The union of Christine Swidorsky and Sean Stevenson was no ordinary wedding. The couple had planned it for ages, and had penciled July 2014 as their special day. But that was before they learned that their best man -- 2-year-old Logan -- had just weeks to live.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas prays for a miracle.
As Republican Party state officials across the country continue to give restrictive Jim Crow voter ID laws the modern spin, their cohorts on the national level are reportedly reaching out to a certain sect of the Black community. But how do you ?reach out? to a community you?re purposely trying to keep away from the voting polls? Exactly.
SEE ALSO: Chris Hayes: ?White People Have No Clue How To Solve Problems In White Community? [VIDEO]
a recent piece for New York magazine, writer Grace Wyler reports on the GOP doing ?something historic at an Evangelical confab in Iowa.? That would be an organized attempt at drawing the Black Christian vote with the aid of Black church leaders. As pointed out in the report, it?s not exactly a brand-new concept. After all, former President George W. Bush made similar attempts during his time in office.
Still, the GOP is taking it one step further ? organizing as a party versus just allowing its candidate do the leg work for them.
And yet, it feels even more laughable now than it did then:
Wyler writes:
But in Iowa last Friday, minority church leaders finally got a seat at the table, when a group of about 20 Black and Hispanic pastors joined 400 Iowa evangelicals in Des Moines for a two-day Christian Right confab. The pastors heard speeches from Senate Tea Party darlings Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and sat down with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to discuss how the GOP could better establish relationships with churchgoers in Black and Hispanic communities.
You read that right: The wing of the Republican Party responsible for ?Birtherism? is leading the charge on outreach to Black people of faith with the aid of the RNC chair who has enabled them and all of their racist rhetoric. Zoom, look at them go, y?all.
More:
Republican strategists said that Friday?s meeting was the first time in recent memory that the Party has made a concerted effort to include Black and Hispanic church leaders in developing the GOP?s minority outreach strategy. While individual candidates ? most notably former President George W. Bush ? have brought on Black Christian leaders to advise their campaign strategies, the party proper has lacked a cohesive plan to build relationships with Black and Hispanic Evangelicals in between election cycles.
Former Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts has long pushed his party to reach out to minority voters. In the article, Watts laments, ?The party has done very little to bring Black and Hispanic Evangelicals in to the fold. If you?re going to tell me that?s too harsh, then I?ll say, Fine. They?ve not done much. You can probably put in to a thimble what the RNC has done to create any kind of network.?
He went on to add,??It?s about having relationships, and that covers a multitude of sins. People will extend more grace, they?re more willing to listen, if you have a relationship with them ? If Evangelicals trust you, then they will give you a little more latitude.?
But, but, but, but: What Black person with a clue is going to trust a party that is blatantly trying to keep other Black people from voting? Is that not the beginning, middle, and end of this story?
If not, how about the rampant racism that continues to dominant much of the Republican culture? It was only a few weeks ago that Rand Paul let go of his Abraham Lincoln-hating staffer with a soft spot for seemingly racist views. Plus, Rand Paul will forever be the guy who is on record for being against the Civil Rights Act.
If this is the kind of person that can be a presumed presidential front-runner in your party, what kind of inroads with the Black community can you truly expect the GOP to make?
Are Blacks to magically forget all of that because Rand Paul can whisper sweet nothings about God?s glory??I?ve been taught about Jesus performing miracles, but I doubt the Father, the son, or the holy spirit can help the Black community to vote for them. If you believe otherwise?I?ll pray for you.
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Michael Arceneaux?is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer and blogger. You can read more of his work on his site,?The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter:?@youngsinick
The Obama administration overruled an import ban on older iPhone and iPad models issued by the International Trade Commission at Samsung's request, allowing Apple to continue imports of AT&T models of the iPhone 4, iPad 3G, and iPad 2 3G.
In this image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a photomicrograph of a fresh stool sample, which had been prepared using a 10% formalin solution, and stained with modified acid-fast stain, reveals the presence of four Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts in the field of view. Iowa and Nebraska health officials said Tuesday, July 30, 2013, that a prepackaged salad mix is the source of a cyclospora outbreak that sickened more than 178 people in both states. Cyclospora is a rare parasite that causes a lengthy gastrointestinal illness. (AP Photo/Centerd for Disease Control and Prevention)
In this image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a photomicrograph of a fresh stool sample, which had been prepared using a 10% formalin solution, and stained with modified acid-fast stain, reveals the presence of four Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts in the field of view. Iowa and Nebraska health officials said Tuesday, July 30, 2013, that a prepackaged salad mix is the source of a cyclospora outbreak that sickened more than 178 people in both states. Cyclospora is a rare parasite that causes a lengthy gastrointestinal illness. (AP Photo/Centerd for Disease Control and Prevention)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration says an outbreak of stomach illnesses in Iowa and Nebraska is linked to salad mix served at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants in those states and supplied by a Mexican farm.
The outbreak of cyclospora infections has sickened more than 400 people in 16 states in all. The agency says it is working to determine whether the salad mix is the source of illnesses in the other 14 states.
"It is not yet clear whether the cases reported from other states are all part of the same outbreak," the agency said in a statement. "The investigation of increased cases of cyclosporiasis in other states continues."
Both Olive Garden and Red Lobster are owned by Orlando-based Darden Restaurants. In a statement, Darden spokesman Mike Bernstein said the FDA's announcement is "new information."
"Nothing we have seen prior to this announcement gave us any reason to be concerned about the products we've received from this supplier," Bernstein said.
The FDA said it traced illnesses from the restaurants in Nebraska and Iowa to Taylor Farms de Mexico, the Mexican branch of Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms. The company, which provides produce to the food service industry, said its facility located about 180 miles north of Mexico City in San Miguel de Allende is the only one of its 12 sites to be connected to the cases.
In a statement on the company's website, Taylor Farms says the Mexican facility is "state of the art and has an exceptional food safety record." The statement said the company is working with FDA investigators who are looking at the facility and that the product is out of the food supply.
The FDA said it had audited the Mexican processing facility in 2001 and found "no notable issues." The agency said it would increase surveillance efforts for green leafy products imported from Mexico.
The most recent known illness in the two states linked to the infected salad was in Nebraska a month ago. The typical shelf life for a salad mix is up to 14 days.
There have been more recent illnesses in other states. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most recent illness was July 23 but centers did not specify a location.
The agency said its investigation has not implicated any packaged salad sold in grocery stores.
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Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
A Florida Bar grievance committee Thursday found no basis to file ethics charges against prominent Miami lawyers Guy Lewis and Michael Tein in their defense of two Miccosukee Tribe members ordered to pay a $3.2 million judgment in a fatal car-crash case.
The committee found no probable cause that Lewis, a former U.S. attorney in Miami, and Tein, an ex-prosecutor in his office, violated any Florida Bar ethics rules, so the investigation is closed, said Bar spokeswoman Francine Walker. The committee?s findings will be released Friday.
The lawyer for Lewis and Tein, Paul Calli, could not be reached for comment.
The ethics probe was launched in April, after a Miami-Dade judge slapped the partners with a $50,000 fine. Circuit Judge Ronald Dresnick decided he had originally sanctioned Lewis and Tein too little for a post-judgment violation over their failure to promptly turn over certain financial records of their two Miccosukee clients.
The judge raised the fine from $3,500 after realizing he had made a mistake when he initially found the partners? legal fees were not that high and their bills were not paid by the Miccosukee Tribe.
Dresnick said the $3.1 million in fees charged by Lewis and Tein to represent the two Miccosukee Indians in the 2009 fatal car-crash trial made ?my eyes spin in their sockets.?
Lewis and Tein were accused of committing perjury by the attorney for the family of the car-crash victim after they testified at a sanctions hearing in August 2011 that their two clients ? not the Miccosukee Tribe ? paid their legal fees. Both defense lawyers had told the judge that any sanctions fine would come out of their pockets, not their clients? or the tribe?s.
But Lewis and Tein made those assertions before the family?s lawyer, Ramon M. Rodriguez, discovered $3.1 million in checks issued directly to their law firm by the tribe for the defense of the two Miccosukee clients, Tammy Gwen Billie and her father.
Lewis and Tein argued that their Miccosukee clients borrowed money from the tribe to pay the legal fees.
Ultimately, Dresnick found in a final order that Lewis and Tein ?did not commit perjury, did not engage in fraud on the court ? and did not fail in their obligation of candor? at the sanctions hearing.
Billie was behind the wheel of an uninsured car, owned by her dad, when she crashed, killing 30-year-old Liliana Bermudez on the Tamiami Trail in 1998.
Sony's first earnings report of the new financial year is in and it's eked out a profit, albeit a small one. The $35 million net profit is an improvement from last year's results for the same period, and the good news is most pronounced in its Mobile Products & Communications department. Revenue grew 36 percent from last year, partially due to changes in the value of the yen, but also thanks to higher sales for smartphones, and a higher average selling price. The games division recorded an operating loss for the quarter, as sales of the PS3, PSP and PS2 dropped slightly while spending on R&D for the upcoming PlayStation 4 rose. Sony's new TV strategy may have shown some results, with year-on-years sales up 18.2 percent and attributed to an "improved product mix in LCD TVs" and cost reductions.
Los Angeles, CA (July 31, 2013) In his January 2009 State of the Union address, President Obama announced his goal for the U.S. to lead the world in college graduates by 2020. While policymakers often blame university systems for low graduation among college students, according to new research, characteristics known about a student before he or she even enters a college classroom can accurately predict graduation rates. This new study, published in SAGE Open, finds that characteristics such as fulltime enrollment status, race, transfer credits, and expected family contribution predict successful graduation from college.
Researcher Tim Gramling, LP.D., conducted research on characteristics of more than 2,500 students from the full population of one large, for-profit university and found that higher GPA, fulltime enrollment status, black race (over whites), a higher number of transfer credits when enrolling, and higher expected family contribution weighed most heavily in accurately predicting higher graduation odds.
Taken together, these five characteristics predict graduation rates with 86.9% accuracy, despite the fact that federal policy has worked under the assumption that tax status of an institution is the primary determinant of student graduation (i.e., non-profit v. for-profit). Additionally, when GPA is removed as one of the predicting factors, the remaining four characteristics (determined before a student even begins his or her studies), still predict graduation rates with 74.3% accuracy.
"The findings of this study challenge the traditional assumptions for improving university graduation rates. Because student characteristics have such a dramatic impact on graduation odds, changing federal tax status of a university would have little positive impact on graduation," Gramling stated.
Gramling offered different ways to improve graduation rates based on his findings, "Policymakers could increase funding for lower income students which would mitigate the need for expected family contribution and provide incentives for them to attend school full time both factors that have shown accurately predict higher graduation odds."
The findings of the study also had implications for traditional methods for rewarding higher GPAs. Since the study found that black students were more likely than white students to graduate, especially if they had a GPA between a 2.0 and a 2.5, public policy that rewards high GPAs and punishes low GPAs would disproportionately impact black students.
Gramling continued, "As blacks exhibited higher odds of graduating than whites at this campus, the U.S. Department of Education should explore how for-profit institutions can benefit black students, especially as other research does not suggest that blacks have higher (or even equal) odds of graduating than whites at traditional institutions."
###
For an embargoed copy of the article titled "How five student characteristics accurately predict for-profit university graduation odds" published in SAGE Open, please email camille.gamboa@sagepub.com.
SAGE Open is an award-winning, peer-reviewed, "Gold" open access journal from SAGE that publishes original research and review articles in an interactive, open access format. Articles may span the full spectrum of the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities. http://sgo.sagepub.com/
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped informand educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
How do student characteristics predict university graduation odds?Public release date: 31-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Los Angeles, CA (July 31, 2013) In his January 2009 State of the Union address, President Obama announced his goal for the U.S. to lead the world in college graduates by 2020. While policymakers often blame university systems for low graduation among college students, according to new research, characteristics known about a student before he or she even enters a college classroom can accurately predict graduation rates. This new study, published in SAGE Open, finds that characteristics such as fulltime enrollment status, race, transfer credits, and expected family contribution predict successful graduation from college.
Researcher Tim Gramling, LP.D., conducted research on characteristics of more than 2,500 students from the full population of one large, for-profit university and found that higher GPA, fulltime enrollment status, black race (over whites), a higher number of transfer credits when enrolling, and higher expected family contribution weighed most heavily in accurately predicting higher graduation odds.
Taken together, these five characteristics predict graduation rates with 86.9% accuracy, despite the fact that federal policy has worked under the assumption that tax status of an institution is the primary determinant of student graduation (i.e., non-profit v. for-profit). Additionally, when GPA is removed as one of the predicting factors, the remaining four characteristics (determined before a student even begins his or her studies), still predict graduation rates with 74.3% accuracy.
"The findings of this study challenge the traditional assumptions for improving university graduation rates. Because student characteristics have such a dramatic impact on graduation odds, changing federal tax status of a university would have little positive impact on graduation," Gramling stated.
Gramling offered different ways to improve graduation rates based on his findings, "Policymakers could increase funding for lower income students which would mitigate the need for expected family contribution and provide incentives for them to attend school full time both factors that have shown accurately predict higher graduation odds."
The findings of the study also had implications for traditional methods for rewarding higher GPAs. Since the study found that black students were more likely than white students to graduate, especially if they had a GPA between a 2.0 and a 2.5, public policy that rewards high GPAs and punishes low GPAs would disproportionately impact black students.
Gramling continued, "As blacks exhibited higher odds of graduating than whites at this campus, the U.S. Department of Education should explore how for-profit institutions can benefit black students, especially as other research does not suggest that blacks have higher (or even equal) odds of graduating than whites at traditional institutions."
###
For an embargoed copy of the article titled "How five student characteristics accurately predict for-profit university graduation odds" published in SAGE Open, please email camille.gamboa@sagepub.com.
SAGE Open is an award-winning, peer-reviewed, "Gold" open access journal from SAGE that publishes original research and review articles in an interactive, open access format. Articles may span the full spectrum of the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities. http://sgo.sagepub.com/
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped informand educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The combination of the clot-busting drug tPA with an infusion of the antiplatelet drug eptifibatide dissolves blood clots safely and more quickly than tPA alone, a new study suggests, based on results from the phase-2 clinical trial, known as the CLEAR-ER Stroke Trial.
In this file photo, rainbow flags accentuate the annual Windsor Pride parade celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community members. Photographed August 2012 in downtown Windsor, Ont. (Dax Melmer / The Windsor Star)
The Windsor-Essex 2013 Pride Fest is set for Aug. 9 to 11. The event lineup includes concerts and entertainment ? including free family events ? from Friday night all the way to Sunday afternoon:
Live music at the Festival Plaza on Friday, Aug. 9 at 8 p.m. The ?River Rock? event includes performances by the Unquiet Dead and The Blue Stones. Tickets can be purchased at Windsor Pride, 400 Pelissier St.
Family Fun Day on Saturday, Aug. 10 at noon until 5 pm. Little people and their caregivers can hang out with the clowns, play on the bouncy castles, get their faces painted and their hands on some cheerful balloons. The event is free and takes place at the Riverfront Festival Plaza.
The White Party at the waterfront starts Saturday at 10 p.m. for anyone who is still awake after clowning around with the kids during the day. Along with guest DJs Shawn Ricker and Josh Karmin, the party will also host acrobats and cash bar. Cover is $5.
It wouldn?t be a Pride weekend with the parade, naturally. Sunday, Aug. 11 is parade day, starting at noon at the Riverfront Plaza. Along with the march through the city, live music and performances are also on the program. A $2 donation to support the event is appreciated.
Isiah Thomas and Stu Jackson are reportedly among the top four candidates to replace Billy Hunter as executive director of the NBA Players Association. The NBPA is hoping the hire will be made by the time Adam Silver replaces David Stern as NBA commissioner in February.
The NBA Players Association has narrowed its search to replace former executive director Billy Hunter down to four, according to Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports. Isiah Thomas and former NBA coach and league executive Stu Jackson are among the top four candidates.
The other two top candidates are former Madison Square Garden executive Steve Mills and Charlotte Bobcats president Fred Whitfield. Mills has an excellent relationship with soon-to-be NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and he has been considered the frontrunner to be the next NBPA head for several months.
Sports attorney David Cornwell is also reportedly a long shot candidate for the job.
18-year NBA veteran Jerry Stackhouse is leading the charge in making the hire, and he denies the NBPA has narrowed its options to a final four:
"I'm totally denying we are down to those four prospects," Stackhouse told me Sunday afternoon. "Those are just four well-known guys, guys who know our business, guys who have ideas we wanted to hear from. They are not the only guys we want the search firm to vet. I haven't even had a chance to talk with Fred Whitfield yet. I was planning to do that on Monday."
Stackhouse went on to say that the timetable for the decision will be between Christmas and NBA All-Star Weekend in February. Ideally, the new hire will be in place around the time Silver replaces David Stern as commissioner in mid-February.
The new executive director will attempt to clean up some of the mess left by Hunter, who was ousted in Febuary amid a scandal revolving around a long report that outlined some of his wrongdoings as NBPA head.
More from SB Nation:
? Kenny Anderson reveals being sexually abused
? The Dwight Howard Effect
? Luis Scola traded to Pacers | Ziller: Pacers may be East?s best
? What cap space and exceptions do teams have left?
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? In word and deed during his trip to Brazil, Pope Francis put clergy and faithful alike on notice: Get energized, go out and spread the Gospel, give the Roman Catholic Church a more active role in society.
Francis led the way, with upward of 3 million faithful gathering for his Mass on Copacabana beach, a gushing local press following his every move on nationwide TV and even a group of nuns squealing in delight like groupies upon spotting him. By all measures, the pope's first international trip was a smash success.
But the burning question in the post-trip glow remains: How to carry out Francis' commands with a church that's loaded with challenges, from a severe shortage of priests to the fleeing of faithful for two decades in strongholds such as Brazil, as well as across Europe and the United States.
On Monday, priests, lay people and religious experts alike interpreted through their own cultural lens how to understand Francis' call to action, when he told bishops in Brazil that clergy must work on the peripheries, get out in the street and better understand how to communicate with modern society.
"As a younger priest, that's part of my idealism, to take our work into the streets," said Father Roy Bellen from Manila, who was in Rio for the papal visit. "It's encouraging for me to hear from the boss that the old school ways aren't welcome, that of clergy sticking to their comfort zones inside the church."
Some predicted a rough road ahead if the church is going to change its more traditional pastoral forms, which put a priest at the front of a Mass talking to instead of with parishioners. The growth sought by Francis will require many clergy to exercise atrophied missionary muscles.
"It's the mission of the church to go out and proclaim the Gospel to everyone, but there are people who don't like to do this; they prefer to stay within their parishes," said Jan Scheuthela, a 28-year-old seminarian from Poland attending the Mass on Copacabana beach. "In my parish we try to do things like this, but we need to do more: We need to organize missions on the streets, especially to bring in those young people who have lost interest in the church."
Francis told Latin American bishops they must be spiritually close to their parishioners and had earlier instructed Brazilian clergy to have the "scent of their flock" on them.
"There are pastoral plans which are 'distant,' ... which give priority to principles, forms of conduct, organizational procedures ... and clearly lack nearness, tenderness, a warm touch," Francis said Sunday. "The bishop has to be among his people in three ways: in front of them, pointing the way; among them, keeping them together and preventing them from being scattered; and behind them, assuring that no one is left behind."
Father Omar Mateo, secretary general of Ecuador's Episcopal Conference, addressed the elephant-in-the-room question: How do you take the Gospel to the street when the clergy are spread so thin?
Nearly 25 percent of the world's parishes don't have a resident priest, according to Vatican statistics. While the number of Catholics in the world grew by 68 percent between 1975 and 2010, the number of priests ticked up by just 1.8 percent, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
In Brazil, the world's largest Catholic country, the percentage of the population calling itself Catholic dropped from 89 percent in 1980 to 65 percent three decades later, according to census statistics. Many Brazilian Catholics joined charismatic Pentecostal evangelical churches, while Americans joined flashy megachurches and many Europeans simply became secular.
Mateo said the answer will require both "asking God to send more workers to his cause" and by pragmatically "launching campaigns to go out and find new priests who will devote their lives to the Christian vocation."
"The holy father asks us to live our religious life in all settings," he said. "To understand and live religion and to go out into the community in a convincing and simple manner."
Beyond direct calls for a more active church, experts said the pontiff's Brazilian trip was rich in symbolism just as important in getting his messages across.
He paid a visit to a trash-strewn slum recently cleared of drug gangs. He met with young, recovering drug addicts to whom he gave deep hugs after they told their stories to him at a public event. He responded to a crowd mobbing his car on arrival in Brazil not by recoiling, but by rolling down his car window to shake hands and kiss babies.
"The symbolism Francis showed throughout the trip was perfect. He touched the hearts of all Brazilians, not just Catholics," said Fernando Altemeyer, a theology professor at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo. "It will be a long-term project to repair losses of the church, but what he's done is provide an immediate shock to the system."
Most of Francis' changes were in style rather than substance. He offered no bending on Catholic doctrine that splits some of the church's followers, including contraception, abortion and refusal to allow clergy to marry. Only on the plane flying home to Italy did he hint at new thinking from the church, saying he wouldn't judge gay priests for their sexual orientation.
Francis showed a deft ability to understand his audiences in Brazil and how best to communicate with whomever he might be interacting, something he's also asking of clergy.
During homilies and in public speeches, he used plain language that reinforced basic messages of help for the poor, of God's love for everyone, and of the need for Catholics to keep the Lord in their hearts.
When meeting with clergy in closed sessions, however, Francis switched to theologically complex discourses laden with thoughts on how the church must change, and said the church must end its overly intellectual and self-referential manner of communicating if it hopes to be understood.
"If the losses of the faithful are the result of church liturgy that is too staid or a message not being put across in a modern way in terms of how it's delivered, then, yes, he can make a difference," said Monsignor Raymond Kupke, who teaches church history at Seton Hall University's School of Theology in the U.S. "One trip to Brazil won't immediately change things, but it may have an impact on re-energizing people and reaching out to those who are nominally Catholic."
Shivering in a cold Rio de Janeiro dawn, light just starting to streak the sky, Fabio Feitosa da Silva, a 32-year-old waiter on his way to work, quietly spoke about his impressions of the pope, of how he's starting to look differently at the Catholic Church he stopped attending 15 years ago when its message no longer resonated with him.
"I didn't expect this, but I love him, everybody loves him," Silva said, neatly summing up the general feeling in Brazil. "He's won my interest, he has my attention, I'm listening. It's his humility that touches my heart. He's even got me convinced to attend Mass later on the beach."
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Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja and Nicole Winfield in Rio de Janeiro and Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this report.
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Bradley Brooks on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradleybrooks
Oh dear, sorry to say I am on the side of Marcus Beer here. Fish is a plague on the gaming industry, someone with a great raw talent but has no way to channel that talent into something constructive and meaningful. Fez was a wonderful experience to play and you can see the potential for this guy who honestly watching the Indie Movie I can see that Fish is an arrogant, egotistical idiot.
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Ancient Guru
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Videocard: SAPPHIRE HD 7770 1GB OC
Processor: Phenom II X4 B50 Quad 3.2
Mainboard: Asus M5A78L-M
Memory: G.Skill 8GB DDR3
Soundcard: SB X-Fi Xtreme Music
PSU: OCZ 620W
What a knob.
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Ancient Guru
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Videocard: EVGA GTX 470
Processor: i7 920 @ 4.0 / H100i
Mainboard: Asus P6T X58
Memory: 9GB DDR3 1333
Soundcard: SB X-FI Fatality
PSU: BFG 680 Watt
The first one wasn't that great anyway.
Plus this guy is a giant tool. I wouldn't pay a dime to support anything he develops.
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Maha Guru
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Videocard: MSI GTX 460 768MB Cyclone
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K
Mainboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3
Memory: Patriot 12GB 1600MHz CL9
Soundcard: Creative Sound Core3D?
PSU: Seasonic S12II-620 Bronze
It's because he said Japanese games suck. And Japanese games do suck.
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Even as user-friendly as Apple designed them, there are still people who don?t know their way around an iPad.
Some of those people are parents of students at Episcopal School of Jacksonville. To help parents brush up on technology skills, the private school?s technology staff is hosting iPad training camps.
Pat Andrews, the school?s senior technology adviser, said they have held 19 sessions and there are recurring themes in every one.
?The number one question is what happens if it?s stolen or dropped,? Andrews said. ?Another question they ask is how to protect their children from what?s on the Internet.?
Episcopal parent Ingrid McCawley wanted to know how buying the device would help her seventh-grader learn.
During a two-hour session Monday, Episcopal?s technology director George Terre showed McCawley and a dozen parents an app called Mobicip.
Mobicip is a Web browser that allows parents to block certain websites and material from students. Once downloaded, the app takes away Safari and any other Web browsers the iPad may hold, forcing students to only use Mobicip. Terre showed parents how to download the app and hide the iTunes store from the device so kids won?t purchase content.
When school starts this fall, Episcopal students in sixth through ninth grade must have iPads for class. The school gave iPads to teachers this past school year and the faculty learned how to use the device for classroom lessons.
At least one other local private school ? Jacksonville Country Day ? has given iPads to students in recent years. Country Day has not provided accompanying training for parents, however.
Terre said it?s important that parents learn the iPad tricks because kids learn the instructions almost instinctively.
?An hour after I give these to students, they know more than I do,? joked Terre, a 20-year technology veteran.
During Monday?s training session, Terre also showed parents the Find My iPad app, which forces the device to make a loud noise if misplaced or lock itself down if stolen.
After the session, McCawley said she could see how the iPad helps with learning, especially with the digital textbooks and using the camera.
?Even the free apps, they could use for quizzes [and] studying on trips,? she said. ?Learning on it is fun.?
McCawley said she doesn?t have an iPad and likely will only buy one for her teen. But after the training session, she said ?it?s totally worth it.?
?I?m a novice when it comes to this tech stuff,? she admitted. ?Some people use it all the time; I rarely do, so this was great for me.?
Tallahassee FL- Celebrities from around the country have taken a stand against Florida. The reason why-- they say they want to see a change to Stand Your Ground.
Tallahassee Resident, Rachel Crim said, "This is the first time I've heard of all they boycotting Florida Products." Just because you may not have heard about it doesn't mean its not happening.
Stevie Wonder says he won't tour his show in Florida, and Martin Luther King the Third mentioned during a NAACP meeting that people should stop buying and drinking Florida Orange Juice. Some celebrities, like these two, believe there should be change to Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' Law.
Another Tallahassee Resident Laurance McGriff said, "I think it's very important to reevaluate 'Stand Your Ground' law, and I think that celebrities should um use their voice to -- they use it for everything else. So I think they should use that on this issue as well."
Using their influence to affect Florida tourism and thus the economy. All in an effort to make statement that some aren't satisfied how the George Zimmerman case ended or with 'Stand Your Ground'.
Crim later said, "Honestly don't feel it's necessarily fair to punish an entire state based for the decisions of twelve jurors."
Now so far there isn't any information pin pointing how much these recent boycotts have truly affected Florida's Economy.
Caroline Criado-Perez (right) with, from left, Mary Macleod MP, Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and Stella Creasy MP. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images
Twitter is facing a barrage of criticism after a journalist and feminist blogger who campaigned for Jane Austen to become the new face of the ?10 note was subjected to a series of rape threats.
Caroline Criado-Perez, a freelance journalist who co-founded thewomensroom.org.uk and the Week Woman blog, and fellow campaigners were delighted last week when the Bank of England confirmed that the Pride and Prejudice author would replace Charles Darwin on the notes, probably in 2017.
But Criado-Perez quickly found herself subjected to a sustained campaign of abuse on Twitter, of the type that MPs say should become a criminal matter.
Writing in the Observer, Labour MP Stella Creasy condemned the threats and called for action from both Twitter and its users to push back against online aggression towards women.
"This is about more than making Twitter somewhere fun for everyone to enjoy," she said. "If we want a world where everyone can live hassle-free, then everyday expressions of inequalities need to be confronted ? not least as they help ease the big inequalities."
Fellow Labour MP Steve Rotheram tweeted that "hopefully those responsible will be receiving a knock on the door from their local constabulary".
By Saturday afternoon more than 9,000 people had signed an online petitioncalling on Twitter to add an abuse button for those threatened with sexual violence and to make the site responsible for any criminal threats posted on it.
The petition claims: "During a 12-hour period, Caroline Criado-Perez was targeted repeatedly with rape threats. Caroline attempted to stir a response from Twitter's Mark S Luckie. His response was to lock down his account."
Many who have signed the petition have questioned why the online community appears to be subject to different laws from the real one. "This is criminal behaviour in the real world; why should people get away with it on Twitter?" one supporter wrote.
Another added: "Rape threats are a criminal offence in real life. They should not be allowed in cyberspace."
A number of high-profile names have lent their support. The writer Caitlin Moran tweeted: "For those who say, 'why complain ? just block?' ? on a big troll day, it can be 50 violent/rape messages an hour. Exhausting and upsetting."
The comedian Dara ? Briain warned that Twitter faced an exodus of users if such messages continued to be disseminated. He tweeted: "If the ladies leave twitter because of all the dumb, rapey 14-year-old boys, then I'm outta here people. Like most grownup men too, I'd say."
Criado-Perez said she had been overwhelmed by support: "Lots of people are saying how inspired they feel by my stance on this."
She said it was important to confront those who used rape threats. "We need to get rid of the idea that you don't feed the trolls. Someone issuing rape threats wants women to shut up and get off Twitter ... We can't let them win."
Significantly, it appears that Criado-Perez was the victim of a sustained and co-ordinated attack. Initially, she was the subject of several offensive tweets, but these died away after about a day. She was then subjected to hundreds of tweets, which suggests that she was targeted by a group of Twitter users.
Criado-Perez believes the affair has highlighted Twitter's inability to respond to such attacks. "If you get an abusive message, you can fill in an online form and make a complaint," she said. "But if you're subject to hundreds of tweets it's not practical ? Twitter does not understand the nature of abuse online."
Twitter UK general manager Tony Wang said the company takes online abuse seriously. He tweeted: "We encourage users to report an account for violation of the Twitter rules by using one of our report form. Also, we're testing ways to simplify reporting, eg within a tweet by using the "Report Tweet" button in our iPhone app and on mobile web. We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules."
Attention all bitter, inadequate, jealous men: mess with my sister @CCriadoPerez and you mess with me and all the other #twittersisters.
@CCriadoPerez No one deserves rape threats. Full stop. There is no but.
Lots of women uniting to fight the misogyny & threats aimed at @CCriadoPerez How can anyone have a problem with that? Petty & disappointing
@CCriadoPerez Remaining silent about abuse never changed anything. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for #shoutingback
You pieces of dirt threatening @CCriadoPerez & any woman who dares think or challenge your dominance. Do you realise how tiny&weak you seem?
Over 1,000 supporting calls for twitter abuse button after @CCriadoPerez 12 hour grief-athon yesterday. That's v quick, petition fans.
Anna H. ?@drlangtry_girl
Men of Twitter: if any of you wanted to have a #notinmyname moment over misogynistic Twitter abuse, look at @CCriadoPerez mentions & report.
WHITE PLAINS?The New York Power Authority (NYPA) trustees on Tuesday approved a two-year competitive contract award worth $5.5 million to Edbauer Construction of West Seneca, N.Y., to implement a comprehensive plan to upgrade and enhance the facilities, roadways and parking lots that connect NYPA?s Niagara Hydroelectric Power Plant and the Niagara University Campus.
The shared campus initiative includes the realignment and reconstruction of roads and parking lots, covering approximately 20 acres of shared property between the two campuses. Specifically, the project will improve lighting, grading and drainage on the roads and will also include the construction of a mile-long bicycle and pedestrian path that will connect NYPA?s Power Vista visitors center with Reservoir State Park.
The project will also add three security cameras to enhance the safety of NYPA visitors and students in the shared Power Vista parking lots. As part of the project, the university entrance-way will be redesigned and enhanced with a new rock wall sign, including lighting and plantings.
?From the standpoint of safety and security alone this is a great project, and it has the added benefit of opening up access to a host of recreational activities, that I myself am planning to take full advantage of,? said Harry Francois, NYPA Western New York regional manager. ?We are especially pleased that the improvements are being undertaken by a local business.?
?The Power Authority has always been a great neighbor to Niagara University and this project is just one example of the ways in which the university has benefited from that relationship,? said the Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., president of Niagara University. ?We are particularly grateful to have the Power Authority?s support with these much needed improvements to this infrastructure and our shared roadways.?
?We appreciate the opportunity to work on this project which will benefit the university and the many visitors to the Power Authority?s visitors center,? said Bill Bauer, president, Edbauer Construction. ?Our work with the Power Authority started in 2007 and has allowed our business to grow and thrive in Western New York and has also permitted us to channel significant economic benefits to a number of western NY firms we subcontract with for trucking, electrical and other needs outside our core business.?
In addition to supplying low-cost Niagara hydropower to Niagara University, NYPA and Niagara University have a relationship that spans more than half a century. Under an agreement in connection with the 2007 federal relicensing of the Niagara Hydroelectric, NYPA established a $9.5 million capital fund to be used at the discretion of the university; established a landscaping development fund worth $1 million; and transferred ownership of approximately 24 acres of vacant land to the university.
Work on the Shared Campus Initiative is expected to begin this summer and conclude by the end of 2014.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? The Kansas City Chiefs agreed to terms with No. 1 overall pick Eric Fisher on Friday, ensuring that the big right tackle out of Central Michigan will be in training camp with plenty of time to prepare for the season.
A person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the deal, told The Associated Press that the contract will be for five years.
The deal is expected to be in the $22 million range, which would put it on par with the two previous No. 1 picks to have been signed since the NFL instituted a new rookie wage scale with the most recent collective-bargaining agreement.
Fisher was expected to report to training camp Friday in St. Joseph, in time for the team's first full-squad workout later in the day. He attended the Chiefs' entire offseason program, but missed three days of practice earlier this week involving his fellow rookies.
Fisher and another tackle, Texas A&M's Luke Joeckel, were widely considered the top offensive linemen available in this year's draft. The Chiefs opted to nab Fisher with the first No. 1 pick in franchise history, securing a bookend tackle for new quarterback Alex Smith.
"Watching three tackles come off in the first four picks, I think people knew they would go high, but nobody was expecting that," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said after the draft. "It shows that a lot of teams know that you have to win in the trenches, and we certainly feel that way."
While he may not be as polished as Joeckel, who went second overall to Jacksonville, Fisher is considered to be more athletic and the Chiefs believe he has a greater upside.
Most project him as a future left tackle, but the 6-foot-7, 306-pound Fisher will start off on the right side because the Chiefs opted to give veteran Branden Albert the franchise tag.
Albert will play this season under a one-year deal worth about $9.3 million, but his future beyond that is uncertain. The Chiefs have expressed interest in signing the durable left tackle to a long-term deal, but the two sides have so far been unable to close a wide gap in negotiations.
That means that Fisher could eventually replace Albert in protecting Smith's blind side in a revamped offense under new coach Andy Reid.
"I just try to play football. I know how to play football, and do what I've done the last four years, because that's what has gotten me here," Fisher said during offseason workouts.
"I'm just trying to play offensive line," he said. "I really love everything that comes with it. It's a different territory in there. It's a very similar system to what I ran in college."
Fisher is only the third offensive tackle picked No. 1 overall in the modern NFL draft.
"We were fortunate to have a draft where there was a number of offensive linemen who are first-round-caliber guys," Reid said after the draft. "That's what we need here, and we have a good nucleus now."