Emma Robert looked bewitchingly gorgeous at the American Horror Story: Coven screening in West Hollywood on Saturday night in her white cut-out Cushnie et Ochs dress.
Nope! She's definitely not the type of witch that's green and warty in a dowdy black cape! LOLz!
Let's see who else spellbound the photog's flashes with their fashion sense.
CLICK HERE to see the gallery, "Best Dressed Celebs Of The Week!"
CLICK HERE to see the gallery, "Best Dressed Celebs Of The Week!"
CLICK HERE to see the gallery, "Best Dressed Celebs Of The Week!"
CLICK HERE to see the gallery, "Best Dressed Celebs Of The Week!"
CLICK HERE to see the gallery, "Best Dressed Celebs Of The Week!"
Fitbit did a lot of things very right when it made the One, its tiny activity-tracking pod. But then the company—caving to peer pressure from the likes of Nike—made the Fitbit Flex wristband. There's nothing wrong with that form-factor, but the Flex lost a lot of the functionality that made the One so great, and it felt like a big step backwards. Today the company is releasing the Fitbit Force, and it's exactly what the Flex should have been.
Like the Flex, the Force is a silicone wristband. The band is just slightly wider, and it's a little bit thicker. It still fits comfortably under the cuff on a long-sleeved shirt, though, and doesn't make it look like you have a horrible arm-fracture. The first difference you'll notice from the Flex is that the Force has a rather lovely and blue OLED screen.
S
Using that screen and the lone button on the left side of the band, you can scroll through how many steps you've taken, the estimated total distance, calories burned, floors climbed, time of day, and the total time you've been active. Floors climbed is something the Flex couldn't do because it lacked an altimeter, and it's an important addition, as it gets much better data for estimating the true amount of calories you burn. Time of day might not sound like much of a feature, but if it's something you're going to wear on your wrist all day, it had better be able to tell you what time it is. It also has a stopwatch.
Like the other Fitbits, the Force can track your sleep to show you how much you are (or aren't) getting, and how much you're tossing and turning, and it has a vibrational motor so it can wake you up with a silent alarm. It can withstand a splash or two, but it isn't waterproof. This information and your other stats are displayed in a very nicely designed visual layout on the website, or in the Fitbit smartphone apps.
It comes with an included USB dongle for your computer, and it will wirelessly sync anytime you're within 20 feet of your computer (provided you install some software). It operates on the Bluetooth 4.0 Smart (Low Energy) protocol, which means it will wirelessly sync throughout the day with your iPhone or with certain Android devices (currently just Samsung devices from the Galaxy S3 on, though hopefully that will change soon). The Force has NFC built in which should have auto-paired it with my Android phone, but the phone never picked up the NFC signal, so the jury is still out on that.
One interesting feature which will be rolling out soon for iOS 7 users (and maybe for Android devices later) is that you can set it to notify you of incoming calls. It will vibrate and display the name of the caller if it's in your contacts, or it will show you the number. You can't answer or dismiss calls, but it could save you an exhausting reach into your pocket (or dig through the couch cushions). That feature will be rolling out soon.
S
Fitbit claims the battery will last ten days between charges. We've had it on for two solid days now and the battery has barely a nick taken out of it, so that sounds like a reasonable claim, though more testing is necessary to confirm. In general the band is pretty comfortable. It doesn't really get in the way, and it's thin enough that I can type with it on and it doesn't dig into my inner wrist. Also, subjectively, it looks nice, and it wouldn't be an eyesore even if you were dressed semi-formally. It does snag the occasional wrist-hair, though.
The Fitbit Force is being sold for $130. That's $30 more than the Flex and the One. It's certainly a lot better than the Flex, but if you prefer something lower profile (i.e. something that stays in your pocket rather than on your wrist), then you should probably just go with the One, though you will have to transfer it to/from a soft wrist-sleeve every night for sleep monitoring, which is kind of a pain. It's also worth noting that when we reviewed the Flex we found it to be way less accurate than the One. Hopefully Fitbit has fixed that for the Force. We'll be putting it through its paces and will let you know soon. [Fitbit]
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says there are no gimmicks to grow the economy ? just difficult steps that require Washington's focus.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama is promoting a plan he says can break through gridlock. He's calling it a grand bargain for the middle class.
Obama says he's willing to work with Republicans to reform the tax code for businesses. That would mean lowering rates but ending many loopholes and deductions.
But Obama says he'll only do it if money generated is used for infrastructure, training and job growth.
In the Republican address, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says Obama's health care law will cost jobs. She wants to change the law to require companies to provide insurance to employees working 40 hours a week, not 30.
President Barack Obama has the summer blues. Obama is facing a sluggish economy, low job approval numbers and a combative opposition party focused on dismantling Obamacare. While rainy summer days in Washington and lengthy speeches by members of Congress and the president have become the norm, no real progress and no new proposals by the president have been made to help improve the state of the U.S. economy.?
The president gave a one-hour speech last week in Illinois talking about his plans to help boost the economy, and he stated that he would lay out more of his initiatives in the upcoming weeks. Americans have been waiting for too long to see what the president is planning to propose.
The president's ideas and speeches are a repeat of the 2010 "summer of recovery" where he gave campaign-style speeches around the country and yet nothing was accomplished in Washington. In his latest speech, President Obama's grand bargain is clearly a repackaging of two existing proposals that have been stalled in Congress: corporate tax reform and spending more money on infrastructure, education and training.
[Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.]
Obama must be depressed and frustrated that his economic proposals have not gained Republican support in Congress.? However, he has made little effort to find a bipartisan solution to jumpstarting the economy. The president is not running again and the likelihood of the Democrats taking over Congress in 2014 is dim, so why not build bipartisan support for economic proposals? Based on his history, compromise is not in the president's vocabulary.
The president's recent shift to the economy is long overdue, yet his long-winded speeches and proposals to nowhere will not help. The economy needs a shot in the arm. Friday's labor report showed disappointing numbers, which is another indication that the economy remains sluggish. The unemployment rate in July did fall from 7.6 percent to 7.4 percent, but that was partly because 37,000 people left the labor force.
Economic indicators are mixed and quite discouraging. Home ownership is at the lowest levels in 18 years. More Americans are working part-time for economic reasons, and 22.2 million Americans remain unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work. Hispanic unemployment also rose from 9.1 to 9.4. More young people cannot afford to live on their own and are living with their parents. With the latest job reports, economists have stated that the economy is just not gaining enough traction.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]
President Obama is faced with two challenges: building public approval and GOP support of his economic plans. He will spend the next few weeks giving speeches and talking about his old ideas. It will be a difficult sales pitch considering that millions of discouraged Americans have been waiting a long time to find full-time jobs, and American businesses are preparing themselves for the wrath of Obamacare.?
As in the case of immigration reform, the president may need to look to Congress to work on legislation that both parties can support. Congress is already taking the lead and crafting bipartisan comprehensive tax reform legislation for taxpayers and businesses. It would be wise for the president to jump on board and support their efforts. The president will then have something substantial to talk about during his summer of recovery tour (part two).
Singer Louis Tomlinson of boy band One Direction has signed for English Championship soccer side Doncaster Rovers on a non-contract basis and could play for their development squad this season, the club has announced.
Tomlinson 21, heartthrob to millions of teenaged girls around the world, has also been given squad number 28 which qualifies him to play for the club's first team in the second tier of English soccer, although that is unlikely to happen.
"This has always been a childhood dream for me," said Tomlinson, whose band are one of the biggest in the world and are preparing for a worldwide stadium tour starting next May.
A statement on the club's website (www.doncasterrovers.co.uk) said: "Louis has always been passionate about football and wanted to realise a dream of signing for his home town club where he once worked on match days."
He has also played at the club's Keepmoat Stadium in charity games and his signing for Doncaster is mainly to help raise funds for a local children's charity.
There are numerous links between the worlds of music and soccer but not many pop stars have signed for professional clubs.
Rod Stewart came close and had trials with London side Brentford before embarking on a full-time music career.
$4.6 billion dollars is today's daily digit - the amount Royal Dutch Shell's profits fell by in the second quarter of the year. That's more than $1 billion dollars down on the same time last year. Shell said it was largely due to higher costs and a surge in Nigerian oil thefts, which cost them $700 million. Shell recently has put some of its Niger Delta operations up for sale. But outgoing CEO Peter Voser says it's still committed to Africa.
Sir Ian Wilmut proposes an alternative method as a possible means of creating a mammoth--or a hybrid. Such research could lead to major biological discoveries and advances
By Ian Wilmut and The Conversation
The Woolly Mammoth exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria.Image: Wikimedia Commons/Mammut
Editor's note: The following essay is reprinted with permission fromThe Conversation UK, an online publication covering the latest research.
By Ian Wilmut, University of Edinburgh
It is unlikely that a mammoth could be cloned in the way we created Dolly the sheep, as has been proposed following the discovery of mammoth bones in northern Siberia. However, the idea prompts us to consider the feasibility of other avenues. Even if the Dolly method is not possible, there are other ways in which it would be biologically interesting to work with viable mammoth cells if they can be found.
In order for a Dolly-like clone to be born it is necessary to have females of a closely related species to provide unfertilised eggs, and, if cloned embryos are produced, to carry the pregnancies. Cloning depends on having two cells. One is an egg recovered from an animal around the time when usually she would be mated.
In reality there would be a need for not just one, but several hundred or even several thousand eggs to allow an opportunity to optimise the cloning techniques. The cloning procedure is very inefficient. After all, after several years of research with sheep eggs, Dolly was the only one to develop from 277 cloned embryos. In species in which research has continued, the typical success rate is still only around 5% at best.
Elephant eggs
In this case the suggestion is to use eggs from elephants. Because there is a danger of elephants becoming extinct it is clearly not appropriate to try to obtain 500 eggs from elephants. But there is an alternative.
There is a considerable similarity in the mechanisms that regulate function of the ovaries in different mammals. It has been shown that maturation of elephant eggs is stimulated if ovarian tissue from elephants is transplanted into mice.
In this way it might be possible to obtain a considerable number of elephant eggs over a period of time if ovarian tissue is obtained from elephants that die.
?Am I not woolly enough for you?? ShaneRounce.com
Cells from mammoths are required to provide the genetic information to control development. The suggestion is to recover cells from the marrow of bones emerging from the frozen north of Siberia. However, these cells will degenerate rapidly at the temperature of melting snow and ice. This means that cells in the bones may well become useless for this capacity as they thaw.
The chances of cells being viable would be increased if bones could be recovered from the lowest possible temperature rather than waiting until they emerge from snow. The cells can then be warmed rapidly. Alternatively, the nuclei could be transferred directly into eggs.
The very first stages of embryo development are controlled by proteins that are in the egg when it is shed by the ovary. One for example has a critical role in cell division. Together these proteins have an extraordinary ability to repair damaged nuclei so it may not be strictly necessary for the cells to be viable. It would be best if the mammoth nucleus could be introduced into an egg immediately, by injection of the contents of the damaged cell into the egg.
Research in 2008 found that when nuclei from freeze-dried sheep cells were transferred into eggs, some of the cloned embryos developed for a few days, but not to term. This was a very clear indication of the ability of the egg to repair damaged nuclei. However, freeze-dried cells are likely to be more stable than those that have been frozen with liquid still present. In the case of the mammoth, the cells would likely be killed by large ice crystals formed from the liquid.
Sony Pictures and Tom Rothman, former Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, announced today that they will launch TriStar Production on September 1st. Here's the full press release:
Beginning September 1, 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Tom Rothman will launch TriStar Productions. The new joint venture will augment the studios strong output of motion pictures and television programming, it was jointly announced today by Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment and Chairman and CEO of SPE, and Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of SPE.
Sony Pictures will provide financing for the new entity and retain all distribution rights worldwide. Rothman will serve as Chairman of TriStar Productions and have an equity interest in the venture. He will report directly to Lynton and Pascal.
TriStar Productions will have its own in-house creative production executives and strategic marketing capabilities while relying on Sony Pictures infrastructure. TriStar Productions will be additive to the studios pipeline of filmed entertainment, and is meant to be complementary to titles from Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Classics and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. The TriStar Pictures banner will also be used, as it has in the past, for other product, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. The newly formed venture will have the ability to take on outside investments as well.
The new unit is slated to produce up to four films per year, all of which will be released under the TriStar Pictures banner. Additionally, TriStar Productions will develop television long form and series programming for Sony Pictures Television.
Commenting on the announcement, Pascal said, Tom is a rare executive who loves movies, loves filmmakers, understands how to make money and has exquisite taste. He has the perfect programming sensibility to add to our slate mix and it will be a thrill to have him as part of our team.
Added Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television, Sony Pictures Television is in business with the best in the business and we couldnt be more excited to have Tom join our family.
In the late 80s, Amy and I worked together for Dawn Steel on the old Columbia Lot in Burbank, said Rothman. I admired her hugely then and I admire her more now - she has a truly exceptional film mind. I have known and respected Michael just as long. Together they run a superb company, loaded with outstanding executives at every level, including Steve Mosko, with whom I share a special heritage. From working with both Fox 2000 and Searchlight for many years, I have seen how effective a diversified filmmaking strategy can be, and the opportunities today in television are obvious. As a fan of Hollywood history, I know TriStar has a noble name. I am honored that Michael and Amy would choose me to try to lead a new chapter in it and look forward to collaborating with all the great people at Sony, a truly terrific studio. It feels like coming home."
Forthcoming films from Sony Pictures include Elysium, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster from acclaimed writer-director Neill Blomkamp; The Mortal Instruments, directed by Harald Zwart from a screenplay by Jessica Postigo Paquette; One Direction: This Is Us, directed by Morgan Spurlock; Battle of the Year, directed by Benson Lee and written by Brin Hill and Chris Parker; Sony Pictures Animations Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the mouthwatering sequel to the 2009 hit; Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass from a screenplay by Billy Ray; Carrie, starring Chlo Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore and directed by Kimberly Peirce from a screenplay by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; American Hustle, starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence, directed by David O. Russell and written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; and The Monuments Men, starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett, and directed by Clooney from a screenplay by Clooney & Grant Heslov.
Rothman departed in January as Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment after 18 years at the company, where he oversaw all its filmmaking operations (including TCF, FOX 2000, Searchlight, Blue Sky Animation) and, starting in 2009, Twentieth Century Fox Television. Many of those years set profit records for Fox and his track record includes the two highest grossing films in cinematic history, over 40 billion in worldwide box office, more than 150 Academy Award nominations, three Best Picture winners and multiple Emmys. He previously headed the Samuel Goldwyn Company, worked at Columbia Pictures and was an entertainment lawyer and independent producer. He is the recipient of the IFP Industry Tribute, its lifetime achievement award, and is active in many civic and philanthropic endeavors.
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com.
A roadblock to personalized cancer care?Public release date: 1-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nicole Fawcett nfawcett@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
Experts call for more support for tumor biomarker tests; fixing a vicious cycle will lead to tests that better predict treatment success
ANN ARBOR, Mich. There's a major roadblock to creating personalized cancer care.
Doctors need a way to target treatments to patients most likely to benefit and avoid treating those who will not. Tumor biomarker tests can help do this.
The problem, according to a new commentary paper, is that, unlike drugs or other therapies, cancer biomarker tests are undervalued by doctors and patients. The authors say that inconsistent regulatory rules, inadequate payment and underfunded tumor biomarker research has left us in a vicious cycle that prevents development and testing of reliable biomarker tests that could be used to personalize clinical care of patients with cancer.
"Right now biomarkers are not valued nearly to the extent that we see with therapeutics. But if a tumor biomarker test is being used to decide whether a patient should receive a certain treatment, then it is as critical for patient care as a therapeutic agent. A bad test is as dangerous as a bad drug," says Daniel F. Hayes, M.D., clinical director of the breast oncology program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Hayes led a blue-ribbon panel of experts from universities, corporations, insurance and advocacy organizations to outline the issues in a commentary published today in Science Translational Medicine.
Tumor biomarker tests look at the genetic or molecular make-up of a tumor to determine whether the cancer is likely to progress, and if so, if it is likely to respond to treatment. If the test is good, it can help doctors decide when a patient can safely skip further therapy, or it can be used to direct which drug might be most likely to help. The result: "personalized medicine," which means patients get treatments that benefit them specifically and they avoid treatments including their costs and side effects that are not likely to make a difference for them.
The regulatory process, the research funding, the reimbursement, even the standards for journal publications for tumor biomarker tests are all meager compared to the robust support for drug development, the authors say.
This creates a vicious cycle in which researchers and drug companies don't invest in tumor biomarker research, tests are not fully evaluated in clinical trials, and tests with uncertain value in terms of predicting the success of treatment are published. This in turn means that few of these tests are included in evidence-based care guidelines, leaving health care professionals unsure of whether or how to use the test, and third-party payers unsure of how much to pay for them.
The authors outline five recommendations and suggest that all five must be addressed to break the vicious cycle:
Reform regulatory review of tumor biomarker tests
Increase reimbursement for tumor biomarker tests that are proven to help determine which therapies will or are working
Increase investment for tumor biomarker research so it's comparable to new drug research
Increase the rigor for peer review of tumor biomarker publications
Include only proven biomarker tests in evidence-based care guidelines
"These recommendations are not about creating more regulation; they are about creating an even playing field that allows tumor biomarker tests to be developed and proven clinically relevant. We want to stimulate innovation yet hold investigators and clinicians to the highest scientific standards as we now do for therapeutics," Hayes says. "We need to change the way we value tumor biomarkers in this country."
###
Additional authors: Jeff Allen, Friends of Cancer Research; Carolyn Compton, Critical Path Institute; Gary Gustavsen, Health Advances; Debra G.B. Leonard, University of Vermont College of Medicine; Robert McCormack, Veridex; Lee Newcomer, United Health Care; Kristin Potheir, Health Advances; David Ransohoff, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Richard L. Schilsky, American Society of Clinical Oncology; Ellen Sigal, Friends of Cancer Research; Sheila E. Taube, ST-Consulting; Sean R. Tunis, Center for Medical Technology Policy
Disclosure: Hayes is a consultant for Oncimmune LLC, Inbiomotion, and Biomarker Strategies and has received research funding from Novartis, Veridex (Johnson & Johnson), and Janssen R&D, LLC (Johnson & Johnson). He is a co-inventor on a patent for a method for predicting progression-free and overall survival in metastatic breast cancer patients using circulating tumor cells; and has applied for patents for a test for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and for circulating tumor cell capturing techniques and devices.
Reference:Science Translational Medicine, Vol. 5, No. 196, July 31, 2013
Resources:
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, http://www.mcancer.org
Clinical trials at U-M, http://www.mcancer.org/clinicaltrials
[ | 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.
A roadblock to personalized cancer care?Public release date: 1-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nicole Fawcett nfawcett@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
Experts call for more support for tumor biomarker tests; fixing a vicious cycle will lead to tests that better predict treatment success
ANN ARBOR, Mich. There's a major roadblock to creating personalized cancer care.
Doctors need a way to target treatments to patients most likely to benefit and avoid treating those who will not. Tumor biomarker tests can help do this.
The problem, according to a new commentary paper, is that, unlike drugs or other therapies, cancer biomarker tests are undervalued by doctors and patients. The authors say that inconsistent regulatory rules, inadequate payment and underfunded tumor biomarker research has left us in a vicious cycle that prevents development and testing of reliable biomarker tests that could be used to personalize clinical care of patients with cancer.
"Right now biomarkers are not valued nearly to the extent that we see with therapeutics. But if a tumor biomarker test is being used to decide whether a patient should receive a certain treatment, then it is as critical for patient care as a therapeutic agent. A bad test is as dangerous as a bad drug," says Daniel F. Hayes, M.D., clinical director of the breast oncology program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Hayes led a blue-ribbon panel of experts from universities, corporations, insurance and advocacy organizations to outline the issues in a commentary published today in Science Translational Medicine.
Tumor biomarker tests look at the genetic or molecular make-up of a tumor to determine whether the cancer is likely to progress, and if so, if it is likely to respond to treatment. If the test is good, it can help doctors decide when a patient can safely skip further therapy, or it can be used to direct which drug might be most likely to help. The result: "personalized medicine," which means patients get treatments that benefit them specifically and they avoid treatments including their costs and side effects that are not likely to make a difference for them.
The regulatory process, the research funding, the reimbursement, even the standards for journal publications for tumor biomarker tests are all meager compared to the robust support for drug development, the authors say.
This creates a vicious cycle in which researchers and drug companies don't invest in tumor biomarker research, tests are not fully evaluated in clinical trials, and tests with uncertain value in terms of predicting the success of treatment are published. This in turn means that few of these tests are included in evidence-based care guidelines, leaving health care professionals unsure of whether or how to use the test, and third-party payers unsure of how much to pay for them.
The authors outline five recommendations and suggest that all five must be addressed to break the vicious cycle:
Reform regulatory review of tumor biomarker tests
Increase reimbursement for tumor biomarker tests that are proven to help determine which therapies will or are working
Increase investment for tumor biomarker research so it's comparable to new drug research
Increase the rigor for peer review of tumor biomarker publications
Include only proven biomarker tests in evidence-based care guidelines
"These recommendations are not about creating more regulation; they are about creating an even playing field that allows tumor biomarker tests to be developed and proven clinically relevant. We want to stimulate innovation yet hold investigators and clinicians to the highest scientific standards as we now do for therapeutics," Hayes says. "We need to change the way we value tumor biomarkers in this country."
###
Additional authors: Jeff Allen, Friends of Cancer Research; Carolyn Compton, Critical Path Institute; Gary Gustavsen, Health Advances; Debra G.B. Leonard, University of Vermont College of Medicine; Robert McCormack, Veridex; Lee Newcomer, United Health Care; Kristin Potheir, Health Advances; David Ransohoff, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Richard L. Schilsky, American Society of Clinical Oncology; Ellen Sigal, Friends of Cancer Research; Sheila E. Taube, ST-Consulting; Sean R. Tunis, Center for Medical Technology Policy
Disclosure: Hayes is a consultant for Oncimmune LLC, Inbiomotion, and Biomarker Strategies and has received research funding from Novartis, Veridex (Johnson & Johnson), and Janssen R&D, LLC (Johnson & Johnson). He is a co-inventor on a patent for a method for predicting progression-free and overall survival in metastatic breast cancer patients using circulating tumor cells; and has applied for patents for a test for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and for circulating tumor cell capturing techniques and devices.
Reference:Science Translational Medicine, Vol. 5, No. 196, July 31, 2013
Resources:
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, http://www.mcancer.org
Clinical trials at U-M, http://www.mcancer.org/clinicaltrials
[ | 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.
Across Europe, the summer vacation is sacred. Less than two weeks? Rarely (most, in fact, take off the entire month of July or August). Work on the road? Never.
But with record unemployment, slashed benefits, and no end in sight to the eurocrisis, many European citizens have had to forgo their cherished annual ritual.
This year, according to polling group Ipsos for the insurance group Europ Assistance, only 54 percent of those surveyed across France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Austria reported plans to go on summer vacation ? a 12-point drop from 2011.
On one hand, the survey provides a map of who is hurting economically and who is not. But a deeper look also reveals the different cultural battles under way in Europe, the "ways of life" that are being discussed, dissed, and embraced as the eurozone crisis rages and divides.
Germany, for example, is doing the best in Europe economically. Unemployment is around 5 percent, compared with the European Union average of more than 12 percent. Germans like to say they're doing so well because they "did their homework." But Germans are also prudent and pragmatic ? perhaps the reason that they sit below the European average for vacations this year, with only 52 percent saying they will be going away.
At the same time, Germans might look frustratingly at the figures for France, where 62 percent say they are going away this year. That does represent an eight-point drop from last year, but summer trips are still on the agendas of more French people than any of the other nationalities surveyed, despite a stubbornly high unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and few major economic reforms on the horizon. The Germans might, as they do in other aspects, bemoan an unwillingness of the French to "give up the good life."
By the "good life," they mostly refer to the generous pensions, early retirements, and short weeks that define French working culture. But Victor Roquin, a French consultant in sustainable development, counts vacations on the list of rights the French hold dear.
Across Europe, citizens average 25 to 30 days of vacation per year, according to an Expedia 2012 survey. But nowhere is a month off more ingrained than in France. There's even a verb to describe the act of returning home from summer holidays and back to school: rentrer. "Vacations are a part of our culture. We fought a lot to obtain paid vacation," says Mr. Roquin, who grew up going away each July or August to his family's summer home on the French coast.
It's a custom he has carried on in his adult life, and continues today, because he hasn't been touched by crisis, nor have the friends around him. At the start of August he will pack up his car and head south to a friend's family's summer home; then head to the coast of France; and then on to northern Spain before returning to Paris. "I only have two weeks off this year," he says, and then he laughs at the word "only" ? he knows he's talking to an American.
But he doubts that even a looming economic crisis would keep travelers from the roads.
"Holidays, especially summer holidays, are sacred. You can't touch them," he says. "No matter what the economic situation is, people will keep on going on vacation."
WHO SPENDS THE MOST ON TRAVEL?
1 China ($102 billion) 2 Germany (83.8) 3 United States (83.7) 4 Britain (52.3) 5 Russia (42.8) 6 France (37.2) 7 Canada (35.2) 8 Japan (27.9) 9 Australia (27.6) 10 Italy (26.2)
Key visitors to your commercial pages include web robots that crawl the internet and catalog your content. Having proper HTML source code, plus the right combination of text and graphic presentation, is just one secret to success. Proper code may mean higher robot ratings, and the "look" is equally important. Once a new prospect finds your web site, you have 5 seconds to get them to stay.
As a small business web site owner, you may have asked "Why don't we get any hits?". Did you know web pages can load and appear correct with improper or deprecated HTML code? A browser may ignore your mistakes, and display what it thinks you meant, and it may look great. Web robots may not be as forgiving.
Following is a list of 8 basic elements for good search engine placement that need to be considered in your design and web site promotion. For details on code issues from the worldwide authority, visit the World Wide Web Consortium to view DOCTYPE and other quality standards.
1. DOCTYPE Statement 2. Page Title 3. Proper HTML Code 4. META Description 5. META Key Words 6. First Paragraph of the Home Page 7. An Extra Page of Just LINKS 8. Backlinks (Links to your pages)
These 8 key items are either missing or poorly designed in 85% of all web sites. Some search engines may only list the other 15% in their directories. In other words, as few as 15% of the 6 billion web pages online ever make it into some search engines. Even worse, there are mistakes that may result in your page being blacklisted, and the search engine web crawlers may never come back to see if it's corrected. This could explain why you "never get any hits".
Web sites can be simple and professional without using fancy software to create your pages. Veteran programmers hand code and many create the HTML in NotePad. Web authors who choose to use flash, frames, or the latest software may be losing a significant portion of new visitors (customers) because the visitor may lack the technology or newest version of browsers. If they are turned off and leave without giving your site a fair viewing, it could mean lost profits.
Most designers use prepackaged software to create web pages. If the software leaves out any of the key elements, the code is hidden, and you'll never know your site was not optimized for search engines. The designer may not know, or care, about these items as long as the page looks attractive. Note: Search engine algorithms vary by company, so some elements such as "an extra page of links" may not be as important today with some search robots. Backlinks refer to marketing your site and getting other web sites to link to yours.
Finally, business visitors want information. They do not visit your home page to be entertained. Most have a need (problem) and want a fast answer (solution), so designs should be created to minimize the use of music or video unless that's your core business. Anything that distracts from a positive first impression may violate my "5 Second Rule".
DOS PALOS -- Only half-filled with helium, and already more than 12 feet wide, the giant plastic envelope shimmered and shook in the breeze like some airborne jellyfish rising through a gentle current.
Soon it shot into the sky, soaring thousands of feet with a payload of sophisticated radio gear, processors and solar panels. Its launch Friday was part an offbeat experiment by Google (GOOG) in using lighter-than-air balloons, a concept pioneered in the 18th century, to solve the 21st-century problem of delivering Internet service to underserved parts of the
Bill Rogers of the Project Loon team from Google prepares to launch a high-altitude balloon carrying electronic testing equipment into the skies above Dos Palos on July 26, 2013. (Gary Reyes/Staff)
world.
"This is a great, big, hard problem," said Richard DeVaul, a Google engineer and chief technical architect for the company's Project Loon, so named in part because even Google concedes the idea sounds a little crazy.
But after a trial run in New Zealand earlier this year, DeVaul and other engineers on the project say they believe a global network of low-cost, high-altitude balloons could carry enough wireless transponders to beam Internet connections to remote parts of Africa, Asia and other developing regions.
They're now embarking on a new series of tests in California's Central Valley, aimed at working out the answers to a multitude of technical questions that must be resolved to make the project work.
Google invited a reporter and photographer to observe Friday's launch at a rural airfield that's primarily used by crop-dusting planes. More tests are planned this summer in the same area, chosen because of its relatively uncrowded air space and a driving distance of only two hours from Google headquarters in Mountain View.
"Our main challenge right now is power," said Sameera Ponda, an MIT-trained aerospace engineer hired by Google to work on the project. She explained that the Loon team needs
more data to decide how to configure the solar array and batteries so they can keep a balloon's radio equipment and computers running for weeks at a time, even at night, at frigid altitudes of 12 miles or more above the Earth.
The launch was also webcast for an audience of young tech enthusiasts, who watched the action and relayed questions to Ponda and another Loon project staffer, Paul Acosta. The kids participated through an Internet video "field trip" organized by Google and Maker Camp, a free online summer program for teens who like to build things and figure out how they work.
Project Loon is one of several undertakings by Google's secretive X division, overseen by co-founder Sergey Brin, which is responsible for so-called "moon shot" projects -- ideas that seem off the wall but could have huge potential -- including Google's self-driving car and the wearable computing device dubbed Google Glass. Google has been working on Loon for nearly two years, but it only recently went public.
"Our goal is to provide Internet service to people in areas that can't afford to throw down fiber lines or even cell towers," Ponda explained. "We're hopefully going to be able to make that a reality in the next few years."
The concept calls for a fleet of hundreds or even thousands of balloons that will float twice as high as most jetliners fly, in a circle around Earth. But while it sounds relatively simple, the logistics are mind-boggling.
Since the balloons drift with the wind, Google engineers devised a system to raise or lower them in order to catch the air currents needed to keep them floating just the right distance from each other -- and aligned so if one floats out of range from Internet users in a particular region, another will come along and take its place.
The balloon launched Friday is a test device; its radio equipment was not intended to deliver an Internet connection. It also was filled only with helium and is smaller than those tried in New Zealand, Acosta said. The larger models can be 45 feet in diameter and were designed by Google with separate chambers for helium and air, so the latter can be pumped in or out to raise or lower
the balloon.
Controlling the balloons is a massive computational challenge, DeVaul said. Fortunately, he added, "at Google we've got a bunch of really clever computer scientists and a lot of computing power. We now believe we can make the rest of this work, technically."
Google, of course, has an interest in helping more people get on the Internet. The multibillion-dollar tech giant makes most of its money by showing ads to consumers who use Google's online services.
But Richard Bennett, an expert on broadband networking and social policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said Project Loon is addressing "a very real problem" that affects two-thirds of the world's population, who are on the wrong side of the digital divide.
While the idea could work, Bennett said, it's still not clear who would pay for operating and maintaining the balloon network. Google has been vague about its plans; Bennett speculated the company may be hoping that telecommunications carriers will adopt the idea if Google can show it's commercially feasible.
Soon after Friday's launch, as the balloon dwindled ever smaller in the northeastern sky, project launch commander Bill Rogers and other members of his crew loaded their trucks and prepared to track its radio signal. This balloon was designed to travel only about 150 miles before losing altitude and returning to the ground.
Rogers planned to recover it, but in case someone else found it first, the plastic foam box holding its electronic gear carried a label that read, "Harmless Science Experiment," and another that provided a phone number to call.
Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey.
Digital DIY is all the rage, evidenced by everything from craft bloggers? crazy-popular Pinterest boards to the raging rise in interest for CodeAcademy ? not to mention the growth in awareness of the potential in 3D printing.
Now Nieman Journalism Lab is enabling you to channel your DIY skills with regard to Twitter. The lab has released OpenFuego, an open-source version of Fuego, its popular Twitter robot. So now you can create your own.
Andrew Phelps, formerly of Nieman Lab, now at the New York Times, wrote Fuego?s backend code. Since then, he?s converted it into ?sharable shape in his spare time.?
The result: you can now download and build your own customized Fuego.
The tool surfaces the tweets that are most timely, relevant, and reputable.
As Phelps describes Fuego, ?It?s like being on Twitter all day long without having to be on Twitter all day long.?
The original Fuego is geared towards journalism professionals, but to create your own OpenFuego you can curate up to 15 authorities from any industry you want. The tool will then follow those people, and the people they follow, up to a total of 5,000 sources.
Every single time one of those sources shares a link, OpenFuego captures it into a database along with an influence score. OpenFuego runs in the background 24 hours a day, so it won?t miss anything.
It?s an incredible way to glean the freshest, most accurate information from Twitter without weeding through the firehouse yourself.
Read the rest of the back story on the Nieman Journalism Lab website, and check out OpenFuego on GitHub.
Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
When you think of landmark structures in Florida, you probably think of Cinderella's castle at Disney World ... and then ... that's about it, right?
Wrong. Florida contains far more interesting buildings than the ones built for Mr. Disney. On the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, for instance, you?ll find 10 buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright?the most examples of the master?s work to be collected in one spot. Architects rave about Miami Beach?s iconic Fontainebleau Hotel and the eye-catching Atlantis condominium, made famous by the opening credits of Miami Vice.
But my own preference is for the more fanciful landmarks, the ones that are so startling as you drive by them you nearly run off the road. There?s the giant golf ball by the roadside in Callahan (tough lie!); the Stonehenge-like ?Airstream Ranch? outside Tampa; and Betsy, the 30-foot-tall, 40-foot long?female spiny lobster that stands guard at the entrance to the Rain Barrel Artist Village in Islamorada. And if you're ever in Christmas, Fla., make sure you take a gander at the world's largest man-made alligator (although there was some concern over maintaining the record after a TV news van backed over part of the tail).
But nothing makes me grin like a toothy gator quite like the dinosaurs.
In prehistoric times, the land we now know as Florida was home to mastodons and mammoths, giant sloths and saber-toothed cats, all of which left behind plenty of fossils. There were no actual dinosaurs. But now we've got plenty of them. Dinosaurs adorn the Goofy Golf in Panama City Beach and serve as a gas station in Spring Hill. Everyone poses with the Stegosaurus at Lion Country Safari and snaps pictures of the pink dinosaur that marks what used to be the entrance to a wildlife exhibit in Spring Hill (now long gone, as with many of Florida's pre-Disney roadside attractions). I have no proof, but I am convinced that Florida contains more faux dinosaurs than any other state in the Union.
Driving along Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando, you?ll suddenly spot a 28-foot Brachiosaur by the side of the road. Further on there's a pair of 40-foot Tyrannosaurus rexes. They're out there to advertise Dinosaur World, which, with 150 fake dinos on the property, bills itself as the ?world?s largest dinosaur attraction.? A family owns and runs it and does a thriving business with both passing tourists and school groups. A few years ago it also attracted some thieves who managed to make off with one of the smaller dinosaurs, to the bafflement of the staff.
"What are you going to do with a dinosaur?? one asked. ?Put it in your yard? Try to pawn it?"
Florida also contains castles?not as many as Europe, but the ones we have are definitely ... different. In the tiny town of Ona, you'll find the shiny edifice of Solomon's Castle, built by sculptor Howard Solomon. ?The gleaming exterior is made of the printing plates discarded by the local newspaper,? he boasts on his website.
And if you travel to Homestead, south of Miami, you'll find the Coral Castle. Like Solomon's Castle, it's the work of one man, a 5-foot-tall Latvian immigrant named Ed Leedskalnin. It's Florida's version of the Taj Mahal. Starting in the 1920s, Leedskalnin began carving giant blocks of stone from oolitic limestone beneath the Everglades and using it to construct a tribute to his lost love, Agnes Scuffs, the girl who broke his heart, the girl who left him at the altar. He sculpted walls, walkways, furniture, planets, a telescope, even a heart-shaped table. He moved them into place by himself, even though some weighed 20 tons. He did it at night when no one was looking. No one really knows how, although he would tell visitors he'd discovered the secrets of the pyramid builders.
Of course, there's one Florida landmark that stands out above all the others. In fact, it even rated a mention in the New York Times last year right before the Republican National Convention in Tampa. I am referring to the flying saucer atop the 2001 Odyssey strip club.
?The spaceship, a much-talked about private V.I.P. room perched atop the 2001 Odyssey like a wedding-cake embellishment, has also helped burnish Tampa?s louche label,? the Times harrumphed. When the manager boasted that it's one of the seven wonders of Tampa Bay, the paper added, ?The provenance of that distinction is hard to decipher.?
The UFO for VIPs atop the 2001 is actually one of two Futuro houses in Florida. The other is on Pensacola Beach, where it supposedly survived a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan because of its aerodynamic qualities. I?m sure it?s just a coincidence that this saucer-shaped house is right next door to the one-time UFO capital of America.
Editor's note: The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation UK, an online publication covering the latest research.
?Am I not woolly enough for you?? ShaneRounce.com
Beginning September 1, 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Tom Rothman will launch TriStar Productions. The new joint venture will augment the studios strong output of motion pictures and television programming, it was jointly announced today by Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment and Chairman and CEO of SPE, and Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of SPE.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uZ5iXIjoFBWHsmAu6dbMwCsNLKCjr7a0p3LASjVWhieePmLWDTACTBCEjZ3JMw6tws90w-N4RkXKhJCDJSgcbNPDpwdLN5WrK3u78FRuY=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 1-Aug-2013
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Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.