Saturday, January 26, 2013

Indonesia readies for $1 trillion trade talks

United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Participants leave the Congress Center the last day of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

(AP) ? Indonesia may hold the key to a $1 trillion injection into the global economy.

That's how much the World Trade Organization believes is riding on talks later this year in Bali, when trade ministers hope to cut through some of the red tape that slows global commerce.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told The Associated Press that failure is not an option and that a strong effort is being put in to ensure that the WTO meeting in Bali is "crowned with success."

The current trade talks, known as the Doha Round, began in 2001, and after a decade of little progress for a range of reasons, many had pronounced the negotiations to reduce global trade barriers as dead.

There are hopes that the current fragile state of the world economy, including the debt crisis afflicting the 17 European Union countries that use the euro and unspectacular U.S. growth, may add impetus to the discussions.

"It's very critical now, especially with the difficulties in the global economy, especially in the eurozone," he said of efforts to reach a new global free trade pact. "Trade facilitation becomes a key driver for economic recovery, so this is now even ever more important to what it was before."

Trade ministers from 24 nations met Saturday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos in an unofficial gathering hosted by the Swiss government.

Afterward, Swiss Economic Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said the group agreed they could reach a tentative agreement on some of the key elements of a global trade deal this summer, in preparation for the ministerial talks in December at Bali.

Schneider-Ammann said he sensed some "optimism" that efforts to streamline customs procedures and other rules to reduce the costs of trade "will be successful."

The ministers agreed to resist protectionism, focus on elements such as trade facilitation and agriculture, and to "take stock" around Easter of the progress being made, Schneider-Ammann said.

"Serious attempts to deliver results in Bali have already started," he added.

The Doha negotiations have been billed as a way of boosting economic development among the poorest countries, by reducing barriers on their exports to wealthier markets.

The WTO's director general, Pascal Lamy, has been telling the Davos gathering of political, business and academic elites that an international trade deal would provide a $1 trillion boost to the global economy. He estimates world trade is worth about $22 trillion.

Flanked by Schneider-Ammann, Lamy told reporters that he believes it is technically "do-able" to craft draft agreements on some of the key elements of a deal by next summer.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he had to "temper" his enthusiasm for a deal since it has eluded the world for a decade.

Areas of dispute include tariffs on manufactured good, agricultural subsidies, market access and intellectual property rules. Brazil, China and India have resisted U.S. demands to lower taxes on imports of manufactured goods.

"But, at least of the 24 countries represented today, it felt like we had made more substantive progress," Kirk said in an AP interview. "The good news is we've spent a lot of work on a smaller, more realistic package centered around trade facilitation, which can be a huge benefit to developing economies. And it feels like that is starting to bear fruit."

Kirk, who leaves his job next month, said the ministers renewed their commitment "to double down, do what we need to do" to reach a deal in Bali. "I'm as hopeful as I've been in a long time."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-26-Davos%20Forum-Trade/id-c0dcd35c547b44ffa910620a9d25fcc9

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Egyptian Mummy's Elaborate Hairstyle Revealed in 3D

Nearly 2,000 years ago, at a time when Egypt was under the control of the Roman Empire, a young woman with an elaborate hairstyle was laid to rest only yards away from a king's pyramid, researchers report.

She was 5 feet 2 inches in height, around age 20 when she died, and was buried in a decorated coffin whose face is gilded with gold. A nearby pyramid, at a site called Hawara, was built about 2 millennia before her lifetime. The location of her burial is known from archival notes. ?

High-resolution CT scans reveal that, before she was buried, her hair was dressed in an elaborate hairstyle.

"The mummy's hair is readily appreciable, with longer strands at the middle of the scalp drawn back into twists or plaits that were then wound into a tutulus, or chignon at the vertex (crown) of the head," writes a research team in a paper published recently in the journal RSNA RadioGraphics. They note that it was a popular hairstyle at the time, which may have been inspired by a Roman empress, Faustina I, who lived in the second century. [See Photos of Egyptian Mummy's Reconstruction]

Today, thanks to research and reconstruction work that includes high-resolution CT scans, anthropological analysis, 3D printing and facial reconstruction drawing, this woman, along with two other mummies, are being brought back to life. Their three-dimensional faces and hair, carefully reconstructed by professional forensic artist Victoria Lywood, of John Abbott College, are set to be revealed tomorrow (Jan. 25) at the Redpath Museum at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

In pictures sent to LiveScience the reconstructions appear vividly real in every aspect, from the tone of their muscles to the color and style of their hair. It looks like they could be people living today.

"They are three human Egyptian mummies that have been trapped in the manner they held when laid to rest nearly 2,000 years ago. And now we can reveal what they might have looked like," the team writes in a press release.? All three mummies were donated to the Redpath Museum in the 19th century.

While two scientific papers have recently been published on them, and their reconstructed faces are set to be unveiled, there are still plenty of mysteries for Egyptologists to tackle. For instance, when researchers scanned the woman they found three puncture marks, each about an eighth of an inch (3-4 millimeters) across, on the right side of her abdominal wall, wounds that may have killed her, leading to the question ? how did she get them???

"These wounds were believed to have occurred either before or shortly after death," the researchers write in their RadioGraphics paper, "although these CT findings are far from conclusive, it is possible that the punctures are related to the cause of death."

The 'matron'

Another mummy, dubbed the "white-haired matron," is of a woman who lived long enough to see her hair go gray, likely passing away sometime between the ages of 30 and 50. Radiocarbon dating indicates that she lived late in the time of Roman rule (A.D. 230-380), when Christianity was growing in Egypt and mummification was soon to go out of style. At 5 foot 3 inches, she was relatively tall for her time, and museum records indicate that she was found somewhere in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor).

She suffered from a problem quite common in ancient Egypt ? bad, and rather painful, teeth. "Thecondition of the teeth of (the mummy) was poor," the team writes in the RadioGraphics paper, noting that she was missing several of them and that a large cavity, between two teeth, was visible along with several abscesses.

Theban male

The third reconstructed mummy lived a few centuries earlier than the other two, at a time when a dynasty of Greek kings ruled Egypt. If he and the matron could talk, they could sympathize with each other?s dental problems. [Mummy Melodrama: 9 Secrets of Otzi the Iceman]

The 5-foot-4-inch male mummy had numerous cavities, including one that caused a sinus infection, possibly killing him. His condition was so bad that in his final days he had a form of linen "packing," dipped in medicine, inserted into one of his cavities. According to records he also was found in Thebes, with CT scans showing that he died relatively young, likely in his 20s or early 30s.

Western University researcher Andrew Wade, a leading member of the team, said at a recent Egyptology symposium in Toronto that the development of high-resolution CT scans has played a key role in advancing the study of Egyptian mummies, including these three individuals, unveiling tiny details that help bring their past to life.?

"The high spatial and contrast resolution of the last decade of CT studies of mummies has allowed us to examine the paleo-anatomic minutiae (of mummies)," he said.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-mummys-elaborate-hairstyle-revealed-3d-130022151.html

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Microsoft profit dips ahead of Office revamp

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's quarterly profit edged lower as Office software sales slowed ahead of a new launch, offsetting a solid but unspectacular start for its Windows 8 operating system and sending the company's shares down 1.4 percent.

The results mark a stark change from the 1990s, when Microsoft was the unchallenged king of computing and the release of a new Windows operating system would supercharge sales, generate excitement and generally boost its stock.

None of that appears to be true now, as Microsoft has been overtaken by Apple Inc and Google Inc in the rush toward mobile computing, while sales of traditional desktop computers are in decline.

"There's still no sign that Windows 8 is a gangbuster," said Andrew Bartels, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Compared to prior periods, where you saw a big increase when a new one came out, you're not seeing that."

Profit at the world's largest software company slid to $6.4 billion, or 76 cents per share, in the fiscal second quarter, from $6.6 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Wall Street had expected 75 cents per share, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Overall sales rose 3 percent to $21.5 billion, Microsoft said on Thursday, in line with analysts' estimates.

The biggest factor weighing on Microsoft was a 10 percent decline in sales at its Office unit to $5.7 billion, which took into account the loss of deferred revenue relating to discounted upgrades to the new version of the software, expected shortly.

"It's a pause before a product launch, which is typical," said Josh Olson, an analyst at Edward Jones.

WINDOWS SHRUG

Windows sales jumped 24 percent to $5.9 billion, slightly ahead of analysts' average expectations, which had been gradually lowered over the last few months. That also included some deferred revenue relating to discounted upgrades.

Microsoft said it has sold more than 60 million Windows 8 licenses since its late-October launch, an unexceptional start for a product which has not gripped the public's imagination in the way of Apple's iPad.

The company already announced 60 million Windows 8 sales two weeks ago, broadly in line with Windows 7 sales three years before.

"Windows 8 continues to have an uphill battle in convincing investors this is going to be the key to the growth story for Microsoft," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "It continues to be a major prove-me product cycle."

Microsoft did not detail sales of its new Surface tablet - a direct competitor to the iPad - although chief financial officer Peter Klein said the company was expanding production and distribution.

Windows executives suggest that Windows will win more people over when new touch-screen devices start hitting the shelves in coming months.

"Demand is stronger than supply across a number of key device types, whether Windows tablets, convertibles, or all-in-ones," Tami Reller, chief financial officer of Microsoft's Windows unit, told Reuters earlier this month. "Most of the opportunity is still ahead of us."

Analysts seem prepared to give Microsoft more time to prove its point.

"It's been disruptive but the PC market is far from dead," said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial. "Even if they have minimal success with Surface, they don't need much to move the needle."

Microsoft shares have fallen 2 percent since Windows 8 was launched on October 26, compared to a 5 percent gain in the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index. They fell to $27.06 in after-hours trading, after closing at $27.23 on Nasdaq.

(Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Richard Chang and Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-profit-dips-ahead-office-revamp-001247780--sector.html

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Queen City: A Secret History of Auckland ? Speaker ? Public Address

The printed programme for this year's Auckland Pride Festival includes a history of gay Auckland, written by David Herkt. What follows is a longer, looser, less well-behaved version of that history adapted by David especially for Public Address. We are pleased and proud to have it.

Cities all have human histories, but the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered stories from the past often remain hidden ? and Auckland is no exception, even today.

One night in 1894, two men, after meeting each other in Wellesley Street in the central city, travelled out to Henderson and checked into the Falls Hotel together. The hotelier became suspicious and loitered about their room door. Hearing sounds he described as ?oh ah!?, he thought they indicated a ?person under pressure?, so he burst into the room?

All sexual relations between men in New Zealand, no matter the type of sexual act, had been criminalised the previous year, so the men were charged and ended up in court.

?We were only kissing each other after waking,? one of the defendants said in his defence.

But who remembers these long ago incidents?

Moving through Auckland City today, there are no public monuments to queer people. There are no books or websites that tell us about our particular past. Time in Auckland City appears to be a very, very straight thing.

Driving by the Ferry Buildings on Quay Street, it is impossible to know that this once was one of Auckland?s great gay cruising grounds in the late 19th and early 20th Century, used by gay men and male sex-workers alike, gathering after the evening commuters had streamed through the turnstiles to catch ferries to Devonport and the North Shore in that pre-Harbour Bridge era.

?It interested him, after nightfall, to see two boys with painted flaring lips and limpid eyes, hanging about the Ferry Buildings?? wrote Robin Hyde in her 1938 novel, Nor The Years Condemn. ?Place is lousy with them,? explained a labourer, tapping his pipe on the heel of a well-worn boot. ?We call ?em the bitches.??

In the 1970s, a drab car-park off Grey?s Avenue once led to the discreet entrance to Backstage, an illegal club, where after being scrutinised through a peep-hole, hundreds of men and women would dance behind locked doors to Donna Summer and Boney M until 5am.

And who remembers the KG Club ? the Karangahape Road Girl?s Club or the Kamp Girls Club? It was New Zealand?s first ever lesbian social club, founded by Raukura Te Aroha ?Bubs? Hetet, in late 1971. It met in a variety of private homes before opening in Beach Road and then moving to the corner of Karangahape Road and Hereford Street, where it had a sterling reputation for boisterous parties.

We also have forgotten the long and proud history of Auckland drag and transgendered performance, with stars like Noel Mackay in the late 1950s and 60s, and venues like Mojo?s on the corner of Queen and Wakefield Streets in the 70s, whose performers like Diana, Sheila and Jackie were memorialised in the images of Taranaki photographer Fiona Clark, and where sailors from ships would queue on the back stairs for other ?entertainment? purposes?

And if we do not know these places, people and events, how can we say that we know our city?

The history of same-sex relations in pre-European New Zealand has seldom received much attention. It was not valued or recorded by early observers, and more lately political and ?moral? decisions have meant that it has not been explored.?

Despite the T?maki isthmus being a centre of M?ori settlement for centuries, we have no knowledge of the diversity of sexual behaviours of its people, beyond the presumption that these may have mirrored the better recorded sexual lives of the Pacific Islands, where same-sex relations were barely worthy of comment and there were gender-roles available that did not reflect physical attributes.

The activities of the early missionary William Yate with M?ori males in the 1820s and 30s in Northland indicate that same-sex relations were not regarded as an issue by M?ori, and they were fully familiar with homosexual acts before the arrival of Europeans. The significance of these encounters, however, remains unknown to us.

Located on the glittering Waitemata, with its signature volcanic cones, Auckland has always been a port city, founded on its access to the sea. Henry Winkelmann, an avid sailor, was one of the first photographers to record the early life of the harbour and the changing urban landscape in the late 19thand early 20th centuries.

He also left behind more intimate photographs of his male friends posing together or swimming nude. In one of these, Winkelmann photographed himself in a ?full passionate lingering kiss on the mouth? with a friend, Charley Horton, in 1900, while the pair sprawled in the shadow of a yacht?s sail.

Later, this photo was stolen from Auckland Museum, then eventually returned, and controversially used on the cover of Peter Well?s 1997 anthology of New Zealand gay writing, Best Mates.

Auckland is also a city of shores and beaches. Near-forgotten homosexual writer, Hector Bolitho, in his 1927 novel, Solemn Boy, recorded the confusions of a gay male encounter between two naked men on the black sand of a West Auckland beach: ?We hadn?t the courage of gulls, swooping down and deliberately taking what we wanted. We fumbled and compromised with ourselves? we were cowards to ourselves.?

Auckland pubs and hotels begin appearing in court documents and newspaper reports as places where men could meet and bed each other. Walter Smith reported his lover Albert Elworthy to the police after a heated argument in 1921. The couple had often shared a bed at the Waitemata Hotel in Lower Queen Street, which appears to have been a place where gay men felt comfortable, to judge by its appearance in another trial which featured upstairs rooms, drinking, singing and sexual contact. The hotel porter would run messages between couples and the owner of the hotel testified, ?At Christmas time our double beds were full of men together.?

Another man who recorded early gay life in Auckland was the writer Frank Sargeson, who lived in a bach on Esmonde Road in Takapuna from the 1930s until his death in 1982. Sargeson changed his name from Norris Davie after being arrested in Wellington in 1929, when his sexual relationship with another man was discovered.

He wrote a number of his famous short stories in the 1930s and 40s in Takapuna, including That Summer and A Great Day, where gay relationships stir just beneath the surface of male friendships, and sexuality erupts in strange and inarticulate ways.

Sargeson?s recording of transient gay life, and an Auckland of rooming houses, trams and sun-struck streets in his short-stories remains one of the most accomplished achievements of New Zealand literature.

?I wanted to say something, but I didn?t know what it was, and couldn?t say it.

Terry, I?d say.

And he?d sort of grin. And sometimes I?d take his hand and hold it tight, and he?d let it stay in my hand, and there?d be a faint grin on his face.?

In counter distinction to these muffled gay lives, the career of the stage performer, Freda Stark, gives us a glittering glimpse into Auckland?s lesbian and Bohemian life.

In the 1930s, Freda had had fallen in love with Thelma Trott, who was married to an orchestra conductor, Eric Mareo. The relationship between the trio came to its climax when Thelma died from an overdose of a sleeping drug.

Mareo was charged with Thelma?s murder and convicted, but Freda was outed as a lesbian during the trial when nude photographs of her were sensationally produced by the prosecution.

Later, during the Second World War, Freda became notorious for performing her ?Ritual Fire-Dance?, near-naked and covered in gold paint, on the Wintergarden stage of the Civic Theatre, for audiences of American servicemen.

The arrival of these American troops brought a whole new ambience to Auckland. There was chewing-gum, bourbon and swing music, but some soldiers were also gay. It has been suggested that these troops introduced New Zealand gay men to the blow-job, something that had never previously been a particular feature of gay sexual relations in New Zealand.

A 1941 trial in the Auckland Supreme Court testified to the availability of American servicemen. Grocer?s assistant Victor Andrews described shop-assistant Bruce Millar?s preference for navy men and reported that ?there are others round town doing the air-force.?

The same trial revealed the Cargen Hotel on Short Street, and the Commercial on the corner of High and Shortland Streets, as places where it was possible to pick up like-minded men, and described private drag parties on the North Shore and Mount Eden.?

Andrews also told of meeting Millar, catching the night-ferry to Devonport and drinking beer and having sex in the Devonport Domain.

Another group of gay men who changed the social life of Auckland, were the stewards who worked on passenger ships and shipping lines. Generally homosexual men, shipping stewards provided international contact and added a whole new element to New Zealand gay life ?campness.

These men even used a whole gay language, Polari, which meant they could talk intimately without being understood by the wider world: ?As feely ommes...we would zhoosh our riah, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar?. Polari words like ?naff?, ?nance?, ?butch?, ?drag?, ?mince? and ?trade? still survive in general New Zealand gay usage today.

By 1955, an Auckland University magazine was publishing photographs of all-male weddings in Parnell and Point Chevalier, and coffee bars including Blake?s Inn on Vulcan Lane were patronised by the ?artistic and temperamental?.?

A number of city hotels of the 1950s and 60s had firm reputations as gay venues. The back bar of the Great Northern in Customs Street East was nicknamed ?The Lilypond? and pianist Billy Farnell was notorious for driving around the city in his red MG sports car, in full make-up, pulling up in front of the Occidental Hotel on Vulcan Lane for a late-afternoon drink. There was also the Shakespeare, on the corner of Wyndham and Albert Streets, where the upstairs bar was a watering hole for both journalists and gay men.

Drag stars of that time, like Noel Mackay, occupied a curious place between public acceptance and illegality. For men, wearing woman?s clothing in a public place could be construed as being against New Zealand law, and drag queens and trannies were often arrested.

MacKay performed at clubs like the Montmartre in Lorne Street and the Peter Pan Cabaret in Upper Queen Street. He released a series of surprisingly successful record albums filled with smutty innuendo and camp classic songs like A Good Man is Hard To Find. Other entertainers like Diamond Lil (Marcus Craig) would follow his lead.

It was also an era of gay men meeting and having sex in public toilets, which were frequently located underground, like those in Wellesley Street or Durham Street West. The long stairs down in many of these venues were sufficient to give a warning of any new arrival. There was a developed system of social roles, including that of a ?look-out? or ?pegger?, as it was known, often taken by the voyeuristically inclined.

Men could also have discreet sexual intimacy in bath-houses and saunas like the Gladiator on Queen Street, with its owner with his brylcreemed hair and its wall d?cor of record covers, the Jeunesse Doree in Mt Albert, or the Victoria Spa in the city.

But the 1960s brought a new radicalism. The old rules were about to be challenged.

Gay Liberation had its first meetings at Auckland University in 1972. Led by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Nigel Baumber, Dick Morrison and Malcolm McAllister, this group demanded repeal of the anti-homosexual laws and complete equality for all New Zealanders, no matter their sexual preference. Meetings established a core-group and regular Gay Liberation dances in the University caf? provided a new type of social interaction and represented a new visibility.

For the first time, the New Zealand television audience also began to see acknowledged homosexual, lesbian and transgendered people in current affairs programs, calling for law-change and an end to discrimination. The first public demonstrations for equal rights marched up Queen Street.

This sense of freedom was responsible for the creation of Auckland?s biggest and most successful gay club to that date. Backstage, just behind the Auckland Town Hall, was opened in 1976 by Stan Gordon and Lew Pryme, a popular and successful singer, who would later become Executive Director of the Auckland Rugby Union.

Backstage covered two stories and worked on a system where an entry fee of $7 covered the night?s drinking. It was the height of the disco era and the dance floor hustled with over 200 people a night. It was also an illegal venue and its opening hours, until 5am in the morning, were a novelty for Auckland. Backstage can be glimpsed in New Zealand?s first gay feature movie, Squeeze, directed by Richard Turner, which was partially filmed in the club in 1979.

Meanwhile on state-funded television, Auckland gay couple Peter Hudson and David Halls were creating a cooking series that became one of New Zealand?s highest rating programmes. Hudson & Halls would run from 1976 to 1986 and would create a new visibility for gay men in middle New Zealand, despite the TV publicity answer to the obvious question: ?We?re not sure if they are gay, but they certainly are merry.?

Following the canning of the Hudson & Halls series by TVNZ, the couple tried a UK version of the show but were dogged by immigration restrictions. Halls died of cancer in 1992 and Hudson committed suicide eighteen months later.

The campaign for law change still continued and was extensively financially and organisationally backed by Tony Katavich and Brett Sheppard, the owners of Out! magazine, Alfies nightclub (which featured Nicole Duval and a young Georgina Beyer, amidst other performers), and a chain of gay saunas in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Katavich and Sheppard publicised the campaign, working alongside men like Bruce Kilmister and groups like the Auckland Gay Task Force.

It wasn?t until 1986 that the anti-homosexual laws were repealed ? but not before more than a third of New Zealand?s population had signed a petition asking for the old laws to be retained. It was an issue that divided the nation and the final knife-edge parliamentary vote on the bill was followed intently by the gay community.

The victory was ushered in by a ?party to end all parties? at Alfies, the club located under Imperial Arcade, off High Street, where a packed venue, disco-whistles, streamers and a countdown signalled the moment of change.

But HIV/AIDS had also arrived. The next ten years would be a period of trial and distress.

Bruce Burnett led the community?s first response to the virus and, in the face of government inaction, founded the grassroots AIDS Support Network inaction to give gay men the vital health information they needed in order to protect themselves. This group would change its name to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation in 1985, and is now based in its own building on Hargreaves Street, St Mary?s Bay.

Auckland would lose a number of its most prominent gay men to the epidemic, including Lew Pryme, the co-owner of Backstage, who featured in an explicit and moving television documentary screened just after his death; bodybuilder and photographer Neil Truhubovich; and John Draper, a designer and agent-provocateur who had established Room Service, one of Auckland?s most radical art galleries, and founded the glossy GLO magazine.

These deaths and many, many others are memorialised by panels in the AIDS Memorial Quilt, now at Te Papa.

Eventually, the effects of HIV/AIDS would be partially contained by new medications. Risky sexual behaviours would be changed by public campaigns. The virus, however, still remains a threat.

The first HERO Party was organised in 1991 to celebrate and reinforce the bonds of a community that had been severely battered. The inaugural party was held in the Rail Shed on Beach Road. The second party on Princes Wharf was attended by 3,000 people and artists like Mika performed in a series of spectacular shows which would become a HERO tradition.

The Hero Parade in 1995 moved up Queen Street, the second was along Ponsonby Road. By 1998, around 150,000 people would crowd the Ponsonby Road route to watch a spectacle which would be televised and promoted as a tourism feature of Auckland City.

However, lack of civic support and financial issues meant that the original Hero organisation was forced to wind up in 2002.

Following law-reform, the most notable trend was the fact that the queer communities gained many formal organisational structures and attributes.? It was time to come in from the cold. Businesses grew, service groups were created, and social life began to reflect broader concerns.

New nightclubs like Aquarius, Staircase, Legend, Don?t Tell Mama, Midnight Club, Klamp Klub, Queen?s Ferry, Flesh, G.A.Y. and Family opened, giving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people a wide variety of entertainment venues.

Staircase would come to be regarded as one of Auckland?s most iconic gay clubs, and was the home of influential Pacific drag divas Bertha, Buckwheat, Tess Tickle and the late Bust-Op. It had three distinct incarnations ? first Fort Street, with its black sunken dance floor; then Albert Street, with its beige rag-rolled walls; and finally as a superclub on Karangahape Road.

Queen?s Ferry, G.A.Y. and Family were part of an entertainment empire run by Wayne Clark, with Miss Ribena as the trademark host of their comprehensive entertainment programme, running the gamut from Mr Gay Auckland and karaoke to show nights and drag competitions. It was pub-culture made gay and, despite its critics, remains an essential and profitable part of present-day Auckland.

Different niches within the gay community also started to grow their individual strengths. Urge Bar, opened by Peter Taylor, Larry Quickenden and Phillip Stack in 1997, began as a leather bar but has now evolved into a practical and relaxed men?s space. Urge is presently New Zealand?s longest-running gay men?s bar.

Sex-on-site venues like Lateshift in Dundonald Street, with its blue-collar d?cor of oil-drums and pool-tables, and the Countryman?s Institute on Beach Road, with its chain-link and corrugated iron, became new features of Auckland life in the 1990s, and fostered a unique local sexual culture. For a small price men could guarantee a sexual encounter with another in safe and discreet surrounds.

Meanwhile, the lesbian community was following its own individual trajectory. Lesbian social groups became abundant, from softball teams to walking groups, with frequent women?s dances and drag king events in a variety of venues including Kamo on Karangahape Road. The Charlotte Museum in Western Springs was also created to preserve and remember New Zealand?s lesbian history.

Auckland developed a thriving gay and lesbian media. The monthly Tamaki Makaurau Lesbian Newsletter was first published in 1990, and a fortnightly gay newspaper, Man to Man, later renamed Express, was founded by Lateshift owner Jay Bennie in 1991. JACK magazine was a glossy feature magazine of the early 21st Century, with original photographic features, high production values, and an acute awareness of gay culture and sensibility.

There were gay radio programmes on stations like bFM and Planet FM, and television programmes like the long-running, Queer Nation, produced by Johnny Givins. Jay Bennie?s GayNZ.com would be the first step into an internet age, followed by Express Online and any number of small service websites.

Auckland was also gaining broader cultural influences. Fa?afafine joined Fakaleiti and Takataapui in becoming an increasingly prominent element in Auckland?s queer life. The socio-sexual cultures of the Pacific Islands created a unique ambience in Auckland following the great migrations of Pacific Islanders to New Zealand in the 1970s and 80s, and it was often manifested in particular suburbs. Many drag stars of the 1990s, for instance, received their first public exposure in the Miss South Auckland Drag Competition in Papatoetoe. Winners, including the late Bambi Slut, went on to establish a large audience in inner city clubs.

By the end of the 20th Century, the Queen City had come of age as the queer capital of New Zealand.

The Gay Auckland Business Association held regular social meetings and raised funds to support other gay, lesbian and transgendered organisations through an annual auction. Whole teams of gay, lesbian and transgendered sportspeople travelled to international events, like the 2002 Sydney Gay Games. The Pride Centre, and then Rainbow Youth, opened offices on Karangahape Road, which had become the cultural centre of Auckland gay life.

These communities were they also coming to terms with the fact that they were no longer a reviled minority and realised that, if they wished to keep an identity that had been created through legal and social oppression over the course of two centuries, they needed to work to maintain their unique culture and to remember its long history.

Could a community whose attitudes were created in opposition against a prevailing and dominant homophobia, survive in a world where gay weddings are not an aberrant spectacle but a socially-accepted feature of human relations? Is queer culture relevant in a world where sexual customs are tending towards a homogenised melting-pot? What happens to sexual minorities when there is no longer an oppressive majority? If there is no homophobia, is there a queer community?

These are the questions the new millennium in New Zealand must answer.

---

See image gallery for photo credits and captions.

Source: http://publicaddress.net/speaker/queen-city/

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Cameron takes aim at corporate tax avoiders

(Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday attacked multinational corporations that avoid paying their fair share of tax, promising action against such aggressive strategies after a public backlash in Britain.

The issue of tax avoidance by big business has turned toxic in recent years as millions of Britons struggle with low pay rises and austerity measures introduced to reduce the budget deficit.

Firms that are viewed as paying too little tax, such as coffee chain Starbucks, have been targeted by demonstrators and boycotts.

"I am a low-tax Conservative but I'm not a companies-should-pay-no-tax Conservative," Cameron told business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"Individuals and businesses must pay their fair share," he said, adding that he would use his presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised nations to press the point.

Cameron did not mention any companies by name. At the height of the uproar last year, British MPs singled out Google, Amazon and Starbucks as companies that pay very little tax in Britain on profit from sales there.

The firms say they comply with British tax law, but under a tide of public outrage and demonstrations at its stores, Starbucks last year said it would pay around 20 million pounds ($32 million) in corporation tax in Britain over the next two years.

"Any businesses who think that they can carry on dodging that fair share ... need to wake up and smell the coffee," Cameron said, adding that he was not anti-business but wanted to keep tax rates low for everyone else.

Cameron's Conservative party has long been criticised for being close to big business, but the prime minister's speech indicated a change of tone towards companies avoiding tax.

"The public who buy from them have had enough," he said

MOUNTING PRESSURE

Much of the anger in Britain has come from smaller local retailers who are unable to take advantage of international tax arrangements while they struggle with high rents and low consumer spending.

With politicians ramping up the pressure, Goldman Sachs also came in for criticism over plans, since scrapped, to delay paying bonuses to its bankers in Britain to exploit an income tax cut for top earners that is due in April.

The bank changed its plans after being publicly rebuked by the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King.

Despite growing public anger it will be difficult to change the rules.

"Cameron's statements on the taxation of multinational companies will no doubt receive strong support," said Ben Jones, a tax expert at law firm Eversheds. "But he will have to work hard to ... avoid the issue becoming mired by the bureaucracy of international tax policy.

"Central to many of the tax structures put in place by multinational companies are the international rules on transfer pricing. Changing these rules requires broad international agreement, which typically takes a long time to obtain."

The Trades Union Congress - Britain's labour union federation - said Cameron's government needed to start by making the British tax system far more transparent.

That process may be helped by a Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday which said that advice by accountants could not be kept secret in the same way that legal counsel is confidential.

"David Cameron has been quick to highlight the problem of tax avoidance but slow to actually do anything about it," the TaxPayers' Alliance, which campaigns for lower tax rates, said in response to the speech.

"Families are left feeling short-changed and let down by their politicians because international corporations can take advantage of loopholes and reliefs not open to them," it said.

It was a view that struck a chord on the streets of a cold London on Thursday. "It's disgusting ... We pay tax, we haven't got a choice," said Clive Read, a 54-year-old printer. "They should pay their taxes, just like other companies."

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Costas Pitas in London; Writing by Kate Holton; Editing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-pm-says-g8-must-focus-tax-100156872--finance.html

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Wile E. Coyote Teaches Math (And Despair) To Lucky Students In New Zealand

There's something about being upside down (from all of us in the Northern Hemisphere) that makes New Zealanders a little melancholy. At least that's my theory.

My evidence? Well, the other day, I was looking at a curriculum guide for math teachers ("maths" teachers, they would say) on the New Zealand Ministry of Education's site, where the text on top says, We want to equip "all New Zealanders with the knowledge, skills, and values to be successful citizens in the 21st century."

When you flip to the Maths page, here's what they think young citizens should know: Let's test, they say, the truth or falsity of Murphy's Law.

Not a cheery choice. You know Murphy's Law, right? It says, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." The folks at the Ministry don't like snappy English, so they wrote it this way:

"In this unit, students will explore the commonly held believe (sic) that if anything bad can possibly happen it will and at the most inopportune time."

It's fun to read the list of supplies teachers should bring to the classroom, the step-by-step instructions, (you can do that here) but what I liked best were the examples, the case studies. They are so painfully specific.

The Ministry says it's teaching statistics, but really it's teaching the philosophy of Wile E. Coyote of the Road Runner cartoons. These lessons look like math, not so deep down they are an immersion into the World of Despair. The Ministry recommends five examples of Murphy's Law. I've translated from New Zealand English when necessary. These are exact quotations.

"The first lesson will investigate the example of Murphy's Law relating to keys. It goes like this (act it out as you are saying it): There you are carrying a heavy box of things to the door or to the car boot [trunk]. You put the box in one arm to hold it while you reach inside your pocket for the keys and, you guessed it, the keys are in the other pocket! So you shift the load onto the other arm to get the keys out or you become a contortionist by trying to get it with the opposite arm. So Murphy's Law for keys says that keys are always in the pocket that you can't reach."

Students are then asked to design experiments to test the probability that keys will consistently lodge in the wrong pocket.

Which assumes you are about to eat a piece of toast buttered on one side, when it slips from your grasp and then you learn ...

"The more expensive the carpet the greater the chance that the piece of toast that falls off your plate will land butter side down."

Drawing pins, (I looked this up) are New Zealand English for thumbtacks. These thumbtacks are always slippery, which is how you discover ...

"If a drawing pin drops on the floor the chance of it landing sharp end up increases as its distance to the nearest bare foot decreases."

Which describes an urgent situation where you need to use transparent tape, which they call "cellotape," to quickly repair something. As you grope for the tape with your fingers, you discover that ...

"The more of a rush you are in the harder it is to find the start of a roll of cellotape."

Which transcends national boundaries and says:

"Whatever queue [line] you join, no matter how short it looks, will always take the longest for you to get served."

That's how they teach probability and statistics in New Zealand. Imagine spending a week designing experiments about frustrating supermarket lines, ungraspable tape, foot seeking thumbtacks and carpet soiling toast. You wouldn't want to leave your bed. But somehow, the Education Minister thinks thinking darkly is good preparation for a successful life in the 21st century. Could the Minister possibly know something we don't?

Though maybe this isn't fair. If you looked at my homework assignments in sixth grade, they were all about getting on a train leaving St. Louis at 6 a.m. and heading for Kansas City at 60 miles an hour, while someone else in Chicago at 4 a.m. was also going to Kansas City, but at 75 miles an hour, and I was supposed to figure out who got to Kansas City first. Did knowing who arrives first in Kansas City better prepare me for success in the 20th century? You bet it did! Look at me! I've got my own blog! So we should respect curriculum developers. They can read the future. They know what's coming.

(All illustrations by Robert Krulwich/NPR)

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/01/23/170083243/wile-e-coyote-teaches-math-and-despair-to-lucky-students-in-new-zealand?ft=1&f=1007

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

All About Health Supplement Manufacturers

Health supplements are in demand these days. As medical science advances, so has the market for fitness and health supplements. Nowadays there are supplements for weight loss, for reducing obesity, for controlling diabetes, ensuring development of muscles and so forth. No matter what form of health problem one has there is a supplement that advertises itself as a sure way of helping people get rid of their health or fitness problem. Nowadays there are even hormone supplements that claim to remove hormonal deficiencies and symptoms that they bring about.

Health Supplements Manufacturer Markets

There are pharmaceutical companies that are marketing health supplements and many have established a market for themselves. Many product brands are becoming well known and they are relied upon by people in meeting their health and fitness needs. However, when one goes to purchase such health supplements from retail stores, they come highly priced. Thus, not many people can afford to buy such supplements from the medical or fitness store.

Direct Marketing Online

In order to tap into a large consumer segment and to make their products more affordable, nowadays most health supplement manufacturers are marketing their products online. That makes these products easily available and at wholesale prices as well unlike from retail stores. The amount that one can order is flexible and thus, even individual requirements can be met. What?s more, such manufacturers offer discounts and exceptional rates from time to time. That makes such supplements sell like hot cakes as payment options are also convenient. Nowadays online sale of health supplements is on the rise.

Innovative Marketing Online

There is a way of increasing sales of health supplements. That is to make consumers aware of what such a supplement is for and how one can benefit from the intake of such supplements. Thus, many kinds of online marketing strategies are adopted in order to increase awareness of the use of supplements. There are blogs and forums on such supplements where all common queries are addressed. The components of such supplements and their use and benefits are highlighted in such articles. Also, the limitation of such products and the need to seek medical advice before one takes up such supplements is also mentioned on responsible websites.

Beware Of Fraud Ventures

The main limitation of online market of fitness supplements is that, it is hard to differentiate reliable brands from frauds. When it is a question of one?s health, one needs to take the necessary precautions before they order such supplements online. The way to certify the genuineness of such companies is to seek out customer testimonials on independent forums in order to be convinced about the effectiveness of such supplements. Also, the composition and the ingredients of such supplements and whether they will have adverse side effects or not need to be ascertained before one takes up such supplements. Responsible manufacturers will advise their clients to seek medical advice as well before they start taking in any such supplement, especially hormonal supplements.

In spite of prevailing doubts about the integrity of health supplement manufacturers, the rising cost of raw materials and new regulations, the health supplement industry is projected to rise by 4-6% in the next year. The spring valley vitamins are easy to order when shopping online.

Source: http://articlelib.org/all-about-health-supplement-manufacturers/

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A Prayer for the President

When Rev. Dr. Luis Le?n delivers the benediction during President Obama's inauguration Monday, he says his message will focus on uniting a divided nation.

"My sense is that as a country we're not talking to each other," Le?n told ABC News. "We don't trust each other. We've forgotten that we have more that binds us together than separates us. My prayer is that we capture that sense of being one nation."

Rev. Le?n, an Episcopal priest at St. John's Church across from the White House in Washington, D.C., will do double duty on Inauguration Day. Leon will host President Obama for a prayer service before the inauguration as well as giving the benediction.

St. John's has held prayer services for American presidents on Inauguration Day eleven times. Franklin Roosevelt started the tradition.

"It doesn't get old," said Leon. "We've never had any bloodletting as one government passes the baton except maybe during the Civil War after Lincoln was elected."

The church has a special pew in the back commemorating the spot where Lincoln would sit when he attended services at St. John's. A plaque next to the pew says Lincoln always came alone and left before the service ended to walk back to the White House.

So how does a minister prepare for a presidential inauguration? Le?n has been at St. John's since 1994. He delivered the invocation for President George W. Bush's second inauguration in 2005, as U.S. troops were fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We were all conscious of how many troops we had there," said Le?n. "We were beginning to feel divided then. I think it's gotten worse."

The word Le?n said he kept using during that invocation was "gratitude"-hoping to remind Americans to be thankful for the blessings they had, rather than dwelling on the nation's troubles.

Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page this morning starting at 9:30 a.m. EST for all-day live streaming video coverage of Inauguration 2013: Barack Obama. Live coverage will also be available on the ABC News iPad App and mobile devices.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prayer-president-125700121--abc-news-politics.html

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video game review ? Youngstown Vindicator | Bowden Gaming

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Liberal House Democrats File Bill To Abolish Debt Limit?

You think they?d be trying to give the president a blank check if there was a Republican in the White House?

Via The Hill:

A group of House Democrats are introducing legislation to abolish the debt ceiling, saying uncertainty surrounding the hikes causes unnecessary pain to the economy.

The lawmakers ? who will unveil the bill Thursday ? accuse Republicans of hurting the economy by ransoming a hike in the debt ceiling for steep spending cuts. They argue uncertainty over whether the U.S. will raise the debt ceiling will roil markets and damage confidence in the U.S. economy.

The Dem lawmakers behind the bill are Reps. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Jim Moran (Va.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Keith Ellison (Minn.) and Peter Welch (Vt.).

Source: http://weaselzippers.us/2013/01/16/liberal-house-democrats-file-bill-to-abolish-debt-limit/

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Israeli leader dismisses Obama's reported criticisms, possible US-Israel clash ahead

JERUSALEM - Israel's premier on Wednesday dismissed President Barack Obama's reported displeasure with his hard-line policies toward the Palestinians, a sign that the two could be headed for a showdown.

Polls suggest Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to win Israel's elections next week and continue in office.

This week an American columnist with close ties to the White House described Obama's disdain for Netanyahu, warning that Israel's all-important relations with the U.S. could suffer in unprecedented ways if the Israeli government doesn't change its policies.

Such a clash would come at a tense time when regional developments appear to be working against Israel.

Israel and the U.S. are seen as disagreeing over how and when to deal with Iran's suspect nuclear program, and Islamist parties that Israel perceives as hostile are gaining clout in the Mideast.

As the world deals with those issues, even Israel's close allies are getting increasingly fed up with what they see as defiant Israeli settlement construction on lands the Palestinians want for a state.

The column Tuesday by Jeffrey Goldberg about Obama's attitudes toward Netanyahu dominated Israeli news media, leading some Israeli officials to fume that Americans were trying to sway the results of next Tuesday's parliamentary elections.

Netanyahu seemed to suggest that when reporters asked him to respond to the column in Bloomberg News.

"We all understand that only Israeli citizens will determine who faithfully represents Israel's vital interests," he told reporters, dismissing the reported criticism.

In his column, Goldberg wrote that Obama seems to view Netanyahu as a political coward whose unwillingness to make concessions to the Palestinians is plunging his country into diplomatic isolation.

"Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are," Goldberg cited Obama as saying.

While the U.S. will not cut off aid to Israel or waver on its commitment to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Goldberg wrote, Israel might not be able to count on U.S. vetoes at the U.N. Security Council, as it has in the past, when the world lines up against it.

Goldberg indicated that out of frustration with the peacemaking deadlock, Obama might present his own idea about a future state of Palestine ? including endorsing the Palestinian demand to divide Jerusalem between the two sides, a concept Netanyahu rejects.

The White House did not deny the harsh sentiments Goldberg put in Obama's mouth. The tone and timing of column suggested the U.S. leader might be readying to play hardball with Netanyahu if the prime minister is re-elected ? or conversely, wash his hands of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict altogether.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down shortly before Netanyahu's election in early 2009 and have remained frozen throughout his term, despite Obama's efforts early in his first term to prod both sides to reach a peace deal. But talks never took off, derailing primarily over Israeli settlement construction.

To sidestep the impasse, the Palestinians went to the United Nations in November to win recognition of a de facto state of Palestine in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in 1967 and still controls to varying degrees.

Israel retaliated by announcing plans for a new settlement construction surge, drawing unusually severe international rebukes.

"With each new settlement announcement, in Obama's view, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation," Goldberg wrote. "And if Israel, a small state in an inhospitable region, becomes more of a pariah, one that alienates even the affections of the U.S., its last steadfast friend, it won't survive."

Although diplomatic and security cooperation has remained firm during their overlapping tenures, the two leaders have had prickly relations from the beginning.

During one of Netanyahu's White House visits, Obama walked out of a meeting with the Israeli leader to eat dinner with his family ? an account that Netanyahu's people deny. On another, the Israeli leader outraged his American hosts by appearing to lecture the president on regional security at a White House photo opportunity.

Some in the U.S. and Israel also perceived Netanyahu as favoring Obama's challenger in the 2012 presidential race, Mitt Romney.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/world/187168101.html

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar leaving Cabinet

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who oversaw a moratorium on offshore drilling after the BP oil spill and promoted alternative energy sources throughout the nation, will step down in March.

Salazar, a former Colorado senator, has run the Interior Department throughout President Barack Obama's first term and pushed renewable power such as solar and wind and the settlement of a longstanding dispute with American Indians.

In a statement, Obama said Salazar had helped "usher in a new era of conservation for our nation's land, water and wildlife" and had played a major role in efforts to "expand responsible development of our nation's domestic energy resources."

Salazar said in a statement that the Interior Department was helping secure "a new energy frontier" and cited an aggressive agenda to reform oil and gas leases, which he said had increased offshore drilling safety.

Under his watch, the Interior Department has authorized nearly three dozen solar, wind and geothermal energy projects on public lands that provide enough electricity to power more than 3 million homes, Salazar said.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, a longtime Obama ally, is among those mentioned as a potential successor to Salazar, along with John Berry, director of the White House Office of Personnel Management. Berry is a former assistant Interior secretary and director of the National Zoo. Gregoire, whose term expires Wednesday, also is considered a candidate to replace Lisa Jackson at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Salazar, 57, entered the Senate with Obama in 2005. At Interior, he gained the most attention for his role in the drilling moratorium, a key part of the administration's response to the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. It was one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history and led to the unprecedented shutdown of offshore drilling.

Business groups and Gulf Coast political leaders said the shutdown crippled the oil and gas industry and cost thousands of jobs, even aboard rigs not operated by BP PLC.

But Salazar said the industry-wide moratorium was the correct call and that his ultimate goal was to allow deepwater operations to resume safely. He acknowledged that the drilling ban caused hardship, but he said his job was to protect the public and the environment even as the administration tried to boost domestic energy production.

The moratorium was lifted in October 2010, although offshore drilling operations did not begin for several more months. Some Gulf Coast lawmakers continue to complain about the slow pace of drilling permits under the Interior Department, which renamed and revamped the agency that oversees offshore drilling in the wake of the spill.

Salazar also approved the nation's first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind, off the Massachusetts coast.

On land, Salazar has promoted solar power in the West and Southwest, approving an unprecedented number of projects, even as oil and gas continue to be approved on federal land.

Salazar also oversaw the settlement of a multibillion dispute with Native American tribes that had lingered for more than a decade.

Throughout his tenure, Salazar tangled with oil companies.

"We don't believe we ought to be drilling anywhere and everywhere," Salazar said in 2010, before the BP spill. "We believe we need a balanced approach and a thoughtful approach" that allows development of oil and gas leases on public lands while also protecting national parks, endangered species and municipal watersheds.

Salazar criticized the Bush administration for what he called a "headlong rush" to lease public lands. Early in his tenure, Salazar suspended 60 of 77 leases in Utah that had been approved by the Bush administration.

"In the prior administration the oil and gas industry were the kings of the world. Whatever they wanted to happen, happened," Salazar said in January 2010, adding that those days were over.

Salazar is the latest Cabinet secretary to leave the administration and the second Hispanic Cabinet member to depart as Obama begins a second term. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said announced her departure last week.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and EPA's Jackson also have announced plans to leave. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is widely expected to leave, though his departure has not been announced.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/interior-secretary-ken-salazar-leaving-153757461.html

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Ahead Of Microsoft Surface Pro Release Date, ?Sales Figures? For The ARM RT Version Appear

NEW YORK ? The Surface tablet is Microsoft?s first venture in the hardware business, beautifully designed and graced with the highly capable Windows 8 operating system, are these tablets really the iPad killer we thought they were or are they just overhyped niche tablets trying to be many things at the same time? Well, analysts have shared their thoughts on how the Surface RT is performing on the market but so far, things are not looking as good as we had hoped.

According to numerous analysts, sales of the Microsoft Surface RT is not as impressive as they have initially predicted no thanks to the continuously growing sales of Apple?s iPad tablets which are powered by the Cupertino company?s iOS platform, the reason being? Microsoft is selling its tablet in the same price point that Apple is selling its 10-inch iPads but the Windows RT?s application portfolio ? despite the growing number of apps ? is still lacking while the iOS platform?s maturity in that regard is apparent and [like always] Apple has a massive loyal customer base, the iPad is already leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

Another thing worth mentioning is that prospective Surface buyers are actually holding out their purchases for the Microsoft Surface Pro instead of the Surface RT since the latter is not competitively priced and its??well endowed? brother packs a full-fledged Windows 8 operating system under its hood as well as a full high-definition display and an Intel Core i5 processor [as opposed to the ARM-based Tegra 3 from Nvidia] which enables the system to run legacy applications, ultimately turning the device into a super tablet that the iPad can only dream to be.

Ahead of the Surface Pro?s release date, Brent Thill of UBS Research told CNET that Microsoft has probably only sold about a million units of its Surface RT tablet which lead him to comment that the Surface RT ?is a consumer device with [fourth-quarter] sales suffering from the difficult ?iPad?compare and narrow distribution? and speaking of narrow distribution, it is only possible to purchase your own Surface tablet via Microsoft?s official online portal and very few brick and mortar retail stores which lessened the software maker?s chance of selling more of its Windows-powered tablets,?some online retailers are offering the Surface RT tablet but with a ?higher-than-the-already-expensive? price tag.

As stated by CNET?Thill did mention that the Surface Pro is ?more promising?, as a matter of fact, he even went as far as to say that he sees it ?[Surface Pro] as an ?alternative to the iPad?. As for Microsoft?s fiscal 2013?Thill estimates that Surface sales will increase to 2.5 million units and for fiscal 2014, he?s expecting to witness 8 million Surface tablets fly off store shelves.

There?s a huge demand for full personal computing experience and consumers are always looking for something new, the upcoming Surface Pro is meant to deliver that full PC computing experience ? albeit in an insanely portable package, it?s definitely not the end of the line for the Surface, we?re pretty sure that the big numbers Microsoft has been aiming for will be fulfilled by the Surface Pro, if Apple has its loyal band of iOS followers then Microsoft has its monstrous Windows fanboys ? er, ?fan base?.

?

Source: http://www.popherald.com/2013/01/14/microsoft-surface-tablet-sales-q412-22944.html

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Former President George H.W. Bush leaves hospital (reuters)

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Obama to take private oath in brief family service

(AP) ? President Barack Obama's private swearing-in will be a brief, sparsely attended ceremony in the Blue Room of the White House.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office on Sunday just before noon, the time required by the Constitution. Obama's family will attend along with a few reporters, and Obama isn't expected to make a speech.

The Constitution requires that the president be sworn in on Jan. 20, but since that falls on a Sunday this year, Obama will have two ceremonies: one on Sunday and a larger, public ceremony on Monday, followed by a parade and inaugural balls.

Vice President Joe Biden will be sworn in during a separate ceremony Sunday morning at the Naval Observatory.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-15-Inauguration-Private%20Ceremony/id-776e24be46a6466698168ac4fbbadb15

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Monday, January 14, 2013

Leaking Breast Milk, 'Drunk' Glenn Close And Hamsters: Golden Globes' Weirdest Moments (VIDEO)

Ah, live television. From awkward cutaways and moments of silence when the mics cut off, "The 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards" certainly had plenty of strange and memorable moments. Some of the presenters' jokes fell pretty flat, like Sacha Baron Cohen saying he wasn't referring to an Anne Hathaway upskirt shot when he was "pulling back the curtains of Hollywood." Other moments just didn't make any sense at all.

Was Glenn Close in on the bit where Tina Fey said, "Look how drunk Glenn Close is?" and then the camera cut to her? She's a consummate actress, and yet she didn't look drunk in that moment. She was just dancing/convulsing very strangely. Aziz Ansari got Lena Dunham's name wrong, though he was pretending to be high as a kite at the time, so it may have been on purpose -- but still awkward. And then there was Claire Danes hoping she doesn't leak during the night -- she just had a baby a month ago and is still breast-feeding.

But the weirdest moment of the night came during the presentation of the Cecil B. DeMille award to Jodie Foster -- and we're not referring to Foster's rambling, yet heartfelt speech. While introducing her, Robert Downey Jr. started talking about hamsters as a lifelong goal that he and Foster shared. He then said that he and Mel Gibson both got theirs, and they wanted to offer her the "pick of the litter."

Gibson then opened a silver covered plate to reveal two stuffed hamsters and Foster mimed biting one of them. The room seemed just as confused, as there was an awkward silence. Luckily, Downey quickly segued into a montage of Foster's cinematic career.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/golden-globes-weirdest-moments-video_n_2469884.html

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