An Oregon mom?s decision in how to treat the symptoms of her daughter?s illness is raising a lot of questions. Seven-year-old Mykayla Comstock has cancer, and mom Erin Purchase says that she gives her cannabis oil pills to decrease her suffering and aid in pain relief.
However, many in the medical field disagree with the treatment, including Dr. Sharon Levy of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who says that even though the treatment is legal once the parent has a recommendation from a doctor, it still allows the mother to administer the drug and determine how much the daughter needs without medical supervision.
Purchase, however, credits the drug with doing what other painkillers couldn?t. ?Instantly, when she started taking the cannabis oil we saw a very good reaction to it,? she said. ?It controls her nausea, her pain ? every symptom she had, she just turned into a normal child. I believe that the long term consequences of narcotic pain relievers are a lot more damaging to Mykayla than a simple, organic oil.?
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A very serious side effect of the cannabis oil pills, according to Dr. Levy is an increased risk of depression, anxiety, increased risk of developing schizophrenia ? to name a few.
Dropping two grandon a high-end television simply isn't possible for most households. Does that mean you should suffer with some $100 off-brand Fony set. No way. As Panasonic's second-best option in plasma reminds us that even if you can't get the VT50 you want, you can still go for the ST50 you need. More »
SAN FRANCISCO?Microsoft is trying to skewer Google as a lousy holiday shopping guide in its latest attempt to divert more traffic to its Bing search engine.
The attack started Wednesday with a marketing campaign focused on a recent change in the way Google operates the part of its search engine devoted to shopping results. The revisions require merchants to pay Google to have their products listed in the shopping section.
In its new ads, Microsoft Corp. contends the new approach betrays Google Inc.'s longstanding commitment to provide the most trustworthy results on the Web, even if it means foregoing revenue. To punctuate its point, Microsoft is warning consumers that they risk getting "scroogled" if they rely on Google's shopping search service.
The message will be highlighted in TV commercials scheduled to run on NBC and CNN and newspaper ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The blitz also will appear on billboards and online, anchored by a new website, Scroogled.com.
The barbs are injecting more antagonism into an already bitter rivalry between two of the world's best-known and most powerful technology companies.
Google's search engine is dominant on the Internet, and Bing runs a distant second. Microsoft's Office and Windows software remains an integral part of personal computers, but Google has been reducing the importance of those programs and PCs with the success of Web-based services and its
Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers.
Google doesn't require websites to pay to be listed in its main database, the index that provides results for requests entered into its all-purpose search box. A query made there for a particular product, such as a computer, will still include results from merchants who haven't paid for the privilege of being included.
But that's not the case for someone who clicks on a tab to enter Google's shopping-only section, which is designed to compare prices and offer other insights such as identifying sites that offer free shipping. Searches there are confined to paying merchants. That means results from sites, including Web retailing giant Amazon.com Inc., aren't displayed unless they pay. Amazon has only occasionally paid to have some of its wares listed in Google's shopping section. Zappos, a site owned by Amazon, has been more willing to pay the price to be listed in Google's shopping results.
Google defends the fee-based approach as a way to encourage merchants to provide more comprehensive and accurate information about what they're selling.
"I think you just get a well-organized set of product information, ways to buy it, and really have a great experience there," CEO Larry Page said during a conference call with analysts last month.
In a statement, Google said it's pleased with the response to the new shopping system, which offers listings from some 100,000 sellers.
Google, like Microsoft, also accepts payments for ads that are triggered by specific search terms and appear to the right or on top of regular search results. Those are labeled in colored letters as ads. The same distinctions aren't made in Google's shopping section.
Since its inception in 1998, Google has tried to cast itself as a force for good while depicting Microsoft as a ruthless empire.
But Google is less cuddly now that it's established itself as the Internet's main gateway ?and a well-oiled moneymaking machine. The Mountain View, Calif., company's search engine is so influential that government regulators in the U.S. and Europe are investigating whether Google has been stifling competition by giving special preference to its own services in search results.
Microsoft, which faced its own antitrust inquiries more than a decade ago, is among the companies that prodded the investigation of Google. This time, it's pouncing on Google for straying for from its own principles.
Google began limiting its shopping-only results to paying merchants in mid-October. The change coincides with what is expected to be the most lucrative holiday shopping season on the Web yet. The amount of money a merchant pays is one factor that influences the order of the shopping results, although Google says it still places the highest priority on each listing's relevancy to a user's request.
Google discloses that it receives payments in small print at the bottom of the shopping results page. The notice is also visible if a user clicks on a link at the top of the shopping results page, under the heading: "Why these products?"
What's left unsaid is the omission of sites such as Amazon, which tends to offer some of the best deals on the Web.
The financially driven system for determining the results in a major part of Google's search engine breaks new ground for a company whose idealistic founders, Page and Sergey Brin, once railed against the perils of allowing money to influence which Web links to show.
Brin and Page preached about the issue in academic papers that they wrote about search while conceiving Google as Stanford University graduate students. They also delved into the topic when they outlined Google's "don't be evil" creed in a letter written to potential investors before the company went public in 2004.
"Our search results are the best we know how to produce," Brin and Page wrote in the letter. "They are unbiased and objective, and we do not accept payment for them."
Microsoft contends that Google is doing a disservice to its users with the new approach, as many users may not even realize that the results in shopping search are being swayed by money.
"We want consumers to know, in contrast to the route that Google has pursued, we are staying true to the DNA of what a good search engine is really about," said Mike Nichols, Bing's chief marketing officer. "We will rank results on what's relevant to you and not based on how much someone might pay us."
Danny Sullivan, an Internet search expert who has been following Google since its inception, believes Microsoft is highlighting an important issue. "Google deserves to take its lumps on this," said Sullivan, who now works as editor of SearchEngineLand.com. "I have been surprised by how little attention this issue has gotten so far because it's a 180-degree turn for Google."
Sullivan doesn't think Bing's shopping results are pristine, either. He points to Bing's partnership with Shopping.com, which also requires merchants to pay to be in its listings. Some of Shopping.com's data is fed into Bing's shopping section. When Shopping.com gets paid by a merchant for sale funneled through Bing, Microsoft gets a slice of the revenue.
While all that is true, Bing's shopping section consists mostly of listings from merchants that haven't paid for the privilege, said Stefan Weitz, Bing's director.
That's so, Weitz said, even though Bing isn't currently accepting listings from new merchants that want to appear in its shopping results. The only way a new seller can get into Bing's shopping search engine is to sign up for Shopping.com's fee-based service. After the holiday season, Bing's shopping-only section once again will accept free listings from new merchants, Weitz said.
Like Google, Sullivan said Microsoft isn't doing a good job disclosing the role that money plays in its shopping-only results. He thinks that issue could undermine the effectiveness of Bing's anti-Google ads.
???
Online:
Microsoft's attack site: http://scroogled.com
Google shopping site: http://www.google.com/shopping
2 more Salk scientists elected as AAAS FellowsPublic release date: 29-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Andy Hoang AHoang@salk.edu 619-861-5811 Salk Institute
LA JOLLA, CA---- Salk faculty members Joseph Ecker and Joseph Noel have been named as 2012 Fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science. Election as an AAAS Fellow is among the highest honors in American science and scholars are selected by their peers for "scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications," according to election administrators.
Ecker and Noel are among 702 new members that will be honored during the 2013 AAAS annual meeting in Boston on February 16. The elections bring the Salk's current total of AAAS Fellows to 16.
"We are very proud of these investigators and the distinguished research that they have conducted at the Institute," said William R. Brody, Salk president. "We congratulate them on election as AAAS fellows and look forward to their many more scientific accomplishments in the future."
Joseph Ecker, professor in the Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation investigator, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and holder of the Salk International Council Chair in Genetics. He was honored for his distinguished contributions to the fields of genomic/epigenomes of plant and human cells, particularly for the development of new tools that enable genome-wide analyses.
Ecker is internationally recognized for his pioneering contributions to plant genomics. One of the nation's leading authorities on the molecular biology and genetics of plants, he was a principal investigator in the multinational project that sequenced the entire genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, an achievement expected to have widespread implications for agriculture and perhaps human medicine as well. Ecker is also widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on how the gaseous hormone ethylene regulates a variety of basic plant processes. Up to one-third of the food produced worldwide is lost or spoiled due to the effects of ethylene, which shortens the shelf life of many fruits and vegetables by putting the ripening process on fast-forward. His groundbreaking research has yielded essential insights into the mechanisms of plant growth control and led to the development of new technologies that delay fruit ripening and disease processes.
Joseph Noel, professor and director of Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics, is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and the inaugural holder of the Arthur and Julie Woodrow Chair. Noel was selected for his distinguished contributions to the understanding of plant metabolism, especially the evolution, biochemistry and structures underlying the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites including polyketides and terpenes.
Noel explores the roots of biological diversity at the chemical level and seeks to understand the natural chemical factories plants and microbes use to produce a vast array of compounds that allow them to survive and prosper in the multitude of challenging ecosystems found all over the earth. Through this research, he seeks to harness and alter the biosynthetic pathways needed to produce complex molecular scaffolds that will expedite the development of effective medicines, provide new strategies to increase the nutrition and sustainability of the world's food supply and engineer
bio renewable chemicals and fuels to supplant petrochemical-based resources.
The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer.
Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.
The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consisting of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.
###
About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes and infectious diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.
Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.
About the American Association for the Advancement of Science:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more.
For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
2 more Salk scientists elected as AAAS FellowsPublic release date: 29-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Andy Hoang AHoang@salk.edu 619-861-5811 Salk Institute
LA JOLLA, CA---- Salk faculty members Joseph Ecker and Joseph Noel have been named as 2012 Fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science. Election as an AAAS Fellow is among the highest honors in American science and scholars are selected by their peers for "scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications," according to election administrators.
Ecker and Noel are among 702 new members that will be honored during the 2013 AAAS annual meeting in Boston on February 16. The elections bring the Salk's current total of AAAS Fellows to 16.
"We are very proud of these investigators and the distinguished research that they have conducted at the Institute," said William R. Brody, Salk president. "We congratulate them on election as AAAS fellows and look forward to their many more scientific accomplishments in the future."
Joseph Ecker, professor in the Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation investigator, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and holder of the Salk International Council Chair in Genetics. He was honored for his distinguished contributions to the fields of genomic/epigenomes of plant and human cells, particularly for the development of new tools that enable genome-wide analyses.
Ecker is internationally recognized for his pioneering contributions to plant genomics. One of the nation's leading authorities on the molecular biology and genetics of plants, he was a principal investigator in the multinational project that sequenced the entire genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, an achievement expected to have widespread implications for agriculture and perhaps human medicine as well. Ecker is also widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on how the gaseous hormone ethylene regulates a variety of basic plant processes. Up to one-third of the food produced worldwide is lost or spoiled due to the effects of ethylene, which shortens the shelf life of many fruits and vegetables by putting the ripening process on fast-forward. His groundbreaking research has yielded essential insights into the mechanisms of plant growth control and led to the development of new technologies that delay fruit ripening and disease processes.
Joseph Noel, professor and director of Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics, is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and the inaugural holder of the Arthur and Julie Woodrow Chair. Noel was selected for his distinguished contributions to the understanding of plant metabolism, especially the evolution, biochemistry and structures underlying the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites including polyketides and terpenes.
Noel explores the roots of biological diversity at the chemical level and seeks to understand the natural chemical factories plants and microbes use to produce a vast array of compounds that allow them to survive and prosper in the multitude of challenging ecosystems found all over the earth. Through this research, he seeks to harness and alter the biosynthetic pathways needed to produce complex molecular scaffolds that will expedite the development of effective medicines, provide new strategies to increase the nutrition and sustainability of the world's food supply and engineer
bio renewable chemicals and fuels to supplant petrochemical-based resources.
The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer.
Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.
The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consisting of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.
###
About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes and infectious diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.
Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.
About the American Association for the Advancement of Science:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more.
For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
More than a year after the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) received construction approval to get going on its maglev railways, it has finally unveiled a Series L0 prototype that would put its current bullet train system to shame. Designed to travel at 311 mph, a single one of these high-speed marvels is designed to carry about 16 carriages, which translates to about 1,000 commuters. While Japanese travelers already enjoy a speedy 90-minute trip from Tokyo to Nagoya, this new maglev system promises to cut that journey to just 40 minutes. Announced nearly five years ago, the project has since been extended to include an Osaka-Tokyo leg and will cost around nine trillion yen (approximately $112 billion) when all is said and done. Don't pack your bags just yet though; the maglev's Nagoya rail isn't scheduled to go live until 2027, and the boarding call for Osaka isn't until 2045. Of course, if you need to ride electromagnetic rails now, there's always China's Shanghai Transrapid, which has been ferrying passengers to and fro the Pudong airport since 2004 -- it once reached speeds of 501km/h (311mph). China's even planning a whopping 1,000 km/hvacuum-tube maglev train in just a year or so. Of course, those of us on the other end of the Pacific are still waiting for that long-delayed California-Nevada maglev project to work out. Sigh.
Reforms to Russia's automotive sector have been a rare Russian success story. The latest illustration of this was independent carmaker Sollers' announcement of robust six-month earnings results for its new joint venture with Ford, which led to a doubling of its share price.
Russia is on course to become the biggest car market in Europe sometime in the next years and foreign manufacturers upped their game last year when the Kremlin negotiated a new investment deal.
The Kremlin agreed to keep duties for imported car parts low for several more years provided the international carmakers increased production almost ten-fold to 300,000-350,000 units a year and increase the share of locally produced car parts from 30% to 60% in return. Five international majors signed up to the deal, which will run until 2020 when the full World Trade Organization (WTO) rules come into effect and open the market up to unfettered foreign competition.
Founded in 2000 on the basis of jeep-maker Ulyanovsk Auto Plant (known as UAZ in Russian), Sollers grew fast thanks to tie-ups with the likes of SsangYong, Toyota, Mazda and Isuzu, setting up production and, crucially, building up large distribution networks for each brand. More recently, Sollers has launched the first car plant in Russia?s Far East to make SsangYong?s cars.
However, things moved up a gear in 2006 when the company signed off on a deal to make Fiat?s Ducato under license ? a Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), or van ? aimed at small business owners, and invested heavily into two factories as well as creating a nationwide dealership network.
?We expect the market to develop in the same way as the passenger car market where international companies have taken the lion?s share. So we made a large-scale investment into two factories and committed to sourcing half or supplies and components locally. In parallel, we started to produce Fiat passenger cars in Tatarstan,? says Soller?s CFO Nikolay Sobolev. ?We expected to be very successful as the competition was very weak ? mainly the GAZel from [Russian carmaker] GAZ.?
But the 2008 crisis hit Sollers hard and sales tanked. The company was able to refinance its debts after the state guaranteed all their debt, but Sobolev says Sollers had to rethink its strategy.
?The crisis drove the demand right down and we had significantly uncomfortable years ? especially in the passenger car business,? says Sobolev.
Talks soon began with Ford, the first foreign manufacturer to actually set up production in Russia in 1998. After a ?happy divorce? with Fiat, Sollers signed off on a new 50-50 joint venture with Ford in June last year to produce Ford vans and passenger cars and went into operation at the start of this year.
?If anything, Ford was too early [into Russia], but it had a built the best dealership network [and] most importantly they were fully committed to Russia,? says Sobolev. ?The partnership included exclusive production of all Ford vehicles and distribution in Russia. Fiat kept its greenfield factory and the dealership we had created.?
The Sollers-Ford joint venture is the biggest investment deal in the sector to date and the partners agreed to invest RUB74.5bn ($42.4bn) up until 2020 ? RUB41.1bn of which is to be spent on developing production capacities. With Ford, Sollers took a new direction, producing Ford?s popular Explorer Sports Utility vehicle (SUV), that is already proving to be a top seller in Russia.
Sollers also stayed in the LVC market by quickly retooling the Ducato line to make Ford's Transit van, which was launched in October 2011. The joint venture will also roll out a range of passenger cars that have until now been imported into Russia.
All in all, the partners? two plants have a total capacity of 360,000 units a year and by the end of the first year they are already producing 140,000 units. But what caught investors? eye were results for the first half of this year that were already showing a profit after only six months of operation. The share price doubled, rising from RUB320 ($10.32) at of the start of the year to a peak of RUB670 in September after the results were released. VTB Capital analysts say the stock still have a 78% upside. Currently the company has a 4% market share, but analysts expect this to more than double by 2017.
Sobolev says the market remains soft due to the ongoing crisis in Europe, but total car sales are still up 14% year to date ? well ahead of economic growth ? and should continue to increase next year, albeit at subdued rates. Russia?s automotive sector will produce an estimated 3m units this year, which already makes it the second biggest car market in Europe. In the next three years it will move up to 3.5m to 3.6m, overtaking Germany in process, says Sobolev.
?The Russian government has done a lot to support the development of the sector and there has been big changes. The industry was floundering in the 1990s, but now it is on track to become the largest in Europe in only a few years time,? says Sobolev.
Often, the gift that we find that initially seems great, tends to lose a bit of its luster once we spy the price tag and determine that it is definitely not within our price range. Isn?t that the most disappointing aspect of gift giving ? knowing the gift you actually give was actually your second or third choice? Yes, but it is not the end of the world. Continue reading for unique gift giving ideas on a budget.Sometimes it is just so hard to find those perfect gifts for the ones that we love. Often, the gift that we find that initially seems great, tends to lose a bit of its luster once we spy the price tag and determine that it is definitely not within our price range. Isn?t that the most disappointing aspect of gift giving ? knowing the gift you actually give was actually your second or third choice? Yes, but it is not the end of the world.
There are many gift giving ideas that can be completed on a dime once you determine that there are items to give a loved one that you can make yourself! The wealth of craft supplies that are available to us now is enormous, and should be utilized to create innovative gifts for our friends and family members that they can appreciate and enjoy for many years to come.
Many discount craft supply stores are a great inspiration for the various gifts that we can create with our own hands and design with love for our closest family and friends. Most of these stores are well-stocked with craft supplies to meet many different demands and budgets. Furthermore, the staff members at these places tend to be very knowledgeable in the craft area and will provide much needed help and ideas when we may get stuck.
Then the problem lies in what kinds of gifts you would like to give. By using your own craft supplies and getting the help of the discount craft supply stores, a gift giving decision will be easy! You can make something unique and original for everyone, depending upon one?s individual likes and dislikes, and you can accomplish all of this without breaking the bank.
Of course there are countless craft ideas and projects that can be completed at home. One of the most popular ones that is the rage all over the country is the craft of making homemade jewelry. Almost every female friend or family member will love a necklace, bracelet, or pair of earrings, jewelry that is designed by you with attention and care. When you are making the jewelry pieces yourself, it is a great idea to use the many discount craft supplies that you will have available. One of the best things about making jewelry yourself is that it can be created to fit within any budget. Also, it is a special touch to receive a gift that really reflects the taste of the individual, and she can wear her piece proudly and brag that it was made especially for her by a local artisan!
Another great gift idea that requires very few craft supplies is to make a basket of goodies for someone. This dynamic at home business has been a proven success for numerous entrepreneurs, and it is sure to please the friend or family member who receives this gift from you. You can make the most of the many discount craft supplies to decorate and design your basket, and then fill it with all sorts of goodies that will treat your recipient and make her feel loved. Fill the one-of-a-kind basket with homemade baked goods such as cookies and breads, even jams and jellies. Some are even getting innovative and making their own soaps and candles for these baskets!? Not only are you creating the basket but you are cooking and creating, giving your very best recipes and finished products to those whom you love the most. Anyone will be pleased to receive a gift such as this!
Other gift ideas which you can make inexpensively and include the use of different craft supplies are original paintings, floral arrangements, and even monogrammed objects such as purses or clothing items. All of these require the use of numerous discount craft supplies but none that will leave you high and dry when it comes to the amount of money that you spend. Everyone loves original artwork from those who are truly gifted in this area, and the monogramming trend is sure to be a hit with your family and friends if you can work your sewing machine and help it create this magic.? No matter which craft area you choose to develop, know that your friends and family will appreciate your work and effort and are sure to display your work deliberately and with pride.
We all love to be the most creative gift giver, so this year, why not take something that you already do well and turn this into an original gift that will make another person happy? Take advantage of the many discount craft supplies that are available to you and make the most of your talents. Take the time to design a gift idea that truly shows a loved one that you care, and she is sure to wear and display it proudly for many years to come!
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For the gourmet-lover on your list, look no further. This decadent basket is full of the good stuff. Your gift is carefully hand-packed and delivered in an attractive gift basket with your personal message.
Your gift includes: -Extra Large Box of Chocolate -Milk Chocolate -Sampler Pack of Premium Dark Chocolate -Large Box of Truffles -Chocolate Biscotti -Premium Wafer Cookies -Extra Large pack of?
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This decadent basket is full of fine cookies, chocolate and candies. Your gift is carefully hand-packed and delivered in an attractive gift basket with your personal message.
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This premium basket contains the perfect combination of mixed snacks, crackers, chocolates and nuts to give to that special someone. Your gift is carefully hand-packed and delivered in an attractive gift basket with your personal message.
For better ? or worse ? the research lab side of Disney is building a robot that plays a decent game of catch, meaning parents can keep their eyes on Facebook while their kids get a bit of exercise.
The robot has a human-like appearance and uses a Microsoft Kinect to track the balls. After a few practice tosses, almost anyone can successfully play catch with it.
The humanoid is intended to give theme-park visitors a means to interact with robots without actually touching them and accidently causing thousands of dollars? worth of damage, according to the Disney Research video below explaining the project.?
The robot is programmed to turn its head, giving the impression it is maintaining body presence with its playmate and tracking the ball with its eyes. When it misses a bad toss, the robot moves its head as if looking for the lost ball or bowing in embarrassment. Other times, it just shrugs its shoulders.
Importantly, there are no temper tantrums or rants about lost scholarship opportunities. Instead, the robot keeps playing, entertaining the old fashioned way, with a twist of the future thrown in for good measure.
?? via Mashable?
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
For the third consecutive year, websites selling counterfeit products online have been seized on Cyber Monday, the day generally thought to be the busiest online shopping day of the year.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that 132 domain names have been seized this year in two campaigns known as ?Project Cyber Monday 3? and ?Project Transatlantic.? The latter project refers to the fact that law enforcement agencies in several European countries also took part. The US-based effort nabbed 101 domains, while the European project claimed another 31.
The ICE says that the websites/domains that were seized ?were set up to dupe consumers into unknowingly buying counterfeit goods as part of the holiday shopping season.?
The domain names seized are now in the custody of the governments involved in these operations. Visitors typing those domain names into their Web browsers will now find a banner that notifies them of the seizure and educates them about the federal crime of willful copyright infringement.
The ICE didn?t release the names/URLs of the seized sites, but it said that officials made purchases of products such as jewelry, DVD sets, professional sports jerseys and more from suspected counterfeiters. After the purchases, ICE and its partners asked copyright owners to confirm that the purchased items were fakes.
With this year?s effort, a total of 1,630 domains/websites have been seized since the operation began in June 2010. ICE said today that more domains could be seized in the near future.
(Stock image via Shutterstock.com. Used under license.)
Related Topics: Domaining | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Legal: General | Top News
The public is invited to meet more than 30 local writers and artists and shop for unique gifts on Saturday, December 8 from noon to 5:00 pm at the free ?Authors and Artists Holiday Gift Sale? sponsored by the Bel Air Cultural Arts Commission and the Bel Air Arts and Entertainment District.
Shoppers will be able to choose artwork in all types of media including oil paintings, ceramics, pottery, jewelry, photography, Venetian masks, prints, note cards, and art gourds. Books will be available in various genres of fiction and nonfiction including historical novels, suspense, genealogy, nature, fine art, and children?s books as well as local poetry.
According to Bel Air Town Commissioner Susan Burdette, ?This is an exquisite opportunity to purchase the ?gift that keeps on giving?. When you give someone a special book signed by the author or a piece of original artwork, you are acknowledging the recipient?s unique personality. Your friend or family member will think of you each time he or she opens the book or enjoys their piece of art. Additionally, when you buy from local authors and artists, you are giving back to your home community.?
A variety of new artists and authors along with many longtime local favorites will be available to talk to customers and autograph their work. Shoppers will be able to listen to holiday music while they shop and enjoy free cider and cookies.
Additional sponsors of the event are the Town of Bel Air, Harford County Cultural Arts Board, Center for the Arts, and Bel Air Downtown Alliance BELocal. Sponsors displays will feature renderings of the layout and design of the proposed Center for the Arts, samples of the Heart Sculptures that the Downtown Alliance is developing throughout Bel Air and information about the Arts & Entertainment District, Cultural Arts programs throughout the Town and promotional material/coupons for local businesses.
LONDON (Reuters) - France's EDF and partner Centrica have received the first UK site licence for a new nuclear plant in 25 years, paving the way for Britain's first new nuclear station since 1995.
EDF was granted the licence on Monday for Hinkley Point in Somerset, where it intends to build two of the four nuclear power reactors it plans to construct in Britain.
The Office of Nuclear Regulation's (ONR) site licence clears a major regulatory hurdle for EDF and Centrica's NNB GenCo joint venture, which also requires approval for the reactor it plans to use, permits from the Environment Agency and planning consent from the government before it can start building.
EDF and engineering partner Areva are likely to receive the green light for the use of Areva's EPR nuclear reactor in Britain before the end of the year.
"EDF Energy is now on the brink of delivering new nuclear at Hinkley Point C with an infrastructure project similar in scale to the London Olympics, delivering significant benefits in terms of jobs, skills and economic growth, both locally and nationally," EDF Energy, the UK arm of the French utility, said in a statement.
The Hinkley Point project was expected to start operating in 2018, but regulatory delays after the Fukushima disaster in Japan have pushed back the start date. It is now unlikely to be up and running before 2020.
The approval review process has cost 8 million pounds to date, a fee which EDF and Centrica will cover, the ONR said.
The British government plans to support the use of nuclear power plants in future by reforming the country's electricity market in a way that will guarantee a minimum price for low-carbon power generation, including nuclear power.
The final details of the required legislation are expected to be published this week.
(Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by David Goodman)
A flasher allegedly got more than he bargained for when he approached a woman at a lake in Washington state this week: a Ruger .380 pointing back at him.
?I put the magazine in my gun. I cocked it,? the woman told The Daily News online. ?I said, ?You need to leave or I?ll shoot you. I?m going to blow your brains out.??
The gun reportedly had the intended effect.
?Oh, [expletive]!? the man declared, according to the paper, before running away.
The 35-year-old woman was at Lake Sacajawea with her 6-year-old son and a dog Wednesday evening when the man approached, police confirmed to NBC News.
He allegedly sat down and began performing a sex act and said she should watch.?
It was at that point that she pulled out her gun.
After the man ran away, she sent her dog, a Norwegian Buhund Hound, after him, police said. The dog cornered him, and when she called the dog back, the man disappeared into the darkness.
The alleged flasher is described as a ?white male in his early 20s with short dark-blond hair and wearing a gray hoody and dark blue jeans,? the paper reported.
Detective?Kyle Sahim said police are actively investigating the incident, including whether it is connected to another reported flashing in the area.?
"Not a common event in Longview," Sahim said.
For more, visit The Daily News online
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LG's Optimus G (and Nexus 4) might have been the resolution champion among non-phablet Android phones for only a brief moment before the HTC Droid DNA arrived, but there's clues surfacing that LG may fight its way back to a draw. Following hints through browser profiles, a set of results on GLBenchmark have appeared for an unconfirmed LG F240 wielding a 1080p screen resolution; given the allusions to Korean phone carriers like KT and LG's earlier decision to back away from tablets, we suspect that it's something pocketable. The F240 could otherwise be more of an evolution, if it's real -- the Adreno 320 graphics and 1.5GHz clock speed allude to the Optimus G's Snapdragon S4 Pro sticking around, and the biggest leap beyond the screen could be an upgrade to Jelly Bean (4.1, not 4.2). While benchmarks aren't entirely trustworthy without a tangible device to match, there's enough here to imply that HTC will have at least one major competitor in a very young category.
The Clippers had just finished another practice when Eric Bledsoe pulled up a chair and sat down next to assistant coach Robert Pack.
Then Chauncey Billups walked off the court and pulled up a chair next to Bledsoe and Pack, and thus began another film session for Bledsoe.
It now has become the norm for the 22-year-old Bledsoe, who is tutored by Pack and Billups in the ways of becoming a true NBA point guard.
"Before, it was, 'Hey, let's watch the film?' Now it's him saying, 'Coach, let's watch film,'" Pack said."You love to see and watch his development. I'm just excited with the progress that he's made. It's the mental part of the game as well as his skills. It's great to see."
The 6-foot-1 Bledsoe is in his third season with the Clippers and says he still has a lot to learn.
But the film sessions have helped, Bledsoe said, because two elite point guards are serving as his mentors, Billups and Chris Paul.
"I've learned a lot, especially being patient with a lot of stuff instead of just going all out full speed," Bledsoe said. "It's been great. I just try to come in and get our team going a little bit so we can get the win."
It has helped Bledsoe even more because Billups and Paul are willing teachers.
"They constantly stay in my ear, especially about my turnovers. Chauncey, he keeps telling me, 'We can have those turnovers as long as they are aggressive.' So, I just try not to worry about that so much and just play the game," Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe is having the best season of his short career. He's averaging a career-best 10.6 points per game (sixth-most on the team) and 1.5 steals (second on the team), while averaging 2.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists, and is making 49.3% of his shots.
"It's taking him step by step and getting him acclimated to the game as a point guard and now being an NBA point guard. In college at Kentucky, he didn't play point guard," Pack said.
The Clippers realize that Bledsoe is a gifted athlete with blazing speed. They love the way he plays defense and his hustle, and those skills have made him one of the team's top reserves.
The team understands that he'll get out of control at times and turn the ball over ? Bledsoe is averaging 2.13 turnovers per game ? but the Clippers are willing to deal with that because he plays so hard all the time.
"Now we've got him to try to play point guard and an NBA point guard, which is a different level because it's one of the toughest positions to play in the league," Pack said. "And you're starting to see the fruits of the labor. He's put in a lot of work and that's a credit to him."
Etc.
The Clippers did not practice Thursday after their win over Miami on Wednesday night.
Not to be left out of the edge-lit?ebook reader party, Kobo brings us the Glo ($129.99 direct), a midrange reader with the chops to go up against the competition from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It offers a slightly smaller design and better lighting than the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight , but keeps the Nook's memory card slot and ePub compatibility.
In a market with two very good top options, does a third have a chance at breaking through? It turns out that while the Kobo Glo isn't enough to make Amazon Kindle Paperwhite owners switch, it's just about as good, and therefore a solid option for anyone who chafes at Amazon's lack of ePub compatibility or expandable storage.
Design and Reading The Kobo Glo measures 6.2 by 4.5 by 0.39 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.5 ounces, and is covered in a tough-feeling, rubberized coating. It's not as sleek as the Sony Reader PRS-T2 , but it's sufficiently compact and light, and easy to hold for long periods. It's also a little smaller than the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, particularly in height, and it's also an ounce lighter. The back panel features a large diamond pattern, with the Kobo logo in the center. Up top, there's a sliding power switch and a button for ComfortLight, the built-in edge lighting that lets you read the Kobo Glo in the dark. An icon near the top of the screen lets you adjust brightness.
The 6-inch E Ink Pearl screen sports a higher-than-typical 1,024-by-768-pixel resolution, with 16 shades of gray. It looks sharp and has sufficient contrast. ComfortLight is much brighter and more even than the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight; it's even brighter than the the edge lighting on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. You get a continual, graded adjustment from barely lit to all the way up. Five LEDs along the bottom edge provide the lighting; you can definitely see where they are, although the screen is illuminated evenly enough that it doesn't matter.
To turn pages, you either tap or swipe the sides of the screen. Tapping the center of the screen brings up the Options menu. The screen isn't that responsive, though; the Kobo Glo missed most of my light touches, though it registered firm ones pretty consistently. It's an older infrared-style screen, instead of the capacitive one the Kindle Paperwhite employs.
Page refreshes were fast, at just under half a second each, and the Glo uses a similar caching system as the Kindle and Nook to reduce the frequency of dark, full-page flashes. On the Glo, you see them once every six page turns. Sometimes I saw them more often, such as in Excel 2010 for Dummies, which had lots of large fonts and pictures at the beginning of each chapter. Either way, the 1GHz processor keeps things moving at a steady clip.
Customizations, Other Features, and Store You get plenty of other adjustments to suit your reading preferences. There are 11 built-in fonts. You can adjust line spacing, font size, and margins with smooth sliders, meaning that there are dozens of possible positions for each one?24 for font size alone. You can also align text to the left or center, or turn on justification. For images, you can zoom in and pan around while reading, although it's a little slow.
The Home screen lets you sort books alphabetically, by title, or by author. It also displays large cover images, which the Kindle finally does in its latest generation (it didn't before). You can also make custom lists of books. A Reading Life app keeps track of your reading speed and favorite reading times, and delivers awards based on your accomplishments; neat, but not something I'd see myself using much. More importantly, you can highlight or add notes to a passage by pressing, holding, and dragging it. A built-in dictionary lets you press and hold words to bring up definitions, and you can also share passages you're reading on Facebook.
The Kobo Store contains more than 2.5 million books, including one million free titles. Barnes & Noble claims the same number, while Amazon claims "millions," plus 185,000 exclusive Kindle titles, though I suspect most of those are short Kindle Singles and self-published works that could eventually appear in other stores. In a random spot comparison, prices appeared roughly equivalent to what you'd pay on Amazon or Barnes & Noble's websites. The Glo connects to 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi networks; there's no cellular-equipped option.
Apps, Other Features, and Conclusions Kobo's ecosystem is surprisingly robust. There are apps available for the iPhone and iPod touch, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows PC, and Mac. The Kobo Instant Reader, meanwhile, works as a plug-in inside your browser; it's not a pure HTML5 site like Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader, but install the plug-in and it's effectively the same thing. As long as you sync each one manually with the icon, the system will always put you at the right page number on each of your books no matter how you access them.
You get 2GB of internal storage, plus a microSD card slot on the lower left edge that works with up to 32GB cards. The Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight also has a microSD card slot, but the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite doesn't. There's no headphone jack or audiobook support, though demand for these features seems to be receding, given the advanced cell phones that more and more people are carrying these days; still, it's worth a mention. Kobo says the Glo lasts for about a month on a single charge, assuming 30 minutes of reading per day with the light on or off. The company also quotes a figure of 70 hours of continuous usage with the light set to 15-20 percent brightness. Kobo only bundles a USB cable for charging, like Amazon; Barnes & Noble includes a full AC adapter with the GlowLight.
At $129, the Kobo Glo sits right in the thick of the high-end E Ink-based ebook reader market. It's $10 less than the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight, and either $10 more or $10 less than the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, depending on how much Amazon's on-screen "Special Offer" ads bother you. It's also the same price as the Sony Reader PRS-T2, which comes with a stylus and weighs even less, although it lacks a backlit option, which effectively puts it out of the running except for Sony loyalists.
If you haven't made a decision yet, and the idea of walking into a Wal-Mart or a Best Buy and walking out with one a Kobo appeals to you, go for it. You won't be disappointed. If you've already got a Kindle or Nook, though, there's little reason to switch.
More Ebook Reader Reviews: ??? Kobo Glo ??? Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (Wi-Fi) ??? Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G ??? Sony Reader PRS-T2 ??? Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight ?? more
(Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC, the U.S. automaker majority owned by Fiat SpA, said on Thursday it will invest $238 million to boost engine and truck production in Michigan and add up to 1,250 jobs to meet new demand.
The company is spending $198 million to make its Pentastar V6 engine at the Mack I Engine Plant, which currently builds a larger engine for the Ram 1500 truck. Production will begin in early 2014 and Chrysler may add up to 250 jobs there, subject to market conditions.
The automaker is spending $40 million to install a flexible production line at its Trenton North plant, which can build both the V-6 engine and the Tigershark four-cylinder engine.
Chrysler also will add 1,000 new jobs on a third shift at its Warren Truck Assembly Plant, which builds the 2013 Ram 1500 truck. (Reporting By Deepa Seetharaman in Detroit; editing by John Wallace)
ORLANDO: Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points while J. R. Smith and Raymond Felton added 21 each as the New York Knicks held off the Orlando Magic 99-89 on Tuesday night to remain the NBA?s only unbeaten team.
J.J. Redick led Orlando with 18 points, with Arron Afflalo scoring 13 for a Magic team that was stunted by 20 turnovers that led to 24 New York points.
The Magic dropped their fifth consecutive game and continue to struggle without starters Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu.
New York have won their first five matches for the first time since opening the 1993-94 season with seven victories.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, the Bobcats had a 92-76 win over the Wizards, the Raptors edged the Pacers 74-72 and the Nets beat the Cavaliers 114-101. In the late games, The Spurs edge the Lakers 84-82 and the Trail Blazers had a 103-86 win over the Kings.
Danny Green hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 9.3 seconds left and Tony Parker scored 19 points for San Antonio to help ensure the Lakers? lost for the first time since firing coach Mike Brown.
After Pau Gasol missed a 3-pointer, Tiago Splitter?s hustle prevented the Lakers from controlling the rebound before the buzzer sounded on Los Angeles? first game since hiring Mike D?Antoni on Sunday night. Interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff ran the team for the third straight game.
Tim Duncan had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who improved the Western Conference?s best record to 7-1. Kobe Bryant had 28 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who dropped to a win-loss record of 3-5 after committing 17 turnovers on a poor shooting night. Dwight Howard had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
At Charlotte, Ramon Sessions scored 21 points as the Bobcats beat winless Washington to get back-to-back victories for the first time since last December.
Rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist chipped in with 15 points and eight rebounds before leaving in the fourth quarter with a sore back.
Trevor Ariza scored 19 points for the Wizards, who fell to 0-6.
At Indianapolis, DeMar DeRozan scored 15 points and Jose Calderon had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for Toronto.
Toronto led 69-58 heading into the fourth and hit only one field goal the rest of the way, a club low.
George Hill scored 18 points and Paul George had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Pacers, who have lost four of the last five.
Brooklyn posted its third consecutive win with Deron Williams contributing 26 points and 10 assists and Joe Johnson scoring 25 points against travel-weary Cleve?land.
Brook Lopez added 23 points for the Nets, who opened a 20-point lead at home for the third straight game, but this time barely let up and beat the Cavaliers for the sixth time in eight meetings after losing nine in a row, mostly during the LeBron James era.
Anderson Varejao scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were wrapping up a six-game, coast-to-coast trip and played much of the game with the urgency of a team that wanted to be home.
At Sacramento, Damian Lillard had 22 points and nine assists to help Portland stop a four-game losing streak.
Portland used a strong third quarter to build their lead to 16 points and pushed the cushion to 22 early in the fourth. The Trail Blazers out-rebounded the Kings and connected on 14 of 27 attempts from 3-point range.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points for Portland and Wesley Matthews had 18.
James Johnson scored 16 for the Kings, who dropped their third straight. They played their second consecutive game without leading scorer and rebounder DeMarcus Cousins, suspended following a verbal altercation last week with San Antonio Spurs television announcer Sean Elliott. ? AP
A year and half ago you asked questions about superficial, non-risky events in a strip club.??Here is the main part of the answer I gave then:
"No STDs are transmitted by hand-genital contact, exposure to genital secretions through superficial contact, or through clothing.??Nobody ever caught an STD from a strip club unless there was unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex in the club.??And probably no STDs have ever been transmitted by lap dance."
Common sense and logic tell you that the same answer obviously applies to all nonsexual exposures.??For there to be a risk of a blood-borne infection from this event, the sharp area would have to be wet with obvious, large amounts of blood.??Even then, with the superficial scrape you describe, there probably would have been no risk.
So no risk, no worries.??Do not get tested for HIV, hepatitis, or anything else.??I am, however, concerned that you may be abnormally worried about contamination in the environment.??If such worries are having a negative impact on your life, consider professional counseling.??This symptom -- abnormal fear of contagion -- sometimes is a sign of potentially serious mental health disability.??(See "The Aviator", the film biography of Howard Hughes, for an excellent example.)
There won't be any further discussion on this thread.??There is no additional information you can provide that would change my opinion or advice.??Good luck to you.
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Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
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Often, the gift that we find that initially seems great, tends to lose a bit of its luster once we spy the price tag and determine that it is definitely not within our price range. Isn?t that the most disappointing aspect of gift giving ? knowing the gift you actually give was actually your second or third choice? Yes, but it is not the end of the world. Continue reading for unique gift giving ideas on a budget.Sometimes it is just so hard to find those perfect gifts for the ones that we love. Often, the gift that we find that initially seems great, tends to lose a bit of its luster once we spy the price tag and determine that it is definitely not within our price range. Isn?t that the most disappointing aspect of gift giving ? knowing the gift you actually give was actually your second or third choice? Yes, but it is not the end of the world.
For the third consecutive year, websites selling counterfeit products online have been seized on Cyber Monday, the day generally thought to be the busiest online shopping day of the year.
