Everyone likes to tweak their device a little, and one of the apps that can help you achieve some visual and functional tweaks is WidgetLocker Lockscreen. Having been updated to v2.2 -- some new sliders have been added such as the ones from Ice Cream Sandwich, Honeycomb and Sense 3 which can give your device lockscreen a whole new look. Some other additions came with the update as well as some bug fixes:
Customizable Clock
Tablet Optimizations, Hardware Acceleration
Improved Preferences and Slider Setup Interfaces
User selectable app shortcut icons
Fixes:
Moto OTA Conflict (Battery problems)
Keyboard focus bug (SMS Popup apps)
Ice Cream Sandwich Compatibility
Unlock-With-WiFi Compatibility
Misc fixes and optimizations
We've written up a quick app review WidgetLocker Lockscreen previously, so if you're looking to learn more make sure you give it a look. You'll find the download link to the latest version past the break, remember -- it is a paid app but well worth the buy in cost if you're looking for easy tweaks.
Double duty for blood pressure drugs: how they could revolutionize how we treat valve diseasePublic release date: 25-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amanda Bates amanda@curvecommunications.com 604-306-0027 Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Open heart surgery may no longer be the only option for third most common type of heart disease
Vancouver A type of medication known as angiotensin-receptor blockers could reduce risk of mortality in people with a heart disease called calcific aortic stenosis (AS) by 30 per cent over an eight-year period, Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Philippe Pibarot told delegates at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress. The condition is currently managed with open heart surgery.
"Our discovery shifts how we think about AS by looking at a new pathway which both prevents and reverses calcification," says Dr. Pibarot, a professor at Laval University and Canada Research Chair in Valvular Heart Diseases, Qubec Heart & Lung Institute. "It broadens how we can approach therapies, opening up new avenues of research, and has tremendous potential to lead to a major discovery."
From a health economics point of view, drug treatment is also far less expensive than replacing a valve through surgery, which Dr. Pibarot says costs at least $30,000.
Every year, AS is responsible for 10,000 to 15,000 deaths in North America, and upwards of 80,000 heart surgeries. Now, this promising research suggests the first possible drug therapy to treat AS.
"AS is one of the most common types of heart disease, yet the only option to save lives has been open heart surgery. And valve replacement surgery is the second most frequent heart surgery after coronary artery bypass," says Dr. Pibarot. "We may be able to slow the progress of AS to the point that most people won't need surgery."
Picture a normal heart valve as soft and thin, like a slice of tomato, Dr. Pibarot says. Compare that to a valve that has hardened and narrowed more like a cauliflower. That's calcific AS, the most common type of AS, where deposits of calcium form in the valve, which prevents it from opening properly and creates a dangerous 'pressure overload' within the heart.
For years, he notes, the assumption was that AS was a degenerative disease related to aging and the cumulative wear and tear on a heart valve. But more recent studies have indicated that AS development also has some genetic and lifestyle factors (such as obesity).
As a result, several trials have looked at whether statins (a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels) could also be effective against AS. Those results have not been promising. Dr. Pibarot and colleagues took another approach, examining medication that is typically used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension).
The renin-angiotensin system (RAS), specifically a molecule called angiotensin II, is a major target for drugs that lower blood pressure. Some hypertension drugs block the production of angiotensin II itself they are known as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors). Other drugs focus on the receptors of angiotensin II angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs).
Over three-and-a-half years, Dr. Pibarot's study followed 340 patients who had AS, 73 per cent of whom also had some degree of hypertension. Among the patients, 34 per cent were on ACE inhibitors, 16 per cent were on ARBs, and 50 per cent were on no RAS medication.
The follow-up involved measuring the velocity of the blood across the affected valve. As Dr. Pibarot explains, just as water flows faster when a river narrows, creating rapids, a narrowing valve raises pressure too. "A quicker blood velocity means the stenosis is progressing faster," he says.
Compared to the individuals who were on no medication, those who were on ACE inhibitors had less rapid narrowing of their valve. But the biggest difference was seen in patients on ARBs, where the receptors of angiotensin II are blocked. In those patients, the progress of the disease was slowed considerably three times slower than in the individuals who weren't taking any medication, reports Dr. Pibarot.
In effect, he says that with ARBs the current is slower, like on a calmer river.
In the absence of a drug treatment for AS, Dr. Pibarot's findings are potentially very significant, says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson.
"Open heart surgery can be effective, but is risky for many patients because of their age," says Dr. Abramson. "ARBs have the potential of slowing aortic stenosis significantly, so that we can prolong life without surgery."
She says that the need to find a medication solution is even more urgent when you consider that with the aging population the prevalence of valvular heart disease is expected to double within 15 years.
###
The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011 is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living, and advocacy.
Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org
After October 26, 2011, contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
(613) 569-4361 ext 273, jfraser@hsf.ca
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Double duty for blood pressure drugs: how they could revolutionize how we treat valve diseasePublic release date: 25-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amanda Bates amanda@curvecommunications.com 604-306-0027 Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Open heart surgery may no longer be the only option for third most common type of heart disease
Vancouver A type of medication known as angiotensin-receptor blockers could reduce risk of mortality in people with a heart disease called calcific aortic stenosis (AS) by 30 per cent over an eight-year period, Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Philippe Pibarot told delegates at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress. The condition is currently managed with open heart surgery.
"Our discovery shifts how we think about AS by looking at a new pathway which both prevents and reverses calcification," says Dr. Pibarot, a professor at Laval University and Canada Research Chair in Valvular Heart Diseases, Qubec Heart & Lung Institute. "It broadens how we can approach therapies, opening up new avenues of research, and has tremendous potential to lead to a major discovery."
From a health economics point of view, drug treatment is also far less expensive than replacing a valve through surgery, which Dr. Pibarot says costs at least $30,000.
Every year, AS is responsible for 10,000 to 15,000 deaths in North America, and upwards of 80,000 heart surgeries. Now, this promising research suggests the first possible drug therapy to treat AS.
"AS is one of the most common types of heart disease, yet the only option to save lives has been open heart surgery. And valve replacement surgery is the second most frequent heart surgery after coronary artery bypass," says Dr. Pibarot. "We may be able to slow the progress of AS to the point that most people won't need surgery."
Picture a normal heart valve as soft and thin, like a slice of tomato, Dr. Pibarot says. Compare that to a valve that has hardened and narrowed more like a cauliflower. That's calcific AS, the most common type of AS, where deposits of calcium form in the valve, which prevents it from opening properly and creates a dangerous 'pressure overload' within the heart.
For years, he notes, the assumption was that AS was a degenerative disease related to aging and the cumulative wear and tear on a heart valve. But more recent studies have indicated that AS development also has some genetic and lifestyle factors (such as obesity).
As a result, several trials have looked at whether statins (a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels) could also be effective against AS. Those results have not been promising. Dr. Pibarot and colleagues took another approach, examining medication that is typically used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension).
The renin-angiotensin system (RAS), specifically a molecule called angiotensin II, is a major target for drugs that lower blood pressure. Some hypertension drugs block the production of angiotensin II itself they are known as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors). Other drugs focus on the receptors of angiotensin II angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs).
Over three-and-a-half years, Dr. Pibarot's study followed 340 patients who had AS, 73 per cent of whom also had some degree of hypertension. Among the patients, 34 per cent were on ACE inhibitors, 16 per cent were on ARBs, and 50 per cent were on no RAS medication.
The follow-up involved measuring the velocity of the blood across the affected valve. As Dr. Pibarot explains, just as water flows faster when a river narrows, creating rapids, a narrowing valve raises pressure too. "A quicker blood velocity means the stenosis is progressing faster," he says.
Compared to the individuals who were on no medication, those who were on ACE inhibitors had less rapid narrowing of their valve. But the biggest difference was seen in patients on ARBs, where the receptors of angiotensin II are blocked. In those patients, the progress of the disease was slowed considerably three times slower than in the individuals who weren't taking any medication, reports Dr. Pibarot.
In effect, he says that with ARBs the current is slower, like on a calmer river.
In the absence of a drug treatment for AS, Dr. Pibarot's findings are potentially very significant, says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson.
"Open heart surgery can be effective, but is risky for many patients because of their age," says Dr. Abramson. "ARBs have the potential of slowing aortic stenosis significantly, so that we can prolong life without surgery."
She says that the need to find a medication solution is even more urgent when you consider that with the aging population the prevalence of valvular heart disease is expected to double within 15 years.
###
The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011 is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living, and advocacy.
Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org
After October 26, 2011, contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
(613) 569-4361 ext 273, jfraser@hsf.ca
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
DENVER ?? President Barack Obama recalled his struggles with student loan debt as he unveiled a plan Wednesday that could give millions of young people some relief on their payments.
Other political news of note
Ohio bargaining measure as a 2012 litmus
An Ohio ballot measure called Issue 2 will allow voters to uphold or undo a law enacted last spring by the Republican-controlled legislature and Gov. John Kasich that limits the ability of public employee unions to collectively bargain.
Perry pitches 20-20 optional flat-tax plan
Obama announces student loan relief
Obama offers mortgage relief on Western trip
First Read: Tackling tax pressure
Speaking at the University of Colorado Denver, Obama said that he and his wife, Michelle, together owed more than $120,000 in law school debt that took nearly a decade to pay off. He said that sometimes he'd have to make monthly payments to multiple lenders, and the debt meant they were not only paying for their own degrees but saving for their daughters' college funds simultaneously.
"I've been in your shoes. We did not come from a wealthy family," Obama said to cheers.
Story: Another idea for student loan debt: Make it go away
Obama said it's never been more important to get a college education, but it's also never been more expensive. Obama said his plan will help not just individuals, but the nation, because graduates will have more money to spend on things like buying homes.
"Our economy needs it right now and your future could use a boost right now," Obama said.
Obama's plan will accelerate a measure passed by Congress that reduces the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent. He will put it into effect in 2012, instead of 2014. In addition, the White House says the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, instead of 25. About 1.6 million borrowers could be affected.
He will also allow borrowers who have a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Program and a direct loan from the government to consolidate them into one. The consolidated loan would carry an interest rate of up to a half percentage point less than before. This could affect 5.8 million borrowers.
Video: President Obama visits 'Tonight Show' (on this page)
Student loans are the No. 2 source of household debt. The president's announcement came on the same day as a new report on tuition costs from the College Board. It showed that average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose $631 this fall, or 8.3 percent, compared with a year ago. Nationally, the cost of a full credit load has passed $8,000, an all-time high.
Student loan debt is a common concern voiced by Occupy Wall Street protesters. Obama's plan could help him shore up re-election support among young voters, an important voting bloc in his 2008 election. But, it might not ease all their fears.
Story: Obama offers mortgage relief on Western trip
Anna Van Pelt, 24, a graduate student in public health at the University of Colorado Denver who attended the speech, estimates she'll graduate with $40,000 in loans. She called Obama's plan a "really big deal" for her, but said she still worries about how she'll make the payments.
"By the time I graduate, my interest rate is going to be astronomical, especially when you don't have a job," Van Pelt said. "So it's not just paying the loans back. It's paying the loans back without a job."
The White House said the changes will carry no additional costs to taxpayers.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., his party's ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that while he supports efforts to help struggling graduates, the president's plan was crafted behind closed doors and "we are left with more questions than answers."
Story: Expansion of mortgage program is limited in scope
Last year, Congress passed a law that lowered the repayment cap and moved student loans to direct lending by eliminating banks as the middlemen. Before that, borrowers could get loans directly from the government or from the Federal Family Education Loan Program; the latter were issued by private lenders but basically insured by the government. The law was passed along with the health care overhaul with the anticipation that it could save about $60 billion over a decade.
The change in the law was opposed by many Republicans. At a hearing Tuesday, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who chairs a subcommittee with oversight over higher education, said it had resulted in poorer customer service for borrowers. And Senate Republicans issued a news release with a compilation of headlines that showed thousands of workers in student lending, including those from Sallie Mae Inc., had been laid off because of the change.
Today, there are 23 million borrowers with $490 billion in loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Last year, the Education Department made $102.2 billion in direct loans to 11.5 million recipients.
_____
Hefling reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Kristen Wyatt contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) ? Authorities say a student was shot and wounded at a North Carolina high school. No arrests have been made, and no gun has been recovered.
Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville was placed on lockdown Monday and parents told to stay away until the scene is cleared by law enforcement. Neighboring Mac Williams Middle School was also locked down, with no students allowed in or out.
Sheriff Earl "Moose" Butler said a female student was shot with what appeared to be a small-caliber bullet. She has been taken to a nearby hospital. Butler says no suspects have been arrested.
Assistant Superintendent Theresa Perry says parents would be advised later in the afternoon as to when they could pick up their children.
The wise do not accumulate. The more they work for other people, the more they gain. The more they share with other people, the more they receive. The Tao followed by heaven is to do good and not to harm. The Tao followed by the wise is to work and not claim credit. -- closing words of the Tao Te Ching, trans. Chang Chung-yuan
The inevitable transition to a fully-green society will have to overcome numerous hurdles. Vested interests in the status quo, corporate mentality placing profits above all else, and government-by-crisis-management that eschews real long-range planning, for example, are among the most obvious matters that will have to be reformed.
There are other, deeper, issues that stand in the way, however. The polarization of the political landscape in the United States, for instance, and the underlying culture war spurred by the radicalization of fundamentalism -- how is the most modernized country in the world to take a leadership role in creating a self-sustaining global community when it is paralyzed at home?
In the global arena, we face a similar problem. Trying to establish a constructive and forward-thinking consensus among all peoples is impossible without trust and mutual understanding -- a relationship that cannot exist under threat of force or economic intimidation. History now reads like a bad Shakespeare play, revenge begetting revenge begetting revenge, escalating in violence and intensity as the plot grinds excruciatingly toward the final act in which everyone kills everyone else or themselves.
So political parties no longer act for the common good and simply strive to polarize people in order to get elected. Churches no longer pull communities together but, rather, tear them apart by polarizing people in order to promote religious zealotry. Governments no longer serve the interests of their respective peoples, polarizing nations into antagonistic relationships in order to justify the existence of government.
The inevitable transition to a fully-green global society, then, stands today somewhat like a single person with a pea-shooter standing before a well-fortified castle and demanding its unconditional surrender. All the major socioeconomic forces, and the weight of history, appear pitted against it. But it has reinforcements on the way: the inevitability of the future.
Because there is simply no alternative to a fully-self-sustaining lifeway for humanity, the issue at hand is not if but when. And because humanity's very survival will hinge precisely upon just such a self-sustaining lifeway, green will eventually emerge as an over-arching philosophy rooted in a collective ethics that recognizes -- and embraces -- the dynamic unity of this living system we call Earth.
Such a philosophy has been articulated in times past. It recognized the patterns of human short-sightedness and rationalization. It offered a simple solution to what we can see now are the predictable crises of environmental degradation and governmental ineptness. I refer, of course, to the ancient philosophy of Taoism, which, it seems to me, offers a coherent and meaningful foundation upon which the emerging global society can build a collective future in which all enjoy peace and prospering.
Take the quote above from the closing lines of the Tao Te Ching, as an example. It is difficult to imagine a simpler and more direct way to address human nature -- The wise do not accumulate. The more they work for other people, the more they gain. The more they share with other people, the more they receive. The Tao followed by heaven is to do good and not to harm. The Tao followed by the wise is to work and not to claim credit.
It is the point of philosophy, after all, to arrive at wisdom and not mere intellectual knowledge. So ancient texts like the Tao Te Ching were intended as teaching tools in which their authors poured out the results of their investigations into the subtleties of human nature and its relationship to the world. As teaching tools, their authors generally assumed the that the readers' rationalizing and justifying mind was in full force and so presented their ideas in ways that directly confront or bypass the merely argumentative mind.
So, The wise do not accumulate: Directly confronting the socialized mind that justifies self-interest and greed, the text establishes a fixed criterion for ethical behavior. Those who understand how things really are, those who are wise, simply do not accumulate: work it around any way you want, come at from any angle, argue it forever, it doesn't change the fact that it is not in the interest of the whole for the individual to place his wants ahead of others' needs. This, indeed, establishes a baseline for the ethical philosophy of the emerging world culture: in a world of peers, none is more entitled than another. Those who accumulate are not wise and therefore are arrogant because they place their wants ahead of others' needs. This lack of insight demonstrates a profound lack of compassion for one's fellow human beings and alienates one from the human family.
The wise do not accumulate, furthermore, because if everyone accumulates, the stress placed on natural resources is unsustainable. There has to be something more important than accumulating -- something more meaningful, something more rewarding. This something is intimacy: it is an ethics of relationship, of refined sensitivity to the needs of human nature and nature itself. The wise do not accumulate, after all, because accumulation is empty and meaningless in the long run. Meaningful experiences, however, based on a sense of communion with one's fellow human beings and, just as importantly, with nature, provide a ground of shared intimacy that directly addresses the real needs of human nature: happiness and a sense of belonging.
It is for this reason that the Tao Te Ching goes on to close with these words-- The more they work for others, the more they gain. The more they share with others, the more they receive. The Way followed by heaven is to do good and not to harm. The Way followed by the wise is to work and not claim credit.
This is worth considering on several levels, not the least of which is literary: here is one of the world's most-read and most-translated books, acclaimed for a millennium or two for its wisdom and profundity, and it ends with these words, so simple and lacking in refinement that they could almost be thought anti-climatic. This is the work, of course, famous for its use of archetypal symbolism and paradox (The Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way; Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know; and so on) and it chooses to end with this unadorned truth that strikes directly at the heart and not the head: real wisdom arrives at real happiness, which cannot be divorced from a trusting relationship with one's community.
Modern Western readers may read all this as naive idealism, but people who have traveled and lived among other cultures know that these principles are still in play, forming the core of social interactions and personal fulfillment. In places where there is not a great deal of wealth in the first place, the emphasis is on social cooperation and survival of the group -- working for others does, indeed, bring you gain and sharing with others does, indeed, mean others sharing with you. Benefiting others, harming nothing, and not seeking the elevated status that claiming credit brings -- this is the personal practice that lies at the heart of the emerging social transformation.
The inevitable fully-green global society will, inevitably, be a society of self-discipline. It will require the kind of consistent and well-conceived philosophy that can be embodied with a clear conscience: it must satisfy, in other words, both the head and the heart. It will not come from government or church or corporations: it will not come from the top down, in other words, but from the bottom up. The set of self-sustaining behaviors our society will adopt won't be dictated from the vested interests above but, rather, from within each individual's creative nature. This reversion to a cohesive tribal worldview that encompasses all life is already being incubated through the global lines of communication afforded by the World Wide Web: a consensus is building toward accountability and social responsibility -- towards a vision of The Commons as the shared benefits all are entitled to enjoy and none are entitled to destroy.
Of this individual creativity, the great Taoist philosopher, Chuang Tzu says --
Things in their original nature are curved without the help of arcs, straight without lines, round without compasses, and rectangular without squares. They are joined together without glue and hold together without cords. In this manner, all things create one another from their inner reality. None can tell how they come to do so.
This seems to allude to the principle that the Tao creates all things from within and, in doing so, collaborates as an individual in the co-creation of the whole. This may reflect the Buddhist concept of dependent origination and its attendant analog of Indra's Net. Regardless of the metaphysics involved, the Taoist concept of natural integrity is pointed at here, with the implication that human beings need to return to their original being, which is in perfect harmony and accord with nature. It is this process of returning to our original nature that makes up the discipline of our personal practice and that of our collective descendants. Moving away from a lifeway of insecurity, self-interest, and accumulation, we intuitively move toward a lifeway of trust, plenitude, and sharing.
Because its wisdom teaching is so closely allied with Nature, the fundamental concepts of Taoism seem to me an ideal basis upon which to construct an embodied philosophy that can help create and sustain the coming fully-green global society. As a parting example of how this organic philosophy is concretized into ethical practice, I'll end here quoting Chapter 8 of the Tao Te Ching, again translated by the late great Taoist scholar, Chang Chung-yuan:
That which is best is similar to the water. Water profits ten thousand things and does not oppose them. It is always at rest in humble places that people dislike. Thus, it is close to Tao. Therefore, for staying, we prefer a humble place. For minds, we prefer profundity. For companions, we prefer the kindness. For words, we prefer simplicity. For government, we prefer good order. For affairs, we prefer ability. For actions, we prefer the right time. Because we do not strive, We are free from fault.
'The Toltec I Ching,' by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and William Douglas Horden, has been released by Larson Publications. It recasts the I Ching in the symbology of the Native Americans of ancient Mexico and includes original illustrations interpreting each of the hexagrams. Its subtitle, "64 Keys to Inspired Action in the New World," hints at its focus on the ethics of the emerging world culture.
Go to the main site to see sample chapters, reviews and the link to Larson Publications for ordering the book.
Two companion volumes, The Five Emanations, and The Spiritual Basis of Good Fortune, have recently been published that expand on carrying the practices forward in the modern world.
President Barack Obama speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, where he declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, where he declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says the death of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and ending the U.S. war in Iraq are powerful reminders of America's renewed leadership in the world.
At the same time, Obama said Saturday that the U.S. now must tackle its "greatest challenge as a nation" ? rebuilding a weak economy and creating jobs ? with the "same urgency and unity that our troops brought to their fight."
Obama informed the nation on Friday that the long and costly war in Iraq will be over by the end of the year and that some 40,000 U.S. servicemen and women still there "will definitely be home for the holidays."
A day earlier, he hailed the killing of Libya's longtime leader as a "momentous day" in the history of a country that Gadhafi had ruled for decades through tyranny.
Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that these foreign policy successes were part of a larger story.
"This week, we had two powerful reminders of how we've renewed American leadership in the world," Obama said. "After a decade of war, we're turning the page and moving forward, with strength and confidence."
He said withdrawing troops from Iraq has allowed the U.S. to focus on Afghanistan and score major victories against al-Qaida, including the killing in May of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Troops also have been coming home from Afghanistan.
Obama said ending both wars will allow the U.S. to focus on rebuilding a weak economy so it can start creating enough jobs to reduce high levels of unemployment. That could possibly aid his re-election bid, which is being jeopardized by the tough financial circumstances.
"Over the past decade, we spent a trillion dollars on war, borrowed heavily from overseas and invested too little in the greatest source of our national strength ? our own people," the president said. "Now, the nation we need to build is our own."
In the Republicans' weekly message, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., bemoaned 32 consecutive months with unemployment above 8 percent.
While Obama on Saturday called anew or passage of his $447 billion jobs bill, Burr urged action on a Republican alternative.
Senate Republicans recently blocked Obama's overall bill, leaving Democrats in charge of the chamber to try to pass it piece by piece. But Republican senators also blocked action on the first component of the larger bill, a $35 billion measure to boost hiring of teachers and emergency services workers.
In turn, Democrats stalled a measure both parties support that would stop the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors.
A test vote is expected next month, after the Senate returns from vacation, on a $60 billion bill to finance construction of roads, bridges and other public works projects.
Burr said people are hurting and the economy is in "grave danger."
"It's time for Congress to focus on the American people and not how difficult change might be," he said. "It's time stop playing games and to get on with the serious business that the American people expect from us."
Results from Nasdaq's investigation into a breach it disclosed in February are trickling out. The bottom line: The attack was worse than initially expected.
Fox News said hackers who infiltrated the Nasdaq's computer systems installed malicious software on the exchange's computers that allowed them to spy on scores of directors of publicly held companies. Fox cited "two people familiar with an investigation" as sources.
The target of the attack was a Web-based software program called Directors Desk. Nasdaq OMX develops Directors Desk, which serves as a communications and information management solution for boards. Security is touted as one of its benefits.
An SQL Injection?
Gunter Ollman, vice president of research at security firm Damballa, said the sparse public information available on the NASDAQ breach and the nature of the Director's Desk Web-based application leads him to believe that remote hackers probably exploited vulnerabilities within the application that allowed them to peruse information exchanges between various company directors.
"Gaining remote access to confidential data held within the Director's Desk application could have been through SQL injection, broken authentication and session management, and URL restriction failures," Ollman said. "In my years of running penetration tests against Fortune 500 companies, these were the most common vulnerabilities that could be exploited to reveal this level of confidential data."
Some security experts are reporting that the attackers successfully installed malware on the system. In order to do this, Ollman said, the attacker would need the capability to upload files to the application and/or break out of the application itself and gain access to the server directly. Interestingly, he noted, several Open Web Application Security Project top-10 attack vectors will allow this to occur.
Web App Vulnerabilities
Ollman, for one, is not surprised at the Directors Desk revelations. That's because vulnerabilities within large Web-based applications are increasingly common. Web-based software is under constant development and change, he said, which means that vulnerabilities can be unintentionally introduced at any time.
"If there are multiple development teams working on the same application portal -- all developing their own micro applications -- then the probability of new vulnerabilities being introduced grows considerably," Ollman said. "This is why Web applications need to be security-tested continuously. Regular security assessments and penetration tests are standard requirements for running large and important Web services."
Ollman said automated tests and change-control monitoring ideally should be conducted daily, and skilled consultants should manually assess the Web application monthly. What's more, he continued, given the human element in most advanced testing, it is a good idea to rotate between penetration-testing vendors so that the tests are not limited by the skills of the individual consultants they employ or the tool sets they use to conduct their tests.
"Access to Web-based applications by attackers is important for cybercriminals -- as well as state actors," Ollman said. "Again, it bears repeating that very little is known about the specific nature of the Nasdaq attack. But given the level of access to the application and the potential to modify content upon the Director's Desk application, likely consequences could include the ability to eavesdrop on company director communications and the ability to use that information for 'virtual insider trading' processes."
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ? The Obama administration delivered a blunt warning Thursday that the United States will do what it must to go after militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan, whether Pakistan helps or not.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led an unusually large U.S. delegation for two days of talks with civilian and military leaders who have resisted previous U.S. demands to take a harder tack against militants who attack American soldiers and interests in Afghanistan.
The large U.S. contingent was meant to display unity among the various U.S. agencies, including the CIA, Pentagon and State Department, with an interest in Pakistan. CIA chief David Petraeus and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey joined Clinton, who said the team would "push Pakistan very hard."
There were cordial handshakes and greetings among the large U.S. and Pakistani delegation gathered at the office of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as the first of two evening meetings began. Pakistan's foreign minister, Army chief and intelligence head were expected to see their U.S. counterparts Thursday.
Clinton arrived in Islamabad from Afghanistan, where she told Pakistan it must be part of the solution to the Afghan conflict. She said the U.S. expects the Pakistani government, military and intelligence services to take the lead in fighting Pakistan-based militants and also in encouraging Afghan militants to reconcile.
"Our message is very clear," Clinton said. "We're going to be fighting, we are going to be talking and we are going to be building ... and they can either be helping or hindering, but we are not going to stop."
The meetings focused on the recurrent U.S. demand that Pakistan launch its own offensive against a lethal Taliban affiliate known as the Haqqani network. It operates on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; U.S. officials claim Pakistan either tolerates or supports the group's activities.
A senior U.S. official said Thursday's four hours of meetings were "extremely frank" and "very detailed" but declined to offer details.
In a statement, Gilani's office said the discussion was "cordial and frank." But it also suggested Pakistan was unhappy with the message push by recalling statements denying U.S. allegations of links between Pakistan and militants.
"Disagreements between the coalition partners in the war on terror should not undermine strategic relationship which is so vital for the promotion of mutual interests of the two countries," the statement quoted Gilani as saying.
U.S. military leaders have told the Pakistanis that if Islamabad does not act against the Haqqanis, the U.S. will.
"We must send a clear, unequivocal message to the government and people of Pakistan that they must be part of the solution, and that means ridding their own country of terrorists who kill their own people and who cross the border to kill people in Afghanistan," Clinton said.
Pakistan has deployed 170,000 soldiers to its eastern border with Afghanistan and more than 3,000 soldiers have died in battles with militants. So Pakistani leaders bristle at U.S. criticism that they have not done enough or that they play a double game ? fighting militants in some areas, supporting them in others where they might be useful proxies in a future conflict with India.
A new offensive unleashed in recent days by the U.S.-led coalition against the Haqqani network in Afghanistan has added a sense of urgency to the talks in Pakistan.
Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, described the offensive during an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press as a "high intensity sensitive operation." He would not give a precise location or other details.
For more than three decades, the Haqqani network, led by patriarch Jalaluddin Haqqani, has maintained a headquarters in Pakistan's Miran Shah district of North Waziristan. The United States has had some recent successes killing at least two top Haqqani commanders in drone attacks.
Senior U.S. officials said the CIA was given a clearer green light to go after the Taliban affiliate in its Pakistani stronghold after the attack on a military base in Wardak, Afghanistan, that wounded 77 American soldiers. The Sept. 10 attack, blamed on the Haqqanis, helped convince Clinton that the U.S. should take decisive action against the network, two officials said.
Clinton and other U.S. officials had worried that CIA pressure on the network, primarily through drone strikes, would make its leaders less likely to support peace efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Washington has had contact with some within the Haqqani network, including Ibrahim Haqqani, the brother of Jalaluddin, according to several Afghan and U.S. officials.
That same worry has held up an expected U.S. announcement that the Haqqani network will be placed on a list of terrorist groups subject to U.S. punishment. That move is now expected within a few weeks, two officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are not complete.
The U.S. and NATO consider the Taliban affiliate to be the single greatest enemy in Afghanistan, and they accuse Pakistan of providing the group safe havens. There are also recent allegations that Pakistan has sent rocket fire into Afghanistan to provide cover for insurgents crossing the border.
Pakistan has denied aiding the Haqqanis. An increasingly angry Pakistani military has refused to carry out an offensive in the North Waziristan tribal region, saying it would unleash a tribal-wide war that Pakistan could not contain.
In Little Rock, Ark., on Thursday former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the relationship between Pakistan and the United States was at its lowest point and plagued by "total mistrust."
Musharraf said the Pakistani military was guilty of "terrible negligence" in allowing Osama bin Laden to go undetected before he was killed in a U.S. raid. He also said Pakistan hadn't done enough to target the Haqqani network.
But Musharraf said U.S. officials are wrong to accuse Pakistan of aiding militants.
"Pakistan is a victim and not a perpetrator of terrorism," Musharraf said.
U.S. officials in Washington and elsewhere say the broader message for Thursday's meeting was that the U.S. still wanted to have a strategic relationship with Pakistan. The gathering was also meant to dispel any mixed messages from U.S. officials.
Dempsey's predecessor as Joint Chiefs chairman, now-retired Adm. Mike Mullen, angered Pakistan and took U.S. colleagues by surprise when he told Congress last month that Pakistan's spy agency supported and encouraged attacks by the Haqqani network militants, including the massive truck bombing in Wardak.
He told lawmakers that the network "acts as a veritable arm" of Islamabad's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the ISI, and said Pakistan is "exporting violence" and threatening any success in Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon, and Adam Goldman and Anne Gearan in Washington and Nomaan Merchant in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
Welcome to?Just Show Me on Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the?gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you how to set up parental controls on Windows 7.
Parental controls are a great way to keep your kids safe and control their usage on the computer. You can do things like specify what programs they can use, what websites they can visit, and even control what hours they can be on the computer. For more information, check out our guide to tech-savvy parenting.
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NEW YORK ? Stocks are mixed in midday trading Wednesday as investors weigh a rare earnings miss by Apple against a surprise jump in new home construction last month.
Gains by Travelers and other financial firms pulled the Dow Jones industrial average higher. Travelers Cos., a major insurer, jumped 5 percent after reporting revenue that beat analysts' expectations.
The Dow was up 13 points, or 0.1 percent, 11,591 at 12:10 p.m. Eastern. The Dow's second-best stock was Intel, which rose 4 percent. Intel Corp. jumped 4.5 percent after its net income rose 17 percent last quarter, beating Wall Street's target.
Other technology stocks were broadly lower. Apple Inc. slumped 4 percent after the company's income and revenue fell short of forecasts. It was a rare miss for the company, which had jumped 31 percent this year through Tuesday. Apple blamed the shortfall on a later-than-usual release of its newest iPhone.
The Nasdaq composite slid 20, or 0.8 percent, to 2,637. The S&P 500 was down 2, or 0.2 percent, to 1,223.
The disappointing results from Apple were tempered by a rebound in the housing market in September. Builders began new homes at the fastest pace in 17 months. Most of the gains came from the construction of new apartments. The pace is still about half what economists say consistent with a healthy housing market.
Investors had plenty of corporate news to digest on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories announced plans to spin off its drug business. Abbott's stock rose 2 percent.
Large banks traded higher. Morgan Stanley rose 1 percent after a jump in investment banking revenue helped it earn $1.15 a share, well above analyst expectations of 30 cents per share. Citigroup rose 2 percent. The bank agreed to pay $285 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex mortgage investments just as the housing market was starting to collapse.
BlackRock Inc. dropped 4 percent after the money management giant said its assets under management fell 3 percent.
Airlines fell. AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, slid 4 percent after reporting a loss that was worse than Wall Street analysts predicted. The company said its fuel spending jumped 40 percent, wiping out revenue gains from higher fares and fees. JetBlue Airways Corp. dropped 5 percent after the company said its chief financial officer has resigned.
At 2 p.m. the Federal Reserve will release its survey of business conditions around the country.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? A well-known collection of historical texts, the Cairo Genizah is one of the most valuable sources of primary documents for medieval historians and religious scholars. The 350,000 fragments found in the Genizah include not only religious texts, but also social and commercial documents, dating from the 9th to 19th century. But the collection is scattered among 70 institutions worldwide, including libraries in Cambridge, Jerusalem, and New York City, and scholars are hampered by both the wide dispersal of the collection as well as their fragmentary condition.
Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are working to piece together this illuminating collection, bringing the pages of the texts back together for the first time in centuries. The results are being made available to scholars around the world through a website. Profs. Lior Wolf and Nachum Dershowitz of TAU's Blavatnik School of Computer Science have developed sophisticated software, based on facial recognition technology, that can identify digitized Genizah fragments thought to be a part of the same work and make editorial "joins."
Their technology was developed in close collaboration with the Friedberg Genizah Project, a non-profit organization that seeks to facilitate Genizah research by tracking, cataloguing, and digitizing all the fragments of this collection. The research was presented at the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision.
Restoring history
Under Jewish law, religious texts cannot simply be thrown away once they're "worn out" from overuse. While many texts were buried, many synagogues also operated genizahs, or storerooms, to store disused holy texts, usually until burial. But the Cairo Genizah, originally located in the loft of the ancient Ben Ezra Synagogue and discovered in the late 19th century, contains more than decrepit prayer books.
The genizah in Cairo became a place to dispose of texts that were not just religious in origin, explains Prof. Wolf, such as merchant's lists, divorce documents and personal letters, spanning hundreds of years. It is the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts ever discovered. For this reason, he notes, the Genizah is an invaluable resource not just for Jewish studies, but also for the socioeconomic conditions of Middle Eastern life.
In conjunction with the Friedberg Genizah Project, which has received permission to digitize most of the fragments of the Genizah collection worldwide, Profs. Wolf and Dershowitz are working to put the pieces back together -- no easy task, given the dispersal of fragments around the globe. Whereas scholars concentrate primarily on content, the software looks at features of the writing itself, since it cannot read what is written. Using computer vision and image processing tools developed at TAU, the software analyzes fragments based on parameters such as the handwriting, the physical properties of the page and the spacing between lines of writing. The program scans digitized fragments for "matches," and joins them together in a kind of digital loose-leaf binder. "Its big advantage is that it doesn't tire after examining thousands of fragments," Prof. Dershowitz says. A scholar must then review and verify the computer-proposed "joins."
So far, Prof. Wolf says, the researchers have had a great deal of success. Within a few months, they made some 1,000 confirmed "joins," almost as many as were made in 100 years of Cairo Genizah scholarship. One exciting find, he notes, was the identification of pages from a work by Saadia Gaon, a prominent rabbi and philosopher from the 10th century. "All extant specimens of his work were thought to have been already discovered," he explains.
Tackling the Dead Sea Scrolls
Their work on the Cairo Genizah has extensive implications for scholars, who will have access to complete digital documents from the collection for the first time. Digital reconstructions will be publically available through the Friedberg Genizah Project Web site, a non-profit venture.
But Profs. Wolf and Dershowitz don't plan to stop with Cairo. They recently began to apply their technology to the reconstruction of the Dead Sea Scrolls in a project spearheaded by the Internet giant Google. "It's a more complicated challenge. The fragments are for the most part much smaller, and many of the texts are very unique," explains Prof. Wolf. "These texts shed light on the beginnings of Christianity."
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Before I begin, two points: 1) I do not own any Apple stock. I have absolutely no interest in whether the stock goes up or down. 2) One can make an argument that there may be other reasons to sell Apple's stock now (namely, uncertainty following the passing of Steve Jobs), I'm simply arguing that the stock's collapse today due to yesterday's earnings is laughable. Watching the stock market following Apple's Q4 earnings yesterday and into today, I'm reminded of a famous Steve Jobs quote. "If you see a stylus, they blew it." Reworked, the quote today would be: "If you're investing based on Apple analysts, you blew it."
Bruce Willis gets along incredibly well with ex-wife Demi Moore. Kelsey and Camille Grammer this formerly married couple is not, as they've been known to vacation together with their children and new significant others.
These trips have included Ashton Kutcher, of course. Willis and Moore's latest husband are pals, as evidenced by the 2008 photo below. Or they were pals, at least, prior to Ashton getting his Sara Leal on.
“When Bruce found out he flipped,” an insider tells Britain’s Now magazine about Kutcher's infidelity. “Bruce believes if you mess with someone he loves, you mess with him. He trusted Ashton not to hurt his family and is planning to give him a piece of his mind. When he finally catches up with him it won’t be pretty.”
You have seen Die Hard, right, Ashton? What about Die Hard 2? Or Die Hard 3? Make a run for it, man.
Hip-hop duo featured on November cover alongside Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. By Rob Markman
Eminem, Keith Richards and Lil Wayne on cover of GQ magazine Photo: Mark Seliger/ GQ
Eminem might rap for a living, but when you examine his career trajectory, it reads more rock star than hip-hop heavyweight. No surprise, then, that GQ magazine named him a God of Rock and placed him alongside Keith Richards and Lil Wayne on their November cover.
Em and Lil Wayne were shot for the cover at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in June, while the Rolling Stones guitarist was shot separately in New York. In a portfolio consisting of 43 such Gods of Rock, Eminem's story and photographs particularly stand out. In his feature, the 39-year old rhyme icon talked about his downward-spiraling addiction, which began with his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP and peaked during the recording of his fourth album Encore.
"Five or six songs leaked from the original version of Encore," Em told GQ Senior Editor Will Welch in an interview. "So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them. In my head, I was pissed off: 'Oh well. Songs leaked. F--- it. I'm just going to take a bunch of f---ing pills and go in there and have a party with myself.' I'm sure the more pills I took, the goofier I got."
The multiplatinum rapper now embraces his sobriety and utilizes his natural quirks to fuel his music. "The same way that his brain was wired that gave him problems with substances also sort of makes him a virtuoso," Welch told MTV News.
"I've realized that the way I am helps with the music. Sporadic thoughts will pop into my head and I'll have to go write something down, and the next thing you know, I've written a whole song in an hour," Em said in the magazine. "But sometimes it sucks, and I wish I was wired like a regular person and could go have a f---in' drink. But that's the biggest thing about addiction: When you realize that you cannot — for f---'s sake, you can not — f--- around with nothing ever again."
Em, however, is just one of several survivors GQ spotlights in a special portfolio, which was shot by Mark Seliger. Metallica, Robert Plant, Beck and Erykah Badu also appear. As for the three cover subjects, GQ wanted to pick prime examples of musical perseverance. "We wanted to answer the question: Who are the living legends out there that have survived against all adversity?" Welch explained. "It has to be people who are still incredibly influential. It can't be somebody who has been through hell and back and reached a zenith in their career in 1976 and isn't still relevant and isn't still making music."
GQ's November 2011 issue goes on sale October 25 nationwide.
Wondering what the 5 megapixel sensor within the Galaxy Nexus is capable of? So were we. We didn't have a huge variety of subjects to photograph here in our meeting room, but we ran about and captured as many as we could just for a quick comparison. As promised, snapping multiple pictures in a row was a cinch, with the camera taking just a fraction of a second before being ready to shoot again. In fact, we couldn't even tap the screen fast enough to find its limit. We have to say, though -- the built-in "Edit" menu could stand to be stronger. The "effects" were thoroughly underwhelming, and Instagram addicts will find plenty to laugh about. The cropping and twisting, however, is appreciated. Have a look at a rough-and-dirty comparison between the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus S in the galleries below (as well as a few panorama samples), and find a one minute 1080p sample video from the former just after the break.
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Public release date: 25-Oct-2011
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Before I begin, two points: 1) I do not own any Apple stock. I have absolutely no interest in whether the stock goes up or down. 2) One can make an argument that there may be other reasons to sell Apple's stock now (namely, uncertainty following the passing of Steve Jobs), I'm simply arguing that the stock's collapse today due to yesterday's earnings is laughable. Watching the stock market following 
