PITTSBURGH (AP) ? The Pittsburgh Penguins say Sidney Crosby has a broken jaw and is out indefinitely after being hit in the mouth with a puck in a win against the New York Islanders.
The Penguins said on the team website Sunday that Crosby had surgery Saturday night, and there will be an update on his status later in the week.
Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer, was struck in the face with a puck in the first period of the Penguins' 2-0 win on Saturday. The team said Crosby also had "major dental work" and will have more work done later in the week.
The Penguins have won 15 straight games, and next play Buffalo on Tuesday.
Infogr.am is a free webapp that ingests spreadsheets and .csv files, and spits out gorgeous, interactive infographics.
If your job involves distilling and presenting data, infogr.am might be your new best weapon. Once you've imported your data, you can illustrate it with standard bar, line, and pie charts, as well as a dizzying selection of customizable templates and interactive elements. For example, if your data has a geographical element, you can incorporate a zoomable map. If it involves sorting people into different groups or demographics, you can do that with a cloud of color-coded human outlines. The finished product beats the pants off of anything you could make in Excel, and you easily share it on social networks or embed it on your own site.
Infogr.am is pretty similar to previously-mentioned Visual.ly, but each offers its own custom elements, so it's worth trying them both. The service is free, but it appears that they will soon open a storefront to sell additional templates and elements.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Big depositors at Cyprus' largest bank may be forced to accept losses of up to 60 percent, far more than initially estimated under the European rescue package to save the country from bankruptcy, officials said Saturday.
Deposits of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) at the Bank of Cyprus will lose 37.5 percent in money that will be converted into bank shares, according to a central bank statement. In a second raid on these accounts, depositors also could lose up to 22.5 percent more, depending on what experts determine is needed to prop up the bank's reserves. The experts will have 90 days to figure that out.
The remaining 40 percent of big deposits at the Bank of Cyprus will be "temporarily frozen for liquidity reasons," but continue to accrue existing levels of interest plus another 10 percent, the central bank said.
The savings converted to bank shares would theoretically allow depositors to eventually recover their losses. But the shares now hold little value and it's uncertain when ? if ever ? the shares will regain a value equal to the depositors' losses.
Emergency laws passed last week empower Cypriot authorities to take these actions.
Cyprus' Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said the measures were taken to put the Bank of Cyprus on a solid footing.
"We suffered a serious blow without doubt ... but we now have a bank which is reformed and ready to assume its role in the Cypriot economy," the state-run Cyprus News Agency quoting him as saying.
Analysts said Saturday that imposing bigger losses on Bank of Cyprus customers could further squeeze already crippled businesses as Cyprus tries to rebuild its banking sector in exchange for the international rescue package.
Sofronis Clerides, an economics professor at the University of Cyprus, said: "Most of the damage will be done to businesses which had their money in the bank" to pay suppliers and employees. "There's quite a difference between a 30 percent loss and a 60 percent loss." With businesses shrinking, Cyprus could be dragged down into an even deeper recession, he said.
Clerides accused some of the 17 European countries that use the euro of wanting to see the end of Cyprus as an international financial services center and to send the message that European taxpayers will no longer shoulder the burden of bailing out problem banks.
But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble challenged that notion, insisting in an interview with the Bild daily published Saturday that "Cyprus is and remains a special, isolated case" and doesn't point the way for future European rescue programs.
Europe has demanded that big depositors in Cyprus' two largest banks ? Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank ? accept across-the-board losses in order to pay for the nation's 16 billion euro ($20.5 billion) bailout. All deposits of up to 100,000 are safe, meaning that a saver with 500,000 euros in the bank will only suffer losses on the remaining 400,000 euros.
Cypriot officials had previously said that large savers at Laiki ? which will be absorbed in to the Bank of Cyprus ? could lose as much as 80 percent. But they had said large accounts at the Bank of Cyprus would lose only 30 to 40 percent.
Asked about Saturday's announcement, University of Cyprus political scientist Antonis Ellinas predicted that unemployment, currently at 15 percent, will "probably go through the roof" over the next few years.
"It means that (people) ... have to accept a major haircut to their way of life and their standard of living. The social impact is yet to be realized, but they will be enormous in terms of social unrest and radical social phenomenon," Ellinas said.
There's also concern that large depositors ? including many wealthy Russians ? will take their money and run once capital restrictions that Cypriot authorities have imposed on bank transactions to prevent such a possibility are lifted in about a month.
Sarris, the finance minister, said that foreign branches of the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank in countries such as Britain, Russia, Ukraine and Romania will eventually be sold. He also said that Cypriots would seek out new markets like China and the Arab countries while maintaining good business relations with Russians, "despite their bitterness."
Cyprus agreed on Monday to make bank depositors with accounts over 100,000 euros contribute to the financial rescue in order to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Cyprus needed to scrounge up 5.8 billion euros ($7.4 billion) on its own in order to clinch the larger package, and banks had remained shut for nearly two weeks until politicians hammered out a deal, opening again on Thursday.
But fearing that savers would rush to pull their money out in mass once banks reopened, Cypriot authorities imposed a raft of restrictions, including daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros ($384) for individuals and 5,000 euros for businesses ? the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history.
The rush didn't materialize as Cypriots appeared to take the measures in stride, lining up patiently to do their business and defying dire predictions of scenes of pandemonium.
Under the terms of the bailout deal, the country' second largest bank, Laiki ? which sustained the most damaged from bad Greek debt and loans ? is to be split up, with its nonperforming loans and toxic assets going into a "bad bank." The healthy side will be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus.
On Saturday, economist Stelios Platis called the rescue plan "completely mistaken" and criticized Cyprus' euro partners for insisting on foisting Laiki's troubles on the Bank of Cyprus.
____
AP business correspondent Geir Moulson in Berlin and APTN reporter Adam Pemble in Nicosia contributed.
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The death toll from the collapse of a building in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam has climbed to 19, a senior official said on Saturday.
The building of more than 12 storeys, which had been under construction, collapsed on Friday morning near a mosque in the Kariakoo district around the city centre. Several cars were crushed by falling masonry.
Tanzania's buoyant economy has fuelled a building boom, especially in Kariakoo and the city centre. But the speed of construction has raised concerns about standards.
"Nineteen people have been killed so far and 17 were rescued alive, so this accounts for 36 people who were trapped in the collapsed building," Dar es Salaam Regional Police Commander Suleiman Kova told reporters at the scene.
"There is very little hope of finding any more people alive from under the rubble, but we are determined to recover all bodies so that they can be given a proper burial."
Witnesses said they believed construction workers were inside the building when it collapsed. Rescue workers sifting through the rubble on Saturday said two boys were also still missing.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who visited the scene on Friday, ordered authorities to act against responsible parties.
Kova said police had arrested four suspects, including the building owner. Police had previously said the owner in custody was also the contractor, but later said they were still looking for the building contractor.
In this Thursday, March 28, 2013 photo, Christopher Knafelc, who rescued a man who had fallen off the platform in a north Philadelphia subway station, is photographed during an interview in a transit police office in Philadelphia. Knafelc, 32, jumped down onto the tracks to help the man, knowing that a train would be arriving in a few minutes. Train traffic was halted and the man was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Daily News, Brian X. McCrone) THE EVENING BULLETIN OUT, TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES
In this Thursday, March 28, 2013 photo, Christopher Knafelc, who rescued a man who had fallen off the platform in a north Philadelphia subway station, is photographed during an interview in a transit police office in Philadelphia. Knafelc, 32, jumped down onto the tracks to help the man, knowing that a train would be arriving in a few minutes. Train traffic was halted and the man was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Daily News, Brian X. McCrone) THE EVENING BULLETIN OUT, TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES
In this still image taken from security video provided by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), Christopher Knafelc jumps off a subway platform in north Philadelphia to help a man who fell onto the tracks Thursday afternoon, March 28, 2013. Knafelc, 32, jumped down to help the man, knowing that a train would be arriving in a few minutes. Train traffic was halted and the man was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition. (AP Photo/SEPTA)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? The recovering drug addict with a long rap sheet who had just sat down on the bench at a north Philadelphia train station often wondered if he was a good person, and perhaps never considered that anyone thought he was a hero to anybody.
But there was no self-doubt when Christopher Knafelc's instincts kicked in Thursday and he leaped onto the tracks to help a complete stranger he'd just seen flail and fall off the platform.
Now, Knafelc, 32, is being hailed as a hero and he's holding his head a little higher, viewing the good deed he did, and the praise that followed, as another sign that he is on the right path in life.
"It did help reinforce that I'm a good person," Knafelc told The Associated Press in an interview Friday at his mother's south Philadelphia apartment. "I questioned that a lot because of my colorful past."
Still, Knafelc deflected the praise by saying he was just doing the "right thing."
Knafelc said he has battled substance abuse ? including heroin and the powerful pain drug OxyContin ? since he was in middle school in Baden, a small town outside Pittsburgh, and spent years in and out of rehab.
"I created a pretty deep hole to come out of," he said.
Court records show Knafelc pleaded guilty in 2010 in Pennsylvania to charges of theft, driving under the influence, child endangerment and driving without a license. Two years ago, he came to Philadelphia, where his mother and a cousin live, to get a fresh start, he said.
He said he has been sober since 10 days after his daughter's birth in July 2010, when he picked her up from her crib and she smiled at him.
"That was the most powerful thing I've ever felt in my life to this day," Knafelc said. "It was better than any high from drugs."
On Thursday afternoon, he instinctively jumped down to help the man on the tracks, knowing that a train would be arriving any minute.
He called up to people on the platforms to get the trains stopped and held the man's head and neck stable until firefighters arrived. Train traffic was halted.
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority spokeswoman Jerri Williams said she spoke with Knafelc soon after his heroics.
"He's clean and sober for about 2? years but still trying to get his life together," she said. "I think by doing this good Samaritan deed he's kind of surprised himself."
Williams said she saw that as Knafelc recounted the incident on the tracks, "I could see the light go off, the a-ha moment" when he realized that after he was helped by many people in his past, he was able to finally help someone else in return.
"This almost instinctive move to save this guy made him see 'I am a good person,'" Williams said. "It's amazing. This incident may be the start of really good things for him."
Knafelc agreed with that assessment, and he connected the help he's been given by family members to survive his addiction with the favor he did the man on the tracks.
"I'll never be able to repay them, financially or any other way," Knafelc said. "The next best thing I can do is pay it forward."
Investigators do not know what caused the man to fall on the tracks. Surveillance video shows him walking slowly toward the platform's edge and then over it. He was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition.
___
Associated Press researcher Judith Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.
(Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum Corp chairman and former chief executive Ray Irani is pushing to replace the oil company's current CEO, Stephen Chazen, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing "investors and people familiar with the company's operations."
However, several big investors who support Chazen have considered the possibility of trying to vote some directors, including Irani, off the board, the newspaper said, citing "people familiar with their plans."
The debate over the leadership of the fourth-largest U.S. oil company has divided major shareholders ahead of the company's annual meeting on May 3, the newspaper said.
The boardroom drama comes as shares of Occidental have fallen 18 percent in the past year, compared with an 11 percent rise for California rival Chevron Corp and a 4 percent rise for giant Exxon Mobil Corp.
Occidental, in a brief press release on February 14, announced that it was searching for someone to succeed Chazen, 66, after less than two years in the top job.
Yet, earlier this month at an industry event in New Orleans, Chazen told a group of investors that he did not volunteer to leave, the newspaper said.
Chazen is only the third CEO at Occidental in half a century. Irani was named CEO in 1990 by Armand Hammer, a flamboyant tycoon who spent three decades building the company up from a small firm of just three employees.
Chazen and Irani found both themselves targeted over their high compensation, until a shareholder effort to take board seats sparked reform in 2010. Chazen ended up earning compensation worth $31.7 million (20.8 million pounds) in 2011, down from $38.1 million the year before, while Irani made $49.8 million in 2011, down from $76.1 million.
The 78-year-old Irani, who is scheduled to retire at the end of 2014, owns a substantial amount of Occidental stock, the Journal said.
Occidental's lead director, Aziz Syriani, said in a statement that the company's independent directors, and not Irani, were making decisions about Chazen's eventual successor.
"Any suggestion otherwise, or insinuation that Dr. Irani is guiding the process, is completely and flatly wrong," Syriani said in the statement, which Occidental provided to Reuters.
An Occidental spokeswoman had no additional comment.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; editing by Gunna Dickson)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The cost to taxpayers for a House Republican decision to fund the legal team supporting the Defense of Marriage Act has climbed from $500,000 to as much as $3 million, Democrats say in questioning the GOP stance on the gay marriage issue now before the Supreme Court.
"It's really disappointing and unworthy of a subject that is going before the Supreme Court of our country," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday, referring to Republicans spending that money without input from House Democrats. Pelosi made the comments after emerging from the court hearing on whether to strike down parts of the 1996 law that denies married gay couples the federal benefits available to other couples.
She said Democrats had no input in several modifications to the legal contract that has increased the ceiling for spending on the legal defense of DOMA from the initial $500,000 to $3 million.
Shortly after the administration of President Barack Obama in early 2011 declared that DOMA was not constitutional, House Republicans convened a meeting of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group and, according to Pelosi, used their 3-2 majority to authorize funds to defend the law. Pelosi said the advisory group held no more meetings on the issue and that Republicans acted on their own to increase the funding ceiling as the case dragged on. Paul Clement, one of Washington's most prominent attorney's was hired to argue the case for DOMA supporters.
"Again, $3 million speaks very loudly, especially $3 million that has gone forth without benefit of a vote in the so-called Bipartisan (Legal) Advisory Group," Pelosi said.
House Speaker John Boehner, at a news conference last week, defended the GOP role in the lawsuit, saying that Congress passed the law in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed it, "and in our system of government, the administration doesn't get to decide what's constitutional. The Supreme Court does. And our financing the lawsuit was to make sure that the proper forum was used to make sure that we know what's constitutional and what isn't."
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., at a recent Appropriations subcommittee hearing on congressional budgets, also questioned why the House was spending up to $3 million to defend DOMA when the personal staff budgets of House lawmakers were being cut 8.2 percent because of automatic budget cuts.
Look out squirrels: Leopards are new backyard wildlifePublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Sautner ssautner@wcs.org 718-220-3682 Wildlife Conservation Society
NEW YORK (March 28, 2013) A new study led by WCS-India scientist Vidya Athreaya finds that certain landscapes of western India completely devoid of wilderness and with high human populations are crawling with a different kind of backyard wildlife: leopards.
The study found as many as five adult large carnivores, including leopards and striped hyenas, per 100 square kilometers (38 square miles), a density never before reported in a human-dominated landscape.
The study, called "Big Cats in Our Backyards," appeared in the March 6 edition of the journal PLoS One. Authors include: Vidya Athreya and Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore; Morten Odden of Hedmark University College; John D. C. Linnell of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; and Jagdish Krishnaswamy of Asoka Trust for Research of Ecology in the Environment.
Using camera traps, the authors founds that leopards often ranged close to houses at night though remained largely undetected by the public. Despite this close proximity between leopards and people, there are few instances of attacks in this region. The authors also photographed rusty spotted cat, small Indian civet, Indian fox, jungle cat, jackal, mongoose and a variety of people from the local communities. The research took place in western Maharashtra, India.
"Human attacks by leopards were rare despite a potentially volatile situation considering that the leopard has been involved in serious conflict, including human deaths in adjoining areas," said big cat expert Ullas Karanth of WCS. "The results of our work push the frontiers of our understanding of the adaptability of both humans and wildlife to each other's presence."
The authors say that the findings show that conservationists must look outside of protected areas for a more holistic approach to safeguarding wildlife in a variety of landscapes.
###
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit http://www.wcs.org.
Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a Web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to http://www.wcs.org.
[ | 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.
Look out squirrels: Leopards are new backyard wildlifePublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Sautner ssautner@wcs.org 718-220-3682 Wildlife Conservation Society
NEW YORK (March 28, 2013) A new study led by WCS-India scientist Vidya Athreaya finds that certain landscapes of western India completely devoid of wilderness and with high human populations are crawling with a different kind of backyard wildlife: leopards.
The study found as many as five adult large carnivores, including leopards and striped hyenas, per 100 square kilometers (38 square miles), a density never before reported in a human-dominated landscape.
The study, called "Big Cats in Our Backyards," appeared in the March 6 edition of the journal PLoS One. Authors include: Vidya Athreya and Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore; Morten Odden of Hedmark University College; John D. C. Linnell of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; and Jagdish Krishnaswamy of Asoka Trust for Research of Ecology in the Environment.
Using camera traps, the authors founds that leopards often ranged close to houses at night though remained largely undetected by the public. Despite this close proximity between leopards and people, there are few instances of attacks in this region. The authors also photographed rusty spotted cat, small Indian civet, Indian fox, jungle cat, jackal, mongoose and a variety of people from the local communities. The research took place in western Maharashtra, India.
"Human attacks by leopards were rare despite a potentially volatile situation considering that the leopard has been involved in serious conflict, including human deaths in adjoining areas," said big cat expert Ullas Karanth of WCS. "The results of our work push the frontiers of our understanding of the adaptability of both humans and wildlife to each other's presence."
The authors say that the findings show that conservationists must look outside of protected areas for a more holistic approach to safeguarding wildlife in a variety of landscapes.
###
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit http://www.wcs.org.
Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a Web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to http://www.wcs.org.
[ | 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.
We've been tracking the sun-powered plane known as Solar Impulse for years as it roved hither and yon. Today, Solar Impulse's pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, came to NASA's Ames research center to announce their plan to fly across America. The cross-country tour will begin in the Bay Area and end in New York, with stops in Phoenix, Dallas and Washington DC in between. Solar Impulse will also land in either Atlanta, Nashville or St. Louis, with the plane and its pilots set to stay in each locale for about a week to ten days to talk about the project before moving on. For the next month, Piccard and Borschberg will perform test flights around the Bay Area in preparation, and the plan is for the journey to start on May 1st, with an estimated arrival in Gotham sometime in early July.
The point of this new flight is to inspire and educate the public in general of the benefits of renewable energy and efficiency, and to encourage school children and university students in particular to "think off the grid" and innovate and invent on their own. To that end, the pilots will be broadcasting live transmissions and allowing the public to speak with them as they fly, in addition to providing access to flight planning information on the Solar Impulse website. Read on to learn a bit more about the Solar Impulse project and it's future plans.
Metal-loving researchers analyzed the collective movement of individuals in mosh pits, which could help explain mass movements in other extreme situations. Sophie Bushwick reports.
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A heavy metal concert might be a tough place to think about physics, especially in the mosh pit, where some audience members dance violently. But the mosh pit itself is actually an interesting place to find physics in action. And not just force equals mass times acceleration.
Metal-loving Cornell researchers analyzed videos of mosh pits and mapped the motion of participants. They found that the collisions of moshers was similar to the motion of molecules in an ideal gas. Mosh dancers can also form what is called a circle pit, where they run collectively in a ring, creating a vortex pattern.
The scientists not only modeled mosh and circle pits, they also found how one type of motion transitions into the other. The presented their ongoing work at the American Physical Society's March Meeting. [Matthew Bierbaum et al, Mosh pits and Circle pits: Collective motion at heavy metal concerts]
But why bother to look at mosh pits in the first place? The physicists think their research may also apply to other extreme situations, which could help us understand collective human movement in panics and riots. So I say, rock on.
?Sophie Bushwick
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]? ?
OXON HILL, Maryland (Reuters) - At a gathering for conservatives to plot their future, there was a stark reminder of the past on Friday as failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney made his first public speech since election night.
"I am sorry that I won't be your president," Romney told the audience of the Conservative Political Action Conference, "but I will be your co-worker and I will stand shoulder to shoulder beside you."
Since he accepted defeat to President Barack Obama in the early hours of the morning on November 7 in Boston, Romney has largely vanished from view. He is occasionally spotted on the ski slopes with his family, pumping gas, or shopping at Costco.
He and his wife Ann have retired to La Jolla, California, where the Romney family keeps a home, although they did give an interview to Fox News last month.
The former Massachusetts governor was the first losing presidential candidate in nearly 25 years not to be in Washington on Inauguration Day.
Looking tanned since his time off the campaign trail, Romney delivered what sounded very like his campaign speech. He told vignettes about the Americans he met as he traveled across the country on the way to his eventual defeat.
Romney said he realized the awkwardness of his position.
"As someone who just lost the last election, I'm probably not the best person to chart the course for the next election," he said.
ROCKY RELATIONSHIP
Romney has never had a simple relationship with the conservative base, which always suspected he was too moderate on healthcare, abortion and other issues.
In past years, Romney won the conference's straw poll for preferred presidential candidate, but audiences like CPAC are often filled with the sort of Republicans who were most suspicious of his conservative credentials.
Appearing at the same event last year, Romney declared himself to be "severely conservative." That strained formulation did not warm conservatives' hearts and led to ridicule from some in the media.
For many gathered at a hotel here south of Washington, the lesson from Romney's loss is a simple one: Republicans nominated a candidate who wasn't conservative enough.
On Thursday, Texas Governor Rick Perry, once Romney's rival in the presidential primary, told the crowd: "The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideas, as evidence by the last two presidential elections. That's what they think, that's what they say. That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012."
"The fact is the base didn't come out for him," said Bob Vander Plaats, the president of the Family Leader and a prominent social conservative in the early-voting state of Iowa. "No matter how much we did to push our base towards him that was a hard rope to push."
Romney was received warmly by the audience and the former candidate thanked them for their "earnest support."
He did have one warning for conservatives.
"We particularly need to hear from the governors of the blue and purple states," he said, advising conservatives not to give up on the states where he lost to Obama.
Romney mentioned two governors ? New Jersey's Chris Christie and Virginia's Bob McDonnell ? who were not invited to participate in the influential conference.
Both governors have been criticized for taking positions that part with Republican orthodoxy. But a Reuters/Ipsos online poll on Friday showed Christie as the Republican with the best rating against possible 2016 Democratic opponents Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden. [ID:nL1N0C76P2]
LARGELY IGNORED
Since his defeat, Romney has rarely been mentioned by conservatives.
Speaking a few hours before Romney, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, centered his remarks on the federal budget and made no mention of his former running mate.
In the aftermath of the last campaign, Republicans have set about refashioning their image, moving away from Romney's campaign positions.
Romney's campaign was marked by a hawkish view on immigration and was hindered by his remarks in secretly recorded video deploring nearly half of all Americans as "victims."
Now, Republican congressmen are playing leading roles in trying to reform immigration laws and leaders are encouraging reaching out to African-American and Hispanic voters, two groups that backed Obama by wide margins.
Influential Republicans like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal have called on their party to embrace the people Romney appeared to reject in his infamous "47 percent" remarks about voters who receive government aid.
Despite his downfall, Romney was undeterred.
"It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party," Romney said. "I utterly reject that pessimism."
LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S.-style ban on Britain's banks trading with their own money is not needed and would be too difficult to enforce, members of an influential committee said on Friday.
Instead, Britain should use the threat of capital add-ons or other tools to bear down on any bank that shows signs of proprietary trading, said the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS).
The PCBS said a U.S. ban on proprietary trading, known as the Volcker rule, has shown it is difficult to define and prohibit such trading, and it would impose an extra burden on UK regulators who already have to enforce a complex separation of banks' retail operations.
"The Banking Commission does not feel it appropriate to recommend the immediate prohibition of proprietary trading," said Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the PCBS.
But he did not rule out a ban in the future.
"Were this approach to prove ineffective, further measures, including prohibition, could be desirable," he said in report released by the PCBS.
There has been limited support for a "Volcker rule" in Britain, which is pushing through plans to shield retail banking arms from riskier investment banking activity, called Vickers reform, as a way to safeguard taxpayers and depositors from any future banking troubles.
Incoming Bank of England Governor Mark Carney last month said there was no need to add a Volcker rule, citing the difficulty in drawing a line between market-making and proprietary trading.
The PCBS is finalising its report on banking standards, and its proposals could be added to a banking reform bill currently being discussed in Parliament.
UK banks told the PCBS they do not engage in proprietary trading and said they do not want to, but Tyrie said that could change: "At a time when banks are under less intense scrutiny, proprietary trading could re-emerge as a greater risk."
He said proprietary trading was not a suitable activity for a bank, and could lead to conflicts of interest, have harmful cultural effects and raise pay expectations.
The Prudential Regulation Authority, which takes over UK financial regulation in April, should pay close attention to big trading units and volatile revenue flows, and if it spots potential proprietary trading it should use capital add-ons or other methods to incentivise the firm to exercise tighter control, Tyrie said.
(Reporting by Steve Slater; editing by Stephen Nisbet)
Having proven the concept, Dylan Collins' Box Of Awesome, which we previously described as a "free Birchbox for kids", is launching a new box targeting 8-14 year-old girls only -- a move that feels like a very logical next step. Similar to the original BOA, which launched last month, the equally cleverly named Box Of OMG! sees subscribers being sent a bi-monthly physical box stuffed full of books, music, movies, tickets, fashion, make-up and other "surprises" from both big brands and startups.
When I first started using Papers, I could not stop calling it Pages?a mistake I made even on a call with the Mekentosj team. They took it in stride, but I can understand why Mekentosj developers might bristle at the confusion. As document management software, Papers 2 is more a sibling to Mendeley, and second cousin (at best) to iWork. Yet their not-dissimilar names do highlight a similarity: From a pop-up system-wide Citation search to a Match to Repository tool replete with visual and sound effects, Papers 2 feels a lot like an Apple application. Papers even transplants an iTunes feature (Smart Playlists) as a means of organizing research (Smart Collections).
Yet, as with many of Apple's early forays, Papers has its limitations. I had trouble accessing Paper's Livfe social network, getting its Citation tool to work with my word processor, and finding all its features (such as the Match to Repository). Import capabilities are also minimalistic, meaning that researchers who rely on Mendeley or Zotero?(free, 4 stars) will have to manually export their libraries as BibTeX or RIS files.
Furthermore, unlike Mendeley or Zotero, which offer free cloud-based backup, Papers tethers you to a desktop?unless you want to buy the iOS app ($15) with which you can manually sync your library to your iPhone or iPad. For some researchers, particularly early adopters of Zotero, Papers may not warrant another look. However, for those just beginning to organize research, Paper's integrated repository search and Apple aesthetics make document management a little bit friendlier.
A Fresh Start Papers assumes you are new to document management. It invites you to add a photo, edit your title, and select your research interests from a rather dizzying array of choices (as you can see in the slideshow). From there, Papers will fetch your papers from the likes of Google Scholar, Google Books, and Wikipedia. Curiously, this search never extends to your files, underscoring a contradiction: Despite its localization?one license, one desktop?Papers seems more interested in the Web than your desktop.
At launch, Papers does not ask you to import an existing research library. Instead, you have to manually import existing libraries. Support is somewhat patchy. While Papers imports directly from EndNote ($249), other libraries require a more circuitous path. For example, I had to export and import my Zotero library as BibTeX; along the way I lost my folders, leaving me with 289 unsorted books and articles. Given the popularity of Zotero amongst academic researchers, I hope that Papers comes to embrace something like Mendeleys Zotero synchronization.
Cue to Apple Once your library is up and running, however, there is much to like about Papers. Although the interface is structured similarly to Mendeley and Zotero, Papers looks like an Apple product. Discreet notifications highlight new features. A sophisticated search prowls metadata and notes. And a nicely parsed navigation sidebar tags every function with a colorful and evocative icon. Papers even supports Cover Flow (though, alas, not Columns).
On the other hand, not unlike an Apple application, Papers errs on the side of omission. One feature, Match to Repository, allows you to search the Web for relevant document metadata; it works reasonably well, does so with visual aplomb (simulating a document scan), and yet Papers hides the feature in the menu bar. And despite supplying inviting buttons at the bottom of each window, they are not contextual. For example, when I wanted to add a conference to my conference pane, I clicked the "+" button; instead of allowing me to add a new conference (which is buried in File/New/Conference), Papers prompted me to create a new collection.
Collections and More Papers' approach to folders, Collections, deserves commendation. Although you can create a traditional folder hierarchy for your research project (Manual Collection), Papers also lets you share folder metadata (Livfe Collections, to which I'll return shortly) or create a dynamic folder around a set of criteria (Smart Collections, inspired by iTunes Playlists). I found the latter particularly useful because I could create Collections to track particular scholars, keywords, and dates.
Papers also takes some of the best features of its kin and augments them. For example, Mendeley allows you to read and annotate PDFs using a tabbed interface; Papers replicates this feature, and allows you to add other media, such as PowerPoint presentations. Zotero lets you save search results from your browser to your library. Papers offers a bookmarklet with similar functionality; however, few will use it because Papers integrates Web repository search in the application. It is not comprehensive, but with support for JSTOR, Google Books, and Google Scholar, even researchers in the humanities may find themselves working from the application.
Papers Livfe Papers' user base is concentrated in the sciences, a fact that proves significant in their ill-named social network, Papers Livfe. Through Livfe, you can join groups and access paper metadata. To experience Livfe's social scene, I joined the most popular collection ("Young Guns"). The short answer: This party has not started yet. What activity there is concentrates on bio-medical science. Generalized threads, such as the "Research Methods," barely have a pulse; at time of writing, that collection had 11 members and two articles. Part of the reason for this is that Livfe is glitchy. I had a hard time accessing the service. More than not I encountered error messages, and when I did join a collection, the metadata never rendered. Given that Papers does not offer cloud-based backup, Livfe is the only way to share research. While it is a promising new venture, it is not yet where it needs to be.
System-Wide Citations The centerpiece of the latest version of Papers is Citations?and with good reason. While I previously commended Zotero and Mendeley for their ability to export citations in a variety of different formats, Papers takes citations to another level with system-wide integration. With a quick keystroke (control, control), you can pull up a Papers search field, from which you can preview a source in your library (Quick Look), copy it to your clipboard, or add a citation in your word processor. One thing to be aware of?and that I diagnosed the hard way?is that Papers relies upon Visual Basic to connect with Microsoft Word. Without it, however, you can simply copy citations to your clipboard and paste them into your document.
Stacking Up Papers rests near the top of its software category when it comes to its integrated Web repository search, elegant citations, and inviting interface. Some striking omissions?a temperamental social network, un-social integration with other document managers, and non-existent cloud backup?place it somewhere in the middle of the pack. It is certainly cheaper than the flagship EndNote x6, but compared to competitors Zotero and Mendeley, both of which rely upon freemium models, Papers $79 price tag ($49 for students) looks somewhat pricey. Consider taking advantage of its 30-day trial period. Those new to document management may find themselves happy to overlook its limitations, and given the pace with which Papers is developing, those limitations will not likely endure for long.
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#1 ishan3243 ?
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i read somewhere that if we assume simple uniform hashing model then the cost for a successful "find" or "lookup" operation in a dictionary is ?(1+c) where c=n/m where n is the no. of elements in the dictionary and m is the no. of slots in the hash table. Can someone tell me how ?
Graphic shows counties in the U.S. which have reported more deaths than births in
Graphic shows counties in the U.S. which have reported more deaths than births in
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A record number of U.S. counties ? more than 1 in 3 ? are now dying off, hit by an aging population and weakened local economies that are spurring young adults to seek jobs and build families elsewhere.
New 2012 census estimates released Thursday highlight the population shifts as the U.S. encounters its most sluggish growth levels since the Great Depression.
The findings also reflect the increasing economic importance of foreign-born residents as the U.S. ponders an overhaul of a major 1965 federal immigration law. Without new immigrants, many metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and St. Louis would have posted flat or negative population growth in the last year.
"Immigrants are innovators, entrepreneurs, they're making things happen. They create jobs," said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, at an immigration conference in his state last week. Saying Michigan should be a top destination for legal immigrants to come and boost Detroit and other struggling areas, Snyder made a special appeal: "Please come here."
The growing attention on immigrants is coming mostly from areas of the Midwest and Northeast, which are seeing many of their residents leave after years of staying put during the downturn. With a slowly improving U.S. economy, young adults are now back on the move, departing traditional big cities to test the job market mostly in the South and West, which had sustained the biggest hits in the housing bust.
Also seeing big declines now are rural and exurban areas, along with industrial sections of the Rust Belt.
Census data show that 1,135 of the nation's 3,143 counties are now experiencing "natural decrease," where deaths exceed births. That's up from roughly 880 U.S. counties, or 1 in 4, in 2009. Already apparent in Japan and many European nations, natural decrease is now increasingly evident in large swaths of the U.S.
Despite increasing deaths, the U.S. population as a whole continues to grow, boosted by immigration from abroad and relatively higher births among the mostly younger migrants from Mexico, Latin America and Asia.
"These counties are in a pretty steep downward spiral," said Kenneth Johnson, a senior demographer and sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire, who researched the findings. "The young people leave and the older adults stay in place and age. Unless something dramatic changes ? for instance, new development such as a meatpacking plant to attract young Hispanics ? these areas are likely to have more and more natural decrease."
The areas of natural decrease stretch from industrial areas near Pittsburgh and Cleveland to the vineyards outside San Francisco to the rural areas of east Texas and the Great Plains. A common theme is a waning local economy, such as farming, mining or industrial areas. They also include some retirement communities in Florida, although many are cushioned by a steady flow of new retirees each year.
In the last year, Maine joined West Virginia as the only two entire states where deaths exceed births, which have dropped precipitously after the recent recession. As a nation, the U.S. population grew by just 0.75 percent last year, stuck at historically low levels not seen since 1937.
Johnson said the number of dying counties is rising not only because of fewer births but also increasing mortality as 70 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 move into their older years. "I expect natural decrease to remain high in the future," he said.
Among the 20 fastest-growing large metropolitan areas last year, 16 grew faster than in 2011 and most of them are located in previously growing parts of the Sun Belt or Mountain West. Among the slowest-growing or declining metropolitan areas, most are now doing worse than in 2011 and they are all located in the Northeast and Midwest.
New York ranks tops in new immigrants among large metro areas, but also ranks at the top for young residents moving away.
In contrast, the Texas metropolitan areas of Dallas, Houston and Austin continued to be big draws for young adults, ranking first, second and fourth among large metro areas in domestic migration due to diversified economies that include oil and gas production. Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orlando also saw gains.
By region, growth in the Northeast slowed last year to 0.3 percent, the lowest since 2007; in the Midwest, growth dipped to 0.25 percent, the lowest in at least a decade. In the South and West, growth rates ticked up to 1.1 percent and 1.04 percent, respectively.
"The brakes that were put on migration during the Great Recession appear to be easing up," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the migration data. "Native migrants are becoming more 'footloose' ? following the geographic ups and downs of the labor market ? than are immigrants, who have tended to locate in established ethnic communities in big cities."
"Immigration levels are not where they were a decade ago, but their recent uptick demonstrates the important safety valve they can be for areas with stagnating populations," he said.
Mark Mather, an associate vice president at the Population Reference Bureau, noted that political efforts to downsize government and reduce federal spending could also have a significant impact on future population winners and losers.
Since 2010, many of the fastest-growing U.S. metro areas have also been those that historically received a lot of federal dollars, including Fort Stewart, Ga., Jacksonville, N.C., Crestview, Fla., and Charleston-North Charleston, S.C., all home to military bases. Per-capita federal spending rose from about $5,300 among the fastest-growing metros from 2000 to 2010, to about $8,200 among the fastest-growing metros from 2011 to 2012.
"Federal funding has helped many cities weather the decline in private sector jobs," Mather said.
Other findings:
?Exurbs, the far-flung suburbs on the edge of metropolitan areas, continue to see their growth fizzle after their heady days during the housing boom. Growth dipped last year to 0.35 percent, the lowest in more than a decade. In 2006, exurban growth was as high as 2.1 percent.
?Roughly 46 percent of rural counties just beyond the edge of metropolitan areas experienced natural decrease, compared to 17 percent of urban counties.
?As a whole, the population of nonmetropolitan areas last year declined by 0.1 percent, compared with growth of 1 percent for large metro areas and 0.7 percent for small metropolitan areas.
?In the last year, four metro areas reached population milestones: Los Angeles hit 13 million, Philadelphia reached 6 million, Las Vegas crossed 2 million and Grand Rapids, Mich., passed 1 million.
?Chattahoochee County, Ga., home to Fort Benning, was the nation's fastest-growing county, increasing 10.1 percent in the last year.
The census estimates are based on local records of births and deaths, Internal Revenue Service records of people moving within the United States and census statistics on immigrants.
World Class Filmmaker's Auspicious Address to Headline SFIFF56 Live & Onstage Program Featuring an Array of Once-in-a-Lifetime Events
The San Francisco Film Society announced today that?Steven Soderbergh, one of the world's most celebrated figures in contemporary filmmaking, will deliver the tenth annual?State of Cinema Address?at the?56th San Francisco International Film Festival?(April 25 - May 9) at the?Sundance Kabuki Cinemas?on?Saturday,?April 27?at?1:00 pm. Soderbergh, a visionary in the field of motion picture production, recently announced his intention to retire from filmmaking, a provocative decision which will provide a compelling framework for this live address. The State of Cinema will headline the Festival's Live & Onstage program of unique one-time-only events featuring elements of live music, multimedia presentations and audience participation. See below for full program details. ?
On the 10th anniversary of SFIFF's annual State of Cinema Address, we are excited to present iconoclast and (currently designated) filmmaker Steven Soderbergh as he discusses the intersecting worlds of contemporary cinema, culture and society. Citing the "tyranny of narrative" in feature filmmaking, Soderbergh recently surprised the worldwide film community by asserting that he is leaving film production in order to devote himself full time to other art forms. This declaration from the director of over 25 films -- who came into the public eye with the groundbreaking?sex, lies, and videotape?and continuously enthralled and entertained us with (among so many others)?Schizopolis,?Out of Sight,?The Limey,?Erin Brockovich,?Contagion,?Haywire,?Magic Mike?and the highly anticipated biopic of Liberace and his lover Scott Thorson,?Behind the Candelabra?-- sets the backdrop for Soderbergh's presentation. In addition to his innovative approach to film aesthetics, Soderbergh has also been at the forefront in changes in production, distribution and exhibition technologies. His collaboration with HDNet in developing the "day-and-date" release strategy with his terrific film?Bubble?of simultaneous theatrical and broadcast release followed quickly by DVD sales directly challenged the traditional film distribution model, boldly pulling film exhibition into the digital age. Always riveting and defying expectation, Soderbergh doubtlessly will clarify and challenge one's current views on where cinema is going and what it should be.
"Steven Soderbergh has been a one-man force for change in the film business, never neglecting the art, entertainment or process, pushing the industry forever forward," said Ted Hope, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society. "His keen awareness of the current moment in the development of this art form makes him particularly well suited to deliver the Festival's State of Cinema Address, especially considering his apparent intention to retire from filmmaking. Who better to point the way forward than this artist whose career has embodied the spirit of independence from the very beginning? I don't know about you, but I can't wait to hear what he has to say."
Steven Soderbergh's 27th film, the thriller?Side Effects, was released in February 2013. He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his directorial debut,?sex, lies, and videotape, and the Academy Award in 2000 for directing?Traffic, the same year he was nominated for?Erin Brockovich. Among his other credits are the films?The Girlfriend Experience,?The Informant,?Che, the?Ocean's?trilogy,?The Good German,?And Everything is Going Fine,?Solaris,?Full Frontal,?Gray's Anatomy,?The Underneath,?King of the Hill?and?Kafka. In 2009, he created and directed the play?Tot Mom?for the Sydney Theatre Company. While in Sydney he also directed the film?The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg. His film?Behind the Candelabra?will air in May of this year.
Previous State of Cinema speakers have been author Jonathan Lethem, film producer Christine Vachon, film editor Walter Murch, photographer Mary Ellen Mark,?Wired?publisher Kevin Kelly, actress Tilda Swinton, writer/director Brad Bird, cultural commentator B. Ruby Rich and longtime editor of the influential French film magazine?Positif?Michel Ciment.
Tickets?$20 for SFFS members, $25 for the general public. Box office opens March 13 for SFFS members and March 15 for the general public, online at?sffs.org.
For more information visit?sffs.org/Exhibition/SF-International-Film-Festival. For photos and press materials visit?sffs.org/pressdownloads.
SFIFF56 LIVE & ONSTAGE PROGRAMS Along with the State of Cinema Address, four other exciting and innovative programs round out the?Live & Onstage?program at SFIFF56. Aside from the previously-announced?Waxworks?with Mike Patton, Scott Amendola, Matthias Bossi and William Winant, tickets for these events go on sale upon the full SFIFF program announcement on April 2.
"Steven Soderbergh is the perfect centerpiece to our Live and Onstage section of programming," said Film Society Programmer Sean Uyehara. "Unpredictable and fun, these shows often produce the most lasting memories at the Festival. From the comic insights of Derek Waters to the musical genius of Mike Patton and crew or from the cinephiliac acuity of Rick Prelinger to the keen obsessions of our 'Show or Tell' participants, this year's Live and Onstage selection promises to surprise and delight our audiences yet again."
Show or Tell Friday April 26, 9:15 pm, New People Cinema Bay Area artists and visiting filmmakers of SFIFF present their passions, experiences, relationships and obsessions with the moving image. This will be a true variety show with music, an illustrated lecture, surprises and a behind-the-scenes story or two. The show will include musician/cinephile Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), writer/editor/designer Eli Horowitz (former?McSweeney's?managing editor), artist/filmmaker Lucy Raven (RP31, China Town) and musician/activist Boots Riley (The Coup) and others to be announced.
Inside the Drunken Mind of Derek Waters Saturday April 27, 9:15 pm, Sundance Kabuki Cinemas Friend of the Festival, writer-producer-actor-comedian, hyphenate Derek Waters (A Drunken Evening with Derek Waters SFIFF 2010,?Only the Young?SFIFF 2012) will be on stage presenting a program whose origins are best described as welling from deep inside Waters' mind. Waters will share his personal discoveries of media from around the world, plus we get a peek at his new?Drunk History?television show for Comedy Central.
No More Road Trips? Sunday May 5, 4:30 pm, Castro Theatre Founder of the Prelinger Archives, Rick Prelinger brings us No More Road Trips?, a dream ride through 20th-century America made entirely from home movies that asks whether we've reached the end of the open road. The soundtrack for this fully participatory film is created by audiences at each screening.
Waxworks?with Mike Patton, Scott Amendola, Matthias Bossi and William Winant Tuesday May 7, 8:30 pm, Castro Theatre As has become a tradition at SFIFF, we again unite vital contemporary musicians with classic silent film. Mike Patton and three percussionists -- Scott Amendola, Matthias Bossi and William Winant -- team to create an original score for the classic German expressionist film?Waxworks?(1924) that they will present in a live world premiere. For more information visit?sffs.org.
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56th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 25-May 9 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre and New People Cinema in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country's most beautiful cities, featuring 200 films and live events, 14 juried awards and $70,000 in cash prizes, upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests and diverse and engaged audiences with more than 70,000 in attendance.
Film Society Awards Night, SFIFF's fundraising gala honoring the masters of world cinema, will take place Tuesday May 7, 6:00 pm at Bimbo's 365 Club.
San Francisco Film Society Building on a legacy of more than 50 years of bringing the best in world cinema to the Bay Area, the San Francisco Film Society is a national leader in exhibition, education and filmmaker services. SFFS is headed by Executive Director Ted Hope with the programmatic leadership of Director of Programming Rachel Rosen, Director of Filmmaker360 Michele Turnure-Salleo and Director of Education Joanne Parsont.
The Film Society presents more than 100 days of exhibition each year, reaching a total audience of more than 100,000 people. Its acclaimed education program introduces international, independent and documentary cinema and media literacy to more than 10,000 teachers and students. Through Filmmaker360, the Film Society's filmmaker services program, essential creative and business services, professional development classes, and funding totaling millions of dollars are provided to deserving filmmakers of all levels.
The Film Society seeks to elevate all aspects of film culture, offering a wide range of activities that engage emotions, inspire action, change perceptions and advance knowledge. A 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, it is largely donor and member supported. Patronage and membership provides discounted prices, access to grants and residencies, private events and a wealth of other benefits.
Infogr.am is a free webapp that ingests spreadsheets and .csv files, and spits out gorgeous, interactive infographics.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v4gZuQsFocmh4vuDt8KSPj73bej6SE0DDVI0teK74RaSm8kdCmAAZpznEBDC_vo4IDUYQe-crIzgGBNtbpXOqnS_PSVjGslISO2hYuewM=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
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