Sunday, March 31, 2013

Earning Extra Money Online From Home | Content for Reprint

Author: Mike Zupp | Total views: 175 Comments: 0
Word Count: 952 Date:

Are you on a quest to unravel the mystery of how to earn instant online profits? There are all sorts of ways to do this, however the most sure-fire way is most likely by getting involved in Affiliate Marketing.

A normal person can get into Affiliate Marketing using his or her own advertising efforts as an Affiliate to bring people to the Affiliate Vendor's internet site. The Affiliate gets paid a commission when that visitor purchases the Vendor's item. Often, commissions are earned just by the Affiliate entering their name and email address into a Vendors online form!

As soon as you select which item to advertise, you acquire what's called an "affiliate link". This stringy link contains your Affiliate ID so that, when clicked on during the purchase process, the Affiliate Vendor knows to pay you your commission. The most widely known Affiliate Marketing sites are Amazon, Clickbank, Ebay Partner Network and Commission Junction, to name a few. These business have a multitude of products in several niches for your choosing.

Nonetheless, in order to figure out how to earn instant online profits with Affiliate Marketing, you need to know where to take the initial step.

The first move is to choose a niche that you would like to sell in. Ideally, select a specific niche that you are passionate about; a subject that you might be able to discuss all day, since it's easier to advertise things that interest you. Some good examples of prevailing niches are Relationships, E-Business & Marketing and Health & Fitness, to name but a few.

You'll need to google the "Google Keyword Tool" and "Google Trends" to research your niche and product in a strategic, insightful manner. Google Trends will tell you if your niche is still in the mainstream and you can use the Google Keyword Tool to see if your chosen niche keywords are getting a decent amount of search traffic every month.

Next comes your affiliate product selection. Only pick high-grade products whose Vendors can demonstrate their successful sales record. You need that special something that's going to rid your buyer of their pain and solve a huge problem they've been faced with that has kept them up at night worrying!

So now that your niche and product selection process is done, it's time to discover how to earn instant online profits by putting the following handy tips into action:

You can start off by building a product review site. Basically, you summarize the pros and cons of the product in a short article that needs to appear unbiased. Thus, it would be a good idea to actually purchase the item so you can put forward your opinion in a thorough, honest manner. However, in these tough economic times you may have to opt instead for looking around forums and other testimonial sites of your particular product to gather enough information for your review. Always remember to sprinkle your affiliate link throughout your review post, of course!

You can also jump on the social media band wagon by setting up either a Facebook fan page or a tab on your current business page. This should distinctively display your sales item in a monetized fashion or at least bring your fans right to your affiliate sales form.

You've probably heard mention of "squeeze" or "landing" pages before, right? Well, their purpose is to "squeeze" information, like names and email addresses, out of prospects and they can be built right inside Facebook or take the form of a one page website. You then take that assembled information and put it all into an autoresponder system. "AWeber" is an excellent place to open one of these types of accounts. What happens next is that your prospective clients get a series of email messages in their inbox automatically over the course of a week or two. The first emails should be "warm and friendly" since you'll need to build a relationship with your readers to get them to know and like you. After a while, you'll hopefully build up enough trust that your audience will click on your cleverly inserted links in the later emails and end up as paying customers!
Of course, the option is always there to put your affiliate product in the limelight by posting a quick review on your personal blog that contains your affiliate link, of course.

You can also harness the power of YouTube by creating personal video reviews of your affiliate product and uploading them to your YouTube channel. Better still, you can embed the videos into your product review site! This could also increase your search engine ranking, as Google owns YouTube and loves it when videos are featured in blogs.

Another effective approach would be to join online forums that are relevant to your chosen niche. Don't just go in there and start selling your product right away: Instead, participate in conversations and answer questions to help people out, at first. Then, after some time, you can start mentioning your product, showing the forum members how it can solve their problems or meet their needs.

The above pointers are simply a few ideas to illustrate how to earn instant online profits. You can mix and match these different approaches to suit your particular product-and throw in any other new techniques you come across as well, of course!
I hope you obtained some useful insight into the Realm of Affiliate Marketing by reading this. There's nothing to stop you from immediately launching your affiliate product promotion now!

For more information about making money online check out the Instant Online Profits Review. I'm sure you'll be quite impressed with it!

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1: Understanding Online Business Success

Starting a home based business to earn income online takes a significant amount of time and energy upfront to get things going. Not seeing results immediately can be discouraging and cause people to give up too early. In this article, we look at the process of starting a home based business and working through the frustrations to be there when the sales come flowing in.

2: Why You Need To Build Multiple Streams of Income For Yourself

Being an entrepreneur and earning multiple streams of income is a dream that many have, but in reality it does take some initial hard work to achieve this. Earning multiple streams of income is the wave of the future, and here are some tips and advice for you when you are looking for ways in which to do this for yourself.

3: Article Marketing Strategy: Putting Together a "Class Schedule" For Your Article Topics

Businesses go to so much trouble when there is one sure-fire, simple, very inexpensive way to attract new clients to a business: Teach a free class. That is what article marketing is like. Your articles are just like free classes. You teach your target readers something helpful in your article. Your resource box then says, "If you enjoyed this article you can visit my website and apply what you have learned."

4: What is Cyber Marketing And Why It Is So Important For The Success Of Your Website

Cyber marketing has now become an indispensable segment of e-commerce as well as the internet and World Wide Web related topics. Cyber marketing simply refers to a technique of attracting potential customers by advertising your products or services through such means as websites, emails, and banners.

5: The Best Way To Optimise Your Website SEO For Google Panda

If you want your SEO to work you now need to concentrate on appeasing Google Panda, and to do this you need to know what Google Panda's spiders/bots will be looking for. Find out here how to search engine optimise your website for the latest Google Panda algorithm, and achieve the success you deserve.

Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/internet-marketing/earning-extra-money-online-from-home.htm

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Movie Week In Review: The Host with the Most

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/movie-week-in-review-the-host-with-the-most/

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"You are Here" Method to Success - The Self Improvement Blog

We all have dreams and aspirations. Some of us know exactly how to get there and have mapped out the path from a very early age. Others however, have a much harder time trying to find out how to get there. It is not the destination that seems so scary on a long journey, but rather the starting point and duration.

I was walking around the Mall of America the other week on a date to a restaurant inside the mall. Looking as dapper as can be, I found myself a little lost in the great abyss that the Mall of America is. Anyone who has ever been in the mall can conquer, that it is one giant maze of pure capitalism. Reluctantly, I looked at the map stand that will both guide me to the restaurant and crush my masculinity for the night.

Upon looking at the series of squares adorned with letters and numbers, I came across an event that I knew all too well. I had found my place of destination almost?immediately (no thanks to my off-kilter sense of direction) but was struggling to find the little blue dot that indicated where in the world I was. I spent nearly twice the amount of time looking for where I was in the mall, then where I actually wanted to go.

Many times, we know exactly where we want to go, and exactly how to do it. But we forget to first take a hard look at where we are first.

And we must do this in such a way that we not only look at what we have physically, but to look at ourselves intrinsically to evaluate what types of beliefs, values, and opinions we have before embarking on our journey to the end point.

Before embarking on a specific mission, we tend to forget to properly assess how much we have physically. This would mean, before leaving for said destination, taking a deeper look into financials, as far as assets and liabilities and taking a look into how much living plus the journey or end point will cost them.

This isn?t just a financial point either. One should also look into time as a means of currency. How much time do you have to put into this specific process? How much time does this and other obligations require? These forms of logical questions before beginning large, timely, expensive projects are essential to get a feel for how you will manage yourself during, and after the project is done.

Take into consideration a gentleman that is considering leaving his job for other opportunities. This man does not simply throw everything from his desk the next time his manager sets something on his desk the wrong way, but rather, he silently looks for other opportunities, while accounting for pay differences, driving times, and bills he must pay before taking his glorious walk out of the company he dislikes.

It provides a smooth road map for success when taking an advanced look at you and your situation.

On the social-emotional side of matters, you must also take a deeper look introspectively. This process will aid you in finding out whether you as a person is fit for a given project. Does the project fit the values that you hold true? Will the project challenge you to adopt or learn about new values?

?When you glance at the type of emotional tole the task at hand will take on you, you can both minimize damage and maximize growth.

For example, a student that is planning on studying abroad that does look at the type of emotional tole culture shock will have on them, will not only be better prepared to cope by having ready and familiar with it, but is better equipped to learn because they have less recovery time and a greater understanding of their situation.

To finish the story of my date at the mall, once we got there, we decided that the line was far too long and we didn?t want to end up waiting that long to get a seat. We had to re-route our entire nights plans based on the fact that this place was so busy and we had no chance of getting in within the hour.

But luckily we found a restaurant near the one we had planned on going to with around the same type of menu that we both enjoyed. The process took a little bit of sitting around and discussing what the two of us wanted, didn?t want, could afford, etc. And that?s the beauty of the method, it?s never too late to look at where you are and to make adjustments to your original plan. It simply just takes a little time to think and access, and a carefully thought-out decision making process.

To conclude, you will always?have a better idea of where you are going and have an easier time getting there, if you know where you are, how to get there, and where you?re coming from.

Nick Erickson is a young journalist from Minnesota with big dreams for the future.He is currently a Junior at Saint Cloud State University, where he will graduate with a degree in Journalism and Creative Writing. In his free time, Nick enjoys spending time with his family and friends, watching whatever sports the television has to offer, working out and staying active, and reading and writing rhetoric. He is a semi-experienced liver of life who enjoys finding ways to make it more interesting and productive.

Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/featured/you-are-here-method-to-success/

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Kristen Bell Gives Birth to a Girl!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/kristen-bell-gives-birth-a-girl/

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I met you, fate

(Sunday, 31 March 2013 / 01:21)


Met baby just for dinner today. We went to 18 chefs again! (Oh god I'm reminded of how blur I was and paid a few bucks more for nothing... T_T) We had main course, drink, ice cream and waffle. OH-NO. It was too much for my stomach. Gah. Nevertheless, a good photo of the yummy waffle. Service was quite bad... Not sure why. It has always been good. I anticipate the new outlet in Cineleisure! :D

Was too full to have any more food so we went to walk around and chill for the day :) Walked from PS after getting a drink from Hiccup to Ion. Then I bought socks! Cutie jap socks <3 Lazy to upload photo... Check my instagram hehe. @Nuttybunny_


Chilled outside Ion until this lupsup man with his partner decided to sit so close to me, making me feel uncomfortable... GAH. Tehn we headed to food opera to camwhore a bit. (many thoughts about this. SIGH. But I will still do it my way)

YAY OR NAY TO COLOURED HAIR? :D

Headed home about 11pm. So late right... I wanted to play dance dance LOL. So that kinda marks my day.


Oh and also not forgetting my OOTD of the day :D + a Hello Kitty tote.

???

Source: http://she-lived-a-century.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_31.html

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Amazon to buy book review site Goodreads?

Amazon.com Inc., the world's biggest online retailer that got its start in bookselling, has agreed to buy book recommendations site Goodreads.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Amazon said Thursday that it "shares a passion for reinventing reading," with Goodreads.

"Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world," said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle content for Amazon. "In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike."

In addition to recommending books based on other books members have reported liking, Goodreads also serves as a social network for bookworms. It was founded in 2007 and now has 16 million members.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. says Goodreads' headquarters will remain in San Francisco.

Shares of Seattle-based Amazon closed up $1.19 at $266.49.

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

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a1bf9dc/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Camazon0Ebuy0Ebook0Ereview0Esite0Egoodreads0E1C9133474/story01.htm

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Giant robot jellyfish reporting for recon duty, sir (video)

Massive robot jellyfish reporting for recon duty, sir (video)

As if there weren't enough real jellyfish around to trigger our thalassophobia, researchers at Virginia Tech have created Cryo -- an eight-armed autonomous robot that mimics jelly movement with the help of a flexible silicone hat. The man-sized jellybot altogether dwarfs previous efforts, hence the upgrade from small tank to swimming pool for mock field tests. And unlike the passively propelled bots we've seen recently, Cryo runs on batteries, with the researchers hoping to better replicate the energy-efficient nature of jelly movement to eventually increase Cryo's charge cycle to months instead of hours. That's also the reason these robotic jellyfish are getting bigger -- because the larger they are, the further they can go. Potential uses include ocean monitoring and perhaps clearing oil spills, but the US Navy, which is funding the work, sees an opportunity to recruit jellies for underwater surveillance -- a job the researchers say is suited to their natural-looking disguise. But, before the tables are turned, you can spy on Cryo for yourself in the video below.

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Via: Wired

Source: Virginia Tech (Vimeo)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/virginia-tech-robot-jellyfish/

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European Commission Eyes Modernisation Of EU Trademark System

European Commission plans to update Europe?s trademark system are generally good news for mark owners, a member of European brand owners? association MARQUES has said.

In draft documents published on 27 March, the EC said it intends to streamline and harmonise registration procedures; modernise outdated provisions; boost the fight against counterfeit goods transiting through European territory; and improve cooperation between national trademark offices and the EU Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM).

While practitioners are still studying the details, several key changes will definitely benefit intellectual property rights holders, said David Stone, of Simmons & Simmons in London, a member of the MARQUES Study Task Force which analysed them.

Europe?s trademark system ?has stood the test of time,? Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said at a 28 March press briefing. ?There is no need for a major overhaul: the foundations of our system remain perfectly valid.? Rather, he said, the EC wants ?well-targeted modernisation to make trademark protection easier, cheaper, and more effective.?

The legislation package has three parts. One [pdf] is a ?recast? of Directive 2008/95/EC, which brings national laws on trademarks closer together. The second [pdf] revises a 1994 regulation (207/2009/EC) on the European Community trademark. The third piece revamps a 1995 EC regulation on trademark fees payable to OHIM. An EC memo on the proposed change is here.

Among other things, the draft measures change the terminology ?Community trade mark? into ?European trade mark? and set out streamlined filing and registration procedures. They remove the requirement that a trademark have ?graphic representability,? allowing sounds and other marks using new technologies to be registered. The new system, if adopted, will extend protection to geographical indications. It also requires mandatory cooperation between OHIM and national IP offices to promote convergence of practices and development of common tools.

Application and Renewal Charges Fall

One key change will see OHIM move from a three-class to a pay-per-class system. Stone told Intellectual Property Watch. Trademarks on products and services are registered according to 45 classes established years ago, he said. For example, Class 32 relates to non-alcoholic beverages and beers, Classes 35-45 to entertainment, legal and other services, he said. Trademark applicants who file now get three classes for the 900-euro fee whether they actually need all three or not, but under the new regime they will be able to seek marks in only one class for a fee of 775 euros. Renewal rates will drop for everyone, he said.

This is good for trademark owners because in general, application fees will decrease or stay the same and applicants will have more choice, Stone said. Where there has traditionally been concern is from national trademark offices. When it becomes less expensive to file at OHIM and obtain protection across the entire EU, those bodies may worry about lost revenue, he said.

Tougher Anti-Counterfeiting Rules

Another major shift concerns EU customs procedure, Stone said. Under current rules, goods on the tarmac at, say, Heathrow Airport which are in transit from China to the US aren?t considered to be in the EU or subject to EU trademark law, he said. If those goods are counterfeit, there?s nothing mark owners can do because of that ?legal fiction,? he said.

Under a 1 December 2011 European Court of Justice ruling (Cases C-446/09 Philips and C-495/09 Nokia), such goods can only be classified as counterfeit when there is proof that they?re intended for sale or will be advertised in the EU, the EC proposal says. That approach has ?met with strong criticism from stakeholders as placing an inappropriately high burden of proof on rights holders, and hindering the fight against counterfeiting,? it says. The EC proposed allowing rights owners to stop third parties from bringing into EU customs territory goods from non-EU countries carrying unauthorised trademarks essentially identical to the European marks registered for those products, whether they are released into circulation or not.

The directive and regulation must be approved by the European Parliament and Council; the new fees by the relevant EC committee on OHIM fees. EU member states are bound by regulations as soon as they become effective, but have some leeway as to how they adopt directives into national law. If the proposed directive is approved by spring 2014, it will have to be made part of national legislation by 2019, the EC said.

Source: http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/03/28/european-commission-eyes-modernisation-of-eu-trademark-system/

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Sprint Epic 4G Touch will receive Android Jelly Bean update today

DNP Sprint Epic 4G Touch Jelly Bean update starts today

Sprint's Galaxy S 4 recently took one step towards being ready for mass consumption, however the carrier hasn't forgotten the device's forefathers. We've received a memo from an anonymous tipster advising that the Epic 4G Touch is set to make the jump to Jelly Bean (Android 4.1, to be exact) starting sometime today. The new software bump will come directly from Samsung and will require a visit to an external website that has yet to go live. The memo also notes that in order to perform the update, you'll need access to a rig with Windows 7, Vista or XP -- in other words, OS X and Windows 8 users will have to visit a Sprint store to get their fix. For those fortunate enough to gain access in the coming hours, let us know how it's treating you in comments below.

[Thanks, anonymous]

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/28/sprint-epic-4g-touch-jelly-bean-update/

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Dana-Farber Scientists find potential loophole in pancreatic cancer defenses

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists and colleagues have discovered that pancreatic cancer cells' growth and spread are fueled by an unusual metabolic pathway that someday might be blocked with targeted drugs to control the deadly cancer.

Cancer cells are known to "rewire" their metabolic circuits differently from normal cells to provide energy for cancerous growth. A study published today in Naturereveals that pancreatic tumor cells are dependent on an amino acid, glutamine, which they utilize via a molecular pathway that has no apparent backup system.

"Pancreatic cancer cells have painted themselves into a metabolic bottleneck," said Dana-Farber's Alec Kimmelman, MD, PhD, co-senior author of the publication with Lewis Cantley, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medical College. Their research showed "that if you suppress any enzyme in that pathway, the cancer cells cannot effectively compensate and they can no longer grow," Kimmelman said.

Moreover, the investigators said, this novel glutamine pathway in pancreatic tumors does not appear to be important for normal cells, suggesting that inhibitor drugs could block cancer cells' growth without harming healthy tissues and organs.

"We don't have a drug to do this in humans," Kimmelman said, "but we are working on inhibitors of enzymes in the glutamine pathway."

The research showed that the cancer gene KRAS, which is the "signature" genetic mutation occurring in pancreatic cancer, directs the metabolic rewiring that creates the tumors' dependence on the glutamine pathway. KRAS, Kimmelman explained, changes the expression of key enzymes that maintain this pathway.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal and treatment-resistant of all cancers, with a dismal survival rate, and scientists have been searching for any vulnerability that could be exploited. One of the newer strategies in cancer research is studying the metabolic differences between cancer cells and normal cells with the goal of depriving tumors of their fuel.

In order to grow, cells must prevent the accumulation of damaging oxygen "free radicals," and they do so by maintaining a chemical "redox balance." The researchers found that when they blocked any of several enzyme reactions in the glutamine pathway, it undermined redox balance and suppressed the growth of human pancreatic cancer cells transplanted to mice.

If drugs can be developed to shut down the glutamine pathway, Kimmelman suggested, they might make pancreatic tumors more susceptible to standard treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy, that cause free radicals to accumulate in cancer cells.

###

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: http://www.dfci.harvard.edu

Thanks to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 23 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127494/Dana_Farber_Scientists_find_potential_loophole_in_pancreatic_cancer_defenses

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Brain's 'molecular memory switch' identified

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Scientists have identified a key molecule responsible for triggering the chemical processes in our brain linked to our formation of memories. The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Neural Circuits, reveal a new target for therapeutic interventions to reverse the devastating effects of memory loss.

The BBSRC-funded research, led by scientists at the University of Bristol, aimed to better understand the mechanisms that enable us to form memories by studying the molecular changes in the hippocampus -- the part of the brain involved in learning.

Previous studies have shown that our ability to learn and form memories is due to an increase in synaptic communication called Long Term Potentiation [LTP]. This communication is initiated through a chemical process triggered by calcium entering brain cells and activating a key enzyme called 'Ca2+ responsive kinase' [CaMKII]. Once this protein is activated by calcium it triggers a switch in its own activity enabling it to remain active even after the calcium has gone. This special ability of CaMKII to maintain its own activity has been termed 'the molecular memory switch'.

Until now, the question still remained as to what triggers this chemical process in our brain that allows us to learn and form long-term memories. The research team, comprising scientists from the University's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, conducted experiments using the common fruit fly [Drosophila] to analyse and identify the molecular mechanisms behind this switch. Using advanced molecular genetic techniques that allowed them to temporarily inhibit the flies' memory the team were able to identify a gene called CASK as the synaptic molecule regulating this 'memory switch'.

Dr James Hodge, the study's lead author, said: "Fruit flies are remarkably compatible for this type of study as they possess similar neuronal function and neural responses to humans. Although small they are very smart, for instance, they can land on the ceiling and detect that the fruit in your fruit bowl has gone off before you can."

"In experiments whereby we tested the flies' learning and memory ability, involving two odours presented to the flies with one associated with a mild shock, we found that around 90 per cent were able to learn the correct choice remembering to avoid the odour associated with the shock. Five lessons of the odour with punishment made the fly remember to avoid that odour for between 24 hours and a week, which is a long time for an insect that only lives a couple of months."

By localising the function of the key molecules CASK and CaMKII to the flies' equivalent brain area to the human hippocampus, the team found that the flies lacking these genes showed disrupted memory formation. In repeat memory tests those lacking these key genes were shown to have no ability to remember at three hours (mid-term memory) and 24 hours (long-term memory) although their initial learning or short-term memory wasn't affected.

Finally, the team introduced a copy of the human CASK gene -- it is 80 per cent identical to the fly CASK gene -- into the genome of a fly that completely lacked its own CASK gene and was therefore not usually able to remember. The researchers found that flies which had a copy of the human CASK gene could remember like a normal wildtype fly.

Dr Hodge, from the University's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, said: "Research into memory is particularly important as it gives us our sense of identity, and deficits in learning and memory occur in many diseases, injuries and during aging."

"CASK's control of CaMKII 'molecular memory switch' is clearly a critical step in how memories are written into neurons in the brain. These findings not only pave the way for to developing new therapies which reverse the effects of memory loss but also prove the compatibility of Drosophila to model these diseases in the lab and screen for new drugs to treat these diseases. Furthermore, this work provides an important insight into how brains have evolved their huge capacity to acquire and store information."

These findings clearly demonstrate that neuronal function of CASK is conserved between flies and human, validating the use of Drosophila to understand CASK function in both the healthy and diseased brain. Mutations in human CASK gene have been associated with neurological and cognitive defects including severe learning difficulties.

The BBSRC-funded study, entitled 'CASK and CaMKII function in the mushroom body a'/?' neurons during Drosophila memory formation' by Bilal Rashid Malik, John Michael Gillespie, James John Llewellyn Hodge was published on Wednesday 27 March 2013 in the Frontiers in Neural Circuits Journal.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Bristol.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Bilal R. Malik, John Michael Gillespie, James J. L. Hodge. CASK and CaMKII function in the mushroom body ??/?? neurons during Drosophila memory formation. Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 2013; 7 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2013.00052

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/cT56pPuns70/130328125226.htm

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Cyberattack on anti-spam group has ripple effects

LONDON (AP) ? An Internet watchdog group responsible for keeping ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills out of inboxes around the world has been hit by a huge cyberattack, a crushing electronic onslaught that one expert said had already had ripple effects across the Web.

Spam-fighting organization Spamhaus said Wednesday that it had been buffeted by a massive denial-of-service attack since mid-March, apparently from groups angry at being blacklisted by the Geneva-based group.

"It is a small miracle that we're still online," Spamhaus researcher Vincent Hanna said in an interview.

Denial-of-service attacks work by overwhelming target servers with traffic ? like hundreds of letters being jammed through a mail slot at the same time. In a blog post, San Francisco-based CloudFlare, Inc. said the attackers were taking advantage of weaknesses in the Internet's infrastructure to trick servers from across the Internet into routing billions of bits of junk traffic to Spamhaus every second.

The attack could be bad news for email users, many of whose incoming messages are checked against Spamhaus's widely used and constantly updated blacklists.

Hanna said that his site had so far managed to stay on top of the spammers, but warned that being knocked offline could give them an opening to step up their mailings.

The sheer size of the attack has already affected Internet users elsewhere, according to Patrick Gilmore of Akamai Technologies.

He explained that colleagues at other Internet service providers had been in touch to say their services were affected by the attack. He declined to identify them ? saying they had shared the information on a confidential basis ? but said problems include sluggish access and dropped connections.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyberattack-anti-spam-group-ripple-effects-163411912--finance.html

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AP Photos: Washington island landslide (Providence Journal)

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How to Talk 21st-Century Shop

March 27, 2013 6:30 AM Text Size: A . A . A 3D Printing

Now available for as little as $500, 3D printers can turn almost any CAD creation into a physical object. Sophisticated desktop units such as this MakerBot Replicator 2X ($2800) use dual extruders to print in two colors of plastic.

Laser Cutting

Now available for as little as $500, 3D printers can turn almost any CAD creation into a physical object. Sophisticated desktop units such as this MakerBot Replicator 2X ($2800) use dual extruders to print in two colors of plastic.

CNC Routing/Milling

These two machines are similar in concept, but they operate differently. Routers direct a rotating bit to shape wood and plastic, while mills usually move the material (mills are good at cutting metal). Both are the inverse of a 3D printer, subtracting material instead of adding it.

Pressing & Stamping

A standby of large-scale industrial manufacturing, machine presses force the manufacturing material against a premade form. Stamping machines cut out shapes much as a cookie cutter does. Both kinds of machine can produce parts much faster than printers and milling machines, but they are not as flexible.

7 Easy Steps for Launching a Startup



Hydro/Vacuum Forming

Vacuum forming is great for making plastic parts, such as electronics casings and packaging, which are heated, then vacuum sealed to a mold, then cooled. Hydroforming, which uses liquid pressure instead of a vacuum, is better for metals and other heavy materials.

Injection Molding

Rather than pressing material against a mold, an injection molder? forces material into one. These high-volume machines make parts out of glass, metal, or plastic.

Square Payments

Online retailing may be frictionless, but sometimes you?re out in the physical world. Technologies such as Square turn a smartphone into a credit-card reader.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/gonzo/how-to-talk-21st-century-shop-15269130?src=rss

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Russia's top cop sets sights on opposition

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's top cop has a new star role at the heart of the Putin regime. His mission? Shut down the opposition.

Alexander Bastrykin's Investigative Committee has become President Vladimir Putin's de facto political police, accountable to him alone. The fearsome organization was given the new mandate after Putin returned for a third term as president last year, embittered and shaken by huge protests against his rule.

As new raids, arrests and charges hit the opposition seemingly every week, Bastrykin's inquisitorial zeal and the degree to which charges often strain credulity show how the Kremlin is ratcheting up its longstanding practice of using the law as a tool to crush political enemies.

"Bastrykin is a man who follows any order ? he'll shut anyone down on any charge ? and that's what makes him so valuable to Putin," Alexei Navalny, a leading anti-corruption activist embroiled in four separate legal battles with the Investigative Committee, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Russia's opposition, weakened and fractured after the protests petered out, is now forced to spend much of its time fighting often outlandish allegations from the Investigative Committee. Navalny is to go on trial in April on charges of leading an organized crime group that stole more than 10,000 cubic meters of timber worth 16 million rubles (about $500,000) while he worked for a provincial governor.

Several activists face charges based on a documentary-style TV show that said they were pawns of a minor Georgian lawmaker, Givi Targamadze, whom the show depicted as a murky figure working in league with rogue oligarchs to seize the Kremlin. When one of the defendants, Leonid Razvozzhayev, said he had been kidnapped in Ukraine and tortured into signing a confession, investigators deported him to Siberia on charges of stealing 500 fur hats in 1997, even though he had been cleared of the charges long ago.

"Those charges are obviously crazy and have no legal basis, but to some degree, that's part of the point," Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin political consultant, said. "It shows that all legal measures have been thrown out the window, and that scares people."

With Putin's backing, Bastrykin appears to have a free hand. Ostensibly, his agency is a Russian counterpart to the FBI, handling special crimes like murders, corruption cases and organized crime. In practice, however, the Investigative Committee recalls the FBI under its volatile founder J. Edgar Hoover, who abused the bureau's considerable power to harass dissenters and settle political scores.

Last June, the ruddy-faced Bastrykin drove Sergei Sokolov, a journalist at the fiercely anti-Putin newspaper Novaya Gazeta, into a wood near Moscow and threatened to behead him and dismember his body so that it could not be found. Sokolov fled the country in terror, returning only after Bastrykin apologized for what he called an "emotional outburst." Courts have rejected Navalny's appeals for an investigation into the incident.

Navalny's battle with Bastrykin has long crossed over into open enmity. A few weeks after Navalny appealed to have Bastrykin investigated last summer, Bastrykin publicly harangued investigators for closing a case against him, thundering from a podium: "There will be no forgiveness! There will be no mercy!"

The investigation was subsequently reopened. Navalny then published documents alleging Bastrykin had not paid taxes and used false documents when selling a Czech real estate firm.

Since then, Navalny has faced a torrent of accusations in the four criminal investigations, repeated again and again on Kremlin-friendly TV. One alleges he embezzled 100 million rubles (about $3.25 million) from a now-defunct opposition party in 2007, even though no members of the party reported any money stolen.

The legal onslaught has severely hampered the corruption-fighting organization Navalny runs by scaring away major donors and monopolizing his time. The threat of jail time, meanwhile, has been a factor in the waning protests, which once gathered upward of 100,000 people.

"They don't even need to put these people in jail," said Yuri Skuratov, Russia's prosecutor general from 1995 to 1999. "They just need the charges to hang over them like the Sword of Damocles so that they behave properly ? and if you start acting too radically, the investigators will come and get you."

In power since 2000, Putin faced major public discontent for the first time after his party won a parliamentary election in December 2011, helped by what independent observers considered widespread fraud. Protesters took to the streets, denouncing Putin and his loyal election commissioner Vladimir Churov, whom they dubbed "The Wizard." After Putin won his third term in March 2012, the Kremlin's attitude toward the protesters hardened.

"What's Putin's power essentially built around?" Navalny asked. "There's Churov, who falsifies the elections. There's TV, which tells you the elections weren't falsified. There's Bastrykin, who locks up everyone who says the elections were falsified. And there are the judges who do the same thing."

Bastrykin declined a request for an interview.

He was a little-known legal scholar in St. Petersburg when Putin, his university classmate, became Russia's president in 2000. Like so many residents of Putin's hometown with a connection to the new president, Bastrykin then moved into government, taking up a minor post in a regional branch of the Justice Ministry.

"Bastrykin's really a classic example of the Putin majority that we built 10 years ago, founded upon people with no hope," Pavlovsky said. "He didn't see a way forward for himself. Those were the people who understood that Putin's arrival was their last chance."

The Investigative Committee was founded in 2007 after high-level corruption scandals stoked long-held Kremlin fears that the prosecutor general's office had too much unchecked influence. Bastrykin's committee took over the office's investigative functions and became a full-fledged agency in 2011, answering directly to the president.

Russia's justice system gives Bastrykin the upper hand in court. Russian criminal cases are decided by judges on the basis of the investigator's case file, which is presumed to be correct, and the defense and judiciary are to a great extent excluded from the process.

As a result, more than 99 percent of trials result in convictions, according to Vadim Volkov and Kirill Titaev of the European University at St. Petersburg. Since a defendant's guilt is essentially assumed when he is charged, nearly 93 percent plead guilty immediately.

Bastrykin has made no secret of his desire for greater power still. To the ire of much of the Russian political and security establishment, Bastrykin is openly campaigning for the government to transfer all other security agencies' investigative functions to him.

"He's clearly not particularly adept at doing his job ? at no point did he cover himself with glory," Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University who studies Russian security agencies, said. "Now he's thrown himself into empire-building and made enemies he can't afford to make."

For now, the Investigative Committee seems to relish its status as bete noir among Russia's security agencies. Emboldened by Putin's faith in him, Bastrykin has turned it into his own personal fiefdom, with its own theme song, TV show, militaristic titles like "major-general of justice" and uniforms Bastrykin himself patterned after Stalin-era dress.

At a ceremony celebrating its two-year anniversary in February, Bastrykin harked back to a similar agency Peter the Great founded three centuries earlier to be "the eyes of the czar."

He further spelled out his crime-fighting vision in an interview to the Kommersant newspaper: "The only way to beat the mafia is to create your own mafia," Bastrykin is quoted as saying.

Navalny, for his part, is under no illusions about what he describes as his impending conviction.

"I'm philosophical about it," Navalny said. "They're not just going to wait around while we rub them out."

___

Max Seddon can be contacted at twitter.com/maxseddon

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russias-top-cop-sets-sights-protest-movement-100724068.html

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Mozilla partners with Epic Games to bring Unreal Engine 3 to the web

DNP Mozilla partners with Epic Games to bring Unreal Engine 3 to the web

Building on its recent advancements in JavaScript optimization, Mozilla has announced a partnership with Epic Games that will bring the Unreal Engine 3 to Firefox. Unlike the ill-fated InstantAction, this gives developers the opportunity to port high-end titles to the web without the use of plugins. Hardly content with enhancing desktop browser-based games, Mozilla is aiming to bring this experience to mobile devices -- but it's stopping short of providing any details beyond that. The company notes that it's currently working with major developers such as EA, ZeptoLab and Disney to bring optimizations to their existing titles. Mum's the word on when 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand will get the chance to soak browsers everywhere, but you can catch a video preview of something slightly less spectacular just after the break.

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Source: Mozilla

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/mozilla-epic-games-unreal-engine-3/

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Money is Gold | Credit Writedowns

In-depth analysis on Credit Writedowns Pro, now with big discounts for regular readers. Contact us for info.

Frederick J. Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession (McGraw-Hill, 2009) and ?The Coming Collapse of the Municipal Bond Market? (Aucontrarian.com, 2009)

I believe Dennis Gartman compiled this list through June 13, 2012.

?Spain is not Greece.? ? Elena Salgado, Spain?s Finance Minister, February 2010

?Portugal is not Greece.? ? The Economist, April 22nd, 2010

?Ireland is not in Greek Territory.? ? Brian Lenihan,Ireland?s Finance Minister

?Greece is not Ireland.? ? George Papandreou, Greek Finance Minister, November 22, 2010

?Spain is neither Ireland nor Portugal.? ? Elena Selgado, again? November 16, 2010

?Neither Spain nor Portugal is Ireland.? -Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD, November 18, 2010

?Spain is not Uganda. ? Emeriano Rajoy, Spain?s Prime Minister, June 9, 2010

?Italy is not Spain.?- Ed Parker, Fitch Managing Director, June 12, 2012

?When it becomes serious, you have to lie.? ? Jean-Claude Juncker, the Europe Group President, April 2011

?The worst is now over? the situation is stabilizing.? ? ECB President Mario Draghi, March, 2012

?Uganda does not want to be Spain? - Asuman Kiyingi,Uganda?s foreign minister, June 13th 2012

?For a small, open economy like Cyprus, Euro adoption provides protection from international financial turmoil.? ? Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, January 2008

?Luxembourg is different from Cyprus? ? Business Insider, March 22, 2013

?Latvia is not Cyprus.?(Actual quote: ?[T]here is no truth in statements that Latvia could become Cyprus.? ? Kristaps Zakulis, head of the FKTK financial sector regulator, March 21, 2013)

?Slovenia is not Cyprus.? ? FXStreet.com (Actual quote: ?I am very sure that we (Slovenia) will not get into such a situation (as Cyprus),? Marko Kranjec, Bank of Slovenia governor.)

?Malta is not Cyprus.? ? Tony Zahra, Times of Malta, March 23, 2013

?Hungary is not Cyprus.? -Financial Times, March 21, 2013, See below

?The Czech Republic is not Cyprus.? -Financial Times, March 21, 2013, See below

?Poland is not Cyprus.? -Financial Times, March 21, 2013, See below

?Countries like Poland and the Czech Republic have very solid banking systems, completely unlike the situation in Cyprus ? and there is no sign of a banking run. The most exposed areHungary and Slovenia, but even they are a world away fromCyprus?s situation.? ? Jan Cienski, ?CEE: Contagion Risk from Cyprus?? ? Financial Times, March 21, 2013

?Credit is not money. Credit is trust. Trust can vanish in an instant.? ? Frederick J. Sheehan, March 25, 2013

TESTIMONY OF J.P. MORGAN ? THE MAN ? IN 1912 BEFORE THE ?PUJO COMMITTEE,? a subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking and Currency. Morgan was questioned by Samuel Untermyer. The source is Jeanne Strouse?s biography of Morgan:

?Untermyer: ?The basis of banking is credit, is it not??

Morgan: ?Not always. That is evidence of banking, but it is not the money itself. Money is gold, and nothing else.?

Untermyer asked Morgan whether credit was not based on money ? that is, did not the big New York banks issue loans to certain men and institutions ?because it is believed that they have the money back of them.?

Morgan: ?No sir. It is because people believe in the man.?

Untermyer: ?And he might not be worth anything??

Morgan, with less than perfect regard for grammar: ?He might not have anything. I have known a man to come into my office, and I have given him a check for a million dollars when I knew they had not a cent in the world.?

Untermyer: ?There are not many of them??

Morgan: ?Yes, a good many.?

Untermyer: ?That is not business??

Morgan: ?Yes, unfortunately it is. I do not think it is good business, though.?

Untermyer did not, apparently, think much of this answer, for he repeated his proposition. ?Is not commercial credit based primarily on money or property??

Morgan: ?No sir; the first thing is character.?

Untermyer: ?Before money or property??

Morgan: ?Before money or property or anything else. Money cannot buy it? ? and he elaborated after a few questions ? ?because a man I do not trust could not get money from me for all the money in Christendom.?

FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BEN S. BERNANKE, 2011:

?The reason people hold gold is protection against tail risk, really, really, bad outcomes. To the extent that the last few years have made people more worried about the potential of a major crisis, then they hold gold as a protection.? ? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, the greatest tail risk in the West since Genghis Khan, July 13, 2011.

?With the current policy, [European leaders] will need force to keep it going against the interests of the people. You do not need to be a eurosceptic to conclude that such a monetary union is also deeply immoral.? ? Wolfgang Manchau, Eurozone Break-Up Edges Even Closer, Financial Times, March 25, 2013

The People are growing angry. The People will become very, very angry.

avatar

About Frederick Sheehan

Frederick Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession. He is the co-author of Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve. Mr. Sheehan was Director of Asset Allocation Services at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. For more than a decade, Mr. Sheehan wrote the monthly "Market Outlook" and quarterly "Market Review" for clients. He is a frequent contributor to Marc Faber's "Gloom, Boom & Doom Report." He also has written articles for "Whiskey & Gunpowder" and the Prudent Bear website, among others. He currently serves as an advisor to an investment firm and a non-profit foundation. A Chartered Financial Analyst, Mr. Sheehan is a graduate of Columbia Business School.

Source: http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2013/03/money-is-gold.html

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Danville Real Estate: Luxury Home Market Buyer Confidence ...

Danville Real Estate: Luxury Home Market Buyer Confidence Returning by Joe Combs

?A year ago I reported that things were going extremely well for for High End Homes and they have been.? We lifted off the bottom in 2010 and have been going strong ever since.? No one could be more thrilled than I am that the Danville Area Market for Luxury Homes has finally turned around. For the purpose of this review as with my last, I have defined Luxury Home to include homes that are 5000 square feet and larger sitting on a premium lot that is between ? and 1 full acre, equipped with a pool.? This definition has been overlain on the geographies including Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville and Diablo, basically what in my personal view comprises the Danville Area Real Estate Market.

??I have included a chart and a graph with this review that displays the sales history for this slice of the market dating back to the market bottom in 2010.? The chart confirms a steady rise from 2010 with a smaller rise from 2011-2012. This is truly exciting. ?Average Sales Price in 2010 was $1,908,000.? In 2012 the number has cliAlamo Real Estate luxury home market chartJoe Combs Nancy Combs The Combs Teammbed to $2,195,179. ??That is a whopping increase of 15% or a $287,000 price jump.? If you have been waiting for the absolute bottom to snag a ?Big One? you may very likely have missed the chance, but the prices are still 25% below the 2007 peak, so it?s not too late to get a great buy on a great home at a time when you can see the prices are again rising.

??Equally important and confirming the Luxury Market turnaround is dollars paid per square foot.? In 2010 it stood at $327 and has increased throughout 2012 to $369 for a 13% increase.? Both measures show strong positive dollar increases supporting the view that this is not a statistical anomaly but the ?Real Deal?? even more exciting.? I want to add as I usually do that there is no such thing as an average home.? The lowest price paid for one of these homes was $1,437,000 and the highest was $3,125,000.? The median price was almost a match of the average price and stands at $2,338,139.

??Each of the three measures, Sales Price, Dollars Paid per Square Foot and Unit Sales are confirming that High End buyer confidence has risen, at least in the Danville Area Real Estate Market.? The improvement in sales is likely due to the growing availability of Super Jumbo loans at historically low interest rates.? If you are looking to acquire a Luxury Home during the next year, you might want to contact your lender who can bring you up to speed on the great loan products out there.? If you don?t have a lender, please give Nancy or me a call and we will point you in the right direction.?

?With the first quarter of 2013 not quite ended, we have not had any Luxury Home sales close.? However, 5 are pending sale with and average list price of $2,853,900 and a square foot price at list of $410.23.? The sales mix is a little stronger than during 2012 with lowest price listed at $1,725,000 and the highest listed at $4,595,000.? This is a very good sign for the luxury home market in the Danville Area.? So good, in fact, that11 such Luxury homes are currently active on the market.? Their prices range from $1,599,000 to $4,875,000 and their average square foot price is about $40 higher than the pending sales.? This is a pretty strong sign for a continuing rise in the market for Luxury Homes. I think overall improving confidence among the wealthy is a pretty good thing moving forward?? for our market.

If you have been thinking about selling your home, Nancy and I would be glad to prepare a free market analysis specific to your home. We would welcome the opportunity to help you develop ideas on how to best prepare your home to optimize its market value.

Joe and Nancy Combs, The Combs Team, have a high degree of focus on Danville Real Estate and Alamo Real Estate. As always, if you have any questions about the Alamo and Danville California real estate market, or finding that perfect home for sale here, please let The Combs Team know! Call Joe Combs 925-989-6086 or Nancy Combs 925-351-6999.

copyright joe combs 2013 all rights reserved. A link to this article or any appearing on this website may be shared freely without permission from the author. Alamo Real Estate, Danville Real Estate Joe Combs Nancy Combs thecombsteam combsteam Danville Real Estate Services Alamo Real Estate Services

Source: http://thecombsteam.com/danville-real-estate-luxury-home-market-buyer-confidence-returning-joe-combs-nancy-combs-the-combs-team/

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Global IT Spend Will Rise 4.1% To $3.8 Trillion In 2013, ?A Calm Ocean With Turbulent Currents', With Mobile Driving Growth

Gartner1Q13_IT_SpendingGartner has just released its annual projections on worldwide IT spend over the next two years -- arguably the analyst house's most wide-ranging report covering sales in hardware, software, enterprise and telecoms. The overall trends continue to point up: globally we will see $3.8 trillion spent across all categories, a rise of 4.1% on 2012. That's a sign of slight recovery on a year ago: growth in 2012 was only 2.1%. Mobile and enterprise services are fuelling a lot of the good news, with declines in areas of legacy technology like PCs and voice services. Gartner further notes that the same growth will largely continue into 2014.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/p-vpAZfyQZk/

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Barack Obama, Celebrities Tweet Happy Passover Messages

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/barack-obama-celebrities-tweet-happy-passover-messages/

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Scientists confirm first two-headed bull shark

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Scientists have confirmed the discovery of the first-ever, two-headed bull shark.The study, led by Michigan State University and appearing in the Journal of Fish Biology, confirmed the specimen, found in the Gulf of Mexico April 7, 2011, was a single shark with two heads, rather than conjoined twins.

?There have been other species of sharks, such as blue sharks and tope sharks, born with two heads. This is the first record of dicephalia in a bull shark, said Michael Wagner, MSU assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife, who confirmed the discovery with colleagues at the Florida Keys Community College.

"This is certainly one of those interesting and rarely detected phenomena," Wagner said. "It's good that we have this documented as part of the world's natural history, but we'd certainly have to find many more before we could draw any conclusions about what caused this."

The difficulty of finding such oddities is due, in part, to creatures with abnormalities dying shortly after birth. In this instance, a fisherman found the two-headed shark when he opened the uterus of an adult shark. The two-headed shark died shortly thereafter and had little, if any, chance to survive in the wild, Wagner added.

"You'll see many more cases of two-headed lizards and snakes," he said. "That's because those organisms are often bred in captivity, and the breeders are more likely to observe the anomalies."

The shark was brought to the marine science department at Florida Keys Community College. From there, it was transported to Michigan State's campus for further examination.

Wagner and his team were able to detail the discovery with magnetic resonance imaging. Without damaging the unique specimen, the MRIs revealed two distinct heads, hearts and stomachs with the remainder of the body joining together in back half of the animal to form a single tail.

As part of the published brief, Wagner noted that some may want to attribute the deformed shark to exposure to pollutants.

"Given the timing of the shark's discovery with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I could see how some people may want to jump to conclusions," Wagner said. "Making that leap is unwarranted. We simply have no evidence to support that cause or any other."

Wagner's research is supported in part by MSU AgBioResearch.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. C. M. Wagner, P. H. Rice, A. P. Pease. First record of dicephalia in a bull sharkCarcharhinus leucas(Chondrichthyes: Carcharhinidae) foetus from the Gulf of Mexico, U.S.A.. Journal of Fish Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12064

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/b0jOdWohmWQ/130325184016.htm

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Supreme Court agrees to hear Michigan affirmative action case

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider a Michigan law that bans affirmative action in public college admissions.

The consideration of race in the admissions process, aimed at correcting past racial discrimination, is deeply unpopular in conservative circles.

In November, a sharply divided 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found that the 2006 state constitutional amendment banning the practice, approved by voters in Michigan, imposed burdens on racial minorities in violation of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. The state challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The Michigan law bans preferential treatment toward any candidates in public university admissions.

The high court is simultaneously considering a case on whether colleges and universities can continue to give special preference to minority candidates in admissions policies, in a case involving the University of Texas. A ruling in that case, Fisher v. University of Texas, is expected imminently and will come no later than the end of June.

That the court agreed to hear the Michigan case before deciding the Texas case is unusual. The court's normal practice is to wait until it has issued a ruling before agreeing to hear another case on a related issue. This may mean that the court is struggling to decide the Texas case, or that the ruling could be coming as soon as this week.

A district court judge upheld the state law in the Michigan case, but a three-judge panel of the appeals court struck it down in 2011. The full appeals court reheard the case the following year and struck the law down on a 8-7 vote.

The majority of the appeals court said the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment does more than guarantee equal treatment under the law. It also prevents laws from being passed that change the political process to impose extra burdens on minorities, the court said.

"ON ITS HEAD"

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, wrote in the state's brief seeking the high court's review that the appeals court had adopted a theory that has been rejected by other courts in striking down a law that 58 percent of voters approved.

"Entrance to our great colleges and universities must be based upon merit, and I remain optimistic moving forward in our fight for equality, fairness and rule of law at our nation's highest court," Schuette added.

The challengers to the law are split into two groups.

One group, including the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, said it wanted the Supreme Court to hear the case even though the group won at the appeals court level. The issue is one of "surpassing national importance" that warrants the Supreme Court's attention, attorney George Washington wrote in a court filing.

In a statement, Washington said the law's supporters "are creating a new form of separate and unequal in a nation that will soon be majority minority," a reference to the growth in the United States of the minority population.

The other group, consisting of prospective college students, said there was no need for the justices to review the case because the 6th Circuit had applied court precedents correctly. Their attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

In Monday's brief order announcing that the Supreme Court will hear the Michigan case, the court noted that Justice Elena Kagan is recused, meaning there is a possibility of a 4-4 split. Kagan is a former solicitor general under President Barack Obama.

Oral argument and a decision are expected in the court's next term, which runs from October 2013 to June 2014.

The case is Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-682.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-agrees-hear-michigan-affirmative-action-case-134414635.html

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T-Mobile handsets will remain network-locked, can be freed when the device is yours

TMobile handsets will remain network locked, can be freed when the device is yours

At T-Mobile's UnCarrier event, there's been a lot of talk about how you, the customer, are no longer tied in. No contracts, no obligations, no restrictions, right? Turns out that new iPhone you've just paid $100 upfront for isn't so liberal, as the carrier has said any handsets you pick up will be locked to the T-Mobile network. There is a welcome caveat though: as long as you've paid the cost of the phone off, the Magenta mob will unlock it for you. That means if you're unhappy with whatever new plan you're on, you can take the phone elsewhere with a flat, one-time payment, or installments of your choice -- whether that's continuing on a monthly basis, or larger sums at an accelerated rate. Of course, if you just want out, you can always trade it back for a "fair" amount.

Update: We spoke with Apple regarding specifics of the new hardware and the unlocking details, which can be found here.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1KgU-Xkvo40/

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