Mobile Miscellany: week of March 25th, 2013

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week, an unknown T-Mobile handset with Snapdragon 800 internals lit up the benchmarks, Sony was foiled at the lock screen and Rogers made 44 new promises without saying much at all. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of March 25th, 2013.

Sony joins the screen lock exploit club

We've recently seen lock screen vulnerabilities from Apple and Samsung, and now Sony's here to make it a trio. This week, Scott Reed revealed a bypass method for the Xperia Z, which disturbingly enough, brings full and unfettered access to the smartphone. You'll find the proof for yourself in this 35-second video, which reveals the necessary string of characters that must be entered into the phone's dialer. While a glitch in the video initially put our suspicions on high alert, we've come across several confirmations that reveal the exploit not only works for the Xperia Z, but also the Xperia S and Xperia P. Pretty disturbing, right? [GSM Arena, xda-developers]

Benchmark reveals Snapdragon 800 lurking within LG D801 for T-Mobile

Hold onto your hats, folks, because the Snapdragon 800 just spanked the competition in a GPU benchmark test, and in the process, a potential superphone was pegged on T-Mobile's horizon. The phone in question is the LG D801, which reared its head with the Qualcomm MSM8974 SoC at its core. According to GLBenchmark figures (which have since been taken offline), the handset soundly trounced both the HTC One and the latest iPad, which is no doubt thanks to the Adreno 330 GPU. It should come as no surprise that a 1080p display was revealed for the LG D801, and if the device strings have any bearing, we may see this one branded as the Optimus G2. Seeing that LG was first to market with both the Snapdragon S4 Pro and the Snapdragon 600, it certainly wouldn't shock us to see the manufacturer pull off a three-peat. [GSM Arena, Droid Life]

Promotional codes are one step closer to reality in BlackBerry World

If a leak from the crew at N4BB is any indication, BlackBerry World may soon find support for promotional codes. That's because buttons and dialogs were recently uncovered on a BlackBerry Dev Alpha C unit, which clearly shows BlackBerry's intention to implement the feature. While it's not the biggest revelation, the move could be lucrative for developers, and it'd also bring BlackBerry World one step closer to parity with other content ecosystems. Here's to moving in the right direction. [N4BB]

Rogers teases springtime LTE rollout for 44 markets, 2600MHz deployment

This week, Rogers announced that LTE coverage will be extended to 44 new markets over the coming months. Of these markets, it'll extend its relatively young 2600MHz LTE service to 34 of the new areas, which is said to offer faster connection speeds, up to a highly theoretical (and entirely unrealistic) 150 Mbps. Upon completion of the rollout, Rogers' LTE service will extend to 21.5 million Canadians, or roughly 65 percent of the population. Unfortunately, Rogers is also being rather coy with its announcement, and so far has only named Saint John, New Brunswick; Medicine Hat, Alberta; Sault Ste. Marie, Guelph, Muskokas and Collingwood, Ontario; and "multiple cities in Quebec" for the LTE rollout. [MobileSyrup]

Other random tidbits

• The LG Optimus G is now available for purchase in the UK through Expansys, where it retails for ?469.99. [Unwired View]
• Bell Mobility now has the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2 on store shelves, which we previously reviewed at the MiFi Liberate for AT&T. The touchscreen-enabled hotspot retails for $199.95 outright, or $49.95 with a two-year contract. [MobileSyrup]
• If you're living in the UK and you've been holding out for a BB10 device with a physical keyboard, you'll be glad to know that O2 has identified the BlackBerry Q10 for a May arrival. No word on pricing, though. [Unwired View]
• AT&T has activated its LTE network to Watertown, N.Y., Harrison and Eureka Springs, Ark., Hilton Head and Bluffton, S.C., and Hernando County, Fla. The carrier has also extended its 4G coverage in Princeton and Gloucester County, N.J., and Gary, Ind. [AT&T 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Must-read mobile stories

[Mobile Miscellany photo credit: Thristian / Flickr]

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/30/mobile-miscellany/

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How to recommend games to friends with Game Center

For most users, Game Center is all about matching up with friends and competing for rankings and checking out leaderboards. It's not much fun though if you don't have anyone to play against. If you've found a particularly cool multiplayer game in the App Store that you think a friend would like, Game Center makes it easy to tell friends about it complete with an App Store link for them to check it out.

Here's how:

1. Launch the Game Center appfrom the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap on the Games tab along the bottom navigation.
3. Find the game that you'd like to share with a friend in your list of games and tap on it.
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on the Tell a friend button.
5. You'll now be shown an auto-filled email with information about the game. Just type in the email of the person you'd like to share it with and tap Send.

That's all there is to it. Your friend will receive the email and be able to directly view the game on the App Store and choose to download or buy it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/04jh_JCGY5E/story01.htm

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A Delicious Craft Beer Deserves a Glorious Handmade Growler

If you want to drink fresh, limited-release microbrews, then a growler is indispensable. You see, the truly great stuff doesn't come in bottles: You need to go somewhere that has it on tap get them to sell you a hearty pour. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9S6DCsv7dGs/a-delicious-craft-brew-deserves-a-glorious-handmade-growler

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Getting under the shell of the turtle genome

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The genome of the western painted turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii) one of the most widespread, abundant and well-studied turtles in the world, is published this week in Genome Biology. The data show that, like turtles themselves, the rate of genome evolution is extremely slow; turtle genomes evolve at a rate that is about a third that of the human genome and a fifth that of the python, the fastest lineage analyzed.

As a group, turtles are long-lived, can withstand low temperatures including freezing solid, can survive for long periods with no oxygen, and their sex is usually determined by the temperature at which their eggs develop rather than genetically. The painted turtle is most anoxia-tolerant vertebrate and can survive up to four months under water depending on the temperature. Turtles and tortoises are also the most endangered major vertebrate group on earth, with half of all species listed as endangered. This is the first turtle, and only the second non-avian reptile genome to be sequenced, and the analysis reveals some interesting insights about these bizarre features and adaptations, many of which are only known in turtles.

The western painted turtle is a freshwater species, and the most widespread turtle native to North America. Bradley Shaffer and colleagues place the western painted turtle genome into a comparative evolutionary context, showing that turtles are more closely related to birds and crocodilians than to any other vertebrates. They also find 19 genes in the brain and 23 in the heart whose expression is increased in low oxygen conditions ? including one whose expression changes nearly 130 fold. Further experiments on turtle hatchlings indicated that common microRNA was involved in freeze tolerance adaptation.

This work consistently indicates that common vertebrate regulatory networks, some of which have analogs in human diseases, are often involved in the western painted turtle achieving its extraordinary physiological capacities. The authors argue that the painted turtle may offer important insights into the management of a number of human health disorders, particularly those involved with anoxia and hypothermia.

###

BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com

Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127506/Getting_under_the_shell_of_the_turtle_genome

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Shaka Smart to sign extension to remain at VCU

Shaka Smart and VCU have agreed in principle to a deal to keep the basketball coach at the school.

The details are still being finalized, but the majority of changes involve "program enhancements for the student-athletes and coaches," athletic director Ed McLaughlin said. It also extends a contract already scheduled to run through 2020.

Smart is 111-37 in four years, the sixth-most wins in the country over that stretch and the second-most for a coach in his first four seasons. VCU also is one of just eight schools to have won an NCAA tournament game each of the past four years, joining Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio State, Florida, Syracuse, Marquette and Gonzaga.

Smart's name has come up in high-profile coaching searches ever since he guided the Rams to the Final Four as one of the last teams to make the 2011 NCAA tournament. The Rams' five victories all came against power conference schools.

He was pursued by North Carolina State two years ago and Illinois last season.

With openings at places such as UCLA, Southern Cal and Minnesota already developing this offseason, VCU wanted to give him a new deal to be proactive in the face of certain interest from elsewhere, McLaughlin said.

Smart's decision to stay after the Final Four run earned him a hefty raise in a contract also laden with incentives, and he earned about $1.5 million this season, including incentives.

Whenever the topic of being a candidate for bigger jobs comes up, Smart has insisted that he and his wife love it in Richmond and at VCU, making it easier to walk away from significant raises elsewhere.

The environment at the Rams' home arena, the Siegel Center, has also been a major part of VCU's success with 35 consecutive sellouts and a crowd that feeds off the Rams' intense, 94-foot pressuring style known as "havoc."

The Rams' transition to the Atlantic 10 also went seamlessly with VCU earning its first national ranking in 28 years, staying at or near the top of the league standings throughout the year and reaching the championship game.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shaka-smart-sign-extension-remain-vcu-012717257--spt.html

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Samsung Received The Most Mobile Patents In 2012, Now Leads ...

Samsung lost out big to Apple last year in a mobile patent blowout in the U.S., but it?s been slowly building up an arsenal of patents that potentially will keep it from falling into the same situation again. Samsung, also currently the world?s biggest mobile company, received the most mobile patents in 2012, and it now holds the most mobile patents of any company worldwide, according to the latest patent report out from mobile analyst Chetan Sharma, which lays out a thicket of companies scrambling to put a legal seal on their intellectual property in the fast-moving world of wireless communications.

For his study, Sharma looked at more than 7 million mobile patents awarded in the U.S. and Europe, the two biggest markets for patents globally at the moment. He found that the U.S. has stolen a march over its old world counterpart since 1996. The U.S. accounts for nearly three-quarters (72%) of all mobile patents across the two regions.

Within the wider world of technology patents, mobile in particular is on the rise. In the U.S., Sharma believes that by the end of this year mobile patents will account for 25% of all patents granted, compared to just 5% in 2001. In Europe, mobile patents will be 10% of the whole patent pool.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Not only is mobile in a rapid period of development at the moment ? the growth of smartphone and tablet usage is fuelling a massive market for services, hardware features, networking innovations and more. But in addition to that, mobile patent litigation has, for better or worse, proven to be lucrative for those who win ? either by way of licensing fees (one example: the cut that Microsoft gets on Android devices) or court victories (the $1 billion Apple/Samsung case perhaps being the most notable example, even if it is still getting contested).

On the European side, the fact that the proportion is lower could be due to fewer companies in the region putting as much emphasis on R&D as in the U.S., but also it is a comment about the wider shifts in gravity that we see in the tech world. On that note, it?s also interesting to note that 2011 was the first year that China outstripped the U.S. in patent growth ? 22% that year compared to 3.3% for the U.S. and 3.8% worldwide ? although it is still far behind the U.S., Europe and Japan in terms of actual patents. ?The numbers of foreign filings are now in the majority for both the applications filed as well as the patents granted,? Sharma notes.

Sharma notes that Samsung?s rise to the top has bumped Nokia from its traditional position as biggest mobile patent holder. Others that are still making the top-10 include Sony, Microsoft, RIM, LG, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Panasonic, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia. The full ranking for mobile patents granted in 2012 is as follows:

Among mobile operators AT&T, NTT Docomo and Sprint took the top-three slots ? but their numbers were too low to get them to compete against vendors.

Part of Samsung?s prominence in patents, meanwhile, is down to fact that it covers a wide range of business pieces, similar to Nokia in its heyday. It led not only in device patents, but also infrastructure and platform ? the one category where Apple also made it into the top 10:

For a look at what may be coming on the horizon, Sharma also looks at patent applications. He notes that patent applications grew by some 61% in 2012 compared to the same period 10 years ago. Taking into account granted and pending patents, IBM stands out ahead of the group, with Microsoft and Samsung closing in.

Samsung is one of the largest super-multinational companies in the world. It?s possibly best known for it?s subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, the largest electronics company in the world.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/samsung-received-the-most-mobile-patents-in-2012-now-leads-the-world-overall/

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With an Arched Bookshelf You're Never At Risk of an Avalanche

Designer Ivan Zhang has the perfect solution for anyone who's tired of angling the last book on a shelf so the rest of them don't perpetually fall over. Instead of some space-wasting bookend, he's simply added graceful arching shelves to this piece which tasks gravity with keeping them all standing. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/C3YYi3lQPM0/with-an-arched-bookshelf-youre-never-at-risk-of-an-avalanche

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Kerry in Iraq to press on Iran flights to Syria

BAGHDAD (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on an unannounced visit Sunday to Baghdad urged Iraq's leaders to halt Iranian overflights of weapons and fighters heading to Syria and to overcome sectarian differences that still threaten Iraqi stability 10 years after the American-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

In meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other senior officials Kerry was telling them to stop Iranian aircraft from using Iraqi airspace to fly military personnel and equipment to support the Syrian government as it battles rebels. Iran and Iraq both say the flights are laden with humanitarian supplies, but the U.S. and others believe they are filled with weapons and fighters to help the Assad regime.

In the absence of a complete ban on flights, the U.S. would at least like the planes to land and be inspected in Iraq to ensure that they are carrying humanitarian supplies. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton secured a pledge from Iraq to inspect the flights last year, but since then only two aircraft have been checked by Iraqi authorities, according to U.S. officials.

The overflights have long been a source of contention between the U.S. and Iraq and Kerry will tell the Iraqis that allowing them to continue will make the situation in Syria worse and ultimately threaten Iraq's stability.

One senior U.S. official said the sheer number of overflights, which occur "close to daily," along with shipments trucked to Syria from Iran through Iraq, was inconsistent with claims they are only carrying humanitarian supplies. The official said it was in Iraq's interest to prevent the situation in Syria from deteriorating further, particularly as there are fears that al-Qaida-linked extremists may gain a foothold in the country as the Assad regime falters.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to publicly preview Kerry's meetings, said there are clear links between al-Qaida linked extremists operating in Syria and militants who are also carrying out terrorist attacks in Iraqi territory with increasing regularity.

A group of fighters in Syria known as Jabhat al-Nusra, a powerful offshoot of al-Qaida in Iraq that the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization, has claimed responsibility for most of the deadliest suicide bombings against regime and military facilities and, as a result, has gained popularity among some rebels.

Kerry will tell al-Maliki, a Shiite with close ties to Iran, that Iraq cannot be part of the political discussion about Syria's future until it clamps down on the Iranian shipments, the senior official said.

As Iraq approaches provincial elections next month, Kerry will also stress the importance of ensuring that all elements of society feel enfranchised, the official said. A recent decision to delay the polls in Anbar and Nineveh provinces is a "serious setback" to Iraq's democratic institutions and should be revisited, the official said.

In addition to al-Maliki, Kerry saw Iraqi parliament speaker parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, whose faction is at odds with Maliki's Shiia. Kerry also plans to speak by phone with Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdish Regional Government based in Irbil to encourage the Kurds not go ahead with unilateral actions - especially involving oil, like a pipeline deal with Turkey.

He will stress the "importance of maintaining the unity of Iraq," say that "separate efforts undercut the unity of the country" and that "the Kurdish republic cannot survive financially without the support of Baghdad," the official said.

Kerry's arrival came just three days after the anniversary of the U.S.-led war that began on March 20, 2003, with an airstrike on Dora Farms in southern Baghdad in a failed attempt to kill Hussein.

The invasion and toppling of Hussein sparked years of bloodshed as Sunni and Shiite militants battled U.S. forces and each other, leaving nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis dead.

Violence has ebbed sharply since the peak of Sunni-Shiite fighting that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. But insurgents are still able to stage high-profile attacks, and sectarian and ethnic rivalries remain threats to the country's long-term stability.

Earlier this week, an al-Qaida in Iraq front group claimed responsibility nearly 20 attacks that killed 65 people across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Islamic State of Iraq said it unleashed the car bombs and other explosions to avenge the executions and "massacres" of convicted Sunni inmates held in Iraqi prisons. Its claim came on the 10th anniversary of the start of the war, although it made no reference to the significance of the date.

Kerry arrived in Baghdad from Amman, where he had been accompanying President Barack Obama on his tour of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. His visit to Iraq is the first by a U.S. secretary of state since Clinton went in April 2009. During Obama's first term, the Iraq portfolio was largely delegated to Vice President Joe Biden.

Since Clinton's trip, the American diplomatic presence in Iraq has shrunk dramatically, most significantly since U.S. ended military operations in late 2011, according to officials. A year ago, there were 16,000 State Department employees and contractors in the country. As of Kerry's visit, that number had declined to 10,500 and it will drop to 5,100 by the end of 2013, officials said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-iraq-press-iran-flights-syria-085556653--politics.html

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Windows Blue Leaks!

Tired of speculative blog posts about Windows ?Blue,? the upcoming interim update that will allegedly fix all the problems in Windows 8 and put Microsoft back on course? Speculate no more: Blue has leaked, and now we have a much better idea of what this release really contains.

Spoiler alert: It?s exactly what you should have expected, a spit polish update to what?s already available in Windows 8, not a mulligan re-do.

According to the Polish tech blog WinForum, a leak of an ?alpha? version of Blue?not what Microsoft would call it, but whatever?or build 9364 has appeared online. Windows 8 is build 9200, so the bump in build numbers suggests a number of things, key among them that the bump is artificial as there haven?t been over 400 days since Windows 8 was completed. (Typically, Microsoft advances the Windows build number once a day unless something goes wrong, in which case it isn?t advanced.)

Whatever. What can we see in the leaked build you ask? Here?s what I see in the leaked screenshots. (I have not yet downloaded nor personally evaluated the build.)

More customizable tiles

Like Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 ?Blue? sports more tile sizes now, but Blue ups the ante by adding both new smaller and larger tile sizes. The smaller size is obvious, it?s just a tiny square, a la Windows Phone, but the bigger one is surprising: It?s a double-tall (square) version of the currently-largest tile.

As important?and this is something I expect to see added to Windows Phone ?Blue? as well?you can now customize the colors of individual tiles. It?s about time.

Simpler Start screen personalization

You can now personalize the desktop directly from the desktop, instead of figuring out how to get into PC settings. Smart. And you can now choose between a basically infinite range of background and accent colors, instead of being stuck with a select few of each. Also, it's possible to name Start screen groups without going into semantic zoom mode.

New Snap view

The current Snap mode, which is hard-coded to a particular pixel width, is almost useless, so you?ll be happy to hear that Blue adds a new Snap view, in which two apps can be snapped side-by-side with each taking up 50 percent of the screen. (This is one Blue feature I had heard about, so I can at least confirm the veracity of this bit.)

More PC Settings

And here is the second Blue feature I had heard about previously: More, but not all, of the settings in Control Panel have been ported to the Metro-based PC settings, yet another indication that the desktop environment is on the way out. I was told that the Display settings are available in PC settings now, for example. But there?s a lot more in the screenshots: New Home and Lock Screen settings groups (that may replace Personalize), Screen (as I had heard about), Accounts (replacing Users), SkyDrive, Privacy, Network, Apps (which includes sub-groups, new to Blue, for Notifications, App sizes, Search, Share, Defaults, and Switching), Time & Language, Update & Recovery (previously part of General), and so on.

Settings pane

The grid of icons in the lower-right of the Settings pane has gotten a small visual update.

Devices pane

The Devices pane has been updated with new icon treatments.

Share pane

You can now share screenshots directly from the Share pane.

Internet Explorer 11

Yes, there?s a new version of IE coming, and it will be part of Blue.

New apps?

I could be wrong but it looks like there are now Metro-style Alarms (as during the Windows 8 Beta and in Windows Phone) and Sound Recorder apps. They could be third-party apps, however.

What hasn?t changed

Setup appears to be largely unchanged from Windows 8, though the theme color picker is styled a bit differently. The desktop looks the same, complete with ominous pre-release warnings.

Source: http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-blue-leaks

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Farrakhan's Issues Bizarre Legal Threat Against a Bahamian ...

The Minister Louis Farrakhan regularly comes under media scrutiny for the divisive and controversial comments he utters during public appearances, however the fiery Nation of Islam (NOI) leader is now accusing a newspaper of taking one of its reports too far. As a result, Farrakhan has reportedly given his lawyer the green light to?pursue?legal action against The Tribune, a daily outlet in the Bahamas.

Why, you ask? The Bahamas Press, a separate news source that is actually defending Farrakhan,?reports?that the NOI head believes he was misrepresented in the Tribune newspaper.

The article that has him so frustrated claims that he recently scolded Peter Nygard, a Canadian fashion designer who invited the faith leader to attend a lavish event ? an?allegation?he rejects.

Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks during the Saviours? Day annual convention at the U.I.C. Pavilion in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013.?Credit: AP

The original report in the Tribune was written under the header, ?Nygard Faces the Wrath of Farrakhan? and it focused on comments Farrakhan made in front of an audience at a local university. The faith leader?s main contention seems to be that his comments were misrepresented to create unnecessary drama ? but is that really worthy of a lawsuit?

Here?s how The Tribune report framed Farrakhan?s statements (read the entire article here):

NATION of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan said he was not looking for ?sport? or ?play? when he accepted an invitation to an event hosted by Canadian fashion designer Peter Nygard.

Addressing over two hundred students, college faculty, and members of the public at his lecture held in the Performing Arts Centre at the College of the Bahamas, Minister Farrakhan said he was not interested in the invitation?s affairs, including the Junkanoo show put on for him by the Lyford Cay millionaire.

?You know I?m a very simple man, my staff can tell you,? he said.??When I go, I come to do a job to teach my people what God has blessed us to have. I to teach them and go back to my hotel. I aint looking for sport and I?m not looking for play. So you can?t send no woman to me except to learn.???And I don?t mean sex education,? the 79-year-old minister said.?Minister Farrakhan?s comments about his experience at the Canadian fashion designer?s home stemmed from a subject in his lecture concerning Bahamians and land ownership.??This is a paradise for everybody else but you and we sit back and we allow ourselves to be put in a condition! And it?s not other people?s fault,? he had said before his reference to Mr Nygard.? ?I was at the home of Mr Nygard way out somewhere, a gated community, some black people can?t even go in there except as a servant, a cook, a butler, to care for the lawn.?

Farrakhan?s lawyer,?Keod Smith, has publicly said that Farrakhan?s comments were taken out of context and that he was not scolding Nygard. He has instructed the faith leader to take legal action against The Tribune in an effort to apparently set the record straight.

?These things were suggested especially when you take out of context this comment about women and sending women,? Smith said following the publication of the report, according to the Bahamas Press. ?And so these things are so reprehensible that I have now been instructed by my client to take steps toward?.finding legal remedy and recourse. It is injurious. Mr. Farrakhan is spiritual and religious leader??

Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks during the Saviours? Day annual convention at the U.I.C. Pavilion in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013.?Credit: AP

But what, exactly, is ?so reprehensible? that it warrants a lawsuit? At the least, one must admit that the article?s structure is a bit confusing. As one of the commenters notes at the bottom of what appears to be the original Tribune piece, ?I get the message, but this was very poorly written.?

Still, one can?t help but ask themselves why a lawsuit is being advanced (it is possible that a longer version of the article went to print with more defaming content, but so far TheBlaze hasn?t yet located one). We have reached out to the journalist who wrote the article, but we have not heard back.

Confusion?abounds?as well when one also considers a subsequent media appearance in which Farrakhan explained his rejection of the purportedly malicious and slanderous article. While he noted that he believes the text was designed to pit him against Nygard, he also said that The Tribune quoted his words ?perfectly.? It is the so-called ?spin? that he decries.

?To suggest in a mischief making way that Mr. Nygard invited me to his home to offer me women and play, but they quoted my words perfectly but the spin on my words were vicious and ugly and very untrue,? Farrakhan?said. ?And the reason I take umbrage at reading such an article is because the mischief inherent in that article is, firstly, to say that I came to this island and rebuked Mr. Nygard. Secondly, rebuked all those on this island who have benefited from Mr. Nygard?s kindness??

Watch Farrakhan and Smith discuss the incident in the news report, below:

Still confused over what Farrakhan may sue over? Read the news report over at the Bahamas Press and try to make sense of it for yourself.

?

Other Must-Read Stories:

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/18/can-you-make-sense-of-farrakhans-bizarre-legal-threat-against-a-bahamian-newspaper/

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There is a season??? Please turn already! | Bloomin' Escape DIY ...

The Bryds had it right, Turn! Turn ! Turn!
Here I sit at my lap top, looking out the window at yet another huge snowfall. The wind is blowing like mad and it looks like what should be the first big snow of the winter. Nope,?it is March 18th. At this time last year, it was 20? celcius.
Complaining over

I am also listening to beautiful symphonic music~ Seeds of Spring, by John Estacio.
I have a very large cup of delicious coffee and? a cozy fire burning. I am actually beginning to feel very inspired & optimistic that this is just mother natures way of? going out with a big, albeit chilly, bang.

Perhaps it is so?we are more appreciative of the glorious days of sunshine and heat that are inevitably going to arrive, even though?today it seems like an eternity away. In?reality, at least?in our corner of the world, there is always the possiblity?of? a?crazy warm?weather surge in a single day.
I should be waking my children to get their day and school started, but I have reconsidered, just like that very thick blanket of white, so sleep my kids. They, like those green tendrils of spring, are not ready to make an appearance. I will go and refill my cup and perhaps linger over some gardening and decor magazines, inspiring me further, as the first real ?day of spring lingers just days away.

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Source: http://bloominescape.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/there-is-a-season-please-turn-already/

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Oregon Ducks Basketball: Gaming The RPI Is Key To Tourney ...

The selection committee has made it obvious: the RPI, flawed as it is, is the most important factor in tournament seeding.

As we enter Tuesday, a full two days after the NCAA bracket was unveiled, the topic of conversation around the water cooler is still the idea that the Oregon Ducks were "snubbed" by receiving a 12-seed in the bracket. The top-25 polls, both of which have Oregon ranked in the top-25, have done nothing to quell those thoughts, neither have explanations that Oregon was a "true 11-seed" that was moved down due to bracketing purposes, as even an 11 seems woefully low to most people.

While we contemplate reasons that this happened, the answers are coming much more clear. The committee followed the RPI pretty closely, even though RPI is a pretty bad statistic that can be manipulated fairly easily. Oregon was ranked 46 in RPI, ranked almost right with Ole Miss, Akron, and California, the other 12 seeds. The Big Lead came and just said it:

If you think that is just funny math and will have no impact, think again. Let's compare Maryland to Boise State, and also throw in Oregon. There is some thought that Oregon got screwed (yes, they did), but it wasn't because of an East Coast Bias. It was a RPI bias. Oregon got seeded where the RPI dictated.

The flaws of RPI are well documented: it judges who you've played, but doesn't do a lot to judge whether you've actually beaten them, doesn't take context (injuries, home/road) into account, nor margin of victory. Furthermore, as the Big Lead article I linked to earlier says, games against Division II opponents don't even count in the RPI. So while Boise State was busy padding victories against Walla Walla and Corban, and not having to suffer an RPI hit, Oregon was demolished for playing Portland State (RPI 359) and Idaho State (RPI 337). That's a loophole that that the NCAA needs to close in short order, and one that the Mountain West, who played 14 games against non-D1 opponents that counted on the win ledgers, but not against their RPI, needs to fix in short order.

The question, though, is should Oregon have been able to see this RPI bomb coming, and what, if anything, should the Ducks to do prevent it in the future?

Non-conference scheduling is a tricky business. It's determined partly by what games you can get and how many home games you need to satisfy revenue demands, but also by where you are as a program. Everyone wants to play Duke or Louisville, but those teams are only going to play you if it's worth their while. Furthermore, it wouldn't have made sense for Oregon the past few years to schedule those games anyway--sending rebuilding teams in to get crushed by top ten teams isn't a way to build a program.

The first thing to note is that the Pac-12 had three teams that finished 150th or worse in the RPI. The Ducks beat Oregon State, Washington State, and Utah twice each (while also losing to Utah once). There is simply nothing you can do when the bottom of your conference is that bad. The RPI will pummel you for even playing them (of which you have no choice). The onus is simply on those programs to get better. Utah is headed in the right direction. Oregon State has been the conference RPI killer for two decades now. Those things are out of Oregon's control, as are the fact that the Ducks played Arizona and UCLA only once this season.

What is under Oregon's control is who they schedule, and, on paper, there was reason to believe that the non-conference schedule should have turned out better than it did. The Ducks won AT UNLV (No. 22 RPI) which was a big time win, maybe the second best in the conference behind Arizona's upset of Florida. They also lost to Cincinnati (No. 50 RPI) and at UTEP (No. 98 RPI). The only "bad loss" was the late season loss at Utah. Furthermore, the Ducks had reason to believe that a home game against Vanderbilt would have been a good win on the ledger, but Vandy had a disappointing season (No. 110 RPI) and that win didn't count for a whole lot of anything at the end. Maybe the Ducks should have scheduled one more difficult game, but they played a fairly ambitious non-conference schedule last year, and then were basically left out for losing too many non-conference games early on while Devoe Joseph was out. With Dana Altman figuring he would be starting a freshman backcourt, you can understand his hesitation to risk too many losses early. That shouldn't be an issue next year with a more experienced team coming back.

However, it wasn't this that killed Oregon's RPI. They had much more meat at the top of their schedule than many teams ranked ahead of them in the RPI. St Mary's (No. 30), Wichita State (No. 38), Southern Miss (No. 34), Belmont (No. 19), Memphis (No. 14) are among teams that have top lines and good wins that pale in comparison to what the Ducks have accomplished. However, what those teams have done that give them the RPI edge is avoid games against sub-300 RPI teams.

The Ducks had three wins against such teams (PSU, Idaho State, and Houston Baptist), and two more games against sub-250 teams (UTSA and Northern Arizona). We're essentially deciding these things on whether you crush Texas Southern or Hartford as opposed to Portland State, when any decent team is going to crush any of those teams. The RPI treats that 100 point difference the same as they would treat the difference between playing Duke or playing Fresno State, which is, of course, ridiculous.

Scheduling your guarantee games are tricky, especially out west where you have fewer such teams to choose from. We're going to play Portland State pretty much every year, and probably should, given that it's another state school. I hope Dana Altman, with a bit more of a veteran squad returning next season, can get a few more great top line games on the schedule, and maybe being seen as a rising program coming off a tourney berth will make that option more available. But avoiding those bad games are trickier--small programs are inherently unstable, and the loss of a coach or a single player can turn a team from really good one year to pretty bad the next (see Portland State post Ken Bone). This isn't something you should rationally have to worry about, but the NCAA has made it clear time and again that the RPI is paramount.

The good news is that for the first time since 2008, the Ducks are back in the Tourney. And when you look at what's in the pipeline, talent-wise, we should expect to be there more often that not in the future. The NCAA has sent a clear message to Dana Altman--start scheduling with gaming the RPI in mind. Which means schedule the right patsies. Or schedule Northwest Christian and Corban because, as the Mountain West learned, apparently there is no difference.

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Source: http://www.addictedtoquack.com/2013/3/18/4119322/oregon-ducks-basketball-gaming-the-rpi-is-key-to-tourney-seeding

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While Asian military spending rises, Europe's declines : Voice of ...

A brigade of Chinese troops exercising in Nanjing. One of the key findings of the new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies is that military spending in Asia is continuing to rise and steeply in some places. In Asia as a whole spending rose 4.9%-4% last year. Just last week China announced a 10.7% rise in its military expenditure. But as China puts more money into military budgets, Europe spends less. John Chipman, Director General of the IISS:

?2012 saw nominal Asian defense spending overtake that of NATO European states for the first time. This is not simply a result of Asia spending more. It's as much a result of states in Europe spending less. In 2012 European NATO members defense spending was in real terms around 11% lower than in 2006.?

U.S. Army Trainers in Afghanistan - many of them will be returning to bases at home over the next year. But the U.S. continues to spend more on its military than the next 14 nations put together, spending, in fact, more than 45% of total global military expenditure. So is that military heading eastward to combat arising China? Strategically, both Pr. Barack Obama and U.S. military planners have often spoken of a pivot to the east. But the IISS says this is as yet more symbolic than real.

?Although much has been said about ?rebalancing? to the Pacific, in military terms, there's less there than first appeared. It will of course be important in the longer term, but the rebalance should mainly be seen as a signal that the U.S. who will remain engaged in Asia-Pacific security reflecting not just U.S. economic ties to the region, but also the emergence of China as original competitor in both economic and military terms.?

The continued unrest in the Middle East may be one of the reasons behind the slowness of the American pivot to East Asia. The Institute's experts say the conflict in Syria, for example, has kept America focused on the region. The U.N. says 70,000 people have died in Syria over the past two years. And the Institute says it expects the violence to continue for at least another year, as neither the government nor the rebels are sufficiently dominant to subdue the other. Tony George is a Senior Consulting Fellow at the Institute.

?The longer this conflict goes on ? and I think it has got more years to run, ? the more Syria will be a magnet for region-wide jihadists, international jihadists and jihadists from Britain and Europe. Therefore we have a comparable situation in Afghanistan before and during the Taliban, where basically an empty uncontrolled space is taken over by radical Islamists, who use it as a base from which to strike out into the Middle East and beyond.?

Meanwhile, British and French military support for the rebels in Syria look set to take tangible form. The two countries, along with Germany, are putting pressure on the E.U. to lift its arms embargo ? position made clear by the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius today on French radio:

?The position we are taking, which is moreover also that of the British, is to ask Europe to lift the arms embargo so that the rebels are able to defend themselves.?

That's a position likely to draw heavy criticism from the Russian government. But the brigadier Ben Barry of the IISS says Russia's stance towards the government of Bashar al Assad could cause problems in Moscow if he falls. Not, he says, that it's clear what will happen in Syria. One possibility is a fairly orderly transfer of power, but brigadier Barry says that's unlikely.

?A much more likely scenario is something that resembles Lebanon at the height of its civil war. Now, to what extent other regional parts, such as the Gulf States, such as Turkey, are able to shape events in a positive way? It's very unclear to see.?

Such a lack of clarity is one of the reasons why global military expenditure looks set to climb. Uncertainty and international rivalries continue to breed a perceived need for armed security and in an increasingly multipolar world, set frequently with fresh crisis, there's little chance that trend will reverse soon.

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_15/While-Asian-military-spending-rises-Europe-s-declines/

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Cover Your Walls With an Adorable Reminder That One Day Robots Will Be Everywhere... EVERYWHERE

At one time the notion of a world filled with robots was just science-fiction fodder. But our kids are probably staring down a future where automatons and other artificial intelligences will play a big part in their lives. And with a nursery covered in this whimsical robot wallpaper, that's a life they'll be well prepared for. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JL6S5_1Vpfg/cover-your-walls-with-an-adorable-reminder-that-one-day-robots-will-be-everywhere-everywhere

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'Big Bang' stars talk 'bittersweet' story, romance

Our beloved "Big Bang Theory" characters are growing up so fast! OK, maybe that's a stretch, but in Thursday night's "Closet Reconfiguration," the gang not only have a "grown-up cocktail party," but we see a new level of emotional maturity, especially in Howard and Bernadette's marriage.

Monty Brinton/CBS

As Simon Helberg explained to The Clicker at Wednesday night's PaleyFest, "A letter surfaces from Howard's father who abandoned him and his mother when he was a kid and sent the letter to Howard on his 18th birthday. And Howard never opened it. Unfortunately, Sheldon does -- innocently -- and with that comes kind of a disaster ... everything kind of spirals out of control..."

"But the entire gang -- they're the best friends anybody can have," he added. "They do everything they can to make Howard feel better about this. There are a lot of emotions -- I think it should be pretty bittersweet."

Melissa Rauch told The Clicker that the episode is one of her favorites and touched her deeply.

"I think it's so beautifully written," she said. "When I got the script, the night before, I cried on my couch reading it. I just think it's so beautiful -- the writers have done such a good job making their relationship progress at a normal speed and now they've just such a wonderful job with the marriage of these characters.

"You see them navigating the sticky stuff, but when it comes down to it they love each other so much and the fact that Howard's going through this?Bernadette feels like she's going through it with him. I think that's a marriage."

Aw! Don't expect the same level of commitment between Amy and Sheldon any time soon, the actors warn.

"Their relationship's very delicate and our writers are very careful about it," Mayim Bialik told The Clicker. "So it's not going to progress super rapidly either way."

Emmy winner Jim Parsons agrees. "I don't think (Sheldon) will want to move faster," he said. "I think he is intrigued by Amy on that level you would hope to feel. I do think he finds something mysterious about her. He must, or why would he be with her at this level? She doesn't bug him any less than other people do. She gets him and there's something about her that he doesn't want to be apart from."

Meanwhile, Raj is finally getting lucky in love!

"You gotta be excited about Raj and Lucy," enthused producer Chuck Lorre. "They have so many obstacles to overcome to have a meaningful relationship. You have to root for them."

Are you excited about all the romance in the air on "The Big Bang Theory"? Tell us on our Facebook page!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/03/14/17313112-big-bang-theory-stars-tease-bittersweet-episode-romance?lite

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