the long run.

___

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-14-Minimum%20Wage/id-823f4443ffdd460aa965c67485db990f

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Southwest regional warming likely cause of pinyon pine cone decline

Feb. 12, 2013 ? Creeping climate change in the Southwest appears to be having a negative effect on pinyon pine reproduction, a finding with implications for wildlife species sharing the same woodland ecosystems, says a University of Colorado Boulder-led study.

The new study showed that pinyon pine seed cone production declined by an average of about 40 percent at nine study sites in New Mexico and northwestern Oklahoma over the past four decades, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Miranda Redmond, who led the study. The biggest declines in pinyon pine seed cone reproduction were at the higher elevation research sites experiencing more dramatic warming relative to lower elevations, said Redmond of CU's ecology and evolutionary biology department.

"We are finding significant declines in pinyon pine cone production at many of our study sites," said Redmond. "The biggest declines in cone production we measured were in areas with greater increases in temperatures over the past several decades during the March to October growing season."

Temperature and precipitation were recorded at official long-term weather stations located near each of the nine sites. Overall, average temperatures in the study areas have increased by about 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the past four decades, she said.

A paper on the subject by Redmond, Assistant Professor Nichole Barger of CU-Boulder and Frank Forcella of the United States Department of Agriculture in Morris, Minn., appeared in a recent issue of the journal Ecosphere, published by the Ecological Society of America. The new study was funded primarily by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to Redmond.

The cones in which the pinyon seeds are produced are initiated two years prior to seed maturity, and research suggests the environmental stimulus for cone initiation is unseasonably low temperatures during the late summer, said Redmond. Between 1969 and 2009, unseasonably low temperatures in late summer decreased in the study areas, likely inhibiting cone initiation and development.

The study is one of the first to examine the impact of climate change on tree species like pinyon pines that, instead of reproducing annually, shed vast quantities of cones every few years during synchronous, episodic occurrences known as "masting" events. Redmond said such masting in the pinyon pine appears to occur every three to seven years, resulting in massive "bumper crops" of cones covering the ground.

In the new Ecosphere study, the researchers compared two 10-year sequences of time. In addition to showing that total pinyon pine cone production during the 2003-2012 decade had declined from the 1969-1978 decade in the study areas, the team found the production of cones during masting events also declined during that period.

Some scientists believe masting events evolved to produce a big surplus of nut-carrying cones -- far too many for wildlife species to consume in a season -- making it more likely the nuts eventually will sprout into pinyon pine seedlings, she said. Others have suggested masting events occur during favorable climate conditions and/or to increase pollination efficiency. "Right now we really don't know what drives them," Redmond said.

"Across a range of forested ecosystems we are observing widespread mortality events due to stressors such as changing climate, drought, insects and fire," said CU's Barger. "This study provides evidence that increasing air temperatures may be influencing the ability of a common and iconic western U.S. tree, pinyon pine, to reproduce. We would predict that declines in pinyon pine cone production may impact the long-term viability of these tree populations."

Wildlife biologists say pinyon-juniper woodlands are popular with scores of bird and mammal species ranging from black-chinned hummingbirds to black bears. A 2007 study by researchers at the University of Northern Arizona estimated that 150 Clark's Nutcrackers cached roughly 5 million pinyon pine nuts in a single season, benefiting not only the birds themselves but also the pines whose nuts were distributed more widely for possible germination.

For the new study, Redmond revisited nine pinyon pine study sites scattered throughout New Mexico and Oklahoma that had been studied previously in 1978 by Forcella. Both Forcella and Redmond were able to document pinyon pine masting years by counting small, concave blemishes known as "abscission scars" on individual tree branches that appeared after the cones have been dropped, she said.

Since each year in the life of a pinyon pine tree is marked by a "whorl" -- a single circle of branches extending around a tree trunk -- the researchers were able to bracket pinyon pine reproductive activity in the nine study areas for the 1969-1978 decade and 2003-2012 decade, which were then compared.

Pinyon pines take three growing seasons, or about 26 months, to produce mature cones from the time of cone initiation. Low elevation conifers including pinyon pines grow in water-limited environments and have been shown to have higher cone output during cool and/or wet summers, said Redmond. In addition to the climate-warming trend under way in the Southwest, the 2002-03 drought caused significant mortality in pinyon pine forests, Redmond said.

"Miranda's ideas and accompanying results will be of value to ecologists and land managers in the deserts of the Southwest and beyond," said Forcella, now a research agronomist in the USDA's Agricultural Research Service. "The work is evidence that the University of Colorado continues to cultivate a cadre of high-caliber graduate students for which it rightfully can take tremendous pride."

Pinyon nuts, the Southwest's only commercial source of edible pine seeds today, were dietary staples of indigenous Americans going back millennia.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Colorado at Boulder.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Miranda D. Redmond, Frank Forcella, Nichole N. Barger. Declines in pinyon pine cone production associated with regional warming. Ecosphere, 2012; 3 (12): art120 DOI: 10.1890/ES12-00306.1

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/xkBe5mMw2Ko/130212132005.htm

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Rand Paul, speaking for the tea party, says party should be pro-immigrant (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Mark Zuckerberg Was The 2nd Most Charitable ... - Business Insider

By Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan were two of the most charitable Americans last year, second only to Warren Buffet.

Zuckerberg and Chan donated about $500 million worth of Facebook stock (18 million shares) in 2012. They gave it all to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

It was Zuckerberg's largest donation to date. In 2010 he gave Newark, New Jersey schools $100 million to further education efforts there.

Warren Buffet donated about $3.6 billion last year. His money went towards the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, NoVo Foundation, and the Sherwood Foundation. But then, his fortune is much more sizeable than Zuckerberg's: $46 billion versus $9.6 billion.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-was-the-2nd-most-charitable-american-last-year-2013-2

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Apple Doesn?t Care, That?s Why It?s Winning

Apple doesn't care if competitors have cheaper products. It doesn't care if its next big thing canabilizes its last big thing. Not about buying big money-makers, and certainly not about how you think it should deal out stock. Today at Goldman Sach's conference, Tim Cook played the defiant king of an empire too powerful to be distracted by the present or the past. All he sees is Apple's future.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_8KxBNB25Ek/

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iPhone Twitter app timeline View Comparision

iPhone Twitter app timeline View Comparision

Nice post Comparing iPhone Twitter app timeline views, should you be concerned with such things. Interesting to see the differences and similarities though.

Posted by Arcterex at February 12, 2013 04:59 PM

Source: http://ufies.org/archives/2013/02/12/iphone-twitter-app-timeline-view-comparision.html

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Snapchat Brings Video To Android In A Private Beta - TechCrunch

Snapchat has been on a roll lately, scooping up a $13.5 million funding round from Benchmark last week, toying around with monetization features, and becoming the world?s favorite misunderstood mobile app.

But today the train keeps on chugging, as Snapchat has released a beta build of its Android app that includes the ability to send self-destructing video messages along with the usual picture messages. But be forewarned, loyal Snapchatters, as the beta link expires at 2am PST.

To be perfectly clear, this is a pre-release beta build. Snapchat is still working out a few kinks before launching the official Android update, but a few lucky users will have the chance to hop on the beta tonight.

Snapchat launched its new video feature for iOS in December of last year.

Just in case you decided to take a year off from tech news consumption, Snapchat is one of the fastest rising startups of 2012. It lets users send self-destructing selfies (photos of oneself), complete with the ability to add doodles and text.

The idea is that Snapchat users, many of whom have grown up using social networks since they were ?tweens, are yearning for a place where they can stop worrying about keeping up virtual appearances. Since Snapchat photos self-destruct, users are able share a real moment, even if they?re Snapping with someone thousands of miles away.

?Video is really important to our service because it allows Snapchatters to share a broad range of experiences and emotions,? said Evan Spiegel. ?The Snapchat community is all about living in the moment and video brings those moments to life.?

Many members of the media concluded that such a service was only useful for sexting, but Snapchat?s growth to now sending over 60 million snaps per day puts those rumors to rest. In total, users have now sent over 5 billion snaps in a little over a year.

Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment with friends. You control how long your friends can view your message ? simply set the timer up to ten seconds and send. They?ll have that long to view your message and then it disappears forever. We?ll let you know if they take a screenshot! Build relationships, collect points, and view your best friends. Snapchat is instantly fun and insanely playful. Show your friends how clever you can be and enjoy the lightness of...

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/k9795KWF3uM/

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Robbie Keane would like to manage Ireland one day

By RONALD BLUM

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:06 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2013

HARRISON, N.J. (AP) - Robbie Keane would like to manage Ireland in the future.

The 32-year-old forward is Ireland's captain and career scoring leader with 54 goals. He has won two Major League Soccer titles with the Los Angeles Galaxy and last month agreed to a contract through 2014. When he's done playing, he'd like to move into management.

During an interview with The Associated Press on Monday at Red Bull Arena, Keane said, "Of course, that's my next step."

Keane says he wants to be an assistant first and "learn the ropes," then become a head coach.

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

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More newsMiguel Tovar / Getty Images

Something left to offer?

PST: Currently in fine form for Puebla, DaMarcus Beasley could yet find his way back into Jurgen Klinsmann's good graces.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50773809/ns/sports-soccer/

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Benedict stumbled trying to right troubled church

Pope Benedict XVI set clear and ambitious goals for his papacy quickly after he was elected: He hoped to re-evangelize the increasingly secular West. He would show that religious faith and reason could co-exist in the modern world. He would reach out to traditionalists who had split from the church and shore up Catholic identity.

He came into the papacy with the reputation of a brilliant theologian; nearly eight years later, he leaves the Holy See with that reputation intact. But because of burdens he inherited and ongoing problems in his own pontificate, Benedict fell short of the mark he set for himself on unifying the church, building relationships with other religions and restoring the church's influence in broader society.

A look at some aspects of his legacy:

CHRISTIAN HERITAGE: Benedict dedicated his pontificate to stemming the spread of secularism, especially in Europe, where church attendance has dwindled. He condemned same-sex marriage, argued that gender had become something chosen instead of given from God, and said lack of belief was dangerous, pointing to violence that resulted when past atheist governments "tried to stamp out the light of God to instead turn on illusory and misleading glows." Yet even as he made his arguments, acceptance of same-sex relationships grew throughout Europe and the United States.

RESTORING TRADITION: Benedict wanted to restore Catholic traditions largely abandoned during the modernizing changes of the Second Vatican Council. The pope relaxed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass. He streamlined the process for traditional Anglicans who, objecting to ordaining women and gays in their own church, wanted to become Catholic. He even donned pontifical hats and other clothing that hadn't been worn in decades. Many younger Catholics responded to his emphasis on orthodoxy and a stronger sense of Catholic identity. But many others were alienated. In the United States alone, studies have found Catholics dropping out of the church in large numbers.

VATICAN SCANDALS: Some major scandals shook the Vatican during Benedict's pontificate. In 2010, the Holy See's top two banking officials came under scrutiny in a money-laundering inquiry that resulted in millions of euros being seized from a Vatican bank account. The pope hired a Swiss expert a few months ago to help upgrade safeguards against wrongdoing, but problems remained. Meanwhile, the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to prison after stealing the pope's personal correspondence and leaking the documents to a journalist. Gabriele said he thought the pope wasn't being informed of the "evil and corruption" in the Vatican. Benedict later pardoned him.

PAPAL GAFFES: Benedict was a star on Twitter and his books were popular far beyond the Catholic Church. But his pontificate was marred by ongoing communication blunders. Benedict riled the Muslim world with a speech in Regensburg, Germany in September 2006 in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith." In 2009, the pope enraged the United Nations and several European governments when, en route to Africa, he told reporters that using condoms "increases the problem" of AIDS. Last year, a Vatican-ordered reform of American nuns prompted widespread condemnation of church leaders and a dramatic outpouring of support for religious sisters. The overhaul order came after bishops accused American nuns of promoting "certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." Last June, the pope hired Fox News Channel's former Rome correspondent to help advise Vatican officials on how they should shape their message.

SEX ABUSE SCANDAL: Benedict became the first pope to meet with victims of clergy sex abuse. In 2010, he issued an unprecedented apology to Ireland for chronic abuse, appealing to any remaining guilty clergy to "submit yourselves to the demands of justice." In another dramatic move, he ordered a full-scale reform of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order that Pope John Paul II had championed whose founder for years sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children. However, Benedict didn't discipline church leaders who kept guilty priests in ministry or hid claims from parents and police. "His method was to translate crimes into sins, and sins can be forgiven, sins of the cardinals and bishops," said author Jason Berry, who has written extensively on the crisis, including the book "Render Unto Rome."

CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS: Benedict's first official act as pope was a letter to Rome's Jewish community. In his 2011 book, "Jesus of Nazareth," he made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Christ, explaining biblically and theologically why there was no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus' death. However, he also angered Jews on a number of fronts. Jewish leaders harshly criticized Benedict when he removed the excommunication of a traditionalist British bishop who had denied the Holocaust. Jews were also incensed at Benedict's constant promotion toward sainthood of Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope accused by some of having failed to sufficiently denounce the Holocaust. "There were bumps in the road during this papacy," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "But he listened to our concerns and tried to address them."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/benedict-stumbled-trying-troubled-church-214542250.html

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