Syrian rebel put his dreams on hold in civil war

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Beloved of Allah Brigade , which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebel Abdullah Qadi, foreground, addresses other fighters in the village of Orim, Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Beloved of Allah Brigade , which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebel Abdullah Qadi, foreground, addresses other fighters in the village of Orim, Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Beloved of Allah Brigade , which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebel Abdullah Qadi, second right, addresses other fighters in the village of Orim, Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 image taken from video obtained from Beloved of Allah Brigade, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, dead Syrian rebel fighter Abdullah Qadi lies on a floor before burial in Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Abdullah Qadi stood apart from his fellow rebel fighters ? an educated young man from a poor farming town who managed to make it through veterinary school.

He was fresh out of school in March 2011, when Syria's uprising began and erased his career plans of treating animals and someday becoming a professor.

As the violence deepened into a civil war, Qadi worked as a medic but later took up arms when his brother was killed, becoming a field commander.

Qadi was leading fighters into battle against the government forces when I met him on two occasions last year, a 25-year-old who was swept up in events he didn't quite understand and didn't expect to survive.

"I try to ask myself where I'll be after the revolution, and I can't imagine myself anywhere but in the grave," Qadi told me the last time I saw him in person.

I saw Qadi again earlier this week: As I sat at my computer in Beirut, a YouTube video flashed across the screen showing his body after he had been killed in northern Syria during government shelling and airstrikes. The video, posted online by the rebels, declared him a "martyr" in the fight against President Bashar Assad.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ben Hubbard, an Associated Press correspondent based in Beirut, interviewed rebel fighter Abdullah Qadi during reporting trips into Syria. Here is his remembrance of the young brigade commander who died this week while fighting in northern Syria.

___

Qadi's death was like many of the more than 70,000 in the civil war ? violent, fast and mostly invisible to the outside world, other than in a few posts on Facebook pages run by his friends.

For me, it was a moment of recognizing someone familiar in the stream of gruesome images from the nearly 2-year-old conflict.

Because the government bars most reporters from working in Syria, on-the-ground reporting can only be done on dangerous, clandestine trips into the country.

It was on one such trip in November that I spent several days with Qadi and his brigade in northern Syria, both in a simple farmhouse they used as a base near their hometown of Maaret Misreen and in a fancy villa where they squatted while planning to attack an army base.

Qadi fielded my questions about his group, answering softly and earnestly, laughing shyly at times without opening his mouth much to hide a chipped front tooth.

His college education made him different from most of his fellow fighters. He was shorter than many of his colleagues and he usually wore an army green sweater and camouflage pants. He had grown a beard in the revolutionary fashion, but it was too downy to harden his image.

When the political protests against Assad grew more violent, his future was changed forever. Instead of healing farm animals, his medical expertise was put to use in treating victims of the government crackdown.

Then, in December 2011, his brother, Mazen, was killed in a shootout with a pro-regime militia, and Qadi joined a new brigade called The Beloved of Allah, most of whose members were guys he grew up with.

Like most of those fighting Assad's forces, he was a devout Sunni Muslim who didn't fully agree with the jihadists and foreign fighters who had joined the civil war seeking to turn Syria into an Islamic state. But their presence didn't bother him enough to make him refuse their help in battle.

He was popular with his men and known for his caution, recalled Sair Schaib, another brigade member, in an interview via Skype.

Some chafed at times at Qadi's reluctance to push forward quickly, but they later appreciated it. They realized that despite all the talk of the glory of martyrdom, he really didn't want to get his men killed.

This week, Qadi's brigade was among the rebels who pushed into Khan al-Assal, a village east of Aleppo in northern Syria near a police academy that Assad's forces have turned into a military base that regularly fires shells at nearby villages.

Government forces heavily shelled the area and the rebels organized cars to evacuate the civilians, said Schaib, who was a few streets away from Qadi.

Then a government jet bombed them, damaging homes and wounding a number of fighters and civilians.

Once they had been evacuated, Schaib rejoined the rest of his group and found another fighter cradling Qadi's head in his lap and reciting the Muslim declaration of faith.

Qadi's colleagues announced his death on their Facebook page, telling his story in epic language that portrayed him as a model for all.

"He picked up his weapon and joined the valiant revolutionaries, a courageous hero who did not fear death, but instead asked Allah for it, seeking martyrdom and receiving it from Allah," it said. "You will live on in our presence and in or hearts as we continue the march until we reach one of two blessings, victory or martyrdom."

They also posted a video of his body, his face uncovered. His fellow rebels, their voices cracking with emotion, yelled "God is great!"

Qadi was buried Monday night in his hometown, next to his brother.

Months earlier, over a plate of chicken fingers and french fries, Qadi spoke of how he had deferred his dreams of work, graduate study and marriage to fight a war he didn't expect to see end.

But he didn't seem depressed at that late-night dinner. He had fully embraced his new life.

"I'm happy with the battles and the people I've gotten to know," Qadi said. "These are the best moments of my life."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-28-ML-Syria-Death-of-a-Rebel/id-2d226f68ee344be38d9945abf1fefed0

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The Daily Roundup for 02.28.2013

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0GPrnY_3I8o/

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Republican losses obscure US drift to right

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican angst over presidential election losses obscures the fact that many conservative ideals have prospered for decades.

Conservative efforts have pushed the government rightward on taxes, spending and other policies, despite losses on some social fronts. One might say Republicans keep losing battles but winning wars.

This rightward drift serves as a curious, often ignored backdrop for GOP leaders' claims that the country is burdened by massive spending and taxation.

Republican lawmakers, for instance, adamantly oppose President Barack Obama's call for higher tax revenues as part of an alternative to big spending cuts about to hit government agencies. Yet the federal tax burden, as a portion of the overall economy, has been lower during Obama's four years in office than at any time since 1950.

And what about claims that spending on food stamps, environmental oversight and other nuts-and-bolts federal operations is out of control? Nonmilitary discretionary spending ranged from 3.8 percent to 5.1 percent of the overall economy throughout the 1970s. Starting in 1986, it didn't exceed 3.8 percent again until the 2008 recession dramatically slowed the economy.

Conservatives, however, have been unable in recent years to slow the rapid growth of "entitlement" programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. These popular but costly programs pose long-term fiscal dilemmas if not addressed.

Policy on some social matters ? gay rights, most notably ? has moved leftward. But the opposite is true for another big issue, gun control.

A 10-year ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004 is unlikely to be renewed, even in the wake of school massacres. In 1969, a Republican-led presidential commission recommended the confiscation of most handguns, a nearly unthinkable idea today.

"The political spectrum as a whole has moved to the right," said Bruce Bartlett, an economic adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Even conservative activists differ on why this has happened. Some say Republicans' constant focus on a few simple ideas, such as never raising taxes, appeals to ordinary people who follow politics only sporadically.

Grover Norquist, author of a famous no-new-tax pledge, has long urged Republicans to use the strategy to build a powerful brand ? "We won't raise your taxes" ? similar to universally recognized products such as Coke. Whatever the Democratic "brand" is, Norquist says, it's much more muddled.

Others say Democrats, by nature, are more willing to compromise in pursuit of "good government" solutions. Republicans, who are less pro-government, are less likely to bend. When one side compromises and the other side doesn't, the center of debate moves toward the unyielding party.

Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz says the Democratic Party has become "essentially a centrist party, and has remained so despite losing its right wing since the 1960s as a result of the realignment of the South." Meanwhile, he said, the GOP "has moved rather dramatically to the right since the '60s." The political middle ground, he said, "has also shifted well to the right of where it was 30 or 40 years ago on most issues."

Abramowitz, who is writing a book on the GOP's transformation, also points to "the growing racial divide between the parties as the country has become more racially and ethnically diverse; the growing influence of right-wing think tanks, funders and media outlets; and a growing cultural/religious divide in the country."

Some Democrats say current deficit-spending debates take insufficient notice of the nation's long-running rightward shift on fiscal policies. Partisan disagreements have led to recent showdowns over the debt ceiling, the end-of-2012 "fiscal cliff" and some fast-approaching, across-the-board spending cuts called the "sequester."

Obama, saying both spending cuts and revenue hikes are needed, repeatedly has tried to reinstate a limited portion of the income tax rates that applied under President Bill Clinton, who left office with a budget surplus.

Republicans, thanks to a law they helped enact in 2011, were forced last month to accept tax increases on the richest Americans. Now, however, they say all further deficit reduction must come entirely from spending cuts.

It's a policy that would puzzle past Republican presidents such as Reagan and Richard Nixon. They mixed tax reductions and tax increases as circumstances changed. But over the past 20 years, the Republicans' "no new taxes" mantra has become virtually sacrosanct.

GOP leaders and tea party activists routinely describe Americans as overtaxed. By historical standards, at least, it's a questionable claim. In 1981, the top marginal income tax rate was 70 percent. Today it is 39.6 percent.

Federal tax revenues exceeded 20 percent of the gross domestic product in 2000. Under Obama, they have not exceeded 15.8 percent a year.

When revenues fall and spending grows, or even stays flat, deficits result. Big tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 contributed to rising deficits, and today the national debt exceeds $16 trillion. To help narrow the gap, Democrats and some independents have implored Republican lawmakers to mix higher taxes on the rich with further spending cuts.

Some Republicans fear their party's antipathy to tax increases, despite the huge debt, will put it out of step with middle America. A Pew Research poll for USA Today finds that 3 in 4 Americans support Obama's call for a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

"The truth is, Republicans just don't care about deficits," said Bartlett, who has parted ways with many former GOP associates.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans say the deficit is a threat. America has a spending problem, they say, not a taxing problem.

Even the often-criticized "Obamacare" law is built on foundations ? chiefly, universal health coverage ? proposed years ago by Nixon and the conservative Heritage Foundation. When Congress approved the new law in 2010, not a single Republican voted for it.

Some social issues are too much in flux to say, definitively, whether U.S. society has moved to their right or left. Momentum for more liberal immigration laws rose in the late 1990s, collapsed in 2007, and now seems to be rebounding.

On climate change, some conservatives dispute evidence about humans' role in rising temperatures, and the potential threat to the planet. But Obama and others are pointing to severe storms, record temperatures and other weather events in hopes of building public support for actions against greenhouse gasses.

"If you look at Republican positions on things like health care, climate change and cap and trade, they're moving away from their own positions due to internal political gravity," said David Di Martino, who was an aide to centrist Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. "So when Obama arrives at a place where they were, say, on tax cuts, they have moved further right. So the president is always perceived to the left, even though the reality is that he's not."

Republicans have lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. They have done a far better job of pushing government policy to the right.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-losses-obscure-us-drift-065418092--politics.html

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Symantec: work on Stuxnet worm started two years earlier than first thought

Most of us think we know the tale of Stuxnet: it's a possibly government-sponsored worm that played havoc with Iranian centrifuges in 2009, setting back the country's uranium enrichment program without involving any traditional weapons. Researchers at Symantec, however, now claim there's an untold narrative. They've discovered a Stuxnet 0.5 version that may have been in development or active as soon as November 2005, two years before the commonly accepted timeline. It first surfaced on trackers in November 2007, and would have created wider-ranging chaos at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility by closing vital pressure valves instead of using the subtler centrifuge technique.

Symantec also noticed that this pre-1.0 malware shares traits with the Flamer code base, putting it in the context of an even larger effort than seen so far. Moreover, it would have required extensive knowledge of the Natanz infrastructure -- this was no casual attack, according to the researchers. While we may never know exactly what prompted the revamp, IAEA evidence suggests that Stuxnet wasn't truly effective until the better-known version came into play. We mostly know that modern cyberwarfare had its fair share of growing pains -- and that it's not as fresh-faced as we assumed.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: Symantec (PDF)

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AA's longest-serving flight attendant retires

Gilma Avalos , NBC Miami ? ? ? 1 day

A retirement party was held for an American Airlines flight attendant Barbara Beckett Monday as she celebrated her 53-year career with the company.

"It's something that I grew up wanting to do,? said Beckett, who is based in Miami. ?When I was very young my parents took me to the airport and I saw the stewardesses get off the plane. And I thought that's what I want to do.?

Beckett donned the American Airlines uniform for one last trip ? a last hurrah from Miami International Airport to London?s Heathrow Airport and back. Her flight was set to leave at 8 p.m.

Beckett has worked 8,000 flights for American, traveling the globe and going to places like Hawaii, Japan and Argentina.

The longest-serving flight attendant on American?s staff, she graduated from training on July 29, 1960, and has worked for the airline ever since.

Beckett?s longtime partner, her colleagues and friends, and some passengers wished her well at the gate before her Heathrow flight. Beckett said the first thing she wants to do once she retires is travel ? but she and her partner joked that she will be grounded for a while before booking a trip to Hawaii.

More from NBC Miami:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/itineraries/american-airlines-longest-serving-flight-attendant-retires-after-53-years-1C8543813

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Younger Women Have Rising Rate Of Advanced Breast Cancer, Study Says

Blend Images/Jon Feingersh/Getty Images/iStockphoto.com

Blend Images/Jon Feingersh/Getty Images/iStockphoto.com

Researchers say more young American women are being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

It's a newly recognized trend. The numbers are small, but it's been going on for a generation. And the trend has accelerated in recent years.

The discovery had unusual origins in a Houston book group about seven years ago. Three of the women in the group were diagnosed with breast cancer. Alison Henning, a geologist and mother of two young boys, was one of them.

"The fact that I know two other people in my circle of friends who've been diagnosed with breast cancer under 40 is amazing," Henning tells Shots. "I mean, it's ridiculous in an otherwise very healthy population."

One of the women was Dr. Rebecca Johnson, who was diagnosed at age 27. She's now a pediatric cancer specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Johnson kept in touch with Henning after she moved to Seattle, and she wondered about the bigger picture.

"The going wisdom is that breast cancer is uncommon in young women compared to older women," Johnson says. "But I wondered how common it actually was."

She's not the only one.

"There was an impression among doctors who treat women with breast cancer that they were seeing more young women who had advanced disease," Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society tells Shots.

? It suggests to us that the trend is real. And it certainly suggests that the acceleration is happening at an exponential rate. It tells us nothing about why the increase is occurring, of course.

- Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Seattle Children's Hospital

But apparently, no one ever investigated.

Johnson decided to do a national study. It's published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It found that metastatic breast cancer ? disease that spread to the bones or other organs ? tripled in incidence among women younger than 40 between 1976 and 2009. These are women whose cancer had already spread by the time it was diagnosed.

But the actual numbers are small. About 800 women younger than 40 are being diagnosed with advanced cancer nowadays, compared with 250 a year in the mid-1970s.

The research has uncovered other troubling things. Incidence has gone up fastest in younger women ? ages 25 to 34. The trend affects women of all ethnic backgrounds, in rural areas as well as cities, and it has been accelerating in recent years.

What does Johnson think this all means? "Well, it suggests to us that the trend is real. And it certainly suggests that the acceleration is happening at an exponential rate," she says. "It tells us nothing about why the increase is occurring, of course."

Lichtenfeld, who is the cancer society's deputy chief medical officer, says one thing that famously distinguishes women of this generation is that they've been delaying childbirth. And most of the cancer increase involves tumors that are sensitive to the hormone estrogen, levels of which soar during pregnancy.

"There is some thinking on our part that this is related to perhaps delay in childbirth or to the actual effects of pregnancy itself in this age group," he says. "That may have something to do with the hormonal relationship."

Lichtenfeld says another possible cause is toxic chemicals in the environment. Or possibly increasing obesity ? though obesity in adolescents and young women may actually protect against breast cancer.

Lichtenfeld says women shouldn't overreact to these findings.

"When people hear about research like this, they tend to become far more concerned than the numbers reflect," he says. "These are very small numbers. Yes, this is a very serious problem for women impacted by this disease and their families."

But he says scientists should and will investigate what's going on.

"When we see trends that continue to increase over time, we have to be concerned," Lichtenfeld says.

And Henning, the Houston woman who helped inspire the study, says young women should pay attention.

"If you think that something's wrong or feels funny, follow through yourself," she says. "Don't allow your doctors to dismiss it just based on your age. You have to be your own advocate."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/27/172969262/younger-women-have-rising-rate-of-advanced-breast-cancer-study-says?ft=1&f=1007

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Cardinal's departure darkens mood as pope allows early conclave

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A senior cleric resigned under duress on Monday and Pope Benedict took the rare step of changing Vatican law to allow his successor to be elected early, adding to a sense of crisis within the Roman Catholic Church.

With just three days left before Benedict becomes the first pope in some six centuries to step down, he accepted the resignation of Britain's only cardinal elector, Archbishop Keith O'Brien, who was to have voted for the next pope.

O'Brien, who retains the title of cardinal, has denied allegations that he behaved inappropriately with priests over a period of 30 years, but said he was quitting the job of archbishop of Edinburgh.

He could have attended the conclave despite his resignation, but said he would stay away because he did not want media attention to be focused on himself instead of the process of choosing the next leader of the 1.2 billion-member Church.

O'Brien's dramatic self-exclusion came as the Vatican continued to resist calls by some Catholics to stop other cardinals tainted by sex scandals, such as U.S. Cardinal Roger Mahony, from taking part.

Catholic activists have petitioned Mahony to exclude himself from the conclave so as not to insult survivors of sexual abuse by priests committed while he was archbishop of Los Angeles.

In that post from 1985 until 2011, Mahony worked to send priests known to be abusers out of state to shield them from law enforcement scrutiny in the 1980s, according to church files unsealed under a U.S. court order last month.

"O'Brien's recusal is also important as a precedent," said Terence McKiernan, of BishopAccountability.org, a U.S.-based documentation center on child abuse by priests.

"Many cardinals scheduled to join the conclave have been involved as bishops in handling cases of clergy sexual abuse, and some of them have done such a bad job that they too should recuse themselves from the conclave," he said.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Benedict changed parts of a 1996 constitution issued by his predecessor John Paul so that cardinals could begin a secret conclave to choose a successor earlier than the 15 days after the papacy becomes vacant, as prescribed by the previous law.

The change means that in pre-conclave meetings starting on March 1, a day after Benedict leaves on Thursday, they can themselves decide when to start.

Some cardinals believe a conclave, held in secret in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, should start sooner than March 15 in order to reduce the time in which the Church will be without a leader at a time of crisis.

But some in the Church believe that an early conclave would give an advantage to cardinals already in Rome and working in the Curia, the Vatican's central administration and the focus of accusations of ineptitude and alleged sexual scandals that some Italian newspapers speculate in unsourced reports led Benedict to step down. The Vatican says the reports are false.

The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected by mid-March and installed before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services leading to Easter.

Cardinals have begun informal consultations by phone and email in the past two weeks since Benedict said he was quitting.

Benedict's papacy was rocked by scandals over the sexual abuse of children by priests, most of which preceded his time in office but came to light during it and which, as head of the Church, he was responsible for handling.

His reign also saw Muslim anger after he linked Islam to violence. Jews were upset over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. And, during a scandal over the Church's business affairs, his butler was convicted of leaking his private papers.

With the Italian media speculating about conspiracies and alleged sexual scandals inside the Vatican that they say may have influenced his decision to resign, the pope's spokesman said an internal report into leaked papal documents would remain confidential and only be shown to the next pontiff.

The Vatican has accused the Italian media, some of which have called for the "Vatileaks" report to be made public, of spreading "false and damaging" rumors in an attempt to influence the cardinals as they head to Rome for the conclave.

The three cardinals who prepared the report for the Vatican met the pope on Monday.

Compiled after the arrest of Benedict's butler, who leaked sensitive documents to the media, the report has been seen only by the pope and the three cardinals and would be seen only by the next pope, the Vatican said.

The butler's leaked documents told of corruption in the Vatican, infighting over the running of its scandal-mired bank, and painted a picture of an administration where some clerics were more interested in their careers than serving the pope.

On Sunday, the pope, in his last appearance from his window overlooking St Peter's Square, said his abdication was God's will and insisted he was not "abandoning" the Church but stepping down for health reasons.

His last public appearances include a general audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday and a meeting with cardinals on Thursday before he flies to the papal summer retreat near Rome.

The papacy will become vacant at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday, February 28.

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-changes-church-law-allows-cardinals-start-conclave-120524744.html

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Real Estate ? Northwest home features scenic vista and gourmet ...

Posted on 02/25/2013 at 5:17 pm by For the Express-News in Dream Homes

By MICHAEL FREEZE
Sa.Blockshopper.com

23508 Wilderness Paw, San Antonio
Asking Price: $1.5 million
Beds: 5
Baths: 4 full; 1 partial
Listing Agent: Kimberly Howell, Kimberly Howell Properties

Built in 2005, this luxurious custom home in Fossil Ridge spans more than two acres and features wood and ceramic tile floors throughout and brick accents. The open floor plan consists of a foyer area that leads into the formal living that includes custom woodwork and trayed ceilings, plus a formal dining room space that offers access to the patio for great views.

The family gathering area features built-in shelving, high ceilings and a fireplace.

The gourmet kitchen consists of stainless steel appliances such as a sub-zero refrigerator, a six-burner Wolf stove along with a huge counter-top island that also serves as a breakfast bar setting.

The master bedroom features a bath unit with a walk-in shower, two shower heads and whirlpool tub.

The outer grounds feature a covered patio with breathtaking views. The back also includes a cabana with an outdoor kitchen, infinity edge pool and spa and a lighted tennis court. Other amenities include a main level guest suite and game room with media setup.

By MICHAEL FREEZE Sa.Blockshopper.com 23508 Wilderness Paw, San Antonio Asking Price: $1.5 million Beds: 5 Baths: 4 full; 1 partial Listing Agent: Kimberly Howell, Kimberly Howell Properties Built in 2005, this luxurious custom home in Fossil Ridge spans more than two acres and features wood and ceramic tile floors throughout and brick accents. The open [...]

Source: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/homes/2013/02/northwest-home-features-scenic-vista-and-gourmet-kitchen/

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Italy faces post-vote stalemate, spooking investors

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian stock market fell and state borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as investors took fright at political deadlock after a stunning election that saw a protest party lead the poll and no group had a clear majority in parliament.

"The winner is: Ingovernability" ran the headline in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, reflecting the stalemate the country would have to confront in the next few weeks as sworn enemies would be forced to work together to form a government.

In a sign of where that might lead, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi indicated his center-right might be open to a grand coalition with the center-left bloc of Pier Luigi Bersani, which will have a majority in the lower house thanks to a premium of seats given to the largest bloc in the chamber.

Results in the upper house, the Senate, where seats are awarded on a region-by-region basis, indicated the center-left would end up with about 119 seats, compared with 117 for the center-right. But 158 are needed for a majority to govern.

Any coalition government that may be formed must have a working majority in both houses in order to pass legislation.

World financial markets reacted nervously to the prospect of a stalemate in the euro zone's third-largest economy with memories still fresh of the crisis that took the 17-member currency bloc to the brink of collapse in 2011.

The Milan bourse was down more than four percent at its opening and the spread between yields on 10-year Italian and German government bonds widened to 338.7 basis points, the highest since December 10. An ally of conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Italy to stick with reforms pursued by the outgoing technocratic emergency government of Mario Monti.

However, the poor showing by Prime Minister Monti's centrist bloc reflected a weariness with austerity that was exploited by both Berlusconi and comic Beppe Grillo; his anti-establishment 5-Star Movement won more votes than any other single party, taking 25 percent nationally. Bersani's allies helped his center-left bloc win the lower house by just 125,000 votes.

Berlusconi, a media magnate whose campaigning all but eroded Bersani's once commanding lead, said he was not worried about market reaction and played down the significance of the spread.

In a telephone call to a morning television show, he said: "Italy must be governed." He ruled out a deal with Monti but said he "must reflect" on a possible deal with the center left: "Every (political side) must be prepared to make sacrifices."

The euro skidded to an almost seven-week low against the dollar in Asia on fears about the euro zone's debt crisis. It fell as far as $1.3042, its lowest since January 10.

Another indication of investors' reaction to the results will come later on Tuesday when the Treasury auctions 8.75 billion euros in 6-month bonds.

Bersani claimed victory in the lower house and said it was obvious that Italy was in "a very delicate situation".

Grillo, however, showed no immediate willingness to negotiate. Commentators said all his adversaries underestimated the appeal of a grassroots movement that called itself a "non-party", particularly its allure among young Italians who find themselves without jobs and the prospect of a decent future.

"NON-PARTY" SURGES TO THE TOP

The 5-star Movement's score of 25.5 percent in the lower house was just ahead of the 25.4 percent for Bersani's Democratic Party, which ran in a coalition with the leftist SEL party, and it won almost 8.7 million votes overall - more than any other single party.

"The 'non-party' has become the largest party in the country," said Massimo Giannini, commentator for the Rome newspaper La Repubblica about Grillo, who mixes fierce attacks on corruption with policies ranging from clean energy to free Internet.

Grillo's surge in the final weeks of the campaign threw the race open, with hundreds of thousands turning up at his rallies to hear him lay into targets ranging from corrupt politicians and bankers to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In just three years, his 5-Star Movement, heavily backed by a frustrated generation of young Italians increasingly shut out from permanent full-time jobs, has grown from a marginal group to one of the most talked about political forces in Europe.

RECESSION

"It's a classic result. Typically Italian," said Roberta Federica, a 36-year-old office worker in Rome. "It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen."

Italy's borrowing costs have come down in recent months, helped by the promise of European Central Bank support but the election result confirmed fears of many European countries that it would not produce a government strong enough to implement effective reforms.

A long recession and growing disillusionment with mainstream parties fed a bitter public mood that saw more than half of Italian voters back parties that rejected the austerity policies pursued by Monti with the backing of Italy's European partners.

Monti suffered a major setback. His centrist grouping won only 10.6 percent and two of his key centrist allies, Pier Ferdinando Casini and lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini, both of parliamentarians for decades, were booted out.

"It's not that surprising if you consider how much people were let down by politics in its traditional forms," Monti said.

Berlusconi's campaign, mixing sweeping tax cut pledges with relentless attacks on Monti and Merkel, echoed many of the themes pushed by Grillo and underlined the increasingly angry mood of the Italian electorate.

Stefano Zamagni, an economics professor at Bologna University said the result showed that a significant share of Italians "are fed up with following the austerity line of Germany and its northern allies".

"These people voted to stick one up to Merkel and austerity," he said.

Even if the next government turns away from the tax hikes and spending cuts brought in by Monti, it will struggle to revive an economy that has scarcely grown in two decades.

Monti was widely credited with tightening Italy's public finances and restoring its international credibility after the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, whom he replaced as the 2011 financial crisis threatened to spin out of control.

But he struggled to pass the kind of structural reforms needed to improve competitiveness and lay the foundations for a return to economic growth, and a weak center-left government may not find it any easier.

(Additional reporting by Barry Moody, Gavin Jones, Catherine Hornby, Lisa Jucca, Steven Jewkes, Steve Scherer and Naomi O'Leary; Writing by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie; Editing by Pravin Char and Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-protest-vote-leaves-italy-facing-deadlock-005214049.html

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Clean Your Washing Machine To Keep Clothes Fresh

Washing machines take the dirt and germs out of our clothes, but a lot of that grime just ends up trapped in the machine itself. It's pretty easy to clean your top-loader though with a few basic supplies.

Regina Yunghans at Apartment Therapy wrote a great walkthrough to help you clean and disinfect your machine. Adding vinegar and baking soda to an empty wash cycle will do a fine job of disinfecting the wash tub, but cleaning the fabric softener well or those gross crevices under the lid will require some old fashioned elbow grease and a toothbrush. You don't need to do this after every load, but giving your machine some care every few months will help keep dirt from accumulating inside and transferring to your (supposedly) clean clothes. Be sure to check the source link for the step-by-step guide.

How To Clean a Washing Machine | Apartment Therapy

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/WMMkAJ2bUlo/clean-your-washing-machine-to-keep-clothes-fresh

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All condemn pending budget cuts, spread blame

	Essential News from The Associated Press

? ?Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-24-Budget%20Battle/id-341da0c3b92644bbadf2cfd3091024b2

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Robbie Lawler?s ground and pound gives him UFC 157 upset win over Josh Koscheck

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Robbie Lawler came back to the UFC with a big win as he knocked out Josh Koscheck on Saturday at UFC 157.

Koscheck used wrestling early on to control Lawler, but it backfired. Lawler took top position and then unleashed a bevy of punches on Koscheck until the fight was stopped at 3:57.

?I felt so good tonight; I?m not surprised it went that way. It wasn?t easy, but it wasn?t hard, either. I hit him very hard, the referee was right to stop it. I whacked him, man. Hard! He was doing nothing but laying down taking big shots," Lawler said after the fight.

[Also: Ronda Rousey survives UFC debut, wins via first-round arm bar]

This was Lawler's first fight in the UFC since 2004. He fought as a middleweight in Strikeforce for many years, but returned to the UFC as a welterweight. The smaller weight class suited him, and he picked up his 20th win on Saturday night.

For Koscheck, it's his second loss in a row. He once fought Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title, but is 2-2 since losing to GSP. At 35 years old, it will be tough for the NCAA Division I champ at Edinboro to return to the top of his division.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Watch: Floyd Mayweather's college football betting secret
? Michael Jordan gets minor league offer
? Alex Smith on the trading block in Indy
? Wake Forest knocks off No. 2 Miami

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/robbie-lawler-ground-pound-gives-him-ufc-157-033331050--mma.html

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Feds seize over $17 million in fake NFL merchandise, Super Bowl tickets

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College sports: Gettysburg contends for Centennial swim titles

The Gettysburg College men's and women's swimming teams won four events on day two of the Centennial Conference Championships on Saturday at Franklin & Marshall College, and both squads are in contention for the team title heading into the final day today at Lancaster.

The men's team has extended its lead to 139 points over Ursinus College. On the women's side, the Bullets trail Ursinus by 11 points, 424-413.

Each team won two events, highlighted by a record-setting performance by the men's 800-yard freestyle relay team. Freshman Tyler Gould, sophomore Jason Potter, junior Sean Staerk and sophomore Ashton Leyens broke the Centennial Conference record that a Gettysburg team set last season. The foursome touched the wall first in an NCAA Division III championship qualifying "B-cut" time of 6:50.83.

Potter also won his first individual Centennial Conference title, taking the 200 freestyle with a B-cut of 1:40.62.

Freshmen Lea Candelmo and Marie Gingher prevailed for the women's team. Candelmo captured her second gold in as many days, touching first in the 400 individual medley. Gingher claimed the 100 breaststroke.

Indoor Track

Centennial Conference Championships: At Collegeville, Gettysburg's men's team finished in fifth place among nine teams. The women's squad placed eighth.

Gettysburg earned five medals, with four coming on the men's side.

The Bullets registered a 2-3 finish in the 800-meter run. Senior Joe Sharp was timed

at an indoor personal record of 1:56.74 to finish second. Competing in the same heat, sophomore Ryan Rausch was third in 1:58.02.

Freshman Travis Andrews also captured a medal, placing third in the long jump with a season-best mark of 21-9.

Senior and Littlestown High graduate Tom Senseney took fifth in the heptathlon with 3,707 points.

Gettysburg's 4x200-meter relay team also garnered a medal, as Andrews, Malcolm Belin, senior Sean Thon and Bay came in third in 1:34.37.

For the women's team, freshman Katie Cavanaugh led the way. She captured the bronze in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.14. Cavanaugh also took fourth in the 60 dash in 8.10.

For McDaniel, Jasmine McCormick finished third in the pentathlon to earn the event's initial bronze medal and Carlos Hernandez bettered his previous personal best by more than five inches to win the shot put and lead McDaniel's men.

Wrestling

Centennial Conference Championships: At Baltimore, Joe Camlin won the title at heavyweight to lead McDaniel to a third-place finish.

Camlin opened his gold-medal run with a 9-0 win over Johns Hopkins' Joey Tilson before notching a pair of pins to capture the crown. He topped New York University's Anthony Chu in 5:41 before better Ursinus' Robert Scarmuzza in 4:37.

Ryan O'Boyle added a second-place showing at 133 as one of five Green Terror wrestlers to place in the top four of their respective weight classes.

For Gettysburg, Zach Thomson won the 174-pound championship for his second straight league crown.

Men's Basketball

Mount St. Mary's 73, St. Francis, N.Y. 65: At Emmitsburg, Md., Julian Norfleet scored a career-high 25 points to lead Mount St. Mary's (14-13. 9-7 Northeast Conference past visiting St. Francis, N.Y. (11-16, 7-9)

The win stretched the Mount's win streak to a season-high five games.

Norfleet scored 14 of his 25 points in the first half to pace the Mount to a 39-32 lead at the half.

Senior Raven Barber, making his final regular season appearance at Knott Arena, added 10 points and four rebounds in the win. Freshman Shivaughn Wiggins chipped in 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

Mockford led all scorers with 29 points for St. Francis.

Women's Basketball

Mount St. Mary's 49, St. Francis, N.Y. 48: At Emmitsburg, Md., Mount St. Mary's (12-14, 8-7 NEC) edged St. Francis, N.Y,, as Jacqueline Brewer hit five 3-pointers to lead the Mount with 15 points.

The Mount's Tara Lonergan missed a lay-up with eight seconds left, and St. Francis (N.Y.) grabbed the rebound, but their desperate shot from halfcourt at the buzzer was off the mark.

Lonergan added 12 points and a pair of blocks while Sydney Henderson chipped in nine points, six rebounds and four steals for the Mountaineers.

Jaymee Veney led St. Francis, N.Y., with 16 points.

Men's Lacrosse

Gettysburg 11, Messiah 4: At Grantham, freshman Jameson Smith recorded two goals and three assists in his collegiate debut while sophomore Robby Maddux tallied three goals as Gettysburg won its season opener.

The Bullets, who won their eighth-straight season opener, never trailed and outscored the Falcons 11-1 over the opening 38:20.

Heath Kupecky scored two goals for Messiah, which was also playing its season opener.

Mary Washington 11, McDaniel 9: At Fredericksburg, Va., Mary Washington outscored McDaniel 4-2 in the fourth quarter to win.

Michael Woglom recorded two goals and an assist to lead the Green Terror (0-2).

Luke Dick was one of three players to record hat tricks for the Eagles (2-1), including the hosts' final two goals of the afternoon.

Women's Lacrosse

McDaniel 15, Elizabethtown 14, OT: At Westminster, Md., McDaniel closed the game on an 8-3 run to rally from an 11-7 deficit and defeat Elizabethtown in overtime.

Danielle Entrot recorded five goals and an assist to lead the Green Terror (1-0).

Emily Butler led the Blue Jays (1-1) with three goals and four assists.

Source: http://www.eveningsun.com/localsports/ci_22654016/college-sports-gettysburg-contends-centennial-swim-titles?source=rss

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Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan)

The launch of Nvidia's new GeForce GTX Titan graphics card has lit a fire underneath multiple boutique computer manufacturers. Falcon Northwest has built a new version of its Mach V desktop tower?the Mach V (Triple Titan)?to take advantage of the Titan's capabilities, with support for up to three of the new graphics cards and a six-core Intel Core i7 3970X CPU overclocked to 4.7GHz. The system's price tag as configured was $7,394. Yes, you read that right. The three graphics cards account for about $3000 of the eye-popping figure; this much power doesn't come cheap. The system's performance blew away the competition for the most part, setting a new standing for PC gaming. Thus, the Mach V (Triple Titan) takes the Editors' Choice for high-end gaming rigs.

Design and Features
The Mach V uses the same vertical chassis design as the Maingear Shift Super Stock (Core i7-3930K) ($5289 4.5); both cases orient video cards and components upwards to take advantage of the fact that hot air naturally rises. From the outside, the chassis design is simple, even understated, but the hardware inside the box is some of the most powerful that money can buy. There's 32GB of DDR3-1866 RAM, the aforementioned Intel Core i7-3970X, and a 256GB Crucial M4 SSD, backed up by a 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green hard drive. The entire system is powered by a 1200W PSU; optical storage comes courtesy of a 16x Asus DVD-RW drive.

The disadvantage to this triple-GPU configuration is that the GPUs consume every available slot; there's literally no room for any additional hardware. Falcon Northwest makes up for the lack of free PCI-Express ports with a whopping nine USB 2.0 ports and six USB 3.0 ports. Two of the latter are mounted at the top of the case for convenient access while working.

The vertical design presents two other challenges. First, a desk that's designed to exhaust hot air at the back may end up trapping that air if the system exhausts at the top. Second, there's the cabling issue. If you don't have many external drives or peripherals, the Mach V presents a very clean, crisp profile. Add three monitors' worth of cables, a few external drives, and a keyboard + mouse, and the top of the system looks like a rat's nest.

The trade-off is that cooling performance is typically better in a vertical case?and with three GPUs and a 4.7GHz overclocked CPU, the Mach V needs to balance cooling performance and noise. It does so quite well. The next-generation GPU Boost technology built into the Titan family keeps each GPU's temperature pegged at 80C. Customers can override this manually if they wish, but the system automatically adjusts frequencies to ensure that even a three-GPU system runs no risk of overheating.

Performance
The three Titan graphics cards are the showcase of the system and its strongest point. The Mach V (Triple Titan) sweeps even the Maingear F131 Super Stock (GTX Titan) in our 3D benchmark tests. Its 3DMark 11 Extreme score of 12,505 is 18% faster than the previous record-holder ? the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core i7-3770K), which was equipped with a pair of dual-GPU GTX 690s (four GPUs in total). In Aliens vs. Predator at 1,920-by-1,080 with 4x anti-aliasing (AA) and 4x anisotropic filtering (AF) turned on, the Mach V (Triple Titan) turned in 222 frames per second (fps) compared with the dual-Titan-equipped Maingear F131's 182fps. Performance in version 3.0 of Unigine's Heaven benchmark test at 1,920-by-1080 with 4x AA / AF was 198fps, compared to 155fps for the Maingear F131.

In other areas, the Maingear F131 and Mach V (Triple Titan) came in neck and neck. Both systems completed a Handbrake decode in 23 seconds. The Maingear F131 led in PCMark 7 (6,523 vs. 6,241 for the Mach V) and in Photoshop CS6 (2 minutes, 35 seconds to apply a dozen filters, vs. the Mach V's time of 2:41). The Mach V (Triple Titan) outperformed Maingear F131 in Cinebench, where the hexa-core 3970 got to stretch its legs. The multithreaded Cinebench R11.5 score for the Mach V (Triple Titan) was 13.62. Only the Origin Genesis (Core i7-3930K), with its 4.9GHz CPU, was faster.

Those performance figures provide an accurate model of how the Falcon-Northwest compares to other gaming systems. What they don't explain is how Falcon and its boutique competitors have leveraged the new cards to create better gaming experiences. We had the opportunity to test the Mach V in a 5,760-by-1,080 configuration across three 27-inch displays. A standard 1,920-by-1,080 display contains two megapixels? 5,760-by-1080 more than triples that, to 6.2MP. For comparison, 2,560-by-1,600 is 4 MP.

Yes, three GTX Titan GPUs pushing nearly 200fps in Heaven is impressive. What's more impressive yet is seeing the Mach V (Triple Titan) maintain 90fps in the same benchmark test when running across three displays at once. It's not a capability that's limited to synthetic benchmark tests?while multi-monitor gaming is still not standard, many recent titles like Shogun 2, Serious Sam BFE, World of Warcraft, and Batman: Arkham City all support it.

With three GTX Titan GPUs, the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan) is capable of fielding game experiences that other configurations don't offer. Serious Sam BFE at 5,760-by-1,080 with 4x super-sampled AA, 16x AF, and all GPU and CPU options set to maximum, for example, still maintains a consistent 75fps.

The three-monitor experience isn't perfect?the view on the side panels is often distorted and, in some games, magnifies the landscape and enemies to appear closer than they are. Despite these flaws, multi-monitor gaming support is growing, and the immersion in these games is superior to single-panel play. Game for a few hours across three monitors, and you'll find that dropping back to one is jarring.

That said, what's also jarring is the Mach V (Triple Titan)'s price tag. At $999 each, there's no such thing as a cheap Titan GPU, but gamers who are interested without having quite that much scratch to spare should consider a single GPU configuration built around one of Falcon's lower-cost alternatives like the Tiki or FragBox.

If you've got the funds, this is an excellent system. It's a configuration that can handle multi-monitor gaming, 3D gaming, or both without breaking a sweat. Given the strength of the underlying hardware, this Mach V could be the center of a gaming platform for years to come. Buyers who prefer to buy a high-end system and use it for a number of years rather than upgrading on a regular basis should give the Mach V (Triple Titan) serious consideration. Of course, if you want to use this to replace the high-end gaming rig you bought last year because that system was the "fastest," that's also your prerogative. Regardless, with its record-breaking performance, triple-monitor capability, and smart power-saving functionality, the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan) earns our Editors' Choice for high-end gaming desktops.

More Desktop Reviews:
??? Falcon Northwest Mach V (Triple Titan)
??? Zotac ZBox Nano AD12 Plus
??? HP Pavilion 20-b010z
??? HP Envy Phoenix h9-1320t
??? Dell Inspiron One 23
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/cDU1aZ7ed-o/0,2817,2415720,00.asp

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Vonn ahead of schedule after knee surgery

Lindsey Vonn is pleased with her progress from a season-ending knee surgery, saying she's ahead of schedule.

What the four-time overall World Cup champion is unhappy about is how she got hurt in the first place. She believes that organizers at the world championships in Schladming, Austria, should have called off the super-G race Feb. 5 because of deteriorating conditions on the course. Vonn shredded two ligaments in her crash.

In a conference call Friday, Vonn said she "did not think it was safe" to race the super-G on the soft snow and that "athletes safety should come first."

Vonn is on pace to return well before the 2014 Sochi Games and defend her Olympic downhill title. She says this injury makes her "the underdog now."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vonn-ahead-schedule-knee-surgery-200223964--spt.html

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Bees Get a Buzz from Flowers' Electrical Fields

Everyone knows that bees buzz around flowers in their quest for nectar. But scientists have now learned that flowers are buzzing right back ? with electricity.

Plants generally have a negative electrical charge and emit a weak electrical signal, according to researchers at the University of Bristol in England. And scientists have known for years that bees' flapping wings create a positive electrical charge of up to 200 volts as they flit from flower to flower, according to a news release.

But can the bees detect flowers' electrical charge? While animals like sharks are known to sense electrical fields, nobody had ever found that an insect could do the same, ScientificAmerican reports.

To test the bees' sensitivity, researchers filled a room with artificial flowers: Half of the flowers were electrically charged and carried a sugary reward, while the other half had no charge and a bitter solution of quinine.

The bees quickly learned to visit only the electrically charged flowers, and to not waste their energy visiting flowers with no electrical charge. But when the electrical charges were switched off, the bees once again visited flowers randomly, suggesting that they had been reacting to the electrical charges. [The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries]

"Animals are just constantly surprising us as to how good their senses are," Dominic Clarke, lead author of the study, published in journal Science, told the BBC. "More and more we're starting to see that nature's senses are almost as good as they could possibly be."

Bees and flowers, of course, co-evolved with a long-standing symbiotic relationship: The bees depend on flowers for nectar, which they use to produce honey, and flowers need bees to help pollinate other flowers.

Flowers use various means to attract bees and other pollinators. In addition to their electrical charge and alluring fragrance, flowers display bright colors ? and research has found that bees see colors three times faster than humans.

But bees ? busy as they famously are ? don't have time to waste visiting pretty flowers whose nectar has just been taken by another insect. "The last thing a flower wants is to attract a bee and then fail to provide nectar," said Daniel Robert, co-author of the study, in a statement. "Bees are good learners and would soon lose interest in such [an] unrewarding flower."

So flowers, the researchers confirmed, emit a different electrical signal after their nectar has been harvested. They found that petunias became slightly more positively charged after a bee visited them, according to ScientificAmerican.

That revised electrical charge acts as a kind of "No Vacancy" sign to other bees, which learn to trust the signals that the flowers emit.

"This is a magnificent interaction where you have an animal and a plant, and they both want this to go as well as possible," study co-author Gregory Sutton told NPR. "The flowers are trying to make themselves look as different as possible. This is to establish the flower's brand."

How do bees sense an electrical charge? Researchers aren't sure, but they suspect the fuzzy hairs on bees' bodies "bristle up" under an electrostatic force, just like hair in front of a television screen.

Other scientists are excited about the possible implications this research may have for other nectar-gathering insects such as hoverflies and moths.

"We had no idea that this sense even existed," Thomas Seeley, a behavioral biologist at Cornell University, told ScientificAmerican. "Assuming we can replicate the findings, this is going to open up a whole new window on insect sensory systems."

Contact Marc Lallanilla at mlallanilla@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarcLallanilla. Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bees-buzz-flowers-electrical-fields-182424473.html

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Liveblogging MWC: here's when to catch the show's biggest launch events

Can't make it to Barcelona for this year's Mobile World Congress? Don't worry -- we've got you covered. We'll be typing and snapping away quite a bit over the next few days, beginning with Huawei's event tomorrow morning. Then, we'll be heading to Mozilla to learn more about Firefox OS, and on Monday, we'll hear from Nokia, ASUS, and ZTE, just to name a few. We'll be checking out plenty of other events, too, along with countless booths at MWC's brand new venue, Fira Gran Via, located just outside the Barcelona city limits. We don't want you to miss any of the action -- jump past the break for a liveblog breakdown, along with links to each event.

Filed under: Announcements, Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/GAnsPgTcQpw/

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James scores 26, Heat beat Bulls 86-67

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) drives to the basket against Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) drives to the basket against Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat center Chris Bosh (1) drives to the basket against Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) shoots over Chicago Bulls guard Richard Hamilton during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

CHICAGO (AP) ? Just in case the message isn't getting through, the Miami Heat are more than happy to repeat it. The championship still is in their hands and good luck trying to pry it away.

The Heat won their season-high ninth straight Thursday night with an 86-67 win over the Chicago Bulls behind LeBron James' 26 points, and supplied more evidence that they're ready to put away the rest of the Eastern Conference.

More important, they're looking like a team that's poised to defend their championship.

"We all had a vision of how this team was going to really operate together, but there is no limit," Chris Bosh said. "We can continue to get better. We can continue to play better together. Our defense can continue to improve. If we want to win in the postseason, it's going to have to."

They sure are looking good at the moment. They blew out Oklahoma City on the road before the All-Star break and followed it up with a win at Atlanta on Wednesday before taking out the Bulls.

James also had 12 rebounds and seven assists in another big performance after ending his franchise-record seven-game streak of scoring at least 30 the previous night.

Dwyane Wade added 17 points, and the Heat took control in the first half, sending the Bulls to their fifth loss in seven games on a night when the Derrick Rose recovery story took another twist.

After saying last week that he wouldn't rush back from his knee injury to play this season if he wasn't ready, Chicago's sidelined superstar had to go into damage control mode after his older brother Reggie blasted the organization in an ESPNChicago.com article for not making a move before Thursday's trade deadline.

Things didn't get much better for the Bulls once the game started. They set a season low for points while committing a season-high 27 turnovers, the most for the Bulls since they had 29 against Washington on Dec. 4, 2004.

"We're putting together some good basketball right now," James said. "We're defending. We're creating turnovers. We're winning the turnover game offensively. We're the best shooting team in the league ... so if we don't turn the ball over, we get good shots at the rim, we could also have a good chance to win."

Nate Robinson scored 14 points for Chicago but also committed five fouls with Kirk Hinrich sitting out because of ongoing trouble with his right elbow. That explains some of the Bulls' problems hanging onto the ball, although general sloppiness and Miami's athleticism certainly played a role.

Carlos Boozer had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Joakim Noah added 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, but he also had four turnovers.

Chicago was particularly bad in the first half, coughing it up 17 times as the Heat built a 45-35 lead, and the Bulls came up short after winning at Miami last month. This time, the Heat took control in the second quarter, scoring 13 straight points during a 4 1/2-minute stretch to turn a two-point deficit into an 11-point advantage even though James was on the bench for much of the run.

It started after a soaring right-handed dunk by Taj Gibson to give Chicago a 28-26 lead with 8:16 remaining. Allen answered with a driving layup, Wade followed with two jumpers and the Bulls turned it over five times as the Heat built a 39-28 lead.

Marco Belinelli ended the scoring drought for Chicago with a free throw, and Boozer then nailed a jumper after Bosh buried a 20-footer. But it was a rough night all around for Chicago, even before the Bulls took to the court.

Rose, recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, found himself at the center of attention after his brother went off, and he wound up releasing this statement in response: "I have always felt that the Bulls organization's goals have been the same as mine and that is to bring another championship to this city."

That comment came after Reggie Rose ripped the Bulls, telling ESPNChicago.com they don't have the talent to compete for a championship and that their decision to stand pat before the trade deadline could be a "big factor" in whether Derrick plays at all this season.

"It's frustrating to see my brother play his heart and soul out for the team and them not put anything around him," said Reggie Rose, Derrick's manager.

Coach Tom Thibodeau brushed off his comments, saying they're "no big deal.

"We all want the same things," he added. "We want Derrick's health. Obviously we're trying to pursue a championship. We share that in common."

NOTES: Hinrich sat out because of soreness in his right elbow. The veteran Hinrich missed seven games with an infection in the elbow before delivering 10 assists Tuesday in a win at New Orleans. The Bulls visit Charlotte on Friday, and Thibodeau expects him to make the trip. ... The Heat traded backup center Dexter Pittman and a second-round pick in this year's draft to the Grizzlies on Thursday for the rights to center Ricky Sanchez. ... Mike Miller remained in Miami because of ear problems resulting from a head cold. He also missed Wednesday's game at Atlanta but could be available in Saturday at Philadelphia.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-22-BKN-Heat-Bulls/id-d5473622658047498e1f40604198effe

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