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FBI agent describes cannibal talk at NY trial

In this courthouse sketch, Gilbert Valle, reacts during his trial in federal court Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, in New York. Struggling to stay composed, the estranged wife of a New York City police officer testified Monday that she was shocked to find he had visited a website featuring a photo of a dead woman and other gruesome images ? a discovery that led to a federal prosecution accusing him of plotting to abduct, torture and eat dozens of women. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

In this courthouse sketch, Gilbert Valle, reacts during his trial in federal court Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, in New York. Struggling to stay composed, the estranged wife of a New York City police officer testified Monday that she was shocked to find he had visited a website featuring a photo of a dead woman and other gruesome images ? a discovery that led to a federal prosecution accusing him of plotting to abduct, torture and eat dozens of women. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

In this courtroom sketch, Gilberto Valle is seen in federal court in New York, Monday, Feb 25, 2013. The wife of Valle, a New York City police officer, will testify at a federal trial to explain how she discovered that he was discussing kidnapping, killing and eating women. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

This undated photo submitted into evidence by Assistant Federal Defender Julia L. Gatto shows Gilberto Valle with his daughter. Valle is accused of conspiracy to kidnap a woman and unauthorized use of a law enforcement database that prosecutors say he used to help build a list of potential targets. Gatto tried to soften the image of her client by showing jurors pictures of a uniformed Valle and the couple?s 1-year-old daughter, a moment that caused the wife on the witness stand and eventually the officer at the defense table 30 feet away to cry out amid sobs. (AP Photo/Assistant Federal Defender Julia L. Gatto)

(AP) ? Cheerful written exchanges between a police officer and women from his past appeared in a sinister new light when an FBI agent described at the officer's criminal trial how he talked on the Internet about killing and eating the women.

"I'm dying to taste some girl meat," Agent Corey Walsh testified Tuesday that New York Police Officer Gilberto Valle told one of the online friends he met who shared an appetite for human flesh.

The testimony came on the second day of testimony in federal court in Manhattan for the 28-year-old Queens resident charged with conspiring to kidnap women and illegally accessing a government database to research potential victims. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

It came a day after his 27-year-old wife told jurors she fled their home in September with their 1-year-old daughter after discovering that Valle spent hours a night on extreme sexually violent web sites and one that catered to those interested in cannibalism and asphyxiation. In Reno, Nev., she turned over a computer to the FBI that contained hundreds of Valle's emails and instant messages with what the government has described as co-conspirators.

To prove the plots involved real women and to counter defense claims that it was all fantasy, the government summoned several women to testify about their dealings with Valle before prosecutors say he wrote about them as potential targets and, in two cases, potential meals.

The women included a former high school classmate, two former college classmates and an 18-year-old woman who attended Valle's high school alma mater and said she had no contact with him before he described her to one of his Internet friends as "the most desirable piece of meat I've ever met" and small enough to fit in his oven.

Kimberly Sauer, of Germantown, Md., went to the University of Maryland with Valle and had nothing bad to say about her former classmate. On cross-examination, Sauer told defense attorney Julia Gatto that she never felt threatened by Valle.

Sauer learned of the case only after she received from Valle's wife last year in the middle of the night a disturbing Facebook message that sounded so crazy that she texted him to warn that the account must have been hacked. Either that "or you're trying to sell me into white slavery," she recalled joking in the text.

But Walsh said Valle's computer had a file titled "Abducting and Cooking Kimberly: A Blueprint," which included a photo of Sauer.

Sauer came up frequently as a subject in online chats between Valle and a man in Great Britain who used Moody Blues as a screen name and MeatMarketMan as part of his email address, the agent testified. Walsh said Moody Blues told Valle he had fantasized about cannibalism since he was 6 years old but did not fulfill the desire until 35 years later.

In one correspondence, Valle suggests a woman named Kimberly ? prosecutors say Sauer ? would be easy prey because she lived alone.

"I can knock her out, wait until dark and kidnap her right out of her house," he wrote, according to prosecutors.

The agent said Moody Blues suggested eating their victim alive but Valle responded: "I'm not really into raw meat."

Walsh said they also discussed cooking Sauer, basted in olive oil, over an open fire and using her severed head as a centerpiece for a sit-down meal.

"I just can't wait to get Kimberly cooking," the agent quoted Valle as saying.

In a chat, Valle told Moody Blues he was meeting Kimberly for lunch on Sunday and that she would be "kidnapped in a couple of months."

Moody Blues told him he'd "given thought to your ideas about cooking her alive."

"Give me some ideas," Valle said.

Moody Blues suggested "cutting her feet off and cooking them on the BBQ in front of her."

"I suppose that's a possibility," Valle said. "You are the one with the experience."

Walsh also described communications between Valle and his co-defendant, Michael Vanhise, of Trenton, N.J. He said the two negotiated the price to be paid for a Manhattan teacher to be taken to New Jersey in a suitcase for Vanhise to rape and kill.

The agent said Valle asked Vanhise whether he wanted the woman clothed or naked and Vanhise said he wanted her clothed.

"Excellent. I'll leave her clothes on. I'll give you the pleasure of unwrapping your gift," Valle was quoted as saying.

Vanhise, like Valle, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers also say he engaged only in Internet fantasy chats.

The government hasn't said what role Moody Blues played in the investigation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-27-Police%20Officer-Cannibalism/id-09716873cdf14ae69df951c0442f69cb

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Oscar Ratings Up, Seth MacFarlane Says 'No Way' To Second Go-Round

'Lotta fun to have done it, though,' MacFarlane tweets about Oscars, whose rating were up 11 percent among 18-49 viewers.
By Gil Kaufman


Seth MacFarlane at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702623/oscar-ratings-seth-macfarlane.jhtml

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Privacy and security in the age of iPhone mics and cameras

Privacy and security in the age of mobile mics and cameras

iOS has experienced its fair share of privacy fiascos over the last few years. From user locations being tracked , to Address Book data being exposed, to full on malware in the App Store, privacy and security concerns over iOS are very much a reality. Two components often overlooked are your iPhone?s camera and microphone.

Apple has always required apps request permission to access a user?s location and to send them push notifications. More recently we?ve seen things like Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders added to the list of resources that apps have to explicitly get permission to access. In iOS 6, Apple went as far as to give Privacy its own category in the Settings app. So we should be covered now, right? Well, maybe not.

As platforms evolve and new functionality and trends arise, implications for privacy and security constantly need to be re-evaluated. One of the more recent trends is an increasing number of apps moving in to the second screen market. Rather than strictly using iPhones and iPads as primary devices, functionality is now being explored where these devices becomes an accessory; a secondary device to supplement a primary device like a TV. Large media companies like Fox, CBS, TBS and HBO, sports networks and game makers are among the many who are actively trying to engage their audiences by providing additional content to mobile devices. So how does this technology work?

Whether a viewer is on the east coast, west coast, or in another country, and whether they?re watching a show live or on their DVR, the app has to be able to deliver the relevant content at the appropriate time. In order to do this, the application makes use of audio fingerprinting, much like the technology that apps like Shazam use to figure out what song you?re listening to. An algorithm is used to generate a hash that serves as a fingerprint for a given timeframe of audio. This hash can then be compared against hashes calculated by a remote server. Once the application identifies where the viewer is in the broadcast based on their hash, it is able to determine which content should be displayed to the user for their current time.

In order to generate these hashes, an app needs access to your device?s microphone. When you?re in an application that is trying to sync second screen data, the app is continually recording audio from your device?s microphone in order to generate audio fingerprints. Mind you, this doesn?t just mean whatever sound is coming from your TV, but also conversations you might be having with friends, or your dog barking in the background, or music you have playing in another room. Just think about that for a minute.

What?s strange here is that iOS does not require applications to get a user?s permission before doing this. Any app can record audio and transmit it to their servers at any time without asking you. Most applications will display some type of notice that audio syncing is about to begin, but this is because for legitimate apps, they usually want to explain the experience and give the user instructions like turning up the volume on their TV and making sure their device?s microphone is clear. What about a nefarious app? It could start recording audio as soon as it is launched without any additional user interaction. Similarly, there is nothing preventing an application from taking photos or recording video from your device?s camera. While iOS requires apps to obtain permission to access the camera roll for saving photos and videos to it, there?s nothing stopping a malicious application from recording photos or videos and saving them within the application or sending them to a server, without asking the user. Apps like this aren?t unheard of on other platforms; OS X, Android, and Windows have all seem their share.

So what could Apple be doing? Currently iOS turns the status bar red when an application is recording audio, but apps can control the status bar while running, so this can?t be relied on. A small light could be added to the front of the iPhone that turns on when audio or video are being recorded, like MacBooks have. Apple could also add the microphone and camera to iOS? privacy settings, require applications to get a user?s permission before accessing either of them, and give users the ability to revoke this access on a per-application basis at any time. A request in Apple?s bug reporting tool for this last feature was recently closed as a duplicate, indicating at least one other developer would also like to see this functionality added.

In the meantime, there?s not much users can do to protect themselves. The more adventurous folks among us may try spying on apps with tools like Charles Proxy or PhoneView to look for any suspicious activity or files. Perhaps Clueful will even consider adding detection for such practices to their service and add the results to their app reports. Of course if you?re really concerned and want a solution immediately, a few pieces of strategically placed electrical tape may help to put your mind at ease.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bKYLPU6ifvY/story01.htm

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Ford Sync?s new Spotify integration signals further decline of traditional radio

Ford Sync Spotify IntegrationFord Sync Spotify

We had the opportunity to tour the Ford booth on Tuesday at Mobile World Congress, and were treated to a first-hand walk-through of the newest version of the company?s Sync in-car media and voice command technology. Chief among the new features is Spotify integration, giving subscribers ubiquitous access to the streaming music service by way of a few simple voice commands.

[More from BGR: Why every rival tech company should be scared to death of Samsung]

In practice, the service works without complicated commands, which is a good thing when it comes to controlling media while in motion. The fewer options, the fewer distractions, the safer the passengers. Accessing Spotify via Sync effectively renders your handset?s media interface useless by way of a slick splash screen is a vote in favor of safety, and we support Ford?s move to audio-only control while the car is in motion.

[More from BGR: Samsung is just trolling us now, and it?s not alone]

The arrival of Spotify in Ford vehicles across the world (Ford announced that it will be bringing Sync to the European market as well, beginning with the EcoSport SUV) also heralds the introduction of a set of public APIs available to app developers across the Android, iOS and BlackBerry platforms. Interested software makers can now incorporate Sync into their apps, providing opportunities for integration with popular Navigation and media offerings.

As integration like this becomes commonplace, traditional AM/FM radio will continue its long, slow, sad decline into obscurity. Beginning with Sirius/XM, the automobile, once a sanctum for radio broadcasting, has been slowly moving to mirror the home multimedia environment. Radio consumption has been on a steady decline over the last decade. The easier it is to access customized on-demand content in the car, the less people will reach for the tuning dial during their morning drive.

In 2012, two-thirds of traditional radio listening occurred away from home, with the majority of that taking place in an automobile. In 2011, 19% of people 18-24 used streaming audio services while driving, a figure Ford is clearly looking to capitalize on and expand. Great news for consumers looking for a more personalized experience in the car, but potentially disastrous news for the HOT 97s and Z-100s of the world.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ford-sync-spotify-integration-signals-further-decline-traditional-031557353.html

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Likely ZTE Open spotted at Mozilla press conference: it's blue and open, like the ocean

ZTE Open spotted at Mozilla press conference it's blue, it's open, like the ocean

Remember that orphaned spec list we saw for the Mozilla-powered ZTE Open? Well, we think we've just spotted the device that it describes. It only came out for a second, clasped in the hand of someone from Mozilla, but we were just about able to grab a shot. As we saw in an earlier leak, it should be arriving with a 3.5-inch HVGA TFT screen, Cortex -A5-based processor, 512MB of RAM and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Check it out in the dark sea of shapes above and then remind yourself of the rest of the likely specs after the break.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/24/possible-zte-open-spotted/

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Video: John Kerry makes first trip as Secretary of State

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50933161/

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UK cardinal quits amid priests' allegations

Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images, file

The Vatican confirmed Monday that it had accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien, 74.

By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

LONDON -- Britain?s most senior Roman Catholic cleric has resigned amid allegations of inappropriate behavior made by priests.

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI had formally accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O?Brien, archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh. The Observer newspaper reported Sunday that the Vatican had been notified of allegations of inappropriate behavior stretching back 30 years.

Three priests in Scotland, as well as a former priest, have lodged complaints to the Vatican's ambassador to Britain and demanded O'Brien's immediate resignation, according to the newspaper.

The 74-year-old cardinal has contested the claims and said he is taking legal advice.

O?Brien had been prepared to resign, citing his age as the cause. He turns 75 on March 17, and the Vatican said the pope had in November accepted a resignation letter under the condition of ?nunc pro tunc,? meaning ?now for later.?

The Vatican said Monday, however, that the pontiff had now accepted the resignation ?definitively.?

O?Brien said in a statement that it was the pope himself who had decided his resignation would take effect immediately.

?Approaching the age of 75 and at times in indifferent health, I tendered my resignation ? some months ago,? he said. ?The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect today.?

O'Brien would have been Britain's only elector in the College of Cardinals when they gather to decide on a successor to Benedict XVI.

Scandals are still on the minds of Catholics as Benedict's time as pope grows short. NBC's Ann Thompson reports.

"I will not join them for this conclave in person," O'Brien said. "I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me -- but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and on his successor."

A hint of O?Brien?s accelerated resignation was found Sunday in Edinburgh, when the cardinal did not appear as scheduled to lead a Mass at St. Mary?s Cathedral. Instead, Bishop Stephen Robson made a statement on O?Brien?s behalf.

?A number of allegations of inappropriate behavior have been made against the cardinal,? the statement said. ?The cardinal has sought legal advice, and it would be inappropriate to comment at this time. There will be further statements in due course.?

Robson is an auxiliary prelate in the Edinburgh diocese.

O'Brien's statement went on to say: "I have valued the opportunity of serving the people of Scotland and overseas in various ways since becoming a priest. Looking back over my years of ministry: For any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologize to all whom I have offended."

Controversy
O?Brien had gained a reputation as a hard-line conservative and opponent of gay rights.

In 2009, O?Brien urged the Scottish National Party to abandon plans to give gay couples the same foster-parenting rights as straight ones, calling the idea ?misguided? and saying that gays were known for unstable relationships.

Last year, he wrote an editorial in the Daily Telegraph in which he urged people to stand up against a proposal to allow gay marriage, which he said was ?madness.? He referred then to same-sex marriage as a ?grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right.?

O?Brien?s stance and other comments led the gay rights group Stonewall UK last year to nominate him for its ?Bigot of the Year? award.

?Ten-thousand people overwhelmingly, decisively voted that he should be given that award,? said Colin MacFarlane, director of Stonewall Scotland. ?We don?t call people a bigot because they disagree with us. We reserve that for people who use the kind of language the cardinal has used. He has gone out of his way. It has not been fair discourse. His language has been cruel, hurtful and pernicious.?

The group's response to news of O'Brien's resignation was unsurprising.

?We trust there will now be a full investigation into the serious allegations made against Cardinal O?Brien,? MacFarlane said. ?We hope his successor will show a little more Christian charity towards openly gay people than the cardinal did himself.?

Related:?

LA's Cardinal Mahony says he is a 'scapegoat'

Inside the Vatican: The $8 billion global institution where nuns answer the phones

Vatican history of 'cover-ups and disarray' will challenge new pope

This story was originally published on

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/25/17086012-britains-top-catholic-cleric-resigns-amid-allegations-of-inappropriate-behavior?lite

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Oscars 2013: What To Expect From Seth MacFarlane

'Family Guy' creator will bring music, cameos and cutaways to the 85th Academy Awards.
By Josh Wigler


Seth MacFarlane
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702488/oscars-2013-seth-macfarlane-prediction.jhtml

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Forum Jump

Source: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1547662&goto=newpost

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TUESDAY'S COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Worcester
Ask A Nurse with a registered nurse from Bayada Home Health Care with general wellness screening, blood pressure checks and blood glucose monitoring, 9:30-11 a.m. Feb. 26. Walk-ins welcome. Worcester Senior Center, 128 Providence St., Worcester. (508) 799-1232.

Grandparent and Grandchild Playtime with Family Partnership, 10 a.m. Feb. 26. Bring your grandchild to a special visit by the Pumpernickel Puppets. Worcester Senior Center, 128 Providence St., Worcester. (508) 799-1232.

Volunteer Day Help with wildlife-related volunteering activities, including maintaining habitat and monitoring populations at the sanctuary, 10 a.m.-noon Feb. 26. Free. Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, 414 Massasoit Road, Worcester. (508) 753-6087.

Discovering Nature as a Preschooler ? Spring 2013 Tuesday Session I 9:30 a.m.-noon. $100 child members, $125 child nonmembers. This six-week series of nature classes is designed for children ages 4 to 5 unaccompanied by a parent. Begin indoors with games, activities or crafts, and then explore the outdoors on Broad Meadow Brook?s clearly marked trails. Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, 414 Massasoit Road, Worcester. (508) 753-6087.

Discovering Nature for Children Ages 5-8: Spring 2013 Session I 1:30-4 p.m. $100 child members, $125 child nonmembers. This six-week series of nature classes is designed for children ages 5-8. Each Tuesday we?ll explore nature topics in-depth through hands-on experiments, activities and investigations. Then we?ll spend time outdoors on Broad Meadow Brook?s clearly marked trails. Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, 414 Massasoit Road, Worcester. (508) 753-6087.

Open Mic Local musician showcase, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Free. Greendale?s Pub, 404 West Boylston St., Worcester. openmcc@verizon.net.

Alzheimer?s Workshop ?Legal and Financial Answers for Families Coping with Alzheimer?s,? presented by an elder law attorney, 10 a.m. Feb. 26. Free. Alzheimer?s Association, 128 Providence St., Worcester.

Art Matters ?Women Artists Before the 20th Century, Part I,? 2 p.m. Feb. 26. Birches Auditorium, Briarwood Continuing Care Retirement Community, 65 Briarwood Circle, Worcester. (508) 852-9007.

College Planning Seminar for High School Students and Parents 7-8 p.m. Feb. 26. Free but registration is required. Kumon Learning Center of West Worcester, 6 Park Ave., Suite 200, Worcester. (508) 754-5453.

Music at Holy Cross featuring Trio Tremonti: Saul Britan, violin; Jan Muller-Szeraws, cello; Sally Pinkas, piano. 8 p.m. Feb. 26. Free. Brooks Concert Hall, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College St., Worcester.

Athol
Film Screening and Moderated Discussion ?The Growing Edge,? 6-8 p.m. Feb. 26. Athol Library, 82 Freedom St., Athol.

Auburn
Wellness Works Program for Youth Nutrition, healthy eating and exercise for youth will be discussed. 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Auburn-Webster Lodge of Elks 2118, 754 Southbridge St., Auburn. elkswellnessworks@gmail.com.

The Brookfields
Family Preparedness Class The technique for making whole wheat bread will be demonstrated, with an emphasis on using items that can be stored for emergency situations to prepare nutritious foods for the family, 7 p.m. Feb. 26. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Route 56, North Brookfield. (774) 289-6068.

Fitchburg
Counting Story Time 10:30 a.m. Feb. 26. Includes stories, music and movement. Free. Fitchburg Youth Library, 610 Main St., Fitchburg.

Exercise Programs Restorative Hatha Yoga, 9:30 a.m. drop-in, $12; Easy flow strength training, 6:45 p.m. Feb. 26. $12 drop-in. Simonds-Hurd Complementary Care Center, HealthAlliance Hospital ? Burbank Campus, 275 Nichols Road, Fitchburg. (978) 665-5800.

Gardner
Family Ice Skating Night 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays. Free. Bring your own skating gear. Dunn State Park Pond House Visitors Center, 289 Pearl St., Gardner. Activity is dependent on ice and weather conditions. (978) 632-7897.

Leominster
Twin City Toastmasters Meeting 7 p.m. Tuesdays. Guests are welcome. No fee. Different locations in Leominster. (508) 341-2259 or www.twincitytoastmasters.com.

New England Shutterbug Camera Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Nonmembers, $5. Veterans Center, 100 West St., Leominster. (603) 899-5239 or ahiker.ripley@gmail.com.

Snack Storytime Enjoy assorted treats and listen to the story ?If You Give a Pig a Party.? Afterward, children will make a related craft. 10 a.m. Feb. 26; children 3 to 7. Registration required. Dr. Martin T. Feldman Children?s Room, Leominster Public Library, 30 West St., Leominster. (978) 534-7522, ext. 119.

Job Seekers Networking Group ?Lemonade: The Movie,? 9:30 a.m. Feb. 26. Leominster Public Library, 30 West St., Leominster. (978) 534-7522.

Lunenburg
Legos Club for children 5 and older, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Registration required. Lunenburg Public Library, 1023 Massachusetts Ave., Lunenburg. (978) 582-4140.

Marlboro
Health Education Program ?Pump It Up! How to be Heart Strong and Heart Wise? with Dr. Eric Nelson and clinical exercise physiologist Nancy Zambraski, 7 p.m. Feb. 26. Leahy Conference Room, Marlboro Hospital, 157 Union St., Marlboro. Registration required. (508) 486-5810.

Entrance Exam Adult Practical Nursing Program 4 p.m. Feb. 26. Online registration is required, and potential students must arrive 20 to 30 minutes earlier to register. Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, 215 Fitchburg St., Marlboro.

Milford
Parkinson?s Disease Support Group 6 -7:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Women?s Pavilion Conference Center, Milford Regional Medical Center, 14 Prospect St., Milford. (508) 254-3913.

Millbury
Events Blood pressure clinic, 9 a.m.; tai chi classes, 9:30 a.m., $2; singalong, 11 a.m.; yoga, 1 p.m.; computer class, 3 p.m., Feb. 26. Registration required. Council on Aging, 1 River St., Millbury. (508) 865-9247.

Northboro
Preschool Story Time for children 3-5. Read stories, sing songs and do crafts. Children participate without parents until craft time. 10-10:45 a.m. Feb. 26. Registration required. Northboro Free Library, 34 Main St., Northboro. (508) 393-5025, ext. 4.

Northboro Art Guild Program ?Negative Space, Composition and Values,? drawing demonstration by Kathy Hebert, 7:30-9 p.m. Feb. 26. Free. Northboro Historical Building, 50 Main St., Northboro.

Paxton
Yoga 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Senior Center, Town Hall, 17 West St., Paxton.

Princeton
Tuesday Volunteer Days at Wachusett Meadow 9:30 a.m.-12: 30 p.m. Feb. 26. Free. Learn about nature as you assist with a variety of property, maintenance and ecological management projects. Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, 113 Goodnow Road, Princeton. (978) 464-2712

Rutland
Zumba Fitcamp 7-8 p.m. Tuesdays $8. Rutland Community Center, 53 Glenwood Road, Rutland. (508) 873-8633.

Southbridge
Auditions ?On Golden Pond,? 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Gateway Players Theatre, Gateway ArtsBarn, 111 Main St., Southbridge. (508) 764-4531.

Spencer
Theater Games Fairytale in a minute for children in kindergarten-grade 6, 4:30 p.m.; X-box Kinect, 6 p.m. Feb. 26. . Richard Sugden Library, 8 Pleasant St., Spencer. (508) 885-7513.

Sturbridge
Parent Group Robin Foley will talk about the transition for special-needs children 14-22, 6 p.m. Feb. 26. South Valley Family Support Center, 128 Main St., Sturbridge. (508) 796-1950.

Adult CPR and First Aid Certification Class CPR, 9-11 a.m.; First Aid, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. $60. Feb. 26. Rehabilitative Resources Inc., 1 Picker Road. (508) 347-8181, ext. 104.

Upton
American Red Cross Blood Drive hosted by Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District. 3-8 p.m. Feb. 26. 65 Pleasant St., Upton. Donors receive a coupon for a free lunch pack from Cumberland Farms. (800) 733-2767 or redcrossblood.org.

West Boylston
Author Talk ?The Human Cost of Water,? by Maryanne O?Hara, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Beaman Memorial Library, 8 Newton St., West Boylston.

Source: http://www.telegram.com/article/20130224/DIGESTS/102249997/1011/rss01&source=rss

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Banks bail out thousands of California homeowners under mortgage settlement

California's struggling homeowners are on track to get at least $20 billion in mortgage reductions and other relief under a multistate settlement five major banks agreed to a year ago, according to a report Thursday.

A total of 175,000 California borrowers were helped last year, and nearly 72,000 of those had their mortgages reduced or forgiven, according to Katherine Porter, the state appointee monitoring the banks' compliance. Another 20,000 are in trial mortgage reductions under the agreement, which settled charges of improper foreclosures across 49 states.

"California is faring very well under this deal," Porter said.

She'll get no argument from Marona Nazlou, who operates a sandwich shop in Santa Clara.

"God bless," said Nazlou, who had a second mortgage forgiven by Bank of America last fall.

The second was for about $490,000, according to his broker, Myron Von Raesfeld.

"When he opened up the letter, I said you just got a half-million-dollar gift from Bank of America," Von Raesfeld said.

Nazlou said he fell behind on his mortgage payments as the economy soured and his house lost much of its value.

"We work very hard, but my situation got much worse," he explained. Now he is in the three-month trial period of a modification on his first mortgage.

Bank of America has focused on forgiving second mortgages, Porter said, adding that people are contacting her office after getting letters from the

bank telling them their second mortgage has been eliminated. "They say, 'Is this a scam?' It isn't."

BofA has erased $3.8 billion in 37,000 second mortgages so far, she said.

"They don't reduce it, they eliminate it. You get a letter in the mail, and 30 days later they release your second mortgage and report it to the credit bureau 'paid in full.'"

California was the hardest hit by reckless subprime lending that ended with massive numbers of foreclosed homes across the state. Particularly hard hit were the Central Valley and Inland Empire, which are among the areas the state is targeting for the most relief.

About 59,000 short sales totaling $8.8 billion have been done under the agreement in California, according to the California monitor's office. Under a short sale, the home is sold for less than the value of its mortgage; banks must agree to such a sale and then absorb the loss.

But some people want fewer short sales, which cost people their homes.

"The hope of folks regarding the agreement was that it would keep people in their homes through first lien principal reductions," said Kevin Stein of the California Reinvestment Coalition.

Nationally, the banks have extended $45.8 billion in all forms of relief to 550,000 borrowers, the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight reported Thursday. California has received about $18 billion so far, about 40 percent of the total.

Under the national settlement, announced last February, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Ally/GMAC and Bank of America agreed to extend $25 billion in relief of various kinds to borrowers in 49 states. A scoring system gives less than a dollar's credit for a dollar's worth of some types of relief, so the total settlement has much more than $25 billion in relief flowing to consumers.

Under a special "California commitment" arranged by Attorney General Kamala Harris, three banks that do the most mortgage lending in California -- Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo -- agreed to provide $12 billion in mortgage relief under a system that rewarded speedy principal reductions on first mortgages and forgiveness of second mortgages. Extra credit was given for relief in the counties hit hardest by foreclosures.

Independently, Ally/GMAC has extended $71.4 million to 679 California borrowers, and Citi has helped 9,466 borrowers with $813 million in relief.

Although the agreement runs for three years from its signing last February, Wells Fargo, BofA and Chase have already exceeded their commitments by $3.9 billion and are likely to finish early, Porter said.

Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419. Follow him on Twitter.com/petecarey.

Source: http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_22640795/banks-bail-out-thousands-california-homeowners-under-mortgage?source=rss_viewed

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North Texas sports forecast provides gloomy outlook

by JOE TRAHAN

Bio | Email | Follow: @joetrahan

WFAA

Posted on February 17, 2013 at 11:48 PM

Updated Sunday, Feb 17 at 11:56 PM

DALLAS ? The winds of change have been blowing strong over the North Texas pro sports landscape.

Rewind just two years ago:

  • The region hosted a Super Bowl
  • The Mavericks won an NBA title
  • The Rangers made back-to-back World Series trips

"We may look back at that period and think that's the golden years in this city for sports," said Norm Hitzges, sports talk host on SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket.

But now, storm clouds are gathering. So ? with the help of a trio of veteran media members ? we've put together a forecast for the calendar year.


COWBOYS FORECAST

  • A dense pea-soup type fog; a fog so thick, it makes you wonder if you're going in the right direction.

"With Jerry involved there's always a recipe for potential bad weather," said longtime Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Jim Reeves.

The Cowboys have salary cap issues. The power structure at Valley Ranch has come in question (again). And with an aging group of core players, Cowboys Nation can only wonder where their team is headed.

"You know the old Texas line about 'If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it'll change?'" Hitzges asked. "Well if you don't like what's going on at Valley Ranch this season, wait five minutes... it'll change. Who's running this club?"

Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin is sticking with the weather theme.

"Its been a fairly dense fog for the last 17 years," he said. "You have to draft. In a salary cap world, you have to draft well. You can't have flat tires like the Cowboys have had on draft day."


RANGERS FORECAST

  • There is dark cloud cover for the Rangers, thanks to performance-enhancing drug allegations surrounding Nelson Cruz.

But this team has dealt with off-field issues before, so there's a possibility for a clearing trend.

"I do think we've got some fair weather coming for the Rangers still," Reeves said.

Instead trying to fill the power void after losing Josh Hamilton, the Rangers will have to embrace a different way to win. More pitching and defense will be required.

Even so, with what the Rangers brain trust has built, they provide the area's best chance for post-season success.

"That's what Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan have been trying to do, is build that farm system so they can bring players in when necessary, and plug 'em into those spots and those roles, and they've got some winning caliber players they can bring up," Reeves said.


MAVERICKS FORECAST

  • It's stormy weather for the Mavericks.

Channel 8 meteorologist Steve McCauley likes to talk about "breaking through the cap" to allow for rain. Well, the Mavericks' attempt to manage the salary cap has forced them to have to weather the storm.

"This club does not have any basic youth to build on," Hitzges said. "The stars are getting old."

The Mavs are six games below .500 with 30 to go, and it will take a miracle finish to make the post-season.

And as Dirk Nowitzki continues to age, getting a "big fish" free agent will only get tougher.

"If you can't get the home town kid to come home, you're going to have a tough time getting a free agent to come in here with a descending Dirk," Gosselin said. "I just don't see where [Mavericks owner Mark] Cuban's going to go with this blueprint."


STARS FORECAST

  • We're forecasting partly cloudy skies for the Stars.

They've got some young talent with vets mixed in, and there's at least some hope here for a warming trend.

"If we can hang on through the winter here, there appear to be enough good kids coming here and new management that's really good, so there could be some sunny days ahead for the Stars," Hitzges said.


That's the hope across the local sportscape, because there's a significant streak in play here: At least one of the the Big Four North Texas pro teams has made the playoffs every year since 1990.

"I wonder if we're not in for a year in which we don't have anybody in the playoffs in this city," Hitzges mused.

So, with that as a backdrop, the silver lining in this mostly cloudy and gloomy forecast is this: The winds of change will blow.

It is North Texas, after all.

E-mail jtrahan@wfaa.com

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/sports/baseball/rangers/North-Texas-sports-forecast-provides-gloomy-outlook-191631071.html

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Lyoto Machida pulls out split-decision win over Dan Henderson at UFC 157

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Lyoto Machida took a split decision over Dan Henderson in the co-main event at UFC 157 on Saturday. The judges saw it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Machida.

Machida was elusive as usual in the first round, but Henderson was able to sneak in and land a few kicks and punches. At the end of the round, Machida took Henderson down with a leg trip and landed strikes.

The second round showed Machida still being elusive and keeping his distance from Henderson. Machida tried for a front kick several times, but couldn't land it. Meanwhile, Henderson couldn't land much.

[Also: Ronda Rousey survives UFC debut, wins via first-round arm bar]

Henderson is known for his big, overhand punches. Most of the time, when he throws it, it can mean the end of a fight. However, he had trouble getting close enough to Machida for the overhand to work.

In the third round, Machida moved in for a takedown but ended up with Henderson on top. Henderson used elbows from the top, but Machida was able to get out with less than two minutes left in the fight.

Before the fight, UFC president Dana White said that the winner of this bout will get the next title shot. UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will put the title up against Chael Sonnen in April, but the next fight will likely go to Machida.

[Also: Josh Koscheck suffers upset loss]

Machida was once the UFC light heavyweight champion, but lost the title to Rua in 2010. Since then, he has wins over Randy Couture and Ryan Bader, but losses to current champion Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson. It will be his third chance at the light heavyweight title. He won it with a knockout of Rashad Evans in 2009, but lost to Jones in 2011.

Henderson had a long layoff between fights. His last bout was one of the best in MMA history. In November of 2011, Henderson defeated Mauricio Rua in a five-round decision. Since then, Henderson had a fight lined up with Jones in September, but had to pull out at the last minute because of a knee injury. His record falls to 29-9. He's 42 years old, and against Machida, looked slow and old for the first time in his career.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Watch: Floyd Mayweather's college football betting secret
? Michael Jordan gets minor league offer
? Alex Smith on the trading block in Indy
? Wake Forest knocks off No. 2 Miami

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/lyoto-machida-pulls-split-decision-win-over-dan-045605104--mma.html

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Chinese lose millions in US visa scheme

China National News (IANS) Friday 15th February, 2013

More than 250 investors have been allegedly cheated by an American, Anshoo R. Sethi, who led them to believe their investment could boost their prospects of US citizenship.

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Sethi created two companies and "fraudulently sold $145 million in securities and collected $11 million in administrative fees from investors", a report said Friday.

The commission has halted the scheme and filed charges, the Shanghai Daily reported. It has also frozen Sethi's assets.

"Sethi orchestrated an elaborate scheme and exploited these investors' dreams of earning legal US residence along with a positive return on their investment in a project that was not nearly the done deal that he portrayed," said Stephen Cohen of SEC's enforcement division.

"The good news is that we intervened early and stopped him from getting very far, and the asset freeze preserves nearly all of the money invested."

Sethi and his companies have spent more than 90 percent of the administrative fees collected from investors despite a promise to return the money to investors if visa applications were rejected.

More than $2.5 million of these funds were directed to Sethi's personal bank account in Hong Kong, said SEC.

It has obtained an emergency court order to protect the remaining $145 million in investor assets.

It is not known whether Sethi, 29, who lives in Illinois, has been arrested.

Investigations are ongoing, the SEC said.

SEC alleges that Sethi misled people that their investments would help them gain them US citizenship through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Programme.

This programme provides foreign investors with an avenue to US residency by investing in projects that will create or preserve jobs for US workers.

The SEC said Sethi and his companies "made a number of misrepresentations about the project to dupe investors".

By purchasing interests in Sethi's companies, the investors were told that they would be financing construction of the "World's First Zero Carbon Emission Platinum LEED certified" hotel and conference center near the Chicago airport.

The SEC alleges that Sethi and his companies falsely told investors they had acquired all the necessary building permits and that several major hotel chains, such as Hyatt, Intercontinental Hotel Group and Starwood Hotels, had signed onto the project.

However, none of those hotel chains has a signed agreement to include a hotel in the Chicago project, according to the SEC's investigation.

Source: http://www.chinanationalnews.com/index.php/sid/212592526/scat/9366300fc9319e9b

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Kangaroos crash Canberra golf tournament

CANBERRA, Australia (WHDH) -- Kangaroos often show up on Australian golf courses, but not usually when pros are in the middle of a tournament.

On Canberra Thursday, ten of the best women's golfers in the world were competing at the Australian Women's Open when some unexpected obstacles arrived.

The large marsupials feasted on the fairways and grazed on the greens.

Canberra, the Australian capital, is dry this time of year and the kangaroos can't resist the lush green grass on golf courses.

(Copyright (c) 2013 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Source: http://www1.whdh.com/rss/read/news/articles/sports/10009863646860/

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Flu outbreaks modeled by new study of classroom schedules

Feb. 12, 2013 ? Classroom rosters combined with human-networking theory may give a clearer picture of just how infectious diseases such as influenza can spread through a closed group of people, and even through populations at large. Using high-school schedule data for a community of students, teachers, and staff, Penn State University's Marcel Salath?, an assistant professor of biology, and Timo Smieszek, a post-doctoral researcher, have developed a low-cost but effective method to determine how to focus disease-control strategies based on which individuals are most likely to spread the infection.

The results of the study are being highlighted this week as an "Editor's Pick" in BioMed Central's open-access online journal BMC Medicine. The journal also is publishing a commentary on the study written by Gerardo Chowell, a member of the editorial board of BMC Medicine and an associate professor at Arizona State University, and Cecile Viboud. Both Chowell and Viboud are Epidemiology and Population Studies researchers at the U. S. National Institutes of Health.

The team's new findings build on earlier research in Salath?'s lab addressing the challenge of counting the number of disease-spreading, face-to-face interactions within a closed group of people. "Theoretically, we know that people come into contact with many other people, that interactions vary in length, and that each contact is an opportunity for a disease to spread via small droplets that spread from the nose or mouth of one individual to another," Salath? said. "But it's very tedious and unreliable to ask people, 'How many different people have you been in contact with today, and for how long?' We knew we had to figure out the number of person-to-person contacts systematically."

In a 2010 research study, Salath? and his team asked volunteers at a high school to spend one school day wearing matchbox-sized sensor devices -- called motes -- on lanyards around their necks. Like a cell phone, each mote was equipped with its own unique tracking number, and each mote was programmed to send and receive radio signals at 20-second intervals to record the presence of other nearby motes. Volunteers then were asked to simply go about their day by attending classes, walking through the halls, and chatting with other people. At the end of the day, Salath?'s team collected the motes and recorded how many mote-to-mote interactions had occurred, and how long each interaction had lasted.

Now, in their new study, Salath? and Smieszek have studied and recorded possible disease-spreading interactions with a different system. "Using motes is expensive and tedious," Smieszek explained. "We knew that for larger-scale and more-numerous studies to be feasible in the real world, we had to find a simpler way to get data about how people in communities interact. That's where classroom schedules came in." The team members gathered data from classroom rosters and formulated a "collocation rank" -- the cumulative time each individual is potentially exposed to other individuals -- for all students, teachers, and staff members at a high school. These collocation ranks were calculated from information about each class taught at the school -- which teacher taught the class, the room in which the class was taught, the period of the class, and the number of students who were enrolled in the class. "As you might expect, students had many more potential exposures than teachers, while janitors and office workers, who tend to work alone without many close interactions, had even fewer," Smieszek said.

The team members then compared their new classroom-schedule data to a computer model they had developed from the earlier motes study. Salath? explained that the motes study can serve as a highly reliable model of real-world interactions against which other data-collection methods can be compared for accuracy. "Data from the motes were collected systematically; all face-to-face interactions and the length of those interactions were recorded," Salath? said. "On the other hand, classroom data is somewhat fuzzier because it doesn't provide any information about between-class interactions, bathroom breaks, and possible absences. However, we found that when we compared results from the two data-collection systems, the difference was minimal. In other words, we have shown that classroom schedules can paint a fairly accurate picture of the frequency of person-to-person interactions, of which individuals have the most person-to-person contacts, and of the likelihood that disease will spread in the event of an outbreak."

Salath? and Smieszek hope that the classroom-schedule method of studying infectious-disease networks can be used in a number of ways. For example, if health officials need to ration limited doses of a new vaccine, schedule data could be used to determine which individuals have the most disease-spreading interactions. In addition, health officials could use information about more-susceptible individuals to target campaigns that raise awareness about vaccinations. "Ideally, all individuals should be vaccinated against an infectious disease," Salath? said. "But 100 percent vaccination is often not realistic, so we instead rely on 'herd immunity' -- a population-level immunity that occurs when a critical mass has been vaccinated." The team members also hope that a similar system could be developed to study other disease networks; for example, universities, workplaces, or even communities at large.

"One of the major obstacles for researchers studying the spread of infectious disease is figuring out how to determine how networks are structured and which are the highest-risk individuals," Smieszek added. "Methods that rely on network information that can be gathered with motes or surveys are expensive and involve a lot of coordination of volunteers. Our method is both cheap and simple, and is reliable and reflective of real patterns."

The research was funded by a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a Branco Weiss Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State. The original article was written by Katrina Voss.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Timo Smieszek, Marcel Salathe. A low-cost method to assess the epidemiological importance of individuals in controlling infectious disease outbreaks. BMC Medicine, 2013; 11 (1): 35 DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-35

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/hzS3whtolyE/130213105015.htm

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Being There: Scientists Enlist Inuit for Long-Term Observations of Arctic Wildlife [Slide Show]

Hunters and elders spend decades next to narwhals, whales, seals and other animals and provide important traditional knowledge that yields ecological insights in the fast-changing Arctic


double-tusk-narwhal-skullDOUBLE TUSK: Scientists who want to study the elusive narwhal often rely on traditional knowledge to inform their research. Image: ? Isabelle Groc

During the summer in Qaanaaq, Greenland, an Inuit hunter paddling next to a resting narwhal observed a thin gauzelike layer coming off the narwhal's body and dissipating into the water. The event lasted only a few seconds, but Connecticut-based dentist Martin Nweeia, a Harvard University and Smithsonian Institution researcher who studies narwhal tusks as his passion, immediately saw the scientific significance of the hunter's observation.

Whereas the beluga, the narwhal's nearest relative, is known to enter warmer estuarine waters in the summer to molt, this skin-renewal process had never been scientifically documented for narwhal, in part because no scientist has ever spent sufficient time in remote Arctic locations to record such an event. "One voice from an Inuit hunter can be more significant than 100 scientists," says Nweeia, who presented his findings at the 18th Inuit Studies Conference in Washington, D.C.

Nweeia, a professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, has obtained many more scientific insights from the Inuit elders and hunters who have lived close to the narwhal for thousands of years. Taking a cue from the Inuit who indicated that narwhal tusking was not a sign of aggression, he discovered that the unicornlike tusk was a sensory organ, capable of detecting changes in the ocean environment. Narwhals gently rubbing their tusks together are not dueling, as previously believed, but engaged in a type of ritualistic behavior, Nweeia argues. He also learned that the tusk could bend at least 30 centimeters in any direction without breaking, an observation that he did not believe until more scientific tests demonstrated the tusk?s unusual strength and flexibility.

View a slide show of scientific collaboration around narwhals.

More scientists now collaborate with indigenous peoples to learn about rare and elusive wildlife. ?The biologists are starting to understand that hunters have good eyes, they know what they are looking for, and it can really help them,? says Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of wildlife and environment for Nunavut Tunngavik, Inc. Nirlungayuk has collaborated with scientists on different research projects.

Reliance on aboriginal insights is particularly crucial in the Arctic, where climate change creates an urgent need to understand local dynamics. ?The Arctic is changing rapidly, and often it is just too fast for scientists to keep up with all the details or implications,? says Henry Huntington, science director for the Arctic program at the Pew Environment Group in Alaska.

Changing environmental conditions open unprecedented opportunities for industrial development that has the potential to compromise wildlife habitat. In Nunavut one of the biggest resource extraction efforts ever proposed for the eastern Arctic, the Mary River iron ore project, could have impacts on various species including caribou, bowhead whale, narwhal, beluga and walrus. Scientists and locals combine forces to tackle those major conservation issues.

?We have to try our best to work together in a cooperative way so that we all know as much as we can about how fragile these populations can be,? says Jack Orr, project lead for the Arctic Research Division at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Orr captures narwhals and fits them with satellite transmitters to understand the whales' diving behaviors and migration routes. Inuit hunters provide information about weather conditions, best timing and locations for accessing the whales.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=d31130a1668498daaa4e322cbdaf31a7

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Library of Congress unveils plan to preserve early US sound recordings

Library of Congress unveils plan to preserve early US sound recordings

Historic audio recordings aren't exactly easy to access and play back since they're often in obscure or aging formats and sit within giant repositories and private collections, but the Library of Congress is gearing up to help change that for researchers and the average joe. The outfit's freshly announced National Recording Preservation Plan is headlined by a recommendation to create a publicly accessible national directory of sound recordings that'll act as an "authoritative discography" with details regarding their production and where copies are housed. You'll still have to take a trip to a library to hear the recordings for the time being, but the Library of Congress is hoping to hammer out licensing agreements that would allow for online streaming. Developing new preservation standards and creating university-based degree programs for audio archiving are also among the 32 short- and long-term recommendations spelled out by the document. Click the second source link to peruse the paper yourself.

[Image credit: Ray Tsang, Flickr]

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Comments

Via: Huffington Post

Source: Library of Congress, Council on Library and Information Resources

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/14/library-of-congress-sound-recording-preservation-plan/

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Ohio town latest focus of religion legal debate

JACKSON, Ohio (AP) ? Since just after World War II, a portrait of Jesus has hung in a Jackson City Schools building, attracting little discussion and no controversy that anyone seems to recall.

But that changed recently after a complaint, and this small city in mostly rural Appalachian Ohio has now found itself as the latest battleground in a national debate over what displays of religion are constitutional.

Facing a federal lawsuit charging that the middle school portrait illegally promotes religion in a public school, school officials dug in their heels Tuesday night at a board meeting. They declared that the portrait belongs to the Christian-based student club that presented it in 1947 and is part of a "limited public forum" in which other student groups can hang portraits of "inspirational figures central to the club's meaning and purpose." Taking it down would censor students' private speech, it said.

"It's a delicate balance for us as a district," Superintendent Phil Howard said, adding that he thought the board's action protected students' rights while making clear it wasn't endorsing a religion.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which joined Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation in suing last week in U.S. District Court, isn't likely to buy the board's reasoning.

"It appears they have assembled a number of pieces and parts from previously unsuccessful arguments (in other cases) and attempted to turn them into something new," ACLU spokesman Nick Worner said Wednesday.

The case has brought an unaccustomed spotlight to the city of some 7,000 people, better known for its annual Apple Festival and the Ironmen prep footballers, who play in a 6,000-seat stadium. Like much of the region, its unemployment runs higher ? 8.3 percent in the latest figures ? than statewide rates, but two frozen-food makers in the area each employ more than 1,000, and the downtown area has been spruced up with brick sidewalks and period lighting.

"I'm surprised, I guess," Diana Lewis, a middle school teacher and Jackson High graduate, said of the controversy that brought a phalanx of TV cameras inside the elementary gymnasium for Tuesday's board meeting. "It was just always there. It's never really been used as a big topic."

Some longtime residents say they'd rather the town be left alone.

"I don't think these outside groups should be involved," said Clarence Rice, 82. "It's none of their business. It's been there 65 years."

He remembers when the portrait was put up, in what was then the high school, by the Hi-Y Club in 1947. That's the year his brother Frank, a club member, died of leukemia.

The "Head of Christ" portrait, a popular depiction of Jesus, hangs near a school entranceway. It's the dominant image in the district's "Hall of Honor," which has nearly four dozen photos of past school leaders and other prominent Jackson County natives including the late four-time Gov. James A. Rhodes.

Howard, superintendent for six years, said he hadn't heard much about the portrait, and certainly nothing negative, until the Jan. 2 letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation saying it had received a complaint. It's been active in challenging school religious displays, such as a southeast Texas high school's cheerleader banners carrying biblical verses and two Pennsylvania schools with Ten Commandments monuments.

The ACLU has had a series of similar cases in recent years, including a long-running lawsuit against schools in nearby Adams County over a Ten Commandments display that courts ruled was primarily religious.

But some rulings, including by the Supreme Court, have upheld displays if they didn't promote one religious sect over another and if their main purpose was nonreligious.

"These cases are cropping up now, I think, because there's an increased sensitivity to religious displays because the American public is more religiously diverse than it used to be," said Kermit Roosevelt, a constitutional law expert at University of Pennsylvania Law School. "So practices that used to go unchallenged, and largely unnoticed ... are now more likely to be considered divisive."

At a Jackson board meeting last month, some in a hundreds-strong crowd booed anyone questioning the Jesus portrait. Attorneys for the lawsuit plaintiffs ? a middle-school student and two parents identified only as Sam Does ? say social media comments have been threatening, with calls for those opposed to the portrait to leave town.

Bob Eisnaugle, an art teacher and Hi-Y Club adviser, said he didn't like seeing some of the angry reactions at the earlier meeting. But he also supports keeping the portrait up.

"The majority of people want it to stay," he said. "And we still live in a democracy."

___

Contact the reporter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-town-latest-focus-religion-legal-debate-204126487.html

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Boston Pizza Canada - Order any medium or large pizza and get the second for 50% off [Feb 8-Unknown]

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