Biden asks Ecuador president to nix Snowden asylum

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa sings during his weekly live broadcast "Enlace Ciudadano," or "Citizen Link," in Manta, Ecuador, Saturday, June 29, 2013. While the Ecuadorean government appeared angry over U.S. threats of punishment if it accepts U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, there were also mixed signals about how eager it was to grant asylum. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa sings during his weekly live broadcast "Enlace Ciudadano," or "Citizen Link," in Manta, Ecuador, Saturday, June 29, 2013. While the Ecuadorean government appeared angry over U.S. threats of punishment if it accepts U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, there were also mixed signals about how eager it was to grant asylum. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, holding microphone, sings with a band and a supporter before the start of his his weekly broadcast "Enlace Ciudadano," or "Citizen Link" in Manta, Ecuador, Saturday, June 29, 2013. While the Ecuadorean government appeared angry over U.S. threats of punishment if it accepts U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, there were also mixed signals about how eager it was to grant asylum. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vice President Joe Biden has asked Ecuador to turn down an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, the country's president said Saturday.

Rafael Correa, in a weekly television address, offered little sympathy for the Obama administration's view that Snowden is a criminal who should be swiftly returned to the U.S. At the same time, he vowed to seek American input on any asylum request and suggested Snowden will have to answer for his actions.

The Friday phone call between Correa and Biden ? it's the highest-level conversation between the U.S. and Ecuador to be disclosed since Snowden began seeking asylum ? added to the confusion about Snowden's status. Facing espionage charges in the U.S., Snowden is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport's transit zone and seeking safe passage to Ecuador, the country seen as likeliest to shelter America's most wanted fugitive.

Julian Assange, founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, has been given asylum in Ecuador's embassy in London.

Correa said he had a "friendly and very cordial" conversation with Biden, and told the vice president that Ecuador hadn't sought to be put in the situation of deciding whether to harbor an American justice-dodger. He said Ecuador can't consider the asylum request until Snowden is on Ecuadorean soil.

"The moment that he arrives, if he arrives, the first thing is we'll ask the opinion of the United States, as we did in the Assange case with England," Correa said. "But the decision is ours to make."

White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan confirmed that the two leaders spoke by phone Friday and discussed Snowden, but she wouldn't disclose any details about the conversation.

A staunch critic of the U.S., Correa rebuked the Obama administration for hypocrisy, invoking the case of brothers Roberto and William Isaias, bankers whose extradition from the U.S. Correa said Ecuador has been seeking. "Let's be consistent. Have rules for everyone, because that is a clear double-standard here," he said.

The leftist leader sought to direct attention away from Snowden's actions and back to the U.S. spying secrets he exposed, summoning a theme he's invoked to the delight of his strongest backers since Snowden, a former NSA contractor, revealed the agency's massive Internet and phone surveillance to two newspapers, fleeing all the while from Hong Kong to Moscow in evasion of U.S. authorities.

"The really grave thing is what Snowden has reported," Correa said. "He will have to assume his responsibilities, but the grave thing is his reporting of the biggest massive spy operation in the history of humanity, inside and outside the United States."

Ecuadorean officials have acknowledged its embassy in London issued Snowden a letter of safe passage that calls on other countries to allow him to travel to asylum in Ecuador. But Ecuador's secretary of political management, Betty Tola, said the letter was invalid because it was issued without central government approval in Quito, the capital.

Obama and his aides have tempered their rhetoric about Snowden in recent days after more heated attempts to pressure China and Russia over his extradition raised tensions with those nations, threatening to undercut cooperation with the two major powers on other issues.

But Ecuador has seemed to delight in tweaking the U.S. over the issue, accusing America of human rights violations and blowing off warnings about how the U.S. might respond if Ecuador doesn't cooperate.

After the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., on Wednesday threatened an effort to block renewal of Ecuador's tariff benefits on hundreds of millions of dollars in trade, Ecuador preemptively renounced the benefits themselves, claiming the trade deal had become "a new instrument of blackmail."

As for Biden, Correa suggested it wasn't personal. He praised the vice president for being more courteous than "those badly behaved and confused ones in the Senate who threaten our country."

___

Torres reported from Quito, Ecuador.

___

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

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-29-US-NSA-Surveillance-Biden/id-8abd88fd20794bebb09563cc89fa7028

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The pain of mining austerity: 7000 Queensland coal jobs gone

Roughly 7000 coal sector jobs have disappeared from the Australian state of Queensland in just over a year, The Courier-Mail reported Saturday.

"New market realities" including collapsing commodity prices, slowing Asian demand and?diminishing profits?have prompted many of the world's mining giants to engage in rapid, drastic cost-cutting programs.

Cuts by Vale, Peabody and Glencore Xstrata have sent waves throughout the industry and into numerous services sectors, resulting in thousands of job losses.

Unsurprisingly, the mining companies are now targets of increasing resentment and criticism, particularly from mining unions.

Local union leaders in Queensland are calling the aggressive cuts "a shortsighted approach:"

"Since Glencore merged with Xstrata last month, the company had demonstrated a ruthless and short-term approach to cost-cutting," said vice president of CFMEU.

Over 1,000 coal mining jobs were cut last week alone in Australia?s coal sector, once one of the main drivers of Down Under?s earlier resource boom.

Thermal coal, used for power generation, has dropped more than 30% in the last two years to around $80 per tonne. And prices for coking coal, a key ingredient in steelmaking, have plummeted nearly 40% in the last year to roughly $130 per tonne.

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Source: http://www.mining.com/the-pain-of-mining-austerity-7000-queensland-coal-jobs-gone-75966/

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GIFs of the Week: June 24-28, 2013

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/gifs-of-the-week-june-24-28-2013

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'Nobody's going to Geneva,' White Rock mayor touts lower expenses

In his first full year leading the city, White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin claimed a third more in expenses than that claimed by his predecessor, Catherine Ferguson, in her last year at the helm.

According to a June 24 report from the city?s financial services director, Baldwin ? who was elected mayor in November 2011 ? claimed $9,831 in expenses last year. Ferguson claimed $6,960 in 2011, prior to Baldwin?s election in November, and just $3,248 in 2010, her last full year.

Baldwin told Peace Arch News the difference was likely due to Ferguson not being able to attend as many conferences.

Last year, those included the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Saskatoon and the Union of BC Municipalities in Victoria, along with events ?that I get invited to all the time, but cost a lot of money.?

?I don?t think it?s too high,? he said of the total charged to taxpayers. ?If you compare it to, say, Dianne (Watts?) in Surrey, mine is not very high. We go to the same stuff pretty much, except she goes to China and whatnot.?

At the council meeting, Baldwin noted the combined expenses of all seven of the city?s politicians ($26,054) was less than that reported by some individual Surrey council members. Watts alone charged $28,724.

?Nobody?s going to Geneva,? Baldwin quipped, an apparent reference to Watts? $2,807 trip to attend a mayors? conference in Switzerland.

Baldwin?s remuneration for 2012 was $59,023. Couns. Al Campbell, Helen Fathers, Louise Hutchinson and Larry Robinson were each paid $28,689 (up from $27,568 in 2011); Coun. Grant Meyer was paid $28,200. Meyer attributed his lesser pay to changes in the deputy-mayor schedule.

Coun. Bill Lawrence ??who won his seat in November?s byelection to replace the late Mary-Wade Anderson ? earned $2,775; Anderson, who died in June 2012, earned $12,440.

Following Baldwin, Hutchinson claimed the next highest in expenses ($4,030). Fathers was next ($3,876); then Robinson ($3,424), Meyer ($2,327), Campbell ($1,821), Anderson ($720) and Lawrence ($25).

Remuneration to city staff last year totalled $9,065,491.

Highest-paid was the city?s director of financial services, Sandra Kurylo, who received $144,341, followed by fire Chief Phil Lemire ($134,226), city manager Dan Bottrill ($133,105) and director of development services Paul Stanton ($128,544).

(Totals for Kurylo, Lemire and Stanton include pay for unused vacation and banked time.)

Bottrill?s pay represents his first 9? months with the city. He took over as city manager in mid-March of last year, following the sudden retirement of Peggy Clark, whose compensation had been a campaign issue for Baldwin. According to city documents, Clark received $185,760 in her last year as city manager.

Director of municipal operations Greg St. Louis ? whose predecessor?s wages were also criticized by Baldwin ? was not listed in the report, which included only remuneration greater than $75,000. St. Louis began working for the city July 30.

The staffer claiming the most in expenses for 2012 was Lemire, at $5,756, followed by web technician Ying Lin ($4,763); deputy fire Chief Bob Schlase ($3,909); and Kurylo ($3,710).

Figures were released as part of the city?s financial statement for the year ending Dec. 31, 2012.

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Source: http://www.peacearchnews.com/news/213589051.html

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Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/06/27/cm4-q-card-case-will-protect-your-samsung-galaxy-s4-and-your-credit-cards/

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Brussels army of 'slave' trainees escapes EU gaze

By Anders Melin

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - When Alex Godson accepted his first unpaid internship in Brussels after receiving a master's degree in international relations from the University of Manchester, he believed a full-time position was just a few months away.

But Godson bounced from one low-paid traineeship to another for three years before finally landing a proper job in May at the European Movement International, a Brussels-based group that lobbies for a federal Europe.

He is just one of the thousands of young graduates who toil on the Brussels treadmill without job security, benefits or sometimes even a salary under the noses of European Union leaders meeting this week to declare war on youth unemployment.

"When you're just rolling from one unpaid traineeship to another, you're not on a path to anywhere," said Godson, who had to rely on his parents for money. "There's always that intern in the office, and you're just the person holding that position at the moment."

EU leaders have pledged to ensure that every young European who is out of work will be offered a proper job, training or an apprenticeship within four months. They will announce more money to back that drive on Friday.

But if they just look around them, they will see plenty of unpaid or underpaid youth slaving away in Europe's engine room.

Often dependent on grants or donations that shrink when the economy turns down, the many non-governmental organizations and think-tanks in Brussels have become increasingly reliant on short-term hires.

Graduates trying to build a CV make a good fit - young, ambitious and willing to put in long hours at very low pay.

LOW PAY, NO PAY

The European Commission offers some 1,400 sought-after five-month traineeships a year with a 1,074 euros monthly salary that is top tier, according to Sophia Kabir, a representative for the networking organization Young Professionals in Foreign Policy.

This so-called "stage", French for work experience, is often the first rung on an EU career ladder. Yet the pay is well below the Belgian minimum wage requirement of 1,500 euros per month. Many other advertised positions offer monthly stipends of a few hundred euros and sometimes nothing at all.

Valentina Mat, with a master's degree in international politics from the University of London, received just eight euros a day in food allowance when she worked for a Brussels-based international development organization for a year.

"Even in the offices of some members of the parliament there are trainees employed who are paid very little or nothing at all," Franz Obermayr, an Austrian member of the European Parliament, complained in a letter to the legislature's president, Martin Schulz.

Traineeships are supposed to provide training, but the line between that and actual employment is often blurred.

Caritas Europa, an umbrella organization for Roman Catholic charities that champions social justice, advertises three-month unpaid advocacy internships for which candidates are required to have a bachelor's or master's degree in law or politics, fluency in English and French, reporting skills, "excellent" IT skills and prior experience working in or with EU institutions - a list arguably fit for a full-time employee.

Peter Verhaege, the group's migration officer, told Reuters that while resources are thin, giving young people experience is "the least we can do."

Not everyone agrees.

"It's modern slavery," Kabir said. "People in my generation are struggling to understand their market value."

(Reporting By Anders Melin; Editing by Paul Taylor)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brussels-army-slave-trainees-escapes-eu-gaze-173908636.html

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Helping SAD sufferers sleep soundly

Public release date: 27-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: B. Rose Huber
rhuber@pitt.edu
412-624-4356
University of Pittsburgh

Pitt-led study shows that SAD sufferers, like insomniacs, misreport sleep patterns due to depression

PITTSBURGHLying awake in bed plagues everyone occasionally, but for those with seasonal affective disorder, sleeplessness is routine. University of Pittsburgh researchers report in the Journal of Affective Disorders that individuals with seasonal affective disorder (SAD)a winter depression that leads to loss of motivation and interest in daily activitieshave misconceptions about their sleep habits similar to those of insomniacs. These findings open the door for treating seasonal affective disorder similar to the way doctors treat insomnia.

Kathryn Roecklein, primary investigator and assistant professor in Pitt's Department of Psychology within the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, along with a team of researchers from Pitt's School of Medicine and Reyerson University, investigated why, according to a previously published sleep study by the University of California, Berkeley, individuals with seasonal affective disorder incorrectly reported that they slept four more hours a night in the winter.

"We wondered if this misreporting was a result of depression symptoms like fatigue and low motivation, prompting people to spend more time in bed," said Roecklein. "And people with seasonal affective disorder have depression approximately five months a year, most years. This puts a significant strain on a person's work life and home life."

Roecklein and her team interviewed 147 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 living in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area during the winters of 2011 and 2012. Data was collected through self-reported questionnaires and structured clinical interviews in which participants were asked such questions as: "In the past month, have you been sleeping more than usual?" and "How many hours, on average, have you been sleeping in the past month? How does that compare to your normal sleep duration during the summer?"

In order to understand participants' ideas about sleep, Roecklein's team asked them to respond to questions such as "I need at least 8 hours of sleep to function the next day" and "Insomnia is dangerous for health" on a scale from 0 to 7, where 7 means "strongly agree" and 0 means "disagree completely."

Roecklein and her team found that SAD participants' misconceptions about sleep were similar to the "unhelpful beliefs" or personal misconceptions about sleep that insomniacs often hold. Due to depression, individuals with SAD, like those with insomnia, may spend more time resting in bed, but not actually sleepingleading to misconceptions about how much they sleep. These misconceptions, said Roecklein, play a significant role in sleep cognition for those with seasonal affective disorder.

"We predict that about 750,000 people in the Pittsburgh metro area suffer from seasonal affective disorder, making this an important issue for our community and the economic strength and vitality of our city," said Roecklein. "If we can properly treat this disorder, we can significantly lower the number of sufferers in our city."

Roecklein's research data suggests that addressing, understanding, and managing these "unhelpful beliefs" about sleep by way of psychotherapy could lead to improved treatments for seasonal affective disorder. One of the most effective treatment options for insomnia, said Roecklein, is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (known as CBT-I), which aims to help people take control of their thinking to improve their sleep habits as well as mood, behavior, and emotions.

Roecklein's next research project aims to improve treatment for seasonal affective disorder by studying light perception and biological clock synchronization. Light from the environment synchronizes internal biological rhythms with the timing of dawn and dusk, which naturally changes with the seasons. This synchronization allows people to be awake and alert during the day and to sleep at night. Roecklein will examine whether people with seasonal affective disorder perceive this light from the environment differently because of changes in the function of neurological pathways from the eye to the brain. This could help uncover reasons why people suffer from seasonal affective disorder and could suggest new treatment options.

###

Roecklein's research team included, Peter L. Franzen and Brant P. Hasler of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, Pitt psychology graduate student Patrica M. Wong, and Colleen E. Carney from Reyerson University's Department of Psychology.

Their paper, "The Role of Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep in Seasonal and Nonseasonal Mood Disorder, and Nondepressed Controls" was originally published online May 23 in the Journal of Affective Disorders. This work was partially supported by a National Institutes of Health grant.

6/27/13/mab/cjhm

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 27-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: B. Rose Huber
rhuber@pitt.edu
412-624-4356
University of Pittsburgh

Pitt-led study shows that SAD sufferers, like insomniacs, misreport sleep patterns due to depression

PITTSBURGHLying awake in bed plagues everyone occasionally, but for those with seasonal affective disorder, sleeplessness is routine. University of Pittsburgh researchers report in the Journal of Affective Disorders that individuals with seasonal affective disorder (SAD)a winter depression that leads to loss of motivation and interest in daily activitieshave misconceptions about their sleep habits similar to those of insomniacs. These findings open the door for treating seasonal affective disorder similar to the way doctors treat insomnia.

Kathryn Roecklein, primary investigator and assistant professor in Pitt's Department of Psychology within the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, along with a team of researchers from Pitt's School of Medicine and Reyerson University, investigated why, according to a previously published sleep study by the University of California, Berkeley, individuals with seasonal affective disorder incorrectly reported that they slept four more hours a night in the winter.

"We wondered if this misreporting was a result of depression symptoms like fatigue and low motivation, prompting people to spend more time in bed," said Roecklein. "And people with seasonal affective disorder have depression approximately five months a year, most years. This puts a significant strain on a person's work life and home life."

Roecklein and her team interviewed 147 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 living in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area during the winters of 2011 and 2012. Data was collected through self-reported questionnaires and structured clinical interviews in which participants were asked such questions as: "In the past month, have you been sleeping more than usual?" and "How many hours, on average, have you been sleeping in the past month? How does that compare to your normal sleep duration during the summer?"

In order to understand participants' ideas about sleep, Roecklein's team asked them to respond to questions such as "I need at least 8 hours of sleep to function the next day" and "Insomnia is dangerous for health" on a scale from 0 to 7, where 7 means "strongly agree" and 0 means "disagree completely."

Roecklein and her team found that SAD participants' misconceptions about sleep were similar to the "unhelpful beliefs" or personal misconceptions about sleep that insomniacs often hold. Due to depression, individuals with SAD, like those with insomnia, may spend more time resting in bed, but not actually sleepingleading to misconceptions about how much they sleep. These misconceptions, said Roecklein, play a significant role in sleep cognition for those with seasonal affective disorder.

"We predict that about 750,000 people in the Pittsburgh metro area suffer from seasonal affective disorder, making this an important issue for our community and the economic strength and vitality of our city," said Roecklein. "If we can properly treat this disorder, we can significantly lower the number of sufferers in our city."

Roecklein's research data suggests that addressing, understanding, and managing these "unhelpful beliefs" about sleep by way of psychotherapy could lead to improved treatments for seasonal affective disorder. One of the most effective treatment options for insomnia, said Roecklein, is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (known as CBT-I), which aims to help people take control of their thinking to improve their sleep habits as well as mood, behavior, and emotions.

Roecklein's next research project aims to improve treatment for seasonal affective disorder by studying light perception and biological clock synchronization. Light from the environment synchronizes internal biological rhythms with the timing of dawn and dusk, which naturally changes with the seasons. This synchronization allows people to be awake and alert during the day and to sleep at night. Roecklein will examine whether people with seasonal affective disorder perceive this light from the environment differently because of changes in the function of neurological pathways from the eye to the brain. This could help uncover reasons why people suffer from seasonal affective disorder and could suggest new treatment options.

###

Roecklein's research team included, Peter L. Franzen and Brant P. Hasler of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, Pitt psychology graduate student Patrica M. Wong, and Colleen E. Carney from Reyerson University's Department of Psychology.

Their paper, "The Role of Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep in Seasonal and Nonseasonal Mood Disorder, and Nondepressed Controls" was originally published online May 23 in the Journal of Affective Disorders. This work was partially supported by a National Institutes of Health grant.

6/27/13/mab/cjhm

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uop-hss062713.php

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Student Aid Loans and Repayment | Better Financial Education Blog

Student aid for education may be confusing. How do you avoid?all that?student aid?confusion to begin with? Save enough for college so you don?t need it.

But, that may not be practical for many. How do you prepare yourself, or your children, for the financial aspects of a college education? What kinds of aid are there? Who gets aid? How do you apply for aid? How do you avoid student aid scams? How do you estimate how much aid you may get? And after you?finish with your education ? how do you pay it back (what programs are there to help you)?

Answers to all these questions are found consolidated on one government website. Simply click on the tab that represents where you are in the process and go from there.

About Larry Frank, Sr.

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Source: http://blog.betterfinancialeducation.com/scam-theft/student-aid-loans-and-repayment/

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ExtremeTech ? Microsoft's Xbox 180 won't inhibit online-only games ...

Microsoft came out beating the drum for cloud services and restrictive online requirements when it announced the Xbox One at the end of May. Since then, Redmond has completely flip-flopped on its online requirements and used game restrictions, but the Xbox Live Cloud service hasn?t been harmed in the process. Even though the Xbox One won?t require you to connect to the internet, individual games on the platform most certainly will.

With the launch of the Xbox One, Microsoft will be making Xbox Live Cloud services available to game developers. ?Cloud? is obviously a very nebulous term used in marketing speak, but it has real benefits to both developers and gamers alike. Over 300,000 servers worldwide can be allocated dynamically in service of both multiplayer and single-player games. Sure, the Xbox Live Cloud can work as online storage for game assets, but it?s much more than that. By offering server-side computation as well, Microsoft?s ubiquitous cloud offering gives developers affordable tools that they just didn?t have in previous generations.

Jon Shiring, an engineer at Respawn Entertainment, took to his company?s blog to speak about the benefits of the Xbox Live Cloud. In detail, Shiring explains the problems that go along with having player-hosted game servers, and why having affordable dynamically scaling dedicated servers is a huge benefit for multiplayer games. Microsoft?s Azure-based Xbox Live Cloud allows developers like Respawn to improve AI, remove unfair player advantages, speed up matchmaking, and dedicate all resources on the local machine to improve the visuals and frame rate.

Since Respawn?s game Titanfall is effectively multiplayer-only, it requires an always-on internet connection. Despite the fact that Microsoft is publicly slinking away from internet requirements, some games on the Xbox One will still demand an internet connection to function at all. Obviously, the benefits Microsoft originally laid out for its Xbox Live Cloud service can and will thrive in this ecosystem.

Single-player games will definitely benefit as well. Computation-intensive sections of a game, like large dynamic backgrounds, can be handled in the cloud while latency-sensitive portions like aiming and damage calculations can happen in real-time on the console itself. For example, a developer could use the cloud to render an accurate depiction of what the night sky looks like where you live while the console itself has more resources freed up to improve moment-to-moment gameplay.

Fundamentally, the fact that Microsoft is offering cheap access to cloud storage and computing for all participating developers is a win for everyone. This initiative lets developers expand game worlds, takes a substantial load off of the Xbox One?s CPU and GPU, and has the added benefit (for Microsoft) of keeping most people connected to the internet for all of these features. The Xbox One will need an internet connection for a nontrivial amount of games, and that?s okay. Provided the gaming industry learned its lesson about failing gracefully from the SimCity debacle, the Xbox One could have a significant edge over PS4 if the Xbox Live Cloud delivers on its promises.

Now read: Microsoft reverses Xbox One always-on policies, but removes positive features in process

[Image credit: Microsoft & Respawn]

Source: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/159653-microsofts-xbox-180-wont-inhibit-online-only-games-on-the-xbox-one

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Nelson Mandela's daughter to NBC News: 'I can't stress enough what a fighter he is'

Ben Curtis / AP

Zindzi Mandela, right, receives a hug from an unidentified woman as she arrives Wednesday at the Pretoria hospital where he father is being treated.

By Marian Smith, Cheryll Simpson and F. Brinley Bruton, NBC News

PRETORIA - Nelson Mandela ?is not going to go anywhere anytime soon,? one of the anti-apartheid icon's daughters told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

Speaking to Special Correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Zindzi Mandela said her father was "very comfortable" and "responding" as he battles a lung infection at a Pretoria hospital.

NBC's Keir Simmons shares the latest of the condition of the South African president.

?His whole legacy is about fighting,? she said. ?I can't stress enough what a fighter he is. He?s a strong man. He's about resilience.?

When asked whether the family would welcome a visit by President Barack Obama, who is due to visit South Africa this weekend, Mandela said she wasn't aware of any formal request but added that decision would be left with doctors treating the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

She described Mandela's condition as "typical for a 94-year-old man whose health is frail."

"He is with us," Mandela added.

Meanwhile, Mandela's eldest daughter said he appeared to be able to hear family members.

Speaking to SABC radio, Makaziwe Mandela said: "I?won't lie, it doesn't look good. But as I say, if we speak to him, he responds and tries to open his eyes. He's still there. He might be waning off, but he's still there."

Other members of the former South African president's family thanked well-wishers around the world for their support.

President Barrack Obama has said in the last hour that his thoughts and prayers are with Nelson Mandela's family. They have been at the 94 year old's bedside in hospital in Pretoria this morning, where he is still in a critical condition. His granddaughter, though, did tell reporters awaiting news outside the hospital that he is "stable." ITV's Neil Connery reports.

?Sometimes it is very hard for all of us in the family,? said Swati Dlamini, one of Mandela?s 17 grandchildren. ?We just appreciate that he?s loved.?

Relatives collected flowers from outside the hospital on Thursday. A choir prayed and sang outside the building, as other?people arrived to deliver bouquets and messages of support for the 94-year-old. By late afternoon, a crowd of about 1,000 people had gathered nearby.

Earlier, one family member described Mandela's condition as "stable." However, presidential spokesman Mac?Maharaj told reporters that the condition remained "critical."

Mandela has already spent 20 days in the hospital, his fourth hospitalization in six months.?

Earlier, President Jacob Zuma canceled a trip to Mozambique?in an indication of heightened concern about Mandela,?who is?widely regarded as the father of the nation and?whose health deteriorated last weekend.

In a statement, Zuma said that Mandela was "much better" Thursday than he had been the previous night.

"The medical team continues to do a sterling job," he added.

NBC News' Rohit Kachroo and Reuters contributed to this report.

/

View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.

Related:

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This story was originally published on Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:30 AM EDT

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Barnes and Noble posts $119 million loss in Q4 2013, will partner with third party on future Nook tablets

Barnes and Noble has not had an easy go of it. The brick-and-mortar stalwart has seen its revenues and profits steeply decline as we've entered the age of the e-book. In fact, profits haven't just shrunk; they've disappeared. During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, the company suffered a net loss of $118.6 million, down significantly from the already poor showing it posted in 2012 when it lost $56.9 million in Q4. For the year, that put Barnes and Noble's losses at $154.8 million -- more than double what it lost in 2012. Revenues have dropped both at retail outlets and its Nook digital business by $105 million and $56 million, respectively year-over-year. For its e-reader and ebook arm, that represents a 34 percent drop from Q4 2012. The bad news there is that device sales have declined dramatically and, while content sales were up for the year, in the fourth quarter they fell by 8.9 percent. Barnes and Noble attributes the year-over-year fall in sales to be attributed to the lack of blockbuster titles. In Q4 2012 revenues were boosted by juggernauts like Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games.

Going forward Barnes and Noble wants to significantly cut its losses on the struggling Nook business. To do that the company will be partnering with an as yet unnamed third party to manufacture and co-brand its tablet line. The Nook line of e-readers will continue to be designed and built in-house, but the retailer will be looking beyond its Manhattan office walls for help with the flailing Nook HD line. Existing products will be supported for the foreseeable future, however, so don't go tossing your Robert Brunner-designed slate in the trash just yet. If you'd like more detail, check out the PR after the break.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/25/barnes-and-noble-posts-119-million-loss/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Terrance Roberts, Former Denver Blood: 'I Know Hundreds Of People Who Have Been Shot' (VIDEO)

In March, The Huffington Post began talking to teens and adults throughout the U.S. about their experiences with gun violence. This is one individual's story. You can read others here.

Two of the bloodiest mass shootings in American history have struck one state: the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and the Aurora movie-theater shooting in 2012, both in Colorado. But the tragedies often overshadow the everyday gun violence of Colorado's gang activity, particularly in Denver.

"I honestly can't answer how many people I've known that have been shot or killed because I've known so many people," Terrance Roberts, a former Park Hill Blood gang member and now a leading anti-gang activist, told The Huffington Post. "It was a real war."

Beyond the tragic Aurora shooting, last year again saw a surge of gun violence, some of it gang related. The number killed in Denver in 2012 doesn't reach the heights of the gang violence in the '90s -- 41 people were killed, and of those, 23 were gun deaths. But in the first four months of 2013, gang-related violence has nearly doubled in Denver since the same period in 2012, with over 250 total gang-related incidents.

Some 200 organizations that authorities have linked to gang activity, including the better-known Bloods and Crips, have existed for years in Denver and its surrounding areas. Though Mile High City is not immediately associated with gangs, they have left a violent wake, taking the lives of hundreds and wounding countless more since gang activity began to noticeably grow in Denver in the early 1980s.

The number of gang-related homicides has decreased in Denver since the peak during 1993's "summer of violence" and the years surrounding it, but residents of the areas where gangs have historically dominated are still haunted by their experiences, and wary about fresh outbreaks of violence.

"I've witnessed people get murdered in front of me over $5 dice games, being ambushed, ran up on over gang violence -- I've been shot twice myself. I probably know easily, maybe 70 people or more who have been murdered due to gun violence, not even the stabbings, just shootings," Roberts, the activist, recounted.

"How many people do I know that have been shot?" he added. "Hundreds. Right here in Northeast Denver. Hundreds of people."

Roberts joined the Park Hill Bloods as a freshman in high school and was in jail just a few years later, at 18 years old.

Now a 36-year-old father, he's turned his life around. In 2005, he founded the Prodigal Son Initiative in Park Hill, the same area where he ran with the gang, to mentor at-risk youth. With the group, he is trying to help organize a community still plagued by gangs and gun violence, both past and present.

But he remains both physically and emotionally scarred.

"I was shot in my back during the summer of violence in 1993," Roberts said. "I was selling crack one night, probably with about $1,200 in my pocket -- I'm 16 or 17 years old -- all these crackheads were coming, I was selling all this crack and I was taking all my money out of my pockets and I turned on the light and stood up and some guys hopped out of the bushes and sprayed me."

Roberts says the shooting left him with a cracked pelvic bone, a ruptured spleen and shredded upper and lower intestines. After multiple surgeries, Roberts has a noticeable scar across his abdomen. Although he has largely healed from the shooting, the complications still cause sickness; the scar tissue around his intestines causes bowel obstructions and severe dry heaving.

Roberts suffers from what he describes as something similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, a severe form of anxiety that many members of the military experience when returning from combat.

"To this day it scares me for cars to pass me," Roberts said. "Even last night I was driving, it was dark, and this car had loud music and I could hear it. You could tell it was probably some young guys, or some gangsters. Waiting at the light, these guys pulled up almost beside me and I was sitting in my car afraid, and this is trauma, and I was hoping these guys don't shoot me in my car and kill me. But you know, the light turned, I turned left and they kept going their own way."

"When I hear loud bangs, I flinch," he said. "Those types of things -- pretty much PTSD kind of trauma."

Roberts said this trauma continues to impact a survivor for his or her entire life, snuffing out potential.

"Seeing my friends who I know who have been gunned down or been around it, seeing how they live, seeing what it did to them, how they have to function now, and that's the pain they still have in their life -- we're talking about just normal, regular people, they could have worked for The Huffington Post, they could be reporters right now," Roberts said. "They aren't stupid people, they are just traumatized people."

The shooting death of Denver Police officer Celina Hollis during a jazz concert at City Park last July -- in broad daylight and in plain view of bystanders -- brought back memories of Denver's gang violence in the '90s. Twenty-one-year-old Rollin Oliver was charged with Hollis' murder. In testimony, he revealed that he was fleeing from a group of Crips who were shooting at him during the concert.

Oliver was from the same Park Hill neighborhood where Roberts grew up -- known Blood territory surrounded by neighborhoods occupied by rival Crip gangs. Oliver's own affiliation with the Bloods was disputed by his attorney, who claimed that his client was not a member of a gang at the time of the City Park shooting.

The violence culminated most recently during April's "420" marijuana celebration at Civic Center Park in Denver, when two rival gang members shot and wounded three people.

There's still much work to be done in Denver. Troubled neighborhoods like those in Park Hill are still in the early stages of a turn-around, as Joel Warner has written about in detail in his "Up From The Ashes" work for Westword.

But groups like Prodigal Son are also struggling for other reasons. Earlier in 2013, Roberts announced that due to lack of funding, the organization may have to close its doors this year. Many fear that such losses could cause a major setback to any progress made so far.

"Any time you have African-American men going back into the community to mentor young African-American males, it makes an incredible difference," City Councilman Albus Brooks told The Denver Post of the potential end of Roberts' work. Brooks' district includes Holly Square in Park Hill.

As Brooks said, "No one can measure their impact on young people's lives in northeast Denver."

To learn more about Terrance Roberts and his organization, visit The Prodigal Son Initiative website or follow the group on Facebook.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/terrance-roberts-denver-blood_n_3001800.html

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Supreme Court strikes part of Voting Rights Act

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The Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act Monday, a cornerstone of the civil rights movement that helped dismantle decades of discriminatory voting restrictions in the South when it passed 60 years ago. The vote was 5-4, with the court's liberal justices dissenting.

The decision drastically scales back the federal government's power to reject state laws it believes discriminate against minority voters, which include some efforts to tighten identification requirements and limit early voting hours at the ballot box. A wave of such laws swept 30 states over the past few years, and the Obama administration has aggressively fought them in court.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, reauthorized by Congress in 2006, gives the federal government the ability to pre-emptively reject changes to election law in states and counties that have a history of discriminating against minority voters. The law covers nine states and portions of seven more, most of them in the South. The formula used to decide which states are subject to this special scrutiny (set out in Section 4 of the law) is based on decades-old voter turnout and registration data, the justices ruled, which is unfair to the states covered under it.

The Justice Department used Section 5 of the law to block voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina last year, and it also struck down early voting restrictions in five counties in Florida. (Minority voters are more likely than white voters to vote early in person.)

Court watchers predicted the decision, given the conservative justices' comments on the law during oral arguments and in other cases. Justices in the conservative wing of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice John Roberts, expressed reservations that the nine Southern states covered by the law still required the same degree of federal oversight that they did 60 years ago. "Voter turnout and registration rates [between blacks and whites] now approach parity," Roberts wrote in a decision in 2009. "Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare. And minority candidates hold office at unprecedented levels."

Another argument against Section 4's constitutionality was that it's unclear whether minority voters in Southern states are more likely to face discrimination at the polls than they are in other states. Voter ID laws, for example, have passed in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Because those states do not have a history of voter discrimination?and are not covered by the act?their voter ID laws did not have to first pass federal inspection. That said, Southern states covered under the act were much more likely to pass a voter ID law than other states. Seven of the nine states covered in full under the act adopted such a law, compared with 19 states overall.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/supreme-court-strikes-down-key-part-voting-rights-141205218.html

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Americans don't really think global warming is a big deal

P

resident Obama calls climate change "the global threat of our time." Americans don't quite agree with that assessment.

In a Pew poll released Monday, only 40 percent of Americans said global climate change was a "major threat." That placed it behind financial instability, Islamic extremism, and China's influence ? and just above "political instability in Pakistan" (37 percent) ? on a list of other potential threats Pew tested.

While Americans didn't think too much of global warming, the world as a whole did. Among the 39 countries Pew surveyed combined, climate change was viewed as the number one threat.

That finding, which came one day before Obama laid out an aggressive plan to combat climate change and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S., isn't all that surprising. Gallup has in recent years found Americans lukewarm to the idea that global warming is a problem.

A March survey found that a combined 55 percent of Americans said they worried a "great deal" or a "fair amount" about global warming. Yet that figure was way down from the high of 72 percent recorded back in 2000.

Americans' opinion on the subject split largely along party lines. While 42 percent of Democrats in that Gallup poll said they worried about global warming a great deal, 40 percent of Republicans said they didn't worry about it at all.

Source: http://theweek.com/article/index/246088/americans-dont-really-think-global-warming-is-a-big-deal

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Jews tell pope of concern over moves to make Pius XII a saint

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A Jewish leader expressed concern to Pope Francis on Monday over attempts to make a saint of World War Two-era Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust.

Francis made no mention of his wartime predecessor during his talks with members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), but the pontiff repeated the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of anti-Semitism.

"The Jewish community continues to be concerned about efforts to canonize Pope Pius XII while innumerable documents pertaining to the history of the Church and the Jewish people during the dark years of the Holocaust still remain closed to outside scholarly investigation," IJCIC chairman Lawrence Schiffman told the pope.

The issue of whether the Vatican and the Church under Pius did all they could to help Jews has dogged Catholic-Jewish relations for decades. Pius became pontiff in 1939, the year World War Two broke out, and reigned until 1958.

Critics accuse Pius of failing to take action to stop the Holocaust but his supporters say he worked actively behind the scenes to encourage the Church to save Jews. They say speaking out more forcefully would have worsened the situation for all.

Jews have asked that the process, still in its early stages, that could eventually make Pius a saint be frozen until after all the Vatican's wartime archives have been opened and studied by scholars. The bulk is expected to be released next year.

At Monday's meeting, the first between the pope and an international Jewish organization since his election in March, Francis did not mention Pius but when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires he expressed support for opening Vatican archives.

"COMMON ROOTS"

"Due to our common roots, a Christian cannot be anti-Semitic," he told the delegation from IJCIC, an umbrella group that represents most major Jewish organizations and all streams of Jewish thought.

Francis, who had good relations with Jews in Argentina and wrote a book with Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, told the delegation the Church was committed to the Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate (In Our Times).

The 1965 declaration, which Francis called "a key point of reference for relations with the Jewish people", revolutionized those relations by repudiating the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus and urging dialogue with Jews.

A participant at the meeting called the atmosphere "extremely friendly" and less formal than in meetings with Francis' predecessor Benedict.

Francis reached out to the Jewish community a day after his election on March 13 as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years by sending a message to Rome's chief rabbi and inviting him to his inaugural Mass at the Vatican.

In April, Francis accepted an invitation from Israeli President Shimon Peres to visit the Jewish state.

Both of Francis's two immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, visited the Holy Land, including the Palestinian territories, in 2000 and 2009 respectively.

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jews-tell-pope-concern-over-moves-pius-xii-174232191.html

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Should Google be accountable for what its search engine unearths?

An EU Court official backs Google's policy.

By Katherine Jacobsen,?Contributor / June 25, 2013

"Search engines have no control over the information posted by others. They just point to it," writes Google's Head of Free Expression, William Echikson, in a blog post on Tuesday.

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Google is not responsible for deleting data from its search index based on an individual?s or company?s ?subjective preference,? according to an opinion released by the European Union Court?s Advocate General on Tuesday.

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?Google is not generally considered as a ?controller? of the personal data appearing on web pages it processes,? writes Niilo Jaaskinen, the EU Court?s Advocate General.

The opinion allows for search engines, like Google, to block access to third-party sites with illegal or libelous content in accordance with local law, but does not stipulate that Internet companies are bound to remove ?legitimate and legal information? of a third party website, citing the third parties? ?freedom of expression.? ?

This means that Google and other foreign Internet providers are still subject to national Internet regulation within the European Union. But since no law currently exists that gives individuals the ?right to be forgotten? ? or have their digital records expunged, however unflattering those records might be ??Google is not obliged to regulate the content that appears in its search results.

Erasing unsavory information on the basis of individual requests is a slippery slope, explains William Echilkson, Google?s Head of Free Expression for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. ?People shouldn?t be prevented from learning that a politician was convicted of taking a bribe, or that a doctor was convicted of malpractice,? Mr. Echilkson writes on Google?s Europe blog in a post made on Tuesday.

Google hailed the opinion as ?A step forward for free expression.?

The opinion was released in regards to a case that dates back nearly 15 years, before "being googled? became a common background check.

In 1998, Mario Costeja?s name appeared in the print edition of a widely-circulated Spanish newspaper concerning a real-estate auction, which was taking place to help repay Mr. Costeja?s social security debts. When the 1998 paper was made available online, Costeja?s real-estate ad was included in the edition, true to the paper?s original print version.

Costeja originally contacted the publisher in 2009 with a complaint that this old ad appeared when his name was searched on Google, and asked for the ad?s removal from the paper's online version. His request was rebuffed; the paper?s publisher said erasing this data was not appropriate. In less than a year, Costeja?s case had made it to Spain?s National High Court, which in turn referred the case to the EU?s Court of Justice.

There are over 180 similar court cases pending in Spain.?

The Advocate General?s opinion contradicts the decision issued by Spain?s National High Court, which called on Google to withdraw the advertisement from its search index, and is seen as a positive sign for Google in Europe, where the Internet giant has recently come under attack for its privacy policies.

The opinion came on the heels of a statement made Friday by Britain?s data regulator, the Information Commissioner?s Office, which ordered Google to delete personal data captured on its Street View project. On Thursday, France and Spain?s main two main watchdog groups increased pressures on Google to change its data privacy policy.?

The EU Court is just beginning their official deliberations in the Costeja case.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/oQmVJo4wJhI/Should-Google-be-accountable-for-what-its-search-engine-unearths

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Turtles have fingerprints? New genetic technique reveals paternity and more

June 24, 2013 ? For 220 million years they have roamed the seas, denizens of the bustling coral reef and the vast open ocean. Each year, some emerge from the pounding surf onto moonlit beaches to lay their eggs. Throughout human history, we have revered them, used them, and worked to protect them, but we have only begun to understand these ancient, iconic creatures. Now, with all five of the sea turtle species in the U.S. threatened or endangered, knowledge is more crucial than ever.

NOAA scientist Dr. Peter Dutton leads a team that's trying to answer some important questions about marine turtles. What will happen as sea levels rise, covering the nesting beaches turtles have used for hundreds of years? Which turtle laid this mysterious clutch of eggs on a remote beach? Where in the ocean do they mate, and how big is this population?

Thanks to a recent breakthrough in the genetics lab, Dutton and his colleagues have a clever way to find answers. Like detectives, they have learned that fingerprints help solve the puzzle?genetic fingerprints. For decades, most sea turtle studies and conservation efforts have focused on nesting females and hatchlings, because they're easiest for humans to access. Male sea turtles, which don't come ashore, are elusive characters.

Dutton's team has pioneered a technique that allows them to fill in the blanks using tiny DNA samples from nesting females and hatchlings. As Dutton and his colleague Dr. Kelly Stewart wrote in a recent article, "Hidden in a hatchling's DNA is its entire family history, including who its mother is, who its father is, and to what nesting population it belongs." (See: http://seaturtlestatus.org/sites/swot/files/report/030612_SWOT7_p12_Sea%20Turtle%20CSI.pdf)

This innovative tool is opening up new avenues in marine turtle conservation. Population recovery goals are based on how long turtles take to reach maturity, and genetic fingerprinting can help reveal this key piece of information, which may be different for each population. Dutton's team developed the technique while studying endangered leatherbacks on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. In the last four years, they have sampled 20,353 hatchlings there, and discovered the genetic identity of the fathers, even when multiple males have sired a single clutch of eggs; how often individual turtles mate and their reproductive success; and the ratio of males to females among the breeding turtles.

On Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, critically endangered Kemp's ridley turtles have been leaving scattered nests along remote beaches, but females are often long gone by the time monitors find the nests. There, NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the National Park Service are using the technique to match mystery nests to mother turtles. Identifying who's nesting where and when, survival rate, and breeding success over many years will help us monitor this small population and gauge the impact of major events like disasters.

In the most surprising news yet, green turtles have begun nesting in the main Hawai'ian islands for the first time in generations. Green turtles, or honu, have nested in the remote Northwest Hawai'ian Islands, primarily on the quiet, low-lying beaches of French Frigate Shoals, a coral atoll about 500 miles from Honolulu.

Genetic fingerprinting shows that about 15 untagged females have become "founders" on the main Hawai'ian islands, boldly nesting where no one has nested before?at least not for hundreds of years. It's possible that this pioneer population could provide a kind of buffer as sea level rise threatens to shrink their traditional nesting beaches. Many questions remain, but for now science is giving turtles, and those who care about them, reason to hope.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/ldgcQeFmidI/130624143922.htm

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The genome's 3-D structure shapes how genes are expressed

June 23, 2013 ? Scientists from Australia and the United States bring new insights to our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the genome, one of the biggest challenges currently facing the fields of genomics and genetics. Their findings are published in Nature Genetics, online today.

Roughly 3 metres of DNA is tightly folded into the nucleus of every cell in our body. This folding allows some genes to be 'expressed', or activated, while excluding others.

Dr Tim Mercer and Professor John Mattick from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Professor John Stamatoyannopoulos from Seattle's University of Washington analysed the genome's 3D structure, at high resolution.

Genes are made up of 'exons' and 'introns' - the former being the sequences that code for protein and are expressed, and the latter being stretches of noncoding DNA in-between. As the genes are copied, or 'transcribed', from DNA into RNA, the intron sequences are cut or 'spliced' out and the remaining exons are strung together to form a sequence that encodes a protein. Depending on which exons are strung together, the same gene can generate different proteins.

Using vast amounts of data from the ENCODE project*, Dr Tim Mercer and colleagues have inferred the folding of the genome, finding that even within a gene, selected exons are easily exposed.

"Imagine a long and immensely convoluted grape vine, its twisted branches presenting some grapes to be plucked easily, while concealing others beyond reach," said Dr Mercer. "At the same time, imagine a lazy fruit picker only picking the grapes within easy reach.

"The same principle applies in the genome. Specific genes and even specific exons, are placed within easy reach by folding."

"Over the last few years, we've been starting to appreciate just how the folding of the genome helps determine how it's expressed and regulated,"

"This study provides the first indication that the three-dimensional structure of the genome can influence the splicing of genes."

"We can infer that the genome is folded in such a way that the promoter region -- the sequence that initiates transcription of a gene -- is located alongside exons, and they are all presented to transcription machinery."

"This supports a new way of looking at things, one that the genome is folded around transcription machinery, rather than the other way around. Those genes that come in contact with the transcription machinery get transcribed, while those parts which loop away are ignored."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/459JXnr-9hM/130623145058.htm

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IT?S THE ARTS with Unqualified Offerings (Unqualified Offerings)

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16 Incredible Cooking Tips (Slideshow) | Care2 Healthy Living

• Katie Waldeck
• June 23, 2013
• 4:49 pm
• 5 comments

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Cooking is more than just following a recipe.The key is to know the right ways to prep, to use your ingredients, to clean up, and how to prevent things from going wrong. Click through to check out some of our best cooking tips, and share your own in the comments!

Related: 8 Common Cooking Myths (Slideshow)

Read more: Appetizers & Snacks, Basics, Diet & Nutrition, Drinks, Eating for Health, Eco-friendly tips, Entrees, Food, Green, Green Kitchen Tips, Health, Raw, Side Dishes, Soups & Salads, Vegan, Vegetarian, cooking tips, slideshow

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Katie Waldeck

Katie is a freelance writer focused on pets, food and women?s issues. A Chicago native and longtime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Katie now lives in Oakland, California.

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Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/16-incredible-cooking-tips-slideshow.html

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