Oscars 2013 Red Carpet: Fashion Experts Weigh In!

A-list actresses turn heads and exude old-Hollywood glamour on the Oscars carpet.
By Christina Garibaldi

Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702587/oscars-fashion-2013.jhtml

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As atrocities pile up, Syrians collect evidence

FILE - In this Wednesday, March. 7, 2012 file photo, relatives care for Mohammed Obed, who is recovering in a hospital after being captured and allegedly tortured by Syrian Army soldiers, in Idlib, north Syria. A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime?s war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it?s all laid out in the country?s own courtrooms. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, March. 7, 2012 file photo, relatives care for Mohammed Obed, who is recovering in a hospital after being captured and allegedly tortured by Syrian Army soldiers, in Idlib, north Syria. A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime?s war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it?s all laid out in the country?s own courtrooms. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, March. 7, 2012 file photo, relatives care for Mohammed Obed, who is recovering in a hospital after being captured and allegedly tortured by Syrian Army soldiers, in Idlib, north Syria. A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime?s war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it?s all laid out in the country?s own courtrooms. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012 file photo, Syrians stand near the body of a man, local residents say was an activist, and tortured to death by Syrian government forces in Idlib, northern Syria. A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime?s war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it?s all laid out in the country?s own courtrooms. (AP Photo, File)

In this Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012 file photo, Syrians stand near the body of a man, local residents say was an activist, and tortured to death by Syrian government forces in Idlib, northern Syria. A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime?s war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it?s all laid out in the country?s own courtrooms. (AP Photo, File)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian activist Yashar hopes the security agents who tormented him during five months of detention will one day be put on trial. In detention, he says, he was locked naked in a tiny box for a week, beaten daily during marathon interrogations and blindfolded for 45 days.

A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime's war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it's all laid out in the country's own courtrooms.

"I want to take my case to a Syrian court and a Syrian judge who will put my torturers in the same jail where I was held," Yashar, 28, told The Associated Press. He declined to give his full name for security reasons.

Some 70,000 people have been killed and thousands of others maimed, injured or missing in Syria since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, according to the United Nations. Both the U.N. Human Rights Council and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria have published multiple reports documenting crimes committed during the civil war, including the slaughter of more than 100 civilians in the central region of Houla last May blamed on pro-regime militiamen.

A recent U.N. report accuses both sides in the war of atrocities but says those committed by rebel fighters have not reached the "intensity and scale" of the regime's.

The amount of data is massive, and the challenges are immense. The Syrian government has not given permission to the U.N. commission to visit Syria and has largely closed the country to independent journalists, further complicating the work of rights groups.

Even so, groups of determined Syrian activists continue quietly to collect the evidence.

One group, the Violations Documentation Center in Syria, has documented 49,763 deaths excluding soldiers, 35,508 detentions and 982 people missing in lists that include the name of the deceased, status, the region they come from, date of death and cause of death.

Razan Zaytouni, the general coordinator, said the group collects its material through interviews with families, eyewitness accounts and activist videos as well as photos documenting evidence of beatings, torture and other violence.

Among the difficulties her group and others face is getting people inside Syria to come forth, particularly in Damascus where the regime is still strong, and obtaining evidence that would stand up in court.

"All these lists and information would serve two purposes in the future," Zaytouni, who has been living in hiding since shortly after the uprising began, said via Skype. "First is to prosecute the criminal regime and second to keep our country's collective memory and history alive through videos, photos and names."

Representatives from Zaytouni's group along with others doing similar work held a meeting in Turkey last month during which they launched the National Preparatory Committee for Transitional Justice, tasked with collecting all the dates and information available from all the groups.

"Collecting evidence in Syria is now being done by activists, and there is a need for practitioners to categorize the crimes," such as torture, rape, arbitrary arrest and random shelling, said Radwan Ziadeh, the Washington-based director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies.

David M. Crane, a former prosecutor at the Sierra Leone tribunal, which indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor in 2003, said among the challenges is the multitude of inexperienced activists collecting a flood of evidence in an uncoordinated way.

To help with building a case for a future prosecutor, Crane created an organization called the Syrian Accountability Initiative.

"We have mapped the entire conflict, we have built a crime base and we have actually sample indictments for whoever will get the case, be it a Syrian or international prosecutor," said Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University in New York state. He said that the information is being shared with the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and the Syrian opposition.

On Feb. 18, U.N. investigators called on the Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. Because Syria is not party to the Rome Statutes that established the ICC, the only way the court can investigate the situation is if it receives a referral from the Security Council, which has been paralyzed by divisions when it comes to Syria.

Some Council members argue that such a move would further encourage Assad's regime to dig in and resist to the end.

Syrians themselves disagree on whether to go to the ICC to prosecute those responsible for atrocities or resort to domestic prosecutors.

"We know that international courts are not that neutral and politics play an important role in the process ... but it is still less negative than local unqualified courts," said Zaytouni. "We watched the comedy of trials of officials in Iraq. Such trials would never help in enforcement of the principles of justice," she said.

Experts say Syrians have several options, including taking after the model of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which last year sentenced Taylor to 50 years imprisonment for war crimes and crimes against humanity for aiding and abetting murderous rebels.

Other international tribunals have been less successful, including the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is still investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Eight years following Hariri's assassination, the tribunal has indicted only four people in the case and they are at large. And even though an international court sought Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's arrest on charges of war crimes in Darfur, he has not been shy about traveling abroad.

More recently the paths taken by Egypt and Libya following their own revolutions have not been encouraging.

In Libya, Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed by the rebels fighting to topple him, complicating the transition to democracy. A year on, bitterness and rage lingers and Libyans are settling old scores themselves in vigilante justice.

In Egypt, there is little confidence in the post-revolution system now trying former strongman Hosni Mubarak.

"The first thing the Syrian opposition needs to do is secure freedom and control of the country and take their time to build their structures over the next year or two, and then prosecute," Crane said. "They don't have to prosecute immediately."

Yashar, the activist, says Syrian intelligence agents beat him up and then dragged him from a public garden in Damascus before jailing him for five months. But he is waiting for Assad's fall before he gives his testimony to one of the activist groups, fearing retribution against him and his family. He believes it's important for Syria's reconciliation process to see justice served by Syrian courts.

"I want justice, but I do not wish to see my torturers tortured like I was," he said.

___

A journalist in Damascus contributed to this report, as did Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-26-Syria-War%20Crimes/id-e19d63b980784d8ab6c6ed360619c706

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Exclusive: Juniper mulls next move after asset sale talks falter - sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Juniper Networks Inc is reviewing its enterprise-focused networking business after talks fell through late last year to sell assets, including security unit NetScreen Technologies, several sources close to the matter told Reuters.

The world's No. 2 networking gear maker is mulling options that could include acquisitions to bolster the security and enterprise business, with a longer-term view of a sale or spin-off, two of the sources said. For acquisition financing it could decide to raise cash through a private sale of equity, the sources familiar with the company's thinking said.

From summer to fall of 2012, San Jose, California-based Juniper discreetly contacted about half a dozen competitors to test the appetite for its assets that handle networking for enterprise clients, two sources close to the matter said.

At the time, rumors were rife that major storage provider EMC Corp was also in talks to buy Juniper, though EMC CEO Joe Tucci has since dismissed any interest in buying a networking company.

Investment banks have not been hired by Juniper to assist in the review, the sources said. Goldman Sachs has helped the company on prior deals.

A spokesman for Goldman declined to comment.

Among the assets pitched last fall was NetScreen, a maker of firewall technology that Juniper bought in 2004 for $4 billion. But the interest was underwhelming, with parties walking away after concluding that Juniper's enterprise-oriented assets lacked innovation and growth, the sources said.

The company, which in October announced a 5 percent cut in its workforce, declined to comment on what a spokeswoman called rumors and speculation.

Asked at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday whether the company has plans to sell NetScreen or other parts of the business, Chief Executive Kevin Johnson said: "No, if you look at the acquisitions we have done, we're a buyer not a seller."

(Reporting By Nadia Damouni and Nicola Leske; Additional reporting Paul Sandle; Editing by Edwin Chan, Edward Tobin and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-juniper-mulls-next-move-asset-sale-talks-182934262--sector.html

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Study of Chinese hackers is dangled as phishing bait

Attackers are using fake versions of a recently released report about a Chinese cyberespionage group as bait in new spear-phishing attacks that target Japanese and Chinese users.

The report was released Tuesday by security firm Mandiant and documents in great detail the cyberespionage campaigns conducted since 2006 by a hacker group known as the Comment Crew against more than 100 companies and organizations from different industries.

Mandiant refers to the group as APT1 (Advanced Persistent Threat 1) and claims in the report that it's likely a secret Shanghai-based cyberespionage unit of the Chinese Army?the People's Liberation Army (PLA)?code-named "Unit 61398."

The Chinese government has dismissed Mandiant's claims as groundless. However, the report received a lot of attention from people in the IT security industry, as well as from the general public.

It seems that this publicity has now led to attackers deciding to use the report as bait in new targeted attacks.

Malware masquerades as Mandiant report

Two different spear-phishing attacks were discovered last week using emails with malicious attachments that masqueraded as the Mandiant report, said Aviv Raff, the chief technology officer of security firm Seculert.

One attack targeted Japanese-speaking users and involved emails with an attachment called Mandiant.pdf. This PDF file exploits a vulnerability in Adobe Reader that was patched by Adobe in an emergency update Wednesday, security researchers from Seculert said in a blog post.

The malware installed by the exploit connects to a command-and-control server hosted in Korea, but also contacts some Japanese websites, probably in an attempt to trick security products, the Seculert researchers said.

Symantec has also detected and analyzed the spear-phishing attack. "The email purports to be from someone in the media recommending the report," Symantec researcher Joji Hamada said in a blog post. However, it would be evident for a Japanese person that the email was not written by a native Japanese speaker, he said.

Hamada pointed out that similar tactics have been used in the past. In one incident back in 2011, hackers used a research paper about targeted attacks published by Symantec as bait. "They did this by spamming targets with the actual whitepaper along with malware hidden in an archive attachment," Hamada said.

Exploits old Adobe flaw

The second spear-phishing attack detected targets Chinese-speaking users and uses a malicious attachment called "Mandiant_APT2_Report.pdf."

According to an analysis of the PDF file by researcher Brandon Dixon of security consultancy firm 9b+, the document exploits an older Adobe Reader vulnerability that was discovered and patched in 2011.

The malware installed on the system establishes a connection to a domain that currently points to a server in China, Dixon said via email. "The malware provides attackers with the ability to execute commands on the victim's system."

The domain name contacted by this malware was also used in the past in attacks that targeted Tibetan activists, Seculert's Raff said. Those older attacks installed both Windows and Mac OS X malware, he said.

Greg Walton, a researcher from MalwareLab, a security outfit that tracks politically motivated malware attacks, said on Twitter that the Mandiant-themed spear-phishing attack targeted journalists in China. This information could not be confirmed by Raff or Dixon, who said that they don't have copies of the original spam emails, only of the malicious attachment they contained.

Source: http://www.techhive.com/article/2029025/study-of-chinese-hackers-is-dangled-as-phishing-bait.html

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Google expands free Wi-Fi in The Dalles

THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) ? Google is spending another $50,000 to expand free Wi-Fi in The Dalles, where it has a large data center.

The company, which made the announcement Saturday, was the first of several large data centers now operating in Oregon.

The Oregonian newspaper reports that the tax breaks that helped draw Google to The Dalles are worth more than $20 million annually, but the company's presence generates franchise fees that increase the city's general fund revenue by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Google says the Wi-Fi project represents a shared commitment to making The Dalles a city of the future.

Source: http://www.ktvz.com/news/Google-expands-free-Wi-Fi-in-The-Dalles/-/413192/19055242/-/ajnuud/-/index.html

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Obama alerts Congress he's sent military personnel to Niger (Washington Bureau)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Nevada Just Made Interstate Online Poker Legal

Yesterday, Nevada officials rushed through a bill which makes interstate online poker legal. The decision will allow the state to form form pacts with other states, allowing people to play legally across borders. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/j6MXAc1iqtY/nevada-just-made-interstate-online-poker-legal

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Cardinal Dolan questioned on sex abuse before trip to Rome

Cardinal Dolan questioned on sex abuse before trip to Rome
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Daily Intelligencer
Next week, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan will be enjoying the comforts of Rome as part of the conclave that will choose the next pope, which could even be him, although his chances are considered slim. But first, the ugly stuff: Dolan was deposed for three hours yesterday about sexual abuse at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led from 2002 to 2009, where 575 people have filed claims against the church over the years. As the archdiocese attempts to file bankruptcy, lawyers for the victims want to know what Dolan knew and when. (21/02/13)

Source: http://www.ifeminists.com/news.php?item.23896.3

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Gunmen attack military aircraft in Indonesian Papua

TIMIKA, Indonesia, Feb 22, 2013 (AFP) - Gunmen opened fire Friday on a military helicopter in Indonesia's restive Papua region as it tried to retrieve the bodies of soldiers killed in an earlier attack, a military official said.

"A Puma SA-330 military helicopter was shot by gunmen at 08:15am local time (2315 GMT Thursday) as it landed in Sinak," Jayapura city military airbase chief Diah Yudhanardi told AFP.

The helicopter was forced to return to Jayapura without picking up the seven soldiers shot dead in Sinak on Thursday, he added.

"A technician on board suffered a light shrapnel wound to his left hand, while the two others, pilot and co-pilot were all fine," Yudhanardi said.

"We're still trying to arrange another helicopter to fly back later today to Sinak to transport the seven bodies," he added.

The seven were killed when armed attackers opened fire at nine soldiers walking to an airport in Sinak at around 10:30am (0130 GMT) on Thursday.

The attack came an hour after an armed group shot at a military post in Tingginambut village some 60 kilometres (37 miles) away, killing one soldier.

His body was successfully flown to Jayapura on Friday morning.

National police spokesman Agus Riyanto said four civilians had also been killed in the Sinak attack, raising the total death toll to 12.

Officials suspect the shootings in the mountainous district of Puncak Jaya, a known hideout for armed separatists, were carried out by the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).

Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said he and other officials planned to meet the president Friday to discuss security in the region.

Violence occasionally erupts in Papua -- the western half of New Guinea island in Indonesia's extreme east -- where poorly-armed separatists have for decades fought a low-level insurgency on behalf of the mostly ethnic Melanesian population.

Source: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/83267

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New England preparing for massive snowfall

BOSTON (Reuters) - New England braced on Friday for its third snowstorm in three weekends, gathering crews to ready roads and trim trees ahead of the snow, sleet and freezing rain that hit the Midwest.

The storm blanketed states from Minnesota to Ohio earlier this week, dumping more than a foot of snow in Kansas on Thursday, forcing airports to cancel hundreds of flights and stranding motorists on highways.

The storm was expected to pelt New England's coastal areas from northern Connecticut to southern Maine with a mix of snow and rain late on Friday, said National Weather Service meteorologist John Foley. Snow was predicted for Saturday, with up to a foot possible in central Massachusetts, Foley said.

"I'm not thrilled that we've got more snow coming this weekend. I've had enough of winter," said John Bonnanzio, 54, group editor at Mutual Fund Investors Association outside of Boston.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino met with his "Snow Team" on Friday, as city crews prepared to trim trees to reduce the risk for downed power lines and pre-treat roadways to guard against slippery conditions.

"Boston will be ready for its third consecutive weekend storm," Menino said in a statement. "Use common sense and stay off the roads while snowfall is heaviest tomorrow."

For some Boston-area residents the prospect of yet another weekend snowstorm was good news.

"I'm excited. ... I went out skiing in the streets during the last one, and I'll do the same thing again," said Jesse Beecher, 29, who works for a film production company.

The storm barreled eastward for the weekend after hitting the Midwest during the work week. In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James said that about 60 buses were stuck on snowbound streets on Thursday, and even tow trucks were immobilized.

"It's still an ongoing process to get people off the roads," he told CNN.

About 570 flights were canceled on Friday, with 127 of them at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Kansas City International Airport reopened after being closed on Thursday while crews cleared runways.

The National Weather Service said early in the morning that the storm, headed northeast into the upper Great Lakes, may bring sleet and freezing rain to the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states, with thunderstorms expected on the storm's southern fringe in the southeastern United States.

SNOWY KANSAS

Kansas bore the brunt of the bad weather on Thursday, with up to 15 inches of snow in some parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

A 200-mile (323-km) stretch of Interstate 70 in central Kansas was closed and strewn with cars stuck in snow.

National Guard troops riding in Humvees were dispatched to look for stranded motorists along the interstate and other highways, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for Kansas emergency management services.

The storm triggered severe thunderstorms from eastern Texas to Georgia.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback declared states of emergency because of hazardous travel and possible power outages. Brownback ordered state offices closed.

In Nebraska, a 19-year-old woman was killed in a two-car accident on Wednesday on Interstate 80 near Giltner. The Nebraska State Patrol said weather was a factor.

An 18-year-old man died in Oklahoma when his vehicle slid into a tractor-trailer on a slushy state highway, the state's highway patrol said.

Drought-stricken farmers in the Great Plains, one of the world's largest wheat-growing areas, welcomed the moisture brought by the storm, although experts said more rain or snow would be needed to ensure healthy crops.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Murphy and Ian Simpson.; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Barbara Goldberg, Carol Bishopric, Gabriel Debenedetti and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/major-snowstorm-moves-u-midwest-threatens-england-032147753.html

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Sony announces PlayStation 4

Google Glass' user interface revealed
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/20/13 11:40 UTC
This is amazing. Not only has Google just opened up the pre-order program for Google Glass to 'creative individuals', it has also unveiled what the user interface looks like and how it works. It's... Nothing short of amazing. I'm throwing money, credit cards, my car keys, my house keys, my Surface RT, my cats, everything at my screen. I want this so bad. 5??Read More ? 88 Comment(s)

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Ubuntu Touch Preview coming to Nexus tablets this week Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/19/13 16:23 UTC After desktops and phones, Ubuntu is now bringing its Linux distribution to tablets. Coming Thursday, preview images for Google's Nexus tablets will be released, so we can all get a good long look at what Canonical is cooking up. They've published a YouTube video which details all that Ubuntu has to offer for tablets, and to be honest, it's looking quite good. 7??Read More ? 75 Comment(s)

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2012: a BSD year in retrospective

Linked by Julian Djamil Fagir on 02/14/13 22:23 UTC

BSD (Berkely System Distribution) was a research operating system based on the original AT&T Unix, developed by the University of Berkeley, California. It has been Open Source right from the beginning, and after the university lost interest in developing it further, several community projects started up (the very first ones were NetBSD and FreeBSD in the early nineties) to continue developing BSD. Anyway, Linux was born roughly at the same time, but a pending lawsuit about copyright infringements prevented the BSD projects to become as successful as Linux (though you could argue about the exact reasons). 13??Read More ? 61 Comment(s)

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Opera to switch desktop, mobile browsers to WebKit Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/13/13 13:21 UTC De kogel is door de kerk: as we already talked about earlier, Opera is going to switch to the WebKit engine, leaving its own Presto rendering engine behind. We didn't yet know if they would the switch only on mobile or on the desktop as well, and they cleared that up too: both mobile and desktop Opera Browsers will switch to the WebKit rendering engine. 17??Read More ? 158 Comment(s)

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What Ever Happened to OS/2? Linked by Howard Fosdick on 02/12/13 13:51 UTC Remember OS/2? Promoted as the successor to DOS in the late 1980's and early 1990's, the product wound up losing out to Windows and then slowly fading away. This article recounts what happened and summarizes OS/2 today. 7??Read More ? 36 Comment(s)

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Surface Pro reviews are in Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/06/13 11:23 UTC And there we are - the Surface Pro reviews are in. Reading through them all, there's clearly a common theme, and it's not particularly positive. We're a few months in now, so I think we can finally call it: Windows 8 and Surface are the wrong way to go. 3??Read More ? 100 Comment(s)

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Battle of the Androids: Google Android vs. Samsung Android

Linked by Alexey Eromenko on 02/01/13 21:52 UTC

Many people think that all Androids are equal and it's a race to the bottom where the cheapest vendor wins. This could not be farther from the truth. For me, it all began half-a-year ago, when I bought the Samsung Galaxy S III and was absolutely stunned by it, then exploring and comparing it with other Androids. Now that Google has fired a shot across the bow with its low pricing for the unlocked Nexus 4, where does that leave Samsung and its flagship handset? 0??Read More ? 65 Comment(s)

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Windows Phone 7.8: hollow, pointless, and essentially useless Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/01/13 18:25 UTC A few days ago, Microsoft released the long-awaited Windows Phone 7.8 update for all those users who will be stuck on Windows Phone 7 forever because there's no upgrade path to Windows Phone 8 other than buying a new phone. Now that it's here, what, exactly, does WP7.8 to the table? 7??Read More ? 81 Comment(s)

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Blackberry 10, new devices officially launched Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/30/13 23:06 UTC And so, today, RIM announced its Hail Mary - a brand new mobile operating system (well, sort-of new), as well as two new devices. In addition, the Canadian company also officially changed its name from Research In Motion to Blackberry. The first few reviews of Blackberry 10 are already out, and it's not bad. The problem, however, is that in the case of Blackberry, 'not bad' could easily mean 'not good enough'. 0??Read More ? 77 Comment(s)

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Steam for Linux is in open beta Linked by boldingd on 01/29/13 23:12 UTC It seems to have so far escaped OSNews' notice (if the top few hits for a site-search for 'Steam' is any indication) that Steam for Linux is now in Open Beta; you can get the Linux steam client from steampowered.com. So far, they appear to only be making an Ubuntu .deb available, and the client will require closed-source GPU drivers in order to work. 5??Read More ? 74 Comment(s)

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Source: http://osnews.com/story/26802/Sony_announces_PlayStation_4

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Record-breaking 320-gigapixel panorama of London is a cause for celebration, vertigo

While the Shard might be the new darling of London's skyline, the BT Tower's still got a few tricks up its sleeve -- such as this record-breaking 320 gigapixel panorama of the English capital. In total 48,640 images, shot with four Canon EOS 7D cameras were stitched together to create this 360 vista. Want a little more perspective? It's said that if this were a physical image, it would be almost as large as Buckingham Palace -- or if you prefer -- 60,000 times larger than an average iPhone photo. Of course, what good would a gigapixel image be without a where's waldo-style hunt? So, UK residents who have a keen eye can try spotting BT's Buzby mascot for the chance of winning some prizes. Us? We're just trying to hunt down a cab. Set your sights on the source for big picture.

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BT TOWER BREAKS WORLD RECORD FOR PANORAMIC PHOTO
To see the gigapixel image and share your favourite views of London visit: www.btlondon2012.co.uk

An amazing image of London taken from the top of the BT Tower has set a new record for the world's largest panoramic photo. The image shows a full 360 degree view of London in incredible detail.
The 320 gigapixel image, taken by expert photography firm 360Cities, comprises 48,640 individual frames, using four, state of the art Canon EOS 7D cameras with EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lenses and Extender EF 2x III teleconverters, provided by Canon. The cameras were driven by high end Rodeon VR Head ST robotic panorama heads, from the Clauss company in Germany. The individual images have been stitched into a single, gigantic panorama over a period of weeks by a powerful Celsius R920 workstation, provided by Fujitsu Technology Solutions Europe.

It is the first time that an image of this magnitude has ever been attempted, and it took several months to create due to the scale of the endeavour. If printed at normal photographic resolution, the BT Tower panorama would be 98 meters across and 24 meters tall, almost as big as Buckingham Palace. In comparison, the last record attempt for a London panorama was 80 gigapixels, taken from Centrepoint in 2010.
The images were taken after the end of London 2012, the first digital Games. Londoners, tourists and those who work in the capital are now being asked to share their favourite views of the capital, as a permanent record of London's year in the global spotlight.

As the official communications services partner for London 2012, BT played a vital role in ensuring the Games were the most connected ever, with millions of people enjoying sharing their experiences of the sporting and cultural action via social media. BT Tower played its part in the celebration, sharing news of every single medal won, live stats and scores on its giant 360 degree LED screen.
Suzi Williams, director, BT Group Marketing & Brand, said, "The BT Tower is such an iconic London landmark, and became a focus for the capital's celebrations in 2012, what better way to capture that remarkable year than with a full panoramic photograph taken from its roof. This isn't just a world record for the BT Tower, it's for London and the people who live, work in or visit the capital. Take a look, and share your favourite London places and landmarks."

Steve Hercher, director, 360Cities, said, "We were honoured to be chosen by BT to attempt this world record panorama and make our own contribution to commemorating the wonderful London 2012 Games. So many unknowns and variables had to be addressed in the planning of this unprecedented shoot, really the first of its kind. Software and hardware were pushed to the limits, and rain, wind and other potential stumbling blocks had to be dealt with. Our photography team of Jeffrey Martin, Tom Mills and Holger Schulze did an amazing job and not a single individual frame from the more than 48,000 planned was missed."

Rainer Fuehres, Head of Consumer Imaging Group, Canon Europe, said: "The goal of empowering people to take the next step on their personal photographic journeys drives every product we create, and this breath-taking image truly takes this philosophy to the extreme. Since its launch, the EOS 7D has caught the imagination of enthusiasts around the world so we were pleased to support such an exciting and challenging project with a camera that so many people are using to capture their own moments of inspiration."

Also, our old friend Buzby is hiding in the gigapixel image too. Find him, and you could be one of three winners in our competition. People are selected at random, the first winner will receive an iPad, a year's free broadband, and a trip to the top of the BT Tower to see the view in person. Second and third place win an iPad. Full terms and conditions, please see http://www.btplc.com/gigapixel/

Filed under: Cameras, Misc

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Source: BT London 2012

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/20/320-gigapixel-panorama-of-london/

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Never-Before-Seen Video Shows Fire Raining On the Sun

"On July 19, 2012, the Sun produced a medium-size solar flare," NASA says on this new video captured by its Solar Dynamics Observatory, "what occurred with the flare was amazing." It's true. It's amazing. Fire started to fall down like rain—a hell waterfall many times the size of planet Earth. You have to watch this uncanny document for yourself. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/W5Q6dIJ1OxM/never+before+seen-video-shows-fire-raining-on-the-sun

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March against domestic violence sexual assault

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

Some 13 Seward residents, the majority of them affiliated with SeaView Community Services or related organizations, marched from City Hall to the Alaska SeaLife Center to take a stand against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. There were similar marches and events taking place throughout the United States and across the globe. SeaView?s Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coordinator Dawn McDevitt, who joined SeaView just last month, organized the event.

Dawn McDevitt speaks about the high rates of sexual assault and domestic violence. Heidi Zemach photo

Prior to the march she stood at the top of the steps near the entrance to City Hall, and gave this speech:
?One in?three women on this planet (that?s 1 billion women) will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. To me, one person is too many. So we stand here today to show support and honor not only to the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault but their children, family, friends, and for all women. We must also realize that there are male victims of violence as well that need our support today. It is time to speak up and say no more. No more abuse in our homes, in our families, in our schools, in our neighborhoods, in our communities and certainly no more abuse in this state.
Almost 75% of Alaskans have experienced or know someone who has experienced domestic violence or sexual assault. The Alaska rape rate is 2.5 times the national average. Child Sexual assault in Alaska is almost 6 times the national average. Alaska has the highest rate per capita of men murdering women
It is time we start building healthy relationships with one another and teaching our children how to have healthy relationships with others. It is time to stand up not turn away but offer help to those in need. Now more than ever it is time to show compassion, love and support. It is time for us all to do our part in putting an end to violence.?

Group of marchers walk downtown to take a stand for women, and against domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, Heidi Zemach photo.

The gathering?marched down Fourth Street along the icy, slushy sidewalk, looking more like a group of friends than marchers. Then, they held a moment of silence for all victims of violence and those who have lost their lives. They wound up at SeaView for some refreshments.

In related news, the U.S. Senate, with bipartisan support, passed the Violence Against Women Act last week, which it had failed to pass last year. Next it goes before the House, where it may encounter significant resistance.
The bill reauthorizes the landmark legislation which was enacted nearly two decades ago, strengthens and improves existing programs that assist victims and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

?There are few pieces of legislation that have such a direct, tangible and immediate impact on countless Alaskans,? said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who co-sponsored the bill, in a press release. Murkowski?was the only republican Senator to support?its reauthorization?last session.

?This Act empowers the victims who suffer from domestic abuse, dating and sexual violence, and it empowers those on the frontlines of law enforcement and caregivers in the largest American cities to the smallest Alaska rural village. I hope that my colleagues in the House of Representatives deliver on this national need,? she said.

It also had strong support?from Senator Mark Begich,?an original co-sponsor of VAWA and has fought on multiple fronts against the problem of domestic violence in Alaska and across the country. Begich proposed pilot programs to strengthen Alaska tribal court systems and provide aid to tribes to improve rural public safety, reduce domestic violence, child abuse, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse in the last Congress by introducing the Alaska Safe Families and Villages Act. He plans to?bring it back?again this session.

?

Source: http://sewardcitynews.com/2013/02/march-against-domestic-violence-sexual-assault/

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Big Plans For CrunchBase

CrunchBase has grown like a tree planted in a quiet corner of the yard and left to do its thing. Six years in, our free and editable industry database gets 1.5 million unique visitors a month and has had 90,000 users create 105,000 companies and 140,000 individual profiles. It’s proven to be one of the most successful products that TechCrunch has launched over the years. Now it’s time to think about the future. We are?committing a significant amount of money to expanding the product and the team behind it. You’ll be hearing a lot more in the coming months, but here’s what we can share now. The team of long-time staffers and experienced additions –?Matt Kaufman,?Gen? McPherson,?Vineet Thanedar,?Anthony Nguyen, and?Kurt Freytag?– now has a blog. And on that blog, they’ve begun showcasing top developers from among the thousands using the CrunchBase API. Big data analytics startup SiSense has kicked things off today with a post about how it’s pulled in data to provide an investment dashboard and data visualizations. Investors and entrepreneurs using the product can learn important market information like the average time between startup funding rounds year over year. The CB team is going to be regularly featuring guest posts from any developer who has done something smart and useful with the data, provided that: Your application is publicly accessible Your application attributes CrunchBase according to the?CrunchBase API TOS Your application?directs users to CrunchBase to update missing or out-dated information As an added bonus, TechCrunch writers who are interested in analyzing data to break stories are going to be taking a hard look at these tools and potentially incorporating them into how we work. We’ll also be interested in writing about them. You can apply for the Developer Spotlight Program by sending them an email. The team itself is growing, too. If you join, you’ll get to work in our historic SOMA office alongside our editorial, product and business teams, right down the street from Caltrain, The Creamery, Giants Stadium, and thousands of tech companies large and small. You will be on the pulse of the Valley, developing a beloved product that plays a key role in keeping our industry up to date. Check out the hiring details here.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1_3M6gCQZ2c/

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Hanford nuclear tank in Wash. is leaking liquids

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) ? A tank that holds radioactive liquids is leaking at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday, raising concerns about the integrity of other storage facilities at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The U.S. Department of Energy said liquid levels are decreasing in one of 177 underground tanks at the nuclear reservation. Monitoring wells near the tank have not detected higher radiation levels, but Inslee said the leak could be in the range of 150 gallons to 300 gallons over the course of a year and creates a long-term threat that could impact groundwater or rivers.

"I am alarmed about this on many levels," Inslee said at a Friday afternoon news conference. "This raises concerns, not only about the existing leak ... but also concerning the integrity of the other single shell tanks of this age."

The tanks hold millions of gallons of a highly radioactive stew left from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons.

Inslee said the state was assured years ago that such problems had been dealt with and he warned that spending cuts ? particularly due to a budget fight in Congress ? would create further risks at Hanford. Inslee said the cleanup must be a priority for the federal government.

"We are willing to exercise our rights using the legal system at the appropriate time. That should be clear," Inslee said.

Inslee said the state has a good partner in Energy Secretary Steven Chu but that he's concerned about whether Congress is committed to clean up the highly contaminated site.

The tank in question contains about 447,000 gallons of sludge, a mixture of solids and liquids with a mud-like consistency. The tank, built in the 1940s, is known to have leaked in the past, but was stabilized in 1995 when all liquids that could be pumped out of it were removed.

Inslee said the tank is the first to have been documented to be losing liquids since all Hanford tanks were stabilized in 2005. His staff said the federal government is working to assess other tanks.

At the height of World War II, the federal government created Hanford in the remote sagebrush of eastern Washington as part of a hush-hush project to build the atomic bomb. The site ultimately produced plutonium for the world's first atomic blast and for one of two atomic bombs dropped on Japan, effectively ending the war.

Plutonium production continued there through the Cold War. Today, Hanford is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site. Cleanup will cost billions of dollars and last decades.

Central to that cleanup is the removal of millions of gallons of a highly toxic, radioactive stew ? enough to fill dozens of Olympic-size swimming pools ? from 177 aging, underground tanks. Over time, many of those tanks have leaked, threatening the groundwater and the neighboring Columbia River, the largest waterway in the Pacific Northwest.

Construction of a $12.3 billion plant to convert the waste to a safe, stable form is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. Technical problems have slowed the project, and several workers have raised lawsuits in recent months, claiming they were retaliated against for raising concerns about the plant's design and safety.

___

Dininny reported from Yakima, Wash.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-15-US-Hanford-Leak/id-c9e9c22a55bd482a9801ae7e6f593e49

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Obama's plan for universal preschool

President Barack Obama on Thursday promoted his new proposal to guarantee high quality preschool for every 4-year-old in the United States citing a need to bring low-income and minority children up to speed with higher-income children-- a move he says will translate into an economic boost.

"Every dollar we invest in high quality early education can save more than $7 dollars later on," Obama said during a speech at a Community Recreation Center in Decatur, Ga. repeating a line first delivered during his State of the Union address Tuesday night when he unveiled the preschool proposal and other initiatives for the coming year.

The president told his Georgia audience Thursday that children who are not exposed to quality early education aren't prepared for kindergarten. They don't know "their numbers," "shapes," they'll know "fewer vocabulary words" and don't have a "capacity for focus." "They're going to be behind that first day," he said.

Obama argued that investing in early education will result eventually in a stronger workforce and will boost the economy.

"The size of your paycheck, though, shouldn?t determine your child?s future," he said.

The states of Georgia and Oklahoma have instituted universal preschool programs and the president said the same benefits seen in these states will be borne out across the country under his federal proposal.

According to a fact sheet released by the White House on Thursday morning, Obama's preschool plan would create a new federal-state cost-sharing partnership to guarantee high-quality preschool to all low- and moderate-income 4-year-old children, including families that earn up to 200 percent of the poverty level. The program would be extended to middle-class families who may pay on a sliding scale, and would incentivize full-day kindergarten.

The Department of Education will allocate funds to states based on the number of 4-year-olds in each state who qualify. Standards for preschools will include "well-trained teachers, who are paid comparably to K-12 staff," as well as small class size and a rigorous curriculum.

Preschools will have "qualified, highly educated teachers," Obama said Thursday. "This is not babysitting."

White House officials said the new preschool proposal will not replace or destroy the current Head Start early education government program. Instead, a new early Head Start program will be created to support communities affected by the new preschool proposal.

The White House has not released cost estimates for the new preschool plan. The president has said this proposal and others announced in his address would not add to the federal deficit.

The president on Wednesday traveled to Asheville, N.C. to promote his manufacturing initiatives in a speech. On Friday, he is scheduled to deliver remarks in Chicago related to the economy. Senior administration officials say he will also address gun violence during that trip.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-push-universal-preschool-proposal-142600889--election.html

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Video: Behind the scenes of Al Roker?s ?Ready? PSA

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50743520/

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Weather's silver lining: coat comfort on runways

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rain, snow, ice. There's a lot of grumbling about the stiletto-adverse weather as New York Fashion Week hit Day 5 on Monday. But there's a silver lining: cozy coats, especially styles with oversized fur hoods, never looked better.

Phillip Lim, for his 3.1 brand, sent out his big coats in navy and black during a show in a cavernous space south of the Lincoln Center tents.

Houndstooth set off one of Tommy Hilfiger's coats for women. On a bomber jacket, he moved the comfy lining to the outside, putting the traditional Prince of Wales plaid on the inside.

In a romantic violet, Ralph Rucci sent out a coat in sable, while Alexander Wang stayed mostly with grays for big coats paired with fur hand warmers to the elbow.

Belstaff's coats were tempting in earth-tone shearlings for every lifestyle, and KaufmanFranco wrapped a tough-girl muse in a little luxury, lining a black leather driving coat with mink.

There were some yummy coats at Carolina Herrera. One of the nicest came in angora, with a fox collar. It was paired with a sandstone wool jacket and matching pant. She also had a set of fox fur sleeves ? just the sleeves ? worn over a wool and silk blouse and silk skirt.

Brandon Holley, editor-in-chief of Lucky magazine, said she's never seen so much fur in a runway season ? and New York is only halfway done with its previews.

Ultimately, the consumer will likely wind up with some great outerwear outfits, including military jackets, traditional wool coats and some edgier leather bombers. "And the beautiful fur on hoods will be an accent on many of them," she added.

"Coats are very strong," agreed Avril Graham, executive fashion and beauty editor at Harper's Bazaar. "It's something everyone wants to buy and will spend money on."

Top of her list so far is the black leather and fur one by Wang.

The eight days of previews end Feb. 14, when the crowds head to London, then Milan and on to Paris.

CAROLINA HERRERA

Her entire fall collection was inspired, she said, by a piece of classical music that she specifically commissioned for the show, by the English composer Tom Hodge.

"I started out light, just like the piece, and I reached a crescendo with my more dramatic clothes," Herrerra explained. The piece, "Capriccio for Carolina," was in turn inspired by Beethoven's Kreutzer Violin Sonata.

As for the clothes, Herrera said she was inspired by the 1940s, especially in the shapes of sleeves and in the small waists of the garments.

Fur was a constant theme, even small bits of it. Whatever you're wearing, the designer seemed to be saying, even if it's not a coat or a jacket, there's a spot for some luxurious fur.

A strapless silk cocktail dress had some fox trim across the top. A long silky flowing skirt had fur trim around the bottom. Many garments had fur collars.

DONNA KARAN

The designer herself test drove pieces of her fall collection before she sent them down the catwalk.

"I took it last night. I couldn't wait to wear it," Karan said in a post-show interview after greeting guests Uma Thurman, Gretchen Mol and longtime friend Bernadette Peters.

The goal, she explained, was clothes that work for the woman always on the go, with many interests, demands and pleasures. That sure sounds like Karan.

She called the collection "Sensual, Soulful, Sculptural," and there's an emphasis on sculptural, making a dedication in her notes to her late husband, sculptor Stephan Weiss. "His art and soul ? is a part of me."

There was a rawness to the collection, and it seemed like it came from the heart.

The opening look ? one of the best ? was a black draped "bodydress" with a fluid, almost liquidlike, cape on top. It was modern yet timeless, and wearable to the large base Karan appeals to.

There were a lot of body-conscious stretch and jersey looks, as there usually are on this runway, many topped with coats that were textured and interesting, and had a lot of design packed in.

3.1 PHILLIP LIM

You always have a feeling at one of Lim's shows that you're at one of the hipper events of New York Fashion Week. You can feel it in the audience, which has a decidedly downtown, indie-music vibe, and you can see it in the clothes.

A big sartorial theme was embossed neoprene. Lim began with an overcoat in that fabric, in a fresh grapefruit color. Like many of his inventive creations it had something detachable, in this case a leather bib.

Motorcycle jackets were big, too, and Lim showed a peplum version, paired with a gray pullover, a khaki shirt, and shorts ? again in grapefruit neoprene.

Lim seemingly agrees with many designers this season that coats should be big ? as in oversized ? and comfy, and he showed a few. One was in a nice teal color, paired with a black leather jacket underneath, with a "bike snap" detail.

THAKOON

Nubby, shiny material familiar to varsity athletes surprisingly made sense on a coat that was paired with a goatskin collar shawl, lace-inset blouse and stretch-wool seamed pants.

But Thakoon Panichgul put together a cohesive catwalk of seemingly unrelated modern neoprene, a space-age dandelion print, beaded dragonfly embroidery and wallpaper-inspired florals.

He hit on a few of the trends that seem to be emerging from these previews, including peplums and structured rounded shoulders, but his collection was not done with a heavy hand, leaving a pleasant trail of almost vintagelike looks.

ZAC POSEN

Posen presented his smallest show in years, taking a breath from a whirlwind few months that included joining "Project Runway" as a judge.

For a designer who thrives on flashbulbs, cameras and frenzy, the change might seem odd, but he said his intimate show at the Plaza Hotel was the best way to sharpen his focus in a collection that was thoughtful and intellectual.

"My fantasies about glamour or about society, about travel, all took place here growing up in New York. When you drive by great historical backgrounds, this is where Halston did his first shows, where Oscar de la Renta used to show," Posen said.

Part of Posen's signature are red-carpet gowns, such as the strapless, draped bustier ballgown worn by Crystal Renn and the architectural peplum gown with cutouts and sharp shoulders worn by Coco Rocha.

BETSEY JOHNSON

The tireless 71-year-old designer, best known for punky prom dresses and a lot of pink, introduced her fall collection as a theatrical exercise video for the Style Network program "Betsey and Lulu," which follows the lives of Johnson and her daughter.

It was a catwalk of energetic, giggly models in active wear chatting on cellphones as they waved to attendees, then an exercise routine led by the designer that included running in place, yoga and pull-ups. Rows of pink yoga mats were strewn on the runway, each accompanied by a pair of high-top sneakers, towels and wine bottles.

The collection, named "BJ Kicks A," veered from the high school dance party looks that she has championed for decades, running toward a junior high school gym class with a lot of cheek. It was an explosion of neon pink and yellow, animal prints and plaids on mini dresses worn over leggings, a veritable visual feast piled over one another.

As a whole, branching out beyond prom dresses was a smart move for the brand, which filed for bankruptcy protection more than a year ago and is now owned by Steve Madden.

TOMMY HILFIGER

At first, Hilfiger's looks, staged like a movie-set library, looked like they were built on the Savile Row-styled menswear and Ivy League prep-school uniforms he has played with for almost 30 years.

There were houndstooth prints in every scale imaginable ? on a coat, turtleneck, tuxedo pants and even a dickie ? and probably even more plaid.

"Classics receive an unexpected twist," was Hilfiger's mantra, putting some newness on the catwalk while maintaining a relatable ease that would appeal to his broad audience.

Together on the runway, the collection evoked mod for 2013. The leather argyle pattern shifts and shirtdresses could reintroduce his muses ? and fashion icons ? Twiggy, Mary Quant and Marianne Faithfull to a new generation.

RALPH RUCCI

Romantic violet is the base of Ralph Rucci's new collection.

"It's a personal reference," he explained. Pried yet further, he added: "It's the eye color of someone in my life."

Rucci's brilliant shade of violet appeared in a "mink pullover" ? the mere term a clear sign of how he is attempting to meld his signature luxury into more casual garments.

The same color returned in dresses of wool jersey or cr?pe, in a silk raincoat, in a sable coat, in a particularly well-proportioned cashmere suit, in a cashmere coat with leather embroidery, and even in filmy lace pajamas.

And it appeared once more for the final, show-ending garment: a long wool gown with tulle insets.

Rucci, famous for his intricate couture techniques, has a high-profile following. Guests included Martha Stewart and Sandra Bernhard.

___

Associated Press writers Jocelyn Noveck and Amanda Kwan contributed to this story.

___

Follow Samantha Critchell on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AP_Fashion

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weathers-silver-lining-coat-comfort-214955998.html

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No-swim advisory issued for South Texas peninsula

GALVESTON, Texas --?

Health officials have advised swimmers to avoid some parts of a popular South Texas recreation area because of elevated levels of bacteria.

The Galveston County Health District says concentrated amounts of bacteria are present at 12 locations along the Bolivar (BAW'-luh-vuhr) Peninsula.

The peninsula is a narrow strip of land on the Gulf Coast in eastern Galveston County, about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

District officials issued the no-swimming advisory Tuesday. They regularly test water conditions in the area, and additional testing will determine how long the advisory will continue.

No elevated levels were found on nearby Galveston Island.

Source: http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/02/13/2494249/no-swim-advisory-issued-for-south.html

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As others jump, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing coy on re-election bid

Detroit ? As he prepares to deliver what could be his final State of the City speech Wednesday, speculation is swirling over whether embattled Mayor Dave Bing will fight to retain his seat.

The first-term mayor, 69, has until May 14 to officially decide his next steps, and City Hall observers are watching for hints on whether he will run. Political insiders are buzzing about a possible campaign fundraiser later this month, but mayoral officials would not confirm the event.

"No decision has been made regarding my re-election plans, and I have no comment relative to a timetable," Bing said in a statement.

"Iremain focused on executing my restructuring plan to stabilize the City of Detroit."

Longtime ally Karen Dumas said it's a toss-up whether the mayor will run for re-election.

On one hand, Bing is a team player who may want to pass the baton, she said. The flip side is Bing is "very competitive" and he may want to carry his agenda through during a second term, Dumas said.

"At this point it's anybody's guess," said Dumas, Bing's former chief of communications. "Anybody who has the interest, willingness and commitment to run deserves to be considered. ? The mayor made a commitment early on to restore interest in the office of mayor and without a doubt he has done that.

"The mayor's job is thankless. If you've never been on the inside, you don't understand how difficult it is."

Longtime political analyst Adolph Mongo was more unequivocal. He said he had a meeting with Bing last weekend and was told the mayor is not seeking re-election.

Mongo called it "the worst kept secret in Detroit."

"He's not running ... and he needs to be honest with the people of Detroit that he's not running," Mongo said. "He's tired and he just thought he would have to come in and be temporary."

Potential candidate list grows

If Bing jumps in, he would join state Reps. Lisa Howze and Fred Durhal, and former Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon in the August primary. The general election will be in November.

Former Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan on Monday said he will formally announce his mayoral intentions on Feb. 26. Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon has created an exploratory committee, and former candidate Tom Barrow, who has sought the post three times, has reactivated his exploratory committee.

The mayor's race comes during a pivotal time as Detroit struggles to stay financially solvent. A state-appointed team is reviewing the city's finances and could make a recommendation soon on Detroit's financial future, including whether it needs an emergency financial manager.

Some political analysts said the city's fiscal condition, coupled with the mayor's health and the stress of dealing with a fickle city council, are enough to prompt Bing to step down. Bing spent nearly a month away from City Hall after having surgery in late March.

Political expert Eric Foster, who worked as a consultant during Bing's first mayoral run, said key losses to campaign operations could make it more difficult for him to run.

Many of those who helped Bing win have cut ties with him. Among those are former Bing appointee Charlie Beckham, who left the administration in 2010. Political consultant Kamau Marable, a legislative aide, also left the administration in 2011. Spokesman Cliff Russell and marketing guru Aqunetta Pierce worked on the Bing campaign but not in his administration, Foster said.

Duggan's camp has acquired the services of the Mellman Group, a Washington, D.C.-based political research firm that recently conducted polling. The company worked for Bing in 2009, campaign finance records show.

Consultant Dave Katz, a former Wayne County aide and a senior vice president with the Detroit Medical Center, also is on board with Duggan. His wife, Jill Alper, has been a longtime Bing consultant.

"Your major consultants that help you ? are either not involved in current operations or with other campaigns. That's an important thing to highlight," Foster said.

"He's disbanded his team. That tells you everything you need to know right there whether he is going to run or not."

Bing may have lost some key advisers, but his chief fundraiser, Cathy Govan, still appears to be on board. Govan, along with consultant Emmett Moten, quietly raised money for a possible Bing run last summer.

The political price of indecision

The mayor's most recent campaign finance report shows a Bing held a fundraiser in July at the Detroit Athletic Club. Nearly 150 people attended the event that raised $122,875.

Bing's indecision is reminiscent of the 2001 campaign, when then-Mayor Dennis Archer waited until April to announce his intention to step down. His wavering caused his deputy mayor, Freman Hendrix, to leave the administration and not make a mayoral run.

Hendrix had been waiting on a decision from Archer before deciding to get in the race. As a mayoral appointee, Hendrix wasn't going to take on the incumbent mayor.

He is not expected to make a mayoral run this year.

Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, described Bing as "an enigma" who will make his decision on his own timeframe.

"It's all in his head," Ballenger said. "He'll decide whether he runs again or not, and we can't bully him into making a decision earlier than he wants to."

With Bing, the uncertainty makes him come across as someone who may be disinterested or doesn't find the job to be rewarding, experts said. Ballenger said he thinks the uncertainty hurts Bing, but "that's part of the package."

"Of course he's vulnerable, but that doesn't mean he's an automatic loser if he decides to run again," Ballenger said.

Pollster Bernie Porn said Bing probably has doubts about whether he can win if he decides to make a mayoral run.

A Detroit News poll, conducted Sept. 22-25 by the Chicago-based Glengariff Group Inc. and funded by the Thompson Foundation, found more than 63 percent of Detroiters have no faith in Bing or the Detroit City council to fix the city, and 82 percent said Bing does not deserve to be re-elected.

Porn said he'd instruct Bing to do internal polling to see where his numbers stand and make a decision from there. The splitting of the vote may be too tough for Bing to survive, Porn said.

"If he's not telling his strongest supporters he's looking at running again that causes them to have their doubts and also look at other possibilities and candidates," said Porn, who works for Lansing-based EPIC-MRA.

"The delays cannot help him. It can only exaggerate the issues.

"(Bing) has to take into account who are the likely candidates (in the race). It all depends on what the division of the electorate might be. I don't know if a poll will show (his vulnerability). It may just be it's not in the cards for him to run again and win."

dnichols@detnews.com

(313) 222-2072

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130212/METRO01/302120359/1408/LOCAL

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