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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50637668/
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Vikes host Canada West swimming championships at Commonwealth Place
After six kilometres of lengths, Rachael Newman and Ian Mattock were among the few remaining UVic Vikes still swimming at Saanich Commonwealth Place on Tuesday.
Newman and Mattock have already qualified for the CIS swimming championships in Calgary next month. So instead of tapering down this week, they?re training right on through as though the Canada West swimming championships weren?t at Commonwealth Place today (Jan. 25), tomo
rrow and Sunday.
?It?s exciting to have the (Canada West) meet at home, with friends and family here. But I?ll? probably be a bit too tired to be on the podium,? Mattock said.
Swimmers this weekend will be of two different intentions.
?It?s an odd mix in that some of the swimmers will go super fast, some have already qualified will be resting, so to speak,? Mattock said.
Some Vikes still need to qualify for the CIS championships. To help their chances, they tapered down from 3.5kms of laps on Tuesday, to a rest day on Wednesday, then 2.5km on Thursday.
Mattock, a fourth-year from Sidney and Newman, a rookie out of Oak Bay, are part of the other group. They?ll compete to their best ability this weekend and use the meet as a barometer, knowing they want to peak for Calgary for the CIS national championships in February.
It won?t be the first time this season that Newman swims as hard as she can without worry of hitting any targets. The former Pacific Coast Swimming club member was named the Vikes Athlete of the Month for November for her record-breaking attempt to make the finals in every event of a two-day meet hosted by Simon Fraser University, Nov. 3 and 4.
Known as the rookie challenge, the unofficial event is part of the SFU meet, and challenges rookies to swim in every single event, which Newman nearly did. She hit 32 of a possible 34 races, heats, finals and relays.
?I didn?t win anything but, I have to admit, it might be because I was a bit worn out,? Newman laughed.
Session one begins at Commonwealth today at 5 p.m. The last session begins Sunday at 2 p.m.
sports@vicnews.com
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Source: http://www.saanichnews.com/sports/188245191.html
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Immunovaccine Signs Agreement for Phase I/II Clinical Trial of DPX-0907 in Breast and Ovarian Cancer Patients
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 30, 2013) - Immunovaccine Inc. (TSX VENTURE:IMV), a clinical stage vaccine company, today announced the signing of an Investigator-Initiated Study Agreement for the ongoing evaluation of its DPX-0907 cancer vaccine at the Busto Arsizio Hospital in Italy. Marco Bregni, M.D., head of the Oncology Unit of the Hospital of Busto Arsizio, will serve as the principle investigator for the Phase I/II DPX-0907 clinical trial in patients with breast and ovarian cancer. Immunovaccine expects the Phase I/II study to be initiated during the fourth quarter of 2013.
DPX-0907, which incorporates Immunovaccine's DepoVax? adjuvanting technology, is a unique multi-targeted therapeutic vaccine designed to train the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. A completed Phase I trial of the vaccine therapy in breast, ovarian and prostate cancer patients showed DPX-0907 to be safe and well-tolerated while generating specific polyfunctional T cell responses and triggering increases in antigen targeted CD8 T cells. These positive results were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Translational Medicine in August 2012.
"We are excited to have the opportunity to continue the clinical evaluation of DPX-0907 and build on results from previous clinical research that showed this unique immunotherapy is capable of generating polyfunctional T cell responses in multiple tumor types," stated Dr. Bregni. "With this new study, we are eager to examine the possibility of utilizing specific T cell responses generated by DPX-0907 in an adoptive immunotherapy setting, and assess the potential of vaccine combined with lymphoablative therapy and T cell reinfusion in inducing immune response in patients with different tumor types."
"The promising results achieved to date with our DPX-0907 program, particularly those related to safety and immune response, have positioned us to confidently advance this program to the next phase of clinical development," said John Trizzino, chief executive officer of Immunovaccine. "We are pleased to be collaborating with Dr. Bregni and the team at Busto Arsizio Hospital on this important study and look forward to generating additional data that will inform our continued work with this exciting cancer vaccine program."
About DPX-0907
DPX-0907 combines seven tumor associated antigens (TAAs) with Immunovaccine's novel DepoVax adjuvanting delivery platform, allowing for the creation of a depot effect upon vaccination that presents the antigens and adjuvant to the immune system for a prolonged period of time. Treatment with DPX-0907 is designed to train the body's T cells, sophisticated white blood cells that play a key role in fighting cancer, to recognize the antigens incorporated into the vaccine. In doing so, the T cells become programmed to specifically target and attack cancer cells, while leaving normal healthy cells unharmed. By incorporating multiple target antigens, DPX-0907 attempts to attack cancer cells through multiple avenues and potentially minimize the cancer cells' demonstrated ability to edit and escape the impact of individual antigens.
About DepoVax
DepoVax? is a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens plus adjuvant to the immune system, resulting in a strong, specific and sustained immune response with the capability for single-dose effectiveness. The DepoVax platform possesses impressive flexibility, allowing it to work with a broad range of target antigens in various therapeutic applications. The technology is also commercially scalable, with potential for years of stability and ease of use in the clinic.
About Immunovaccine
Immunovaccine Inc. applies its novel adjuvanting platform to the development of vaccines for cancer therapy, infectious diseases and animal health. The Company's DepoVax? platform is a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens plus adjuvant to the immune system. Immunovaccine has advanced two DepoVax-based cancer vaccines into Phase I human clinical trials. The Company is also advancing a broad infectious disease pipeline including vaccines in such indications as malaria, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and anthrax. In addition to the Company's human health vaccine strategy, it continues to capture value from animal health vaccine applications. Immunovaccine has key partnerships in the animal health sector including an agreement with Pfizer Animal Health. Connect at www.imvaccine.com.
This press release contains forward-looking information under applicable securities law. All information that addresses activities or developments that we expect to occur in the future is forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. However, they should not be regarded as a representation that any of the plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this press release due to risks affecting the company, including access to capital, the successful completion of clinical trials and receipt of all regulatory approvals. Immunovaccine Inc. assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements in this press release.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Source: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1751196&sourceType=3
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium review
It feels like we've been talking about Office 2013 for a while now -- we first previewed the software back in July, and it's been available as a free beta download ever since. Today, though, it's launching in a more formal way: the final version of Office 2013 is now on sale, as is Office 365 Home Premium, which lets you purchase a subscription to Office 2013 and then install it on up to five computers.
Though you can still buy the software outright, Microsoft has gone out of its way to make subscribing seem like the more attractive option: buying a one-year subscription costs $100 a year and nets you five installs, while the purchase cost is $139 for a single user. To sweeten the deal, Microsoft is giving Office 365 subscribers 60 Skype minutes per month and 20GB of extra SkyDrive storage. Naturally, too, subscribing to the service means you always get the latest software -- a particularly important point for Apple fans still waiting on a new version of Office for Mac. Either way, though, Office 2013 now has an app store, and you can poke around even if you're not a subscriber.
As it is, we've already given you an in-depth walk-through of all the major new features in Office, but we haven't yet gotten to experience it as a subscription, with all our settings following us from one PC to another. But we're still wondering: is it worth shelling out a hundred bones a year for a subscription?
Getting started
Though Office 2013 and Office 365 will both be available to purchase in stores, you won't actually find an installation CD in the box. Even if you buy it from a brick-and-mortar kind of place, you'll only really see a written product key when you tear open the packaging. So, regardless of whether you purchase in stores or online, you'll eventually need to head over to office.com, enter your license number and then proceed to download the software.
As ever, the system requirements are fairly modest: so long as you have 3.5GB of free disk space and an x86 or x64 system clocked at 1GHz or higher, you'll be good to go. DirectX10 graphics are required, along with a minimum resolution of 1,024 x 576. Microsoft also recommends 1GB of RAM for 32-bit systems and 2GB for 64-bit machines.
In any case, once you enter your product key it's smooth sailing. Just sign in with your Microsoft account (you'll have a chance to create one if you're a new user) and verify your country and language. So far so good, right? From that home screen on office.com, you can see how many of your five installations you've used. You can view your payment method, expiration date, billing history and automatic renewal information, if applicable. And, of course, there's a big "install" button, which you'll need to click since you haven't actually downloaded the software yet.
While Office sets itself up for the first time, you can choose to page through a few introductory slides. All told, it's not unlike how Windows 8 loads a primer on new gestures while the OS readies itself for the first time. Naturally, once they're fully installed the various Office apps appear as Live Tiles on the Start Screen, not as desktop shortcuts.
Once you've installed Office, you can sign in to your Microsoft account (or not -- in which case it's just a local copy). You can also choose the border that will appear on new Word documents and other files. In all, there are 14 of these themes, though there's also a "no background option" for people who find doodles of circles and circuits offensive. Not that we're pressuring you or anything, but they're really very subtle: they only take up a small patch of space on the fringe of the screen, and don't actually call much attention to themselves.
Office 2013
As crazy as this might sound, we don't plan on dwelling too much on the actual Office suite, just because we already wrote thousands of words on the subject back when it was first released. For a full run-down of the new features (plus dozens of screenshots), we'll direct you back to our preview, first published six months ago. For those of you who lack the attention span, though, we'll humor you with a quick recap. Notable new features in the suite include PDF editing in Word, a full-screen Reading Mode (great for tablets) and a behind-the-scenes Presenter View in PowerPoint. Touch Mode is exactly what it sounds like, which is to say it makes all the UI elements a little bigger and more touch-friendly -- not that it magically makes Excel convenient to use without a keyboard, per se. Resume Reading remembers exactly where you were in a document the last time you opened it, which is useful if you've been charged with editing a 40-page patent infringement brief or something equally tedious.
Even when the software was still in development we found it to be fast and stable, while the features themselves were intuitive to use.
By default, the various Office apps now save to SkyDrive, and you can always send someone a link to your work so they can read it in a browser. Adding online video to Word and PowerPoint files is much easier than it had been, and it's now possible to reply to comments in Track Changes. Flash Fill in Excel can predict what information should go in blank cells if the data is repetitive and follows a pattern. Finally, Outlook gets a feature called Peeks, which lets you hover to view your calendar and such without leaving the inbox. Meanwhile, so-called Social Connectors are plug-ins from services like LinkedIn.
For the most part, the software is the same as when we last tested it. And that's a good thing: even when the software was still in development we found it to be fast and stable, while the features themselves were intuitive to use. The only point of controversy might be the carryover of the Ribbon UI, which debuted all the way back in Office 2007, and which some people still haven't warmed up to.
There are a few new features, however, many of them subtle fit-and-finish sort of things. The icon for switching to Touch Mode has changed, and when you tap it you now get a pop-up menu that briefly explains the difference between that and mouse mode (the gist being that in Touch Mode there's no Ribbon menu, and the various UI elements are spaced farther apart). There's also a rotating group of templates, which vary depending on region and also the time of year. For instance, you won't see any Valentine's Day-related options in August, and you also won't see any sample Fourth of July party invites if you live outside the US. It's a smart idea, making these things timely and region-specific. We're not sure how many people actually use templates to begin with, but if you do, knock yourself out.
PowerPoint, meanwhile, has gotten a new transitions category called "Exciting," which includes some new animations. As you might have guessed, they're flashy transitions, sequences with names like "Curtains," "Origami" and "Paper Airplane" (they all are exactly what they sound like). What can we say? They're playful and call lots of attention to themselves, which is to say they probably won't be especially welcome at a board meeting. But just like with the templates, we're glad they're there for people who require a few more resources to truly express themselves.
Office Store
Now that Microsoft has dragged Office kicking and screaming into the cloud-computing era, it's doing something else to bring the software up to date: it's giving the suite its very own app store. The Office Store lives on office.com, and is accessible even to folks who don't have a subscription to Office 365 (meaning, it's fine if you just own Office 2013). So far, the store includes apps for Word, Excel, Outlook, Project and SharePoint (but not PowerPoint, strangely). If you like, you can sort apps by any of the above programs, which is how we prefer to go about it. Alternatively, though, you can browse through a page of features apps, too. Similar to the Windows Store, you can read user reviews and click through to see detailed system requirements. Installing an app is as easy as hitting an "Add" button, though you'll need to go through an extra step to make sure it appears in the Ribbon of whatever Office application uses the add-on.
What's interesting about browsing the store is that because no one really expected or asked for Office applications, it doesn't matter so much how many there are, or whether you've heard of any of them. (In other words, this isn't like demanding Instagram on Windows Phone 8 and accepting no substitutes.) In fact, there are some big names represented, including LinkedIn, which has a plug-in for Outlook, and Merriam-Webster, whose dictionary works across Word and Excel. We also found some other apps we could see ourselves using, like Bing News for Word and "Random Generator" for Excel.
Most of these are free, which creates a nice incentive for downloading a bunch and seeing what sticks. (As you can see, "nice and inoffensive" seems to be a running theme here, at least as far as the new features go.) A few of the apps do cost money, however, particularly some of the more sophisticated programs designed for enterprise users. If you're a developer reading this, Microsoft takes a 20 percent cut from application purchases, which matches the revenue split already in place for Windows applications.
To use the apps, just click the Insert in the Ribbon, followed by "Office Apps." Each one shows up as a pane along the right-hand side, which you can easily close by tapping an "X" button. You can open more than one app at once (as evidenced in the screenshot above) but be warned: for every app you open, you'll have less space to actually do your work. The apps in Word, for instance, line up side by side, causing the actual document to narrow. If you only open up one application, you'll still be able to type in Word without having to do any extra scrolling from side to side; that changes once you open a second app, though. All told, it's a minor inconvenience: just decide whether you need to be using Bing News at the moment, or if Merriam-Webster is more vital.
As for the apps themselves, they're exactly what they sound like, and that's a good thing. Bing News has a search bar into which you can type queries. Ditto for the dictionary app we tried, and LinguLab WordCloud. Web searches, definitions and everything else shows up in the same box where you performed the search so that you don't have to toggle over to IE 10 -- or any other program, for that matter. That alone makes these apps useful, though it helps that the information itself is clearly presented and comes from reliable sources.
Wrap-up
More Info
What can we say? Office 2013 is a top-notch product: fast, intuitive and feature-rich. All of the new features work as promised, and are easy to get the hang of. At the same time, since the UI is similar to the previous version, it should be easy to master if you're upgrading from Office 2010. Now it's true, there are various free alternatives out there, including cloud-based ones like Google Docs. Still, we're wary of steering all our readers there, because we know lots of folks are already comfortable using Office, or have come to rely on some of the more advanced features you can't get elsewhere. Assuming you don't have any interest in switching to a more basic suite, then, the real question is: does it make more sense to buy Office once for $139 and make do with one license? Or is it wiser in the long run to pay $100 every year for a subscription in exchange for five installations and ongoing software updates?
Obviously, the more computers you own, the more it makes sense to pay $100 a year for five activations. For example, buying five individual copies would cost $695 up front, as opposed to $600 for six years of service. Basically, you'd be saving money until that seventh year rolls around, and that's a long enough stretch that you'd get upgraded to Office 2017 in the interim. That said, the subscription model isn't for everyone. Many of the perks -- Skype minutes, extra SkyDrive storage -- seem like weak reasons to go with Office 365 if you're on the fence. Meanwhile, the Office Store is useful but it's not like you need a subscription to enjoy it. With all that in mind, if you own just one machine it might make sense to shell out $139 for a single license and not have to pay $100 on an annual basis. In short, then, Office itself is a polished product, but your decision on whether to get 2013 or 365 should mainly come down to how many computers you own. Almost everything else is beside the point.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/DmMAipylXvY/
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Injecting botox into stomach does not promote weight loss
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Jan-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Aimee Frank
media@gastro.org
301-941-2620
American Gastroenterological Association
Bethesda, MD (Jan. 28, 2013) Despite conflicting data in support of the practice, some overweight Americans looking for an easy fix have turned to gastric botox injections to help them lose weight. This month in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association, researchers from the Mayo Clinic publish a definitive study finding that Botox doesn't promote weight loss.
Injecting botulinum toxin A (BTA), or Botox, into the stomach had been believed to delay emptying of the stomach, increase feelings of fullness and reduce body weight. Researchers enrolled 60 obese patients in a 24-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, concealed allocation trial to compare the effects of BTA to placebo. They found that the injection slowed movement of food through the stomach but it did not cause weight loss.
"On the basis of our findings, I would not recommend gastric Botox injections to people who want to lose weight. There are some risks with this treatment and we found that there was no benefit in terms of body weight loss," said Mark Topazian, lead author of the study and professor of medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
A previous study had indicated that Botox was a promising weight loss option. This study invalidates those findings because it is larger, used ultrasound to ensure injections were properly placed, and limited bias by ensuring that neither physicians nor patients knew who received Botox and who received placebo injections.
"Unless future studies show different results I'd advise patients to seek other means of achieving weight loss," said Dr. Topazian.
###
About the AGA Institute
The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include 17,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. www.gastro.org.
About Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
The mission of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is to provide readers with a broad spectrum of themes in clinical gastroenterology and hepatology. This monthly peer-reviewed journal includes original articles as well as scholarly reviews, with the goal that all articles published will be immediately relevant to the practice of gastroenterology and hepatology. For more information, visit www.cghjournal.org.
Like AGA, Gastroenterology and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology on Facebook.
Join AGA on LinkedIn.
Follow us on Twitter @AmerGastroAssn.
Check out our videos on YouTube.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 28-Jan-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Aimee Frank
media@gastro.org
301-941-2620
American Gastroenterological Association
Bethesda, MD (Jan. 28, 2013) Despite conflicting data in support of the practice, some overweight Americans looking for an easy fix have turned to gastric botox injections to help them lose weight. This month in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association, researchers from the Mayo Clinic publish a definitive study finding that Botox doesn't promote weight loss.
Injecting botulinum toxin A (BTA), or Botox, into the stomach had been believed to delay emptying of the stomach, increase feelings of fullness and reduce body weight. Researchers enrolled 60 obese patients in a 24-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, concealed allocation trial to compare the effects of BTA to placebo. They found that the injection slowed movement of food through the stomach but it did not cause weight loss.
"On the basis of our findings, I would not recommend gastric Botox injections to people who want to lose weight. There are some risks with this treatment and we found that there was no benefit in terms of body weight loss," said Mark Topazian, lead author of the study and professor of medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
A previous study had indicated that Botox was a promising weight loss option. This study invalidates those findings because it is larger, used ultrasound to ensure injections were properly placed, and limited bias by ensuring that neither physicians nor patients knew who received Botox and who received placebo injections.
"Unless future studies show different results I'd advise patients to seek other means of achieving weight loss," said Dr. Topazian.
###
About the AGA Institute
The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include 17,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. www.gastro.org.
About Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
The mission of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is to provide readers with a broad spectrum of themes in clinical gastroenterology and hepatology. This monthly peer-reviewed journal includes original articles as well as scholarly reviews, with the goal that all articles published will be immediately relevant to the practice of gastroenterology and hepatology. For more information, visit www.cghjournal.org.
Like AGA, Gastroenterology and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology on Facebook.
Join AGA on LinkedIn.
Follow us on Twitter @AmerGastroAssn.
Check out our videos on YouTube.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/aga-ibi012813.php
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Biden: Virginia Tech Massacre Showed Background Checks Needed In Gun Control (VIDEO)
RICHMOND, Va. -- The 2007 Virginia Tech shooting illustrated the importance of strengthening background checks to ensure guns are not sold to people who cannot legally buy them, Vice President Joe Biden said Friday.
Biden spoke briefly to reporters after leading a two-hour roundtable discussion about what to do in the wake of the elementary school shooting last month in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 students and six adults dead. Also participating in the roundtable were Obama administration officials and a few people who served on a Virginia task force that made recommendations after the Tech shooting that left 32 dead ? the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.
"It's a national tragedy and a window into the vulnerability people feel about their safety and the safety of their children," Biden said of Newtown.
Much of the focus of the discussion, Biden said, was on improving mental health services and making sure records of those declared ineligible to own a gun are transmitted to the national databank for background checks. The group also discussed gun safety and trafficking, he said.
The meeting was held at Virginia Commonwealth University, less than two miles from a state Capitol where lawmakers in recent days have rejected the same gun control measures advocated by President Barack Obama: universal background checks and bans on combat-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who was governor at the time of the Tech shooting, was among the participants in the closed-door meeting.
"We have the scar tissue of tragedy, but also reason to be hopeful," he said, pointing to changes Virginia made after the Tech massacre to become a national leader in reporting ineligible gun buyers to the background check database.
Biden did not discuss banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Kaine told reporters later that he's open to the idea but wants to "make sure the definitions are right" in whatever legislation Congress considers.
He was more definitive in supporting universal background checks. The law already specifies who cannot own a gun, he said, and background checks are the only way to enforce the law.
"To be against background checks is to say you want people to have guns illegally," Kaine said.
Biden said the administration is planning similar roundtable discussions around the country.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/biden-virginia-tech_n_2564593.html
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Monday, January 28, 2013
Asia stocks up slightly on strong US earnings
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets posted slight gains Monday after strong U.S. earnings pushed Wall Street indexes to multi-year highs, though Japan's Nikkei dipped amid profit-taking.
The U.S. is due to report durable goods and pending home sales for December later in the day, but the numbers would have to sharply disappoint to dampen enthusiasm for stocks, analysts said.
"The heavy slate of US data releases this week will keep markets busy but overall we see little to dent the positive tone to risk assets over coming sessions," Mitul Kotecha of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong wrote in a market commentary.
The Nikkei in Tokyo opened higher but then slipped 0.8 percent to 10,840.11 as investors cashed in shares following strong gains. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent to 23,691.42. Benchmarks in mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines also rose.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.3 percent to 1,940.44, dragged down by Samsung Electronics, the world's No. 1 smartphone maker, which plunged 3 percent after Friday saying the strong won would hurt earnings this year. Steelmaker POSCO lost 3.4 percent.
Australian markets were closed for a public holiday.
On Friday, the Standard and Poor's 500 index closed above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years after good earnings reports from Starbucks and Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products maker.
"Wall Street performed pretty well, that has helped overall sentiment this morning," said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. Banking stocks did well on the back of a European Central Bank statement Friday that banks in the region were expected to pay back emergency loans faster than previously expected, increasing confidence that Europe's debt crisis is easing.
Hong Kong-listed Bank of China Ltd. rose 1.1 percent. South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group gained 4 percent. Japan's Nomura Holdings added 1 percent.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.5 percent to 1,502.96. The index had not closed above 1,500 since December 2007, the start of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5 percent to close at 13,895.98. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.6 percent to 3,149.71.The Dow is now just 268 points below its record high of 14,165, reached on Oct. 9, 2007, two months before the Great Recession began.
Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 16 cents to $96.04 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 7 cents to close at $95.88 in trading on the Nymex. It ended the week with a gain of 32 cents.
In currencies, the euro slipped to $1.3463 from $1.3467 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 91.02 from 90.98 yen. The euro rose to an 11-month high against the dollar Friday after the ECB announcement.
__
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-slightly-strong-us-earnings-032949662--finance.html
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Al-Qaida-linked group claims deadly Syria blast
BEIRUT (AP) ? An al-Qaida-linked group fighting alongside Syrian rebels claimed responsibility Monday for a suicide car bombing that reportedly killed dozens of President Bashar Assad's loyalists last week.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius pleaded for countries to honor their pledges of funding and other aid to the Syrian opposition to keep the country out of the hands of Islamist militant groups.
"If we don't give the means to the Syrian people to go achieve their freedom, there is a risk, and we all know it exists, that massacres and antagonisms amplify, and that extremism and terrorism prevail.
"Chaos is not tomorrow, it is today, and we need to end it. We need to end it in a peaceful way and that means increased and concrete support to the Syrian National Coalition."
Islamic militants have been the most organized fighters battling government troops in the 22-month-old conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed. Their growing prominence has fueled fears that Muslim radicals might try to hijack the revolt, and has contributed to the West's hesitance to equip the opposition with sophisticated weapons.
In Beirut, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said the situation in Syria was getting worse ? that entire neighborhoods are being destroyed by the fighting.
Amos, who just returned from Syria, also reported human rights abuses.
"I listen to the women who talk about what happened to them, to their families, the sexual abuse they have faced," Amos said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"The indiscriminate shelling. The indiscriminate killing of people. This is a conflict that is happening essentially in towns and cities," she said.
Amos said she went last year to the once rebel-held neighborhood of Baba Amr in the central city of Homs. She said the entire neighborhood was destroyed and more than 70,000 people had left, but no one knew where they had gone.
"There was not a single building left standing," she said. "This is being repeated across Syria. It's a terrible thing."
Jabhat al-Nusra, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida and has declared a terrorist organization, said in a statement posted online that one of its suicide bombers detonated a car bomb last Monday at the headquarters of a pro-government militia in the central province of Hama. It said the bomber drove a truck packed with explosives to the militia's complex in the town of Salamiya and blew himself up "to give the tyrannical regime a taste" of violence it has been inflicting on the Syrian people.
Activists said at least 42 people, mostly pro-Assad militiamen, were killed in the blast. The government did not say how many people were killed, although state-run SANA news agency published photographs of what it said was a funeral procession for the blast's victims on Wednesday. In one of the photographs, a dozen men are seen standing behind 11 caskets, wrapped into a Syrian flag.
Jabhat al-Nusra has previously targeted government institutions in Damascus with suicide bombers and has led successful attacks on military bases and strategic territory in the country's north.
The suicide bombings are part of relentless violence that has engulfed Syria since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.
On Monday, activists said troops battled rebels in several towns and villages around Damascus, including in Daraya, Arbeen and Zabadani. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the regime's forces also shelled several of the capital's suburbs.
The areas outside Damascus have been rebel strongholds since the uprising began. In recent months, the rebels have used them as a base from which they have been trying to push into central Damascus, the seat of Assad's power.
In the north, troops clashed with rebels in al-Hasaka province along Syria's border with Turkey, the Observatory said, adding that at least 10 rebels were killed in the fighting that erupted Sunday after the opposition fighters attacked a government checkpoint.
International efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria have repeatedly failed and both sides fighting in the civil war are convinced they can defeat the other on the battlefield.
In France, Fabius pleaded for countries to keep their promises of financial aid to the Syrian opposition or risk compromising the legitimacy of the Syrian National Coalition in the eyes of the people fighting the Assad regime.
The opposition coalition was formed in November. More than 100 countries have back the umbrella group, decreeing it the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. France was the first to confer such recognition.
"We have to give the Syrian people a clear signal: We are at your side," Fabius told representatives of some 50 nations.
Not all the promises of funding and other aid made at the Friends of Syria group's conference in December in Marrakech, Morocco, have materialized. France, which has spearheaded the formation of a viable opposition in exile, wants to make sure that backing that has been promised actually comes through.
More than $100 million was promised in Marrakech, but it's unclear how much has been sent.
Three Syrian National Coalition's vice-presidents attended the Paris gathering, which comes two days before a donor conference in Kuwait.
Amos, the U.N. official, said she went to Syria from Lebanon by land on Sunday because of insecurity around the Damascus International Airport that has witnessed fighting and air raids for weeks.
In recent months, several officials, including special U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, have flown to Beirut and then traveled by land to Damascus because of the fighting.
Amos hoped that Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq or Jordan don't close their borders with Syria. She said funds are needed to help refugees and those countries that are receiving them.
Amos spoke two days ahead of a donor conference for Syria that will be held in Kuwait. More than half a million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries and there are hundreds of thousands who are internally displaced.
_____
Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaida-linked-group-claims-deadly-syria-blast-104123839.html
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Cobb Theatre & Dance Night at The Strand To Showcase ...
The Cobb community is invited to attend a showcase of performing arts talent from Cobb County schools.
Enjoy a?Theatre & Dance Night at The Earl Smith Strand?on Marietta Square,?Tuesday, Jan. 29?at 7 p.m.?Tickets are just $3.00 at the door.?Theatre programs from Campbell High, Cooper Middle, Harrison High, Hillgrove High, Kell High, Kennesaw Mt. High, Lassiter High, Lindley Middle, Pebblebrook High, Pope High, and South Cobb High will provide an evening of top class entertainment.
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
Casey Anthony files for bankruptcy in Florida
Casey Anthony filed for bankruptcy in Florida on Friday, claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities.
Court records show that Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2011, sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Tampa.
Her listed debts include $500,000 for attorney fees and costs for her criminal defense lawyer during the trial, Jose Baez; $145,660 for the Orange County Sheriff's office for a judgment covering investigative fees and costs related to the case; $68,540 for the Internal Revenue Service for taxes, interest and penalties; and $61,505 for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for court costs.
The filling also states that she is a defendant in several civil suits, including one brought by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez for defamation in Orange County Circuit Court.
Fernandez-Gonzalez claims she was damaged by Anthony telling detectives that a baby sitter by the same name kidnapped Caylee. The detectives were investigating the 2008 disappearance of the girl, who later was found dead. Anthony's attorney said details offered by Anthony did not match Fernandez-Gonzalez and clearly showed Anthony wasn't talking about her.
AP
FILE - In this July 7, 2011 file photo, Casey Anthony smiles before the start of her sentencing hearing in Orlando, Fla. Casey Anthony has filed for bankruptcy in Florida, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities. (AP Photo/Joe Burbank, File) CloseCourt papers list Anthony as unemployed, with no recent income.
An attorney for Anthony, David Schrader, did not immediately respond to messages from the Associated Press.
Anthony lists about 80 creditors in the 60-page court filing. The claims largely cover fees for legal, medical, psychiatric and forensics consulting or services. But one claim covers a debt for scuba diving services.
According to the courts, the aim of seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection is to be discharged of existing debts ? essentially to get a fresh financial start. A trustee may have the right to take possession of and sell non-exempt property and use the sale proceeds to pay creditors, but Anthony lists little in the way of assets. A debtor may still be held responsible for some obligations, such as taxes and student loans. Persons found to have committed "certain kinds of improper conduct" can also be denied bankruptcy protection.
The filing came on the same day that a Florida appellate court set aside two of the four convictions she faced for lying to detectives during the investigation into her missing daughter.
Though Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee, jurors convicted her of four counts of lying to detectives, and her attorneys appealed those convictions. Anthony was sentenced to time served for the misdemeanors.
She was sentenced to a year of probation after her release from jail for an unrelated case. For her protection, her whereabouts have been kept secret since she was released from state supervision last year.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/casey-anthony-files-bankruptcy-fla-18326070
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Ryan says GOP needs to pick its fights with Obama
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., arrives at the ceremonial swearing-in for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., arrives at the ceremonial swearing-in for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rep. Paul Ryan has a message for fellow Republicans: Let's stick together and carefully pick our fights with President Barack Obama.
In a speech Saturday to conservatives, the Wisconsin congressman and 2012 vice presidential nominee outlined a pragmatic approach for dealing with a second Obama administration. Saying that Obama would attempt to divide Republicans, Ryan urged them to avoid internal squabbles.
"We can't get rattled. We won't play the villain in his morality plays. We have to stay united," Ryan said at the National Review Institute's weekend conference on the future of conservatism. "We have to show that if given the chance, we can govern. We have better ideas."
The GOP is reeling from back-to-back presidential defeats and trying to determine whether to oppose Obama at every turn or shape his proposals with conservative principles.
How the party rebounds was a major theme of the three-day meeting of conservative activists, a dominant voice in the GOP. A similar theme dominated the Republican National Committee's winter meeting, which ended Friday in Charlotte, N.C.
With a surging minority population altering the electorate, Republican leaders have discussed the need to attract more women and Hispanics while at the same time standing firm on the values that unite conservatives. Republicans said despite the losses, the party could return to power by projecting optimism and attracting new voters with a message of economic opportunity.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a star among conservatives after surviving a union-led campaign to recall him from office, said government needed "brown-bag common sense," a reference to his frugal practice of packing his own lunch of ham-and-cheese sandwiches every day. Qualities like optimism, staying relevant to voters and showing courage in tackling big problems would be rewarded at the voting booth, he said.
"We've got to learn to be more optimistic. We've got to learn to give a viable alternative to the voters," Walker said.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Republicans needed to use upcoming fights over the budget and the deficit as "leverage points" to tame long-term spending and debt. Projecting an upbeat outlook for the party, he said Obama's policies would drive many voters to Republicans just as many Americans turned to Ronald Reagan after the economic turmoil of the late 1970s.
"We're on the verge of a rebirth of conservativism," Cruz said.
Looking ahead, Ryan rejected the notion that Republicans were "in the wilderness," noting that the party controls the House and most statehouses. But he said Obama's victory over Romney meant that Republicans would need to recalibrate their approach to deal with the new political realities.
"If we want to promote conservatism, we'll need to use every tool at our disposal," Ryan said. "Sometimes, we will have to reject the president's proposals ? that time may come more than once. And sometimes we'll have to make them better." He said Republicans should have two main goals for the next four years, namely "to mitigate bad policies" and "to advance good policy wherever we can."
Ryan acknowledged that "we all didn't see eye to eye" on the recent "fiscal cliff" vote to deal with a combination of spending cuts and higher taxes that were set to take effect at the start of the year. He defended his support for the bill, saying it was the only way to avoid sweeping tax increases and prevent the economy from going into a free-fall.
As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan said Republicans needed to guard against a debt crisis for the country that would undermine the economy. He said he would promote changes to Medicare and Medicaid and would propose a budget "that will balance and pay down the debt."
But November's election results still linger. Ryan said he was "disappointed" by the outcome, saying he was "looking forward to taking on the big challenges" while living at the vice president's residence. "My kids were looking forward to having a pool," he joked.
___
Follow Ken Thomas at http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas
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Saturday, January 26, 2013
Coal decline hits fuel's Western stronghold
SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) ? Hundreds of millions of tons of coal, packed into seams up to 60 feet thick, are still to be had beneath the rock-strewn hillsides speckled with snow that rise up along the remote Montana-Wyoming border.
Yet for Mike Cooley, the days of drilling explosives into the ground to blast the fuel from the earth are over, long before he ever expected. The 41-year-old thought his job as a "powderman" at the Decker strip mine would take him into retirement.
Then, just weeks ago, he became one of several hundred mine workers to lose their jobs in the past year in the region, as a dispute over West Coast ports hobbles the industry's ability to reach booming markets in Asia.
That's left people like Cooley searching for new work amid declining U.S. coal demand caused by a rise in natural gas production ? and puts some of the small towns in coal country in economic peril.
Wringing his calloused, idle hands and staring into the winter sun through the kitchen window of his trailer house in Sheridan, not far from the mine, Cooley said he's reluctant to leave with the eldest of his three children poised to graduate high school this spring.
"But I don't want to go back to pounding nails either, not at $13 an hour," the former construction worker said as his youngest child, two-year-old Mason, hovered nearby sucking on a lollipop.
For decades, the 25,000-square-mile Powder River Basin that surrounds Sheridan has been the stronghold of the U.S. coal industry. Massive strip-mines, carved from a landscape dominated by sage brush and cattle ranches, churn out close to a half-million tons of the fuel annually, dwarfing production from mines in the Appalachians and Midwest.
Now the depressed domestic coal market is finally catching up to mines such as Decker. At least 300 jobs have been lost from mines in Montana and Wyoming since early 2012, according to preliminary data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Paradoxically, out-of-work miners in Montana and Wyoming are scrambling for new employment even as global coal markets enjoy a heyday. Driven by Asian demand, experts say, coal is projected to challenge oil as the world's top energy source within the next four years. The sole exception will be in the U.S.
The Decker lay-offs cut the mine's workforce roughly in half ? and came as a shock to Cooley and fellow miners who earned almost $30 an hour and for years sat comfortably near the top of the region's resource-based economy.
Just last year, Decker's co-owner, Ambre Energy of Australia, was promising to ramp up mining and start shipping millions of tons annually to countries such as South Korea ? part of an industry-wide trend as companies battered by the domestic market looked to foreign buyers.
But Ambre's plans to build and expand West Coast ports to load the fuel onto ships have become entangled in political opposition and bureaucratic red tape, forcing the company to push back its timeline to begin operating. Mining industry heavyweights, including Arch Coal, Inc., and Peabody Energy face the same problems.
It's been several years since coal mining peaked in the Powder River Basin, which accounts for the bulk of production from Montana and Wyoming. Only in recent months has the number of workers started to drop.
Despite the logistical hurdles, some of the basin's coal is making it to overseas markets by squeezing through the limited West Coast port capacity already available. But analysts and industry observers say those routes have essentially maxed out.
"Unless you can send (coal) by Federal Express, the export market can't take off," said Montana's former governor, Brian Schweitzer.
The Democrat spent two terms seeking to bolster the state's coal industry before leaving office this month. He predicted it will take up to five years for ports in Washington state and Oregon to come to fruition, and just as long for U.S. coal demand to rebound.
That leaves Cooley and others like him stuck between tomorrow's promise and yesterday's boom, in a region with few comparable employment prospects.
"I've never been laid off. Always had a job, since I was 14," said Cooley, whose family will rely on his wife's income as a grocery store cashier until he finds a new job.
As with other laid-off Decker miners interviewed, Cooley hopes Decker rebounds but is looking beyond coal as he searches for new work. He's got applications in at a zinc mine in Alaska, a gold mine in Nevada and to work as a roustabout for an oil company in North Dakota's Bakken oil patch.
Others already have moved on to such places after finding it impossible to match their former wages in Sheridan, a town of 18,000 a short drive across the Montana line from the Decker mine and where most of its workers live.
Hard times have visited before in this part of Wyoming, where coal was euphemistically dubbed "the black diamond" after a boom early last century.
North of Sheridan along the Tongue River can be seen the ruins of now-defunct company-owned coal mining towns such as Monarch, Kleenburn and Acme. Those communities and their underground mines peaked in the 1920s. Their decline left a gap in the economy that wasn't replaced until Decker and other strip mines came along decades later.
After opening in 1972, Decker quickly ramped up to several hundred workers digging up 10 million tons of coal a year, a volume that it produced for its first two decades "like clockwork," said Hal Kansala, who has been working at the mine since 1979. Coal production this year will be less than a third that amount.
Ambre spokeswoman Liz Fuller said the mine remains viable and the company is seeking buyers for its coal. She would not comment on long-term employment prospects except to say the company would look to rehire laid off workers if mining rebounds.
Regardless of whether the company's export aspirations come to pass, the short-term outlook looks grim.
The five to ten years it could take to surmount environmental opposition to West Coast coal ports is simply too long for miners and their families to wait, Sheridan Mayor Dave Kinskey said.
"It reminds me of that old saw: The first economist says, 'Well, in the long run these things all work themselves out.' And the other economist says, 'In the short term, we're dead."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/coal-decline-hits-fuels-western-stronghold-175547451--finance.html
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Why Data Is 'The Oil Of This Century' For Small Businesses ...
This is the fourth of a four-part series called "Big Ideas Small Business." This new editorial series spotlights the best practices for small business leaders working to grow their companies. "Big Ideas, Small Business" is sponsored by The UPS Store.
In the past, "big data" as it's come to be called was mostly limited to big companies with whole business intelligence functions and massive investments.Now, it's democratized to the point where you encounter it almost every day as a consumer, and? tools are being developed for everybody from small businesses to individual salespeople.
We spoke to Roman Stanek, the founder and CEO of GoodData, which is a 6-year-old company that focuses on taking all of the data people generate from the platforms they sell, market, and use to manage, and monetize it.
Because 80 percent of his customers are small businesses, we spoke to him about what big data means for small businesses and how they can get its benefits without breaking the bank.
The skepticism people had about the value of data, still present when Stanek started the company in 2007, has mostly evaporated.
"When we started out, the focus was not on data. The recent discussion about big data and analytics and visualizations of data ? the big visible successes of things like the President's re-election and so on ? they're all examples showing that people understand that data is really kind of the oil of this century," Stanek said. "It does feel like the right time and the right place."
There's one major trend that Stanek thinks has made data much more democratic and useful to small businesses. "Business processes are becoming more and more homogeneous," Stanek said. That means that more and more people are using particular data-producing tools to manage, for example, their sales.
Stanek has seen it as a buyer as well as a vendor. "I think that small businesses are not only hungry for technology, but they're also hungry for best practices, Stanek said. "I look at it not only as selling to small business but as a buyer. Let me give you an example. When we hire salespeople they usually come to us and say, 'Well I have to use Salesforce, and that's the only tool that I use.'"
That right there is what has made big data solutions affordable "The beauty of SAAS (software as a service) is that 100,000 users or customers of Salesforce are using Salesforce in more or less the same way. So we can actually build some sort of out-of-the-box solutions that are easy to deploy and easy to deliver, Stanek said. "Most small companies, they don't compete on customization of software, they compete on better services and selling their products and so on. So understanding what's essential and what's non-essential is key."
So big data for small businesses is about taking what you already have, and using tested benchmarks and best practices to get more out of it. You don't have to go out and discover what works, or build out a massive software system over your whole enterprise. Businesses can plug into something they already have, and make tweaks that make them better at sales or better at providing services.
It's cheaper because the learning curve's less steep. You're just improving upon processes you've already invested in, and you're getting the data itself from partners.
Big businesses can buy software or build out big custom solutions and then figure out best practices on their own. Small businesses don't have ? and often don't need ? that luxury.
Another of Stanek's key insights on what's made big data more accessible and democratic is the fact that people understand their own data. Salespeople, for example, will understand a visual representation of sales flow that might seem like nonsense to us. And when a best practice is illustrated with data that's intuitive, it makes it easier to get people to adopt it.
It's all part of a move from where data is in the hands of managers to where it's in the hands of every employee.
Small businesses need to think of big data not as an obligation to go out and buy a massive software suite and hire a data scientist, but to use what they already have to make money and become more competitive.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-data-is-the-oil-of-this-century-for-small-businesses-2013-1
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Is It Possible To Have A Monogamous Committed Gay Relationship?
I heard from a friend recently who told me about a recent conversation with a young friend over dinner.? Seems the young guy had recently split with a boyfriend after finding out that his man had been sleeping around.The conversation turned to gay men and sex. Why is it so hard to find a gay man who is interested in monogamy? ?
Why is it so hard to find intimacy and sexual connection in the same person? My friend told me he was stumped and found the questions a bit haunting. What is it about gay men and sex? Are all gay men promiscuous?
We may wince at the word ?promiscuity,? but research and personal experience both indicate that gay men have more sexual partners than heterosexual men. It?s reasonable to question why that might be, and to think about the costs and benefits of our sexual choices.
Sex is important to gay men. In addition to the obvious reason ? sex is highly pleasurable ? until recently sex between men was illegal, disapproved of and marginalized in most parts of our country. And gay male culture tends to be both sexy and sexualized. Ellen DeGeneres tells a joke about looking in the gay yellow pages when she first came out and remarking, ?Wow! Look at the abs on that mortician!?
Gay men have always had long-term, committed and monogamous relationships, of course. That?s quite an accomplishment when you consider all the obstacles placed in the way of such relationships? success: lack of legal recognition, frequent lack of family support, etc. But gay men don?t always assume that sexuality can only be healthy in the context of a committed relationship. (Contrast this with the situation of heterosexuals, where sex is supposed to be only within marriage, yet sex outside of marriage isn?t at all uncommon.)
Pleasure makes the sexual urge very strong, but that doesn?t mean our reasons for having sex aren?t complex. Sex can be lovemaking ? celebrating the passion and connection with a partner we love. But there are all sorts of other reasons why people choose to have sex: maybe they?re horny or lonely. Maybe they?re drunk or just bored. And some men have learned to use sex as a way to escape from stress.
Sex can be a deep expression of intimacy, but pursuing many sexual partners can reflect just the opposite ? a fear of real intimacy. Casual sex can allow us to scratch our itch to physically connect with another person without requiring us to do the hard work involved in having a healthy relationship. Over time that can decrease our ability to have those sorts of committed, fulfilling relationships.
Does the gay community encourage gay men to have a large number of sex partners, particularly outside of relationships? The sexual infrastructure of our community includes cruisy bars, circuit parties, bathhouses, sex clubs and Internet hook-up sites with names like Manhunt or Cruisingforsex. Sex is instantly available to anyone with a car or Internet connection. It?s not that recreational sex is a bad thing, but sex can become compulsive and unhealthy if it becomes the source of our identity or if it becomes compulsive. When we become preoccupied with sexuality or anything else, life loses its balance.
Back to my friend?s dinner conversation. Is it difficult to find gay men who are ready for committed relationships? I don?t think so. Our community presents lots of alternatives, though, and guys who spend a lot of time in the hypersexual parts of the gay community aren?t good candidates for monogamous life.
Chalk up another reason why it?s good to take plenty of time to get to know the person you?re dating before you imagine giving your heart to him.
John R. Ballew, M.S.an author and contributor to GAYTWOGETHER, is a licensed professional counselor in private practice in Atlanta. He specializes in issues related to coming out, sexuality, relationships and spirituality. If you have any questions or comments you can submit them directly to GAYTWOGETHER?or John R. Ballew, M.S. - www.bodymindsoul.org.
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Friday, January 25, 2013
A Wearable Sleeping Bag That You Might Actually Wear
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Biden: Limit on magazine rounds a bigger priority
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Omar Samaha, holds a picture of his sister Reema Samaha, who was killed in the Virginia Tech. shootings, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he's more concerned about limiting the number of rounds in a gun magazine than about banning assault weapons that account for a small percentage of gun deaths.
Biden argued that the shooter at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., could have been slowed down if he had fewer rounds in each magazine and had to change clips more often. "Maybe if it took longer, maybe one more kid would be alive," Biden said during an online video chat on Google Plus.
The vice president led a White House gun control task force in the wake of the Newtown shooting last month. President Barack Obama said last week after Biden completed the review that he wants Congress to require background checks for all gun sales and ban both military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. The president conceded passage will be difficult, with support for gun ownership rights strong among lawmakers.
Biden says he wants a ban on assault weapons, even though he acknowledges they don't account for a large portion of gun deaths in America. He says a ban would solve part of the gun violence problem, particularly for police who can be outgunned by criminals with assault weapons.
"It is not an answer to all the problems," Biden said. But he said he views an assault-weapons ban as "a rational limitation on what type of weapons should be owned."
Biden's comments came on the same day that a group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, reintroduced legislation to ban assault weapons and magazines over 10 rounds. At a news conference backed by police officials, mayors and crime victims, the lawmakers acknowledged the heavy lift ahead to get the legislation through Congress.
"If anyone asks today 'Can you win this?,' we don't know, it's so uphill," Feinstein said. She said it only would happen if voters got behind the measures and called on their lawmakers to act.
Feinstein authored the original assault-weapons ban in 1994 which expired 10 years later when Congress, under pressure from the National Rifle Association, refused to extend it. There is debate about its effectiveness during the years it was in effect, in part because of loopholes that allowed gun manufacturers to work around it. Feinstein's new version is more comprehensive in defining what kinds of weapons are banned.
The NRA responded that the new bill would infringe on the Constitutional right to bear arms and that instead the focus should be on prosecuting criminals and improving the country's mental health system. "The American people know gun bans do not work, and we are confident Congress will reject Sen. Feinstein's wrong-headed approach," the NRA said in a statement.
At Feinstein's press conference, nearly a dozen different kinds of high-powered weapons were displayed that would be banned by the bill, including the kind of Bushmaster used in the Connecticut shooting.
The assault weapons ban in particular is seen as unlikely to make it through Congress, because of opposition by majority Republicans in the House and concerns from moderate Democrats in the Senate. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has cast doubt on its prospects. Some advocacy groups are focusing their attention instead on expanding background checks, which is seen as more doable politically.
Feinstein said those Democrats with concerns about the legislation needed to ask themselves what their silence would mean.
"Sandy Hook is more eloquent testimony than any of us could possibly give," she said. "If members of this body are so insensitive to what happened to those small bodies from that Bushmaster when it all becomes known, America is hopeless."
Biden is launching the White House's promotional tour on gun control Friday with a trip to Virginia, a state that has experienced its own school shooting tragedy yet maintains an avidly pro-gun tradition. His office said Biden will hold a roundtable discussion in Richmond with experts who worked on gun safety in the wake of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech.
Biden will be accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jim Cole and other administration officials, as well as Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott, both Virginia Democrats.
___
Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler
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