Cyber threats pose 'stealthy, insidious' danger - defense chief

By David Alexander

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Friday that cyber threats posed a "quiet, stealthy, insidious" danger to the United States and other nations, and called for "rules of the road" to guide behavior and avoid conflict on global computer networks.

Hagel said he would address cyber security in his speech on Saturday to the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore and the issue was likely to come up in a brief meeting with Chinese delegates on the margins of the conference.

"Cyber threats are real, they're terribly dangerous," Hagel told reporters on his plane en route to the gathering. "They're probably as insidious and real a threat (as there is) to the United States, as well as China, by the way, and every nation."

Cyber conflict could lead to "quiet, stealthy, insidious, dangerous outcomes," from taking down power grids to destroying financial systems or neutralizing defense networks, Hagel said.

"That's not a unique threat to the United States, (it affects) everybody, so we've got to find ways here ... working with the Chinese, working with everybody, (to develop) rules of the road, some international understandings, some responsibility that governments have to take," he said.

Hagel's remarks came two days after news reports said the Defense Science Board - a committee of civilian experts who advise the Defense Department - had concluded that Chinese hackers have gained access to the designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems in recent years. The Pentagon downplayed the report as outdated and overstated.

But the Defense Department underscored its concerns about Chinese hacking in a separate report to Congress earlier this month, accusing Beijing of using cyber espionage to modernize its military.

The report said the U.S. government had been the target of hacking that appeared to be "attributable directly to the Chinese government and military."

President Barack Obama has made cyber security a priority of the administration and will discuss his concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a meeting in California next week, White House spokesman Jay Carney said earlier this week.

Hagel told reporters on his plane to Singapore that he had invited Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan to visit the United States and a trip was being organized for August.

Asked whether it was effective to deal with the issue by publicly naming China, Hagel said he thought both public diplomacy and private engagement were necessary. Public statements are necessary to let people know what is going on, he said, but it doesn't solve problems.

"The United States knows ... where many of these incursions come from," Hagel said. "It's pretty hard to prove that they are directed by any specific entity, but we can tell where they come from. And I think we've got to be honest about that."

The problem will ultimately be solved by more private discussions, he added. "But it has to be public as well and we'll deal with this. We must deal with this. This is a very dangerous threat to all of us."

Hagel is due to spend two days at the Shangri-La dialogue, engaging in bilateral and trilateral meetings with his Asian counterparts. He helped gain support for the annual dialogue as a U.S. senator more than a decade ago and was a leader of the first U.S. congressional delegation to the event.

After Singapore, Hagel will travel to a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels that will hold its first review of cyber defense, a sign the issue is climbing to the top of the alliance's agenda due to concerns its infrastructure and secrets are vulnerable.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said NATO systems face "regular" computer attacks. Of particular concern are the systems used to coordinate military actions among the 28 allied nations.

Hagel said cyber security would be a centerpiece of the NATO defense ministers meeting, adding "we all need to find ways, international standards, agreements" to commit to responsible use of cyber and "deal with these real threats."

(Reporting By David Alexander; Editing by Paul Simao and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyber-threats-pose-stealthy-insidious-danger-defense-chief-051311364.html

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Comet ISON is hurtling toward uncertain destiny with Sun

May 30, 2013 ? A new series of images from Gemini Observatory shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun. In late November the comet could present a stunning sight in the twilight sky and remain easily visible, or even brilliant, into early December of this year.

The time-sequence images, spanning early February through May 2013, show the comet's remarkable activity despite its current great distance from the Sun and Earth. The information gleaned from the series provides vital clues as to the comet's overall behavior and potential to present a spectacular show. However, it's anyone's guess if the comet has the "right stuff" to survive its extremely close brush with the Sun at the end of November and become an early morning spectacle from Earth in early December 2013.

When Gemini obtained this time sequence, the comet ranged between roughly 455-360 million miles (730-580 million kilometers; or 4.9-3.9 astronomical units) from the Sun, or just inside the orbital distance of Jupiter. Each image in the series, taken with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph at the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, shows the comet in the far red part of the optical spectrum, which emphasizes the comet's dusty material already escaping from what astronomers describe as a "dirty snowball." Note: The final image in the sequence, obtained in early May, consists of three images, including data from other parts of the optical spectrum, to produce a color composite image."

The images show the comet sporting a well-defined parabolic hood in the sunward direction that tapers into a short and stubby tail pointing away from the Sun. These features form when dust and gas escape from the comet's icy nucleus and surround that main body to form a relatively extensive atmosphere called a coma. Solar wind and radiation pressure push the coma's material away from the Sun to form the comet's tail, which we see here at a slight angle (thus its stubby appearance).

Discovered in September 2012 by two Russian amateur astronomers, Comet ISON is likely making its first passage into the inner Solar System from what is called the Oort Cloud, a region deep in the recesses of our Solar System, where comets and icy bodies dwell. Historically, comets making a first go-around the Sun exhibit strong activity as they near the inner Solar System, but they often fizzle as they get closer to the Sun.

Sizing up Comet ISON

Astronomer Karen Meech, at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (IfA) in Honolulu, is currently working on preliminary analysis of the new Gemini data (as well as other observations from around the world) and notes that the comet's activity has been decreasing somewhat over the past month.

"Early analysis of our models shows that ISON's brightness through April can be reproduced by outgassing from either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. The current decrease may be because this comet is coming close to the Sun for the first time, and a "volatile frosting" of ice may be coming off revealing a less active layer beneath. It is just now getting close enough to the Sun where water will erupt from the nucleus revealing ISON's inner secrets," says Meech.

"Comets may not be completely uniform in their makeup and there may be outbursts of activity as fresh material is uncovered," adds IfA astronomer Jacqueline Keane. "Our team, as well as astronomers from around the world, will be anxiously observing the development of this comet into next year, especially if it gets torn asunder, and reveals its icy interior during its exceptionally close passage to the Sun in late November."

NASA's Swift satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have also imaged Comet ISON recently in this region of space. Swift's ultraviolet observations determined that the comet's main body was spewing some 850 tons of dust per second at the beginning of the year, leading astronomers to estimate the comet's nucleus diameter is some 3-4 miles (5-6 kilometers). HST scientists concurred with that size estimate, adding that the comet's coma measures about 3100 miles (5000 km) across.

The comet gets brighter as the outgassing increases and pushes more dust from the surface of the comet. Scientists are using the comet's brightness, along with information about the size of the nucleus and measurements of the production of gas and dust, to understand the composition of the ices that control the activity. Most comets brighten significantly and develop a noticeable tail at about the distance of the asteroid belt (about 3 times the Earth-Sun distance -- between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) because this is when the warming rays of the Sun can convert the water ice inside the comet into a gas. This comet was bright and active outside the orbit of Jupiter -- when it was twice as far from the Sun. This meant that some gas other than water was controlling the activity.

Meech concludes that Comet ISON "?could still become spectacularly bright as it gets very close to the Sun" but she cautions, "I'd be remiss, if I didn't add that it's still too early to predict what's going to happen with ISON since comets are notoriously unpredictable."

A Close Encounter

On November 28, 2013, Comet ISON will make one of the closest passes ever recorded as a comet grazes the Sun, penetrating our star's million-degree outer atmosphere, called the corona, and moving to within 800,000 miles (1.3 million km) of the Sun's surface. Shortly before that critical passage, the comet may appear bright enough for expert observers using proper care to see it close to the Sun in daylight.

What happens after that no one knows for sure. But if Comet ISON survives that close encounter, the comet may appear in our morning sky before dawn in early December and become one of the greatest comets in the last 50 years or more. Even if the comet completely disintegrates, skywatchers shouldn't lose hope. When Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) plunged into the Sun's corona in December 2011, its nucleus totally disintegrated into tiny bits of ice and dust, yet it still put on a glorious show after that event.

The question remains, are we in for such a show?

Comet ISON: The View from the North and South

Regardless of whether Comet ISON becomes the "Comet of the Century," as some speculate, it will likely be a nice naked-eye and/or binocular wonder from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres in the weeks leading up to its close approach with the Sun.

By late October, the comet should be visible through binoculars as a fuzzy glow in the eastern sky before sunrise, in the far southeastern part of the constellation of Leo. By early November, the comet should be a much finer binocular object. It will steadily brighten as it drifts ever faster, night by night, through southern Virgo, passing close to the bright star Spica. It is during the last half of the month that observations will be most important, as the comet edges into Libra and the dawn, where it will brighten to naked-eye visibility and perhaps sport an obvious tail.

The comet reaches perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the Sun) on November 28th, when it will also attain its maximum brightness, and perhaps be visible in the daytime. If Comet ISON survives perihelion, it will swing around the Sun and appear as both an early morning and early evening object from the Northern Hemisphere. The situation is less favorable from the Southern Hemisphere, as the comet will set before the Sun in the evening and rise with the Sun in the morning.

By December 10th, and given that everything goes well, Comet ISON may be a fine spectacle in the early morning sky as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Under dark skies, it may sport a long tail stretching straight up from the eastern horizon, from the constellations of Ophiuchus to Ursa Major. The comet will also be visible in the evening sky during this time but with its tail appearing angled and closer to the horizon.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/s2BF2WQWkTQ/130530111307.htm

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GSK bets on chimp virus with $321 million vaccines buy

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline is betting on a new vaccine technology based on chimpanzee viruses by acquiring Swiss-based Okairos for 250 million euros (321 million U.S. dollars) - the latest bolt-on biotech buy by a big drugmaker.

Britain's largest pharmaceuticals group said on Wednesday that the privately owned company's know-how was expected to play an important role in GSK's development of vaccines to both prevent and treat diseases.

Okairos was spun out from Merck & Co in 2007 and has laboratories in Rome and Naples, with headquarters in Basel.

It specializes in making vaccines that target the immune system's CD8 T-cells - an approach that could yield preventative vaccines against several intractable infectious diseases, including hepatitis C, and also help fight cancer.

It does this by delivering genetic material using deactivated chimpanzee-derived adenoviruses that produce a very strong response against target diseases.

Adenoviruses, which cause the common cold, have long been studied as a useful delivery vehicle for genetic material - but they are so common that many people already have antibodies against them.

Chimp viruses, which are not so easily detected by the body's immune system, have an advantage since they can operate for longer and therefore elicit a powerful T-cell response.

The Okairos technology has already been tested in clinical studies involving more than 700 subjects, including mid-stage Phase II programs in hepatitis C and malaria.

A hepatitis C shot could be particularly promising commercially, since there is currently no vaccine and treating the condition with drugs has become a multibillion-dollar business.

Okairos also has early stage products for diseases such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), tuberculosis, ebola and HIV.

NEW GENERATION OF VACCINES

The real attraction lies less in individual products than in the company's technology platform, which GSK hopes to exploit within its own vaccine development programs.

As such, the deal represents a long-term investment in a promising new scientific area, rather than one that will yield immediate financial rewards.

Christophe Weber, GSK's head of vaccines, said the acquisition of Okairos was "expected to contribute to the development efforts for an exciting new generation of vaccines".

GSK's Chief Executive Andrew Witty said earlier this year he had a "very low appetite" for acquisitions but, like many rivals in the industry, his company is constantly looking for bolt-on transactions to boost its pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare operations.

Last November, for example, GSK agreed to spend $1 billion to raise the stakes it holds in Indian and Nigerian consumer healthcare subsidiaries.

Smaller British rival AstraZeneca has a more urgent need for acquisitions, given its thin pipeline of new medicines to replace those losing patent protection. It agreed on Tuesday to pay up to $443 million for Omthera Pharmaceuticals, a U.S.-based specialist in fish oil-derived medicine.

Okairos's venture capital investors include BioMedInvest, the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, LSP, Novartis Venture Funds and Versant Ventures.

($1 = 0.7779 euros)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gsk-bets-chimp-virus-321-million-vaccines-buy-145459050.html

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Poor sleep linked to PTSD after heart attack

Public release date: 30-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Elizabeth Streich
eas2125@cumc.columbia.edu
212-305-3689
Columbia University Medical Center

NEW YORK Clinicians have long speculated that poor sleep may be a mechanism involved in the higher risk of further cardiac events or death among those with post-traumatic stress disorder following a heart attack, but the association between PTSD and sleep after a heart event has been unknown.

Recent data from Columbia University Medical Center researchers have shown that symptoms of PTSD after a heart attack are relatively common. A PLoS ONE study (published in June 2012) found that 1 in 8 heart attack survivors suffer PTSD and that survivors with PTSD have a doubled risk of having another cardiac event or of dying within one to three years, compared with survivors without PTSD.

A paper published in the current issue of Annals of Behavioral Medicine, by Jonathan A. Shaffer, PhD, and colleagues at Columbias Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, reports on an analysis of the association of PTSD and sleep in nearly 200 patients who had experienced a heart attack within the previous month, recruited from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The studythe first of its kindfound that PTSD following a heart attack is associated with poor sleep.

The results showed that the more heart attack-induced PTSD symptoms patients reported, the worse their overall self-reported sleep was in the month following their heart attack. Greater PTSD symptoms following a heart attack were associated with worse sleep quality, shorter sleep duration, more sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction due to poor sleep the night before.

The data also showed that people with poor sleep following a heart attack were more likely to be female and to have higher body mass index and more symptoms of depression; they were less likely to be Hispanic.

Dr. Shaffer and colleagues hypothesize that the strong association between heart attack-induced PTSD and sleep may be due to the fact that disturbed sleep is a standard characteristic of PTSD. Results of recent treatment studies for PTSD and sleep disturbance suggest that the two conditions should be viewed as comorbid, rather than one being merely a symptom of the other.

In addition, dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (the part of the nervous system responsible for regulating involuntary bodily functions, such as breathing, heartbeat, and digestive processes), which is associated with both PTSD and disrupted sleep, may represent a common mechanism underlying their association.

Further research is needed to better understand the associations of PTSD due to heart attack, poor sleep, and risk for future heart attacks.

The paper is titled, "Association of Acute Coronary Syndrome-Induced Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms with Self-Reported Sleep." The other authors are Ian M. Kronish, MD, MPH; Matthew Burg, PhD; Lynn Clemow, PhD; and Donald Edmondson, PhD. All are members of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center.

###

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants HL-088117, HL-076857, HL-080665, HL-101663, and HL-084034. Dr. Shaffer is supported by grants 12CRP8870004 from the American Heart Association and K23-HL112850 from NHLBI/NIH. Dr. Kronish is supported by grant K23-HL098359 from NHLBI/NIH.

The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 30-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Elizabeth Streich
eas2125@cumc.columbia.edu
212-305-3689
Columbia University Medical Center

NEW YORK Clinicians have long speculated that poor sleep may be a mechanism involved in the higher risk of further cardiac events or death among those with post-traumatic stress disorder following a heart attack, but the association between PTSD and sleep after a heart event has been unknown.

Recent data from Columbia University Medical Center researchers have shown that symptoms of PTSD after a heart attack are relatively common. A PLoS ONE study (published in June 2012) found that 1 in 8 heart attack survivors suffer PTSD and that survivors with PTSD have a doubled risk of having another cardiac event or of dying within one to three years, compared with survivors without PTSD.

A paper published in the current issue of Annals of Behavioral Medicine, by Jonathan A. Shaffer, PhD, and colleagues at Columbias Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, reports on an analysis of the association of PTSD and sleep in nearly 200 patients who had experienced a heart attack within the previous month, recruited from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The studythe first of its kindfound that PTSD following a heart attack is associated with poor sleep.

The results showed that the more heart attack-induced PTSD symptoms patients reported, the worse their overall self-reported sleep was in the month following their heart attack. Greater PTSD symptoms following a heart attack were associated with worse sleep quality, shorter sleep duration, more sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction due to poor sleep the night before.

The data also showed that people with poor sleep following a heart attack were more likely to be female and to have higher body mass index and more symptoms of depression; they were less likely to be Hispanic.

Dr. Shaffer and colleagues hypothesize that the strong association between heart attack-induced PTSD and sleep may be due to the fact that disturbed sleep is a standard characteristic of PTSD. Results of recent treatment studies for PTSD and sleep disturbance suggest that the two conditions should be viewed as comorbid, rather than one being merely a symptom of the other.

In addition, dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (the part of the nervous system responsible for regulating involuntary bodily functions, such as breathing, heartbeat, and digestive processes), which is associated with both PTSD and disrupted sleep, may represent a common mechanism underlying their association.

Further research is needed to better understand the associations of PTSD due to heart attack, poor sleep, and risk for future heart attacks.

The paper is titled, "Association of Acute Coronary Syndrome-Induced Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms with Self-Reported Sleep." The other authors are Ian M. Kronish, MD, MPH; Matthew Burg, PhD; Lynn Clemow, PhD; and Donald Edmondson, PhD. All are members of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center.

###

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants HL-088117, HL-076857, HL-080665, HL-101663, and HL-084034. Dr. Shaffer is supported by grants 12CRP8870004 from the American Heart Association and K23-HL112850 from NHLBI/NIH. Dr. Kronish is supported by grant K23-HL098359 from NHLBI/NIH.

The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/cumc-psl052813.php

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UK police: Man charged in UK soldier's murder

LONDON (AP) ? Police have charged a man with murder in the killing of a British soldier in a suspected Islamic extremist attack in broad daylight on a London street.

Michael Adebowale, 22, was charged late Wednesday by counterterrorism officers and will appear in court on Thursday, police said. He is one of two main suspects in the killing of Lee Rigby, 25, who was struck by a car and stabbed to death last week near his barracks in southeast London's Woolwich district.

Gruesome images that emerged after the attack showed two men wielding bloody knives and meat cleavers. Both men were shot and wounded by police.

Suspect Michael Adebolajo, 28, remains hospitalized in stable condition. Adebowale was discharged from a hospital Tuesday and taken into custody. Adebowale also was charged with a firearms offense related to possessing a 9.4 mm revolver with the intent "to cause persons to believe that unlawful violence would be used," police said in a statement announcing the charges.

The charges, coming just hours after police said Rigby's autopsy showed he died from "multiple incised wounds," shed further light on the frenzied attack.

Witnesses reported seeing the soldier struck by a car, then set upon by two men wielding long knives and cleavers. Adebolajo, bloodied and clutching a cleaver, was seen in a video boasting about the attack and railing against the government.

The attack has raised questions about whether Britain's intelligence services could have done more to prevent Rigby's murder. British officials said the two main suspects had been known to them for some time as part of previous investigations.

Kenyan police have said they believed Adebolajo, a British citizen, had earlier associated with a radical Kenyan Muslim cleric who tried to help him join an al-Qaida-linked rebel group in neighboring Somalia.

Police said an inquest on Rigby's death will open Friday. In Britain, inquests are conducted to establish the circumstances surrounding unexpected or violent deaths.

Ten people have been arrested in the case, including the two main suspects. Two were released and several others have been set free on bail pending further inquiries.

One of the men arrested for questioning in the case released a statement through his lawyer Wednesday proclaiming his innocence. Hayden Allen, 21, said he wanted to send his condolences to Rigby's family.

"My family are wholly uninvolved," said Allen, who has not been charged and is free on bail. "I ask that the police continue to investigate and that my family be allowed without harassment to continue their lives."

Rigby's murder has raised racial enmities in many parts of England, with far-right groups mobilizing to protest. The English Defense League, a right-wing group with strong anti-Islam leanings, has held a series of protests, while Muslim community organizations have reported a surge in attacks and harassment.

One mosque in the northern England town of Grimsby was firebombed, and the word "ISLAM" was daubed in big red letters across the Royal Air Force Bomber Command memorial in London's Green Park, near Buckingham Palace.

Two people have been charged in the arson attack. It was unclear who was responsible for the graffiti.

Hackers have also posted a purported list of English Defense League leaders and supporters online. The list was at least partially genuine, according to English Defense League supporter Glen Warren, 32, whose name and phone number were among those posted.

Amid the unrest, British prison officers have been warned to be on the lookout after a hostage drama blamed on extremist Muslim inmates, British newspapers reported Wednesday.

An email to high-security prisons and young offenders' institutes warned that Sunday's incident at Full Sutton detention facility in the northern England region of Yorkshire was linked to religious extremism and warned of an increased risk of attacks at other institutions, according to several British papers, including The Yorkshire Post and The Times.

"Three Muslim prisoners took an officer hostage in an office. Their demands indicated they supported radical Islamist extremism," the letter was quoted as saying. "All staff are reminded to remain vigilant to the increased risk of potential attacks on prison officers inspired by these and last Wednesday's events."

The hostage-takers' demands have not been disclosed. Britain's Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the email.

___

Associated Press writer Raphael Satter contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-police-man-charged-uk-soldiers-murder-235645124.html

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Mariah Carey leaving 'Idol'

NEW YORK (AP) ? Mariah Carey says she isn't retuning to "American Idol."

The pop star's publicity firm, PMK BNC, tweeted Thursday that Carey isn't returning to the Fox series and is planning a world tour thanks to the success of her new single, "Beautiful."

Carey became a new judge on "Idol" last year along with Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj. She and Minaj bickered on the show, creating a feud that was uncomfortable for both viewers and contestants.

Fox said in a statement that the network is "extremely fortunate that (Carey) was able to bring her wisdom and experience" to the show.

Randy Jackson announced that he was also leaving the show.

Carey's new single, a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, features Miguel.

___

Online:

http://www.mariahcarey.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mariah-carey-not-returning-american-idol-213715453.html

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Increasing problem of prescription drug abuse among youth

May 28, 2013 ? Young people are increasingly turning to prescription drugs to get high. Research out of the University of Cincinnati sheds new light on what could increase or lower that risk.

The research by Keith King, a University of Cincinnati professor of health promotion; Rebecca Vidourek, a UC assistant professor of health promotion; and Ashley Merianos, a graduate assistant in health promotion, is published in the current issue of the Journal of Primary Prevention.

The study focused on more than 54,000 7th- through 12th -- grade students in schools across Greater Cincinnati, including the Tristate regions of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The data was collected by the Coalition for a Drug Free Greater Cincinnati as part of the 2009-2010 Pride Survey on adolescent drug use in America.

A total of 13.7 percent of the students reported using prescription drugs -- without a doctor's prescription -- in their lifetime. Males were more likely to abuse prescription drugs, as well as high school students, versus junior high school students. Among ethnicities studied, Hispanic students indicated they were more likely to use nonmedical prescription drugs compared with white and African-American students.

The study also found that pro-social behaviors, including strong connections with parents (and their advising on the dangers of drug use), reduced the students' odds of abusing prescription drugs, along with positive connections to teachers and their schools. Connections with peers who disapproved of substance abuse also decreased student chances of abusing prescription medications. "Students at every grade level who reported high levels of parent and peer disapproval of use were at decreased odds for lifetime nonmedical prescription drug use," according to the study.

On the other hand, the authors found that relationships with drug-using peers increase the risk of youth substance abuse. Peer use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana were associated with increased use of nonmedical prescription drugs for all students.

"While much research has examined factors associated with overall substance use among youth, relatively few studies have specifically investigated risk factors, protective factors and sex/grade differences for youth involvement in nonmedical prescription use," write the authors. "Identifying specific risk and protective factors for males, females, junior high and high school students would help to clarify prevention needs and enhance prevention programming."

The study cites national research that indicates kids are turning to prescription drugs to get high under the mistaken notion that they're safer than illicit drugs, yet national research has shown that even short-term use of non-prescribed, prescription medications can cause cardiovascular and respiratory distress, seizures and death.

The authors suggest future research should explore young people's use of specific nonmedical prescription drugs.

Demographics of the Study

The study was close to evenly divided between male (49.4 percent) and female participants; 75 percent reported they were Caucasian; 14.4 percent African-American; 1.8 percent Hispanic/Latino; 2.4 percent Asian/Pacific Islander; 0.4 percent Native American; 4.1 percent multiracial and 1.5 percent selected "other" for ethnicity. Respondents were close to evenly distributed across 7th- through 12th-grades. Approximately two-thirds (62.4 percent) of participants reported living with both parents; 16.2 percent reported living with their mother only; 2.9 percent reported living with their father only.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Vw7zQJsvOVk/130528143722.htm

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Usher dons glasses to support Michelle

TV

Craig Berman TODAY contributor

6 hours ago

Trae Patton/NBC

Usher sported glasses that looked like those worn by the one contestant he has left, Michelle Chamuel.

As the final eight singers on ?The Voice? took the stage on Monday, the stakes were high for the two new coaches. While Adam Levine and Blake Shelton each had three singers remaining, Usher and Shakira were down to one apiece. If Michelle Chamuel gets voted off this week, it knocks Usher out of the competition, and the same holds for Sasha Allen and Shakira.

How far would the coaches go to keep their singers alive? In Usher?s case, it was worth undergoing a wardrobe change.

?Our of appreciation for all of my Usher Instagram followers and Twitter (followers}, I decided to go ahead and join the army of Michelle Chamuel supporters,? her coach said, as he put on glasses that looked identical to the ones his lone remaining singer wears.

As her coach, Usher has presumably always been a Michelle supporter ? if not, he certainly hides it well. But the glasses became the talking point that everyone returned to throughout the night, and with Michelle doing her part with a strong vocal performance, Usher looks safe for another week. Singing Bruno Mars? ?Grenade? didn?t hurt, as it got Usher to bat his eyes and say he?d catch a grenade for her, and his fans likely swooned for their phones.

?He?s even hot in those glasses,? Blake said. ?He is so sexy."

Carson apparently disagreed. After Holly Tucker?s early performance, the host said "Let's start with Urkel, I mean Usher."

Shots fired! You knew Usher wasn?t going to let that go, and indeed he responded with ..."I know you're not talking, Jimmy Neutron."

For those without small children with big TV habits, that?s the title character of a movie and TV series that ran on Nickelodeon in the 2000s. Apparently Carson does not rate the stature of Timmy Turner of the newer ?Fairy Oddparents?

?Jimmy Neutron ... I still can't get over that. You got served, Carson!? Adam said. Between Urkel and Jimmy Neutron, it was random-character reference night on the show for sure.

Shakira did not dress like Sasha, and her singer wasn?t as much of a showstopper, but she?ll probably be back as well if for no other reason than nobody really wants to see Shakira bounced out of the competition before the calendar even flips to June.

"I started to compare myself as a singer to Sasha, and it wasn't good. I think you bought Shakira another week on the show for sure." Blake said.

Like Usher, Shakira picked a song with meaning ?- and this one actually involved Usher, since it was David Guetta?s ?Without You,? in which the coach is featured. Coach and pupil noted the appropriateness of the lyrics, and that one couldn?t win without the other. That might have a small impact. Adam probably is rooting for her as well, since it allows him to remind us every week that she was once on his team and he was dumb to let her go, even if the singer that he picked over her, Amber Carrington, had a showstopping performance of Adele?s ?Skyfall? to close the show.

Another of Adam?s singers, Judith Hill, had the best hair of the season, piled up in a huge straight line from the top of her head to her back. It definitely was one of the most memorable visuals of the competition. The downside was that everyone talked about her hair instead of her vocals, but it?s still hard to see her going home. If she stays, maybe she could add a pair of Michelle?s glasses for an even more daring look next week.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/usher-hopes-glasses-help-voters-see-michelles-talent-6C10087462

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Disconnect ? Plugin To A Faster, Safer Browsing Experience | iPixel ...

At times, the Internet is just plain annoying. Let me count the ways: slow loading speeds, cluttered Web design full of advertisements, plugins which track your data without your knowledge, social widgets that nag you with notifications and worst of all, malware!

Let?s better manage these nuisances in our online life with Disconnect.

Disconnect is an open-source extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox which can be used not only to speed up your Web browsing but also make it safe, secure and private. It looks nice, has great features and doesn?t really have a price tag: feel free to pay for what you think it is worth.

Recommended Reading: Useful Google Chrome Extensions for Web Designers

Overview

Upon installing Disconnect, a new toolbar button will appear on your Chrome browser. The button will display a small green box which shows you the total number of tracking requests on every single page you go to, something like this:

Features

Websites do more than what you just see it as doing, they track you, your browsing history, your physical location, etc. You can view what each website is doing by clicking on the Disconnect button and viewing a list of all the current activities coming from the website either to or from other websites.

Green means the requests are blocked. Gray means they?re unblocked. You may click any icon or checkbox to block or unblock requests.

Disconnect also features an alternative viewing experience from the default ?list? view that is, the visualization view or page.

The visualization view gives you simple explanation of how that particular website is linked to other websites or services in the form of a visual graph of the websites.

Other small features of Disconnect includes the ?Secure Wi-Fi checkbox?, which lets you prevent wireless eavesdropping by forcing sites to encrypt your data whenever possible; and also the dashboard which shows you Disconnect?s effect on the page you?re on - the time and bandwidth you saved and the number of Wi-Fi requests you secured.

Should You Try It?

You need to be careful about tools that say they can speed up your browsing and protect your privacy. Disconnect has many advantages and better features over the competition, some of which are not actually that safe.

Advantages

Here?s a list of its advantages:

• Detailed and organized list view for easy reading.
• Visualization page: A simple graph that shows you which websites are taking and sending information.
• Statistics of the time you saved, bandwidth saved and requests that it secured.
• The ability to whitelist/blacklist websites and web apps.
• The counter box overlay showing you the total number of tracking requests on every single page you go to.
• Common tracking sites ? Facebook, Google, and Twitter ? are shown separately to make them easy to block or unblock. Click any icon to block or unblock a site.

Disadvantages

Granted it has its flaws, one of which is there isn?t a way to view the settings or statistics on a full page instead of only in dropdown. The makers claim that Disconnect will speed up your connection by 27% which, but most of the time it is a little below 27%, but it isn?t that big of a deal.

Conclusion

Overall, Disconnect is a great way to protect your online accounts, your computer, your privacy and also prevents against certain malware. So is Disconnect everything they say it is? Simply put, yes it is.

Source: http://www.ipixel.com.sg/blog/web-design/disconnect-plugin-to-a-faster-safer-browsing-experience/

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Mothers now top earners in 4 in 10 US households

Chart shows earning trends for married families since

Chart shows earning trends for married families since

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A record number of American women are now the sole or primary breadwinners in their families, a sign of the rising influence of working mothers, a new study finds. Mothers now keep finances afloat in 40 percent of households with children, up from just 11 percent in 1960.

While most of these families are headed by single mothers, a growing number are married mothers who bring in more income than their husbands, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

As the numbers have shifted, however, public attitudes have remained mixed regarding the impact of working mothers on families. People are not at all sure that it's a good thing.

Demographers say the change is all but irreversible and is likely to bring added attention to child-care policies as well as government safety nets for vulnerable families.

"This change is just another milestone in the dramatic transformation we have seen in family structure and family dynamics over the past 50 years or so," said Kim Parker, associate director with the Pew Social & Demographic Trends Project. "Women's roles have changed, marriage rates have declined ? the family looks a lot different than it used to. The rise of breadwinner moms highlights the fact that, not only are more mothers balancing work and family these days, but the economic contributions mothers are making to their households have grown immensely."

The trend is being driven mostly by long-term demographic changes, including higher rates of education and labor force participation dating back to the 1960s women's movement. Today, women are more likely than men to hold bachelor's degrees, and they make up nearly half ? 47 percent ? of the American workforce.

But recent changes in the economy, too, have played a part. Big job losses in manufacturing and construction, fields that used to provide high pay to a mostly male workforce, have lifted the relative earnings of married women, even among those in mid-level positions such as teachers, nurses or administrators. The jump in working women has been especially prominent among those who are mothers ? from 37 percent in 1968 to 65 percent in 2011 ? reflecting in part increases for those who went looking for jobs to lift sagging family income after the recent recession.

At the same time, marriage rates have fallen to record lows. Forty percent of births now occur out of wedlock, leading to a rise in single-mother households. Many of these mothers are low-income with low education, and more likely to be black or Hispanic.

In all, 13.7 million U.S. households with children under age 18 now include mothers who are the main breadwinners. Of those, 5.1 million, or 37 percent, are married, while 8.6 million, or 63 percent are single. The income gap between the families is large ? $80,000 in median family income for married couples vs. $23,000 for single mothers.

Both groups of breadwinner moms ? married and unmarried ? have grown sharply.

Among all U.S. households with children, the share of married breadwinner moms has jumped from 4 percent in 1960 to 15 percent in 2011. For single mothers, the share has increased from 7 percent to 25 percent.

How does the general public feel about that?

While roughly 79 percent of Americans reject the notion that women should return to their traditional roles, only 21 percent of those polled said the trend of more mothers of young children working outside the home is a good thing for society, according to the Pew survey.

Roughly 3 in 4 adults said the increasing number of women working for pay has made it harder for parents to raise children.

Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University, said that to his surprise public attitudes toward working mothers have changed very little over the years. He predicts the growing numbers will lead to a growing constituency among women in favor of family-friendly work policies such as paid family leave, as well as safety net policies such as food stamps or child care support for single mothers.

"Many of our workplaces and schools still follow a male-breadwinner model, assuming that the wives are at home to take care of child care needs," he said. "Until we realize that the breadwinner-homemaker marriage will never again be the norm, we won't provide working parents with the support they need."

Other findings:

?There is a gender gap on attitudes. About 45 percent of women say children are better off if their mother is at home, and 38 percent say children are just as well off if the mother works. Among men, 57 percent say children are better off if their mother is at home, while 29 percent say they are just as well off if she works.

?The share of married couples in which the wife is more educated than the husband is rising, from 7 percent in 1960 to 23 percent in 2011. Still, the vast majority of couples include spouses with similar educational backgrounds, at 61 percent.

?The number of working wives who make more than their husbands has been increasing more rapidly in recent years. Among recently married couples, including those without children, the share of "breadwinner wives" is roughly 30 percent, compared to 24 percent of all married couples.

The Pew study is based on an analysis of census data as of 2011, the latest available, as well as interviews with 1,003 adults by cellphone or landline from April 25 to 28. The Pew poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

___

Online:

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-29-Breadwinner%20Moms/id-29bfe71e5f06415199b12a6ceaf0552b

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What 'Star Wars: Episode VII' Needs: Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes

By Ryan Rigley With Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford all rumored to be reprising their roles (as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo respectively), J. J. Abrams' "Star Wars VII" is quickly shaping up to be the film that fans had hoped "The Phantom Menace" would be. Up until last week, the [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/05/28/star-wars-figrin-dan/

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Grimes Would Give McConnell Strong Challenge (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/308834220?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Pandora Radio

Pandora Radio, one of the most recognized names among streaming music services, has undergone two major changes designed to improve the overall user experience. The most obvious change is the new Pandora Premiere feature, which lets you stream entire select albums before they hit stores. The second, and not-so-obvious, alteration is Facebook integration that sees the music service posting "Recent Activity" updates whenever you "Like" or listen to a song. Comprised of Music Genome Project-powered Web service and several mobile apps, the free Pandora Radio (also available as a $36 per year Pandora One premium service) continues as one of the leaders in the streaming audio space, despite missing a few features that its rivals possess.

Design and Interface
You begin the musical journey by keying in the name of an artist or song, which causes Pandora Radio to populate a station. The slightly-revamped music player showcases album art as a small square, with lyrics, and song and artist information located just south of it. Below the song and artist information feature ?Buy? and "Share" icons. ?Buy? lets you purchase the track from Amazon MP3 or iTunes; ?Share? lets you share either the station or track with your Facebook or Twitter friends. Joining the pair is the new "Publish" button, which lets you set up Pandora to post listening and "Like" information to your Facebook page's "Recent Activity" field. When Facebook friends click on the song title, they're taken to that tracks Pandora page where they can build a new channel around that piece (they can't, unfortunately, stream that song on-demand). Facebook is represented on the Pandora side, too. You can also see what your Pandora-loving friends are listening to by clicking ?Music Feed.

The Music Genome Project and Customization
Pandora Radio's artist recommendations were excellent in my testing. Creating a station based on Jimi Hendrix led to similar classic rock artists such as Led Zeppelin and Cream, but it tossed me a curveball in the form of Steve Wonder?s Superstition?an odd selection for a classic rock station. Another small gripe: The service lacks Slacker Radio's niche genre stations such as one-hit wonders and video games. Certainly, they aren?t necessities; they cater to a niche audience, but the option is a nice one. You can also manually browse genres by clicking the search box, which causes a ?Browse Genres? link to appear.?

Pandora Radio also lets you customize your stations, but it's not quite as thorough as Slacker Radio's method. Clicking "Add Variety" lets you enter additional artists to further seed Pandora Radio's artist selection algorithm. Slacker Radio, however, has a more flexible selection process that displays a long list of similar bands, letting you designate artists from them as favorites. You can approximate Slacker's approach by clicking on a station you created on the left-hand side of Pandora Radio's main screen, and then choosing "Edit Station Details." You can?t, however, play songs on demand or build playlists.

I previously dinged Pandora for opening lyrics pages in separate tabs?but no more. Lyrics now exist on the same page as the other song information. Mousing over the album art opens a menu that informs you why the station is playing a particular track, and even let you move the track to another station if you have one created?very cool.? When I heard a track from Willie Mitchell, an artist I wasn't familiar with, I clicked "Why," which gave me the reasons why this track was selected.

Pandora used to place limitations on the amount of free music that you can listen to, due to its deal with the RIAA?40 hours of free music per month. Now, you can listen to ?unlimited? music, which is really 320 hours. If you come up against that extraordinary high listening wall, you?ll be contacted by the company for potential abuse. You can't rewind or repeat songs, but you can skip six tracks per hour?typical of free streaming audio sites. You can also tell the system whether or not you like a given track?valuable feedback that Pandora Radio folds back into its recommendation algorithms for future choices. Users with free accounts will hear frequent audio ads.

Pandroa Premieres is the service's latest addition and it's one truly unique in the streaming music space. By searching "Pandroa Premieres" or visiting pandora.com/premieres, you can find select albums that you can stream in their entirety before they hit stores. At the time of this writing, John Fogerty's "Wrote a Song for Everyone" and Laura Marling's "Once I Was an Eagle" were the two Pandora Premiere albums available.

Upgrading to the $36 per year Pandora One (it's cheaper than Slacker Radio's $47.88 Slacker Radio Plus premium edition) lets you skip an unlimited number of tracks per day (you?re still limited to six per hour, though), skin the interface, download a desktop app, and enjoy ad-free, 192 Kbps listening experience.

Sound Quality
Pandora Radio streamed crisp over my home and office network connections. Unless you're a true audiophile, Pandora Radio's sound quality should satisfy, especially when the audio is pumped through a phone or desktop speaker. However, donning a pair of Sony MDR revealed that Pandora Radio didn't sound as full as Slacker Radio. The low-end sounds were a bit tinny on Pandora. Music is interspersed with the occasional audio ad, but I found these more tolerable than Jango Radio's ads (which covered a large portion of the screen as songs played). I also encountered large 30 second video ads which took me out of music listening mode when they appeared.

Should You Listen to Pandora Radio?
Pandora Radio may not have niche stations or on-demand streaming but it's a satisfying streaming audio service that's available on numerous devices. Slacker Radio remains our Editors' Choice among streaming music services for its on-demand playback and playlists, but Pandora?s customization options, Pandora Premiere feature, and decent sound quality make it worth a listen.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/HrQeQ_zMS9Y/0,2817,2379615,00.asp

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Americans gather to honor fallen service members

Lorraine D. Hall, of Ewing, N.J., visits the graves of her father, a World War I veteran, and mother, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2013, at the Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Lorraine D. Hall, of Ewing, N.J., visits the graves of her father, a World War I veteran, and mother, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2013, at the Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

President Barack Obama, center, participates in the wreathlaying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns with Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, left, Commander of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama participates in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Bob Lewis looks over a field of crosses with names while participating in the College Point Memorial Day Parade in New York, Sunday, May 26, 2013. Lewis made the crosses, 137, for all the service members from College Point that were killed from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A couple photograph themselves amongst a sea of flags on Boston Common in Boston, Sunday, May 26, 2013. The flags were placed by the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund in memory of every fallen Massachusetts service member from the Civil War to the present. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Americans gathered at memorials, museums and monuments and the president laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen service members on Memorial Day, as combat in Afghanistan approaches 12 years and the ranks of World War II veterans dwindle.

"Let us not forget as we gather here today that our nation is still at war," President Barack Obama said after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

"When they give their lives, they are still being laid to rest in cemeteries in quiet corners across our country, including here in Arlington," he said. He told the stories of three soldiers who had died. Each had been devoted to their mission and were praised by others for saving lives.

Hours later, veterans from conflicts from World War II to Afghanistan and Iraq gathered in Atlanta to dedicate a new veterans' park. Soldiers, airmen, Marines and seamen looked on as veterans and military family members sprinkled soil, sand and water from battlefields and waterways across the world.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Rick Lester called it "a reminder of our country's timeline of freedom." A 26-year veteran with multiple tours in Vietnam, Germany and Korea, Lester conceived the ceremony as a way to honor living veterans and those who never made it home.

The pilot recalled in detail the numbers of men lost on missions he flew in Vietnam. "All I can think about is how those were some of the greatest guys I ever met and what they would have done for this country once they got back," he said.

The soil and sand ranged from Revolutionary battlefields like Lexington and Concord to Tikrit in Iraq. There was none from the Civil War, Lester said, because "that was a time that our country was divided."

Battlefield remnants were mixed in a helmet Lester's father wore on D-Day in France in 1944. They were sprinkled from cups that his uncle, a Marine, used in World War II. His father lived. His uncle was killed in action.

Susan Jimison poured water collected from the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Her brother, Mark Clotfelter, was a helicopter pilot shot down June 16, 1969, in Vietnam. The 22-year-old was later confirmed dead. Jimison was 14 at the time and recalled how a politically unpopular war affected the way her brother's death was treated. "Nobody talked about it," she said.

It wasn't until many years later that she started trying to learn about his military service and those who served alongside him. Now, she's married to a man, Michael Jimison, who flew with him, and she's writing a book about their company.

It's important, she said, for Americans to learn the personal stories behind military history and international conflict. "My brother died doing what he loved doing," she said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined military leaders and others at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Manhattan. He later encouraged New Yorkers to celebrate the day and the good weather but also "remember the sacrifice that was made so that we could be here."

At the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, about 20 bicyclists clustered around veteran and museum volunteer Tom Blakey. The paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division jumped at Normandy on D-Day ? June 6, 1944 ? and in May 1945 helped liberate the work camp at Wobbelin in northwest Germany.

"Most of us wondered why we were there, killing people and being killed," he said. "We didn't do anything to deserve it. When we got to that camp and saw what was there, the lights came on."

The cycling group makes regular weekend training runs, and on Monday started a Memorial Day ride about seven miles away at the national cemetery in Chalmette, where the Battle of New Orleans ? the last in the War of 1812 ? was fought.

Once again aboard the historic USS Hornet, 83-year-old Dale Berven reflected on his tour of duty in Korea as a naval aviator as he took in the commemoration. As the bugle corps warmed up, Berven looked out from the now-decommissioned aircraft carrier docked in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco, which ferried him around the world in a goodwill tour in 1954, the year after the Korean War ended.

At just 23 years old, Berven said he flew dozens of sorties as a lieutenant junior grade with the 91st Fighter Squadron.

"I was young and single, I had volunteered and I wanted to do that type of work," said Berven, now a docent at the USS Hornet Museum. "That is how people are now. They're not drafted, so you have 18-, 19-year olds who are giving up their lives for the freedom of this country. We ought to honor all those service men and women and not bring politics into it."

In South Sioux City, Neb., a statue honoring a Navy dog handler was unveiled in his hometown. The statue of Petty Officer 1st Class John Douangdara (dwung-DEHR'-ah) and his dog, Bart, is part of a five-acre dog park that's named for Douangdara. Douangdara died along with 29 other Americans in August 2011 when a military helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

Across much of New England, several days of heavy rain gave way to sunny skies for parades in towns large and small.

In Portland, Maine, kids and even pets displayed the Stars and Stripes as veterans, youth groups law enforcement officials and civic organizations paraded to Monument Square to the tunes of a marching band, sirens from a police car and the rumble of motorcycles.

For some veterans, it was a somber event.

Richard Traiser, a Marine injured when his tank came under attack in Vietnam, helped deliver a three-volley salute with the Marine Corps League.

Memorial Day gives those who served an opportunity to get together and remember friends who didn't make it.

"I think about them a lot, especially the people I lost in my platoon," Traiser said. "I don't dwell on it in a morbid way, but it's on your mind."

In Connecticut, a Waterford man who was killed in the Vietnam War was honored with a hometown park area named for him. Arnold E. Holm Jr., nicknamed "Dusty," was killed when his helicopter was shot down on June 11, 1972.

The holiday weekend also marked the traditional start of the U.S. vacation season. AAA, one of the nation's largest leisure travel agencies, expected 31.2 million Americans to hit the road over the weekend, virtually the same number as last year. Gas prices were about the same as last year, up 1 cent to a national average of $3.65 a gallon Friday.

At the American Airpower Museum on Long Island, N.Y., a program honored Women Air Service Pilots, or WASPs, who tested and ferried completed aircraft from factories to bases during World War II. Thirty-eight died during the war, including Alice Lovejoy of Scarsdale, N.Y., who was killed on Sept. 13, 1944, in a midair collision over Texas.

Women have made their way up the ranks in the regular military since then, exhibited in Wisconsin, with retired Air Force Maj. Gwen Sheppard becoming the first woman to serve as the grand marshal of the Milwaukee Memorial Day parade.

"It's very important that we recognize not only their contribution to American history, but women's history," said Julia Lauria-Blum, curator of the WASP exhibit at the museum. "These women really blazed a path. And most important, they gave their lives serving their country and must be honored like anyone else on Memorial Day."

__

Associated Press writers David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans; Garance Burke in San Francisco, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-27-Memorial%20Day/id-b2c9188abc6846d38282084e92862af9

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Solid Advice For Using Video Marketing In Your Next Campaign ...

One great choice for the promotion of your company is video marketing. To use this method properly, you must research thoroughly. As you read this piece, you will find great tips for successful video marketing that will put your profits on an uphill track.

Have a screenshot of the website you run in your videos. This technique will allow your viewers to see your website in action. How-to videos also could benefit from website screenshots. Just save the screenshot you want and utilize video editing programs to incorporate it into a video.

Create a script for your video for the ?hello? and ?goodbye? sections. You will have to say who you are, what company you represent and what the video is about to start. Ending your video, share your company name again and share your call to action.

One type of video marketing that is not used enough is turning a video into a podcast. Podcasting is yet another way in which video marketing can support your bottom line. You also have the opportunity to generate revenue by charging a modest fee to gain access to each episode. One caveat if charging is to make the fee low.

Make sure your videos are concise, but full of good content. People who are online generally want to move from task to task quickly. Three minutes or less should be your goal. Even if your content is amazing, it won?t be much good if viewers stop watching halfway through.

When producing video content, don?t fret too much about production values. The production value of your video is not related to your results. You should focus on the quality of your content and on sharing your video efficiently. Some of the greatest ideas in the world were really not that sophisticated and rather inexpensive to create.

The call to action must be a part of all videos. Let viewers know how to get your products, and try to create a sense of urgency. Each step should be communicated clearly and concisely to avoid confusion. Don?t deviate too much from the task at hand. An assertive, powerful call to action is the perfect way to end each clip.

You can always send links to your videos in an email. You can let them see that you?re working hard to keep them happy. Don?t forget to include a page link as well.

Keep your videos relatively short: no more than 10 or 20 minutes. If you?re doing a product demonstration, you can use up to around twenty minutes of video length to demonstrate all the bells and whistles. If you just want to get your name out there or give them a deal, do not go longer than 10 minutes.

You should add some links to subscribe to your different campaigns on the pages where you share your videos. When people see the video, they may want to learn more, giving you the best opportunity to promote your product.

Don?t go at it alone. It?s not possible to think of every great idea on your own. Try to brainstorm with people around you so that you can generate a few new ideas. A regular idea session will keep your videos fresh and relevant to your customers.

If you do not feel confident in your ability to make videos, you can hire someone to create on your behalf. Develop a contest that rewards people who make great videos for you. Let the people know that for the prize, you?ll start using the video they made as a commercial.

Showpiece videos are a good way to promote your company, but you have to be sure not to overdo things. Such videos are pricey to create. The better option is to shoot affordable videos that can be used in multiple ways. It might be best to pay a production company to make the video.

It is better to make your videos too short, leaving the viewer wanting more, than to make them too long. People generally have a small attention span and want quick access to information. If you must have a longer video, consider cutting it up into a few other videos so people can continue on later.

Your reach is worldwide with video marketing. You won?t have to focus on the local folks when you use video marketing. If you use video to advertise, it can be viewed by many people in many different ways. After reading this article, you should have the tools you need to have success with video marketing.

Acquire more innovative suggestions on online video marketing as well as Movie Maker Free Online on this website ? http://foenaesh.notlong.com.

Source: http://hotarticledepot.com/solid-advice-for-using-video-marketing-in-your-next-campaign/

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Tech News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Twitter Is What You Make It, Ashton

Doesn't Ashton Kutcher know what happens to people who complain about how terrible Twitter has gotten since the good old days? They're shamed with the More??

The Atlantic Wire - Thu, May 23, 2013

Five Best Thursday Columns

Maria Bustillos at?The New Yorker?on small-scale surveillance?"The real surprise to me about the?Department of Justice's secret snooping on Associated More??

The Atlantic Wire - Thu, May 23, 2013

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/techblog

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Obama: Country Will Be 'Shelter from the Storm' for Oklahoma (ABC News)

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