iTunes U content downloads pass the one billion mark

Apple completely revamped its iTunes U app last year to include full course materials and it looks like that work is paying dividends, as the site just trumpeted its billionth content download. Over 250,000 students are enrolled in the service, which now boasts "thousands" of iTunes U learning materials, according to Cupertino. The company added that 60 percent of those downloads came from outside the US, with educators in 30 different countries -- like recent additions Brazil and Turkey -- able to create content. OHU prof "Dr. Fux" Stoltzfus said that students using his materials range from students around the world to retirees, so if you've been thinking of a knowledge upgrade, you've got no excuse. For more, check the PR after the break.

Filed under: Misc, Software, Apple

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Italian political deadlock casts new uncertainty on eurozone recovery

Markets tumbled and the value of the euro dropped in response to Italy's election results and their unexpectedly loud rejection of German-imposed austerity policies.

By Andr?s Cala,?Correspondent / February 26, 2013

Democratic Party electoral posters are seen in Rome February 26, 2013. The Italian stock market fell and state borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as investors took fright at political deadlock after a stunning election that saw a protest party lead the poll and no group had a clear majority in parliament.

Max Rossi/Reuters

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Europe?s murky path to recovery was rattled yet again Tuesday as markets and policymakers tried to digest the unexpected Italian electoral results and the consequences, especially on periphery economies.

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A political stalemate in Rome all but condemns the country to new elections in less than a year, with all the implications for the economy. But the unexpectedly loud rejection of German-imposed austerity policies fueled market uncertainty over the already wobbly resolve of European governments to stick to fiscal conservative recipes.

Markets were stunned by voter rejection of Prime Minister Mario Monti?s austerity and by the triumph of the Five Star Movement, the anti-establishment party led by comedian Beppe Grillo that won the most votes of any single party.

The austerity vs. growth debate is not new to Europe. The battle of wills pitting Germany and its northern European rich allies against the French-led periphery, including Italy and Spain, has been raging from the beginning. In fact, it?s precisely this lack of consensus that has delayed the recovery.

While 2013 is supposed to mark the beginning of the end to the block?s worst economic crisis since its creation, an anti-austerity voter rebellion in Italy could yet again undermine the fragile consensus and discipline around common European economic recovery policies, which so far have been imposed by austerity-driven Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel also faces elections this year.

Growth vs austerity

The cost of borrowing for the infamous PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) climbed today, peaking at their highest levels since last December?s previous uncertainty bout before dropping slightly. The euro currency also collapsed to almost its lowest level of the year, while European equity markets tumbled, despite the gains in Wall Street.

The biggest concerns lie in Italy and Spain, the third- and fourth-largest economies of the 17-member euro zone. The economic picture is dire, but the main risk to recovery remains political.

Investors worry about the Italian economy after the hung election all but ruled out any major new policies to reduce the government deficit and boost growth, dragging the broader European economy.

?It is difficult to envision a grand coalition or a hodgepodge minority government making any meaningful progress on structural reforms,? political risk consultancy Eurasia Group wrote in a note. New elections will likely be held ?within the next 6-12 months.?

But mainstream parties are worried about shedding even more voter support following the unexpected gains of the Five Star Movement. ?An immediate return to the polls would only swell support for Grillo, as this would demonstrate the weakness and incompetence of the mainstream political parties,? Eurasia Group wrote.

The Spain equation

In Spain, the government has been facing intense pressure over its austerity policies, and even if there are no forthcoming elections, its ability to continue trimming the deficit is increasingly threatened by social unrest and by internal political wars and corruption scandals that are weakening governability.

If the cost of borrowing continues increasing for Spain, even if it?s an indirect result of Italian or German internal politics, the country could be forced to request a bailout that could further undermine the eurozone?s economy if investors conclude the risk of political instability outweighs the timid economic progress so far.

But ultimately, Europe is simply going to drag its recovery until the ongoing debate over austerity vs. growth is resolved, either by politicians or voters.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/AgqtKvrb7hU/Italian-political-deadlock-casts-new-uncertainty-on-eurozone-recovery

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After meatballs, Ikea withdraws sausages

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? After withdrawing meatballs from stores across Europe, home furnishings company Ikea said Wednesday its own tests confirmed "a few indications of horse meat" and that it would also remove wiener sausages made by the same supplier.

Ikea said it would withdraw the sausages from stores in France, Britain, Spain, Ireland and Portugal. Other stores were getting sausages from other suppliers, company spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said.

No horse meat had been found in the wieners, which are made of ground pork and beef, but they were removed anyway because they came from the same supplier as the meatballs, Magnusson said.

The supplier, Gunnar Dafgard AB, didn't return calls seeking comment.

The move comes two days after Czech food inspectors found traces of horse meat in Ikea's Swedish-made meatballs, prompting the company to pull them from store shelves in 21 European countries and in Hong Kong, Thailand and the Dominican Republic.

Stores in other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, were not affected because they received meatballs from a different supplier.

Ikea said results from its own tests confirmed some meatballs didn't just contain beef and pork, despite what their labeling said.

"Based on some hundred test results that we have received so far, there are a few indications of horse meat," Magnusson said. "Together with the Swedish supplier in question we have decided to withdraw from sales also the wiener sausages ... from that supplier."

Horse meat has recently been found mixed into beef dishes sold across Europe, including in frozen supermarket meals. It has also been found in meals served at restaurants, schools and hospitals. Authorities say the scandal is a case of fraudulent labeling but does not pose a health risk.

The French wholesaler at the epicenter of the scandal, Spanghero, announced Wednesday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection. The company denies that it intentionally mislabeled and sold horse meat as beef, but the French government has said it should have known and temporarily forced it to shut down all production. Spanghero has slowly started to package meats again, but is not selling any to other manufacturers.

The company, which employs about 300 people, said it hoped the court filing would save its business and those jobs.

Meanwhile, food safety authorities across Europe continued to clamp down on mislabeled meat.

Latvia's food safety agency said that traces of horse meat were found in products labeled as beef by a local meatpacker, Forevers.

The agency said 416 horses were slaughtered last year in Latvia, out of which 203 were eventually delivered to Forevers from the same Latvia-based slaughterhouse, Aibi. All the horse meat was labeled as beef in the invoices, the agency said. It wasn't immediately clear if any of the meat was exported.

Also Wednesday, Russia's state sanitary watchdog said it detected horse meat in sausages imported from Austria. The agency's spokesman, Alexei Alexeyenko, said in a statement carried by the ITAR-Tass news agency that the sausages were stated to only contain beef.

And in Greece, authorities said they seized a ton of frozen meat from Romania that had been labeled as beef, after testing located traces of horse DNA ? the first such discovery in the country.

Portuguese authorities said late Tuesday they had seized 79 metric tons (87 U.S. tons) of beef products containing traces of horse meat in recent days and opened criminal proceedings against five local companies. Portugal's Food Safety Agency said it made the seizures at companies that process, package and distribute meat to large retail outlets.

The agency said in a statement on its website that it also took almost 19,000 pre-packed products from Portuguese stores after detecting horse meat in them. They included lasagnas, hamburgers and meatballs.

___

Associated Press writers Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris, Gary Peach in Riga, Latvia, Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/meatballs-ikea-withdraws-sausages-162808525--finance.html

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Russian Meteor Fallout: What to Do Next Time?

This month's meteor detonation above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk and Earth's close shave with asteroid 2012 DA14 have kick-started conversations on lessons learned and what steps can be taken to prevent space rock impacts in the future.

One positive action item was actually in place prior to the dual asteroid events of Feb. 15: a new Memorandum of Agreement between the Air, Space, and Cyberspace Operations Directorate of the Air Force Space Command and NASA?s Science Mission Directorate.

That document, which was signed on Jan. 18 of this year, spells out specifics for the public release of meteor data from sources such as high-flying, hush-hush U.S. government space sensors.

The recent Russian meteor event occurred after completion of the newly signed agreement and data on the recent Chelyabinsk event had been released for scientific analysis, SPACE.com has been informed by NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

As a result of that agreement, NASA?s Near Earth Object (NEO) Observation Program is receiving information on bolide/fireball events "based on analysis of data collected by U.S. government sensors."[Russian Fireball: All You Need to Know (Video)]

Ripple effects

The asteroid that caused the Chelyabinsk meteor was estimated to be about 55 feet (17 meters) across with a weight of 10,000 tons. Its explosion in the atmosphere was equivalent to nearly 500,000 tons of TNT, scientists say.

Many onlookers rushed to windows to observe the streaking fireball, and as a result, more than 1,000 injuries were reported, mostly due to cuts from broken glass as shockwaves blasted through the area.

In a RAND blog, analysts Dave Baiocchi and William Welser IV took a look at the ripple effects stemming from the Russian fireball episode.

"The event over Russia illustrates some of the complex issues associated with a celestial-body event. First, these events don?t happen very frequently, so the general public is mostly unaware of what these events look like or how to react," the analysts said. [Meteor Streaks Over Russia, Explodes (Photos)]

Scorched Earth

Baiocchi and Welser said that most ongoing scientific efforts are focused on predicting impact zones or designing schemes to deflect asteroids that could pose an existential threat to Earth in the future.

"But the shattered windows and injuries in Russia show that beyond the immediate impact point there is a much wider effects radius that should be considered," the RAND researchers said.

To be sure, celestial impacts, like the Russian run-in with a meteor, are challenging to plan for because they are so uncommon, Baiocchi and Welser said.

"Proper preparations will likely require expertise and coordination among a diverse group of people and nations. The meteor over Russia, coinciding as it did with the close passage of 2012 DA14, reminds us that it?s important to consider both the direct and indirect threats posed by these objects so we are better prepared if a larger object ever threatens the planet," the analysts concluded.

Wanted: effective strategies

The Russian fireball explosion and close flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14 "should be wake-up calls that we need to get moving both on finding these smaller objects and on developing effective strategies for mitigating real threats," said William Ailor, principal engineer for the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, Calif.

"While we discovered 2012 DA14 before the close approach on February 15, there was not enough time to have deflected the object should it have been on an impact trajectory ... and we never saw the object that caused the Russian event before it entered the atmosphere," Ailor told SPACE.com. "We should be developing plans and capabilities now so that we have a chance to prevent even more damaging events in the future." [Asteroid 2012 DA14's Close Flyby (Photos)]

Citizen sensors

The Chelyabinsk meteor highlighted the value of "citizen sensors," noted a blog entry from the Commons Lab, a group within the Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

The Commons Lab draws attention to the use of everyday sensors, readily available to the public, to spot problems, gather and interpret data and act on the results.

The group points out that, while official and standardized sources were providing valuable information on the Russian skyfall, so too have decentralized citizen sensors. The number of omnipresent dashboard-mounted and handheld cameras yielded remarkable footage at the same time traditional news outlets picked up the story.

Ground perspective

"The ubiquity of these affordable recording devices allowed people in and around Chelyabinsk to document a rare and scientifically significant situation ... and some of the best footage showed up on news broadcasts around the globe," the Commons Lab blog noted.

Using all the video, scientists were able to determine that the meteor flew in at a shallow angle of 20 degrees above the horizontal, making a "grazing impact" through Earth's atmosphere.

"This event depicts the new status quo. Citizens might not be replacing traditional media, but they are certainly supporting it. The amateur footage from Chelyabinsk provides on the ground perspective that previously went unrecorded," the Commons Lab blog said. "Rapidly evolving communications, sensing, and mapping technologies have placed the extraordinary power of mass data collection and analysis into the hands of citizens, communities, governments and businesses."

Dollars for doing it right

On the technical side of the asteroid-detection issue, a number of good ideas are on the table, said Timothy Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.

For one, there is the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) effort run by John Tonry in Hawaii ?? a warning system for objects on their final approach toward Earth. When it's up and running in 2015, ATLAS should cover the whole sky every night and provide warning for last-approach asteroids if they come from the dark sky.

Spahr told SPACE.com that the problem is that one-half of the final-approach objects come from the sunward side. "So if you are serious about getting 30-meter impactors, you need to find them when they are far from the Earth, and that requires large and expensive telescopes."

Additionally, there are two infrared spacecraft surveys that are currently proposed, Spahr said: NEOCam, a project led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the nonprofit B612 Foundation's Sentinel space telescope, which the group aims to launch in 2018.

"Both of these would be very, very efficient discovery telescopes, and be good at finding objects down to a hundred meters or so," Spahr said. They would both find a good chunk of the smaller objects if the spaceborne scopes could be operated for long periods of time, he said.

Then there is a European Space Agency telescope being built ? something like the ATLAS system, but it will use larger telescopes.

"The bottom line is that we have some good ideas (ATLAS, infrared surveys, ESA?s all-sky survey), and we just need to spend the money and roll these out. But to find the smallest objects ? 30 to 50 meters in size ? we are talking of the order of a billion dollars to do it right," Spahr said.

Fact-finding letter

In light of the Russian event and asteroid flyby, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) has sent NASA chief Charles Bolden a "fact-finding letter" to better gauge the nation?s preparedness for future space rock events.

Sensenbrenner said the Russian explosion and resulting damage left many to wonder "how such an event could happen without warning." And asteroid 2012 DA14?s close flyby on the same day, while coincidental, also "raise[s] questions about our preparedness for future objects coming toward Earth."

To that end, Sensenbrenner posed a number of questions to Bolden, requesting responses by March 20:

• Please explain the current arrangement for tracking cosmic objects. To what degree of certainty are the objects which pose a threat to Earth being monitored? What type of coordination is occurring on an international scale?
• What shortcomings are currently present in NASA?s ability to accurately track and predict cosmic objects which may pose a threat to Earth, the moon, our satellites and other space-oriented apparatus?
• How achievable are current NASA plans designed to eliminate the threats posed by cosmic objects on a collision course with Earth?
• How much lead time is necessary between identifying a threat to Earth and its neutralization employing the current NASA strategies?

Eliminate the threat

"Locating and tracking these objects is clearly just the first step in preparedness," states Sensenbrenner?s letter to Bolden.

"The ability to eliminate the threat of an asteroid or meteor impacting Earth, colliding with the moon, or disrupting our space-oriented communications and scientific equipment could be vital," Sensenbrenner said.?

"We would be remiss if we did not use the recent events as an opportunity to survey our current capabilities and assess how we can better use limited resources to identify potential threats," he said.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-meteor-fallout-next-time-211336842.html

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Neptune/Venus conjunction,Tantric/Divine lovers astrology, Tara ...

its been a wild spiritually flooding week.

with a few twists and turns

Thursday Feb 28

VENUS?and NEPTUNE?join in a TANTRIC ?DANCE in PISCES

yes Venus conjuncts Neptune every 1.5 years or so

but in PISCES only once every 160 years or so

so very rare auspicious?-VENUS is human love, women, values, the arts, luxury, beauty, relationships

NEPTUNE?is DIVINE LOVE, love of God/Jesus/Allah/Krishna/Buddha/Goddess/shekinah/Mary/the Great Mystery

this soul mate conjunction brings the human and the divine together

where they/we/ the Universe./ all that is dissolves into an OCEAN of BLISS

Bliss is also a subject of the 12th house

so if you have a relationship I?d suggest that you get ready to expeirence tantric union today

the aspect happens @ 5:37 am PST/8:37 am EST

TANTRA BLISS RITUAL

all spiritual people awake at 3:30 or 4:00 am it has something to do with the way the Sun?s light hits the earth

TANTRIC love making?doesnt have to involve actual sexual contact, it can,

it is about preparing yourself to meet the DIVINE as a DIVINE being, bathe first,

preparing to meet the BELOVED through your partner, someone you trust,

the meeting place must be clean, clear, sweet smelling

rose water, fine incense, and the like, everything to make the atmosphere sensual and calm

the two should be meeting with an feeling of reverence respect and devotion

the kissing and caressing needs to be done with a conscious awe of the miracle of being alive,

of being a spiritual being, a soul in a human form with consciousness and self awareness,

it is an act of replicating the divine interplay of YIN YANG/yab/yum/ masculine/feminine

every act is holy, every act of love is workshipping the DIVINE Mother goddess

the pointis to surrender to each other, but go beyond the physical sensations,

itis about equilibrium and controlling the senses, men especially must never ejaculate,

the control of the ojas, leads to spiritual awakening, if you master this

you will feel waves of ecstacy?for both men and women and you can ride the KUNDALINI energy for hours

you will merge into your BELOVED< the little death of orgasm is a long fall into dissolving your ego and shattering

the illusion of separation, this is what the pATRIARCHY has condemned, and made sinfull

your knowledge of partaking of the DIVINE through your own body and through the body of another person

if you are ALONE

you can prepare yourself as you would for a super special date,

get dressed in finery, and make yourself feel beautiful

you can sit in a sacred circle, and begin to breathe and be aware of your breath,

open each chakra through imagining each one as red flower opening, red is root,

orange is sex, 3rd is yellow just below the navel, 4th is green the heart, 5th is hroat indigo,

6th is 3rd eye and violet, 7th is crown chakra white, 8th is about a foot above your body its gold,

the 9th chakra is the UNiverse itself, send you desire out to connect with the force of the ONE

you can bring into your imagination a strong image of the Divine lover as a? God/Goddess

you can imagine yourself making love with them but with an attitude of respect, no ego,

feel, smell, make it as real as possible, PISCES rules fantasy, so this will be easily accomplished.

feel yourself becoming one with the imageof the beloved,

breathe deeply send your energy dowen?into the firey?core of the erath?andbreathe?the fire into your body and sen di tup your spine

you should feel a shudder up your spine, you can feel heat, the KUNDALINI energy will rise

you can have a full body orgasm if you really surrender to this process.

Stay in bliss for a long as you can, then let yourself trance sleep.

before you sleep/trance call in the Tantric lovers to surround you and protect you.

relax and dream, as if youve? just had th emost powerful release of your life

when you wake,write down what you remember in a sacred place.

43.667923 -79.321969

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Source: http://infinitynow.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/neptunevenus-conjunctiontantricdivine-lovers-astrology-tara-greene/

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SPIN METER: In budget fight, sky is falling again

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and his officials are doing their best to drum up public concern over the shock wave of spending cuts that could strike the government in just days. So it's a good time to be alert for sky-is-falling hype.

Over the last week or so, administration officials have come forward with a grim compendium of jobs to be lost, services to be denied or delayed, military defenses to be let down and important operations to be disrupted. Obama's new chief of staff, Denis McDonough, spoke of a "devastating list of horribles."

For most Americans, though, it's far from certain they will have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day if the budget-shredder known as the sequester comes to pass. Maybe they will, if the impasse drags on for months.

For now, there's a whiff of the familiar in all the foreboding, harking back to the mid-1990s partial government shutdown, when officials said old people would go hungry, illegal immigrants would have the run of the of the land and veterans would go without drugs. It didn't happen.

For this episode, provisions are in place to preserve the most crucial services ? and benefit checks. Furloughs of federal workers are at least a month away, breathing room for a political settlement if the will to achieve one is found. Many government contractors would continue to be paid with money previously approved.

Warnings of thousands of teacher layoffs, for example, are made with the presumption that local communities would not step in with their own dollars ? perhaps from higher taxes ? to keep teachers in the classrooms if federal money is not soon restored. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says teacher layoffs have already begun, but he has not backed up that claim and school administrators say no pink slips are expected before May, for the next school year.

To be sure, the cuts are big and will have consequences. Knowing what they will be, though, is far from a precise exercise.

And there is a lot of improbable precision in administration statements about what could happen: more than 373,000 seriously ill people losing mental health services, 600,000 low-income pregnant women and new mothers losing food aid and nutrition education, 1,200 fewer inspections of dangerous work sites, 125,000 poor households going without vouchers, and much more.

"These numbers are just numbers thrown out into the thin air with no anchor, and I think they don't provoke the outrage or concern that the Obama administration seeks," said Paul Light, a New York University professor who specializes in the federal bureaucracy and budget. For all the dire warnings, he said, "It's not clear who gets hurt by this."

The estimates in many cases come from a simple calculation: Divide the proscribed spending cut by a program's per-person spending to see how many beneficiaries may lose services or benefits under the sequester.

But in practice, through all the layers of bureaucracy and the everyday smoke and mirrors of the federal budget, there is rarely a direct and measurable correlation between a federal dollar and its effect on the ground.

That has meant a lot of tenuous "could happen" warnings by the administration, not so much "will happen" evidence.

So it was in Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' letter to Congress laying out likely consequences of the spending cuts for her agency's operations. She said the sequester "could" compromise the well-being of more than 373,000 people who "potentially" would not get needed mental health services, which in turn "could result" in more hospitalizations and homelessness.

Duncan left himself less wiggle room. "This stuff is real," he said last week. "Schools are already starting to give teachers notices."

Asked to provide backup for Duncan's assertion, spokesman Daren Briscoe said it was based on "an unspecified call he was on with unnamed persons," and the secretary might not be comfortable sharing details.

Briscoe referred queries about layoffs to the American Association of School Administrators. Noelle M. Ellerson, an assistant director of the organization, said Monday that in her many discussions with superintendents at the group's just-completed annual meeting, she heard of no layoffs of teachers. While everyone is bracing for that possibility down the road, she said, "not a single one I spoke with had already issued pink slips."

Most school district budgets for the next school year won't be completed for two months, she said, meaning any layoff notices would come in early to mid-May. "No one had yet acted."

School districts in areas set aside for tribal lands or military bases count on Washington for a significant share of their budgets, and are to lose $60 million, or 5 percent of their federal payments, when the sequester starts. Nearly all money to run most of the nation's public schools comes from local sources such as property taxes that are not affected by the federal cuts.

As for the assertion that 600,000 women could be dropped from the Women, Infants and Children Program, that's not to say the rolls would be cut by that number. The actual number is likely to include women who are not enrolled in the program now and could be denied when seeking to join it. Federal officials say the true number will depend on how states can manage their caseloads.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has warned of impending furloughs of air traffic controllers, who may need to take one day off every two weeks, and said air-travel delays are likely across the country. Asked Friday why the airline lobby predicted no major impact on air travel from the sequester, he said, "I don't think they have the information we're presenting to them today."

"The idea that we're just doing this to create some kind of a horrific scare tactic is nonsense," LaHood said. But it's a pressure tactic nonetheless: "What I'm trying to do is to wake up members of the Congress on the Republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table."

However the cuts fall, Light at NYU says the Washington Monument ploy, also known as the Firemen First principle, is at work.

It goes like this: Put someone's budget at risk and the first thing you'll hear is a threat to close a cherished national symbol or lay off firefighters and police, when in fact there are other ways to cut spending.

It so happens the Washington Monument is already closed, for earthquake repair. But Obama indulged in the Firemen First principle quite literally.

He appeared at the White House in front of officers in blue uniforms to warn of the consequences of the sequester. "Emergency responders like the ones who are here today ? their ability to help communities respond to and recover from disasters will be degraded."

The law gives little flexibility to agencies to protect favored programs, except for big ones specifically exempted from the automatic cuts, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans benefits. FBI and Border Patrol furloughs are expected. Still, the White House has directed agencies to avoid cuts presenting "risks to life, safety or health" and to minimize harm to crucial services.

In the partial government shutdown during his presidency, Bill Clinton and his officials told some tall tales and sketched dark scenarios that didn't come to pass, though some might have if the crisis had lasted weeks or months longer. The shutdown played out over two installments totaling 26 days from mid-November 1995 to early January 1996.

National park properties closed (yes, even the Washington Monument), passport and federal mortgage insurance processing were disrupted and toxic waste cleanup stalled as hundreds of thousands of federal workers went idle, paid retroactively later. But states, communities and private groups stepped up to tide over the neediest, keeping Meals on Wheels rolling with their own resources, for example, until Clinton found emergency money to cover the costs. Warnings that Medicare treatment would be withheld proved unfounded, and veterans got their care.

Contractors, who perform many key services for government, kept working for IOUs. A claim by the government that deportations "have virtually ended" was not so.

The Justice Department told the story of a Florida gas station rejecting the government-issued credit card of a drug-enforcement agent to illustrate the indignity of it all.

But the reality was humdrum: The card had merely expired.

___

Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Mary Clare Jalonick, Joan Lowy and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-26-Budget%20Battle-Sky%20Is%20Falling/id-0d1f7c4d7f144b45ab7eaf8612404fb7

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Mohawk Valley Nonprofit Leaders Group: Tax-exempt properties ...

The Clinton Central School District, like many around the state, relies on tax dollars.

Of its $23.1 million budget, about $13.7 million, nearly 60 percent, is raised through school taxes.

But when the majority of the larger-value properties are tax exempt, it can cause a problem that?s out of the district?s control.

?We?re all part of the same community, but it does add a wrinkle to the equation,? district Superintendent Matthew Reilly said.

The majority of the district?s taxes come from the town of Kirkland, which had 3,509 parcels on its 2012 tax rolls, 4 percent of which, or 155, are wholly tax exempt, according to county records.

That means only about $322 million of the town?s $457.6 million total assessed value is taxable.

It can create problems for school districts because it?s a smaller tax base, said David Albert, director of communications and research for the New York State School Boards Association.

Having a smaller tax base does not bode well for districts, especially when costs are rising and the amount that can be raised by taxes is restricted by the 2 percent state-mandated property tax cap.

?It places more of a burden on existing taxpayers who have to kind of make up for those existing properties,? Albert said.

School districts are the largest users of property tax, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

Tax exemptions include nonprofits, hospitals, universities, school and government property, as well as some senior citizens who are STAR exempt from school taxes, said department spokesman Geoff Gloak.

In the Clinton district, exempt properties include Hamilton College and Lutheran Care.

?These are significant properties,? Reilly said. ?It certainly would change our profile if some of these properties, like those in so many small towns, were taxable properties.?

Hamilton College, however, does provide a donation to the district each year.

?We?re very appreciative of the help that we get,? Reilly said.

In Utica, the school district expects to collect $29.5 million in tax revenue for the 2012-13 school year ? making up about 21 percent of its budget, said Maureen Albanese, district business official.

The assessed value of properties in Utica is $1.7 billion, however, only about $1.1 billion is taxable, according to the Assessor?s Office. The total value of the city?s tax-exempt properties is $534 million.

?If those properties were not tax exempt they would be paying us probably millions of dollars,? Albanese said.

If exempt properties, or those of higher value, were added to the tax rolls, it would spread out the taxes over a greater base, so it could result in lowering taxes for others, Albert said.

?It really is a problem for many districts and one that?s not easily solved,? Albert said.

Source: http://ohedg.blogspot.com/2013/02/tax-exempt-properties-hurting-hurting.html

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US stopping use of term 'Negro' for census surveys

In this photograph of a sample 2010 US Census form, obtained by The Associated Press shows question 9: "What is Person 1's race", on the first page of the 2010 Census form, with options for White: Black, African Am., or Negro. After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping use of the word "Negro" to describe black Americans in its surveys. Instead of the term popularized during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern-day labels, ?black? or ?African-American?. (AP Photo)

In this photograph of a sample 2010 US Census form, obtained by The Associated Press shows question 9: "What is Person 1's race", on the first page of the 2010 Census form, with options for White: Black, African Am., or Negro. After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping use of the word "Negro" to describe black Americans in its surveys. Instead of the term popularized during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern-day labels, ?black? or ?African-American?. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this April 14, 1964 black-and-white file photo, a man holds a Confederate flag at right, as demonstrators, including one carrying a sign saying: "More than 300,000 Negroes are Denied Vote in Ala", demonstrate in front of an Indianapolis hotel where then-Alabama Governor George Wallace was staying. After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping use of the word "Negro" to describe black Americans in its surveys. Instead of the term popularized during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern-day labels, ?black? or ?African-American?. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)

In this photograph of a sample 2010 US Census form, obtained by The Associated Press shows question 9: "What is Person 1's race", on the first page of the 2010 Census form, with options for White: Black, African Am., or Negro. After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping use of the word "Negro" to describe black Americans in its surveys. Instead of the term popularized during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern-day labels, ?black? or ?African-American?. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping its use of the word "Negro" to describe black Americans in surveys.

Instead of the term that came into use during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern labels "black" or "African-American".

The change will take effect next year when the Census Bureau distributes its annual American Community Survey to more than 3.5 million U.S. households, Nicholas Jones, chief of the bureau's racial statistics branch, said in an interview.

He pointed to months of public feedback and census research that concluded few black Americans still identify with being Negro and many view the term as "offensive and outdated."

"This is a reflection of changing times, changing vocabularies and changing understandings of what race means in this country," said Matthew Snipp, a sociology professor at Stanford University, who writes frequently on race and ethnicity. "For younger African-Americans, the term 'Negro' harkens back to the era when African-Americans were second-class citizens in this country."

First used in the census in 1900, "Negro" became the most common way of referring to black Americans through most of the early 20th century, during a time of racial inequality and segregation. "Negro" itself had taken the place of "colored." Starting with the 1960s civil rights movement, black activists began to reject the "Negro" label and came to identify themselves as black or African-American.

Still, the term has lingered, having been used by Martin Luther King Jr. in his speeches. It also remains in the names of some black empowerment groups that were established before the 1960s, such as the United Negro College Fund, now often referred to as UNCF.

For the 2010 census, the government briefly considered dropping the word "Negro" but ultimately decided against it, determining that a small segment, mostly older blacks living in the South, still identified with the term. But once census forms were mailed and some black groups protested, Robert Groves, the Census Bureau's director at the time, apologized and predicted the term would be dropped in future censuses.

When asked to mark their race, Americans are currently given a choice of five government-defined categories in census surveys, including one checkbox selection which is described as "black, African Am., or Negro." Beginning with the surveys next year, that selection will simply say "black" or "African American."

In the 2000 census, about 50,000 people specifically wrote in the word Negro when asked how they wished to be identified. By 2010, unpublished census data provided to the AP show that number had declined to roughly 36,000.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-25-US-Census-Negroes/id-593a92cc478244c79cf2d8f72bb56438

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Dennis Rodman worms his way into North Korea

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, fifth from right, poses with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, in red jerseys, and a production crew for the media upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Rodman known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, fifth from right, poses with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, in red jerseys, and a production crew for the media upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Rodman known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, right, scratches his face upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The American known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, right, scratches his face upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The American known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

FILE - In this July, 31, 2012, file photo, former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman appears during a news conference to announce his tour and charity work in Panama City. The American known as ?The Worm? is set to arrive Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? Former NBA star Dennis Rodman brought his basketball skills Tuesday and flamboyant style ? tattoos, nose studs and all ? to a country with possibly the world's strictest dress code: North Korea.

Landing in Pyongyang with VICE television, the American athlete and showman known as "The Worm" became an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

Rodman is joining three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and a VICE correspondent for a news show on North Korea that will air on HBO later this year, VICE told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday before they landed.

Rodman and VICE said the Americans hope to engage in a little "basketball diplomacy" by running a basketball camp for children and playing with North Korea's top basketball stars ? and, they hope, drawing leader Kim Jong Un to a game. Kim is said to be a huge basketball fan.

"Is sending the Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman to the DPRK strange? In a word, yes," said Shane Smith, the VICE founder who is host of the upcoming series, referring to North Korea by the initials of its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "But finding common ground on the basketball court is a beautiful thing.

Rodman might seem an odd fit for North Korea, where men's fashion rarely ventures beyond military khaki and where growing facial hair is forbidden. Though there's a burgeoning fashion sense among the women of Pyongyang, the men in this conservative society still tend dress austerely: khaki work suits, military uniforms, dark blue Mao-style suits or Western-style suit jackets.

In contract, Rodman was a poster boy for flashy excess during his heyday in the 1990s. He called his 1996 autobiography "Bad as I Wanna Be" ? and showed up wearing a wedding dress to promote it.

Shown a photo of a snarling Rodman, piercings dangling from his lower lip and two massive tattoos emblazoned on his chest, one North Korean in Pyongyang recoiled and said: "He looks like a monster!"

But Rodman is also a Hall of Fame basketball player and one of the best defenders and rebounders to ever play the game. During a storied, often controversial career, he won five NBA championships.

On Tuesday, Rodman, now 51, was low-key and soft-spoken in cobalt blue sweatpants and a Polo Ralph Lauren cap. There was a bit of flash: white-rimmed sunglasses and studs in his nose and lower lip. But he told AP he was there to teach basketball and talk to people, not to stir up trouble.

Showier were three Harlem Globetrotters dressed in fire-engine red. Rookie Moose Weekes flashed the crowd a huge smile as he made his way off the Air Koryo plane.

"We use the basketball as a tool to build cultural ties, build bridges among countries," said Buckets Blakes, a Globetrotters veteran. "We're all about happiness and joy and making people smile."

It's the second high-profile American visit this year to North Korea, a country that remains in a state of war with the U.S. It also comes two weeks after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test in defiance of U.N. bans against atomic and missile activity.

Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a surprise four-day trip to Pyongyang, where he met with officials and toured computer labs in January, just weeks after North Korea launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket.

Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and others consider both the rocket launch and the nuclear test provocative acts that threaten regional security.

North Korea characterizes the satellite launch as a peaceful bid to explore space, but says the nuclear test was meant as a deliberate warning to Washington. Pyongyang says it needs to build nuclear weapons to defend itself against the U.S., and is believed to be trying to build an atomic bomb small enough to mount on a missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S.

VICE, known for its sometimes irreverent journalism, has made two previous visits to North Korea, coming out with the "VICE Guide to North Korea." The HBO series, which will air weekly starting April 5, features documentary-style news reports from around the world.

The U.S. State Department hasn't been contacted about travel to North Korea by this group, a senior administration official said, requesting anonymity to comment before any trip had been made public. The official said the department does not vet U.S. citizens' private travel to North Korea.

Promoting technology and sports are two major policy priorities of Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

Along with soccer, basketball is enormously popular in North Korea, where it's not uncommon to see basketball hoops set up in hotel parking lots or in schoolyards. It's a game that doesn't require much equipment or upkeep.

The U.S. remains Enemy No. 1 in North Korea, and North Koreans have limited exposure to American pop culture. But they know Michael Jordan, a former teammate of Rodman's when they both played for the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

During a historic visit to North Korea in 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented Kim Jong Il, famously an NBA fan, with a basketball signed by Jordan that later went on display in the huge cave at Mount Myohyang that holds gifts to the leaders.

North Korea even had its own Jordan wannabe: Ri Myong Hun, a 7-foot-9 star player who is said to have renamed himself "Michael" after his favorite player and moved to Canada for a few years in the 1990s in hopes of making it into the NBA.

Even today, Jordan remains well-loved here. At the Mansudae Art Studio, which produces the country's top art, a portrait of Jordan spotted last week, complete with a replica of his signature and "NBA" painted in one corner, seemed an odd inclusion among the propaganda posters and celadon vases on display.

An informal poll of North Koreans revealed that "The Worm" isn't quite as much a household name in Pyongyang.

But Kim Jong Un, also said to be a basketball fanatic, would have been an adolescent when Rodman, now 51, was with the Bulls, and when the Harlem Globetrotters, an exhibition basketball team, kept up a frenetic travel schedule worldwide.

In a memoir about his decade serving as Kim Jong Il's personal sushi chef, a man who goes by the pen name Kenji Fujimoto recalled that basketball was the young Kim Jong Un's biggest passion, and that the Chicago Bulls were his favorite.

The notoriously unpredictable and irrepressible Rodman said he has no special antics up his sleeve for making his mark on one of the world's most regimented and militarized societies, a place where order and conformity are enforced with Stalinist fervor.

But he said he isn't leaving any of his piercings behind. "They shouldn't be scared of a few piercings."

__

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report from Washington. Follow AP's bureau chief for Pyongyang and Seoul at www.twitter.com/newsjean.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-26-NKorea-Rodman/id-1dbab4ea684d41ee900a0a5cb3b3d520

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Treats to pamper pets or pet lovers this Valentine&#39;s Day | MNN ...

I could eat a garlic sandwich and my dog Lulu would still be happy to see me, covering my face with kisses if I let her. My friends and loved ones aren?t quite so generous with their affection. Perhaps that's why pet spending has steadily increased over the past decade, particularly during the sweetest month of the year. Valentine?s Day spending will reach an estimated $18.5 billion this year, according to a National Retail Federation survey. Even in this sluggish economy, that figure is up slightly from 2012, when consumers said they planned to spend $17.6 billion. In addition to candy hearts and flowers, expect to see plenty of carob-coated dog biscuits and heart-shaped catnip toys in the mix. Pet owners will spend an estimated $815 million on their furry friends this year.

?

?No matter what kind of difficulty people are going through ? whether it?s a natural disaster or what have you ? they cling to the people they love,? said pet lifestyle expert Kristen Levine, who offers advice on her Radio Beastro petcast. ?In today?s digital age, I communicate with my husband via text throughout the day, I talk to people by phone or email. Pets are the creatures we only communicate with face to face. It?s the only tangible physical relationship we have. You can?t cut corners with technology. We need that tangible connection.?

?

To celebrate that unconditional love, Levine offers a few fun suggestions to pamper pets and the people who love them.

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1. Get pets moving.

Obesity applies to people as well as pets, so she recommends gifts that promote exercise. To facilitate lengthy walks and playtime in the park, Levine suggests the Sleash line for dog owners. Touted as an ?all-in-one dog outing system,? the sport pack ($44.95) includes a carrier that holds keys ? or poop bags ? as well as a slinger dog toy for hands-free fetch, a leash and two slotted rubber balls.

?

?It?s Chilly?s favorite ball by far and he has every toy imaginable,? said Levine of her 3-year-old Lab-Dalmatian mix. ?There are so many benefits to spending time with pets and helping them exercise. That?s what they want most from us is our time. Do it with exercise.?

?

To keep feline friends moving, she opts for modular Kitty?scape structures from Solvit. Interchangeable kits can be reconfigured to challenge frisky kitties. The basic kit ($74.95 at Amazon.com) contains a sea grass scratching column, three platforms and a teaser toy.

?

2. Tap into technology.

For the person who loves pets and gadgets, Levine strongly recommends the Tagg pet Tracker GPS system ($99.95) made especially for dogs. If pets go beyond a designated border, Tagg notifies owners via text messages or email. Levine and her husband put Tagg to the test last year when Chilly spent time with her sister.

?

?My husband I and were on an anniversary ski trip and we get a text that says, ?Chilly has left the property,?? Levine said. She immediately called her sister, who was providing baby-sitting duties along with her three young boys. ?I called her and said, ?Did you know my dog?s missing?? They found him six doors down at the neighbor?s house. I can?t imagine what I would do if my dog disappeared and I never found him.?

?

Cats also can pounce on the tech bandwagon with fun apps such as the popular ?Cat Fishing? game from Friskies. For those who feel particularly brave, check out the ?You vs. Cat? app and see who has the best reaction time. (The YouTube video?below is so hilarious that I?m almost tempted to get a cat and try this app myself.) And yes, there is a Friskies YouTube channel.

?

?

3. Spread the love.

For those of us who don?t own pocket pooches, Levine shares a way to show your puppy love on the go. iPhone cases ($30) and temporary tattoos ($10) from Steadfast Friends feature silhouettes of various dog breeds, ranging from Airedale terriers to Yorkies. Shipping is free and 10 percent of each purchase goes to a pet charity. She also is partial to the fun and funky apparel line called Dog is Good. As a former foster mom to active puppies, I have found myself living the message on one T-shirt from the company: ?It?s all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone.? Dog is Good has expanded to include gear for cat- and horse-lovers. The company also donates a percentage of profits to animal welfare organizations so pet love pays it forward.

?

4. Protect those chompers.

Since February is Pet Dental Health Month, Levine offers a Valentine?s Day gift idea that helps fight plaque buildup as well as boredom. Bristle Bones ($5.89 to $16.89 at Doctors Foster and Smith) combine the features of a chew toy, rubber ball and rawhide treat in one fun package that clean a dog?s teeth. When the sections get worn out, simply purchase replacements. Don't be offended if your four-legged Valentine rewards your generosity by dashing off in the opposite direction. It happens to me every year.

?

? Morieka Johnson

?

?

Related stories on MNN:

Source: http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/treats-to-pamper-pets-or-pet-lovers-this-valentines-day

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Playstation 4 Games Warn of PS-Style Surveillance

The debut of the PlayStation 4 in New York City Wednesday (Feb. 20) was as remarkable for what it showed as for what it didn't show: Sony unveiled a raft of beautiful, incredibly realistic new games, but not the console itself. The device, perhaps in a straight-from-the-lab rough appearance, was somewhere offstage, driving the giant projectors that broadcast previews of upcoming games around the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Out-of-site-yet-everywhere seems to be the overall metaphor of the PlayStation 4 (PS4), as Sony described it. The PS4 (which Sony plans to sell by year's end) is not so much a machine as a network ? with games delivered from the cloud, games that can follow you as you move from the PS4 to a mobile device, and the ability to post video clips of your adventures or even broadcast entire games online.

"We're making it so your friends can look over your shoulder virtually and interact with you as you play," said David Perry, co-founder of Gaikai, a company that Sony bought to build its cloud-gaming network.

But not only friends will be watching. Sony will. "The PlayStation network will get to know you by understanding your personal preferences and the preferences of your community and turn this knowledge into useful information that will enhance your gameplay," Perry said.

Every important technology has good and bad uses. Some of the upcoming games that Sony showcased for the PS4 explore, perhaps unwittingly, the darker side of omnipresent, omniscient networks similar to what Sony is building.

Suckerpunch's new game "inFAMOUS: Second Son" explores the surveillance state. "Right now, there are 4.2 million security cameras distributed all around Great Britain. That's one camera for every 14 citizens," said game director Nate Fox, in a dramatic introduction to the game. "It is hard to put your finger on what that sense of security is worth, but it is easy to say what it costs ? our freedom."

Like Great Britain, the PS4 will also have a vast network of cameras ? not one for every 14 citizens, but one for every console owner. At the presentation, Marc Cerny, head of the PlayStation hardware platform, showed a photo of a depth-sensing stereo camera for the PS4, designed to track the new Dualshock controller as it moves.

The danger in "Second Son" is that some individuals have developed super-human powers (a la "Heroes") that make them living weapons. They carry no traditional weapons and show no physical signs of danger ? rendering all the modern surveillance tech impotent.

But what if new security technology could go beyond the physical? What if it could read people's intentions and predict their next moves?

What if it were like the PS4?

Sony believes that PlayStation owners simply give off so much data as they interact intensively with the console, other devices and the network that it can know what its users intend to do.

"People haven't' changed, but now everybody's broadcasting. And once you've seen it, all of it, how do you look away?"

That's not a quote from a Sony or game-company executive. It's from the lead character in the upcoming Ubisoft game "Watch Dogs." It follows a vigilante character with access to all that information. As he walks through Chicago, message windows pop up, showing details about the people he passes. Marcus Rhodes, a 43-year-old Iraq War veteran, is unemployed. Sandy Higgins, a grade-school teacher, recently won a child-custody battle and has a 30 percent chance of being a crime victim. [See also:?Is Your Cellphone Under Surveillance?]

In the clip, the vigilante uses the knowledge to find a woman in danger and to track her attacker in a chase through the city. But as the police then pursue him, the game shows how much data the protagonist himself is giving off.

It's rather unlikely that the PlayStation 4 was designed to be a mass surveillance device, a Trojan Horse of a game console designed to slip spooks into the living room. Far likelier, Sony just wants the games to be more involving and better targeted for the customers, so they will buy and play more games.

"If we know enough about you to predict the next game you'll purchase, then that game can be loaded and ready to go before you even click the button," Marc Cerny said.

But still, the PS4 will collect a lot of information. That itself, in the right imagination, could be fodder for a good dystopian video game.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily, or on Facebook.?Follow Sean Captain @seancaptain

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/playstation-4-games-warn-ps-style-surveillance-135426994.html

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Women's Nordic Skiing at NCAA Central Region Championships at Houghton, Mich.

Women's Nordic Skiing at NCAA Central Region Championships Houghton, Mich.

The Gustavus women's nordic skiing team will compete in the NCAA Central Region Championships in Houghton, Michigan on Saturday, February 23 and Sunday, February 24.

Give a gift to Gustavus Nordic Skiing

Source: https://gustavus.edu/calendar/women-s-nordic-skiing-at-ncaa-central-region-championships-2/35692

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2013 NFL Draft Profile: Gavin Escobar, Tight End, San Diego State University

Home ? 2013 NFL Draft ? 2013 NFL Draft Profile: Gavin Escobar, Tight End, San Diego State University

Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The Pewter Plank recently posted our review of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers contributions from the tight end position in 2012, and we pointed out that there was a?distinct?difference between the tight ends on the roster this past season. Luke Stocker and Nate Byham were both bruising blockers, contributing mostly by paving the way for the running of Doug Martin. Dallas Clark was the primary receiving tight end, failing to contribute to the blocking schemes, and instead adding a moderate amount of production as a pass receiver. With Clark aging and out of contract, it?s obvious that the Buccaneers will need a replacement for him, and it needs to be someone suited to his role in the offense. A tight end with reliable hands who can run good routes and provide a short to intermediate option for Josh Freeman.

That?s where Gavin Escobar is at his best.

The San Diego State prospect is a massive human being, measuring 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighing 254 pounds. He?s got long arms, big hands, and a solidly built frame, but doesn?t look awkward or uncoordinated considering his size. He?s certainly not the fastest player, even at his position, clocking in at 4.84 seconds in the 40 yard dash at the NFL Draft Scouting Combine. What he lacks in straight line speed, he more than makes up for in agility and change-of-direction, posting solid times in the 3-cone drill and 20-yard-shuttle. This means that Escobar has the natural ability to make cuts while running patterns and beat defenders by breaking hard to the football on timing routes. ?He combines this agility with amazing hands, snatching the ball out of the air with ease with his big hands. He impressed while running ?The Gauntlet? drill at the combine, where he runs in a straight line and receives passes from all directions. He caught every pass in stride and used his hands to secure the ball away from his body and bring the ball in naturally. So Escobar proved at the combine what we already knew about him, he?s a big target that runs good routes and has incredible hands.

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Escobar was one of the best tight ends in the nation in 2012, hauling in 42 catches for 543 yards and 6 scores. He was a semifinalist for the Mackey Award (given to the nation?s best tight end), and first-team All-Conference in the Mountain West. He had an even more impressive 2011, including a two score game against Boise State. The decline in productivity is likely due to a drop in quarterback performance, as 2011 signal caller Ryan Lindley moved on to the NFL.

The knock on Escobar, aside from lacking in timed speed, is his inability to be a full-time blocker. Gavin was mainly used as a slot receiver at SDSU, providing a big target for his quarterback, and not often kept in to block for runners. He is somewhat capable of blocking, according to his CBSSports Draft Profile. This concern won?t be as big of an issue for the Buccaneers, who already have solid blocking tight ends. Escobar could play in passing situations more often than not, or line up as a slot receiver with Luke Stocker playing on the line. He could be called upon to block when needed, but he would not need to be a key part of the run blocking efforts for the Buccaneers. The other concern listed on his draft profile is his tendency to get pushed off his route at the line, but that this is something he?s been improving upon. Escobar will likely face tougher competition in the NFL when it comes to getting off the line and getting into his route, so this is something that teams must look at carefully when evaluating Gavin.

Overall, I believe that Escobar would fit perfectly in the offensive role left vacant by Dallas Clark. A taller receiver with soft hands would be a great target for Josh Freeman, who prefers to throw passes higher and allow his receivers to go up and get them. Escobar will be available on the second day of the draft, between rounds two and three, and I think the Buccaneers should definitely target him after?addressing?defensive back and defensive line needs at the 2013 NFL Draft.

Follow?@ThePewterPlank?for the latest Buccaneers news?and ?Like? us on our new Facebook?page.

Topics: NFL Draft, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Source: http://thepewterplank.com/2013/02/24/2013-nfl-draft-profile-gavin-escobar-tight-end-san-diego-state-university/

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Like A Net Nanny For The Mobile App Age, AppCertain Alerts Parents What Apps Their Kids Download And What They Do

It's rare to come across a service that's directly tackling a problem affecting a large number of people out in the real world, but?AppCertain?is doing just that. Designed for parents whose children use an iOS device like the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, this new app monitoring service sends out email alerts informing parents of the apps their kids have just installed, what those apps do, and whether or not they're appropriate for children.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BknyJmCeV8Q/

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Study reveals Apple iPhone to be 300% more reliable than Samsung models Apple f...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/GeekyGadgets/posts/10151323165435967

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Enyo arrives to Windows 8, WP8 and Blackberry 10 with version 2.2

Enyo originally came along from HP to help developers create resolution-independent webOS apps, but since version 2.0, it's become platform agnostic. While support for Windows 8 and WP8 through IE10 has been around for awhile, version 2.2 now brings packaged app creation for those OSes along with Blackberry 10 at the highest Tier 1 support level. The platform still requires native "container" software to package apps, with Enyo advising Visual Studio for Windows 8 and Cordova for WP8 and Blackberry 10. The company's swatted a few bugs and added contextual popups too, so if you're looking to get your JavaScript on, hit the source.

Filed under: Software

Comments

Source: Enyo

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/22/enyo-2-2-windows8-wp8-blackberry10/

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Cardinal-Electors Dolan and Mahony Deposed Before Heading to Rome for Papal Elections

As Laurie Goodstein is reporting now for the New York Times, a week before the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, is scheduled to go to Rome to elect the new pope, he's just been deposed in New York regarding his knowledge of abuse cases in his former archdiocese of Milwaukee. As Goodstein also notes, another cardinal-elector, His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony, will be deposed in Los Angeles later this week (see also Joshua McElwee at National Catholic Reporter).?

It should be a jarring thing for Catholics in the pews and the society at large that two Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, Timothy Dolan and Roger Mahony, are being deposed regarding sexual abuse cases before their flights to Rome to participate in what is called their "sacred duty" to elect the next pope.?

Quite a juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane.

For information about Dolan's involvement in pay-offs to abusive priests in the Milwaukee archdiocese--a story that hit the news last summer,?see this previous Bilgrimage posting. On Dolan's scheme to shelter Milwaukee archdiocesan funds from claims by abuse victims by hiding millions in cemetery trust funds, see this posting by Colleen Baker at Enlightened Catholicism.

As Kris Ward aptly notes, one day, a deposition about cover-up of abuse cases, the next, a flight to Rome to vote on the new pope.?

All in a day's work where the cardinal-electors are concerned. . . .

Source: http://bilgrimage.blogspot.com/2013/02/cardinal-electors-dolan-and-mahony.html

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Italy center-left ally says EU must loosen budget rules

ROME (Reuters) - A leading member of Italy's center-left coalition, frontrunner in polls for this weekend's election, said on Thursday the country should seek revisions of European Union budget rules.

"We have a duty to renegotiate the fiscal compact," Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left Ecology Freedom party (SEL), told a briefing for foreign reporters. "Europe needs expansive economic policies."

Some investors fear that Vendola will push a center-left government too far to the left and prevent a coalition agreement with outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, which is seen as the most market-friendly election outcome.

He is one of several front-line members of the center-left bloc who say the fiscal compact, a EU treaty imposing fiscal discipline and balanced budgets, will hamper Italy's recovery from its longest recession in two decades.

Vendola is the main coalition ally of Pier Luigi Bersani's Democratic Party (PD), which had a more than 5 point lead over Silvio Berlusconi's center-right when a polling blackout ahead of this weekend's election started on February 9.

While Bersani generally has tried to maintain good relations with Monti, Vendola and the prime minister have traded barbs throughout the election campaign.

"Monti's year in government left the country wounded," Vendola said on Thursday. "Austerity must be loosened to restore necessary oxygen to an economy that is out of breath."

Monti helped restore market confidence in Italy with an austerity drive when he was appointed in 2011 to head off a Greek-style debt crisis.

He sharply raised taxes and raised the retirement age to try to put accounts back on track, but the measures further weakened an economy already in recession.

Monti, now leader of a centrist bloc, may end up a Vendola ally after the vote if the center-left needs help to form a stable majority, despite the attacks during the campaign.

Monti has said Bersani should dump his coalition partner because he will hold up reforms that the euro zone's most sluggish economy desperately needs, while Vendola has accused Monti of stifling growth and driving up unemployment.

"I have no idiosyncratic personal beef with Monti," Vendola said. "If the center-left is not self-sufficient after the vote, we'll have to see if there is a majority in parliament that supports our agenda."

Bersani has said he will continue along Monti's path of fiscal prudence, while easing the tax burden on workers and pensioners. Monti has said he is willing to ally with "reformist" forces after the election.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Giselda Vagnoni; Writing by Steve Scherer; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-center-left-ally-says-eu-must-loosen-185230627.html

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