Snow's melting: Time to find budget hiking boots

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

The Merrell Moab Ventilator is a low-cut hiking shoe, an increasingly popular and affordable alternative to higher-cut boots.

April showers and spring snowmelt signal that it?s time to trade in ski boots and snowshoes for hiking boots. Of course, those harbingers of warm weather also turn hiking trails to muck. Opt for a cut-rate pair of boots, and you could easily wind up with wet, blistered feet and a muddy rump. You could also wind up with a high-quality hiking shoe or even a reliable mid-cut boot for under $100.

Cheapism.com has highlighted four top picks, all of which come in men?s and women?s versions.

• The Merrell Moab Ventilator (starting at $72) has been labeled an excellent value in side-by-side comparisons by outdoor gear experts. This is a supportive hiking shoe that grips the trail with deep 5-millimeter lugs, or treads, yet it?s lightweight and very comfortable, according to online reviews. While the Ventilator is not waterproof (pricier Moab models are), it has a highly breathable mesh upper that allows it to dry out quickly in warm weather. The namesake ventilation further helps prevent blisters by airing out hot, sweaty feet. (Where to buy)
• The Keen Alamosa WP (starting at $72) caters to hikers who prefer a waterproof shoe. In this price range the term is often used loosely, but reviewers verify that the waterproof membrane that lines this shoe prevents water from leaking through. They also note the sturdy yet extremely lightweight construction, including durable, suede-like nubuck leather and a rubber bumper on the toe. (Where to buy)
• The mid-cut L.L. Bean Waterproof Trail Model Hikers (starting at $90) are classic hiking boots that come up higher on the ankle to provide additional support and protection. The mid-cut design alone is often enough to price a shoe over $100 and this budget pair is waterproof to boot (no pun intended). Again, numerous reviewers vouch for the effectiveness of the waterproof lining. (Where to buy)
• The Salomon Synapse (starting at $60) is uniquely designed for trail running, or for covering a lot of ground quickly. The midsole is tilted downward, toward the toe, to propel the wearer forward. A record holder who completed the fastest end-to-end hike of the Appalachian Trail wore these inexpensive shoes to accomplish her feat. Novices, too, have found them durable and supremely comfortable. (Where to buy)

Light hiking shoes dominate the low end of the market and have become a popular alternative to heavy-duty backpacking boots. A multi-day trip with a heavy pack over rough, uneven terrain calls for a burly boot with a higher price tag. But for day hikes that don?t venture off the trail, many hikers prefer nimbler footwear. While that often means a low-cut shoe, a few mid-cut boots, such as L.L. Bean?s Trail Model Hikers, offer similarly light weight and low cost.

Another hallmark of this type of shoe is a sole that?s supportive without being too stiff. All four pairs listed above manage to walk that line, reviewers say. They feature foot beds made from cushy EVA, or ethylene vinyl acetate. However, nothing will make a boot comfortable if it doesn?t fit correctly. Outside magazine explains exactly how to find the right one for you.

Related from Cheapism:
Cheap hiking boots buying guide
Cheap tent recommendations
The best cheap binoculars
Sleeping bag reviews and recommendations

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White House celebrates the sounds of Memphis soul

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House is celebrating the history and sound of Memphis soul music.

Legendary artist and younger acts, ranging from Sam Moore and Mavis Staples to Ben Harper and Justin Timberlake, were rehearsing at the White House on Tuesday to help President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama highlight that style of music at an evening concert.

Students from around the country participated in a workshop with some of the artists.

The event is the 10th installment in the "In Performance at the White House" series. It is scheduled for broadcast April 16 on PBS stations.

Starting in February 2009, the series has celebrated the music of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Hispanic music, music from the civil-rights era, Motown and the blues, Broadway and country music.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-celebrates-sounds-memphis-soul-164730499.html

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Paul: GOP faces 'daunting task' with black voters

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that Republicans face long odds in connecting with black voters and are often cast as unsympathetic to the needs of blacks and minorities ? something he says the party needs to change.

Paul, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said in a speech at Howard University that the Republican party was rooted in the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and efforts to rid the South of oppressive Jim Crow laws. He expressed hope that black voters would be more open to Republicans, pointing to policies promoting school choice, economic opportunity and the decriminalization of drug laws.

"Republicans face a daunting task. Several generations of black voters have never voted Republican and are not very open to considering the option," Paul said. By speaking at Howard, Paul said he hoped students would "hear me out ? that you will see me for who I am, not the caricature sometimes presented by political opponents."

Paul's speech to black students and faculty members at the historically black university was emblematic of Republicans' efforts to attract a broader swath of voters following President Barack Obama's re-election. Obama, the nation's first black president, received more than 9 in 10 votes from blacks in 2008 and 2012 and strong support among Latinos, prompting Republicans to discuss ways of broadening their outreach to minorities.

The Kentucky senator, an eye doctor and son of libertarian-leaning former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, was briefly interrupted during his speech by a young man who unfurled a banner that said the university does not support "white supremacy." The man was removed from the auditorium.

Paul faced questions during his 2010 Senate campaign when he expressed misgivings about how the Civil Rights Act bans racial discrimination by private businesses. Asked about his position on the 1964 legislation, passed under the presidency of Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson, Paul told the students he had never opposed the Civil Rights Act.

He argued that many Democrats had opposed civil rights in the South during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt but many black voters became impatient with Republicans in the years that followed over economic policies. He said Democrats offer "unlimited federal assistance" and policies that put "food on the table but too often, I think, don't lead to jobs and meaningful success."

Paul said using taxes to "punish the rich" hurts everyone in the economy, along with more regulations and higher debt. "Big government is not a friend of African-Americans," he said.

Many students said they didn't agree with Paul on many issues but gave him credit for speaking to them. "It could be very intimidating. You're sitting in a room with people who don't support you for the most part so I do give him credit for coming," said Tasia Hawkins, an 18-year-old freshman from New York.

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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paul-gop-faces-daunting-task-black-voters-155805970--election.html

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Thatcher biography due out after funeral

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stands in a British tank during a visit to British forces in Fallingbostel, some 120km (70 miles) south of Hamburg, Germany. on Sept. 17, 1986. Thatchers former spokesman, Tim Bell, said that the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died Monday morning, April 8, 2013, of a stroke. She was 87.(AP Photo/Jockel Fink)

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stands in a British tank during a visit to British forces in Fallingbostel, some 120km (70 miles) south of Hamburg, Germany. on Sept. 17, 1986. Thatchers former spokesman, Tim Bell, said that the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died Monday morning, April 8, 2013, of a stroke. She was 87.(AP Photo/Jockel Fink)

LONDON (AP) ? The first volume of Margaret Thatcher's authorized biography will be published immediately after her funeral.

Allen Lane, which is part of Penguin Books, said Monday that "Not for Turning" by Charles Moore was commissioned in 1997 on the understanding that it would not be published during the former British prime minister's lifetime.

Thatcher died from a stroke Monday morning at age 87. Her funeral is expected to be held at some point next week.

Moore was given full access to Thatcher's private papers and interviewed her extensively. The publisher said that Thatcher also supported requests for interviews with others, including those who worked most closely with her and her family.

Permission was also granted to former and existing civil servants to speak freely about the Thatcher years.

Associated Press

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Iraqi al-Qaeda and Syria militants announce formal merger

Stringer / Reuters

A fighter from the Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra holds an Islamist flag in Raqqa province, eastern Syria, in this March 12, 2013 photo. The Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda announced on Tuesday that Nusra was now its Syrian branch and the two groups would operate under one name -- the Islamic State in Iraq. The flag reads "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."

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By Bassem Mroue and Maamoun Youssef, The Associated Press

Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq said it has merged with Syria's extremist Jabhat al-Nusra, a move that shows the rising confidence of radicals within the Syrian rebel movement and is likely to trigger renewed fears among its international backers.

A website linked to Jabhat al-Nusra confirmed on Tuesday the merger with the Islamic State of Iraq, whose leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, first made the announcement in a 21-minute audio message posted on militant websites late Monday.

Jabhat al-Nusra has taken an ever-bigger role in Syria's conflict over the past year, fighting in key battles and staging several large suicide bombings. The U.S. has designated it a terrorist organization.?

The Syrian group has made little secret of its links across the Iraqi border but until now it has not officially declared itself to be part of al-Qaeda.

Al-Baghdadi said that his group ? the Islamic State of Iraq ? and Syria's Jabhat al-Nusra will now be known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

"It is time to announce to the Levantine people and the whole world that Jabhat al-Nusra is merely an extension and part of the Islamic State of Iraq," he said.

He said that the Iraqi group was providing half of its budget to the conflict in Syria. Al-Baghdadi said that the Syrian group would have no separate leader but instead be led by the "people of Syria themselves" ? implying that he would be in charge in both countries.

The formal merger of such a high-profile Syrian rebel group with al-Qaeda is likely to spark concerns among backers of the opposition who are enemies of the global terror network, including both Western countries and Gulf Arab states.

It may increase resentment of Jabhat al-Nusra among other rebel factions. Rebels have until now respected the radical group's fighters for their prowess on the battlefield, but a merger with al-Qaeda will complicate any effort to send arms to rebels from abroad.

Website confirms
A website linked to Jabhat al-Nusra known as al-Muhajir al-Islami ? the Islamic emigrant ? confirmed the merger.

The authenticity of neither message could be independently confirmed, but statements posted on major militant websites are rarely disputed by extremist groups afterward.

Jabhat al-Nusra emerged as an offshoot of Iraq's al-Qaeda branch in early 2012, as one of a patchwork of disparate rebel groups in Syria.

One of the most dramatic attacks by the group came on March 4, when 48 Syrian soldiers were killed in a well-coordinated ambush after seeking refuge across the frontier in Iraq following clashes with rebels on the Syrian side of the border. The attack occurred in Iraq's restive western province of Anbar, where al-Qaeda is known to be active.

A top Iraqi intelligence official told The Associated Press in Baghdad that Iraq has always known that "al-Qaeda in Iraq is directing Jabhat al-Nusra."

He said they announced their unity because of "political, logistical and geographical circumstance." The official said Iraqi authorities will take "strict security measures to strike them."

In an editorial published Tuesday in the Washington Post, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned that a "Syria controlled in whole or part by al-Qaeda and its affiliates ? an outcome that grows more likely by the day ? would be more dangerous to both our countries than anything we've seen up to now."

Iraqi officials say the jihadi groups are sharing three military training compounds, logistics, intelligence and weapons as they grow in strength around the Syria-Iraq border, particularly in a sprawling region called al-Jazeera, which they are trying to turn into a border sanctuary they can both exploit. It could serve as a base of operations to strike on either side of the border.

Baghdad officials said last week they have requested U.S. drone strikes against the fighters in Iraqi territory. A U.S. official confirmed that elements within the Iraqi government had inquired about drone strikes. But the official said the U.S. was waiting to respond until the top level of Iraqi leadership makes a formal request, which has not happened yet.

All officials spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to give official statements to the media.

Eastern Syria and western Iraq have a predominantly Sunni Muslim population like most of the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Baghdad government is dominated by Shiites, who are a majority in Iraq.

Suicide bombing in Damascus
The announcement came hours after a suicide car bomber struck Monday in the financial heart of Syria's capital, Damascus, killing at least 15 people and damaging the nearby Central Bank.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but such operations have been claimed by Jabhat al-Nusra in the past.

State-run Al-Ikhbariyeh TV quoted Central Bank Gov. Adib Mayaleh as saying the bank returned to work as usual at 1 p.m. Tuesday (1000 GMT) "despite the destruction" caused by the bombing.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent two letters to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council protesting the Damascus explosion, blaming "terrorists" who "receive financial and logistic support from regional states and other foreign nations."

The Syrian National Coalition, the country's main opposition group, blamed Assad's regime for the bombing, saying, "The intent is clearly to terrorize the people." It said the area where the explosion occurred is heavily guarded.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, activists reported violence in different parts of Syria.

State-run news agency SANA said one person was killed and two others wounded when mortar shells struck the upscale Damascus district of Kafar Souseh. Two other mortars crashed onto the roofs of residential buildings in the al-Qassaa district, causing material damage but no casualties.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported air raids on suburbs of Damascus as well as the northern province of Raqqa and Idlib.

The observatory said that Ali Matar, a local rebel commander in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, was shot dead in the eastern city of Mayadeen. It did not say who was behind the attack but added that some of his guards were wounded in the shooting.

Syria's crisis, which began in March 2011 with protests calling for Assad's ouster, then evolved into a civil war. The U.N. says more than 70,000 have been killed in the conflict.

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A suicide car bomb explodes in the main business district of Damascus, Syria, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

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

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Exec threatens to pull Fox signal if Aereo goes on

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A top executive with the owner of the Fox broadcast network threatened Monday to convert the network to a subscription channel on cable or satellite TV if Internet startup Aereo Inc. continues to "steal" Fox's over-the-air signal and sell it to consumers without paying for rights.

Although anyone with an antenna can pick up a station's signals for free, cable and satellite companies typically pay stations and networks for the right to distribute their programming to subscribers. Industrywide, those retransmission fees add up to billions of dollars every year. Aereo says it's not subject to those fees.

News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said that not being paid by Aereo jeopardizes the economics of broadcast TV, which benefits from both retransmission fees and advertising.

"This is not an ideal path we look to pursue, but we can't sit idly by and let an entity steal our signal," Carey said at the annual gathering of broadcasters, called NAB Show, in Las Vegas. "If we can't do a fair deal, we could take the whole network to a subscription model."

Fox owns 27 TV stations that thrive on the signal of Fox or its sister network, MyNetworkTV. Carey didn't explain how they might be affected by his proposal.

His remarks came a week after a federal appeals court said Aereo could continue its service despite a legal challenge by broadcasters. Aereo takes broadcast signals for free from the air with thousands of little antennas, recodes them for Internet use and feeds that to subscribers' computers, tablets and smartphones. Plans start at $8 a month, which is much cheaper than a cable package, though the service is mostly limited to broadcast channels.

Broadcasters argue that Aereo is engaged in copyright infringement by retransmitting the signals without permission and payments. But in a 2-1 ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York accepted Aereo's position that the individual antennas meant that Aereo wasn't retransmitting signals, but allowing its subscribers to do what they already could at home with their own antenna and video recorder.

Aereo's service had been limited to New York City when it debuted early last year. The Barry Diller-backed company expanded this year to the New York City suburbs, including New Jersey and parts of Connecticut. It plans to expand to Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington and 18 other U.S. markets this spring.

Analyst Todd Juenger of Bernstein Research speculated in a research note in January on what would make broadcast networks transition to a pay TV model.

Such a system would result in the loss of local news programs, broadcast personalities and advertising, which are all made possible by local TV stations. But a pay TV system could be better for network owners such as Fox if services like Aereo were to thrive, because it would cut off technology that siphons away customers from pay TV operators, he wrote.

News Corp.'s stock rose 77 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close Monday at $31.41.

Associated Press

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More accurate markers identified for detecting response to epigenetic drugs for myelodysplastic syndromes

Apr. 6, 2013 ? Researchers have identified and validated two DNA methylation markers that could help physicians to more accurately determine a patient's response to epigenetic drugs for treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), according to Xiaojing Yang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who presented the data at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington, D.C., April 6-10.

"The current feedback from physicians is that they cannot tell if a patient is really getting the epigenetic drug they are being treated with or not, which makes it difficult for them to decide whether to stop treatment or increase the dosage of the drug," said Yang. "This pushed us to think, why? Why didn't the current marker work and should we try to seek a better one?"

These drugs, called DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi), work by turning on genes that suppress cancer development, according to Yang. In patients with MDS, these genes are often silenced by the attachment of chemicals called methyl groups to the DNA backbone of the gene (an epigenetic modification made through a process called methylation), and DNMTi prevent methyl group attachment to DNA.

Currently, measuring methylation changes in DNA sequences known as LINE-1 elements is widely used as a predictor of whether or not DNMTi are working, but recent research has found that LINE-1 remethylation after a DNMTi is withdrawn occurs faster than in other regions. This implies that LINE-1 methylation changes may not reflect overall demethylation effects of DNMTi, according to Yang.

Yang and colleagues sought to find improved markers of DNA methylation status. Using the Infinium DNA methylation platform, they assessed the methylation profile of 27,000 genomic regions. The team tested this methylation profile on both normal and tumor bladder tissue samples and on white blood cells from healthy donors. They identified 1,429 regions that were consistently methylated in all three samples.

They then tested the methylation profile of these 1,429 regions in T24 bladder cancer and HL60 leukemia cell lines treated with a DNMTi for 24 hours. Of these, 79 significantly responded to demethylation treatment and remained demethylated beyond 30 days. Further analysis focused on the top two regions, which showed consistent hypermethylation in normal and tumor samples.

To verify their findings, Yang and colleagues studied the DNA demethylation levels of those two markers in urine samples from seven patients with MDS treated with the DNMTi azacitidine. They found that the two markers were significantly demethylated, in contrast to LINE-1 methylation, which showed no clear decreasing trend.

According to Yang, these findings could lead to the use of a simple urine test for detecting response to a DNMTi.

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Thousands rally to push goals of Egypt's uprising

CAIRO (AP) ? Thousands of Egyptians demonstrated across the country to denounce the president and purse the goals of the 2011 popular uprising.

Saturday's protests marked the fifth anniversary of the formation of the April 6th Youth Movement started in 2008 under former President Hosni Mubarak. Workers in Mahalla tore down a poster of Mubarak in what was a daring move at the time.

The group also played a crucial role in the uprising that toppled Mubarak.

The movement initially backed President Mohammed Morsi in election run-offs last June, but has since turned against him.

The opposition accuses him of acting like his autocratic predecessor and of not having an inclusive political process. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood party says Morsi should be challenged at the ballot box, not in street protests.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-rally-push-goals-egypts-uprising-161712784.html

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Serb church against deal with Kosovo Albanians

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? The influential Serbian Orthodox Church has appealed against a deal with Kosovo Albanians that would pave the way for Serbia's EU membership.

The EU has given Serbia until Tuesday to say whether it would relinquish the control of northern of Kosovo ? one of the most difficult issues dividing the former Serbian province ? in exchange for the start of Serbia's EU membership negotiations.

Talks between Serbian and Kosovo officials on the issue broke down last week in Brussels. Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej said in a letter Saturday addressed to Serbian leaders that they shouldn't "give up, sell or betray" Kosovo for a "murky" EU membership promise.

Kosovo is considered by nationalists to be the cradle of Serbian medieval statehood and religion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/serb-church-against-deal-kosovo-albanians-145330616.html

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Ebert: Not just a critic, but a part of Hollywood

FILE - This Jan. 2009 file photo shows film critic and author Roger Ebert, recipient of the Honorary Life Member Award, at the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that its film critic Roger Ebert died on Thursday, April 4, 2013. He was 70. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)

FILE - This Jan. 2009 file photo shows film critic and author Roger Ebert, recipient of the Honorary Life Member Award, at the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that its film critic Roger Ebert died on Thursday, April 4, 2013. He was 70. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)

FILE - This 1986 photo shows Roger Ebert, right, and Gene Siskel in Los Angeles. Ebert, the nation's best-known film reviewer who with fellow critic Siskel created the template for succinct thumbs-up or thumbs-down movie reviews, died Thursday, April 4, 2013. He was 70. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File)

This 1969 photo shows Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert in the newsroom of the paper in Chicago. Ebert, the most famous and popular film reviewer of his time who became the first journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie criticism and, on his long-running TV program, wielded the nation's most influential thumb, died Thursday, April 4, 2013. He was 70. (AP Photo/Chicago Sun-Times, Bob Kotalik)

FILE - This undated file photo originally released by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, shows movie critics Roger Ebert, right, and Gene Siskel. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that its film critic Roger Ebert died on Thursday, April 4, 2013. He was 70. Ebert and Siskel, who died in 1999, trademarked the "two thumbs up" phrase. (AP Photo/Disney-ABC Domestic Television)

FILE - This May 17, 2004 file photo shows Pulitzer Prize winning film critc Roger Ebert at the 57th International Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that its film critic Roger Ebert died on Thursday, April 4, 2013. He was 70. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Roger Ebert could be tough on filmmakers, but unlike many critics, he earned their respect.

So much so that they claimed him as one of their own when the Directors Guild of America made Ebert an honorary lifetime member at the group's awards ceremony four years ago.

What better testimony for a life's work in a profession that typically draws sneers from filmmakers and fans alike? But then Ebert, who died Thursday at age 70, was not just any critic. He was THE critic.

At the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967 and through decades as a pioneering film reviewer on television, Ebert championed tiny gems that he scouted out at film festivals and took Hollywood's biggest names to task when they missed the mark.

Ebert drew his own criticism that the thumbs-up, thumbs-down trademark of his TV shows over-simplified the way we look at films. Yet with his chubby frame and thick-rimmed glasses, he popularized the notion of the dweebish critic as arbiter of cultural taste, inspiring a generation of TV and online reviewers much as Woodward and Bernstein inspired a generation of investigative journalists.

Just as inspirational was how Ebert continued the work he loved through repeated ailments. He lost parts of his jaw and the ability to speak after cancer surgeries in 2006, yet he came back to writing fulltime and eventually returned to television.

And that famous thumb barely scratched the surface of Ebert's work as a critic, student and just plain lover of film.

"Roger loved movies. They were his life. His reviews went far deeper than simply thumbs up or thumbs down," said Steven Spielberg, one of the filmmakers who honored Ebert at the Directors Guild ceremony. "He wrote with passion through a real knowledge of film and film history, and in doing so, helped many movies find their audiences."

Ebert died at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, two days after announcing on his blog that he was undergoing radiation treatment for a recurrence of cancer.

"I've lost the love of my life," his wife, Chaz Ebert, said in a statement Thursday, "and the world has lost a visionary and a creative and generous spirit who touched so many people all over the world. We had a lovely, lovely life together, more beautiful and epic than a movie. It had its highs and the lows, but was always experienced with good humor, grace and a deep abiding love for each other."

Ebert's criticism earned him a Pulitzer in 1975, and he wrote more than 20 books that included two volumes of essays on classic movies. He hung out with filmmakers from Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman to Billy Wilder and Mel Brooks. He was the first critic given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Directors Guild ceremony featured recorded testimonials from Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and others who amusingly recalled good and bad notices from Ebert and made it clear that his reviews kept them on their toes.

"The role of the critic is to call them as they see them and Roger did so with integrity. In more than four decades of honest review of our films, Roger demanded excellence ? but recognized our directorial achievements," Directors Guild President Taylor Hackford said Thursday.

The feeling was mutual. Unable to speak at the guild ceremony after his cancer surgery, Ebert shared his affection for the directors in a statement recorded via a synthetic computer voice with a British accent.

"The motion picture is the art form I love above all others," Ebert told the directors. "It is the symphony, and you are the conductors."

It's a bit like the sheepdog buddying around with the wolf, when filmmakers can be so chummy and admiring of a critic. Ebert's thumbs-up was a resounding seal of approval, his thumbs-down a kiss of death, yet his easygoing nature and his passion for film made him as much a part of Hollywood as the actors, filmmakers and studio bosses.

"We love Roger. Isn't that funny?" said Warner Bros. distribution executive Jeff Goldstein.

"You couldn't ask for a more extraordinary champion of films both large and small," said Sony Pictures spokesman Steve Elzer. "We all paid attention to whatever direction his thumb was pointing."

Ebert eloquently defined his passion for film in a speech read by his wife, Chaz, at his Directors Guild honor.

"The movies come closer than any other art form in giving us the experience of walking in someone else's shoes," she read on Ebert's behalf. "They allow us an opportunity to experience what it would be like to live within another gender, race, religion, nationality, or period of time. They expand us, they improve us, and sometimes they ennoble us."

Along with reviews, Ebert did interviews and profiles of Hollywood's top talent, including legends such as John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Alfred Hitchcock. He crossed to the other side during a leave of absence from the Sun-Times in 1969 to write the screenplay for "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," which drew an adults-only X rating and became a cult favorite.

In 1975, Ebert and Gene Siskel, film critic for the rival Chicago Tribune, teamed for a show that began on Chicago's PBS station, then went nationwide ? the two trading opinions on new movies from a set resembling a theater balcony. They continued their TV partnership with a syndicated show, each giving thumbs up or down on the films and engaging in lively sparring matches on air even as they remained close friends off camera.

Ebert continued the show with Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper after Siskel's death in 1999. In early 2011, Ebert launched a new show, "Ebert Presents At the Movies." It had new hosts, but featured Ebert in his own segment, "Roger's Office." He used a chin prosthesis and enlisted voice-over guests to read his reviews.

While some called Ebert an inspiration, he told The Associated Press in an email in January 2011 that bravery and courage "have little to do with it."

"You play the cards you're dealt," Ebert wrote. "What's your choice? I have no pain. I enjoy life, and why should I complain?"

Spielberg lamented that with Ebert's death, the "balcony is closed forever."

Warner Bros. executive Goldstein prefers to imagine Ebert and Siskel reunited and doing what they loved ? reviewing films.

"They're together. They're on seven nights a week, and they start tonight," Goldstein said. "And you can just see them on the balcony now."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-05-Obit-Ebert/id-2b21fd3b3f6246898ef1da7830036e07

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Rutgers, in Coach Debacle, Faults Its Outside Counsel

As Rutgers University athletic director Tim Pernetti resigned Friday amid the scandal over men's basketball coach Mike Rice's unorthodox practices, he blamed the school administration for following a process that served to keep Rice on the payroll.

But Rutgers laid part of the blame on the law firm that allegedly balked at recommending Rice's termination: Connell Foley of Roseland.

"We pay dearly for good advice, and I'm not sure we got good advice," Board of Governors Chairman Ralph Izzo said at a news conference on Friday.

University officials said the decision last November to suspend rather than fire Rice was based at least partially on advice from the firm, which was retained to investigate videotaped incidents of Rice shoving and berating players, heaving basketballs at them and calling them "faggots."

The firm concluded that Rice's conduct did not create a hostile environment, though he might have breached provisions in his contract against embarrassing the school.

The firm also was charged with looking into claims by Eric Murdock, the former director of player development who released the videotape to ESPN, that he was wrongfully terminated for raising Rice's conduct.

Last July, Murdock's attorney, Barry Kozyra, wrote to university officials about his client's claim.

Kozyra, of Kozyra and Hartz in Roseland, later received from Rutgers ? through a request under the Open Public Records Act ? DVD footage of every basketball practice for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons.

The footage was used to compile a 30-minute collection of clips depicting Rice shoving players, throwing basketballs at them and using epithets.

On Nov. 26, Kozyra showed the tape to Pernetti and others.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/law/corporatecounsel/~3/-FB-hl2d8to/PubArticleCC.jsp

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Splunk to add 2000 customers this year as "big data" thrives

By Sayantani Ghosh

(Reuters) - Data analytics software maker Splunk Inc expects to break even on an adjusted basis and is looking to increase its customer base by about 40 percent, or 2,000 customers, this year, its chief executive told Reuters.

The company, which had 5,200 customers and 736 employees as of January 31, 2012, has enjoyed high revenue growth rate for the last couple of years. But it is yet to record a profit as it continues to invest heavily in adding employees and new products.

It expects employee headcount to grow at least 40 percent for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2014.

"Our investors are encouraging us to continue to run at a breakeven pace so that we can capture fast moving market opportunities," CEO Godfrey Sullivan said.

"They are pretty pleased. You see that reflected in the stock price," said Sullivan who earlier headed data analytics firm Hyperion Solutions, which was bought by Oracle Corp for $4.5 billion in 2007.

Shares of the San Francisco-based company, which debuted at $17 on the Nasdaq, have more than doubled since its IPO made a splash with in April last year.

Splunk is one of the first "big data" start ups that caught the attention of investors and has now made the term a much-used, much-favored one in the data analytics industry.

The company's high growth rate has prompted speculation about takeover interest from rivals like IBM Corp or VMware Inc, but some analysts say that its rich valuations might prove a deterrent.

"Some customers are enthusiastic about us because we are an independent company," said Sullivan, who admitted that Splunk received some offers before it went public.

Splunk's return on equity has jumped more than five times in the last year, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data.

The company counts Riverbed Technology Inc, Verisign Inc, Autodesk Inc and the Liverpool Football Club among its customers.

Big Data is expected to drive $54.59 billion in IT spending by 2016, compared with about $27 billion in 2011, according to data from market research firm Gartner.

Splunk's software indexes and manages machine data from computers, servers and mobile devices and uses a Google-like interface that makes it easy to search and navigate a company's database.

The company later changed its name from the mundane Transactions Engine to Splunk ? inspired by "spelunking," an American term for caving, or pot-holing ? a reference to the fact that it allows customers to mine data they can use real-time to make better decisions.

Splunk's revenue grew 64 percent last year and it has forecast a revenue growth of 31 percent to 36 percent for this fiscal year.

The company, which also competes with Hewlett-Packard Co and start-ups like Sumo Logic and Cloudera, expects to sustain a revenue growth rate above 30 percent in the long term.

Sullivan, who said Splunk is working on an app for smartphones, expects data from websites and mobile users to drive the next round of growth at Splunk and its rivals.

"Now just like we make it easy for you to look at your server traffic, we can show you your web traffic or mobile traffic and you can analyze that just as easily," he said.

"This is the next generation of business analytics."

(Editing by Joyjeet Das)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/splunk-add-2000-customers-big-data-thrives-190044979--sector.html

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Manchester leads the way in graphene membrane research

Public release date: 4-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Cochlin
daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
44-161-275-8382
University of Manchester

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the research focuses on membranes that could provide solutions to worldwide problems; from stopping power stations releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to detecting the chemical signals produced by agricultural pests.

The latest research grant comes just months after The University of Manchester was awarded 2.2m to lead research into graphene batteries and supercapacitors for energy storage.

No molecules can get through a perfect sheet of wonder material graphene and when platelets of graphene are built into more complex structures, highly selective membranes can be generated. The aim is, together with industrial partners, to produce working membranes for applications related to sustainability, energy, health, defence and food security.

Wonder material graphene was first isolated in 2004 at The University of Manchester by Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov. Their work earned them the 2010 Nobel prize for Physics.

Graphene is the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material, and has the potential to revolutionise a huge number of diverse applications; from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to drug delivery and computer chips.

The membrane programme builds on ground-breaking research at the University. Previous research showed that graphene oxide membranes are highly permeable to water, while being completely impermeable to gases and organic liquids when dry.

These membranes will be developed for a variety of applications, such as the removal of water when making biofuels by fermentation, and as components of fuel cells.

The research is led by Professor Peter Budd, of the School of Chemistry. He said: "We have also invented a range of polymers called Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) which form membranes that are very good for separating gases and organic liquids.

"These are of interest, for example, for removing carbon dioxide from power station flue gases, or for removing organic compounds from water. By combining PIMs with graphene, we expect to produce membranes with even better performance under long-term conditions of use.

"We will also be looking at practical ways of using the ability of graphene to act as a perfect barrier in, for example, food packaging, and we will be building graphene into sensors for detecting human diseases and agricultural pests."

The research into graphene batteries and supercapacitors is led by Professor Robert Dryfe, also from the School of Chemistry. The research will explore ways of addressing the limiting factors of storage for personal devices.

The University of Manchester is building the 61m National Graphene Institute, a research hub where scientists and industry will work side by side on developing the applications of the future. Funded by the EPSRC and the European Regional Development Fund, the building is expected to open in spring 2015.

###

---

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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.

Public release date: 4-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Cochlin
daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
44-161-275-8382
University of Manchester

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the research focuses on membranes that could provide solutions to worldwide problems; from stopping power stations releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to detecting the chemical signals produced by agricultural pests.

The latest research grant comes just months after The University of Manchester was awarded 2.2m to lead research into graphene batteries and supercapacitors for energy storage.

No molecules can get through a perfect sheet of wonder material graphene and when platelets of graphene are built into more complex structures, highly selective membranes can be generated. The aim is, together with industrial partners, to produce working membranes for applications related to sustainability, energy, health, defence and food security.

Wonder material graphene was first isolated in 2004 at The University of Manchester by Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov. Their work earned them the 2010 Nobel prize for Physics.

Graphene is the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material, and has the potential to revolutionise a huge number of diverse applications; from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to drug delivery and computer chips.

The membrane programme builds on ground-breaking research at the University. Previous research showed that graphene oxide membranes are highly permeable to water, while being completely impermeable to gases and organic liquids when dry.

These membranes will be developed for a variety of applications, such as the removal of water when making biofuels by fermentation, and as components of fuel cells.

The research is led by Professor Peter Budd, of the School of Chemistry. He said: "We have also invented a range of polymers called Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) which form membranes that are very good for separating gases and organic liquids.

"These are of interest, for example, for removing carbon dioxide from power station flue gases, or for removing organic compounds from water. By combining PIMs with graphene, we expect to produce membranes with even better performance under long-term conditions of use.

"We will also be looking at practical ways of using the ability of graphene to act as a perfect barrier in, for example, food packaging, and we will be building graphene into sensors for detecting human diseases and agricultural pests."

The research into graphene batteries and supercapacitors is led by Professor Robert Dryfe, also from the School of Chemistry. The research will explore ways of addressing the limiting factors of storage for personal devices.

The University of Manchester is building the 61m National Graphene Institute, a research hub where scientists and industry will work side by side on developing the applications of the future. Funded by the EPSRC and the European Regional Development Fund, the building is expected to open in spring 2015.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uom-mlt040413.php

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Adele's Beverly Hills Rental Seeks a Buyer to Continue Long A-List ...

Source: IMDb

Rumor has it British songstress and new mom Adele has been quietly renting a gated Beverly Hills estate.

Originally designed for actor Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion in ?The Wizard of Oz,? and later occupied by Paul McCartney and a long line of famous residents, the home is now on the market for $25.58 million. According to Curbed, the singer has been renting the home since late 2012 while her beach house in Brighton, a common destination for British celebs, is being renovated.

The Oscar winner for Best Original Song has managed to keep her real estate moves quiet, which is impressive considering how much she?s hopped around since her 2011 album ?21? topped the charts. Growing up in Tottenham, Brighton and London, Adele leased the famous Lock House when she was reportedly earning close to $62,000 in royalties per day. The massive 10-bedroom estate in West Sussex County sits on 25 private acres but was apparently too big for the rising star. That?s when she headed to Beverly Hills.

While smaller than the Lock House, the 1941 estate is no humble abode with 2 master suites, 3 secondary bedrooms, 2 staff quarters, 7 bathrooms and 3 powder rooms. The main house also includes a large living area with high-vaulted ceilings, a media room, wet bar and wine cellar. Oh, and not to mention a 2-lane vintage-inspired bowling alley. Luxury may be commonplace in L.A.?s star-studded homes, but as Curbed points out, ?there aren?t many vintage bowling alleys in pricey Beverly Hills properties.?

This is one of many personal touches added by each owner of the home?? from Betty Grable and McCartney to the Osbournes and Melanie Griffith. The 1.3-acre property also has unique outdoor spaces including a koi pond and putting green.

According to property records, the home hasn?t left the market since it was last listed in November 2012 for $25.58 million. The singer?s lease on the property could explain why it hasn?t found a buyer. The last recorded sale of the estate was in December 1999 for $2.55 million.

Adele and her longtime boyfriend, Simon Konecki, are reportedly planning a secret wedding and shopping for a permanent home in Hollywood Hills to raise their 5-month-old son, Angelo.

Related:

Source: http://www.zillowblog.com/2013-04-03/adeles-beverly-hills-rental-seeks-a-buyer-to-continue-long-a-list-legacy/

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Samsung 45mm f/1.8

By Jim Fisher

The Samsung 45mm f/1.8 ($299 list) is a fast prime lens for the NX compact interchangeable lens camera system. The lens delivers a field of view that is roughly equivalent to a 70mm lens on a full-frame D-SLR or a 35mm film camera. It's an awkward focal length, a bit too long to be your standard every day lens, and a bit too short for telephoto or to use as a dedicated portrait lens. It's still a sharp optic, but it doesn't oust the Samsung 30mm NX Pancake Lens as our Editors' Choice for standard angle lenses for compact interchangeable lens cameras.

The lens measures 2.4 by 1.8 inches (HD) and weighs 4.1 ounces. Adding the screw-in plastic hood nearly doubles its height. In a departure from the norm, the hood cannot be reversed for storage or transport. Using it will improve contrast and reduce the chance of lens flare, but will also require a bit more space in your gear bag. Minimum focus is limited to 19.7 inches, which is a bit constricting when trying to frame tightly. Samsung doesn't bill this as a macro lens, but it would be nice if it focused a bit closer; the 30mm Pancake lens can focus as close as 9.8 inches. The lens is almost physically identical to the $500 Samsung 45mm f/1.8 2D/3D lens, which allows you to capture 3D photos when used with the latest generation of NX cameras.

Flipping the AF/MF switch to the manual position lets you control the focus as you see fit via a physical ring, but turning it simply tells the camera to adjust the focus via electronic means. The response is rather quick, and the center of the frame is automatically magnified for precise control. It's a much better experience when compared with the sluggish electronic manual focus Canon EOS M shooters must endure. The other control button on the lens is one that is exclusive to the NX system. It activates the iFN system, which gives you quick access to camera settings. After pressing the button you can adjust the settings of your choice via the focus ring.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the lens when paired with the Samsung NX210 camera. It's one area where there are no disappointments; it exceeds the 1,800 lines per picture height that we require for a sharp image at every tested aperture. At f/1.8 it records 2,175 lines with sharp results from edge to edge. Stopping down to f/2.8 improves the resolution to 2,327 lines, and the score peaks at 2,586 lines at f/5.6. Distortion is a nonissue; the lens records only 0.3 percent. I did notice some chromatic aberration in the form of blue and red color fringing at the edges of the frame when shooting in Raw mode, but the NX210 removed it from JPG files. It was relatively minor, so Raw shooters won't have any trouble fixing it in Lightroom.

There's no question that the 45mm f/1.8 is a sharp lens, but it occupies an odd place in Samsung's system. The 45mm focal length is a little too long to be an everyday lens, a bit too short to dedicate to portraiture, and it doesn't focus close enough to work as a macro. If you're an NX shooter who opted for the 20mm NX Pancake Lens to supplement your kit lens and want a longer prime to go along with it, you may be attracted to the 45mm f/1.8. But you'll likely be better served with the company's 60mm f/2.8 Macro ED OIS SSA; it's more expensive and about a stop slower, but can focus extremely close. If you're an NX owner and you haven't yet moved beyond the standard zoom, go for the NX 30mm Pancake Lens. It's got a fast f/2 aperture, and its optical size, price, and optical performance were enough to earn our Editors' Choice award.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/lQ-Ot4KCg_A/0,2817,2417389,00.asp

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What Facebook's New Phone Software Will Look Like - Business ...

Facebook is reportedly set to announce new software for Android, Google's mobile software, tomorrow.

Today, @evleaks, an anonymous mobile leaker, posted photos of what it's going to look like at 9to5Google. Facebook's modification of Android appears to make the operating system simpler.

By most accounts, Facebook isn't totally taking over Android. It's just providing a "skin," or its own layer of design atop the operating system. This is widespread with Android. HTC and Samsung each have their own tweaks to Android. HTC has "Sense" and Samsung has "TouchWiz".

This is just going to be the Facebook "Home" or something like that.

Yesterday, @evleaks published a?photo of the HTC First, which will be the new phone Facebook uses to demonstrate the new Android software. According to the leaked specs, it'll be a mid-range phone with relatively weak specs.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-facebooks-new-phone-software-will-look-like-2013-4

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Madefire Partners with deviantART To Bring Its ?Motion Books' To The Web (And Start Charging For Them)

Madefire, the True Ventures-backed startup building a new kind of digital comics, just announced that it's partnering with deviantART. Madefire offers a platform for creating comics with additional animation, music, and sound effects ? it'd make sense to call the format "motion comics," except that word is already being used for comics that have been transformed into fully animated content, so the company calls its titles "motion books" instead.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/l74lIgtFISM/

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City Room: Pattycake the Bronx Zoo Gorilla Is Dead at 40

There were problems with her heart that weren?t getting better. She weighed 320 pounds. One can only imagine the toll taken by so many years of cloying attention, all the beguiled admirers staring and cooing and craning to get close to her. The press was always sniffing around for new angles. Of course, there was her age.

Forty sounds painfully young ? but, then, she was a gorilla. Once you?re past 37, you need to consider putting your affairs in order.

And so it was sad but not entirely surprising when word came on Sunday of the passing of Pattycake, the Bronx Zoo gorilla who had long reigned as one of the city?s more acclaimed tourist attractions. Jim Breheny, the zoo?s director, said she had been discovered around 8 a.m. by a worker in the zoo?s Congo Gorilla Forest. Apparently, she went peacefully, in her sleep. Even at 40, her looks were still pretty much intact.

For a gorilla, she had had quite a life. ?She was a story that captivated people,? Mr. Breheny said.

She earned a superstar?s distinction and heaps of publicity right at birth, on Sept. 3, 1972, being that she was the first gorilla born in New York City, as opposed to, say, Cameroon or Gabon or Equatorial Guinea. It was an excellent Manhattan address ? the Central Park Zoo. Her furry face served as a bit of a respite at a time when the city found itself grappling with high crime rates and an intensifying financial crisis.

Another gorilla, Hodari, was born just a month later at the Bronx Zoo, and he never got the press she did.

In every sense, Pattycake?s arrival was a surprise. Zoo workers had been unaware that Lulu, her mother, was even pregnant until one day she matter-of-factly produced a bundle of dark fur. Back then, it was still relatively rare for gorillas to give birth in captivity.

Gorilla babies were typically raised by humans. But Pattycake, a western lowland gorilla, a species classified as ?critically endangered,? lived with Lulu and her father, Kongo. The housing wasn?t ideal; the gorillas shared the Lion House.

Stardom enveloped her at once. The Daily News conducted a contest to name her, attracting an estimated 33,000 entries. Zoo attendance soared.

One devotee remembered that ?seeing her was like seeing a movie star.?

Adrian Savonije, 45, who was touring the zoo on Monday with his children, said he had visited Pattycake since he was a child. ?I grew up with her,? he said. ?She was a big attraction here, a little mini New York landmark.?

There were initial concerns about her mother?s ability to raise her, Lulu being just 8, and caged, but things seemed to work out. When Pattycake was 6 months old, though, there was a frightening accident. She was squatting with her right arm slung through the bars separating the cage she occupied with Lulu and the neighboring cage of Kongo, who sometimes got a bit rough. Kongo playfully grabbed her arm. Either out of parental rivalry or mere playfulness, her mother scooped her up, inadvertently fracturing Pattycake?s right humerus.

It became one of the best-known broken arms in history. The public hung on every ensuing development.

There was an hourlong operation at New York Medical College. The arm was put in a cast, and later in a sling. She was moved to the far larger Bronx Zoo to recuperate. She slept on a cot, was fed infant formula in a bottle and wore a vest, and cloth nappies.

While Pattycake was convalescing, a full-fledged, two-borough custody battle erupted between the two zoos. The Bronx Zoo found her to be undernourished and said she had intestinal parasites. Her mother, the zoo believed, just wasn?t doing her job.

To resolve the custody fight, a referee was brought in: Dr. Ronald D. Nadler, a specialist well-versed in gorilla reproduction from the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta. While Lulu might not have qualified as gorilla mother of the year, he concluded, she was more than up to the task of providing Pattycake with the best chance of developing ?the normal repertoire of a gorilla.?

Three months after the accident, Pattycake returned to the Central Park Zoo. There was a well-chronicled reunion with her parents, with conspicuous emotion on display all around. On Pattycake?s first birthday, her parents celebrated with her, and a banana layer birthday cake. Birthday cards funneled in from as far away as California. During the party, more cake found its way into Pattycake?s fur than into her mouth. It was reported that her father behaved like a ?caged beast.?

Her parents saw her through adolescence, but then in 1983, when the Central Park Zoo was undergoing renovation, she was moved permanently to the Bronx Zoo.

Such was her fame that two books were written about her: ?Gorilla Baby: The Story of Pattycake? and ?Gentle Gorilla: The Story of Pattycake.?

Innumerable children became smitten with the gorilla, and later transferred that allegiance to their own children. John Bulger, 49, first saw her as a child. As a parent, he takes his son, John Jr., to the zoo twice a month, and they had always checked in on Pattycake. ?There?s no better day to spend as a child,? he said.

She was a robust, big-boned female, so much so that those unacquainted with her often mistook her for a male ? suspicions they no doubt realized were best kept to themselves. Pattycake lived with 18 other gorillas, and volunteers said that she gave the younger ones piggyback rides and assumed a clear matriarchal role.

?She was the boss,? said Christine Ortman, who has spent countless hours visiting the gorillas. ?We always called it Pattycake?s troop.?

Her afflictions ? the heart issues and worsening arthritis ? had slowed her. Zookeepers were advised to say goodbye to her last month, said Kate Brown, a longtime zoo volunteer, but Pattycake held on.

Zoo workers said that one gorilla, named Bweroni (workers called her Fran), had been crying and howling since Pattycake?s death.

According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Bronx Zoo, Pattycake was the 31st oldest of the 338 gorillas kept in North American zoos. It said that the median life span for gorillas in zoos is 37.

Pattycake (her name had also been spelled Patty Cake, but it lost the space over the years) managed to give birth to 10 babies with four mates, including a pair of twins born in 1995. She raised only 1 of the 10 on her own; one died four days after birth. The others now reside in zoos around the country, including in Omaha, Buffalo, Detroit and Louisville. She had 10 half-siblings, their whereabouts unknown. She is also survived by at least one grandchild.

A necropsy attributed her death to heart disease. The zoo said she will probably be cremated later this week. No funeral service is planned.

Vivian Yee contributed reporting.

If you have remembrances or stories about Pattycake, please share them in the comments box below.

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This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 1, 2013

An earlier version of this post rendered incorrectly the name of the gorilla who died at the Bronx Zoo. Her name was Pattycake, not Patty Cake. Although her name was previously written many times as two words, the Wildlife Conservation Society says one word is correct.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 2, 2013

An earlier version of a photo caption misstated the sex of Pattycake. The gorilla was a female.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 2, 2013

An earlier version of a photo caption misstated the name of a hospital where Pattycake was treated for a broken arm. It was Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital, not Flower Fourth Avenue Hospital.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 2, 2013

An earlier version of this post gave erroneous demographic information about gorillas. It is their median life span in zoos that is 37 years, not their median age.

Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/remembering-patty-cake-the-bronx-zoos-beloved-gorilla-who-is-dead-at-40/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Magic Johnson's Son Comes Out as Gay, Receives Support from Father

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/magic-johnsons-son-comes-out-as-gay-receives-support-from-father/

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Acupuncture is worth a try for chronic pain - Harvard Health ...

Chronic pain in the muscles and joints can make life miserable. Standard treatments like ice and heat, anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and appropriate exercises can often ease the pain. But when they don?t, acupuncture is an option with a good track record that?s worth considering.

Over the years there has been substantial debate about whether acupuncture really works for chronic pain. Research from an international team of experts adds to the evidence that it does provide real relief from common forms of pain. The team pooled the results of 29 studies involving nearly 18,000 participants. Some had acupuncture, some had ?sham? acupuncture, and some didn?t have acupuncture at all. Overall, acupuncture relieved pain by about 50%. The results were published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study isn?t the last word on the issue, but it is one of the best quality studies to date and has made an impression.

?I think the benefit of acupuncture is clear, and the complications and potential adverse effects of acupuncture are low compared with medication,? says Dr. Lucy Chen, a board-certified anesthesiologist, specialist in pain medicine, and practicing acupuncturist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Acupuncturists insert hair-thin needles into the skin at specific points around the body. It is virtually painless when done by an experienced practitioner. Inserting the needles is thought to correct imbalances in the flow of energy in the body, called qi (pronounced ?chee?). As I write in the April issue of the Harvard Men?s Health Watch, in Western scientific terms acupuncture is thought to ease pain by affecting neurotransmitters, hormone levels, or the immune system.

For new pain, an acupuncturist should not always be your first stop. Dr. Chen recommends that individuals have clear diagnoses of what is causing their pain to rule out serious medical conditions that should be treated right away?and then seek out acupuncture if appropriate.

• How often is acupuncture needed? Plan on weekly treatments until you start to see a benefit, then gradually lengthen the time until the next visit.
• What does it cost? Acupuncture treatments range from $65 to $125 per session. Private insurers usually don?t pay for it, nor do Medicare or Medicaid. Some plans may cover the cost of a physician-acupuncturist.
• Who administers it? Ideally a trusted, certified provider. You can search for a trained acupuncturist at the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine or by calling the organization at 904-598-1005.

Source: http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/acupuncture-is-worth-a-try-for-chronic-pain-201304016042

2013 NCAA Bracket

Freeway chase led to ex-Nev. lawmaker's arrest

File-This file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Nevada state Assembly member Steven Brooks after a Feb. 10, 2013 arrest on charges that he physically attacked a family member and grabbed for a police officer's weapon. Members of the Nevada Legislature are, for the first time since 1867, considering ousting one of their own: Assemblyman Steven Brooks. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, File)

File-This file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Nevada state Assembly member Steven Brooks after a Feb. 10, 2013 arrest on charges that he physically attacked a family member and grabbed for a police officer's weapon. Members of the Nevada Legislature are, for the first time since 1867, considering ousting one of their own: Assemblyman Steven Brooks. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, File)

File-This file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Nevada state Assembly member Steven Brooks after a Feb. 10, 2013 arrest on charges that he physically attacked a family member and grabbed for a police officer's weapon. Members of the Nevada Legislature are, for the first time since 1867, considering ousting one of their own: Assemblyman Steven Brooks. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, File)

The Assembly Select Committee meets at the Carson City Courthouse, in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, a troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks and instilled fear among colleagues who once called him friend will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, hugs Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, following an emotional and historic vote to expel fellow Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, during the Assembly floor session at the Legislative Building in Carson City, Nev., on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Neal was the lone dissenting vote when a bipartisan select committee empanelled to look into the North Las Vegas Democrat's behavior voted 6-1 Tuesday to recommend expulsion. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 26, 2013, Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, leads the meeting of the select committee at the Carson City Courthouse, in Carson City, Nev. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, a troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks and instilled fear among colleagues who once called him friend will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A former Nevada state lawmaker who had been expelled from the Assembly hours earlier led authorities in California on a high-speed freeway chase before he was shocked with a stun gun and arrested on charges including resisting arrest, authorities said Friday.

Steven Brooks, 41, was arrested at about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 outside the city of Victorville, after a 15-mile chase that began in Barstow and exceeded speeds of 80 mph, California Highway Patrol Officer Don Spiker said.

Police had responded to a disagreement between Brooks and a tow truck operator called to help Brooks fix a flat tire in Barstow.

"We just know the tow truck driver was uncomfortable enough to call us for assistance," Spiker said. "He said the subject was acting strange."

Barstow Police Chief Albert Ramirez said in a statement that Brooks refused to pay the driver and wouldn't provide him with identification.

Brooks' arrest came after he became the first lawmaker in Nevada history to be expelled from the Legislature.

It disappointed his lawyer, who has been representing Brooks through a series of sometimes bizarre legal and psychological incidents since January, and who had been fighting to keep the two-term Democratic state lawmaker in his elected seat representing a North Las Vegas district.

"We had started to discuss possible next steps," attorney Mitchell Posin said, referring to a conversation he said he had with Brooks after Brooks' expulsion from the Assembly. Colleagues cited safety concerns.

"Next thing I know, I heard about this," Posin said.

Posin said he had no details about the arrest, or about why Brooks was on the interstate in Barstow.

Brooks was arrested near the Stoddard Wells Road exit after leading officers on the chase with a flat tire, authorities said.

A witness, 30-year-old Jennifer Simpson, said she was alerted by police helicopters overhead and saw a red four-door SUV hit what appeared to be spike strips on the freeway and veer to the side of the road.

The driver got out of the vehicle but didn't follow police commands to turn around and put his hands in the air, said Simpson, who lives in an apartment near the interstate in Victorville. The man ran back toward the SUV, chased by a police dog, she said.

Simpson said the driver shut himself in the vehicle before several officers with guns drawn pulled him out. She said she saw at least one officer punch the man several times.

Simpson's husband videotaped the last four minutes of the struggle, in which uniformed officers wrestle the driver to the ground in front of the vehicle and an officer in a tan uniform raises his arms three times in apparent punching motions. The man cannot be seen on the ground.

Kris Reilly, city editor of The Daily Press in Victorville, said he heard police scanner reports of the chase and arrived at the scene with a photographer to see a man in dark clothing on a hospital gurney. He said the man was struggling against wrist and ankle restraints as he was loaded into an ambulance.

"He was yelling something to the effect that, 'These cops are going down!'" Reilly said. "He was yelling quite a bit."

Ramirez released a statement alleging that Brooks choked and hit a police dog with a socket wrench inside the vehicle. The dog, named Buck, was treated by a veterinarian for cuts on the head and leg.

"Brooks continued to resist the officers and not comply with their orders," the Barstow police statement said. "A Taser was utilized on Brooks and after this, handcuffs were applied."

The police report does not describe any police officers being injured and doesn't address whether any officers punched Brooks.

Telephone messages for Ramirez and other Barstow police supervisors weren't immediately returned.

Brooks was examined at Barstow Community Hospital before he was taken to a San Bernardino County jail in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., police said

Jail records show Brooks was being held on $100,000 bail pending a Tuesday court appearance on four felony charges including resisting a police officer with force, willful harm to a police service dog, felony evading arrest and throwing objects from a vehicle.

Earlier Thursday, Brooks was expelled from the state Assembly by a voice vote following a recommendation from a bipartisan panel that met largely behind closed doors. The seven panel members considered a more than 900-page investigative report produced by a Las Vegas lawyer hired as a special counsel.

A coalition of Nevada media outlets is seeking to have the document made public.

Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, called Brooks "potentially dangerous" and said lawmakers didn't feel safe with him in the building.

"This really saddens me," Horne said Friday, after learning of the arrest. "I hope they get Steven the help he clearly needs before he or someone else is hurt or worse."

The arrest was Brooks' third this year.

He was arrested Jan. 19 after being accused of making threats toward legislative colleagues including Assembly Democratic Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. North Las Vegas police said Brooks had a gun and ammunition in his car when he was arrested, but no charges have been filed.

Brooks was hospitalized for five days for a mental evaluation after Las Vegas police were called Jan. 25 to a dispute at his grandmother's house.

Brooks was sworn in at the Legislature on Feb. 4 before he was arrested again Feb. 10 at his estranged wife's home in Las Vegas after police alleged he threw punches and grabbed for the gun of an officer who responded to a domestic dispute. He faces a court hearing in May in Las Vegas on one felony and three lesser charges.

Brooks was denied the purchase of a gun in northern Nevada last month after he was banished from the Legislature.

Posin said at the time that Brooks posed no real threat to anyone.

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Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

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Find Ken Ritter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/krttr and Michelle Rindels at http://twitter.com/RindelsAP

Associated Press

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