Court wins draw big crowds to gay pride parades

Proposition 8 plaintiffs Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Steir ride in San Francisco's 43rd annual gay pride parade Sunday, June 30, 2013. The couple wed on Friday after a U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for same-sex marriages in California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Proposition 8 plaintiffs Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Steir ride in San Francisco's 43rd annual gay pride parade Sunday, June 30, 2013. The couple wed on Friday after a U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for same-sex marriages in California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Proposition 8 plaintiffs Paul Katami, right, and Jeff Zarrillo kiss while riding in San Francisco's 43rd annual Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 30, 2013. The couple wed on Friday after a U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for same-sex marriages in California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Dsiree Chavez bears a sign thanking the U.S. Supreme Court for clearing the way for same-sex marriage in California while marching in San Francisco's 43rd annual Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 30, 2013. Chavez walked as part of a Mormons for Marriage Equality contingent. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Elizabeth Jay holds a sign championing same-sex marriage during San Francisco's 43rd annual gay pride parade Sunday, June 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Wearing a mask of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a reveler marches in San Francisco's 43rd annual gay pride parade Sunday, June 30, 2013. Participants bore signs and clothing celebrating the court's Wednesday ruling that cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Gay rights supporters crowded parade routes in San Francisco, New York and other major U.S. cities to celebrate what once was unimaginable ? two Supreme Court victories on same-sex marriage.

The high court gave celebrants one more reason to cheer Sunday when Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected a last-ditch effort by opponents to stop gay marriages in California.

Among the thousands at San Francisco's event, now in its 43rd year, were scores of teenage girls, opposite-sex couples and families with children.

"You can feel the smiles," Graham Linn, 42, of Oakland said as he stood on a three-foot-tall building ledge surveying crowds 10-deep on the sidewalks. "All around you there is a release. There is a vindication, and you can feel it."

The biggest applause went up for the two newlywed couples whose legal challenge of Proposition 8 made it possible for Californians to wed.

The couples ? Kris Perry and Sandy Stier of Berkeley, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo of Burbank ? waved from convertibles as a group of people carried cartoon-style signs that read, "Prop. 8-Kapow!"

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, who orchestrated the lawsuit, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for the movie about the slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, marched with them.

"It's so historic," Jeff Margolis, 58, said. "So many of us could never imagine this would happen, that people would be able to do what they want for the rest of their lives."

Loud cheers went to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Kamala Harris ? straight politicians who have been vocal advocates of same-sex marriage.

San Francisco's parade lineup illustrated how mainstream support for same-sex marriage has become. Companies such as Facebook and supermarket chain Safeway were represented. Police officers and sheriff's deputies marched while holding hands.

There was also a group that called itself "Mormons for Marriage" that drew enthusiastic applause. The Mormon Church was one of the main sponsors of Proposition 8, the 2008 voter initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Proposition 8 and also invalidated part of a 1996 federal law that denied spousal benefits to gay couples. On Sunday morning, Justice Kennedy denied a last-ditch request from the sponsors of Proposition 8, who argued that a lower court on Friday prematurely allowed gay marriages to continue in the nation's most populous state before the high court finalized its ruling.

Ron Prentice, chief executive of the California Family Council, a Proposition 8 sponsor said its legal team will continue to fight to keep marriage between a man and a woman.

"Last week's Supreme Court decision against the federal Defense of Marriage Act has encouraged same-sex 'marriage' supporters across the country who believe it is now 'open season' on marriage in every state," he said in a written statement. "The team continues to work around the clock to identify the best legal strategies to limit same-sex 'marriage' in California, and nationally."

San Francisco City Hall remained open on Sunday so couples who wanted to marry could obtain their licenses. Every other clerk in California's 58 counties will be required to issue same-sex marriage licenses starting Monday.

Parade organizers planned to hold a VIP reception for the newlyweds following the parade.

The parade in New York City, where the first pride march was held 44 years ago to mark the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots that kicked off the modern gay rights movement, also was a sort of victory lap for Edith Windsor, the 84-year-old widow who challenged the federal Defense of Marriage Act after she was forced to pay $363,053 on the estate of her late wife.

Windsor, who was picked as a grand marshal of New York's parade months before she won her case before the Supreme Court last week, walked up Fifth Avenue during the event and recalled watching it on television in past years with her wife, Thea Spyer, before Spyer died in 2009.

"I love it obviously," she said. "If someone had told me 50 years ago that I would be the marshal of New York City gay pride parade in 2013 at the age of 84, I never would have believed it."

In Seattle, the two women who were the first same-sex couple to be granted a marriage license in Washington state after same-sex marriage became legal there last year, Jane Abbot Lighty and Pete-e Petersen, helped raise a giant marriage equality sign featuring a red equal sign on top of the city's iconic Space Needle for the first time.

In another first, the Seattle Mariners flew a rainbow flag ? the symbol of gay pride first unfurled during San Francisco's parade in 1978 ? during their game Sunday against the Chicago Cubs.

The Supreme Court wins motivated many first-time pride parade spectators, including Michael Pence, 53, and John Moehnke, 46, of North Carolina. The couple, who are engaged and plan to marry in New York in the fall, attended Chicago's annual Pride Parade with a church group, saying they were thrilled about the court decisions and want to see gay marriage extended to Illinois and other states.

"We have such a long way to go but we're ready for the fight," Moehnke said.

Efforts to legalize gay marriage in Illinois have stalled. Advocates started the year with intense momentum and received backing from President Barack Obama and Illinois' top political leaders. The measure cleared the Illinois Senate on Valentine's Day, state Rep. Greg Harris, the bill's sponsor, decided not to call a vote in the House because he didn't have the needed support.

Harris was one of several politicians at the parade Sunday. He said he would bring back the issue in the fall, adding that the Supreme Court's rulings have resonated with his colleagues in the Illinois House.

"Illinois is in a truly second-class status until we pass marriage equality," Harris said.

___

Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago, AP Radio Correspondent Julie Walker in New York and AP Photographer Elaine Thompson in Seattle contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-07-01-Gay%20Marriage-Parades/id-013416d2a4d949419af88177d4842670

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Egyptians flood streets to demand Mursi ouster

By Shaimaa Fayed and Yasmine Saleh

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians flooded into the streets on the first anniversary of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi's inauguration on Sunday to demand that he resign.

Waving national flags and chanting "Get out!", a crowd of more than 200,000 had massed by sunset on Cairo's central Tahrir Square in the biggest demonstration since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Mursi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

"The people want the fall of the regime!" they shouted, echoing the Arab Spring rallying cry that brought down Mubarak - this time yelling it not against an ageing dictator but against the first elected leader in Egypt's 5,000 year recorded history.

Many bellowed their anger at Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, accused of hijacking the revolution and using electoral victories to monopolize power and push through Islamic law.

Others have been alienated by a deepening economic crisis and worsening personal security, aggravated by a political deadlock over which Mursi has presided.

As the working day ended and 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) heat eased, more protesters converged through the eerily deserted streets of the shuttered city centre, while smaller crowds protested in several other areas of the capital.

The veteran leaders of Egypt's secular, liberal and left-wing opposition, including former chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei and leftist presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, joined protest marches in Cairo.

A Reuters journalist said hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters marched through the Mediterranean port of Alexandria, Egypt's second city, and a military source reported protests in at least 20 towns around the country.

Mursi, an engineering professor propelled to power by the Muslim Brotherhood, was monitoring events from the heavily guarded Qubba presidential palace, where an official spokesman appealed for the demonstrations to remain peaceful.

"Maintaining the security of Egypt is the common responsibility of everyone," presidential spokesman Ehab Fahmy told a news conference. "Dialogue is the only way to reach mutual understanding and to reach national agreement around the different issues of our homeland."

LEGITIMACY

Security sources said three Brotherhood offices were set on fire by demonstrators in towns in the Nile Delta - the latest in more than a week of sporadic violence in which hundreds have been hurt and several killed, including an American student.

More than 20,000 supporters of Mursi congregated outside a Cairo mosque not far from another suburban presidential palace, where protest organizers planned a sit-in from Sunday evening.

Interviewed by a British newspaper, Mursi voiced his determination to ride out what he sees as an undemocratic attack on his electoral legitimacy. But he also offered to revise the new, Islamist-inspired constitution, saying clauses on religious authority, which fuelled liberal resentment, were not his choice.

He made a similar offer last week, after the head of the army issued a strong call for politicians to compromise. But the opposition dismissed it was too little too late. They hope Mursi will resign in the face of large numbers on the streets.

"We call on Mohamed Mursi, who has completely lost the legitimacy of his power, to quickly respond to the clear will of the people which is plain today in all corners of revolutionary Egypt," the June 30 movement, which organized a nationwide petition demanding his resignation, said in a statement.

Some Egyptians seem to believe the army might force the president's hand, if not to quit then at least to make major concessions to the opposition.

In Cairo, demonstrators stopped to shake hands and take photographs with soldiers guarding key buildings. At least six high-ranking police officers took to the Tahrir Square podium in support of demonstrators, a Reuters witness said.

The armed forces used military helicopters to monitor the protests in Cairo and Alexandria and a military source said chief-of-staff and Defense Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was following the situation from a special operations room.

Mursi and the Brotherhood hope the protests will fizzle like previous outbursts last December and in January. If they do not, some form of compromise, possibly arbitrated by the army, may be on the cards.

VIOLENCE

Both sides insist they plan no violence but accuse the other - and agents provocateurs from the old regime - of planning it.

The U.S.-equipped army shows little sign of wanting power but warned last week it may have to step in if deadlocked politicians let violence slip out of control.

U.S. President Barack Obama called for dialogue and warned trouble in the most populous Arab nation could unsettle an already turbulent region. Washington has evacuated non-essential personnel and reinforced security at diplomatic missions.

In an interview with London's Guardian newspaper, Mursi repeated accusations that what he sees as entrenched interests from the Mubarak era are plotting to foil his attempt to govern. But he dismissed the demands that he give up and resign.

If that became the norm, he said, "well, there will be people or opponents opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later, they will ask him to step down".

Liberal leaders say nearly half the voting population - 22 million people - has signed a petition calling for new elections, although there is no obvious challenger to Mursi.

The opposition, fractious and defeated in a series of ballots last year, hope that by putting millions on the streets they can force Mursi to relent and hand over to a technocrat administration that can organize new elections.

ARMY ROLE

Religious authorities have warned of "civil war". The army insists it will respect the "will of the people", though the two sides have opposing views of what that means.

Islamists interpret that to mean army support for their election victories. Opponents believe that the army may heed the popular will as expressed on the streets, as it did in early 2011 when the generals decided Mubarak's time was up.

Having staged shows of force earlier this month, the Brotherhood has not called on supporters to go out on Sunday.

Among the Islamists in Cairo, Ahmed Hosny, 37, said: "I came here to say, 'We are with you Mursi, with the legitimate order and against the thugs'.

"This is our revolution and no one will take it from us."

At Tahrir Square, banners ranged from "The Revolution Goes On", "Out, Out Like Mubarak" to "Obama Backs Terrorism" - a reference to liberal anger at U.S. support for Mursi's legitimacy and criticism of protests as bad for the economy.

"I am here to bring down Mursi and the Brotherhood," said Ahmed Ali al-Badri, a feed merchant in a white robe. "Just look at this country. It's gone backwards for 20 years. There's no diesel, gasoline, electricity. Life is just too expensive."

The army, half a million strong and financed by Washington since it backed a peace treaty with Israel three decades ago, says it has deployed to protect key installations.

Among these is the Suez Canal. Cities along the waterway vital to global trade are bastions of anti-government sentiment. A bomb killed a protester in Port Said on Friday. A police general was gunned down in Sinai, close to the Israeli border.

There are some similarities with Turkey, where an Islamist prime minister with a strong electoral mandate was confronted in the streets by angry secularists this month. But Egypt is much poorer, its economy is crumbling rather than booming and its new democracy was born in a revolution just two years ago.

For many Egyptians, all the turmoil since 2011 has just made life harder. Standing by his lonely barrow at an eerily quiet downtown Cairo street market, 23-year-old Zeeka was afraid more violence was coming.

"We're not for one side or the other," he said. "What's happening now in Egypt is shameful. There is no work, thugs are everywhere ... I won't go out to any protest.

"It's nothing to do with me. I'm the tomato guy."

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Alexander Dziadosz, Shaimaa Fayed, Maggie Fick, Alastair Macdonald, Shadia Nasralla, Tom Perry, Paul Taylor and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Abdelrahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Paul Taylor; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-protests-set-showdown-violence-feared-003343388.html

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The Debriefing (Unqualified Offerings)

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McLouth's homer lifts Orioles over Yankees

BALTIMORE ? Kevin Gausman said he knew it was going to be a good day for him as soon as he donned his Superman socks. Once he put those special socks on, Gausman was truly the man of steel for the Orioles.

Following a subpar first major league start by T.J. McFarland, Gausman came to the rescue and threw a dazzling 4 1/3 innings, limiting the New York Yankees to three hits and lifted the Orioles to a 4-3 win before 40,041 at Oriole Park on Friday night.

All week, it seemed that Gausman, who was recalled on Monday, was being prepped for a start against the Yankees. Manager Buck Showalter decided that T.J. McFarland, not Gausman, would give his team the best chance to beat New York.

After McFarland left with a 3-0 deficit, Gausman came on and delivered a four strikeout performance with a new way of motivating himself.

?I was thinking last night about what the best relievers have and they have that bulldog mentality. That?s something I definitely tried to kind of do today,? Gausman said.

Gausman (1-3) hadn?t pitched in nine days and threw 55 pitches and didn?t walk a batter.

"Sometimes, when you put young pitchers in a come-to-the-rescue mode, there's a little different culture [when] they come into in a game,? Showalter said.

Nate McLouth?s fifth home run of the year with two outs in the seventh off CC Sabathia (8-6) was the big hit.

It hugged the right field line, and was his fifth of the season and his first since May 21 when his 10th inning shot beat New York (42-37). It evoked memories of McLouth?s ball in Game 5 of last October?s American League Division Series game at Yankee Stadium. That ball was called foul.
This one wasn?t.

?I wasn?t even out of the batter?s box before I thought that. Off the bat, I knew it had the distance, it just stayed true. It stayed straight, and I was happy about that,? McLouth said.

Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three, for his second save.?

Sabathia, deprived of his 200th career win, retired the first eight Orioles. Alexi Casilla grounded to third and reached when Alberto Gonzalez booted the ball. He set down the next seven hitters until McLouth led off the sixth with a single to center.

Casilla reached on an infield single, and after Nick Markakis popped out, Manny Machado hit his major league leading 37th double to score McLouth and Casilla. Machado moved to third on J.J. Hardy?s fly to center and scored on Adam Jones? infield single.

Showalter credited Machado with helping turn the game around.

?It's a 90 foot gain that puts some pressure on a lot of people,? Showalter said.

?I saw him camping under the ball and in that situation there, you really don?t want to tag up especially with the ball in left center field, but he camped up and I thought I had a pretty good shot at it and I went for it,? Machado said.

On Tuesday, the Orioles didn?t have a hit for the first four innings. On Wednesday it was six, and this time, it was five.

?We didn't get anything until the sixth inning. We got everything in spurts. Let's try tomorrow to get a hit earlier in the game to not put any pressure on us late in the game,? Jones said.

The score was tied at 3 after six.

In the first, Brett Gardner led off with a double off McFarland. He scored two batters later on Robinson Cano?s RBI single.

The Yankees made it 3-0 in the third when Jayson Nix and Cano began the inning with singles. Nix scored on Vernon Wells? single, and Cano scored on Chris Stewart?s soft single to center.

Showalter replaced McFarland with Gausman, making his first major league relief appearance.

McFarland pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four.
?I?m kind of upset with myself. I didn?t do as well as I thought I wanted to,? McFarland said.

On June 13, McFarland got his first major league win in a 13-inning game that Gausman started. The reverse was true

?I?m extremely excited and proud that we ended up winning the game. For him to go out there and throw four and a third, get his first W, for us to come back against Sabathia like that. I?d like to think that it takes away what happened, but it really, for me, it doesn?t,? McFarland said.

NOTES: Brian Roberts came out of Norfolk?s game after six innings because of rainy conditions. He?ll be activated on Sunday.

-Zach Britton (1-2, 5.51) starts against David Phelps (5-4, 4.01) on Saturday. Game time is 7:15 p.m.

Source: http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/gausman-gets-first-major-league-win-relief

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PPL Park Beverage Power Rankings (Oh, and a Big Union Game)

Photo and hand by Enrico

The new beer stand in Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank Park might be the city?s gold standard for sporting event beverage selection. But PPL Park is a close second, mostly because the Venn diagram comparing soccer ?snobs? (like me) and beer ?snobs? (also like me) has a rather large overlap.

So if you don?t have plans this afternoon, head to Chester and try my rankings on for size (only if you have a designated driver, of course).

5. Bud Light from a vendor: If you need a quick beer and only have a minute before kickoff, the vendors do a nice job of parking in the middle of the concourse. Keep your ears open around the 65th minute, as well, when the same vendors roll through the sections at lightning speed to beat the 70th minute last call. UPSIDE: Fast and easy. DOWNSIDE: It?s still Bud Light.

4. Victory HopDevil: I know there is one small kiosk near midfield on the south concourse, and I believe another on the north side. They?re set up on the opposite side of the concession stands, closer to the field. UPSIDE: HopDevil is always outstanding. DOWNSIDE: Is it greedy to request Victory Summer Love during these hot-weather games?

3. ?Snake & Shield: There?s 2 of these permanent stands (one just inside the plaza on south side). Their selling point? Double-size beers. They?re selection is somewhat limited to beers available in 24-ounce bottles, but the Blue Moon or Stella Artois is better than the Bud heavy, and with no stoppages until halftime for a refill, you?ll appreciate the big cup. If you?re a season-ticket holder, add some money to your card and use it to buy beer. A $14 ?premium? beer becomes $12 and change. ?UPSIDE: They even have gluten-free beer, if that?s your thing. DOWNSIDE: On a hot day, you?re left with warm beer at the end of the cup (drink faster).

2. Boddington?s: There?s at least one of these stands on the south side, and I assume another on the north. The guy working the tap knows how to properly pour it, and even (politely) corrected a customer in front of me last month who INSISTED that he should tilt the cup while pouring. UPSIDE: No beer screams ?I?m at a soccer game!? like Boddington?s. DOWNSIDE: The line can get a little long at halftime.

1. Parking Lot Beer: It?s cheaper, it?s colder and it?s usually accompanied by grilled meat. I?m partial to Lot A myself, but if you?re drinking beer in a parking lot with a river view on a summer day, you?re doing something right. UPSIDE: Philly?s best tailgating scene. Hands down. DOWNSIDE: Eventually, you?ll actually have to go into the stadium.

TODAY?S GAME

Philadelphia Union (7-5-4, 25 points) vs. FC Dallas (8-3-5, 29 points), 5:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network

This will likely be the last game for Jack McInerney until August, after being called up to the U.S. National Team for the Gold Cup. The Union will miss his finishing touch, but if Sebastien Le Toux and Conor Casey keeps playing like they have been of late, the Union should be able to survive until his return. Expect McInerney to get a big send-off from the crowd today, and expect him to find the back of the net at least once.

Prediction Sure To Be Way Off:

McInerney gets at least one, and Casey gets another. Whether the Union can keep Dallas off the board will be the real question. But I think they do just enough to get stay hot heading into a tough mid-week game in Salt Lake City.

Union 2, FC Dallas 1.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The700levelcom-PhillySportsMinutiae/~3/_q0YDabKnWs/

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Yucaipa fire burns through California amid broiling heat wave

Yucaipa fire scorched 200 acres of brush and threatened homes in San Bernardino County in California. Firefighters worked to combat the Yucaipa fire in high temperatures as much of California broils under a massive heat wave.

By Associated Press / June 29, 2013

Steve Howard, of Lafayette, La., does a 30 mile training run from Badwater to Furnace Creek in Death Vally National Park Friday, June 28, 2013 in Badwater, Calif. The Yucaipa fire burned up hillsides toward large homes in the community of Mentone northwest of Yucaipa.

Chris Carlson/AP

Enlarge

Fire?officials believe they are getting a handle on a wildfire that threatened homes in San Bernardino County while firefighters worked to push back flames in sweltering heat.

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Cal?Fire?spokesman Bill Peters tells the Sun newspaper (http://bit.ly/18lIts5) a lot of the heavy?fire?is out Friday night, but many hot spots remain. No structural damage or injuries have been reported.

Earlier aerial shots on KCAL-TV showed flames burning up hillsides toward large homes in the community of Mentone northwest of?Yucaipa.

Water-dropping helicopters made passes over flames ripping through dry chaparral and across grass fields. At least 350 acres of brush burned in the blaze that broke out around 2 p.m.

Dozens of homes in the Olive Trail area near Highway 38 were evacuated.

Temperatures topped out at 106 degrees in the area as much of California broils under a massive heat wave.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/IdwE4lGkFFk/Yucaipa-fire-burns-through-California-amid-broiling-heat-wave

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Galaxy rattled in 3-2 loss to Earthquakes

STANFORD ? Shea Salinas and Alan Gordon scored in second-half stoppage time to give the short-handed San Jose Earthquakes a 3-2 victory over the Galaxy on Saturday night.

Salinas knocked in a loose rebound in the 92nd minute and Gordon scored on a header a minute later to give San Jose (5-7-6) a second comeback victory in two seasons against the Galaxy at Stanford. The Earthquakes came from two goals down to beat the Galaxy, 4-3, last June 30.

Marcelo Sarvas scored in the 20th minute and Hector Jimenez in the 65th for the Galaxy (7-7-3).

Gordon scored his first goal of the season in the 68th minute to pull the Earthquakes to 2-1. San Jose's chances looked dire after defender Victor Bernardez saw two yellow cards in the space of eight minutes and was sent off in the 77th minute, leaving San Jose down to 10 players.

On the tying goal, Salinas pounced on a free ball after Galaxy goalie Carlo Cudicini was unable to corral a deflected flick header from San Jose rookie Adam Jahn.

Gordon got the game-winner moments later off a chipped cross from just inside the Galaxy's penalty area by San Jose midfielder Sam Cronin.

Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane assisted on both goals for the Galaxy, but the team was left to deal with failed opportunities after the ejection of Bernardez.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-galaxy-20130630,0,4934506.story?track=rss

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Where did Miesha Tate, the Jones family and Brendan Schaub fall on Cagewriter?s hot list?

It's been a slow week of MMA, but never fear. UFC 162 and a championship fight are oh-so-close. Who had a good week, and who didn't?

Hot -- Miesha Tate: She's filming "The Ultimate Fighter" now as a coach against UFC women's bantamweight championship. She will also pose nude as a part of ESPN the Magazine's Body Issue.

Not -- Brendan Schaub and Matt Mitrione: The one-time teammates started squabbling on Twitter like a bunch of seventh graders. They are fighting on July 27, so the squabbling will likely continue until then.

Hot -- The Jones' jewelry collection: According to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones' Instagram, the Jones family has much better jewelry than most of us.

Hot -- GLORY: The kickboxing promotion will become more available to the U.S. fans. They will start airing fights on Spike come October.

Thank you for reading Cagewriter this week. Want more? Follow Cagewriter on Facebook or Twitter.

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Rethinking Gun Control

Handguns seized during recent sweeps are displayed at a news conference on May 17, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Background checks are back. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden said that five U.S. senators?enough to change the outcome?have told him they?re looking for a way to switch their votes and pass legislation requiring a criminal background check for the purchase of a firearm. Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who led the fight for the bill, is firing back at the National Rifle Association with a new TV ad. The White House, emboldened by polls that indicate damage to senators who voted against the bill, is pushing Congress to reconsider it.

The gun control debate is certainly worth reopening. But if we?re going to reopen it, let?s not just rethink the politics. Let?s take another look at the facts. Earlier this year, President Obama ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess the existing research on gun violence and recommend future studies. That report, prepared by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, is now complete. Its findings won?t entirely please the Obama administration or the NRA, but all of us should consider them. Here?s a list of the 10 most salient or surprising takeaways.

1. The United States has an indisputable gun violence problem. According to the report, ?the U.S. rate of firearm-related homicide is higher than that of any other industrialized country: 19.5 times higher than the rates in other high-income countries.?

2. Most indices of crime and gun violence are getting better, not worse. ?Overall crime rates have declined in the past decade, and violent crimes, including homicides specifically, have declined in the past 5 years,? the report notes. ?Between 2005 and 2010, the percentage of firearm-related violent victimizations remained generally stable.? Meanwhile, ?firearm-related death rates for youth ages 15 to 19 declined from 1994 to 2009.? Accidents are down, too: ?Unintentional firearm-related deaths have steadily declined during the past century. The number of unintentional deaths due to firearm-related incidents accounted for less than 1 percent of all unintentional fatalities in 2010.?

3. We have 300 million firearms, but only 100 million are handguns. According to the report, ?In 2007, one estimate placed the total number of firearms in the country at 294 million: ?106 million handguns, 105 million rifles, and 83 million shotguns.? ? This translates to nearly nine guns for every 10 people, a per capita ownership rate nearly 50 percent higher than the next most armed country. But American gun ownership is concentrated, not universal: In a December 2012 Gallup poll, ?43 percent of those surveyed reported having a gun in the home.?

4. Handguns are the problem. Despite being outnumbered by long guns, ?Handguns are used in more than 87 percent of violent crimes,? the report notes. In 2011, ?handguns comprised 72.5 percent of the firearms used in murder and non-negligent manslaughter incidents.? Why do criminals prefer handguns? One reason, according to surveys of felons, is that they?re ?easily concealable.?

5. Mass shootings aren?t the problem. ?The number of public mass shootings of the type that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School accounted for a very small fraction of all firearm-related deaths,? says the report. ?Since 1983 there have been 78 events in which 4 or more individuals were killed by a single perpetrator in 1 day in the United States, resulting in 547 victims and 476 injured persons.? Compare that with the 335,000 gun deaths between 2000 and 2010 alone.

6. Gun suicide is a bigger killer than gun homicide. From 2000 to 2010, ?firearm-related suicides significantly outnumbered homicides for all age groups, annually accounting for 61 percent of the more than 335,600 people who died from firearm-related violence in the United States,? says the report. Firearm sales are often a warning: Two studies found that ?a small but significant fraction of gun suicides are committed within days to weeks after the purchase of a handgun, and both also indicate that gun purchasers have an elevated risk of suicide for many years after the purchase of the gun.?

7. Guns are used for self-defense often and effectively. ?Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year ? in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008,? says the report. The three million figure is probably high, ?based on an extrapolation from a small number of responses taken from more than 19 national surveys.? But a much lower estimate of 108,000 also seems fishy, ?because respondents were not asked specifically about defensive gun use.? Furthermore, ?Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was 'used' by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies.?

8. Carrying guns for self-defense is an arms race. The prevalence of firearm violence near ?drug markets ? could be a consequence of drug dealers carrying guns for self-defense against thieves or other adversaries who are likely to be armed,? says the report. In these communities, ?individuals not involved in the drug markets have similar incentives for possessing guns.? According to a Pew Foundation report, ?the vast majority of gun owners say that having a gun makes them feel safer. And far more today than in 1999 cite protection?rather than hunting or other activities?as the major reason for why they own guns.?

9. Denying guns to people under restraining orders saves lives. ?Two-thirds of homicides of ex- and current spouses were committed [with] firearms,? the report observes. ?In locations where individuals under restraining orders to stay away from current or ex-partners are prohibited from access to firearms, female partner homicide is reduced by 7 percent.?

10. It isn?t true that most gun acquisitions by criminals can be blamed on a few bad dealers. The report concedes that in 1998, ?1,020 of 83,272 federally licensed retailers (1.2 percent) accounted for 57.4 percent of all guns traced by the ATF.? However, ?Gun sales are also relatively concentrated; approximately 15 percent of retailers request 80 percent of background checks on gun buyers conducted by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.? Researchers have found that ?the share of crime gun traces attributed to these few dealers only slightly exceeded their share of handgun sales, which are almost equally concentrated among a few dealers.? Volume, not laxity, drives the number of ill-fated sales.

These conclusions don?t line up perfectly with either side?s agenda. That?s a good reason to take them seriously?and to fund additional data collection and research that have been blocked by Congress over politics. Yes, the facts will surprise you. That?s why you should embrace them.

William Saletan's latest short takes on the news, via Twitter:

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2013/06/handguns_suicides_mass_shootings_deaths_and_self_defense_findings_from_a.html

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Mormons to use technology in missionary work

PROVO, Utah (AP) ? Mormon missionaries will soon spend less time knocking on doors and more time chatting online with potential converts.

Leaders with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say it's critical to adapt to a changing world in which many people prefer to connect over social media.

The strategy shift announced Sunday in a worldwide broadcast from Provo, Utah, will start in a limited number of locations this year and should be in place worldwide next year.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles says missionaries will be using Facebook, blogs, email, text messages and the church's website, Mormon.org, in their ministry.

There are more Mormon missionaries than ever due to a lowering of the minimum age eight months ago.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mormons-technology-missionary-151916141.html

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Supermoon puts on quite a show; social media takes note

Supermoon over the Queen Mary in Long Beach on Saturday. (Russ Parsons)

From a Times Staff Writer

June 22, 2013, 9:22 p.m.

The Supermoon put on quite a show Saturday night in Southern California -- and it had many reaching for their cameras.

The so-called supermoon will reach its closest distance to the Earth at exactly 4:32 a.m. PDT Sunday, but both Saturday evening and Sunday morning will offer good opportunities to observe the spectacle, according to NASA. The supermoon will be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than a typical full moon.

?

Here are some of the images aggregated from social media:

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?

One person captured this panoramic video of the moon over the L.A. skyline from Griffith Park.

Here's another video of the supermoon vying for attention with a police helicopter.

When the moon reaches its perigee, it will be just 221,824 miles away from Earth -- or 16,176 miles closer than usual.

Those who hope to maximize their viewing experience should set their sights on the distant horizon with objects such as mountains or buildings in the foreground, which will make the moon appear even larger.

The supermoon may have a tiny effect on the Earth's tides, but even if you live near the beach you probably won't notice it. NASA officials say that tides may be an inch higher than usual.

ALSO:

Obama picks California watchdog for FEC

LAPD's firing of Christopher Dorner was justified, report says

After FBI raid, Sen. Ronald Calderon forms legal defense fund

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/hOAwHS44He4/la-me-ln-supermoon-puts-on-quite-a-show-social-media-takes-note-20130622,0,2680198.story

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PFT: NFL names award after Deacon Jones

AP

Bills WR Marquise Goodman draws inspiration from his younger brother.

Part of the reason that LB Alonzo Highsmith Jr. signed with the Dolphins was to be close to his brother, a University of Miami senior also named Alonzo Highsmith Jr.

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com points out the problems Patriots players drafted out of Florida in 2011 have experienced and wonders if Bill Belichick put too much stock in his friendship with Urban Meyer.

Jets assistant coaches Dennis Thurman and Tim McDonald have enjoyed a long friendship.

A look at the fight for roster spots and playing time in the Ravens backfield.

Will Bengals LB James Harrison outplay Jarvis Jones, his replacement on the Steelers roster, during the 2013 season?

What can the Browns do to cut down on QB Brandon Weeden getting passes knocked down at the line?

Age won?t be a problem for the Steelers defensive backs, according to the Steelers defensive backs.

Texans DE J.J. Watt got to know about helicopters during his visit to Afghanistan.

Previewing Year Two for Colts QB Andrew Luck.

Jaguars K Josh Scobee taught Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com about the technique needed to be a placekicker.

A video look at the progress made by Titans QB Jake Locker.

The Broncos are trying to keep expectations from going to anyone?s head.

An offseason with coach Andy Reid has left Chiefs QB Chase Daniel confident about the year to come.

Said Raiders RB Darren McFadden, ?Things are going very well with the offensive line. As far as the blitz pick up, the calls the offensive line is making. I feel like we?re meshing very well.?

CB Steve Williams could make an immediate impact in the Chargers secondary.

Ten things to know about Cowboys DB Will Allen.

Giants DT Marvin Austin has been playing the drums with children as part of a program called School of Rock.

A newly released biography tries to paint a picture of Eagles coach Chip Kelly.

Taking stock of the left defensive end spot for the Redskins.

Bears QB Jay Cutler is turning the clock back to the 80s for a fundraiser.

QB Thaddeus Lewis is confident about his chances of making the Lions.

Packers TE D.J. Williams likes to both work hard and play hard.

How much does it matter where on the depth chart the Vikings place DT Sharrif Floyd?

Osi Umenyiora thinks the younger Falcons defensive ends are developing quickly.

Undrafted rookie S Robert Lester hopes to make a mark with the Panthers.

Contrary to an internet report, Saints QB Drew Brees didn?t break his legs in a car accident.

Buccaneers rookies have spent time with local members of the military recently.

The Cardinals say they are reloading rather than rebuilding.

The Rams opened the NFL?s first Youth Training Academy.

Achilles injuries are piling up for the 49ers.

Looking back at general managers through the years for the Seahawks.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/22/nfl-will-present-deacon-jones-award-to-sacks-leader/related/

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Western, Arab states to step up Syrian rebel support

By Yara Bayoumy and Amena Bakr

DOHA (Reuters) - International opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed on Saturday to give urgent military support to Western-backed rebels, aiming to stem a counter-offensive by Assad's forces and offset the growing power of jihadist fighters.

Assad's recapture of the strategic border town of Qusair, spearheaded by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, and an expected assault on the divided northern city of Aleppo have alarmed supporters of the Syrian opposition.

The U.S. administration has responded by saying, for the first time, it would arm rebels, while Gulf sources say Saudi Arabia has accelerated the delivery of advanced weapons to the rebels over the last week.

Ministers from the 11 core members of the Friends of Syria group, agreed "to provide urgently all the necessary materiel and equipment to the opposition on the ground," according to a statement released at the end of their meeting in Qatar.

The statement did not commit all the countries to send weapons, but said each country could provide assistance "in its own way, in order to enable (the rebels) to counter brutal attacks by the regime and its allies".

The aid should be channeled through the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, a move that Washington and its European allies hope will prevent weapons falling into the hands of Islamist radicals including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Ministers from the Friends group - which includes Western and Arab states as well as Turkey - also condemned "the intervention of Hezbollah militias and fighters from Iran and Iraq", demanding they withdraw immediately.

As well as fighting in Qusair, Hezbollah is deployed alongside Iraqi gunmen around the Shi'ite shrine of Sayyida Zainab, south of Damascus, while Iranian military commanders are believed to be advising Assad's officers on counter-insurgency.

SAUDI SPEEDS UP SUPPORT

Two Gulf sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia, which started supplying anti-aircraft missiles to the rebels on a small scale two months ago, had accelerated delivery of sophisticated weaponry.

"In the past week there have been more arrivals of these advanced weapons. They are getting them more frequently," one source said, without giving details. Another Gulf source described them as "potentially balance-tipping" supplies.

French military advisers are already training the rebels to use some of the new equipment in Turkey and Jordan, sources familiar with the training programs said. U.S. forces have been carrying out similar training, rebels say.

Rebel fighters say they need anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons to stem the fightback by Assad's forces in a civil war that has killed 93,000 people, driven 1.6 million refugees abroad and cost tens of billions of dollars in destruction of property, businesses and infrastructure.

Louay Meqdad, spokesman for the Supreme Military Council led by former Syrian army general Salim Idriss, said it had received several batches of weapons.

"They are the first consignments from one of the countries that support the Syrian people and there are clear promises from Arab and foreign countries that there will be more during the coming days," he told Reuters Television in Istanbul.

A French diplomatic source said Paris would increase non-lethal aid such as communications equipment, gas masks, night vision goggles and bullet proof vests. It would also provide assistance with military strategy and battlefield intelligence.

"All this has already started," a Western source said. "Broadly speaking, Western nations will do this, while Gulf Arab nations will deliver the weapons. It's a division of roles.

"If the northern front receives enough material and non-material support quickly, it could soon be equivalent to thousands of men, or even tens of thousands," the source added.

Idriss himself told Al-Jazeera International television on Saturday that his men were still lacking "effective air defense" against Assad's planes and helicopters.

"That's why we are asking for shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles ... and anti-tank missiles, modern ones with long range," he said. "We need it yesterday ... because the regime is trying to recapture the whole country."

The increasingly sectarian dynamic of the war pits mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against forces loyal to Assad - who is from the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - and has split the Middle East along Sunni-Shi'ite lines.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Hezbollah's role transformed the conflict "into a much more volatile, potentially explosive situation that could involve the entire region".

"Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran, supported by Iran, and obviously Hezbollah has decided to become involved in this in a very, very significant way," he said, declining to give details about what weapons Washington might provide to Syria.

Tehran, which says it supports Assad economically and politically, criticized the Doha participants.

"If a meeting leads to weapons being put in the hands of mercenaries and terrorists in Syria, prolonging the killing in Syria and bringing destruction, we are against it," ISNA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar, which along with Saudi Arabia has been one of the most open Arab backers of the anti-Assad rebels, said that supplying them with weapons was the only way to resolve the conflict.

"Force is necessary to achieve justice. And the provision of weapons is the only way to achieve peace in Syria's case," Sheikh Hamad told ministers at the start of the talks.

The meeting in Qatar brought together ministers and senior officials of countries that support the rebels - France, Germany, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States - although the fractured Syrian opposition itself was notably absent.

Sheikh Hamad said all but two countries had agreed on the kind of support to provide to the rebels. He did not name the dissenters, but Germany and Italy have both said in the past they oppose arming the rebel brigades.

The United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict, hope to bring them together for negotiations originally scheduled to be held in Geneva this month but now unlikely to take place before August.

In northern Syria, rebels announced an offensive on Saturday that they said aimed to capture the western districts of the city of Aleppo from government forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported heavy clashes near the town of Safirah, south-east of Aleppo, as Assad's forces sought to secure a supply line north towards the city from the central province of Hama.

In Damascus, the army sustained a bombardment of the eastern rebel-held district of Qaboun and soldiers clashed with rebels in the Barzeh district, the Britain-based Observatory said.

(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Doha, Ayhan Uyanik in Istanbul, John Irish in Paris and Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-warns-arming-syrian-rebels-conflict-widens-083445291.html

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Hong Kong lets Snowden leave, with Cuba among possible destinations

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency, charged by the United States with espionage, was allowed to leave Hong Kong on Sunday, his final destination as yet unknown, because a U.S. extradition request did not comply with the law, the Hong Kong government said.

Edward Snowden left for Moscow on Sunday and his final destination may be Cuba, Ecuador, Iceland or Venezuela, according to various reports. The move is bound to infuriate Washington, wherever he ends up.

"It's a shocker," said Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source at the Aeroflot airline as saying there was a ticket in Snowden's name for a Moscow-Cuba flight. Itar-Tass news agency cited a source as saying Snowden would fly from Havana to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

The South China Morning Post said his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was unaware of Snowden's whereabouts or travel plans.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country". It did not elaborate, other than to say Snowden was "currently over Russian airspace" with WikiLeaks legal advisers.

The White House had no comment on the WikiLeaks posting.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said last week he would not leave the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send him home.

"The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

"Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

It did not say what further information it needed.

CHINA SAYS U.S. "BIGGEST VILLAIN"

Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 and although it retains an independent legal system, and its own extradition laws, Beijing has control over Hong Kong's foreign affairs. Some observers see Beijing's hand in Snowden's sudden departure.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month that Russia would consider granting Snowden asylum if he were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii.

The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

The Hong Kong government statement said it had written to the United States "requesting clarification" of earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies.

"The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter, so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong," it said.

China's Xinhua news agency, referring to Snowden's accusations about the hacking of Chinese targets, said they were "clearly troubling signs".

It added: "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age."

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai; Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

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Anecdote: Writing oral stories

When you see a poem you know it's a poem.

When you see a screenplay you know it's a screenplay.

Most people, however, have never seen an oral story written down. Probably because it's an oxymoron. Yet there are times when it's useful to write an oral story down. For example, when you're helping a company create the story of their strategy.

Let?s look at the difference between oral and written stories and then I'll describe a significant problem that can happen when you write down an oral story for a company.

First and foremost we talk quite differently to how we write and read. For example, when we speak we say things in short bursts.

When we speak /
We say things in short bursts. //

Yet we can write a sentence that is much longer and more elaborate than we would normally speak. Punctuation helps a reader but doesn't go far enough for a speaker (more on this below).

When we talk it?s quite reasonable to repeat ourselves. We can say the same thing a few times and no one will give it a second thought. It gives us time to gather our ideas and emphasise our point. In fact repetition helps our audience hear what we are saying.

Repetition is spurned in prose unless it?s a literary effort of Joycean proportions. But in business writing it?s a no no.

And ?it's a no no? would never pass for business writing but we could easily and acceptably say it. We can speak colloquially but brows wrinkle when we write it.

Most of the time we are speaking we use short, simple words. When we're chatting with colleagues and recounting what happened in the meeting we all just went to (editor, please replace 'went to' with 'attended'), we use short, concrete phrases.

?Did you see Bob?s face when Bronwyn said we?ll need to create a new job role? I can see this being a problem.?

People don't speak corporateez. Most people, that is.

We don't typically say transformation, core competency, retrospective coherence (yep, I've heard that), strategic leverage, commercial sustainability, I could go on.

Now let me explain the problem that often happens when you try and write down an oral story such as the oral story of the corporate strategy.

When it?s written down it looks a lot like any other business document in that there are words in paragraphs but the writing seems overly informal and even naive. Things might be repeated and there are informal phrases all over the place. So the business language wordsmiths appear and begin to make it sound like a piece of business writing. I've even had footnotes added!

YOU MUST RESIST THIS URGE.

Here's what I suggest you do.

First write the story in a format that doesn?t look like normal business prose.

Much like a poem, break up the story based on the short bursts we speak in. At the end of each line either insert a ?/? to indicate a minor pause and the sentence just flows on to the next phase or a ?//? when there's a bigger pause. This is how experts in discourse analysis write conversations down.

The great advantage to this approach is that it looks different. Internal comms immediately thinks, "Whoa, what in the hell is this?" And you can share with them the difference between oral and written stories.

Let me know if you have ever had this challenge and how you dealt with it.

Source: http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2013/05/writing_oral_st.html

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Google Glass ? first pictures taken with smartspecs posted online

A hands-free picture taken using Google Glass by Google X employee Steve Lee while he was driving.

You might expect that for a sci-fi novelist like William Gibson, a pair of voice-activated glasses able to connect to the internet and take photos or videos without needing you to use your hands would be nirvana.

Judging by his tweet on trying Google's new Glass system, the author of the genre-defining 1984 novel Neuromancer, thinks so ? despite himself. He recently noted "I ? got to try Google Glass, if only for a few seconds," he tweeted recently. "Was faintly annoyed at just how interesting I found the experience."

Prototypes of the new devices ? which can take pictures or videos of what the wearer is seeing, and display information in a small screen visible to them above their right eye ? are now out for testing with about a thousand early users worldwide. Google has suggested they may go on sale some time next year.

Reactions have varied enormously. Robert Scoble, one of the first testers, who is famously enthusiastic about all new technologies, said after two weeks' testing that "I will never live a day of my life from now on without it (or a competitor). It's that significant."

Others, who worry about being photographed or filmed without their consent, aren't so keen: one bar in Seattle has already banned them, even before they go on general sale. And now the first pictures have begun to emerge taken with Google Glass and then apparently posted automatically to Twitter with the hashtag #throughglass.

Among the first to appear was a photo taken by San Francisco-based Steve Lee, who works at Google X, the laboratory where the glasses were developed. He posted the hands-free pictures which were taken while driving.

Other testers ? so far only at Google ? have begun posting pictures on Twitter showing how the world looks viewed through their glasses ? from children in a buggy to motorbike handles to an office.

Sophia Yang offered one of her office ? which turns out to be Google, where she is working on the Glass project.

Sophia Yang took a picture of the Google office where she is working on the Glass project.

Sidney Chang, another Google staffer, showed that the system isn't perfect, capturing a perfect picture of the carpeted floor in the office.

Gibson, famous for his 1984 novel Neuromancer, for which he coined the word "cyberspace", said in a later tweet that "I'm more interested in people reacting to new technology than I am in new technology."

But he also had a warning for naysayers who have suggested that people won't be interested in wearing what is in effect a computer on their head. "Remember how positive so many people were that the iPad was the most ludicrous cock-up in Apple's history? Absolutely obviously."

Gibson also commented wryly "If I were Google, I wouldn't be the first person I'd think of giving Glass to. If I were, I'd kind of worry why!"

Google staffer Sideny Chang showed that while the picture is still sharp, taking photos using Glass might take a bit of practice.

.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/30/google-glass-pictures-online

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Will green tea help you lose weight?

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Evidence has shown that green tea extract may be an effective herbal remedy useful for weight control and helping to regulate glucose in type 2 diabetes. In order to ascertain whether green tea truly has this potential, Jae-Hyung Park and his colleagues from the Keimyung University School of Medicine in the Republic of Korea conducted a study, now published in the Springer journal Naunyn-Schmedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology.

The active constituents of green tea, which have been shown to inhibit intestinal glucose and lipid uptake, are a certain type of flavonoid called gallated catechins. The authors had previously suggested that the amount of gallated catechins necessary to reduce blood glucose concentrations can be achieved from a daily dose of green tea. However, the amount of green tea needed to decrease lipid uptake from the gut is higher and has been shown to have adverse effects in humans. Once in the bloodstream, gallated catechins can actually increase insulin resistance, which is a negative consequence especially in obese and diabetic patients.

For their study, the researchers tested the effects of green tea extract on body weight and glucose intolerance in both diabetic mice and normal mice fed a high-fat diet. To prevent a high dose of gallated catechins from reaching the bloodstream, the authors also used a non-toxic resin, polyethylene glycol, to bind the gallated catechins in the gut to prevent their absorption. They then looked at the effects on the mice of eating green tea extract alone, and eating green tea extract plus polyethylene glycol. They compared these against the effects of two other therapeutic drugs routinely prescribed for type 2 diabetes.

Results showed that green tea extract in isolation did not give any improvements in body weight and glucose intolerance. However, when green tea extract was given with polyethylene glycol, there was a significant reduction in body weight gain, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in both normal mice on a high fat diet and diabetic mice. The polyethylene glycol had the effect of prolonging the amount of time the gallated catechins remained in the intestines, thereby limiting glucose absorption for a longer period.

Interestingly, the effects of the green tea extract in both the intestines and in the circulation were measurable at doses which could be achieved by drinking green tea on a daily basis. In addition, the effects of green tea extract were comparable to those found when taking two of the drugs which are currently recommended for non-insulin dependent diabetes.

The authors conclude that "dietary green tea extract and polyethylene glycol alleviated body weight gain and insulin resistance in diabetic and high-fat mice, thus ameliorating glucose intolerance. Therefore the green tea extract and polyethylene glycol complex may be a preventative and therapeutic tool for obesity and obesity-related type 2 diabetes without too much concern about side effects."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Park, Jae-Hyung et al. Green tea extract with polyethylene glycol-3350 reduces body weight and improves glucose tolerance in db/db and high-fat diet mice. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology, 2013 DOI: 10.1007/s00210-013-0869-9

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/TEmKqINLbLc/130429114739.htm

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Elucidating environmental history with 100 million laser beams

Apr. 29, 2013 ? By combining high-resolution surface data obtained from laser scanning with subsurface geodata, scientists from Heidelberg University have succeeded for the first time in providing a full picture of so-called karst depressions on the island of Crete, including a three-dimensional view into the subsurface structure of these funnel-shaped hollows. This new 3D representation method has been developed under the leadership of junior professor Dr. Bernhard H?fle at Heidelberg University's Institute of Geography. It is ideal for in-depth analyses at the interface between geosciences and ancient studies. The sediment infills of karst depressions provide terrestrial archives of great value for the reconstruction of environmental scenarios from the past.

For thousands of years, karst landforms and particularly karst depressions like dolines, for example, have been important sites of human husbandry. There is evidence from as far back as the 2nd century BC that such depressions were used for agriculture and livestock breeding, including in the mountainous regions of Crete. Due to their funnel-shaped form, dolines serve as "material traps" in which loose sediments, archaeological finds or volcanic ashes can accumulate. "These infills can supply important information on former climatic conditions, vegetation structure and also on human impact through land use," says Dr. Christoph Siart, a fellow researcher of Prof. H?fle's.

So far, say the Heidelberg geographers, karst depressions have usually only been examined in connection with drilling of sediment cores. These provide insights into the subsurface structure, albeit of a discrete nature, and have been drawn upon in conjunction with geomorphological surface finds to propose explanations for the genesis and function of dolines. With the aid of the new 3D data-modelling method developed in Heidelberg, the scientists have now succeeded in combining the two-dimensional subsurface data with high-resolution 3D surface data. To accomplish this, surface topography data were acquired with the aid of terrestrial laser scanning. Two-dimensional views of various cross-sections of the subsurface of the sediment-filled dolines were achieved with a combination of various geophysical measuring procedures.

The fusion of these data now makes it feasible to undertake soundly substantiated geomorphometric analyses. "For example, we can determine the volume or undertake a digital measurement of the depressions in a virtual three-dimensional model," says Prof. H?fle. "That means we have created the basis for first-ever statements on the genesis, the sediment infill process and the age of the dolines. This is of immense significance for the reconstruction of the environmental history because it supplies a holistic view of geomorphological forms via a combination of surface and subsurface data and thus helps to understand the local processes that ultimately led to the formation of the landscape as we know it today."

Data collection and methodological development took place in the framework of the projects "Reconstruction of Holocene Environmental Change on Crete" and "Geoinformatics and 3D Geoinformation Technology" conducted in the physical geography and geoinformatics research groups of Heidelberg University's Institute of Geography.?

Video-Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9jgPC6zGl8

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Heidelberg, Universit?t.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Christoph Siart, Markus Forbriger, Erich Nowaczinski, Stefan Hecht, Bernhard H?fle. Fusion of multi-resolution surface (terrestrial laser scanning) and subsurface geodata (ERT, SRT) for karst landform investigation and geomorphometric quantification. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/esp.3394

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/kQI0ZH79Kvk/130429114742.htm

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