Saturday, June 30, 2012

Shell tax credits would mean thousands of jobs

June 29, 2012 12:23 am

Recently I attended several hours of meetings with the governor's office about the Shell cracker plant which might -- and I need to stress might -- come to Beaver County.

The controversial issue is a series of tax credits for the plant. Some opponents have left the impression the state would simply be writing Shell a check. This is not true. They would allow Shell to keep more of its own money to pass along as credits for companies that sell it natural gas from Pennsylvania, or make products from that gas in Pennsylvania.

The union understands that this incentive means that Shell would begin a $4 billion construction project for this plant, meaning as many as 10,000 good-paying construction jobs. Another 10,000 to 20,000 spinoff jobs could then follow in the coming decades.

Debbie Srogi's recent commentary ("Governor Giveaway: Corbett Keeps Shoveling Our Money to Oil and Gas Companies," June 15 Perspectives) criticized this deal as a giveaway. This union doesn't see this as a tax credit. We see it as a job creation credit. Let's not let this chance get away because of political partisanship.

MARK THOMAS
Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer
Iron Workers Local Union No. 3
Strip District



First Published June 29, 2012 12:00 am

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Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/shell-tax-credits-would-mean-thousands-of-jobs-642503/

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Bonnie Fuller: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Prove Marrying for the Wrong Reasons Is a Recipe for Divorce

Marriage is NOT a fairy tale, Katie Holmes. Just because you have crushed on someone since you were a teenager doesn't mean you should marry them when they're a devoted Scientologist and you're not.

Katie Holmes - when you filed for divorce from Tom Cruise you just became another real-life example of what not to do when choosing a life mate.

Tom Cruise may have been -- and still is -- a handsome, rich superstar and a gorgeous guy who starred in your Top Gun bedroom poster, but you and all the women out there have to marry the real man and not a fictionalized man of your dreams.

As dull as it sounds, it is totally true that you must marry a man who shares your same life goals and values, and the two of you have to have common interests that you both enjoy.

That doesn't mean that you have to come from the same ethnic background, have the same skin color, or even be a member of the same religion. Lots of people have happy, successful and long-term marriages even if their backgrounds are diverse.

But, you have to be on the same page when it comes to the most important guiding principles of your life.

And Katie, in this case, the man you married was a very devoted member of an extremely demanding and possessive religion -- Scientology. And Scientology has some very strange beliefs. So much so that many people are convinced that it's a cult.

On the other hand, you Katie are a Catholic, raised by parents who are devoted Catholics.

There was no way when you finally realized that you couldn't become a fervent Scientologist devotee or have your daughter become indoctrinated into Scientology, that your marriage could last.

You should have paid attention to Nicole Kidman's marital experience with Tom. Not only did their union end up in a nasty divorce but it appears that Nicole basically lost the two children she adopted with Tom. Tom got custody and her two kids also became devoted Scientologists -- and she is now rarely seen with them.

You never should have rushed into marriage and motherhood; getting engaged after two months of dating and then pregnant shortly after that.

So Hollywoodlifers, learn from Katie Holmes' mistake. No matter how glamorous, sexy and powerful a man may seem, he's not Mr. Right unless you and he see eye-to-eye on how you want to live, where you want to live, whether you want to have children, how you want to raise them, whether you will be a two or one-career marriage and more.

Click here to read more at HollywoodLife.com.

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Follow Bonnie Fuller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bonniefuller

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonnie-fuller/tom-cruise-katie-holmes_b_1639233.html

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21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Pinterest Ruined My Wedding ...

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Google Chrome Browser Will Launch on iOS Today [Video]

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Google is launching its Chrome browser for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch today.

In February, we released Chrome for Android, which exited beta this week and is the standard browser on Nexus 7, a powerful new tablet. Starting today, Chrome is also available for your iPhone and iPad. That means you can enjoy the same speedy and simple Chrome experience across your devices. Also, by signing in to Chrome, you can easily move from your desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet and have all of your stuff with you.

You can follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS to be notified when Chrome is available in the App Store.

Read More

3 comments [add] | 3862 views

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New Mexico woman arrested, handcuffed for overdue library book, DVDs

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New Mexico woman arrested, handcuffed for overdue library book, DVDs ??



?????Friday 29th June, 2012??Source: Middletown Press ??
By The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A New Mexico woman was arrested and spent a night in jail for not returning the book "Twilight" and two-DVD set "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" back to the library on time.The Albuquerque Journal reports (

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

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CryptoLogic extends agreement to license Casino Games to Betsson

  • business | 27th June, 2012 | Dubin, Ireland | CryptoLogic ? Casino Games
  • CryptologicCryptoLogic, an Amaya Gaming Group company and developer of online casino games, has announced it has signed a new two-year agreement to license its suite of Internet casino games to Betsson Malta Ltd (Betsson).

    The agreement expands on an existing relationship between the two companies. Under the new deal, Betsson, which has a total active player base of more than 400,000 players across 10 gaming websites, will have access to a portfolio of more than 100 of CryptoLogic?s most popular casino games through CryptoLogic?s Instant Click platform.

    These games include award-winning branded and unbranded video slots and full complement of table games such as European Blackjack, European Roulette and Video Poker. Betsson will also have the right to launch any new content released by CryptoLogic going forward.

    Betsafe.com is the first of Betsson?s 10 online gaming websites to go live with more than 70 of CryptoLogic?s games already available to its players following a rapid integration completed in May 2012. The expanded agreement will also enable Betsson to deploy CryptoLogic?s games across its remaining nine sites with a scheduled rollout in the second half of 2012.

    Instant Click enables rapid deployment of a range of titles from CryptoLogic?s complete suite of more than 300 online games, by online operators and technology providers on their own e-gaming infrastructure and electronic cashier systems.

    Ian Price, VP of Operations at CryptoLogic, said, ?We are pleased to expand our agreement with Betsson. This deal further validates the quality of our games and their popularity amongst our licensees? customers.?

    Rudi Thomassen, Head of Games of Chance at Betsson, said, ?CryptoLogic?s games have proven very popular with our customers and we are delighted to extend our agreement with them. With more of CryptoLogic?s entertaining games on our sites it will help Betsson to continue to deliver the very best online gaming content.?

    About CryptoLogic
    Focused on integrity and innovation, CryptoLogic Ltd. is a leading developer and supplier of Internet gaming software. With more than 300 games, CryptoLogic has one of the most comprehensive casino suites on the Internet, with award-winning games featuring some of the world?s most famous action and entertainment characters.

    The company?s licensees include many top Internet gaming brands. CryptoLogic?s leadership in regulatory compliance makes it one of the few companies with gaming software certified to strict standards similar to land-based gaming. The CryptoLogic Group licenses gaming software and services to blue-chip customers that offer their games to non-US based players around the world.

    CryptoLogic?s common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (CRY, CXY) and the NASDAQ Global Select Market (CRYP). The Company was acquired by Amaya Gaming Group of Canada in March 2012.

    More Information
    Website: Cryptologic.com

    About Amaya Gaming Group
    Founded in 2004, Amaya Gaming Group provides a host of gaming solutions that range from: online and mobile gaming casino games and platforms, traditional and mobile lotteries, networked electronic gaming systems, hospitality in-room entertainment systems, management systems, content suites, advisory and management services, and integrity monitoring and auditing systems.

    More Information
    Website: AmayaGaming.com
    Facebook: Facebook.com/AmayaGaming
    Twitter: @AmayaOnline

    About Betsson
    Betsson offers a wide range of first-class online gambling products and games in a safe and user-friendly gaming environment. Betsson?s product portfolio currently includes: Sportsbook, Casino, Poker, Games, Scratchcards and Bingo, are operated under Betsson Malta Ltd.

    Betsson Poker is operated by Betsson Malta Ltd and powered by Ongame Network Ltd, which has a network license issued by the Gibraltar Government.

    More Information
    Website: Betsson.com

    Source: CryptoLogic Limited via MarketWire

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    How to Handle an Imbalance of Power in Your Relationship ? In Our ...

    by: Clarisse Thorn

    Note: This post was originally featured on Role/Reboot and was republished with permission. You can find the original here.

    Have you ever been involved with someone you were totally into, who seemed much less interested than you did? Or have you ever been with someone who was way more into you than you were into them? These situations happen to almost everyone eventually, and as a culture, we?ve devised a few ways to discuss them. For example, we have lingo like ?friend zone? to indicate a person who?s pining after a friend. What?s hard is finding good advice on how to deal with those relationships?from either position.

    Values like ?equality? and ?egalitarianism? are deeply embedded in U.S. culture. This, among other factors, makes it difficult to talk about power differentials in relationships. A lot of the time, the instinct seems to be to ignore a given power differential, because it?s uncomfortable to think about it. And I guess that for some couples, that works. At least, it works inasmuch as they can make the relationship function without talking about it?sometimes only barely, but it functions. In my experience, though, it?s best to have some mutual awareness and communication of what?s going on within a power differential, because in that case, it?s easier to be gentle and responsible with our partners.

    Lots of relationship formations are relevant to a discussion about power differentials: S&M play is the most obvious example, but there are also examples like cross-generational relationships, relationships where one partner has way more money than the other, etc. The important questions become: How does the partner in the more powerful position avoid abusing the other partner? How often is power a one-way street, anyway? Again, since S&M plays with power so blatantly, these questions are most often out in the open with S&Mers. For example, S&Mers are fond of saying that ?the submissive has all the real power,? what with safewords and all. But if a rich older man falls for and marries a beautiful but poor young woman, then is it always obvious that he has far more power? Does she, sometimes, merely wield a different kind of power?

    Outsiders are often quick to condemn such relationships. But these arrangements have always struck me as incredibly contextual; they?re dependent on how much genuine respect the partners have for each other, and the depth of their communication?as with any relationship.

    I see ?mixed-investment? relationships, where one partner is way more into the other, as part of this tapestry. For one thing, there?s the one-way street question: Does the person who?s less invested always have more power? Sometimes, the partner who?s less invested will spend so much time feeling anxious about hurting the other partner that they strongly limit their own actions.

    In all relationships containing a strong power differential, there?s a question of when (if ever) the ?powerful? partner has a responsibility to end things with the ?less powerful? partner. In the case of mixed-investment relationships, I think there often comes a point where the more ?powerful? partner can too easily abuse the other partner?s affections, and thus has a responsibility to end it. Detecting that point can be difficult, though.

    Often, this is complicated by the fact that a more-invested partner can tell that the other partner is less invested?and will become anxious about ?scaring them off.? Being in love with someone means wanting to spend time with them, and wanting to spare them pain. Say I?m totally in love with some guy who is Not That Into Me. If it?s obvious to me that showing a guy how much I like him could make him feel uncomfortable and cause him to limit his time with me, then my natural instinct will be to hide my investment.

    It?s easy to say that I ?should? be open about my feelings with him?but most of us have faced this choice before, and know how hard it is.

    Another complication is that sometimes, the relationship mismatch will change or flip over time. I chased my first boyfriend for years before he committed to me, but a few years after that, I was the one who dumped him and he was the one who was devastated.

    I?ve known people who felt that every time a relationship is uneven, it?s the more invested partner?s responsibility to end it. But again, if we place these relationships within a wider context, it becomes clear that they?re just another kind of relationship with a power differential. Like the others, it?s a question of communication and respect. If both partners respect and value each other, then a mixed-investment relationship doesn?t have to be a problem. The problems come in when partners aren?t transparent about their expectations, and don?t stay aware of what they need.

    So perhaps the best advice to give people in a mixed-investment relationship would be thoughts like:

    • Know what you want, and what you are willing to give.
    • If you want the relationship to develop further, and your partner makes it clear that it won?t, then perhaps it?s time to evaluate walking away.
    • If you don?t want the relationship to develop further, and your partner does, then making that clear is very important.
    • Relationships like these can often feel like a ?waste of time? to the more-invested partner. Are they? It?s a question each person should ask themselves.
    • Relationships like these can also be stressful on the less-invested partner. Are you worrying a lot about whether your partner?s feelings are too strong? That?s another question people can ask themselves.

    More thoughts are always welcome. How would you advise a person in a mixed-investment relationship?

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    Wednesday, June 27, 2012

    Broadway's 'Memphis' to close in August

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    Tuesday, June 26, 2012

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    Scientists set to reveal Hawking's 'brain hack'

    Ted S. Warren / AP

    To produce the words for text or speech, British physicist Stephen Hawking currently uses an infrared sensor mounted on his eyeglasses, visible here during an appearance this month in Seattle. The sensor picks up twitches from his cheek, which are translated into the desired letters or words. Hawking and neuroscientist Philip Low are experimenting with a system that can translate brain waves directly into text and speech.

    By Alan Boyle

    After months of tweaking, researchers are finally ready to show off a high-tech headband that can translate Stephen Hawking's brain waves into speech?? providing what could eventually become an easier avenue for the paralyzed British physicist and many others to share their deep thoughts.

    The system, developed by San Diego-based NeuroVigil and known as iBrain, uses a head-mounted receiver the size of a matchbox to pick up different types of brain waves. iBrain employs a computer algorithm called SPEARS to analyze the brain emanations and encode them for a text-based speech reader. Philip Low, NeuroVigil's founder, chairman and CEO, is to present the latest results from his work with Hawking on July 7 at a Cambridge conference on consciousness.


    "I haven't discussed doing a demonstration with Stephen, but we could do that, of course," Low told me today. During the conference, Low will be showing video clips of Hawking using the iBrain to communicate.

    For decades, Hawking has been coping with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disease that has left the theoretical physicist confined to a wheelchair and unable to move even his fingers. To write or speak, he currently uses an infrared sensor system mounted on his eyeglasses: His cheek twitches are read by the sensor to control a wheelchair-mounted computer system that slowly encodes the patterns of those twitches. It can take a half-hour for Hawking to twitch out a couple of sentences in response to a question.

    In an abstract prepared for next month's presentation, Low and Hawking describe how they worked out their technique for the iBrain system. Hawking (who is described as a "high-functioning 70-year-old ALS patient" in the abstract) was told to try moving one of his hands or feet ? for example, flexing his foot or scrunching his hand into a ball. The limbs didn't move, of course, but just thinking about trying to move them generated readable brain-wave patterns.

    Live Poll

    Are brainwave-reading devices super-cool or scary?

    • 186497

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      82%

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    VoteTotal Votes: 1975

    "The subject's brain activity demonstrated distinct broad-spectrum pulses extending to the gamma and ultra-high gamma ranges," the researchers wrote. "Such pulses were present in the absence of actual movement, and absent when the subject was not attempting motion."

    The abstract said Hawking's brain also buzzed with alpha brain waves when he closed his eyes, as expected.?Alpha waves are associated with wakeful relaxation, and are probably familiar to anyone who's undergone biofeedback training. Gamma waves, in contrast, are associated with increased attention?? and in the past have been linked to?activities ranging from running to learning.

    Lots of possibilities
    The fact that Hawking's brain signals could be read reliably is a good sign, not only for one of the world's best-known scientists but for hundreds of thousands of others around the world.?Low and Hawking say their work "opens the possibility to link intended movements to a library of words and convert them into speech, thus providing ALS sufferers with communication tools more dependent on the brain than on the body."

    Low told me that the brainwave-reading device could be used to control prosthetic devices "to give ALS sufferers mobility"?? sort of like a real-life version of the Stephen Hawking robotic exoskeleton proposed in an Onion parody 15 years ago.

    The iBrain device could have other applications, such as diagnosing sleep apnea, studying autism and monitoring other brain conditions. It's already been used in a clinical trial to monitor the effects of experimental drugs on brain activity. The U.S. military is also looking into how the device can help treat traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, which are big issues for combat veterans. Direct brain-to-speech communication, however, represents the highest-profile application, particularly when Stephen Hawking is involved.

    "We'd like to find a way to bypass his body, pretty much hack his brain," The Telegraph quoted Low as saying.

    The key question for Hawking is whether iBrain represents an improvement over the system he currently has. Back in April, the professor told The New York Times?that the project hadn't quite reached that point. "At the moment I think my cheek switch is faster ... but should the position change I will try Philip Low's system," he wrote in an email sent by an assistant.

    In that quote, Low said Hawking was talking about brain-computer interfaces in general, rather than specifically about iBrain. "What we are seeing is in fact an immediate response, so the question is going to be to productize this, so that he can communicate reliably should he lose control of his cheek muscles," he said.

    TEDMED via YouTube

    Neuroscientist Philip Low (at right) demonstrates how the iBrain device can send brain-wave readings to a cellphone with an subject who's wearing the headband (at left) during a TEDMED 2009 presentation. Click on the image to watch the YouTube clip.

    Personal quest
    Low said the iBrain project was already moving on to Version 2.0, and the iBrain 3 device is due to be built next year. "That will be about the size of a U.S. quarter," he told me. "People will be able to check their brain activity much like you or I can check our blood pressure."

    The 32-year-old, Vienna-born researcher's company has come a long way since its founding, which Low says he initially financed by putting $240,000 on his credit card. Someday, he hopes brain-monitoring systems will be used to pick up the signs of neurological problems early enough to do something about them. For Low, this is not just business. It's personal.

    "I would have loved to see this 20 years ago, when my father suffered from a side effect of a commonly used sleep drug," he told me. "He threatened someone with a weapon ... a gun, actually. And it destroyed our family."

    His father was eventually pardoned, but it took a long time to put everything back together. That experience led Low to look into the neurological basis of sleep, including experiments with bird brains. That was what led him to come up with the SPEARS algorithm in the first place.

    "It's very ironic that an algorithm I initially developed to analyze the brain patterns of birds has found its way to dealing with Stephen Hawking's brain patterns, the U.S. military and autistic children," he told me.?

    More about Stephen Hawking:


    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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    Rielle Hunter and John Edwards: It's Over!


    Less than a week after saying she was still together with John Edwards, Rielle Hunter now says she and the disgraced politician are no longer a couple.

    Apparently they broke up within the last few days.

    "We are a family, but as of the end of last week, John Edwards and I are no longer a couple," she said on today's Good Morning America. "Not at all."

    Rielle Hunter is CrazyJohn Edwards Lies

    Rielle Hunter, who has a daughter, Quinn, 4, with John, said she still loves the two-time presidential candidate, who was seen at her beach house last week.

    As for whether that feeling is mutual, "You have to ask him," said Hunter, whose covert relationship with Edwards was exposed and led to his political downfall.

    "I really think he does."

    "I fell in love with a married man and became something I wasn't in order to be with him," Hunter gushed last week, while promoting her new book.

    Rielle would not reveal who initiated the split with the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, only, "We decided to end it. It's hard. It's painful."

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    Brain structure helps guide behavior by anticipating changing demands

    ScienceDaily (June 24, 2012) ? Every day the human brain is presented with tasks ranging from the trivial to the complex. How much mental effort and attention are devoted to each task is usually determined in a split second and without conscious awareness. Now a study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers finds that a structure deep within the brain, believed to play an important role in regulating conscious control of goal-directed behavior, helps to optimize behavioral responses by predicting how difficult upcoming tasks will be. The report is receiving advance online publication in Nature.

    "The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), which lies deep beneath the outer layer of the frontal lobes, is part of an ancient and enigmatic part of the brain," says Emad Eskandar, MD, of the MGH Department of Neurosurgery, senior author of the Nature paper. "Some have speculated that it plays a role in detecting errors or monitoring for conflicting demands, but exactly how it contributes to regulating behavioral responses is unclear, so we used a variety of scientific techniques to get a better picture of its function."

    The study enrolled six participants who were scheduled to undergo cingulotomy -- a procedure in which a small, precisely placed lesion is created within the ACC -- to treat severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) that has not responded to other types of treatment. A standard part of the cingulotomy procedure involves microelectrode recordings of the activity of single neurons in the area where the lesion is to be placed. To evaluate dACC function, the investigators recorded brain activity from several neurons within the structure while participants performed a behavioral task testing their reactions to visual images.

    The task presented participants with a random series of images of three numerals, which could be 0, 1, 2, or 3. In each image, two of the numerals were identical. Participants responded by pressing one of three buttons, the position of which would indicate the identity of the number that was different, with the left button indicating 1, the middle 2 and the right button 3. Each image was ranked in difficulty depending on how much the position of the target numeral or the identity of the duplicate numerals might distract participants from the correct response. For example, when presented with 3-3-2, the correct response would be to press the middle button for number 2; and that image would be ranked more difficult than 3-2-3, in which both the target number and the correct button were in the same position.

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of four participants performing the behavioral task prior to the cingulotomy procedure revealed that the task increased metabolic activity within the dACC, a result seen in previous fMRI studies. The fMRI images also revealed that responding to more difficult images produced greater activity levels within the dACC and in other structures known to be involved in decision making. Intraoperative microelectrode recordings of all participants demonstrated that this apparent increase in metabolic activity corresponded with an increase in neuronal activity, linking for the first time the increased activation revealed by fMRI with increased neuronal firing.

    Analysis of individual neuron activity indicated that dACC neuronal activity remained elevated immediately after difficult trials. Moreover, participant reaction time revealed that the difficulty of the prior trial had an impact on the next trial: if the preceding trial was of the same level of difficulty, reaction time was shorter; if the two tests were of different difficulty levels -- even if the second test was easier -- reaction time was longer. By anticipating the difficulty of upcoming tasks, the authors note, it appears that the dACC speeds up responses when difficulty levels are constant but slows response time down when faced with changing demands in order to promote accuracy.

    While behavioral tests conducted after the cingulotomy procedure -- which destroys tissue within the dACC -- did not indicate a change in participants' ability to perform the test accurately, the impact of preceding trials on reaction time appeared to vanish. "Participants could still perform the task, but the dACC's role of priming the system based on immediate prior experience was gone," Eskandar explains. "We believe this result indicates an important role for the dACC in rapidly adjusting to different cognitive demands, possibly by recruiting other areas of the brain to solve particular problems."

    An associate professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Eskandar adds that, while significant cognitive changes have not been reported in patients undergoing cingulotomy, the apparent role of the dACC in adapting to changing situations implies a possible role for the structure in several psychiataric disorders. "A lack of behavior flexibility and adjustment is characteristic of OCD, for example. Whether or not our findings directly relate to these disorders remains to be determined, but we hope that continued study using complex tasks, such as the behavioral test used here, will be helpful in diagnosing or monitoring psychiatric disorders."

    Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


    Journal Reference:

    1. Sameer A. Sheth, Matthew K. Mian, Shaun R. Patel, Wael F. Asaad, Ziv M. Williams, Darin D. Dougherty, George Bush, Emad N. Eskandar. Human dorsal anterior cingulate cortex neurons mediate ongoing behavioural adaptation. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11239

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

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

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    Monday, June 25, 2012

    LastPass 2.0 Premium


    Getting something for nothing is great, but getting a lot for hardly anything is also pretty darn good. LastPass 2.0 Premium ($12 per year) costs less than a martini at a Manhattan bar. It offers all the amazing password management features of the free version of LastPass plus impressive additions to mobile security and multifactor authentication.

    Shared Features
    Do read my review of LastPass 2.0 (free, 5 stars) for full details on this program's amazing capabilities. It does virtually everything that any of its competitors can do, and then goes further, much further. I'll summarize here, briefly.

    Naturally LastPass handles capturing and playing back website login credentials. It's also very good at detecting password changes and new secure site signups. Its user interaction is very unobtrusive, and it successfully captures credentials from oddball login pages that throw the competition for a loop.

    LastPass can store one or more profiles of personal information and one or more credit cards. When you go to fill a Web form you can mix and match, choosing whichever profile and whichever credit card you like. The identities feature lets you filter which passwords and profiles are visible, so, for example, you can enable a subset of your data at work.

    Your encrypted data is stored online, so you can access it from any connected computer. In addition to passwords and personal data, LastPass will store secure notes. These can be formatted for specific data types such as driver's licenses and passports, and now can include attachments. Users of the free edition can store 50MB of files; upgrading to premium raises that to 1GB.

    The free edition includes several varieties of multifactor authentication, to secure your LastPass data more strongly than even a strong password can. It also includes free credit monitoring.

    Full Functionality with No Plug-in
    It's true that you can log into your LastPass Vault from any connected computer, but if you don't have the LastPass plugin installed it can't automatically fill your saved logins or capture new ones. The free edition offers bookmarklets for this situatoin, tiny JavaScript programs contained in a URL, but some may find using them a bit awkward.

    Enter IEAnywhere, a premium-only feature that lets you use LastPass without installing a plugin. Once you download and run the program you'll find a LastPass icon in the system tray. Click it to log in. You now have a full LastPass menu, including your tree of saved logins, that's rooted at the system tray instead of in a browser button.

    IEAnywhere also puts a tiny icon in one corner of the Internet Explorer window. From this icon's menu you can choose to fill in passwords or Web forms, generate secure passwords, and more. It's a nice solution for occasions when you want to use LastPass but don't have the permissions needed to actually install the plug-in.

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    Four States Could Be Election Game-Changers (WSJ)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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    Sunday, June 24, 2012

    Weight-losing Master - Weight loss Classifieds

    Free Classifieds Health & Fitness Weight Loss

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    Designed sophistically, this instrument conducts the bioelectricity through muscle to fat layer by electrode pads, forces the muscle to do non-oxygenic exercise. These vigorous and intermittently exercise advance the energy consumption and fat breaking process, promote waste excretion.

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    Exclusive: Paraguay leader to seek Lugo's help to ease impeachment tensions

    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

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    Saturday, June 23, 2012

    California voters narrowly reject new tobacco tax

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? A California initiative to increase the tax on tobacco to pay for cancer research has failed by less than a percentage point after remaining too close to call for more than two weeks.

    With about 5 million ballots cast, opponents of Proposition 29 led by about 28,000 votes. The Associated Press analyzed areas where the roughly 105,000 uncounted votes remain and determined Friday there were not enough places where "yes" was winning to overcome the deficit.

    Cyclist Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor, headed the plan to add $1 to the cigarette tax. Tobacco companies, led by Philip Morris, meanwhile pushed the opposition campaign, pouring millions of dollars into an advertising blitz that whittled away support. Polls showed approval peaked around two-thirds in March but fell dramatically in the weeks before the June 5 balloting.

    On Friday, the Prop 29 was failing 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent.

    Support for the initiative was strongest in the San Francisco Bay Area, while more conservative places like Southern California's Inland Empire opposed it.

    Had the measure passed, Californians would still have paid only the 16th highest tobacco tax in the nation, at $1.87 per pack.

    Proponents said they would be back.

    "This came so close, I think this is worth another try," said Stan Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. "I think it would be horrible if Philip Morris and Reynolds get away with this."

    He suggested that cigarette tax supporters might turn to the Legislature, though lawmakers routinely reject attempts to raise tobacco taxes.

    The opposition campaign will wait until all the votes have been counted before declaring victory, spokeswoman Beth Miller said.

    Opponents of the measure raised $47 million to fight it, a huge sum even by California standards. By comparison, Jerry Brown spent about $36 million in his successful 2010 bid to become governor of California. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his allies spent $47 million to beat back his recall challenge on June 5.

    Armstrong and a coalition of anti-smoking groups raised about $12 million to bolster the measure, including $500,000 from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

    In a statement Friday, Lance Armstrong Foundation President Doug Ulman framed the issue as one of life and death.

    "The defeat of this life-saving initiative is a genuine tragedy," he said. "Big Tobacco lied to voters to protect its profits and spent $50 million to ensure it can continue peddling its deadly products to California kids."

    While raising the price of tobacco is a proven way to reduce smoking rates, especially in young people, campaign ads sponsored by tobacco companies focused on pocketbook issues. The ads noted money would be raised in California through the tax but wouldn't necessarily stay in the state for research. The campaign also raised the specter of an out-of-control bureaucracy that would be set up to oversee collection and distribution of the money.

    The strategy didn't just stir doubt in the minds of voters.

    Several major newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, opposed the measure while expressing general support for such sin taxes and reluctance to side with tobacco companies. They argued that the revenue should go directly to the state, which now faces a $15.2 billion deficit.

    The result was reminiscent a 2006 California cigarette tax measure that led by wide margins in early polling until tobacco companies spent $66 million to defeat it with ads featuring physicians.

    It was unclear Friday whether the failure of Prop 29 constituted the narrowest defeat of a statewide ballot measure in California's history. Previously, the closest vote in the past two decades was on school bond measure 1B in 1994, which failed 49.6 percent to 50.4, according to Secretary of State spokeswoman Shannan Velayas. The second closest was another tobacco tax measure, which passed 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent in 1998.

    California was once at the forefront of smoking restrictions and taxes, but the famously health-conscious state has not raised tobacco taxes since 1998.

    Missouri voters are expected to weigh in on a tobacco tax increase in November and similar taxes are working their way through the legislative process in the Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Illinois.

    The overwhelming majority of recent tobacco taxes across the nation have been approved in statehouses, not at the polls.

    Associated Press

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    Microsoft Surface to Start at $599 for RT Model, $999 for Pro Model?

    This entry needs translation. To help us and submit a translation please click here

    Microsoft has not announced pricing for its new Surface tablet; however, a new report from TNW claims they will start at $599 for the RT model and $999 for the Pro model.

    Today, a source close to Microsoft has provided us with corroboration of rumored Microsoft Surface pricing, putting the Tegra 3 powered RT model at $599 retail and the Ivy Bridge packing Windows 8 Pro model at $999 retail.

    A report from Bloomberg earlier today predicts the Surface will launch with Wi-Fi only. This means the RT model could match the price of the 32GB Wi-Fi iPad at the $599 price. While the RT device doesn't have a Retina Display it apparently will come with the touch keyboard cover.

    Microsoft's 'about' page for the Surface definitely appears to indicate that, stating that "Surface comes with an integrated Kickstand and a revolutionary, 3mm thin, pressure sensitive cover that doubles as a fully functioning keyboard and trackpad."

    Read More

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    'Manly' Hormone Turns Women onto Masturbation (But Not Sex)

    Testosterone is often cast as the manly hormone, the chemical bestower of virility and the reason for men's high sex drives. But new research turns this conventional wisdom on its head. In healthy men, it turns out, testosterone isn't linked to sexual desire at all. And in women, high testosterone is actually associated with less interest in sex with a partner.

    Complicating the picture further, while high-testosterone women may be less interested in slipping between the sheets with a lover, high testosterone is linked to greater interest in masturbation in healthy women, according to research detailed online in May in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

    The findings are unique because most studies of sexual desire and hormones use either animal subjects or focus on people with abnormally low or high testosterone who come into clinics for treatment, said study researcher Sari van Anders, a behavioral neuroendocrinologist at the University of Michigan. Healthy individuals are rarely studied, van Anders told LiveScience.

    "People have argued that sex research focuses too much on dysfunction and pharmaceutical treatment as opposed to questions like pleasure or relationships or stress," van Anders said. "There is a whole scope of factors that go unstudied." [Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom & Beyond]

    Delving into desire

    When people do study factors such as stress and body image regarding people's sex lives, they rarely look at hormonal influences at the same time. That's what van Anders did differently. She recruited volunteers from university classes and community fliers to fill out questionnaires on their relationships, their stress and moods, and their own feelings about their bodies and sexuality. These questions were designed to get at factors that influence people's sex lives: How happy are you, generally? How stressed? Are you self-conscious about your body during sex?

    The 196 volunteers (105 men and 91 women) also answered questions about how frequently they had partnered sex and masturbated, and how frequently they had the desire to masturbate or to have sex with a partner.

    People tend to think of desire as a single phenomenon, but the desire to have sex may come from a different place than the desire to masturbate, van Anders said.

    "When you're feeling sexual desire for a partner there might be other factors that play into that, for example, how you felt about that partner that day, how attracted you feel to that partner, how attractive you feel to that partner, your relationship and things like that," van Anders said. [6 Great Things Sex Can Do For You]

    Solitary desire, on the other hand, may be more internal and less influenced by social factors like relationship satisfaction, she said.

    Testosterone and libido

    Each study participant gave a saliva sample for hormonal analysis. Van Anders measured testosterone as well as cortisol, a hormone released in times of stress (a surefire libido-killer).

    She then compared low-versus-high testosterone participants and their self-reported levels of desire. In men, she found, levels of testosterone had nothing to do with how much guys thought about sex, solitary or partnered.

    Multiple studies have found that men generally desire sex more frequently than women. And men also produce more testosterone than women. These two facts have led to the belief that testosterone is the reason for the desire, van Anders said. But that idea is based on animal studies and studies of men who produce extreme, abnormally low levels of testosterone. In men in the healthy range, an extra spurt of the "macho hormone" doesn't seem to influence interest in getting busy. [Top 10 Aphrodisiacs]

    "In this regular, healthy range of testosterone, it's high enough that the variations aren't what's driving any changes," van Anders said. (There have been studies, though very few, showing similar results.)

    Things get a bit more complicated on the female side. Women with higher testosterone reported less desire for partnered sex. It may seem strange, but the finding fits with previous evidence, van Anders said. For example, women in long-term relationships have been shown to have lower testosterone. It could be that their partner desire relates to a need to be close and connected as opposed to simply a need for pleasure, van Anders said.

    Alternatively, higher testosterone might reflect higher stress in women. Testosterone is secreted by the adrenal glands, which go into overdrive during stressful times.

    Solitary sexual desire, on the other hand, was higher in the higher-testosterone women, such that the 27 women in the study who reported no desire to masturbate at all had lower testosterone than the women who said they sometimes felt desire to masturbate. The finding bolsters the idea that desire for a partner is more influenced by social factors, van Anders said, while solitary desire is more innate.

    Gender differences

    Next, van Anders looked into the burning question of why men, on average, want sex more often than the average woman. Sure enough, she found that testosterone was not the culprit. Levels of this hormone did not explain the differences in desire between men and women.

    The only factor that did link to gender differences was masturbation. Men masturbated more than women and reported more sexual desire (with a partner and solitary). Women masturbated less, and reported less desire.

    There's no way to tell from this research whether the desire or the masturbation comes first. But there are intriguing hints that perhaps the difference in masturbation habits could explain the desire gap, van Anders said. Sex therapists often tell low-desire patients to try starting sex or masturbation even if they feel uninterested. Often, the desire follows.?

    Though female masturbation has become less taboo, it is still somewhat stigmatized compared to male masturbation, van Anders said. It's possible that women simply don't practice revving up their desires as much as men do.

    "The idea is that if women don't feel comfortable with their genitals and masturbating, and if they don't think it's okay and refrain from doing it and don't express their desires, after a while, the desire might change as well," van Anders said.

    The next step, van Anders said, is to get a better handle on the concept of desire, focusing on social factors and not just pharmaceutical fixes for low libidos. People often think that the desire comes first and drives people to seek out sexual pleasure, she said. In reality, desire is a lot like hunger, she said. You might eat because you're starving, or because you're bored, or because it's 6:30 p.m. and that's when you have dinner.

    "When you're saying you desire sexuality with another person, what are you desiring and are people desiring different things sometimes?" van Anders said. "Are some people more desiring to be with their partner, to give their partner pleasure, to have a routine, or for their own pleasure?"

    Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

    Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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    Taliban storm lakeside hotel in Kabul, 18 dead

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