Federer fresh for clay swing after welcome break

(Reuters) - In fine fettle after a month-long rest, Roger Federer is ready to get his clay season underway and continue his bid to recapture the world number one ranking from Novak Djokovic.

The 30-year-old Swiss maestro, who has not played since losing to Andy Roddick at the Sony Ericsson Open at the end of March, said he had needed some time away from tennis to recharge his batteries and rid himself of one or two niggling injuries.


Federer has played some of his best tennis in years in winning three titles this season, including the Indian Wells Masters event, but knows that challenging Rafa Nadal on the Spaniard's favoured clay and stealing his French Open crown in Paris starting at the end of this month will be a tall order.

"I feel good about my chances of playing well in the next few months," the world number three told a news conference previewing this week's Madrid Open on Sunday.

"But then again I am coming back on clay and Rafa has been so dominant on this surface for so many years so I know the task ahead of me," added the 16-times grand slam singles champion.

In an intense start to the year, Federer played 23 matches and lost three, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open before falling to Nadal and winning events in Rotterdam and Dubai to add to his success in Indian Wells.

He also had a busy end to 2011, triumphing at the World Tour finals in London in November after victories at the Paris Masters and his home event in Basel.

Carroll: header was over the line

The Liverpool substitute had already scored once and thought he had equalised in the 82nd minute when Petr Cech clawed the ball out of his goal via the crossbar. Video evidence was inconclusive but suggested that referee Phil Dowd had made the correct decision, sparking fresh debate over the issue of goalline technology in football.
“I thought it was over the line,” said Carroll. “I thought it was in. I thought it came off the other side of the bar, which means it is in.”


Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, said that Dowd and his assistants should be congratulated if they got the decision correct but added: “It seems some people would have given it and some people would not have. I thought it was in.”
Cech and Chelsea captain John Terry, however, were adamant that Dowd had made the right decision. “If the ball was behind the line I wouldn’t have been able to put it outside," said Cech. "I’m sure it was not behind the line. I’m 100 per cent persuaded it was not in.”


Cech also repeated calls for goalline technology to be introduced.
“Football is the only sport at the highest level that doesn’t have help,” he said. “It should have started ages ago. We have been saying it for 10 years.”
It was the second goal-line controversy involving Chelsea at Wembley this season after they benefitted in their 4-1 semi-final win against Tottenham with a Juan Mata goal that clearly did not cross the line.   (telegraph.co.uk)

Manchester City one victory away from glory after beating Newcastle United

Yaya Toure celebrates sealing victory for Man City

Yaya Toure’s two goals moved City to within a victory of the title, beating Newcastle with a 2-0 score.

Manchester United also overcome Swansea retaining a faint hope of a dramatic final day surge to the championship – something only possible if City fail to beat Queens Park Rangers at the Etihad Stadium.


Second-half goals from Yaya Toure, the first a beauty, steered City to the victory as they celebrated as though they had already won the Premier League.

Newcastle, whose Champions League dream appears to have died with this defeat, caused them problems, but the better team won, City failing to take a number of other opportunities in front of goal.


Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand gave England a Euro 2012 injury scare by limping out of Manchester United’s 2-0 win against Swansea which kept the champions’ faint title hopes alive until the final day of season.
First-half goals from Paul Scholes and Ashley Young secured the win that moved United level on points with Manchester City ahead of the final trip to Sunderland.
But Ferdinand’s late exit, when he limped off after holding his back and groin, will have given Roy Hodgson a headache ahead just a month before England’s Euro 2012 campaign kicks off.

Lindsay Lohan's Hit-And-Run Case

A man has claimed that Lindsay Lohan had hit him with with her Porsche in March after she left a club in Los Angeles.

He told police he didn't require medical attention, but he later he checked into a hospital for treatment. He threatened to file an incident report. Lohan denied the accusations and branded the claim "a complete lie."

The Los Angeles District Attorney has determined that Lindsay Lohan will not face prosecution over allegations of a hit-and-run.

The investigation stalled because neither party cooperated with police, who had little evidence to prove a crime had been committed.

Authorities passed the case to the District Attorney's office on Friday, and the DA rejected it after officials deemed Kamal a "non-credible witness," according to TMZ.com. Detectives also examined surveillance tapes and found there was "no collision."

Headline May 7th, 2012 / ''The Black Swan''

Part-5
"The Black Swan"
Respectful Dedication John Updike - Mick Jagger - Maria Sharapova

John Updike

Mick Jagger

Maria Sharapova

To amaze you all, let me begin with this stat: Nassim Taleb made over US20 billion dollars for his clients during the recent financial melt down. And, and a tiny small tiny change for himself!!! Hahaha! The Prof also delights in narrating the sweep: ''The weather I can't predict mathematically. But from the satellite you can see the cloud coming. The problem with those guys is that they don't know how to fly the plane! I went for the Jugular. We went for the max. I was interested in teaching in teaching these guys a lesson, and the only way you can do that is by taking it away from them. We didn't short the banks, there is not much to be gained there; there were all these complex instruments, options and so forth. We'd been building our positions for a long time. And I am not much interested in money!!!?'' Haha! Dear, dear me!

Taleb's first publication, his doctoral thesis, in fact fiendishly technical : Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla And Exotic Options. It is still very much in print and regarded as the definitive work on the subject. But this restless and dynamic thinker from the land of Khalil Jibran, entered the financial world to 'gain independence. I wanted to be a philosopher, an essayist, but I looked around me at people who worked as journalists and so forth, and they weren't free!!" Haha! Remarkable and well said,Sir!

Nassim Taleb did find his freedom from the material pressures and organisational tedium of Wall Street during the 1987 crash, more, he gained it in a way that vindicated his radically original worldview.Statistical analysis were out. Taleb took the view that ''the share of the rare event in any total is.......well, monstrous!!'' These rare events were so called ''swans''......ranging in tone from grey, through to black--that Taleb believes influences the course of human destiny, both individually and collectively, far more than the steady wing beasts of their innocuous cousins, the eminently predictable white swans. The swan riff derives from the fact that no matter how many white swans there are, ''you can't anticipate the existence of black one!!'' Remarkable algebric inference by any measure!!! With best for the weekend!

Good night and God bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice Of The Voiceless

Part-1  Part-2  Part-3  Part-4

“Story” Provides Passage to India

“Instead of using big issues like communalism, which are also very important in the world, I decided to stay inside smaller, closer human relationships, like within a family,” Majumdar said. “I think it’s very important for men and women to explore these issues of gender together.”

Much of the theater work Majumdar does is “devised work,” meaning it does not begin with a set script. “What is interesting about the project we’re doing, and exciting,” she said, “is…that it’s really a lot about the actors. And since they’re students and they’re just learning to act and beginning their journey of theater, it’s a way to really explore more of themselves and bring that into a project.”

The chance to create a theater piece with fellow students has been exhilarating for senior theater major Sam Bertken, a 22-year-old from northern California.

“I love the possibility for something completely new to be created,” said Bertken when the group was about three weeks into the project. He said the students started off doing exercises to “create a physical vocabulary” and build trust and then focused on their compositional skills. To create potential scenes for the final production, they split into small groups and began voicing their ideas, one right after another. “It’s like popcorning -- throwing out ideas,” Bertken said.

The process has not been without its challenges, though. “It’s tough,” Bertken said. “Every time you come in you have to be really open to possibilities. The biggest problem is time. There’s this balance of ‘Are we including everybody’s ideas?’ and then ‘Are we being efficient with our time?’”

But they have had a great teacher in Majumdar, he said. “She’s been able to make those of us who’ve never done a devised theater piece feel very confident about our ability to accomplish this project, which is something to be said.”

Back in Varanasi, Majumdar leads a theater studio that’s part of a nongovernmental organization called Nirman, which offers arts-based education for primary and secondary students and study-abroad opportunities for college students. It became one of K’s 43 study-abroad sites in 2010, according to CIP Associate Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft.

The “Kahani” project got started after K religion professor Carol Anderson met Majumdar during a sojourn in India. Majumdar and her mother, Nita, who also helps run the Nirman organization, then visited K about two years ago, and Anderson introduced Professor of Theatre Arts Ed Menta to the women.

“I found out Irfana has a great theater background, and she’s also a filmmaker,” said Menta. “And I thought, ‘Wow, we gotta do something. The stars are lining up right to sort of have a convergence of theater, social justice, and interculturalism. What could be better? It’s like many of the programs and aspirations of the College coming together in one project.’”

Jaime Grant, executive director of the Arcus Center, sees Majumdar as “a perfect visiting fellow” whose work can broaden “theater people’s visions of what theater is for” and “social justice people’s ideas of what’s in their toolbox to create change.”

“If you look at social justice movements throughout the world, theater is often part and parcel of that work,” Grant said. And because the “Kahani” project is a collaborative one in which everyone has a voice, “the process itself speaks to social justice,” Grant added.

The project has been a perfect fit for “Kahani” stage manager Kathleen “Kat” Barrett, a junior majoring both in Theater Arts and in Human Development and Social Relations, a course of study that combines anthropology, sociology and psychology. She said she wanted a college experience that would boost her critical-thinking skills and challenge her thinking about the world. She also likes to keep really busy.

“I’m in various rehearsals from six to midnight most nights,” Barrett said, “but I love what I’m doing. And this production is such an amazing project that the faculty has put together for us.”

“Kahani” will take the stage at Nirman in July as the students travel to India for about 10 days, accompanied by Majumdar, Grant, Menta, and Professor of Theatre Arts Lanny Potts. For Barrett, the journey will be a return trip. She spent July through December studying at Nirman and then a few more weeks traveling through India.

“I’m really excited to go back,” said the 21-year-old, who grew up in the small northern Michigan town of Shelby. “I loved India. I loved the city (of Varanasi). It’s not Delhi. It’s not modernized in a lot of ways. But it has so much character. It’s one of the most religious locations in India because it’s right on the holy Ganges River. It has so many stories and so many people and so much culture.”

Barrett, like so many others at Kalamazoo College, is also thrilled about this opportunity for her fellow students. “I’m so excited that they put in so much work, so much critical energy and then they get to go to India and not only perform it but see the world they’ve been thinking about so much.”

That, too, will surely be an education.

University Press Release here.

Student publishes a new Shakespeare text

William Shakespeare's reputation has little to fear from history, but even so it's nice to know that he has got a Yorkshire student at Northumbria university on his side.

If the Swan of Avon does have enemies, they are likely to be found among schoolchildren forced to study his works on sunny summer days. Should this be your fate, I recommend editions with footnotes by Kitteredge whose expertise at finding hidden dirty meanings in the text is unmatched.

Alex Edwards, who is 22 and from Wakefield, has been dealing with a different type of text: the one which young people flick too and fro with their agile little fingers. He has transposed the whole of Romeo and Juliet's famous Act II, Scene II into text abbreviations and produced it as Were4 rt thou Rmo? It's a flip-page book with the text versions alternating with Shakespeare's actual words; currently a uni project limited edition, but hopefully more widely available soon.

Interestingly, the point is not to celebrate or promote the world of texting, but to show newcomers to Shakespeare how beautiful and powerful the original writing is.

Read more details here.

More Than One in Five Higher Education Programs Graded "Unsatisfactory" by Swedish National Agency

More than one in five of 189 study programmes evaluated by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (HSV) have been graded 'unsatisfactory'. And to the embarrassment of the Swedish government, the system of quality assurance itself has been rated unsatisfactory by a panel of European experts.

The agency published its evaluations of courses at bachelor and master levels from 25 institutions, using a scale from 'very good' to 'good' and 'not satisfactory', on 25 April.

Eight academic fields were evaluated and most were marked either good or very good. But 41 programmes were rated not satisfactory. The higher education institutions hosting those programmes have been given a year to improve their standards.

Meanwhile, Sweden was found to have failed to meet European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) regulations by an ENQA review panel. Sweden has been a member of the association since it was established in 2000.

The panel said Sweden's quality assurance system was “fundamentally at odds with ESG”, the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area.

It said in a report that ESG’s first principle was that external quality assurance should build on the results of internal quality assurance. But the Swedish system “takes no account of institutions’ arrangements for internal quality assurance, except at the very margins”.

The report added that while a basic principle of ESG was that quality assurance systems should lead to enhancement, the Swedish system made no recommendations for improvement. The impression of staff and students interviewed was that the purpose was merely to rank programmes.

“ESG are about quality as much as standards, but the Swedish system is interested in standards almost exclusively,” the panel concluded. “It is a fundamental requirement of the ENQA criteria that agencies should be ‘independent’, in terms of the ‘definition and operation of [their] procedures and methods’.

“HSV cannot be considered ‘independent’, due to the extent to which their procedures and methods, as well as overall aims and objectives, have been dictated by government.”

Former education minister Ibrahim Baylan told the Swedish parliament that higher education in the country was ”at risk of being devalued internationally”.

Kåre Bremer, the rector of Stockholm University, said the ENQA panel’s conclusion was embarrassing for the country.

But ENQA Director Maria Kelo told University World News that the association had yet to evaluate or make a judgment on Sweden's new quality assurance system, having received the panel’s report only a few days previously.

The report will be studied by an ENQA review committee of three members, which will make its recommendations to the association's board. A decision on HSV's membership of ENQA will be taken by the board in June.

Minister of Education Jan Björklund said that the HSV had provided an accurate picture of the quality of the courses evaluated and had shown that many courses were not of passable quality.

“It is the knowledge of the students that is important, and that is what is measured in the evaluation,” he said.

The government is going to use the evaluation to inform the allocation of funds to universities.

Those graded 'very good' will receive additional resources while those not satisfying quality criteria will have a year to improve courses. A further 6,000 programmes are due to be evaluated by 2014.

However, the chair of the Swedish Rectors' Conference, Pam Fredman, who is the rector of Gothenburg University, vice-chair Marita Hilliges and secretary-general Marianne Granfelt issued a joint statement saying they were ”deeply worried” by the ENQA panel’s conclusion.

They urged the government to “instruct the HSV to change the present evaluation system so that it complies with the European Standard and Guidelines”.

The ENQA panel’s visit had been commissioned by HSV precisely to review compliance with ENQA regulations. Led by Professor Helmut Konrad, the former rector of Graz University, the panel's job was to “establish whether the agency met the ENQA standards with regard to both its external evaluation processes and its internal quality assurance”.

In September 2009 the government rejected a proposal from the Association of Swedish Higher Education (SUHF) and the national student organisation (SFAS) for a new assurance system and introduced the current system. This led to the resignation in 2010 of the University Chancellor of Sweden, Professor Anders Flodström, as reported by University World News at the time.

In the new evaluation system the HSV is using four criteria: students’ final theses, surveys of previous students, institutions’ self evaluations and students’ experience. But the majority of evaluation decisions were made on the sole basis of students’ theses, drawing criticism from Flodström, the SUHF and the ENQA panel.

Lena Adamson, an associate professor of psychology now working as an expert in quality assurance issues for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and the Council of Europe, who resigned from her position as secretary-general at HSV due to the introduction of the current quality assurance system, said:

“Although important to include student work in a quality assurance system, it is very naïve to believe that this system will stimulate Swedish higher education in the right direction.

“The assessments are done (necessarily) in relation to a sample of learning outcomes from the Swedish national qualification framework that are applicable only to theses work.

“This will drive development in a pre-Bologna direction, not towards the competence-based higher education we need, in addition to its main driving force for universities: to search for ‘good’ students rather than developing their teaching quality.”

But Maria Sundquist, head of the evaluation unit at HSV, said: “We have evaluated the outcomes of the study programmes by examining how well students achieve the objectives. We have found that it is possible to evaluate the quality based on this documentation and by the methods the evaluation system is using.”

Of the first 189 courses evaluated and graded in eight fields of study, 29 were graded 'very good', while 41 did not pass the evaluation. Of the 29 top-graded courses, 79% were at old universities and élite professional institutions. Of the 41 courses that did not pass the evaluation, 58.5% were found at new universities. However, 17 courses that did not pass the evaluation were found at the older universities.

The highest number of flunked courses was in national economics, where 31% of the courses received the lowest grading, and only two courses out of the 45 were awarded the top grade. Out of 48 courses examined in geoscience and cultural geography, a third were graded 'very good', while seven did not pass.

Konrad told University World News: “The switch to learning outcomes, as against measuring input elements, is in principle a step in the right direction. “But the Swedish system is much too simple, excluding helpful information and fixed on the independent students' projects without having in mind the studying conditions.” However, he added: “Our references were the ESG, and the ESG themselves need a relaunch.”

Read article at the original source here.

Japanese Universities Asked to Increase Study Abroad

The Japanese Education Ministry is encouraging universities to increase the number of students studying abroad.

The ministry said last month that it would fund 40 Japanese universities to start study-abroad programs. The selected schools will receive ¥120 million to ¥260 million, or $1.4 million to $3.1 million, per year for five years. Universities will be chosen based on their plans to promote overseas study, implement English classes, hire foreign teachers and establish credit transfers with foreign universities.

This project is the latest bid by Japan to reverse the decrease in Japanese students studying abroad per year. This figure has dropped from its peak of 82,945 in 2004 to 59,923 in 2009, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

nytimes.com

Should A School Change Start Time

Later School Start Times Improve Student Performance: Study

In high school, Melissa Edwards woke up at 6:30 a.m. to catch a bus. It was dark, she was tired and the school's 7:15 a.m. morning bell forced the St. Louis teen to eat lunch at 10:45.

Her brother was incredulous. "I thought that this couldn’t possibly be good," said Finley Edwards, a Colby College economist, of his sister's predawn start. But when Edwards sought data on the topic, he couldn’t find any. So he ran the numbers himself.

On Thursday, the Harvard journal Education Next will release Edwards' findings that show that later start times, which usually allow teens more sleep, boost test scores significantly. The Economics of Education Review will publish a longer version of the study.

"Start times really do matter," Edwards said. "We can see clear increases of academic performance from just starting school later."

Read more at Huffington Post.

Showgirl glamour at Louboutin's London shoe show

A giant 3D hologram of a burlesque dancer greeted footwear-lovers Monday at a playful London exhibition marking 20 years since celebrated French shoemaker Christian Louboutin first set up shop.

The exhibition at London's Design Museum features dozens of the Frenchman's creations, many of them displayed on a 17-metre (56-foot) version of the famous scarlet sole that features every Louboutin shoe.

Lashings of glitter, ruffles and feathers reflect Louboutin's life-long fascination with showgirls, as does an enormous hologram of a glittering stiletto that turns into the sashaying image of burlesque star Dita von Teese.

"I was brought up in a very feminine environment," Louboutin told a press conference to launch the 10-week exhibition. "I had three sisters, I had a father who was barely there."

As a result, the 49-year-old said, he grew up with "the biggest love and the biggest respect for women".

But he admitted that his famously towering heels were not designed with comfort in mind.

"I am concerned by comfort and I know that it is important," said Louboutin, clad in a simple brown and red checked jacket.

"But I do not wish to have that evoked in my designs. The idea of someone saying 'Oh my God, how comfortable it looks...'" He shudders.

But recalling how Parisian showgirl friends would stuff their shoes with veal carpaccio to make them more comfortable, he conceded that "to suffer to be beautiful doesn't work".

"It doesn't give you a nice smile," he said. "The aim with his stilettos is to make them "as comfortable as possible for that kind of shoe".

The discomfort does not put off a host of celebrity fans including actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham, fashion designer and wife of English football star David Beckham.

The exhibition takes visitors through the design process, from sketches to prototypes to the factory floor.

Louboutin's witty designs, some of which are displayed with magnifying glasses to allow closer examination, include shoes featuring miniature Marie Antoinette-style wigs, and stilettos made entirely from plastic googly eyes.

A mock-up of his Paris workshop, complete with scattered shoes and sketches, features the trapeze from which he occasionally likes to dangle.

Another section highlights travel-inspired designs, including fur-lined platforms named after the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator and a pair of stilettos in Chinese silk.

Nell Trotter, a Louboutin communications manager, told AFP the brand was gaining a growing following in China since opening a branch in Beijing last year.

"We're extremely popular in China, particularly since red is such a lucky colour over there," she said.

Louboutin is involved in a bitter legal wrangle with rival Yves Saint Laurent after the brand launched its own series with red soles.

The company launched a million-dollar suit against YSL in April last year claiming copyright infringement, but a New York court ruled in August that YSL could use the soles. Louboutin has appealed against the ruling.

I'm Not There (2007)

I'm Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw. At the start of the film, a caption reads: "Inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan". Besides song credits, this is the only time Dylan's name appears in the film.

The film tells its story using non-traditional narrative techniques, intercutting the storylines of the six different Dylan-inspired characters. The title of the film is taken from the 1967 Dylan Basement Tape recording, "I'm Not There", a song that had not been officially released until it appeared on the film's soundtrack album. The film received a generally favorable response, and appeared on several top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, Salon and The Boston Globe. Particular praise went to Cate Blanchett for her performance, culminating in a Volpi Cup from the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.

The film was released two months prior to the death of the actor Heath Ledger, and was one of his last films.

The Futurist by James P. Othmer

Yates is a Futurist.Which is a fancy way of saying he flies around the world, lecturing various conferences, confabs, and conglomerates, dispensing prepackaged bullshit in an attempt to stay just ahead of the latest trend and claim he saw it first. But now Yates has lost faith in the very future that he’s paid to sell and gives what should be a career-ending rant. Instead, a mysterious governmental group hires him to travel the globe and discover why the world seems to hate America. From Middle Eastern war zones to Polynesian superluxe corporate retreats, James Othmer takes us on a mordantly hilarious journey through corporate double-speak and global unrest to find the truth beneath the buzz.

Bigger and brighter 'supermoon' graces the night sky

A "supermoon" has graced the skies, appearing bigger and brighter than usual, as it comes closer to the Earth - and is likely to bring higher tides.

The phenomenon, known as a perigee full moon, means the Moon appears up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is furthest from the planet.

The supermoon is seen rising behind statues at the
 St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia. 

The optimum effect was seen - cloud permitting - at 04:30 BST (03:30 GMT).

The Royal Astronomical Society's Dr Robert Massey said the Moon's size may be more obvious than its brightness.

"The eye is so good at compensating for changes in brightness that you simply don't notice (that element) so much," he said.

When the Moon appears at its biggest it will be just 356,400km (221,457 miles) away, compared to its usual distance from Earth of 384,000km (238,606 miles).


The supermoon is seen rising behind statues at the St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
Dr Massey said: "When the Moon is closest to the Earth and full or new, you get an increase in the tidal pull in the ocean because the gravity of the moon and the sun line up."

He added: "The Moon is always beautiful and a full moon is always dramatic."

Scientists have dismissed the idea the perigee could cause strange behaviour - like lycanthropy - or natural disasters.

The Moon's distance from Earth varies because it follows an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one.  (BBC.co.uk)

Train splits truck in half

Kings Mountain, NC USA : Trucks are prohibited from crossing the railroad tracks due to the danger of catching the bottom of their vehicles on the crossing. This Friday, a truck driver became victim of the feared situation.As the passenger train approached, he tried frantically to get his vehicle off the track. 


It is the fourth such collision involving the city's downtown crossings since 2011.According to local media, no injuries were caused during the accident. 


Here is the amateur video posted online of the train smashing through the truck's trailer , sending load of cotton  the air.

Chief surgeon accidentally 'set patient on fire'

THE chief of surgery at New York City's Lincoln Hospital in the US "set a patient on fire" during an operation, causing severe burns on the man's neck and chest.

Dr Jay Yelon was performing a tracheotomy on April 19 to insert a breathing tube when his electronic scalpel, which gives off tiny sparks, came close to the patient's oxygen supply, igniting a "minor explosion", hospital insiders said.

Before the fire was extinguished, unconscious Enrique Ruiz suffered second-degree burns on his neck and chest. He awoke from sedation in searing pain.

"I feel like my chest was on fire," Ruiz, 52, told his brother, Amauri.

Sources at the South Bronx hospital said Yelon failed to mention the patient's burns in a post-surgery report. He claimed the flames were extinguished with "no danger to the patient".

"I don't know anything about it," Yelon repeatedly told the Post, refusing to answer any questions or acknowledge his role.


Mishaps that harm patients must be reported immediately to the state Health Department. Spokesman Peter Constantakes first said the Lincoln incident was reported as harmless, but later confirmed, "There was a fire and burns. We're looking into it."

In June 2003, the agency issued an alert on electrosurgical fires after two patients suffered second and third-degree burns. It reported five other "flash fires" that had scorched patients when surgical drapes or their hair ignited near an oxygen source. Safety measures were urged.

Nydia Negron, a Lincoln spokeswoman, said Yelon works under a contract with a private group that supplies doctors to city hospital Physician Affiliate Group of New York.

Negron said that Ruiz is "expected to fully heal. He received a life-saving emergency procedure."

Ruiz was admitted to the Lincoln emergency room with pneumonia and bronchitis on April 14.

Around 500 to 600 surgical fires occur each year nationwide, according to Mark Bruley, a leading expert on the hazard. Some 25 to 30 patients suffer severe burns or "gross facial disfigurement", and several have burned to death, he said.

Freedom of Choice: Student food fight in Brampton

BRAMPTON, CANADA - Students and the province of Ontario are about to become embroiled in a very public food fight after the Ministry of Education’s implementation of a school food and beverage policy that removes junk food from vending machines.

The students want to make their own choices about what they eat at school and not have it dictated to them.
They want the freedom to choose for themselves. Preferably that choice involves sodas, burgers, fries, hot dogs and other assorted delicacies appealing to the teenage palate.

“We feel undermined as students in the public system and we’ve had enough,” said Samuel Battista, 18, prime minister of the student council at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Brampton. “How are students supposed to make the right choices after high school when there are no options or choices to make in high school?”

Along with his friend Brian Baah, the pair will launch a social media campaign Sunday aimed at undoing what they see as a failed policy. They are advocating for the right to choose what they want to eat.

Titled “Our Future” the campaign will begin with the release of a video through YouTube on Sunday evening. From there, the hope is that other forms of social media – such as Twitter and Facebook – will help the video go viral.

As of September 2011, students across Ontario were unable to purchase candy, chocolates, fries and energy drinks on school property.

“It’s not about limiting choice,” said Grahame Rivers, press secretary for the Ministry of Education. “We’ve heard from schools, parents, teachers and boards who feel that their schools should have healthy food choices and we’re working with them to find options that appeal to the student body.”

But many students have opted to leave the cafeteria in search of the food they want to eat. As a result, cafeteria revenues have fallen.

The decline affects funding for school clubs and societies which are funded in part by 8 to 10 per cent of cafeteria profits.

“There is less money now because of the policy and, as a result, we are unable to host some of the events that we would like at our school,” said Baah, minister of public relations for the student council. “We don’t want them to necessarily take out the healthy food but to present us with the alternative.”

Clinton backs microcredit pioneer

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has publicly given her backing to microcredit pioneer Mohammed Yunus, urging Bangladesh not to undermine the independence of the Grameen Bank.

Mr Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for setting up Grameen, which makes small loans to the poor, mainly women, to help them start their own businesses.

But he was removed last year as head of the bank - Bangladesh said he violated the law on the maximum retirement age.

Mrs Clinton met Mr Yunus on Sunday.

"We do not want to see any action taken that would in any way undermine or interfere in the operations of the Grameen Bank or its unique organisational structure where the poor women themselves are the owners," Mrs Clinton told an audience in the capital Dhaka.

"I don't want anything that would in any way undermine what has been a tremendous model."

Mr Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in the 1970s, helping millions out of poverty with small loans. He won the Nobel prize in 2006.

The Bangladesh central bank removed Prof Yunus from his post last March, saying his continuing role at Grameen Bank violated laws that state public servants must retire at the age of 60.

Mr Yunus appealed but stood down last May after the supreme court rejected his case.  (BBC.co.uk)

Student, Heading To Harvard After Being Homeless, Abandoned By Parents

When facing homelessness, bullying, and being abandoned by family, many people might be tempted to give up hope. But for 18-year-old Dawn Loggins, who was just accepted into Harvard University, this was not the case.

"When I was younger, I looked around at my family and I saw the neglect, the drug abuse, the bad choices and I saw my family living from paycheck to paycheck, and I just made a decision that I was not going to end up like my parents," Loggins told WBTV.

But her conditions only worsened after her parents abandoned her and she had to go live with her grandmother.

"When I lived with my grandma there was trash all over the house," Loggins told WBTV. "She never really explained to me like that it was important to shower -- it was important to take care of yourself, so I would go months at a time without showering. I would wear the same dress to school for months at a time."

More often than not, the teenager lacked basic supplies for her schooling -- something her Burns High School guidance counselor Robyn Putnam thankfully noticed.

“Do you want it? Will you wear it?” Putnam asked while taking Loggins shopping, according to the Shelby Star.

“Yes. I’ll wear it," the teenager responded, according to the paper.


“Then put it in the cart."

According to the Shelby Star, others pitched in to help the girl -- school faculty gave her money, and a local dentist providing her with toothpaste and a toothbrush.

After years of hard work, catch up, and at times even working as a school custodian, Loggins' dream finally became a reality when she opened her acceptance letter from Harvard.

“Dear Ms. Loggins,” the letter read, according to the Gaston Gazette. “I am delighted to report that the Admissions Committee has asked me to inform you that you will be admitted to the Harvard College class of 2016…We send such an early positive indication only to outstanding applicants…”

Not only did they accept Loggins, but they offered her financial aid that would cover tuition, room and board. According to the Gazette, the school is also helping her find a job on campus.

"If there is anybody at all who has a dream," Loggins told WBTV, "then they can definitely make it happen. There are no excuses. It depends on you and no one else."    (Huffingtonpost.com)

US creates less jobs in April than expected

The US economy created 115,000 jobs during April which was fewer than expected. However, the unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.1% from 8.2% in March.

Employment has been rising for the past eight months, but the jobless rate has been stuck above 8% since early 2009.The weak report pushed US and European shares lower, with the Dow Jones index falling 168 points to 13,038.

Both the Nasdaq and the Standard & Poor's 500 had their worst week of the year, while markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt closed almost 2% lower. Meanwhile, the oil price continued to fall, with US light crude dipping below $100 a barrel on concerns about the strength of the world's largest economy.

Research build robot bird that perches on a human hand

Aerospace engineering researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have "duplicated the control functions that allow birds to successfully perform a soft landing--in this case, perching on a human hand." 

Soon Jo Chung, Aditya Paranjape, and Joseph Kim -- have created a micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) that can fly nimbly across a room and then pull up at just the right moment for a soft landing at a specific place, or on someone's hand.The guiding principle of their research was that the "maneuverability and control efficiency of avian flight can be replicated by applying their actuation and control principles to advanced MAVs designed on the size scale of small birds."

"Because the wings of ornithopters--birds or aircraft with flapping wings--are inherently capable of being reoriented, this capability can be used for controlling and maneuvering the aircraft in a gliding phase, thereby eliminating the need for additional traditional actuators," the university wrote in a press release. "Gliding is an effective way to conserve energy while soaring, descending, and landing."

The project being funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research can have potential military application.

The $1 million electric supercar goes on sale

Croatian automotive startup Rimac officially opened the order books for the electric supercar it debuted at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. Only 88 of these exotic vehicles will be produced, but don't feel like you have to rush to order. Rimac may have a hard time finding buyers willing to throw down the near $1 million it will take to purchase the Concept One.

The Concept One went on sale at the start of the Top Marques Monaco, where Prince Albert II of Monaco spent some time behind the wheel of the EV. It's priced at $980,000 according to MotorAutority.com. Nearly $1 million may seem a lot for an electric car from an automaker you've never heard of, but this isn't any ordinary EV.

With 1,088 horsepower under the hood, the Concept One joins the elusive club of production vehicles, such as the Bugatti Veyron, that boast more than 1,000-hp. Its 0-60 mph acceleration time is a whiplash-inducing 2.8 seconds. The vehicle is propelled by four motors that drive each wheel independently, and its 92 kWh battery pack offers a 370-mile range, or less if you're driving the vehicle at its 190-mph top speed. The interior is crafted by a team of former Pininfarina designers, and boasts a tablet-size infotainment system.

This may finally be the electric car you can see yourself driving. That is, if you can get past the million-dollar price tag. Delivery of these supercars is expected to begin in 2013.

Source

Third Point: Gunning for Yahoo's board of directors

The activist shareholder gunning for Yahoo's board is about to ratchet up the pressure.

Daniel Loeb, who heads the hedge fund Third Point, seized on the revelation this week that Yahoo's CEO had lied on his resume to demand that the board fire CEO Scott Thompson by noon EDT Monday.

And what happens if, at 12:01, Yahoo decides to maintain radio silence? For Third Point, it would signal the start of an escalating power struggle for control over a company in crisis.

"Isn't everyone a fan of the 1952 western 'High Noon?'" a source close to Third Point deadpanned as we tossed around possible Yahoo scenarios.

Earlier this week, Thompson, who may be the most lonesome CEO in techdom right now, was found to have falsely claimed to hold a computing science degree from Stonehill College near Boston. Thompson's fib gave new life to Loeb's campaign to convince shareholders that Yahoo's board is in immediate need of a shakeup.

Yahoo has so far rejected Loeb's proposed slate of directors to the board, a list that includes him along with former NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker; Michael Wolf, the former MTV Networks executive; and turnaround expert Harry Wilson. (You can examine Loeb's pitch on a Web site he set up, here.)

Before "resumegate" erupted, most of the attention had been on whether the board had installed a CEO who knew what he was doing. Since taking over in January, Thompson has ordered a controversial patent lawsuit against Facebook as well as a big layoff, without articulating how Yahoo plans to reverse its decline. But Thompson's dissembling provided Third Point with the opening it needed to press its argument that Yahoo's board of directors is not up to the job.

"This board needs new blood, new processes, and best practices of corporate governance," the source said.

Indeed, from Third Point's perspective, Thompson turns out to be less relevant to the Yahoo novella than the competency of the board. "The resume issue is just the latest in a long line of catastrophes that show this board is not the right one to lead Yahoo."

Third Point believes it can be patient and that it has "a range of options" at its disposal. While it waits for Yahoo's next step, Third Point can afford to be patient while keeping the focus on the board and its processes. That's essentially the same goal Third Point has pursued since sending its first letter to Yahoo in September 2011.

Meanwhile, Thompson must be wondering whether anybody has his back.

"The fact that (Thompson) slightly embellished his resume is not good. But when there's no constituency standing up for him inside or outside Yahoo, [that] isn't good at all," says another source familiar with Yahoo's thinking. "Where's the board? He's not been able to make friends with them yet."

The only word out of the board was a hardly resounding brief statement that it is "reviewing" the matter. Interesting aside: On Thursday former Yahoo board member Eric Hippeau tweeted, "The hapless company: Yahoo goes from mishap to catastrophe, all self-inflicted."

Source

System-seizing Flash attacks prompt security fix from Adobe

A Flash vulnerability that's being exploited by hackers to gain control of victims' machines is the target of a security update released yesterday by Adobe.

"There are reports that the vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in active targeted attacks designed to trick the user into clicking on a malicious file delivered in an e-mail message," Adobe said in a security bulletin.

"The exploit targets Flash Player on Internet Explorer for Windows only," Adobe said, but the company urged Mac, Linux, and Android users to update their versions of Flash as well. The company provided a link to help people determine which version of Flash they're running, and it listed which versions are vulnerable:

Adobe recommends users of Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.233 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux update to Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.235. Flash Player installed with Google Chrome was updated automatically, so no user action is required. Users of Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.7 and earlier versions on Android 4.x devices should update to Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.8. Users of Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.8 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and earlier versions should update to Flash Player 11.1.111.9.

Android users can verify the version of Flash they're running as follows: go to Settings/Applications/Manage Applications/Adobe Flash Player x.x.

For detailed information, including information on downloading a new version of Flash, see the security bulletin.

Source

Killing unlimited data plans has helped make U.S. carriers billions

Killing off their unlimited data plans in recent years hasn't made U.S. wireless carriers very popular in certain circles, but it has helped them make a lot of money off your mobile-data habit.

In the last quarter alone, AT&T reported more than $6.1 billion in revenues from mobile-data plans, while Verizon took in $6.6 billion. Those numbers also reveal significant growth of as much as 20 percent on an annual basis, despite the fact that carriers are adding customers at a slower pace now that most people already have a smartphone. That's because more people are gobbling up more wireless data, and they're also paying more for it as Verizon and AT&T have stopped offering unlimited data to new customers in favor of a variety of tiered pricing plans and overage charges that all add up -- literally -- to billions for the carriers and their shareholders.

This doesn't stop the carriers, particularly AT&T, from trying to have it both ways.

"My only regret was how we introduced pricing in the beginning, because how did we introduce pricing? Thirty dollars and you get all you can eat," AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said at a conference this week. He decried the variable costs involved in the unlimited-data model and went on to explain how he loses sleep over services like Skype and Apple's iMessage that threaten other revenue streams like texting and voice calls.

AT&T finds itself in the difficult position of having to remain bullish on its network and mobile data growth in particular to keep shareholders excited, but at the same time always warning of an impending capacity crunch. Carriers are taking in billions from tiered data plans, but increasingly users are actually using up a higher percentage of their data allowances. That means more network traffic without more revenue to compensate, particularly since a large number of users are already on the top-end tiers.

That's the bad news for carriers. The good news is that they've got billions of our dollars coming in each month to spend on addressing the problem. Verizon is clearly moving in that direction with its rapidly expanding LTE network, and now that T-Mobile is off the table, we'll see how AT&T chooses to spend our... err, its, mobile-data riches.

Source

Principal threatens to report parents of underage Facebookers

A British school principal believes that parents whose children are too young to be on Facebook and other social-networking sites should be reported to child-protection services.

Some might imagine that the mere existence of Facebook promotes a certain infantilism.

However, one school principal thinks that there are so many underage kids on Facebook and other social-networking sites that the parents need to face official consequences.

Paul Woodward, the principal of St. Whites School in the Forest of Dean, England, believes that 60 percent of the kids in his school use social networks. The trouble is that his school caters only to children between the ages of 4 and 11. Facebook's minimum age is 13.

So, as the Daily Mail relates it, he wants to report parents of these kids to child-protection services.

This might seem drastic to some, but Woodward seems convinced that social networking is exposing children to inappropriate material.

Earlier this year, a survey by a company called Minor Monitor suggested that 38 percent of kidson Facebook were under 13.

Facebook itself says that it dismisses 20,000 underage people daily.

He told the Daily Mail that he speaks very strongly to parents of underage Facebookers. He said he tells them: "It's illegal for you to do this, you shouldn't be doing it for your child. You need to close down that account, or I might have to tell the safeguarding people that you are exposing your child to stuff that's not suitable."Still, Woodward seems to have an interesting view of the law.

Some might imagine that it is Woodward who is setting a bad example. It is not illegal for, say, a 12-year-old to be on Facebook. It is simply against Facebook's terms of service. One day, perhaps Facebook will write all the world's laws. It doesn't quite yet.

Moreover, he told the Mail that every time he discovers that one of his school's pupils has a Facebook account, he contacts the company to tell someone there. This, again, some might find interesting behavior.

It might well be that being on Facebook brings children into contact with difficult material. But so, surely, does simply being online. Woodward's problem, though, lies in grooming.

He told the Mail: "Children open themselves up to grooming, and then you don't know what sort of content they could get hold of."

I thought, initially, that by "grooming," he simply meant the influence of others. I am grateful to reader Mike Doyle for reminding me that this is the term used in certain parts for people who try to assume false identities to have sex with underage individuals.

While that is surely a danger throughout the Web, it is also surely parents' responsibility to monitor everything their children do. That is the life of a parent, for better or worse. If they allow their kids on Facebook, they have to know at all times what is going on there.

The biggest influence on children are parents. And, if mommy and daddy tend to post images and thoughts from vast parts of their lives on Facebook, might not those kids think this is perfectly normal behavior and want to emulate it?

In turn, might not parents imagine that it's more convenient for everyone if their little Jocasta is on Facebook so that they communicate with each other from, say, different rooms?

Perhaps the simplest thing would be just to have members from child-protection services friend all parents. That way, the path to social harmony and a filth-free environment would be smoothed beyond recognition.

Mine Kafon: Wind-blown landmine clearance

A simple device that is designed to clear some of the millions of landmines scattered around the world offers a lesson in thoughtful design and adaptation.

The global statistics on land mines and their effects make sobering reading. According to the United Nations, up to 110 million mines have been laid across more than 70 countries since the 1960s and that between 15,000 and 20,000 people die each year because of them.

Many of the victims are civilians - children, women and the elderly - not soldiers. Thousands more are maimed. Moreover, mines are cheap. The UN estimates that some cost as little as $3 to make and lay in the ground. Yet, removing them can cost more than 50 times that amount. And the removal is not without human cost either. The UN says that one mine clearance specialist is killed, and two injured, for every 5,000 mines cleared.

One of the worst affected countries is Afghanistan, with an estimated 10 million land mines contaminating more than 200 square miles of land. It is something that Massoud Hassani, who grew up in the northern part of Kabul, knows that all too well. "We lived out by the airport, and there's a big desert out there where all different militaries trained," Hassani tells me. "It was a real war zone. They left a lot of explosives, including land mines."

"But, it was our playground," Hassani continues. "When we were kids, we used to make these wind-powered toys, and play with them on this desert full of explosives, and they'd get stuck out there."

Hassani's family left Afghanistan in 1993, moving around different countries before eventually settling in The Netherlands. Hassani tried studying different subjects, but nothing grabbed him. And then, one day, a colleague at a security company noticed him drawing. "I was doing a job just sitting all day long in a building, and I was sketching because I was really bored. And my colleague suggested that I do something creative."

He eventually ended up at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, where his experience of Afghanistan’s mine fields would serve as inspiration for a unique device. Whilst looking for ideas for his final project, one of his professors suggested he look to his Afghan roots for inspiration. Hassani says he thought back to that desert north of Kabul filled with land mines, and those small, wind-powered toys that used to skip across it. "My teachers told me to make a link between them," Hassani says. And that is how the Mine Kafon was born.

Explosive conclusion

Hassani has designed and built, by hand, a wind-powered ball that is heavy enough to trip mines as it rolls across the ground. Each $50 device looks like an artwork inspired by a starburst. In the middle of the Kafon is a 17kg (37lb) iron casing surrounded by dozens of radiating bamboo legs that each have a round plastic "foot" at their tip. Inside the ball is a GPS unit to map where it has been – and in theory cleared of mines. Around the iron ball is a suspension mechanism, which allows the entire Kafon to roll over bumps, holes and so forth. In all, it weighs a little more than 80kg (175lb). The idea is that it is light enough to be pushed by the wind, but heavy enough to trip mines. Hassani thinks that humanitarian organizations could take Kafons with them into areas suspected of being mined, and then let the wind do the dangerous work.

"Nowadays people search for mines by hand, and it takes a lot of time," Hassani says. "People walk along, sticking things into the ground. Many are not trained to do it, and there are a lot of accidents." He believes that the mine Kafon could be a safer, and cheaper, alternative. He has spent the last year and a half improving his invention, has also teamed up with the Dutch military and the country's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit to test it.

"When we work for the UN we have to prove that an area is 98% clear of mines and fragments," says Henk van der Slik, head of the Dutch EOD unit, who has 23 years of experience in de-mining. 

"Normally, we use dogs and mine-detectors. Even if a mine has less than one gram of metal, we can find it."

(BBC)

Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch dies of cancer, aged 47

(Reuters) - Adam Yauch, a founding member of pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys who captivated fans with their brash style in early hits like "Fight for Your Right (To Party)," died on Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 47.

Yauch, Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz formed the band that gained fame in the 1980s and stood out not just for their music, but for their ethnicity. In a genre dominated by African-Americans, they were three white Jewish kids from Brooklyn, New York.

The Beastie Boys sold some 40 million records worldwide over more than 20 years. As time passed, Yauch branched into filmmaking and activism, helping raise money for various causes including efforts to help free Tibet from Chinese rule.

"It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam "MCA" Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys ... passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer," said a statement posted on the band's website.

In July 2009, Yauch disclosed he had been diagnosed with a tumour in his left salivary gland and lymph node, and he later had surgery and sought medical treatment in Tibet, among other places. In October of that year, he said he was "feeling healthy, strong and hopeful" that he had beaten the disease.

But as recently as last month, it was apparent Yauch was very ill when he missed his group's introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Yauch was born in Brooklyn on August 5, 1964, and taught himself to play bass guitar, forming a band on his 17th birthday that would later become the Beastie Boys. He went by stage name MCA. Diamond was Mike D and Horovitz, Ad-Rock.

Initially, the group played punk rock, but soon switched to rap as that musical genre gained prominence on New York streets and in underground clubs in the early 1980s.

The group's breakout album, "Licensed to Ill," was released in 1986 and featured "Fight for Your Right" and "Brass Monkey," and put it squarely on the music industry's hit maker map.

MUSIC, FILM, PHILANTHROPY

The Beasties followed "Licensed to Ill" with "Paul's Boutique" (1989), which broke from the hard rock and rap of their debut. That was followed by CDs like "Ill Communication" (1994), with its big single, "Sabotage," and "Hello Nasty" (1998) that featured the hit "Intergalactic."

Over the years, the Beasties challenged themselves with shifting musical styles, but their fans remained loyal. They released four No. 1 albums in their career and won three of the music industry's top awards, the Grammys.

The Recording Academy, which gives out the Grammys, issued a statement calling Yauch "part of one of the most groundbreaking trios in hip-hop."

Russell Simmons, a co-founder of Def Jam Records, the label that first signed the Beasties to a record deal, posted a message on his website saying, "Adam was incredibly sweet and the most sensitive artist, who I loved dearly."

Under the alias of Nathanial Hörnblowér, Yauch also directed Beastie Boys videos such as "So Whatcha Want," "Intergalactic," "Body Movin" and "Ch-Check It Out."

He founded independent film company Oscilloscope Laboratories, which makes and distributes low-budget, art-house fare. It recently released the drama "We Need to Talk About Kevin."

Outside music and film, Yauch formed the Milarepa Foundation, which raised money for post-September 11 disaster relief and other causes. In 1996, Milarepa produced the massive Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen, and his daughter, Tenzin Losel, as well as his parents,Frances and Noel Yauch.