August 31, 2012

Beijing heard from

TAMPA, Fla. — China’s state-controlled media lashed out at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney this week, warning that his policies would poison U.S.-China relations.

“By any standard, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s China policy, as outlined on his official campaign website, is an outdated manifestation of a Cold War mentality,” read a commentary in Monday’s China Daily. “It endorses the ‘China threat’ theory and focuses on containing China’s rise in the Asia-Pacific through bolstering the robust U.S. military presence in the region.”

The Chinese state-owned outlet said that Romney was “provoking” China by promising to supply Taiwan with aircraft and other military platforms and called his China approach “pugnacious.”

“His China policy, if implemented, would cause a retrogression in bilateral ties and turn the region into a venue for open confrontation between China and the U.S.,” the commentary stated.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/aug/31/beijing-heard-20120831/

August 31, 2012

Apple Loses Patent Lawsuit Against Samsung In Japan

Source: Bloomberg

Apple Inc. lost a patent lawsuit in Japan as a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) smartphones and a tablet computer didn’t infringe on an Apple invention for synchronizing music and video data with servers.

Apple was ordered by Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji today to pay costs of the lawsuit after his verdict, the latest decision in a global dispute between the technology giants over patents used in mobile devices. Samsung shares rose, erasing earlier losses.

“It’s hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant,” Shoji said in dismissing Apple’s case.

Apple and Samsung are battling over the smartphone market, estimated by Bloomberg Industries to be worth $219 billion last year, with patent disputes being litigated on four continents. Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict in the U.S. on Aug. 24, with a jury finding that Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung infringed six of seven patents for mobile devices. The two companies are also bound by commercial deals involving components supply.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-31/apple-loses-japan-patent-lawsuit-against-samsung-over-devices.html

---

Only in the state that apple started do they win a lawsuit against their competition .... ? Heh, they don't call it homefield advantage for nothin ...

August 23, 2012

Studies of Substance Abuse with Interventions for the Youth of Native American Indian Communities #8

Definitions #3

The NHSDA found no significant gender differences in cigarette smoking rates for American Indians and Alaskan Natives, in contrast to data for other ethnic/racial groups which indicated that smoking rates were higher for female than male youth (SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, 2002). Similarly, LeMaster et al. (2002) found no gender differences in the rate of cigarette use but did find a significant difference in the use of smokeless tobacco between American Indian male and female youth (27% and 15%, respectively).

Inhalant use was roughly equal among boys and girls surveyed in the Voices of Indian Teens project (May & Del Vecchio, 1997). However, it was suggested that this might differ on the basis of the age of the participants sampled. A survey conducted with boarding school students showed that boys tended to begin experimenting with inhalants earlier than did girls. The peak period of risk for inhalant use for boys was between 10 and 11 years of age, whereas for girls it was between 12 and 13 years (Okwumabua & Duryea, 1987). Novins and Mitchell (1998) reported that although there were no gender differences at low frequency of marijuana use, defined as using one to three times in the past month, boys were significantly more likely to use marijuana at a high frequency, defined as using 11 or more times in the past month (odds ratio _ 2.37, 99% confidence interval _ 1.52, 3.69). Further, it was found that low frequency marijuana use among girls was indicative of a more severe pattern of substance use than was low frequency use among boys. For both boys and girls, more frequent marijuana use was associated with the increased use of other illicit drugs as well (Novins & Mitchell, 1998).

Although tribal differences have been noted in rates of adult drinking (Levy & Kunitz, 1971; May, 1996; Silk-Walker, Walker, & Kivlahan, 1988), Indian youth appear to use alcohol at similar levels regardless of tribe (Beauvais, 1998). However, other factors do appear to affect drinking patterns. Higher levels of alcohol use have been found among youth who live on reservations (Beauvais, 1992a), youth who attend boarding schools (Dick, Manson, & Beals, 1993), and youth who drop out of school (Beauvais, Chavez, Oetting, Deffenbacher, & Cornell, 1996). Similarly, inhalant use seems to be more prevalent among youth living on reservations or in other rural areas due to the low cost, easy availability, and the difficulties of obtaining other substances.

A study that compared Alaskan Native and Native American Indian youth found that Native youth living in Alaska were almost twice as likely to smoke on a daily basis (Blum, Harmon, Harris, Bergeisen, & Resnick, 1992). SAMHSA’s Office of Applied Studies (2002) reported a regional difference in cigarette smoking rates: For other racial/ethnic groups, youth living in the South are more likely to smoke than their peers in the western United States. This difference is nonexistent among American Indians, with youth in the southern and western regions of the United States smoking at approximately the same rate (SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, 2002). On the other hand, a study that surveyed students in seven predominantly American Indian high schools west of the Mississippi River found differences in the prevalence of marijuana use based on tribe; however, tribal membership stopped being a predictor when other covariates (such as past month alcohol use and report of having peers that encouraged alcohol use) were entered into the regression equations (Novins & Mitchell, 1998).

Research shows that although American Indian teens may have lifetime alcohol use rates similar to non-American Indian teens, they tend to drink more frequently and to consume alcohol in larger quantities when they do drink. In addition, they are more likely to have tried tobacco, inhalants, and marijuana, and to use these substances on a regular basis. Furthermore, the age at which American Indian youth initiate substance use tends to be younger than what is found in other groups. These trends are likely to significantly impact the development of American Indian youth by interfering with the learning of age-appropriate behaviors and skills (Bentler, 1992). In addition, these trends place them at increased risk for participating in potentially dangerous behaviors and for experiencing acute negative consequences of use (May, 1982). Substance-abusing youth have a greater likelihood of suffering social and interpersonal consequences because of their violation of parental, societal, and legal norms. Although most teenage substance use is believed to “mature out” (Kandel & Logan, 1984; Mitchell, Novins, & Holmes, 1999), early onset of substance use and problem drinking has been linked to a multitude of negative outcomes. Adolescent alcohol use is associated with a wide range of high-risk behaviors, such as driving while drinking (Beauvais, 1992b), delinquency and running away (U.S. Congress, OTA, 1990; Zitzow, 1990), and unprotected sexual activity (Rolf, Nansel, Baldwin, Johnson, & Benally, 2002). It is also associated with psychiatric distress, including concerns such as depression, conduct disorder, and suicide (Dinges & Duong-Tran, 1993; Grossman, Milligan, & Deyo, 1991; Manson, Shore, & Bloom, 1985; May, 1987; Nelson, Mc- Coy, Stetter, & Vanderwagen, 1992; O’Nell, 1992–1993; U.S. Congress, OTA, 1990); academic difficulties (Beauvais, 1996; U.S. Congress, OTA, 1990); and later problems with substance abuse (J. D. Hawkins et al., 1997; May & Moran, 1995).

August 14, 2012

Four Teenagers Are Shot in Brooklyn

Source: NYT

Four teenagers were wounded on Monday in a shooting at a playground in Brooklyn, the police said, the latest in a spate of gun violence involving young people.

It was unclear what prompted the shooting, which occurred on Fulton Street near Thomas S. Boyland Street about 6:30 p.m. The police said a 16-year-old boy was shot in the left arm. In addition, a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man were grazed by bullets. All were expected to recover.

The police said the shooter fled on a bicycle and had not been apprehended as of late Monday evening.

There have been several similar shootings in recent weeks. Last month, six people, including two children, were shot on a single night in Brownsville; all survived. Also last month, a 4-year-old boy was killed in a shooting at a basketball tournament in the Bronx held in honor of a woman who was stabbed to death in 2010.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/nyregion/four-teenagers-injured-in-brooklyn-shooting.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytmetro&seid=auto

August 14, 2012

Paul Ryan voted for the bailouts, but has since soured on them

Source: Washington Post

Along with 90 of his House Republican colleagues, Paul Ryan voted for TARP four years ago. At the time, he argued that the bank bailout — initially estimated to cost $700 billion — was necessary “in order to preserve this free enterprise system…if we fail to do the right thing, heaven help us.” Ryan also voted that year to support the auto bailout.

Ryan’s pro-bailout votes have raised the hackles of many conservatives, and he breaks from Mitt Romney on the auto bailout, which the former Massachusetts governor opposes. Over the past few years, however, Ryan has soured on the same bailouts that he voted for, arguing that they’ve been diverted from their original purposes and manipulated by administration officials for political purposes.

In his 2013 budget, the House Budget chairman accuses the Treasury Department of having diverted TARP from its original purpose of “providing targeted assistance to unlock credit markets” and turning the program “into an ad hoc, opaque bailout and a slush fund for large private institutions.” Although Ryan’s budget acknowledges that TARP “succeeded in halting a systemic panic,” the budget also concludes that TARP has “morphed into crony capitalism at its worst.”

Ryan has also used his recent criticism of TARP to justify his vote for the auto bailout: ”The whole purpose of voting for that auto bill was to prevent the auto companies from getting TARP dollars,” he told Fox Business Network in 2010.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/13/paul-ryan-voted-for-the-bailouts-but-hes-since-soured-on-them/

August 14, 2012

British army will take two-year hit from Olympics: Report

Source: Today

LONDON - Britain's armed forces will take two years to recover from their involvement in the Olympic Games because the high number of personnel deployed at short notice were taken away from normal duties, the army's chief planner for the Games told the Guardian newspaper.

Wing Commander Peter Daulby, who was put in charge of the army's Olympic planning 18 months ago, said the capability to send 18,000 troops to the Games highlighted the danger of "pulling the military down."

"We were originally planning to provide niche capabilities. When the requirement for venue security was doubled, that was a bit of a game changer," Mr Daulby was quoted as saying in the Guardian on Tuesday.

"It will take two years to recover from this, to get back to normal, to get everything back into kilter. You can't expect them to go back to normal routine very easily."

Read more: http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC120814-0000067/British-army-will-take-two-year-hit-from-Olympics--Report

August 14, 2012

US employers banned from asking for social media logins

Source: BBC

Robert Collins took a leave of absence from his job as a correctional officer to grieve after his mother passed away. When he returned, his employer forced him to reapply for his position and demanded the username and password to his Facebook account.

Maryland and Illinois have passed legislation banning employers from asking for social media login information during interviews, a practice that has been growing across the US.

The BBC's Matt Danzico sat down with individuals in Maryland and Illinois to investigate how social media has sparked a growing conflict in job market.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19251616

August 13, 2012

Snap Judgment: Ultrafast Camera Renews Promise of Blood Test for Early Cancer Detection

Cells that break away from a cancerous tumor and circulate in the bloodstream are a serious threat to helping cancer spread, or metastasize, throughout the body. Finding these circulating tumor cells (CTCs), however, can be like searching for a particular needle in a stack of needles. One milliliter of blood contains about five billion red blood cells, 10 million white blood cells and only 10 tumor cells.

Yet early cancer detection and treatment is a person's best chance of survival, And because metastasis is responsible for 90 percent of cancer deaths, researchers have spent decades trying to develop blood tests that can effectively spot CTCs before they can form new tumors. The biggest challenge has been quickly examining billions of rapidly moving blood cells in a sample at a resolution high enough to identify the cancerous intruders.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, (U.C.L.A.), are developing a system that combines an optical microscope with a device for counting and studying cells, along with a high-speed image processor they say can take blur-free images of fast-moving cells, a significant step toward catching CTCs in the act. The researchers described the system last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=early-cancer-detection-blood-test&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20120813

August 13, 2012

The New Elitists

YOU can tell a lot about people by looking at their music collections. Some have narrow tastes, mostly owning single genres like rap or heavy metal. Others are far more eclectic, their collections filled with hip-hop and jazz, country and classical, blues and rock. We often think of such differences as a matter of individual choice and expression. But to a great degree, they are explained by social background. Poorer people are likely to have singular or “limited” tastes. The rich have the most expansive.

We see a similar pattern in other kinds of consumption. Think of the restaurants cherished by very wealthy New Yorkers. Masa, where a meal for two can cost $1,500, is on the list, but so is a cheap Sichuan spot in Queens, a Papaya Dog and a favorite place for a slice. Sociologists have a name for this. Today’s elites are not “highbrow snobs.” They are “cultural omnivores.”

Omnivorousness is part of a much broader trend in the behavior of our elite, one that embraces diversity. Barriers that were once a mainstay of elite cultural and educational institutions have been demolished. Gone are the quotas that kept Jews out of elite high schools and colleges; inclusion is now the norm. Diverse and populist programming is a mainstay of every museum. Elites seem more likely to confront snobbish exclusion than they are to embrace it.

This was not always the case.

In 1880 William Vanderbilt tried to buy one of the 18 coveted boxes at the New York Academy of Music on 14th Street by offering $30,000 for it. Vanderbilt represented new money, and to the old families controlling the academy his attempt to buy his way into a place reserved for them was a crass affront to their dignity. Money may be king in certain parts of New York society. But not everything can be bought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/the-new-elitists.html?pagewanted=all

August 12, 2012

Someone has to do it ...

Washington Post Again Defends Romney

Mitt Romney is running the most secretive presidential campaign in modern U.S. history. He won’t give details on his policies, his principles, his business record at Bain Capital, or his tax returns. Yet, his cover-ups have found a surprising ally, the Washington Post, reports Robert Parry.

The Washington Post’s neocon editors have again rallied to Mitt Romney’s defense, this time accusing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of McCarthyism for citing an unnamed Bain Capital investor as saying Romney paid no income taxes for 10 years.

“If the senator has any proof, he owes it to Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, to put it on the record, now,” the Post wrote in a Wednesday editorial. “Otherwise, Mr. Reid ought to pause and reflect on the record of another senator who once claimed to have a list of Communists and spies at the State Department — and could not substantiate it. Mr. Reid’s smear tactics are not unlike those of Joseph McCarthy and deserve equal condemnation.”

Really? Citing a source who says Romney didn’t pay taxes – presumably because he didn’t earn taxable income during some years and thus not in violation of any tax laws – is the same as accusing professional Foreign Service officers of treason and ruining their careers? To equate the two situations suggests that the Post’s neocon editors have lost all sense of proportionality.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/10847-washington-post-again-defends-romney