Charlene Obernauer: The Best Part of DOMA's Repeal: Its Impact on Immigration Reform

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The day that the Defense of Marriage Act was repealed will be a moment that many of us in the GLBT community will remember for the rest of our lives. I'll remember where I was when I heard the news, driving in my car to work, listening while a local radio station took comments from listeners about DOMA's repeal. I didn't call in; I just continued to drive, smiling, with tears slowly streaming down my face. While I'll certainly benefit from this change in policy, for bi-national GLBT couples, DOMA's repeal not only legalizes their relationships, but also makes them able to legally live in the same country together. Even immigration reform would not have had this impact on GLBT immigrants.

Early on in the fight for comprehensive immigration reform, the GLBT community -- particularly the 40,000 same sex bi-national couples living in the U.S. -- were told not to expect much from the bill. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican Senator from Florida known for his strong support for immigration reform, said that he would walk away from his signature issue if GLBT couples were included. For the GOP in the Senate, GLBT rights were a non-starter. And they won: in the final bill that passed the U.S. Senate on June 27th, GLBT bi-national couples were deliberately excluded.

However, a day before the immigration reform vote, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act. Despite the GOP's best efforts to oppose equality for GLBT couples, DOMA's repeal granted married same-sex couples the same federal benefits as their married different-sex couples -- including the right to sponsor same-sex partners for a green card.

Immediately after DOMA's repeal, binational GLBT couples were positively impacted. One New York City couple, Sean and Steven Brooks, were scheduled for a deportation proceeding at 10:30 a.m. on June 26th, and just a few minutes before, DOMA's ruling allowed the couple to remain together in the country. Thousands of GLBT couples will continue to feel the impact, including those who were married in a state that recognizes marriage equality, but live in a non-equality state.

Even unmarried couples that are living in separate countries can reunite under the current bill. GLBT American citizens can now use a fianc? visa to sponsor their partners to enter into the country legally and start the citizenship process. GLBT immigrants who overstayed their visas and are now undocumented can also benefit from DOMA's repeal. While U.S. immigration law does not allow a person to change their status from lawful to unlawful residents, spouses are the exception to that rule. Finally, three years after married couples obtain their green cards, they can then apply to become U.S. citizens.

For all GLBT Americans, this change in immigration law is huge. While there are 40,000 binational couples currently living in the U.S., thousands of GLBT couples have left the country over the years so that they could live with the person that they love. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of others, have been forced to end their relationships, because they could not legally live together anywhere in the world.

While the repeal of DOMA is huge for immigration reform, it's just a step towards immigration reform. Currently, if someone entered the country without inspection -- meaning they crossed the border -- the situation is more complicated. Usually, the person would have to leave the country and then apply for a green card, but they would be banned from returning for between three to five years. GLBT Americans need Congress to act, just as the Senate acted, to pass immigration reform. Otherwise, just as DOMA made it impossible for us to legally marry the ones that we love, so too will our country's broken immigration system.

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Follow Charlene Obernauer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/charlene_amber

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlene-obernauer/the-best-part-of-domas-re_b_3521577.html

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Kim leads Park by 1 stroke at US Women's Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) ? No surprise that a South Korean leads the U.S. Women's Open after the first round, considering the country has produced the last four major champions.

Ha-Neul Kim was an unlikely candidate to be the one to shoot the low score Thursday at Sebonack. Her bogey-free, 6-under 66 put her a stroke ahead of top-ranked Inbee Park.

Park is trying to make history by winning the first three majors of the year. For a day at least, she was upstaged by her much less-heralded friend.

"I was very nervous coming in, and I thought in the practice round that the course was very difficult," Kim said through a translator. "Before playing today I thought that even par would be a very good score for me."

Currently a member of the KLPGA Tour, Kim is a seven-time winner in South Korea. She kept giving herself short birdie putts Thursday and making them.

"I'm enjoying myself," Kim said. "I'm just happy to be here and to be playing in this big event. I'm not really thinking about winning or results but enjoying the moment."

Kim birdied her second-to-last hole with daylight waning to claim the lead after Park held it for most of the day with her 67 in the morning session.

No player has won the first three majors in a season with at least four majors. The 2008 U.S. Women's Open champion, Park has already won five times this year, including her last two tournaments.

American Lizette Salas, Swedes Caroline Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist and South Korea's I.K. Kim shot 68.

Concerned about bad weather, tournament officials moved up the tees, and with the rain holding off, Park was able to play aggressively.

"I never had practiced from those tees, so I was a little bit shocked when I went to the tees," Park said.

Not that she was complaining.

She repeatedly set up short putts, and the way she has excelled in her short game lately, Park was headed to a low score.

"So instead of hitting like 5-irons, we were hitting 9-irons, and that was making the course much easier," she said. "I was actually able to go for some pins and give myself a lot of opportunities today. I made a lot of putts and didn't leave much out there."

Starting on No. 10, Park birdied her first hole then started racking up pars. She made the turn at 2 under before birdies on three of her next four holes.

At 5 under, Park briefly struggled with her tee shots, needing to save par on Nos. 5 and 7. On No. 6, her 15th hole of the day, she had to lay up out of the tall grass and settled for her lone bogey.

Park got back to 5 under on the par-5 eighth with a chip shot to about 5 feet that set up a birdie putt.

Hedwall and I.K. Kim were each at 5 under with a hole left, but closed with bogeys. Nordqvist birdied her last two holes to pull into the tie for third.

The two Swedes grew up playing together.

"Certainly seeing her shooting 4 under in the morning session gave me a little bit of inspiration for the afternoon," Nordqvist said.

Salas, a 23-year-old former Southern California star, played with Park in the last group of the final round of this year's Kraft Nabisco Championship. Three strokes back starting the day, she opened with a double bogey and tumbled to 25th after shooting a 79.

She bounced back to reach a playoff at the LPGA Lotte Championship in April, losing to Suzann Pettersen for her best finish on tour.

"I'm just getting a lot more used to being in contention and really studying the leaderboard and really managing my patience," Salas said. "I think that's been key for me this week. Yes, I still get nervous on the first tee and my hands keep shaking, but I just know that if I just trust myself and trust my instincts, I can perform out here."

Chile's Paz Echeverria, a 28-year-old LPGA Tour rookie also making her U.S. Women's Open debut, and Canada's Maude-Aimee Leblanc shot 69.

Among eight players at 70 was Natalie Gulbis, who withdrew from a tournament and missed two others earlier this year because of malaria. Infected by a mosquito during the LPGA Thailand in late February, she returned for the Kraft Nabisco in early April. Gulbis hasn't finished better than 13th since, missing the cut at the LPGA Championship.

Defending champion Na Yeon Choi, second-ranked Stacy Lewis and amateurs Kyung Kim and Brooke Henderson were among 11 players at 71.

Lydia Ko, the 16-year-old New Zealand amateur who won the Canadian Open last August to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner, had a 72. Juli Inkster, playing in a record-breaking 34th U.S. Women's Open at age 53, holed a 103-yard wedge shot for eagle on the 18th to also finish at 72.

Michelle Wie opened her round with a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 10. She was at 11 over through 14 holes before birdies on three of the last four to finish with an 80.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kim-leads-park-1-stroke-us-womens-open-072905526.html

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U.S. suspends trade benefits for Bangladesh over safety

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama cut off long-time U.S. trade benefits for Bangladesh on Thursday in a mostly symbolic response to conditions in the country's garment industry that have cost more than 1,200 lives in the past year.

The U.S. move does not directly affect Bangladesh's multi-billion-dollar clothing exports, since garments are not eligible for U.S. duty cuts. But it could prompt the European Union into similar action, which would have a bigger impact as Bangladesh's clothing and textiles exports to the EU are duty-free.

"I have determined that it is appropriate to suspend Bangladesh ... because it is not taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights to workers in the country," Obama said in a statement.

The government in Bangladesh said it did not expect the move to have an immediate impact on business but feared it would hurt U.S. investment in the country over time.

"We are desperately trying to upgrade the situation of our garment factories and we expect assistance, not punitive action," said H.T.Imam, government adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The factories came under scrutiny after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building in April that killed 1,132 people and the Tazreen factory fire in November that killed 112.

"This was not a decision taken lightly," U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters. "Our goal, of course, is not only to see Bangladesh restore its eligibility for (the trade) benefits, but to see Bangladeshi workers in safe, appropriate work situations."

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said the decision sent an important message to countries that receive duty-free access to the U.S. market under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.

"Countries that tolerate dangerous - and even deadly - working conditions and deny basic workers' rights, especially the right to freedom of association, will risk losing preferential access to the U.S. market," Trumka said.

It also puts American companies on notice they must take meaningful steps to improve conditions for Bangladesh's factory workers, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said in a statement.

"No one will want to wear clothing that is ?Made in Bangladesh' if it is made on the blood of workers. It's time for American industry to show leadership and work with their European counterparts on a global standard for safety."

U.S. HEAVILY TAXES CLOTHING FROM BANGLADESH

Suspending Bangladesh from the GSP program will increase U.S. duties on an array of products the country exports to the United States, such as tobacco, sporting equipment, porcelain china, plastic products and a small amount of textile products.

"I wonder why the U.S. government does not ask U.S. buyers to offer us a better price instead of deciding to squeeze us further," said K.M.Iqbal Hossain, general secretary of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

"This will only make things worse for workers even in other sectors." Hossain said taxes for the plastics industry would rise by 10 percent. Bangladesh exports plastic accessories such as garment clips and hangers among others.

The GSP program was created in 1976 to help economic development in the world's poorest countries and to reduce import costs for U.S. companies.

In 2012, Bangladesh was spared about $2 million in U.S. duties on about $35 million worth of goods under the GSP program, but it paid about $732 million in U.S. duties on $4.9 billion of clothing exports not covered by the program, said Ed Gresser, a trade analyst with the GlobalWorks Foundation.

An EU decision to suspend trade benefits would have far more impact. EU officials raised the possibility of suspension in early May in the hope of prodding Bangladesh into action.

The EU imported roughly 9.2 billion euros ($12.13 billion) of goods from Bangladesh last year, according to data from the EU's executive branch, the European Commission.

Clothing and textile products ranging from towels and bedding accounted for almost 93 percent of those goods.

EU and Bangladeshi officials will meet in Geneva in July for talks aimed at improving safety conditions in Bangladesh and preserving the country's trade benefits.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Mohammad Atiqul Islam said it was struggling to improve working conditions in the country and hoped for a better judgment from the European Union.

PETITION FILED IN 2007

The United States' own review dates back to 2007, when the AFL-CIO, the main U.S. labor group, first filed a petition asking that Bangladesh's trade benefits be revoked.

Despite the relatively small volume of trade affected by the U.S. decision, Froman said Bangladeshi officials put great value on remaining in the program.

"We will be staying very much in direct and continuous contact with the government of Bangladesh as they take additional actions on workers rights and workers safety," Froman said. "We'll review their status at the appropriate time."

European retailers have responded to the two tragedies by signing an agreement to promote worker safety in Bangladesh, but many U.S. retailers have balked at accord, saying it gives unions too much control over ensuring workplace safety.

They have been working instead with former Maine U.S. senators George Mitchell, a Democrat, and Olympia Snowe, a Republican, on an alternative plan to improve fire and safety regulations.

The effort is being coordinated by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

"At this point only a few final details remain to be worked out and agreed upon," BPC President Jason Grummet said earlier this week in an email. "We remain on track to complete the process by early July."

(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir and Nandita Bose in Dhaka; Editing by Vicki Allen, Mary Milliken and Nick Macfie; doug.palmer@thomsonreuters.com; 202 898 8341; Reuters Messaging: doug.palmer.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-suspends-trade-benefits-bangladesh-over-safety-071700173.html

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Immigration reform bill passes Senate, moves to skeptical House

The Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill on Thursday afternoon, after a recently hashed-out compromise on border security helped persuade a total of 14 Republicans to vote for the measure. The bill, which passed 68-32, could face a steep uphill climb in the Republican-controlled House.

The vote brings Congress a step closer to passing its first major immigration reform since the 1986 amnesty bill that legalized more than 3 million immigrants under President Ronald Reagan.

Moments before the vote, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor that the "historic legislation recognizes that today's immigrants came for the right reason, the same reason as the generations before them ... the right to live in a land that's free."

Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa spoke against the measure on the floor, arguing that it does not do enough to increase interior immigration enforcement. "The bill won't ensure that a future Congress isn't back here in 25 years dealing with the very same problems," Grassley said.

The "Gang of Eight," a bipartisan group of senators who drafted the bill, had hoped to get 70 out of 100 senators to vote to pass the bill and send a strong signal to the House that the legislation is bipartisan. The bill fell just two votes short of that goal. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander, Kelly Ayotte, Jeffrey Chiesa, Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Mark Kirk, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Marco Rubio joined the entire Democratic caucus in voting for the measure.

The reform will implement a mandatory, national employment verification system; allow for more legal immigration of low- and high-skilled workers; beef up border security; and eventually give green cards to most of the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants who pass background checks and pay fines.

The bill has moved to the right in the Senate on border security, thanks to an amendment adopted last week that will double the number of Border Patrol officers and increase fencing on the southern border by hundreds of miles before any unauthorized immigrants are offered permanent legal status.

But House members working on their own version of immigration reform told The Hill this is not enough: They would prefer that no unauthorized immigrant be offered even temporary legal status until all the border security measures of the bill are fully implemented. Republican Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam told reporters Thursday the bill is a "pipe dream" that will never pass the House.

Union leaders representing both Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers say they oppose the bill, and groups that seek lower immigration levels have tried to rally members to call and write senators asking them to kill the bill. But so far, the critics of the bill have been outnumbered.

Rubio, of Florida, has worked as a conservative ambassador for the legislation. Rubio highlighted his immigrant parents' journey to the United States in a speech on the floor on Thursday. "Here, in America, generations of unfulfilled dreams will finally come to pass," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/senate-takes-immigration-vote-supporters-back-off-70-143951088.html

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Botswana GDP shrinks 2.2 pct in first quarter of 2013

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Botswana's economy contracted by 2.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2013 after rising by a revised 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, data from the statistics office showed on Friday.

On a year-on-year GDP was up 3.2 percent in the first quarter compared with a revised 4.1 percent expansion for Q4, Statistics Botswana said in a report posted on its website.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/botswana-gdp-shrinks-2-2-pct-first-quarter-154521435.html

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Official Facebook and Flipboard apps are coming to Windows 8.

Official Facebook and Flipboard apps are coming to Windows 8. It's "official" according to Steve Ballmer. "Official" built by the companies or "official" Microsoft built? We don't yet know.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/rDCcjNi2xcg/official-facebook-and-flipboard-apps-are-coming-to-wind-586541741

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The Culture Gabfest ?Steak All the Way Through? Edition

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 249 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and June Thomas with the audio player below.

Culturefest is on the radio! ?Gabfest Radio? combines Slate?s Culture and Political Gabfests in one show?listen on Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. on WNYC?s AM820.

On this week?s episode, our critics discuss the Paula Deen scandal and celebrity apologies in general. Do celebrities? apologies?or nonapologies?even begin to help them atone for awful behavior? Then the gabbers take a look at the new CBS series Under the Dome, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, in which a mysterious, impenetrable dome surrounds and holds captive an entire small town. Finally, the crew considers the decline of the humanities major: Why is it happening, does it matter, and what can be done about it?

Here are links to some of the things we discussed this week:

June: The ridiculously addictive smartphone game ?Candy Crush.?

Outro: Beach Fossils, ?Clash the Truth?

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Julia Furlan. Our intern is Sam McDougle.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/culturegabfest/2013/06/paula_deen_under_the_dome_and_the_decline_of_the_humanities_on_the_slate.html

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Ijaw group to FG: Establish military academies in N-Delta - Vanguard

By Emma Amaize

WARRI ? IJAW Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, has called on Federal Government to establish military academies in Niger-Delta, to ease recruitment of youths from the region into the military and police.

President of IPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo, in a statement, said ?The Federal Government should site Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA and Police Academy in the Niger-Delta to ease the pains and agonies youths of the region face in their attempt to get admission into thee academies.

?The North has taken undue advantage of these institutions to the disadvantage of the people of the South with its high military presence.? Many of the fairly educated youths in the Niger Delta became militants out of frustration in their efforts to get recruited or admitted into NDA and Police Academy in the country.

?Failure to timely address this demand may collapse ties between the Federal Government and the region because the North appears to have benefited more in terms of recruitment of military officers through NDA and Nigeria Police Academy admissions.

?Ninety per cent of recruitment of soldiers, NDA and Police Academy admissions go to the North, and it makes the North so powerful against their southern counterparts in the country. It is frustrating and shocking that nobody from the South could gain admission successfully into the sister schools or be recruited without seeking for help from a northern military senior officer.

?Both academies are seen as northern schools as it failed to address the military needs of the entire country because by its mode of operation, Nigeria Defence Academy and Police Academy are sectionalised and tribalised.?

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/ijaw-group-to-fg-establish-military-academies-in-n-delta/

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Immigration reform bill passes Senate, moves to skeptical House

Members of the gang of eight, which first announced the group's immigration framework in January. It passed the??

The Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill on Thursday afternoon, after a recently hashed-out compromise on border security helped convince a total of 14 Republicans to vote for the measure. The bill, which passed 68 to 32, could face a steep uphill climb in the Republican-controlled House.

The vote brings Congress a step closer to passing its first major immigration reform since the 1986 amnesty bill that legalized more than 3 million immigrants under President Ronald Reagan.

Moments before the vote, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said on the Senate floor that the "historic legislation recognizes that today's immigrants came for the right reason, the same reason as the generations before them...the right to live in a land that's free."

Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa spoke against the measure on the floor, arguing that it does not do enough to increase interior immigration enforcement. "The bill won't ensure that a future Congress isn't back here in 25 years dealing with the very same problems," Grassley said.

The "Gang of Eight," a bipartisan group of senators who drafted the bill, had hoped to get 70 out of 100 senators to vote to pass the bill and send a strong signal to the Republican-controlled house that the legislation is bipartisan. The bill fell just two votes short of that goal. Republican Senators Lamar Alexander, Kelly Ayotte, Jeffrey Chiesa, Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Mark Kirk, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Marco Rubio joined the entire Democratic caucus in voting for the measure.

The reform will implement a mandatory, national employment verification system; allow for more legal immigration of low- and high-skilled workers; beef up border security; and eventually give green cards to most of the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants who pass background checks and pay fines.

The bill has moved to the right in the Senate on border security, thanks to an amendment adopted last week that will double the number of Border Patrol officers and increase fencing on the southern border by hundreds of miles before any unauthorized immigrants are offered permanent legal status.

But House members working on their own version of immigration reform told The Hill this is not enough: They would prefer that no unauthorized immigrant be offered even temporary legal status until all the border security measures of the bill are fully implemented. Republican Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam told reporters Thursday the bill is a "pipe dream" that will never pass the House.

Union leaders representing both Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers say they oppose the bill, and groups that seek lower immigration levels have tried to rally members to call and write senators asking them to kill the bill. But so far, the critics of the bill have been outnumbered.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has worked as a conservative ambassador for the legislation. Rubio highlighted his immigrant parents' journey to the United States in a speech on the floor Thursday. "Here, in America, generations of unfulfilled dreams will finally come to pass," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/senate-takes-immigration-vote-supporters-back-off-70-143951088.html

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Emotional reactions to Supreme Court gay marriage rulings (Reuters)

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Tesla wins in North Carolina, paves the way for direct-to-consumer sales

Tesla Motors continues to buck the odds, celebrating a major victory in the North Carolina Senate this week. The North Carolina Automobile Dealers -- concerned about competition -- set its sights on the green car company last month when it endorsed a bill that would've significantly curtailed Tesla's ability to sell vehicles in the state. The legislation, supported by the Senate's Commerce Committee, targeted direct-to-consumer sales which eliminate the need for dealerships. But Elon Musk and friends proved that it wouldn't be quite so easy to squeeze them out of NCAD's territory -- Tesla took both North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and House Speaker Thom Tillis on test drives to show off the car's capabilities. Musk's strategy seems to have paid off, as the North Carolina House of Representatives struck down the bill on Tuesday. With another victory under its belt, Tesla's upward momentum shows few signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/tesla-victory-north-carolina/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Obama sees a hopeful democratic example in Senegal

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? The hopeful story President Barack Obama wants to tell about Africa is represented in the first stop of his weeklong trip to re-engage the continent, in a country where democracy recently overcame an impending electoral crisis.

During his visit to Senegal on Thursday, Obama also will reflect on the ties many African-Americans share with the continent as he takes a tour of Goree Island, Africa's westernmost point. By some accounts, millions of Africans were shipped off into slavery across the Atlantic Ocean through the island's "Door of No Return."

It's the first of two island visits Obama planned to highlight racial atrocities of the past. The second was scheduled for Sunday at South Africa's Robben Island, where anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.

But Mandela's condition could affect Obama's plans. The former South African president is gravely ill, and Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said it would be left to the Mandela family to decide whether he is up for a visit from Obama this weekend.

Mandela's legacy hangs over the entire trip, with Senegal among many African countries that have benefited from his example of a peaceful transition to power. "So much of the democratic progress that we see across the continent I think can be tied in some way to the inspiration that Nelson Mandela set," Rhodes said.

Obama's focus in Senegal will be on the modern-day achievements of the former French colony after half a century of independence. He planned to meet with Senegalese President Macky Sall, who ousted an incumbent president who attempted to change the constitution to make it easier for him to be re-elected and pave the way for his son to succeed him. The power grab sparked protests, fueled by hip-hop music and social media, that led to Sall's election.

But such people-powered democratic transitions are not always the story of the African experience. Fighting and human rights abuses limited Obama's options for stops in his first major tour of sub-Saharan Africa since he took office more than four years ago. Obama is avoiding his father's homeland, Kenya, whose president has been charged with war crimes, and Nigeria, the country with the continent's most dominant economy. Nigeria is enveloped in an Islamist insurgency and military crackdown.

Obama's itinerary in Senegal was designed to send a message, purposefully delivered in a French-speaking, Muslim-majority nation, to other Africans in countries that have not made the strides toward democracy that Senegal has. Obama plans to meet with civil society leaders at the Goree Institute and visit the Supreme Court to speak about the importance of an independent judiciary and the rule of law in Africa's development.

"It's not enough to have elections, it's not enough to have democratically elected leaders," Rhodes said. "You need to have independent judiciaries. You need to have confidence in the rule of law. You need to have efforts to combat corruption. Because, frankly, not only is that good for democracy and respect for human rights, but it's critical to Africa's economic growth, because where you have clear rules of the road and efforts to combat corruption, businesses will invest, and jobs will be created and growth will take off. And that's what we want to see."

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-sees-hopeful-democratic-example-senegal-044328472.html

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Artists, activists unite at Bradley Manning trial

In this June 17, 2013 photo, Clark Stoeckley poses with a box truck in Fort Meade, Md., that he painted in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stoeckley, an art instructor spending his summer making sketches of Manning?s court-martial, is Manning?s most visible supporter as he arrives at Fort Meade early each day in a truck painted to provoke. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

In this June 17, 2013 photo, Clark Stoeckley poses with a box truck in Fort Meade, Md., that he painted in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stoeckley, an art instructor spending his summer making sketches of Manning?s court-martial, is Manning?s most visible supporter as he arrives at Fort Meade early each day in a truck painted to provoke. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

In this June 17, 2013 photo, Clark Stoeckley stands in front of a box truck in Fort Meade, Md., that he painted in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stoeckley, an art instructor spending his summer making sketches of Manning?s court-martial, is Manning?s most visible supporter as he arrives at Fort Meade early each day in a truck painted to provoke. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ? Clark Stoeckley is Bradley Manning's most visible supporter at the soldier's court-martial. He arrives each day in a white box truck with bold words painted on the sides: "WikiLeaks TOP SECRET Mobile Information Collection Unit." The provocative gag even has a nonworking satellite dish and two fake security cameras on it.

Stoeckley, a 30-year-old art instructor at a New Jersey college, is among the more colorful of the 10 to 20 supporters who regularly attend Manning's trial, which resumed this week. The loose-knit group of mostly retirees or self-employed workers sits through hours of sometimes bland testimony at Fort Meade, a military installation near Baltimore. They take notes, make courtroom sketches or write blogs, posting their drawings and articles on websites designed to inform people about the court-martial and raise money for Bradley's defense.

They do so because they are united in skepticism of the U.S. government and the belief that Manning exposed wrongdoing by leaking hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and State Department cables, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan war video.

Stoeckley, who teaches at Bloomfield College, is spending his summer sketching the courtroom drama, making colorful drawings of the Army private in his dress blue uniform; witnesses in their Army fatigues and Manning supporters in their black T-shirts with the word "truth" across the chest.

Stoeckley got involved after seeing a video Manning gave to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The video showed a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed at least eight people, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

The Pentagon concluded the troops reasonably mistook the camera gear for weapons and that the journalists were in the company of armed insurgents. Stoeckley calls it a war crime.

"My immediate reaction was, 'This is the deal-breaker. This is what's going to end the Iraq war,''" he said.

But it didn't end the war and the video became evidence that led the military to charge Manning with 22 counts, including espionage, computer fraud and aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence. There's no question Manning leaked the information, but he says none of it put troops or the government in harm's way.

On Wednesday, about 50 sympathizers attended and heard from a former State Department official who testified about access to diplomatic cables. About 30 supporters were allowed in the courtroom and the others watched a closed-circuit video feed from a trailer outside the courthouse.

The government has been moving quickly through its case, presenting evidence from more than 60 witnesses in just 10 trial days since it started June 3.

Manning's supporters are mostly anti-war and have a history of civil disobedience. They identify with groups such as Courage to Resist; Veterans for Peace and the Center on Conscience and War.

They try each day to fill the 20 seats reserved for the public and media in the small courtroom, and have done so most days. They protest just outside the Fort Meade gates with "Free Bradley Manning" signs before the testimony begins at 9:30 a.m., then they enter the base, leaving behind their signs, buttons and anything with Manning's name on it. Those things are banned inside the courtroom.

At lunchtime, they eat pizza, sub sandwiches and other fast-food at the nearby PX, talking about everything from the trial to their personal lives. Some say they have grown close.

"We talk about news items, what's happening this weekend, where somebody's appearing at a church or some kind of gathering," said Bill Wagner, 75, a retired NASA research manager who takes notes during the trial.

He estimated he had been to about one-third of the court-martial over the last 18 months and now has a new group of friends and email correspondents, including a couple from Michigan and attorney Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

"I retired and had a lot of friends at work. To some extent, that's supplanted it or replaced it," Wagner said.

When court recesses for the day, sometimes as late as 7 p.m., Wagner heads home to his wife in Rockville, about 20 miles away.

Leah Brown, a Washington bookkeeper and peace activist, said the Manning supporters haven't caused much of a stir at the fort, even wearing their "truth" shirts at the PX. She says she already knew some of the activists from other events, but has also met new friends.

"Everybody I meet there is there for a good reason. They go there because they really care about what happens to Bradley Manning personally and about what it means to all of us in the future if the government succeeds in what they're trying to do to him," she said.

Bradley Manning Support Network campaign organizer Emma Cape said the group has several thousand supporters on the East Coast and she's trying to persuade more of them to show up. So far, nearly 20,000 people worldwide have donated more than $1.1 million to Bradley's defense fund.

Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg and Princeton professor Cornel West have attended some of the court-martial. Other big-name supporters, including film directors Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, and actors Russell Brand and Roseanne Barr, have left the daily court-watching to supporters who live nearby.

Debra Van Poolen, an artist and activist, may be one of the most determined sympathizers. She said she pedals her folding bicycle three miles from home to a commuter rail stop, rides the train about 12 miles, then either catches a carpool ride or bikes five more miles to Fort Meade.

"It's been logistically challenging," she said.

___

Online:

http://www.bradleymanning.org

http://couragetoresist.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-26-Manning-WikiLeaks-Supporters/id-c804b88278ba47d8813bca1a6e90ddf4

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July 2013 Theater Calendar | Triangle Arts and Entertainment

Cirque du Soleil will present ?Quidam ? on July 10-14 in the PNC Arena in Raleigh

July 2: ?One Night Stands!,? starring Tim Kidd and Jamie Martin (The Comedy Zone at the Temple Theatre in Sanford).

July 2, 16: ?The Three Little Fishies? (Carolina Puppet Theatre at the Holly Springs Cultural Center in Holly Springs).

July 5-6: ?King Lear? (Left Field Theatre at Common Ground Theatre in Durham).

July 5-7, 11-14, 18-21: ?10 By 10 in the Triangle? (The ArtsCenter in Carrboro).

July 5-7, 12-14: ?Magnitude of the Slope? (North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre).

July 10-14: ?Quidam? (Cirque du Soleil at the PNC Arena in Raleigh).

July 10-14, 17-21: ?Fox on the Fairway? (Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh in the Kennedy Theater in Raleigh).

July 11, 13, 16, 18, 20: ?Hamlet? (Little Independent Theatre in Burning Coal Theatre Company?s Murphey School Auditorium).

July 12-13, 17, 19, 20: ?Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead? (Little Independent Theatre in Burning Coal Theatre Company?s Murphey School Auditorium).

July 12-14, 16-21: ?Altar Boyz? (North Carolina Theatre and Broadway Series South in A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in Raleigh).

July 13: ?Children of Greece,? adapted by Rachel Klem from Nathaniel Hawthorne?s ?Tanglewood Tales?and Ovid?s ?Metamorphoses? (Common Ground Theatre?s summer performing arts camp in Durham).

July 13: ?Hot Fun in the Summertime? (Fatmouth Improv at Common Ground Theatre in Durham).

July 17-21: ?Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street? (PlayMakers Repertory Company Summer Youth Conservatory in UNC-Chapel Hill?s Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre).

July 18: ?Third Thursday Open Mic for Poets and Writers? (Stars Theater and Art Center in Fuquay-Varina).

July 19-20: ?Finding My Voice? (Lee Galbreath at Common Ground Theatre in Durham).

July 19-21, 23-28: ?Animal Farm? (Raleigh Little Theatre?s Teens on Stage in RLT?s Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre).

July 20: Recess Monkey (The ArtsCenter in Carrboro).

July 22: ?Beauty Lou & the Country Beast? (Missoula Children?s Theatre at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro).

July 23: ?The Monkees: A Midsummer?s Night with Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork? (AC Entertainment and Broadway Series South in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium).

July 26-27: ?The Hollow Crown? (hiSTORYstage at Common Ground Theatre in Durham).

July 26-27; Aug. 1-3: ?Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? (Clayton Youth Theater at the Clayton Center Auditorium and Conference Center in Clayton).

July 26-28: ?Ella!? (Temple Theatre Summer Youth Conservatory in Sanford).

July 26-28; Aug. 1-4: ?Psycho Beach Party? (Theatre In The Park in Raleigh).

July 27: ?Open Mic Night? (North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre).

July 31: ?Patsy Cline Tribute,? featuring the Canady Thomas Band and the Johnny Folsom 4 (Jazz Entertainment at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary).

?

Tagged as: July 2013 Theater Calendar, July Theater Calendar, theater calendar

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/06/july-2013-theater-calendar/

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How To Avoid Health Hazards At The Beach

By Eric Bricker for U.S. News

Every year, millions of Americans flock to the beach as a fun, low-cost way to escape the summer heat for a few hours or a long weekend. Though the seaside undeniably offers its share of escapist pleasures, it also plays host to some unique dangers of its own. When you hit the beach this summer, it's important to stay alert for hazards in the water and on land. Here are some lurking dangers that can turn your favorite summer oasis into an emergency situation, along with tips that can help keep you safe:

Water Hazards
Before stripping down to your swimsuit and making a mad dash into the waves, pause and take some basic precautions. "First of all, know how to swim," says Mark Tew, chief of Marine and Coastal Weather Services for the National Weather Service. "Never swim alone. And for maximum safety, only swim where there's a lifeguard and obey all instructions."

Tew also recommends making sure everyone is aware of dangers like rip currents, the narrow channeled currents of water that flow away from the shore. Generally ranging in width from 10 to 20 feet, these swift-moving streams of water can carry swimmers away from the shoreline. According to the United States Lifesaving Association, rip currents cause about 100 fatalities in the U.S. every year, and lifeguards rescue more than 50,000 swimmers caught in currents annually. "There's a lot of people who don't seem to understand the danger of rip currents," Tew says. "It's best if people prepare in advance."

More from U.S. News:
5 Tips for a Successful Staycation
Summer Camps for Adults
Try These At-Home Sunburn Treatments

Before going into the water, talk to a lifeguard or look around for informational signs, Tew says. Many beaches use flags to let swimmers know about rip current dangers.

If you do find yourself caught in a rip current, stay calm and don't fight it, Tew advises. Instead, escape by swimming in a direction parallel to the shoreline. If you can't swim out, Tew suggests floating or treading water until the current weakens, and then make your way back to shore. And be sure to try to get the attention of the on-duty lifeguard. "If there's any time you feel you'll be unable to reach the shore, try to draw attention to yourself: Face the shore, call out or wave for help," Tew says.

Shocks And Stings
Some jellyfish hanging around beaches -- including common sea nettles and more dangerous varieties like the Portuguese Man-of-War in the south -- can cause discomfort or even pose a serious threat to beachgoers. "When you're in the water and jellyfish are around, the best thing to do is to avoid them," says Butch Arbin, captain of the Ocean City, Maryland Beach Patrol.

If you're stung, return to shore, Arbin says. Remove anything that may be stuck to the sting, like tentacles, and then dry the area. Be sure to blot skin dry, rather than rubbing it. And instead of relying on home cures (some people suggest everything from vinegar to urine as a quick fix), visit the lifeguard stand, where the patrol should have products to help clean and numb the sting.

If you have a bee or seafood allergy, be sure to seek help immediately, Arbin says. In some rare cases, people with allergies can have more severe reactions, including swelling in the throat or difficulty breathing.

Sunburn
Even on cloudy days, beachgoers are still at high risk for sunburn, Arbin says. And being outside along the shore comes with a unique risk: White sand and water can reflect sunlight back at you, and it can also sneak in under your umbrella or hat.

Protect yourself from immediate sun damage and the long-term threat of skin cancer by always wearing sunscreen, making sure to reapply regularly after swimming or engaging in physical activity. "Some sunscreens say 'waterproof' and all that, but the truth is, if you're in the water and you're perspiring, some of the sunscreen is washing off," Arbin says.

For best results, apply sunscreen just after getting out of the shower when your pores are open, which allows more sunscreen to be absorbed. And be sure to lather sunscreen onto the places you wouldn't expect to burn, such as the tops of your feet and below tan lines, Arbin says.

Heat
Nothing can sour a beach trip quite like a case of heat exhaustion. Symptoms include feelings of weakness, dizziness and nausea, brought on when the body loses fluids and starts to overheat. If heat exhaustion goes untreated it can turn into heatstroke, which occurs when the body's sweat mechanisms start to shut down, leading to a rise in internal temperature and organ failure.

If you begin to experience any of the symptoms of heat exhaustion, get out of the heat and sun immediately, and start rehydrating with cold water, Arbin says. Avoid sports drinks and soda, which contain sugars and chemicals that need to be digested. Instead, drink plain water, which is the liquid most quickly absorbed into the body, Arbin says.

You can help prevent heat exhaustion by avoiding alcohol (which causes your body to eliminate water more quickly) and by staying hydrated throughout the day. "Thirst is not a good indication of a need to rehydrate," Arbin says. "Because when you feel thirsty, that's an indication that you're already dehydrated. So when people say, 'Wow, I'm thirsty, I better get a drink,' really you're starting to feel the signs of dehydration. So for parents, you need to push the water, you need to push the liquids."

Shifting Sands
Sand dunes can shift and collapse unexpectedly, leading to burials, bruises and broken limbs. Be careful when exploring sand dunes and don't overestimate their stability, says Travis Heggie, a professor at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Elsewhere on the shore, children ? who love to dig holes through beach sand -- can find themselves trapped or crushed by tunnel collapse or by stumbling into hidden sand pits or old holes. When digging, keep any hole knee-deep to the smallest person in your group, Arbin says.

And while it's important to let kids be kids, Heggie recommends keeping a close eye on loved ones whenever you visit a beach. Watch out for pre-existing sand holes and take stock of your surroundings. "We don't want to scare everybody," Heggie adds. "Face it, the beach can be a wonderful experience, but dang it, you better have your sunscreen on, and you better be wary of the environment you're playing in."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/avoid-beach-health-hazards-safety_n_3496727.html

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Boston bombing suspect indicted

Dzokhar Tsarnaev was indicted on 30 charges related to the Boston Marathon bombings. (FBI via Getty Images)

Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly left a written confession in a boat where he was captured by law enforcement officials in April, writing, ?I don?t like killing innocent people,? but suggesting it was ?allowed? because of U.S. actions abroad.

?The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians. I can?t stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one, you hurt us all,? Tsarnaev allegedly wrote. ?Stop killing our innocent people, we will stop.?

The details were revealed in a 30-count indictment by a federal grand jury Thursday that charges Tsarnaev, 19, with using weapons of mass destruction in the April 15 bombings and killing four people.

Authorities say Tsnarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, planted two pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon?s finish line. The bombs, which were detonated within seconds of each other, killed three people and injured more then 260. The indictment says the bombs were constructed in a manner "designed to shred flesh, shatter bone and cause extreme pain and suffering, as well as death."

Tsarnaev was also indicted in the April 18 death of MIT police officer Sean Collier, who was shot while Tsarnaev and his brother were on the run from police. According to the indictment, the brothers were heavily armed while attempting to escape, having in their possession five IEDs, a handgun, ammunition, a machete and a hunting knife.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed following a shootout with police on April 19 in Watertown, Mass., outside of Boston. The indictment offered new details on his death, saying it came after the brothers were trying to "shoot, bomb, kill or disable" police officers trying to apprehend them. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was tackled by three police officers when his younger brother ran back to a Mercedes they had stolen earlier and "drove it directly at the three officers." One of the officers tried to "drag" the older brother out of the way, but the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ran over him "seriously injuring him and contributing to his death."

Tsarnaev was captured later that day, hiding in a boat parked in a nearby backyard. He's currently being held in a federal prison outside Boston.

According to the indictment, Tsarnaev downloaded several pieces of extremist Islamic propaganda from the Internet prior to the bombings, including a book that warned Muslims not to give allegiance to governments who invade foreign lands. The book featured a forward from Anwar Al-Awalaki, an American-born Muslim cleric who became a senior operative in al-Qaida and was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston, 17 of the charges against Tsarnaev could bring the death penalty or life in prison. He's scheduled to be arraigned on July 10 at the U.S. District Court in Boston.

Liz Goodwin contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-indicted-185408539.html

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SKorea mobile network touted as world's fastest

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? South Korea's largest mobile operator is this week launching what it says is the world's fastest wireless network.

SK Telecom Co. said Wednesday that the LTE-Advanced network can download data at speeds twice as fast as LTE networks and 10 times faster than third generation services.

With a transfer rate of 150 megabits per seconds, the network can download an 800 megabyte movie in just 43 seconds.

The service will be initially available in Seoul and its suburbs.

South Korea has witnessed rapid growth of the fourth-generation LTE, or Long Term Evolution, service as the country's mobile phone users are quick to adopt faster wireless technologies

More than 60 percent of South Korea's 33 million smartphone users have subscribed to the LTE service.

GSA, an association of network suppliers, projects that LTE networks will be available in 87 countries by the end of 2013.

With the launch of the new mobile technology, SK Telecom has begun selling the Galaxy S4 LTE-A smartphone made by Samsung Electronics Co. that can run on the fastest network.

The LTE-Advanced technology, however, has room for improvement. While it boasts the fastest download speed, its upload speed is same as LTE networks at 37.5 mbps.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-06-26-SKorea-Mobile%20Network/id-e78d35445b5042dab98520d115a6025a

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Tomorrow is last day for Supreme Court to issue rulings on DOMA, Prop 8 (Americablog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315237533?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Grand Canyon tightrope walk: What was that huge pole for?

Grand Canyon tightrope walk: Funambulist?Nik Wallenda traversed a 1,500-foot gorge near the Grand Canyon on a 2-inch-thick steel cable on Sunday, carrying with him a 43-lb. pole. Why did he bring such a heavy pole??

By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / June 24, 2013

Aerialist Nik Wallenda walks a two-inch-thick steel cable taking him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge, Ariz., on Sunday.

Tiffany Brown/Discovery Channel/AP

Enlarge

To help him complete his journey along a?1,400-foot-long, 2-inch-thick steel cable that had been stretched across the Little Colorado Gorge, Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the legendary Flying Wallendas family of acrobats,?brought with him a cross necklace, a?pair of thin-soled shoes, and a flexible, 30-foot-long, 43-pound pole.

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The reasons for the devotional object and the footwear are obvious to most of us who watched Mr. Wallenda teeter over the river some 1,500 feet below, but what was that huge drooping pole for? And why did it have to be so heavy?

To help him keep his balance. To prevent their death-defying acts from becoming life-defying ones, high-wire artists seek to increase their rotational inertia and lower their center of gravity.

First, rotational inertia: If you're walking on a tightrope hundreds of feet above the ground, the very last thing you want to do is start rotating around it. The way to prevent that is to increase your rotational inertia.

Just as more force is needed to accelerate a more massive object from rest, more rotational force ? or torque, as physicists like to say ? is needed to spin an object with more rotational inertia. You can increase this by carrying more mass, and by keeping as much of that mass as far away as possible from your tightrope. Your tightrope is the one thing that you definitely don't want to become an axis of rotation.?

Physics teachers like to bring up the example of figure skaters' arms. As a twirling skater draws her arms in, she begins twirling faster. That's because, by bringing her arms closer to the center of her axis, she decreases her rotational inertia. Her angular momentum is the product of her angular velocity and rotational inertia, so because momentum must be conserved, her speed changes as she decreases her rotational inertia. Rotational inertia increases as the square of the distance from the axis, which is why such an apparently small change in position can have a huge effect on her velocity. ?

And the same thing works in reverse. By increasing his rotational inertia, Nik Wallenda's pole helps to slow his rotation around the tightrope, giving him more time to react as he starts to tip in one direction or another.

The other advantage to Wallenda's heavy, flexible pole is that it lowers his center of gravity. If you're standing on the ground, the easiest way to make yourself harder to knock over would be to spread your feet apart and bend your knees. But that wasn't really an option for Wallenda as he walked across the gorge.?

This is why the poles he carried was flexible instead of rigid. The weight causes the pole to droop, bringing the center of gravity of the Wallenda plus pole system closer to the steel cable. ?

For all its advantages, however, Wallenda seemed to be happy to be rid of the pole as soon as it was safe.?

"My arms are aching like you wouldn't believe," he told Reuters, after he finished his 22-minute journey.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/nlzcdK9MTSg/Grand-Canyon-tightrope-walk-What-was-that-huge-pole-for

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Ed Markey Beats Gabriel Gomez In ... - Business Insider

REUTERS/Jason Reed

Longtime Rep. Ed Markey (D) prevailed easily over ex-Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez (R) in a low-turnout special election to fill Massachusetts' vacant Senate seat.?

With 99% of precincts reporting, Markey garnered?54.9% of the vote to Gomez's 44.7%, a result that nearly mirrored the average of pre-election polling.

"Thank you Massachusetts! I am deeply honored for the opportunity to serve you in the United States Senate," Markey said in a statement.

Turnout was low. The Boston Globe reported?that less than 20% of voters in Boston voted. The number of voters was half of what it was in the 2010 special election, when Republican Scott Brown pulled an upset over Martha Coakley.

Markey's win ensures the same Senate balance of 52 Democrats and 46 Republicans, plus 2 independents who caucus with the Democrats.?

President Barack Obama hailed Markey's win in a statement late Tuesday night.?

"During more than 36 years as a Congressman, Ed has distinguished himself as a leader on many of the key challenges of our time ? from fighting carbon pollution to protecting our children from gun violence to creating good, middle-class jobs," Obama said.

"He?s earned a reputation as an effective, creative legislator, willing to partner with colleagues across the aisle to make progress on the issues that matter most. The people of Massachusetts can be proud that they have another strong leader fighting for them in the Senate, and people across the country will benefit from Ed?s talent and integrity."

A Democratic National Committee official cited a few key reasons the party believed Markey had avoided a similar fate as Coakley.

From the official:

• Deployed 17 full-time staff, most of whom were veterans of the Obama 2012 campaign who worked on Communications, Rapid Response, Research, Field and GOTV;
• Spent or raised $300,000 directly for the campaign;
• Coordinated a surrogate operation that included DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz and a dozen other national surrogates participating in Markey Campaign activities;
• Built two predictive voter models to gauge support for Markey and turnout, applying the lessons learned from the Obama Campaign?s 2012 innovative modeling efforts;
• Sent an email from President Obama to his supporters in Massachusetts in support of Markey;
• Utilized DNC social media assets and the DNC email list to fundraise and recruit volunteers;
• Provided other GOTV expertise and assets, including an online call tool that allowed volunteers to call from home or from other states.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ed-markey-wins-gabriel-gomez-massachusetts-senate-election-results-2013-6

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Fans feared reality tv show killed players

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

13 hours ago

Eric McCandless / ABC

Sheri was the first (fake) victim on the "Whodunnit?" premiere.

As the premiere episode of ABC's reality TV murder mystery "Whodunnit?" opened Sunday night, a voiceover explained that the contestants knew they were there to play a game, but "what they don't know is: The game is murder."

As it turned out, the contestants weren't the only ones who didn't quite know all the details. For instance, viewers knew the show was a murder mystery, but it's now clear what many of them didn't know was that the murders weren't real.

That's right, despite the fact that killing off contestants would be illegal (and, of course, just plain wrong), some believed that two players might have actually been killed as part of the show.

Concerned viewers even took to Twitter after the first person, Sheri, met her (not really) final fate.

Even after contestant Melina said, "In my heart, I know it's not a dead body, but it feels too real," some viewers remained suspicious.

When Dontae fled the "Whodunnit?" mansion in flames at the end of the show, even more shocked viewers tweeted their fears.

Of course, there was no need to worry about anyone. The mystery -- not the murder -- is the reality in this competition.

Check out the next faux fatalities when "Whodunnit?" airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. on ABC.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/viewers-feared-contestants-actually-died-abcs-whodunnit-6C10435414

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Finds Its Star

Disney has cast relative newcomer Ed Oxenbould to play the title role in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Disney?s adaptation of the popular kids book.

Oxenbould joins Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner in the production which will be directed by Miguel Arteta.

A classic since it was published in 1972, Bad Day was written by Judith Viorst and centers on a boy (Oxenbould) who has a very horrible day and finds out that other people can have them too.

In the script, written by Lisa Cholodenko and Rob Lieber, the boy has a terrible day and wishes his family experienced his suffering, which they later do.

Oxenbould, who appeared in a Australian TV series titled Puberty Blues, is managed in the U.S. by Dan Spilo and Laura Hersh at Industry Entertainment and in Australia by Sophie Jermyn at Sophie Jermyn Management.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927730/news/1927730/

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Claudia Traisac: Dating Josh Hutcherson!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/claudia-traisac-dating-josh-hutcherson/

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The New X-M1 Is Fujifilm's Cheapest Mirrorless Camera Yet

The rumored "entry-level" X-series interchangeable-lens camera from Fujifilm is real. The X-M1, features the same 16.3-megapixel APS-C sensor from the more-expensive X-Pro1 and X-E1 models.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/aKORaZ9WssE/the-new-x-m1-is-fujifilms-cheapest-mirrorless-camera-y-566242093

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