Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/04/29/waterfield-design-hardcase-review/
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
WaterField Design HardCase review
Not often do manufacturers design a laptop bag with one specific brand or even model in mind. I am not talking about a form-fitted case or sleeve, but an actual bag created and/or named to hold a certain device. But the folks at WaterField?Designs have done just that; the HardCase is?aimed specifically at Apple’s 13″ [...]
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Oil Deal Could Rescue Sudans' Economies
? South Sudan has resumed pumping oil following a 15-month shutdown that was among the country?s many remaining disputes with Khartoum. Hannah McNeish, reporting from the Tar Jath Oilfield in South Sudan's Unity State, talked to VOA's Gabe Joselow in Nairobi about this new development.
Joselow: Hannah, we understand that oil production has begun again in Unity State after being shut down in a pricing dispute with Sudan.? What?s the significance of this for both countries??
McNeish: This is huge news. South Sudan relies on oil for 98 percent of its government budget. It took the decision to shut down oil six months after it gained independence in January 2012 and since then the economy really has been reeling. It?s also had disastrous impact on its neighbor Sudan - its former civil war foe as well - which used to earn huge revenues from oil being transported north. And this today really is the first time we?ve seen any movement. It may be only 8,000 barrels of oil [from one well in this oilfield], out of 350,000 that will now flow [per day], but it?s the first step in really rescuing both economies and finding peace between two neighborhoods.
Joselow: Oil was clearly one of the biggest outstanding disputes between Sudan and South Sudan. Does this development do anything to help the two countries resolve their remaining disputes?
McNeish: The two countries have agreed to demarcate the border, to pull their troops back to avoid any more conflict and to try to agree on contested territory, so really the oil is the big deal. It has such a big impact on both economies, and when it was turned off it was so much easier for tensions to flare. So now that it?s been turned on, people are hoping the rest will follow.
Joselow: When can we expect oil production to come back to pre-shutdown levels??
McNeish: On Thursday [April 4] in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the undersecretary from the ministry of petroleum from Khartoum and the undersecretary from the ministry of petroleum in South Sudan both said that they actually expect to have all the oil back on by the end of May. This really does depend on the technical feasibility because the oil has been shut down for so long, and people don?t? know what state the pipeline is in. But so far they?re hoping to start with this 8,000 barrels of oil from Unity State and, hopefully, ramp that up to about 30,000 [barrels per day] in coming weeks.
Joselow: What?s the impact of this on the ground for the South Sudanese people? And is there a worry of continued corruption around the industry?
McNeish: Previously there has been rampant corruption and there have been many calls for more transparency in where this money goes. There was a scandal last year where the president signed a letter calling for $4 billion of stolen public money to come back, but the oil shutdown really did have huge impacts on the country in terms of inflation, the new currency, the south Sudanese pound, plummeting against the dollar. There were shortages of fuel. There were shortages of food and medicines. So there is a hope that with this oil resumption that it?s a chance to turn a fresh page and start really investing in South Sudan, to do away with the corruption so people can really see what they fought for and what their new nation can bring them.
Hannah McNeish reported for VOA from Unity State South Sudan. She spoke with VOA's East Africa correspondent, Gabe Joselow.?
Source: http://www.voanews.com/content/oil-deal-could-rescue-sudan-economy/1636256.html
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Suicide bomber kills 20 at political rally in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) ? A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday at a lunch hosted by a Sunni candidate in Iraq's upcoming regional elections, killing 20 people, officials said.
The blast ripped through a hospitality tent pitched next to the house of Muthana al-Jourani, who is running for the provincial council and held the lunch rally for supporters, councilman Sadiq al-Huseini said.
The attack took place in Baqouba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city some 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodletting have been rampant there in the decade since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Violence is expected to surge in the run up to Iraq's provincial elections on April 20.
A health official and police officer who provided details about the attack spoke anonymously because they weren't authorized to speak to media.
The police officer said al-Jourani, who was injured in the attack, had not requested any extra security for the political event.
In the city's morgue, at least 10 bodies lay strewn on the ground, draped in black plastic sheets. Emergency crews treated the wounded. At the site of the bombing, white plastic chairs were overturned and men, apparently in shock, stood dazed in blood-stained clothing.
Eyewitness Ahmad al-Hadlouj, a 34-year-old who was wounded in the blast, said hundreds of people had gathered in the side street for the rally. His father, a member of the candidate's political bloc, was also wounded.
"This is our blood (shed) for the people," said al-Hadlouj. "We will still participate in elections."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the police officer said the attack was the hallmark of al-Qaida militants who have used suicide bombers, car bombings and coordinated attacks to try to destabilize the country and undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government. Hard-line Sunni extremists see Shiites and those who work with them as heretics.
A wave of deadly bombings and attacks in March prompted Iraqi officials to conclude that al-Qaida's Iraqi branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, has been getting stronger. They say rising lawlessness on the Syria-Iraq frontier and cross-border cooperation with the Syrian militant group Nusra Front has improved the militants' supply of weapons and foreign fighters.
____
Follow Abdul-Zahra on twitter.com/qabdulzahra
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-20-political-rally-iraq-113417360.html
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Thursday, April 4, 2013
AICN ON THE MAT: Writing Rambler grapples (verbally) with ...
WRITING RAMBLER (WR): Hey, Trish--how are you?
TRISH STRATUS (TS): Good, How are you?
WR: Great, Thanks so much for talking with us today.
TS: My pleasure.
WR: Okay, So first off, the2013 Hall of Fame induction. Everyone has been talking about how great this year?s class of Inductees are. Many people have been saying it is the best class that has been put out so far. What was it like to first get that information in January and when the announcement was made?
TS: I think my first reaction was just ?Oh my gosh, seriously?? (laughter). It was just an honor, an absolute honor. I keep saying this but it feels like I was just wrestling yesterday so I kind of forget that I have been retired for about seven years now, and I?ve been away from the business for so long. I mean, thankfully I?ve had an active role since then, and maybe that?s why I don?t notice it, but yeah, it?s just been an honor. Then to hear the class I?d be inducted with, there were really two thoughts. One was that it?s super special. I can?t believe the caliber of people going in, and then thinking as a fan who grew up watching and being around wrestling, and then of course wrestling in the industry, I?m still just starstruck. I think it?s going to be an amazing evening. I mean, you just look at that list and you say, ?That?s going to be a hell of an evening?. That night is going to be filled with all kinds of stories and magical moments so I?m just thrilled to be a part of it.
WR: Now for me being from New Jersey, this whole NY/NJ area is really on fire right now with WrestleMania being right around the corner. Just thinking about the Hall Of Fame Ceremony taking place in Madison Square Garden this year, there?s this sense of magic to it that makes it an even more special moment. Has that really hit you? That not only are you one of the youngest inductees ever, but that it?s taking place at such a revered place as the Garden?
TS: Yeah, it?s just all this awesome stuff like you mentioned. This class, I?m only the sixth female to go in, and then on top of that, it?s taking place at the Garden. For me, I actually had my last Raw match at the Garden, so to come back there now, for this, it?s like coming full circle. It?s really such an awesome moment, and it?s kind of cool because I think just about everyone has this sort of special connection with New York. You know (Donald) Trump obviously does, you have Mick Foley, a New York boy, and of course Bob Backlund and Bruno (Sanmartino), that?s where they became legends right there in Madison Square Garden. Then Booker T, obviously he has delivered many times in the Garden as well, so it?s kind of cool to see how everyone has the special connection to the Garden.
WR: Being one of the youngest to go in, having started at 24 and having so many accolades and achievements in a relatively short time, do you ever feel like you did leave it all too early? That maybe you could have achieved more?
TS: You know, I feel like I had a robust seven years, if that makes any sense. To be honest, I wouldn?t have retired if I felt like I hadn?t done everything I wanted to do. At that point in my career, I had worked with all of the females I had wanted to work with or that were workers within the company. I got to work with everyone from Ivory to Christy Hemme. Just every girl that came in I got a chance to dabble with or dance with, so I?m really blessed to have had those opportunities. My bucket list, so to speak, was being crossed off by becoming champion and changing the way women?s wrestling was perceived. That was something we set out to do, and I think we accomplished that with the group of women at the time, so I left feeling quite satisfied. I knew I was ready to move on. My mom had been diagnosed with cancer at the time, and sometimes there were moments where I was like ?Am I making the right decision?? But when my mom got diagnosed, knowing the types of schedules that we had and that I wouldn?t be able to be by her side for her therapy, I knew this was the universe telling me that it was time to move on at that moment. I mean, the door is always open if I had the opportunity to go back. It was the right time when I left and I felt satisfied with having worked with all of the girls I had worked with at the time. Of course, when I left and then watching, it got me excited again for sure watching Beth (Phoenix) and Natty (Neidhart) do their thing. They came up and were doing some really awesome work. Michelle McCool as well, and this new crop of divas that were doing this awesome stuff in the ring, that?s when I got the itch again for sure and I was not quiet about it. I thought that would be cool to go back there, and thankfully I had the opportunity to go back and work with Beth twice and I had a chance to work with Michelle McCool and Layla as well. So thankfully I got to ?scratch my itches?, so to speak. Even at this point I?ll never say I?d close the door because you never know what can happen.
WR: I think a lot of us as fans look forward to that. That whole idea of ?when is Trish coming back?? Especially around this time of year for WrestleMania. It?s that time when after a year of buildup you really just celebrate the industry as a whole. So there are definitely a lot of people out there who would love to see you come back and do it again.
Now when you first started, it was kind of a different time. I think you and some of the other divas, but especially you, really raised the bar for women?s wrestling. Wrestling has always been a boys club and there was always yelling and ?catcalling? from the crowd, but as you progressed you could see the level of respect grow with the fans. What did that feel like, knowing that you were reaching people in a way that they hadn?t been reached before?
TS: It was definitely something that I was really aware of. I knew that it was something that I wanted to take on. I worked with Fit Finley. He was my mentor, and it was literally something that we set out to do. I remember looking at him and I said ?I don?t want go out there and fight like a girl?. You know, the hair pulls and the catfights, I just felt we can do more than that, and I knew physically I could do more than that because I had been training for months doing other stuff. I just knew we could do that but hadn?t had the chance to yet. It was a lot of work; we had to almost reeducate the fans on what to expect from women. Yeah, there was a transition period where you still had the ?Puppy? chants and whatnot, but I think the hard work started to pay off, and people started to stand up and take notice and know that we were starting to deliver something that was as good as the men?s action, especially when it was then fueled by storyline and we brought a certain depth of character that made a huge difference. It really changed the dynamic from what the women were doing, and then I think it was just a matter of keeping up the pace. No doubt, it was hard work because you knew that every week you went out there you had to remind them what we were going to do and keep raising the bar. My personal goal was to go out there and do better than I had done the last week. To do something, show a different side of women and present a different side of women?s wrestling, so it was hard work every single week that we went out there, but I?m happy to say I think we accomplished that. I know there was a rise in the female demographic at that point. There were women coming up to us saying ?you?re my role model?, and it wasn?t because we were doing this cool thing on TV, it was because we were women making it in a male-dominated world, and to show such a strong role model was really powerful and empowering to women. So it was just great times and I had such a great support system with the other girls at that time. That?s what we wanted to do. We wanted to show a different side, and every week that?s what we fought for.
WR: As a father of two daughters I remember during that time being happy if they wanted to watch your matches or cheer for you because there was something really positive and inspiring about it. As someone who has experienced it all, what advice would you have for a young woman looking to start in this business that despite everything is still a very male-dominated industry? Any advice you could give that you think would really help them out?
TS: I would remind them right off the bat that you?re definitely going into a boy?s world. It?s always going to be a boy?s world, so definitely expect that. Know that going in. Going in with a solid training and an understanding of the industry, and when I say the industry, I mean understand the mechanics of a match not only physically but also understand the psychology. It?s super important to go in with that knowledge. For me, people say ?how did you learn to wrestle so quickly??, but I went in as a fan, I studied it, I knew how to do a body slam properly and I understood the psychology of what happens in the ring, why good guys and bad guys do what they do in the ring, and I think that?s what helped with my lessons in the ring. So I say to women, get a really good solid training background, and also, get a backup plan. There?s definitely a shelf life for wrestlers, and especially women?s wrestlers. Physically you just can?t do it forever, you really just can?t. If you have a backup plan then at the end of the day you know you?re okay. Then you can just go in there and be passionate about it. There?s just no way you can do 300 days a year on the road schedule unless you?re passionate about it and you?re willing to sacrifice leaving your family and all that. I?d love to have that little pep talk with each girl that wants to go in there. These are the stories and pep talks that I had, and I was very blessed to have a few people in my life that really gave me those eye-opening words that let me go in and make a difference.
WR: Growing up as a fan, was there one particular woman or match in general that really made you want to do this?
TS: I guess I can?t say that there was really any women, because there really was no role for women for us to watch growing up that made me say ?that?s who I want to be when I grow up?. I feel like that?s the kind of work that we did in 2001-2006, I guess. For me it was Macho Man (Randy Savage); I was a huge fan of his as a kid--he was my idol. I was a big tomboy as a kid; I grew up with my cousins and we played wrestling, we went to Maple Leaf Gardens and it was just something that I did, it was part of my upbringing. I was always just amazed by what they did--they were like real life superheroes, that?s what it was. To me, I realized as I got into the industry that there are only a handful of people in this world that can do what we do and to be able to be athletic and to be an entertainer at the same time and combine that, I mean, that?s some real life super hero stuff right there, and that?s something I never thought I?d get into at the time because there was no ?that?s what I want to be when I grow up? for wrestlers at that time. I wanted to be a doctor growing up, which is very different, but that dream to be a doctor went away and I became a wrestler instead. It was just real life superheroes that you saw, and to me Macho Man was the man, he was the one that I played as. I cut his promos as a kid. He had the perfect combination of an athlete and a sports entertainer. He made it being a sports entertainer absolutely. He was the one who clearly defined that.
WR: Finally, with everything happening now, as you prepare for the Hall of Fame, is there any one thing that you could point to as your ?Moment?? What would it be?
TS: It was a moment that I shared with Mickie James. It was our WrestleMania 22 match in Chicago. It was my last WrestleMania before I retired, and to me it was that match that epitomized what women?s wrestling was finally brought to. That level that we finally brought it to. Everything about that match, the storylines, the character development, the crowd involvement, everything about that match was all of the hard work we had put in over the years. Knowing we had that match, it was like ?okay, we did it, kid? and to share that moment with a great friend of mine like Mickie was just really special.
WR: Trish, thanks so much for speaking with us today. I?m sure your fans are really going to enjoy hearing what you had to say. We appreciate it and best of luck with the Hall of Fame; we?ll be cheering for you.
TS: Thanks, I appreciate it.
You can follow The Writing Rambler on his blog here and follow on Twitter @Writing_Rambler !
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
Source: http://web1.aintitcool.com/node/61788
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More on iOS 7, iPhone 5S, and Apple's plans for 2013
MG Siegler instigated an interesting conversation on Branch today when he wondered out loud about Apple's plans for 2013. I've already posted several pieces on iMore about the potential for an April event, a potential summer release for the iPhone 5S, some stuff on the iWatch, bigger iPhone, and less expensive iPhone, and a bit about Jony Ive going hands-on with iOS 7. John Gruber of Daring Fireball added the following, which he's since blogged as well:
What I?ve heard: iOS 7 is running behind, and engineers have been pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. (Let me know if you?ve heard this song before.)
Scott Forstall, previously in charge of iOS, left late last year. Jony Ive, previously in charge of hardware design was put in charge of all design, including software, at the same time. That's a massive change to the team working on iOS 7. In addition, Richard Williamson, who previously ran Maps, left, as did several other iOS engineers (retention really is a problem.) Siegler added to the Branch that the Passbook team specifically is suffering at the moment.
Here's something I contributed to the Branch but I can't stress enough:
iOS is a continuum, not a set of static things. There's a roadmap. What didn't make it into iOS 6 goes into 7, what doesn't make it into 7 goes into 8.
So, if Forstall and other departures, and Ive and other additions, cause a change, either features can be dropped to make the same schedule, or the schedule has to be extended to allow for those features to be completed, or extra engineers have to be added to try and get the same schedule for the same features. Given the competitive landscape, and given that Apple has pulled engineering resources to iOS to help meet deadlines in the past, it's not hard to believe they need to, and are, doing just that again.
I haven't heard anything about the authentication hardware Siegler mentions, but I have heard some of the other things Gruber said. My only other addition to the Branch:
Ive's work is apparently making many people really happy, but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad.
Transitions or no transitions, it sounds like there's some real work going on for iOS 7. I hope a lot of it makes it in. I also hope online services get the attention they need, because that's the table-stakes now.
Go read the whole conversation and let me know what you think.
Source: Branch
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/1DUwjakXPoA/story01.htm
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Roger Ebert's cancer returns | Inside Movies | EW.com
Image Credit: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images
Veteran film critic Roger Ebert revealed last night that the cancer he?s been fighting for over a decade has returned ? and as a result, he will be taking a ?leave of presence? from the Chicago Sun-Times.
What?s a ?leave of presence?? Here?s Ebert?s own clarification, from his Sun-Times blog: ?It means I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What?s more, I?ll be able at last to do what I?ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.?
Additionally, Ebert will be revamping his website, continuing to host his annual Ebertfest film festival, and launching a Kickstarter campaign to bring back his syndicated TV show At the Movies, which has been on hiatus since December 2011. He may also begin writing more personal stories about his health. ?It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital. So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness,? he explained on his blog. ?On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.?
Here?s hoping he finds many thumbs up-worthy films.
Read more:
Ian McKellen clarifies cancer status
Roger Ebert hospitalized after hip fracture
Sundance to pay tribute to Roger Ebert
Source: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/04/03/roger-ebert-cancer/
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Autism linked to increased genetic change in regions of genome instability
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Children with autism have increased levels of genetic change in regions of the genome prone to DNA rearrangements, so called "hotspots," according to a research discovery to be published in the print edition of the journal Human Molecular Genetics. The research indicates that these genetic changes come in the form of an excess of duplicated DNA segments in hotspot regions and may affect the chances that a child will develop autism -- a behavioral disorder that affects about 1 of every 88 children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Earlier work had identified, in children with autism, a greater frequency of rare DNA deletions or duplications, known as DNA copy number changes. These rare and harmful events are found in approximately 5 to 10 percent of cases, raising the question as to what other genetic changes might contribute to the disorders known as autism spectrum disorders.
The new research shows that children with autism have -- in addition to these rare events -- an excess of duplicated DNA including more common variants not exclusively found in children with autism, but are found at elevated levels compared to typically developing children. The research collaboration includes groups led at Penn State by Scott Selleck; at the University of California Davis/MIND Institute by Isaac Pessah, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Flora Tassone, and Robin Hansen; and at the University of Washington by Evan Eichler.
The investigators also found that the balance of DNA duplications and deletions in children with autism was different from that found in more severe developmental disorders, such as intellectual disability or multiple congenital anomalies, where the levels of both deletions and duplications are increased compared to controls, and are even higher than in children with autism.
They also found that children who had more difficulty with daily living skills also had the greatest level of copy number change throughout their genome. "These measures of adaptive behavior provide an indication of the severity of the impairment in the children with autism. These behaviors were significantly correlated with the amount of DNA copy number change," Selleck said, emphasizing that the research revealed "clear and graded effects of the genetic change."
"These results beg the question as to the origin of this genetic change," Selleck said. "The increased levels of both rare and common variants suggests the possibility that these individuals are predisposed to genetic alteration."
A vigorous debate is ongoing in the research community about the degree of genetic versus environmental contributions to autism. Selleck said the finding of an overall increase in genetic change in children with autism heightens the need to search for the basis of this variation. "We know that environmental factors can affect the stability of the genome, but we don't know if the DNA copy number change we detect in these children is a result of environmental exposures, nutrition, medical factors, lifestyle, genetic susceptibility, or combinations of many elements together," Selleck said. "The elevated levels of common variants is telling us something. It suggests that pure selection of randomly generated variants may not be the whole story."
The Penn State team includes Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Associate Professor Marylyn Ritchie and Assistant Professor Santhosh Girirajan. "The relationship between the level of copy number change and the degree of neurodevelopmental disability is something we have noted previously for large, rare variants" says Girirajan, "but this work extends those observations to common copy number variants, suggesting the level of copy number change in children with autism is larger than we had appreciated." Girirajan, the first author of the study, coordinated the effort between the Penn State and University of Washington researchers.
The research collaboration began with studies supported by the Minnesota Medical Foundation and the Martin Lenz Harrison Endowed Chair in Pediatrics when Selleck was Director of the Autism Initiative at the University of Minnesota. When Selleck arrived at Penn State in 2009, he began a new phase of the analysis with replication studies of early findings conducted with the help and expertise of Evan Eichler and colleagues at the University of Washington using the clinical data and DNA collected by Isaac Pessah, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Flora Tassone, and Robin Hansen at the University of California Davis/MIND Institute group, which directs a large population-based case-control study of autism called CHARGE (Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment). In this multiyear study, clinical history, environmental, nutritional, family, and medical data are collected from the families of children with autism and other developmental disorders, as well as from randomly selected control children from the general population. The research took advantage of the CHARGE study, supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency.
"The CHARGE study is a true population-based case-control cohort for the study of autism, the only one of its kind that I am aware of" says Selleck, and allows for comparisons between the children with autism and controls matched for geographical location and time of birth. The research team plans to continue its collaboration to further characterize the more common genetic variants found to be associated with autism and to explore the relationship between genome variation and environmental exposures.
###
Penn State: http://live.psu.edu
Thanks to Penn State 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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What does new law for genetically modified crops really do?
An uproar has erupted on social media platforms in the days following President Obama's signing into law legislation opponents are deriding as the Monsanto Protection Act - but groups disagree about what the real consequences of the bill will be.
The derogatory name for the bill refers to the biotech company, Monsanto, which opponents say lucked out with the measure's passage. Critics see it as a win for peddlers of genetically-modified foods and a danger to farmers and consumers alike.
It passed as part of the continuing resolution whisked through Congress earlier this month to avoid a government shutdown slated for March 27. Obama signed that bill on Tuesday, while many in Washington were preoccupied with the debate over same-sex marriage.
The section of the CR that groups are objecting to - section 735 - dealt with how questionable crops can be regulated. In the event that a seed is approved by the USDA but that approval is challenged by a court ruling, the seed can still be used and sold until the USDA says otherwise, according to that new law.
It does not mention genetically modified crops by name, and it does not stop the USDA from taking those crops off the market in the future.
"The language doesn't require USDA to approve biotech crops. It also doesn't prevent individuals from suing the government over a biotech crop approval," said a source from the office of Sen. Roy Blunt, ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee.
Even so, a USDA spokesperson said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked for a review of section 735, "as it appears to preempt judicial review of a deregulatory action, which may make the provision unenforceable."
Critics of the bill include members of the Senate.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who replaced former Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released a statement Friday distancing herself from the agriculture appropriation.
"Sen. Mikulski understands the anger over this provision. She didn't put the language in the bill and doesn't support it either," the statement from her office said. "It was originally part of the Agriculture Appropriations bill that the House Appropriations Committee reported in June 2012, and it became part of the joint House-Senate agreement completed in the fall of 2012 before Sen. Mikulski became appropriations chairwoman."
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., proposed an amendment to take the rider out of the CR, but it never came to a vote. A statement from his office slammed the House of Representatives for "slipping 'corporate giveaways' into a must-pass government funding bill."
"Montanans elected me to the Senate to do away with shady backroom deals and to make government work better," Tester said in the statement sent out in mid-March, before the passage of the CR. "These provisions are giveaways worth millions of dollars to a handful of the biggest corporations in this country and deserve no place in this bill."
Blunt told Politico he worked with Monsanto in hammering out the details of the legislation.
"From a practical level, it shows the political muscle that Monsanto and the biotech industry have," Neil Hamilton, director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University, told ABC News Friday. "They're the ones that have the most to gain directly, in terms of it being their technologies."
So the big questions seem to be how far the power of the court should extend over the authority of the Department of Agriculture and whether a big corporation exercised undue influence in this legislative process. But some advocacy groups are moving the discussion into different territory.
Food Democracy Now!, an organic food advocacy campaign, is asking followers to sign a petition that links the rider and labeling of genetically-modified products.
The letter told the president that the signer is "outraged that Congress allowed Section 735, the Monsanto Protection Act in a short-term spending bill and passed it and that you have now signed it into law," and asked him to pass an executive order "to require the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods."
But the act in question applied to the planting and harvesting of crops, not how they are packaged.
Left-leaning activists are not the only ones possibly slanting the message on this act.
Julie Gunlock, of the pro-free-market think tank the Independent Women's Forum, framed the bill as good for "moms like me."
"If we're in a situation where farmers are forced to lose their crops, lose their entire harvests, that will raise prices. That ultimately harms me, the consumer, the mom," Gunlock said.
In the scenario Gunlock painted, regulations would automatically stop all farmers from using a seed once a federal court ruled that the USDA should not have approved it. But according to Colin O'Neil, director of government affairs at the Center for Food Safety, that was not the case before the new bill passed.
Before the passage of the CR, O'Neil said, farmers who had previously bought seeds that were under review could still plant and harvest them. Only those who had not already legally purchased those seeds would not be allowed to.
The bottom line for O'Neil was that when the CR expires in September, it's time to make sure the rule is properly vetted and, in the view of the Center for Food Safety, thrown out.
"We have called on Chairwoman Mikulski and the Senate leadership to make sure that this rider does not extend past the life of this bill," O'Neil said. "We're extremely disappointed that this rider was put into a must-pass bill, and we're disappointed that there was no floor time given to debate and potentially strike this amendment from the bill. However, we recognize that this was kind of a hostage style negotiations over this bill and that there were a number of policy riders that were included."
O'Neil said the Center for Food Safety is confident that Mikulski will "steer this ship in the right direction."
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/law-spurs-controversy-debate-over-124409565.html
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Firefox 20 official with a seamless download manager, private windows (video)
Some Firefox releases have more noticeable changes than others. We'd say that the newly finalized Firefox 20 is firmly in that first camp. The new release gives desktop users a Safari-like download manager that pops out from the toolbar, making it possible to check on a big download without anything so ungainly as a separate window. Also new are more refined approaches to private browsing that can open a new window (on the desktop) or tab (on Android) for those extra-personal, secretive... gift-shopping sessions, according to Mozilla. Whether or not you believe that euphemism, there's no doubt that Android users receive their own specific treat through support for lower-end ARMv6 phones, including relative oldies like the HTC Legend and Samsung Galaxy Q. Hit the source links to stay current with Firefox, no matter how innocuous your intentions might be.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: Mozilla Blog
Source: Mozilla, Google Play
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