Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/jim-carrey-fights-back-against-fox-news-vitriol/
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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Teachers who stomped American flag, Jesus are officially no longer teaching
You don?t tug on Superman?s cape. You don?t spit into the wind. You don?t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger. And, as two educators have recently learned, it?s also generally good advice to avoid stomping on Jesus and the American flag in public schools.
The Florida Atlantic University instructor who asked students to step on the word ?Jesus? has been placed on administrative leave on the same day that the high school teacher in South Carolina who stomped on an American flag in front of his students way back in December finally resigned.
The incident in South Carolina first flared up when Scott Compton, an honors English teacher at Chapin High School in Chapin, S.C., was placed on long-term administrative leave after he threw an American flag on the floor and stomped on it in front of his students.
Compton allegedly repeated the unpatriotic deed three times in one day. His goal, apparently, was to teach students that the flag is merely a symbolic piece of cloth. (RELATED: South Carolina teacher on leave for stomping on American flag in front of class)
Compton was already fired, reports The State, a regional newspaper. However, he had been fighting his termination until Friday, when he formally agreed to resign.
?Both Mr. Compton and the District agree that his resignation is at the best interest of everyone,? a joint press release announced.
Compton?s attorney, Darryl Smalls, had previously noted that Compton was nominated for Chapin High School?s teacher of the year several times prior to the flag-stomping kerfuffle.
At Florida Atlantic, communications instructor Deandre Poole is now on administrative leave after junior Ryan Rotela, a devout Mormon, was suspended from class because he complained about Poole?s Jesus-stomping assignment. (RELATED: Florida Atlantic Univ. student claims he was suspended for not stomping on Jesus [VIDEO])
School officials expressed concerned about Poole?s physical safety after he allegedly received death threats and racially-tinged messages on his voicemail. Poole is black.
?I?ve never seen anything like it on campus, the vitriol that has been released on this guy,? Chris Robe, assistant professor of communications and faculty union president, told the Sun Sentinel.
In an email to The Daily Caller, Lisa Metcalf, an FAU spokeswoman confirmed Poole?s employment status.
?As a result of the reaction to a recent exercise in Dr. Poole?s intercultural communications class, the instructor?s personal safety has been compromised,? Metcalf wrote. ?Dr. Poole will not teach any classes, conduct office hours or be present at any of FAU?s campuses or sites.?
The announcement comes after FAU already issued a groveling, nearly-touching apology and Florida Gov. Rick Scott blasted the school as ?intolerant to Christians.? (RELATED VIDEO: Florida Atlantic issues new groveling apology over Jesus-stomping)
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Teachers who stomped American flag, Jesus are officially no longer teaching
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/teachers-stomped-american-flag-jesus-officially-no-longer-084614330.html
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Christians in Holy Land, Mideast celebrate Easter
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Catholics and Protestants flocked to churches to celebrate Easter on Sunday in the Holy Land and across the broader Middle East, praying, singing and rejoicing as a new pope pleaded for peace in the region.
Some Mideast Christian communities are in flux, while others feel isolated from their Muslim-majority societies. In places like Iraq, they have sometimes been the victims of bloody sectarian attacks.
At St. Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad, some 200 worshippers attended an Easter mass that the Rev. Saad Sirop led behind concrete blast walls and a tight security cordon. Churches have been under tighter security since a 2010 attack killed dozens.
"We pray for love and peace to spread through the world," said worshipper Fatin Yousef, 49, who arrived immaculately dressed for the holiday. She wore a black skirt, low-heeled pumps and a striped shirt and her hair tumbled in salon-created curls.
It was the first Easter since the election of Pope Francis and she and others expressed hope in their new spiritual leader. "We hope Pope Francis will help make it better for Christians in Iraq," she said.
The pope spoke of the Middle East in his first Easter message, pleading for Israelis and Palestinians to resume negotiations to "end a conflict that has lasted all too long."
He also called for peace in Iraq and in Syria. "How much blood has been shed! And how much suffering must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found?" Francis asked.
In Jerusalem, Catholics worshipped in the church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on a hill where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and then resurrected. The cavernous, maze-like structure is home to different churches belonging to rival sects that are crammed into different nooks and even the roof.
Clergy in white and gold robes led the service held around the Edicule, the small chamber at the core of the church marking the site of Jesus' tomb. Many foreign visitors were among the worshippers.
"It's very special," said Arthur Stanton, a visitor from Australia. "It represents the reason why we were put on this planet, and the salvation that has come to us through Jesus."
Israel's Tourism Ministry said it expects some 150,000 visitors during holy week and the Jewish festival of Passover, which coincide this year. It is one of the busiest times of the year for the local tourism industry.
Protestants held Easter ceremonies outside Jerusalem's walled Old City at the Garden Tomb, a small, enclosed green area that some identify as the site of Jesus' burial. Another service was held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace.
Catholics and Protestants, who follow the new, Gregorian calendar, celebrate Easter on Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark it in May.
There are no precise numbers on how many Christians there are in the Middle East. Census figures showing the size of religious and ethnic groups are hard to obtain.
Christian populations are thought to be shrinking or at least growing more slowly than their Muslim compatriots in much of the Middle East, largely due to emigration as they leave for better opportunities and to join families abroad. Some feel more uncomfortable amid growing Muslim majorities that they see as becoming more outwardly pious and politically Islamist over the decades.
The situation for some Mideast Christians is in flux.
In Syria, Christians, who make up some 10 percent of the country's 23 million people, have mostly stayed on the sidelines of the two-year civil war. While outraged by the regime of Bashar Assad's brutal efforts to quash the opposition, they are equally frightened by the Islamist rhetoric of many rebels and their heavy reliance on extremist fighters.
Christians make up some 10 percent of Egypt's 85 million people. Human rights groups say the police under former authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak rarely took the needed steps to prevent flare-ups of violence against Christians, a situation that persisted since he was overthrown in 2011. The rise of Islamists in Egypt has emboldened extremists to target churches and Coptic property, leading to a spike in attacks and sometimes unprecedented steps like the evacuation of entire Christian populations from villages.
In Libya, most Christians are Egyptian laborers who are working in the oil-rich country. Tensions rose last month after assailants torched a church in the eastern city of Benghazi and militias arrested some 100 Christians, mostly Egyptian, accusing them of proselytizing.
In Iraq, Christians have suffered repeated attacks by Islamic militants since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and hundreds of thousands have left the country. Church officials estimate that the Christian communities have shrunk by at least half. The worst attack was at Baghdad's soaring Our Lady of Salvation church in October 2010 that killed more than 50 worshippers and wounded scores of others.
There currently are an estimated 400,000 to 600,000 Christians in Iraq, with most belonging to ancient eastern churches. Some two-thirds of Iraq's Christians are Catholics of the Chaldean church and the smaller Assyrian Catholic church. Members of both churches chant in dialects of ancient Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke.
Yousef, the worshipper in Baghdad, said lingering fear pushed her to send her son to live with relatives in Arizona last year. Yousef said she was arranging for her other daughter and son to immigrate.
"There's still fear here, and there's no stability in this country," she said.
Iraqi officials have made efforts to secure churches since the violence of 2010.
High blast walls topped with wire netting and barbed wire surrounded the St. Joseph Church in Baghdad's middle-class district of Karradeh. Four Iraqi Christian volunteers stood at the church entrance, double-checking the people entering. And blue-khaki clad Iraqi police guarded roads surrounding the church and checked papers of passers-by as worshippers filed inside.
White-robed church volunteers marched down the church aisle behind Father Sirop, who waved incense and chanted in the white-painted church adorned with three ornate chandeliers and a series of simple paintings illustrating the life of Christ.
Worshippers stood for lengthy passages of Sirop's mass, at one point bursting into applause when he told them, "Celebrate! You are Christians!"
___
Hadid reported from Baghdad. Follow Hadid on twitter.com/diaahadid and Goldenberg on twitter.com/tgoldenberg
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christians-holy-land-mideast-celebrate-easter-143435186.html
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IMF team to arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for loan talks
CAIRO (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund delegation will arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for talks with the government on a $4.8 billion loan, Egypt's government spokesman Alaa El Hadidi said on Sunday.
More than two years of political upheaval have battered the Egyptian economy, leaving it in dire need of IMF funding to relieve a currency and budget crisis. The country's reserves of foreign currency have fallen to critically low levels, threatening its ability to import essential supplies of fuel and wheat.
President Mohamed Mursi's government initialed a deal with the IMF last November but postponed final ratification in December in the face of unrest triggered by a political row over the extent of his powers.
Hadidi, talking to reporters, gave no details on the new round of talks with the IMF. The IMF said last week a technical delegation would visit Cairo in the "first days of April".
Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, visited Cairo on March 17, saying the Fund would continue talks aimed at agreeing possible financial aid.
(Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-team-arrive-egypt-wednesday-loan-talks-103424340--business.html
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Guinea to hold polls with or without opposition: minister
By Bate Felix and Saliou Samb
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea will hold long-delayed parliamentary elections this year, to conclude its transition to civilian rule, with or without the participation of the country's main opposition coalition, a government minister said on Friday.
The mineral-rich country was originally supposed to hold the vote in 2011 - but it was held up amid wrangling over the makeup of the electoral commission and opposition accusations that the government was planning to rig it.
Eight people were killed and hundreds more wounded during two weeks of clashes this month between security forces and opposition protesters demanding reforms before the election, currently scheduled for May 12, could be held.
Guinea's minister for territorial administration, Alhassane Conde, told Reuters the objections would not block the vote.
"Yes, the elections will be held this year, very soon, with or without the opposition," Conde said in an interview at his office in the capital Conakry's administrative district.
"We don't want to do it without them, but if necessary, we will go ahead and hold the election without them," he said.
The vote is meant to be the last step in a drawn-out transition to civilian rule after a coup in late 2008 led to two bloody years with the army in charge.
Conde accused some members of the opposition of making unacceptable conditions to try and delay elections he said they feared losing.
Opposition groups have alleged there were irregularities in awarding a contract to update the electoral register to the South African firm Waymark - and demanded a replacement.
"If we were to bring in a new company to replace Waymark, there is no way we'll be able to organize the election within the next six months," said Conde.
The European Union, a major donor, unblocked about 174 million euros ($223.43 million) in aid after the elections commission proposed a date for the parliamentary polls late last year. But Conde said Guinea risked losing future donor funding if elections were not held by September.
MORE PROTEST
The opposition this week walked out of talks with the government organized in the wake of this month's violence, accusing the ruling coalition of failing to respect the terms of a planned dialogue over election preparations.
The opposition coalition on Friday called for another round of protests and a strike from April 8, saying the government has not contacted them since they abandoned the talks.
Guinea's main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, who lost to President Alpha Conde in a tight presidential run-off in November 2010, told Reuters last week the opposition would do everything to stop the election if it was held without them. President Conde is not related to the minister.
"We'll not participate in the election with Waymark handling the technical process, and we'll disrupt it. We do not want the election to be held without us," Diallo told Reuters during a visit to Senegal.
Guinea is the world's top supplier of the aluminum ore bauxite and holds rich deposits of iron ore, gold and diamonds. But the political turmoil has unnerved investors.
Behind Guinea's political feuding there is a deep-rooted rivalry between the Malinke and the Peul, its two largest ethnic groups. The Malinke broadly support President Conde, while the opposition draws heavily from the Peul. ($1 = 0.7788 euros)
(Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Joe Bavier and Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guinea-hold-polls-without-opposition-minister-201513670.html
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Insert Coin: Dash charts your car data live, with gauges and a dashcam (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.
We've seen a few stabs at smartphone-enhanced car diagnostics as of late, but many good solutions like Automatic Link and Delphi's Vehicle Diagnostics are primarily useful after you've parked. The upcoming Dash OBD-II adapter is certainly up to that side of the job, telling a Bluetooth-connected iOS device (and eventually, Android) about your car's problems and estimating fuel costs based on the gas tank's levels. Where it stands out is its usefulness while on the road: the custom app offers custom live gauges, including a Green-Meter for ideal fuel economy that you won't usually find in a real instrument cluster. There's even a dashcam mode that overlays travel details on captured video, whether it's to support insurance claims or just to immortalize a drive through the back country.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Transportation
Source: Kickstarter
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2 in China first known deaths from H7N9 bird flu
FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2005 file photo, a dove rests at tree near a Chinese sign read as China at a park in Shanghai, China. Two Shanghai men have died from a lesser-known type of bird flu in the first known human deaths from the strain, and Chinese authorities said Sunday, March 31, 2013, that it wasn't clear how they were infected, but that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2005 file photo, a dove rests at tree near a Chinese sign read as China at a park in Shanghai, China. Two Shanghai men have died from a lesser-known type of bird flu in the first known human deaths from the strain, and Chinese authorities said Sunday, March 31, 2013, that it wasn't clear how they were infected, but that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
BEIJING (AP) ? Two Shanghai men have died from a lesser-known type of bird flu in the first known human deaths from the strain, and Chinese authorities said Sunday that it wasn't clear how they were infected, but that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
A third person, a woman in the nearby province of Anhui, also contracted the H7N9 strain of bird flu and was in critical condition, China's National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a report on its website.
There was no sign that any of the three, who were infected over the past two months, had contracted the disease from each other, and no sign of infection in the 88 people who had closest contact with them, the medical agency said.
H7N9 bird flu is considered a low pathogenic strain that cannot easily be contracted by humans. The overwhelming majority of human deaths from bird flu have been caused by the more virulent H5N1, which decimated poultry stocks across Asia in 2003.
The World Health Organization is "closely monitoring the situation" in China, regional agency spokesman Timothy O'Leary said in Manila.
"There is apparently no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and transmission of the virus appears to be inefficient, therefore the risk to public health would appear to be low," O'Leary said.
One of the two men from Shanghai, who was 87, became ill on Feb. 19 and died on Feb 27. The other man, 27, became ill on Feb. 27 and died on March 4, the Chinese health commission said. A 35-year-old woman in the Anhui city of Chuzhou became ill on March 9 and is being treated.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted tests and confirmed Saturday that all three cases were H7N9, the health commission said.
Scientists have been closely monitoring the H5N1 strain of the virus, fearing that it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been connected to contact with infected birds.
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Suicide bomber, landmines rock northern Mali
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? A suicide bomber attempted to force his way past the defenses of the city of Timbuktu on Saturday, detonating himself on its outskirts, while a landmine exploded in another part of northern Mali, killing a total of three, officials said.
The twin attacks come as French President Francois Hollande told French television that French forces had attained their objectives in Mali, a country which until January had lost its northern half to an al-Qaida cell and their allies. After the extremists began a southward push, Hollande unilaterally authorized a military intervention, quickly liberating the main cities in the north. Outside the heavily fortified cities like Timbuktu, however, the jihadists are still present, leading an increasingly brutal insurgency.
"The jihadist was driving a car loaded with explosives," said a military official based in Timbuktu, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "He arrived on the road from Goundam at the Timbuktu checkpoint, and our elements opened fire. He blew himself up," killing himself and injuring at least one soldier, said the official.
Timbuktu resident Age Djitteye said he heard a loud explosion and heavy gunfire, starting at 10 p.m. on Saturday. By midnight on Sunday the shooting had receded, he said by telephone.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defense also confirmed that an army vehicle drove over a landmine during a patrol around 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the northern Malian town of Ansongo, killing two people on board.
For 10 months until this January, Timbuktu as well as much of the rest of northern Mali was ruled by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, as well as two other jihadist groups allied with the terror network.
___
Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-landmines-rock-northern-mali-022524548.html
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Google launching same-day delivery service for online shoppers
Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery.
The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., didn't say how many people will be part of the test.
If the pilot program goes well, Google plans to expand delivery service to other markets.
"We hope this will help users explore the benefits of a local, same-day delivery service, and help us kick the tires on the new service," Google said in a Thursday statement.
The delivery service is part of Google's effort to increase consumer reliance on the Internet, so it will have more opportunities to show online ads, which generate most of its revenue.
Google has learned that the more time people spend online, the more likely they are to use its dominant search engine or one of its other popular services, like its YouTube video site or Gmail, that include advertising.
The delivery service also could spur merchants to buy more online ads if Google's same-day delivery service encourages consumers to do more of their shopping online. Having to wait days or, in some cases, more than a week for the delivery of online orders ranks among the biggest drawbacks to Internet shopping.
It's a problem that Amazon.com and eBay, which operate the largest e-commerce sites, already have been trying to solve by offering same-day service in some U.S. markets. Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, also offers same-day delivery in five markets.
A mix of national, regional and neighborhood merchants are enlisting in Google Shopping Express. The best-known names on the list include Target and Walgreen. All the merchants in the Google program will sell certain items through a central website. Google has hired courier services to pick up the orders at the merchant stores and then deliver them to the customer's home or office.
Although the couriers will be working on a contract basis, they will be driving Google-branded vehicles and wearing company-issued uniforms.
It remains unclear whether Internet shopping and same-day delivery can be profitable. Online grocer Webvan collapsed in 2001, largely because it couldn't devise a pricing plan that would pay for the costs of same-day delivery without alienating shoppers unwilling to pay too much extra for the added convenience.
Google is still trying to figure out how much to charge for its same-day delivery service. For the six-month test period in the San Francisco area, consumers won't have to pay a surcharge. Google instead will receive a commission from participating merchants.
The expansion into same-day delivery comes at the same time that Google is preparing to close some of its older online services so it can devote more attention and money to other projects.
The realignment has irked some Google users. The biggest complaints have centered on Google Reader, which allows people to automatically receive headlines and links from their favorite sites, and iGoogle, which allows Web surfers to design a page consisting of the Google search engine surrounded set up other online features, such as local weather reports and stock market quotes.
Google Reader is scheduled to close in July and iGoogle will shut down in November.
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Can a yoga studio calm Clackamas County politics? | OregonLive.com
First tongue-in-cheek question for Cassia Mark: Can her new yoga and fitness center calm the angry politics of Clackamas County?
She laughs and jokingly answers, "I sure hope so." But future students will no doubt have peace, not politics, on their minds when Mark's Karma Yoga and Fitness studio opens later this spring. The business, located in the Sunnybrook Center, 13031
S.E. 84th Avenue, will be the first of its kind in the area, Mark says.
As a devoted student who lives in nearby Happy Valley, she should know. "Believe me, I have looked high and low."
Since Mark couldn't find a studio -- "You can go to the gym, but it's not the same," she says -- she decided to open one herself. The 2,000 square foot studio opens in May. A class schedule is on the studio's website.
Mark doesn't teach yoga herself, but has hired seven instructors and is looking for more. Instructors will have a minimum of 200 hours teaching certification.
Classes will be offered in various forms of yoga, including vinyasa, hatha, yin, restorative, flow, pre-natal and for mothers and babies. The studio will offer free yoga classes to foster children and veterans, Mark says.
Mark, who has started and managed businesses in the past, is confident a ready market exists in the area.
"I'm my own demographic," she says. "I want a yoga studio, all my neighbors want a studio, and there's nothing around here."
--Eric Mortenson
?
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/03/can_a_yoga_studio_calm_clackam.html
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Shroud of Turin goes on display amid new research
Archbishop of Turin Cesare Nosiglia, center, kneels in front of the Shroud of Turin that went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday, March 30, 2013. The Shroud went on display amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death. Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction. "This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said. (AP Photo/Alessandro Di Marco, Pool)
Archbishop of Turin Cesare Nosiglia, center, kneels in front of the Shroud of Turin that went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday, March 30, 2013. The Shroud went on display amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death. Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction. "This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said. (AP Photo/Alessandro Di Marco, Pool)
Faithful pass by the Shroud of Turin that went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday, March 30, 2013. The Shroud went on display amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death. Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction. "This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said. (AP Photo/Alessandro Di Marco, Pool)
Archbishop of Turin Cesare Nosiglia, second left, watches the Shroud of Turin, on display for a special TV appearance Saturday, March 30, 2013. The Shroud went on display amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death. Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction. "This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said. (AP Photo/Alessandro Di Marco, Pool)
Faithful pray in front of the Shroud of Turin that went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday, March 30, 2013. The Shroud went on display amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death. Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction. "This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said. (AP Photo/Alessandro Di Marco, Pool)
People enter the Turin cathedral to watch the Shroud of Turin that went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday, March 30, 2013. The Shroud went on display amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death. Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction. "This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said. (AP Photo/Alessandro Di Marco, Pool)
VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The Shroud of Turin went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday amid new research disputing claims it's a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus' burial cloth to around the time of his death.
Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin's cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus. He called the cloth an "icon," not a relic ? an important distinction.
"This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love," he said.
"This disfigured face resembles all those faces of men and women marred by a life which does not respect their dignity, by war and violence which afflict the weakest," he said. "And yet, at the same time, the face in the Shroud conveys a great peace; this tortured body expresses a sovereign majesty."
Many experts stand by carbon-dating of scraps of the cloth that date it to the 13th or 14th century. However, some have suggested the dating results might have been skewed by contamination and have called for a larger sample to be analyzed.
The Vatican has tiptoed around just what the cloth is, calling it a powerful symbol of Christ's suffering while making no claim to its authenticity.
The 14-foot-long, 3.5-foot-wide (4.3-meter-long, 1 meter-wide) cloth is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case in Turin's cathedral, but is only rarely open to the public. The last time was in 2010 when more than 2 million people lined up to pray before it and then-Pope Benedict XVI visited.
The latest display coincided with Holy Saturday, when Catholics mark the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. A few hundred people, many in wheelchairs, were invited inside the cathedral for the service, which was presided over by Turin's archbishop. It was only the second time the shroud has gone on display specifically for a TV audience; the first was in 1973 at the request of Pope Paul VI, the Vatican said.
The display also coincided with the release of a book based on new scientific tests on the shroud that researchers say date the cloth to the 1st century.
The research in "The Mystery of the Shroud," by Giulio Fanti of the University of Padua and journalist Saverio Gaeta, is based on chemical and mechanical tests on fibers of material extracted for the carbon-dating research. An article with the findings is expected to be submitted for peer-review, news reports say.
___
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
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Serena Williams beats Sharapova in Sony Open final
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) ? Serena Williams danced to the crowd's roar, spinning and grinning, hopping and waving, then spinning some more.
If her victory celebration on the stadium court seemed well-rehearsed, it was. She earned a record sixth Key Biscayne women's title Saturday by beating familiar foil Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 at the Sony Open.
Sharapova set a new standard for futility in finals. She completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open last year, and won Indian Wells two weeks ago, but she's now 0-5 in Key Biscayne finals.
Sharapova playing nearly flawless tennis for an hour, before her serve and groundstrokes began to lose steam. Williams swept the last 10 games and faltered only during the trophy ceremony.
"I felt good today," she told the crowd with the smile. "It's so good to be No. 6 now ? I mean, the six-time ? oh, gosh. Thank you."
At 31, the No. 1-ranked Williams became the oldest female champion at Key Biscayne. She won the tournament for the first time since 2008 and surpassed Steffi Graf, a five-time champion.
"Serena played a great match," Sharapova said. "I'm sure we'll be playing a few more times this year."
Sharapova didn't sound thrilled by the prospect, with good reason. She has lost 11 consecutive matches against Williams and hasn't beaten her since 2004.
The men's finalists are familiar foes, too. On Sunday, 2009 champion Andy Murray will play frequent practice partner David Ferrer, who is trying to become the first Spaniard to win the men's title.
The women's final began at high noon in sunny, mild weather, and the quality of shotmaking matched the conditions in the early going. The aggressive style of both players made for slam-bang points, and the occasional long rallies had a near-capacity crowd gasping at their ferocity.
As they battled from the baseline, Sharapova built a lead by keeping Williams on the defensive, and kissed the line with a winner on consecutive points to break for a 3-2 advantage in the second set.
"I just was like, 'Serena, are you really going to get to the final and not play up to your potential?'" Williams said. "I don't think I was as energized as I could be."
Then came the turnaround. Williams ratcheted up the power, began feasting on Sharapova's tentative second serve and broke back at love, then took advantage of two double-faults by Sharapova to break again.
Williams lives 2 hours up I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens, and she made herself right at home in the final set, losing only 10 points.
"That's why she's No. 1 in the world," Sharapova said. "She's really capable of doing that. I was controlling a lot of the points in the first set and the beginning of the second. Then toward the end, I wasn't there."
Williams' late surge won cheers from the crowd, which included her sister, three-time champion Venus.
Sharapova made 80 percent of her first serves early on but finished at 63. Williams converted all seven break-point chances and had a 35-13 advantage in winners.
But Williams' standards are high, and in her postmatch news conference, she sounded as though she had lost.
"Today wasn't my day, I don't think," she said. "Maria played really the best I have seen her play, and I think she was moving unbelievable, and she was hitting winners from everywhere."
It wasn't Williams' first test this week. She trailed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 4-1 before rallying in the fourth round, and was annoyed to hit six double-faults in the quarterfinals.
"I'm happy to be holding the championship," she said. "It's definitely not my best tournament. I think everyone here can agree. But those are the moments that count ? when you can still come out on top."
She'll remain No. 1 and Sharapova No. 2 next week. Williams is the first No. 1-seeded woman to win the title since she was champion in 2004.
Williams' other titles at Key Biscayne came in 2002, '03, '07 and '08. Sharapova was runner-up in 2005, '06, '11 and '12.
"It's tough to lose in the final stage, because you work so hard to get there," Sharapova said. "But the more I give myself this opportunity, the better chance I have of winning."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/serena-williams-beats-sharapova-sony-open-final-183546746--spt.html
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Kit Harington Avoids 'Game Of Thrones' Spoilers Too
Winter has come to Manhattan. Well, actually, it never left, but bear with me here... As I was saying: Winter has come to Manhattan in the form of "Game of Thrones" The Exhibition, a touring collection of Westeros memorabilia (Ned Stark's severed head, anyone?), sponsored by HBO and Time Warner Cable. And in celebration of [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/03/29/kit-harington-game-of-thrones-spoilers/
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North Korea says it is entering 'state of war' with South
By Marian Smith, Staff Writer, NBC News
North Korea said on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, following a call to arms by the country's young leader Kim Jong Un and days of increasingly belligerent rhetoric from the isolated state.
Baengnyeong Island, home to 5,000 South Korean civilians, sits just 10 miles from the border with North Korea. Fearing an attack from the north, the island has become a fortress with fences, bomb shelters and mine fields. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
The North's official news agency KCNA published the joint statement issued by the government, political parties and other organizations.
"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering a state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly," it said.?
The statement also warned that if the U.S. and South Korea carried out a pre-emptive attack, the conflict "will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war."
Analysts have said the North's threats have followed a similar pattern but that the country's 30-year-old leader is unpredictable and potentially dangerous.
The White House responded on Saturday by reiterating that "North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. However, she said the U.S. "takes these threats seriously".
"We continue to take additional measures against the North Korean threat, including our plan to increase the U.S. ground-based interceptors and early warning and tracking radar, and the signing of the ROK-U.S. counter-provocation plan," she said.
David Guttenfelder / AP
As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.
On Thursday the U.S. sent two nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions in a military exercise. The flight sparked an angry response from the North, which declared on Friday that it was preparing rockets aimed at American bases in South Korea and the Pacific.
A South Korean defense ministry official said there were no early signs that the North was mobilizing, Reuters reported.
The two nations have technically been at war since a truce ended their 1950-53 conflict, but tensions have been increasing since the North carried out its third nuclear weapons test in February.
NBC News' Kristen Welker and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related:
Analysis: North Korea's threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not
North Korea's Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist
PhotoBlog: Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'
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GOP moves to plug technology gap with Democrats
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Embarrassed by how the last presidential election exposed their yesteryear technology, Republicans are turning to a younger generation of tech-savvy social media experts and software designers to improve communications with voters, predict their behavior and track opponents more vigorously.
After watching President Barack Obama win re-election with help from a technology operation unprecedented in its sophistication, GOP officials concede an urgent need for catch up.
"I think everybody realized that the party is really far behind at the moment and they're doing everything within their realistic sphere of influence to catch up," said Bret Jacobson, a partner with Red Edge, a Virginia-based digital advocacy firm that represents the Republican Governors Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation.
Democrats began using related technology years ago, giving Obama a significant advantage last fall in customizing personalized fundraising and get-out-the-vote appeals to prospective supporters. With the blessing of party leaders, a new crop of Republican-backed outside groups is developing tools to do the same in 2014 and 2016.
Alex Skatell, former digital director for the GOP's gubernatorial and Senate campaign operations, leads one new group that has been quietly testing a system that would allow Republicans to share details about millions of voters ? their personal interests, group affiliations and even where they went to school.
With no primary opponent last year, Obama's re-election team used the extra time to build a large campaign operation melding a grass-roots army of 2.2 million volunteers with groundbreaking technology to target voters. They tapped about 17 million email subscribers to raise nearly $700 million online.
Data-driven analytics enabled the campaign to run daily simulations to handicap battleground states, analyze demographic trends and test alternatives for reaching voters online.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in contrast, had only a few months after a lengthy primary fight to try to match Obama's tech advantage. He couldn't make up the difference. Romney's technology operation was overwhelmed by the intense flow of data and temporarily crashed on Election Day.
A 100-page report on how to rebound from the 2012 election, released last week by Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, includes several technology recommendations.
"The president's campaign significantly changed the makeup of the national electorate and identified, persuaded and turned out low-propensity voters by unleashing a barrage of human and technological resources previously unseen in a presidential contest," the report said. "Marrying grass-roots politics with technology and analytics, they successfully contacted, persuaded and turned out their margin of victory. There are many lessons to be learned from their efforts, particularly with respect to voter contact."
Skatell, 26, is leading one new effort by Republican allies to fill the void. His team of designers, software developers and veteran Republican strategists is now testing what he calls an "almost an eHarmony for matching volunteers with persuadable voters" that would let campaigns across the country share details in real time on voter preferences, harnessing social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Other groups are working to improve the GOP's data and digital performance.
The major Republican ally, American Crossroads, which spent a combined $175 million on the last election with its sister organization, hosted private meetings last month focused on data and technology. Drawing from technology experts in Silicon Valley, the organization helped craft a series of recommendations expected to be rolled out later this year.
"A good action plan that fixes our deficiencies and identifies new opportunities can help us regain our advantage within a cycle or two," said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio.
A prominent group of Republican aides has also formed America Rising, a company that will have a companion "super" political action committee that can raise unlimited contributions without having to disclose its donors. Its purpose is to counter Democratic opposition research groups, which generated negative coverage of Romney and GOP candidates last year.
America Rising will provide video tracking, opposition research and rapid response for campaign committees, super PACs and individual candidates' campaigns but does not plan to get involved in GOP primaries. It will be led by Matt Rhoades, who served as Romney's campaign manager, and Joe Pounder, the research director for the Republican National Committee. Running its super PAC will be Tim Miller, a former RNC aide and spokesman for former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.
Romney and several Republican candidates were monitored closely by camera-toting Democratic aides during the campaign, a gap that Miller said American Rising hopes to fill on behalf of Republicans.
Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said his party has "a several years' lead on data and analytics infrastructure and we're not standing still."
Of the GOP effort, Woodhouse said, "We don't see them closing the gap anytime soon."
___
Peoples reported from Boston.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-moves-plug-technology-gap-democrats-204332968--politics.html
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93% Lore
All Critics (87) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (6)
It's a harrowing walk through the heart of darkness.
Saskia Rosendahl gives an impressively poised performance as the beautiful teenager, whose determination to protect her remaining family coincides with her growing revulsion toward her parents.
"Lore" is not a pretty story, but it is a good and sadly believable one.
"Lore" is not a love story, nor the story of a friendship. Rather, it's a story of healing and of how breaking, sometimes painfully, is often necessary before that process can begin.
A fiercely poetic portrait of a young woman staggering beyond innocence and denial, it's about the wars that rage within after the wars outside are lost.
Full of surprises, the movie draws a thin line between pity and revulsion - how would you feel if you had discovered your whole life had been based on lies?
Texture and detail embellish a provocative story
Child of Nazi parents faces an uncertain future
[Director Cate] Shortland directs with an almost hypnotic focus, favoring Lore's immediate experience over the big picture.
Rosendahl's performance is raw and compelling, as Lore fights for her siblings' survival and grows up in a hurry.
Lore and her siblings make a harrowing journey across Germany
Worthwhile, but so subtle that it's frustrating.
The Australian-German co-production takes an unconventional tale and turns it into a challenging, visually stunning and emotionally turbulent film experience.
Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go. Except this ain't no fairy tale... unless it is, perhaps, a hint of the beginnings of a new mythology of ... scary childhood and even scarier adolescence...
With a child's perspective on war, "Lore" deserves comparisons with "Empire of the Sun" and "Hope and Glory," and with a feisty female protagonist it stands virtually alone.
Rosendahl...provides both narrative and emotional continuity to a film whose deliberate pace and fragmented presentation of reality might otherwise prove exasperating.
A burning portrait of consciousness and endurance, gracefully acted and strikingly realized, producing an honest sense of emotional disruption, while concluding on a powerful note of cultural and familial rejection.
Although there are moments that push the story a bit beyond credulity, Shortland has created something remarkable by forcing us to find within ourselves sympathy for this would-be Aryan princess.
Stunning, admirable and indelible - truthfully chronicling the triumph of the human spirit - in a class with Michael Haneke's 'The White Ribbon.'
Can we spare some sympathy or hope for the children of villains, even if they too show signs of their parents' evil? Lore provides no easy answers.
The portrait is miniature and yet indelible, a ghostly reminder of the 20th century.
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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lore/
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A Look At The ?Downtown Project' That Wants To Bring A Tech Renaissance To Old Las Vegas [TCTV]
You've probably heard something about the Downtown Project, the $350 million initiative spearheaded by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh that's aiming to bring a renaissance of sorts to Downtown Las Vegas, the old city center several miles away from the touristy Strip. But unless you've been there and seen it with your own eyes, it's hard to really grok what's happening there -- the scope of the project is so grand, and its aims are pretty ambitious. So TechCrunch TV headed there in person a little while back to see how things are going and tell a bit of the story in video form.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RRiS0oAFS8g/
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Achebe's passing: Beginning of the end of an epoch in Africa writing
By NGUGI WA THIONG?O
I?first met Chinua Achebe in 1961 at Makerere, Kampala. His novel, Things Fall Apart, had come out two years before. I was then a second year student, the author of just one story, Mugumo, published in Penpoint, the literary magazine of the English Department. At my request, he looked at the story and made some encouraging remarks.
My next encounter was more dramatic, on my part at least, and would affect my life and literary career profoundly. It was at the now famous 1962 conference of writers of English expression.
Ngugi-wa-Thiongo
Achebe was among a long line of literary luminaries that included Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, Eski?a Mphahlele, Lewis Nkosi and Bloke Modisane. The East African contingent consisted of Grace Ogot, Jonathan Kariara, John Nagenda and I.
My invitation was on the strength of my short stories published in Penpoint and in Transition.
But what most attracted me was not my being invited there as ?writer? but the fact that I would be able to show Achebe the manuscript of my second novel, what would later become Weep Not, Child. It was very generous of him to agree to look at it because, as I would learn later, he was working on his novel, Arrow of God. Because of that and his involvement in the conference, he could not read the whole manuscript, but he read enough to give some useful suggestions.
More important, he talked about it to his publisher, William Heinemann, represented at the conference by June Milne, who expressed an interest in the work. Weep Not, Child would later be published by Heinemann and the paperback by Heinemann Education Publishers, the fourth in the now famous African Writers series of which Achebe was the Editorial Adviser.
I was working with the Nation newspapers when Weep Not, Child came out. It was April 1964, and Kenya was proud to have its first modern novel in English by a Kenyan African. ?Or so I thought, for the novel was well published in the Kenyan newspapers, the Sunday Nation even carrying my interview by de Villiers, one of its senior features writers.
Shaking hands with a hero
I assumed that every educated Kenyan would have heard about the novel. I was woken to reality when I entered a club, the most frequented by the new African elite at the time, who all greeted me as their Kenyan author of Things Fall Apart.
Years later, at Achebe?s 70th birthday celebrations at BardCollege attended by Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka among others, I told this story of how Achebe?s name had haunted my life. When Soyinka?s turn to speak came, he said I had taken the story from his mouth: He had been similarly mistaken for Achebe.
The fact is Achebe became synonymous with the Heinemann African Writers Series and African writing as a whole. There?s hardly any African writer of my generation who has not been mistaken for Achebe.
I have had a few of such encounters. The last such was in 2010 at the JomoKenyattaAirport. Mukoma, the author of Nairobi Heat, and I had been invited for the Kwani? festival whose theme was inter-generational dialogue. ?As he and I walked towards the?immigration desk, a man came towards me. His hands were literally trembling as he identified himself as a professor of literature from Zambia.
?Excuse me Mr Achebe, somebody pointed you out to me. I have long wanted to meet you.?
?No, no I am not the one,? I said, ?but here is Mr Achebe,? I added pointing at my son.
I thought the obvious youth of my son would tell him that I was being facetious. But no, our professor grabbed Mukoma?s hands grateful that he had at last shaken hands with his hero.
The case of mistaken identity as late as 2010 shows how Achebe had become a mythical figure, and rightly so. He was the single most important figure in the development of modern African literature as writer, editor and quite simply a human being.
His novel, Things Fall Apart, the most widely read novel in the history of African literature since its publication in 1958 became an inspiring model. As the general editor of the Heinemann African Writers Series, he had a hand in the emergence of many other writers and their publication.
As a person, he embodied wisdom that comes from a commitment to the middle way between extremes and, of course, courage in the face of personal tragedy!
Achebe bestrides generations and geographies
Every country in Africa claims him as their own. Some sayings in his novels are quoted frequently as proverbs that contain universal wisdom. His passing marks the beginning of the end of an epoch.
Ngugi wa Thiong?o is a creative writer and distinguished professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of California, Irvine.
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'Real Money': Hidden Money at Your Hospital
Mar 28, 2013 6:27pm
ABC News? Paula Faris reports:
Joyce Ann Huston of Las Vegas has been a musician her entire life and is one of the 26 percent of Americans who say that they or a family member have struggled to pay medical bills in the last year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Want to learn how to slash those medical bills?
Join Michelle Katz in a live Twitter chat at 7 p.m. ET today. Check it out here:?@michellekatzmsn?#RealMoney or www.facebook.com/michellekatzmsn
Huston, known as ?Lady J,? was on stage Wednesday night and today, she?s paying for it.
Like millions of Americans, Huston has a chronic medical condition: She suffers from lupus.
She preps her body for days before performing, citing music as not just her only escape, but the only way she pays her bills.
Huston still owes $25,000 from her original diagnosis, and new bills from her ongoing care are mounting. With medical bills continuously contributing to her debt, she worries she could lose everything. Among those Americans who file for personal bankruptcy, 62 percent do so because of medical bills, according to one study in the American Journal of Medicine.
?I could end up losing my house,? Huston told ABC News.
ABC News' Paula Faris talks to Joyce Ann Huston of Las Vegas about saving money on her medical bills.
But what Huston and many others don?t realize is that more than half of the nation?s hospitals ? the nonprofits ? are required to give back to the community, often through what is called ?Patient Assistance Programs.?
?No, I wasn?t aware of that, at all,? Huston told ABC News.
Non-profit hospitals are required to publicize their policies on assistance programs. The American Hospital Association told ABC News, ?Hospitals should widely publicize on the premises, on the website, and distribute directly to patients their policies on assistance programs.?
But in one study by Community Catalyst of 100 hospitals, nearly half didn?t mention it on their website and almost 70 percent didn?t tell patients how to qualify when they called.
With the help of a patient advocate at the Colors of Lupus Foundation in Nevada, Katz and Huston went after some of that money. Sure enough, Huston?s hospital had a fund.
It took several weeks of phone calls to cut through all the red tape.
?You have to understand if they announce it, everyone would be flooding, right?? said Hui-Lim Ang, founder of the Colors of Lupus Foundation in Nevada.
?It?s just a matter of negotiation,? Ang added, ?just knowing it?s out there and not being afraid to ask for it.?
In the end, Huston qualified for assistance. ?Her $25,000 bill was reduced to just $7,000, which she will pay in monthly, interest-free payments of $100.
?I?m just shocked you all were able to do that,? Huston said. ?I didn?t know how I was going to make it through. I didn?t know things like this were possible. I?m so touched, so deeply touched.?
And today, after saving $18,000 on her medical bills, Huston is singing a much different tune.
Tips that could save you money:
1.?????? Ask for a written financial assistance policy.? Hospitals should have a written financial assistance policy available that includes eligibility criteria, the basis for calculating charges and the method for applying for financial assistance.
2.?????? If you can, let your hospital know ahead of time.? Hospitals use a process to identify who may or may not be able to pay in advance of billing, in order to determine whether a patient?s care needs could be funded by an alternative source, such as a charity care fund. This is also done during the billing and collection process, but it is best to address any billing issues in a timely manner. Since 2000, hospitals of all types have provided more than $367 billion in uncompensated care to their patients, according to the AHA.
3.????? Keep communicating and be calm.? People make mistakes, so it?s important to stay in touch with your care providers, hospital representatives and insurance providers. Be sure you document everything. Be prepared for representatives who may disagree with something you said. But if you have documentation to back up your claim, remain calm and use it.
For more, check out Michelle Katz? tips on her blog
If this story helped you, let us know on Twitter:?#MyWorldNewsStory
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/03/28/real-money-hidden-money-at-your-hospital/
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