Apple is copying samsung ----- It took 4 years for apple to catch up to the I9000 Samsung Galaxy S.
5.alterechoposted on1 hour ago4
Yes, it took them 4 years to lower their quality to Samsung's grade of plasticks. But Apple still haven't reached THAT level. Never will. No one will :P
7.Just.Meposted on1 hour ago2
Samsung made affordable but good phones out of plastic. Apple is making CHEAP but Crappy phones out of plastic. So i agree with you, It will take them a long long long time to reach samsungs level.
11.alterechoposted on41 min ago0
The phone's not out yet. You happen to have some insider knowledge?
4.EXkuroganeposted on1 hour ago1
iPhone 5C,
C stands for "Cheap Cr@p similar to China's Copied & Counterfeited products"
^ See? So many C's in the phrase above. And, what country is China? (In terms of politics). The word starts with another "C" there. That justifies the name "iPhone 5C"
#justtrolling
6.scott5626posted on1 hour ago0
Has everyone already forgotten the plastic 3gs? They've already done plastic.
8.itsdeepak4u2000posted on1 hour ago1
Oh I see.. the C stands for color of iPlastic, but the boxes looks much cooler than it. I think this iPlastic would not electrify people like aluminium does.
9.mas11posted on1 hour ago1
"Accidentally" I think Apple encourages product leaks to draw attention.
10.SIGPROposted on48 min ago0
Apple apple apple......the hype will be over soon...max 2 years!
Michael Pettis: Some experts think that China's economy is in big trouble
Pettis: Most likely, China's growth rate will decline in the coming years
He says the country needs to shift from investment to consumption model
Pettis: If China recalibrates its economy in the right way, everyone will benefit
Editor's note: Michael Pettis is a professor of finance at Peking University, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of "The Great Rebalancing" (Princeton University Press).
(CNN) -- After many years of euphoria over China's rapid growth and the country's apparently inevitable rise to global economic dominance, the China story has taken a serious turn for the worse. China, it now seems, is about to collapse, and along the way it may well bring the world economy down with it.
Fortunately, the new story may be as muddled as the old one.
China's economic model has relied heavily on investment and debt. It shouldn't be a surprise that after many years of tremendous growth driven at first by badly needed investments, Chinese spending on infrastructure and manufacturing capacity is slowing down.
During the same period, debt levels surged as borrowed money poured into more highways, airports, steel mills, shipyards, high-speed railways, and apartment and office buildings than the country could productively use.
Michael Pettis
A few economists predicted as far back as 2006 that China would face a serious debt problem. By 2010, it became obvious even to the most excited of China bulls that this was indeed happening.
To protect itself from the risk of a debt crisis, China must bring spending to a halt. Beijing now wants to rebalance the economy away from its excessive reliance on investment and debt, and to increase the role of consumption as a driver of growth.
But this cannot happen except at lower growth rates.
So what happens next -- will China collapse? Probably not. A financial collapse is effectively a kind of bank run, and as long as government credibility remains high, banks are guaranteed and capital controls are maintained, it is unlikely that China will experience anything like a bank run.
What is far more likely is that in the coming years, China's gross domestic product growth rate will continue to decline as the country focuses on stimulating consumption.
Growth rates during the administration of President Xi Jinping are unlikely to exceed 3% to 4% on average if the economic rebalancing is managed well.
Will the slower growth rate be a disaster for China? Certainly, it would be huge departure from the growth rate of roughly 10% a year for nearly three decades. Would much lower growth rates create high unemployment and huge dislocations for the economy? Some are worried about such scenarios. But the Chinese economy has so far shown a lot of resilience despite passing storms such as the global financial crisis.
Beijing has huge challenges ahead. China's growth has been a boon to large businesses, the state, the powerful and the wealthy elite. What the Chinese government needs to do is recalibrate growth so that average household incomes can rise and consumers have more money to spend.
This will not be easy to pull off, but there are positive signs. Xi's government seems determined to make the necessary changes, even at the expense of much slower growth.
Even if GDP growth declines but average Chinese household income grows at 5% to 6% a year, it would put China in the right direction.
As for the rest of the world, there's no reason to panic over China's economic slowdown. Contrary to popular beliefs, China is not the global engine of growth; it is merely the largest arithmetic component of global growth. What drives global growth is demand. China, with a large trade surplus, is not a net provider of demand to the world.
What matters to the world, in other words, is not how fast China grows but rather, how its trade with foreign partners evolves. If China rebalances in an orderly way, its imports of manufactured goods and services should rise faster than its exports. This will be good for the world.
What's more, manufacturing industries around the world that lost out to China in the export business will benefit. When wages rise for Chinese workers -- so that they have more money to buy goods and services at home -- it means other developing countries will have a chance to compete for exports if they offer lower labor wages.
There is no doubt that Beijing has a long road ahead in terms of managing a huge economy, but as of now there should be nothing surprising or unexpected about the slowing growth of China. It will probably benefit the Chinese people and the global economy.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Pettis.
Tim van Damme, soon to be joining Dropbox, talks to Marc and Rene about creating 2-bit icons, his time at Gowalla, making cards, and designing Instagram.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A woman was arrested Monday after green paint was found splattered inside two chapels at the Washington National Cathedral, and police were investigating her in connection with two similar incidents on the National Mall, authorities said.
The woman was arrested inside the cathedral shortly after the paint was found, police and cathedral officials said. Investigators were hoping to question her about the vandalism on the Mall, including at the Lincoln Memorial, but a language barrier delayed the interrogation, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said.
The woman would likely be charged with destruction of property, Newsham said.
Green paint was found early Friday morning on the Lincoln Memorial, and symbols were found painted in green later Friday on another statue on the Mall. The Lincoln Memorial was closed temporarily but reopened later Friday.
Officials at the cathedral discovered the paint inside two chapels Monday afternoon. It was still wet, which led them to believe the vandalism had just occurred. Officials called police immediately and closed the cathedral to visitors while authorities searched the grounds.
The paint was splashed onto an organ and on the floor inside the cathedral's historic Bethlehem Chapel on the basement level, officials said. It was also found inside Children's Chapel in the nave of the cathedral.
Also Monday, U.S. Park Police said green paint was found on the statue of Joseph Henry outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the Mall. Henry was the Smithsonian's first secretary.
Meanwhile, crews continued working Monday to remove the paint from the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service said progressively stronger substances would be used until all the paint is gone, which could take several days. The memorial was scheduled to be power washed Tuesday.
Sgt. Paul Brooks, a U.S. Park Police spokesman, said it was too early to tell whether the same person was responsible for the vandalism at the two Mall landmarks. He noted that while the paint appeared to be splattered indiscriminately on the memorial, the statue appeared to have been deliberately painted. The symbols on the statue were not immediately decipherable.
D.C. police said paint from the cathedral would likely be sent to the FBI for testing.
Cleanup and restoration work at the cathedral was expected to cost $15,000, cathedral spokesman Richard Weinberg said. Crews were there late Monday, and events at the cathedral were going on as scheduled. Some of the paint was splattered onto the decorative wall behind the altar in the Children's Chapel, which has ornate wood carvings that required some restoration, Weinberg said.
Bethlehem Chapel was opened in 1912 and is the oldest section of the cathedral. It was the site of President Woodrow Wilson's burial rites, and his remains were entombed there for more than three decades. Wilson's remains were later interred in a memorial bay on the cathedral's main level.
Washington National Cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral that serves as the nation's spiritual home. It has hosted inaugural prayer services and the state funerals for presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
___
Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols .
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/etuckerAP.
Mayor Bob Filner of San Diego speaks at a news conference Friday announcing his intention to seek professional help. (Bill Wechter, Getty Images / July 25, 2013)
By Richard Simon
July 28, 2013, 8:08 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California on Sunday joined a growing list of Democrats calling on San Diego Mayor Bob Filner to resign due to allegations that he has sexually harassed women, intensifying the pressure on him to step down.
"I don't think that somebody who is lacking a moral compass really sets a role model or really will provide the kind of leadership that San Diegans want,'' Feinstein, a former mayor of San Francisco, said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"I suspect there will be recalls, and the people will judge,?? she said. "I think he should make it easier and resign."
Filner, a Democrat, has rejected calls to resign. H said Friday that he was entering therapy for two weeks to learn how to behave better.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, last week called on the 70-year-old Filner to step down, as have a number of San Diego-area Democratic officials, including Reps. Scott Peters and Susan Davis.
Filner, a member of Congress for 20 years before being elected mayor in November, has said that although his behavior toward women has been bad, he does not believe he has committed sexual harassment.
Brace yourself for embarrassment or nostalgia. BioIsChanged is a site that will show you every single time someone has edited their Twitter bio and avatar.
Not much to say here. Just enter the name for any Twitter user and you can scroll through their past bios. It?s kind of fun to look back and see how you and your friends have changed jobs or life philosophies or whatever. Plus, a little bit of embarrassment is healthy for your ego every once in a while. [BioIsChanged]
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Security was tightened in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, on Sunday after polling ended in a general election in which the opposition said it had made gains despite what it called vote-rigging by Prime Minister Hun Sen, in power for 28 years.
Military police blocked off a road leading to Hun Sen's home and one going to the offices of his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the National Election Committee, a Reuters reporter said.
Eng Chhay Eang, a candidate of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), said that based on vote counts from some polling stations provided by party monitors, the CNRP was positive of gaining more seats. "At places where we were defeated last time, we are now taking the lead," he said.
Backed by a compliant media and with superior resources, the CPP is confident of victory, but analysts believe the recently united opposition may dent its majority. The CPP had 90 of the 123 seats in the outgoing parliament and the parties that united to form the CNRP had 29.
Voting, like the campaign itself, was generally peaceful although scuffles were reported in various places, mostly involving people complaining about irregularities. Angry voters set fire to a car outside one polling station in the capital and some smashed up police cars, a Reuters photographer said.
The CNRP has alleged electoral lists were manipulated to give the CPP more votes and also complained about the disruption of meetings plus campaigning by the security forces for Hun Sen.
"The partisanship of the military and police has created an intimidating atmosphere for voters in many parts of the country," U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement ahead of the poll.
More than 9.6 million people were eligible to vote. Polling stations closed at 3 p.m. (0800 GMT) and the National Election Committee could publish some provisional results on Sunday evening. Full results could take weeks.
The CNRP, formed by the merger of two main opposition parties, has been buoyed by the return home of a popular leader, former finance minister Sam Rainsy, after a royal pardon.
He had faced a jail sentence handed down in 2010 for spreading disinformation and falsifying maps to contest a new border agreed with Vietnam, charges he called politically motivated.
He returned too late to register to run in the election, or even to vote, and the electoral authorities rejected his late request to do so. But he has attracted large crowds to rallies and may appeal to younger voters with no memory of the turmoil before the authoritarian Hun Sen helped restore stability.
DECADES OF TURMOIL
At one polling station set up at a pagoda in Phnom Penh, 29-year-old Khat Sreynit said she wanted a better country and jobs for university graduates. "And also that people have a living wage," she said, before rushing into the crowd to get a glimpse of Sam Rainsy, who had turned up there.
A 70-year-old voter clutching an ID card declined to give her name but said: "This election is important for the country. I have always voted before, since 1993, I voted for living conditions and the country." She paid little attention to Sam Rainsy's arrival.
The United Nations organized an election in 1993 that put Cambodia on a rocky path towards stability after decades of turmoil, including the 1975-79 "Killing Fields" rule of the communist Khmer Rouge.
Under Hun Sen, a former junior commander in the Khmer Rouge who broke away during their rule, Cambodia has been transformed into one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies, helped by garment exports plus aid money and investment from China.
But economic growth has been accompanied by a rise in social tension over poor factory conditions and rural land rights in a country of 14 million where a third of the people live on less than 65 U.S. cents a day.
Some analysts believe the opposition has its best chance in years of denting the CPP majority.
"The opposition will gain more seats, judging by all the support we've seen," said independent analyst Chea Vannath.
"But regardless of how many more seats the parties get, they should be united for the country rather than confronting each other," she added, advocating a government of national unity.
(Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Source: sports.in.msn.com --- Friday, July 26, 2013 The tourists, facing a must-win situation after losing the first two matches, bowled out Sri Lanka for 167 under lights after making 223-7 ...
Nene Leakes is at the center of some drama again. This time it?s over her pricy summer nuptials!
Via Baller Alert reports:
Nene Leakes owes big for her lavish second wedding to husband, Gregg Leakes. Celebrity wedding planner, Tiffany Cook of Dream Design Weddings, was hired by the Leakes family to coordinate Nene & Gregg?s wedding on June 22, 2013. The wedding is set to appear on a Bravo TV special in September. Tiffany Cook claims that NeNe?s budget for the wedding was $1.8 million and was promised 15% of the entire wedding budget PLUS fees design and execution of the wedding PLUS travel expenses to the event. Cook claims she was due $270k (the 15%) PLUS another $889,900 (design fees) PLUS $1,750 (4 coach tickets from Florida to Georgia).
According to Cook, NeNe did fork over the initial down payment of $18,750 but she hasn?t seen a penny since so she?s suing for the remaining $1,142,900 balance PLUS damages.
Well damn, isn?t she making $800K a year filming for ?Real Housewives?? And why isn?t Bravo footing the bill ? wasn?t all this lavishness for the sake of reality TV?
It was announced on Friday that Apple has signed a deal with the Los Angeles school system to provide iPads to every student in the system by 2014. Apple will supply a total of 640K iPads to the system at a cost of $30 Million.
The program hopes to prepare students for the real world by exposing them to new technology that may not be available in their households.
George R.R. Martin worries that "Game of Thrones" could outpace his books.
What's going to happen if HBO's "Game of Thrones" catches up to author George R.R. Martin's five finished tomes? It's a question that's been on fans' minds, and it's a scenario the network wants to avoid.
The show wrapped up its third season earlier this year, but had already started touching on revelations from book four of the "Song of Ice and Fire" series from which the epic fantasy drama is based. Martin currently has five of the planned seven novels on the market, with no release date yet available for book six. The series is expected to finish after the seventh novel.
On Thursday, the subject was broached again with HBO executives Mike Lombardo and Richard Plepler at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Beverly Hills.
"As far as I'm concerned, it can go on as long as there are stories to tell," Lombardo replied when asked if the show could go beyond seven seasons to match the number of novels. "We certainly haven't gotten anywhere near that conversation with (show creators) David (Benioff) and Dan (Weiss) yet."
"Our line to George was, 'You keep writing,' " added Plepler.
"Yes, 'Get busy writing,' " Lombardo emphasized.
Martin is known for sometimes taking long periods to finish his lengthy tomes. After releasing the first three novels with just two years between each book, it took him another five years after the third book to release the fourth, and nearly six years after that for book five to hit shelves in 2011.
But like fans and HBO, Martin worries that the show will catch up to his books.
"I'm writing very fast because my great fear is that David and Dan will catch up with me,? he told Conan O'Brien in June.
"It's true that they're moving faster than I am ? the series has its own speed ? but I don't see us catching up for another three years or so, by which time another book will be out," he told The Hollywood Reporter in May. "That should give them another two seasons of material. And while I'm writing the last book, they'd be making those."
Though there is no release date yet for book six, titled "The Winds of Winter," but the author has posted excerpts on his website.
Ahead of Vice President Joe Biden's maiden visit to India, a top US naval commander has said ties between the navies of the two countries have hit the "big time" as they are conducting coordinated operations.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan W Greenert characterised navy-to-navy ties as "solid and growing" and said bilateral wargames had progressed from "two ships going by doing flashing lights...probably about a decade ago, to coordinated operations, carrier air wing and under sea".
"And that's when you hit the big time, when you can work with a partner under the water and ensure yourself, you're not going to run into each other, and we are at that level with the Indian Navy," Greenert told reporters in response to a question about the US re-balancing its strategy in Asia Pacific on Friday.
His comments came ahead of Biden's four-day visit to India starting Monday. Biden will hold meetings with the top leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime?Minister Manmohan Singh.
Greenert, however, said the India-US Malabar naval exercise had been scaled down because of "issues" on both sides. He did not give details about the move.
"We had to de-scope it some, because of each of our issues ...but we've kept the exercise and we've kept it as high-end and complex," he said.
"It just may not run as long. So I'm comfortable at that level, and we try to work to the level that resonates with both our navies."
On ties between the US and Chinese navies, Greenert said, "I like the trend we're on right now and working toward and, in some cases, getting some tangible outcome of working together. We operated together a humanitarian assistance, disaster relief scenario, doing command-and-control together, doing the proper protocols at sea, and we agree this needs to continue."
He said China would also join the 'RIMPAC' or Rim of the Pacific 2014 exercise.
Greenert also spoke about increased incidents of piracy, particularly in the northwest region of the Gulf of Oman.
"I received this through conversations with my counterparts in the Gulf states, conversations with my counterparts (in the) Pakistani Navy, Indian Navy, and they're finding they have to spend more time over there," he said.
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? Copyright 2013 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
?Stay out of this!? Travis shook his hand away. ?This fool nearly killed us. But it isn?t that so much, no. It?s his shoes! Look at them! He ran off the Path. That ruins us! We?ll forfeit! Thousands of dollars of insurance! We guarantee no one leaves the Path. He left it. Oh, the fool! I?ll have to report to the government. They might revoke our license to travel. Who knows what he?s done to Time, to History!? - Ray Bradbury, ?A Sound of Thunder,? in R is for Rocket, (New York: Doubleday, 1952)
In a different world, things played out differently. The right choice was made. The trade never happened.
At the end of the 2012 season, the OKC Thunder were coming off an appearance as the youngest ever team in the NBA finals by two years (25.2 for Thunder, 27.1 for the 91 Bulls). And given the age progression of teams, there was every reason to believe they would dominate the next decade.
Then for some weird reason, Sam Presti decided to trade James Harden for what,unless a miracle occurs, amounts to a cup of coffee rather than amnestying Kendrick Perkins. And then this happened:
Morey wins
The Rockets converted:
1 year of Kevin Martin
a second rounder from the Bobcats (?lex Abrines)
a first rounder from the Mavs, top twenty protected thru 2017, unprotected in 2018
The Raptors 2013 first rounder (Steven Adams)
into the 22 year old best shooting guard in the league.
They also got him off their principal obstacle to making the Finals for the foreseeable future.? Add in stealing the best center in his prime in the League from the perennial best team in the West at no cost as a direct result of that move and OKC quite possible cost themselves a few banners.
Just to keep Kendrick Perkins in the locker room.
One decision changed the course of the NBA.
?
No..well, yes but not this one.
The big question though is if it?s irrevocable.
Keep that in mind as I give you a full accounting of the state of the league including a complete evaluation of every contract and the value of each player in the league for the next five years. For reference, this is version number 3. Previous parts are here and here and serve as a nice chronicle of the offseason so far.
That?s the up-to-date (as of 12:01 AM EST, 7/17/13 ) list of all players, signed and unsigned. Players are sorted by teams and expected value over the next five year. Now that I have some time I?m going to walk you through everything.
Player Vitals: simple enough; name, old team, new team, contract status at start of offseason, position over last three years, age right now, minutes per game (this is the greater of the average minutes played for all games over last three years or last year) and Wins Produced per 48 minutes for the last three years.
Projected Wins: using the player?s age, minutes per game, Wins Produced per 48 for the last three years and the Age Model, I project the player?s expected Wins Produced for each of the next five years. The big enhancement here is that I went thru the minutes rotation?s in more detail and I used raw productivity to account for size in the projection.
Market Value: I then estimate the value of those wins using the data from Larry Coon?s Salary Cap FAQ and general math (see here or here for a nice illustration of the method). Basically I work out the BRI (basketball Related income), divide it by two (player share) and then divide it by 30 teams and 41 wins. I take that value, multiply it by the Wins Produced by the player, and I get the player?s market value.
Target Contract Amount is just me giving you a look at the total dollar amount the player is worth in a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 year deal, as well as the player value rank based on the value of a five year deal with the player.
Win Delta is meant as an objective measure of the value of the contract. Simply put it?s the difference between the wins paid for by the player?s contract and the actual wins expected from the player. Contract Rank is then a measure of the contracts with the best and worst surplus wins.
Got it? Here?s the data as an excel file:
List v4
?
Yes, I?m so nice that I decided to include the list as an excel file for you to play with.
Let?s break it down by lists.
1. Every Player that signed a contract or got traded, ranked by the value of their contract:
This list loves long walks on the beach, CP3, Bynum, Brandan Wright, the Jared Dudley trade, Iggy, Tony, Jose, Darren, laughing at everything the Knicks do and pretty much every contract on the Rockets roster (you go Daryl!) and hates every player on the Lakers, the Paul Pierce/Gerald Wallace trade for both sides, Kevin Martin, Utah helping Golden State out for charity, bad draft picks, biased judicial processes, Carl Landry?s track record over the last three years, the general health and composition of Golden State, Tyreke, Al and Josh getting paid, David West and his tricky injury history and age, and Andrea Bargnani on a general principle.
It?s definitely here for the right reasons.
2. Every remaining prospective free agent ranked by five year value (has to have played in the league in the past three years ? sorry Greg Oden):
That one is pretty self explanatory. We are officially at the point were Brandon Jennings is a real option. I don?t really get why Ronnie Brewer is unsigned yet. Blair, Dalambert are nice bargain bigs.
Indiana, Memphis, Thunder, Spurs, Rockets, Nets are all teams that should be thinking ?Mike Miller is available for the minimum? We should call him.? Keep in mind Miller played at star level for the playoffs and in a Finals with at least eight future Hall of Famers (by my count).
What does it all actually mean in terms of teams and their rosters? Here?s where a rather more involved early season win projection comes in. I did both a simple win projection, a win projection using size and a margin of error considering age and ranges of performance over the last three years. I also included financials for grins and giggles. It looks like so:
Let?s review bottom to top:
The Lakers have Blake, Farmar, Young, Meeks, Wesley, Hill, Sacre and Kaman on their roster. I was kind and assumed that Pau and Nash were 1 and 2 for minutes for the season. I have Kobe coming back early. It doesn?t matter, that its a freaking travesty of a roster. The Lakers are the worst team in the NBA by a country mile right now and are the odds on favorite in tankapaloza 2014.
The Knicks, oh the Knicks. Felton,JR, MWP Melo,Bargs never has a lineup with less shooting conscience come together. The Knicks are the YOLOVoltron. Never change, James Dolan.
Sacramento, Phoenix, Orlando are not far behind.
The Pelicans, Blazers, Celtics and Sixers all have young rosters with potential that could go either way. No way to tell if they quit on the season. Ditto for the Bobcats.
Indiana is hurt by their lack of depth in this model which flattens minute allocation out on purpose. When I do my modeling further on in the season I?ll make their lineup more top heavy in minutes and that will move them up to the 42-47 range as an average. Nevertheless, age and depth are a huge concern for this team. Not a lot of margin for error.
Minnesota and Golden State are two peas in a pod. They have porcelain rosters. The model is very,very,very wary of going top heavy in minutes for either team. Both could get into the fifty win range or drop like stones. Golden state is getting killed in particular by their lack of depth at the five and four.
Brooklyn is really, really,really old. They also have a very tricky roster. I suspect they?ll figure it out on pain of death but I also think their final win total will depend on how bad the tanking gets. They?ll be a a better playoff team.
Denver, Dallas are afterthoughts in the West.
Lots of scrappy young teams in the East: Sixers, Celtics, Bucks, Hawks, Raptors, Pistons, Wizards and the Cavs. I suspect the 4th seed fight will be the Hawks, Raptors, Pacers and Wizards. I think the Bucks, Pistons and Cavs will be the eight seed fight. Don?t trust Bynum?s knee yet.
Memphis, Chicago and, surprisingly, Utah look to be the second tier contenders.
The Top of the league is really crowded with some tremendous teams. The Heat and Spurs, though a year older, will still be there as the present . The Clippers are better and want to inherit the throne. The Rockets look to be on the verge and may the future. But the top team in the league?
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police and civic leaders appealed for calm but braced for more unrest on Tuesday after nearly two dozen protesters were arrested in Los Angeles and Oakland in a second night of unrest sparked by the not-guilty verdict in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
Los Angeles police said the disturbances involved about 150 people who broke off from an otherwise peaceful prayer vigil for Martin, the unarmed black teenager who was killed last year by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.
The white-Hispanic man who shot Martin, George Zimmerman, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter on Saturday after a three-week trial. The verdict in the racially charged case has stirred demonstrations across the country.
In the predominantly black Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, vandals set trash on fire, smashed windows and assaulted a television news crew during several hours of unrest on Monday night.
Fourteen people were arrested, most of them for failing to disperse, police said. One person was arrested during similar outbursts on Sunday night.
In Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, about 250 protesters swarmed downtown streets on Monday night, vandalizing cars and businesses and scrawling graffiti. Nine people were arrested.
No serious injuries were reported in either city. But officials called for demonstrators to keep rallies peaceful.
"The trial that we saw in Florida has ignited passions, but we have to make sure that it will not ignite this city," Mayor Eric Garcetti told a late-night news conference.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, appearing with the mayor, warned that officers would take "a much stricter posture in the way that we deal with people taking the streets" around Crenshaw and urged parents to keep children away from protests.
SHOW OF FORCE
Police Commander Andrew Smith said minor infractions tolerated by police on Sunday and Monday, such as blocking traffic, would not be overlooked on Tuesday.
The LAPD's show of force would be "significantly above" the 300 to 350 officers who were on the scene Monday night, he said, adding: "The message is very clear: We expect everyone to act in a lawful manner."
A statement signed by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and other city officials called the death of Trayvon Martin "a tragic event felt throughout the community."
"We understand the verdict announcement is an emotional one. We are committed to supporting peaceful assembly and freedom of speech," it added.
Civic leaders planned to deploy a team of "peace monitors" on street corners, said community activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
He said opportunism from trouble-makers seeking to exploit the situation was a factor on Monday, but the Zimmerman acquittal was also the latest flashpoint for pent-up anger, frustration and a sense of disconnect within the community.
"Many are angry over the (Zimmerman verdict); they think it was unjust," he said.
In San Francisco, a group that organized protests of the Zimmerman acquittal in various cities was planning a demonstration on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of another fatal shooting with racial overtones, the killing of a black bus passenger by police after he failed to pay his fare.
The group, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, threatened to shut down San Francisco's MUNI bus service on Tuesday afternoon in an act of civil disobedience. City transit authorities reported that two bus lines were blocked by protesters during the late-afternoon rush hour but were later cleared.
(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; additional reporting by Ronnie Cohen and Laila Kearney in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and David Brunnstrom)
Earth's gold came from colliding dead starsPublic release date: 17-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Pulliam cpulliam@cfa.harvard.edu 617-495-7463 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
We value gold for many reasons: its beauty, its usefulness as jewelry, and its rarity. Gold is rare on Earth in part because it's also rare in the universe. Unlike elements like carbon or iron, it cannot be created within a star. Instead, it must be born in a more cataclysmic event - like one that occurred last month known as a short gamma-ray burst (GRB).
Observations of this GRB provide evidence that it resulted from the collision of two neutron stars - the dead cores of stars that previously exploded as supernovae. Moreover, a unique glow that persisted for days at the GRB location potentially signifies the creation of substantial amounts of heavy elements - including gold.
"We estimate that the amount of gold produced and ejected during the merger of the two neutron stars may be as large as 10 moon masses - quite a lot of bling!" says lead author Edo Berger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
Berger presented the finding today in a press conference at the CfA in Cambridge, Mass.
A gamma-ray burst is a flash of high-energy light (gamma rays) from an extremely energetic explosion. Most are found in the distant universe. Berger and his colleagues studied GRB 130603B which, at a distance of 3.9 billion light-years from Earth, is one of the nearest bursts seen to date.
Gamma-ray bursts come in two varieties - long and short - depending on how long the flash of gamma rays lasts. GRB 130603B, detected by NASA's Swift satellite on June 3rd, lasted for less than two-tenths of a second.
Although the gamma rays disappeared quickly, GRB 130603B also displayed a slowly fading glow dominated by infrared light. Its brightness and behavior didn't match a typical "afterglow," which is created when a high-speed jet of particles slams into the surrounding environment.
Instead, the glow behaved like it came from exotic radioactive elements. The neutron-rich material ejected by colliding neutron stars can generate such elements, which then undergo radioactive decay, emitting a glow that's dominated by infrared light - exactly what the team observed.
"We've been looking for a 'smoking gun' to link a short gamma-ray burst with a neutron star collision. The radioactive glow from GRB 130603B may be that smoking gun," explains Wen-fai Fong, a graduate student at the CfA and a co-author of the paper.
The team calculates that about one-hundredth of a solar mass of material was ejected by the gamma-ray burst, some of which was gold. By combining the estimated gold produced by a single short GRB with the number of such explosions that have occurred over the age of the universe, all the gold in the cosmos might have come from gamma-ray bursts.
"To paraphrase Carl Sagan, we are all star stuff, and our jewelry is colliding-star stuff," says Berger.
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Earth's gold came from colliding dead starsPublic release date: 17-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Pulliam cpulliam@cfa.harvard.edu 617-495-7463 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
We value gold for many reasons: its beauty, its usefulness as jewelry, and its rarity. Gold is rare on Earth in part because it's also rare in the universe. Unlike elements like carbon or iron, it cannot be created within a star. Instead, it must be born in a more cataclysmic event - like one that occurred last month known as a short gamma-ray burst (GRB).
Observations of this GRB provide evidence that it resulted from the collision of two neutron stars - the dead cores of stars that previously exploded as supernovae. Moreover, a unique glow that persisted for days at the GRB location potentially signifies the creation of substantial amounts of heavy elements - including gold.
"We estimate that the amount of gold produced and ejected during the merger of the two neutron stars may be as large as 10 moon masses - quite a lot of bling!" says lead author Edo Berger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
Berger presented the finding today in a press conference at the CfA in Cambridge, Mass.
A gamma-ray burst is a flash of high-energy light (gamma rays) from an extremely energetic explosion. Most are found in the distant universe. Berger and his colleagues studied GRB 130603B which, at a distance of 3.9 billion light-years from Earth, is one of the nearest bursts seen to date.
Gamma-ray bursts come in two varieties - long and short - depending on how long the flash of gamma rays lasts. GRB 130603B, detected by NASA's Swift satellite on June 3rd, lasted for less than two-tenths of a second.
Although the gamma rays disappeared quickly, GRB 130603B also displayed a slowly fading glow dominated by infrared light. Its brightness and behavior didn't match a typical "afterglow," which is created when a high-speed jet of particles slams into the surrounding environment.
Instead, the glow behaved like it came from exotic radioactive elements. The neutron-rich material ejected by colliding neutron stars can generate such elements, which then undergo radioactive decay, emitting a glow that's dominated by infrared light - exactly what the team observed.
"We've been looking for a 'smoking gun' to link a short gamma-ray burst with a neutron star collision. The radioactive glow from GRB 130603B may be that smoking gun," explains Wen-fai Fong, a graduate student at the CfA and a co-author of the paper.
The team calculates that about one-hundredth of a solar mass of material was ejected by the gamma-ray burst, some of which was gold. By combining the estimated gold produced by a single short GRB with the number of such explosions that have occurred over the age of the universe, all the gold in the cosmos might have come from gamma-ray bursts.
"To paraphrase Carl Sagan, we are all star stuff, and our jewelry is colliding-star stuff," says Berger.
###
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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.
I've been getting bombarded the last few days on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by people who want to know whether or not omega-3 fats cause prostate cancer. This is due to a brand new study that suggests?or "confirms," depending on which headline you read?that they do.
Here's my take: This "study" is completely bogus. I'll get into the details in a second, but I wanted to be sure to call B.S. as quickly and clearly as possible. Sorry to be blunt, but it angers me when scientists publish weak statistical correlations that cause the media to get the public in a tizzy over the fake dangers of supplements.
Now that I have gotten that off my chest, let's take a closer look at what makes this phony news story stink to high heaven.
Wait, What Study? ///
The study in question, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, claims that men with higher blood levels of omega-3 fats had more than a 70 percent greater risk in developing high-grade prostate cancer, an almost 45 percent increase in the risk of low-grade prostate cancer, and almost a 45 percent increase in the risk for all prostate cancers. The lead author was quoted as saying, "We've shown once again that use of nutritional supplements may be harmful."
Note that he doesn't warn against eating salmon, which is also very high in omega-3 fats. No, he warns against supplements. And when he says "We've shown once again," he is referring to a 2011 study by the same researchers which concluded that men with the highest levels of the omega-3 DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) had 2.5 times the risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer compared to men with the lowest levels.
These are big conclusions for him to draw when numerous other studies have shown that omega-3 fats actually reduce the risk of cancers, including prostate cancer. For this one lab to find the complete opposite means that we should approach this study carefully and look closely at how its conclusions were reached. And sure enough, neither it nor the 2011 study stands up to basic criticism.
Something Smells Fishy ///
First off: On its face, the conclusions from this study don't match up with basic real-world medical stats. If omega-3 fats were causing prostate cancer, you would expect that countries with the highest fish intake would have the highest rates of prostate cancer. You would also expect that the countries with the lowest fish intake would have the lowest rates of prostate cancer. And yet the opposite is far closer to the truth.
But let's look at the flaws of this study in particular. For starters, the actual blood levels of omega-3 fats that separated the patients into groups were very small. The blood levels of omega-3 fats in the patients that were considered to have a higher risk of prostate cancer were 4.66 percent. The blood levels of omega-3 in the control group were 4.48 percent. That's a change of less than 0.2 percent! This is a miniscule difference and should be considered statistically insignificant. But if you run enough different statistical tests ?and particularly if you're simply aiming to confirm your anti-supplement bias ?you can eventually find one that helps you show "significance."
An equally glaring problem with the study is that the researchers did not give subjects omega-3 supplements, or even a diet high in fatty fish like salmon. All they did was take old data from previous studies, look at the level of omega-3 fats in the patients' blood, and run selective statistics to show that there was a relationship to the rate of prostate cancer. It did not determine how the levels were increased?very slightly increased?and yet the lead author jumped to the wild conclusion that omega-3 supplements are harmful.
This is called "correlation," and it does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. It simply shows a relationship, and in this case, it's a pretty flimsy one. In fact, several prominent research scientists have already stated that they are surprised that this study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center team was even published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute because it was so flawed.
Up in Smoke ///
Here's another interesting relationship that the researchers found in their 2011 study, but which you won't hear them talking about. At the same time they were concluding that omega-3 fats somehow increased the risk of cancer, their stats indicated that men who smoke have a significantly lower risk of prostate cancer than non-smokers.
They also "discovered" in the new study that the men who had the highest blood levels of trans fat had a 50 percent reduction in the risk of prostate cancer!
Yes, that's trans fat?the most evil fat of them all. How could anyone believe that trans fats could reduce the risk of prostate cancer? It's even sillier than believing that omega-3 fats could increase the risk of prostate cancer.
So if you really listened to the conclusions of the two studies by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, then you should avoid fatty fish like salmon and stop taking fish oil to keep your omega-3 fat levels low. Instead, eat packaged foods and dine at fast food restaurants to increase your trans fat intake, and after your meal, be sure to light up a cancer stick.
Sound like a smart plan? No, it doesn't. So don't listen to these clearly flawed "studies" that should never have been published in the first place. Do what you know works and keep supplementing with fish oil. It can increase muscle growth, aid fat loss, enhance joint health, boost brain function and mood, and reduce inflammation, all of which can help to reduce the risk of heart disease and many cancers. And that's just the short list of the benefits.
References (and I use the term "references" lightly)
Brasky, T. M., et al. Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids and Prostate Cancer Risk in the Select Trial. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In press, 2013.
Brasky, T. M, et al. Serum phospholipid fatty acids and prostate cancer risk: results from the prostate cancer prevention trial. Am J Epidemiol. 2011 Jun 15; 173(12):1429-39.
About The Author
Jim holds a doctorate in exercise physiology and has been the personal nutrition and health consultant for numerous celebrity clients...
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Public release date: 17-Jul-2013
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