This photo provided by the Nevada Highway Patrol shows Jean Soriano, 18, who was booked into the Clark County Detention Center after he was treated and released at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Soriano has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in a southern Nevada crash that killed five members of a California family and injured the suspect and three other people. (AP Photo/Nevada Highway Patrol)
This photo provided by the Nevada Highway Patrol shows Jean Soriano, 18, who was booked into the Clark County Detention Center after he was treated and released at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Soriano has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in a southern Nevada crash that killed five members of a California family and injured the suspect and three other people. (AP Photo/Nevada Highway Patrol)
Five members of a Southern California family were killed in southern Nevada when their van was rear-ended by an 18-year-old driver who was later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said.
The dead were among seven family members who were in the van, authorities said. The other two ? the 40-year-old female driver and a 15-year-old boy ? were hospitalized in critical condition.
Jean Soriano of California was booked into the Clark County Detention Center after he was treated and released at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Loy Hixson said.
The crash happened at about 3 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 15 near the Utah line. Soriano's sport utility vehicle struck the van from behind, causing both vehicles to spin out of control and roll near Mesquite, some 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, investigators said.
A 23-year-old passenger in Soriano's SUV was treated at the hospital and released.
Authorities believe Soriano was returning from a visit with family in Utah to his home in California at the time of the wreck, Hixson said. They didn't immediately release his hometown or the names or hometowns of the victims.
Beer bottles were found in the SUV, Hixson said, and troopers performed a blood-alcohol test on Soriano at the hospital. The results won't be known for a couple of weeks, he said.
Hixson said only two of the seven people in the van were wearing seatbelts. The five who were not buckled in were ejected, but one survived.
"Unfortunately, so many in the van weren't wearing seatbelts, and some might have survived had they been wearing them," Hixson said. "We see it so many times where people can survive simply by having a seatbelt on."
The van was carrying a couple, their children and some aunts and uncles, he said. Killed were three men in their 40s, a teenage female and an adult female.
A Soyuz space capsule has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) after a journey of less than six hours.
The three-man crew is the first to take the quicker route, involving just four orbits.
The journey normally takes two days for a Russian spacecraft.
The arrival of Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and Chris Cassidy of the US brings the number of crew at the ISS to six.
The crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
After lift-off at 20:43 GMT, the Soyuz capsule then entered orbit and, using intricate ballistics manoeuvres, succeeded in cutting out around 30 orbits and 45 hours from the flight time to the ISS.
Prior to the flight, the shortened route had been successfully tested three times by Russian Progress cargo ships, which are unmanned versions of the Soyuz that transport supplies to the ISS.
The three new arrivals are due to return to Earth in September. The other three members of the ISS crew arrived in December and will leave in May.
Over the next six months the crew will perform 137 investigations on the US operating segment of the station, and 44 on the Russian segment, according to a statement from the US space agency, Nasa.
Nasa said that the investigations will cover human research, biological and physical sciences, technology development, Earth observation, and education.
FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) ? As more patients undergo a minimally invasive procedure to remove kidney stones, the rate of complications from the surgery is also rising, according to a new study.
The procedure ? called percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) ? involves making a small incision in the back and using a hollow scope to remove medium to large kidney stones.
Although the death rate related to the procedure remained low over the 10-year study period, certain complications, including blood infection, have soared. Patients were at higher risk of developing complications if they were older, sicker and treated in more recent years, the study found.
?We believe the broad use of this procedure, especially in older and sicker patients, may be the reason [for the increased rate of complications],? Dr. Khurshid Ghani and colleagues said in a news release from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
For the study, published recently in the Journal of Urology, the researchers analyzed data from more than 80,000 patients over age 18 in the United States who had the procedure between 1999 and 2009.
During that time, its use increased 47 percent, most notably among women.
The presence of other disorders or diseases at the time of surgery increased during the study period, and overall complications rose from about 12 percent to nearly 16 percent. Of particular note, the incidence of blood infection (sepsis) doubled from 1.2 percent to 2.4 percent.
The rate of death related to the procedure remained essentially unchanged at 0 to 0.4 percent. Deaths that did occur were in older patients, the study found.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about kidney stones.
Editor?s note:?Maria Rocio Paniagua currently works as a project manager at?Innku, one of the top mobile and web workshops in Mexico. Ondore,?the leading Latin American big data analysis company that develops online reputation management systems, has closed its first investment round for $1.5 million dollars with?Alta Ventures. The company says it will use the capital round to expand sales and marketing efforts in Latin America, as well as Spanish-speaking U.S.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The stock market has reached another milestone.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at a record high Thursday, beating the mark it set in October 2007, a year before the peak of the financial crisis.
The S&P rose six points to 1,569, a gain of 0.4 percent, beating its previous record by four points. The index is still shy of its all-time trading high of 1,576.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which beat its own 2007 record three weeks ago, rose 52 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,578.
The Nasdaq composite rose 11, or 0.3 percent, to 3,267.
Nearly two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
Volume was relatively light at 3.2 billion shares. Markets will be closed for Good Friday.
The authority for sports coverage in the Fredericksburg region.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
March 30: 5K Rabbit Run, 8 a.m. at Spotsylvania Courthouse Village Pavilion. Cost: $20 for FARC members $25 on race day. Also, 1-mile ($15) and -mile kids? Bunny Chase ($5). Register online at racetimingunlimited.org.
April 1: Shirley Gray Scholarship Golf Outing, noon at Country Club of Culpeper. Cost: $300 per four-player team, $80 per individual. Information: Careen Angel (540/222-8708), Mike Wills (540/825-8310) or bluedevilbacker@gmail.com.
April 6: J. Brian?s Tap Room 15K, 7 a.m. in downtown Fredericksburg. Cost: $45. Register at racetimingunlimited.org.
April 12: Lexi Ray Golf Classic, 9 a.m. at Lee?s Hill Golf Club. Cost: $300 per team, $75 per player. Proceeds benefit Lexi Ray, a teen suffering from Legg-Calve Perthes Disease. Information: Jane Ray (540/710-7555 or 538-1980), Patrick Voit (540-809-5943) or pventerprises1@hotmail.com.
April 13: Stafford Hospital 5K, 8:30 a.m. at Stafford Hospital. Grand Prix event. Cost: $25 ($30 after March 29). Register at racetimingunlimited.org.
April 20: King George healthy kids day 5K, 8 a.m. at King George YMCA. Cost: $15 ($20 after April 14), $10 for kids? 1-mile fun run. Register at racetimingunlimited.org.
April 27: Festival of Feet 5K and 10K, 8 a.m. at Bowling Green Town Hall. Cost: $20 for 10K, $10 for 5K. Register at racetimingunlimited.org.
April 27: Spring Fling Golf Classic, 9 a.m. at Pendleton Golf Club in Ruther Glen. Cost: $85 per player, $320 per team. Information: 804/448-8428 or Wethclan@aol.com.
April 28: Park Ridge 5K, 8 a.m. at Park Ridge Elementary in Stafford. Cost: $25 for 5K ($27 after April 13, $30 on race day), $15 for 1-miler. Register at racetimingunlimited.org.
May 4: Virginia State Taekwondo Championship Qualifier, 10 a.m. at Massaponax High School. Cost: $15 for team forms, $65 for all others ($75 through May 1 deadline). Register online at tourneyreg.net. Information: 540/710-9094 or pilsungma@hotmail. com.
May 19: Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon, 7 a.m. in Fredericksburg. Costs: $75 for Historic Half Marathon, $45 for Historic 10K, $35 for Semper Fred 5K. Register, online at marinemarathon.com.
Following today's rumor that Apple was quietly polling developers at this week's Game Developers Conference about support for a forthcoming gaming controller for iOS devices, the ever-reliable Jim Dalrymple has quickly quashed that report.
As usual, Dalrymple provides no additional comment beyond a simple "Nope", but his selective quoting of the source material suggests that he is denying any current plans for an Apple-branded controller.
"Long rumoured ? and hoped for ? GDC 2013 has finally provided confirmation that Apple will release its own dedicated game controller."
Nope.
Dalrymple has solid connections at Apple and has on numerous occasions and with 100% accuracy either confirmed or denied specific rumors. Prior to today, his most recent such statement came last month when he nixed a claim of a television-related Apple media event scheduled Apple for this month.
Mar. 28, 2013 ? A widely prescribed type 2 diabetes drug slows down the aging process by mimicking the effects of dieting, according to a study published today using worms to investigate how the drug works.
Following a calorie-restricted diet has been shown to improve health in later life and extend lifespan in a number of animals, ranging from the simple worm to rhesus monkeys. The type 2 diabetes drug metformin has been found to have similar effects in animals but until now it was not clear exactly how the drug delays the aging process.
Researchers supported by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council looked at the effects of metformin on C. elegans worms that were grown in the presence of E. coli bacteria, a relationship similar to that which humans have with the 'healthy' bacteria in our gut. They found that the worms treated with metformin lived longer only when the E. coli strain they were cultured with was sensitive to the drug.
Dr Filipe Cabreiro from the Institute of Healthy aging at UCL, who led the research, explains: "Overall, treatment with metformin adds up to 6 days of life for the worm which is equivalent to around a third of its normal lifespan. It seems to work by altering metabolism in the bacteria that live in the worm, which in turn limits the nutrients that are available to the worm host and has a similar effect to restricting the diet."
Bacteria living in the gut have an important role in helping the host organism to digest and extract nutrition from food. Defects in gut bacteria have been linked to metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. It has also been suggested that gut bacteria may have an impact on the aging process, but this is the first study to suggest a mechanism for how this works.
The team used strains of E. coli with defects in genes that are linked to metabolism and tweaked the levels of nutrients available to tease out which metabolic pathways might be affected by the drug. They found that treatment with metformin disrupted the bacteria's ability to metabolise folate, a type of B-vitamin, and methionine, one of the building blocks of proteins. This limits the nutrients that are available to the worm and mimics the effects of dietary restriction to enable the worms to live longer.
However, when they added an excess of sugar to the diet, the team found that the life-extending effects of metformin were cancelled out. As the drug is used as a treatment for diabetes caused by elevated glucose levels in the blood, this finding is particular relevant for understanding how the drug works in people.
Professor David Gems, who directed the study, said: "We don't know from this study whether metformin has any effect on human aging. The more interesting finding is the suggestion that drugs that alter bacteria in the gut could give us a new way of treating or preventing metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes."
Metformin is currently one of the most widely prescribed drugs and the findings should help to inform how it is used in patients.
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Journal Reference:
Filipe Cabreiro, Catherine Au, Kit-Yi Leung, Nuria Vergara-Irigaray, Helena?M. Cochem?, Tahereh Noori, David Weinkove, Eugene Schuster, Nicholas?D.E. Greene, David Gems. Metformin Retards Aging in C.?elegans by Altering Microbial Folate and Methionine Metabolism. Cell, 2013; 153 (1): 228 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.02.035
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
LONDON (AP) ? Britain's domestic spy agency has chosen a new director, a 50-year-old ornithologist with counter-terrorism experience in the Middle East and Northern Ireland.
Andrew Parker, one of the youngest MI5 directors in recent history, has worked for the service for 30 years and led the agency's response to the July 7 London transit bombings in 2005.
Parker said Thursday that he's "extremely proud of the extraordinary work the men and women of MI5 do to keep the country safe in challenging circumstances," and that he looks "forward to leading the service through its next chapter."
Parker has been the deputy director general since 2007.
He succeeds Jonathan Evans, who is leaving MI5 after 33 years of service. He starts his job on April 22.
DETROIT (AP) -- Republican Gov. Rick Snyder said a right-to-work law that took effect Thursday is a milestone that will bring jobs to Michigan, while protesters promised to exact revenge at the polls for the contentious measure Snyder signed in December.
"The labor movement has done a lot of great things for our country. It's not about being anti-union in my view. It's about being pro-worker," Snyder told business and government leaders.
The law allows Michigan workers to choose not to financially support unions that bargain on their behalf. It applies to labor contracts that are extended or renewed starting Thursday, so many unionized employees will not be affected until their existing collective bargaining agreements end months or years from now.
Union organizers asked people to wear red to protest Michigan becoming the 24th right-to-work state. Dozens did so at a morning rally outside the Detroit Athletic Club, where Snyder spoke at a "Pancakes & Politics" event.
Toting a "Snyder (equals) Snake" sign, 52-year-old Detroit resident Dwight Jarrett called on the governor to repeal the law.
"If he doesn't do the right thing, we'll make sure he's out in 2014," he said.
The law cannot be overturned directly in a referendum, though unions could decide to back a 2014 ballot measure that effectively overturns it.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed to strike down the law. Legal challenges in neighboring Indiana, which passed a right-to-work law in 2012, have been unsuccessful.
Snyder said during the event that right-to-work is "done" and "over with."
"This was a significant milestone. It's going to make Michigan more competitive," he said.
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Messier 77 is a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us. Also known as NGC 1068, it is one of the most famous and well-studied galaxies. It is a real star among galaxies, with more papers written about it than many other galaxies put together.
Despite its current fame and striking swirling appearance, the galaxy has been a victim of mistaken identity a couple of times; when it was initially discovered in 1780, the distinction between gas clouds and galaxies was not known, causing finder Pierre Mechain to miss its true nature and label it as a nebula. It was misclassified again when it was subsequently listed in the Messier Catalogue as a star cluster.
Now, however, it is firmly categorised as a barred spiral galaxy, with loosely wound arms and a relatively small central bulge. It is the closest and brightest example of a particular class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies -- galaxies that are full of hot, highly ionised gas that glows brightly, emitting intense radiation.
Strong radiation like this is known to come from the heart of Messier 77 -- caused by a very active black hole that is around 15 million times the mass of our Sun. Material is dragged towards this black hole and circles around it, heating up and glowing strongly. This region of a galaxy alone, although comparatively small, can be tens of thousands of times brighter than a typical galaxy.
Although no competition for the intense centre, Messier 77's spiral arms are also very bright regions. Dotted along each arm are knotty red clumps -- a signal that new stars are forming. These baby stars shine strongly, ionising nearby gas which then glows a deep red colour as seen in the image above. The dust lanes stretching across this image appear as a rusty, brown-red colour due to a phenomenon known as reddening; the dust absorbs more blue light than red light, enhancing its apparent redness.
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NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus is expected to complete capital control measures on Wednesday to prevent a run on the banks by depositors anxious about their savings after the country agreed a painful rescue package with international lenders.
Cypriots have taken to the streets of Nicosia in their thousands to protest at a bailout deal that they fear will push their country into an economic slump and cost many their jobs. European leaders said the deal averted a chaotic national bankruptcy that might have forced Cyprus out of the euro.
With banks due to reopen on Thursday, Finance Minister Michael Sarris said he expected the control measures to be ready by noon (5 a.m. EST) on Wednesday: "I think they will be within the realms of reason," he said, without going into details.
"Banks will open on Thursday ... We will look at the best way to limit the possibility of large sums of money leaving, and not imposing punitive conditions on the economy, businesses and individuals," Sarris said in a Cyprus television interview.
The central bank governor said earlier that "loose" controls would apply temporarily to all banks. Earlier, the finance minister said they could be in place for weeks. Banks have been shut since final bailout talks got under way in mid-March.
Up to 3,000 high school students protested at parliament, the first major expression of popular anger after Cyprus agreed the 10-billion euro ($13-billion) rescue with the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.
"They've just got rid of all our dreams, everything we've worked for, everything we've achieved up until now, what our parents have achieved," said one student, named Thomas.
Outside the central bank, about 200 employees of the country's biggest commercial lender, the Bank of Cyprus, demanded the resignation of the central bank governor, Panicos Demetriades, chanting "Hands off Cyprus" and "Disgrace".
Dimos Dimosthenous, who has worked at the Bank of Cyprus for over 30 years, said: "The bank is being driven to closure.
"That will be the end. Our jobs, our rights, our welfare funds will be lost and Cyprus will be destroyed."
RESIGNATION
Under the terms of the bailout, the second largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank, is to be shut down and its accounts of under 100,000 euros combined with those of the Bank of Cyprus. Accounts of more than 100,000 euros at both banks will be frozen, with depositors, many of them rich foreigners, likely to lose much of their investments.
By protecting state-guaranteed deposits of up to 100,000 euros, the bailout reversed a previous deal struck on March 16 that would have imposed a levy on small depositors as well as big ones, which had infuriated Cypriots and was vetoed by parliament. Government officials have estimated big depositors could now face loses of around 40 percent.
Many Cypriots say they do not feel reassured by the new deal, however, and are expected to besiege banks as soon as they reopen after a shutdown that began over a week ago.
The long closure of the banks has hurt business, according to Andreas Hadjiadamou, president of the Cyprus Supermarkets Association, who said consumer confidence had "hit the floor".
Maria Benaki, who runs a family silverware business on Nicosia's biggest shopping street, said she had not had a customer in days.
"The situation is dire," she said. "What will happen at the end of the month when I need to pay my bills?"
(Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stop me if you've heard this one before: There's this famous car brand whose average driver is more familiar with Social Security than social media.
General Motors Co. will make another attempt to get Buick to appeal to younger buyers with freshened up versions of the Regal midsize sports sedan and the LaCrosse large luxury car. GM unveiled the pair Tuesday ahead of the New York auto show.
Youth has been the theme of several of Buick marketing campaigns during the last three decades, with famous pitchmen from Tiger Woods to Shaquille O'Neal. Sales have even risen recently after a dramatic and lengthy decline. But even with that recent success, odds are against GM making Buick a go-to option for large numbers of drivers below the age of 40.
Buick, once coveted for its understated elegance, used to be a dominant brand. In 1984, GM sold 942,000 Buicks in the U.S., according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. But many Buick buyers died, and younger people opted for SUVs and cooler European cars. Sales tumbled, bottoming out at just over 102,000 in 2009. GM only kept the brand alive because it became a huge seller in China.
The company doesn't expect Buick sales to approach 900,000 per year again. But executives say they can still make a lot of money selling the higher-priced luxury vehicles with lower sales numbers.
GM is giving the LaCrosse a more sculpted, modern look. It gets updated LED daytime running lamps and tail lights and a larger front grille. On the inside, it gets new, more supportive seats and a modernized center stack with fewer buttons than the current car. The interior will have more of a luxury feeling to differentiate it from the sportier Regal.
The Regal gets similar cosmetic changes on the outside. Inside, more supportive seats and a simpler dashboard and center console give it a sportier look. GM's 2.4-liter four-cylinder "e-Assist" engine, with a small electric motor that helps boost gas mileage, becomes standard. A new, more powerful version of GM's 2-Liter turbocharged engine, with 259 horsepower, is in the sportier models, the turbo and GS.
GM says the Regal will be more responsive, refined and efficient than the previous model.
The LaCrosse goes on sale late this summer and the Regal comes out in the fall. Prices and gas mileage weren't released, but GM hinted at efficiency and price increases. The current Regal starts at $29,015, while the LaCrosse starts at $31,660.
The LaCrosse, a new model in 2009, and the Regal, new in 2010, have helped Buick's sales rise during the past three years, and reached 180,000 in 2012. Other catalysts were the new Verano, a compact based on the Chevrolet Cruze, and the Enclave, a big crossover SUV, that got a facelift last year. Also, Buick's new Encore small SUV is just starting to hit showrooms.
The new products have helped to change Buick's demographics. In 2006, Buick buyers on average had celebrated 64 birthdays. Last year that fell to 57, according to the company. The average car buyer in the U.S. is 52, according to the TrueCar.com auto pricing site.
Tony DiSalle, vice president of Buick marketing in the U.S., said Buick was the only luxury brand to lower its average age in the past five years. The Verano has helped ? small cars tend to draw younger buyers. But Buick still wants to catch more people in their 40s. Regal buyers, on average, were 55 last year, according to the Polk research firm. The average age of a LaCrosse buyer was almost 63.
But the new cars haven't helped Buick sales keep up with the industry. Last year, Buick sales grew only 1.6 percent while total U.S. auto sales rose 13 percent. Spokesman Nick Richards blames the slow growth on a cut in low-profit sales to fleet buyers such as rental car companies as GM tries to boost the brand's resale values. He says retail sales to individual buyers rose about 6 percent.
So far this year, though, sales are up 22 percent, DiSalle said. The brand, he said, now has five models to sell, when last year at this time it had only three. "We certainly have the ability here to go to market with broader market coverage," he said.
Still, Buick's models combined were outsold last year by single models from other automakers. Ford, for instance, sold just over 241,000 Fusion midsize cars last year, beating Buick by itself. But Buick did outsell some competing luxury brands including Acura, Infiniti and Lincoln.
Four years ago, Buick's future was in doubt. Members of the Obama administration's autos task force thought about getting rid of Buick during GM's government-funded trip through bankruptcy court. But the brand survived because of a strong following in China. Chinese drivers bought more than 700,000 Buicks last year, up 8 percent from 2011.
In the U.S., Buick likely won't approach those numbers because the stodgy image clings to the brand.
"The vehicles themselves are very suited for young driving habits. Good fuel economy, performance, nice looking," said Rebecca Lindland, owner of Rebel Three Consulting of Greenwich, Conn.
"But it's still not cool to be in a bar and say you have a Buick."
If you're in the market for an inexpensive, lightweight, casual bag to carry your small laptop or tablet, and maybe a handful more than that, Ogio's 13" Covert Shoulder Bag ($69.99, direct) will get the job done. The? handles on top let you carry it like a briefcase, although the vertical design helps the bag maintain its somewhat grungy look.
Available in all black or heather gray with black accents (shown), this vertically designed bag holds a laptop up to 13 inches. The laptop section has adequate padding, quilted synthetic fabric, and a single zipper closure, but no security flap to hold your machine snug. In front of that section is another central area, which has a wide hinging mouth due to a long zipper that wraps around on three sides of the bag. Pull down the front, and you can easily see the bottom of the bag. Two mesh pouches, three pen slots, and two tiny square sleeves sewn into the right side round out this area.
At 14 by 9.5 by 2.5 inches (HWD), this bag hovers between being a small and medium size. It weighs a scant 1.4 pounds. The maximum volume, however, is only 550 cubic inches?in other words, it doesn't expand much, something I've seen in other slimline bags, such as the CODi UltraLite Laptop Backpack ($79.99, 3 stars). You can fit a tablet or small notebook, small miscellaneous items like a phone and some charging cords, maybe a book, but not much else. The bag works just fine when you know your load, but isn't well suited for someone routinely stuffing her bag with gym shoes, a packed lunch, or a water bottle. The back of the bag contains a quick access area (with no closure) where you can tuck away slightly bulky items in a pinch.
Something about the look of this bag screams 1980s or 90s street-wear, especially the heather gray model that has an almost denim-like texture. Were you to have slapped it over your shoulder and rocked on into The Palladium in its heyday, no one would have batted an eye. In any event, it's decidedly not a business bag.
A comparably sized bag that I personally love with more updated style sense is Crumpler's Arnold Heist Tablet Bag ($105, 4.5 stars), although it costs a $35 more.
Given the Covert is a vertical bag, two top handles let you carry it by hand when you need to take it off your shoulder, a nice touch. The padded shoulder strap is quite comfortable, and the adjusters for the strap length are exceptionally smooth.
Another great detail that's easy to miss: The very front of the bag has one more zippered pouch with a hidden slot for threading your headphones. As someone who's rather fussy about bag organization, this feature really speaks to me.
You'll do well with Ogio's 13" Convert Shoulder Bag under the following conditions: 1) the amount of stuff you carry day to day doesn't change dramatically; 2) you're into the urban street look; and 3) price matters. You'll end up spending an extra $30 or $40 to upgrade to something significantly better, but a lot of price-sensitive folks want to keep their bag budget well below the hundred-dollar mark.
If you are willing to spend more, get the Arnold Heist Tablet Bag. If you need a bag that can handle a larger laptop (up to 15 inches), Crumpler's Vegetable from Inside the Mountain ($145, 4.5 stars) is another personal favorite. The hundred-dollar Booq Mamba Daypack (4.5 stars)?which has a very straightforward and unassuming look?gets the job done at a lower price. Finally, if you have a very large laptop and are willing to spend a bit more money, consider the edgy all-black Chrome Citadel Laptop Bag ($190, 4 stars).
We've seen countless upcycled and hacked together projects with wood shipping pallets over the years, and more often than not they're ugly, but totally useful. Pallets are great for the DIYer because they're cheap and easy to work with, but you do need to pay close attention to what you're grabbing.
DIYers have made some great upcycled projects from pallets and they're always a popular resource on sites like Instructables. But the appeal isn't always obvious at a glance, so let's look at why pallets are great for DIYing, and take a look at how to pick out the right kind so you don't accidently bring hazards into your house.
Why Pallets Are So Appealing for DIYers
At a glance, wood pallets are ugly, cheap wood that most people wouldn't bother using for kindling, let alone make a table out of one. Oddly, that's really the appeal of them. They're essentially Legos for adults because they can be turned into just about anything with minimal effort or skill.
It's also about upcycling and using materials that are already out there for new and creative uses. You can usually grab them for free from old warehouses and shipping areas. Since most pallets are about the same size, you can find directions online and get to building something without really knowing anything about woodworking.
It's not all about ease of use of use though. Pallets take a bit of work to tear apart, and since they're often treated with chemicals you need to use a mask when you're sawing into them. If you do want to make them look a little nicer, it takes a bit of work (including sanding and resealing the wood), but the appeal really isn't the look, it's just the function. Even a woodworking amateur can make something useful out of wood pallet in an afternoon. Photo by troye owens.
How to Pick the Right Wood Pallets
As you'd expect with anything that's using reclaimed materials, you need to watch what you're doing with pallets. As cabinetmaker and blogger Nike Love points out, pallets get exposed to everything from harsh chemicals to mold and bugs. Which is to say, even if a pallet looks good, you probably shouldn't be using it for a children's bed or a dining room table. As CBS News points out, pallets come into contact with all types of crazy things in their journeys, so it's important to pay attention to what you're grabbing.
That said, pallets are still excellent for outdoor projects, and if you can get a good idea of their history they're useful indoors too. Either way, you need to seriously clean them up before you get anywhere near the inside of your house. If you can find pallets with a "HT" (heat treated) stamp on them that means they're free of bugs, but it also means the wood may have been treated with chemicals. All modern pallets require a logo that says how it was treated, if there's no logo, don't bother with it.
Here are a few a few things to keep in mind when you're looking for a wood pallet:
Most pallets are reused throughout the industry and usually stay within an industry. That means you don't want pallets from a pesticide or chemical processing company because they're probably drenched in chemicals.
The nicest pallets seem to come from dry goods industries. They're usually shipping a lightweight, dry product, so there's no spillage or stains to worry about.
Termites are everywhere in pallets (and all outdoor wood really). Look for for tiny "wood piles" as a sign of infestation.
Old grocery store pallets might seem okay, but they're often covered in spillage and stains which leads to mold. Look at them closely and smell it. Common sense rules here (and with any pallet): if it looks weird, or it smells strange, don't take it.
Use gloves. This seems like common sense, but since pallets often have nails pointing out and can easily give you a splinter it's worth noting. If you're going to cut a pallet, use a mask.
It's entirely possible to grab pallets that are safe, but it's just as likely you'll grab one covered in chemicals. So, if you can trace the history you're better off. Picking up any reclaimed wood is going to come with a set of dangers, so be smart and keep your eyes out for signs of contaminants. Shipping pallets make for easy weekend projects for regardless of your skill, and when you choose the right ones they'll last a surprisingly long time. Photo by Tatiana Popova/Shutterstock.
How would you like to die?? How would you like to be remembered?? And what?s the best death you?ve ever seen?
It?s difficult thinking about these questions, let alone verbalizing answers. There are consequences, though, for trying to avoid the inevitable.? Some 70 percent of Americans say they would prefer to die at home, yet only 30 percent actually do.? Dying in a hospital, perhaps with unplanned or unwanted treatment, can be hugely expensive for patients? families and for taxpayers: The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2009, the 1.6 million Medicare patients who died that year accounted for 22.3% of total hospital expenditures.
A new project, Let?s Have Dinner and Talk about Death, aims to give people the opportunity to broach what might be perhaps the toughest subject of all over a table rather than a hospital bed rail. ?It?s built around the idea that mealtime discussions offer a convivial forum for participants to talk about, quite simply, how they would like to die.? Hopefully, expressing wishes out loud will lead to having an end-of-life plan in place with family and healthcare providers.
"How would you like to be remembered?"
The concept cames from chef Michael Hebb, a TEDMED 2013 speaker, and Scott Macklin, a Teaching Fellow and Associate Director at the University of Washington?s (UW) Digital Media program. ?Hebb says humans have an innate urge to communicate over a meal:
The table and the fire are where we first concentrated calories by cooking. It is where we as a species made a massive evolutionary exchange, trading big bellies and small brains for small bellies and big brains, thus beginning a long history of the table shaping our culture ? from its genesis eating together and talking together are undeniably linked to our physical, mental and cultural DNA.
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Clearly, many things have happened during the history of eating together; wars have ended, countless marriages have been proposed? but most importantly, it is the place where relationships are most reliably deepened. There is a safety and comfort among food and drink, and a sense that issues of gravity can be discussed ? in fact, the main event of any shared meal is not the cuisine, it is the conversation.
A web site devoted to the experience, www.deathoverdinner.org, which will be fully operational this summer, will share ideas for hosting dinners devoted to morbidity and will invite users to share their stories in its online community. It?s also the basis of a new UW course. The enterprise is a division of the non-profit Engage With Grace, and two TEDMED partners, Shirley Bergin and Jonathan Ellenthal, are advisors.
Michael Hebb
And what?s the ideal menu for such a dinner?? First, Hebb says, serve something you know how to cook.
Unless you are a culinary wizard I wouldn?t suggest molecular gastronomy, or any new kitchen terrain. Make something that makes you happy, both to prepare and to eat. The obvious response is comfort foods.? My only caution here is that I think the meal should be as in-season and healthy as possible. Heavy cream and starched-based dishes often do not allow for nimble emotions and conversation.
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If you drink adult beverages, have them handy, but I wouldn?t say this is a night to empty many bottles. The most important thing here is to have the conversation. If you have a fireplace and can set the table in its glow, great. But even if it means eating takeout on the couch, connecting with loved ones around these issues is the goal, and these conversations will make our lives more poignant and meaningful.
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For more about the project, visit www.deathoverdinner.org and follow #deathoverdinner.
NEW YORK (AP) ? T-Mobile USA, the struggling No. 4 cellphone company, is ditching plans centered on familiar two-year contracts in favor of selling phones on installment plans.
T-Mobile is the first major U.S. carrier to break from the contract model. The company changed its website over the weekend to begin selling the new plans. It plans to lay out the rationale for the change on Tuesday at an event in New York, which could also reveal when T-Mobile will start selling the iPhone.
T-Mobile has been losing subscribers from its contract-based plans for more than two years, chiefly to bigger competitors Verizon Wireless and AT&T. T-Mobile has done better with contract-less, prepaid plans, but those aren't as profitable for the company.
The new plan blurs the boundaries between the two types. Prepaid plans have lower monthly fees, but the buyer usually has to pay full or nearly full price for the phones. With T-Mobile's new plans, the initial phone-buying experience won't be much different from what it's like for contract plans, but customers could save money in the long run.
For instance, someone who wants a Samsung Galaxy S III would pay $70 upfront and then $90 per month for unlimited calling, text and data. That monthly fee includes $20 to pay off the cost of the phone over two years.
By separating the cost of the phone from the service, T-Mobile is making its plans and upgrade options easier to understand. When the phone is paid off, the $20 fee in that example disappears. On traditional contract-based plans, the buyer is deemed to have "paid off" the phone after a certain period of time and become eligible for a new, subsidized phone, but the monthly payments don't decline.
As before, T-Mobile's prices generally undercut those of the bigger phone companies. The chief downside is that its data network coverage is poorer in rural areas.
T-Mobile stopped short of adopting shared-data plans that Verizon Wireless and AT&T introduced last year. Those plans allow all of a family's devices to share a pool of monthly data usage. Instead, T-Mobile is selling data per line in three tiers. The talk and text portion of the plan comes with 500 megabytes of data usage per month. Adding $10 bumps that to 2 gigabytes per month, while adding $20 provides unlimited data.
A big part of the reason for the exodus of contract-signing customers from T-Mobile is that it, alone among the four national-level cellphone carriers, hasn't sold the iPhone. That's because its network has, until recently, not been able to offer high-speed data service to iPhones. It's now able to offer high-speed data to iPhones in some cities, and in January, the company said it would start selling the iPhone this spring. It has also been trying to persuade iPhone owners whose contracts have expired with AT&T to move their phones to T-Mobile.
T-Mobile is a unit of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, which has agreed to merge it with No. 5 carrier MetroPCS Communications Inc. That deal faces opposition from shareholders of MetroPCS, which provides only prepaid service.
Los Angeles, CA (March 25, 2012) While the media is replete with examples of "normal" men who seek out prostitutes regularly, how common are prostitute-seeking men and how much do they differ from men in the normal population? According to a new comparison study by Dr. Martin A. Monto, University of Portland, and Dr. Christine Milrod, only about 14% of men across the U.S. have ever paid for sex in their lives and only 1% of those men had done so in the previous year. In addition, the majority of these men do not possess any "peculiar" qualities that distinguish them from the normal population. The study was published in the SAGE journal International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJO).
"Our findings clearly contradict the 'john next door' notion perpetuated by some media," Dr. Milrod stated. "While it is noteworthy to recognize that the 1% of adult men who paid for sex in 2010 still result in a large number of customers, there is no credible evidence to support the idea that hiring sex workers is a common or conventional aspect of masculine sexual behavior among men in the United States."
The researchers also found that men who actively seek out prostitutes do not possess any "peculiar" qualities that would differentiate them from men in the normal population. In fact, arrested customers are only slightly less likely to be married, slightly more likely to be working full-time, slightly more sexually liberal, and slightly less likely to be White than men who have not been clients of prostitutes.
A small group of highly active customers, such as those who were never arrested and who sought out sex workers listed on a prostitute review website, were found to differ substantially from men who do not pay for sex. A substantial portion of these married White men earn over 120K annually, have graduate degrees, and are more sexually liberal than any of the other groups in the study. Additionally, they do not exhibit any mental impairment.
Dr. Milrod discussed the implications of this finding, "Privileged men, such as our wealthier sample of review website clients, are generally not marginalized or threatened due to their sexual behavior. In contrast, customers associated with street prostitution are likely to have fewer financial and social resources and it could be argued that these men are explicitly targeted by law enforcement in marginalized areas or transitional neighborhoods. The emphasis on teaching about 'sex addiction' and 'healthy relationships' to arrested men further supports the notion that customers of street prostitutes are endowed with some form of psychopathology that needs reorientation toward more accepted forms of sexual relations. The focus on treatment fails to separate paying for sex and being psychologically impaired."
###
Find out more by reading the article "Ordinary or Peculiar Men? Comparing the Customers of Prostitutes with a Nationally Representative Sample of Men" in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, free for a limited time here: http://ijo.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/03/12/0306624X13480487.full.pdf+html.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJO), peer-reviewed and published bi-monthly for more than five decades, has provided therapists, counselors, researchers, forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, criminologists and policy makers with challenging research on topics including; violent crime, sexual offending, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, criminal profiling, and risk assessment. There is an emphasis on the treatment of the offender--both as to theory and for clinical practice.
Impact Factor: 0.840
Ranked: 52 out of 73 in Psychology, Applied and 24 out of 50 in Criminology & Penology
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com
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How common is 'The John Next Door'?Public release date: 25-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Los Angeles, CA (March 25, 2012) While the media is replete with examples of "normal" men who seek out prostitutes regularly, how common are prostitute-seeking men and how much do they differ from men in the normal population? According to a new comparison study by Dr. Martin A. Monto, University of Portland, and Dr. Christine Milrod, only about 14% of men across the U.S. have ever paid for sex in their lives and only 1% of those men had done so in the previous year. In addition, the majority of these men do not possess any "peculiar" qualities that distinguish them from the normal population. The study was published in the SAGE journal International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJO).
"Our findings clearly contradict the 'john next door' notion perpetuated by some media," Dr. Milrod stated. "While it is noteworthy to recognize that the 1% of adult men who paid for sex in 2010 still result in a large number of customers, there is no credible evidence to support the idea that hiring sex workers is a common or conventional aspect of masculine sexual behavior among men in the United States."
The researchers also found that men who actively seek out prostitutes do not possess any "peculiar" qualities that would differentiate them from men in the normal population. In fact, arrested customers are only slightly less likely to be married, slightly more likely to be working full-time, slightly more sexually liberal, and slightly less likely to be White than men who have not been clients of prostitutes.
A small group of highly active customers, such as those who were never arrested and who sought out sex workers listed on a prostitute review website, were found to differ substantially from men who do not pay for sex. A substantial portion of these married White men earn over 120K annually, have graduate degrees, and are more sexually liberal than any of the other groups in the study. Additionally, they do not exhibit any mental impairment.
Dr. Milrod discussed the implications of this finding, "Privileged men, such as our wealthier sample of review website clients, are generally not marginalized or threatened due to their sexual behavior. In contrast, customers associated with street prostitution are likely to have fewer financial and social resources and it could be argued that these men are explicitly targeted by law enforcement in marginalized areas or transitional neighborhoods. The emphasis on teaching about 'sex addiction' and 'healthy relationships' to arrested men further supports the notion that customers of street prostitutes are endowed with some form of psychopathology that needs reorientation toward more accepted forms of sexual relations. The focus on treatment fails to separate paying for sex and being psychologically impaired."
###
Find out more by reading the article "Ordinary or Peculiar Men? Comparing the Customers of Prostitutes with a Nationally Representative Sample of Men" in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, free for a limited time here: http://ijo.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/03/12/0306624X13480487.full.pdf+html.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJO), peer-reviewed and published bi-monthly for more than five decades, has provided therapists, counselors, researchers, forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, criminologists and policy makers with challenging research on topics including; violent crime, sexual offending, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, criminal profiling, and risk assessment. There is an emphasis on the treatment of the offender--both as to theory and for clinical practice.
Impact Factor: 0.840
Ranked: 52 out of 73 in Psychology, Applied and 24 out of 50 in Criminology & Penology
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ? North Dakota didn't set out to become the abortion debate's new epicenter.
It happened by accident, after a legislative caucus that once vetted abortion bills languished, leaving lawmakers to propose a flurry of measures ? some cribbed from Wikipedia ? without roadblocks.
Long dismissed as cold and inconsequential, North Dakota is now trying to enact the toughest abortion restrictions in the nation. The newly oil-rich red state may soon find itself in a costly battle over legislation foes describe as blatantly unconstitutional.
"It had to happen some place," said Sen. John Andrist, a Crosby Republican who has served in the Legislature for more than two decades.
"I'm from the group who hates voting on abortion issues and who don't like to play God," said Andrist, who describes himself as "moderately pro-life" and has voted for some but not all of the restrictions North Dakota has taken up this year. "But we have some strong-willed people in this state who do."
Lawmakers on Friday took a step toward outlawing abortion altogether in the state by passing a so-called personhood resolution that says a fertilized egg has the same right to life as a person. The House's approval sends the matter to voters, who will decide whether to add the wording to the state's constitution in November 2014.
It's one of several anti-abortion measures to pass the Legislature. Most are awaiting the signature of Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who hasn't yet indicated whether he supports the laws. Even if he were to veto them, some could have the support for the Legislature to override him.
One bill would prohibit abortion if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Another would make North Dakota the only state to prohibit women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome.
Though similar proposals in other states have faced fierce opposition, almost all of the anti-abortion measures in North Dakota this year have passed with little debate and with overwhelming support. One Democrat, Sen. Connie Triplett, walked out of the Senate in a silent protest during debate last week on the genetic abnormalities bill, knowing her vote wouldn't keep the measure from passing.
The only significant measure to fail so far was a second personhood bill debated Friday that would have automatically defined in state law that life begins at conception. Lawmakers worried the wording would jeopardize couples' efforts to get pregnant using in vitro fertilization.
So why is this happening in North Dakota, and why now?
The answer lies in part with the disintegration of an anti-abortion caucus that used to take the lead on introducing bills aimed at the procedure. Longtime Sen. Tim Mathern, a Democrat from Fargo who once led the caucus, said the group favored a more gradual approach to ending abortion in the state, focusing on measures it thought would withstand legal challenges. Without the caucus, some of the Legislature's most ardent abortion opponents are taking up the cause, introducing bills crafted by out-of-state organizations or from examples found on the Internet.
Mathern, a Roman Catholic, fears the approach could backfire in the courts and with the state's residents.
"In the long term, no question, it hurts," he said.
The caucus that once helped organize and streamline anti-abortion proposals didn't formally go away. Mathern said it just "petered out little by little" in recent years, amid disagreements over what approach to take with legislation.
The group often whittled proposals down to just a few, if any, bills each session that had the backing of lawmakers and national anti-abortion groups.
"The problem was we could never get all the groups on the same page," Bismarck Republican Sen. Margaret Sitte said.
Sitte introduced some of this year's anti-abortion measures, including the "personhood" resolution. She said the idea came from her heart ? with inspiration from former President Ronald Reagan and legal language lifted from an online encyclopedia.
"There was no grandiose plan," Sitte said, adding that the template for the personhood resolution came from a quick web search. "It came from Wikipedia."
Sitte and other abortion foes acknowledge they want to shut down North Dakota's only abortion clinic, which is in Fargo, the state's largest city. They also hope to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually around 22 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said the measures are backed by large anti-abortion organizations or smaller "fringe" groups.
"None of the bills originated in North Dakota. All the bills came from out of state, every single one of them," Goldberg said.
Critics of North Dakota's proposals say the state of about 700,000 residents is setting itself up for a costly legal battle that would be tough to win.
North Dakota is uniquely positioned to undertake an expensive legal fight. Fueled by the unprecedented oil bonanza in the western part of the state, North Dakota boasts a nearly $2 billion state budget surplus and has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation.
Still, the record production that has thrust the state to the nation's No. 2 oil producer behind Texas also has brought challenges, including more crime brought on by an exploding population and torn-up roads from increased traffic. Hundreds of millions of dollars in new housing construction and infrastructure improvements haven't kept pace.
Rep. Kathy Hawken, a Republican from Fargo who supports legal abortion, said she believes most of the state's residents would prefer to see lawmakers focus on other issues, such as taxes and education.
"This is not coming from here, from the people of our state. It's coming from out of state," she said of the anti-abortion legislation.
Hawken is among a bipartisan group of about 10 lawmakers who have urged Dalrymple to veto anti-abortion measures.
"We're clearly not the brightest bulbs in the bunch if we take a legal medical procedure and try and make it illegal," she said.
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Follow James MacPherson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/macphersonja.
Editor?s note:?Maria Rocio Paniagua currently works as a project manager at?
THE SPORTS DESK
Following today's rumor that Apple was quietly polling developers at this week's Game Developers Conference about support for a forthcoming gaming controller for iOS devices, the ever-reliable Jim Dalrymple has quickly quashed that report. 
We've seen countless upcycled and hacked together projects with wood shipping pallets over the years, and more often than not they're ugly, but totally useful. Pallets are great for the DIYer because they're cheap and easy to work with, but you do need to pay close attention to what you're grabbing. 
At a glance, wood pallets are ugly, cheap wood that most people wouldn't bother using for kindling, let alone make a table out of one. Oddly, that's really the appeal of them. They're essentially Legos for adults because they can be turned into just about anything with minimal effort or skill.
As you'd expect with anything that's using reclaimed materials, you need to watch what you're doing with pallets. As cabinetmaker and blogger Nike Love points out, pallets get exposed to everything from harsh chemicals to mold and bugs. Which is to say, even if a pallet looks good, you probably shouldn't be using it for a children's bed or a dining room table. As CBS News points out, pallets come into contact with all types of crazy things in their journeys, so it's important to pay attention to what you're grabbing.
How would you like to die?? How would you like to be remembered?? And what?s the best death you?ve ever seen?
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Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
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