Tuesday, October 22, 2013

These Cats Are Mules: Kitties Smuggle Goods Into Prisons





Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) released this photo last Dec. 31 of a cat caught with contraband taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Alagoas state.



AP


Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) released this photo last Dec. 31 of a cat caught with contraband taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Alagoas state.


AP


January:


"Cat Caught Smuggling Contraband Into Brazilian Prison." Gothamist


June:


"Cat Caught Smuggling Cell Phones Into Prison" (in Russia). The Moscow Times


Last week:


"Cannabis Cat On Drugs Run Collared At Moldova Jail." BBC News


So, we've got reports of:




— "Saws, drills, headset, memory card, cell phone, batteries and a phone charger" being" strapped to a cat in Brazil.


— "Two cell phones with batteries and chargers" being taped to a cat's back in Russia.


— And now, "bags of cannabis" concealed inside the "oversize decorative collar" worn by a cat in Moldova.




In each case, the felines were nabbed as they either climbed over or through fences. In Moldova, the cat had been "seen repeatedly entering and exiting a small hole in a prison fence," according to Gawker.


According to the reports, the cats aren't talking.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/21/239010848/these-cats-are-mules-kitties-smuggle-goods-into-prisons?ft=1&f=1004
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Syria's Grinding War Takes Toll On Children





Children play at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where more than 120,000 Syrian refugees live. Roughly two-thirds are kids, many of whom have been traumatized by the violence in their homeland.



Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps


Children play at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where more than 120,000 Syrian refugees live. Roughly two-thirds are kids, many of whom have been traumatized by the violence in their homeland.


Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps


Alexandra Chen, a specialist in childhood trauma, is on her way from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to the southern town of Nabatiyeh, where she's running a workshop for teachers, child psychologists and sports coaches who are dealing with the Syrian children scarred by war in their homeland.


"All of the children have experienced trauma to varying degree," explains Chen, who works for Mercy Corps and is training a dozen new hires for her aid group.


Her intense five-day workshop is based on skills and techniques developed in other conflict zones, used for the first time here.


"They need to know enough to understand exactly what's going on in the brain of the children they are working with," Chen says of her trainees. Her course stresses the science of severe trauma, which can be toxic for the brain.


"The human memory remembers negative memories almost four times more strongly than positive ones," she says.


Some 2 million Syrian children have been displaced by the war and more than 1 million of them are now refugees in neighboring countries. One of the biggest challenges for international aid agencies is healing the invisible scars of war in the youngest victims.





Mercy Corps organizes games and movies at the Zaatari camp to help children return to more normal activities and routines.



Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps


Mercy Corps organizes games and movies at the Zaatari camp to help children return to more normal activities and routines.


Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps


"These children have seen terrible things, like bombings and people screaming and people dying, and they've smelled blood and smoke," Chen says as she opens the course. "For them, to be connected to the world feels like a very dangerous thing."


PTSD In Children


Chen tells the trainees that long-term exposure to violence can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, which is difficult to treat in adults and even harder to manage in kids. Children can remain hyper-alert, with an "inability to step out of survival mode," which is often expressed as anger or aggression.


This group has already seen signs of severe trauma in Syrian children who recently arrived. Chen teaches them key skills to build a sense of safety for children.


But these newly trained Mercy Corps outreach workers face an overwhelming task. More than 85,000 Syrian refugees have migrated to this part of southern Lebanon, living in the poorest neighborhoods. Aid programs are underfunded and basic needs often go unmet.


Still, international aid organizations are raising the alarm over the newest arrivals. They have lived under traumatic conditions for much longer, surviving continuous bombardments, witnessing deaths firsthand, and many need immediate help.


Chen moves between workshops in Lebanon and refugee camps in Jordan to tackle the same problem.


A Camp Where Most Refugees Are Children


We met again in Zaatari, the sprawling camp in Jordan's desert with more than 120,000 residents, 65 percent of them under 18. Here, children seem dangerously aggressive, punching, fighting or throwing rocks in the open spaces between the refugee tents and trailers.


"Acting aggressively, in many ways, is the mind's way of making sense of what happened before," says Chen, who adds that she has seen behavior change. Many have made progress in a program run by Mercy Corps in a place called Dream Land.



It's in the middle of Zaatari, where kids can feel secure. They play soccer or build sandcastles in soft sand under a large tent that protects them from the sun.


Here, kids hammer on Legos in nearby trailers, while others sit, quietly, watching Tom and Jerry cartoons.



"The fact that they can sit there for an hour of Tom and Jerry is quite remarkable" says Chen, calling it a sign of healing.


But for some, the terrible memories can still become a trigger in daily life.



"The misunderstanding about trauma is that it is an event we have been unable to deal with in the past," she explains. In severe cases of PTSD, she says, "it is the person's inability to engage with the present that is the problem."


There have been some children who sneak into Dream Land in the middle of the night, she says.


"There was a little boy who would come at 3 a.m.," she says. "He would hide in the corner of the tent and shake. The stress that he was expressing was too much in his own little mind. He was unable to sleep. So, this is where he came to find refuge."


And that was a small success, that he had found a safe place.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/21/238989633/syrias-grinding-war-and-the-toll-it-takes-on-children?ft=1&f=1009
Tags: Bum Phillips   lesean mccoy   Dustin Keller   the bachelorette   Joseline Hernandez  

Incoming New Guy

Sup Steam. Punk. Des.

Yeah I would say fantasy and sci-fi are my forte. Likewise, we look forward to your universes. And if you ever have any questions, you can ask anybody here. We have a Help Forum for you to post questions if you can not pm somebody for help. We have a ten post minimum rule to activate your personal messaging options because we're doing our part to fight the war on terror (not really, but you know).

On behalf of everyone here at RPG, RolePlayGateway, we're glad to have you here.

- VindicatedPurpose
RolePlayGateway Staff Member

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/kGFn9iCtTrc/viewtopic.php
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Monday, October 21, 2013

Facebook Is Lifting Its Ban on Decapitation Videos

Facebook Is Lifting Its Ban on Decapitation Videos

Don't even think about posting cartoon nipples on Facebook. Decapitations, however? Go right ahead. Six months after establishing a ban on blatant, gruesome beheadings, Facebook has decided to (once again) keep videos of decapitations available to the masses.

Read more...


    






Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ewTGNBcfzj0/facebook-is-lifting-its-ban-on-decapitation-videos-1449606221
Category: bcs rankings   Justin Morneau   powerball winning numbers   Kendrick Lamar Verse   Dennis Farina  

Suicide Bomber Strikes Russian Bus, Killing 6


MOSCOW (AP) — A female suicide bomber blew herself up on a city bus in southern Russia on Monday, killing six people and injuring about 30, officials said. The attack in Volgograd added to security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.


The suspected bomber was from the North Caucasus, a region in southern Russia where an Islamic insurgency has been simmering for more than a decade following two separatist wars in Chechnya. A local official said the suspected attacker was married to an Islamic militant.


Volgograd lies 650 kilometers (400 miles) to the northeast of the North Caucasus, while Sochi sits to the west along the Black Sea.


No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide bombing, but it was the first outside the North Caucasus since Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov three months ago called for a resumption of attacks on civilians and urged militants to target the Sochi Games, which are to be held in February.


Russia in past years has seen a series of terror attacks on buses, airplanes and other forms of transportation, some of them carried out by suicide bombers. The last suicide attack on a bus was in 2008.


Twin bombings on the Moscow subway in March 2010 carried out by female suicide bombers killed 40 people and wounded more than 120. In January 2011, a male suicide bomber struck Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people and injuring more than 180.


Umarov, who had claimed responsibility for the 2010 and 2011 bombings, ordered a halt to attacks on civilian targets because of the mass street protests against President Vladimir Putin in the winter of 2011-12. He reversed that order in July.


The suspected bomber was from Dagestan, one of the predominantly Muslim republics in the North Caucasus, said Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Russia's main investigative agency.


In a statement, he identified the suspect as 30-year-old Naida Asiyalova. Russian state television showed pictures of Asiyalova's passport.


In Dagestan, the center of the insurgency, bombings and shootings occur almost daily. Most of them target law enforcement officers, not civilians. The Tsarnaev brothers, accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings, have roots in Dagestan and Chechnya.


Rasul Temirbekov, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee's branch in Dagestan, said the suspected bomber was married to an ethnic Russian, Dmitry Sokolov, whom she had met while both were university students in Moscow.


She encouraged him to become a rebel, and he quickly gained a reputation as an expert in explosives, Temirbekov said. Sokolov, whose nom de guerre is Abdul Jabbar, has been on the run.


Temirbekov said that the suspected suicide bomber had a fatal bone illness.


Video broadcast on state Rossiya television showed that Monday's explosion occurred as the bus was moving in the far right lane of a divided six-lane road. The video, taken from a vehicle traveling behind the bus, showed a burst of flame and gray smoke. Fragments of what appeared to be window frames and other parts of the bus were left scattered across the road.


When the bus came to a stop, the video showed many passengers jumping out.


Markin said seven people died, including the suicide bomber, and 33 asked for medical assistance, 28 of whom were hospitalized. Emergency officials said about 40 people were on the bus.


The local government on Monday placed security forces in the Volgograd region on high alert for 15 days.


___


AP writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Arsen Mollayev in Makhachkala contributed to this report.


Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=238975492&ft=1&f=
Category: columbus day   kris jenner   Romain Dauriac   taylor swift   geraldo rivera  

Turfgrass tested in shallow green roof substrates

Turfgrass tested in shallow green roof substrates


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21-Oct-2013



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Contact: Mike W. Neff
mwneff@ashs.org
703-836-4606
American Society for Horticultural Science



Recommendations for Manilagrass planting, irrigation found in study



ATHENS, GREECE -- Green roofs, rooftops covered with vegetation, provide multiple environmental and aesthetic benefits. These "living roofs" are increasing in popularity worldwide. As more cities invest in green roofs, planners are challenged to find plants that can thrive in shallow planting conditions and with minimal maintenance. A new study from researchers in Greece offers recommendations for the use of turfgrass in green roof environments.


Nikolaos Ntoulas, Panayiotis A. Nektarios, and Efthimia Nydrioti from the Department of Crop Science at Agricultural University of Athens published the results of their experiments with Manilagrass in HortScience. Author Nikolaos Ntoulas explained that although turfgrasses meet the three requirements of plants recommended for use in urban environments (aesthetics, function, and recreation), these grasses have seldom been evaluated on extensive green roofs due to their high water demands. Ntoulas and colleagues compared the growth of Zoysia matrella 'Zeon' in two different substrates. They also investigated the impact of increasing either substrate depth or the amount of irrigation on Manilagrass growth and recovery potential during and after moisture deficit periods. The 2-year outdoor study was conducted on a rooftop at the Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture in Athens.


The experiments involved three factors: two substrate types, two substrate depths, and two irrigation regimes replicated five times. "The results showed that, during moisture deficit periods, green turf cover (GTC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and leaf relative water content (RWC) were most affected by substrate depth, moderately affected by irrigation regime, and, to a lesser extent, by substrate type," the authors said. "Turfgrass growth and physiological status were best during moisture deficit conditions in the deeper profile (15 cm) using the higher amount of irrigation (6 mm) and the locally mixed substrate."


The scientists concluded that substrate depth was the most significant factor that improved growth and drought resistance of Manilagrass; the deeper substrate resulted in improved drought tolerance when compared with the shallow substrate. "However, because load is a crucial issue on green roof construction, if substrate depth must be reduced to 7.5 cm, then irrigation should exceed 6 mm every 3 days to have adequate growth and successfully overcome summer moisture deficit periods," they recommended.


###


The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/48/7/929.abstract


Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. More information at ashs.org




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Turfgrass tested in shallow green roof substrates


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21-Oct-2013



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Contact: Mike W. Neff
mwneff@ashs.org
703-836-4606
American Society for Horticultural Science



Recommendations for Manilagrass planting, irrigation found in study



ATHENS, GREECE -- Green roofs, rooftops covered with vegetation, provide multiple environmental and aesthetic benefits. These "living roofs" are increasing in popularity worldwide. As more cities invest in green roofs, planners are challenged to find plants that can thrive in shallow planting conditions and with minimal maintenance. A new study from researchers in Greece offers recommendations for the use of turfgrass in green roof environments.


Nikolaos Ntoulas, Panayiotis A. Nektarios, and Efthimia Nydrioti from the Department of Crop Science at Agricultural University of Athens published the results of their experiments with Manilagrass in HortScience. Author Nikolaos Ntoulas explained that although turfgrasses meet the three requirements of plants recommended for use in urban environments (aesthetics, function, and recreation), these grasses have seldom been evaluated on extensive green roofs due to their high water demands. Ntoulas and colleagues compared the growth of Zoysia matrella 'Zeon' in two different substrates. They also investigated the impact of increasing either substrate depth or the amount of irrigation on Manilagrass growth and recovery potential during and after moisture deficit periods. The 2-year outdoor study was conducted on a rooftop at the Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture in Athens.


The experiments involved three factors: two substrate types, two substrate depths, and two irrigation regimes replicated five times. "The results showed that, during moisture deficit periods, green turf cover (GTC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and leaf relative water content (RWC) were most affected by substrate depth, moderately affected by irrigation regime, and, to a lesser extent, by substrate type," the authors said. "Turfgrass growth and physiological status were best during moisture deficit conditions in the deeper profile (15 cm) using the higher amount of irrigation (6 mm) and the locally mixed substrate."


The scientists concluded that substrate depth was the most significant factor that improved growth and drought resistance of Manilagrass; the deeper substrate resulted in improved drought tolerance when compared with the shallow substrate. "However, because load is a crucial issue on green roof construction, if substrate depth must be reduced to 7.5 cm, then irrigation should exceed 6 mm every 3 days to have adequate growth and successfully overcome summer moisture deficit periods," they recommended.


###


The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/48/7/929.abstract


Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. More information at ashs.org




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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/asfh-tti102113.php
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Weatherizing homes to uniform standard can achieve $33 billion in annual energy savings

Weatherizing homes to uniform standard can achieve $33 billion in annual energy savings


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DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory



Berkeley Lab energy efficiency experts also calculate energy cost of upgrading ventilation



With winter around the corner some homeowners may be thinking about plugging all the leaks in their home to make them less drafty. Imagine if every homeowner in the country did thathow much energy could be saved? Using physics-based modeling of the U.S. housing stock, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found in a new study that upgrading airtightness to a uniform level could achieve as much as $33 billion in annual energy savings.


"Currently people who weatherize can get their homes about 20 to 30 percent tighter. But they're not sealing all the cracks. There's still quite a bit left on the table, and those extra leaks and cracks could potentially save a lot of energy," said Berkeley Lab scientist Jennifer Logue, lead author of the study, "Energy impacts of envelope tightening and mechanical ventilation for the U.S. residential sector," which was recently published online in the journal Energy and Buildings. Her co-authors were Berkeley Lab scientists Max Sherman, Iain Walker and Brett Singer.


Logue said the purpose of their study was to figure how much energy is wasted from leaky homes and determine the optimal standard of airtightnessone that would maximize energy savings while minimizing the cost of achieving those savings. This is an important question because the residential sector113 million homesuses about 23 percent of total U.S. source energy annually. (Source energy includes site energy, the energy consumed by buildings for heating and electricity, as well as the raw energy required to transmit, deliver and produce it.) Heating and cooling accounts for about half of the site energy used in residences.


The largest potential savings are in the hottest and coldest climates. As new air enters homes through leaks and cracks, it has to be cooled or heated. Although the trend has been towards building tighter houses, Logue says the science is still not settled on the best ways to minimize leaks. "More research is needed to figure out what are the most effective ways to weatherize," she said. "There are still benefits to be gained if we can figure out how to weatherize more effectively."


The Berkeley Lab researchers considered five levels of tightening: "average" tightening, "advanced" tightening, the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) standard, the R2000 standard (common in Canada, tighter than IECC) and the "passive house" standard, the tightest and most difficult to achieve.


They found that upgrading all homes to be as airtight as the top 10 percent of similar homes (advanced tightening) would decrease energy demand by 2.6 quads annuallyout of the total 22 quads of source energy used by the residential housing sectorleading to roughly $22 billion in savings in energy bills. Reaching the IECC standard would yield savings of 3.83 quads in annual source energy, yielding $33 billion in savings.


The study found that the IECC standard offered most of the benefit that the tighter standards would yield. Moreover this standard is likely more achievable than the tighter standards. According to their analysis, raising the U.S. housing stock to the IECC standard would reduce airflow in homes by a median value of 50 percent.


"As we move forward and look to build better housing stock, we want to know what standards we should enforce," Logue said. "It looks like the IECC standard gets us the majority of the benefit of air sealing. More research is needed to determine the costs of implementing each of these standards in new homes to see which are cost-effective. As we get better at air sealing, we can move towards tighter envelopes in buildings. "


The analysis in the study factored in the energy costs of increasing ventilation where necessary to maintain good indoor air quality. A separate analysis looked at the energy cost of only bringing the housing stock into compliance with ASHRAE 62.2, a national ventilation standard for homes that ensures sufficient ventilation for human health.


"We found that the energy burden would be pretty small, only about an additional 0.2 quads of source energy annually"less than 0.1 percent of total source energy that goes to the residential housing sector"to get everyone to the level where they're getting enough whole-house ventilation," Logue said.


###


Funding for this study came from the Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the California Energy Commission.



Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.




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Weatherizing homes to uniform standard can achieve $33 billion in annual energy savings


[ Back to EurekAlert! ]

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

21-Oct-2013



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Contact: Julie Chao
jhchao@lbl.gov
510-486-6491
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory



Berkeley Lab energy efficiency experts also calculate energy cost of upgrading ventilation



With winter around the corner some homeowners may be thinking about plugging all the leaks in their home to make them less drafty. Imagine if every homeowner in the country did thathow much energy could be saved? Using physics-based modeling of the U.S. housing stock, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found in a new study that upgrading airtightness to a uniform level could achieve as much as $33 billion in annual energy savings.


"Currently people who weatherize can get their homes about 20 to 30 percent tighter. But they're not sealing all the cracks. There's still quite a bit left on the table, and those extra leaks and cracks could potentially save a lot of energy," said Berkeley Lab scientist Jennifer Logue, lead author of the study, "Energy impacts of envelope tightening and mechanical ventilation for the U.S. residential sector," which was recently published online in the journal Energy and Buildings. Her co-authors were Berkeley Lab scientists Max Sherman, Iain Walker and Brett Singer.


Logue said the purpose of their study was to figure how much energy is wasted from leaky homes and determine the optimal standard of airtightnessone that would maximize energy savings while minimizing the cost of achieving those savings. This is an important question because the residential sector113 million homesuses about 23 percent of total U.S. source energy annually. (Source energy includes site energy, the energy consumed by buildings for heating and electricity, as well as the raw energy required to transmit, deliver and produce it.) Heating and cooling accounts for about half of the site energy used in residences.


The largest potential savings are in the hottest and coldest climates. As new air enters homes through leaks and cracks, it has to be cooled or heated. Although the trend has been towards building tighter houses, Logue says the science is still not settled on the best ways to minimize leaks. "More research is needed to figure out what are the most effective ways to weatherize," she said. "There are still benefits to be gained if we can figure out how to weatherize more effectively."


The Berkeley Lab researchers considered five levels of tightening: "average" tightening, "advanced" tightening, the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) standard, the R2000 standard (common in Canada, tighter than IECC) and the "passive house" standard, the tightest and most difficult to achieve.


They found that upgrading all homes to be as airtight as the top 10 percent of similar homes (advanced tightening) would decrease energy demand by 2.6 quads annuallyout of the total 22 quads of source energy used by the residential housing sectorleading to roughly $22 billion in savings in energy bills. Reaching the IECC standard would yield savings of 3.83 quads in annual source energy, yielding $33 billion in savings.


The study found that the IECC standard offered most of the benefit that the tighter standards would yield. Moreover this standard is likely more achievable than the tighter standards. According to their analysis, raising the U.S. housing stock to the IECC standard would reduce airflow in homes by a median value of 50 percent.


"As we move forward and look to build better housing stock, we want to know what standards we should enforce," Logue said. "It looks like the IECC standard gets us the majority of the benefit of air sealing. More research is needed to determine the costs of implementing each of these standards in new homes to see which are cost-effective. As we get better at air sealing, we can move towards tighter envelopes in buildings. "


The analysis in the study factored in the energy costs of increasing ventilation where necessary to maintain good indoor air quality. A separate analysis looked at the energy cost of only bringing the housing stock into compliance with ASHRAE 62.2, a national ventilation standard for homes that ensures sufficient ventilation for human health.


"We found that the energy burden would be pretty small, only about an additional 0.2 quads of source energy annually"less than 0.1 percent of total source energy that goes to the residential housing sector"to get everyone to the level where they're getting enough whole-house ventilation," Logue said.


###


Funding for this study came from the Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the California Energy Commission.



Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.




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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/dbnl-wht102113.php
Tags: government shutdown   Dallas Latos   september 11   neil armstrong   tesla model s  

Parker, Dawkins Put On Show In Duke Scrimmage


DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Freshman phenom Jabari Parker went coast-to-coast with rebounds, Rodney Hood slashed to the rim and Andre Dawkins knocked down 3-pointers.


During Duke's first public intrasquad scrimmage of the preseason, the up-tempo team barely resembled last year's group.


The scrimmage was the centerpiece of Duke's "Countdown to Craziness" celebration Friday — an annual night of frivolity before coach Mike Krzyzewski's team gets back to the serious business of preparing for the season.


Krzyzewski told the crowd during the scrimmage that "we're trying to change the style of play" and that "we're going to play a lot faster."


Parker had 16 points in one 15-minute scrimmage, then eight points, eight rebounds and a highlight-reel dunk in another one.


The first 10 points of the first game were scored by players who didn't see a minute of court time at Duke last season.


That includes two redshirts: Hood, who transferred from Mississippi State, and Dawkins, who sat out while continuing to deal with his sister's death when he was a freshman in 2009.


Dawkins received one of the louder ovations — along with Parker — during the one-at-a-time player introductions, and screamed "I'm back, baby" to the crowd.


Then, the first time he touched the ball, he buried a 3 over Rasheed Sulaimon on the right wing, prompting the Cameron Crazies to chant "'Dre all day."


"It was cool to get that kind of reaction from the crowd — a crowd I haven't been around for a year," Dawkins said, adding that his 3 "felt pretty good. Wish I had hit a couple more."


While the Blue Devils have been practicing for three weeks, this was the first chance for fans to get a look at the highly regarded freshman class — Parker, Semi Ojeleye and Matt Jones — in game situations


Parker and Dawkins led the Blue team during the first scrimmage while Hood and Ojeleye were on White. Dawkins hit two free throws with 0.9 seconds left in Blue's 36-34 win.


Then they switched up the teams, with four probable starters — Parker, Hood, Quinn Cook and Amile Jefferson — plus Dawkins and Ojeleye on White. Parker had the move of the night, a reverse, one-handed slam that even had Krzyzewski hiding a smile in White's 33-30 win.


"I fantasized about this in Chicago, like it was true, when I was hurt, and then after the season, I just anticipated being a Duke Blue Devil," Parker said. "It's a very big blessing."


Then, of his monster dunk, he said: "You just want to get the crowd involved and not boast too much, but just have fun."


Krzyzewski has said this team will revolve around Parker and Hood, and that's a noteworthy change for a program that almost always is as good — or as bad — as its seniors.


Gone are three from last year — Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry — who all found spots in the NBA. They were the cornerstones of a team that finished 30-6 and reached the Midwest regional final before losing to eventual national champion — and future fellow ACC member — Louisville.


These Blue Devils enter the season as one of the favorites to make it at least one step further — to their 12th Final Four under Krzyzewski.


But there's plenty of time to worry about that.


For now, the focus was on having some fun before the games start counting.


As they do every year, the players entered the arena to the song of their choosing. Most opted for current R&B selections, but big man Marshall Plumlee went with "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" — and performed a full Temptations-style dance.


___


Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joedyap


Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=237294445&ft=1&f=
Category: walking dead   never forget   katy perry   Hyperloop   the bachelorette  

Ed Lauter, prolific film and TV actor, dies at 74

Celebs











11 hours ago

Image: Ed Lauter

Getty Images

Ed Lauter arrives at the premiere of "Hitchcock" during AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2012.

Ed Lauter, the always working character actor who played the butler/chauffeur of Berenice Bejo’s character Peppy in the best-picture Oscar winner "The Artist," died Wednesday. He was 74.

Lauter discovered in May that he had contracted mesothelioma, a terminal form of cancer most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos, publicist Edward Lozzi told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lauter recently played a baseball scout opposite Clint Eastwood in "Trouble With the Curve" (2012) and had recurring roles on Showtime drama "Shameless" as Dick Healey and on USA Network’s "Pysch" as Deputy Commissioner Ed Dykstra. Earlier, he recurred on "ER," playing Fire Captain Dannaker.

A native of Long Beach, N.Y., Lauter made his TV debut on a 1971 episode of "Mannix" and arrived on the big screen for the first time in the Western "Dirty Little Billy" (1972). One of those character actors whose name is unknown but is instantly recognizable, he is listed with an incredible 204 credits as an actor on IMDb.

In Alfred Hitchcock’s final film, "Family Plot" (1976), the balding, angular Lauter played Maloney, the dangerous, blue-collar man who knows too much about dapper jewel thief and kidnapper Arthur Adamson (William Devane). Hitchcock cast Lauter after seeing him play Captain Wilhelm Knauer, the sadistic leader of the guards who go up against Burt Reynolds’ convict football team, in the classic "The Longest Yard" (1974).

“Hitchcock came out of his screening room, walked back into the office and said, ‘He’s very good, isn’t he?’” Lauter recalled in a 2003 interview. “[His assistant Peggy Anderson], thinking that he meant Burt Reynolds, said, ‘Yes, he is.’ ”

“Hitchcock said, ‘What’s his name again?’ Now, Peggy’s lost; he doesn’t know who Burt Reynolds is? Then, Hitchcock said, ‘Ed something …’ and when Peggy told him, ‘Ed Lauter,’ he said, ‘Yes, we’ve got our Maloney.’ He had actually told Peggy that he wasn’t going to do the film unless he first cast Maloney, the antagonist.”

PHOTOS: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2013

His film résumé also includes "The New Centurions" (1972), "The Last American Hero" (1973), "French Connection II" (1975), "King Kong" (1976), "Magic" (1978), "Cujo" (1983), "Lassiter" (1984), "Death Wish 3" (1985), "The Rocketeer" (1991), "Trial by Jury" (1994), "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), "Mulholland Falls" (1995), "Seabiscuit" (2003), the 2005 remake of "The Longest Yard," "Seraphim Falls" (2006) and "The Number 23" (2007).

It only seems as if he was in every TV crime drama in history, with parts in "Cannon," "Ironside," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Kojak," "Baretta," "Police Story," "The Rockford Files," "Charlie’s Angels," "Hawaii Five-0," "Simon & Simon," "Magnum, P.I.," "The A-Team," "Miami Vice," "Walker, Texas Ranger," "Homicide: Life on the Street," "NYPD Blue," "Cold Case" and "CSI."

Lauter, who went to college on a basketball scholarship at C.W. Post on Long Island and worked as a stand-up comic, made his Broadway debut in the original 1968 stage production of "The Great White Hope" starring JamesEarl Jones and Jane Alexander.

He has three movies in the can yet to be released: "The Town That Dreaded Sundown," "Becker’s Farm" and "The Grave."

“He was a pal, not just a PR client,” recalled Lozzi. “His former stand-up comedy days would always entertain us behind the scenes with his most incredible impersonations. He called me as Clint Eastwood from the set of "Trouble With the Curve" last year. We really thought it was Eastwood!”

Lauter also was known to do excellent impersonations of Burt Lancaster, George C. Scott,James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.

The Ed Lauter Foundation and a scholarship fund is being established to honor his work, and the scholarship will be awarded annually to aspiring young actors. His family, which includes his wife of eight years, Mia, asks that donations be made to the foundation.

In the 2003 interview, Lauter recalled: “Someone once said to me, ‘Eddie, you’re a “turn” actor.’ What’s that? He said, ‘That’s when a story is going along and your character shows up and the story suddenly takes a major turn.’ That’s kind of neat.”








Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/ed-lauter-prolific-film-tv-actor-dies-74-8C11408676
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When Playing Video Games Means Sitting On Life's Sidelines





The reSTART center for Internet addiction is in the woods outside Seattle. The initial, in-patient part of the program is held on a property that has a tree house and a garden.



Rachel Martin/NPR


The reSTART center for Internet addiction is in the woods outside Seattle. The initial, in-patient part of the program is held on a property that has a tree house and a garden.


Rachel Martin/NPR


A facility outside Seattle, surrounded by pine trees, is a refuge for addicts — of technology.


There are chickens, a garden and a big tree house with a zipline. A few guys kick a soccer ball around between therapy appointments in the cottage's grassy backyard.


The reSTART center was set up in 2009. It treats all sorts of technology addictions, but most of the young men who come through here — and they are all young men — have the biggest problem with video games.


There are beds for seven patients at a time. After they spend six intensive weeks of rehab here, they go to a transitional situation — an apartment close by, where they live with other former reSTART patients.


That step used to be called Level 2, but program manager Rachell Montag says that was too similar to video game language, so they changed it.


"In gaming, the goal is always to be moving forward and leveling up, and so we didn't want our language to parallel that, because it can actually have an effect on their behavior and their recovery process in that phase," she tells NPR's Rachel Martin.


'Good, Clean Fun,' At First


Joey M'Poko's story is like a lot of people who come through this place. His personal life was unstable, his parents divorced, and he moved around a lot. A few years ago, he ended up in Chicago, where his grandparents live. He was lonely, shy, insecure, and he found a kind of escape in front of his computer.





Joey M'Poko is a patient at the Washington facility, after finding himself unhealthily immersed in a virtual community.



Caitlin Dickerson/NPR


Joey M'Poko is a patient at the Washington facility, after finding himself unhealthily immersed in a virtual community.


Caitlin Dickerson/NPR


M'Poko says he would spend hours at a time gaming or watching movies. He says had bad hygiene and lost weight — but he was a part of a virtual community.


"I mean, I have people I would consider to be friends there, only because I spent most of my time with them. I got to know them," he says.


The kicker here is that M'Poko thought he was doing pretty well, because a couple years before, he was smoking a lot of pot. He started getting heavy into gaming as an alternative to getting high.


"It was just an environment to meet new people who had no interest in drugs or whatever — they're just looking for good, clean fun, I guess," he says.


M'Poko says he understands how using video games to escape can be damaging. But in his case, he says it made him "feel like socializing again."


"I started to feel like a person again. I could totally zone out all the pain, all whatever, and just go into this total world of fantasy, and it was awesome," he says. "I didn't have to care about anything else."


A 'Flood' Of Addiction


Hilarie Cash, who founded the rehab program, has been studying Internet and technology addiction since the 1990s. She noticed a pattern early on in her patients about how the Internet was affecting their lives.


"And [I] had this sense back then that I was seeing the trickle before the flood. And the flood is upon us," she says.




Weekend Edition is delving into the topic of addiction, speaking to people with dependencies on alcohol, technology and food.






But in today's increasingly digital world, it can be difficult to sense the point at which extensive Internet use actually becomes an addiction.


A common thread between all addictions, Cash says, is that addicts use the chemical or behavior to find either a high or relief. The behavior becomes an addiction when you are "doing it to such an extent that it begins to control you rather than you being able to control it," she says.


Are you getting enough exercise, sleep and quality time with the people you care about? "If [the behavior] is interfering, then there's a problem there somewhere," Cash says.


Typically, she says, those who come to her facility for help have been gaming from a young age, and the addiction has "been growing over many years." Also, they've been engaging in activity online rather than developing personal relationships.


Often, families will push their sons to limit their activity while they're living at home and going to high school. But once college hits, Cash says, that structure is lost. "And so that's when everything starts falling apart."


Rebuilding A Life


Building patients back up happens in a lot of ways. Some are very basic, like teaching them how to cook healthy meals. M'Poko is in the kitchen with a couple of the other patients, making Italian chicken and pasta for dinner with help from the house manager.


A big guy dressed in workout clothes walks in, with a bald head and a quick smile. There are high fives and friendly slaps on the back.


Isaac Veisburg was born in Venezuela and raised between there and Miami. He's all done with the reSTART program and is now working as a personal trainer. But it was a long road. He went through the six-week, in-patient part of the program twice.


"The first time, I was very guarded. I didn't want to hear the word 'addict.' As far as I was concerned, I could stop whenever I wanted," he says.


He bailed on the program after a few weeks and went back to college in Washington, D.C. At first he tried to stay away from gaming, but he was depressed, fighting with his parents and had car problems.


The stress started to mount, and the Saturday before classes even began, Veisburg was back in front of the computer. He says he downloaded a game and didn't leave his computer for 42 hours.


"And then I slept. I slept through my first class Monday, and I didn't go to class the rest of that day, and the day after, or for five weeks after that," he says.


His parents sent him back to the reSTART program, and eventually he finished the whole thing. Veisburg is now living in Redmond, Wash., hoping to eventually become a counselor for other people working through technology addiction.


He says he doesn't miss gaming — "not even a little bit" — or the people he used to interact with online.


"How well can you really know someone over the Internet? ... Out here is real relationships," he says, "the relationships I have with the guys in [reSTART], you know, with my girlfriend, with my parents, now that we can actually talk. Those are relationships."


Veisburg appears to be on the right track now, but not everyone's path is so clear.


The Need For A Plan


Nov. 5 is the anniversary of Will's arrival to the reSTART program. Will, who asked NPR not to use his last name, has had a series of relapses. At one point, he left the program and lived in a homeless shelter for a month.





A sign inside the reSTART clinic asks that cellphones be turned off. Creating structure is key to patients' recovery once they leave the facility.



Caitlin Dickerson/NPR


A sign inside the reSTART clinic asks that cellphones be turned off. Creating structure is key to patients' recovery once they leave the facility.


Caitlin Dickerson/NPR


After a year in rehab, he's finally done and planning to move back home to Oklahoma to try to find a job. But that's tough to do without using a computer and an Internet connection.


"It's a constant struggle," he says. "It's just that I have to structure my life to a point where I don't feel tempted to waste time on it."


He says he has to hold himself accountable, by having a job, a social life and exercising — and by setting time limits on his Internet usage. He's not planning to get a smartphone any time soon, either.


Cash, the head therapist and founder of reSTART, says those kinds of boundaries are crucial to any kind of addiction recovery. "All addictions, they say, it takes about two years for the brain to really heal itself," she says.


Before they leave, patients have to form a "life balance plan." They outline their goals and the possible pitfalls ahead.


"Once they leave here, they actually starting implementing that," Cash says. "What's hardest is implementing it successfully. But if they can do that for six months or more, then we're looking at somebody who has a really good shot at living a good, healthy life."


One Step At A Time


Finding that healthy balance also means learning to relax in new ways, which is why reSTART includes weekly meditation sessions. M'Poko is sitting with the rest of the patients in a semicircle in the living room. The instructor is in the middle, leading the meditation.


He's done with the in-patient program in a just a couple days. He's not sticking around for the second, transitional phase. He wants to move on now. He may move to Japan to teach English.


His family life is still shaky. His dad is moving back to his native Congo, his mom is in Vermont, and M'Poko doesn't know where home is anymore.


"Anyone who's been in a 12-step program or any kind of recovery program will tell you that the addiction is just a symptom of something else," he says. "I feel like I'm slowly cultivating skills that would help me deal with that and make me see that I don't have to escape, and it's much healthier and it feels much better to just ride the storm."


Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/20/238095806/when-playing-video-games-means-sitting-on-lifes-sidelines?ft=1&f=1019
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Denver miscues help Indy build 26-14 halftime lead


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Robert Mathis' second-quarter strip sack of Peyton Manning led to nine points and Andrew Luck threw his third TD pass with 10 seconds left in the first half Sunday night to give the Indianapolis Colts a 26-14 lead over the unbeaten Denver Broncos.

Mathis, one of the few holdovers from the Manning era still with the Colts, changed the game by knocking the ball out of his former teammate's hand before he could throw it. The loose ball fluttered backward into the end zone before Erik Walden was ruled to have recovered it out of bounds. The safety cut Denver's lead to 14-12.

Luck then marched the Colts 66 yards in seven plays, capping the ensuing drive with a short swing pass to fullback Stanley Havili who ran down the right sideline to finish the 20-yard touchdown and give Indianapolis its second lead of the game.

And before the half ended, Luck perfectly executed a 2-minute drill, hooking up with Coby Fleener on an 8-yard score to make it 26-14 — and leaving no time for Manning to respond.

Denver cornerback Champ Bailey left late in the second quarter after injuring his left foot. His return was questionable.

Manning threw two touchdown passes in the first half.

It was an entertaining start to this weekend's marquee matchup.

The Colts former franchise quarterback started the scoring with a two-play, 56-yard drive, hooking up with Eric Decker on both passes — the second a 17-yard scoring play as Colts safety Antoine Bethea slipped in the end zone.

Luck responded by driving the Colts for a 27-yard field goal to make it 7-3.

Indianapolis took its first lead of the game after Denver punt returner Trindon Holliday lost a fumble at his own 11. Luck took advantage on the next play, finding Darrius Heyward-Bey wide open on a screen pass for an 11-yard score.

Julius Thomas then made a juggling catch in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard score to give the Broncos a 14-10 lead.

But Mathis' sack changed the whole complexion on an emotional night.

Manning was playing against his former team for the first time since being released by the Colts in March 2012, the move that paved the way for Luck to become his successor. And he was trying to join Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks to beat all 32 NFL teams.

It was billed as the NFL's biggest homecoming since Favre returned to Green Bay in 2009 and some locals said this was the biggest regular-season game since the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984.

The fans gave him a warm welcome.

When Manning first ran onto the field, some sections in the lower bowl looked like a checkerboard of Colts blue and Broncos orange. They roared for No. 18 throughout a 90-second video tribute featuring some of his most memorable moments with the Colts including the record-breaker with Marvin Harrison for most TDs by a quarterback-receiver duo, the AFC championship comeback against New England and, of course, the evening when he finally hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in rainy Miami .

Manning responded by stopping his warm-up throws, taking off his helmet, waving to the fans and mouthing the words "Thank you."

The large video screen then cut to a fan holding a sign that that read "Thanks Peyton But Tonight I'm A Colts Fan."

It was a far cry from this week's big controversy when owner Jim Irsay said he regretted that the Colts didn't win more than one Super Bowl during the Manning era. Many contended it was disrespectful.

Another crowd favorite, Reggie Wayne, who stuck around after Manning was released in March 2012, posed for pregame photos along two ex-teammates and old friends, Harrison and Edgerrin James, as the franchise celebrated his entry Monday night into the 1,000-catch club.

___

AP NFL website: http://pro32.ap.org/poll

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/denver-miscues-help-indy-build-26-14-halftime-022925450--spt.html
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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Escaped Fla. prisoners grilled: Who helped you?

Lillie Danzy, front left, mother of escaped inmate Charles Walker,pictured in lower right, with her husband Jeff Danzy, to her left, and attorney Rhonda Henderson, right, listen as she makes a plea for her son to turn himself in to authorities during a news conference at the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Joseph Jenkins and Walker, two convicted killers freed by bogus paperwork, are at large.(AP Photo/John Raoux)







Lillie Danzy, front left, mother of escaped inmate Charles Walker,pictured in lower right, with her husband Jeff Danzy, to her left, and attorney Rhonda Henderson, right, listen as she makes a plea for her son to turn himself in to authorities during a news conference at the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Joseph Jenkins and Walker, two convicted killers freed by bogus paperwork, are at large.(AP Photo/John Raoux)







Lillie Danzy, front left, mother of escaped inmate Charles Walker, with her husband Jeff Danzy, second from left, and family supporters and members of the Orange County Sheriff's Office listen as Henry Pearson, center, uncle of escaped inmate Joseph Jenkins, makes a plea for his nephew to turn himself in to authorities during a news conference in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Joseph Jenkins, photo front left, and Charles Walker, photo front right, two convicted killers freed by bogus paperwork, are at large.(AP Photo/John Raoux)







This undated combo of photos provided by the Florida Department. of Corrections shows Joseph Jenkins, left and Charles Walker. Walker and Joseph Jenkins were mistakenly released from prison in Franklin County, Fla., in late September and early October. According to authorities, the the two convicted murderers were released with forged documents. A manhunt is under way for the two men. (AP Photo/Florida Department. of Corrections)







This undated photo provided by the Florida Department. of Corrections shows Joseph Jenkins. Jenkins and Charles Walker were mistakenly released from prison in Franklin County, Fla., in late September and early October. According to authorities, the the two convicted murderers were released with forged documents. A manhunt is under way for the two men. (AP Photo/Florida Department of Corrections)







This undated photo made available by the Florida Department of Corrections shows Charles Walker. Walker and Joseph Jenkins were mistakenly released from prison in Franklin County, Fla., in late September and early October. According to authorities, the the two convicted murderers were released with forged documents. A manhunt is under way for the two men. (AP Photo/Florida Dept. of Corrections,HO)







(AP) — Back in custody after using forged documents to escape their life sentences, two convicted killers were being grilled on Sunday by law enforcement authorities who said they expect to make more arrests in a case that has given both court and corrections officials in Florida a black eye.

Among the questions being posed to Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker: Who forged the papers? Who helped you run from police? What other prisoners have gotten away with this? Who was coming from Atlanta to whisk you out of Florida?

"I can tell you, there will be more arrests," Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey told a news conference Sunday, hours after Jenkins and Walker, both 34, were arrested without incident at a motel in Panama City.

"We will be backtracking to those who helped carry out this fraud and along the way we will be looking closely at anyone who may have helped harbor these fugitives," Bailey said.

Jenkins and Walker, both 34, were captured Saturday night at the Coconut Grove Motor Inn in Panama City Beach, a touristy area of putt-putt courses and go-kart tracks. Hours earlier, their families had held a news conference in Orlando — 350 miles away — urging them to surrender.

The men, who had fled the Orlando area after word of their ruse became public, did not know law enforcement was on the way to Panama City. They were waiting in the motel for someone to arrive from Atlanta to take them out of state, Bailey said, adding that authorities don't yet know who that person was or where the convicts planned to go. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is working with Georgia authorities to answer those questions, he said.

"They had to have had help — a lot of help — to get to where they were last night," Bailey said. He said the men were unarmed and didn't have much money on them.

Bailey's department is pursuing a tip that someone was offering to forge documents for prisoners for $8,000. He said there are at least two other recent cases where prisoners were thwarted trying to use fake documents to escape.

"The documents themselves looked good, they looked official," Bailey said, although they contained the signatures of people who normally don't deal with release documents, something that maybe should have raised questions, he said.

Meanwhile, Corrections Secretary Michael Crews scheduled a meeting with court clerks on Monday to find ways to prevent future escapes through bogus documents.

"It is embarrassing, but my concentration at this point is making sure that we come up with a process and a procedure that prohibits this from happening in the future," Crews told a news conference.

Crews has already ordered his department to begin verifying the legitimacy of early-release orders with a judge, not just court clerks. He said his department receives a few thousand such orders each year, although he acknowledged that reduced sentences in murder cases are rare.

He also expressed relief that the men were captured.

"I did a lot of praying for the last five or six days," he said. "To say we're thankful I think is probably an understatement. These were two hardened, convicted felons and the thought of them being out there in our state caused me great concern."

The two prisoners had not been traveling together, but hooked up once word of the forgeries became public and traveled from Orlando to Panama City, said Frank Chiumento (Sha MENTO), chief of the U.S. Marshals Service for Florida and the Caribbean.

Chiumento told The Associated Press on Sunday that Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker knew their time on the run was limited once their ruse had been uncovered. They were under surveillance for about two and a half days, and the men were surprised when authorities finally knocked on their motel door.

A woman who answered the phone at the motel said she saw police coming and they went into room 227. After authorities left, the parking lot of the two-story motel next to Big Willy's Swimwear was mostly empty.

Jenkins and Walker were both serving life sentences at the Franklin Correctional Facility in the Panhandle before they walked free without anyone realizing the paperwork, complete with case numbers and a judge's forged signature, was bogus. The documents seemingly reduced their life sentences to 15 years.

Jenkins was released first on Sept. 27 and registered himself as a felon Sept. 30 in an Orlando jail. Walker was released Oct. 8 and also registered himself with authorities three days later.

Family members said they thought the releases were legitimate and that the convicts even spent time with their relatives before they disappeared.

Jenkins had been locked up since the 1998 killing and botched robbery of Roscoe Pugh, an Orlando man. It wasn't until Tuesday, when one of Pugh's relatives contacted the state attorney's office to let them know Jenkins had been let out, that authorities knew of the escape.

Prosecutors reviewed Jenkins' case file and quickly discovered the forged paperwork, including motions from prosecutors to correct "illegal" sentences, accompanied by orders allegedly filed by Judge Belvin Perry within the last couple of months. The orders granted a 15-year sentence.

___

Farrington reported from Tallahassee.

___

Follow Farrington at www.twitter.com/bsfarrington

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-20-US-Prison-Mistaken-Release/id-5010fc0ea97e4700ab97e6b59ee44de5
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Omar Souleyman, Live In Concert



Live in Concert







October 20, 2013 America's favorite Syrian wedding singer crossed the Atlantic Ocean to hold court at NPR Music's showcase in New York City. Wearing his trademark keffiyeh and sunglasses, Souleyman performed songs from his new album, Wenu Wenu, with help from keyboard wizard Rizan Sa'id.






Set List

  • "Mawal"

  • "Leh Jani"

  • "Ghazoula"

  • "Ali Khudino"

  • "Nujuaz"

  • "Shift Al Mani"

Credits

Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Robin Hilton, Frannie Kelley, Amy Schriefer; Event Coordinator: Saidah Blount; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Alex di Suvero, Becky Harlan, A.J. Wilhelm; Special Thanks: (Le) Poisson Rouge; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann



Source: http://www.npr.org/event/music/236237098/omar-souleyman-live-in-concert?ft=1&f=
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Could Oreos Be as Addictive as Cocaine?





Can't put down the box of Oreos? There might be a compelling biological reason for that.


New research suggests that sugary, fatty treats can elicit the same reaction and activate the brain in a similar manner as cocaine and morphine, at least in lab rats.


Joseph Schroeder, an assistant professor of psychology and director of the Behavioral Neuroscience Center at Connecticut College, is expected to present the study, which has not yet been published, next month at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, Calif.


Oreos weren't specifically singled out for their ability to trigger a snack attack, they were just a handy device to get enough fat and sugar in the rat's habitat, Schroeder said.


A spokeswoman for Mondelez International, which owns Nabisco, the maker of the iconic sandwich cookie, cautioned people against associating Oreo with the findings since the cookies were used as "a proxy for a non-specific 'sweet' variable."


"While it may seem simple to bucket foods as 'good' or 'bad,' the reality is that foods are complex, and encouraging people to enjoy a balanced diet paired with physical activity is most important," the spokeswoman said in a statement.


The experiment was actually conceived by Schroder's neuroscience student, Jamie Honohan, to examine the effects of high-fat and high-sugar foods on the brain. Honohan said she is interested in examining the effects of high concentrations of fatty and sugary foods in lower-income areas where there tend to be higher rates of obesity.



Double Stuf Oreos Not All They're Stuffed Up to Be?


"My research interests stemmed from a curiosity for studying human behavior and our motivations when it comes to food," said Honohan. "We chose Oreos not only because they are America's favorite cookie, and highly palatable to rats, but also because products containing high amounts of fat and sugar are heavily marketed in communities with lower socioeconomic statuses."


To examine how "addictive" high-fat, high-sugar foods could be, the rats were put into a habitat with two rooms. In one they were given an Oreo and in the other a rice cracker. Schroder and Honohan then measured the time they spent in each room to see their preference for the Oreo versus rice cake.


"Just like humans, rats don't seem to get much pleasure out of eating" rice cakes, Schroeder said.


The experiment was then repeated with other groups of rats being offered injections of cocaine or morphine in one room and saline in the other. According to Schroder, the researchers found that the rats had an "equivalent preference" for a room when it contained an Oreo as when they were given injections of morphine and cocaine.


Further examination of the rats' brains found that they had higher cellular activity in the "pleasure center" of their brain after eating an Oreo versus being injected with one of the drugs.


"That's the novel finding that applies to us," said Schroder. "We found that the high-fat or high-sugar food activated the brain to a greater extent than the cocaine or morphine."


A 2009 study by researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found the pleasure centers in the brains of rats that were fed high-fat, high-calorie food became less responsive over time -- a signal that the rats were becoming addicted. The rats started to eat more and more. They even went for the junk food when they had to endure an electric shock to get it.




Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/oreos-addictive-cocaine/story?id=20590182
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Lenovo's convertible Yoga 2 Pro Ultrabook now available in the US, starts at $1,049


Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro


Many Ultrabook fans have pined for Lenovo's Yoga 2 Pro given its blend of a 3,200 x 1,800 display, long battery life and a slim profile. Those people can finally act on their impulses, as Lenovo has quietly started selling the 13-inch folding convertible. For the $1,049 base price, buyers get a silver gray variant with a Haswell-based 1.7GHz Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. An orange model normally costs $1,399 (currently $1,149), although that also includes a 1.6GHz Core i5, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Be sure to shop around before you pick up the new system, however. Best Buy is currently selling an entry-level Yoga 2 Pro for $1,000, and there's a chance you'll find similar bargains elsewhere.


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/16/lenovo-yoga-2-pro-now-available/?ncid=rss_truncated
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