Einstein's theory of general relativity gets most extreme test yet

In their efforts to crack the mysteries of gravity, scientists continue to probe Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. The latest test involved a curious binary star system.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / April 25, 2013

Snow falls on the Albert Einstein Memorial Statue at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. during the early morning hours in February 2010. Scientists continue to probe Einstein's theory of general relativity, in their efforts to crack the mysteries of gravity.

Hyungwon Kang/Reuters/File

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The most massive neutron star known and its tightly orbiting companion, a wimp of a white-dwarf, have provided one of the most extreme tests yet of Einstein's theory of general relativity.

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The theory has again passed with flying colors ? for now.

Although the theory has cleared test after test over the past century, researchers keep trying to find its limits. They don't think it's wrong, just incomplete.

The other basic forces of nature ? the strong force, which binds particles in an atom's nucleus, the weak force, which governs radioactive decay, and electromagnetism ? have found explanations in quantum physics. Gravity is the only force that so far has resisted assimilation.

Many physicists are convinced that resistance is futile and that at some point gravity will yield to a quantum-physics explanation. But that breakdown may only become apparent under the most extreme conditions ? conditions no human technology can establish.

So researchers turn to the cosmos for their extremes. And in the binary pair identified as PSR J0348+0432, they've found perhaps the most extreme conditions yet.

The pair is located some 7,000 light-years from Earth. The neutron star is all that remains of a star at least 10 times more massive than the sun that ended its luminous run in an explosion known as a supernova. Astronomers estimate that the neutron star is about 12 miles across. But it is so dense that a thimble full of the matter the explosion left behind would weigh about 1 billion tons.

It's white dwarf companion is the slowly cooling end state of a star like the sun.

White dwarfs are dense as well, typically packing roughly half of the sun's mass into an object slightly larger than Earth. This one, however is a lightweight, tipping the scales at about 17 percent of the sun's mass into an object roughly seven times larger than Earth.

Follow-up observations at radio and visible wavelengths revealed a duo that orbits its combined center of mass once every 2.46 hours. Considering the two objects are about a 500,000 miles apart, that's a mighty brisk pace.

"What we were looking for were changes in the orbital period," Dr. Lynch explains, referring to the time it takes for the two objects to orbit each other.

Those changes arise because the act of orbiting dissipates energy. That energy leaves in the form of gravity waves ? ripples in space-time, the very fabric of the cosmos. These ripples travel through space almost as though some interstellar housekeeper was shaking out the sheets.

This loss of energy shortens the time it takes to complete an orbit, signaling that the two objects are slowing and inching closer to one another. Different theories of gravity offer up different predictions for the rate at which the orbits of objects as close and as massive as these decay.

The key issue: "Can we measure that number precisely enough that we can say this agrees with general relativity or disagrees?" Lynch says. After careful measurements using the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico to track the pulsar, and the Very Large Telescope in Chile to track the white dwarf, the answer is: Yes we can, and it agrees with general relativity.

Beyond the test of Einstein's theory of general relativity, the system also poses a challenge to ideas about how binary systems form, Lynch adds.

The neutron star was discovered in 2009 as researchers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's facility at Green Bank, W. Va., combed through data gathered two years earlier during a hunt for rapidly spinning neutron stars, dubbed pulsars.

Pulsars earned their name because they emit radio waves as they spin, acting like beacons in the cosmos. Researchers were able to detect this neutron star because it, too, is a pulsar, spinning once every 39 milliseconds.

The team, led by John Antoniadis, with the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, also combed through data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to see if anything showed up in the pulsar's vicinity at visible wavelengths. That's when they found the pulsar's companion.

Astronomers have found other pulsars that spin as fast as the pulsar in the PSR J0348+0432 system, he says. But when such pulsars appear in binary systems, their companions tend to have more mass.

It's the combination of a pulsar with a relatively long spin period in a tight orbit with a relatively low-mass white dwarf "that makes this a little strange," he says, adding that the combination suggests that the system had a unique evolutionary history,

So how fast is the orbital period decreasing? The pace is slowing by about 2.7 ten-trillionths of a second per second. At that rate, some 400 million years from now, the binary system will become an ultra-compact binary system with X-rays for a beacon, the team suggests.

If the neutron star ends up near the high end of the mass scale for such objects as it draws matter from its partner, an eventual merger with the white dwarf could lead to a catastrophic collapse into a black hole ? an object whose gravity is so strong that not even light, traveling at 186,000 miles a second, can escape. If the neutron star star ends up with a more middling mass, the white dwarf in essence would be considered a planet once it cools sufficiently.

A formal report of this test of Einstein's theory of general relativity was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/WR6kqBKKYj0/Einstein-s-theory-of-general-relativity-gets-most-extreme-test-yet

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Play of the Day: The New $100 Bill

BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) - Barcelona will try every trick in the book to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit against Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final return leg on Wednesday, honorary Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer warned on Monday. Bayern crushed the Spaniards last week in a surprisingly one-sided encounter but Beckenbauer, former player, coach and president of Germany's most successful club, warned that Barcelona were not ready to surrender. "Barca will try everything to throw Bayern off balance," he told Bild newspaper. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/play-day-100-bill-103744964.html

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Rear seat design: A priority for children's safety in cars

Apr. 29, 2013 ? A research report released today from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) provides specific recommendations for optimizing the rear seat of passenger vehicles to better protect its most common occupants -- children and adolescents. By bringing technologies already protecting front seat passengers to the rear seat and modifying the geometry of the rear seat to better fit this age group, the US could achieve important reductions in serious injury and death. Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for children older than 4 years and resulted in 952 fatalities in 2010 for children age 15 and younger.

"Our review of the current science and data regarding rear seat occupant safety found clear evidence that use of a child restraint system (CRS) is protective for younger children. However, older children who have outgrown child safety seats and booster seats are at greater risk of injury," says Kristy Arbogast, PhD, lead author of the report and director of engineering at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP. "Many technologies that protect front seat passengers, such as load limiters and pretensioners, are not commonly found in the rear seat even though sled tests and computer modeling suggest that these seat belt features have the potential to reduce the risk of serious head and chest injury for rear seated occupants."

In addition to front seat restraints, CHOP researchers suggest that cues can be taken from booster seat design to determine how to keep kids who have outgrown boosters properly positioned in vehicle seat belts so the restraint can perform properly. They propose that adjustments to the geometry of the rear seat -- including shorter seat cushions, lower seat belt anchorages and contoured seats -- could increase comfort, keep the shoulder belt in position and, in side impact crashes, reduce lateral movement.

"For children under age 13, the rear seat is still the safer seating position as compared to the front seat of passenger vehicles," says Dr. Arbogast. "But we can do a better job at protecting children who have outgrown add-on restraints."

The report authors recommend the development of regulatory procedures or vehicle performance assessment programs for consumers that evaluate protection of rear seat occupants. Common vehicle rating systems do not evaluate the safety of rear seat occupants in frontal crashes. In addition to engineering solutions, the report also recommends policies and programs to increase rear seat restraint use, which remains lower than front seat restraint use and is a key risk factor for dying in a crash. Additional research is needed to further inform these priorities.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/IAXBeoPuxK0/130429094654.htm

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Rolling Stones rock small LA club ahead of tour

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? For one night only, the Rolling Stones were an up-and-coming band again.

The legendary group rocked a small club in Los Angeles on Saturday night for a miniscule crowd compared to the thousands set to see them launch their "50 and Counting" anniversary tour a week later on May 3 at the Staples Center.

The band kicked off Saturday's hush-hush 90-minute concert at the Echoplex in the hip Echo Park neighborhood with "You Got Me Rocking" before catapulting into a mix of new and old material, as well as their blusey covers of classics from Otis Redding ("That's How Strong My Love Is"), Chuck Berry ("Little Queenie") and The Temptations ("Just My Imagination").

"Welcome to Echo Park, a neighborhood that's always coming up ? and I'm glad you're here to welcome an up-and-coming band," lead singer Mick Jagger joked after the second song of the evening, "Respectable."

Despite clocking in several decades as band, Jagger, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood showed no signs of slowing down Saturday.

Jagger, who promptly ditched a black-and-white track jacket emblazoned with the band's logo after the first few songs, worked the crowd into a sing-a-long frenzy with "Miss You," complete with a harmonica solo from the strutting frontman.

Tickets to the Echoplex concert were sold earlier in the day for $20 each ? a fraction of what tickets to the tour cost.

Hundreds of fans lined up outside the El Rey Theatre across town earlier Saturday for a chance to attend the spontaneous show. Buyers were limited to one ticket, and they were required to pay with cash, show a government-issued ID, wear a wristband with their name on it and be photographed. Their names were verified at the venue, which has a capacity of about 700.

Cameras and smartphones weren't allowed inside the Echoplex, which usually plays host to hipster bands and mash-up dance parties. The lack of personal recording devices made the Stones' performance feel even more exclusive and old school, freeing concertgoers' hands of the gizmos that have become commonplace at concerts nowadays, and further bonding the crowd, many of whom built up camaraderie during the confusing ticket lottery earlier in the day.

Toward the end of Saturday's show, the band was joined by former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor for their version of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," as well as "Midnight Rambler."

The band, which was backed by Darryll Jones on bass, Chuck Leavell on keys, Bobby Keys on sax and Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer as back-up singers, encored with the hits "Brown Sugar" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

"(This is) the first show of the tour, probably the best one," Jagger said at the end of the 90-minute set.

Bruce Willis, Gwen Stefani and Skrillex were among the famous faces in the sold-out crowd.

Rumors of the surprise show spread across social networks last week after the band teased the appearance on their Twitter accounts. The dance-pop band New Build, which was originally scheduled to play the Echoplex on Saturday, was first to leak details about the performance.

"Our gig got shifted b/c the Rolling Stones are playing Echoplex," the band posted Friday on Twitter. They joked that they were looking forward to "having it out" with the Stones.

The Rolling Stones performed a few dates together in London, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Newark, N.J., last winter, but didn't announce a tour until earlier this month. They will play 17 dates in the United States but said they may add more down the line. The lowest price for tickets to the show at the Staples Center, which has a capacity of about 20,000, is $250.

___

Online:

http://www.rollingstones.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rolling-stones-rock-small-la-club-ahead-tour-125211752.html

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Acer Aspire S7-191-6640

The Acer Aspire S7-191-6640 ($1,199.99) is a road warrior's ultrabook. It has high-end features like a 128GB SSD, 1080p ten-point touch screen, and weighs less than 2.25 pounds without accessories. The ultrabook comes highly recommended as a commuter or jet traveler who must have a full Windows 8 PC with her at all times. Only a few stumbles?like limited ports and anemic standard battery life?keep the system from our highest honors.

Design and Features
The S7-191-6640 looks every bit the little brother of the 13.3-inch Acer Aspire S7-391-9886 ($1,649.99), with a slim, compact profile, measuring only 11.25 by 7.75 by 0.48 inches (HWD). The S7-191-6640 has an aluminum lid with a diagonal brushed pattern, Gorilla Glass 2 covering the 11.6-inch touch screen, and a silver-colored keyboard and keyboard deck. The full sized keyboard is backlit, and is comfortable to use despite a very shallow key travel. Like its big brother, the S7-191-6640 eschews the row of function keys, rather incorporating those keys into the number keys on the top of the keyboard. Other keys do double duty as well: Fn-U increases the keyboard backlit brightness, for example.

The S7-191-6640 weighs a scant 2.24 pounds alone, and a still svelte 2.63 pounds with the included extended battery installed. This makes the system just as portable as systems like the Apple MacBook Air 11-inch (Mid 2012) ($999) and HP EliteBook 2170p ($1,099). These are road warrior systems, where you give up a little (processor power, number of I/O ports, etc.) in return for a system that fits easily in your commute bag and can travel with you everywhere.

The S7-191-6640 comes with a 11.6-inch, 1,920-by-1,080-resolution touch screen, which significantly more packed with pixels than the 1,366 by 768 resolution screen usually seen on smaller displays. This means that you can view all the video in a 1080p HD online video, as well as several full pages of data when viewing a spreadsheet or Word document. You'll find a larger work surface on the S7-191-6640 than on systems like the HP Envy X2 (11-g012nr) ($849), which has an 11.6-inch 1,366 by 768 screen. But 1080p in such a small screen can also mean that text at 100% zoom will be quite small, so you may have to fiddle with the zoom settings a bit if you're eyesight isn't 20/20. Also, some games may not look quite right until you find the right combination of settings. That said, we think many users will welcome the HD video capabilities of the S7-191-6640.

The screen uses IPS technology, so it's visible from many angles. Speaking of angles, the system's screen hinge has a dual friction setup, so it's harder to push the screen past 90 degrees. Acer did this to help curb screen bounce when you use the built-in touch screen. The touch screen is responsive, correctly interpreting our taps with a single finger. This is an improvement over the Acer Iconia W700-6465 tablet ($999.99), which had some trouble by registering a tap on the maximize button when we meant to tap the close button on windows in Desktop mode.

Speaking of video, the S7-191-6640 comes with a micro-HDMI port on the back, which requires an adapter, which isn't included. It's the same for other formats like VGA or DVI. The S7-191-6640 comes with a Bluetooth mouse for precise pointing. The system only has two USB 3.0 ports, so connecting your smartphone and an external hard drive would fill up the ports.

There are a couple of indents built into the chassis to hook up the included extended battery. The system doesn't have a traditional removable battery or a docking port, so the extended battery uses the laptop's charging port to pass power through. This simplistic workaround has a drawback: The extended battery doesn't show up in Windows, so you'll have to interpret the five-lights in the LED indicator on the side of the extended battery to figure out how much charge you've got. Rotary screws hold the battery in place, making the whole exercise feel like a laptop battery setup from the mid 1990s. It's effective, but nevertheless feels like a kludge on what is otherwise an elegant looking system.

Thanks to Microsoft Signature setup, the S7-191-6640 comes with no extra software pre-loaded aside from Microsoft products like Office Trial, Skype, and Windows Defender. This is a vast improvement over systems like the HP Envy X2, which has quite a few programs pre-installed. The S7-191-6640 comes with a 128GB SSD, with about 75GB free when you take it out of the box. The system has a one-year warranty.

Performance
The Intel Core i5-3317U and four GB of memory are pretty standard specs for systems in this price range, The Acer Iconia W700-6465, HP EliteBook 2170p, and the Editor's Choice for high-end ultrabooks, the Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BHI5T ($1199), all come with this setup. Therefore, it's no surprise that these systems all have similar CineBench, Handbrake, and Photoshop CS6 results. The HP lags behind the others in PCMark7, due to its spinning hard drive, but all are closely matched on the 3D tests, since they all have Intel HD Graphics 4000.

The performance stat that really matters is the system's battery rundown score, and on that note the S7-191-6640 is mixed. The sealed internal battery is only good for a short 3 hours 42 minutes. This is far less than the Asus UX31A-BHI5T (6:38) or the MacBook Air (5:19). However, when you add the extended battery, the S7-191-6640 achieves an excellent 6:58. It's like Acer had to follow a mandate to make this system one of the thinnest and lightest, then said wait a minute, we can't ship a laptop that lasts less than four hours. The extended battery feels like an afterthought, one that it easily lost and less sturdy than if they had simply added a couple of millimeters to the system's thickness.

And there's the rub: If the Acer Aspire S7-191-6640 had been a few millimeters thicker with a larger capacity battery and the same 2.63 pound weight, it might have given serious competition to the Editors' Choice Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BHI5T. The Asus UX31A-BHI5T has a larger screen and includes a mini-VGA-to-VGA adapter, so it's better suited to corridor dwellers than road warriors, but otherwise the systems are similar in specs, capabilities, and pricing. The S7-191-6640 is just a touch better for the road warrior, but it's not enough for a clear-cut victory.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Acer Aspire S7-191-6640 with several other laptops side by side.

More laptop reviews:
??? Acer Aspire S7-191-6640
??? HP Pavilion TouchSmart 15z-b000 Sleekbook
??? Gigabyte P2742G-CF1
??? Acer Aspire V5-571PG-9814
??? HP ElitePad 900
?? more

laptop For Print Production Port Chart [[Y/N]]: Benchmark Chart[[Y/N]]: Scribble Text [[List text or say "none."]]: Print Summary [[List text or say "none."]]: Specs [[Paste Excel spec sheet into this Document]]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/EvTg13zdZJI/0,2817,2418221,00.asp

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Share the vision of joining in | Surf Coast Times ? Bellarine Times ...

Legally blind Patsy Barton, 83, is helped by Vision Australia support worker Marg Tozer to make a woollen scarf.

Vision Australia will showcase its services at an open day in Geelong next month. The five-hour event will promote the non-profit organisation?s services.

Vision Australia encourages those who are blind, sighted or have low vision to participate to their potential within their community. There will be service information, displays, demonstrations, clients, staff and volunteers in Vision Australia who will be available for questions.

Vision Australia information library services will be present to discuss talking books, magazines and other information. Displays include recreation options, adaptive technology, orientation and mobility, Seeing Eye Dogs Australia, orthoptics and children?s services.
Visitors can view the Geelong Vision Australia Radio studio.

This broadcasts on 99.5FM ? where volunteers work to provide a very valuable service to people who are blind, have low vision or are print handicapped.

The Geelong Macular Support Group will meet for their ?bring your own lunch? meeting from noon-12.30pm and the door is open for anyone interested to join them. From 12.45-1.45pm, there will be a presentation on DisabilityCare Australia (the new name for the National Disability Insurance Scheme), followed by a presentation on adaptive technology.

The Vision Australia open day will be held at 79 High Street, Belmont from 10am-3pm on May 3. For more information, call Noel on 5249 2701.

Source: http://www.surfcoasttimes.com.au/news/community/2013/04/29/share-the-vision-of-joining-in/

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Quarterbacks in low demand

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Remember when Matt Barkley and Ryan Nassib were in a ?two-horse race? to be the Bills? pick at No. 8? Neither do they. Unpredictability remained the theme of the 2013 NFL Draft on Friday, with Barkley and Nassib both failing to find new homes while Tyrann ?Honey Badger? Mathieu and Manti Te?o saw their slides stop in ideal spots. Oh, and you may have heard: the New York Jets found a new quarterback. ????

BROADWAY GENO

On Thursday, Geno Smith was so despondent he decided to leave New York in a tizzy. 24 hours and one cooler head later, he found out he may?never leave. The most picked apart prospect in this year?s class has found a home, albeit one where the scrutiny won?t dissipate, but intensify. Make no mistake: Smith is the Jets? new quarterback. Tim Tebow will soon be gone. Mark Sanchez ? and his comical, fully guaranteed $8.25 million salary ? shouldn?t be far behind. That leaves Smith to ?compete? with David Garrard. It?s a competition that will be rigged in his favor, and one where even if he loses the first battle, he?ll most definitely win the war. Will Smith ? who threw for 42 touchdowns compared to just six interceptions while converting 71.2 percent of his passes as a senior ? cut it in the NFL? It?s hard to say. He missed more open throws than his completion percentage would indicate, and appeared to lose focus as the season progressed. But Sanchez has proven beyond any doubt he?s not the answer in New York. It?s time for a new question. ???????

THE MANTI MOMENT

Don?t get me wrong: San Diego is an extremely nice place. It?s clean, has a world-class zoo and weather you?d usually only expect to find in a ?Truman Show?-type bubble. But in NFL terms? It?s relatively anonymous, especially with the Chargers undertaking a mini-rebuild and facing an uncertain future in their home of 53 years. In other words, it?s an absolutely perfect spot for Manti Te?o to remake his image and launch his pro career. Between New Year?s Day and the Draft, Te?o?s life spiralled from idyllic to a Coen Brothers-esque nightmare. Everything that was good became bad, and the bad was really, really embarrassing. It was the kind of baggage that might crush a player under the bright lights of New York City, or even in a football-mad place like Minnesota. In San Diego, Te?o has found a home where he can focus on football instead of being the focus. Unlike when he received that first fateful message from ?Lennay Kekua,? Te?o is in the right place at the right time.

????

FREE FALL OF THE NIGHT

Geno Smith has found happiness. Manti Te?o has found peace. Matt Barkley? Pain. The one-time ?guaranteed No. 1 overall pick? has tumbled all the way to the fourth round ? at the very least ? which is just two fewer losses than USC suffered during its disastrous 2012 season. This, after Barkley was promoted by a handful of high-profile writers as a possible option for the Bills at No. 8. We know why Barkley is falling. He has a weak arm. It potentially got weaker when he racked his shoulder against UCLA in November. But this far? There?s no great explanation, especially with so many teams having such dire needs at quarterback. The smart money is on Barkley coming off the board early on day three, but then again, the smart money was on him coming off the board early on day two. Barkley will find himself an NFL team, but not before he loses a good deal of sanity. ??

HONEY, NO LONGER BADGERED

A player known for his off-the-field missteps as much as his amazing nickname committed one more blunder on Wednesday. Not only did Tyrann Mathieu decide to host a draft-night blowout, he decided to host a draft night blowout for "1st round draft pick Tyrann Mathieu, AKA Honey Badger of LSU." Or at least that?s what his flier said. The party was soon canceled, but reality wasn?t. Mathieu didn?t come off the board in the first round, or even the second, falling all the way to the Cardinals at No. 69 in the third. But while the slide may have been humbling, the destination was a relief. The Honey Badger will be playing alongside his college teammate and offseason training partner, CB Patrick Peterson. The jury is very much still out on whether Mathieu can get his act together, but he?s definitely in the right spot.

BIGGEST MISS BY MOCK DRAFTS

Barkley and Nassib are the obvious answers, but running backs Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin aren?t far behind. Widely considered the top two backs in the draft, Lacy didn?t get off the schneid until No. 61, while Franklin is still twisting in the wind. Three runners came off the board before Lacy (Giovani Bernard, Le'Veon Bell?and Montee Ball), while one more went right after (Christine Michael). Things are even more bleak for Franklin, who will now be selected after Arkansas? Knile Davis. This is the same Knile Davis who hasn?t put anything good on tape since 2010. Now the question is whether Franklin will slide out of the draft altogether like Chris Polk in 2012. It?s highly unlikely, but this has become the draft of ?highly unlikely.?

INSTANT FANTASY IMPACT

After carrying the ball a staggering 924 times in four college seasons, Montee Ball may not be in store for a long NFL career. That?s an absurd amount of mileage for a player still eight months shy of his 23rd birthday. That doesn?t mean he won?t have a productive NFL career, however. Ball is not a special athlete, but he is a tenacious one. A powerful, one-cut back who runs angry, Ball is ready made to exploit the soft fronts he?ll face thanks to Peyton Manning?s $96 million arm, and is going to get more goal-line touches than most running backs could ever even dream of. That translates to fantasy gold, and major ? if not long-term ? production. ???

BIGGEST REACH OF THE NIGHT

Bill Belichick knows more about football than you. He knows more about football than almost anybody. But sometimes he knows too much for his own good. For all we know, Rutgers S Duron Harmon is a good player. We also know there was no need to snag someone widely considered a late-round prospect at No. 91. Head-scratching day-two picks have become an annual rite of spring for BB and the Patriots, but the problem is most of them still aren?t finding the itch. Maybe Harmon is the next Rob Gronkowski, but there?s a far greater chance he?s the next Tavon Wilson. ??

SURPRISE OF THE NIGHT

As we?ve established, it was a night of many surprises, but how about CB Dwayne Gratz, LB Sio Moore and CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson? They?re the three UConn Huskies who all came off the board between picks 64-70. Although UConn football is no longer an afterthought, the fact that it bested Miami (FL), Michigan and Ohio State?s combined total draft picks in the span of only seven selections is stunning.

Remember when Matt Barkley and Ryan Nassib were in a ?two-horse race? to be the Bills? pick at No. 8? Neither do they. Unpredictability remained the theme of the 2013 NFL Draft on Friday, with Barkley and Nassib both failing to find new homes while Tyrann ?Honey Badger? Mathieu and Manti Te?o saw their slides stop in ideal spots. Oh, and you may have heard: the New York Jets found a new quarterback. ????

BROADWAY GENO

On Thursday, Geno Smith was so despondent he decided to leave New York in a tizzy. 24 hours and one cooler head later, he found out he may?never leave. The most picked apart prospect in this year?s class has found a home, albeit one where the scrutiny won?t dissipate, but intensify. Make no mistake: Smith is the Jets? new quarterback. Tim Tebow will soon be gone. Mark Sanchez ? and his comical, fully guaranteed $8.25 million salary ? shouldn?t be far behind. That leaves Smith to ?compete? with David Garrard. It?s a competition that will be rigged in his favor, and one where even if he loses the first battle, he?ll most definitely win the war. Will Smith ? who threw for 42 touchdowns compared to just six interceptions while converting 71.2 percent of his passes as a senior ? cut it in the NFL? It?s hard to say. He missed more open throws than his completion percentage would indicate, and appeared to lose focus as the season progressed. But Sanchez has proven beyond any doubt he?s not the answer in New York. It?s time for a new question. ???????

THE MANTI MOMENT

Don?t get me wrong: San Diego is an extremely nice place. It?s clean, has a world-class zoo and weather you?d usually only expect to find in a ?Truman Show?-type bubble. But in NFL terms? It?s relatively anonymous, especially with the Chargers undertaking a mini-rebuild and facing an uncertain future in their home of 53 years. In other words, it?s an absolutely perfect spot for Manti Te?o to remake his image and launch his pro career. Between New Year?s Day and the Draft, Te?o?s life spiralled from idyllic to a Coen Brothers-esque nightmare. Everything that was good became bad, and the bad was really, really embarrassing. It was the kind of baggage that might crush a player under the bright lights of New York City, or even in a football-mad place like Minnesota. In San Diego, Te?o has found a home where he can focus on football instead of being the focus. Unlike when he received that first fateful message from ?Lennay Kekua,? Te?o is in the right place at the right time.

????

FREE FALL OF THE NIGHT

Geno Smith has found happiness. Manti Te?o has found peace. Matt Barkley? Pain. The one-time ?guaranteed No. 1 overall pick? has tumbled all the way to the fourth round ? at the very least ? which is just two fewer losses than USC suffered during its disastrous 2012 season. This, after Barkley was promoted by a handful of high-profile writers as a possible option for the Bills at No. 8. We know why Barkley is falling. He has a weak arm. It potentially got weaker when he racked his shoulder against UCLA in November. But this far? There?s no great explanation, especially with so many teams having such dire needs at quarterback. The smart money is on Barkley coming off the board early on day three, but then again, the smart money was on him coming off the board early on day two. Barkley will find himself an NFL team, but not before he loses a good deal of sanity. ??

HONEY, NO LONGER BADGERED

A player known for his off-the-field missteps as much as his amazing nickname committed one more blunder on Wednesday. Not only did Tyrann Mathieu decide to host a draft-night blowout, he decided to host a draft night blowout for "1st round draft pick Tyrann Mathieu, AKA Honey Badger of LSU." Or at least that?s what his flier said. The party was soon canceled, but reality wasn?t. Mathieu didn?t come off the board in the first round, or even the second, falling all the way to the Cardinals at No. 69 in the third. But while the slide may have been humbling, the destination was a relief. The Honey Badger will be playing alongside his college teammate and offseason training partner, CB Patrick Peterson. The jury is very much still out on whether Mathieu can get his act together, but he?s definitely in the right spot.

BIGGEST MISS BY MOCK DRAFTS

Barkley and Nassib are the obvious answers, but running backs Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin aren?t far behind. Widely considered the top two backs in the draft, Lacy didn?t get off the schneid until No. 61, while Franklin is still twisting in the wind. Three runners came off the board before Lacy (Giovani Bernard, Le'Veon Bell?and Montee Ball), while one more went right after (Christine Michael). Things are even more bleak for Franklin, who will now be selected after Arkansas? Knile Davis. This is the same Knile Davis who hasn?t put anything good on tape since 2010. Now the question is whether Franklin will slide out of the draft altogether like Chris Polk in 2012. It?s highly unlikely, but this has become the draft of ?highly unlikely.?

INSTANT FANTASY IMPACT

After carrying the ball a staggering 924 times in four college seasons, Montee Ball may not be in store for a long NFL career. That?s an absurd amount of mileage for a player still eight months shy of his 23rd birthday. That doesn?t mean he won?t have a productive NFL career, however. Ball is not a special athlete, but he is a tenacious one. A powerful, one-cut back who runs angry, Ball is ready made to exploit the soft fronts he?ll face thanks to Peyton Manning?s $96 million arm, and is going to get more goal-line touches than most running backs could ever even dream of. That translates to fantasy gold, and major ? if not long-term ? production. ???

BIGGEST REACH OF THE NIGHT

Bill Belichick knows more about football than you. He knows more about football than almost anybody. But sometimes he knows too much for his own good. For all we know, Rutgers S Duron Harmon is a good player. We also know there was no need to snag someone widely considered a late-round prospect at No. 91. Head-scratching day-two picks have become an annual rite of spring for BB and the Patriots, but the problem is most of them still aren?t finding the itch. Maybe Harmon is the next Rob Gronkowski, but there?s a far greater chance he?s the next Tavon Wilson. ??

SURPRISE OF THE NIGHT

As we?ve established, it was a night of many surprises, but how about CB Dwayne Gratz, LB Sio Moore and CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson? They?re the three UConn Huskies who all came off the board between picks 64-70. Although UConn football is no longer an afterthought, the fact that it bested Miami (FL), Michigan and Ohio State?s combined total draft picks in the span of only seven selections is stunning.

Source: http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/43158/365/nfl-draft-round-2-recap

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Suspect indicted in Las Vegas Strip carnage

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A self-described pimp was indicted Friday on charges that could bring the death penalty if he is convicted in a fatal shooting and fiery crash that killed three people on the Las Vegas Strip in February.

In an unexpected move, the Clark County District Court grand jury also indicted Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, 27, on a charge of robbery and three felony sex assault counts in a 2010 rape case that had been dismissed last year when the alleged victim refused to testify.

Prosecutor David Stanton said the second indictment didn't represent double-jeopardy under Nevada law because the earlier case was dismissed without prejudice before a preliminary hearing. That let prosecutors seek new charges when the alleged victim, who now lives in Texas, testified before the grand jury in Las Vegas.

The rape charges could put Harris in prison for a minimum of 10 years. He could get two to 15 years on the robbery charge if convicted.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said he was considering the death penalty in the Las Vegas Strip incident but had not made a decision. Wolfson was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment.

The indictment in the Strip shooting and crash accused Harris of the same 11 felonies contained in a criminal complaint filed Feb. 22: Three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and seven counts of discharging a weapon.

Harris is expected to plead not guilty at his arraignment May 6 in Clark County District Court in both cases. A Monday court date in Las Vegas Justice Court was canceled.

Harris was being held without bail at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas. His lawyers, David Schieck and Randall Pike, weren't immediately available for comment.

Tourists compared the carnage and crashes early Feb. 21 to a Hollywood action film. The stunningly violent shooting occurred at the busy intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road, which is flanked by Caesars Palace, Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo.

Harris is accused of shooting from a black Range Rover into a Maserati sports car that then slammed into a taxi that burst into flames. Taxi driver Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas, and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash., were killed. The Maserati driver, 27-year-old Kenneth Cherry Jr., died at a hospital.

Another man in the Maserati suffered gunshot wounds and survived. Five other people in several other vehicles suffered lesser injuries.

Police said Harris and Cherry had exchanged angry words at a casino valet stand before speeding with tires squealing up the neon-splashed Strip. Investigators found no gun in the Maserati and no evidence that Cherry returned fire before crashing.

Long before the shooting, Harris posted videos of himself fanning a stack of $100 bills and boasting about luxury cars, prostitutes and living in a house full of women who were all paying him. Records showed he lived in Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas.

Records also show Harris was never convicted of pimping. But the 2010 case prompted police to seek charges of pandering by force and felon in possession of a concealed weapon. Prosecutors went ahead with robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon charges before the case was dropped.

Harris was previously convicted in South Carolina in 2004 of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol and convicted in Atlanta of a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

___

Find Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-indicted-las-vegas-strip-carnage-234734075.html

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Can a SmartPhone Do What Your Doctor Does?

Apr 27, 2013 7:00am

Dr. Meera Dalal tests a smartphone app that measures blood pressure at TEDMED. (Image courtesy Meera Dalal)

By Meera Dalal, M.D.

During our medical training, we?re taught to gather and use information from three sources: a patient history, a physical exam and lab tests. By far the most difficult to master is the physical exam. A good exam requires knowledge of anatomy and physiology and awareness of normal variations that allow a doctor to recognize abnormalities.

Technology can help, and at TEDMED 2013, the SmartPhone Physical exhibit by MedGadget/Nurture showcased some of the latest advances. The goal was to bring complex tests that are?pricey?to perform with traditional equipment into primary care clinics.

The result: accessible, affordable $200 phone accessories, most of them approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as ?equivalency standards,? or equal to the industry standard. This technology could improve access to these tests, cut down on referrals, and provide overall better care.

?It?s great for primary care physicians, new doctors with less experience, teaching and even some patients,? said Shiv Gaglani, a medical student at Johns Hopkins and curator of the exhibit. ?Some physicians can go through their entire training without really learning to look into an eye.?

But I was skeptical. In medicine, we learn to question everything. If my own mother came to me saying hugs were good for a cold, I would take the hug then ask to see the evidence.?So I decided to try it out. Gaglani would be my ?doctor? for this 10-minute exam using the following gadgets:

Blood Pressure Monitor by Withings and Blood Oxygen Monitor by iSp02

We started off, like in all physical exams, by taking the vital signs: blood pressure; heart rate; and oxygenation. The screen buzzed with colorful readings and real-time measurement, and then uploaded my information into an iPad, where I could get it through an app.? It was a start, but I?wasn?t?that impressed. The technology for ?automated vital signs? had been around for a while, and a few years ago I taught my 7-year-old cousin how to use the machine on my grandmother.

ECG Cellphone Case by AliveCor

By squeezing my thumbs onto the metal plates of this iPhone cover, I was able to get a partial ECG that was uploaded and emailed to me. Interesting! One of the problems physicians have is that patients with heart symptoms often improve and the ECG normalizes by the time they see the doctor. This device was simple enough that patients with?symptoms?could get this cell phone case and be taught how to use it. So the next time it happened, we could get an ECG from during the cardiac event. One of the women who tried it earlier had palpitations during her exam and was diagnosed with a rhythm abnormality.

iExaminer by Welch Allyn

The eye exam, or ?fundoscopy,? is the only way we can look directly at blood vessels inside the body without having to cut anything open. It can tell us a lot about diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of practice, so many of us end up referred to an ophthalmologist. The iExaminer was able to take an impressive visual photo of the inside of my eye and turn it into a .pdf.

SpiroSmart

This SmartPhone looked at lung function, which usually is done at a special lab during an uncomfortable exam. Guidelines for chronic lung diseases such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ?suggest these tests should be done regularly, but because it is often inconvenient to make a separate trip, they?re ?underused. It would be great if this was more accessible.

?Unlike the lab machine, which uses pressure, this device uses sound and has been shown to be almost as accurate,? said SpiroSmart co-creator?Mayank Goel. ?This opens up so many doors; imagine even being able to do this test over the phone!?

Other devices included ThinkLabs? ds32A digital stethoscope that records body sounds (like heart murmurs), the MobiUS SP1 handheld ultrasound machine that looked at the carotid arteries in the neck and was surprisingly accurate compared to the full ultrasound machines, and an otoscope that looked at my ear drum and took a picture.

Overall, I was grudgingly impressed. The devices seemed to combine the best parts of human experience and technology; using technology to gather reliable information, especially for those with less experience, and the physician to interpret the results.

Studies looking at ?inter-rater reliability,? the concept of how likely is it that different people interpreting the same physical exam sign will get the same diagnosis, show that technology is often better for gathering consistently objective information.

The long lineup at the SmartPhone Physical Booth at TedMed included the surgeon general and Dr. Daniel Kraft, faculty chair of medicine at Singularity University in San Diego, who was impressed by the? potential for improving access to care, whether in remote areas or overseas.

?It can enable primary care anywhere. And even though we need to do more testing to ensure accuracy, the potential is great,? Kraft said.

One of the problems, however, is that each device has to be attached to the phone in a separate way, and data is uploaded to different apps, creating a huge amount of information to sift through.

?Our ability to gather data is overtaking our ability to pare it down and use it to improve our health,? said?TEDMED editor-in-chief?John Benditt.

And it?s true. The creation of complex devices and technology is surpassing our ability to learn it and use it to its full potential before the ?next big thing? comes out. What I?d really like to see is an ECG machine and BP machine that combines data with the lung machine and uploads it to the same profile. Arguably, the next big challenge in medicine may not be the creation of new technology, but finding a way to integrate existing ones.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/04/27/can-a-smartphone-do-what-your-doctor-does/

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NASCAR defends penalties against Matt Kenseth

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ? Joe Gibbs Racing was still smarting Friday over the severity of the penalties NASCAR levied this week after an underweight part was found in Matt Kenseth's engine.

The issue is not whether the part was illegal. Because one of eight connecting rods failed to meet the minimum weight requirement, the team acknowledges it was indeed illegal. But the engine came from manufacturer Toyota Racing Development, and JGR is questioning the fairness in NASCAR's harsh ruling against the team.

The reasoning, NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Friday, is because the team is ultimately responsible for every piece of the car presented at inspection.

"At this time we will not and cannot penalize vendors," Pemberton said at Richmond International Raceway. "We'd be at it all day long, whether it was a shock that went bad, a spring that collapsed that caused the car (to be) low or any of those things.

"But when you go down that road, there are a million pieces on these cars, and so we choose to go down the path that it's the team's responsibility for quality control, to check on the parts and pieces that they bring and compete with at the racetrack."

Per NASCAR policy, Kenseth's race-winning engine from Sunday at Kansas was taken back to the North Carolina Research & Development Center for a thorough inspection. Once opened up to NASCAR inspectors, one connecting rod was found to be approximately three grams ? less than the weight of an envelope ? too light.

Kenseth had everything but his trophy taken away, with NASCAR docking him 50 points, plus the three bonus points he earned for the win. Crew chief Jason Ratcliff was fined $200,000 and he and team owner Joe Gibbs were both suspended for six races.

JGR is appealing, so Ratcliff and Gibbs could work Friday at Richmond, where Kenseth has gone on record in calling the penalties "grossly unfair" and "borderline shameful."

But Ratcliff also insisted that the No. 20 Toyota had no advantage from the one light connecting rod.

"I respect NASCAR's view on it as far as the part was illegal so by the letter of the law, the part's illegal and there's consequences for that. I do not feel like the spirit of the law was compromised," he said. "That's where we felt like the severity of the penalty is extremely harsh.

"We won Kansas, you can bet your bottom dollar on that. You make that change in that engine and that race doesn't change a bit."

The engines are made by TRD in Costa Mesa, Calif., and shipped to JGR's shop in North Carolina. JGR can't touch the engines beyond installing them in the cars, and TRD has accepted responsibility for the mistake. TRD officials said the manufacturer shipped the part with paperwork that indicated its correct weight, and TRD employees simply missed the fact it was not legal.

Pemberton said NASCAR isn't charged with determining intent or if the infraction provided an advantage.

"Everybody's asked the same thing ? why aren't things more black and white?" Pemberton said. "It's too light. It's too heavy. It's too wide. It's too high. It's too low. It's black and white, and we can't judge the performance because some guys do a better job of it than others, quite frankly."

Ratcliff argued TRD should have felt the burden of the penalty, not JGR. Although NASCAR did dock Toyota five manufacturer points, the bulk of the penalty went against Gibbs and Ratcliff, who wasn't sure if he would have to pay the $200,000 himself. "I hope not. If I do I'm going to be broke ? we need to start a relief fund," he said.

"Back in the day, most of the engines were built by the race team," Ratcliff said. "Now you have a handful of major engine builders that supply engines to most all the teams in the garage. How do you hold them accountable? I think it's time for some change on how NASCAR approaches it because times have changed so much."

The penalties against Joe Gibbs Racing came a week after NASCAR penalized Penske Racing for allegedly using illegal parts in the rear suspension of defending champion Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano's cars.

Keselowski and Logano were docked 25 points apiece, their crew chiefs were fined a total of $200,000 and were suspended along with five other Penske employees for six races. Penske's appeal will be heard next Wednesday, and team owner Roger Penske has maintained they were working in a gray area of the rule book.

The Penske and Gibbs cases aren't similar in that Penske has a difference of opinion about a rule, where the Gibbs group will argue the severity of the fines.

Pemberton stood by his rules are rules defense.

"We feel like we're consistent, but not every violation is exactly the same," Pemberton said. "We do our best and we feel like we do a good job interpreting the rules and levying the penalties they deserve."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nascar-defends-penalties-against-matt-kenseth-164618779.html

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Justin Bieber Takes On The Paparazzi In 'Believe' Film Scene

Director Jon Chu tells The Los Angeles Times how the movie release has 'evolved' since earlier this year.
By Jocelyn Vena

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706425/justin-bieber-believe-movie-scene.jhtml

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NASA probe observes meteors colliding with Saturn's rings

Apr. 25, 2013 ? NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn's rings.

These observations make Saturn's rings the only location besides Earth, the moon and Jupiter where scientists and amateur astronomers have been able to observe impacts as they occur. Studying the impact rate of meteoroids from outside the Saturnian system helps scientists understand how different planet systems in our solar system formed.

The solar system is full of small, speeding objects. These objects frequently pummel planetary bodies. The meteoroids at Saturn are estimated to range from about one-half inch to several yards (1 centimeter to several meters) in size. It took scientists years to distinguish tracks left by nine meteoroids in 2005, 2009 and 2012.

Details of the observations appear in a paper in the Thursday, April 25 edition of Science.

Results from Cassini have already shown Saturn's rings act as very effective detectors of many kinds of surrounding phenomena, including the interior structure of the planet and the orbits of its moons. For example, a subtle but extensive corrugation that ripples 12,000 miles (19,000 kilometers) across the innermost rings tells of a very large meteoroid impact in 1983.

"These new results imply the current-day impact rates for small particles at Saturn are about the same as those at Earth -- two very different neighborhoods in our solar system -- and this is exciting to see," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It took Saturn's rings acting like a giant meteoroid detector -- 100 times the surface area of the Earth -- and Cassini's long-term tour of the Saturn system to address this question."

The Saturnian equinox in summer 2009 was an especially good time to see the debris left by meteoroid impacts. The very shallow sun angle on the rings caused the clouds of debris to look bright against the darkened rings in pictures from Cassini's imaging science subsystem.

"We knew these little impacts were constantly occurring, but we didn't know how big or how frequent they might be, and we didn't necessarily expect them to take the form of spectacular shearing clouds," said Matt Tiscareno, lead author of the paper and a Cassini participating scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "The sunlight shining edge-on to the rings at the Saturnian equinox acted like an anti-cloaking device, so these usually invisible features became plain to see."

Tiscareno and his colleagues now think meteoroids of this size probably break up on a first encounter with the rings, creating smaller, slower pieces that then enter into orbit around Saturn. The impact into the rings of these secondary meteoroid bits kicks up the clouds. The tiny particles forming these clouds have a range of orbital speeds around Saturn. The clouds they form soon are pulled into diagonal, extended bright streaks.

"Saturn's rings are unusually bright and clean, leading some to suggest that the rings are actually much younger than Saturn," said Jeff Cuzzi, a co-author of the paper and a Cassini interdisciplinary scientist specializing in planetary rings and dust at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "To assess this dramatic claim, we must know more about the rate at which outside material is bombarding the rings. This latest analysis helps fill in that story with detection of impactors of a size that we weren't previously able to detect directly."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras. The imaging team consists of scientists from the United States, England, France and Germany. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For images of the impacts and information about Cassini, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Matthew S. Tiscareno, Colin J. Mitchell, Carl D. Murray, Daiana Di Nino, Matthew M. Hedman, J?rgen Schmidt, Joseph A. Burns, Jeffrey N. Cuzzi, Carolyn C. Porco, Kevin Beurle, and Michael W. Evans. Observations of Ejecta Clouds Produced by Impacts onto Saturn?s Rings. Science, 2013; 340 (6131): 460-464 DOI: 10.1126/science.1233524

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130425144654.htm

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Baboons invade home, guys videotape the chaos

Something we've long suspected has proved to be true: Baboons are horrible houseguests.

Howard James Fyvie and some friends saw a group of baboons climbing into a house in Betty's Bay, South Africa, whose occupants were gone. It was locked except for an open top-floor window. According to the clip's YouTube description, the guys called the police and the owner of the house, and then hurried over on their own to try to help. They climbed inside via a ladder and found the wild animals?plus a giant mess.

The baboons, as you can see in the video above, were everywhere?in the kitchen, where they raided the refrigerator, in the bathroom, hanging out on furniture, you name it. They had ripped stuff up, defecated in various spots, and were all around enjoying themselves. Undaunted, Fyvie and company chased them out of the house. (No word on whether the guys went the extra mile and cleaned up after the animals.)

[Related: It really is monkey-see, monkey-do, research shows]

While things worked out OK, yelling and swinging brooms at territorial primates isn't something we'd recommend. Of course, neither is leaving a window open with baboons within raiding distance.

In an interview with "Right This Minute," Fyvie noted that when he returned to his apartment and told his roommate about the misadventure, he was told it was a stupid thing to do because "one baboon is equal to seven grown men."

Fyvie said he responded with, "Never tell me the odds."

Very Han Solo.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/baboon-invade-home-man-videotapes-chaos-194010152.html

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New Jersey Attorneys Go To Capitol Hill And Elder Law Retreat In ...

Moorestown, NJ (Law Firm Newswire) April 24, 2013 ? The Begley Law Group?s continued commitment to the rights of their clients includes attending and presenting at professional seminars.

The attorneys at Begley Law Group recently attended two significant outreach efforts as part of their ongoing support of clients, including individuals with special needs and their families, and the elderly.

On April 15-16, 2013, Kristen L. Behrens and Tom Begley, Jr., of Begley Law Group attended the Special Needs Alliance Spring Meeting in Washington, DC, where they heard speakers from the Social Security Administration and Easter Seals on Affordable Care Act and they participated in Hill Day, where members of the Alliance visited their Congressman and Senators.

?The visitations were part of an outreach to emphasize to U.S. Senators and representatives the place that many government programs have in the lives of adults and children with disabilities,? commented New Jersey elder law attorney Thomas D. Begley, Jr.

Advocates for individuals with special needs work during Hill Day to make an in-person connection with leaders and staff to better foster relationships that can help support those individuals in need of federal social services.

On April 18-19, 2013 Tom Begley, Jr., and Dana E. Bookbinder of Begley Law attended the New Jersey Elder Law Retreat held in Long Branch, NJ. Tom also presented on the Future of Elder and Disability Law. Presented by the NJSBA Elder Law & Disability Law Section and the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education,?The New Jersey Elder Law Retreat was designed to keep attorneys abreast of legal developments and support their efforts to maintain a high level of professional competence in elder law. The New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education is well-regarded for the consistently high quality of the seminars it offers, and had been designated by the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey as a place to provide the Skills and Methods Course, a part of the bar admission requirements until 2010.

Begley Law Group is a premier law firm with more than 75 years of experience in the New Jersey area. Every partner at Begley Law Group is a recipient of the prestigious New Jersey SuperLawyers award. They are experts at elder and disability law and keenly aware of the latest legislative developments that are critical for their clients.

To learn more about Begley Law Group or to contact a New Jersey estate planning lawyer or Philadelphia estate planning lawyer, call 1.800.533.7227 or visit www.begleylawgroup.com.

Colleen Caruso
Begley Law Group, P.C.
509 S. Lenola Road, Building 7
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Tel: 800.533.7227

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Source: http://www.lawfirmnewswire.com/2013/04/new-jersey-attorneys-go-to-capitol-hill-and-elder-law-retreat-in-extensive-outreach-efforts/

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P&G, AT&T drop after earnings, holding back Dow

NEW YORK (AP) ? Weak earnings forecasts from Procter & Gamble and AT&T held the Dow Jones industrial average back on Wednesday.

P&G, the world's largest consumer goods maker, fell 4.8 percent to $78.03 after the maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors said its revenue fell short of the expectations of Wall Street analysts. The company also issued a weak profit forecast for the next quarter. AT&T dropped 5.9 percent to $36.70 after it lost phone subscribers from its contract-based plans for the first time as sales of smartphones slow.

Those declines were enough to keep the 30-member Dow in the red, despite more stocks rising than falling in the index. The Dow was down 24 points by noon Eastern time.

In the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index, the earnings news was mixed.

Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, was among the gainers, advancing 7 percent to $68.70. Yum reported earnings late Tuesday that exceeded the expectations of financial analysts. General Dynamic, the aerospace and defense company, also surged after posting a profit that was better than expected. The stock jumped 5.3 percent to $70.66.

Other companies, including home appliance maker Whirlpool and drug maker Eli Lilly, disappointed investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.2 percent at 14,695. The S&P 500 index rose one point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,579. The Nasdaq composite was down six points, or 0.2 percent, at 3,264.

While the majority of companies have been exceeding Wall Street's expectations on earnings, their performance on sales hasn't been as strong, suggesting that they are struggling to grow.

About 67 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten expectations, better than the 10-year average of 62 percent, according to S&P Capital IQ. However, only 42 percent have beaten revenue forecasts.

Company earnings so far have been consistent with signs that the global economy is slowing, said Jim Russell, a regional investment director at U.S. Bank. Russell said it's too early to conclude whether the slowdown will be short-lived.

"We think that most managements are appropriately cautious in their outlooks, because it's very possible that the second-quarter will continue to slow," said Russell. "We're watching with cautious optimism that this is a second-quarter-only soft patch in the economic data."

A report Wednesday that orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods fell more than economists expected last month added to the signs that global growth is cooling. The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods declined 5.7 percent in March following a 4.3 percent gain the previous month. February's figure was also revised lower.

Stocks logged their biggest weekly drop in five months last week after growth in China, the world's second-biggest economy, slowed. Weaker hiring and manufacturing growth in March have also weighed on the stock market this month.

The market's gains this month have been modest after a first-quarter surge that pushed both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 to record highs. The Dow is up just 0.8 percent in April, the S&P 500 index 0.6 percent.

During the first three months of the year, the Dow and the S&P 500 averaged monthly gains of more than 3 percent, driven by optimism that the housing market was recovering and company earnings would continue to climb.

Among other companies that reported earnings, Boeing rose 3.6 percent to $91.27 after the airplane maker said its first-quarter net income rose 20 percent despite problems with the 787 Dreamliner. The company said it would still meet its financial and delivery targets this year even after the 787 was grounded in mid-January because of problems with its batteries.

Amgen plunged 6 percent to $105.80 after the biotech company's sales growth disappointed investors.

In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, was little changed at 1.71 percent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-g-t-drop-earnings-holding-back-dow-161104378--finance.html

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GSA, the Paleontological Society, and SEPM in STEPPE together

Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
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Contact: Christa Stratton
cstratton@geosociety.org
Geological Society of America

Boulder, Colorado, USA STEPPE is a newly established, NSF-supported consortium involving the Geological Society of America (GSA), the Paleontological Society (PS), and the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) -- designed to coordinate research, teaching, and learning in the areas of sedimentary geology and paleobiology. STEPPE stands for "Sedimentary geology, Time, Environment, Paleontology, Paleoclimate, and Energy," promoting study of Earth's past for our common future.

Predictions of the future require a detailed understanding of the past, and realistic expectations for biotic response to the environmental changes we know to be coming require a deeper understanding of life-environment linkages in the past.

Sedimentary strata in Earth's crust contain most of humankind's natural and energy resources. These also provide the principal long-term archival record of biological evolution and evidence for the causes and ecological consequences of global environmental change. Sedimentary geology and paleontology provide critical benchmark studies of global climate change and its effects on life and the environment through the history of the earth.

STEPPE's mission is to be a voice for and to communicate the results of investigations into these geological records for the benefit of society. This includes training a critically needed sedimentary geology and paleontology workforce to develop energy and environmental applications. STEPPE aims to support these geoscience disciplines by facilitating development of key research infrastructure that will improve acquisition of and access to data, information, and integrative models. STEPPE will help (1) articulate priorities for research in associated disciplines; (2) promote sharing of observations; and (3) publicize new scientific advances to inform energy management and climate policy.

"STEPPE is a major initiative integrating sedimentary geologists and paleontologists, one of the largest global geoscience communities, into a more cohesive research effort with benefits to society world-wide," said Howard Harper of SEPM.

###

For more information about STEPPE please contact:

Jack Hess, Geological Society of America, jhess@geosociety.org

Sandra Carlson, Paleontological Society, sjcarlson@ucdavis.edu

Howard Harper, Society for Sedimentary Geology, hharper@sepm.org

http://www.geosociety.org

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Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
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Contact: Christa Stratton
cstratton@geosociety.org
Geological Society of America

Boulder, Colorado, USA STEPPE is a newly established, NSF-supported consortium involving the Geological Society of America (GSA), the Paleontological Society (PS), and the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) -- designed to coordinate research, teaching, and learning in the areas of sedimentary geology and paleobiology. STEPPE stands for "Sedimentary geology, Time, Environment, Paleontology, Paleoclimate, and Energy," promoting study of Earth's past for our common future.

Predictions of the future require a detailed understanding of the past, and realistic expectations for biotic response to the environmental changes we know to be coming require a deeper understanding of life-environment linkages in the past.

Sedimentary strata in Earth's crust contain most of humankind's natural and energy resources. These also provide the principal long-term archival record of biological evolution and evidence for the causes and ecological consequences of global environmental change. Sedimentary geology and paleontology provide critical benchmark studies of global climate change and its effects on life and the environment through the history of the earth.

STEPPE's mission is to be a voice for and to communicate the results of investigations into these geological records for the benefit of society. This includes training a critically needed sedimentary geology and paleontology workforce to develop energy and environmental applications. STEPPE aims to support these geoscience disciplines by facilitating development of key research infrastructure that will improve acquisition of and access to data, information, and integrative models. STEPPE will help (1) articulate priorities for research in associated disciplines; (2) promote sharing of observations; and (3) publicize new scientific advances to inform energy management and climate policy.

"STEPPE is a major initiative integrating sedimentary geologists and paleontologists, one of the largest global geoscience communities, into a more cohesive research effort with benefits to society world-wide," said Howard Harper of SEPM.

###

For more information about STEPPE please contact:

Jack Hess, Geological Society of America, jhess@geosociety.org

Sandra Carlson, Paleontological Society, sjcarlson@ucdavis.edu

Howard Harper, Society for Sedimentary Geology, hharper@sepm.org

http://www.geosociety.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/gsoa-gtp042513.php

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SYDNEY, April 24 (Reuters) - Australia named the following squad for the Ashes test series against England in July and August. Squad: Michael Clarke (captain), Brad Haddin (vice captain), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Chris Rogers, Matthew Wade, Nathan Lyon, James Faulkner, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Jackson Bird (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-upholds-epa-ruling-155808897.html

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Penske Racing to plead case to appeal panel May 1

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? Penske Racing will take its appeal of penalties and fines against defending champion Brad Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano before a three-member NASCAR panel next week.

NASCAR selects the panel from a list of 48 people ? former car owners, crew chiefs and drivers, as well as current track promoters and industry veterans. Their identities will not be revealed until after their decision, which can be appealed to NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook. The May 1 appeal will be conducted at the Research and Development Center in Concord.

The penalties have been one of the biggest stories of the season so far. NASCAR seized parts from the rear suspensions of both Penske cars during pre-race inspections at Texas, accusing the team of using unapproved parts in the rear housing.

NASCAR docked 25 points each from Keselowski and Logano in the driver and owner standings, fined crew chiefs Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon $100,000 each, and suspended Wolfe, Gordon, car chiefs Jerry Kelley and Raymond Fox, engineers Brian Wilson and Samuel Stanley and Penske competition director Travis Geisler for six points races.

All seven suspended employees were put on probation through Dec. 31. Penske officials say they are concerned that's more than double the probation any previous infraction received.

Team owner Roger Penske told The Associated Press the parts were approved, but NASCAR alleged they had been modified before use.

"NASCAR has approved parts and unapproved parts. The parts that we had were approved parts, they are concerned that we modified them. That's where the discussion is," he said. "From an overall standpoint, NASCAR felt what we had provided them for approval, then these parts were different during the inspection process."

Penske also said the team was working in a gray area of the rule book.

"I certainly don't think it's cheating," Penske said. "You are looking at the rules and you are working in a gray area. We all work in the gray areas. We're trying to be as competitive as we can be, we've got very creative minds and it takes a lot of creative minds to be competitive. There are many different areas we are all working on. We just looked at a particular rule that maybe NASCAR has a different view of. Now we'll get a chance to have an unbiased panel look at it."

Penske President Tim Cindric researched and found the three-member appeals panel has not overturned a NASCAR penalty regarding body infractions in the last three years. But, crew members are allowed to work during the appeal, and teams use the time to restructure and prepare for when the penalties are enforced.

Last year, Middlebrook overturned a six-race suspension for Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus and restored 25 points for five-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

Knaus had been punished for allegedly modifying sheet metal on Johnson's car at Daytona. Middlebrook left intact the $100,000 fine against Knaus.

This time, NASCAR has not revealed many details of its case against Penske.

Teams very much were manipulating the rear suspensions of their cars last year, and NASCAR slowly addressed the issue through a series of technical bulletins issued over the course of the season. The rule book was specifically tightened this season, with added language to the passage demanding that all suspension systems and components must be presented "in a completed form/assembly" prior to being used in competition.

A second new passage clearly states, "all front end and rear end suspension mounts and mounting hardware must not allow movement or realignment of any suspension component beyond normal rotation or suspension travel." That puts in writing that NASCAR will not tolerate teams altering the skew of the rear ends the way they did a year ago.

Penske said there was no prior warning from NASCAR that the team was potentially in violation of the rules, and that Logano's car had already cleared tech at Texas before inspectors called him back after taking parts from Keselowski's car. Logano barely made the start of the race.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/penske-racing-plead-case-appeal-panel-may-1-202427231--spt.html

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