About 20,000 amateur and professional cyclists will take part in the Prudential RideLondon festival on Saturday and Sunday.
This will require the greatest scale of road closures since the Olympics, with ?hundreds? of roads including 11 Thames bridges, Hyde Park Corner, Hammersmith flyover and the southbound Blackwall tunnel all closed at different times.
The disruption will spread through Richmond and Kingston to the outskirts of Guildford, with main roads and country lanes in Surrey closed to traffic. Drivers are being warned that parked cars will be towed away.
Restrictions will also be in force in central London on Saturday when up to 50,000 people are expected to take part in a free event on an eight-mile circuit in Westminster and the City.
Transport for London fears a huge backlash from drivers amid concerns that many have failed to realise the scale of the disruption.
TfL commissioner Sir Peter Hendy said: ?This is the largest event London?s streets will have seen since the Olympics. Hosting such an event means we must close to traffic many bridges and hundreds of roads.?
?During the London 2012 Games Londoners and businesses took sensible steps to plan ahead and adapt their travel. I?m urging everyone to do that once again.?
Prudential RideLondon event will see cyclists, including Boris Johnson, set off from the Olympic park between 6am and 8am on Sunday and follow the route raced by Bradley Wiggins in last summer?s Olympics. This heads for the cycling ?holy grail? of Box Hill in Surrey before returning via Wimbledon and Putney.
Maps and details of the events and road closures are available at tfl.gov.uk/prudentialridelondon and gosurrey.info.
Camera+ for both iPhone and iPad have been updated, adding new, Hollywood-themed effects pack, as well as adding effects layering to the iPhone app. Effects layering lets you combine any of the effects of Camera+ to create something new. The Hollywood effects pack includes several new effects and borders. You can try the pack for free, and buy it for $0.99 if you like it.
Additionally, Camera+ has added a couple of widescreen crops, 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. The apps now connect to your Facebook account through iOS native Facebook support as well. Also, if you've purchased an effects pack and have multiple devices that sync Camera+ with iCloud, your in-app purchases will now be synced. The iPhone app update also fixes a bug that caused problems on the new iPod touch that lacks a rear-facing camera. Both updates are currently live in the App Store, so go grab them.
CLEVELAND (AP) ? The Plain Dealer in Cleveland cut about a third of its newsroom staff Wednesday, months after announcing it was reducing home delivery of the newspaper, union leaders said.
About 50 reporters, photographers, page designers and other Newspaper Guild-covered employees received layoff notices, according to the guild.
The newspaper did not release a list of those who lost their jobs. A message seeking comment was left the newspaper.
Guild chairman Harlan Spector said those let go included veteran reporters and photographers who had become familiar names to the paper's readers. "We have not completed a tally," said Spector, who volunteered to be laid off.
The Plain Dealer, beginning next week, will reduce home delivery to three days a week while also providing a "bonus" home-delivered edition on Saturdays.
The newspaper, which announced the changes to home delivery in April, also will be printed every day and be available for purchase at outlets in northeast Ohio.
A new digitally focused media company called Northeast Ohio Media Group will also start this summer. The organization will be responsible for all ad sales and marketing for The Plain Dealer and oversee the operation of the Cleveland.com website and Sun News, a chain of weekly newspapers.
The Northeast Ohio Media Group and The Plain Dealer Publishing Company will provide content for all print and digital platforms.
The newspaper, which has a weekday circulation of about 286,400, is owned by New York-based Advance Publications Inc. Other Advance papers, such as the Times-Picayune in New Orleans and The Birmingham News in Alabama, have cut back their publishing schedules to three days a week.
Union leaders in Cleveland expect about 110 guild-covered employees to remain in the newsroom following the layoffs.
The Guild had been waging a billboard campaign to preserve jobs and Cleveland's seven-day publication schedule.
"It's a sad day for northeast Ohio," said John Mangels, a reporter who organized the campaign and also volunteered to be laid off. "The community deserves better than this."
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Source: www.nytimes.com --- Monday, July 29, 2013 South Korea's strained football relations with Japan have been damaged further after a banner unfurled by the home team's fans in Seoul on Sunday during a regional tournament stoked political tension between the two. ? ? ? ? ...
Three people were killed and 26 injured when a bus carrying mostly teens from a church camp crashed in Indianapolis.
A total of 37 people, including adults, were on board the bus, which was on its way back to an Indianapolis church when it crashed.
Witnesses said the bus came speeding off of an interstate highway on Saturday afternoon, struck a retaining wall as it tried to round a curve and overturned.
Local station WTHR-TV reported the bus driver told witnesses his brakes failed.
The injured were taken to hospitals in the area
Footage showed the bust resting on its side as medical helicopters and fire officials rushed to the scene.
No other vehicle was believed to have been involved in the accident.
The dead included youth pastor Chad Phelps and his wife, Courtney Phelps. The couple were expecting their second child next month.
Tonya Weindorf, a mother of five who was a chaperone on the trip to the northern Michigan youth camp, also died.
Lieutenant Ato McTush of the Indianapolis Fire Department said many had sustained head injuries.
The passengers were members of Colonial Hill Baptist Church and the bus was church-owned.
Witnesses to the crash described a horrifying scene.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident
Duane Lloyd told WTHR that he heard a loud noise behind him and saw the crash unfold.
"I heard a skid. I looked back. I see this bus in the air and people falling out of the bus," Mr Lloyd said.
Sasha Sample told The Indianapolis Star some victims were lying in the road, while others were able to limp to the side.
"Everybody had boils and scrapes on them," she said.
"People were trying to climb from under the bus."
Authorities investigating the cause of the accident said they had not yet determined whether the bus had mechanical issues.
In 2007, the Golden State Warriors were an eighth seed in the NBA playoffs in their first appearance in more than a decade. They had caught the attention of America by upsetting the No. 1 seed Dallas Mavericks in the first round.
The "We Believe" chants started up again in the second round, when the Warriors took on the Utah Jazz and point guard Baron Davis threw down one of the most disrespectful dunks in playoff history?on Andrei Kirilenko.
This was the only game in the series that the Dubs would win, but it provided us with one of the most memorable dunks in recent memory.
Edward Snowden has reportedly been granted a temporary document to enter Russia, where his lawyer says he will remain for the foreseeable future.
By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / July 24, 2013
Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena speaks to the media after visiting US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden at Sheremetyevo airport outside Moscow, Wednesday, July 24, 2013.
Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/AP
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As his lawyer predicted, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has reportedly been granted a temporary document that will enable him to leave the legal limbo of Sheremetyevo airport's transit zone and take up residence in Moscow or any other Russian city.
Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir
Correspondent
Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?
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Russian media outlets cited unnamed official sources as saying the Federal Migration Service has issued a special pass that will enable Mr. Snowden to clear the airport's passport control. But it could still take several hours to process, news agencies report, and so for now he remains in the airport.
According to the Kremlin-funded, English-language TV network Russia Today (RT), Snowden's lawyer Anatoly Kucherena delivered the document to him in a large "brown paper bag," which contained all the paperwork for his release and possibly a fresh suit of clothes,?on Wednesday?afternoon. As the Associated Press reports, he also brought his client some reading material.?
[H]e told Russia's Rossiya-24 television that he has brought several books for Snowden to read, including one by Anton Chekhov and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment."
The novel is about the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of a poor ex-student who kills a pawnbroker for her cash, and Kucherena said Snowden might find it interesting. But the lawyer added: "I'm not implying he's going through a similar mental anguish."
The certificate Snowden has received is a temporary pass, and Russian sources say it does not mean he will be granted permanent political asylum in Russia. But it does put an end to the ex-CIA employee's month-long airport ordeal, and also appears to foreclose any possibility that Russia might just send him packing into some jurisdiction where he could be turned over to the United States.?
Speaking to RT, Mr. Kucherena said he expects Snowden to remain in Russia for the foreseeable future.
"It?s hard for me to say what his [next] actions would be," Kucherena is quoted as saying by RT.
"We must understand that security is the number one issue in his case. I think the process of adaptation will take some time. It?s an understandable process as he doesn?t know the Russian language, our customs, and our laws.... He?s planning to arrange his life here. He plans to get a job. And I think that all his further decisions will be made considering the situation he found himself in," Kucherena said. ?
Snowden applied for temporary asylum in Russia last week after his options for onward travel appeared to dry up amid a concerted US campaign to get him back.
Even President Vladimir Putin, who has described Snowden's presence in the airport as an unwanted diplomatic headache for Russia, acknowledged that US efforts had effectively bottled him up in Sheremetyevo, leaving Moscow with few options between extraditing him to the US ? which it has steadfastly refused to do ? and granting him some sort of temporary refuge.
Caroline Criado-Perez has faced a deluge of hostile tweets. Photograph: guardian.co.uk
A 21-year-old man has been arrested by police investigating a sustained barrage of threats and abuse directed against a feminist campaigner on Twitter after she successfully campaigned for a woman's picture to be put on a new banknote.
Caroline Criado-Perez has faced a deluge of hostile tweets, including threats to rape and kill her, prompting the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to write to Twitter to criticise its "inadequate" response to the "disgraceful, appalling and unacceptable" comments.
The Metropolitan police said officers acting on their behalf in Manchester had arrested a man on suspicion of harassment offences. The Met said the arrest was in connection with an allegation of malicious communications received by officers in Camden last Thursday.
Criado-Perez tweeted that she was at a police station making a formal statement and there were "many more threats" to report.
A campaign in Criado-Perez's support calling for Twitter to introduce a button to allow speedy reporting of abuse has received thousands of signatures, and she has received support from MPs and celebrities. In response Tony Wang, the general manager of Twitter UK, said the company took online abuse seriously and called on people to report any "violation of the Twitter rules".
Cooper wrote to Wang on Sunday saying the company's response was inadequate. "Despite the scale and seriousness of these threats, the official response from Twitter continues to be extremely weak ? simply directing Caroline away from Twitter towards the police, and, belatedly, directing users to abuse-reporting forms on Twitter.
"Of course it is right to report such abuse to the police, and it is very important that they investigate and pursue this case. But social media platforms also have a responsibility for the platform they give users. And in particular they have a responsibility not to tolerate this kind of abuse, rape threats and potentially criminal behaviour."
She added: "The response by Twitter has clearly been inadequate and fails not only Caroline but many more women and girls who have faced similar abuse on your social network."
Cooper said more than 20,000 people had signed an online petition asking Twitter to allow users to report abuse directly with one click. "I urge you to go further and ensure that Twitter carries out a full review of all its policies on abusive behaviour, threats and crimes, including more help for Twitter users who experience abuse, a clear complaints process and clear action from Twitter to tackle this kind of persecution," she said.
Attempts are being made to organise a boycott of the social media platform on 4 August to highlight the issue.
Earlier Criado-Perez said: "It's sadly not unusual to get this kind of abuse but I've never seen it get as intense or aggressive as this. It's infuriating that the price you pay for standing up for women is 24 hours of rape threats. We are showing that by standing together we can make a real difference. We made the Bank of England change its mind; we can do the same with Twitter."
Criado-Perez, a freelance journalist who co-founded thewomensroom.org.uk and the Week Woman blog, and fellow campaigners were delighted last week when the Bank of England confirmed that Jane Austen would replace Charles Darwin on ?10 notes, probably in 2017.
Criado-Perez organised a campaign which included a petition signed by more than 35,500 people after the Bank decided to replace Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on new ?5 notes. The move would have meant there were no women apart from the Queen on sterling banknotes.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, said: "What Caroline has had to deal with in the past day is not only disgusting but criminal. A quick look at Twitter shows that women are not prepared to stand by and take this kind of abuse. Twitter needs to get its house in order, and fast."
Wang tweeted: "We encourage users to report an account for violation of the Twitter rules by using one of our report forms. Also, we're testing ways to simplify reporting, eg within a tweet by using the 'report tweet' button in our iPhone app and on mobile web. We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules."
A Twitter spokeswoman added: "The ability to report individual tweets for abuse is currently available on Twitter for iPhone and we plan to bring this functionality to other platforms, including Android and the web. We don't comment on individual accounts. However, we have rules which people agree to abide by when they sign up to Twitter. We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules."
Sri Lanka vs South Africa Video Highlights of South Africa tour of Sri Lanka 2013, 4th ODI Match on July 28th played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Dilshan and Sangakkra shine to guide Sri Lanka a comfortable victory by 8 wickets in fourth One Day International (ODI) against South Africa played at Pallekele.
Click to watch Sri Lanka vs South Africa 4th ODI Video Highlights
Sri Lanka achieved in 239 runs target in 44 overs. Tillakaratne Dilshan scored an unbeaten century along with Sangakkara?s brilliant 91 runs to guide Sri Lanka a comfortable victory over South Africa.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel took one wicket each for South Africa.
Earlier South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. South Africa lose an early wicket in shape of Quinton de Kock while Hashim Amla and Jean Paul Duminy set a brilliant partnership which allows South Africa to pass 100 runs without losing another wicket.
Hashim Amla made 77 runs at the top of the inning while Duminy stay till the end of the innings; he made brilliant 97 to guide South Africa a descant total of 238 runs.
Ajantha Mendis took 4 wickets while Lasith Malinga finishes of with 3 wickets for Sri Lanka.
With this victory Sri Lanka win the 5 matches series by 3-1 against South Africa.
While it?s true that you can?t exactly spot reduce, there are exercises you can do to help tone and tighten certain body parts including your outer thighs or, as we affectionately refer to them, ?saddlebags.? Do these 4 thigh exercises 3 times a week on nonconsecutive days, and include at least 30 minutes of cardio 3-4 times a week for the best results. Do more reps as you become stronger and build your outer thighs of steel.
1. Take a Bow.? Stand with one leg diagonally behind you, and you want to get your back knee as close to the floor as possible, hovering 2 inches off the floor. If you?re just starting out, get as low as you can. You want to do 25-30 per side, for 3 reps. You want to make sure your chest is lifted and you?re not leaning forward. You want to keep your back straight and your core engaged.
2. The Running Man. I prefer doing this move with a step. Place your left foot on the step, with your right foot out behind you. Next, bring your right foot up to your chest as fast as you can without losing your form, using your arms for momentum and keeping all your weight over your left foot to stabilize you. Place your right foot back behind you and repeat. Keep this up for 30 seconds on each side.
3. Lateral Lunge with a Towel. You?re going to want to do this one on a linoleum or wood floor. Get a small towel and place it under your right foot. You want to get your knee-to-hip ratio at a 90 degree angle, with your hamstrings parallel to the floor. Keep your weight on your left leg, and push the right foot out to the side, using the resistance of the towel to bring you back into the starting position. Press into the towel as you slide your left foot back into place. Start with 3 sets of 20 reps on each side.
4. The Jane Fonda. This one is an oldie but goodie and still gets great results, and you can even do it while watching tv. Lay on your side, forearms on the floor propped up on your elbow, with one leg on top of the other, slightly behind you. Raise your upper leg towards the ceiling, then slowly lower it back down. Do 3 sets of 25 reps on each side.
Jennifer Cohen is a leading fitness authority, TV personality, best-selling author, and entrepreneur. With her signature, straight-talking approach to wellness, Jennifer was the featured trainer on The CW?s Shedding for the Wedding, mentoring the contestants? to lose hundreds of pounds before their big day, and she appears regularly on NBC?s Today Show, Extra, The Doctors and Good Morning America. Connect with Jennifer on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and on Pinterest.
Posted by Chris on Jul 28, 2013 in Real Estate | 0 comments
There exist several types of easements in real estate investment. The first one is the express easement: this is one which is granted in a will or deed. These are the most common and must satisfy the statute of frauds. This means that an easement by express grants must be in writing so as to be valid or enforceable. Next is implied easement: this is an easement applied by prior use. They arise when a property owner split one parcel of real estate investment property into two then sells the second parcel and retains the first one. In addition, we have easement by prescription and by necessity: easement by prescription is granted to someone who has possessed anothers property for statutory period while an easement by necessity is granted by courts when a land owner proves that his property is blocked-in and cannot otherwise use it without being granted as easement.
Finally, there is the affirmative and negative easement: affirmative easement grant property owner the right to do something for example the right to cross over a neighbors land while a negative easement gives the property owner the right to prevent someone from doing something such as blocking sunlight or a view.
Our pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning.
How do you reduce the number of highway accidents? Just tell all the cars to look out for each other!
A man who used a 3-D printer to make the first .22-caliber rifle out of largely plastic parts successfully fired off a shot with the weapon.
And "3-D printing and homemade crafts may spark a new Industrial Revolution. But that doesn't mean prosperity for all," says Salon.
Meanwhile, the New York Times asks, "Should Reddit be blamed for the spreading of a smear?"
One thing's for sure, Facebook didn't invent "friend" as a verb ... it's way older than that!
So, 160 million credit cards later, a "cutting edge" hacking ring has been cracked.
Are you able to get into your office by simply bumping your purse or wallet against a reader? Then your office is using radio-frequency identification cards, or RFID cards, to manage building access and security.
A ruling in the Bradley Manning court-martial could come as early as this weekend.
Here's another reason lots of coffee is good for you ... though it's kind of a bummer.
In closing: Pug thugs.
Compiled by Helen A.S. Popkin, who invites you to join her on Twitter and/or Facebook.
"Sister Wives" patriarch Kody Brown recently told TODAY.com that he realizes that plural marriage isn't for everyone ? and that it might not even be right for all of his kids.
"We are not pushing it on other people," he said. "We don?t even push it on our children."
Still, at least one of the family's 17 children has embraced the lifestyle. Mariah's decision to one day follow that particular tenet of their fundamentalist Mormon faith is part of the focus of the next episode of the TLC series.
"Kody's always said that you should not live plural marriage unless you feel the call to it ? you don't just do it just to try it out," first wife Meri, Mariah's mother, explained in sneak peek exclusive to TODAY.com. "I completely agree with him on that. And I think that Mariah has had that calling. She just feels that."
But Mariah wants to make sure no one is confused about what that calling means to her.
"There's a stereotype that polygamous women don't go to college and don't get an education," the 17-year-old said in the clip. "That's not me, because I want an education and I want to become a doctor ? but I also want to live plural marriage."
Mariah's sister Mykelti (daughter of Kody and his third wife, Christine) imagines that Mariah will eventually have "four wives and 23 children." Another sister (Aspyn, Christine's oldest child) seemed taken aback by the thought of Mariah having so many kids, but for Madison (Kody's oldest daughter with second wife, Janelle), the problem had more to do with the number of wives.
"Four?!" she exclaimed.
Of course, it's no surprised that would be a sticking point for Madison. Last season, she made it clear that plural marriage wasn't for her.
"I would not be able to share my husband like that," she insisted.
See what else Kody's kids have to say about the subject when "Sister Wives" airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on TLC.
Mobile connected devices, including smartphones and tablets, continue to drive consumer electronics (CE) industry sales, according to The US Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts, the semi-annual industry report released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The report also finds positive growth in segments within automotive technology, audio products and TV displays. Overall CE industry revenue will hold steady relative to 2012 levels, growing an estimated 0.2 per cent in the US in 2013.
?Despite uncertain economic conditions, 2013 CE industry revenue will remain consistent with 2012 levels,? said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. ?Fuelled by innovation, the CE industry is constantly noted for rapid evolvement, yet the industry has emerged as a consistent and steady force, influencing positive growth and job creation. While year-over-year sales remain even, we believe the future of the industry remains bright, particularly with the emergence of exciting new product categories like Ultra HDTV, wearable electronics and 3D printers.?
Sales of mobile connected devices, namely smartphones and tablets, continue to drive industry growth. These two devices alone will represent 32.2 per cent of CE industry revenue in 2013. Smartphones are expected to maintain their position as the leading revenue driver for the industry in 2013, with unit shipments projected to reach 127 million this year. Additionally, smartphone revenues are expected to surpass $37.8 billion in 2013, a 14 per cent increase from one year ago. Tablet computing will continue double-digit growth in 2013. Unit sales of tablets are projected to reach 87.1 million this year and revenues expected to surpass $27.3 billion.
?The success of tablets and smartphones underscores the importance of mobility and connectivity today,? said Steve Koenig, CEA?s director of industry analysis. ?These trends are also generating opportunities in many other categories across the industry including audio, video and automotive technology.?
Audio continues to see positive growth in 2013, with stronger than anticipated shipments during the first half of the year. Home audio unit shipments are projected to increase by 11 per cent to 11.4 million shipments. Major bright spots in audio are soundbars and Bluetooth/Airplay-enabled speakers. Soundbar shipments are projected to increase by 40 per cent over 2012 to reach 2.8 million units, while portable connected speakers should generate $302 million in total revenue in 2013 ? an increase of 35 per cent year-over-year.
The US Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts also shows increasing demand by consumers to integrate their mobile devices into their vehicles. An increase in sales for in-vehicle electronics has led to overall sales revenues for factory-installed systems to reach $9.2 billion in 2013. The integration of mobile devices is also helping in the aftermarket. Unit growth for head units equipped with internet radio control or apps is projected to grow by double digits in 2012.
Sales of innovative digital displays continue to increase, despite a steady decline in average wholesale prices. TV sales remain influential to the industry?s bottom line, with total TV sets and displays projected to reach $19.3 billion in 2013, down three per cent from 2012 ($19.9 billion).
* LCD flat panels continue to dominate and will account for 91 per cent of all digital television (DTV) sets sold this year. Both unit sales and revenues for LCD displays are projected to increase, with a record-high 36.3 million LCD TVs expected to ship to dealers in 2013, resulting in $16.8 billion in revenue. * Innovative features such as 3D, Ultra HD and OLED displays within the display category continue to entice. Internet-connected displays will see continued growth, with unit shipments reaching 13.7 million this year.
The US Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts (July 2013) projects that industry sales will reach $202.6 billion this year, stable compared to 2012 sales, with 0.2 per cent growth. This is nearly three points lower than previously projected by CEA in January. Looking ahead to 2014, industry sales growth is forecast to grow by 4.5 per cent, with industry revenues reaching $211.7 billion.
?Although the consumer tech industry is largely immune to the degree of turmoil experienced by other sectors, CE is not entirely impervious to the bigger picture,? said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and senior director of research, CEA. ?The front half of 2013 brought slower than anticipated economic growth in the US. driven by the fiscal drag of sequestration and expiration of the payroll tax, while the back half brings more tempered expectations for economic growth. However, the rest of 2013 should find itself on firmer footing, with several forthcoming product launches which should propel growth in the second half of 2013, through the holiday season and into 2014.?
It was a couple of days before the Jacksonville City Council had to decide on a potential tax increase to help fill a $61 million gap in the upcoming budget.
Mayor Alvin Brown was adamantly opposed to raising taxes and pointed to his pension deal that would save $1.2 billion over 30 years. That vote wasn?t anticipated for at least another month.
But council President Bill Gulliford wanted members to make a decision Tuesday so they could move forward with budget decisions.
The pension bill was sitting in the Finance Committee, where it was expected to stay for at least a couple of weeks. But Gulliford decided to pull it so the full council could vote, something Brown?s chief of staff Chris Hand call a ?procedural sneak attack.?
Gulliford told few people in hopes of preventing Brown?s staff from heavily lobbying the council.
?I figured the administration was going to go and beat them to death the minute they got wind of it,? Gulliford said the day after the vote.
By Monday evening, the administration had heard. Hand called Gulliford and said the move was ?premature,? based on the work still to be done by the Finance Committee and the pension review task force appointed by Brown.
Hand told Gulliford, ?This is the kind of thing that doesn?t help to build bridges between the administration and City Council.?
But Gulliford thought the pension deal wasn?t good enough, and he was especially concerned about the unfunded liability. He thought the city could do better.
Brown?s staff spent much of Tuesday lobbying council members to keep the pension bill in the Finance Committee and to allow the pension task force to continue its review.
The mayor even visited the council offices Tuesday afternoon, something Councilman John Crescimbeni said wasn?t common.
Members of the Fraternal Order of Police and firefighters union also made calls and the rounds at City Hall.
But by 8:26 p.m. Tuesday, Brown?s platform was on the losing end of two major votes. The council approved a potential tax increase and his much-touted pension reform bill was dead.
Finance Chair Greg Anderson called it ?political drama, Jacksonville style.?
Major concerns The Tuesday vote wasn?t the first time the council had heard major concerns about Brown?s pension deal, which came as a surprise to many when it was announced by Brown at a May 8 news conference.
Two influential groups ? the JAX Chamber and the Jacksonville Civic Council ? encouraged the council to vote against the pension bill.
Some council members still had questions about the pension bill and felt strongly that a vote shouldn?t be taken Tuesday night.
?The more I listened, the more I felt that it was right to put it back into committee and hold off a bit,? said Councilman Don Redman. But when he had to make a decision Tuesday night, he was among the 11 who rejected the plan.
Councilman Warren Jones was one of seven who voted in favor of it. ?Those of us who were not prepared to vote were forced to make a choice,? he said.
Bill Scheu, whom Brown appointed to head the pension task force, was unhappy when he heard Gulliford was pushing for a vote Tuesday. He said it was ?an attack on the mayor? in an email to Hand, which the chief of staff distributed to council members before the vote.
Gulliford publicly apologized to Scheu and the task force before the council voted.
Scheu was particularly disappointed with Gulliford.
?He abruptly changed course without even the courtesy of a call,? Scheu said in a Wednesday email to the Times-Union. ?That was astounding and disappointing to me, particularly given my earlier call to him about Council representation and my close relationship with his family. Truly surprising, discourteous and hurtful.?
The task force met on July 10 and was scheduled to meet again July 31 and Aug. 22.
But Scheu said he doesn?t think the task force needs to meet now. He doesn?t think the task force has any future role in continued conversation on pension reform.
Times-Union writer Steve Patterson contributed to this report.
About two and a half years after Evolver.fm started taking Google to task over its lack of a super-simple wireless music solution along the lines of Apple?s AirPlay for zapping music to speakers around the house, Google unveiled on Wednesday what some are calling its answer to AirPlay: Chromecast.
Taking on Google, Apple, or Nokia in the maps space as a small startup is a little crazy. But that isn?t stopping Citymaps, a high-reaching service that has mapped every city in the U.S. and includes a full-fledged social network that lets you share maps with friends.
Before today, Citymaps used to exist as an iPhone app that spanned only a few cities, including New York City, San Francisco, Austin, and Boston, and it showed detailed business locations in those cities. But the app has been completely redesigned and revamped so it has almost no resemblance to its prior ?proof-of-concept? version.
The new Citymaps app is vector-based and includes details for more than 15 million businesses in the U.S. It also places on emphasis on social features so regular folks, brands, and publishers can easily create and share maps of the best places to go. So, for example, you (or a magazine) could make a list of the best bars in your neighborhood or a list of your favorite restaurants in your city. Once you do that, your friends (or followers) can see and even add to that map with their own suggestions.
There are also basic navigation features included in Citymaps, including driving, walking, and public transit directions ? the sort of stuff people rely on from Google Maps. And when you just browse maps, you can see business locations in bubbles on the map. If the business is in a larger bubble, Citymaps has detected it to be actively talked about on social media. When you tap on a business, you see a detailed profile of it, including Instagram photos, Twitter posts, and other info.
Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat
Citymaps CEO and founder Elliot Cohen
Citymaps was founded by Elliot Cohen, a former product manager at AudioBase and an associate for development division of NYC realty investment trust?Vornado Realty Trust.
?We?re probably one of the only maps startups in the world at this point that?s built their own experience and not just a mashup that?s built on top of Google Maps,? Cohen told us.
Cohen says he understands the challenges he faces. He?s been working on Citymaps for about four years and has a team of just 12 full-time employees. To fight the big dogs for underlying map data, Citymaps pulls from OpenStreetMap. Outside of that, however, Cohen?s team has been building a lot on top of OpenStreetMap data. It has been collecting and categorizing tons of business location data and trying to integrate a social networking layer with the map. Some business location data comes from Yext, while other data comes from social networks. All of that, plus the ability to create and share Maps, gives it enough muscle to fight the power, according to Cohen.
?Millions of maps are made on Google Maps,? Cohen said. ?It?s a terrible experience. It?s not particularly attractive. It?s not social at all. And the maps go away. You can?t just search Google for a celebrity map on L.A., for example. So we want to own the notion of social map making.?
The next thing on Citymaps? to-do list is to get an Android application up and running. Cohen says the Android app is ?about eight weeks away? from being complete. He wants to see the app on desktop web browsers as well, but since the app is build on WebGL, he needed to wait until Internet Explorer supported it. Thankfully, WebGL support is coming to Internet Explorer later this year.
Cohen says the company is focusing just on the U.S. for now, but has plans for international mapping down the road.
New York City-based Citymaps has raised $5 million to date, including a $2.5 million round back in March 2012. Investors include Ashton Kutcher, Dave Leyrer, and Dave Levin.
Google Chromecast brings YouTube and other media from your phone to your TV.
Google just revealed a tiny HDMI dongle that connects to your plain old, non-smart TV, letting you send YouTube videos, Netflix movies, Pandora music and other content from the Internet to the television, all controlled by a phone, tablet or laptop.
The controlling device doesn't stream the content to the TV, which would drain the battery. Instead, you use your phone or other gadget to tell YouTube and other Internet content providers what to play on the node, called Chromecast. It's not just limited to Android, either ? it'll works with the iPhone YouTube app, and via the Chrome Web browser.
It can turn on your TV, switch to the right source input, and play videos. In the case of YouTube, the service detects Chromecast on your home Wi-Fi network, and instructs it to control the TV ? even the volume.
Though the device connects via HDMI, it gets its power through USB. (Not sure if that needs an extra cord or what.)
And if someone plays a video then leaves the house with the controller phone? Any device on the home network already detects the Chromecast.
If this sounds a bit like the ill-fated Nexus Q, it should ? the idea behind that wasn't as bad as the overwrought execution. How much does this one cost? Certainly not $299. Try $35 ... available later today.
Google
In the case of YouTube, you select content using devices in the home, but then YouTube sends the content directly from the Internet to the Chromecast dongle.
While having a terminal illness is a thing that no one wants to think about, there are financial implications involved in developing one. This is one big reason why it is usually recommended to get a hold of a serious illness life assurance and guard not just yourself, but most specially those who rely on you.
What Critical Illness Cover Can Promise
It is the mission of a critical illness insurance to help those people who are experiencing the anguish of deadly conditions like cancer or stroke settle their financial issues. At present, around 30 different diseases are covered, and all coverages should cover heart bypass, kidney failure, major body organ transplant, and multiple sclerosis. Should you develop one such illnesses while you are paying your serious life insurance plan payment, you will receive a lump sum of cash. This type of life insurance cover is usually offered to those who are ages 17 to 70. It is because of financial obligations that people avail of this sort of insurance. In most cases, it means having some back up that will pay money for your monthly bills and provide for your family in your part.
What to look into picking a policy
If you are looking at life assurance rates, it is imperative that you find out if the policy pays out for every illness at different stages. There are some life insurance plan companies, the cheap ones, that decide not to give pay outs while in the first stages of a condition, breast cancer as an example. Same policies are followed when it comes to diseases affecting males, like cancer of prostate. Nevertheless, other insurance providers will pay out a percentage based on cancer staging; it means that those who are in the later staging will acquire 100% of their sum, while those in the first stages may receive anything from 10% upwards. If you are thinking of cheap life insurance, do ensure that it insures diseases in a way that makes you feel secure. Cheap insurance plans aren't associated with ineffectiveness or worse, scam, so they can always be part of your options. Whether or not yours includes broad cover for diseases will depend on the provider. However, it is your responsibility to dig deeper into particulars and be sure that diseases that are most likely going to hit you are covered.
The pros
Selecting a cover entails lots of benefits. A lump sum of cash is entitled to you in cases when you've got fallen ill with those in your terminal illness list, with your policy being implemented. Health benefits from work not being sufficient to cater to their medical needs is a top reason behind every sick individuals worry. This sure is an added load when you have a lot of bills to pay for, mortgages to clear, and educational expenses to keep up. Having a set policy in place forms an assurance that you could engage in your proposed plan for treatment, and never having to worry about where your money will be coming from. The expense of terminal life insurance plan is pretty low, in comparison to the financial implications that can be faced in the future.
Coop Bank Life Insurance can provide for you financially when life because challenging. Contemplate multiple life covers to ensure you and your loved ones are well cared for when something tragic happens.
A city's street plan isn't just the canvas that we paint our lives on?it's a work of art on its own. This is true regardless whether the avenues and thoroughfares were meticulously arranged into an anal-retentive grid, or whether they just, ahem, happened over time as residents sprawled away from the center of town.
We're into unusual home features, but this one takes the cake. In 2005, this Turkish homeowner took down his standard metal gate and erected a 164-foot long aquarium fence at the edge of his property, which borders the Aegean Sea. The glass tank is home to thousands of fish including eels and octopus.
While the purpose of a fence is usually to keep people off your lawn, this mesmerizing attraction draws over 1,000 visitors a day. And we can see why.
Watch the video to see for yourself, and click through our slideshow to see other cool aquariums that will relax you.
Source: www.nytimes.com --- Tuesday, July 23, 2013 GlaxoSmithKline?s problems in China may be not just about its sales practices. They may also concern its research, an internal audit indicates. ...
Chemical reaction could streamline manufacture of pharmaceuticals and other compoundsPublic release date: 22-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dionicio Siegel dsiegel@cm.utexas.edu 512-471-2073 University of Texas at Austin
The reaction resolves a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a new chemical reaction that has the potential to lower the cost and streamline the manufacture of compounds ranging from agricultural chemicals to pharmaceutical drugs.
The reaction resolves a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry in creating phenolic compounds from aromatic hydrocarbons quickly and cheaply.
Phenolic compounds, or phenols, are broadly used as disinfectants, fungicides and drugs to treat many ailments such as Parkinson's disease. Creating a phenol seems deceptively simple. All it requires is replacing a hydrogen molecule on an aromatic hydrocarbon with an oxygen molecule.
"This is a chemical transformation that is underdeveloped and at the same time pivotal in the production of many chemicals important to life as we know it," said Dionicio Siegel, an assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.
The secret that Siegel and his colleagues discovered is a substance called phthaloyl peroxide. This chemical was studied in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but it has been largely ignored during the intervening years.
The scientists were conducting basic studies on phthaloyl peroxide, building on previous research, and decided to use it to tackle the age-old problem of transforming aromatic hydrocarbons into phenols.
The advantage to using phthaloyl peroxide is that the reaction does not require the use of acids or catalysts to work, and it can add oxygen to a wide variety of starting materials.
"There are no special conditions," said Siegel. "You just combine the reagents, mix them and go. It's very simple and straight forward."
The paper describing this discovery was published last week in Nature.
The new process can be applied to other problems in organic chemistry. One particular area of interest is creating metabolites to drugs. Metabolites are the products left after the body finishes breaking down, or metabolizing, a substance. When testing drugs, scientists need to take into account not just how the drug itself reacts in the body, but also how the metabolites react.
"We've had a long-standing interest in accessing metabolites of drugs or compounds that are used in biological systems," said Siegel. "Just as it's important that the drug doesn't have deleterious side effects, it's equally important that the metabolite doesn't have an effect. You need to be able to test them, and there's not really a direct way to access metabolites other than using liver microsomes, and that's not efficient and it doesn't always work."
Another area where Siegel and his colleagues are applying what they have learned is in developing even more reactive agents that will expand the scope of chemicals that can be transformed. Siegel hopes to get this new process into the hands of others quickly. He is working with chemical supply companies to market the phthaloyl peroxide compound and/or the precursors and make it available to people in research and the pharmaceutical industry.
"It hasn't even come out yet," said Siegel, "but there are a lot of people that are already picking up the technique and working on it."
Siegel is a co-author on the paper, along with his graduate student, Changxia Yuan, and two undergraduate researchers, Taylor Hernandez and Adrian Berriochoa. Two other co-authors, Kendall Houk and Yong Liang, are from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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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.
Chemical reaction could streamline manufacture of pharmaceuticals and other compoundsPublic release date: 22-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dionicio Siegel dsiegel@cm.utexas.edu 512-471-2073 University of Texas at Austin
The reaction resolves a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a new chemical reaction that has the potential to lower the cost and streamline the manufacture of compounds ranging from agricultural chemicals to pharmaceutical drugs.
The reaction resolves a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry in creating phenolic compounds from aromatic hydrocarbons quickly and cheaply.
Phenolic compounds, or phenols, are broadly used as disinfectants, fungicides and drugs to treat many ailments such as Parkinson's disease. Creating a phenol seems deceptively simple. All it requires is replacing a hydrogen molecule on an aromatic hydrocarbon with an oxygen molecule.
"This is a chemical transformation that is underdeveloped and at the same time pivotal in the production of many chemicals important to life as we know it," said Dionicio Siegel, an assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.
The secret that Siegel and his colleagues discovered is a substance called phthaloyl peroxide. This chemical was studied in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but it has been largely ignored during the intervening years.
The scientists were conducting basic studies on phthaloyl peroxide, building on previous research, and decided to use it to tackle the age-old problem of transforming aromatic hydrocarbons into phenols.
The advantage to using phthaloyl peroxide is that the reaction does not require the use of acids or catalysts to work, and it can add oxygen to a wide variety of starting materials.
"There are no special conditions," said Siegel. "You just combine the reagents, mix them and go. It's very simple and straight forward."
The paper describing this discovery was published last week in Nature.
The new process can be applied to other problems in organic chemistry. One particular area of interest is creating metabolites to drugs. Metabolites are the products left after the body finishes breaking down, or metabolizing, a substance. When testing drugs, scientists need to take into account not just how the drug itself reacts in the body, but also how the metabolites react.
"We've had a long-standing interest in accessing metabolites of drugs or compounds that are used in biological systems," said Siegel. "Just as it's important that the drug doesn't have deleterious side effects, it's equally important that the metabolite doesn't have an effect. You need to be able to test them, and there's not really a direct way to access metabolites other than using liver microsomes, and that's not efficient and it doesn't always work."
Another area where Siegel and his colleagues are applying what they have learned is in developing even more reactive agents that will expand the scope of chemicals that can be transformed. Siegel hopes to get this new process into the hands of others quickly. He is working with chemical supply companies to market the phthaloyl peroxide compound and/or the precursors and make it available to people in research and the pharmaceutical industry.
"It hasn't even come out yet," said Siegel, "but there are a lot of people that are already picking up the technique and working on it."
Siegel is a co-author on the paper, along with his graduate student, Changxia Yuan, and two undergraduate researchers, Taylor Hernandez and Adrian Berriochoa. Two other co-authors, Kendall Houk and Yong Liang, are from the University of California, Los Angeles.
###
[ | 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.
Mobile connected devices, including smartphones and tablets, continue to drive consumer electronics (CE) industry sales, according to The US Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts, the semi-annual industry report released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The report also finds positive growth in segments within automotive technology, audio products and TV displays. Overall CE industry revenue will hold steady relative to 2012 levels, growing an estimated 0.2 per cent in the US in 2013.
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Public release date: 22-Jul-2013
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