Sunday, June 30, 2013

School district disagrees with Washington Policy Center

The Achievement Index, the data compiled by the state Board of Education and assigned a letter grade by the Washington Policy Center, showed that most Federal Way schools fell somewhere in the C or D range, with a few graded in the A range and two schools ranked in the F range.

Federal Way Public Schools (FWPS) director of assessment Dave Davis made a brief presentation to the school board on June 25, responding to what he said was a mostly negative report by the Washington Policy Center and the state Board of Education.

Davis added that the Achievement Index takes "complex data" and puts it into a "simple letter grade" because that's an easily translatable idea for many people.

The Achievement Index takes four indicators and consolidates them into one metric, Davis said. This includes data from Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) and the High School Proficiency Exam (HPSE).

"It's historical in nature, because it's from the 2011-12 school year, so it's somewhat an autopsy after the fact," Davis said. "It's another metric. It's?good data, it's clean data, if you will. It's just another statistic."

For the district itself, the measurements of student success are, in some instances, vastly different than the Washington Policy Center report's measurement of success, citing the district's "ends." Among those "ends" are things like graduation rates, student achievement, parent engagement and so on.

"I'm not sure I see all of that in the Achievement Index, per se, in terms of how you as a school board determine success," Davis noted.

Board member Danny Peterson said he reviewed the data and the conclusions arrived from it, saying he felt he had to disagree with the policy center's findings.

"I looked at their data and how they're determining their grades?and their suggestions for how to improve performance on this scale," he said. "For me, a lot of those solutions, I wasn't in agreement with them. I think the direction we're going as a district is going to pay dividends in the long run. I think any data we can look at and pull some meaningful stuff from is a good thing. Sometimes, with this kind of letter grade system, I scratch my head, wondering what does that really represent and what can I take from it?"

Davis also noted that the district is set to launch a "data warehouse" storage system, that will allow the district to view data in real-time and be more "proactive" instead of "reactive."

FYI

Check out the entire list of Washington school ratings below or visit https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/school-achievement.

?

Public School Achievement Index - by rank

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Contact Federal Way Mirror reporter Greg Allmain at gallmain@fedwaymirror.com or 253-925-5565 ext. 5054.

Source: http://feeds.soundpublishing.com/~r/fwmnews/~3/n1qE9uVfZUk/213599711.html

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Only one quarter of Wendy Davis' online support came from Texas

So says Wired Magazine:

From the Article:

The map above, created by the academic research group Floating Sheep, shows that while the volume of Twitter activity for #StandWithWendy was?naturally?greatest in Texas itself (nearly 29 percent of all tweets), there was also quite a bit of chatter coming out of places like New York state (8 percent), California (12 percent) and even places like Illinois (4 percent).?
That should tell you everything you need to know about the 'emerging groundswell in Texas' narrative.

(h/t Progress Texas' Facebook)

Source: http://acahnman.blogspot.com/2013/06/only-one-quarter-of-wendy-davis-online.html

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Canada - Mario and Luigi: Dream Team preorder offer

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Source: http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=206494

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Beneath NYC's ground zero, a museum takes shape

Joe Daniels, left, 911 Memorial President, and Anthoula Katsimatides, right, a member of the 911 Memorial board, is seen through tangled steel recovered from the World Trade Center (WTC) site and installed at the 911 Memorial Museum, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Joe Daniels, left, 911 Memorial President, and Anthoula Katsimatides, right, a member of the 911 Memorial board, is seen through tangled steel recovered from the World Trade Center (WTC) site and installed at the 911 Memorial Museum, Thursday, June 27, 2013 in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Anthoula Katsimatides, right, a member of the 911 Memorial board, views the wreckage of FDNY Engine 21 recovered from the World Trade Center (WTC) site and installed at the 911 Memorial Museum on Thursday, June 27, 2013 in New York. Her brother John Katsimatides was killed when planes struck the WTC towers September 11, 2001, where he worked as a trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. Engine Company 21was dispatched to the World Trade Center after hijacked Flight 175 struck the South Tower. It was parked beneath an elevated walkway when the towers fell. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Perimeter box columns from the World Trade Center (WTC) is installed in the 911 Memorial Museum with a view towards the new 1 World Trade Center on the on Thursday, June 27, 2013 in New York. Recovered from the WTC site after September 11, 2001, this structural steel called ?tridents,? rose from the base of the North Tower (1 WTC). These columns were embedded at bedrock, branching from one column into three at the sixth floor. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Joe Daniels, left, 911 Memorial President, and Anthoula Katsimatides, a member of the 911 Memorial board, discuss a twisted steel column from the World Trade Center (WTC) site, installed at the 911 Memorial Museum on Thursday, June 27, 2013 in New York. Recovered from the WTC site after September 11, 2001, this column once stood in the core of the South Tower. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Part of a stairway from the World Trade Center (WTC) site is shown in its permanent location at the 911 Memorial Museum on Thursday, June 27, 2013 in New York. Recovered from the WTC site after September 11, 2001, this stairway offered a clear exit from the World Trade Center Plaza to Vesey Street, providing a means of escape for hundreds fleeing from the Towers. It became symbolic of survival and acquired the name ?Survivors? Stairs.? (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

(AP) ? Gray dust blankets everything in the subterranean halls of the unfinished National September 11 Memorial & Museum. But while the powder may look ominously like the ash that covered lower Manhattan after the terror attacks, this time it is a product of rebirth, not destruction.

After a yearlong construction shutdown due to a funding dispute, and additional months of cleanup following a shocking flood caused by Superstorm Sandy, work has been racing ahead again at the museum, which sits in a cavernous space below the World Trade Center memorial plaza that opened in 2011.

About 130 workers are at the site each day and there is much left to be done, but officials with the museum said the project is on track to open to the public in the spring of 2014.

Some of the museum's most emotion-inspiring artifacts already are anchored in place.

Tears rolled down Anthoula Katsimatides' cheeks Thursday as she toured halls holding a mangled fire truck, strangely beautiful tangles of rebar, and the pieces of intersecting steel known as the Ground Zero Cross.

"It makes me sad," said Katsimatides, whose brother John died at the trade center. But it's also inspiring, said Katsimatides, who sits on the museum's board. "Seeing it come to fruition is pretty intense."

Work on the museum was halted for nearly a year, starting in the fall of 2011, because of a money fight between the memorial foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In retrospect, that slowdown was a blessing. Shortly after the two sides worked out their differences, Superstorm Sandy sent the Hudson River thundering through lower Manhattan and filled the museum cavern with 7 ? feet of water.

The flood destroyed interior walls and electrical circuits, but the construction delay meant that hundreds of artifacts and exhibits that might have been in the museum still hadn't been fabricated or were sitting safely in storage. There was minor flash rusting to one of the fire trucks that had already been lowered into the space, but the damage was repaired by conservators and isn't noticeable today, said National September 11 Memorial & Museum President Joseph Daniels.

Today there is no sign that there was ever a flood. Daniels said there has been "almost indescribable" progress on construction since the storm.

Structural work appears mostly complete on the glass pavilion and wide staircase and ramp visitors will use to descend into the museum, past two towering "tridents" that once helped form the distinctive base of the twin towers. Once silvery, the columns were stripped bare by the fires of 9/11 and are now the color of rusted, raw steel.

From a mezzanine, patrons will be able to peer into a deep, nave-like hallway nicknamed the South Canyon. The hall's high western wall will eventually be covered with a multitude of notes and letters of support that people around the world sent to New York after the attacks.

"They continue to send things. It's amazing," said Katsimatides. "That outpouring of support is one of the things that got the 9/11 families through."

Further down the ramp, visitors come to a platform overlooking an even more massive cavern bordered by the slurry wall, a 70-foot-tall, steel-studded concrete slab originally built to keep the Hudson River from flooding the trade center construction site.

In the hall's center stands the last steel column removed from ground zero during the cleanup operation. Recovery workers covered the pillar with their signatures before it was carried away, and visitors will get a chance to leave their own mark on another big piece of steel near the museum's exit ? though their autographs will be captured by a computerized touch screen and projected on the slurry wall, rather than left in ink on metal.

Throughout the museum, curators have hung pieces of steel that were bent and twisted into striking shapes, including one sheet of metal that now appears to ripple like a flag and a huge girder bent by the impact of the aircraft hitting the towers.

Many of them look like works of sculpture.

"In a strange way, they are like pieces of art," Katsimatides said. But Daniels added that they weren't chosen for their beauty, but to explain what happened at the site on 9/11.

A few design elements of the museum are still under discussion.

When visitors descend to the very bottom of the museum ? where, in some places, they will be able to view the very bedrock that the towers once rested upon ? they will enter a hall with a large wall bearing an inscription from Virgil. "No day shall erase you from the memory of time."

Behind that wall will sit a special mausoleum, off limits to the general public, containing the unidentified remains of hundreds of 9/11 victims. Most of the interior walls of the museum have the look of bare concrete, as a constant reminder of the site's location within the old trade center foundation. But Daniels said the museum's designers are talking about possibly cladding this wall in a different material, or a different color, to separate it from the rest.

"It's a special place. Do we need something to distinguish it?" he said.

The bulk of the work remaining to be completed will revolve around installing the museum's exhibits, which will include many artifacts, including a wall made up of portraits of all 2,983 victims and a room where visitors will be able to call up video presentations that tell a story about each of them.

"The idea is to learn about the lives that they lived, not just the deaths that they died," Daniels said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-28-Sept%2011%20Museum/id-77d82ae8cb12451885f1a0afa48c3362

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ZEN & TECH 54: Change aversion

Windows 8 made us want our Start button back. iOS 7 caused icon strife. BlackBerry 10 was a huge departure. Going from TouchWiz to Sense can be stressful. And that's just technology! Imagine changing jobs, partners, and places in life! Georgia and Rene discuss the challenges of change!

Hosts

Disclaimer

While Georgia is a therapist, she's not YOUR therapist. Everything said or implied on this show is for informational and entertainment purposes only. And shouldn't be taken in any way as a replacement for proper, professional care.

Credits

Music is Peace on Earth by wellman.

Thanks everyone, you're the best community on the web and we love having you with us!

    


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/IPfp45jq5dU/story01.htm

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South Africa: Family visits critically ill Mandela

Granddaughter Tukwini Mandela, left, granddaughter Ndileka Mandela, second left, and daughter Makaziwe Mandela, right, arrive at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Friday, June 28, 2013. One of the former president's daughters said he is still opening his eyes and reacting to the touch of his family even though his situation is precarious. Woman at second right is unidentified. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Granddaughter Tukwini Mandela, left, granddaughter Ndileka Mandela, second left, and daughter Makaziwe Mandela, right, arrive at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Friday, June 28, 2013. One of the former president's daughters said he is still opening his eyes and reacting to the touch of his family even though his situation is precarious. Woman at second right is unidentified. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Children from a creche pray for the health of Nelson Mandela outside the entrance to the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Friday, June 28, 2013. Nelson Mandela's health improved overnight and although his condition remains critical it is now stable, the South African government said on Thursday. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Messages and gifts from wellwishers are placed outside Nelson Mandela's house as gardeners work in the garden, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday June 28, 2013. One of the former president's daughters said he is still opening his eyes and reacting to the touch of his family even though his situation is precarious. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Members of Nelson Mandela's family as well as South African Cabinet ministers have visited the hospital where the 94-year-old former president is critically ill.

One of Mandela's daughters, Makaziwe Mandela, was among family members who arrived at the Pretoria hospital on Friday. The ministers of health and defense also visited, the South African Press Association reported.

The anti-apartheid leader was taken to the hospital on June 8 to be treated for what the government said was a recurring lung infection. South Africans have held prayers nationwide, and many have left flowers and messages of support outside the hospital as well as his home in Johannesburg.

On Thursday, the office of South African President Jacob Zuma said Mandela's health had improved overnight, and that his condition was critical but stable.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-28-South%20Africa-Mandela/id-d184d8ccce9f46bfa328b62660f391a7

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Friday, June 28, 2013

NSA leaker's father says Snowden may return to U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The father of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said in an interview he is reasonably confident his son will return to the United States as long as certain conditions are met.

Those conditions could include not detaining Snowden before trial, NBC News said on Friday. The NBC report added that he plans to make that point in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to be sent through his lawyer later on Friday.

Snowden's father, in part of the NBC interview that aired on the "Today Show," also said he is concerned his son was being manipulated by others, including people from WikiLeaks.

Snowden fled the United States to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before publication in the Guardian and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret U.S. government surveillance of Internet and phone traffic.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowdens-father-former-contractor-may-return-conditions-met-114430641.html

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Backyard BBQ Party Ideas & Recipes | Devour The Blog: Cooking ...

Jun 27


We here at Cooking Channel love a good party. But throwing a memorable event requires more than just gathering some food and drinks. We show you how, with just five main ?ingredients? (including recipes, big-impact decorating ideas and easy DIY elements), you can throw a party that feels like it has a cohesive theme ? minimal work required.

Typical backyard barbecues are often simple, undecorated affairs. But when you?re going to the effort of planning a menu, a bar and maybe an array of games for your party guests, why not take the time to add some decorative touches that?ll make it feel like a themed event? No imagery is quite as evocative of summertime as nautical elements like ropes, seashells, sand, and blue and white colors. So whether you?re seaside, lounging by a lake or pool, at the park or in your own backyard, you can transform your party space into a beach-inspired retreat. The wistful touches and low-key hands-on menu will transport guests to an instant vacation.

To host this nautical backyard barbecue, you?ll need five essential ingredients:
? a build-your-own burger bar
? classic blue-and-white pinwheels
? seashells (authentic or from a party store)
? paper cones for popcorn (download the template here)
? watermelon wedges

Click here to see the full party and get tips for hosting your own nautical backyard barbecue.

Spotlight On: The Menu

Keep things simple with food that guests can enjoy while lounging on a towel or with their feet dangling in the water. Homemade popcorn with rosemary-infused oil is a refreshing twist on the typical chips-and-dip appetizer, and guests can fill paper cones with the snack (and carry them around). The food buffet ? the beach-themed centerpiece of the party ? features a build-your-own-burger bar, which allows guests to customize their main dish as they please. (Offer vegetarian and beef patties to keep all eaters happy.) And for a simple dessert with a twist, serve classic watermelon wedges sprinkled with sea salt for extra zing. Stash retro soda bottles in a galvanized tin for easy drink service that enhances the laid-back boardwalk vibe.

Get tips for setting up the decorated beach buffet and more ideas for a nautical backyard barbecue.

(See more parties and events from the Party in Five series here.)

Camille Styles is the founder and editor of lifestyle blog camillestyles.com, where she shares creative entertaining ideas for parties and everyday life. She also owns Camille Styles Events, a design and planning firm that transforms ordinary events into extraordinary experiences.

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Tags: Backyard BBQ barbecue recipes Camille Styles party Party in Five summer parties

Source: http://blog.cookingchanneltv.com/2013/06/27/backyard-bbq-party-ideas/

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'Despicable Me's' Carell: 'I hope I'm a cool dad'

Movies

13 hours ago

There are times in your life when career changes just have to be made -- and Steve Carell, who left "The Office" to pursue a film career, knows all about that. And in "Despicable Me 2," he returns as former evildoer Gru, who has left the bad guy biz to look after three young girls and make "terrible" jams and jellies, as the actor explained to TODAY's Savannah Guthrie Wednesday.

"(Gru) needed to shake it up," said Carell. "He's sort of at a career impasse. He can't be a villain any more because he's got these three little girls to take care of now. He has a lot on his plate right now."

The funnyman said he actually empathized with some of what Gru is going through -- one of the daughters in the movie is hitting her teen years and finding an interest in boys, while in real life Carell says he's bracing for when those emotions well up in his real-life 12-year-old daughter.

"There's that anticipation of 'Am I going to be an overprotective dad?'" he wondered. "I will roll with it. I hope I'm a cool dad."

"Despicable Me 2" opens in theaters on July 3.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/despicable-mes-steve-carell-i-hope-im-cool-dad-6C10455619

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

'Despicable Me's' Carell: 'I hope I'm a cool dad'

Movies

5 hours ago

There are times in your life when career changes just have to be made -- and Steve Carell, who left "The Office" to pursue a film career, knows all about that. And in "Despicable Me 2," he returns as former evildoer Gru, who has left the bad guy biz to look after three young girls and make "terrible" jams and jellies, as the actor explained to TODAY's Savannah Guthrie Wednesday.

"(Gru) needed to shake it up," said Carell. "He's sort of at a career impasse. He can't be a villain any more because he's got these three little girls to take care of now. He has a lot on his plate right now."

The funnyman said he actually empathized with some of what Gru is going through -- one of the daughters in the movie is hitting her teen years and finding an interest in boys, while in real life Carell says he's bracing for when those emotions well up in his real-life 12-year-old daughter.

"There's that anticipation of 'Am I going to be an overprotective dad?'" he wondered. "I will roll with it. I hope I'm a cool dad."

"Despicable Me 2" opens in theaters on July 3.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/despicable-mes-steve-carell-i-hope-im-cool-dad-6C10455619

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

European court lawyer sides with Google

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? A top lawyer at the European Court of Justice said Tuesday that Google and other search engines should not have to remove web pages containing personal information from their search indexes.

In a blow for the "right to be forgotten" privacy principle in Europe, the court's independent Advocate General, Niilo Jaaskinen, said in a formal opinion that websites, not Google, should bear responsibility for information they publish.

Jaaskinen said that Google's search function "does not imply any control over the content included on third party web pages," he said in his opinion, which is not binding but influential in helping judges form their opinions. Google's information indexing system "does not even enable the Internet search engine provider to distinguish between personal data...and other data."

The Luxembourg-based ECJ was asked to weigh in on the issue after a case in Spain, where the national data protection agency received complaints from individuals who said personal information from years earlier could be found on a simple Internet search.

The Spanish agency decided in their favor and ordered Google Spain and Google to ensure the information did not come up in search results. Google contested that in Spanish Court, arguing it would place it in the position of deciding what pages to censor.

The ECJ will rule on the same issues addressed by Jaaskinen later this year. More than a hundred complaints are on hold in Spain awaiting the European decision.

The Spanish agency had invoked the "right to be forgotten," a principle derived from the idea that European citizens should be allowed to control over their own personal data ? not have it stored and made accessible on line by large companies. However, Jaasiknen said that the idea that there is any general "right to be forgotten" is a misunderstanding.

Rather, he said, European individuals have a right to correct wrong information or protest the way their personal information is being used ? when they have good grounds.

That "does not entitle a person to restrict or terminate dissemination of personal data that he considers to be harmful or contrary to his interests," he said.

That does not extend to accurate information that has been published, which is at the heart of many of the Spanish cases.

The Spanish data protection agency said Tuesday it was still studying the ruling and did not have any immediate reaction.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, welcomed Jaasiknen's opinion.

"We're glad to see it supports our long-held view that requiring search engines to suppress 'legitimate and legal information' would amount to censorship," said Bill Echikson, who has the title of "Head of Free Expression" at Google for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Jaaskinen's opinion said Google remains subject to local laws, and it could be forced to take steps amounting to blocking websites that house illegal content, such as those infringing intellectual property or displaying libelous or criminal information.

But it noted that when information is legal and in the public domain, blocking it would violate publishers' right to freedom of expression.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-court-lawyer-sides-google-090530664.html

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AP sources: Obama to limit carbon at power plants

The Capitol Dome is seen behind the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013. The plant provides power to buildings in the Capitol Complex. President Barack Obama is running out of time to make good on his lofty vow to confront climate change head-on, and Congress is in no mood to help. The executive actions and regulations Obama announces Tuesday will take years to implement. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The Capitol Dome is seen behind the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013. The plant provides power to buildings in the Capitol Complex. President Barack Obama is running out of time to make good on his lofty vow to confront climate change head-on, and Congress is in no mood to help. The executive actions and regulations Obama announces Tuesday will take years to implement. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The Capitol Dome is seen behind the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013. The plant provides power to buildings in the Capitol Complex. President Barack Obama is running out of time to make good on his lofty vow to confront climate change head-on, and Congress is in no mood to help. The executive actions and regulations Obama announces Tuesday will take years to implement. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama's national plan to combat climate change will include the first-ever regulations to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, as well as increased production of renewable energy on public lands and federally assisted housing, environmental groups briefed on the plan said Monday.

In a major speech Tuesday at Georgetown University, Obama will announce that he's directing his administration to allow enough renewables on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the capacity from solar, wind and geothermal projects on federal property. He'll also say the U.S. will significantly expand production of renewable energy on low-income housing sites, according to five individuals briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to discuss it publicly ahead of Obama's announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The far-reaching plan marks Obama's most prominent effort yet to deliver on a major priority he laid out in his first presidential campaign and recommitted to at the start of his second term: to fight climate change in the U.S. and abroad and prepare American communities for its effects. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama's high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.

In taking action on his own ? none of the steps Obama will announce Tuesday require congressional approval ? Obama is also signaling he will no longer wait for lawmakers to act on climate change, and instead will seek ways to work around them.

The lynchpin of Obama's plan, and the step activists say will have the most dramatic impact, involves limits on carbon emissions for new and existing power plants. The Obama administration has already proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed and not yet finalized. Tuesday's announcement will be the first public confirmation that Obama plans to extend carbon controls to coal-fired power plants that are currently pumping heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

"This is the holy grail," said Melinda Pierce of Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group. "That is the single biggest step he can take to help tackle carbon pollution."

Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department's statistical agency.

Obama is expected to lay out a broad vision Tuesday, without detailed emission targets or specifics about how they will be put in place. Instead, the president will launch a process in which the Environmental Protection Agency will work with states to develop specific plans to rein in carbon emissions, with flexibility for each state's circumstances. Under one scenario envisioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, states could draw on measures such as clean energy sources, carbon-trapping technology and energy efficiency to reduce the total emissions released into the air.

Obama also will announce more aggressive steps to increase efficiency for appliances such as refrigerators and lamps, according to people briefed on the plan. Another component of Obama's proposal will involve ramping up hydropower production from existing dams.

Heather Zichal, Obama's senior energy and climate adviser, told environmental groups Monday that Obama is working with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan on a target for renewable energy to be produced at federally assisted housing projects.

She framed the Obama's efforts in the U.S. as part of a broader, global movement to combat climate change, trumpeting the role the U.S. can play in leading other nations to stem the warming of the planet.

Paul Bledsoe, who worked on climate issues in the Clinton White House, said Zichal renewed a pledge Obama made in in his first year in office, during global climate talks in Copenhagen, to cut U.S. carbon emissions by about 17 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.

"This is a policy fulfillment of what the president has been talking about and trying to accomplish for five years or more," said Bledsoe, now a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

One key issue Obama is not expected to address Tuesday is Keystone XL, a pipeline that would carry oil extracted from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. A concerted campaign by environmental activists to persuade Obama to nix the pipeline as a "carbon bomb" appears to have gained little traction. The oil industry has been urging the president to approve the pipeline, citing jobs and economic benefits.

Obama raised climate change as a key second-term issue in his inaugural address in January, but has offered few details since. In his February State of the Union, he issued an ultimatum to lawmakers: "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will."

The poor prospects for getting any major climate legislation through a Republican-controlled House were on display last week when Speaker John Boehner responded to the prospect that Obama would put forth controls on existing power plants by deeming the idea "absolutely crazy."

"Why would you want to increase the cost of energy and kill more American jobs?" said Boehner, R-Ohio, echoing the warnings of some industry groups.

Sidestepping Congress by using executive action doesn't guarantee Obama smooth sailing. Lawmakers could introduce legislation to thwart Obama's efforts. And the rules for existing power plants will almost certainly face legal challenges in court. The Supreme Court has upheld the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, but how the EPA goes about that effort remains largely uncharted waters.

Even if legal and political obstacles are overcome, it will take years for the new measures to be put in place, likely running up against the end of Obama's presidency or even beyond it. White House aides say that's one reason Obama is ensuring the process starts now, while there are still more than three years left in his final term.

Under the process outlined in the Clean Air Act, the EPA cannot act unilaterally, but must work with states to develop the standards, said Jonas Monast, an attorney who directs the climate and energy program at Duke University. An initial proposal will be followed by a months-long public comment period before the EPA can issue final guidance to states. Then the states must create actual plans for plants within their borders, a process likely to take the better part of a year.

Then the EPA has another four months to decide whether to approve each state's plan before the implementation period can start.

Associated Press Writer Matthew Daly contributed to this story.

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-24-US-Obama-Climate-Change/id-c219d529562746f680f9661e0a71e1b5

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Apple allegedly looking into MacBook Air WiFi issue, replacing machines

Apple allegedly looking into MacBook Air WiFi issue, replacing machines

Over the last few days we've been hearing from several of our readers about WiFi instability on new Haswell-equipped MacBook Airs, which also happens to be Apple's first computer with 802.11ac. Despite those rare reports, in our recent review it impressed us with solid performance and incredible battery life. Today 9to5Mac learned that Apple is supposedly aware of the issue and working on a fix, while some customers have also reported getting their systems replaced. In the meantime, the company has reportedly directed its Genius Bar employees to "capture" machines experiencing the problem -- i.e. return them to Cupertino for testing. We've contacted the company for comment and will keep you posted if there's any official response.

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Source: 9to5Mac

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/apple-allegedly-looking-into-macbook-air-wifi-issue-replacing-m/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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High court sends back Texas race-based plan

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Affirmative action in college admissions survived Supreme Court review Monday in a consensus decision that avoided the difficult constitutional issues surrounding a challenge to the University of Texas admission plan.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the court's 7-1 ruling that said a court should approve the use of race as a factor in admissions only after it concludes "that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity."

But the decision did not question the underpinnings of affirmative action, which the high court last reaffirmed in 2003.

The justices said the federal appeals court in New Orleans did not apply the highest level of judicial scrutiny when it upheld the Texas plan, which uses race as one among many factors in admitting about a quarter of the university's incoming freshmen. The school gives the bulk of the slots to Texans who are admitted based on their high school class rank, without regard to race.

The high court ordered the appeals court to take another look at the case of Abigail Fisher, a white Texan who was not offered a spot at the university's flagship Austin campus in 2008. Fisher has since received her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the lone dissenter. "In my view, the courts below adhered to this court's pathmarking decisions and there is no need for a second look," Ginsburg said in a dissent she read aloud.

Justice Clarence Thomas, alone on the court, said he would have overturned the high court's 2003 ruling, though he went along with Monday's outcome.

Justice Elena Kagan stayed out of the case, presumably because she had some contact with it at an earlier stage when she worked in the Justice Department.

Kennedy said that courts must determine that the use of race is necessary to achieve the educational benefits of diversity, the Supreme Court's standard for affirmative action in education since 1978. The high court most recently reaffirmed the constitutionality of affirmative action in Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003, a case involving the University of Michigan.

"As the Court said in Grutter, it remains at all times the university's obligation to demonstrate, and the judiciary's obligation to determine, that admissions processes 'ensure that each applicant is evaluated as an individual and not in a way that makes an applicant's race or ethnicity the defining feature of his or her application,'" Kennedy said.

University of Texas president Bill Powers said the university plans no immediate changes in its admissions policies as a result of Monday's ruling and will continue to defend them in the courts.

"We remain committed to assembling a student body at the University of Texas at Austin that provides the educational benefits of diversity on campus while respecting the rights of all students and acting within the constitutional framework established by the court," Powers said.

But Edward Blum, who helped engineer Fisher's challenge, said it is unlikely that the Texas plan and many other college plans can long survive. "The Supreme Court has established exceptionally high hurdles for the University of Texas and other universities and colleges to overcome if they intend to continue using race preferences in their admissions policies, said Blum, director of The Project on Fair Representation in Alexandria, Va.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said the court "ducked" the big issues in the case. While he would have preferred that the justices affirm the use of race in college admissions, "a duck is better than a no, but not as good as a yes," Sharpton said. Sharpton, along with Martin Luther King III, was leading a National Press Club news conference announcing initial plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington.

Retired Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and John Paul Stevens, both members of the majority in the Grutter case, were in the courtroom Monday for the Texas decision.

The challenge to the Texas plan gained traction in part because the makeup of the court has changed since the last time the justices ruled on affirmative action in higher education in 2003. Then, O'Connor wrote the majority opinion that held that colleges and universities can use race in their quest for diverse student bodies.

O'Connor retired in 2006, and her replacement, Justice Samuel Alito, has shown himself to be more skeptical of considerations of race in education.

Texas automatically offers about three-quarters of its spots to high school graduates based on their class rank as part of what was called the "top 10 percent" plan under a 1990s state law signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush. Since then the admissions program has been changed so that now only the top 8 percent gain automatic admission.

Race is a factor in filling out the rest of the incoming class. More than 8 in 10 African-American and Latino students who enrolled at the flagship campus in Austin in 2011 were automatically admitted, according to university statistics.

In all, black and Hispanic students made up more than a quarter of the incoming freshmen class. White students constituted less than half the entering class when students with Asian backgrounds and other minorities were added in.

The university said the extra measure of diversity it gets from the slots outside automatic admission is crucial because too many of its classrooms have only token minority representation, at best. At the same time, Texas argued that race is one of many factors considered and that whether race played the key role in any applicant's case was impossible to tell.

The Obama administration, roughly half of the Fortune 100 companies and large numbers of public and private colleges that feared a broad ruling against affirmative action backed the Texas program. Among the benefits of affirmative action, the administration said, is that it creates a pipeline for a diverse officer corps that it called "essential to the military's operational readiness." In 2003, the court cited the importance of a similar message from military leaders.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-sends-back-texas-race-based-plan-142424792.html

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Wyndham Worldwide to Report Second Quarter 2013 Earnings on ...

Wyndham Worldwide logoConference Call and Webcast at 8:30am EDT

Parsippany, N.J. (June 24, 2013) ??Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN) announced today that it will report second quarter 2013 results on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Steve Holmes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Tom Conforti, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call with investors to discuss the results and business outlook at 8:30am EDT that morning.

Listeners can access the webcast live through the company?s website at www.wyndhamworldwide.com/investors/. The conference call may also be accessed by dialing 800-369-2125 and providing the pass code ?WYNDHAM?. Listeners are urged to call at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. An archive of this webcast will be available on the website for approximately 90 days beginning at 12:00pm EDT on July 24, 2013. A telephone replay will be available for approximately 90 days beginning at 12:00pm EDT on July 24, 2013 at 866-430-8799.

About Wyndham Worldwide Corporation
One of the world?s largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide provides a wide range of hospitality products and services through its global portfolio of world-renowned brands. The world?s largest hotel company based on the number of properties, Wyndham Hotel Group is home to many of the world?s best-known hotel brands, with approximately 7,380 franchised hotels and over 631,800 hotel rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the world?s largest professionally managed vacation rentals business, providing more than 5 million leisure-bound families annually with access to over 106,000 vacation properties in 100 countries through its prominent exchange and vacation rental brands. The industry and timeshare ownership market leader, Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of 190 vacation ownership resorts serving approximately 915,000 owners throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Based in Parsippany, NJ, Wyndham Worldwide employs approximately 32,500 associates globally.
For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit the Company?s website at www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

SOURCE: Wyndham Worldwide

Jun 24th, 2013 | Category: ALL NEWS HEADLINES, Finance, USA & Canada | Tell a Friend?Tell a Friend

Source: http://www.insidethegate.com/2013/06/wyndham-worldwide-to-report-second-quarter-2013-earnings-on-july-24-2013/

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Obama: Time for excuses on immigration is over

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Declaring "the time for excuses is over," President Barack Obama is trumpeting the economic benefits of an immigration overhaul, arguing that a bipartisan bill picking up steam in the Senate would put the nation's loathed deficits and fragile entitlements on better footing.

A recent analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, lawmakers' nonpartisan scorekeeper, was Exhibit A in Obama's weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. The report shows deficits would fall nearly $1 trillion over two decades after the bill becomes law.

What's more, Obama said, the influx of immigrant-driven investment, technology and businesses would give the economy a 5 percent shot in the arm.

"This bipartisan, common-sense bill will help the middle class grow our economy and shrink our deficits, by making sure that every worker in America plays by the same set of rules and pays taxes like everyone else," he said.

Confidence that the overhaul could pass the Senate by impressive margins is growing, and leaders scheduled a test vote on the bill for Monday, with a final vote expected by the end of next week. Although the heart of the bill is a 13-year pathway to citizenship for millions living in the United States illegally, it was a military-style surge to U.S.-Mexican border security, added this week to placate wary Republicans, that was credited for giving the bill a much-needed boost.

Obama didn't specifically address the border amendment Saturday, but he did note that the bill "would continue to strengthen security at our borders." Despite concerns from some Democrats that the security provisions ? 20,000 new agents, 350 miles of new fencing, 18 new unmanned drones ? are overkill, Obama spokesman Jay Carney said Friday it would constitute a "breakthrough" that the White House applauded.

"The bill isn't perfect. It's a compromise," Obama said, reprising a line he's used throughout the process when Democrats have complained the bill has become too conservative. "But it's consistent with the principles that I and others have laid out."

In the Republican address, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota says Obama must show leadership to avoid an impending hike on student loan interest rates. He said it's fortunate that Obama and House Republicans agree on the issue and have both proposed plans that would tie interest rates to the market. He accused Senate Democrats of blocking each plan.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say they are content to let rates double," Kline said. "This eleventh-hour scrambling is a perfect demonstration of why we need to take the politics out of student loans once and for all."

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/HouseConference

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-time-excuses-immigration-over-100152943.html

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South Africa: Nelson Mandela in critical condition

(AP) ? Nelson Mandela's health has deteriorated and he is now in critical condition, the South African government said Sunday.

The office of President Jacob Zuma said in a statement that he had visited the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader at a hospital Sunday evening and was informed by the medical team that Mandela's condition had become critical in the past 24 hours.

"The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands," Zuma said in the statement, using Mandela's clan name.

Zuma also met Graca Machel, Mandela's wife, at the hospital in Pretoria and discussed the former leader's condition, according to the statement. Zuma was accompanied on the visit by Cyril Ramaphosa, the deputy president of the country's ruling party, the African National Congress.

Mandela was jailed for 27 years under white racist rule and released in 1990. He then played a leading role in steering the divided country from the apartheid era to democracy, becoming South Africa's first black president in all-race elections in 1994. He was hospitalized on June 8 for what the government said was a recurring lung infection.

In Sunday's statement, Zuma also discussed the government's acknowledgement a day earlier that an ambulance carrying Mandela to the Pretoria hospital two weeks ago had engine trouble, requiring the former president to be transferred to another ambulance for his journey. Pretoria, South Africa's capital, lies about 50 km (30 miles) from Johannesburg, where Mandela has been living.

"There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care," Zuma said. "The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses. The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report."

Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation, and Zuma appealed to South Africans and the international community to pray for the ailing ex-president, his family and the medical team attending to him.

The ruling party expressed concern about the deterioration in Mandela's health.

"We welcome the work being done by The Presidency to ensure that South Africans and people of the world are kept informed on the state of Madiba's health," the party said. "The African National Congress joins The Presidency in calling upon all of us to keep President Mandela, his family and his medical team in our thoughts and prayers during this trying time."

In Washington, the White House National Security Council spokeswoman noted the latest reports from the South African government about Mandela's worsening condition.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the people of South Africa," said spokeswoman Caitllin Hayden.

Prior to Zuma's statement late Sunday, reports from the government, former President Thabo Mbeki and a grandson of Mandela had indicated that the health of Mandela was improving, even though he has been in the hospital for treatment several times in recent months. In the days following his latest hospitalization, Zuma's office described his condition as serious but stable. Family members have been seen making daily visits to the hospital where Mandela is being treated.

Mandela, who has become increasingly frail in recent years, last made a public appearance at the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, which was hosted by South Africa. He didn't deliver an address on that occasion and was bundled against the cold in a stadium full of fans.

On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other leaders of the African National Congress to Mandela's home. Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage ? the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year ? showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.

Between hospital stays in recent months, Mandela has been staying at his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton, where he has received what the government described as "home-based high care" by a medical team. On April 6, he was discharged from a hospital after treatment for pneumonia, which included a procedure in which doctors drained fluid from his lung area.

Mandela has been vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his imprisonment under apartheid. Most of those years were spent on Robben Island, a forbidding outpost off the coast of Cape Town.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-23-South%20Africa-Mandela/id-8eee3e39246741a396df0ceec42aa9fb

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

G8 pledges action on tax evasion, few concrete measures

By William Schomberg and Jeff Mason

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - The world's rich economies said they would take a tougher stance on fighting money laundering and tax evasion but promised little in the way of specific new action at the end of a two-day summit on Tuesday.

The Group of Eight leaders signed up for a string of aims including improved transparency about who owns shell companies and more information-sharing between tax authorities.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has sought to clamp down on secret flows of money, making it a centerpiece of his presidency of the G8 this year.

But the communique did not contain a firm pledge to create registers of the "beneficial" - or true - owners of companies that would be available to tax authorities and law enforcement.

That was something Britain committed to on Saturday and campaigners had hoped other G8 countries would follow suit.

"If all of these promises become reality, this could have an enormous impact on tackling one of the greatest scandals of our time. But there is a long way to go," said Murray Worthy, tax campaigner at the British anti-poverty charity War on Want.

Campaigners say illicit money flows out of developing countries are double the amount of development aid going in.

Under pressure from austerity-weary voters, lawmakers have focused increasingly on tax dodges. More than 50 countries have agreed to a new protocol on tax data sharing since 2011.

Cameron said his proposal that firms report profits on a country-by-country basis could help expose corporate profit shifting into low-tax states.

U.S. Senator Carl Levin, a long-time critic of such activities, welcomed the proposal. Business groups said they could support it providing the amount of information they were forced to give authorities was not too detailed.

ACTION PLANS

The G8 leaders, meeting in Northern Ireland, said their governments would draw up action plans for collecting and sharing information on who really owns companies, making it harder to set up Russian-doll type structures.

The United States pledged to keep on pressing for legislation to cut down on the criminal use of shell companies.

"The credibility of this depends on the ability of the White House to advance legislation," said Gavin Hayman, director of campaigns at anti-corruption group Global Witness.

The United States pointed out it was planning to require banks to understand who their customers actually are and provide information for law enforcement and tax authorities.

A frequent critic of tax havens, the United States has come under fire from campaigners for the low transparency requirements around ownership of corporate entities registered in some U.S. states such as Delaware.

COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY

Tax campaigners had called for companies to be forced to make public their profits, revenues and tax payments for every country where they operate. That could deter accountants from building contrived arrangements to keep tax low.

Business groups remained against such a move.

"We continue to have real doubts about the utility of any rules requiring the release of vast amounts of raw data to the public," Andrew Wilson, UK Director of the International Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

The G8 leaders also called on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which advises rich nations on economic policies, to come up with a way that could require multinational corporations to report profits and tax payments to authorities on a country-by-country basis

Some developing nations complain they struggle to get information about companies' operations in other countries, so the measure could help them cut profit shifting.

The OECD is working on a broader program to tackle tax avoidance under the auspices of the Group of 20 comprising the leading developed and developing economies. It is due to submit a report with recommendations to a G20 meeting next month.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; writing by Tom Bergin in London; editing by William Schomberg)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/g8-pledges-action-tax-evasion-few-concrete-measures-155014203.html

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Food companies work to make it look natural

In this undated photo provided by Kraft Foods Inc., a package of Oscar Mayer Carving Board Turkey Breast is shown. More companies are now trying to make processed foods appear more homespun. (AP Photo/Kraft Foods Inc.)

In this undated photo provided by Kraft Foods Inc., a package of Oscar Mayer Carving Board Turkey Breast is shown. More companies are now trying to make processed foods appear more homespun. (AP Photo/Kraft Foods Inc.)

(AP) ? Here's the latest goal for food makers: Perfect the art of imperfection.

When stretching out the dough for its premium "Artisan Pizzas," Domino's workers are instructed not to worry about making the rectangles too perfect: The pies are supposed to have a more rustic look.

At McDonald's, the egg whites for the new breakfast sandwich called the Egg White Delight McMuffin have a loose shape rather than the round discs used in the original Egg McMuffin.

And Kraft Foods took more than two years to develop a process to make the thick, uneven slabs of turkey in its Carving Board line look like leftovers from a homemade meal rather than the cookie-cutter ovals typical of most lunchmeat.

"The goal is to get the same action as if you were cutting with a knife," said Paul Morin, a Kraft engineer.

Food companies are responding to the adage that people eat with their eyes. Americans still love their fast food and packaged snacks, but they're increasingly turning their noses up at foods that look overly processed. Home-cooked meals ? or ones that at least look like they were home-made ? are seen as more wholesome and authentic.

The result is that companies are tossing out the identical shapes and drab colors that scream of factory conveyor belts. There's no way to measure exactly how much food makers are investing to make their products look more natural or fresh. But adaption is seen as necessary for fueling steady growth.

Over the past five years, the overall packaged food industry in North America grew 14 percent to $392.5 billion, according to market researcher Euromonitor International. The fast-food industry meanwhile rose 13 percent to $225.6 billion.

In many cases, food products get their wholesome appearance because of the different or stripped-down ingredients companies are using to make them more natural, said Michael Cohen, a visiting assistant professor of marketing at NYU's Stern School of Business. But in other cases, companies are making tweaks just to achieve a desired look.

"Food manufacturers are adapting by the way they mold the product or the end color or texture they want the product to be," he said.

Appearances have always been a part of food production. But some experts say the visual cues food makers are using to suggest their products are wholesome fuel confusion about what's natural and what isn't.

"They can't change the fact that they're making processed products so they have to use these other tricks to pretend," said Michele Simon, a public health lawyer and author of "Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back."

A little dressing up can work. Bernell Dorrough, a 31-year-old web marketing coordinator in the Mobile, Ala., area, recently opted for the store brand lunchmeat at the local Publix supermarket in part because the slices came loosely packed in folds rather than in the traditional tight stacks where the meat is peeled off.

"It was folded as though someone held a bag under a machine," he said. "I know it wasn't hand sliced but something about the aesthetic quality appealed to me."

Food companies are banking on customers like Dorrough.

It's one reason why Wendy's softened the edges of its famously square hamburger patties. The Dublin, Ohio-based says it changed the patty to a "natural square" with wavy edges because tasters said the straight edges looked processed.

At Kraft Foods Group Inc., executives took the quest for a turkey slice that looks home-cooked even further. A team at its Madison, Wis., research facility studied the way people carve meat in their kitchen, using the variety of knives they typically have at their disposal.

Instead of the traditional slicers found in delis, the goal was to build a machine that would hack at the meat as a person might, creating slabs with more ragged edges, said Morin, the Kraft engineer.

It wasn't as easy as it sounds since the meat still needs to fit neatly into a package and add up to a certain weight. Morin declined to provide details of the process for competitive reasons but said that no two packages are exactly alike.

"We have a way of making sure that the blade cuts the piece of meat differently with each cut," he said.

At Hillshire Brands Co., which makes lunch meats, hot dogs and sausages, executives also are attuned to the fact that more people prize foods they feel are natural. At an industry conference in February, CEO Sean Connolly noted that in addition to taste, the appearance of its food needed work.

Specifically, Connolly said people wanted a more natural look for lunchmeat that was "moist but not wet." They also wanted the turkey to look "a little bit grainier." Without providing details, a representative for Hillshire, which is based in Chicago, said those changes were achieved through the manufacturing process.

Reggie Moore, the company's vice president of marketing, concedes that the meaning of "natural" is hard to pin down and varies from person-to-person. But as the definition evolves, Hillshire is taking care to signal the natural qualities of its meat visually.

In revamping its turkey slices, for example, one of the cosmetic touchups the company made was darkening the edges of the meat with caramel coloring to give the impression that it was just sliced from a Thanksgiving roast.

Ultimately, Moore said the change didn't really impact the taste.

___

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-17-Homemade%20Fast%20Food/id-a3ef0b6cc7794701bde1f893d814e53e

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Miley Cyrus Tweets Photo of Sister and Mother: The Baddest Bitches Around!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/miley-cyrus-tweets-photo-of-sister-and-mother-the-baddest-bitche/

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Monday, June 17, 2013

Swiss scientists create catbot: a robot that runs like a cat (video)

DNP Catbot like a cat but a bot

Someone call MIT's researchers and tell them their terrifying cheetah robot has a long-lost teensy sibling in Switzerland. Developed in the laboratories of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the "cheetah-cub robot" is a four-legged metallic critter modeled after a house cat. The scientists focused on designing legs that can move like our feline friends', paying particular attention to their stability while moving on uneven surfaces. While it has a long way to go before it becomes a graceful daredevil, it's a fast little bugger that can run seven times its body length in one second. The researchers hope their creation gives rise to more robots for exploration and search-and-rescue missions in the future -- a far more noble goal than some cat-owners' dream to have their pets' pictures land on the front page of Reddit.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/swiss-scientists-catbot/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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