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Thursday, February 28, 2013
The Four Kinds of McDonald's Chicken Nuggets
Monday, February 25, 2013
Good morning Central Florida!
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Samsung cuts down Galaxy camera prices
Samsung cuts down Galaxy camera prices
New Delhi: Samsung India has slashed the price of its Galaxy Camera which is an Android-powered camera , making? it more affordable to the people.
Within less than two months of its launch in India the company has slashed the price of the camera. The camera now costs Rs 26,520, down Rs 3,880 from its launch price. The manufacturer is also offering a free battery charging kit with the device in the country.
Galaxy Camera has a 4.8-inch touchscreen and is compatible with all the apps available on Google Play marketplace. It is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB RAMS and boasts of a 1,650mAh battery. The gadget supports sim-card for 3G connectivity and can also access the internet over Wi-Fi.
This Wi-Fi+3G capable device was made available to the Indian consumers in November 2012 at Rs 29,900. The Samsung Galaxy camera's Wi-Fi-only rival Nikon S800c is priced at Rs 20,950.
Further the new version of the camera has done away with the cellular signal. The new cam, Samsung said, is basically the same as seen before, this time minus the 3G and 4G connectivity options.
Source: http://www.mynews.in/News/samsung_cuts_down_galaxy_camera_prices_N542923.html
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Hubble sees a glowing jet from a young star
Feb. 24, 2013 ? The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image showing an object known as HH 151, a bright jet of glowing material trailed by an intricate, orange-hued plume of gas and dust.
It is located some 460 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull), near to the young, tumultuous star HL Tau.
In the first few hundred thousand years of life, new stars like HL Tau pull in material that falls towards them from the surrounding space. This material forms a hot disc that swirls around the coalescing body, launching narrow streams of material from its poles. These jets are shot out at speeds of several hundred kilometers (or miles) per second and collide violently with nearby clumps of dust and gas, creating wispy, billowing structures known as Herbig-Haro objects -- like HH 151 seen in the image.
Such objects are very common in star-forming regions. They are short-lived, and their motion and evolution can actually be seen over very short timescales, on the order of years. They quickly race away from the newly-forming star that emitted them, colliding with new clumps of material and glowing brightly before fading away.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/qbSvdIFTYxY/130224082136.htm
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Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin to receive honorary WWE title at WWE Live Event Sunday
Head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies football team Kevin Sumlin will be presented with an honorary World Heavyweight Championship this Sunday, Feb. 24, when the WWE live tour visits Reed Arena at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. (TICKETS)
The ceremony will take place prior to the scheduled main event between the actual World Heavyweight Champion, Alberto Del Rio, and Big Show.
A three-time finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach of the Year and 2012 Associated Press Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, Sumlin led the Aggies to an outstanding 11-2 record in their first season as a member of the SEC.
View CommentsTickets are on sale at the Reed Arena Box Office, or tickets can be purchased over the phone by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE (888-992-4443) or online at 12thManFoundation.com. Ticket prices are $95, $50, $35, $25 and $15. Texas A&M students with a valid ID can purchase tickets for $10 at the Reed Arena Box Office. (Plus applicable facility, service and handling fees.)
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Maldives ex-president leaves Indian embassy refuge
MALE (Reuters) - Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed on Saturday left the Indian High Commission, his party said, after taking refuge for 11 days to avoid arrest on charges related to his presidency.
The government has said he no longer faces arrest.
Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected leader, left office last year in contested circumstances. He entered the Indian High Commission, or embassy, in the capital on February 13 as police tried to arrest him in connection with a court case.
During his refuge in the embassy Nasheed called for the formation of a caretaker government to ensure free and fair presidential polls in the Indian Ocean archipelago, scheduled for September.
He was greeted on Saturday by hundreds of his party supporters, who cheered him with his nickname "Anni," and surrounded him before he came before the media.
"I've come out with the understanding I will be able to conduct peaceful political activity and my social life," he told reporters.
"I believe that even on issues that we disagree on, we can reach a compromise with the Maldivian government."
His supporters say he was ousted last February in a coup in the Maldives, a major tourist destination. They have clashed with police outside the diplomatic mission and near the entrance of the country's main high security zone since he took refuge.
Nasheed's decision comes after an Indian delegation led by Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs held a series of meeting with the officials of the Maldives government.
The Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a statement Nasheed "entered the Indian Mission in Male on 13 February 2013 on his own volition and had similarly decided to leave on his own."
"FREE AND FAIR TRIAL"
A court ordered Nasheed's arrest after he missed a February 10 court appearance in a case relating to accusations that he illegally detained a judge during the last days of his administration, which also forced the regime change.
If Nasheed is found guilty in the case, he could be barred from standing in a presidential election on September 7. His party says the trial is an attempt to exclude him from the contest and has challenged the court's legitimacy.
"The government has nothing to do with Nasheed's court case," Imad Masood, presidential spokesman, told Reuters.
"We will ensure a free and fair as well as an inclusive election. But it is the Prosecutor General who should decide whether a person could contest in the election."
The presidential spokesman has said that Nasheed's arrest warrant has ceased, but he still faces a court hearing.
Nasheed says he was forced from power at gunpoint after opposition protests and a police mutiny. A national commission last August said the toppling of his government was not a coup, but a transfer of power that followed the constitution, a ruling that triggered several days of demonstrations.
The Maldives held its first free elections in 2008. Nasheed defeated Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled for 30 years and was accused by opponents and international human rights groups of running the country as a dictator.
(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal in COLOMBO; Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maldives-ex-president-leaves-indian-embassy-refuge-173347438.html
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Bizarre Disguise Of Paedophile Who Sent Sexually Explicit Facebook Messages To Girl, 14
A pervert who sent sexually explicit messages to a 14-year-old girl on Facebook and told her he would leave his wife wore this bizarre outfit as he attended court.
Police raided the home of Alan Bray and found illegal child porn images on his computer after the teenager?s parents reported his behaviour.
He arrived at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday wearing a cape and sunglasses in a bid to hide his identity from photographers.
Bray, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, was made the subject of a three-year supervision order and told to take part in a sex offenders? treatment programme.
He pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and 10 of making indecent photographs of a child. He was also told to sign the sex offenders? register for five years.
Bray?s offending came to light in March last year when the victim?s parents caught her using her computer late at night. They were shocked to discover the content of her Facebook messages from Bray. Over a 12-week period he made repeated sexually explicit requests, such as asking her for ?naked facetime?.
Bray made arrangements to speak to the teenager online when his wife went out. He also told her he loved her and she could come and live with him.
A total of 10 images were discovered on his computer. One was a movie at level five ? the most serious kind ? of a 14-year-old girl being raped.
Kama Melly, for Bray, told the court her client was wheelchair-bound as a result of an arthritis condition. She said the offences stemmed from him being unable to have sex. He began viewing pornography on the internet but his behaviour escalated.
Judge Tom Bayliss, QC, said: ?Her parents? vigilance, only her parents? vigilance, ended this.?
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Franchise: Buy New or Used? - Socially Savvy!
Franchise: Buy New or Used?
A franchise can be a great on-ramp to small business ownership. Here?s how to decide on a new or existing franchise purchase.
Becoming a franchisee can be a great path to entrepreneurship. You can leverage the benefits of an established brand and a proven operating plan and the franchisor may serve as a source of capital?something that is especially helpful in today?s tight financing market. However, what?s the best way to become a franchisee? Should you start fresh with a new franchise or simplify things and buy an existing franchise business?
The key to solving the new versus existing franchise dilemma is to understand the opportunities and challenges before you make any decisions. By thoroughly evaluating the pros and cons of each approach, you can minimize the potential for nasty surprises and significantly improve the odds of success in franchising.
Advantages of an Existing Franchise
There is a general sense among buyers that acquiring an existing franchise is easier than launching a new franchise outlet. That may or may not be the case, depending on the specifics of the outlet, but it is true that existing franchises offer several advantages that are worth considering:
1. Track Record
An existing franchise opportunity can be a turnkey business acquisition. The business is already operational so the seller should be able to demonstrate a track record of profitability as well as hard numbers that will help you determine current cash flow and make better projections regarding future performance?two key elements in the value of the business.
2. Customer Base
An established and loyal customer base is a huge benefit for a new business owner. Existing franchises make it even easier for new owners to leverage the advantage of an established customer because the franchise brand gives customers a sense of consistency, even if an ownership transition has occurred behind the scenes.
3. Flexibility
Franchisors typically have a set fee structure for new franchise locations, limiting the buyer?s ability to negotiate on terms or price. Buying an existing franchise, however, puts you directly across the table from the seller with more ability to negotiate the terms and maximize the return on your investment.
Advantages of a New Franchise
New franchise outlets have higher risks and, thus, potentially higher rewards. While every franchise opportunity is different, new franchisees often discover that building a new location from the ground up provides benefits that simply aren?t available with an existing operation:
1. Clean Slate
A new franchise offers buyers a clean slate; a business opportunity unaffected by the habits, preferences and/or shortcomings of a previous owner. Although you?ll have to work harder to establish your business in the community, you don?t have to worry about the possibility of negative customer impressions haunting your business.
2. Lower Purchase Price
New franchises are often less expensive because you aren?t buying existing cash flow from an established customer base and you aren?t paying for ?goodwill? value often expected by sellers of existing franchises. A business with a solid reputation and a strong customer following is clearly worth more than one that is just getting off the ground. If the new franchise is successful, you?ll be the beneficiary of the company?s goodwill value?not the seller.
3. Newer Equipment and Facilities
When you buy a new franchise, it?s likely that your equipment and facilities will also be new or at least newer than they would be if you bought an existing franchise. Outdated equipment isn?t always a deal-breaker, but in some sectors (e.g. food service franchising) it?s important to make sure the business is outfitted with reliable machines and the latest designs.
Ultimately, the decision to buy a new or existing franchise boils down to your personality, preferences and risk threshold. In general, proven franchises are a safer investment, but if the idea of breaking ground in a new franchise area doesn?t faze you (or even appeals to you), then a new franchise might be a better option.
To be honest, there?s no right or wrong answer to the new versus existing franchise dilemma. Both approaches have benefits and drawbacks.
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Source: http://www.besociallysavvy.com/2013/02/21/franchise-buy-new-or-used/
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Federal Reserve uncertainties drive down Asian markets
Transcripts from the Federal Reserve's January meeting were made public Wednesday. These documents showed growing doubts about the longevity of the U.S. central bank's bond buying program, which has kept interest rates at record lows.?
Edward Monti, left, a regulatory specialist, confers with trader Anthony Confusione, right, as he monitor trading activity for Virtu Financial at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
EnlargeExpressions of doubt by?Federal?Reserve?policy makers about the massive bond-buying program they launched to help stimulate the U.S. economy caused Asian stock markets to fall Thursday.
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Transcripts from the Fed's latest meeting, released Wednesday, showed some policy makers are worried that the bank's $85 billion in bond purchases each month could eventually unsettle financial markets or cause the central bank to take losses.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.8 percent to 11,376.28. Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.5 percent to 22,966.03. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.4 percent to 5,025.60. South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.4 percent to 2,017.22. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, mainland China and New Zealand also fell. Indonesia's rose.
"Market sentiment turned negative yesterday as Fed minutes showed growing uncertainties" about how long the U.S. central bank's bond buying will last, said Gary Yau of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong in a market commentary.
By buying bonds, the Fed drives up their prices and lowers interest rates, which have stayed at record lows. That keeps costs low for mortgages and other types of loans. This approach to monetary policy is known as quantitative easing.
The news about the Fed contributed to the biggest loss this year for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The S&P 500 sank 1.2 percent to 1,511.95. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 108.13 to 13,927.54, a loss of 0.8 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.5 percent to 3,164.41.
Benchmark oil for April delivery was down 56 cents to $94.66 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.88, or 2 percent, to finish at $95.22 on the Nymex on Tuesday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3272 from $1.3281 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 93.60 yen from 93.81 yen.
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Hagel has enough support for defense secretary
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Chuck Hagel has lined up the necessary votes for the Senate to confirm him next week to be the nation's next defense secretary, after a senior Republican lawmaker said he will back President Barack Obama's choice.
Barring any new developments, five-term Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said he would vote for his fellow Republican and the former two-term Nebraska senator, with the expectation that Hagel will win Senate approval. If confirmed, Hagel would succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is stepping down after four years first as CIA director and then Pentagon chief.
"He's probably as good as we're going to get," Shelby told the Decatur Daily about Hagel.
Jonathan Graffeo, a spokesman for the senator, said Thursday that unless any new, damaging information to the nominee emerges between now and an expected Senate vote on Tuesday, Hagel has Shelby's vote.
Obama's choice has faced strong Republican opposition, and last week the GOP succeeded in an unprecedented filibuster of a nominee for defense secretary. In fresh evidence of the resistance, 15 Republican senators sent a letter to Obama on Thursday calling on him to withdraw the nomination.
"The occupant of this critical office should be someone whose candidacy is neither controversial nor divisive," wrote the senators ? all opponents of Hagel. Leading the effort was Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the party's No. 2 who is up for re-election next year. The letter came shortly after news of Shelby's support for Hagel.
One name missing from the letter was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has called Hagel unqualified, but indicated last Sunday that he wouldn't stand in the way of a Senate vote.
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday complained that Republicans were putting politics ahead of national security, pointing out that the administration wants Hagel to be part of decisions on the size of the U.S. force in Afghanistan as American and coalition forces wind down combat operations.
"This waste of time is not just meaningless political posturing because we firmly believe that Sen. Hagel will be confirmed. The waste of time is of consequence," Carney told reporters.
The Senate also is holding up the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director, with Republicans and Democrats seeking more information about the U.S. policy on the use of drones. Hagel and Brennan would join Secretary of State John Kerry in Obama's overhauled, second-term national security team.
Hagel is expected to get all 55 Democratic votes and the support of three Republicans ? Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Shelby. Two other Republicans ? Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska ? voted last week to allow the nomination to move ahead and are expected to do the same next week, giving Hagel the requisite 60 votes out of 100 necessary to end a filibuster.
A vote on confirmation, with only a majority necessary, could occur as early as Wednesday.
The filibuster left the administration angry and troubled by the prospect of a nomination in limbo, with opposition groups redoubling their efforts to scuttle Hagel and the uncertainty of a weeklong Senate recess. But the administration is more confident about Hagel's prospects after private conversations with several senators to ensure Hagel has 60 votes, according to an official close to the confirmation process.
Several senators who voted to delay a vote last week ? Shelby among them ? are expected to allow the nomination to move forward next week.
Republicans have criticized Hagel for his past statements and votes, contending that he hasn't been sufficiently supportive of Israel and has been too tolerant of Iran. They also have challenged his support for reducing the nation's nuclear arsenal and his opposition to the Iraq war after his initial vote for the conflict.
His nomination also has become entangled in GOP demands for more information from the Obama administration about the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has described Hagel as "radical" and pressed for Obama to abandon the nomination. Graham sent a new letter to Hagel this week with fresh questions about Israel, after Hagel responded to a separate Graham letter on Israel last week.
___
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
___
Follow Donna Cassata on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DonnaCassataAP
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Reenergize Negotiations for Concluding India-GCC FTA Talks: Anand Sharma
The Union Minister for Commerce, Industry & Textiles Shri Anand Sharma, in a bilateral meeting with Ms. Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, UAE, in Dubai today, said that despite of the fact that UAE is India?s top partner amongst the GCC countries and the second largest trading partner for India in the world after China, ?the bilateral trade does not reflect the full potential and can be further exploited to mutual advantage of both the countries.? Shri Sharma conveyed to Ms. Qasimi that UAE should take the lead in ?reenergizing the negotiations for concluding the India-GCC FTA talks?, which have stalled for a while. *******
Shri Sharma was also concerned of the matter that although the bilateral trade between the two regions has grown tremendously, the capital flow between the regions has remained miniscule. Speaking on the same issue, Shri Sharma emphasized the opportunities for increased investments from UAE in India, especially in infrastructure sector such as power and utilities, roads and highways, ports, aviation, telecommunications and urban infrastructure. He also assured that ?India is committed to strengthening and expanding cooperation with UAE in other sectors such as construction, downstream products in the petroleum and natural gas sector, agriculture and food processing, science & technology, renewable energy, IT, education, training, health and financial services.?
Highlighting the fact that India is a major exporter of textiles, Shri Sharma also hoped that the UAE Government would give a special concessional treatment to textile imports from India.
Shri Sharma also expressed the desire of Indian companies to invest in UAE in energy intensive manufacturing, infrastructure, services, tourism and hospitality, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, financial services, agro-based value chain and education. Along with this, Shri Sharma conveyed to the UAE Minister India?s desire to ?take part in UAE?s projects in the oil, railways, construction and other sectors.?
DS
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Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=92273
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Observatory: Study Shows That Moles Smell in Stereo
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Previous research indicated that rats can smell in stereo, and there are suggestions that sharks and ants can, too.
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Origins of alcohol consumption traced to ape ancestor
Eating fermented fruit off the ground may have paved way for ability to digest ethanol
Eating fermented fruit off the ground may have paved way for ability to digest ethanol
By Erin Wayman
Web edition: February 18, 2013
BOSTON ? The taste for alcohol may be an ancient craving. The ability to metabolize ethanol ? the alcohol in beer, wine and spirits ? might have originated in the common ancestor of chimpanzees, gorillas and humans roughly 10 million years ago, perhaps when this ancestor became more terrestrial and started eating fruits fermenting on the ground.
Chemist Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., reached that conclusion by ?resurrecting? the alcohol-metabolizing enzymes of extinct primates. Benner and his colleagues estimated the enzymes? genetic code, built the enzymes in the lab and then analyzed how they work to understand how they changed over time.
?It?s like a courtroom re-enactment,? said biochemist Romas Kazlauskas of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Benner ?can re-enact what happened in evolution.?
Benner proposed the idea February 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Today, humans rely on an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase 4, or ADH4, to break down ethanol. The enzyme is common throughout the esophagus, stomach and intestines, and is the first alcohol-metabolizing enzyme that comes into contact with what a person drinks. Among primates, not all ADH4s are the same ? some can?t effectively metabolize ethanol.
Enlarge The ability to metabolize ethanol might have arisen in the common ancestor of chimpanzees (shown), gorillas and humans as this ancestral ape became more terrestrial and started to eat fermenting fruits on the ground, a chemist proposes.
Credit: Ikiwaner/Wikimedia Commons
To see how ADH4 evolved, Benner?s team read the stretches of DNA that make ADH4 in 27 modern primate species, including lemurs, monkeys, apes and humans. Then they mapped the DNA sequences on a primate family tree and inferred what the genes might have looked like long ago at points on the tree where evolutionary branches separated. The branching points represent extinct primate ancestors.??
Most primate ancestors wouldn?t have been able to metabolize ethanol, the results showed. But at the branching point leading to gorillas, chimps and humans ? which represents an ancestor that lived roughly 10 million years ago ? the enzyme becomes a powerful alcohol digester. Compared with earlier enzymes, this one was 50 times as efficient, Benner reported, and was nearly capable of breaking down the level of ethanol found in modern alcoholic beverages.
Because gorillas, chimps and humans all spend at least some time on the ground, Benner thinks a terrestrial lifestyle arose in these primates? common ancestor around 10 million years ago. Being on the ground, the ancestor would have come across fruit that had fallen from trees. With a damaged husk or skin, yeast could have invaded the fruit and fermented its sugars into ethanol. Thus, individuals who could digest ethanol would have survived better than those who couldn?t. This would also explain why the ability to metabolize ethanol didn?t evolve in tree-dwelling primates like orangutans that rarely encounter fermented fruit.
But it may be too soon to link metabolizing ethanol with living on the ground, said Jeremy DeSilva, a biological anthropologist at Boston University. ?There?s very little fossil evidence from the general time period when humans, gorillas and chimpanzees last shared a common ancestor.? Scientists still debate whether this ancestor was strictly arboreal or split its time between the ground and the trees. ?This is cool work,? he said. ?We?ll be able to evaluate it with better evidence as we find more fossils from that time period.?
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Brainstorming Great Home Based Business Ideas | The Internet ...
If you are tired of working for someone else then you should consider starting your own business. The biggest obstacle that you will face is coming up with work at home ideas that make sense for your needs and budget. If cost is a major concern for you then operating a service based business may be the best path. Some low cost services could be dog walking, with consumers spending hundreds of dollars to buy a dog they will do just about anything to ensure the animal is happy and healthy. To advertise these services you can post information about your services on a variety of different classified websites. It might be a smart move to also create a website that belongs solely to your business. This will help establish your brand as the premiere choice for dog walking services while at the same time enhancing your professionalism. This is just one example of the many types of home based businesses that are available to you, just ensure you have passion for it. When passion is present the chances of you succeeding will grow exponentially.
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Source: http://www.yogadarsana.org/1256-brainstorming-great-home-based-business-ideas.html
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Saturday, February 16, 2013
US Cellular to spread its LTE wings to 87 percent of customers by year's end
While it's only the nation's eighth largest carrier, US Cellular is said to be well on its way to covering 87 percent of its customer base -- that's more than 3,800 additional cities and towns -- with the sweet speed of LTE by the end of 2013. In a statement released today, the carrier said "select cities" in California, Kansas and Nebraska will see US Cellular-flavored LTE for the first time. They include Lincoln and Omaha in Nebraska, Manhattan in Kansas, and Eureka and Ukiah in California. Existing LTE areas in Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin will expand to other cities as well. That's an increase of about 26 percent since its last LTE outbreak, though US Cellular has not yet revealed the exact timeline of these rollouts just yet. In the meantime, we'd check US Cellular's 4G coverage map to see if you're in one of the speed-blessed zones. Just don't hit that F5 button too often, eh?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: Fierce Wireless
Source: US Cellular
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Friday, February 15, 2013
Physical Therapy Helpful After Cancer Treatments
Pat Guth contributes news and insightful content for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. Bio ?
February 14, 2013
New York, NY - It?s common knowledge that many medications given for cancer kill not only cancer cells but also cause nerve damage as well as muscle and joint problems. That?s why oncologists are urging cancer patients to sign up for physical therapy sessions that can help relieve pain and restore movement affected by treatments, even years after treatments have ceased.
According to a story aired on WABC-New York, doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center are recommending what they have started referring to as ?cancer rehab?, a program where oncologists and physical therapists get together to devise a program that will help prevent long-term problems for their patients.
?A number of the common chemotherapeutic medicines will cause numbness or tingling in the hands and feet, or outright pain in the hands and feet,? adds Dr. Michael Stubblefield, Chief of the Cancer Rehab program. ?That's all because most cancer treatments don't just kill the cancer. You also damage the healthy cells and tissue around it. That can lead to problems with strength and range of motion.?
Patients agree. ?So much of our culture is about being cancer free and surviving but there?s a cost to it,? says Nancy Libby, who is receiving physical therapy to relieve chronic swelling and pain from a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. Patients like Libby note that even everyday simple tasks can be tough after debilitating treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
That?s why part of Sloan-Kettering?s cancer rehabilitation program includes a simulated kitchen to focus on everyday responsibilities as well as a simulated ?park? that includes uneven surfaces such as those one would find while walking outdoors.
The story reports that there are very few established cancer rehab programs like the one at Sloan-Kettering, but patients in other locations should talk to physical therapists that are well-versed in the challenges of cancer patients to talk about sessions that may help their recovery.
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Source: http://www.mesothelioma.com/news/2013/02/physical-therapy-helpful-after-cancer-treatments.htm
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France pins horsemeat fraud on wholesaler
PARIS (AP) ? The price, smell and color should have been clear tipoffs something was wrong with shipments of horsemeat that were fraudulently labeled as beef, French authorities said Thursday. The economy minister pinned the bulk of the blame on a French wholesaler at the heart of the growing scandal in Europe.
Britain's food regulator, meanwhile, said six horse carcasses that tested positive for an equine painkiller may have entered the human food chain in France and that horsemeat tainted with the medicine may have been sold to consumers "for some time."
In Paris, Benoit Hamon, the economic and consumer affairs minister, said it appeared that the fraudulent sales had been going on for several months, and reached across 13 countries and 28 companies. He said there was plenty of blame to go around, but most of it rested with Spanghero, a wholesaler he said was well aware that the cheap meat was mislabeled when it sold it to Comigel, the frozen food processor.
"Spanghero knew," Hamon said. "One thing that should have attracted Spanghero's attention? The price."
Hamon said the mislabeled meat from Romania was far below the market rate for beef. Spanghero was to be suspended immediately and the results of the investigation have been forwarded to prosecutors, officials said.
A representative for Spanghero did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. In a statement earlier this week, Spanghero said it does not buy, sell or process horsemeat. The company said it was cooperating with the investigation and would sue whoever was responsible for the fraud.
Comigel itself was not blameless, Hamon said. The paperwork had significant irregularities, including failure to specify country of origin.
"And once the meat was defrosted, we can ask ourselves why Comigel didn't notice that the color and odor was not that of beef," Hamon said.
Britain's Food Standards Agency said eight out of 206 horses it checked had tested positive for phenylbutazone, commonly known as bute. It said of those eight, six ? all slaughtered by a firm in southwest England ? were sent to France and "may have entered the food chain."
The agency said it was working with French officials to trace the meat.
Thousands of meat products are being tested for the drug, and for horse DNA, after horsemeat was found in food products labeled as beef across Europe.
Pan-European police agency Europol is coordinating a continent-wide fraud investigation amid allegations of an international criminal conspiracy to substitute horse for more expensive beef.
Almost no horsemeat is consumed in Britain, where hippophagy ? eating horses ? is widely considered taboo. But thousands of horses killed in the country each year are exported for meat to countries including France and Belgium, which have a culture of eating horsemeat.
The scandal has uncovered the labyrinthine workings of the global food industry, where meat from a Romanian slaughterhouse can end up in British lasagna by way of companies in Luxembourg and France.
It has also raised the uncomfortable idea that Europeans may unwittingly have been consuming racehorses, which are often treated with bute.
Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, insisted that horsemeat containing the drug ? which is banned for human use in countries including Britain and the U.S. ? "presents a very low risk to human health."
Davies said the drug was once prescribed to patients with severe arthritis, and while it sometimes produced serious side effects including the blood disorder aplastic anemia, it was "extremely unlikely" anyone eating horsemeat would experience them.
"If you ate 100-percent horse burgers of 250 grams (8.8 ounces), you would have to eat, in one day, more than 500 or 600 to get to a human dose," she said. "It would really be difficult to get up to a human dose."
Peter Lees, emeritus professor of veterinary pharmacology at the Royal Veterinary College, agreed there was little risk of harm from eating horsemeat. He said that even the worst-case scenario involved a tiny amount of bute in a small percentage of meat samples.
"The risk of getting aplastic anemia that is posed by consuming a horsemeat burger is very low indeed," Lees said.
Nonetheless, the development heightened concerns about the security of Europe's food system.
Food Standards Agency head Catherine Brown said that before the current crisis, the agency had tested about 5 percent of the horses slaughtered in Britain ? and about 6 percent of those had shown traces of bute.
"That would say there has been a significant amount of carcasses with bute in going into the food chain for some time," she said.
Britain's Food Standards Agency said it had begun testing all horses slaughtered in Britain for bute, and that none would be exported for consumption unless they tested negative. The agency previously tested only a small percentage of slaughtered animals, which has fueled criticism of its failure to catch the horsemeat contamination sooner.
A "horse passport" system, which records whether animals have been treated with bute, is meant to stop the drug entering the human food chain.
On Thursday, Britain's Aintree race track said a slaughterhouse in northern England shut down this week by government investigators had a contract to dispose of fatally injured racehorses.
The racecourse said it was "as confident as we possibly can be" that none of the meat had entered the human food chain.
The trail of illicit horsemeat stretching across Europe spread still further Thursday when Rangeland Foods, a processing factory in Ireland, said it had withdrawn some batches of burger products which contained beef supplied from Poland after it tested positive for up to 30 percent horse meat.
Food Safety Authority of Ireland said the products had been sold to the catering and wholesale sectors and distributed to Ireland, Britain, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Processed food containing horsemeat has also surfaced in Germany, where two national supermarkets have pulled frozen lasagna from their shelves.
____
Associated Press Writer David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.
Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-pins-horsemeat-fraud-wholesaler-173834390--finance.html
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University of St. Thomas names its first female president
Julie Sullivan, former executive vice president and provost of the University of San Diego, was named as the new president of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)
The University of St. Thomas broke from more than a century of tradition Thursday, Feb. 14, with the selection of the first woman and lay leader to be its president.
Julie Sullivan, 55, executive vice president and provost at the University of San Diego, will take the helm of the St. Paul-based Roman Catholic school this summer.
She was appointed by a unanimous vote of the university's 49-member Board of Trustees to replace the Rev. Dennis Dease.
Dease will retire in June after leading the school for nearly 22 years.
Sullivan comes to Minnesota's largest private higher education institution on the heels of a record-setting fundraising campaign and almost 25 percent student enrollment growth in a dozen years.
She is expected to face growing pressure to keep St. Thomas accessible to students, who now graduate with an average school debt of $30,000.
Sullivan said she will work to raise St. Thomas' profile as a locally and globally engaged institution true to both its Catholic identity and its strong liberal arts focus. Making the school more affordable will be on top of her to-do list.
Sullivan and university leaders played down the double departure from tradition her appointment represents. These days, most Catholic higher education institutions are led by laypeople, and more than a third have female presidents.
"Our charge was to find the best person for the job, and that's what we did," said John Morrison, a trustee and the head of the
presidential search committee. "She came up head and shoulders above everybody else."But others said the move was significant for St. Thomas, which serves 10,300 students on its campuses in the Twin Cities and Owatonna, Minn., as well as Rome.
"They are making the switch from a cleric to a layperson and the switch to a female president," said MaryAnn Baenninger, the Minnesota Private College Council board chairwoman who has led the Catholic College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph since 2004. "It's a historic moment for the University of St. Thomas."
Morrison said Sullivan's candidacy stood out among more than 50 total applications and 14 candidates the committee interviewed.
Sullivan has served as second-in-command at the University of San Diego, a Catholic institution, since 2005. She oversees all educational programs, technology, admissions, financial aid and more.
A graduate of the University of Florida, she taught at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. She is a well-known scholar and educator in accounting and taxation. She is also a mother of four grown children, including two adopted from Ethiopia.
"I have called Julie a star, and I have meant that very sincerely,"
Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Harry Flynn, left, greets the University of St. Thomas' new president Julie Sullivan, former executive vice president and provost of the University of San Diego, on Thursday, February 14, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)
said Dease as he introduced Sullivan at a Thursday press conference. "Her spirit, her authenticity and her mission-driven leadership will be an asset to the University of St. Thomas."In her application, Sullivan touted a slew of accomplishments that offer a glimpse at her priorities. On her watch, the San Diego school doubled the size of the faculty research grant program, added dozens of tenured faculty, launched an engineering school and increased minority enrollment.
But she said she was especially proud of the school's recent designation as a Changemaker Campus by the Arlington, Va., based nonprofit Ashoka, which supports social entrepreneurship around the world.
In a statement, University of San Diego President Mary Lyons praised Sullivan, including her work guiding the school through "the great fiscal crisis of 2008."
Sullivan pledged to be a leader attuned to the input of faculty, staff and students at the university.
"My aspiration for the University of St. Thomas is to be recognized regionally, nationally and internationally as the model Catholic university of our time," she said.
Sullivan takes over at a time of growing enrollment, the addition of several degree programs and the recent wrap-up of a capital campaign that brought in $515 million, a five-state record for a private college.
St. Thomas changed its bylaws in 2011 to allow a Roman Catholic layperson to assume the presidency. University leaders said they took the step in anticipation of Dease's retirement and in hopes of expanding the pool of strong candidates for his job.
Baenninger said lay leaders have been replacing clergy as top administrators of Catholic universities in Minnesota and beyond. Of the 17 members of the Minnesota Council of Private Colleges, three are led by women, and two of those are Catholic institutions.
According to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, such institutions are ahead of the curve nationally when it comes to female top leadership, as well. Among the 194 members of the association, almost 35 percent have female presidents, compared with about 26 percent of all colleges and universities.
Morrison said the committee liked that Sullivan comes from a Catholic college that's similar to St. Thomas in many ways.
With just more than 8,000 students, the University of San Diego is smaller than St. Thomas. It's also more diverse. Almost a third of students at the University of San Diego are minorities compared with about 14 percent of the St. Thomas student body.
The University of San Diego was thrust into the national spotlight late last year amid controversy over President Mary Lyons' decision to cancel an honorary visiting fellowship for a renowned British theologian. The theologian, Tina Beattie, had signed a statement in support of gay marriage.
Faculty members took a vote of no confidence in the president, arguing her decision infringed upon academic freedom.
As a nonvoting member of the faculty's University Senate, Sullivan found herself in the delicate position of mediating between the two sides.
Morrison said the controversy was a "minor disruption" that did not really factor in the committee's appraisal of Sullivan's candidacy.
Rose D'Acquisto, who graduated from St. Thomas in 1984 with one of its first coeducational classes, said she was thrilled to hear of Sullivan's appointment.
She said the university has come a long way since her time there. Back then, there was scarcely room in campus dorms for female students. A professor started his class by warning he wouldn't tolerate giggling and "silly business " -- a message clearly directed to the new female arrivals.
"I am really proud the university is taking this step in recognizing the value women have brought to the school," she said. "I believe she will inspire women who go to this college and hopefully men as well."
Mila Koumpilova can be reached at 651-228-2171. Follow her at twitter.com/MilaPiPress.
ABOUT JULIE SULLIVAN
Age: 55
Family: Husband Robert Sullivan is founding dean of the Rady School of Management at the University of California-San Diego; four grown children.
Hometown: Gainesville, Fla.
Alma mater: The University of Florida in Gainesville, where she got her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees
First job: Assistant professor of taxation at the University of Oklahoma
Most recent job: Executive vice president and provost at the University of San Diego
In her spare time: Exercise, travel, spending time with her family and their two puppies.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
Google Maps with Street View now live on Nintendo's Wii U eShop
This morning's Nintendo Direct was all about the games, specifically those starring the likes of Luigi. But inbetween news of DLC updates, Nintendo's Bill Trinen made casual mention of Google Maps with Street View availability for North American Wii U owners. To recap, the service -- which is free-to-download right now on the eShop -- brings the GMaps you know and love to the widescreen and the GamePad, as well. What's still unknown, however, is whether or not Nintendo intends to eventually charge users for access to the app's Panorama View-like feature, much like the company plans to do in Japan later this summer.
Filed under: Gaming, Google, Nintendo
Source: Nintendo Direct
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/CkNCOUmv648/
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WHS Sports: - Girls basketball today, 7:15 p.m., vs Crescent Valley
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/WoodburnIndependent/posts/10151384285694508
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Wall Street edges up ahead of Obama speech as housing gains
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 holding near multi-year highs ahead of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, as housing stocks advanced.
The economy will be a major topic of Obama's speech before a joint session of Congress set for 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday). Investors will listen for any clues on a deal with Republicans to avert automatic spending cuts due to take effect March 1, including the tone of the speech.
The S&P 500 has risen in the past six weeks and is up 6.7 percent so far this year. But gains have been harder to come by since the benchmark S&P index hit a five-year high on February 1. The market has had to consolidate strong gains at the year's start while investors search for reasons to drive stocks higher.
"It is a drift higher here, it certainly seemed like we were stalled out for awhile," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.
"There are a lot of people looking for some type of pullback, some type of profit-taking, and often when everybody is looking it simply doesn't happen."
Housing shares helped lift equities in the latter portion of trading, led by a 14.4 percent jump in Masco Corp
The White House has signaled Obama, in his speech, will urge U.S. investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education. He is also expected to call for comprehensive trade talks with the European Union.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 47.77 points, or 0.34 percent, to 14,019.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 3.95 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,520.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 0.88 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,192.88.
Coca-Cola Co
With earnings season starting to wind down, Thomson Reuters data through Tuesday morning shows of the 353 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 70.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.
Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.3 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.
Avon Products shares surged 18.6 percent to $20.49 after the beauty products company reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Michael Kors Holdings
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-dip-obama-speech-coca-cola-shares-133311554--sector.html
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N Korea Sets Stark Policy Test for China:...
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Flying Boy adds Daily Missions in New Update, Now FREE on Android and iPhone
Flying Boy adds Daily Missions in New Update, Now FREE on Android and iPhone
Flying Boy debuted with simple yet addictive jumping and flying gameplay.
Now players that complete the newly added daily missions will be rewarded with badges and more coins. Collected coins can unlock new booster upgrades and items to help the loveable young hero achieve his dream of reaching ever higher heights.
Featuring vibrant, polished graphics and two smooth control types (touch or tilt), Flying Boy is the perfect companion for a quick competition against friends on Game Center and Facebook. Players can see the photo of their friends as they fly past each others? high scores. Excellence in weekly tournaments and leaderboards will take players to the Hall of Fame for more bragging rights.
So that everyone may enjoy the thrill of flight, Flying Boy is now available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore, down from its previous price of $0.99 and equivalent. The game is also free on the Google Play Store for Android-supported devices or at or at http://play.google.com/store/apps.
Filed: Android ? Featured ? Free Apps ? Games ? iPad ? iPadmodo ? iPhone ? UpdatesSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/appmodo/~3/X6sTrajEOKE/
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Texas governor in California to lure businesses
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is visiting California, and he hopes to return home with something more than a Disneyland souvenir.
The former Republican presidential candidate starts meeting with business leaders Monday, trying to persuade them to move jobs to Texas.
He will visit the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Orange County through Wednesday.
The trip follows a radio ad in which Perry criticized California's business climate. Perry has been touting his state's low taxes and lax regulations.
California Gov. Jerry Brown says California has been adding more jobs than any other state. Non-farm payrolls increased by nearly 226,000 jobs in 2012.
He also wondered whether Perry might have a change of heart after arriving: "A lot of these Texans," Brown says, "they come here, they don't go back."
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kcra/local/~3/ZBNG5PujVEw/index.html
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Senate Dems, GOP clash over need for new gun curbs
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 28, 2011 file photo, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., center, flanked by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., speaks during a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate holds its second hearing Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, on gun curbs since the December 2012 shooting deaths of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn. This time, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee is examining the constitutionality and effectiveness of federal firearms limits. ?We need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally unstable,? Durbin, D-Ill., said in a brief interview Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. ?I hope everyone will acknowledge what within our Constitution is not only an individual right to bear arms, but the collective right of Americans to be safe.? (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 28, 2011 file photo, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., center, flanked by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., speaks during a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate holds its second hearing Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, on gun curbs since the December 2012 shooting deaths of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn. This time, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee is examining the constitutionality and effectiveness of federal firearms limits. ?We need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally unstable,? Durbin, D-Ill., said in a brief interview Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. ?I hope everyone will acknowledge what within our Constitution is not only an individual right to bear arms, but the collective right of Americans to be safe.? (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The toll of gun violence and the widespread disgust it has generated makes it time for new federal gun curbs that balance public safety with gun rights, Democrats said Tuesday at the Senate's latest hearing on restricting firearms.
Republicans said today's unenforced gun laws give criminals no reason to fear ignoring them. And they warned that the Constitution's right to bear arms must be protected, even after unspeakable events like the December slaughter of 20 first-graders in Connecticut.
Each side trotted out their own legal experts, statistics and even relatives of people slain by gun-wielding assailants. In the end there was little partisan agreement, though Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said cooperation was possible on stopping straw purchases, in which someone legally buys a gun for a criminal or a person barred from owning one.
As always with guns, emotion and the issue's personal impact colored the day's session.
The crowded hearing room was filled with people from gun control groups and according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., included relatives of some killed in the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shootings. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee holding the hearing, asked friends and families of gun victims to stand, and dozens rose.
"We know that we have to act," Durbin said.
At another point, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., began his questioning of the panel's first witness, Timothy J. Heaphy, the U.S. attorney for the western district of Virginia and an appointee of President Barack Obama, with one question: "Do you own a gun?"
"No," responded Heaphy, who said, "I do not feel comfortable having a gun in our home" because he has children.
One witness, Suzanna Gratia Hupp, told the senators of being in a cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, in 1991 when a gunman smashed his truck through the front window and fatally shot 23 people, including her parents. Hupp says she left her gun in her car because Texas law barred her from bringing it into the restaurant.
"I don't view myself as a victim of gun violence," said Hupp, now a Texas state official and gun rights advocate. "I view myself as a victim of a maniac who happened to use a gun as a tool. And I view myself as the victim of the legislators we had at the time who left me defenseless."
Taking the opposing view was Sandra J. Wortham, whose brother, Chicago police officer Thomas E. Wortham IV, was fatally shot outside their parents' home by robbers in 2010, though he and his father, a retired police sergeant, fired back.
"The fact that they were armed that night didn't prevent Thomas' murder," said Wortham, now a Chicago police official.
The hearing came just hours before Obama was to deliver his annual State of the Union address, in which he was expected to repeat his call for gun curbs.
Obama has proposed banning assault weapons and ammunition magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds, and wants background checks for all firearms purchases. Currently, the checks are required only for sales by federally licensed gun dealers, omitting the many transactions at gun shows and between individuals.
Democrats have been more receptive to Obama's proposals than Republicans, most of whom ? along with the National Rifle Association ? have opposed them.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who plans to write gun legislation soon, called for expanded background checks and cracking down on straw purchases, but said nothing about banning assault weapons or high capacity magazines. In a written statement, he suggested that the First Amendment would limit government attempts to reduce violence in popular culture and said the entertainment industry should be "a responsible leader in this area."
Cruz, top Republican on the panel, expressed sympathy for gun victims but said constitutional rights must be protected "not just when they're popular, but especially when passions are seeking to restrict and limit those rights."
In the battle of statistics, Cruz said that of the six cities with the nation's highest murder rates, five ? Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Chicago ? have tough anti-gun laws. Only Memphis, Tenn., has less vigorous firearms controls, he said.
Responding to Cruz, Heaphy, the U.S. attorney, said there are too many factors that influence crime to conclude that strict gun measures don't work.
Graham said that of 80,000 federal background checks for gun purchases turned down annually by the FBI, barely any result in prosecutions. He said the odds of being prosecuted for lying on a background check are "probably a whole lot less than being struck by lightning or hit by a meteor."
Democrats cited the 11,000 Americans killed annually by gunfire.
Daniel W. Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, which favors tighter gun control laws, said that 2004 data showed that nearly 8 in 10 prisoners who committed gun-related crimes got firearms from unlicensed private sellers, whose transactions do not require background checks. That, he said, underscored the need to expand those checks to all sales.
Laurence H. Tribe, a liberal Harvard Law School professor, said that 2008 and 2010 Supreme Court rulings made it clear that sweeping proposals to flatly take guns away from citizens "have been decisively taken off the table." Banning assault weapons and other especially lethal firearms would not violate the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, he said.
But conservative attorney Charles J. Cooper, who has long defended gun rights and represented the NRA, said the court's rulings ensure that bearing arms "is not to be treated as a second-class right, or singled out for special or unfavorable treatment."
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